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So I'm getting married today.

Crazy.

As I'd said in an earlier post, with the beginning of a new life ahead of me, I'm beginning a new chapter with a new blog. This one will still be up and running, with links to the new blog and links to previous blogs, and the new blog will have links back here and to the others.

It's very exciting, I know.

Also exciting? I'm marrying my very best friend later today. In about... 16 hours.

This weekend's been fantastic so far. Friday night we met up with Kris Cowen for dinner and general fraternizing until midnight. Saturday I did most of my packing for our trip to Hawaii before heading to my bachelorette party. I wish I had the pictures, but I've left my camera at the other apartment. :( Maybe I'll have time on the plane to go through them.... no, wait, I'll definitely have time on the plane to go through them. Trips to Hawaii ain't quick.

My bachelorette party was great! We had a photo scavenger hunt in Coronado, dinner at Miguel's, then back to the apartment for gifts and talk, and then a sleepover with my very favorite girls. Thank you, Jenna, Sonia, and Mandy for sticking it out slumber party style. Sleeping sucked, Dear John sucked, but the bonding was great.

Dragged my behind off the couch this morning to meet Chris and his family for brunch (see earlier picture (sent from my brand new Samsung Reality (which is awesome))), then it was off to the nail salon. Want to know a secret? I hate getting my nails done. It hurts me. I don't know if my feet are just super sensitive or what, but I swear my toes are bright red when they're done, from all the pain they've caused me. Today, I literally watched the woman tear off a piece of my skin. My skin! And they take that little flat tool and jam it over your nail and straight into your toe. Seriously, I'm all tensed up the entire time. I wouldn't do it at all except that Chris has put in a request for me to girly it up a bit occasionally.

Also, it always takes so long.

And that's why we were late for our rehearsal. We actually had to rehearse on a completely different lawn than our actual ceremony lawn, because there was another wedding going on there. We had to improvise some, since our lawn includes a fountain and a view of downtown San Diego, but I think it's going to work. And I just need to say I LOVE our wedding party. They are so much stinking fun! It was just such a great atmosphere of joking around and watching fish jump out of the water. (I was pretty much mesmerized by this the whole time we ran through the first time, and turns out my bridesmaids were too-- stay tuned for an awesome picture Cody caught of them watching the fish-- anyway, if I spot a fish jumping out of the water tomorrow, I'll completely lose my focus on the wedding-- sorry, babe.) Jenafer was amazing coordinating everyone, and Justin was a great minion. ;) Jessica was the perfect flower girl after take one (where she booked it the first five yards or so), and it's all just going to be so perfect!

Then it was off to the dinner at BJ's. We had the entire outside area closed off just for us, and they've recently updated the outside; it was completely awesome. They have new loungey booths now that really give it a party atmosphere. We had all you can eat pizza and appetizers, and Chris and I table hopped because we weren't sure who we should sit with. So we chose everybody! When we passed out our wedding party gifts, Chris explained the story behind the 365 book (which we'd given to everyone) and how it was by Ryan showing me the book, and me thinking this Chris must just be an awesome guy, that we were all there tonight. I just love our love story!

Then it was back home to finish packing, ogle over the presents already piled in the garage (presents!), and try to analyze why my tooth still hurts (there's no more tooth, for crying out loud!). Then Chris left with Kris and Becky to go stay the night at their time share, where the boys will be getting ready, and I continued prepping for the day and the trip at the condo, where us girls will be primping.

So... I should be going to bed... but I don't know if I'll be able to sleep. ;) See you on the other side!


Remember, the new blog is www.lovelikeapolaroid.blogspot.com. Don't know when the first post will go up, but please keep checking; I promise it will come eventually!

Favorite friends!

Brunch before the craziness begins!

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I Heart my Dentist

Last Sunday I posted about the horrible timing of my wisdom tooth suddenly deciding it was time to make itself known.

Short version:

Saturday night my teeth started hurting WAY more than it usually does. My upper right wisdom tooth has bothered me off and on for the past few years; usually I pop an Aleeve, maybe rest for half an hour until it kicked in, and I'm good to go until the next time.

I knew something was wrong this time by how intense the pain was this time and by how the Aleeve was not helping at all. I did finally manage to fall asleep that night, only to wake up the next morning, Sunday, with the exact same predicament. Much more pain + no working medication + continued pain even after a full night's sleep + holiday weekend = me calling up Kaiser for an urgent care appointment to get me some pain killers until I could see my dentist.

Kaiser was very nice to me. They gave me Amoxicillin, in case of infection, and Vicodin, to keep me from wanting to rip my own ear off from the pain.

I learned an important fact through this experience: Vicodin makes me tired. So very tired. I felt like I had not nap all the time. Including at work. It was horrible how out of it I was all week.

Luckily, I got in to see my dentist on Thursday afternoon. I was pretty apprehensive going into the appointment; after all, what possibly good way could all this work out? They were just going to tell me I needed to get my wisdom tooth out, I would tell them I a) don't have the money since insurance won't cover crazy things like that yet, and b) am getting married in a week and can't be miserable from getting my wisdom teeth out.

It pretty much went down like that. Except, after my dentist and her assistant got over the shock that I was getting married next week, my dentist is all "all right, we'll just do it here."

Excuse me?

Which is what I said.

She explained my tooth was neither impacted nor fully underneath the gum, so she could easily take it out. Right then and there, in fact.

There was still the matter of insurance however, and my dentist had the receptionist call Aetna to discuss matters. She came back in to let me know I only had to pay the deductible and $40. What?!

So I got my wisdom tooth out.

It took all of ten minutes to numb me up, a minute to put in a movie (Marley & Me, because my dentist's office rocks), a few minutes to clean my teeth while we waited for the numbness to settle, and about three minutes for that tooth to be gone.

All these years... who knew it was easier than getting a cavity filled?

It's been about five days since, and it still hurts off and on, so I'm still on the painkillers. Had a really great nap on them yesterday. I try not to take them when I'm working, because nodding off in front of students isn't the greatest example, you know. Yesterday I started chewing on the right side of my mouth again; you never realize how much you miss using your whole mouth until you can only use one half.

So hopefully I'm back to 100% and off the Vicodin by this weekend. As you all know, it's going to be quite a busy and eventful few days. :)

Picture recaps

We tried on our rings the other day. I love that Chris is so excited to finally wear his.

Becky did an AMAZING job crafting our rehearsal dinner invitations!

Chris did a remodel of the bulletin board, this time will all our loose wedding paraphernalia.

Wedding party gifts, wrapped and ready to be given!

Picked up my dress from David's Bridal on Friday night. It's amazing. I forgot how much I was in love with that dress until I tried it on again after alterations. The things so big though, the only place to keep it is hanging all awkwardly in Chris' closet. Don't worry- he's not going to peek. I tempt him on a regular basis and he flat out refused to look at it before the 20th. :)

Working out some kinks for our photobooth. This was taken around 9pm against the garage door. With a gigantic outdoor spot light.

Time for some recaps!

Coming up:

The dreaded CSET.
Trip to the dentist.
Finishing up the wedding planning.
Relaxing?

Thirteen days away and...

... a bridesmaid dress has gone MIA

... the CSET looms ever closer

... my top right wisdom tooth decided RIGHT NOW is the time to make a fuss about still being up there



Here's hoping to a better 'twelve days away.'

Bachelor(ette) Day

Today is Chris' bachelor party day. Which means I am a bachelorette for the day.

Basically this means I can eat whatever I want, watch whatever I want, and do whatever I want. Sometimes it's so pesky having someone else to plan activities around. Am I right? Married people? ;)

I ate lunch when I felt like it.

I watched NCIS, Season 7, Disc 1 when I felt like it.

I did wedding planning stuff when I felt like it.

My theme for today was "relax, but still accomplish some stuff." I slept in. Lounged for a bit. Got ready. Went to the store to get some snacks (i.e. Pepsi Max and german chocolate cake because I can), hung out with Jenna for a bit, hung out with Aaron for a bit (since he is just two doors down now), ate lunch, read some blogs, worked on our candy buffet decorations, studied some math, watched some NCIS, tried to convince my mom to get her hair done for the wedding, (tried not to argue with my mom about getting her hair done for the wedding), made labels for our candy buffet, took a long hot shower, and began studying transformational geometry. (Somewhere in there I ate the german chocolate cake.) And now I'm taking a blogging break.

Mmmmm. It's nice being a bachelorette for a day.

Maybe I miss him a little.


Moving on!

I'm really excited with how the labels for our candy bar turned out. I was a little over the decorations earlier today when I wrapped the jars in yellow ribbon. (It's really hard to wrap round objects with linear objects.) I almost decided screw this! I don't have to do it if I don't want to. It was my idea anyway! And then I pictured Chris coming home and asking me why the only wedding planning I did all day was wrap ribbons around jars and eat german chocolate cake while watching NCIS. So I got my behind in gear, grabbed my handy dandy crafting supplies and got to work.

They came out waaaaaaaaaay better than I'd expected. I printed out the word labels on white circles surrounded by yellow squares, then cut them out with my 2" round punch, keeping just enough yellow to give the circles a border. Surprisingly, I only had to do two test prints to get the right size. From there I used my Slice (which is working again, thank you very much, Making Memories) to cut out 2.5" flowers from the yellow geometric paper I designed (isn't it cute? Maybe someday I'll be a famous scrapbook designer).

And... now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming of CSET studying.

Week Recap

What we've been up to:

(Don't worry: he's a lot more chipper about wedding plans than this photo reveals.)

A brief history of blogging

For people who've been following me FOREVER on this blog (when did I start? 2004? I think that was when this whole internet fad hit the nurse's station at camp.)

Anyway, you've been with me through xanga. (Dang. Remember xanga? Is anyone on xanga anymore?)

Then you followed me to blogger, into The Puzzle Box. We stayed there for a few years, before I dwindled a little bit on the blogging. You know, there was a lot going on then. Graduating college... and... hmmm... the heck did I do after I graduated college?

Not sure. I didn't write it down. But six months later I started another new blog. That blog is this one here, though back then it had a different name...

What's Your Story? was soooo 2008. It was simple. Fun. I really got into my groove that year.

In late 2008 I discovered the amazingness of Spring Awakening. And one of their songs inspired both my 2009 goals and new blog:

Nope. I didn't do sadness that year. Mostly because in January 2009 I re-met the OSF, and you all know the rest of that story.

Halfway through 2009, I realized, hey! My header's kind of dark. I need to change it up a bit:

I guess this would be called 2009 2.0? The name of the blog was still Don't Do Sadness, just with a lighter, friendlier look.

Then this year I switched it up to the blog you all know and love:

So what's in store next for the smallblondeone's blog? Well, it's been awhile since I changed up the URL, and I was thinking since I'm getting married and starting this whole new life anyway, anyway, then maybe I'd just go ahead and start a whole new blog for these crazy new adventures?

Things. They are a changing.

Be prepared.

2010. A new blog.

The adventures of thesmallblondeone... the married years.

25 day countdown

At 25 days left (25!), here's how our evenings normally look:

He + computer ( + beer) = last minute wedding design.

She + computer ( + extra large coke) = math, math, and more math studying.


25 days!

"Napoleon goes over plans for world domination"

Alternate title: Chris pours over plans for wedding domination, 2010.

Photo Booth

Chris and I spent a lot of time in the garage yesterday, going through all our accumulated wedding stuff. The month countdown has come, and we're making our lists and checking them twice. Guess what? We're almost there. Pretty close anyway. And the weekend was very productive getting some forgotten or last minute items. We sorted things into categories (i.e., cake table, guest book table, candy bar, photo booth...), and played with some of the new items...

28 days to go!!!

Packing it up.

Due to the late arrival of summer this year, and the atrociously hot temperature in our townhouse these days, the only time I can pack without wanting to to die is times like this. Three a.m. Three a.m. has found me on the last few nights boxing up scrapbooks, clothes, and old memories. Seriously, I have lots of old memories. Like, bins of old memories. They range from photo albums to old camp staff notebooks to boxes of pictures to stuffed happy birthday bears. I am amazed at how much of my "stuff" is in the form of memories.

(I'm also amazed at how much underwear I have- certainly more than one person needs, and this is not helped by last week's bridal shower.)


(Can I talk about underwear on here? Will you guys stop reading if I do?)


(Please don't stop reading. I'll go back to talking about normal things here.)

So I've been sifting through my memories. And boxing up my present. And the future? It's kind of up in the air right now. Besides the obvious changes, that is. I'm marrying an amazing man. I get to spend the rest of my life with him. But where we'll spend our first year? What our house will look like? When we get to settle into our own space? That's all TBD. For now, we just know we'll make do at the condo, most of our things packed away in the garage for the real move. Whenever and wherever that will be.

We are at exactly 30 days now, and it's still so hard to believe that in just 30 days, everything will change. As I sit here on my bed, looking around at my half naked room, it's hard to imagine that in 30 days I won't be roommates with Jenna, Brittany, and Jen. I won't be waiting for Jenna to finish up in the bathroom at night so I can go in and brush my teeth. I won't stay up late watching Friends episodes with Jen. And I've seen so much of Brittany these past few years, what with living and working together, but 30 days from now I'll be gone and she'll have started her new job.

It's all so weird.

Also, weird? I get to live with a boy.... weird.

I now dream in numbers.

You know how bilingual people are often asked, "What language do you dream in? English or Spanish? French or Italian? Tagalog or ASL?"

Well, I have a new language to dream in: Numbers.

Apparently I have done so much studying for the math CSET recently, that the numbers have seeped into my head and begun setting up camp to come out in my subconscious. While my brain should be resting.

The night before last I had a dream that I was calculating direct and inverse variations. There was nothing else in my dream but me + math. And I was super intent on these problems. It was imperative I finish these problems, fast, or someone was going to die or something. To my surprise, I suddenly found myself awake, sitting up in bed, still fervently trying to divide out 7 for the constant of variation, k. After a couple disorienting moments I realized 1) I was in bed, and 2) I did not have to finish the math problem. Everything would be okay, even if I didn't solve for k at this particular moment.

It was highly amusing.

The moral of the story is this: The CSET is taking over my life.

(In fact, I've got my headphones on right now while Jeeves whispers sweet nothings of matrices in my ear.)