Planning a Wedding + Law School = No Wedding

Happy Thanksgiving btw...I have been MIA on this blog for a while. Law school finally sucked me in for the semester in November. Once the smell of finals hits the hallways, its hard to find time for anything else besides wondering how many ways you can possibly fail each of your classes.

But the semester is finally over! Well, it was over a week and a half ago, but I am finally recuperated and ready to move on with life. AKA getting the wedding date finalized. Stacey (Disney wedding contract person extraordinaire) and I have been shooting emails back and forth. She is out of the office until Monday, but I am hoping that we may be able to sign the Letter of Agreement on Monday! Everything is a go as of now for 12/12/11, but it will be nice to know 100% that the date is ours.

Besides that, I officially have a Maid of Honor. I just asked her a few days ago, and she said yes! Like she said, it is basically the blind leading the blind since I have no idea what MOHs do...and neither does she. But she is great, so I know whatever it is she does will be perfect.

I am concentrating right now on the guest list. Yeah...That is not going so well, but I will get it done. My way. Sorry mom. People will be invited. There will be food. There will be wine (well maybe not wine...) BUT, all will have a great time.

I'll be back soon with more wedding details, as the wedding is officially less than a year away now. EEK! Better get to planning!

Disney Deprived/Fall Break in Chi-Town

Don and I have been in a Disney mood as of late. Essentially...we are Disney-deprived. It has been almost 8 months since we have set foot in the Magic Kingdom. If I could give up my dream of becoming a lawyer and having a family, I would be down in Florida within a week serving popcorn on Main Street or cleaning toilets next to Space Mountain. Seriously, I would happily be one of those people pushing the road cleaner machines around before and after the parades; I would happily make barely above minimum wage; I would happily take advantage of all the wonderful perks of working for Disney...if I did not have a family and future to think of.

Enough Disney lamenting. Don and I are going back to Disney in early January! Just the knowledge that we are going back is going to propel me through the rest of this year. I am seriously going to kiss the Disney-ground when I get there, I am so happy right now. The day Don and I decided to make another trip down there, and booked a cheap vacation thanks to Orbitz, we found these awesome pumpkins.

We were up in Chicago for fall break spending some time with his mom. We went to a pumpkin patch, and I saw this booth with awesome painted pumpkins. Que funny situation: We walk up to this booth to look at the pumpkins. The lady running the stand looks at my UofL law shirt, then looks at Don's Great American Insurance polo, pauses and says...could you guys look after the stand for a few minutes while I get this little girl a pony? Apparently if you wear shirts suggesting you are involved in a successful career it makes you more respectable. I wonder what happens if you wear a presidential seal polo around all day....

BTW...Don is the goofy pumpkin and I am the Snow White pumpkin....just in case anyone was wondering about whether he picked out the princess pumpkin...

Chicago was great. A lot of awesome Chicago food was consumed. Great restaurants like Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and McDonalds...we even ventured to the great Chicago culinary experience that is Popeyes. We did have Portillos once, and picked up some great local bagels so that might balance out the meals in Chicago's favor.

It was also fun to spend time with Stella. Note to her sisters: you won't be seeing her for a while because all her free time will be spent quilting me various quilts, table runners, aprons, snuggies for Cody...she has no time free time for anything other than making me beautiful quilts. ;) Sadly enough, Don and I have already purchased two Winnie the Pooh fabrics in anticipation of a Winnie the Pooh quilt for our first child...or one for me...I like Pooh too...

We can't wait to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with Stella. She is going to be a traveling lady this holiday season. First, she will be visiting us in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving so we can take her to the best ice cream store in the universe. (And also so I can make a lovely Thanksgiving dinner using only Stella's recipes so that Don doesn't complain that I made the food differently than his mommy.) Then she is flying down to South Carolina on her birthday to spend Christmas with us and meet my family! I don't know if I am more excited for the holidays or for Disney...probably Disney. Sorry turkey, mashed potatoes, and Christmas tree...maybe next year.

Shopping at Hobby Lobby is better than Homework

Don and I went to Red Lobster for lunch. Note to our future children or any family members ever in dire need of Don's help: you will not come before cheddar biscuits. If he had to choose between taking you to school (future Jacob Eli - and yes mom, we still like that name) and eating cheddar biscuits, cheddar biscuits will always win.

After 2 rounds of cheddar biscuits, I decide that we should go over to Hobby Lobby to get a fall wreath for out door. Apparently cheap plastic gourds/pumpkins and fake leaves on a round of twigs are very expensive. So we went to plan B. We decided to buy a wreath later, and find a nice Halloween/Thanksgiving centerpiece for the table. Yeah...cheap plastic pumpkins/gourds and fake leaves in a vase are just as expensive as when they are attached to a wreath.

I decide that this is a great time for a design project since all the individual fall items are on sale for all those crafty people out in the world. We found this really awesome metal wire cornucopia frame with a leaf design. Somehow all the random leaves and shiny ball twigs I picked out looked really good when I put them together!

And of course the moral of the story is that after we bought all the items to make the centerpiece, it ended up being almost as expensive as one of the pre-made centerpieces. But this one has the added benefit of stroking my ego every time I walk by the kitchen table. (And I think that it looks better than the ones they were selling...)