HOLY CRAP I'M GETTING MARRIED THIS YEAR!!

It's been quite a while since my last post.  Well we've made it through the holidays and the New Year.  It's 2013. HOLY CRAP I'M GETTING MARRIED THIS YEAR!!

Literally we are t-minus 6 months.  My heart races a little more every time I think about how close the wedding is getting.  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by and how much there still is left to get done. Since the last time I checked in we've gotten a lot of things done but still see so many unchecked items to go.  All is good, we'll be checking off a bunch more in the next week or so as well.

So here is the first, one little, BIG update.  On our trip to Florida over the Christmas holiday I surprised my niece Shasta by telling her that I wanted her to be in the wedding.  For those of you who don't know Shasta is my little sunshine.  You're never supposed to really have a favorite child, niece, nephew....whatever.  She was my sisters first born baby girl.  I still remember being all of 10 years old the day she came into this world and I remember being right there holding my sisters hand the whole time waiting for this little miracle to come into the world.  Since that day I knew she was always going to have a tighter hold of a little piece of my heart.  The best part about her is really that she reminds me way too much of myself when I was her age.  Ask her mom.  She never has to complain too much about missing me because really I'm still always there with her through Shasta's actions, the things she says etc.  From our recent late night tweeting sessions, hashtagging marathons and Skype sessions, I just love her so much. 

Yep She's a #Nerd just like me #MyLittleSunshine<3

So creatively I had been holding off on asking her because I really did want to ask her in person.  We had a dress appointment set up at David's Bridal to pick out my sisters dress.  Little did Shasta know she too was going to need to try on dresses!  When we got to the appointment the gal asked me "so you're just looking for bridesmaid dresses right?"  I said, "yes".  She said, "ok well how many are we looking for. I looked at Shasta and said "well we need two".  Shasta's face was like OMG. She said "what??? me??"  It was priceless.  Her face got so red.  It was the best!!  With that said we did end up finding the dresses that the girls will be wearing!  Love them and its exactly what I pictured.  The girls are going to look gorgeous!

While we were in Florida we also sat down and chatted with my brother Mark James for a bit to go over the ceremony which is completely written out.  I think we really put together a nice short and sweet ceremony but totally meaningful.  Of course my brother has full rights to still add in his personality.  So I'm sure there is bound to be some comedy for everyone as well.  

I've also for the last probably two months been slowly putting together music lists.  We decided that for the pre-ceremony while guests are arriving and being seated we'll have a certain playlist, as well as specific playlists for the cocktail hour and dinner.  We're trying to incorporate both of our music tastes.  There will be a lot of John Mayer, of course.  Some Black Keys, of course.  And then a good mix of Coldplay, Norah Jones, Dave Matthews, Band of Horses, M83, Naked and Famous, Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers.  I keep listening to the lists while I'm at work trying to just imagine each segment of time to make sure that each song flows to the next just right.  I'm probably being way too OCD about it but you know me.  Probably in the next month I'll be scheduling an appointment with DJMC Ian B to go over everything with him so he can start working it all up on his end.  

 Here is one of my favorites that you'll here pre-ceremony

So let's see what else have I gotten done?  Bridesmaids gifts 90% bought, need one more thing.  Wesley's day of gift, bought.  Black and white striped socks for the groomsmen FOUND.  Let me tell you how friggin hard it was to find simple pairs of socks, I thought!!  Thank god I found them though.  It's one of the small detail things I really want for the day of.  I know they are just socks but again.  Minor OCD issue about it.  I also FINALLY found the Black and White striped lanterns that I've been searching literally EVERYWHERE for.  I originally saw them pinned on Pinterest. (click and you can see).  So every time I tried to find them everyone was out of stock, or the links were broke.  I finally decided to email ZGallerie.  They were one of the companies that said they had them but I couldn't find them on their website.  It took about two weeks but  someone finally emailed back while I was in Florida for Christmas.  She said they had 13 in stock and that I could call an 800 number to place the order.  So I called as soon as we got back to Cali.  Luckily I got through to the gal that emailed me.  She remembered exactly what I needed and started up an order.  Originally when I found them they were going to be $12.95 each, which I didn't even care I was totally fine with it.  As she finalized the order she was like oh wow.  They had been discounted down to $3.29 each!! SCORE!  So I took all 13.  Only planned on maybe like 10 of them but who cares? They were dirt cheap!  Again one of the little detail things that if I couldn't make it happen I would have been devastated.  But no tears here.  I'm so excited for this vision I have to actually be a reality.

Some other little projects that will be completed this weekend that I'm really excited about are the card box and the "guest book" question card box.  I had a cool idea when I saw these wood crates that someone had again, posted on Pinterest for a home decor idea.  I tweaked the idea a bit but it will fit perfectly with the black and white striped theme.  My Tricia is coming down for the day Saturday and we're going to hit up Hobby Lobby for a couple last things I need for that and the table numbers and we're going to get those knocked out.  Also going to dabble with my makeup for the day of the wedding.  EEEK.  On Sunday I'm meeting my florist in person for the first time.  We're going to meet at the Golf Club so she can get the visual idea of the ceremony space just so we can make sure we're on the right page with the vision I've got for the flowers.

In the next month or so two other big projects will hopefully get banged out as well.  Back in November Tricia and I went to downtown LA to get fabric for my table linen/runner idea.  We found it super cheap and have enough to make the centerpiece "runners" as well as napkins.  So Wesley's mom and I and maybe some other sewing buddies if they are interested will have a sewing party and get those all banged out as well.  The other project will be getting the final touches is going to be the NY invites, the guest book card questions and the cards with the charity information that we are doing in lieu of wedding favors.  Crap, a third project that actually needs to get done soon, like ASAP.  Mental reminder Misty go tell Wesley you guys need to get to Bed Bath and Beyond and get the registry done!

Well that pretty much gets everyone up to date with the happenings.  6 months....6 more months till I'm Mrs. Frederic!!  Holy crap!