Wedding Haiku

Chase Arrives Today.
Way too busy for blogging.
Weddings are Intense.

One stomach virus away from my goal weight...

I am sick.
It is 2:16 am and I'm awake because I can't sleep anymore.
I was in the middle of babysitting the sweetest of babies when it hit me.
Luckily his mom was home for the moment, and she told me to go home.
I am thankful she did.

I will spare you the details.
But if I was trying to loose some weight for the wedding this nasty bug would have helped me succeed.

Let me just say. Popsicles are amazing.   They are the only thing I can eat.
Sometimes.

18 Days till McCool-dom

Well I went and did it. I finally allowed myself to start purchasing furniture for our new apartment.

I know.
You're really excited.
I've been talking about it forever-- and now I've finally done something concrete!

Chase asked me to pick out and buy a kitchen table and chairs and figure out what bed I wanted. So being the impatient woman I am I immediately started perusing websites for good deals.

We have a little kitchen and no formal dining area so I thought a pub/counter height table would be the best for us. Just a two seat-er. Don't worry-- when we have dinner parties we have other options. You'll have to be invited to see how creative of a decorator the latest Mrs. McCool can be.

Target was the winner - here are some photos:

They should show up at Chase's Parents' house soon. He gets to try to put them together!

Speaking of being the latest Mrs. McCool -- there is yet another Mrs. McCool-to-be! Chase's brother proposed to his gloriously lovely girlfriend and they have set the date for next June. We're very happy. Chase and I really like her and I'm excited to get to spend more time with her.

I had my first bridal shower this Sunday. Hosted by two of my mom's best friends -- it was beyond wonderful. I am so thankful for each and every woman that came. Each of them has played such important roles in my life. From my kindergarten teacher, to my middle school venting-listener, to my grandmother to long time family friends. Lots of really great memories and people. And they all gave so generously. I about started to cry... but... I made it through. Just so very happy. Some photos were taken and I'll upload them to wedding photo album online at some point... If Mrs. B. will send them to me :) Hint hint.

I mentioned in my last blog post that I was getting a bunch of new makeup samples and fun things from Stephanie who works at a department store as a makeup retailer. She's got great taste and I love the things she sent me to try. I'm NOT a big make-up-wear-er I just don't care enough -- especially when I'm not going anywhere or doing anything. But she gave me such fun stuff to play with and I'm enjoying trying new things. Especially since you know... I have occasions on the horizon.

She sent me some things I already knew I would love, but she also sent me some Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate. Holy cow. It might be totally mental -- it probably is seeing that I've only used it twice-- but its super great for my skin. So great that I'm tempted to shell out the cash for a full sized bottle.

Emily arrives this weekend and we're going to run up to GSO for a night to have a night of cooking and crazy movie watching with our friend Mike. If you're in town and free on Saturday let us know. We'll see what we can make happen. 

Thats all for now. I've been working on those pinwheels for days and finally finished. Only 213525262 things left on my wedding to-do list :) I'll start again bright and early tomorrow. Who am I kidding? I love every minute of it.

Still no update on the thesis.  Waiting.....

A Wedding in Photographs

well.. two photographs.

I have been working like crazy for two days straight on these pinwheels...

 

and buying make up under the influence of my makeup expert Stephanie...

Camera photos are just the bestest. Hahah. 

I should receive two boxes in the mail today... one from Stephanie full of more makeup! (Photo to come) And one from the artist that made Chase's wedding band (no photo to come-- not yet!)

Off to my daily trip to Micheal's at nine o'clock for purple paper , a flower girl basket, and some other do-dads.Then going to sit with a family friends grandma while they have a night out -- which means do more crafts at someone else's house instead of mine! :) Gotta love those coupons from the website.

23 days... and 23 hot glue burns

I was supposed to nanny this morning but sick kids kept their Mom home - so I have the morning free.

Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE day working on a project that will be my own twist on this:

Of course, as perfectionist I some times become, the pinwheels look perfectly uniform just in lots of different sizes. But Lordy, Hot Glue guns could be used as a form of torture.. I guess thats kinda like being tarred and feathered...anyway. But its worth it.


I have a feeling that today is going to be an emotional day. I'm kind of tired already and I need to spend the day going through my "keepsakes" that are stored in my closet. Lots of old cards and little tokens that hold memories. I am really going to have to evaluate if I need to keep things to "keep the memory" or if I have the memory with out the material item. Can you tell I'm a devoted fan of Hoarders?

Okay, so I think the new facebook formatting will break me of my facebook habit.

26 days...

We made our way to Omaha yesterday around noon central time. We were both really tired and honestly I was a little silly because I was pretty sad to leave and didn't know how to react otherwise. The Omaha airport is actually pretty little. But its not bad or anything. I thought I was going to get bumped and a voucher for 200 bucks. Not so lucky. But I did get an exit row seat and was seated next to a gentleman who's wife and daughter live in Yemen. He was kind and not annoying. That is a nice thing. Once I arrived in Houston I walked to my next gate and it was already boarding. Another nice thing. The woman at the desk was very funny and make the whole process kind of fun- believe it or not. She wished everyone safe flights in the language of their last name's origin. She didn't assume anything- she would ask if she didn't know. But anyway it was just yet another nice thing.

Then-- I actually boarded the plane.

It was a six-seats-across-er. And I was in the VERY last row, in front of the bathroom, in the very middle of two people. But I was excited because there were on-board TV's and there was an NCIS marathon on USA! Very pleased. So pleased that I even texted my parents, emily, and Chase. But then right as we were taking off a message popped up saying it would cost me to continue watching. Nothankyou. I returned to my book. The Diary of Dora Damage -- it wasn't that bad. A bit racy at times, but over all its pretty good. I mean I did read almost 200 pages :)

So after a kind of miserable - hot sweaty and cramped - two and a half hours I made it to RDU and started working my way back to the park and ride. With out much difficulty I actually found Sadie rather quickly, and was prepared to drive back to Jvegas. But mom and dad asked me to not drive and to instead stay with my aunt. So I did. Michelle is very gracious. I walked into her house and saw a wall decal that I really wanted.  This is a copy of it:

I don't think we'll be able to get the actual decal but I am trying to think of something so we can have a portable version. Maybe I'll get a little one and place it on a canvas or something.

Early this morning I drove back to babysit and was welcomed by an explosive diaper. Thats all I am going to say about that. I really hate it when Mommy bloggers give too many details. If you are a mommy blogger and this offends you-- I'm sorry, I'm sure you're a great person and I like knowing things about your kids, just not all things :)

After babysitting I did some errands, visited Michelle M., and came home and started working on resume's and looking for jobs in DSM. Anyone have any leads? Something theatre-y? Something artsy? Something a girl with a master's in theatre might be good at? I have some good leads already but I am always welcome to more!

Mom and I sat down to do the wedding to-craft list.
It
is
quite
long.
Yikes.

But tonight I'm going to watch NCIS and be lazy. Tomorrow I'll babysit then head to Micheal's. Lots of crafting ahead!

1 Month Till McCool-dom

I am sitting in the guest room in Chase's parents' house and just relaxing. I've watched lots of TV. Taken a lot of naps, and gone shopping. Wonderful! Since I turned in my second draft of my thesis to my advisor and he gets two weeks to read and get revisions back to me. Hopefully after this next set of revisions I am going to be on my way to defending my thesis!

But during this two weeks I have a jam packed schedule. I have been nannying/babysitting/kid watching like crazy and I plan to keep that going. It has been a blessing for me because it has let me "have a job" with out "having a job."  That makes sense right?

Emily, one of my bestest friends/female soul mate, will arrive on October 8 and I am soooo thankful. I have so much wedding stuff to do. So much wedding stuff. Most of it is the "details," the little bits and pieces that go into making the wedding a masterpiece. Lots of paper to be folded, welcome booklets to be created, photographs to be framed, and wedding party gifts to be put together. But I'm very excited. It will be great to have Emily to talk to and be with while making this magic happen.

One other thing I really would like to make are pillows influenced by this Etsy seller: lovecalifornia

I am planning to put my own spin on them but I really love their quarkiness and how happy they are. Hopefully with the help of sewing extraordinaire Emily I can make ones for NC, VA, OH, IA that will fit onto standard size decorative pillows that you can get a craft supply stores. You know the boring white kind that fit inside of a much cooler pillow case. Anyway.

Speaking of Craftiness my Dad, who blogs here, started a new Kickstarter project today. It is centered around this awesome dogs he makes out of metal. If you've ever been to our house you've seen the prototypes for many years just chilling on our front porch. Well now you can have Rusty and the Crew come hang with you and your family. Trust me, he's easy to get along with and hangs out with the coolest people. You want to be a part of his gang. Check out Rusty's blog (everyone has blogs these days) and consider sponsoring his trip to stardom on Kickstarter.

Today, Chase was sworn in as a Lawyer in the State of Iowa. I'm so blessed by him as a friend and as a partner in this crazy time in our lives. He is working on finding his perfect niche here in Iowa. I really believe in him and his talents. We are looking for clubs to join and groups to get involved with here in DSM. Got any suggestions? I don't want to say too much, but I am hopefully going to start blogging for a DSM entertainment website doing theatre and culture reviews. Wonderfullllly excited. I hope that even my non Des Moines readers on this blogs will also take the time to click on over to that weekly blog too.

Life here over the next month is going to radically change. And I cannot wait to chronicle it here on this blog. One month from now I'll be based in the midwest and Lordy, yall are going to have to support me through that one. They don't have Bojangles here. They have weird named grocery stores (Hy-vee? Wha?) and the city doesn't shut down when it snows. It will take some getting used to.

Are ya ready? This next month is going to be a whirlwind. I hope to blog a lot more than I usually do... keep reading and keep checking in daily. And Comments are always welcome.