It's not heaven...

It is our new cutting board!

Mr. C's mom is awesome, and gave it to me in an awesome cutting board in the shape of my beloved home state. Mr C. and I both decided that we'd prefer to keep it looking pretty, so he hung it up over our sink in a place of honor.

Awesome, right?

This is both a chance to show off my awesome gift, and also a lead-in to what Id id over my Christmas vacation. We started off in CT at Mr. C's family family for "Fakemas" and too much junk food, then headed back to my homeland from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day. It was awesome, and we also got SO much wedding planning done! Over the next few days, I'll break down the various appointments/tastings/trials that we had to catch you up, but for now, here's an overview:

Thursday
- Dinner at Rehearsal Dinner Option #1

Friday
- Cake Tasting
- Wedding Catering Tasting
- Venue Visit

Saturday
- Linen Rental Visit
- Bridesmaid Dresses Ordered

Sunday
- Engagement Photos
- Mom's Dress Ordered

Monday
- Hair and Makeup Trial
- Macaron Tasting
- Florist Meeting

Tuesday
- Lunch at Rehearsal Dinner Option #2

In addition to all of that, I also got my likely wedding shoes (yay!), got most of the work done on the wedding website, and have a design for our Save the Date magnets that is now awaiting a final proof of an engagement photo before heading off to the printers.

Drumroll please..................

We've selected our venue!!!!

Ceremony space via Our Forever Promise Weddings

Reception space via Catering DSM

We will be getting married at the Temple for the Performing Arts! I am very, very excited. It is right in Downtown Des Moines, and will give our out of town guests a great feel for all that the city (and the state!) has to offer. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous space, PLUS I have a personal connection there. Growing up, I sang in the Des Moines Children's Choir, which eventually became the Iowa Youth Chorale. We rehearsed in one of the smaller rooms in the Temple, and had concerts in the same space where we'll have our reception! One of the first conversations Mr. C and I had was about our love of singing. Had he grown up in the DSM area, he probably would have been in that choir with me.

From a practicality standpoint, the venue is awesome. As I said it is right in the downtown area, which means that it will be very easy for guests to get around. Most of the local hotels offer a shuttle service to and from the airport, and it is a very walkable downtown, so we can probably get away without having people rent a lot of cars. Plus, there are wonderful restaurants, shops, parks and museums right around the area. And, there will be plenty of places for us to go for some great photos the day of the wedding!

Can you tell I'm excited?

Waffling, or It Is All About Two Families Coming Together

A few posts ago, I weighed the pros and cons of the various locations we were considering for our location. As you may recall, Mr. C is from Connecticut, I'm from Iowa, and we live in New York. We did a lot of thinking and decided that, logistically, we were really leaning towards having the wedding in New York. We even went and looked at a really great venue that we were very very happy with. Both of us walked away imagining our wedding day there. Here's a photo of the site. Lovely, right?

via Matt Ramos Photography

The night after our venue visit, I called my parents and let them know that we'd found a place that we really liked. I'll preface this by telling you that my parents are awesome. They are exceptionally supportive, have always been there for me eve during some really tough times, and are some of the most practical minded people you'll ever meet. That's why it was such a shock that they were so upset when I told them we were looking to get married in New York. Mr. C and I had both assumed that once we laid out the practicalities of it, they'd understand and be right there with us. 

Now, they both said that no matter what, they'd be wherever we were with bells on. But, I could tell they were really unhappy. It took about a week for us to connect again, and to be honest I was over everything wedding. I cried more times than I can count, had my awesome maid of honor bring me some chocolate milk, and was generally just miserable. Finally, I got my parents sat down over Google Chat, and we were able to talk everything out. Their big suggestion was to do two separate days, one in Iowa, one in New York. Two days, two groups, hopefully with some people able to travel but really one of my family and one of his. 

Mr. C and I sat down and had a big heart-to-heart about this. I was pretty distraught, trying to figure out how we were going to work two parties into our budget, and how we would be able to make everyone happy. And then, Mr. C, in his brilliance, said the exactly right thing. "Isn't this whole process about our two families coming together, to celebrate our new family? And if we have one day with your family, and one with mine, that is kind of contrary to the point." 

So, we completely scrapped the idea of two weddings. I called my parents, and told them we were going to get married in Iowa. Mr. C's family, bless them, are totally okay with it. We'll try to do a special dinner with his grandparents and anyone else who can't make it, and try to set up some sort of live video feed for the ceremony so they can watch. We actually went over to see his parents and sister this weekend, and they really reassured me. I can't tell you how lucky I am to have this awesome family that I get to be a part of. They are really supportive, and now we can start moving forward with the actual planning of this thing!

A Really Long Week (and a Half)

Apologies for starting up and then not posting, but the last week and a half has been one of the most exhausting I've ever gone through.

It started out with a really amazing trip back to Iowa to see my family and friends. We had a really fantastic time, especially surprising my little brother. Granted I say little, and he's got about six inches on me, but still! Anyway, we got to see him in his play, which was wonderful, and spend some time on the Iowa State campus. We especially enjoyed visiting Reiman Gardens. I hadn't been there since they had their big expansion and added the butterflies, so it was really enjoyable.

One of the butterflies really liked my sleeve!

Honestly I could have spent hours sitting in the butterfly wing. It was really magical. Mr. C and I were also in venue scouting mode, and it seemed like it might be a really fun option for us. Definitely still on the list, although we'll have to go back later in the year and check out the road noise.

The trip to Iowa was great, but it was a ton of running around. I'm now seven weeks out from my surgery, and definitely not at full speed yet. Better than I was, yes, but spending those days back home really wore me out.

Added to that, on Tuesday I returned to work for the first time. It was really exciting to head back, and I am glad to finally have things to do. I really enjoy my job, which helps. Granted, there are always those little frustrating things, but overall it is a really great environment and I am doing some great work. Of course, my first day back I didn't just put in a normal day. We had a special donor event that night, which meant I put in a 12+ hour day. Needless to say, there were several early bedtimes this week.

The only real bad thing about returning to work is that Mr. C and I are back on a schedule of only having Sundays off together (My typical week is Tuesday-Sunday). We made the most of it today, went down to the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail and went for a nice walk. The weather was beyond beautiful, but of course I left my phone in the car so no pictures!

More updates soon, I promise! Ms. A and I are planning a craft night for Wednesday, so hopefully I'll let you in on some of our projects. I'm also going to start back to running tomorrow. Seeing as I've been on the couch for the last nearly two months, and have very little stamina, I'll be trying the couch to 5k program. I'll let you know how it works!

- J