the second era of summer

yet another month passes by with no word on the blog.

this past month has been crazy as far as life goes...and it has been the greatest summer ever by far. not only did i get to travel abroad in greece and italy and see so many awesome things, but now i'm engaged to the love of my life! when i was abroad, it felt like i was gone forever and i was so ready to get home. its funny now because now it seems so long ago, as if i've had two completely different summers.

well, to give you an update on things, jonathan and i have selected June 14th for our wedding. we hit the ground running trying to select a place for the reception and find a photographer, etc. it was pretty stressful trying to find a place, as june weddings are in high demand. i already knew that i was going to have the ceremony at my home church, which i'm a member of and have grown up in. a photographer was also an easy choice, since i worked at a photography studio last summer and they're great...though expensive. And for a reception, we were looking for somewhere that had a big room with a dance floor and was affordable. its really amazing how expensive it is to have a reception. jonathan and i have agreed to limit our guest list to 90 people each, which is quite difficult when you want so many people you love to be there and celebrate with you. but i guess everyone has to make cuts somewhere.

anyway, one place we considered was a golf course clubhouse that has an antebellum feel, a winding staircase, crystal chandeliers, and a big ballroom upstairs. this is a year in advance and yet two of the four weekends in june 2008 were already booked earlier that week. we had our appointment toward the end of the day and left thinking about it as we went to our next appointment. we drove for a good 20 minutes and the person who was to show us around never showed up. we then decided that the price at the other place was very reasonable and went back to make the deposit and sign stuff. of course, on a friday, people dip out as early as possible. i had to leave a message with the woman in charge telling her that we wanted the place and that we would drop off the deposit as soon as we could the next day.

well, my mom went in to drop off the check after she got off work. turns out, another bride had called that morning requesting our date and willing to come by right then. thankfully, the coordinator told them we were coming in and they couldn't have it until the next tuesday. if they couldn't get that date, then they wanted the last one in june. of course, we put down our deposit and secured the date, but its crazy how in just one week's time, june 2008 was booked up.

so that was God's blessing there. since then, i haven't made too many big decisions. i selected my bridesmaids! my maid of honor will be my twin sister, rebecca. my other bridesmaids will be my sister, kaitlin, future sister-in-law, jessica, two of my best friends from high school/roommates now, anna and colette, and my best friend from college/roommate now, amy. so i will have a total of six, which is a little big, but certainly do-able.

colors are still unknown to me. its an important decision and i just have no idea what i really want. i've been wedding dress shopping a couple of times and found a bunch that i really like. i really have to make a good decision because with everything i've already done so far (church, reception, photographer), i've already spent almost 3/4 of my budget.

so aside from all the wedding stuff, i've still been pretty busy. my girls and moved into our sweet new house on july 29 and we got settled in pretty quickly. i've been trying to find design businesses to send my resume to so i can get a job this year. i've also been back and forth to the lake with jonathan a few times. but, summer is dwindling to an end and i start classes first thing on thursday morning.

so long sweet summer.