Today I did not cruise the aisles of the bedazzled, oddly sacrilegious Nutcracker Market as I have in years past. Instead I went to my friends’ wedding and then hauled ass to College Station to make it just in time to perform a little taiko. I was sad to have to leave the reception minutes before the entrees came out (and long before the cake, *tear*), but the waiter was nice enough to pack my whole pork chop and mashed potatoes into a giant to-go bag. Yum.

When your emotions are already on edge, do not go to a wedding rehearsal and then listen to a lot of country music alone in your apartment. I mean, do go to the rehearsal, but skip the other part. After all, you still have to go to the wedding tomorrow, and you don’t want to show up all puffy-eyed like this before the thing even starts.

Skip a day here, three days there . . . at this point, I’m in it for the participation ribbon. Way to make it to the starting line, champ.

What with all the wedding planning, taiko, mediating, writing a seminar paper, and getting ready for the holidays, I hardly have time to nap for three hours a day. But I MAKE time, goddammit, because I apparently have some kind of sleep disorder. It’s called “being lazy.”

The wedding planning, by the way, is getting serious. When are you supposed to send out invitations, again? Eight weeks out? Ten? Six? Because we’re coming up on nine weeks tomorrow, so I should probably look into ordering some. Same with a photographer—gotta get us one of those. We’ve tried two so far and been disappointed both times.

We have a big meeting coming up on Tuesday with our wedding coordinator (where by “our” I mean “the venue’s”) to talk about flowers, food, cake, ceremony, decorations, and twenty other things I haven’t even thought of yet. I’m excited to nail down so many big details in one fell swoop, but I also have a lot to prepare before the meeting. Most of my inspiration photos and other vague hints of ideas are in a folder in my computer. I should probably print out the good ones and put them in a binder or something.

Nine weeks!

So far I’ve been lucky each day to remember before midnight that I haven’t posted anything yet. Today I have three whole minutes left, so here goes . . . almost nothing.

This afternoon, my mom and I went to Nordstrom’s and found her a mother-of-the-bride dress. Success!

And this evening, I mediated a case that reached impasse, making my record 2-1. Two settlements, one impasse.

That is all.

Okay, I can’t think of a clever way to introduce this post, so I’m going to come out and say it: Carol Hannah has an Etsy shop!

What can I say? I love Project Runway, especially Carol Hannah, who is so adorable and talented, and I loooooooove Etsy.

I can’t afford her clothes and I have nowhere to wear most of them, but that doesn’t make me any less happy at the discovery. Squee!

If I had $3400 to spend on a wedding dress, I’d get this one in ivory. So lovely.

I am so happy inside right now. Can’t help but grin.

I’ve got a few dozen balls in the air at the moment. On the one hand, having so much to do stresses me out, but on the other hand, most of those balls are pretty damn awesome, which makes the day-to-day work a little more pleasant.

Grand Taiko. It’s this weekend! Can you believe it? I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Yesterday’s set-change practice was made tense by a couple of unnecessarily-last-minute decisions, but all in all, we are SO ready for this show. Loading, spiking, and tech rehearsal Wednesday, dress rehearsal Thursday, performance Friday and Saturday.

I’m especially excited about our brand new song, Hanadokei. I helped write it a tiny bit, and I get to play in it*. It’s the most exhausting song in the whole set, for me at least, but it’s so much fun to play. You’ll love it.

Because you’re gonna be there, right? Miller Outdoor Theatre, this Friday and Saturday, 7:30 PM? That’s what I thought.

Wedding Planning. We’re thinking early 2011, so it’s still a year and half away, but I’m already deep into the planning. I’m discovering that my mother has a strong vision of what my wedding will look like, and it’s not much like mine. Getting married by a friend or relative instead of a “real” minister? Disappointing. A dress in any color other than white? Even light gray? Disappointing. A wedding palette of yellow, gray, and black**? Disappointing.

(more…)

For the few of you who haven’t heard through email, text message, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, but mostly so this momentous occasion doesn’t get left out of my blog, John and I got engaged last week on our trip to Colorado. Squee!

Before we started planning the vacation, we’d talked about how we might be able to move our conjectural wedding date up six months or so from what we’d thought, so I suspected a proposal was coming, but I didn’t know exactly when.

On our first full day in Colorado, John picked out a hike for us up towards Pacific Peak, thanks to this handy website. The weather was perfect, and the views of mountains and blue sky all around were breathtaking.

(more…)