We're Off

Help. I'm not ready to go. I know the car is loaded and lists are checked off, but I don't feel ready for this to be happening.

Emily came by on the way from Mobile to ATL, and I quickly ran some of the things by her that I had done. She liked most of them, and only one thing got rejected. Like this one:





Actually, I made it easy for her since I had rejected it already, but I kind of liked it except for the hole in the middle of the flower and the fact that all the other flowers are red, orange, and yellow. They're supposed to be little cards identifying these pictures. There will be three more from Ryan's parents and grandparents.


These are the pictures that people look at and say, "Is that YOU?" I can say that no one scrimped on the candles at our wedding. The orange flower underneath the card is the one that's going to be substituted for the purple one.


I have to include this picture, although it's not a good one. The words that had just left her mouth were, "I feel so fat. Do you think I'm fat."
If you can see hip bones, you're not fat.

Jack the grandcat has graciously agreed to keep Stella and Maddy company while I'm gone.

 
It's been kind of fun planning, and now the work will begin. I'm not sure what to expect, and I think the younger generation will be doing most of the work. I'll sit there on the patio with a glass of tea and offer suggestions. Probably not for long. Hopefully, I can take some pictures and write an update using Em's computer. They know how to do fancy things with chips and USBs and stuff to get pictures out of my camera and onto the blog. I told my friend Jimmie today that it's just like being there but without all the stress and sweating.

This will be one of the rare happy occasions when we have all our families and most of our friends together at the same time. I'm getting excited about it, and the weather even seems to be cooperating.

I'll be off early in the morning. Say a prayer for me in my favorite driving city. Luckily the hotel is just a couple of miles from the house; how much trouble can I get into in that amount of time?

Count Down - 13 days

It's beginning to look a little like a wedding. It's about time, I think.

Emily wanted a veil just for some pictures, so I made one in about 10 minutes and attached it to a comb. Not so pretty on a lamp but adequate for the few minutes it will be worn. It needs trimming and shaping too.



I didn't go to Atlanta yesterday, but I appreciate the prayers of everyone who thought I did. That's happening tomorrow. Saturday was spent shopping for Ryan a suit and tie, and your future mother-in-law is not someone you want tossing in her suggestions and looking pained at the mention of prices. They did fine without me and found exactly what they were looking for. Good price too, I hear.

The meeting at the house was very productive too. I think we have a clearer idea of where things will be set up and when things will be done. I had just the smallest moment of panic when Emily called just now and started talking excitedly. I heard only, "Everything's changed." Okay. Good. Changing everything less than 2 weeks away was not what I wanted to hear. But it's all good - better even. She's happy about the new set-up, and now we have to measure for tables and make decisions about rentals tomorrow. That's our biggest thing to get done. Well, my biggest thing will be getting to the house, but I think I have good directions.

Then to the florist and confirming the cake design and looking for shoes and lavender and talking about the shower and when everyone will arrive and when to get hair done.

I'm determined not to drive home after dark tomorrow.

I got these little guest bags made for Ryan's nieces and nephews. Oh, another thing is to look for T-shirts for them.

Here's another bigger one I did, but I think it needs more work - another flower or something. No problem. I love punching out those little shapes. It's so satisfying. They pop out perfectly every time. The colors are not true here. The flowers are orange and red-orange.


Enough fun. Time for seriousness. This is how the next two weeks will go.

This week is just working and running around doing errands until the weekend when Emily gets here. I'm not sure when she's going to ATL, but I go Monday. I'm loving having 10 days off!

Monday and Tuesday, we'll do whatever needs to be done - probably a lot!

Wednesday is the day Ryan's family arrives and also Mike and Elise. Unfortunately, I won't be there. Good excuse not to have to pick up anyone at the airport! I have to come down and take Mama to the beauty shop and get a haircut myself and take Darby to be boarded and contact my cousins about feeding the cats. That should be a fun day. Then my brother will come get Mama whenever they decide; they'll take her to Birmingham and get her to the wedding from there.

Thursday - I'm not sure about the morning, but the shower is that afternoon, tentatively on the Barner's beautiful deck. Hmmm. Visions of sitting there with my feet up and relaxing, enjoying the company and listening to the birds sing.

Friday, it gets serious. That's probably when all the hair and make-up and manicure/pedicures will happen. Sometime that afternoon, Kathy will arrive, and I hope to get us all together, maybe by the pool with something cold to drink to do some serious planning. We'll go to the house and make the final decisions about where to put tables and stuff and maybe do some decorating. I'm completely staying out of anything to do with lights and lanterns.

Friday night, we go out to eat with Ryan's family at Six Feet Under. I saw the menu! No one's going to have to drag me there.

During the night, we'll pray for a beautiful day the next day - with sunshine - but not too much.

Saturday morning will probably start off fine, and then panic will set in about 1:00. I don't even want to think about what will go on that day. But at some point - we'll have a wedding and then a big party afterwards and be very happy.

The best man spent the weekend with me.

Weekend

I was glad to have my Saturday back, but I can't say I made good use of it. I did work 5 hours and I did put some more quilt strips together, but I guess I mainly read or cleaned a little. Pretty good bit of talking on the phone with Emily and Elise. Things seemed to have fallen into place in Atlanta as far as getting catering arranged and finding a dress that she loves that fits. That was the big excitement. Her friend Karen deserves a medal for making her stick with the dress search and not get discouraged. And Meghan is just full of ideas and plans.

I can see many more phone calls and brainstorming. Just searching for things on the internet can take chunks of time out of a day. I guess it needs to be done though. We both had the same Real Simple (ha) wedding magazine, so we were able to know what the other one was talking about. "Look at page 94 - I like the cake there." "What about zinnias and dahlias?" We have a lot of the same tastes, but with a few points we veer off into opposite directions, and I have to make sure I show the same excitement over things I don't like that she does as over things I like. I don't want to cause her one bit of sadness during these whole 3 months, so I'll need to be up to the challenge when we talk. It's interesting how things will come together in 3months that seem so disjointed now.

It's another chilly, fresh-pot-of-coffee working afternoon.

Oh, speaking of weddings and since it's our daughter-in-law Stephanie's birthday this week, here is a beautiful picture from not too many years ago.

Stephanie and Gray. One of my favorite pictures.

It's Official

There's going to be a wedding, and there is almost a date. We're thinking the 30th of May in Atlanta. The fun begins! Emily and Ryan are excited to have plans that will be exactly what they want. Both families are happy that we'll be able to attend. It sounds like a lot of fun, informal and spontaneous. Right now, Em and I are talking as fast as we can, and neither one of us is listening to the other. Me: You're not wearing a VEIL?" Em: "I KNEW you were going to be disappointed in everything." There will probably be more than one of those exchanges in the next 3 months. But so far, it's just hurry and get this done and hurry and do this. Elise has been put in charge of invitation/announcement do's and don't's. I'm going to meet Emily in Atlanta (don't see this, Mike) Saturday. Her friend Karen and her mother have generously offered to do the flowers, and we're going to spend the day with them planning that and getting some more things taken care of. The house where the wedding is going to be belongs to a friend's parents, and we'll go by there and look around. It's amazing how things started falling into place all of a sudden and how generous people are to offer the use of their home and offer to spend hours making flower arrangements. She has some special friends for sure.