Back to our regularly scheduled program

The Seders are finished, and we're back onto wedding prep.  We've bought wedding jewelry, figured out flowers in the hair, finalized the wedding ceremony blessings, paid our caterer, and have begun following up on all the less fun details of A Big Day.  I'm over it already.  I just want to be married, in Hawaii, and get a couples back massage.

In the meantime, Kate's aunt and uncle threw us an amazing bridal shower and it was fantastic.  Kate has a humongous loving family and I treasure every moment I get to spend with them.  I had a blast and can't wait to go back down the coast again and visit when we have more free time.  One of the best things about getting married is that you get to be married to their family too.

This weekend we're going to a friend's wedding, and I can not wait!  I am excited to experience their bliss...and at the same time see what I can steal from them.

Chag sameach!  (Happy holiday!)

Chag Sameach!

Chag sameach - happy holiday!  Tonight begins Passover and Kate and I will be celebrating out unleavened holiday TO THE MAX.  It's been such an exciting (and exhausting) holiday, and it hasn't even begun.  We're keeping a kosher for Passover home this year, and that takes a lot of work.  Unfortunately, it means we haven't been doing that much wedding prep as we try to rid our house of leavened bread and trade out our normal kitchen dishes for our kosher-for-Passover stuff.  I'll be back to regularly scheduled wedding updates soon, after the holiday.

Oh, what a beautiful morning, what a beautiful day...

It's been beautiful in the Bay Area.  The sun's been shining, the plants blooming, and women taking advantage by wearing ridiculously short "dresses"*.  Above is a picture of the empty lot on the corner, full of blooming flowers.

The first day of sun, I eagerly fished out my sandals from the bottom of my shoe bin.  I was so excited to give up my winter coat for lighter sweaters and wraps.  Stepping out into the sunshine felt so freeing.  And then it suddenly hit me - this is the weather we're going to have at our wedding.  Our wedding is THIS SEASON!  It's just around the corner - less than two months away.

Every day is one day closer to the wedding, and one less day we have to prepare for it.  Instead of this thought adding stress, it's felt so relaxing.  In less than two months, no matter what, Kate and I will be married.  We have food, a place, a rabbi, and a ketuba.  Sure, we don't know how our guests are going to get from the reception to the ceremony and back again, but we'll figure it out.  In two months, I'm going to be a really, really married lady.

In the meantime, Kate found a perfect shirt at Goodwill for the honeymoon.  It says Mrs. & Mrs.

Can't wait.

*This whole shirt as a dress phenomena has seriously confused folks.  Last week someone complimented me on my "shirt".  It was a knee-length dress that I wore with leggings.  

Why do I keep liking non-traditional expensive jewelry on etsy?

Kate's snake skin wedding shoes

If you've ever met Kate you might be a little shocked to hear that she wanted shoes that were so cutting edge they're not even in stores yet.  You might be more shocked to hear that these shoes are: purple, fake snake skin, and have three flowers on top.  I'd show you a picture if I could, but the shoes haven't been released yet.

Kate, Aunt Jane, and I went shopping for shoes in Walnut Creek's Macy's.  The Macy's is going through some serious remodel and the place was a bit of a mess.  So much of a mess, evidently, that they put out the Kenneth Cole Reaction lilac ballet flats before they were supposed to be released.  We found them, Kate loved them, and the shoes didn't come in her size.

So, naturally, we went back home and started Googling.  Except the entire internet had not heard of these shoes.  Zappos, shoes.com, Kenneth Cole's website, Google images, and Google images sorted by color had never seen shoes like this.  Kate and I both started to wonder if we had hallucinated the shoes.  But since we both remembered the purple, flowered, snake skin ballet flats - well, that would have been one good hallucinogen to alter BOTH our memories.

Finally, after a few mis-dials, hang-ups, and a lot of time on hold I was able to get in touch with the Walnut Creek Macy's, who cleared up the whole mess. The shoes, just in, weren't yet on display or released.  We were going to have to find a Macy's that had the not-yet-released shoes in stock.

Thankfully, Pleasanton's Macy's came to our rescue.  By far the most customer service oriented of the Macy's we visited and spoke with, we placed the shoes on hold and easily went to go and pick them up later that day.

So now Kate has her entire outfit, though sans jewelry, and some pretty awesome shoes to match.  Who knew my suit-wearing bride's shoes would out femme my own?  Love is always such a lovely surprise.

This month's to do list

This is my March wedding "to do" list:
Finalize our calligrapher
Send invitations
Update RSVP wedsite
Confirm food
Talk with Menachem (our rabbi)
Decide on program language
Figure out music
Centerpieces (began)
Figure out aufruf kiddish
Shuttle (began)
Drinks (began)
Hotel room on the Big Island
Inter-island flights
Figure out what we're doing for Jody's birthday
Confirm Aufruf

There's still so much to do....

Kate's "wedding dress"

Banana Republic (and Gap and Old Navy) had a 30% off sale this weekend, and we found Kate's "wedding dress"!  BR no longer sells the vests online, but they had plenty of them in the store.  Kate looks great in the vest and pants, and we're really excited to have found something that she wanted.  All we need to do is find her a great button down!