Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Swing Dancing

It all started with a friend at my old work asking me/us to go dancing with him, before Richard and I even started to date. This friend went all the time and was really good, so I mentioned to Richard, if you go, I'll go. And as we were both beginners we could learn together - so that's what we did. We would meet at a local park-n-ride, then take one car to Denver (to save on gas). This was another time that we were able to spend time getting to know one another. I truly feel that car rides are a great time to talk to one another - other than traffic, there are really no distractions. It was on our car rides down to the Merc that we talked most about life, dreams, ambitions, and stories from childhood. Richard was always anxious to share new music with me and we found that we never ran out of things to discuss.
(Not Us - though maybe one day)

Since then, Richard and I have always loved to swing dance together. When we first started dating every Sunday night was swing dancing at the Mercury Cafe. As we prepare for our wedding, we decided that we really need to practice and get back in shape, so we're back at the Merc on Wednesday nights for their beginner lessons. It is also a great way for us to relieve stress and to spend time together, reminiscing the good ol'days.

Friday, May 8, 2009

5 Weeks and Counting

Yesterday marked 5 weeks to the wedding. Both very exciting... but also kinda stressful. I made the mistake of looking at my checklist of things to do and got REALLY stressed out. It's just all those little things that add up. So please help me - if you haven't sent back your RSVP - please do... we won't be offended if you can't make it - we just need to know, so don't let that be the reason to net sent it. And if you can make it - by all means let us know so that we can fully prepare to celebrate with you .... If you didn't pick up the gist - just send them back sooner rather than later.

On that note, it has been interesting to see people's response cards. For people who have recently planned or are currently planning, they put the names of everyone who will be attending. Then there are people like Richard - who just put there own name then say 3 people are coming. While that's fine and all - but that person will be receiving a phone call "so its you and who are you bringing - can you please spell that for us." Because the last thing that you want is to spell someone's name wrong. It happened to me at a wedding once - Sarah - not Sara, was put on the card. It kinda made me sad. So as I'm picky about my name, I don't want to mess others up. Okay - I'll step off the soap box (for now).

A new stress for me - the rehearsal dinner. Even before Richard's mom passed away, we had always planned on doing/planning the rehearsal dinner ourselves. She lived in Oregon thus making it hard to plan and his Dad really didn't seem interested. Richard has really handled the details of this - but it dawned on me today that we should create a guest list. We knew we wanted just immediate family and bridal party - but that leaves a lot to question: Step-parents, girlfriends/boyfriends, husbands/wives, children, dates .... wow that is a lot to ponder. Holy cow - I think I'm gonna need some wine.

So with 5 weeks out - I have my 2nd/final dress fitting tomorrow, trying to break in my shoes (thats a whole other post), and then do the little things.

Oh yeah -Happy Mother's Weekend to all the moms! In my family we don't just celebrate days - we make weeks or weekends out of events. I guess you could just say that we love our family. So I leave you with my Mom, Nana, and sister. All amazing women!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

A Friend's Journey

I was cruising around one of my favorite social networking sites and found that a friend of mine had a link to this blog.

A group of women, my friend included, are going to Sierra Leone this summer to work with children and the blog is how they are raising money for their trip. They are holding an auction where people can bid on everything from paintings, to gift cards, to even shower money for the team. The auction is open from today (5/7) through Sunday night at 8pm (MST). I think this is such a cool way to raise money and get people involved and excited for their trip.