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.

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.

(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.

It's a date

After already contributing two posts to this blog, Erin insisted that I take the reigns for a change (this is Jimmy btw). I can't believe it's only been a week since we started this whole wedding planning madness (to be fair, Erin's been kind enough to bare most of the burden for that), but we already have a place and a date. We decided pretty quickly that having the wedding upstate near Erin's folks' place in Schenectady was key, both in the interest of convenience and making it a meaningful event.

We'd looked into a number of places in the Capital District, and found a handful that seemed both tasteful and affordable (not an easy task), but without question our favorite was The Stockade Inn in Schenectady. Located in Schenectady's historic district, the decor is rustic and cute (with super sweet wood molding) and, equally important, Erin and her family had eaten there before and could vouch for the quality of the food. We were pretty much ready to book it based solely on the website, but we figured we'd come up here and check it out to be sure. The staff there took us on a full tour of the space, including the accommodations at the inn (very nice), and gave us a full rundown of what we could expect in terms of both the ceremony and reception.

Everything there seemed pretty standard (in a very cute, tasteful way) as far as I can tell from the few weddings I've been to, with enough flexibility that we feel like we can actually make it our own, and with a few little extras (can you say 'antique billiard room') to sweeten the deal. It's also just the right size that it can comfortably fit everyone we're expecting to come, but small enough that we'll pretty much have free reign of the place. And they were still available for most of the dates we wanted. So it might seem silly to not look at any other places, but we didn't see any point. We were sold.

So, folks, mark your calendars. Saturday, October 9, 2010 (that's 10/9/10). Stockade Inn. Schenectady, NY.

Erin and Jimmy get hitched.

Wedding Thoughts #1

So, one thing I never really realized before we got engaged is how much time we'd spend talking on the phone. You have to call people to tell them the news, call people to ask them to be in the wedding party, plan the thing over the phone. It's crazy. It's also been really good to have a reason to keep in better contact with our friends and family. It's nice to have something specific to call about and discuss. Who knew getting married would bring everyone closer. But anyway, I mostly use my phone to check my email, text people or update my twitter status so it was definitely weird last weekend to use it so much for its original purpose.

I feel like I'm in one of those turn-off-your-cell-phone-or-we'll-be-mad-at-you ads before a movie. "It takes many calls to plan a wedding and only one to ruin it." And then it shows Jimmy and me on the phone in many different settings but a little confused about how to work it or something.

In actual wedding update news we're looking at a place on Saturday so if that's works out we'll have a date soon. Hooray. We're planning Fall 2010 in Schenectady so....watch out.

At some point Jimmy will have to update this too much for now you're stuck with me.

xo,
Erin