I'm home! It's wonderful. I love my family oh so much! And I miss them when I'm away at school. I was convinced that when all my homework was over and done with, I'd have tons more time, more than I'd know what to do with, in fact!

False. I do not have any more time. However, I'm not sure where it disappeared to.

Probably the same place my other sock went. Home is like that.

I got home May 1st and started work on May 3rd. I figured that after 5, I would be free to focus on all the wedding-related tasks that are vying for my attention. Instead, I come home tired, and just want to chill with the rest of my family. Unfortunately, chilling with the fam in front of an NCIS turns into an NCIS marathon...and next thing you know it's 11:00 and Dave's calling. And I accomplished nothing. Except 3 rows on my super cute lace knit hat.

Basically I've accomplished nothing.

Now I've been home for 3 weeks. I got our invitations sent out the first week. Actually, there was a minor fiasco that went along with invitation sending, wanna hear it? I knew you did!

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I designed our invitations myself. In case you missed them, here's a link to the post about the invitations and RSVP's, and here's the thank you cards.

Naturally, if I'm going to put that much work into my stationary, I'm not going to neglect the packaging! I planned on designing a cute envelope design when I got home and printing all the addresses on in a super-cute font to match the invites.

Unfortunately, when I got home, my computer crashed 3 or 4 times, and in the process of being fixed, became a vegetable (the operating system was removed, and the new one didn't work. Thankfully, it works now!). So, I lost my precious Adobe programs and had to design my envelopes in Microsoft Word. Not exactly the best graphics program.

When I finally got the graphics arranged in a passable manner, I tried to print our addresses. Unfortunately, I forgot that our printer is possessed by a paper-eating demon, which proceeded to eat several of my envelopes. By now it's about 11:30 pm, the day after I wanted them sent out.

I had just resigned myself to handwriting all 130+ addresses by myself, when dad saw me and felt sorry for me. So, he volunteered to print them at work for me the following day. I set up the documents as best as I could at that late hour, and sent them with him.

The next day, I received several calls from my family, trying to reach me. I finally call my dad back, and he explains to me that he didn't realize that the proper font wasn't installed before he started printing. He had printed about half the envelopes in some large, sans-serif font. Did I want him to continue?

I took a few cleansing breaths, and explained how to download the proper font, so that at least some of my envelopes could be saved. But, as was the habit of this particular project, it didn't work. His computer wouldn't let him unzip the file, so we were stuck with the large Ariel-style font. I told him to go ahead and print them.

So, at this point, we had 6 envelopes printed in the right font, about 20 that I had handwritten, and about 100 printed with this alien font. Mom and I stuffed and stamped them, and we sent them out the next day on our way to Virginia for my cousin's wedding.

After a whirlwind 3-day trip to Virginia (an 11 hour drive, one way), we came home, and I went back to work. The first few days, I was so beat after work that I couldn't do much more than sit on my bum when I got home. I slowly started recovering, and started realizing that I was getting married in 5 weeks, and still had more tasks to do than I could imagine.

That weekend, my Dad's side of the family threw me a bridal shower! It was lots of fun. My grandmas from both sides came, as well as all my aunts on that side, and most of my female cousins. The house was all decorated in pink and green (the colors of our  wedding!), right down to the ham salad sandwiches! I tell you what, when my Aunt Mary Jane throws a party, she throws it right!

Thankfully, they didn't deliberately try to embarrass me. However, the second game we played, "Bridal Jenga," got a little embarrassing. A lot embarrassing. They-talked-about-sex-in-front-of-my-grandmas embarrassing. Apparently the game, which was a regular Jenga game with questions written on about half the blocks, was made by one of my cousins for a bridal shower for a college friend a number of years ago. Some of these questions would have been awkward in that setting, but not the end of the world. However, when your grandma pulls the block that says, "Name two places (outside the bedroom) that you would like to have sex," and you and your grandma both are supposed to answer it...yikes!

I plead the fifth.

Overall, it was really fun! Showers are, by nature, rather awkward, what with getting all those gifts and such, but I had fun. And it was nice to see so much of the family again. I've missed a lot of family events being off at school.

That night (Saturday), Dave came up to visit with Wes and his new bride, Shele. They were up for around 24 hours, to visit their grandparents who are home from the mission field for about a month. I spent all day Sunday with Dave, and got home late that night. Monday I was back at work.

Weekends here are NOT relaxing. Just saying.

This week, I decided that doing wedding planning in the evenings wasn't going to work, so I told my boss that I needed Friday's off, starting immediately. I worked Monday through Wednesday this week, then stayed home sick/played hooky with my bestest buddy yesterday. (I was actually sick, she played hooky. And we ate mint oreos and watched the best movie ever made: Anne of Green Gables).

Today I contacted several people in an attempt to chase down information I need for planning this big shindig we have coming up in less than a month.

Oh yeah, did I mention that? This week Wednesday was the one-month mark. Freak out time!! Ahh!! So much to do, and no time to do it!!

So, right now my biggest things to tackle are the cake (with me being out of the state for school, the cake got overlooked until it was too late and all the bakers in the area are booked full for June, so we're gonna make it ourselves), flowers (we're making our own bouquets using silk flowers, but I haven't decided yet what they should look like), ceremony decorations (which, by the way, I could still use suggestions for!), ceremony music, reception layout/decor, makeup, photography, music, hairstylists, shoes (which I don't have yet! eep!), and probably about 100 other things that I'm forgetting.

Oy vey. Buckle up kids, this should be fun!

And to think, at the end of this, I'll be a wife. That totally hasn't sunk in yet. Not sure it will for another year or so. That's about when I'll wake up when I finally get the chance to stop.

Wow! What a month! I've been so busy with school, and Cedars (the campus newspaper, of which I am the visual editor) and wedding planning that I haven't had time to keep you updated on what I've been busy doing! Honestly, I don't have time to be writing this now, but sometimes I like to pretend that I have time. It keeps me sane. Ish.

So, in the past several weeks, so much has happened! While I haven't had a lot of time to devote to wedding planning specifically, things have happened. I guess I'll start at the beginning!

Sunday April 11: Lingerie Shower

I feel so scandalous saying "lingerie" on the internet for the whole world to see! But hey, it was a fun party! The girls in my unit decided a while back that they wanted to do something for me, and this seemed to be the favorite option. So, I provided them with sizes of...*ahem*...well sizes they needed to purchase gifts, and a guest list! Obviously all the girls in my unit were invited, as well as Julie, my RA from last year (who, fun fact, also grew up with Dave!). I also asked that Dave's sisters (in law) were invited, as well as my two best friends from back home (who are in the wedding party).

Almost everybody came! There were a few girls in my unit who couldn't make it, and Emily and Holly (besties from  home) couldn't make the trip. But all the sisters came!

Now, I know that with a lingerie shower nobody is really interested in the guest list. You all really only want to know one thing. And instead of telling you, I'll show you!


THE FOOD!!! Wait, you thought I was going to show you something else? I honestly can't imagine what that would be...

Yes, we had tea! Three types. In the first, epically graphic, teapot: White Tea, Island Mango and Peach. The violet pot held Holiday Spice Blend tea (which seriously tastes like Christmas in a cup. No joke!). And the leopard print pot held Tanganda, a favorite of anyone from Zimbabwe (as Dave's family, and Julie, are)!

We also had finger foods like strawberries and cheese. It was quite delicious. If I wasn't so embarrassed and focused on keeping my elbows pinned to my side so the wet circles under my arms wouldn't show, I would have eaten more!



After we had food they had me tell our story! So I went on an on unintelligibly about back seats and long crushes and hopeless flirting and long distance. Thankfully, I think most of them had heard our story before, because otherwise it wouldn't have made much sense.

(Disclaimer: the back seat thing? Totally not how it sounds. We met in the back of a van. Um well that doesn't sound right either. How about we just say it was youth group thing and totally innocent and leave it at that.)

Then, Becca, my RA, had this game planned. She had asked Dave a bunch of questions beforehand about me/us/our relationship, then asked me the same questions right there in front of everybody! The goal was to see how well our answers matched up. For the most part, they did! There was one pretty bad question, tho.

"What is the most embarrassing thing Rachel has ever done in front of you?" This question scared the bejebers outa me! Not because I had done anything particularly embarrassing...but because I was terrified that I had done something embarrassing and forgotten about it, and he was about to reveal it to all my friends! Thankfully, his answer was something I had done that embarrassed him, not me, so I didn't mind at all!!

After the newlywed game (soon-to-be-wed game?), the girls couldn't wait anymore. They wanted me to open my presents! Now, let me just tell you something. It's very awkward to go to a party where the entire point is to give me presents. When I do get presents, I'm used to it being like Christmas, where everyone gets presents. At this shower, there were enough bags stacked up on the table to be Christmas, but they were all for me! It was really weird.


See? That's a lot of bags! I started opening them up, and got more embarrassed than I was before. Remember when I was just eating cheese cubes and digging my elbows into my side to keep my wet circles from showing? Yeah, these "unmentionables" are a tad more embarrassing than cheese cubes! As I tried to gracefully pull the delicate underthings out of their striped bags, I looked far less than delicate. But since nobody was looking at me, they'll never know!

Except I'm posting it on the internet.

And even those of you who weren't present know now.

Oh well. Moving on to bigger, more humorous problems. Every time I picked up something with straps of any kind, I got it tangled up! I literally had trouble figuring out which end was up on many different strappy numbers, and my roommate had to sort them out for me. My roommate. Had to show me. Which end. Goes up. Among other things. I think they should have come with instructions, personally.

Now, I can imagine what you're thinking. I'd be thinking the same thing if I were in your shoes. You want to see something that I got! Well, I suppose I can let you see just one.


What? you thought you'd see something exciting? Well let me tell you something: that flower is a blessing! You don't really want to know. Trust me. You don't.

Now the only problem is figuring out how to send thank you notes for these particular gifts. What am I supposed to write? "Dear Friend, I'd like to mention my thanks for the unmentionables. They will be greatly enjoyed. Love, Me." Awkward!! Oh, and to make it better? The adorable thank you cards I designed (and just got back, yay!) are postcards, so my awkward thanks can be read by every postman from here to kingdom come! Oh well. What's a girl to do?

So remember when a week and a half ago I promised you a story “tomorrow?” Well…yes. I realize it is not the 16^th today, and I am sorry. However, it is yesterdays tomorrow…just in case that means anything to anyone. But I digress.

In case you hadn’t guessed, that gorgeous ring symbolizes something quite exciting. It means that I am now engaged (!!!!!). I have a rock on a very important finger, and in the not-too-distant future will be walking down the aisle wearing a white dress. I’m getting married!!!!

So, I promised you a story. Before I begin, I feel that a disclaimer is necessary: while I find this story to be amazing, the most romantic of my life thus far actually, I realize that to those of you who are only just meeting me, it may not mean a thing. So many of the things that happened that night were so special for us, I don’t expect you all to understand all of it. But I think you may enjoy the story anyway.

Dave and I have been dating for 2 and a half years. We had been talking about getting married for a while, but I had no idea when he was going to pop the question. I was thinking it might be this summer, maybe in May when we get home from school for holiday. In any case, when we went home for Easter break early, a proposal was the last thing I was expecting.

A few weeks earlier, I had planned a shopping trip with Emily, since I needed a semi-formal dress for an event coming up at school. We were going to spend all day Friday out on the town, tracking down the perfect dress at the perfect price (meaning as close to free as possible…I am a poor college student!). So, Friday morning, I got out of bed and got dressed for a shopping day. She had brought a friend, Amy, home from school, so she went with us, as did Emily’s sister April and my sister Sarah. Before we left, Emily had me grab a “springy” outfit, because she wanted to do one of her signature photo shoots when we got back.

That girl is camera happy.

So, we go out, spend 2 hours in Plato’s, and then hit the mall. I preferred the idea of going to Goodwill or something, because something from the 80’s is bound to cost less than something from Macys. But, whatever. I don’t look that good in 80’s anyway. So, we go in and scout Deb, in the process getting thoroughly glittered. We tore through the Disney store (there was a great blue one…but unfortunately it only came in size 3T…oh to be a kid again…). By this time, we had worked up an appetite so we hit the food court for some sustenance—aka ice cream. Fantastic way to fit into obscenely tiny dresses.

After a small vanilla cone, I lead the fast-fading troupe of girls to JC Pennys, to check out their hot pre-Easter sales. We tore through their racks, everyone grabbed something to try on for fun…I grabbed 20 to try on for serious. I was getting sick of shopping. After misgauging my size (darn those dresses run small…), I found this great ivory colored one for only $20! Woo! That’s speaking my language! So, we bought it and took off.

When we arrived back at Emily’s, I was waaay to tired to be a model, and I told her so. So, we all went upstairs and crashed.

Then, we decided we wanted to see “our boys” so we took off again for Carl’s house.

Once there, we discovered (with much glee) that we got to watch a chick flick for once! So, we put in Failure to Launch, which was really quite hilarious, and ate dinner. Grilled cheese sandwiches, I think. Unfortunately, Carl had a meeting at church at 9:30, so we all got kicked out around 9:20. Ok, not kicked out. Carl left, so we all sat around staring at each other for about 30 seconds before Emily decided to take Amy home, so Dave and I took off, too.

It was a gorgeous, cloudless night, and still so early, so we decided it was a shame to go home already. So, since we were up there anyway, Dave suggested we go stargazing at Five Pines, something we had been talking about for a long time.

Unfortunately, in the 3.8 minutes it took to drive over there from Carl’s, I started thinking about how Five Pines might not want us stargazing on their property uninvited. And of course I voiced my concern. And of course Dave told me not to worry about it. So, of course we went stargazing.

We lay down on one of the big tables in the nature circle and took in the breathtaking view. Then, I started thinking again about stargazing at Five Pines without permission, so we got up to leave. We got in the car, and drove out past the Activity Center. This is when we noticed that one of the lights was on.

Since Dave and I had both worked here in the past, we knew how to get in if we needed to, so Dave suggested we go in and shut the light off. I let him, and I stayed in the car. Silly me.

So, Dave goes in and shuts off the light, then comes back out and says, “Rachel, come on in! I think there’s something here you should see.” So, I’m mildly curious and majorly suspicious. I mean, how cool would it be to propose at Five Pines, where we met and fell in love??

So, I go inside and voila! A gorgeous candlelit setting for two, a fire in the fireplace, flowers everywhere, and when I turn around, Dave on one knee! (!!!!!)

So, neither one of us can really remember what he said next…just that he ended with “Will you marry me?” I, brilliantly, asked “Is this for real??” before squealing a very excited “YES!!” When he got up, he sat me down and poured two cups of tea, then went to cut the cheesecake. Unfortunately, he forgot a knife so he cut it with his fork, silly boy. Once we each had our tea and cheesecake, he sat down and started telling me how all this had come about.

I was too excited to eat. Imagine, me, too excited to eat cheesecake. Yeah, it was weird.

So he told me that everyone (meaning all my best friends) were totally in on in and waiting for me to call them so they could come swarm us. And that Mike (our small group leader when we attended Five Pines) was “on call” with a wicked awesome camera to take pictures for us.

So, this is when this epic dilemma comes into my life: I was not dressed for a proposal, but it had happened anyway! I was wearing my comfy sweater, nothing gorgeous or glamorous...then I remembered (ok so Dave reminded me) of my clothes from the never-quite-happened photo shoot and my new dress out in the car. So i went and got them. And decided against them. Even though I didn't look glamorous. So there, fashion. I felt beautiful even though I wasn't wearing anything glamorous. Ha ha ha.

So, I called Emily, who had no service on her phone. So I called Holly, who ran out of Aaron and Sarah’s so fast she nearly forgot her shoes. And Holly called Emily and got through. And somehow Carl got grabbed and dragged along.

And they came and attacked me. Us. Tackled. It was quite exciting.

And I called home to tell them the good news ASAP, and Dad told Mom that I was thinking about it. And I laughed. Hard.

And Mike took pictures, and everyone but me ate cheesecake, and I couldn’t stop smiling, or being distracted by the bling—er—ring on my finger, and I still can’t stop being distracted by it. It’s very exciting.

Oh, since I never said, it was Friday April 10^th…it was a very Good Friday ;-)