A Couple Updates

Even though Andy and I practically have lived together since we started dating, we now just live as the two of us. No more roommates, no more stress. Our house is finally a home complete with furniture and a dining room table.It's cute and the perfect size for us. We did have a little disagreement when a couple pairs of my shoes ended up on his side of the closet...whoops.. sometimes a girl just needs that little bit of extra space that he wasn't putting to use anyways.

Now that we're all moved I can focus more on wedding stuff. Our trip to Jamaica is booked for this coming March! Now just setting aside money to pay his parents back for the trip is the tricky part, especially with school and books..and well end of the season sales. 

 Our reception is booked! I read on theknot.com that Lakefront Brewery is booked solid until Nov. 2012 and since were getting married March 2013 we had to get things moving! We have Lakefront booked for Sunday April 13th. I didn't want it to be that long after our wedding but Andy said that if anything goes wrong at least we have time to fix it. Valid point.

Yesterday I spent a good hour at Michael's picking out stuff to make "Will You Be My Bridesmaid" invitations.  It was exciting! I think I came up with a million new ideas as I wondered up and down every isle. Then I came to the Martha Stewart Collection and it was like stating with a clean slate. The only thing I couldn't find were little yellow silk flowers. They had every other color you could imagine, and of course no yellow. I asked an employee if there was anywhere I could find yellow and she acted as though I was bothering her so for now I settled for white. Hopefully Walmart or Target will have what I'm looking for.

Today MLB.com had a sale on all their proshop stuff. So I bought my bridesmaid's necklaces that I want them to  wear. It was great because it was practically buy 3 get one free! I was debating if I want to wear the same necklace or not. One part of me says I should have something more elegant, and the other part of me really really likes it. So for now I bought 4.


Speaking of only buying 4, I think decided to only have 4 bridesmaids instead of 5. I was going to have my room mate from last year be one of them, but since we moved we really haven't talked much. I figure I have enough time where I change my mind I can always ask her later on, but for now I think I'm leaving it at 4.

564 Days :)

There's always a Debbie Downer

So we have decided on a destination! Runaway Bay, Jamaica! And even thought it's going to be rough, we are going to go there this March just to check things out (terrible huh?) It is a very reasonable price for flight + hotel and all inclusive. If we book before Aug 8th, we get even more of a discount. How perfect is that?!

So of course because everyone is excited, there always has to be one person that has to be the Debbie Downer. Surprisingly it was not Grandma this time. This time it was my mom. What I don't get is she was the one that was talking me into doing a destination wedding when I wanted to get married in a church in Fond du Lac and have the reception in Milwaukee. When I told her that we picked a destination and we wanted her to come with us to check it out this March, she made up a plethora of excuses why she couldn' go. Since she is single, I told her to invite either one of my aunts, my brother, or even Grandma for all I cared! Every person she had an excuse for. Talk about frustrating!

Finally getting overwhelmed and close to tears by her lack of help, I called my aunt (who she is closest with) and asked her what was going on, why my mom didn't want anything to do with helping me plan my wedding. She helped me come to my senses that my mom just moved and bought brand new everything (not even joking!) and she was probably trying to get caught back up on money. Why couldn't she just tell me that?! I would have understood. But by her not returning my calls or text messages I just assumed (yes it really does make an ass out of you and me) that she was either #1 jealous that I was planning more with Andy's mom or #2 having a pity party because she thought no one would be able to go with her in March. Andy's mom even thought she was mad at her. How ridiculous is all this sounding! All because she could not call or text anyone back.

I wish she would just be more helpful in planning my wedding. It's not like I'm asking her for money, I am just asking her to give her opinion every now and again or help with the DYI things. Even just to ask how the wedding plans are going would be nice. I am only getting married once and I want her to be apart of the planning process.

608 Days :)

New Destination? I think so!

I have been looking for a new destination for weeks now and have not been having any luck. Either it's way too expensive for hotel+flight or the wedding options are all ala cart which defeats the purpose of a destination wedding. Leave it up to Andy to find a place in his first search! 

This place looks great! For all-inclusive and flight+hotel it ranges from $3200 to $3500 per couple! You can't go wrong! We also have a choice of Bahamas, Jamaica, or Curacao. I'm kind of leaning towards Curacao though. 

The only draw back is I would want my mom to go with us in March to check things out but she is being so stubborn. She is single so she wouldn't have a significant other to bring with her and when I suggested bringing one of my aunts or my brother it seemed like she made up an excuse why every person wouldn't be able to go...without even asking them! I want her opinion too because she is my mom. I'm trying to include her in decisions, but she always just says.. "It's your decision, it's your day, you have to do what you want." Don't get me wrong, its great advice, but sometimes I need more than that. I guess we will see what happens come March. 

631 Days :)

Change In Plans?

So there might be a change in wedding plans. My future in-laws suggested the idea of getting married on a cruise. Personally, I am not sold on the idea. Initially, the cruise would be cheaper, but in the long run after paying for alcohol and excursions it starts to add up. If we do the all inclusive nobody has to worry about getting a $5,000 bill at the end of their vacation because they weren't paying attention to what they were all buying (and why should they... its vacation :)) Also, we are going to be going for a week. On a cruise, you are stuck there for an entire week, but if we go to Cancun then people can come for the wedding and fly back when they have to.

 I talked to my mom about the whole thing and she told me that I need to do what makes me happy. Originally, I was not even sold on the idea of a destination wedding because it would cost a lot more for everyone to be there. I am most worried about my bridesmaids not being able to afford it.. and especially worried about the girl that I would want to be my MOH.

My future in-laws brought up that there is so much more to do on a cruise, but I feel that is something to do more for vacation than for a wedding. And how do we know no one is going to get sea sick? That could be a problem.

When Andy and I first talked about it alone we agreed that we were still going to go to Cancun but now I think he is changing his mind. I some how have to tell everyone that I don't want to get married on a cruise ship without looking like a bridezilla. Wish me luck, I will need it!

635 more days :)

A Groom With a Silver Toung

Well I don't know what Andy said but we were able to go and sign the lease and even better--we are able to move in Aug 1st! I tell ya... that boy can make anyone like him!

We both set a goal this month in preparation for moving. Mine is to buy a couch and ottoman and his is to buy a TV (I've been hinting at the great deals from Target--like their 50" TV!!) We recently just bought most of our bathroom stuff along with buying bedroom decorations here and there. The only room we have been having troubles with is the kitchen. I told him to pick the color since he has been complaining that I have been controlling everything else (hello! I'm the girl.. duh!) And here we sit... waiting for him to pick a kitchen color.

Since we have most of our house stuff figured out I'm trying to focus more on the wedding again. A friend of mine is getting married in January, so we've been talking about ideas and it's getting me excited again! Which reminds me! I applied for my passport on Tuesday! Cancun 2012 here we come (just to check things out ... rough responsibility right? )

649 Days :)

With Good News Always Comes The Bad

The great news is we got the apartment we wanted. We were so excited because it is perfect for our first apartment together. When the lady called me, I was too excited to ask when we were able to move in. Then came the bad news. I went to drop off the check for them to hold the apartment. My excitement subsided and I remembered to ask when we could move in. We were not able to move in until Aug. 12th. I told her that was not going to work for us because our lease was up Aug 1st. The head boss woman over heard and decided to tell me that we would have to ask for an extension on our lease. When I told her that was not possible she then suggested we move in with friends or family. My family lives in Ripon and Andy's family lives in Racine. We both work in Milwaukee therefore that isn't going to work either.

After hearing that, I felt so left down. We were so excited and the apartment was so perfect. I called Andy right away to tell him the bad news. He ended up calling the lady to ask why we were not able to move in until mid Aug. She informed him that she did not want to give us a sub par apartment (understandable) and they have maintenance go through and fix everything, they repaint, and fix the carpet. Andy then asked that if the apartment didn't need to be repainted  or if the carpet wasn't terrible if we could just skip that step in order to accommodate both of us. He told her we would be able to wait until the 5th but anything after that wouldn't work. She laughed at him. He politely told her that he was serious. She said she was going to give maintenance a call and she would call him back. Yeah, we are still waiting for a phone call.

Obviously this lady hasn't had much experience in customer service. She is not trying to work with us in order to keep her customer satisfied. We would be willing to wait a week (which should be sufficient) but we don't want to over stay our welcome at our parent's and moreover where are we going to store our stuff for TWO WEEKS?! After talking to a few people about this situation, they made me realize that if this is happening already and we haven't moved in yet, imagine what they are going to be like when we live there.

664 Days :)

Who Thought Buying a Shower Curtain Could Be So Exciting!

We found an apartment that we fell in love with! The bad news-- there were no openings in July (when we were hoping to move out) with the floor plan that we liked so were aiming for August. I'm soo excited! The funny thing though is the concept is the same of a community center. In the spring they give away flats of flowers to decorate your patio with and in the fall they do a pumpkin give away. During the summer they have a cook out for all the residences. So they are very community orientated, which is actually neat. It shows that they care about taking care of their residence. The apartment is tucked away in Glendale. I can't even explain how excited we are!

The only draw back is many of the reviews I read were negative. Working in the service industry though, I came to realize that the only time people fill things out or take surveys are when things are negative. Many people forget to give praise when things are positive. So keeping that in mind, we are going to give it a shot because it looks like a great place to live.

After we looked at the apartment we went window shopping for house stuff (we don't want to buy too much until we know exactly where we are living). I never though I would get excited about buying a shower curtain.. but, well, I was. Then the saddest part came... I got excited about looking for a garbage can. It's the little things, I tell ya! All of this is just for an apartment.. wait until we buy a house. Andy is going to go insane!! Oh well :)

683 days :)