May Showers

I knew it was going to be beautiful when I saw the invitations, but Pat, a close friend from work, threw an absolutely perfect bridal shower for me on May 24. Pat is such a wonderful hostess, she thought of every detail. Her house and the spread were gorgeous. The shower started at 11, but my mom, who had flown in from Colorado just for the shower, showed up early to help Pat. It was great to see all my friends and to introduce them to my Mom. It was bit uncomfortable being the only person opening presents (like the evil stepsister at Christmas). I forgot how uncomfortable I was being the center of attention, though, when I started opening my presents. I got such beautiful and creative gifts. Rod was especially excited about the Wusthof steak knives; he commandeered those and the gift certificate to Liberty Heights minutes after I walked through the door. I loved everything, and am already plotting where we will use the household items when the remodel is finished. Thanks Pat (and everyone else who came) to make it such a memorable day for me and my mother.

Tricia

Later that night (last Saturday), I went to a baby shower for Tricia. Tricia is a member of the book club that I have been attending for almost four years now. Tricia got married to Brian last year, and they are expecting their first child, a boy, any day now. She will be the first person in our book club to have any kids so the shower was refreshingly devoid of any gruesome horror stories about the labor process, the pregnancy, or the post-pregnancy process.

Blast from the Past

LisaDawn and I have been friends since seventh grade. I have probably known her longer than any other person I'm not related to. We have had some fantastic times together--slumber parties, scavenger hunts, shopping, toilet papering . . . we've done it all. We've also helped each other through some really tough times. Now, we don't see each other often, but when we do, it is always as if we just saw each other. She is such a wonderful friend that I can always count on. Last weekend she called me to see if I wanted to go to lunch with her family--she has the three most adorable children--and Rachel Ann and her family.



This was a completely unexpected event. I cannot even remember the last time I saw Rachel. We were really close in junior high, but grew apart in high school. We, of course, didn't keep in touch after high school and have only recently reconnected through our high school reunion blog. It was such a pleasant surprise.

It was great seeing LisaDawn again (it always is) and meeting Rachel's family for the first time. She also has three kids. The baby, Spencer, is the sweetest baby. He let me hold him for almost the entire day without fussing at all.




We went to the park after lunch and, then, William, Tabitha (LisaDawn's two youngest children), and I jumped on the trampoline. Seeing everyone and jumping on the trampoline really took me back. It also reminded me that I really need to do a better job of staying in touch.

Welcome Home

When we got home, we were greeted with the fully-reframed basement and a box of invitations! It about killed me when I couldn't get the box of invitations open while Rod and, more importantly, his pocket knife were downstairs examining the basement. When I finally pulled him away from the basement (you have to have priorities right?), I was delighted with the result. I had been pretty anxious about the invitations. Tobin, our friend who designed the invitations, did an AWESOME job. He was so great to work with. Unfortunately, we could not find anyone in Utah to do the letterpressing so we had to send the invitations to a letterpress in California. I found the reasonably priced Mercurio Brothers in California. It was a bit of a risk because we wouldn't be able to see a proof before all of the invitations were finished. If we didn't like them, it would be too late. Also, their lead time was 5 weeks so there would be no redos. Fortunately, the risk paid off. Mercurio Brothers did an incredible job--you can see even the smallest detail in the leaves. Rod and I stayed up late stuffing envelopes, and I was the first person in line at the post office the next morning. Invitations . . . check!

Rod is Excellent!

I'm sorry that I haven't been good about updating. It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Last week, Rod was awarded the Solicitor's Excellence Award in D.C. It was for the work that he did on the All American Canal Case. I am so proud of him! We also got a free trip to D.C. Even though we were just there for a couple of days, we managed to catch up with some friends.

We spent a very wild night with Marilee, Mark, and Alison, from law school, and Jenny, who I actually met in the Galapagos Islands. We started with dinner at Urbana, then migrated to Front Page for drinks. After our waitress effectively kicked us out, we went to Lucky Bar for the after party. By the time we finished, it was too late to catch the Metro. It has probably been since law school since I've stayed out so late on a school night. :) It was so fun to see all of our friends! It was funny too, that of all the people we hung out with, none of them were from when we lived in D.C.

The next day was Rod's award ceremony. It was great to finally meet Bob and Barbara, who Rod works for, whom I have never met. It was a very exciting day at the Department of the Interior. Rod got his award, the polar bears were listed (we sneaked into Kempthorne's press conference), and, at the end of the day, we learned that the court had finally allowed the Department to use Internet (they have been without it since 2001!). After the awards reception, we went to dinner at the very excellent Cafe Atlantico with Kathy, a girl who clerked with me at the Utah Supreme Court. The duck confit was seriously to die for. I actually started sucking the bones clean. It was shameless, but too good to stop. Then we met John, Rod's former roommate, and his new girlfriend, Kristy, at RFD. We barely made the last train to Alexandria.

Another One Bites the Dust

Well, we did it again. And yes, we are completely insane. This weekend we officially started Home Improvement Project part II: The Basement. I packed, Rod pounded, broke, pulled, and otherwise destroyed every piece of drywall or ugly panelboard, cabinet, and light fixture out of our guest bedroom, laundry room, bathroom, and storage rooms. Now they are just one big connected room. In six weeks (only two weeks before the wedding), they will be a bigger guest bedroom, finished laundry room, a bathroom we are not embarrassed to have our guests use, and finished, usable storage space. We are SO excited for it to be done, not so excited to have to move two weeks before the wedding.




After our our hard day, I made tacos and Rod and I ate out on our front porch to admire the great view of our giant dumpster.

Wedding season is officially underway

Today, it is exactly two months before our wedding. AAaack! So much to do, so little time. Going to other weddings, though, has made me start to get anxious.

Two weekends ago, Rod and I went to the wedding of our good friend from law school, Tracy. On Saturday May 3, she re-married her ex- (now current) husband, David. It could not have been a more perfect ceremony. Tracy and Dave incorporated traditions from many different religions into their vows. Tracy was glowing, she could barely contain her excitement. I am so incredibly happy for Tracy and Dave, and glad that they re-found each other and confirmed that they got it right the first time.

Birthdays and Raw Fish

I know I'm a couple weeks behind, but I've been a bit occupied lately. Rod's 29th birthday was a couple weeks ago. We have been so busy lately that we decided to do a very low key celebration, really small and no cooking. Here is what we came up with.







Roll your own sushi.

The Roommates

While I was at USU, I had the coolest group of roommates. I kind of adopted them from one of my current bridesmaids (Alicia), who lived with them our freshman year. Alicia left my sophmore year to move to Washington, and I moved in across the hall from her old roommates. It wasn't long before they couldn't kick me out of the apartment.

Autumn, she's the glue that holds us all together, is the most generous person I know. She kept us all fed during undergrad. She made rice krispy treats NIGHTLY and I loved zucchini season because that meant endless loafs of Autumn's zucchini bread. She moved to Minnesota a couple years ago. Now the only time we get together is when she's in town.


Val is the coolest! She's such a cute, fun girl. We lived together my junior/senior year. We would go running or hiking and talk for hours about our crushes and the roommate "drama". She was the best roommate EVER. She now lives in Idaho Falls, where we both grew up, with her handsome husband Todd and her three adorable girls: Macy, Riley, and Shiloh.

Kristine: I actually knew of her my first week of undergrad when she won a scholarship drawing during survival week. Much to my surprise, she moved in the Glenwood apartment during my junior/senior year. Then we both started working at the Royal Garden, Logan's best chinese buffet. She always knows how to make me laugh. She lives so close to me now, but we still almost never see her. She has two cute little bundles of energy: Josh and Ian. Ian never stops bouncing (which is why he is blurry in all of my pictures).



Rachel, she was the studious roommate who we could always count on to make us feel better. She was also the reason we made hundreds of late night trips to Wal-mart. Yeah, Logan is a happening place. Her new husband Casey is such a cutie and you can really tell how happy they are together.

Nat is the unstoppable ball of energy. Her dating stories kept the whole apartment entertained, and her presence ensured that there were a steady stream of guys. She ended up marrying one of our regular visitors: Pete, and now they have three boys and a little girl on her way.

Anyway, last Friday, Autumn came to town and we all got together. I was a short visit, too short, and not all of the roommates were able to make it, but it was still so much fun to see everyone. I hope they can all make it to the wedding.

The Colors

I can't find the exact colors on the web, but our colors are Cocoa Brown, Spring Green, and Robbin's Egg Blue with splashes of lilac

Wow, this is really happening

This weekend it really hit me that I'm getting married. Even though I've been spending all my weekends (and most of my weeknights) planning, the wedding didn't seem real until my bridal fitting. It was the first time I had on my dress, slip, and shoes all at the same time.

I also got my first invitation to a bridal shower.

Let the countdown begin.

We're so Fortunate

I'm sorry that we have been MIA for the last few weeks. We have been so busy spending time with our friends. It has really confirmed how lucky we are to have so many people that we consider close friends.

Of course there was the two weeks I spent with Regina in Honduras. I met Regina in the middle of the Bolivian jungle during my trip to South America. We ended up spending about a month traveling together through Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. It is still amazing to me how close we got in such a short amount of time. It was no different this time. We travel together so well and always have so much to talk about.

After I got back, there was a Roaring 20's party for Jess and Sarah, who just got married this last weekend. It was so fun to see so many of our law school friends. Since we graduated from law school, we just don't get together as often as we did.




The next week, Alex, my friend from business school, had a birthday. His parents hired a professional to cook for us. OMG! It was SO good.



The next Saturday, I spent the day with my bridesmaid and one of my best friends from high school, Carley Anne, for some wedding errands. She helped me make the very difficult choice of to veil or not to veil. That night we went to see Patty, our very talented friend, in Cabaret. She was one of the kit-kat dancers. It was not a very uplifting, but still very entertaining. Although I didn't know I had it in me, we headed to a birthday party for Tracy and Cass in Bountiful. It was one of the wildest parties I've been to since law school. When we got there, everyone was dancing. Our entrance was announced on a megaphone so that everyone could hear. I didn't know I still had it in me.

This last weekend was a lot more drunken debauchery at Sarah and Jess's wedding in Cabos San Lucas. We stayed at a very opulent all inclusive resort that, I kid you not, had liquor dispensers in the room. It was a beautiful wedding. I can think of no two people who are better suited for each other than Jess and Sarah. It was an incredible bonus too, to go on vacation with twenty or so of our close friends.