March Photo a Day: Before / After

So I know that I owe you March 11-19, but let's just say the iPad ate my blogpost. No, really, it did. I'm still angry about it. I had this great post of photos to share and it posted fine. But then I saw a typo and couldn't help myself. I logged into blogger and whammo --- all content from the post was gone.

That being said, I'm so excited about this photo. Confession: this was taken on Saturday, but I made the collage today (on my iPad :))

The top two "before" photos were taken from our drive our here in September. That's me around 138ish pounds. Ugh. That sucked to type out. My weight went down a bit and then went up in December. I think it was around the 138 mark, but I honestly stopped weighing myself.

Since the last week in December, I've been working out pretty consistently. Leading up to the bar exam, it was 6 days a week. Mostly the stair machine and sometimes a P57 DVD. The last 2 weeks, however, I've started going to The Bar Method, which is very very similar to P57 (sorry no links -- haven't figured that part out in the app yet).

I'm happy to report that yesterday, I put on pants that were starting to get tight (despite being a size up from my normal size) and I needed a belt to hold them up! Seriously, they were about TWO INCHES too big! And today, I weighted myself -- I've lost 12 lbs. since my last official weigh-in. I'm somewhat regretting not having a better before picture, but I'm really good a avoiding cameras and/or "wearing it well". I think you can tell the difference in my face the most.

So, sorry this is a braggy post but I'm just so gosh darn excited! It's great to finally see some real results. I'm well on my way toward accomplishing #6 on my 30 Before 30.

Thank You

Everyone, I'd like to take a brief moment to thank all of you for your positive thoughts and comments over the past week! I feel like all the good vibes sent out into the Universe helped me with my test anxiety. I felt focused and ready to rock it out for all 3 days.

I'm also happy to say that I'm DONE and that Erik and I celebrated in style with a 12-course tasting menu with drink pairing last night at Baumé. Poor guy is a little hungover and at work all day. Me? I'm back in sweatpants and catching up on tv shows (and the blog and outside world). Plans for the weekend include going to another wine pick up event at Ridge this afternoon, going for a hike to see wildflowers since it'll be 71+ degrees out this weekend (76 on Sunday!), and possibly hitting up the Mountain View Farmers' Market.

30 Before 30 Revisited

I've been thinking a lot about my 30 Before 30 List (now moved to its own Page because I'm fancy like that).  I've also been thinking about what I want from this blog and what I want to do in 2012 (new year's resolutions and such).  I love blogging even though I've been absent (but, hey, so have a lot of you who have blogs!).  Blogging is super hard during the holidays not to mention the fact that I underestimated how hard it would be to adjust to my new life here in California. But this is not about making excuses -- because I don't need to! I refuse to feel guilty for my lack of blogging because I've been spending the last 3 months getting settled in my new home and job and getting reacquainted with my husband.  I also have to admit that I really want to blog about the rest of my adventures in NYC, but I have found looking at the photos painful because I miss it (and my friends) so very much.

I learned through this holiday season of traveling and seeing family and friends that I am starting to really like it out here.  I miss everyone terribly but I'm going to make a better effort to keep in touch via the phone and email (but mostly phone because I like real-time conversations better) and stop depending so much on social media.  So, I'm going to embrace my longing for NYC and channel it to share my adventures with you.

Anyway, back to the 30 Before 30 list.  A surprising and shocking amount of things have changed in my life since June 17, 2011 when I made this list.  I'm not sure I reserved the right to change my list at will in my initial post but it's my list and I'll do what I want. :)  So, here is a revised list (well, really an amendment because I'm not going to amend and restate... you'll just have to put up with my posting only the changed items.  Check the Page for the restated list):

Old 6. Hit 122 lbs. and stay there! I'm changing this one because, frankly, I have better things to do with my time than obsess about those extra 8 pounds (okay, 10) I'm carrying around.  But I do want to be healthier and in better shape, which is a constant struggle with how many hours I work and how long I sit at a desk every day.  That leads to New 6. Turn 30 in the best shape of my life (or a close second to freshman year of college when I was doing crew).

Old 10. Run a marathon in wine country.  So, I had signed up for a marathon in wine country.  But, yeah, with the crazy hours I was working in NYC before I quit, moving and starting a new routine my training fell by the wayside, the way-wayside (I get winded more easily than I care to admit now, but see New 6 above).  When I tried to start training again in October, I realized that training for a marathon was not how I like to workout.  I felt very limited by the daily runs and not being able to do anything but run for months.  Also, who wants to run 8 miles on a weekday? Not me.  So while it would be amazing to complete a marathon before I'm 30, I would be doing it for the pure satisfaction of checking something off a list — not because I really have a burning desire to run for 4+ hours straight or because I LOVE running so much. So, my new goal is: New 10. Save enough for a down payment on a house.  You're right, this has NOTHING to do with my previous #10.  Oh well.  The reasoning for this one is apparent on its face (and was not even a pie-in-the-sky dream when we lived apart).

Old 17. Revisit Sanibel Island. As much as I have great memories of traveling to Sanibel Island, FL with my grandparents as a child, now that Erik and I have moved to the West Coast popping down to Florida for a long weekend is not going to happen.  It would be prohibitively expensive.  I'd like to go back but not before I'm 30.  Along the same lines of revisiting childhood memories, I present New 17. Revisit Yosemite National Park. We may even do this one this February/ March (we'll have to see how my bar study goes).

Old 20. Travel to a U.S. city purely because of a restaurant/ something I saw on tv. This is not a good goal.  It just isn't.  I've already kind of done this already (usually picking a place and then finding cool things to do).  Also, I don't watch the travel channel. AND I do this ALL the time.  All our weekend adventures are based off a book or a blogpost or maybe from TV, but we just don't watch enough TV.  Plus, we are spontaneous enough.  I don't need to waste a precious slot on this. This leads me to New 20. [Redacted].  I know, I know.  Putting in a redacted goal is kind of lame, but there are somethings that are too personal to have on the blog.  I'll talk about this one with friends but online seems a little too big of a portal.  This goal is also too important to not have on the list so this is the best compromise I could think of.  So there. :P

Anyway, I realize that this is changing 13.3% of my original list but whatevs. I can't stick to just one plan made at one moment in my life.  Life is fluid and so this list is fluid.  My priorities change and will probably change again especially if we hit another major life event. So, with that, my new goals before I turn 30 (20 months from today!).  Happy 2012 to all!

First Thoughts on New Job

I know that I owe everyone photos.  Photos of our AWESOME! road trip out to California.  Photos from our AWESOME! weekend adventures to both Half Moon Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains.  And, finally, photos from our AWESOME! new apartment.  But you're stuck with photos of my new office.  ::Shrug::

You're also stuck with my first impressions TechLaw PC from my first 3 days.  (Please don't begrudge me my cheesy fake law firm names).

• I feel like I had been in a time warp technology-wise.  It's all very overwhelming.  I actually got to choose between a PC and Mac! Wow.  (I picked Mac)
• People here are SO FRIENDLY.  Like, almost too friendly.  I leave work every day exhausted from the friendliness.  I'm a perky person, but there are limits, people!
• I was able to pick out art from an art room for my own office.  Yay for not having to share an office anymore!
• My firm only uses color paperclips.
• I get to work on cool IPOs with start-ups.
• The pay is the same as NYC but the hours are WAY better.  My prior definition of a run-of-the-mill bad week: 9am to 2am.  My new definition: 10am to 10pm.
• My firm not only takes recycling seriously (very seriously) but also composts and supports a local food bank.
• There is free sparkling water in the cafeteria.
• People here wear clothing that is not just black.
• Partners stop by my office to say "hi" and encourage me to "stop by" their offices to talk about what they are working on.
• My commute home today consisted of a harvest moonrise over darkened mountains.  It was amazing.  No joke.

Now the photos.

Yes, my office comes with a plant!

View from my desk.

The door from my desk.

View from door.  My window overlooks an exterior courtyard.

Paperclips in color!

Still Unpacking

Ugh.  It feels as though I'll never be unpacked/ settled.  Yes, I know it's only been a week but it's been a week of continuous unpacking/ organizing/ deciding what to donate, and I'm pooped/ bored/ over it!  Thank goodness I pushed back my start date until the 10th.  If I had to start work this coming Monday, I would just be beside myself.

As for California, I haven't had much time to explore yet (or blog) -- not wanting to leave the apartment a complete mess.  Today, I have plans to venture out and test drive a few cars (yesterday, I test-drived two cars) and go to the mall to use my coupons that stores so kindly sent me for my birthday month and today is the last day to use them.

This weekend Erik and I plan to finish things up around the apartment and do some exploring.  I bought an awesome book 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: San Francisco.  We are going to pick a hike to do this weekend as well as do a wine tasting at Ridge.  TGIF!

Wish me luck!

Moving to Cali: Blogging on the Road Is Harder than I Thought

I've been very deficient in the posting during this trip (believe me, I'll definitely be posting all the photos at some point).  Here are a few teaser photos from days 1-2.

About to hit the road
Hinsdale, IL

This was the highlight of our day (before BWWs)

Well, there's always that.

Halfway point
Gothenburg, NE

Nebraska

Colorado-style pizza (new favorite) and a local microbrew
Fort Collins, CO

So many bikes!
Fort Collins, CO

Moving to Cali: Brief Update

As you can imagine Erik and I were wiped after driving all day on Sunday.  This was exacerbated by the fact that we immediately went to Buffalo Wild Wings and gorged ourselves on buffalo sauce goodness.  Therefore, no blogposts were written last night and I've run out of scheduled posts! We are set to get into Fort Collins, Colorado early tonight so expect a real update with photos tomorrow of our first 2 days of road tripping.

Some brief points of interest:

• Celeste is still crying the whole way.  However, this time I covered her carrier with my jacket and it either muffles the sound or makes her shut up.  Either way, our sanity has been restored.
• It rained during most of the drive (really, all but the last 45 minutes).
• Nebraska's speed limits are amazing -- 75 mph -- wha wha!
• BWW's is still our favorite guilty pleasure.
• We made it through an 8+ hour car ride without the stereo/ radio working in the car and didn't kill each other.  Our marriage is definitely going to last!
• We went to the "World's Largest Truckstop" and it was the most memorable thing on our drive...

1,300 miles down, 1,700 miles to go!

Happy Three Year Anniversary to . . .

THIS BLOG!!

25th Bday... 2 days shy of 3 years ago.

That's right.  THREE YEARS ago today I posted my first blogpost ever.  Thanks to those of you that have stuck with me during the wedding planning and then the sporadic post-wedding updates and the long lulls of nothingness.  We've come pretty far together. 

There was the agonizing about the monogram, the dress fitting upon dress fitting upon dress fitting (18, in fact), one wedding photo and then nothing for the rest of 2009, 2010 consisted of trying to blog about our first year of marriage while catching up on the wedding planning (don't think I ever caught up!), minimal blogging in the back half of 2010, dropping you all and then coming back this past spring with my personal favorite — the Scavenger Hunt posts. 

Since starting the blog, I've lived in 3 apartments and in 3 different states (about to go to my 4th of both!).  I became an attorney and Erik got his Ph.D. (Drs. Nelson in the house! woo woo!!).  I've started and quit my dream job.  Erik worked at Hahvahd and will working at what could be his dream job.  We traveled to Spain and Napa Valley and Cleveland.  And now we are moving across the country.

I hope to continue to entertain you and seek your support.  And don't worry, guys.  I will continue to do my Scavenger Hunts NorCal style. :)

Working on #5 (Part III)

Note: You may want to read starting at Part I also posted today.

So, the trip to California went really really well.  I flew back this morning on a red eye (ouch!!!) after doing a double-header interview (2 firms, 10 people, one day.... again ouch!!).  The good news is that even before I left Cali, I had 2/3 offers!  The third came today.  Ultimately, there's one firm that stuck out in my mind.  Of course, I have to see the official offer but I will be negotiating certain compensation items.  I can't wait to tell you all about it when I officially accept!  I think that it will be sooo different than my experience now (in terms of social etiquette stuff) but will also be very similar in terms of actual work!  Best of both worlds?!!

Anyway, because I've gotten offers, I decided that I shouldn't wait to give notice.  I will say that the people I told were pretty surprised.  It's very early in my career to make a move.  And, frankly, last week notwithstanding, I'm actually pretty bummed about not getting more out of my experience.

At any rate, I did it.  Today, I quit my first legal job.  It's so hard to believe.  My last day will either be the 9th or the 16th or somewhere in between.  Only 3 weekends left!  Expect lots of Scavenger Hunt updates. :)  My past stresses with telling partners at the firm stuff were no indication of how easy it was to give notice.  I'm leaving for good reasons not bad so there were no hard feelings.  I was able to tell them with a straight face that this was not part of the plan and that I'm a little disappointed to be leaving so soon.  But I also told them that I'm so happy to be reunited with my husband.  That they can totally relate to!  SO, as of September 1, 2011 (a full TWO YEARS ahead of schedule btw), I will accomplish my #5 on the 30 Before 30 list.  YAY us!

As for now, I'm taking a mental health break and not planning any logistics.  Between the back to back interviews, stress of my deal before I left, the red eye, a busy day at work and the earthquake (really strange on the 47th floor), I need to relax!  Expect more updates as we finalize plans.

Working on #5 (Part II)

Note: This blog post was written on August 16, 2011. Warning. It's really long, but it's worth it. Well, if you want to find out about #5, then it is. :)

We last left off on Friday night where I was told to get sleep in preparation for a hellish weekend.  Well, it certainly was!  I worked about 32-33 hours this past weekend.  I'm not even joking.  And did the deal sign yesterday?!  NO.  Maybe it'll sign tomorrow, maybe it'll never sign.  At this point, I just don't even freakin' care.  I could go into a huge rant about being marginalized on the deal (potentially my fault for being distracted last week but not entirely my fault because the person I'm working with has trouble delegating), mismanaged (sitting around for 4+ hours waiting for comments on a beautiful Saturday!) and sleep-deprived (not going to bed before 3:30am Saturday night and leaving work at 4am on Monday morning only to come back in at 10am and bill a measly 3 hours -- soooooooo pointless).

Some good things have happened since last Friday.  Erik faxed in his offer acceptance today (their final approval pending on his background check).  And, I got another interview in California and booked my travel out there.

This is all happening very quickly.  I will say that this past week of work has not made the decision harder.  Especially since while I'm trying to write this (at 9pm-10:30pm at home, mind you), I keep getting emails with work even though I billed a total of ONE f*cking hour during normal work hours!  While I'm not too upset about leaving my job, I am sad that I worked the whole of what may will be one of my last weekends in NYC.  But my body really hates working like this.  Between the crazy week at work and Erik interviewing and me interviewing and wondering how I'm going to get to California for several days without letting the cat out of the bag, I've been a little less than calm and collected.  My ulcer is acting up.  My allergies decided to go haywire (which really makes me think I'm allergic to my firm.  The last time my allergies similarly freaked was during an equally bad week.  I'm thinking it's the air recirculating in the skyscraper....).  Also, I'm really really tired.  And don't even get me started on my back...

But the absolute WORST thing about this is that I can't tell anyone.  I mean, I can but I can't.  Sure, like 10 people total know.  The people I talk to every day.  I can't lie to the people I have close relationships with.  I just can't.  But the associate who's kind of making things terrible for me?  Eh, he doesn't need to know.  I'll tell him (and everyone else for that matter) when I give notice at my firm.  And I won't give notice until I have a job offer (I'll give notice before I accept the offer -- hopefully, I'll have several and be able to negotiate for higher pay/ step-up in class year/ signing bonus /etc.).  Anyway, I'm not a dishonest person by nature.  I just am not.  I have a really hard time lying.  Someone asked me if I was renewing my lease and I was like, "Ummm..... well..... yeah....".  So bad!  Now said person thinks something is up and keeps asking me random personal questions.  He really wants to know what's up!  We're not that good of friends, buddy.  It's actually kind of funny.  My friend Jisoo and I have dubbed him Noseyparker.  Coincidentally, this post hit ATL.  All I could think was—exactly!

One of the things that I had to do yesterday was let the partner know I was taking personal days.  This is the same partner of this post and this post (and the 8 months post about only getting after hours emails).  I mean, do I say that I have "family issues" or "personal stuff"?  Do I make up a sick family member?  Do I tell him I'm moving?  Do I tell him Erik has a job in California (he knows E was looking for a job and that we are long distance)?  Ultimately, I ended up sending the following email after I got my travel confirmation from the firm in Palo Alto:

Subject:  Personal Days  Hi [Partner],

I know this is probably not the best timing but over the course of the last week some personal stuff has come up. Unfortunately, I am going to need to take a few personal days to go to California Thursday through Monday to take care of things. I was hoping that XXXXX would sign today so I wasn't leaving in the middle of a deal. I'm taking the red eye back Monday night/ Tuesday morning so I anticipate being in at the beginning of the day Tuesday. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Best,
Meaghan

I stressed about this email much like I stressed about this email.  Clicking "send" literally took my breath away.  Fortunately, he was receptive.  He emailed me back rather quickly (as opposed to my vacation reminder with no response) and merely said that it was fine with him and to remind him later.  Wow.  So easy, right?  An unfortunate and unexpected side effect of sending said email was my motivation plummeting.  It was as though by clicking send, I effectively gave notice that I was leaving.  I know this isn't the case and I am fairly confident he doesn't know what's up, but still.  I haven't taken any personal days before (and probably wouldn't if not for this).

Anyway, despite working ALL weekend, things during the week have been really SLOW.  That's totally annoying.  Monday, I billed a total of 2.7 hours.  Today, not much better.  Sigh.  I guess that's life.  One of the things that I've decided to do while being slow (and will probably continue to be slow because I won't get staffed on something as soon as they know I'm leaving), is to work on finishing my Scavenger Hunt series.  So, today I made a list (by neighborhood) of all the things I have left to see.  I haven't even scratched the surface, guys!  I have my work cut out for me but hopefully I'll have some work-free weekends to explore and cross things off the list.  Wish me luck!

Working on #5 (Part I)

Note: This blog post was written on August 12, 2011.  Warning.  It's really long, but it's worth it.  Well, if you want to find out about #5, then it is. :)

This has been a crazy, crazy week.  In fact, it's made that much crazier by the fact that I CAN'T TELL ANYONE what's going on.  I mean, sure, there are people that know what's going on.  (I think I could count them on both hands.)    There are lots of reason why I can't tell anyone.  Most of all because things may not work out as planned and then I'll look like a failure and also I haven't given notice at work.  Erik's already held up his end of the bargain with his (awesome!!!) job offer.  But now it's my turn...

K, I should reset.  Background.  Back in April/May, Erik dropped a bombshell on me.  What if we moved to California?  Umm...... WHAT?!!?  For the 6 months leading up to that point, he had alternated between moving to NYC, looking for professorships around the country (most likely Atlanta) and doing consulting in Chicago.  He was trying to make his own way and figure out what he truly wanted, and I was TOTALLY supportive of that especially because I can practice law anywhere.  For real.  But California?! Really?!!  Let's just say that that weekend was not our best weekend visit.  I freaked out and it was tabled.  By the way, for those that don't know me very well, I don't like life-changing surprises.  God help us if we accidentally get pregnant before we (okay, I) prepare.

Fast forward to June.  The third week of June, Erik mentions California to me again.  Only this time, I'm receptive.  Another lesson learned: Tell me something, I freak out.  Then mention it a few months later, and I'm totally game.  Ah, to be a woman...  Anyway, I was on board this time.  Erik and I began work on his resume and cover letter.  He actually wanted to take advantage of my editing skills! Yay for Team Nelson!  All joking aside, he's an excellent writer and presenter and just an overall rockstar so he doesn't really need my help... well, except for those italicized commas and small typos in the resume...  The life of an attorney.

We waited and we waited for places to get back to him.  He followed up after 3 weeks (and after Simon and Annemarie's wedding!).  Then, during my vacation from work during the last 2 weeks of July, he had a phone interview.  AND it went well!!  So, during vacation, we decided that I would contact a recruiter that had already placed 2 people in my class (the "Lost Generation" of lawyers) at my firm to other firms (both in Texas, oddly enough).  I heard he had good contacts on the West Coast as well so I figured it was worth a shot.  Initially our search included Portland but that was quickly thrown by the wayside after the recruiter confirmed it was a career-killer for me.

Anyway, fast forward again to this week.  Erik flew out to California this past Tuesday to interview at two amazing and well known companies (which will not be mentioned on the blog for obvious reasons).  I have half a mind to call them I'm-So-Smart, Inc. and We're Badass Corp.  Only because Erik's so amazing to have these opportunities, especially in such a bad economy.  Anyway, also during this week:  One of the deals that had died, come back, died, and now is back in a very complicated form has completely destroyed my week. I only went to bed before 3:30am once this week.  ONCE.  It was Monday night and it was 1:30am.  Although, in hindsight, Monday night's late night was totally worth it.  I met my Bmaid Jess (yes, I still consider her my bmaid 2 years later) for drinks and it was fab to just catch up!  Despite that otherwise bright spot, this week (for me) has been very stressful.  Erik was out of pocket with interviews and work was stressful and then to boot, on Wednesday I got an interview at my top choice firm!  I'm not a deceitful person by nature.  I think that's why this has been such a stressful week.  I don't like not telling people what's going on with me.  I'm an open book and being a closed one is just killing me.
Anyway, back to Wednesday.  Erik's interview on Wednesday went amazing and he got a really fabulous job offer at his top choice.  OMG YAY!!  As of right now, he's still "thinking" about it, which is, honestly, driving me coo-coo.  Like, didn't you think of this before you went out there??!  Anyway, we're 99% sure we are going to California after his interview.  Umm.... HOLY COW!!  Also on Wednesday, I received interest from THE top firm in the Silicon Valley.  Even though I've been working insane hours, I decided to pull the trigger and make it happen.

On Thursday at 5:30pm, I had an interview with a partner from the firm.  Thankfully, I was able to sneak out for an hour.  Within 10 minutes he said "When we fly you out...".  I was, like, "Oh, thank you for saying that.  I really look forward to it."  The practice in his group is basically exactly what I do now.  A mixture of corporate governance and mergers & acquisitions.  I love the importance of client relationships with this firm.  So, I come back to work on Thursday at around 7pm with the knowledge that I have an interview next week in Palo Alto, California.  Well, actually two interviews.

Quick digression about Palo Alto.  It's 2.5 hours from my family in Sacramento.  It's 1.5 hours from where we honeymooned!  Talk about crazy.  When I fly to Palo Alto next week, I will be flying to the same area exactly 2 years from our honeymoon.  And this deal at work is INSANE.  Obviously, I can't talk about it now and won't even when it signs.  But, let's just say I'm really looking forward to Monday when it is supposedly signing.  I was told tonight, Friday, that I should go home in a few hours (this was at 7pm) and "rest up" and "get as much sleep as possible".  This does not bode well for the rest of my weekend, which also happens to be Erik's and my anniversary weekend.

Obviously, there are more pressing things on our mind right now.  I think the sacrifices we are making now (i.e., not celebrating our anniversary together) are going to pay off so well in less than a month.

Long Time No Update!

Hello to all of those who have not completely given up on checking the blog! I know that I have been horribly delinquent and even felt pressure/guilt to post to the blog during the 13 days in between moving back from NYC and the wedding but just could not do it. WAY too much stuff to do to tell all of you about the stuff I was doing.

At any rate, my goal is to finish up my posts about the wedding planning experience and catch you all up with the little details and labors of love that made our wedding possible. All those that attended, I hope you had a fabulous time. It really was a perfect day for E and me.

I am debating keeping this blog going even after the wedding updates and make it a sort of Nelson Family Blog but we'll see. If that's the case, it'll probably go private just because blogging about newly married life, job searches, and other such things just seems much more personal than blogging about a wedding, which is a public-ish event afterall.

So, I hope that you will again start checking this site for the events leading up to the big day. Although, it may not be as fun considering you've probably already seen the main event. For my long-distance friends/visitors this will probably be much more interesting. Anyway, I should probably get going with my day (morning classes being canceled are both blessings and curses).

Hotel Info

Hello All,

I have great news about the hotel. The special rates for both Friday and Saturday have been extended until AUGUST 3. We also had them lower the rates to $79 for both room options - 1 king & 2 queens. This also was applied retroactively for those of you completely on the ball with these things!

However, a bit of scolding for those of you who have not RSVPed yet: Please do so! And please indicate who wants what for food!

I love checking our shared Google Doc every day to see how many people are coming. We are up to 94 guests! Also, we were able to invite some people that we REALLY WANTED to come but just didn't have the space. We are super excited to be able to have those people join us on our special day. Unfortunately, we are working with the reality of a tight squeeze with our venue.

So, that's it for now. We have less than 6 weeks until the big day!

Sorry for Being MIA Part II

Life in the Big Apple has been a bit insane lately. Not only because I've been working at a new job but I've been adjusting to life where there's always so much to do. I'm lucky to have such a helpful future husband. He's been handling all logistical things that have come up in the last few weeks while I've been off attending firm functions and meeting celebs like Mariah Carey and Carla from Top Chef... He mostly has to handle these things because I don't want to make personal calls at work. It's hard enough in this economy, I feel, but to add making wedding-related phonecalls at work during work hours (which are all hours, it seems) would make me look bad. E and I both agree it's better to err on the side of caution when it comes to this job.

At any rate, after a 5 week hiatus from wedding planning -- I'm back! This break has actually been pretty nice (for me not for E). And by break - I'm referring to the break from the wedding planning not from E because I miss him terribly! I kind of hit a max-out point in May after I got the invites out, but now it's time to reassess the guest list and see if there is any more flexibility. Fortunately we think there is, so we'll be sending out some more invitations, which means we get to celebrate with all of our loved ones!

So... expect updates from me on a semi-regular basis moving forward. :D

Also, as a fun side note - Erik and I have been engaged ONE YEAR!!!

Sorry for Being MIA

So, I'm a quarter of the way through my summer associate stint in NYC! Time flies when you're having fun (and not getting home until after 9pm every night!).

Just to give a brief update on the wedding front, I'll write a little about some of the happenings. First off, E has been a BIG HELP the last few weeks. He also has the fun job of opening up all the RSVPs. Steph and I bust our butts to get them out and he gets to reap the benefits... that seems fair. Anyway, it's exciting for both of us — and not just because it's nice to get things other than bills in the mail. So... for those of you that have not RSVPed or booked your hotel - get on it! The special rates are only good for 3 more weeks!

We also have been busy planning our honeymoon and getting used to being apart. The first week was really hard for me. Knowing that he's coming in town this weekend, however, has made this week more bearable. Also, I think this is the first birthday of his that we've been able to celebrate together just us since 2004. Isn't that insane?!

Alright, well, tonight was another night where I didn't get home until 9pm... So... I'm going to decompress so I'm ready to take on the day tomorrow!

Quick RSVP Update

I'm about to leave for work (in NYC!!!!!!!) but just wanted to put this out there for those of my guests that read the blog.

Our RSVP cards do not have a spot to indicate who chooses what meal (major oversight on my part that I didn't realize until I made the RSVP spreadsheet!). So... if you could indicate who has what, that would be awesome. We have to know for reasons I don't have time to get into now. I'll post about it later. ;)

Anyway, check the right hand side of the blog from time to time to see the RSVP status. We currently have 14 guests (and 2 almost married people!) coming.

Mailing Snafus

Here I was thinking that the invitations were out and all I had to do was sit around and wait for the RSVPs to roll in. Well, I was wrong. Mostly due to my own stupidity. Exhibit A:

What, the post office doesn't mail things for free? I figure that 1 out of 90ish envelopes isn't so bad, but, seriously? Did I really forget to put a stamp on this? Yes, yes I did. The post office kindly returned it without any markings (well, not true - there was a blue arrow pointing to our return address stamp) and the sticker came off no problem. Then I was faced with a dilemma: Stick a stamp on it and mail as is or go through the hassle of readdressing it because of the arrow. Considering the fact that we are T-minus 10 minutes from leaving for Indiana for another wedding, I am opting for the stick the stamp on and away it goes. Sorry to the recipient.

But this one won't be hand canceled you may be thinking. And you would be right. However, it doesn't appear that hand canceling actually works. I give you Exhibit B:

See the red hand canceled stamp? Then see the horrible black lines through it? Yep, that's right - the origin post office did not run it through the machine but the destination post office did. Thanks, guys. You would think that the fact it was hand canceled in the first place meant something. Apparently not. I take solace in the fact that the hand canceling was free and the fact that at least there are not 2 black machine cancels through the stamp. At least you can still see it! (Thanks M for the photos).

That's all for my rants today. Off to the second wedding of the year!

First RSVP!

Despite the fact that we just sent out the bulk of the invitations yesterday, we received our first RSVP. And it was a YES!!! :D Hoorah!! We had to celebrate this momentous occasion with the requisite photo op.

Here it is (Caution: Spoiler for what our wedding invites look like):

Hmmm... Wonder what Marley picked for food? (I knew it was from her because 1) She told me she sent it like the day I gave it to her and 2) She had her return address on the envelope.) :)



First one! (I'm a huge dork)



Sorry guys, the bar has now been set high. You must use smiley faces or other symbols to mark attendance and include a personal note. :)

Yay! Guest attendance is officially 3 people! Bride, Groom & Marley... Funny enough we'll all have the same last name by the time of the event.

First Invites Out

Because my law school friends are scattering to the 4 winds, we distributed some invitations early (by only a week) last week at my Champaign Shower (will post on that soon). It was surprisingly stressful to get everything together. Stuffing the invitations was surprisingly time-consuming. I know I keep saying "surprisingly" but I guess I figured that since the addressing was so easy (and Erik stamping the return addresses and sticking labels on the RSVP envelopes was easy for me - not so much for him) that I assumed that putting them in the envelopes would be easy. Nope. Thank you, Martha Stewart, and your crazy "good" idea to number the RSVP cards for the silly guests who forget to write their names! This added a level of complexity to the invitation stuffing — especially since the addressed envelopes got out of alphabetical order. That was an unintended consequence of delegating the return address stamping (with our awesome embosser) to the groom.

Oddly enough, this kind of snuck up on us. Erik had ordered the paper for the accommodation inserts several weeks ago, and we were in a holding pattern until that came. Bad news: The paper didn't come in time. Result: Scrambling to get some decent paper at Kinko's and printed enough to give to the people heading out of town! Erik went the morning of the shower to pick them up. Can you say stressful?

At any rate, the ironic part was the paper came the next day! E is picking up the finished product today from Kinko's — I can't wait to see it on the Cougar 80 Cover paper we got. We plan on using this paper (we ordered 100 sheets) for our seating cards too - waste not, want not.

Sealing up the invitations was also a momentous occasion. I made Erik lick them since I was running late getting ready (have to look pretty for my shower). Here are the photos (you can see they obviously tasted bad):

You can see the pure yuckiness of the envelope glue. Just keep in mind - they were sealed with love. Again, we thought about that Seinfeld episode with Susan & George's wedding invitations. Please try not to notice the crazy mess in the background of the photo. I thought about cropping it out and then reconsidered. It was finals week. Judge if you want but it was spotless by that weekend!

Doesn't he look happy to not be licking the envelope?

Anyway, the rest of the invites will go out this week. I'm going to ask the Post Office hand cancel them; however, I'm a little worried that they may not (see the link). I'm thinking since this is a relatively small town they might. I'll keep you updated. As for the stuffing, I'm having a girly-wedding-help-day with Bmaid Steph. We're renting Bride Wars and stuffing the invitations/ painting the guest book — there may also be some day drinking involved (we'll see if I can convince Steph).

Wedding Bands - Part IV

Last post about the wedding bands — I promise. Well, not promise because, of course, there will be band drama to blog about post-wedding, I'm sure. I don't want to rule out a funny post about the groom or me forgetting the rings in Urbana when we leave for the wedding in August. Wouldn't that be hilarious?! Not! That makes me think about making a "take" list for that week. I'm sure we'll be running around like chickens with our heads cut off because I'm landing back in Central Illinois a mere 9 days before we are leaving for the wedding festivities! I'll make an item on my to do list to make another list... Wow. That's all I have to say.

Anyway, back to the bling. As I have posted several times before (here), I was not pleased with the band that went with my engagement ring. I mean, it was beautiful but just not me. I'm not the kind of girl to have so much hardware on a daily basis. I do want the option of having it for special occasions so we kept it but I wanted something to wear every day. I did not want just a plain band though — a girl's gotta have some sparkle. Here are some pictures I took of the new ring (and E's ring!):

My rings with my Chief Justice gavel... Yeah, I'm a total law dork. See this post for proof.

Our wedding bands together. Don't they make a great team?



The trio. Diva (as I call my E-ring) is in the middle peaking through.

I'm super excited about my wedding band! I really can't wait to wear it. I like the round cut diamonds because they match my ring — I also know that diamonds in a band are mostly princess cut or channel so I like the uniqueness of it.