Am I Crazy?!

Ever since we got the news that I got an offer from Under Armour my mind has been racing about the wedding. Figuring out where Jon and I were going to settle before/after the wedding was the biggest stressor in our lives up until 2 weeks ago and I think it was preventing me from getting excited about the wedding.  As the countdowns on our registries kept ticking away I wasn't feeling excited, I was feeling anxious - that September 10th was just this huge deadline in which one of us had to find a new job.  I was almost certain that as soon as we got the news that I had the job all that stress would melt away.  And it did, for a few days, and now I am starting to feel the pressure to pretty much complete all the wedding plans in the next week before I move to Baltimore.  My mind has been racing at work, at the gym,while I sleep,  you name it, and if I take a minute to think about the things I am stressing about I really think I am going crazy.

On Sunday, my mom and I picked out and bought all the candy for the candy bar (don't worry guests, it all has a shelf life of over 6 months) and I literally was tossing and turning all night dreaming about what we were going to do if the bowls don't get re-filled.  I actually lost sleep over half empty bowls of pink candy. 

Yesterday, I spent 3 HOURS thinking about how I was going to get Hokie Bird wine from Blacksburg to Pennsylvania.  I think I ran though 50 shipping/driving scenarios before I realized that I have a friend who is still in school and I will be seeing her next weekend.  I don't even want to know how much we would have spent on shipping cases of wine to someone that lives out of state (because its a law that you can't ship alcohol in Pennsylvania) and then driving to them to pick it up.  I am pretty sure it would have cost more than the actual wine. 

I think I am going to get an ulcer in my stomach trying to make a decision on plastic vs. glass glasses for beer and if people are going to think its tacky to have plastic cocktail plates.  I swear, my mom and I literally made a pro/con list on plastic vs. glass!  This is the problem when you have 2 people who both care too much about what other people will think. 

I have got to take a step back and try to think about some more important things.  Maybe once I get down to Baltimore and Jon and I have house/apartment hunting to focus on that will help!  I can only hope, or else I might have to invest in some Tylenol PM and wine. 

Signed, Sealed Delivered to Baltimore with 148 days to spare.

After two very long years of a long distance relationship, Jon and I FINALLY have the answer to the question "so, where are you guys going to live?"  I fortunately was offered a job with Under Armour and will be moving to Baltimore in 1 week.  In the next 4 months I will be leaving one job, starting another, moving twice, finishing wedding planning and getting married.  Every time I look at my calendar I start to hyper-ventilate a little, and unfortunately the weekend travel is not going to end until we get back from our honeymoon, but I could not be happier or more excited that Jon and I finally will be in one place!!

The Wedding Parties

I sort of have been putting registering for shower and wedding gifts off since Jon and I don't know where we are living yet.  I thought it would be difficult to pick things out if I didn't know what style of place we would be living in.  Well, once I got started, it was not hard at all, haha I don't know why I thought creating a wish list with basically endless possibilities would be difficult - I mean I have been shopping since I could walk, I rock at shopping, and when you get to scan a whole bunch of things and don't have to pay for anything at the end - what could be more fun?! 

I started at Macy's with my mom to pick out all of my "nice" things - like china, silverware, crystal, serving pieces - etc. I knew that I wanted to pick out china that had a neutral pattern on it so that no matter where our dining room is or what it looks like it would always match.  I took my mom with me to register for all this stuff because I consider her a seasoned-vet in china and serving pieces - you should see our basement and 3rd floor at the lake house - its honestly shocking that we need to rent anything for the wedding with all of the entertainment-ware that she has. If I didn't care about all 220 guests having matching plates, we wouldn't need to.  Once I picked out all this stuff, I started getting ideas of what other types of things I needed/wanted...and after that it was very easy to pick out the rest of the stuff on my registry.

Since I knew Jon trusted my judgement/could care less what our china looks like it was just easier for my mom and I to do that part together.  It was probably a good thing Jon wasn't there - because I could just hear the comments he would be making "what do you need 3 sets of wine glasses for?!"  However, I did want Jon to be a part of the registry process in some way, shape or form. 

Crate and Barrel does this really cool thing called "The Wedding Parties" - on the first Sunday of every month you can "RSVP" to attend a wedding party from 9-11 am in any store - the store is only open for couples who are registering and they serve breakfast.  I thought, OK - Jon can come with me and help and at least he will get breakfast out of it.  Here are some pics from our adventure this past Sunday.

I think his favorite part was testing out the couches - even though that was not our purpose for being there.  No, just kidding, he was actually very helpful - I picked out what we need/want and he got to use the scanner.... and if random things that seem a bit odd happen to have ended up on our registry....you now know why. 

A Family Tradition

This weekend Jon and I purchased our wedding bands.  We had been to look and try on twice before - once at the jeweler that Jon bought my engagement ring, which is a family owned and run jeweler who specialized in estate jewelry, custom creations and carries all the exclusive name brands you could think of and one time at Smyth - "Where Maryland Gets Engaged".  Even though Smyth is "preferred jeweler of the Baltimore Ravens" and is a HUGE warehouse, for some reason I didn't feel like we were in a giant warehouse. I was able to look beyond the fact that there was Raven's jewelry ALL over the store because it seemed like everyone in Jon's family had purchased something or another from Smyth.  I felt like I could trust them as a jeweler. 

We made our selections, one thing is for sure- I know what I like - I picked out the same ring 3 times. I guess I should feel confident that I will still like it when it actually arrives.  Jon picked his ring out and it is always an event when the jeweler measures his fingers - this time we got "Wait till I tell the girl in the back she needs to get me a quote for a size 13 ring - she is going to think its for a football player."  Sorry to disappoint you, girl in the back, its just my fiance with monster hands, which I happen to love because my hands, who aren't exactly dainty, feel so nice and petite in there. 

Once we got the quotes and decided to make them ours, we went to the computer and the salesman put Jon's information into the computer.  He typed in J. Roby and asked if his address was on Clearwater Lane - Jon said, "no, Sagewood court, but I think I know who is on Clearwater Lane."  The salesman turned the computer screen so that we could see and there were 2 pages of Robys in the computer system.  I was right! Almost everyone in his family has purchased something or another from Smyth - even his grandparents!  And now that we are in the system I hope our wedding bands are just the first of many gifts I will recieve from Smyth....eh hmm cough, diamond earrings, cough, cough ;)