Older...

My baby brother turns 40 today. Happy Birthday Pooh (he'll love that!)!

But stop getting older NOW. It makes ME feel ancient!

Signing contracts...

Well, it's officially official. We've signed the contract for the place we're getting married, picked the photographer (and should be signed up with her this week) and tomorrow John's calling the officiant to reserve him. Wow! It's come together pretty quickly and we're loving what we've got planned.

The weekend flew by. Saturday is a blur and today was almost as fast. For fun (not really!), we gave Enzo a bath this afternoon. I had the leash and the treats and John was the scrubber. And we all got nice and wet. LOL! But the beast is all pretty and nice smelling. Not too happy with us, but he'll get over it. Until tomorrow when the vet comes to the house for a visit! There's a new local vet that makes house calls with a tricked out box truck. They can basically perform surgery on your pet in your driveway! This is a god-send since the beast loves getting in the Tahoe to go for a ride, but has LOTS of issues about getting out of it. I was really surprised that the cost is really comparable to taking him to the vet we've used in the past. It's worth the extra few dollars to not have to drive the 45 mins. to the vet's office (there are others closer, but the one we used was good about volunteering with the local shelters and I wanted to support them). I'll let you know how he does...and if he gets revenge by not letting us sleep.

Time to head to bed. Gotta work tomorrow. Unfortunately.

It's been a busy couple of weeks...

Making plans for the wedding, telephone calls to get paperwork and contracts, and spending some serious quality time with Charter Cable trying to figure out why they are so incompetent! We also took a quick overnight road trip to Augusta and Camden, Maine (business for John and pleasure for us) and I've spent the past couple weekends having fun hanging out with friends. I've created a wedding planner/scrapbook that I love and I'm having fun filling it up. I've figured out how to shut off the flash on my camera. I've taken a few pictures and even uploaded them to Flickr and Facebook! We've done a good cleaning of the kitchen, taken out the old cafe table set and set up the rolling countertop/cabinet. It's been crazy, fun, frustrating and all the little things that everyday life can be.

But yesterday I got a reality check and a reminder to make sure I do my best to enjoy every day. I witnessed a horrific motorcycle accident that was caused by some kids driving recklessly. I know they didn't set out to hurt someone, but someone was seriously injured because they were playing. It was like watching a stunt man in a movie...only he didn't have a mat to land on. Hopefully the motorcycle rider will be OK (there's nothing in the local papers about it yet...I'm taking that as a good sign). He was conscious and in pain when they were putting him on the board to move him into the ambulance and he did try to move before we stopped him, so hopefully his wounds are the kind that will heal soon. It was just so scary to watch.

And so I don't leave this post ending on a sad note, here are some pictures from Camden. The day was overcast, but it was warm with a lovely breeze....

(p.s. can someone/anyone please tell me why my pictures always load at the top of my post instead of where the cursor is? I have to drag/drop them and for then delete a bunch of returns inserted randomly between paragraphs. Help!)

Wedding Site Available...Check!

I called today to check with the people at the place we'd like to get married about availability and was happy to find the day we picked is wide open right now. So we'll be making a visit soon to see it in person and make our reservation. Exciting!

I've been having lots of fun checking out wedding planning blogs and photographer websites and surfing Etsy. I've narrowed down the photographer to a couple to talk to and then it's on to flowers and reserving the place where we plan to stay for the weekend. John is going to line up the officiant (very cool prospect for this...hope he's able to do it!).

And those are pretty much all of the things I need to worry about now. The rest is little details that I have plenty of time to figure out.

All this planning is making my inner "Julie, your Cruise Director" very, very happy!

First dilemma arises...

Apparently I jinxed myself saying how making decisions were just coming easy for me. Although I don't plan on shopping for a wedding dress until closer to the wedding, I wanted to get an idea of what was available in the price range I wanted to spend. And the first time I visited JCrew I fell in love with these two looks:

And then while I was surfing some wedding blogs, I saw this:

Completely different styles, completely different feels. But man oh man, I seriously love those polka dots! And I really didn't want a strapless dress, but I'm obsessed with that skirt. The lovely 1950's poofy look of it. The layers. The dots! It is so different from what I was sure I wanted (see those first two dresses - my vision come to life).

Looks like this decision is going to be tougher than I though...

So much inspiration...

The web is just an amazing tool. I have spent the last few days surfing wedding blogs and sites and I am overwhelmed by the inspiration I have found. So, so many cute ideas and beautiful photographs. My Blog Reader list is getting huge! It's going to be a fun ride planning this day. :)

Easier...

It's funny how much easier making decisions is the second time you plan a wedding. I'm finding that there's much less hemming and hawing over something...I either want/like it or I don't. And it's definitely easier eloping! :)

Witnesses...check!

The plans are starting to roll along. We are eloping with friends so that our witnesses won't be strangers. Today we told them the news and we're good to go! It was fun to start talking details and be sappy about good friends and reminisce about life and it's twists and turns.

In completely unrelated news, I won a prize on the Making Memories blog. I love the new travel line and this will complete my collection! LOL!

Off to work a bit and surf a bit. :)

Almost forgot...

Happy Anniversary John! Thank you for two of the best years I have known. You make me laugh every day and show me all the time what's important. You are my safe place, my friend, my love.

A peek at where...since when is a secret!

It's lovely, it's surrounded by beautiful grounds and it's outside. Perfect...just perfect.

Time to plan...

There's been lots of fun things happening lately, but finally I've got something big enough to get me to writing. John and I made a big decision today. We picked the when and where to make it official. And since we're eloping and surprising people, this is all I get to say. But I wanted to document the news and share with friends that the planning is beginning. Kind of nervous, kind of scared, very happy. I picked up my first (and most likely only) bride magazine - Martha Stewart Weddings - Do It Yourself Style and the binder to make a planner/notebook.

....scroll down a few posts to see my Etsy mini for some of my new favorites! ;)

Life is good and the journey takes a new turn.