The Master Checklist

Adding more stuff to the list (in bold):

Things we (or in some cases, I) need to do before August 8th (in an only somewhat logical order):

1. Figure out vows and pastor's speech/talk/whatever it's called
2. Plan order of ceremony
3. Pick songs for ceremony and reception
4. Send ceremony songs to Josh so he can practice
5. Make sure Josh knows we want him to play at our wedding
6. Get unity candles
7. Figure out stage setup
8. Make flower arrangements from the metric buttload of silk flowers from Michaels (including bridal party bouquets, centerpieces, aisle thingies, corsages/boutonnieres*...)
9. Finish gifts to my bridesmaids
10. "Something borrowed, something blue?" (Am I doing that?)
11. Send cake design and flavors to Kristen
12. Find a cake topper we both like
13. Practice for our first dance
14. Get white keds for the reception so I can dance
15. Put together wedding favors (need to add ribbon or something with color)
16. Plan table decorations (table cloth overlay, place settings, etc.)
17. Choose meal and appetizers and stuff; send to Blennie
18. Finalize invitation design with Mom; send around June 13-20)
19. Maybe have Mom design a program, too?
20. Plan order of reception (cake cutting, first dances, etc.)
21. Find a "going-away" dress (so I don't have to take my wedding dress on our honeymoon)
22. Plan what clothes to bring on honeymoon
23. Plan some sight-seeing/show-seeing in Vegas for honeymoon
24. Lose ten pounds so I can sunbathe in Vegas on honeymoon
25. Get a flower girl basket (and maybe a flower girl tiara? Oh, and shoes!)
26. Cut and curl fabric for flower petals (it's the only way to have them in the right color!)
27. Practice the three-second kiss with Joe (hey, this list was starting to feel too much like WORK)
28. Make sure our registries are totally finalized (like, SOON!)
29. (Later) Get ready to pack up and move things to Joe's (assuming Joe's is still standing after the fire)
30. And most importantly, during all of this planning, remember that none of it is anywhere near as important as planning our LIFE together. Whee!
31. Get a basket for the flower girl!
32. Find out if our wedding coordinator is still going to be available...
33. Try not to freak out.
    

*I'm so proud of me! I spelled boutonnieres right the first try!

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff. Tell me, people! What am I forgetting? Anyway, I'll try to update this periodically to show our progress in completing these tasks. Accomplishment of one thing always makes me feel more motivated to keep at all the others!

One year ago today.

On May 11th, 2008, I met my future husband. I didn't know it at the time, of course, but that day marked the beginning of the rest of my life. That quirky stranger I met in my uncle's hospital room became, within a matter of weeks, someone I cared for deeply and couldn't imagine not having in my life.

Everything happens for a reason. That weekend in May, my uncle was admitted to the hospital less than a year following a major kidney transplant surgery, and that was scary. But if it hadn't been for that dangerous situation where his brand-new kidney seemed to be failing, I may never have met Joe. So thanks, Uncle Phil, for having those kidney complications. (And thanks for making it through that and being healthy again! This story might've been a bummer to tell if you hadn't made it... *wink*)

Everything happens for a reason. About five years ago, my cousin Sarah, Phil's daughter, married a guy named Jeff. Jeff and Joe are long-time friends, and Joe was in their wedding party. If Sarah hadn't married Jeff, I might not have met Joe.

Everything happens for a reason. About thirty-two years ago, Ben and Pauli found out they were pregnant. They decided to keep the baby, in spite of the many difficulties surrounding them and the readily available (and popular) "alternative" solution. If they hadn't kept their precious baby, there would never have been a Joe for me to meet.

As I'm thinking back on all the variables in my life over the past 24 years, and in Joe's over the past 31, I'm completely in awe at God's timing and His plan. It's absolutely amazing, the number of ways I can see my choices in life relating DIRECTLY to getting me to that hospital room on May 11, 2008. If I hadn't gone back to Azusa to start my credential program after I graduated, I probably wouldn't have met him. If I hadn't gotten the job at the church in order to make money while I was in the credential program, I probably wouldn't have stayed in Azusa after I quit the credential program, and then I wouldn't have met him. If I hadn't offered to go with my mom to visit my grandma and uncle in the hospital, I wouldn't have met him (but my mom probably still would have). If my mom and I had decided not to go to Sarah's daughter's baby dedication that morning, and instead went straight to the hospital to visit our family, I might not have met him. Or if Sarah had never asked Joe to be Felicity's godfather, he might not have gone to the dedication, and instead would've visited Phil earlier, and then I might not have met him.

...Are you getting the picture here?

So many variables. So many ways we could've missed each other completely. But we didn't. On May 11, 2008, we met. We talked for no more than ten minutes. And somehow we both made enough of an impression on each other that we kept talking.

Thank you Lord for blessing me with Joe.

P.S. This is totally not where I was going with this post originally. I wanted to write about our one-year (minus two days) picnic on Saturday! I guess it can wait for the next post. Or maybe Joe will want to write about it. :-)

Goodness, gracious, great balls of fi-yaaa!

I think God wants us to move away from Santa Barbara.

The evidence: this place is on fire. And not in a good way. I mean it is literally burning up, for the second time since I moved here, and the THIRD time in the last year. In case you weren't a regular reader of my old blog, here's a quick recap:

In November 2008, the Tea Fire burned down a whole bunch of houses and other stuff. About 14 homes in my immediate neighborhood were completely destroyed. Ours, thank God, was rescued by the firefighters and only a small part of one wall burned before they were able to put it out. It took months for the repairs on the houses still standing to be finished, and sometimes I can STILL smell smoke on my clothes. A week or two ago, they started rebuilding the destroyed homes.

And then yesterday afternoon, another fire broke out. It's several miles from here, and as yet, our neighborhood is not in any immediate danger. But the winds, much like in November, are raging and unpredictable.

The reason I woke up at 5:10 this morning was not to spend extra time coiffing my hair. If I had my way, I'd still be sleeping right now (it's 5:40 - my alarm is set for 5:45). The thing is, the wind woke me up.

This may not seem very significant, but it is. I am a really heavy sleeper. I've slept through thunderstorms and earthquakes. I've slept through wild parties our neighbors threw at all hours of the night, playing loud and distorted mariachi music and laughing hysterically. When I'm asleep, I'm basically dead to the world. So for me to be woken up by the wind?

Kind of freaky.

It was...SO...stinking...LOUD. I could hear trash cans flying around on the ground. The whistling of the wind between trees and houses and whatever else, sounded more like screaming than whistling.

So I sat up, turned on my computer, and searched for any news updates saying the fire was spreading and we were all going to die. So far, it appears things are still relatively okay. I'm kind of afraid to look out my window, and even slightly more afraid that my car isn't going to be parked in front of the house anymore (can wind blow a Honda stationwagon away when it has the parking brake on?).

They're saying that the wind advisory will be in effect until 9 this morning. Hopefully, once the wind dies down, they can get a handle on the fire before it does any property damage. I'm just thanking God that, as far as I can tell or read, it is still burning in a hillside/brush area, and has remained at least half a mile away from residential areas.

All this to say, as much as I love Santa Barbara, I am really okay with the idea of moving somewhere else, whenever God makes that opportunity available to us. And, as much as I love the house I'm in now, I will be really glad to move into Joe's place after we get married, because both of these fires (today's Jesusita Fire and November's Tea Fire) were a heck of a lot farther away from his place than mine.

(I'll be happy to move in with Joe for other reasons, too, of course...)

Alas, I suppose I might as well get up and ready for work. The question is: do I play it safe and pack up all the important stuff as if I might never see my house again?

And the answer is...

Nah. I'm reckless like that.

PS: Take this poll and tell us where we should live! You can put in an "other" response, but keep it short, because PollDaddy cuts off long answers.

'Cause we're busy, busy, dreadfully busy...

On today's list of wedding to-do:

• Hair "consultation" at a beauty school -- hopefully they'll also do a trial styling, but they were kinda vague about that part...
• Meeting with our wonderful caterer to firm up the food plans
• Um...that's about it.
• Oh, and we're also planning to have dinner with Joe's friend Jason, who is supposed to be teaching a little swing lesson at the beginning of our reception! Yay!

Also, I just need to say that OH MY GOSH WE ARE TOTALLY GETTING MARRIED IN THREE MONTHS AND ONE WEEK. That's like...97 days from now. Yay!

(PS - Name the song from the subject, and I'll give you...um...a great big, enthusiastic, "You rock!" Hint -- "...more than a bumblebee, more thaaannnn an ant!")