Camping

This last weekend we went camping with Jesse's family. It was a lot of fun. Now I guess I know how Jesse felt those times I dragged him around to my family's camping events. It's kinda funny how different everyone's families are. You grow up around your family and you kinda start to think that everyone's family is just the same as yours. But that's not true.

I really like his family and I think I might just get used to hanging out with them.

Wedding Dress Update:
I go to pick up the real dress today. Hooray!

Wove, twue wove, wiww fowwow you fowevew...

We're getting married in 3 weeks.

I'm not sure if you realize how weird this is (well, you probably do if you've been married). I never have been, so it's all new for me. I'm so excited, and scared, and generally sort of in disbelief about the whole thing. I'm not getting a tux for someone else's wedding, I'm getting one for my own--that's hard to wrap my mind around.

I mean, I'm not going to be single anymore. I'm going to live with my best friend for the rest of my life. It's weird and wonderful. I've looked forward to this for about as long as I can remember...and now it's actually happening.

The engagement was a lot harder than I expected. That said, I can't say I've had cold feet at any point. There has never been any question for me about whether I am marrying the right person. I'll never find anyone, ever, as perfect for me as Amy. As Forrest Gump said, "We (is) like peas and carrots." What precisely that means I'm not sure, but I like when he talked about chocolate. And I think I get the general idea.

I do know that I'm better with her, and I believe the same is true in reverse. We complement each other; we improve each other's strengths and minimize each other's weaknesses. And despite the fact that we're really, really different (I didn't realize how different until not very long ago), we have lots in common.

And I love her. There's not a lot to explain about that. I just do. I think that's how it should be.

Wedding Dress Fiasco

I haven't really had much to say lately, but I figure I can tell this story just so y'all know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth or anything.

I got a call from the gal who ordered my dress for me (Dione LaBrow, for those of you familiar with her business) that the discount company she did her ordering through had just filed for bankruptcy. She had gotten a shipping number for my dress, so she was pretty sure it was on the way. So that was good. Also, all of my bridesmaids got their dresses, so that was totally a God thing.

So the package got here yesterday. I was so stoked. I took it upstairs and opened the box. And it's the WRONG dress. Inside the box was a letter saying they were very sorry, but they couldn't meet their financial obligations so they were sending me a dress similar to the one I ordered and they gave me the phone number for Demetrios, who makes the dress I ordered.

My mom called them before she went to work this morning and they'll be shipping the dress soon. It should be here by Friday, Monday at the latest. And it's only going to cost us about $400 more, because they're selling it to us fo 50% off. So I guess I'm just back where I started, paying full price for the dress that was only supposed to cost me 60%. Oh well, at least I'll have the right dress when the day rolls around.

Fast Times at the Houses

Hey kids. Sorry we haven't written in a while, but I did try. For some reason, Blogger erased my post, or it didn't get published correctly, or something. In any case, I did make a concerted effort. You'll just have to take my word for it.

I'm at work right now. (Shh...don't tell anyone. It's a secret.) ;) Man, I love this job--the people are great, I feel like my work is valuable, I feel competent--I really like it. And I'm making about twice as much money as I did at Guitar Center. God totally knows what he's doing.

The wedding plans are rolling along...if you haven't gotten an invitation yet, you should soon. Sorry about how late they are. We're kind of distracted. The biggest hitch so far has been that 3 of my groomsmen, who I was in a band with, decided that there was a gig that was more important than the wedding. Of course, they decided that on the day we were scheduled to get fitted for tuxes. (Notice I said I 'was' in a band with them.) Very nice.

To be fair, they had scheduled it a while ago and just didn't know exactly when it was (yay for the contact at the gig). But they HATED that gig when they played it last year and didn't want to do it again this year. Frankly, it's pretty flaky and weak. I'm still a little angry about it. But it's good to find out who your real friends are. I just wish it didn't have to go down like that, you know?

But I remember that I was devastated about the loss of a job just a few months ago, and I've been given one that is much, much better. God knows exactly what he's doing.