What's been going on?

Man, I have sucked royally at blogging the other day and the sad part is that I just haven't felt inspired or motivated to write (which for someone who is constantly thinking and mouthing off about said thoughts, it's been kind of odd).

It's not that things aren't happening because life has been moving at record pace. I even had a thought last week about not blogging anymore period, which I have never really considered before.

But that's neither here nor there, really, so here are some small updates in case you care about what's been going on for me.

WW: yeah. I have been royally sucking it up in the whole "living on plan" concept lately. I gained .2 two weeks ago, .4 last week and I am going back and forth about even weighing in this week because I ate lots of Mexican food, pizza, buffalo flavored everything and did not spend a wink of time in the gym last week. Eh. I hate to say something as clique or b.s.-y as "it was bound to happen" but seriously, it really was bound to happen and I know what kind of work I need to do to get back into the swing of things.

Wedding stuff: Last week, I got a cake (actually two cakes: one for the wedding and one for the rehearsal dinner because we aren't huge fans of the dessert at our rehearsal dinner restaurant). And I did not resist eating a ton of sample cake. OMG it was delicious. I also met with a girl who is going to do our day of coordination (my church hasn't had a wedding in 15 years or so, so yes, I need someone to run the show). She's also doing our invitation order and flowers. Wedding flowers = mad hella annoying so I am glad to have that done. I gave her pretty much free license to do whatever she wants because I am the anti-flower person. The moral of this story is please don't ask me what kinds of flowers I'm having (because I don't know or care) and please don't tell me technical things about said flowers (because again, I don't know or care). Flowers to me are the bottom-feeders of my wedding. We found a DJ, which oddly enough, was kind of like the flowers part for me and I wasn't looking forward to the process of finding one. But I'm happy with it and like basically everything else associated with the nuptials, I'm glad to have it done so I don't have to think about it anymore. My mom and I also went shopping and found her dress in about 20 minutes. Like I told her at the time, this is just how my wedding rolls. We find things that work and we make decisions. It's really fun because it seriously freaks out all our vendors. Her dress is beautiful on her and I'm excited to see it post-alterations.

Valentine's Day: We woke up and walked to get the most delicious coffee drink ever (Caribou Coffee's Mint Condition- go get you some) before heading to Michigan Ave to register at Chicago's only Williams-Sonoma. It was about 10 billion times better than our obnoxious experience at Macy's (which btw, I deleted every item off that registry this morning, there were way too many annoyances involved to want to use them anymore). I seriously want to work at Williams-Sonoma someday. They had a chick there that was baking the whole time. We had some Chocolate Chip Quick Bread (bought the mix, it was that good) and I think Adam may have pilfered a Valentine's Day sugar cookie or two. For most of the hour before they opened, we were the only couple in the store, which made it so nice. The sun was shining and I could actually feel it's warmth so we kept walking and accomplishing things. We stopped in at Sunglasses Hut so I could redeem my Valentine's gift from Adam (a coupon for my first ever nice pair of shades). I ended up with some sweet aviators that make me feel (and hopefully look) cool. We then headed down to Men's Wearhouse and did all the selections for the men in our wedding party. It's just become expected that whomever is working with us will make at least 3 comments about how easy we are to work with or how fast we make decisions. It's tux selection, not rocket science, right? We also had ideas of what we wanted before we even walked in. There were about 11,000 choices but luckily Adam is like me and knows what he likes. Without giving everything away, we ended up with some lovely tuxes and Adam looked really nice in the jacket style he chose. After that, we had a quick brunch/lunch and headed down to Bed, Bath and Beyond (my replacement for Macy's) to register and for Adam to use his V Day gift card on some new fancy pillows. I'm not going to lie, we were basically exhausted after that but managed to trek down to Greektown for a really nice dinner. All in all, it was a busy day but it was fun to spend the day together focused on our big day in October!

So for the most part, we have the biggest stuff wrapped up for the wedding! In my mind, the sooner the better because I hope to not have tons left to do as the time sneaks up on me. As of tomorrow, we are only 8 months away.

Clearly we are freaks of the registry!

Adam and I went to a registry event last night at Macy's. First of all, they call it a "Sip and Scan" and advertise it as "have a drink in one hand and a registry scanner in the other...". When you hear that, what do you think they mean by drink? If you're like me, you pictured a cheap Chardonnay. If you're like Macy's you'll have bottled water (for Jen to carry in her purse and develop a shoulder problem) and warm fruit juice. And really crappy appetizers, which is so sad considering we were at the multi-story flagship Macy's on State Street and they have several awesome restaurants inside. The food and drink was such a let down! But we got our scanning gun (Adam was so excited) and carried on.

The event started on the sixth floor that only has bedding (not interested, our city bed is a full size so there is no way we are registering for good stuff until we move to a master bedroom that is not smaller than a baby's nursery in most houses) and fine china (again a not need for us because of again, the space issues and the fact that my family has tons of fine china that no one ever uses, not even on holidays, thank you very much). And on the fine china subject, I am just not a fan of the idea that I need my "own Jen and Adam pattern" to sit in boxes for 364 days of the year and be wasteful. I fought my inner "overpriced demons" and against my better judgement registered for some Waterford stuff before we got the hell out of dodge and went to the basement where they keep all the good stuff.

We visit the basement of this particular Macy's kind of on the regular because they have a giant section of Marshall Field's Frango Chocolates and they make a great gift for our guests to take home for family and friends as souvenirs. They also have a Starbucks so you can grab a quick drink and take a respite from touristing. But everytime I'm down in the basement, I basically go hogwild because it's a Martha Stewart cooking extravaganza!!

We took our gun and went to town. There were several points when I got ahead of Adam (meaning I could grab fancy utensils off the wall before he could get them all scanned) and had to slow down my excitement. I cannot wait to have decent kitchen things and I'm going to spend many hours figuring out places for all of them in my three (seriously people, I mean three) cabinets in the kitchen.

I loved every second of it (well, except when I was battling my overpriced demons but is Le Creuset really overpriced? or a Dyson? they just happen to be expensive nice things, right?)! We found lots of things that I'm not sure I'll keep on the registry. We still have an event at Crate and Barrel and our registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond to work on. And if I don't feel satisfied then, I might have to consider William-Sonoma and nix one of the others. Registry madness!

At one point, when we were winding down and starting the "ok, we should really call it quits before we end up with some totally random stuff like plastic picnic wine glasses" phase of the registry process, Adam looked around at all the other couples that were apparently in deep and dramatic discussions about the merits of pastry brushes and the like and remarked how great it was that we were so decisive about things. Which really means that I am so decisive about things since he himself said that this whole process was more about me handing him a large serving plate and him imagining all the lovely foods I'll make and serve on it. What can I say, I am a decisive person. I'm not sure that things will go so quick at Crate and Barrel because I haven't been there quite as many times as I have the downtown Macy's. But wait, who are we kidding. I am the kind of person that knows what I like and I don't need to sit there and debate it for half an hour. The Dyson? I had only heard from people that they are obsessed with them so it took me one test run and listening to the lady who reps them for about 30 seconds to tell Adam to hit it with the gun. For me, the hardest part about shopping is price and price comparison. Well, in case you didn't already figure that out, a registry completely takes that out of the equation. And if you really think about it, kind of flips my normal price woes completely upside down. People don't want to buy you cheap crap for your wedding! They want to buy you nice things that will last you through your marriage. Am I right? (Before you think I'm insane and snobby, according to our report over 80% of our items were under $50,)

Either way, we headed back to the sixth floor to return our gun and go through the obligatory Macy's card schpeel again. The lady who met us was so shocked that we were done already and asked if it was our first time opening the registry or if we were just adding things. This was my first sign that we were registry freaks! We told her it was our first time but that we did have plenty of things on there, not to worry (and a couple of duplicate things like seeing a pizza cutter and then finding a better one a little while later, oops). She was borderline giving us a hard time that we wouldn't have very many things on our registry until she printed it out. She came back and said, "you did all this tonight? seriously?" to which we said yes. Apparently it was four legal sized pages of stuff in a little under two hours. What can I say? Maybe it was my hunger because of the crap appetizers and the fact that I didn't have a fat glass of wine in my hand or maybe it's the fact that I don't have to debate the merits of blenders with my fiance for ten minutes before we scan something. It's not rocket science and it's all online for your editing pleasure!

So I guess the moral of this story is that we (potentially this is more me since I was the primary decision-maker) are, apparently in the eyes of Macy's, freaks for being able to walk into a store and know what we want. How crazy is that?

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

I've just been in Save the Date hell all week! Doing anything 100 times sucks, especially when it involves addressing, stamping, cutting, printing, folding, stuffing and sealing. It was a bigger project than I anticipated but they were mailed yesterday! GLORIOUS!

We can be found here...

http://stevekoophotography.com/wordpress

Our engagement pictures are out! YAY!

Now, I just have to spend endless hours pouring over the 128 picture gallery deciding which ones I like best and who is going to get what in a frame for Christmas. Good times! I am so glad we did it, not only because I did want some professional pictures of us in some of our favorite places in the city we call home, but because it was good practice for wedding pictures. And now I know that it is possible for us to not look like freakazoids in photos together.

On a completely unrelated note, it got dark, and I mean pitch black, at 5:00 p.m. last night. I was ready for bed at about 6:30. The jury is still out as to whether this is a good or bad thing :)

365 days... the countdown begins!

Just a quick note... today is our "pre-iversary" meaning that in exactly one year, I'll be saying my vows to Adam. Hey buddy, you'll be legally stuck with me then!

I found my dress!

I went home to TX last week to start what I thought was going to be a long and drawn out process of trying on wedding dresses. Luckily, I surprised myself and the process was actually not only easy but extremely fun. I was telling anyone and everyone how dress shopping was the part of wedding planning that I was least looking forward to. I went into it as open minded as I could and ended up having a blast!

Our day started at a smaller boutique. I wasn't overly impressed with their selection, but ironically, my favorite dress there was by the designer of the dress that I ultimately chose, Maggie Sottero. We laughed a lot because all of the dresses at this particular shop were just plain too big for me. They weren't big enough to grab and pin yards of fabric or anything but they just kind of sat weird on me and made me feel (and look) like a beached whale. I was a little frustrated and freaked out because it is so hard to imagine yourself in an altered version of what you are trying on. I had my mom and my friend Brooke with me all day but Meredith and Sara (two of my bridesmaids) were there for this appointment. We laughed a lot becuase it's pretty hysterical to come out of the dressing room in an already HUGE garment that you are just swimming in. Like I said before, their selection was smaller so we ended up picking a couple of "possibilities" and moving on.

I had scheduled my next appointment for a couple of hours later so we ended up going to a large bridal chain across the highway unannounced. I had originally seen this dress in their catalog that I loved and one of the girls on the San Antonio board of theknot.com had recently worn it in her wedding. We share the same photographer so I saw lots of her pictures and she looked gorgeous in it. I reaffirmed my belief by going to the large bridal chain just how much I really valued the service and fun that a smaller salon can offer. I kept saying under my breath to Mom and Brooke that I didn't want to buy a dress there. We did get to see a new bridal phenomenon, "Sisterzilla", in action when these people started getting all bitchy with the staff when they didn't even have an appointment!! I tried on four dresses there, including the one that I thought I wanted. When I came out in that one, my mother was making faces like it was literally causing her pain to see me in the dress. OK... that one's out! I checked out a couple of other ones and we ultimately decided that we'd move on and have some lunch.

At this point, I was semi-frustrated because I hadn't had that "moment". You know, the one that everyone talks about when you put on "the one" and really feel like a bride. So far, I had just gotten sick of seeing myself in the mirror and assessing what I believe to be my problem areas to work on in the gym over this year.

After lunch, we went to a shop that I'm already familiar with because it's where my good friend Sally got her dress and all of the bridesmaids dresses. Which is a hilarious story because without going into dramatic detail, I had a minor (major) surgical procedure after being measured for and ordering my dress that caused them to have to basically cut it in half. Haha. When having our dresses altered there, they refer to the tatas as "bubbies". All of Sally's bridesmaids had a blast joking about all of our bubbies and how they fit into our dresses. Point being, I was familiar with this place and felt comfortable walking in. It's a tiny place and they told us to start by picking eight dresses. Brooke and I literally jumped into piles of dresses and started grabbing the ones we thought were pretty. It took us about one rack and five seconds to come up with eight. Into the fitting room I went! I think I felt instantly more comfortable at this shop because the dresses were all much closer to my size or even a little bit too small. It's so much easier to feel normal if you are wearing something that more closely fits your body.

Each dress I tried on was better than the last, but when I put on the third dress, I just felt like a princess. At first, I don't know if I had that moment but I knew that it was going into the "in consideration" pile. I tried on TONS of dresses but kept going back to that one. The second time I put it on, the consultant put a veil on me and I almost started to cry. There was just something about it.

Without giving it all away, it's completely different than what I started out thinking I wanted. It's very unique and looks nothing like what you'd expect me in. I love it and I wish I didn't have to wait an entire year to wear it!

Sheer Exhaustion...

So far I have:

the date
the church
the reception venue
the photographer
the caterer
the surprise details worked out

working on:

the hotels for out-of-towners
the potential rehearsal dinner stuff for Adam's fam
the Chicago photog for engagements
the contracts and legal jargon for all of said items


I think it all hit me today that my brain hurts. I have 18 miles in the morning to process all of this stuff and I get to jet off to cooler temperatures and my upcoming job and new gym search on Saturday. No more wedding stuff for awhile, phew!! It's been a whirlwind but it's been fun.

I Pinky Swear...

I promise I'm not going to turn this bad boy into a wedding planning blog, although I have a feeling that some of the trials and tribulations (at least the funny stuff) will make it's way here. What else am I going to write about when I'm done flying to entertain you? It's easy to write about work when you are fairly anonymous but I have a feeling that I won't be in my next job.

Anyhoo... it's been a big week! What was it about Monday night? Adam proposed to me at Millenium Park AND a good friend of mine also got engaged. Crazy since it was such a random day.

Our story is very US and more perfect than I could have imagined. We met at his office downtown after work, which is a fairly normal practice for us. I was sort of thrown for two reasons.
1. it was Monday and I wasn't really expecting it on a work night
2. I had this feeling that he'd ask at a rooftop bar at one of the swanky hotels and he immediately said he wanted to eat at the Park Grill Cafe, which is where the ice skating rink is in the winter over at Millenium Park

Here's where I have my huge brain fart. Seriously, Jen! Millenium Park is one of the most special places to us! I have been wanting to take our engagement pictures there. How did I never think of that as a potential for him asking?

Nevertheless, we had a really great dinner outside and the whole time it kind of felt like we were cheating the system since the weather was awesome and it was supposed to be raining. Afterward, he asked if I wanted to go to a bar that a friend of his works at for a drink or go for a walk. I opted for walk around the park because I was pretty full (probably from all the chips and salsa I ate, haha). (He was freaking out that there were still too many people around.) Lucky for Adam, there was a free opera concert at the big pavilion, which on a random sidenote, was hilarious. There were tons of people on the grass watching, kids running around, people throwing footballs, not your usual opera crowd. We walked up onto this bridge to be able to see the show a little better and stopped for a few minutes. I could feel Adam looking all around (turns out he was trying to wait until no one else was on the bridge) and that's when he got down on one knee.

It was a perfect and beautiful moment and it happens like pretty much everyone says it will. I immediately burst into tears and I can't really remember what he said other than "Will you marry me?" to which I said "Of course!". We had a really quiet rest of the evening, called only family and had some champagne at a really nice bar on Michigan Avenue.

So, to answer a few questions.
1. Not getting married until next fall, 2010. I am hoping for October.
2. The wedding will be in San Antonio at my old church and reception who knows where?
3. I want Mexican food at the reception.

The ring is very me and absolutely perfect. It's diamond solitare set with six prongs on white gold (I hate platinum, don't ask me why, and apparently that was a source of dramatics at one of the jewelry stores he visited but I'm so glad he went with my instincts instead of some dumb saleswoman's). It really sparkles in the sunlight and it was so fun having it on my last trip because I got to run into some people that I'd actually flown with before and talk about it with them.

I can't wait to celebrate with everyone!

Running Log: Yesterday- 6 FAST miles, Today- 7 miles