my wedding dress

When I got my wedding dress it actually wasn't really my number one choice, it was my mom and sister's favorite. I like it okay--it was my second choice--but every so often I wish I would have bought the dress I really wanted. My is simple and classic, but the one I wanted was more modern. Everyone always says, "In ten years you would have wondered what you were thinking." Probably true. Mine also needs to be taken in a little bit, and it will look better after that. Anyway, tonight I was on David's Bridal and I found my dress and I fell in love with it. I think it looks better online than on me, or maybe it's just that I can't get the whole effect at once while I'm wearing it, but it's gorgeous. Everyone says it looks really beautiful on me, and I guess maybe I'll start believing them.

city girl

I'm back to the cities for another fantastic (or not) year of school. At least it's not a full year, only one semester and then I'll get married (yay!). I came down last night and got all settled in and unpacked at my aunt and uncle's house about 10 minutes from school. Then I went to bed early and slept 9 and a half hours since I'm recovering from a cold. It was SO nice to sleep in. I don't even remember the last time I was able to. Probably not in the month of August...not even joking. Anyway, I ended up waking up pretty early this morning, so I got my stuff more organized and headed out to run some errands. I went all the way to school so I could get my parking permit and my textbooks but then (ugh) realized I forgot my student ID so I turned around and came back to pick that up. Went back to school again and got everything accomplished there. They tore out the tennis courts and built a huge new parking lot and it's way different driving onto campus than it was last year.

I went and saw some of my old roommates from last year. We visited for a while and then one of them, Laura, and I went out for lunch at Subway. We had to stop at the mall quick because I needed new bras, and I also got a little something for when I get married. Wink, wink. Laura encouraged me a little, but it was fun. After that I went and got an oil change, which took a day and a half, I swear. I should start going to Jiffy Lube or something because I always go to the dealer and it always takes forever. And it's more expensive. Well, really, Darren tells me I should "buy my own oil and change it myself". Yeah. Right.

My sister is coming down tonight to get her apartment somewhat cleaned and organized and I volunteered to help her, so I'll be washing dishes most of the night, I'm sure. I'm excited to see her apartment, though. My mom says it's cute.

It's so weird being back here. I walked through one of the buildings today and seriously felt like I was there last week. I can't believe how fast summer went. It's gone already! Sometimes when I think about the past three years of college I'm amazed at how different I am now than I was back then. If I would have know where I'd be now way back in freshman year...well, I probably wouldn't have believed it. Today when Laura and I were having lunch she was saying how amazing it is when you're little and you think, "I'm going to do this when I grow up, and I'm going to be that." And then one day you wake up and realized that that time is now. Crazy.

crickets

Last night I hardly slept because of the stupid chirping crickets. One in my room woke me up at 3:15. I spent about 15 minutes looking for it before giving up and heading to the couch. Unfortunately by then I was wide awake and couldn't fall back asleep. It didn't help the couch is uncomfortable. Finally, when I had almost drifted off, I heard another one. I wanted to tear my hair out. I would walk over to the corner of the basement and it would quiet down. Then I would go back to the couch and get all settled and five minutes later I would hear it again. It went on and on and on. I tried moving the fan really really close to my head so I couldn't hear it, but it didn't work. Then I eventually went and got my iPod to drown out the noise. That worked until I started singing instead of sleeping. I tried turning it all the way down so I only heard that faint static sound but I could hear the cricket over that. I seriously wanted to find that thing and rip its legs off. I was up until 4:45 because of these stupid crickets. I don't know what God was thinking when He created them...

Girl's night tonight. I went out to eat at Poncho and Lefty's with one of my current coworkers and one of our former coworkers. Stuffed my face and probably gained about five pounds, but it was SO good. Ugg, the weight has been depressing me lately. I was so good last week and then with the wedding this past weekend and pigging out all day Sunday I gained a little. Oh well.

I just ordered this crazy belt thing online and had to pay almost $10 for ground shipping! That's ridiculous. Anyway, the belt thing is called Invisibelt and it has this plastic-looking band with a small, thin buckle so it doesn't make your shirts bulge out. I have high hopes. I hate it when my shirt looks all weird from my belt buckle.

Well that took so long it's getting late and I have to get up early to work off dinner. Plus, I didn't sleep much last night...

wedding update

I've been doing a lot of the wedding planning recently. Last night Darren and I went to the photographer's and we chose which engagement pics we liked the best. We got several nice pictures. I'm excited for them. I also asked her about invitations and it sounds like that might be a better deal than any of the other invites I've found so far. Plus they'd be more personal--would have our picture and everything. So that's something more to look into.

Today my mom and I went up to Bemidji to check out this floral shop that one of my coworkers recommended. The woman there was very helpful and I've pretty much decided on white hydrangeas with dark pink roses. Cotton candy roses, the lady called them. Just nice and simple. Another one of my coworkers pointed out that pink roses would complement my blue bridesmaids dresses really well, and I really liked her idea. Unfortunately, Bemidji is a long drive, so I think I'm going to look for something closer. My coworker said this woman, who is one of her friends, would give me a good deal, but I don't really think she did. Anyway, I think I'm going to look in Pequot next.

Tonight before dinner Darren and I went on the Pampered Chef website and created a registry on there. So much fun stuff! I seriously wanted everything, but we tried to keep it to a minimum. :) We're also going to register at Target. Pampered Chef didn't say anything about those handy little notices you stick in the invites, though. I really don't want to have to make my own, but I might end up doing that.

Oh, AND I called the David's Bridal up in Duluth and set up an appointment in September for my bridesmaids to find dresses. So yeah, a lot accomplished in the past two days. Once I get the flowers and cake done, I'll be (almost) home free. Invites are still left, I guess, but I'm slowly chipping away at the big stuff...

last day of vacation

Well, today was the last day in Colorado. We're leaving for home at 5:00 tomorrow morning. It should take us about 17 hours to get there, so it won't be too late when we get home. I'm excited to be home and get back into my routine. And start exercising again. I feel like I've gained about 10 pounds over this vacation. I hope it's not quite so depressing when I next get on the scale. I looked on this calories-burned website and apparently hiking burns tons of calories. And I've been doing a lot of hiking. I did eat my weight in food today, though. Ugg.

The photographer called me today and she has our engagement pictures ready for us. We're going on Tuesday night to pick out what we want and order some. And then on Wednesday my mom and I are going to Bemidji to meet with a florist who was recommended by a coworker. Hopefully she works out. I'm kind of not too sure because she's not as close as I would like, but if the price is right I'd be willing to drive longer.

One of my friends just had an adorable baby boy and I looked at several pictures of him on Facebook tonight. He's so cute! I can't wait to have kids. I know Darren really wants to have kids soon, but we've decided to wait a while after we get married. That's the plan now, anyway. Who knows how long it will last. :)

i wanna see a big horn!

Still in Colorado. We haven't seen any big horn sheep yet, but we've seen a lot of elk. We've been on MANY hikes--over 26 miles worth so far, plus another four miler tomorrow. Today we did eight miles and got up at 5:20. Yeah, this is a VACATION. The hike today was more my mother's idea than either mine or Darren's. Well, it wasn't that she wanted to get up so early, it's just that it's been storming here every afternoon so we thought we should try to finish up before it rained. Anyway, it went fine. I'm glad tomorrow is another short one. I like hiking, I guess. It's just that I get so bored staring at my feet for hours on end. But only one more day. I'm ready to go home.

Today after our long hike we rested for a bit and then Darren and I went into town and took one of those old-fashioned dress-up pictures. It was fun. He's got this whole cowboy ensemble on and I'm wearing fishnet stockings and this little trampy dress. The woman who got us all posed and ready asked if I wanted to hold a whiskey bottle in the picture, and I did. It's pretty cute. I'm wearing this really crazy feather headband thing and this elbow-length gloves. Darren said his parents got one of those pictures taken when they got married and he really wanted one of us, so we did it. After that we walked around town a little and ate a delicious cookie. I forgot my camera and I'm still sad about it because there is a lot of cutsey stuff to take pictures by down there.

I keep losing the internet and it's really annoying me. Stinking wireless. It always fails just when you finish typing something. At least this website saves my blog as I type it. Facebook is being evil and my picture upload keeps failing. Of course it won't tell me why. It's ticking me off. Well I had to reselect all my pictures, but I think it's working now. Annoying thing.

It's getting late here, and I'm getting tired since I got up so early. Time for bed!

on vacation

Oh my gosh, I'm so horrible at blogging. Half the time I forget, and the other half I'm too lazy. Or I really don't have anything interesting to say. That could be it, too...

Summer is winding down. I'm trying to get all these last-minute things in before evil school starts on August 27. I can't believe summer is almost over! It really feels like it hasn't even started yet. Only a couple more weeks and I'll be back at Northwestern. Ugg.

I'm vacationing in Estes Park, Colorado right now. My mom, Darren, and I just spent our first day out here hiking and driving in the park. We saw some really nice elk today. I should put a picture of them on here, but then I would have to get up from my comfortable seat, get my camera, and spend FOREVER getting them on my computer, just to spend another eternity uploading them to this site. Um, probably not.

Darren and I made supper tonight, and I'd have to say I can't cook to save my life. We made spaghetti. Not that hard, or so you'd think. Well, I cooked the noodles so long they started to fall apart when we ate them and eventually formed a mush. Then I was in charge of the garlic bread, but that got burned to a crisp. The list of foods I can actually cook is pretty pathetic: scrambled eggs, fried eggs, and things from a box. (Hamburger Helper, Suddenly Salad, etc.) And don't even get me started on the grill. Not sure I even know how to turn it on...Yeah, it's that bad. I really should learn to cook things. Poor Darren will be stuck making every dinner for us after we get married. I guess I can follow a recipe, because I love to bake. I just need to collect more recipes of actual meals. My friend Tina just throws things together and it comes out fabulous, but hey, she went to cooking school. She can cook. I can read recipes.

We're watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants right now so we can get caught up for the new one coming out this week. Darren is refusing to go see the new one in theaters with us because it's "too much of a girl movie." But here he sits, distracted by the movie. I knew he would watch it with us. He's so funny. He always claims to not like things (like ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, pickels) but then he always ends up doing them (or eating them).

Okay, well I'm getting distracted by the movie, so I'm probably going to just stop and watch it now. But, I WILL be better about blogging more often. And not just with a catch-up list, but with an actual, interesting (hopefully) story/event/life lesson.