Parties and such

Since I have a whole afternoon ahead of me and one can only watch so much television, I will fill you in on a few of the wedding festivities that have occured and that are coming up soon.

Saturday, January 16th:
My four lovely bridesmaids, Kate, Jennifer, Beri and Amy threw me a fun shower at Beri's house about twenty minutes north of my house. Beri has a wonderful open lay-out in her home that was perfect for entertaining. I had several of my girlfriends there from all different aspects of my life: childhood friends Kate and Heather, college friend Kelly and then my "grown up" friend Jennifer as well as several work friends from my previous school. The theme was "Around the Clock" and each invitation had been sent out with a specific time attached - the person had to buy an item for me to use during that particular time. Of course the present I wanted to open first was the 3:00AM! Beri had chose the time recipients carefully and one of my more fun-loving friends from MMS Michelle and Sue had been chosen. There I was, sitting in the middle of a circle surrounded by friends...and my mother, mother-in-law and Mema-in-law...I opened their present for 3:00AM: The Joy of Sex book. Luckily, Craig's family has a great sense of humor and laughed right along with everyone else. My girls did a fantastic job coordinating the food and beverages with the Around the Clock theme as well as the cake. It reminded me of what special women I have in my life for friends.

Sunday, January 17th:
My parents have lived in the same house for around 30 years and I attended the same elementary, middle and high schools that my much older brothers attended. I was baptized at the church that my parents still attend to this day. Having said that, my parents have developed deep friendship bonds with many people in the area...from being Cub Scout leaders together, to serving on PTA boards, to Bunco groups and finally through the church where my mother worked for many years. Although we don't have a lot of family in the area (all uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins were out of town) I grew up with a sense of community as our family. Five of these women, including my wonderful godmother, chose to throw me a wedding shower with all of these extended family members! It was at my godmother's house on Sunday afternoon and it was lovely. The women had brought out all their favorite buffet serving dishes as well as a gorgeous punch bowl for the event. There was a delicious chicken salad, a fruit salad and my favorite thing - an array of cupcakes! Of course, I made sure that a few red velvet ones were stashed away for the groom-to-be. The funniest thing was that when I was introducing everyone to one another, specifically to Craig's mom and Mema...most of the people would say "I remember when Betty found out she was pregnant," or "I've known Laura since before she was born." Looking around, I did see a definite sense of family - I loved the fact that Ms. Anne, one of my mother's former coworkers, could tell stories of me coming into her office at church to chat and eat chocolates when I was in middle school. It meant a lot to my mother, seeing how much dedication, time, effort and true joy was put into creating such a lovely event for her daughter.

Things that are coming up:
Wednesday, February 24th:
The MMS faculty wedding shower for Craig and myself. It's a tailgating theme with no punch or vegetables allowed.

Saturday, February 20th:
Craig's bachelor party...a few weeks ago, I was working one of Craig's select basketball tournaments because he had to go coach his school team and while I was up there, I chatted with his best buddy and best man Ron about his bachelor party. I was able to give Ron some ideas that Craig had mentioned to me, as well as a potential invite list. Craig and 6 of his buddies are going to meet at our house and get in a limo to go eat in downtown Dallas and then go to a Mavs basketball game together. I think they plan on going to a few bars afterwards and then having the limo bring them back to our house. Craig and Ron both have a basketball tournament going on this particular weekend, so guess who volunteered to open up the gyms and get the tourney running on Sunday morning so the boys can sleep in? Yes...I am a very good fiance.

Early March, after Amy arrives in town:
My bachelorette party...now, I'm not a huge fan of the crazy, wild bachelorette party because I don't need to "mourn" the passing of my singlehood. I'm ready to be married...and ready to be Craig's wife. I told my friends that I wanted a nice dinner and drinks out with my closest 10 or so friends - the people that have really been involved in my life for the past few years during my desperate search for a hubby. As far as the details go, I'm not really sure what's going to happen, but hopefully it will be fun!

Oh Sudafed...let me sleep...

It is 4:10 in the AM and I am wide awake. I'm not sure if it's due to the Sudafed with Sudaphetrine pills that I took before I went to bed, but regardless...here I am. For the past three weeks I have been stuck in that awful moment when a plane is taking off, right before your ears pop with you feel like you're in a bubble. It's been giving me migraines and making me feel a little sick to my stomach, so I am finally taking the day off of work today to go to the doctor where they will hopefully give me a shot full of wonderful goodies to take the pressure off my brain. I'm a little tired of everything being foggy.

Other than that, what has been going on? Absolutely everything. I started Bible Study every Tuesday night from 7:00 until 9:00 but that event is always preceeded by a 7th and 8th grade Cross Country meet. I've been working or attending basketball games every Monday and Thursday nights with a District Tournament thrown in there as well. And on Wednesday nights I have my "old coaches" volleyball league. The term "buring the candle at both ends" comes to mind...no wonder I'm sick.

But the good news out of all this is that we're only about 31 days or so from the wedding so all this business is helping move time along very quickly. For the better part of 2010 I have been in secret wedding freak out mode. Craig can tell you - I've been in tears the majority of nights, completely stressed over stupid things about the wedding. Will people come? Will people have fun? I'm not worried about flowers or cakes being delivered on time, but instead I want to make sure that everyone around me is happy with the decisions that I make. And while trying so earnestly to make sure that my bridesmaids are happy or mom's are happy, I think I've been driving both them and myself completely nuts. Apparently, the polar opposite of a "Bridezilla" can be just as frustrating.

I did make major progress though...a couple of Fridays ago I was sitting there looking from my list of wedding things to do to my calendar chocked full of items previously mentioned, wondering where in the world was the time to get everything accomplished. And then I had a breakthrough - these were all things that could be taken care of by someone else. Sooo...I put together a list for my mother and future mother-in-law and told them to divide and conquer. If there was something on that list that they felt particularly drawn to...have at it. Take whatever you wanted and run with it. Needless to say, all items on the list have been taken care of. It was difficult for me because I am somewhat of a control freak at times (what teacher isn't?) but I knew that in order to save my sanity, I had to let some stuff go. It doesn't mean that I'm not a good and organized bride...if anything, it makes me a smarter bride to outsource.