The Search for the Perfect Dress

This past weekend, Ryan and I headed up to PA to spend some quality time with his family. Today is Ryan's Dad's birthday - Happy Birthday, Rich! We went up to PA to celebrate his birthday, but Ryan and I had our own separate agendas for the weekend. Ryan and his dad did some work around the house working to re-install cable so that if Verizon Fios ever makes it to their neighborhood, they will be ready for it. Ryan's mom and I spent some real quality time together on Saturday searching for the perfect Mother of the Groom dress. We left the house at 9:15am to go and meet Alexis for our first appointment at 10am. As soon as we got onto the highway, we quickly discovered that the cars in front of us were barely moving (if at all). Apparently, Saturday was the day that they were doing construction on a bridge about 4 miles down the highway... The left lane was closed and merging into one lane was just too hard for the people in front of us. It took us about 2 hours to get past the construction.. yes, you read that correctly, 2 HOURS - we literally went 2 miles per hour. Talk about some serious mother-in-law/daughter-in-law bonding time. At one point, I thought Linda was going to get out of the car and walk to see how far she could get before I caught up with her! Once we finally made our way past the traffic, it was too late to meet Alexis, so we headed to our 2nd appointment that was scheduled for noon. From there, we made a lot of progress and stopped at 3 more stores where Linda tried on about 12-15 dresses. We also stopped at the furniture store, had lunch and went to the wicker store to pick up the baskets that we'll be using as our "hospitality" baskets in the restrooms at the reception. Despite trying on quite a few dresses, we didn't find the "one" - there were a couple that were maybe's but we weren't quite sure about. So, the next day we headed out to our 3pm appt, this time with Alexis, where Linda found a beautiful dress. And, even though we got home and the house was a little messy, Ryan and his dad had done a good job running the cable and not cutting any holes in the wallpapered walls! All in all, a great weekend spent with the LeNoirs!

Does Anyone Have a Big Cardboard Box?

We might need to use it if we can't find a new house to move in to! The past few weeks have been a bit crazy, so while Ryan is off in Atlantic City celebrating Andre's bachelor party, I thought I'd have some "me" time on a Friday night. I'm watching the O's beat the Yanks (let's go O's!!), and I thought I'd update the blog for the goings on of the past few weeks.

About three weeks ago, we put our house back on the market. Aside from the fact that we had to list at a cheaper price than before, I actually took the whole "selling the house" thing quite well. There weren't any tears this time! Don't get me wrong, I still love this house, but I'd love it more if it wasn't in the city and was closer to my family. We've had quite a bit of activity - 7 showings this time compared to the 1 showing that we had when it was on the market in November. And... this week, we received an offer and signed a contract! The house sold... in 3 weeks!! According to that contract, we will be settling on May 28th, so Ryan and I are now frantically searching for a new place to live so we won't be homeless! We've already seen a few houses that we like and plan to visit a lot more tomorrow. We're hoping to put an offer on a "grown-up" house in the burbs early next week. Many thanks to Crystal for rushing home from work last night to go and check out some houses with me.

On the wedding front, we had a meeting with our wedding coordinator to pick out the menu and talk about details for the cocktail hour and reception. The food was great, but my favorite part of the tasting was definitely the cake! We were lucky enough to be joined by both our parents for this event, and it was so nice to have them there with us. I actually had no concept of how many questions the wedding coordinator would be asking, and I can't thank both the Lindas enough for sharing their wisdom and advice related to the important decisions (napkin colors, centerpieces, seating arrangements etc.). Ryan's parents also spent the rest of the weekend with us, and we had a chance to show them the church and discuss the options for the rehearsal dinner. Time really is flying and the wedding will be here before we know it! It will be 5 months away on Sunday!

Four Crazy Years

April 3, 2004. I can hardly believe that it has been 4 years since our first official date. Being the true romantic, Ryan let me pay for dinner for our first date. Did he forget his wallet? Nope. He won a bet - A bet that I pretty much knew I had no chance of winning, but would finally make him have dinner with me. We were out at happy hour in the middle of the NCAA Men's Tournament and were watching one of the games, and I had this bright idea that we should bet on one of the games. So, stupid girl that I am, I took the underdog and told him that if my team won, he'd have to pay for dinner, but vice versa and I would pay. Wouldn't you know it, my team lost. I can't really say that I regret losing that bet. It's kind of amazing how things turn out. Somehow, our brand-new relationship even survived a long-distance relationship while he moved to Cambridge, England for a few months to learn how to drive stick shift on the wrong side of the road and pretend to do some accounting for a new company. The last 4 years have truly been a roller coaster ride and through it all Ryan has been my rock (even from across the pond). I can’t imagine how I would have ever gotten through all that has happened in our lives without him. Although, he doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve like me, all I have to do is take a look around and see all the nice things he does for me and everyone else and how he manages to take care of most of the annoying details of life that I don’t have the patience to deal with to know that he cares so much. He is so kind, patient, and caring, and I know that I am definitely the lucky one in this relationship.

With This Ring...

Yesterday, Ryan and I spent some time at my favorite jewelry store picking out our wedding rings. It actually took a little longer than I thought it would. Ryan really doesn't wear jewelry - he usually has a watch on, but that's it. So, needless to say, Ryan's decision was a tough one. After trying on about 10 different rings, Ryan was able to find one that he thinks he can live with. It's not too heavy, not too wide and not too shiny. As for me, I tried on 2 rings and was able to make a decision in a few minutes. Unlike Ryan's ring, mine is a bit heavier and a lot more sparkly! I love it and cannot wait to wear it. When we were in the car leaving the jewelry store, Ryan says to me, "Ok, no more jewelry until after the kids get out of college." Ouch... guess those rings cost a little more than we had expected. Totally worth it though.

Aruba

Thought I'd post the link to our pictures from Aruba - click on the picture below. We loved it as much as the first time we were there, and thanks to a great deal from Marriott, we will be going back there sometime in the next 18 months.

A New Project

As many of you know, Ryan signed up for a woodworking class at the local community college for the spring semester. His first assignment was to build an end table. It took a little longer than expected because his class kept getting canceled due to "bad" weather (a little ice, but mostly rain), but he finished this week. So, as promised, I am posting a picture of it, so you all can see how well it turned out. We still need to stain the table, but who knows when that will happen, so I thought I'd share the current picture. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the table top has "grooves" around the edge that Ryan made using a router. He seems to really be enjoying woodworking and he also seems to be learning a lot and doing pretty well with it. I am definitely impressed. The next project is going to be a work bench, and I'll be sure to share that with everyone once it's complete.

We Passed!!

As you can see from the certificate in the picture above, Ryan and I successfully completed Pre-Cana, and it appears that they might actually let us get married. We spent 4 hours on each of the past 2 Sundays with 7 other couples getting to know one another better and discussing the important topics such as communications, decision-making, intimacy, finances, and spirituality. Despite our expectations and what we'd been told by other couples who had been through it, it actually wasn't as hard as we expected. And, I think we actually learned some new things about each other - specifically, that Ryan thinks I'm disorganized. For the record, I am NOT disorganized... Just because I lose my keys every once and a while doesn't make me disorganized!! Anyway... I'm not bitter or anything.

I know I've been slacking on keeping the blog updated, but work has been pretty busy (as expected). But I have some good news and this working-like-a-dog thing should be changing soon - I have resigned from my job at E&Y and will be working in financial reporting for a former client in downtown Baltimore starting March 10th! I always said that if I left E&Y, I would love to work for this Company, and I could not be more excited. 3 mile commute, here I come!

While I've been busy working late, Ryan has been keeping himself busy with the new Wii and at his woodworking class. When Ryan found out that I got the new job, his response was that he got a raise and that we should get a Wii! I have to say that I wasn't exactly on board with this purchase, but it has been a lot of fun to play. It is pretty pathetic that our arms get sore from playing - guess we should start hitting the gym so we can keep playing the Wii without the soreness. Ryan is busy practicing so the next time he hangs out with his cousins, he'll have a better chance of making it competitive! Ryan seems to be enjoying his woodworking class and within the next week or so, he should have a new, completed project that I can share with everyone!

Guess that's about all the excitement for now. Stay tuned for more wedding updates. I can't believe it's almost 8 months away!!