Marriage License Day!!!!!

*Bacon stands for Mr. J! Well, not really, but I really DO love bacon and this t-shirt was a gift I received yesterday from my lovely co-workers, including a bacon cookbook and three packs of bacon (they know me so well!).

Anyway, this post is not about bacon--but our marriage license. Hooray! It was a painless process, though there were some screaming babies. I highly recommend anyone in living in New York to make the trip to the new Marriage Bureau in Manhattan on Worth Street. We didn't go there (haha). We went to the Brooklyn location, which has not been renovated like the New York office. Despite the grimy yellow paint, it was a great experience for us and we have until September 6th to get married in the state of New York.

It was a little weird to fill out my new surname, I'm going to be Mrs. J in 29 days. Mrs. always sounds old to me. I think I'm going to feel like a "real" adult the first time someone calls me Mrs. J.

It's the Little Things

I love Snapple Lemon Iced Tea. I came home from work yesterday after a long day, opened the fridge and there was my favorite drink staring back. I looked at Mr. J and said "Is this for me?" He said of course. I almost cried and this might seem like such a small thing--but it means he is genuinely invested in my happiness, in our happiness. Sometimes he'll buy me my favorite cereal, for me this is better than getting flowers! I can't wait to marry him.

Today he gave me some advice because I've been dealing with an issue (not being able to get in contact with my father) and what he said was so thoughtful and caring, and he made it an issue for us as a couple to tackle. I have a partner, a true partner in this world and I can't tell you in words how good it makes me feel. I get to marry him in a month! I can't wait. I was ready to go to the JP months ago, but I'm glad HE wanted a wedding, I'm glad to have the chance to stand before my closest friends and family and declare that I'm going to fight for love with this man.

What NOT to do!

Do not buy seven cases of wine from Trader Joe's months before the wedding because you are an uber organized planner and want to get as much as you can done before things get too crazy. Do not leave said cases of wine in your hot ass apartment, so hot that sometimes you have to turn off the heat in the winter. Do not leave said cases of wine in your hot ass apartment that retains all the heat from spring/summer time.

Why?

Because one day you will read about wine on Google and discover the reason behind people having wine cellars and wine fridges, because wine is supposed to be kept in a cool environment. DUH. Because you will realize that you have kept your wine in the opposite of a cool environment. Because you will test a couple bottles of wine and realize that they taste like crap. Because you will ask your fiance to test the wine out and he (who doesn't know much about wine either) will say that the wine is fine, "it tastes like beer!" Because wine is not supposed to taste like beer, wine is supposed to taste like wine!

Because you think you know so much about wine because you like to drink it, but in fact you are a wine idiot.

Luckily, we didn't spend an arm and a leg on the wine. And we have a new plan that is even better: beer, two signature drinks, and wine (we'll replace some of it).

14 pounds!

Oh how I wish I could report that I lost 14 pounds. I really wish I could. My best friend keeps telling me that I'm going to lose weight as it gets closer to the wedding because of stress--and I keep telling her that I EAT when I'm stressed. I've gained 14 pounds since being the maid of honor in her wedding this past February.

Ugh.

The upside to the scale going up these past months is that my dress (which my mom bought for me in December) was too big for me. I normally wear a size 12 dress if it's form-fitting and a size 8 dress if flares at the hips. These hips do not lie (ok that was cheesy). So the dress is a size 14. I had my first fitting three weeks ago and the seamstress pinned it a lot, thanks to me being a size 8 on top. So this means that my extra 14 pounds fits the dress, I just can't gain any more weight.

The downside is that I feel like crap. I've been avoiding the scale because I knew it would show me something I didn't want to see, but could feel when I'm walking up the stairs. So, no more! I am not going on a diet, but I am going to eat better, Mr. J and I have been slacking on grocery shopping which means we eat out a lot more than we should. When I cook at home, it's usually healthy. Must buy groceries. And I'm going back to my daily yoga routine. I'm not going to try to lose the 14 pounds until after the wedding, but I'll get started and maybe lose a few that won't affect the dress.

I should be writing thank you cards right now...

source

but all I want to do is procrastinate. Ugh. I am totally thankful. (Can a general thank you on my blog to everyone count?) But writing these thank you cards kind of makes me feel like Lauryn looks in this picture.

Ugh. Okay, okay.

So not looking forward to writing thank you cards for the wedding! That's more people!!!! And I'm a friggin writer!!!

Alright, I'm going to do at least do 5 tonight. (I really am thankful, just lazy.)

Our Broom

I just finished decorating our broom for the ceremony. All supplies are courtesy of Michael's (I LOVE that place). It was a plain broom, I wrapped a shimmery lilac ribbon with a satiny blue ribbon up the broom, added some fake flowers in our colors, and tied a bow. I used corsage pins to keep everything in place, it's like practice for when I make all the bouquets. I can't wait to jump over it with my man!

34 days to go!

Mr. J and I have our color-coded to do list in Google Documents--his items in blue and mine in purple. Since he's on summer vacation, he'll be doing a lot of things for the wedding, it will be nice to have him doing stuff full force now.

I've been doing lots of the little projects for the wedding over this 4-day weekend. I cleaned all of our Starbuck's bottles that we are using for the centerpieces, got all the adhesive off the outside of the glasses. I stuffed half of our favors into the blue and purple favor bags (we decided to go with edibles). I tied purple ribbon around all 72 pairs of flip flops. I made boutonnieres for the groom, best woman, groomsmen, and our dads. At first I wasn't going to do bouts for the guys because we are using the lavender plant as our flowers and the place we are getting them from doesn't recommend them for bouts. Mr. J and I went to Michael's (we will probably make one more trip there before the wedding) and I bought some fake flowers, floral tape, and ribbon to make the bouts. We also got some small pebbles to put in the glass jars with the lavender, lots of ribbon for various projects, and favor bags.

You can't tell, but the larger one on the left is wrapped in purple ribbon (groom) and the rest are like the one on the right, wrapped in blue ribbon

Before the ribbon

After the ribbon!