Size matters.

Since our living room TV will be moving to the basement soon, a new TV is on the to-do list for Aron and I. So today we headed to Best Buy to window shop. And I fell in love. I would like a 52" Samsung LCD TV. 1080i and a whole bunch of other stats that meant nothing to me, other than knowing that I need them. The main selling point? Wireless internet ready so you can stream netflix and blockbuster and listen to pandora. SOLD!

The advantage of getting it from a place like Best Buy is that they offer wall mounting, so we don't have to try and find a stud and do it ourselves. Plus, they will replace it if it falls off the wall.

We are going to keep our eye on the prices as it gets closer to Thanksgiving.

Basement Day 1

The work on the basement began today, and I am excited. Aron stayed home to await the delivery of the materials and watch the construction. The high hat lights are in, and some of the wall has been studded and the floor plan has been decided on. Tomorrow they will finish studding the wall and possibly put up some sheet rock. I'll have to remember to take some pictures tonight so I can document the progress.

I didn't go to my sister's house today to see Lauren and Tommy as I usually do on Thursdays. H1N1 seems to be making it around my classroom, and I don't want to be around Tommy right now. I would feel terrible if I passed it off to him. So as much as I miss my little ones, I am staying away for now. Booooo!

Home Improvement.

When we moved into our new home back in June, there wasn't much that I wanted to changed. I loved almost everything about this house. Hard wood floors, a new kitchen. Not much more I could ask for.

But...there are always projects that need to get done or improvements you want to make, even on the most perfect home. And all of that starts tomorrow.

When it was announced that Thanksgiving would take place in our new home, Aron and I began to worry about space. Yom Kippor went pretty well, but since it was September and mild weather, people were able to be outside. So we decided that finishing the basement is at the top of the To Do list.

Uncle Jay came back in mid October take a look, and told us he would be here to start in early November.

Meanwhile, the roof has been a looming project. It was on its last leg, and since it was a 2 layer roof, we have to take it off and put on a new one. We contacted a roofer and decided we wanted this done before the snow came. We sign the contract, and the roofer says that he will start in early November.

So this week the basement project and the roof project begin. Deck and curtains will wait until the spring.

Life has to keep going.

Being Jewish, a wake is not something I need to attend often. When someone passes away, the funeral takes place as quickly as possible. The the family spends up to a week sitting around at home with guests coming to visit and eat (sitting shiva). While I am not saying that there is right or wrong way to do things, this is just what I grew up with.

I have been extremely blessed in life to have most of my close family still alive. When I was born, I had 3 great grandparents alive and all of my grandparents (all 6 of them, since I include my sister's family). In fact, up until pretty recently, my niece was the 5th generation of woman alive. Nana Madeline, Grandma Arlene, My Mom, My Sister, and My Niece were all alive at the same time. Lauren was lucky enough to have had a great great grandmother!

And thankfully, until later in my childhood, death and funeral was not a big part. Not to head into the morbid...but the first wake I ever attended was my great grandfather. I remember that we saw him for Christmas Eve when I was little, and that was his last day, He was from the small part of the immediate family that was not Jewish, so there was a wake. My dad made sure that I experience the entire thing, including walking up close to the casket. It was many years before I had to do this again.

Why all of the back story? Today I went to a wake, and it hit close to home. It was for the father of a teacher in my school. She is a year younger than me, and she is in a very similar place in her life as I was a year ago. She is engaged and just bought a house. Her father was fine one day, and then went to the doctor and found out he had cancer and was given between weeks and months to live. I have learned in the past year how quick this can happen. Last year was our secretary. Seeminly healthy people who have no idea that they have only months to live.

Life is a scary thing. And seeing death always gives a new appreciation to life.

And now back to my regular happy posts.

Deer 1, Aron 0

Aron's poor Nissan has had a rough week. But don't worry, he is fine. His car was just recovering from the random breaking of his back windshield last week, and he gets hit by a deer last night. He has gotten very close with our car insurance company in the last week. The glass was completely covered, and he just has to pay the deductable on the deer strike. No word on the deer, Aron and the cop that showed up couldn't find him (or her?).

Thankfully a Nissan is easily fixed and replaced. As long as the Aron inside was ok, it is all good.

Fall means leaves.

And fall means a lot of leaves.

This is our first fall in our new house. I didn't think it would be too bad since we don't have that many trees. I am amazed at the amount of leaes that can be dropped from just a handful of trees. I assumed that Aron would just take care of them and make them go away. But I did feel bad that he was out there raking while I was laying on the couch. So I did venture out there and help him. It wasn't that bad at first. Raked and filled up bags. But it got tiring pretty quickly, and I needed to keep resisting the urge to whine. We made good progess so far. We did the front and side. All that is left is the back.

My comment to Aron, "when we are rich, we are paying someone to do this for us."

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat time is coming to a close on our first Halloween as homeowners. We live in a neighborhood that seems trick or treat friendly- sidewalks, houses pretty close to each other. We did get a good amount...but since it was our first year, I had no idea how much candy I needed to budget for. So I have 2 huge bowls leftover. But mission was accomplished, because a neighborhood kid voted me as best candy choice around.

I do love seeing all the kids in costume, even the big ones that are a few years past the acceptable age to still be trick or treating. I was much more excited by all of this than Aron was. He was happy to sit on the couch and watch the Islanders.

I am already looking forward to next year!

Jewish family gathering

22 people
4 dozen bagels
2 pounds of whitefish
2 pounds of lox
and 5 tubs of assorted cream cheese...

We hosted our first big family holiday at our house yesterday, and it was not a disaster!

The past few months have happened fast. Buy a house, get married, try and settle into married life. But we felt that the time had come to have EVERYONE at our house for one of the Jewish holidays. We wanted to ease in with an easier holiday. Yom Kippur involved no actual cooking. Just slicing, cutting, and arranging on platters.

Both of our families were here to celebrate with us. Parents, grandparents, siblings, niece, nephew, Aunts, Uncle, and cousins. The total was 22 people. With bridge tables set up and mother nature cooperating, we had plenty of seating room, and the kids were able to play outside. Families got along well as always, and wine flowed nicely all night (with some 2 buck chuck brought down from MA).

Are we ready to host this many people plus more for Thanksgiving? Probably not, but we'll give it our best try. Fried turkey??

Fall

I hate the end of summer. I absolutely despise the days getting shorter and the cold air setting in. I love all things summer. From BBQs, to eating outside, to the beach, to wearing flip flops all of the time. I find that I am happier during the summer (though I feel that being a teacher and having summers off defintely adds to that all over good feeling.)

Tonight is the first time I have really felt that fall is here. Going back to school in August didn't help with this summer to fall transition. But tonight, fall is officially here for me.

Aron and I made our way to the arena in Bridgeport for the Soundtigers dinner. It is really our first trip there since the season ended sadly back in April. But as we stood outside the arena with the wind blowing and the fall chill in the air, I couldn't help but be excited. Hockey season officially begins on Saturday, so now we have something to do on the weekends and occasional weeknight.

Along with hockey season in the fall comes all things pumpkin flavored, which is another plus for fall. Already I have had many cups of pumpkin spice coffee and a few pumpkin cookies. Not to sound like bubba gump, but I am looking forward to pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cream cheese...etc.

I guess I also dread fall because this is the time of year that I add another number onto my age. 28 will be coming in a few days. Though I don't know if I am ready to say goodbye to 27 yet.

I can deal with fall, but can we just skip over winter and head right to spring? Bears have the right idea. I need to hibernate!

9pm

How did I make it to the point in life where 9pm has become my ideal bedtime? As I troll around on facebook page on a Thursday night, I see the excited updates of "plans for tonight???" from various college aged friends. And damn that makes me feel old.

Thursday is a long day for me. Work, visiting my sister, niece and nephew, and then going to advise bbyo. I usually get home a little after 9. All I can think about is trying to be in bed by 10. When did this change happen in my life? It seems like it wasn't that long ago that mom and dad were upset with me for strolling in just as they were leaving for work on a Friday morning. While I wasn't working in quite as demanding of a career, I was still working and going to school. When did I get so tired?

To add to the old feeling, it is Friday night. This morning, Aron asks if we have plans for tonight. When I replied that we didn't, he said, "good" and asked to stay in tonight. I was very quick to second that idea. And now here I am, at almost 8pm, thinking that if I could stay up until 9, that would be amazing.

How did I get so old and not realize it?

Dishes

Something strange has happened since we became homeowners. I have been noticing it, but it became even more apparentl tonight.

I can't deal with it not being clean here. That might not be strange to some, but to those who have known me for a long time, messy does not even come close to describing me. At parent's house, the floor of my room was never visible. Our apartment was always a mess. It never seemed to bother me.

But being a homeowner has changed me. I am not sure if it is the fact that we own this place and my of my pay goes towards the mortgage, or it is because we have more room to spread out and places to put things, or that we have new appliances such as a washer and dishwasher.

Tonight, after making lunch and getting things ready for the week, I decided I was going to leave dishes in the sink, which is so unlike me these days. I started to walk away, but I couldn't do it. I went back, emptied the clean dishes out, and reloaded the dishwasher. In the apartment, those dishes would have sat in the sink for days until Aron finally did them.

I am not sure if this new found sense of neatness is because we moved right before summer vacation, and I had nothing else to do but keep clean. I suppose as we get further into the school year, we'll see if it keeps up. I am sure that Aron would appreciate it!

The Holidays.

This is a subject that all newlyweds must tackle. How do we decide whos family to spend the day with? Or do we just have the whole crew over here (despite the fact that it is a crazy amount of people with both families under one roof).

Holiday season is quickly approaching. We have Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, and then all of the fun that comes along with December.

This is the first year we can really host a holiday since moving into the new house. Aron and I decided that we would approach the subject slowly and carefully, Start slow with Yom Kippur. We figured it was easy because it is traditionally a dairy dinner with bagels and shmear. Nothing really hot unless we make a noodle pudding or something. So we invited both sides. Including just immediate family, aunts, uncles, and first cousins, we have 8 on my side and 12 on Aron's side.

Today I am informed that we are also doing Thanksgiving here. Plus we are adding my Aunt and Uncle from Delaware. It is a bit overwhelming, but it does make it easier to put both families under 1 roof and not have to worry about who we aren't going to see for the holiday.

Hopefully after the first few times, it will get easier to be the gracious host.

It's here!

After months of planning and stressing, it is finally here. And oddly enough, I feel calm. Our last 2 visits to the Waterview did a lot to ease my fears. Our coordinator answered all of my questions before I even had a chance to ask. Things that I thought I would be last minute projects for me, the Waterview is taking care of.

Last night's rehearsal helped a lot too. The woman who did the rehearsal is in charge of the ceremony. She was great. As soon as I got there, we went over details, and she made me feel at ease right away. I have confidence in her and everyone else at the Waterview. They average 8 weddings a week there, they have to know what they are doing.

Plus, I have confidence in all of our vendors. Most of which I have seen at work already thanks to previous weddings. If our pictures come out even close to as good as Sarah and Brandon's, I'll be happy. And our florist Danielle already is exceeding my expectations. We had talked about ribbon on the cake, and I had assumed she would drop it off today with the rest of the flowers. So when the Waterview told me it had to be there in advance, I told them to scrap the idea. But Danielle had already dropped it off and it was all taken care of.

So the plan for today is a relaxing breakfast with my girls. Hair appointment (part 2). Make up. Then back to my parents house to finish getting ready. Before I know it, the limo will be here to take us to the wedding!

I just hope it doesn't fly by, and I get to enjoy it!

I'm back!

Sorry for the long break in posting. I am not going at posting over vacations. But I have so much to say!

First of all, one week until the wedding! It is terrifying and exciting at the same time. I don't feel stress about being married, I just feel stressed that the day won't go as planned. But I just need to keep reminding myself that everything will work out.

I feel like this week, despite being sick RIGHT BEFORE the wedding, I have accomplished a lot.
*BM gifts are wrapped
*Out of town bags for the Marriott are done, newsletter included!
*Bathroom baskets are assembled
*Programs are printing right now
*24 out of 160 favors are ready to go
*Signature drink sign has been made and framed
*finally scheduled make up appointment
*picked up Ketubah (it came out awesome!)

The do to list seems to be getting shorter:
*finish favors
*tie ribbon on programs
*send thank you notes for gifts already received
*pick up dress (was supposed to do it today, but it was pouring! rescheduled for Tues)
*pack for honeymoon and night before the wedding

I just can't believe that in just over a week this will all be over, and we will be relaxing in the sun!

New Home!

We had our first official night as home owners. Tom and Aron brought the mattress over, which we placed on the floor to sleep on.

So this is how our first night went down. I arrived at 4, and the key was waiting for me under the mat, left by our Realtor. I went right in and frolicked around enjoying the fact I was in MY HOUSE! Then I started on the cleaning of the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. I got word from Aron that the closing was done and he was on his way back from Stamford. His parents met me at the house for their first official tour. They loved it! Then Aron's mom helped with the cleaning, which I have to admit had stalled at this point. We some good teamwork going, the kitchen and both bathrooms got cleaned and the floors all got swiffered.

Aron arrived and we toasted some champagne. Him and his dad headed off for supplies and dinner while we finished cleaning.

Ann and Tom and little Tommy arrived to help with the moving of the mattress. At some point my parents also arrived to check out the place. It was pretty much chaotic, but great. After everyone left, we took one final trip back to the apartment for the night to pick up a few more things.

It was weird sleeping in a new place. We are going to have to get used to the sound of cars at night. But other than that, our first night in the new house was great!

Tonight I have New Kids on the Block, and Aron and Oren are going to pick up our new BBQ and move some more stuff. The rest of the moving will be this weekend. I can't wait for our new furniture to arrive on Saturday!

HOME OWNERS!

In just a few short hours, Aron and Julie will officially be homeowners! I met the lawyer yesterday to sign all of the paperwork, and Aron is going to the closing at 4. Meanwhile, I am going to be sitting at work today trying not to bounce off the walls with excitement. I am going to go straight from work to the new house and await the key so I can get in there and start cleaning and get ready to move our stuff in! We did the final walk through last night, and it went well.

I hope this day goes by quick!

Closing has been scheduled for 4pm....this Wednesday.

So the closing is in less than 48 hours!

Home sweet home.

So on Friday, after much faxing and paperwork, we have officially cleared the biggest hurdle on our quest for a mortgage! If all goes well and all parties can make it, we are going to close on the house this Friday! It is exciting and scary all at the same time! Packing is going well, and the apartment is chaotic, but it is only for a few more days.

Yesterday we made some big house purchases. We now own a washer, dryer and a lawn mower. We are scheduled for delivery on Saturday. Hopefully we can have some furniture delivered that day too. If all goes well, we are looking to have the family over for Fathers Day!

Countdowns:
4 days until we close?
4 days of school
54 days until the wedding
55 until our honeymoon! (and by that point, I could really use a vacation!)

Sign in

I ordered our photo guest book yesterday! And not to sound conceded (because I designed it myself), it looks awesome! It features 20 pages of our engagement photos with the lyrics to our wedding song as captions throughout. It is simple white leather with white pages and black text. There is plenty of room for people to leave us nice words around each of the pictures and text. I know that the concept of a photo sign-in book is relatively new, so I am going to design a fun sign to sit next to it instructing people to write in it. It should arrive in the mail next week, and I am so excited to see the finished product!

Shower

Yesterday was my work shower. It was supposed to be a surprise, but someone accidentally spilled it on facebook (and my principal accidentally dropped a lot of hints). It was for the 4 girls in my building that are getting married this summer. It was hosted by our Sunshine committee and all of the teachers brought something. It was after school in place of our weekly staff meeting. Everyone was really generous and I got a very nice gift card for Macy's and a bottle of wine. It was really nice. Now I have to start on the Thank Yous.

It all feels real.

Now that people are officially beginning to receive their invites, everything is beginning to seem more real. Most of the local people got their invites yesterday, and the rest should have them today. Now I can officially begin stalking my parents mailbox for RSVPs. So far I have heard that people love the invites, and that the calligraphy is really nice. It makes me feel better about the amount of money that I spent to get them addressed. I think they came out awesome and it was worth the money.

So now that we are less than 2 months away (and my blog counter starts with 1 month!), everything seems to be moving quickly. We find out today from the mortgage company it we are officially approved to close, and June 19 looks like a good possibility for our closing date. We should know more soon.

Time is flying by. The school year is just about over. Moving is just around the corner, and as soon as we are settled in the house, it will be time to get married!

Relay for Life

I didn't want to lump this in with my post about excite over the invites, it deserves its own post.

This weekend was Relay for Life. It is such a great event. I went this year with Aron's mom, and it was her first time. Our friend Sherly convinced her that she needed to come as a survivor. The whole Pinkussohn family came, including John (Aron's dad). We did the survivor dinner with Sheryl and her family. We watched Beth do the survivor lap with Sheryl, and then we all joined her for the caregiver lap. We all had a great time, and a great experience.

But things like this make me a little sad with the wedding coming up. Cancer and illness has touched so many in family, as I am sure it has many others. As the wedding grows closer, I am thankful that Beth's treatment was quick and the recovery was good. I am thankful that Grandma Arlene is a strong breast cancer survivor too. I am thankful that Grandpa Dave battle 2 different types of cancer, and despite the very long road to recovery, he will be there to share our special day.

It also makes me sad that Aunt Sandy will not be there to share our day with us. I know how much it meant to her to be able to be at Heather's wedding, and I wish that she could have been here for mine. I know she would have loved to be there.

And even though it wasn't cancer, I wish Grandpa Larry was still here. I know that he loved watching Heather and I grow up, and he would have given anything to be at our weddings.

So this post is for all of the loved ones who are no longer here to share this exciting time in our life with us. We miss you.

In the mail!

The invites are being put in the mail thanks to my wonderful assistant Jamie. After spending the weekend stuffing envelopes, 109 envelopes will be mailed today. 3 have been hand delivered over the weekend. I stuffed about 75 of them by myself over the weekend, and Jamie volunteered to help me with the rest. It went about 10 times quicker with her helping. She assembled, I stuffed, she stamped. We managed to do the last 35 in less than an hour. I am so excited to start getting the reply cards in the mail! Tonight I am going to make a spreadsheet for the rsvps and meal choices. I can't believe I got them done on time. All along, my goal had been to mail them on June 8, and I made it exactly on time.

Exactly 2 months from now, I'll be waking up to start getting ready for the wedding!

Life keeps on moving forward

Invites are all address and ready to be picked up. I'll go after work on Friday. That gives me whatever part of the weekend I have to assemble (and possibly Monday evening). My goal is to have them in the mail no later than Tuesday. Maybe I will swing by the post office today to pick up stamps.

We got an email from Realtor on Monday confirming my guess that the renters are out of the house. After many drive bys over the weekend to show Tori and Aron's family the house, I concluded that the people must be gone. All of the patio furniture and kids toys were gone, and who packs that up during this time of year until you are moving out? But anyway, that means that the owner to ready to close whenever we are. Everything is set, except for the mortgage. When the mortgage company is ready, we are ready. So closing might be earlier than the 26th. We will see, we are kind of playing it day by day until we hear from the bank.

Countdowns:
?? days until closing
11 school days (only 2 more Mondays!)
65 days until the wedding

Addressing

The invitations are in the process of being addressed! I dropped them off last night, and as soon as they are ready, I am going to assemble them and put them in the mail! Hopefully this will all take place in a little over a week. I can't believe we are almost at the 2 month mark.

Yesterday was also the one month until we close on the house mark. Packing is going well, and as we get closer, I am more and more motivated to pack. Tonight I am going to pack a box of everything wedding related so I know where it is, and it is easy to access right away. For that box, I have BM gifts, bathroom baskets, the wedding glass, Out of town bags, wedding shoes, honeymoon flip flops, and probably more that I am forgetting.

Countdowns:
17 more school days
30 days until the closing
73 days until the wedding

Pomp and Circumstance

Graduation is one week away, and despite my dragging my feet about going, I am actually getting a bit excited. I went to Southern yesterday after school to get my cap, gown, and hood. It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, and the whole experience was as painless as a trip to Southern can be. Even though the whole idea of walking at graduation is slightly anti-climatic, seeing as my degree was awarded in January, and I already received it in the mail, it should still be fun.

When I went to Southern's webpage, I found out that my commencement speaker is Michael Bolton. *Cue Office Space quotes* At least we have a celebrity speaking, unlike at Stony Brook's commencement, which I did not attend, where the president of the university spoke.

So anyway, I am all set to walk at graduation next week.

In house news, the appraisal is complete, and it went well. The square footage was different then what it was listed as, so we are hoping that will save us some tax money!

In wedding news, I stopped at the Judaica store yesterday and picked up a pretty blue and white speckled glass to break at the ceremony. I also inquired about kippot, and hopefully we can get in an order for those soon. I am thinking just black. I don't think I want all of the men sitting there with raspberry cloth on their heads. Paperwork for the Kitubah has been filled out and sent over to get done. All things Jewish seem to heading in the right direction.

Backpain

Ok, I have officially F'ed up my back in all of the packing. It pretty much hurts to breathe right now. It was feeling kind of sore, and then I went to lift and move the table. Hmmm. Bad idea. Popping Tylenol arthritis and hoping it feels better soon.

Current projects:
Getting together the most current address list so I can get the invites addressed
Still working on hebrew names for the ketubah
Looking to order the glasses for favors

Countdowns:
22 school days
38 days until we close on the house
81 days until the wedding

Packing It Up

This weekend was spent packing up the apartment. Not really putting things in boxes, though we did some of that too. Mostly clearing things out and making the apartment presentable so people can come and look at it. Hopefully either today or tomorrow we will have someone interested come and look. It is amazing how much bigger the place looks with some junk cleared out. I am all about throwing things out right now. I don't want to move something, and then decide to throw it away. It's all getting tossed now, while we have easy access to a dumpster.

Contract!

The contract has been signed by both us and the seller. The buying process continues to move ahead.

Ketubah

We picked out a Ketubah last night. Looking at the designs, they are all really pretty, and I would have been fine with any of them. But we chose one with a bride and groom at the top, flowers on the sides, and a picture of Jerusalem on the bottom. All we need to do now is get everyone's Hebrew name spelling. I know mine already in Hebrew and English, I just need my parents and Aron's parents.

I also think that I am going to have the same woman address the envelopes. That will take the stress off of me, and I think they will look really nice with the hand calligraphy. So I need to make a final address list and get that to her soon. I'd like to get them in the mail in about 3 weeks!

Oh, and my portfolio has arrived at the BEST office. Done and done.

Signed, sealed, (almost) delivered.

My portfolio was mailed on Friday! It should arrive at the BEST office today, and I will keep checking my tracking information to make sure that it arrives in the proper place. One HUGE check off of the checklist.

Friday was officially the 3 month mark until the wedding. We are well under 100 days now, but it still feels like we have a long way to go. I don't think it will all seem real until we are settled in the house, and I am on summer vacation.

Big things left to do:
Order favors
Get Ketubah (meeting about that tonight)
Figure out how the invites are getting addressed
Redo address list
Get groomsmen to get measured for Tuxes

Things that have been recently accomplished:
Picked up wedding bands. Mine looks awesome! It fits perfectly with my E ring.
Got pretty stamps for the RSVP cards and got the invites weighed for postage.
Video camera has been order from scholastic with my abundance of bonus points

We also started looking at furniture for the new house. We spent Friday night at Pilgrim Furniture City and Bobs Discount Furniture. I think we are leaning towards Bob's because the price is right. We are looking for a bedroom and living room set.

In other news, we had a relaxing mother's day. We split our day between my family for lunch and Aron's family for dinner. It was a quiet day because Heather, Tom, and the kids were away, and Aron's cousins were not in attendance. So it was just us and the family.

Countdowns:
28 school days until summer vacation
46 days until we close on the house
89 days until the wedding
90 days until CA and HI

3 things

An update on the major 3 things in my life:

BEST: Due in just under 2 weeks. Got my first draft back from my mentor, and spent the weekend making revisions. Hoping to be done in a week, and have this finally out of my life.

HOUSE: Meeting with the lawyer and mortgage broker (my brother in law) this week. Closing is still set for June 26.

WEDDING: Under the 100 day mark now. Shower invites are going out this week. Registry has been updated. Invites are in, and ready to be addressed soon. Bridesmaids gifts have been purchased!! (no further info given about that here. Too many snoopers!). But trust me, they are awesome! Groomsmen gifts have been decided on, and Aron is working on it. Ketubah is being worked on.

Overall, things are moving forward in all areas. But there is just so much going on at once right now!

Life changing events

I have a sinus infection. So needless to say, I have felt less than wonderful this week. But don't worry if I sneeze on you. It is not the swine flu.

Yesterday I took a personal day from work to get our new house inspected! So far, everything is good. No major issues. We are still all set to close on June 26, just in time for the wedding shower on June 27. I wish we could close sooner, but since there are tenants living in the house, they had to give the tenants 60 days notice from the time of an accepted offer. But as long as financing goes ok, which is should because we were pre-approved, we are all set to buy this house and move in at the end of next month!

We will be the proud owners of a cute 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom colonial in Milford (right on the border of West Haven and Orange)! And we should be well settled by the wedding!

Speaking of the wedding, we went to pick up the invites yesterday. I think they came out really nice. Simple, but still nice. The color of the text is the closest they had to a raspberry color. We just need to get them address, which we are still trying to figure out how we want to do that. Then in about a month (eek!) they go out in the mail. I'd like to get them out the beginning on June, since the RSVP date is July 15.

My sister has gotten in touch with people about bachelorette festivities, and I think the shower invites have been mailed out (or else will be very very soon).

I am under the 100 day mark! 99 days until the wedding.

Thoughts for the Day

Life seems out of control right now. But in a crazy, exciting, and slightly stressful sort of way. In am currently trying to tackle my portfolio for the State of CT (due May 15!!!), buy a house, and finish planning a wedding.

Hey, speaking of buying a house, we are putting in an offer on a house in Milford today. We are offering much less than they are asking, but we left some room in there for negotiation. So we will see how that goes. More details to come if the offer is accepted.

In wedding news, the search for cheap fun items for the bathroom baskets continues. Jamie got a lint roller, and I got the cute monogrammed tissues from Christmas Tree Shoppe. Last time they didn't have and P ones, this time they did. We also stocked up on bags to use for the Out Of Town Bags for people staying at the Marriott. But I am going to wait until late July to get things for those (water, chips).

In other Aron and Julie news, hockey season is coming to a close. We had a great weekend on Long Island (got to see Alice!) watching the Sound Tigers play, but they lost both games. After a loss last night, they are down 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series. Unless a miracle happens, the season is pretty much done. What will we do without hockey until October?

E Ringless!

So much has been accomplished this week!

First off, I am without my E ring for the next week or so. We went to look at wedding bands yesterday (the gold type, not the singing type). After try on a few, I decided that I did want one that matched up exactly to my current ring. So I had to surrender it to the jeweler so they can match it exactly.

After the disappointment with the room for the rehearsal dinner at Bertucci's, Aron's mom has been hard at work trying to find another place for the dinner. We are down to a few finalists, and a place will be chosen soon.

I went to the florist yesterday, and I found out that the flowers I really like, alstromeria, are very inexpensive, so that is good!

I also hit up the Christmas Tree Shoppe and started to get things for the bathroom baskets.

Lastly, Jamie tracked down my dark chocolate raspberry hershey kisses. After a phone call to Hershey, she found that there were some bags left at Walgreens in the area, so we went yesterday to pick them up.

Overall, things are moving along nicely!

Invites and more!

Being on vacation this week has allowed me to get so much done for the wedding!

Yesterday, I called the florist and made an appointment to see her and go over flowers again. I have so many new ideas thanks to all of the wonderful ladies on theknot.com message boards. I think I might even have some new centerpiece ideas, since my mom was unhappy with the lack of flowers in the centerpiece. I stole this idea:





I might do a few tables of the high and the rest low, both with fresh limes in them. I have to see what she says and how much the cost will be with all of my new ideas. I know some will be much cheaper, but some will cost much more, so I hope it balances out.

In other wedding news, the invites have been ordered! I wound up getting them from the store next to Archie Moores because I really like the couple that owns the store. And I was impressed that the woman recognized me from the bridal show the first time I walked in. So I have order invites, response cards, and thank you cards. Overall, the price was really good, and they gave me a 10% discount for finding them at the bridal show. So my cost of admission was officially worth it! The proof will hopefully be in on Friday, so Aron and I can stop and take a look at it before we head off for a hockey filled weekend on Long Island.

Other checks on the check list:
Called limo companies, waiting for one more to get back before to us we decide and book one.
Called bus companies for quotes for the hotel shuttle
Got some prices on our favors
Decided (maybe) on Ketubah wording.
Learned about 1/4 of our first dance routine at dance class. So cute!

Later this week:
Go to jeweler one night this week to order wedding bands.
Decide on what I want to do for Bridesmaid gifts.

I did have an excellent lunch today with Stephi and Jamie, 2 of my wonderful bridesmaids. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and I got my favorite BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad. Yum!

I love being on vacation!

Reading Homework

I am almost done with the reading assignment that the rabbi gave to us. He wanted us to read a few chapters in the book The New Jewish Wedding.

Reading that made me feel a bit better about picking and choosing the religious traditions I want to do, and those that I feel are not for me.

For example, there is a Jewish wedding tradition called yichud. It basically says that just after the ceremony, the bride and groom are to be locked away in a room together for about 15 minutes. This tradition comes from the fact that it is supposed to be the first time that the bride and groom are alone together. Ummm, a little late for that. So that is scratched off the list...

I also have no desire to circle around Aron 3 or 7 times when we get under the Huppah. Apparently the root of that tradition is to ward off evil spirits. No thank you.

The reading was also helpful because it talks about what is Jewish law versus Jewish custom. Most of the rituals during a wedding come from custom, and so skipping out on the ones I don't want to do doesn't seem like a big deal.

A new checklist

I spent a good morning today visiting just about every message board on theknot.com that could possibly have valuable information for me. I trolled my usual CT board, but in addition, I ventured on to the August brides, Jewish Wedding, and Do It Yourself boards. From there, I made a list of things left to still do. This is what I've got.

Book a Limo (doing this Monday, got a quote from the company that does buses for the Soundtigers)

Book a bus for the people at the marriot

Find wording for Ketubah and get that to the person making it

Get or find a stand for Ketubah to display it at the wedding

Order invites (doing that this week)

Order kipot

Get a glass to break (we want a nice one that we can get made in to something cool after the wedding)

Find a calligrapher to either hand write or print on envelopes

Book rehearsal dinner

Figure out and order favors (pint glasses?)

Decide on newspaper announcement

Order wedding bands

Choose readings for ceremony

Make our photo guest book

Work on table numbers

Speaking of table numbers. I have a new idea of what I want to do. Instead of each table being a place that we have gone together with a little story, I think I want to do important dates in the history of Aron and Julie. I don't think we can find 18 unique places to incorporate, but I am sure that we can think of 18 important dates.

This is what I have so far:
First time we met
First date
The day we officially started dating
Trip to Virginia
Trip to Vegas
Trip to Palm Beach
Engagement
Some of the Billy Joel concerts (Last Play at Shea?)
First time our families met
Date we moved in to our apartment
Date we buy a house (if it is before the wedding)
Shower date?

Any other suggestions for dates I could use?

Only 3 days of work this week before passover and easter vacation! That makes waking up on a Monday much more tolerable. That, and the fact that I went to bed before 9pm last night also helps. Tonight is a group dance lesson, but we should be home by 8, so it will hopefully be another early night.

Over vacation, I am going to try and meet with the florist again, seeing as now I have some clue as to what I would want. I found really Lilys in the hotel this weekend that I took a picture of that I am going to show to the florist. I also having been using google images to find cool flowers, like magnolia, which I can also talk to the florist about.

Here is the picture from the hotel


So, wedding things to do over vacation:
Order invitations
Find someone to do the address (probably computer caligraphy)
meet with florist
book a limo and school bus
find out how I can get my bride and groom ears at disneyland
order last bridesmaid dress

HI CA!

Let me start by saying that I should be doing about 20 other things right now. Report cards need to be done, portfolio needs to be worked on. However, I am feeling stressed, and fried, and over worked. So with that, my only goal for this weekend is to finish my report card comments and leave the rest for April vacation.

So, this is not as much wedding news but a honeymoon update! Our time in California and Hawaii is slowly getting filled. So far the plans include:

For CA:
tickets to an LA Angels game
Disney Land
Price is Right (possibly)
San Diego Zoo

For HI:
We have already booked a room at the B&B right outside volcano national park so we can do either the late night or the sunrise tour of the volcanos. We also have reservations at the restaurant near there.

And on the plus side of honeymoon, I originially thought that the first day back to work for teachers was Monday as in the past. With Mon and Tues being teacher days and Wed being the first day of school. That is apparently not the case for next year. School does not start until Thursday, so we do not have to be back until Tuesday, which is awesome, since we do not get back from HI until Monday early morning. So now hopefully I can relax that day and maybe get some things done in the classroom.

House hunting is still going along. There is one I like a lot, but more info will come later.

Life

Oh, my poor neglected wedding blog! I promise to give you more attention soon! However, life is getting in the way of wedding planning, so nothing new has really happened recently.

In the busy life of a bride to be, I have to do my BEST portfolio for the State of CT. It is basically a big project that the state requires if you want to continue to teach. Fun stuff. It isn't really hard, it is just ridiculously time consuming. It is due May 15, but I hope to be done by the end of April vacation.

In other busy news, Aron and I are officially house hunting! We have gone on a few trips to look, but not much success yet. Once the previously mentioned portfolio is done, house hunting will be top priority.

In wedding news, the flower girl dress for Lauren has been purchased, and it is pretty much exactly what I pictured her in. She is going to be adorable in it!

Time to go and enjoy a few minutes in front of the tv before parking myself back at the computer to do work. Oh TV how I missed you! DVR, you are my best friend.

You're Invited

Another big check on the check list!

We took mom and dad to the invitation place yesterday, and we were able to come to an agreement on invites! The ones we picked are actually the first ones Aron picked out the last time we went looking. So this week we just need to finalize what we want for the wording on the invite and reply cards, then we can go order them next weekend! It is still hard to believe that the wedding is getting close enough that we need to be ordering our invites. About 2 1/2 months before they get mailed out!

Flower Girl

Heather and I took Lauren to try on some flower girl dresses yesterday, and as I suspected, she looked adorable in all of them. We went to David's Bridal, and I think we found the dress that she is going to get.


Right now it has a white sash around the waist, but we would replace that with one made from the extra material of the bridesmaid dresses so should would match them. I also love her in the tiara.

Little White Dresses

On our last visit to the bridal shop, the woman in the store recommended Burlington Coat Factory as a place for affordable flower girl dresses. Since I had some time this afternoon, I decided to take a trip over there to look. There are some adorable looking dresses, and imagining my niece Lauren wearing one makes them even cuter! So this weekend, I am going to go back with Heather. We are also going to visit David's Bridal and check out the selection there. I was really set at first on wanting Lauren to look like a mini bride, but with a sash that matched the bridesmaids. However, after looking around, I think she will look great in any of theses dresses, and I don't really care if her dress matches my original vision.

While making my way over to the little girl section of Burlington, I stumbled upon my first official honeymoon purchase! I saw these cute beach skirts that would be great to wear over a bathing suit as we lounge on the beach in Cali and Hawaii. I know I still have a few months to go, but I can't help but start to get excited for our trip. And I know I'll continue to pick things up as I find them over the next few months.

Luck of the Irish.

Friday night was the first official meeting with the rabbi. Last time we met with him it was an informal meeting to see if he is the one that we want to do the wedding. So this time it was official.

We went over the logistics of the wedding, like what we are expected to bring. We need our own kiddish cup, which is fine, since I bought one in Israel for the occasion. We also are doing a Havdallah in the beginning, and I bought a beautiful candle for that in Israel also. Probably in another month or so, we will go meet with him again.

This weekend we also started to think about invitations. I met a really nice woman the bridal show that has a store that is down the road from us (right next to Archie Moore's). So while getting food from Archie's for the second time this weekend, we stopped in to take a look. I was impressed that as soon as we walked in, the woman said that she remembered me from the bridal fair before I could mention that I was there. We learned from this that there are thousands of possibilities, and we have no idea what we want. We are going to go back again on Sunday with my parents and look again, so we'll see how that goes.

Other than that, this weekend was filled with corned beef, beer, and friends. Saturday we walked with Tom to the parade in Milford. People joined in throughout the day, and eventually, we made it back from the bars for a wonderful corned beef dinner courtesy of Aron. After dinner we all went to Tom's for a bonfire. Sunday the celebrating continued with a trip to Sarah and Justin's St. Pat's party.

Aron and I dressed very festive for the parade. Me with my Shamrock antennae and Aron with his Guinness jersey.

More dance

Last night was our second dance lesson, and this time it was a private lesson. Our lesson was with the owner, and he seems like a really nice guy (though a bit strange). We started off with his fiance, who is really nice, because he was busy with the couple before us still.

Today's lesson focused on the Waltz and Swing. I have learned that I am pretty decent at the steps and making sure I am on the right foot and doing the right thing with my feet. I have also learned that I am terrible and turns. I seem to be in a rush to get back into dancing that I speed through the turn. Oh well, we will work on it.

Last night we also played our first dance song for our instructor, and he mentioned some ideas of where we can go with it, but I don't really remember anything he said. Plus, he has a thick German accent, so I really can't understand everything he says.

Last night was the last of our free lessons, so we bought a package. It is pretty expensive, but I think that is a good idea. If anything, it will give us some confidence on the dance floor so we don't just stand there like middle schoolers swaying back and forth.

In other wedding news, tonight is our 2nd meeting with the rabbi. We are going to head there after Aron gets home from work, meet with the rabbi, then stay for the Friday night service again. This temple doesn't really do Saturday morning services, so they read from the Torah on Friday nights. They keep it pretty short, but it is still longer than a normal Friday night service. I really don't mind. I kind of enjoy the idea that we are attending services on occasion. It is still not something I can see myself doing weekly, but I wouldn't mind my attendance being more than just a high holiday (if that) thing. It is also really inconvenient that the temple is all the way in Ridgefield, but the rabbi there seems to be the best match for us, so it is worth the drive.

Hair Do

Another checked off item on the list.

I called yesterday and booked a place for everyone to get their hair done. We are going to Hair Attraction, where the whole family used to get our hair cuts. They are the place that did my hair for the prom both times. I figured it was close enough and convenient for my parents house and for the Marriott. Sometime in May I'll make an appointment for my hair trial (must remind Heather to take out the Tiara that I am borrowing).

For hairstyle, I want something that is half up and curly. Something like this:
(without the bow)

I am going to search out more pictures of styles that I like to bring with me when I go for my trial. I'll update when I find more of what I am looking for.

Dancing Fools

We successfully completed our first dance lesson!

Last night we had a group class, which consisted of us, and one other couple. They seemed to be about our age, and they also signed up at the bridal expo. I think the small class and the other dragged along fiance made Aron feel better. The other couple had no clue what they were doing either, so we were not the only clueless ones.

We started off with a foxtrot, a basic box step, and a tango. I will forget all of this very soon, if I haven't already, but it's ok, our instructor is not expecting us to remember anything. And much to Aron's delight, he said no practicing at home.

Our next lesson is Thursday evening, and this one is just Aron and I and the instructor. They like to get you in for your private soon after the first lesson so they can minimize the amount of forgetting.

So far so good on the dance. I think even Aron would admit that it was not as bad as he was expecting.

Checks on the list

We made it to the Waterview this weekend! Aron and I, along with my mom and dad and his mom all got to meet with our wedding coordinator. At this meeting, we set the menu, picked out a cake, talked about how the night would work, picked out table linens and worked out where everything is going to go in the room.

For the wedding cake, it will be a square cake with raspberry ribbon around each layer. On the inside will be white cake with cannoli cream .

Table linens so far are white table clothes with black napkins. They didn't have a color close enough to my color scheme to have the napkins match.

For the menu...some highlights...
Main Course:
Fillet Mignon
Salmon
Chicken Picatta

Cocktail Hour:
Raw Bar
Martini Bar
Carving Stations
Cheese Station
Beef Wellington
Portobello Mushroom Fries
Crab Cakes
Thai Chicken
and more that I can't remember right now...

In other wedding news, dance lessons start tonight, and I am really looking forward to them. Hopefully Aron will warm up to the idea a bit once we get going with them, but if not, oh well. We are already committed to doing them.

The weather was beautiful this weekend, and it felt like spring. And spring means that summer is getting closer, and so is the wedding. My counter officially has a 4 where it says months. Yesterday we crossed the 5 months to go mark, and it really seems like time is flying. I am not very worried, I feel like we have a handle on the planning for the most part. And any do-it-yourself projects can be accomplished over summer vacation.

I bought myself a present this weekend. I waited on line for over an hour for a free pandora bracelet with purchase of a charm. I got myself 2 charms to start off the bracelet. We know I have a thing for monkeys.
That's it on the wedding front for now. Less than 5 months to go!

Waterview resheduled (again)

Tomorrow, we are finally (hopefully!) going to meet with our coordinator at the Waterview. We have been trying to do this since December, but floods and flu have kept this from happening. So, as long as there is not big emergency between now and tomorrow, we will be at the Waterview.

Next Friday we have another meeting with the Rabbi. I think at this one we cover a little more of the getting to know you stuff. I think we also talk about text for the ceremony and things like that. We also need to talk to him about wording for the ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) so we can that over to the woman that is going to make it.

This weekend will also include a trip to get my tires replaced. I knew I was going to need new tires, but I was looking to hold off until the summer. But the flat tire I got yesterday sped up the process a bit.

Hopefully this weekend there will be a lot more wedding details after our Waterview meeting!

Just Dance. I'll be ok. Da Da Da Da Just Dance.

Just for the record, I now have that Lady Gaga song stuck in my head...but anyway...

The first step towards Aron and I not looking like dancing fools at the wedding has been taken! At the bridal expo last weekend, I met with the nice people from the Fred Astaire Dance Studio. I filled out the form for more information, and I found out that a new place was opening in Orange this week. So I circled both Orange and Trumbull as places that we would go. Monday afternoon, the nice British guy from the Orange studio called me and offered some free introductory lessons. So it is official, we begin lessons next Monday. When he asked about our dance experience, I told him that we had none, so we are doing a group class for first time dancers. I am hoping to do a few group classes and then a few private so we can work out some fun moves to our first dance song.

As you can probably tell, I am really excited about this. And if you know Aron, you probably can guess that he is less than thrilled with the idea. However, I mentioned it months ago, and he agreed to go along with the idea. Apparently he only agreed because he never actually thought that I would make it happen. Too bad, I made the call, and now he has to do it. But really, we are going to have 175 people watching us dance, I want to look like we have some clue as to what we are doing because between the 2 of us, we have 4 left feet.

So Monday night begins the dance adventure of Aron and Julie. And if it doesn't go well, there is always a bar next door...

More checks on the To Do list

Yesterday I attended my first Bridal Expo. It was not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be, especially since almost all of our vendors are picked. But I decided that I needed to see one of these things for myself, so I brought Jamie along for support, and we tackled the bridal expo at the Arena at Harbor Yard (where the Sound Tigers play).

When we walked in, we were greeted by the people from CT Bride magazine, where we were given a free copy of the magazine. We got tons of freebies through the entire expo, including a loaf of ciabatta bread. The best information I got was from a place right down the road that does invitations, which we are going to start thinking about soon, and also from the place that does dance lessons (which I need to get us started on as soon as possible if I want this to happen).

In other wedding planning news, Aron took advantage of the snow and working from home today to make some calls and send some emails. He called the woman about the Ketubah, and we are going to give her all of the information on the text we want after we meet with the rabbi about it. Speaking of, Aron emailed the rabbi with some dates that we can go to meet with him this month before a Friday night service.

Also added to the list of things accomplished is sizing another bridesmaid. Victoria and I went on Saturday morning and she picked a dress and a size. I am getting closer to being ready to finally order these dresses!

Tuxedos

Aron and I took advantage of the fact that he had the day off from work yesterday, and we decided to go and pick out Tuxedos. We went to Men's Warehouse, since one of the owners will be in attendance at the wedding. The woman was really helpful, and we picked out all of the tux details.

For the groomsmen, we decided on a 2 button jacket with a vest and tie combo that matches the bridesmaid dresses. The vest has a sort of diamond pattern on it. For Aron, we decided on a silver colored vest in the same pattern as the groomsmen.

I like the idea of Men's Warehouse because they have stores all over, and the guys can go to any of the stores to get measured and rent their tux. They can also pick up their tux wherever they choose, and they can also return wherever they choose. Also, Men's Warehouse is open on Sunday, so people can return right away if they want.

Another check on the long To Do list.

Registery Woes

Aron and I went back to Target and Macys to re tackle the task of registering. We had to update our registries because with new seasons, products get discontinued and changed.

Basically, a good part of our day was spent tracking down things that match our dish set. I love the every day dishes that we picked out, and my Aunt already bought us 2 boxes of them, which is a total of 8 settings. The boxes have a big plate, smaller plate, soup bowl and coffee mug. Those boxes are still available, as is the completer set that goes with it. However, they discontinued some of the accessories that go along with the set in our color, like the ice cream bowls. They didn't have any more of them in stock in Milford, so we headed to Trumbull to buy the last 2 sets that they had. And we were walking through J C Penny in Milford when I randomly saw the matching 2 tier serving tray on clearance. The only thing for the set that we can't find in stores are the extra large mugs that are good for soup and things like that. I did find all the accessories for our dish set online, so at some point in the future, I will probably purchase them.

Ok, while looking for a picture to post of our dishes, I found that Target carries all of the accessories I was looking for. They have the salad plates, lasagna dish and casserole dishes. So I just added them to our Target registry. Yes!

Here's what the dishes look like:

Memories of February 14

Today marks the 5th Valentine's Day for Aron and Julie. Nothing exciting is planned for this year. Just a hockey game Friday night, dinner at home Saturday night, and hopefully a nice dinner at Marissa's Restaurant on Sunday. I don't like going out on the actual night of Valentine's day. You get a special little Valentine menu, where they raise the prices, and the food is not even as good.

Aron and I have had some memorable Valentine's days together. Our second Valentine's Day together, we went to NYC see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. We had a whole weekend planned. We were going to get into the city early, check in to our hotel, and then go for dinner. We chose the Heartland Brewery in the Empire State Building. By the time we started walking over, it was already snowing pretty hard. We enjoyed ourselves and had a good dinner before heading to a bar for a drink, then to the show. The concert was great, as always with Billy Joel. When we got out of the concert, the snow was really starting to pile up. We didn't care because we had a hotel room for the night. So we went to Friday's for some late night snack, then back to the hotel. When we woke up, the sight out of the window was amazing, NYC was gone under a blanket of snow. We ate breakfast on the top floor of the hotel, and you could not see the city at all. All you could see was white. We decided we should try and get home, but we weren't prepared for the amount of snow on the ground. So we headed to Old Navy, and bought more socks and pants for the snowy trek to Grand Central. We were able to get a train, even though they were only running diesels every 2 hours, and they were making every stop imaginable. After a more than 3 hour train ride, we were able to get to Milford where we walked to Ann and Tom's apartment and hunkered down until Aron's dad was able to get us from the train station in Bridgeport. So we trekked back to the train and met him there. The weekend was an adventure, but it was a Valentine's day we will always remember. 22" of snow in central park. I believe that was a record, and we were there for it.

Another year, it was a month since we were living in Milford, and Valentine's Day was on a Wednesday night. We had yet another Valentine's Day storm. Aron and I were supposed to go to River Street with Ann and Tom for dinner, but Aron was sick, so him and I put off our celebration until the next night. We did still have our nice dinner, but we did it on the 15th.

We have definitely had some memorable February celebrations together, and I am looking forward to all the ones to come in the future.

6 Months

Today is officially 6 months until the wedding!

Our meeting with the Waterview on Saturday had be rescheduled again, since I came down with the flu. Aron went by to drop off our next installment of our payments while I laid on the couch sick. Hopefully we will get this meeting taken care of at some point.

I did get a call today from the waterview to schedule our rehearsal. Since August is a busy month, they do have an event the night before, but we can do our rehearsal at 5, which is fine. It takes about 30 minutes, so we can have our dinner at 6.

Speaking of dinner, I think the final decision is that we are going to try and have our BBQ themed rehearsal dinner at a local golf course. It seems to make the most sense, since they can set up both inside and outside for us, causing the weather to no longer be an issue. And they are willing to do it all for one flat rate per person. I think this is going to work out well, and both Aron and I will he happy with it.

Now the most immediate things to do once I recover from the flu:
-order bridesmaid dresses! (get everyone's size so I can place the order!)
-start thinking about invitations
-continue on the diet (even though my dress fits well right now, I still wanna look amazing in it)
-work on the attire for the men (have Aron get on that)
-have Aron work on transportation for the wedding day
-put together bridal shower and bachelorette lists for my sister

And last, but not least, we would like to welcome a new arrival! Bridesmaid Ann and Groosman Tom welcomed baby Tommy last night! Congrats!

Waterview rescheduled

We are finally going to meet with our coordinator at the Waterview this weekend, and I have so many questions for her!

1- We want to do pictures before everything starts, where can we do them? Can we do them inside if there is bad weather?

2- Can we put fresh limes into the hurricane glasses? (I was told by the florist that it was my job to get permission)

3- Do you provide any candles with the centerpieces? If so, that would cut down on the florist cost.

4- Will you set up a chuppah if we get one instead of using the florists?

5- Not a questions, just a reminder. Make sure the isle is wide enough for my mommy, daddy, and me.

6- Can I switch the scallops for the portabello mushrooms?

7- Can we make a signature drink and beer?

There are probably so many more things I want to ask that I will forget! I should really be making a list instead of trying to remember all of these things.

Full Set of Photos

Want to see all of the photos, not just the best of?

Go to http://www.weddingprints.com/EventLogin.aspx?sid=131798

The password is Goldstein.

I don't like any of the belly shots.

Overall, I liked the outside a lot, but the ones in the little alcove look really Gothic. I think I like the ones with the words Maritime Center in the background to use in the newspaper.

Enjoy!

Engagement Photos!!!

Our wonderful photographer Meg just finished and uploaded her favorite of her engagement shoot pictures to her blog.

http://creativeimagecollections.wordpress.com/

We had a great time doing the shoot with her. We started off at the Norwalk Maritime Center (aka the scene of the crime), then we ventured out onto the streets of SoNo for some freezing pictures. And yes, we are sitting in the snow for some of them, but it is worth it! And yes, my signature scarf did make it into a bunch of the outside pictures!

Dress

I got a call today from the bridal shop, and my wedding dress is in! I need to find a time to go and try it on. I am excited because I bought it 3.5 months ago, and I forgot what it looks like on me. Bad timing though, because my parents are going away tomorrow for the next week, and I wanted mom to come with me. So either I will take Heather with me, and I will wait till mom gets back. But I can't wait to try it on again!!!

Firetrucks!

So were supposed to meet with our wedding coordinator on Saturday at the Waterview to pick out table clothes, centerpieces, finalize the menu and cake, etc. Aron and I picked his mom and set off for the Waterview. We planned to meet my parents there, and we left plenty of time because my dad said that powerlines were down on the road on the way there. It was no problem, we detoured, and we wound up at the Waterview with plenty of time. As we are turning into the lot, I see flashing lights ahead. As we get closer, I see that the flashing lights are everywhere, and they are mostly coming from firetrucks.

Now, as a future bride, that is the last thing you want to see while pulling into the venu where the entirety of your wedding will be held.

So, remaining extremely calm, we get out of the car to investigate, meanwhile, firefighters are walking in and out of the building, but on the oposite side from where my festivities will be taking place. A man who works there is sitting in a car, and he gets out to greet us and ask if we are there for a meeting. He tells us that there was a break in one of the pipes in the sprinkler system, and we might be able to go in soon, and just wait in the car for now.

Minute later, Mandy, our coordinator, walks out. She informs us that the break was pretty serious, and there is a lot of flooding, the ceiling is caving in, and there is no power because water got in the electrical system. They can't turn on any power until an electrician comes to look and see if it is ok to turn the power back on. So we have to reschedule again. And when Aron walks in to ask her another question, it strongly smells of gas. Apparently there might be something wrong with the gas lines.

If our wedding was sooner, I would have been freaking out. But I figure that 6 months is more than enough time to get this fixed. So we have rescheduled for Feb 7. I just feel bad for the wedding that was happening there last weekend!

33C Robert Treat

Tomorrow marks exactly 2 years since Aron and I officially decided to move in together. We were on our way home from something BBYO at the Woodbridge JCC when I got a call on my cell phone from a woman at Robert Treat Apartments. I had found the apartment complex on rent.com a few days earlier and left a message to say that I was interested in coming to look. So we decided to venture over on the way home. They gave us a key and let us go explore the 2 empty aparatments. The first one we walked into is the one that I am sitting in right now. We ran around and took pictures and I knew right away that I liked it. We did visit the 2nd aparatment, but I didn't like it as much. The kitchen was too small for me.

So we went home and talked about. My impulsive self was ready to sign immediately, and Aron's more cautious about big decisions wanted to think about it and look around some more. But my impulsivity won out and I convinced him that we should put down a deposit. The next day was MLK day, so I brought Ann with me to look and drop off a check.

Next thing I know, we are back on the following Friday signing a lease and waking up early the next morning to start moving our stuff in. The day we moved in was freezing cold and really windy. It was miserable and long, but we essentially got it all done that day, thanks to much support (and patience!!) from Ann and Tom.

The weekend we moved in was also the first night our parents met. The only way that my dad would let this happen was if the parents got to meet. So we brought in pizza from aross the street, and our dads sat on the couch and bonded while the mothers helped us unpack the kitchen.

I still can't believe we have been here for 2 years.

Engagement Photo Shoot

Last night, Aron and I went to the Maritime Center (site of the proposal) to meet our photographer and do our engagement shoot. At first, we definitely felt awkward trying to just act natural. It is hard to be told to act natural when you know the camera is clicking away. But after a little while it got a bit easier. We shot pictures pretty much all over the place, anywhere that Megan liked the light. We did get some shots in front of the shark tank, and we got a shot in front of the giant sea turtles, even though it took forever to get one to cooperate and swim where we needed him to.

After we finished at the maritime center, we spent another hour shooting on the streets of South Norwalk. Megan had scouted out some places she liked before hand, including a little alcove covered in vines. We had fun, but it was freezing outside!

So in about 2 weeks, we get to see our photos. These are the ones we are going to use to make the sign in book for the wedding.

Rabbi

Aron and I trekked to Ridgefield last night for a meeting with the Rabbi and a Friday night service. The Rabbi is really nice. He is only a few years older than us, and relatively recently married himself. He is pretty open to anything as far as the ceremony goes, and he will marry us whenever we want. We told him we officially want to use him. He said that entails 2 meetings where we discuss with him exactly what we want and stuff like that.

We also stayed around for the Friday night service. It was nice, but much much more reform that I used to. They read from the Torah on Friday night, since they do not have a Saturday morning service. Also, since it is reform, they treat woman as equals, unlike in conservative, where woman essentially have no place in the service. I did enjoy attending, and the people were all very nice.

Overall, I am happy with the Rabbi, and I don't mind attending a few more services there between now and the wedding. Too bad it is so far away!

We finally found a good videographer!

So we had our last videographer meeting last night. This was with a place called video affair in Hamden. Within minutes of walking in, Aron and I both knew that we would not be hiring these people. Here is why:

-The first thing they did when we walked in was try to sell us invitations, before any mention of any video.
-The guy insulted our venue! We happen to love the Waterview, probably not a good idea to trash it to the bride and groom! He repeatedly told us that it was the worst place ever acoustically, and the people would miss everything that the band says.
-They handed us a "menu" of add ons, and they charged extra for everything imaginable. So to get all we wanted, they were going to keep upselling us.
-They were really disorganized. They didn't have sample DVDs ready to pop in right away, and they kept searching for ones to show us, then changing their minds and popping in different ones.
-They kept talking to eachother about memories from previous weddings. Hello! I am here!!! Talk to me!!!

So, with that, we will not be going with these people. I am a little bit bummed, because the work the woman did was really really nice. But I don't think we would get along with them well enough, especially after all of the things I listed.

So we are offically going to go with Glenn Andrew Productions out of Brookfield. I looked him up on weddingreports.com and he had 19 reviews dating from recently to almost 5 years ago, and all gave him 5 stars and said that they loved him. No one had a bad thing to say. Also, he seemed like a really nice guy, and he was willing to do everything we were looking for at a really reasonable price. Plus, he doesn't charge for add ons.

Rabbi meeting on Friday, then Florist next Tuesday. And Waterview meeting on the 17th. Then I think we are good for at least a little while.

Another Videographer

Aron and I are headed to Brookfield today to meet with another videographer. We were supposed to go on Wednesday, but canceled due to the snow. This is the one that I found through theknot.com and that Aron spoke to on the phone for almost a half hour. We are not going to make a decision today, because we are meeting with a videographer in Hamden on Monday. The one in Hamden had an amazing video from our side of the Waterview on the website, so I am looking forward to that meeting. I am glad that the crappy videographer in monroe showed us a video from the Waterview, so now I have an idea of what I don't want.