Since Last Time: Erin Edition

1. Erin turned 26.

2. Erin, Anna & Heather started working on the bouquets!

3. Erin watched 2 more wedding movies. "Bride Wars" & "I Do & I Don't."

4. Erin had a bachelorette party. Complete with pictures, even!

5. Erin had a nightmare about her first dress fitting (this Saturday!) where the dress was the same except there was a front panel that was bright turquoise. (Spoiler alert: my dress does NOT have a bright turquoise accent on the front.)

6. Erin made an obsessive list of Things to Do for this weekend upstate.


And, today, Tim is 21! So soon I will add "Erin went to a bar with her little brother" to the list.

Hopefully.

Not My Family Wedding

Last Sunday I watched Our Family Wedding, starring everyone's favorite "curvy girl," America Ferrera. What's that? You're not familiar with this movie? Well, it came out in 2010 and is about a Mexican girl who is going to marry a black guy and obviously hilarity ensues around every corner.

I really should have live-blogged the experience because I certainly don't remember all the parts that I need to. But, spoiler alert, first the families (specifically the dads) hate each other and then everyone gets along. There's also a bit about a goat eating Viagra (what is this, Bachelor Party?!)

Perhaps I was drawn to the movie because last weekend was Jimmy's bachelor party (I hear there are no pictures of the event so I can only assume it was EXACTLY like Tom Hanks told me it would be) and I needed some girl time (I made a point not to tell our guests, Jon & Evan that I was watching this movie, btw. - don't judge me, guys) or maybe it's just because this was the movie Netflix sent the fastest.

Regardless of the reason, the movie mostly frustrated me because our wedding is so soon and I feel like nothing will be ready in time and then I'm watching these jerks throw together a pretty wedding in 3 weeks or something with only hilarity and families not getting along.

It's under 2 months away and I think I'm going to be watching a lot more girly wedding movies as the time approaches. I also think I'm going to be on a time crunch for the whole time until October 9th. Here's hoping (and knowing) that eventually we will get married and the day will wrap up like a madcap wedding movie adventure should. Similar to this photo:

But minus that weird goat part.

Almost 2 Months Away!

Remember on The Office, when Angela has to remind Michael that Phyllis' bridal shower is girls only?

Michael: The guys are having a little shindig of their own in the warehouse. From 2:30 to 3:15. That is the only time that Bob was available. Sort of a guys' night out. A 'G-N-O' if you will. A 'gno.' Actually it's more of a guys' afternoon in. A G-A-I. A gay. Not-- not... it's uh, not gay. It's, uh, just uh, it's a bridal shower for guys. A guy shower. An hour long shower with guys.

That was not related to my bridal shower at all. It just makes me laugh.

I had my bridal shower a couple weeks ago and it was a blast. Tons of great food & drinks & people. Thrown by the always crafty Anna and her mom, Jane. There was a great mixture of Schenectady, NYU, family and work people all in the same spot.

Erin & Maid of Honor, Anna

Decor!

Schenectady girls: Regina, Becky, Mallory, Erin & Anna

I was SO so happy to see so many High School/Schenectady friends that I don't see near enough! The big surprise of the weekend was one Ms. Christina Mar being in attendance! You might remember her as one of my bridesmaids. She surprised me by flying out for the shower which was amazing.

College friends: Sarah, Erin, Christine, Christina

The week before I got to see the other 2 bridesmaids in Vegas! I was traveling for work and ended up starting the trip in Vegas. Jimmy's sister, Claire, had just moved there and Jessie lives in L.A. so she drove out to meet up with us. I didn't have a ton of time to do stuff but had fun nonetheless. (Even had a fake bachelorette party!)

Erin face.

Here are some more pictures of the party. I was convinced I would be a really awkward gift-receiver but I think I did an OK job. But I really had an amazing time and it just made me realize how close the wedding is and how excited I am for everything and how much I miss people who I don't get to see on a regular basis.

Also, Heather made me the amazing hat/bouquet combo shown below. She has a real talent for this. Call me if you'd like to hire her.

We Coulda Been Super Nerds.

Back on March 19, 1995, I was in 5th grade. In school I was reading "Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the Fridge" or "Hatchet," writing stories that used lines like "Thruway? The only WAY THRU here I know is..." and getting used to the first 3 months of braces. I imagine Jimmy was doing similar things except he didn't have braces yet.

The thing I know we had in common back in 1995 (and still do in 2010, of course) is our love for The Simpsons. So I can say with almost 100% certainty that we both saw "Lisa's Wedding" on March 19th as it first aired (tho I was in Eastern time and Jimmy was in "Mountain time" - whatever that means - so I know I beat him to watching it).

We've already referenced the episode, Lisa's Wedding, in this post: http://erinandjimmygethitched.blogspot.com/2010/01/and-it-goes-on-like-this.html and the last time we watched it this year we realized it was supposed to take place in 2010. Craziness.

Thanks to a friend on Twitter, I realized that Lisa's actual wedding is supposed to take place, today, August 1, 2010.

I can guarantee that I was NOT thinking about my own wedding back in 1995. And also, that I did NOT think I'd be getting married in 2010, since I remember watching this episode and thinking that it took place in a time too far in the future to matter to me. Lisa was supposed to be 23 in 2010 and I am 25 (so I guess I am Bart's age, afterall) so it's not completely the same but still.

So, today, raise a glass to Lisa & Hugh and the wedding that never happened by throwing on some pig bride and groom cufflinks and chillin' with your pet esquilax.

You Know the Drill...5 Months to Go!

It seems Jimmy and I can only get our act together once a month to actually post on this thing. As usual, it does not mean that we aren't doing anything wedding-related. It usually just means we aren't doing wedding-related things that we want to announce to the world yet. And by "world" I mean "handful of people who read this blog." :)

So what has happened in the past month? The biggest change is that I am back to work (only for 2 weeks so far, but still). It's been harder to keep up with my wifery while working but I have managed to maintain my "exercise" routine which I am pleased about. Jimmy has been working a lot lately (in fact, he is at work right now as I type this) so we haven't seen each other that much lately. We also traveled to Pittsburgh at the end of April for Lauren and Mike's lovely wedding and got to visit Fallingwater in the process.
We had a great time at the wedding and just a great weekend in general. I especially enjoyed hanging out with the rest of the Schenectady contingent and discussing my hometown. Perfect way to spend the weekend before I returned to the working world.

We've got a lot of stuff in the works right now for the wedding and are really excited about all of it but the majority of "planning" is done, thankfully.

I know I like looking at other people's gift registries, so if you're into that kind of thing you can find links to those on the side of the blog or via this link: Gift Registries. I'm trying to find shoes for the wedding, we're going to look at wedding bands later this month and then we've got to figure out invites. It should be a fun, tho hectic, summer and then the wedding is right around the corner.

Eeek!

(Almost) 6 Months!

I seriously cannot believe that it is almost 6 months away! Everything has gone by so quickly and the summer usually flies by in a normal year so at this pace, it will be September by the time I realize any time has elapsed.

I know we have not updated in a while. I apologize. We will be better about it. Soon enough there will be exciting pictures to post, events to discuss, people to give shout-outs to...it'll be great. The bridesmaids are starting to order their dresses, Jimmy is starting to work on his clothes and I'm trying to track down a perfect pair of shoes. (Comfort is as important to me as having heels and being cute, so it's generally a little difficult for me to find shoes. Probably heels + cute will win out, but still).

My newest wedding/marriage-related obsession is husband/wife teams. It's not that I have become obsessed with Johnny Cash/June Carter Cash necessarily, or even Sonny/Cher but just the idea of it in general. I've always had this idea that owning a small business or being part of a family business of some kind would be, basically, amazing. (Maybe it was from my summer at Perreca's, who knows). But I figure being a husband/wife team of something is just the beginning of realizing that dream. So I have lots of suggestions for Jimmy of teams we can be and will list a few here with their pros and cons.

1. Crafty Husband/Wife Team
Since I already run a shop with Anna on Etsy, I figure a normal progression could be opening a shop with Jimmy as well. We could work from home plus

Pros: I'm already pretty crafty and I know of lots of husband/wife teams on Etsy so we'd be in good company. Also, Jimmy does help me occasionally with design/cutting of owls out of felt for some of my projects already.

Cons: $, plus Jimmy has a year-round job that he really likes. (Psh, who works ALL year? Am I right?)

2. Webby Husband/Wife Team
I sort of am enamored with the idea of webisodes or being an "internet sensation," if you will. I figure Jimmy can edit them and we can both work on production of them and write them together.

Pros: When Jessie, Christina and I put together Georgia Peach, Jimmy was right there with us. Basically, we've done it once, we can do it 100 more times.

Cons: $, pressure to become an internet sensation might get the best of us/me.

3.Wordy Husband/Wife Team
Okay, hear me out. So we really enjoy doing crossword puzzles together & tho we aren't THE BEST at it, I think we could get better. So then I think we go on the road doing crossword puzzles and generally being amusing.

Pros: I certainly like talking to groups of people so maybe that can be incorporated as well.

Cons: $, this isn't a real job.

4. Normal-y Husband/Wife Team
Keeping things the way they are, except maybe I find a job that is year-round. Jimmy edits, I organize things, hopefully get to speak to large groups of people and do my crafting in my spare time.

Pros: We've been doing it this way for 4 years and it's been working out nicely. We get to create our own identities and do what we really enjoy and still get to be a team.

Cons: None, really. It's working out already.

Did I Really Need a "Pitch"?

A few months before we were engaged, I was told that I would be a good wife because I am extremely organized. (Which is definitely true). I was told that my organizational skills should be the basis of my "pitch" for wifehood. Obviously I don't think I needed to pitch my "qualifications" to Jimmy or anything, but I do (for better or worse) pride myself in my ability to organize (and possibly obsess over) lots of things.

This weekend we contacted a bunch of Etsy sellers for various secret elements of the wedding (maybe monkey butlers, who knows) but also for boutonnieres for the guys.

I don't want cut flowers for the wedding so the boutonnieres are all either dried things and different textures of fabric, etc which is perfect. I'm then going to try to make coordinating fabric bouquets (with Anna's assistance, of course) which I'm pretty excited about. And then everyone gets a keepsake! Everybody wins. Here's what ours will be based off but with our specific color choices:

Brown and Green Rustic Boutonniere
by
PixelandHank

So cute! (yes, Jimmy was involved in the selections of these. Don't worry.)

I also, (perhaps obsessively) made an Excel grid of the other elements of the wedding that we need to make arrangements for or make ourselves, etc. It's very color-coded and it's full of formulas and I'm definitely more excited about in than Jimmy is but I think he still appreciates the work that went into it.

Jimmy's working on the music almost exclusively which is good for me because it seems so daunting at this point. I mostly search for things we've decided we want and present Jimmy with the ones I like best. Then we pick from there. It's a very involved process and I'm sort of grateful for the huge rain storm this weekend so we could stay in and figure everything out.

Soon I'm making Jimmy talk about our honeymoon plans on here (hint: It's not as icy as its name suggests and it's greener than its neighbor's name suggests the neighbor is...wait. I think I lost it somewhere. Anyway, it's Iceland).

Strike A Pose

I know, I know. That title is totally lame but it's the first thing that popped into my mind so now we're all stuck with it.

We have an exciting announcement to make on this here wedding blog which is: We. Will. Have. A. Photobooth. At. The. Wedding.

(photobooth? photo booth?)

Sorry for the drama but we are very very excited about this development. If you remember the Save-the-dates, you saw that Jimmy and I have actually used photobooths in the past. We're not obsessives about it (well, maybe I am) but we are extremely excited to have one at our wedding.

We're renting it from Saratoga Photobooth Company. Check them out. All the photobooths are vintage and cute and yet, fully digital. Perfect.

We'll also be using the photos as our guest book so everyone better get in there at some point. This means you, Mom. I want to end up with a giant framed picture of photobooth strips of everyone who attended. Now if only I had enough wall space for such a thing... Ah, one day.

We just passed the "7 months to go" mark and I think we're doing pretty well. Can't wait to get those photobooth props together tho. So much hilarity.

Meet the Wedding Party: Anna and Jon

Name: Anna Hendrick (Anna Ban, Bannz)
Job: Maid of Honor
Relationship: BFF to Erin (Rinnzy/Rinnz, ee)
How We Met: Anna and Erin officially met one fateful afternoon in 1999 when Anna when a freshman at SHS and Erin was a sophomore. The girls were thrown together by chance (and, probably a little, on purpose) and were virtually inseparable after that day. They navigated high school together and kept each other going by always gossiping, always watching TV, always laughing and usually talking about Destiny's Child/Beyonce (some things never change). They were separated for a few years because of college but that didn't stop them (thank goodness for the internet) and now both girls live in NYC and even run a Twin Peaks-themed Etsy shop together. They're still trying to figure out a way to put "Anna Ban & Rinnzy" in lights. It'll happen. Erin doesn't know what she would do without Anna to talk to, do crafts with, come up with book ideas with, obsess over TV shows with and just generally have hilarious times with.

Since we're both such hams...here are some photos of us throughout the years. Don't even pretend like you're not amused by them.



Let's get serious, Anna is my best friend in the world and I don't say it enough but I love her dearly and am so glad that she is willing to participate in our wedding in such a big way. I seriously can't wait to see what hilarity ensues at the reception (perhaps an "Empire State of Mind" rap-off...P.S. she would win).




Name: Jon Lewis
Job: Best Man
Relationship: Hetero Life Partner to Jimmy
How We Met: Jimmy met Jon on the first day of fifth grade, when, according to legend (which Jon can explain in elaborate detail if you get enough drinks in him), Jon complimented Jimmy on the obnoxiously colored Woodstock '94 t-shirt he was wearing at the time. When Jon asked Jimmy if he went to the concert, he simply responded, "No way. I got it at the mall." The rest is history. And though their lives have gone through countless permutations and they now find themselves on opposite sides of the country, they're no less close today than when they were still playing marathon games of Goldeneye in Jimmy's mom's living room. Jimmy is glad that Jon could take a break from his Salingeresque state of reclusivity in the Land of Enchantment to lead this rag-tag group of misfits know as Jimmy's wedding party, and he hopes that Jon takes his title as literally as possible.

Keeping the House

Since 2008, I've been in a situation of unemployment for the beginning of the year (always looking for work, mind you) so over that time I end up taking over the majority of the household chores like laundry and doing the dishes. I always do some normal household things too, like go through all my clothes or clean out and organize the linen closet. But I also do weird things like become obsessive about how the remotes are stored on the coffee table or find something stuck next to the fridge so end up pulling the fridge from the wall, vacuuming behind it and then rearranging all of the magnets and other things on it (which I may or may not have done tonight).

The rest of today was pretty standard, tho.

I spent today doing the laundry in a completely empty laundry room (which was amazing) while watching TV with Jordan (she's from Millionaire for people who don't know her) and seeing huge chunks of snow fall from the sky. It was a very nice, relaxing day but definitely puts my unemployment in the spotlight.

I'm glad to be able to do all these things and definitely glad to have something to focus all my organizational energy on while without a job. Even not thinking about the wedding planning (which would definitely be harder to do if we were both working), it's been useful for me to be home because Jimmy just had surgery on his shoulder (don't worry, he is fine) and is in a sling for a month.

Here he is enjoying his hospital attire pre-surgery:
So I'm doing the dishes and laundry all by myself and keeping the apartment clean while home alone all day, no biggie. What pushed me over-the-top into serious "wifery" is my newest obsession with sewing. Right now, only aprons, but I hope to have other projects soon.

I've had a sewing machine for over a year (thanks Grammy & Grampy!) and hadn't gotten up the courage to actually try something until recently. I've since sewn 3 aprons (only 1 to keep) and just cannot get enough of it. Now, I usually spend my days knitting or cross-stitching, so sewing is probably a natural third activity to take on, but it's still fun and new to me.

It makes sense to me. I'm always doing craft projects and I'm always doing household chores so why not do a craft project I can use while doing household chores? I even wore my apron (which is black gingham and red trim) while cooking banana pancakes on Valentine's Day. Perfect.

We're coming up on 7 months away and it already seems like everything is going by so quickly! But it's definitely coming together and we're getting really excited. So all is good.

Just gotta get Jimmy out of his sling so he can help carry groceries again.

Hotels! Hotels!! Hotels!!!

The moment you've all been waiting for....drum roll, please.

*drum roll*

Okay, so here's the hotel info for the weekend of the wedding. We have a block of rooms at the Schenectady Holiday Inn (it has a pool!) for October 8th and 9th:

Holiday Inn Schenectady

You can call 518-393-4141 and ask for the Huth-Long Wedding block of rooms.

ORRRR

You can stay at The Stockade Inn (where the wedding is) but there are a limited number of rooms and they only have availability for the night of October 9th.

Stockade Inn Rooms

You can call 518-346-3400 to reserve rooms if you would like, just tell them you're with the Huth-Long Wedding.

Please feel free to email either of us if you have any questions!

8 Months to Go!

As our wedding ticker informs us, there are 8 months left until our wedding.

As some of our NY guests tell us, the Save the Dates are starting to arrive!

Yay!

In honor of that fact, here is a photo of my self-run Save the Date assembly line. I was catching up on Lost for the premiere:

And then a blurry picture of them all spread out and stamped (wouldn't it be fun if I did that on purpose to obscure the addresses? P.S. I didn't):Just a little behind-the-scenes action.

I hope this means we'll have some new readers, tho. We'll be updating this blog with hotel/travel info and anything else you need to know. And we'll do our next Meet the Wedding Party: Nick & Evan soon. (I know you can't wait).

Saying I Do: Etsy (Vintage) Style

As I've pointed out before, I spend a lot of time on Etsy during the day. Searching for items, reading the blog posts, seeing if there are more items labeled Twin Peaks, etc. Lately, I've done a lot of "wedding" searches just to try to get ideas for the wedding and see what's out there. Today I just did a simple "wedding" search under the vintage category. Besides coming across a ton of old wedding photographs (which I love looking at) I also found some awesome (tho maybe a tad goofy in practice) vintage wedding items. Like a centerpiece and some cake toppers:

Vintage Wedding Centerpiece
From rarefinds4u, $26.50

Vintage Wedding Cake Topper
From Road10, $16.00

Bride & Groom Topper
From Cariboucreek, $20.00

But some of my favorite were the weirder ones, like this wedding plate from the 80's and this postcard from the 70's.

.

The Wedding Plate
From TumbleWeedCottage, $12.00

Postcard Bride and Groom
From arcaniumantiques, $5.00

I love all 5 of these items but man...that postcard is pretty sweet. It makes me want to stage a picture like that of Jimmy and me. You know, for fun. Well, I guess I'd want a plate like that of us too.

I'll continue looking through Etsy and hopefully end up with a few of these items. Come on, they're all under $30!

A Lot Can Happen in a Month

So as of January 31st, we've been engaged for 1 month. I don't know what wedding planning is like for other people but it's been moving right along for us so far. We're trying to get as much benefit as possible from my current state of unemployment. So anything we can do, we're doing.

We got our Save the Dates on Thursday and will be ready to send those out by the end of this week (a lot of people are coming from places where they need to fly in so we want to make sure people have ample time to plan). We had a very productive trip to Schenectady this past weekend where we booked a photographer and found me a wedding dress. (Well, my parents and I found me a wedding dress. Jimmy wasn't involved in that part).

I didn't really think we'd find a dress so soon especially after watching hours and hours of Say Yes to the Dress. But we did. And, like many of those girls, I didn't get what I thought I was looking for and I DID have a "oh, this is my dress" moment while I was trying it on. So I guess there's some truth to that show. And now I have a dress and can spend my time figuring out what everyone else is going to wear. Sweet.

Meet the Wedding Party: Jessie & Christina

Name: Jessica "Jessie" Kravitz
Job: Bridesmaid
Relationship: Partner in Crime to Erin, Rap Battle Ally to Jimmy
How We Met: Erin and Jessie became friends while studying abroad in Dublin their junior year at NYU. They ended up directing 2 music videos together while there and spending most hours of most days together doing a combination of goofing around and working. That began a hilarious partnership that usually ended with someone in a wig. They've remained close friends despite being on two different coasts and can always be found talking about TV, watching hilarious movies or just chatting about nothing, on the computer.

Jimmy also met Jessie during the famed Junior year jaunt to the Emerald Isle. They bonded over their mutual appreciation of mid-90s hip hop and masochistic fandom for ursine Chicago sports franchises.


Name: Christina "Stina" Mar
Job: Bridesmaid
Relationship: Partner in Crime to Erin, Musical Moron Twin to Jimmy
How We Met: It was 2002 and the NYU Freshman Film Department was sent to the Poconos for "Camp Bug Byte." Stina and Erin spent some time paddle boating together while there, realized they had a lot of classes together, and the rest is history. Stina and Erin ended up having many many more classes together after that and Stina ended up in Dublin too! Their time together has been lots of silly movies, lots of TV and lots and lots of theme nights. Thank goodness for instant messaging so even when they're on opposite sides of the country, they are in constant contact.

Jimmy met Christina when they were living next door to one another in the NYU apartments on Fishamble Street in Dublin. While Jimmy often used this proximity to get closer to a certain criminal accomplice, they also found a shared interest in pretentious indie music and medieval fortresses-turned-hostels in Western Germany. Though they now live thousands of miles apart, they continue to discuss the overratedness of every band on Pitchforkmedia and talk shop about the cutthroat world of nonlinear video editing.

Here are some Jessie/Erin/Stina picture gems from the past (isn't it creepy that we're in the same order in all 3 pictures?!):




Besides the fact that Jessie and Stina happen to be two of our closest friends, we're also very excited for them to be in the wedding party because they were present at "the beginning." They are part of a very small number of people who remember when Jimmy and Erin weren't "Jimmy and Erin" and we're really excited for them to be there with us. And, also, we can't wait for the hilarious pictures that will ensue.

And It Goes On Like This

Since we got engaged, Jimmy and I have been discussing how we can reference The Simpsons as much as possible during the wedding or any of our wedding events. The first few ideas were pretty obvious:

1. Homer's vows in "A Milhouse Divided"

Reverend Lovejoy: I will now read the special vows which Homer has prepared for this occasion. Do you, Marge, take Homer, in richness and in poorness. Poorness is underlined. In impotence and in potence, in quiet solitude or blasting across the alkali flats in a jet-powered, monkey-navigated...and it goes on like this.

2. Have my dad give Jimmy a pair of "family heirloom" pig cuff links like in "Lisa's Wedding"

Homer: Hugh, there's something I want you to have. My Dad gave me his
cuff links on the day I married Marge and they brought us good
luck. I couldn't imagine a happier marriage. We don't have many
traditions in our family, but it would mean a lot to me if you
kept this one alive.
Hugh: Well I'd be honored...
[opens case; cuff links are a bride and groom pig]
...to wear those...things.
Homer: Aw.



3. Some of the more obvious ideas were to use Simpsons stamps for everything or name the tables after places on The Simpsons. Recently we discussed cake toppers (Jimmy seemed to think there was a law saying you HAD to have one) So then I thought, "Well, maybe we can have a Simpsons cake topper" (tho I wasn't really planning on having one at all).

Today I went searching for some pig cuff links on Etsy. I found one seller who had sold a number of these cuff links but has since shut down her shop and even has a note up saying she can't currently make them. I guess we're not original?

Luckily, I found someone on Etsy (TheClayCollection) who IS selling them and they are adorable:



http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38422379

My search also led me to Ebay where I got to see how goofy Simpsons cake toppers would look.





Answer: pretty darn goofy. Tho I do like the idea of Reverend Lovejoy being involved.

Obviously we will continue thinking of other ways to incorporate The Simpsons into our wedding and be Simpsons geeks in a really public way. That's always fun, right?

Meet the Wedding Party: Tim & Claire

Name: Tim Huth
Job: Groomsman (Do we call those ushers? Or is that just a job they have day-of? I think we call them Groomsmen)
Relationship: Brother of the Bride
Age: 20 (will be 21 at time of wedding...thank goodness) Please Note: We are only putting this category for Tim as we are excited he will be legally allowed to drink at our wedding.
How We Met: Well, Tim and Erin met in 1989 when she was just a selfish 5-year-old who did not want another child getting in the way of her center-of-the-world-status. He was a newborn with a full head of hair and though their relationship started off rocky, Erin and Tim are cool now. Phew.

Erin is delighted that her little brother is willing to take time out of his last year of college to be in the wedding. She couldn't ask for a better brother and is happy that he is willing to listen to her talk about wedding details with no complaints.



Name: Claire Long
Job: Bridesmaid
Relationship: Sister of the Groom
How We Met: While Jimmy is hazy on the details, he's pretty sure he and Claire met very shortly after his birth, when she was already a solid year and a half into her own existence. Being this close in age predictably resulted in no shortage of conflict and sibling rivalry, but relocating to the first and second cities (respectively) has given Claire and Jimmy the necessary room to air their grievances and become bona fide BFFs.

Jimmy is very excited to have his big sister take some time out from her busy schedule of running, biking, swimming, and generally kicking ass, to come out to the Empire State and make sure her little brother gets hitched properly.

Or, Watching Erin's Hair Change Color Throughout the Years

While we have been working on wedding stuff over the past week, there isn't much to report yet. We are heading up to Schenec next weekend (just booked the tickets, in fact) to meet with a photographer and do some other wedding things.

But, we HAVE made some changes to this little blog of ours. Firstly, we moved the ticker thing to the top of the blog so we can keep track. (Who knows why I want to know that it's "8 months, 2 weeks and 1 day" until the wedding rather than just the number of days but whatever.) We also added a SLIDESHOW! Whooo. Basically if you want to see about 56 pictures of Erin & Jimmy thru the years just look to your right and check it out. What's most hilarious about looking at pictures from the last 6 years of my life is watching my hair color and style change drastically. Oh, and it's fun to make fun of our outfits. Stuff like that.

We're going to do the first "Meet Our Wedding Party" post later today, starting with our siblings, Tim and Claire. Enjoy.

We're on our way

So, we finished our Save the Dates and put in the order last night. Jimmy was sick at the beginning of last week and then I was sick all weekend and today so that was about all we could accomplish over last week.

We did finalize all hotel accommodations so once we put the Save the Dates in the mail, we'll be updating this thing with some hotel info. I've also added a sweet "ticker" at the bottom of the blog with a countdown. (Look, I'm unemployed, I'm bound to find some seemingly un-Erin wedding things really amusing when I'm home alone with the cats).

I mostly spend my time 1. Applying/looking for jobs 2. Watching DVR (LOTS of Say Yes to the Dress) or Netflix Instant (I refuse to become addicted to daytime TV) 3. Reading wedding blogs/looking for wedding things on Etsy 4. Getting all of my news from the Internet. 5. Putting the bad cat in "time out" (aka The Bathroom) when she won't stop knocking things off the bookcase. 6. Making/shipping things for Etsy and it goes on like that...

Oh, and 7. Trying to humorously "tweet" (tho that was shut down for a while due to my illness)

My next big project for this blog (once I get Jimmy's approval and assistance) is to do a little introduction to each of the people in the wedding party. Just a little "Meet Our Wedding Party" sort of post (hopefully with pictures). So we'll see how that goes. Get ready to get some info!

Julia Child/Meryl Streep Might Make Me a Better Wife

And Julie Powell/Amy Adams Might Make Me a Better Blogger.

How's that for a tie-in?

In real wedding business, we're working on hotel accommodations for the wedding and starting to think about all the other little things now that the location and date is settled. While I basically find everything about this process fun and exciting, mostly I just want to think about people's clothing, pictures that can be taken and presents I can give people in the wedding party. When we have settled info, I'll post it here and maybe after the Save the Dates go out more people will be reading this to get info. Or to make fun of me. Whichever.

So, obviously I'm watching Julie and Julia and as a result, have suddenly been overcome by the desire to learn how to cook (and maybe blog a bit). Maybe it's that I love food and it's never made sense that I had no interest in cooking, maybe it's that I'm getting married this year, maybe it's that Jimmy is usually home much later than we should be eating dinner or maybe it's those pearls and the ability to look elegant while cooking that I am into. Who knows. So maybe I'll try to find something to learn to cook and make a goal of it.

No, I will not be blogging about my cooking adventures or going through all the recipes in a cook book. That's just crazy.

Here's hoping Meryl rubbed off on me...