Hello Lovelies!

I am still alive! Things have been crazy hectic in the last few weeks between packing, writing 2 huge papers, working on finals, wrapping up my old job, preparing for my new job, and moving to Homestead! Yes, that's right, we uprooted our lives and already moved down here. The drive was about the longest on the planet. Seriously, it should have been about 13-14 hours max and we managed to turn it into nearly 21 hours..... but way more on that later.

Graduation is in a few weeks. And, thankfully, we'll have 5 months until the wedding after graduation. I will be so happy to have a break from huge life events right in a row.

I also need to start planning the wedding reception party and am contemplating mid-January as a combo reception/ Steve's 40th. Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't advertise that... ;-)

Anyhow, I am writing this super quick post so y'all don't forget about me. ;)

Cheers!


sent from my BB Bold... sorry for any typos!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy valentine's weekend. Normally I despise this day. Not for not being in a relationship as I have been for the last 3 valentine's days, but for other very personal reasons. Steve has changed my viewpoint on this commercialized Hallmark holiday. He's very lucky that I hate roses (yeah, I said it!) and would much rather have daisies or carnations or whatever else. I don't demand flowers or jewelry or chocolate. All I want is to spend the evening with him with a home-cooked meal and just relax together.

The last 2+ years have been amazing with my fabulous fantastic fiancé. I cannot even begin to put into words how lucky I am to have met him and have him in my life. I cannot wait to spend the next 40-50 years (hey, we're old) with him and our children and our pets. We have a life plan and are just waiting for the first domino to fall into place. The rest of the dominos are set up ready to go.

He is amazing and romantic and has the most amazing heart, similar ambitions and dreams, and goals... the man has goals! He loves me for who I am and doesn't care what I look like or how miserable I am with myself. He loves me unconditionally and I am ridiculously lucky.

This year, I drew him 2 cards. One was a wedding/ Vegas scene with us standing in front of the Luxor pyramid with the Welcome sign in the background. Below is my actual valentine's card to him.

What do you like to do on Valentine's and who do you like to spend it with?

the last 24 hours: the amazing and the horrendous

the amazing
last night after checking times and temperatures, i reserved our wedding date. yep, it's official, we are getting married on 10-10-10 at 2pm in Las Vegas. next, we need to pick locations. well, here, this is the wedding deets copied from SLVW's site...

Las Vegas Strip, package 2 - $399

• Get married in any hotel suite, room, or condo. Ceremony and some photos will be done at one location.
• Minister – traditional or civil ceremony
  
• Professional Photographer – minimum of 30 high resolution pictures on a photo CD
• DVD of the Ceremony (High definition widescreen 1080i video quality and Slideshow of all photos added to DVD with ceremony)
• Witness, if needed
• Option to get married at the world famous Las Vegas sign, hotel suite, room, condo, or select public locations on the strip
• 1 additional public location on the Strip for 25 of your 50 photos (a minimum of 50 photos)
• A small hand tied 6-rose bouquet for the bride
  
• Groom’s boutonniere
• Courtesy Limousine transportation to and from the ceremony for the bride and groom and up to 6 guests

We are also getting 20 extra pictures for not using their flowers, and 30 extra pictures for entering a contest they have. so, a total of 100 photos minimum.

this morning, we slept late and then, as usual, he raced to work. i putzed around the house, showered, walked Lola, and prepped the steak and potatoes for dinner tonight. then at like 2:40 i headed to the Y for belly dancing class.

...and the horrendous...
we were walking out of class and my friend Carrie said something along the lines of "what are you doing here?" and i looked, and my heart sank. i knew immediately something was wrong. it was Steve. Steve who raced to get to work by 1pm. Steve who doesn't get any breaks at his crappy job, and certainly not enough time to come all the way back to Chapel Hill to sit outside my class and read the New Yorker. yeah, *sigh*

we went out to the parking lot and he told me what happened. after a few near misses with boxes flying out of his GM's hands and getting up close and personal in his face yelled at, he just handed in his keys and walked out. that's the very concise version of it. hopefully he'll have something new soon!

so now instead of the steak and mashed potatoes with lemon cupcakes just as a meal, it's a celebration of sorts. he's not going to be beat down at work anymore and can actually come with me to Pittsburgh in 3 days. yes, even 3 days away, his GM was still dragging his feet even though Steve's been constantly asking for the time off for the last few months.

and no, we can't afford our life on my salary. we can't even afford my half of our life on my salary.

i, for reals, hope that all y'all are doing better!

Both image sources

Pittsburgh Wedding

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not a whole lot of wedding planning going on right now. We’re gearing up for one of my best friends weddings in Pittsburgh next Saturday – holy hell it’s close enough that I can now say “next” – so that’s been the focus lately.

I have my bridesmaids dress. I am debating between 2 dresses for the rehearsal/ dinner. I’ve started working on my Maid of Honor speech. And I’ve already mapped out the trip from our house to the hotel; 470 miles on the nose. That’s going to be a seriously long drive, especially if I have to make it myself. Lola has been booked at “camp” starting Wednesday night till Monday morning to give us ample time to take care of trip stuff and leave at 4am.

Yes, you read that right. I love my Kimmie so much that I am getting on the road at 4am to drive to Pittsburgh, just in time for a pedicures & martini’s lunch session with her and the girls. Trust me... I will be a napping fool as soon as I drop Lola off at camp. Plus, I’ll get to see Virginia and West Virginia, and possibly some other states I’ve never seen. Needless to say, I’m super excited about their upcoming wedding. And I get to see 2 of my favorite girls as well!

Steve is still being screwed over at work as far as his vacation goes. He’s more than earned a week off, but apparently that doesn’t matter. Seeing as he said he needed this time off for months and, surprise surprise, he’s scheduled to work next weekend. I am going to be livid if he can’t come with, considering that his job has know for months that he’s got to go out of town. Whatever, they suck.

The picture is the inside of the Heinz Memorial Chapel on the University of Pittsburgh campus. This beautifulness is the location of their wedding! Can you just imagine the gorgeous pictures?!

Image link

Booking the Wedding

I just spent a good chunk of my lunch break trying to convince Steve that we should book our date with SLVW already. He doesn't see the point seeing as it is over a year away and things could still change. Plus, he wants to get Rosetta Stone so we can both become bilingual (Spanish) to improve chances of getting higher pay. The wedding/ photographer/ flowers/ limo/ minister/ everything else costs the same as the full Rosetta Stone package. Great! He can buy RS, and I'll pay for the wedding. Win-win, right? ;)

I will continue to work on the booking after work. Especially because he tipped the waiter $10.10 "in honor of our wedding date." Yeah buddy, I know that's our date, but can't we make it official? Not that I have the 35% down payment yet, but I will in a few weeks! After all, it's less than $175 to guarantee the date and time we want to be forever tied to one another.

I love my crazy fiance.

Random Wedding Related Stuff

There was much to discuss last night in the Benaim-Fletcher household. And discuss we did! He doesn't think he's cynical, just a realist. He knows I am nothing like his ex's, and that I am so totally different from them. I am different from every woman he has ever dated. He is different than any man I have ever dated.

We discussed the wedding events, time frame and more. We also discussed the wedding I am in at the end of August. While he is obviously invited to it, he doesn't want to wear a suit (but really, what man does?) since it is in August and hot and and and. I assured him that for our wedding, he can wear flip flops and shorts for all I care, but for this wedding, he needs to have a jacket and tie be a part of his wardrobe. Sadly, that's a big reason why he doesn't want to go. But I do know a thing or 2 about being unhappy to be forced to wear something I dislike. I've been in tons of weddings and haven't always liked my bridesmaids gowns.

<--- the dress for the August wedding. Hopefully it looks normal on your screen and not squat like it does on mine!

A friend of mine tweeted me a link from the Church of the Flowers website. They are apparently casting for a new TV show about Vegas weddings (go figure):

Happily Ever Faster - Casting Questionnaire: Happily Every Faster is a new wedding series on TLC that documents the love stories of different couples and their journey to matrimony at the Chapel of the Flowers.

Any other vegas brides out there? And really is anyone actually reading this thing?

Fiance Frustrations

Do you ever have a stupid misunderstanding with your significant other and question why you're in a relationship with someone who does [fill-in-the-blank]?

I did earlier. He is overly cynical about relationships in general, mostly stemming from his 2 long-term previous ones with some real witchy women. I am nothing like either of them. I do not lie to him; I do not drink more than once every like 6-7 months; I do not do drugs (nor have I ever); I am not planning on telling him something life-altering 3 days before our wedding so he can't back out; and I don't have a kid. Nope.

I do, however, have a steady full-time job; I am going to grad school for my MBA; I did my undergrad in 4 years and a semester; I do not shop like some of my friends (as in when I do shop for clothes, shoes, or bags, it's a few times a year and only spend a few hundred dollars as opposed to going many many many times a year and spending a few hundred dollars each time); I have been independent and living on my own since I was 17; I have a very reliable car; I am a realist-optimist; I am, for the most part, extremely responsible and reasonable.

Then why do I fly off the handle over his cynicism of relationships? Maybe because it makes me feel like I am being lumped with the rest. Or like I am being punished for the ways they treated him. Who knows. I just wish I could not do that. I'm still learning.

And yes, I write and vent... and then I go home and talk to him. Because I love him with every fiber in my body and know that he is the most wonderful and loving man on the planet. And I can't wait to be his wife and have kids with him.

Image found here

Adoring my Fiance

This note is reason #843 why I adore my fiance. Last July was the beginning of our life under the same roof. My lease was expiring in July, but Steve's wasn't expiring until October. The plan was for me to move into his tiny 1-bedroom for 3 months and then we'd move into our larger 2-bedroom place in October.

I gave myself a week to move and clean my place. The evening I was going over to clean everything, I arrived to find this note stuck to my front door. Unsure of what to expect, I slowly opened the door. The apartment was spotless.

SPOTLESS.

He came over on his day off and vacuumed, scrubbed and swept up my entire apartment. All I had to do was load up my car with everything and dump stuff off at the dumpster. I didn't have to drive myself crazy cleaning and stressing out. He made my last moments at my beloved villa apartment that much better.

I know this isn't a wedding-related post, but it kinda is since it's why I adore my fiance so so much!