Twins?

Is it just me, or could Scott Baio (from Charles' in Charge) and Craig Horner (from Legend of the Seeker) possibly be twins separated by the 80s and 20 years?  I'm just saying that to me, they look, sound, act eerily similar.

Wedding attire - women

I love this dress. I love the color. I love the pleats. I love the cut. I love that its from my all-time favorite store. I love the price - currently on sale for $99. I was having dreams of my lovely friends in pretty pleated "mojito" green, or more selfishly of me in it at the rehearsal dinner, but alas, its only available in a size 00 - who in the world actually fits into a size 00?!?

* Image from Banana Republic

Wedding Date

I'm seriously considering Sunday May 30th, 2010 for the wedding.  It has some advantages - lower prices because not yet June, its close enough to June that the weather will probably be good, and its the weekend of Memorial Day, so my Sunday wedding is effectively a Saturday wedding.  However, I'm worried that Memorial Day will make it more expensive and difficult for people to travel.  Right now I'm thinking that the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, but I'm super indecisive, and, having a actual wedding date scares me.

Venue - Part 1

We are currently in search of a venue.  I'm convinced we found the place back in December, but Beau thinks we should check out other places so we are.  

We had certain criteria that a venue had to mostly fulfill to make the list:

• The venue must accommodate both our ceremony and reception
  
• Have no religious affiliation, but allow religious ceremonies
  
• Not be a country club (absolute requirement)
  
• Not be a ballroom or party room or banquet room or any variation there of (absolute requirement)
  
• Must have both viable indoor and outdoor options that do not include tents (I don't like tents)
  
• Preferably be within a 30 min drive of the city center 
  
• Not be Casa Larga!
  
• Must be a place we and our family and friends could be comfortable - not too formal, not too casual

Based on these criteria our online searching yielded four possibilities, luckily all of them appear to fall into our price range:

• The Rabbit Room at Lower Mills Honeoye Falls, NY
  
• Artisan Works, Rochester, NY
  
• The Museum and Science Center, Rochester, NY
  
• Hurd Orchards, Holley, NY
  

So far we have visited all but Hurd Orchards, and met with representatives about prices/details/etc at The Rabbit Room and Artisan Works.  We are working out times to meet with the representatives from the Museum and Hurd Orchards, but my schedule kind of sucks, so its been difficult. 

Over the next few posts, I think I'll outline some of our current decisions and our pros/cons for each possible location.

Attempting to resist...

Peonies posted about these recycled glasses today and now I'm a little obsessed with getting a bunch of them for flowers or tea lights as part of the centerpieces.  Is it too soon to buy stuff for centerpieces when I have no wedding date or location yet?  Someone please give me confirmation thats its totally OK to spend about $100 for 4 sets!  Plus, they are totally reusable as amazing cups - right? 

made by YAVAglass

Just because...

...pictures of the Gabby-cat

Psycho-kitty-eyes

Freedom?

Stealth mode

I'm trying to remain calm... really!

For the last week I've been trying very hard to remain calm and not become one of those hysterical brides.  However, life seems to be conspiring against me.  

First, you need to know that I don't do well with change.  New things stress me out and it takes me a long time to get comfortable in new situations.  With that said, Beau's bro (Adii) has moved in with us for three months until he graduates from college.  This is a major stress in my life right now, even though I know it shouldn't be.  He is actually a very good roommate - clean, quite, mostly keeps to himself actually - but the mere fact that he is there causes me mental distress.

Adii's moving in has presented another problem.  My best friend D has been planning an engagement party for Beau.  I have very little interest in having one, but she is moving to Turkey in August and will not be able to attend my shower or bachelorette parties, so I'm very happy (and humbled) that she would want to put this together for me, Beau and our families.  We decided on Memorial Day weekend back in January and spread the word to family and friends so that they could keep it in mind.  How does this relate to Adii's moving in?  Well Beau put Adii's  graduation (slash move out date) on the calendar, and it is of course Memorial Day weekend...  Clearly, we cannot have the engagement party that weekend.  D was very chill about it (way more chill than I was), and we decided on a new date in June, only to discover that its the tentative date for Beau's sister's bridal shower!  Ugh!  I love his sister and feel horrendous asking her to change the date, but there is really no other weekend that works for the engagement party.  The more I think about the engagement party, the more I know its superfluous, but the more I feel like I need to have this one wedding related event with D.  I know its stupid because she will be at the wedding, and that is most important, but I just always expected her to be with me throughout the entire process.  I really don't know what to do.  I guess I'll have to suck it up and talk to Beau's sis and mom to see if we can work it out.

The final new stress in my life is that based on the pictures, my mom and sister have decided that they really don't like my wedding dress.  Also stupid since its my dress and it doesn't matter if my mom likes is as long as I do - blah, blah, blah...  but, I want my mommy to like my dress.

Sorry that was really negative and stupid post, but I needed to get some of that out, so I'm not a psycho person at home.

Here is a pretty picture of the Mediterranean Sea from a beach near Tel Aviv, Israel (photo by me).  I can't wait until I get to visit this spot with Beau on our honeymoon!

Deep, calming breaths... ohm...