The Great Apartment Hunt

So as Joe and I prepare to embark on the great marriage adventure, there are so many things that need to be done and so many changes that have to be made. I’m not just talking planning the wedding ceremony and the reception, but all the life changes that come with it. One of the biggest ones is moving in together. Joe and I both live with our families currently so either of us moving in with the other was out of the question. :) (We are trying to avoid conflict and possible death at all costs). Haha!

It’s been an interesting journey. The first apartment we looked at (and I use the term ‘apartment’ loosely) was a dark slum with questionable black paneled rooms (literally), and a tiny fire escape window (put in for insurance purposes). We agreed that we felt like diseases were crawling on us from just standing there. It was a dirty death trap. Crazy! I’m shocked this guy even listed this. Next we encountered a higher end apartment(the higher end part being that it was on the 3rd floor of this very green building). Well the apartment was what is referred to as an ’efficiency’ apartment. In the real world 'efficiency' translates to ‘small’ with 'midget-like' qualities. But the apartment wasn’t half as interesting as the eccentric landlord who talked non-stop for like an hour and kept trying to give us coffee (not Timmy H’s buddy!) Strike 1! Regardless, we found him to be an intriguing guy until we learned later from someone who knew him that he was slightly psychotic. 2 down.

We looked at several others including one that was actually quite nice but was located in the middle of 'no where in particular' and was situated above a commercial garage. It had a rubber roof (i.e. weird, ugly and flammable). Uh no! Another one we felt like maybe someone might have been killed there and the body buried in the tiny crawl space beneath the living room (creepy) or hidden behind the dated wood paneled walls. Another one smelled interesting, like a combination of a neglected retirement home and death. Plus the amazing green checkered bathroom was slightly deterring.

Probably one of my faves was the one where the kitchen cupboards started way above my head so that literally I would need a step ladder to reach – anything. I reckon the saloon doors leading into the living room was a downright mighty fine addition but seemed entirely out of place. (It looked like the old west crashed into someone's living room).

The truth is sometimes in life good things are harder to come by like finding a decent apartment. We have to wait on God. The question is do we give up cause it’s too long a wait? Is it too difficult to trust? Or do we just settle for something cause we are not sure something better is going to come along? I admit the apartment search was getting daunting but we kept looking and finally when all hope seemed to be lost we found an adorable 2 bedroom apartment that was clean, roomy, modern and even has a balcony. Oh and wait, the best part is we walked in and it felt like...our first home :)

The lease is signed! God is good! Hang in there if you are trusting Him for something at this point in your life and we’ll let you know when our house warming party is.

Ode to Joe

It’s funny how planning a wedding can make a person with a usually sunny, glass half full sort of disposition, (namely me), suddenly become slightly neurotic, irrational and emotional as the smallest things mushroom into major crises. I will confess that I have had my share of irrationality in the last few weeks…I hate admitting that but I can almost guarantee there will be other moments before this wedding is over. All I can say is thank God for Joe, he is my rock and literally has averted so much disaster and death (to others) it’s just been amazing.

For starters, Lori, Kimmy and I spent hours putting together our invitations one evening. They were sooo pretty and I was sooo excited to send them out…only to learn that when people received them they were all smudged. Crisis! I mean I bawled my eyes out because well you only send your invitations out once and here is the thing I figured people would be so horrified. Well my darling Joe spent a few hours convincing me that people were not going to hate me for a smudged invite and that we should put an announcement on FB and offer to send replacements. Well I just kept thinking what a bad impression it made but surprisingly people were quite ok and more people were excited about coming to our wedding than they were on dwelling on the unfortunate ink story. Go figure!

The List! Of course I have a little more than 2 months to go and it’s like I have 2 million things that need to be done and I don’t seem to be getting anywhere so I decided to do a list. Which in essence should have made me feel better since it was so thorough and I had a clear grasp on what I had to do. Instead the list struck a panic chord in me and turned me into a cranky no fun person until Joe reminded me that he was there to help. Whatever I needed him to do he would do it. Assign him jobs. We had a lot of people who were willing to help and I didn’t have to be superwoman. He also reminded me of the very important factor that God was the One that brought us together and He would provide for this wedding. All these things I knew but somehow I can’t remember them in the midst of wedding mania so I’m glad he helped jog my memory.

Then there was of course the shoe crisis. Let me say when you find the perfect dress and veil and tiara, naturally the perfect shoes are the next step… (Haha get it?) Anyways, so I’ve been searching for weeks to no avail until I ended up in Pittsburgh this past weekend at JC Penney and found the perfect pair. They were silver, cute, part glass, real Cinderella stuff here. I was reveling in finally finding shoes when I came to discover they were the exact same ones that my sister got to wear in the wedding. Talk about devastating. I mean the bride can’t and I repeat can’t wear the same shoes as her Matron of Honor. Just not right. So I sat at Olive Garden crying my eyes out because of course this was akin to the end of the world while my Joe got online, found a bunch of adorable wedding shoes and started showing me a few and before long I picked one I liked and he had it ordered, all before his phone died. Crisis averted. Once again, there was my amazing fiancé saving the day.

So, the fact that Joe is my future husband was obviously no coincidence. He can ease my fears and calm my nerves like no one else and is always placing God at the forefront. God’s plan! What more can any woman want? :)

Adventures in Wedding Planning - The Dress!

Since my proposal (which was pretty incredible by the way,)  I have found myself immersed in the wedding planning frenzy that every bride lives and breathes in the months preceding the big day. Planning a wedding is an experience. It is an adventure in the land of halls, lace, flowers, pictures, stationary, dresses, parties, gifts, themes, decisions, favors, music, video, shopping, menus, in-laws, cakes, desserts, sparkling drinks and money. I tell you what, you learn a lot about people really fast during such times as these. Lol! I am happy to report that my groom-to-be has been quite agreeable (and rational) through this process which has been great for me during a few hair pulling moments. Haha! I praise God for him every day.

However there are so many experiences that accompany all these decisions, some pleasant, some…not so much. Take gown shopping for instance, it should be a thrilling and exhilarating experience right? Well this was not the case when I visited David’s Bridal a couple weeks or so ago. I walked in as a new Bride-to-Be thinking “This is awesome, my second bridal appointment. How fun!” That was until I was greeted (I use this term very cautiously) by Atilla the Hun at the front counter who immediately escorted me over to her desk to sign some paperwork where we were joined by an ill dressed woman who apparently was supposed to be my consultant and her greeting was one of slight exasperation over the amount of ‘favorites’ I had. What happened to “Congratulations!”? Or some other semi-human greeting. After that ‘Miss Pleasant’ escorted me to the closet section or ‘dressing rooms’ as they called it.

So now the topic up for discussion is how many inappropriate questions and/or comments can take place during a single bridal appointment? I am glad you asked because apparently more than any new bride bargains for -:

- Well, there are a lot of dresses on your list, I’ll see if I can find some of these
- Do you want me to help you or one of the people you brought?
- Well maybe if you used a push up bra…it would work better
- Well it’s big, so…
- You really want to try this?
- That’s how it’s made I don’t think it could be adjusted
- You aren’t really tall enough for that dress
- I’m running out of options I don’t really know what to pull for you
- You should probably go look on the racks yourself
- No we don’t have that dress
- I’m not sure they have it at our other location either
- If you need something I’ll be around

(Then poof! She vanished!)

I need a push up bra? Really? Let me say she literally pulled the dresses onto me, zipped it up and opened the door and out I went to the world of harsh lights and no pedestal. And she just stood off to the side. No assistance, no suggestions or anything, just tapping her ugly shoes on the rug till I was done. That was quite possibly the worst 2 hours of my retail life.

Disillusioned we left to go eat and what do you know? Out of nowhere across from our restaurant was the bridal boutique of this designer I love. 2 hours later I had ordered the dress of my dreams, veil and tiara and had one of the most amazing experiences ever complete with tears and my own video recorded ‘say yes to the dress’ moment. So much so I almost forgot the nightmare that was my earlier appointment. It’s funny how God can turn a situation around and work it out for good. Wait, not just good…better than you can imagine! 