Ahh vacation!

I slacked off a little with the postings. Sorry to anyone that actually reads this on a semi-regular basis. But Mark and I had a very relaxing trip to Key Biscayne where we stayed with the amazing Alison. Mark now understands when I say how cool she is that if anything I’m UNDER exaggerating her coolness. Thanks to her for hosting us during the chilly few days we were there.  Here's a fun photo she snapped of us sitting outside the lighthouse keeper's cabin:

One of our favorite jaunts was the day we spent at South Beach roaming around Ocean Drive and all the surrounding side streets. I wish we could go back and spend a little more time there. I won’t wear suntan oil though since it gave me a weird rash like reaction. That, coupled with low SPF, didn’t pan out all that well!


Mark and I got all the invites out in the mail and have been getting our replies! Super fun. In fact, Mark calls me when I’m at home and has me update him on who sent in their RSVP that day. I am now going to write a little note on my response cards because that is my personal favorite part! It never had crossed my mind before but it’s really that much more fun. Everyone has just over 20 days to get those all mailed back!!

penmanship and pizza party

My family, friends and family to be are so awesome!

This Saturday I hosted a penmanship party, well it was actually free use of other people's time and handwriting for invitation addressing time.  I had a posse of help: my mother, two aunts, a cousin, friends, a future sister, almost daughter, near niece, mother to be and soon to be husband (oh SNAP! a husband?!?! Insanity, that might be the first time I've said or typed that).  Thanks so much for all your help, we only had a few envelope casualties so I was impressed!

Got to the post office at around 5:40 tonight with all the invites in tow.  The line was too long so I commandeered the mail slot and started stuffing them in.  After getting 80% in I had a slight panic attack because I never weighed them to ensure I was using the proper amount of postage.  Now, with a pit in my stomach, I got in line with 20 people and tried not to get too worked up that I just messed up big time.  As I finally got up to a USPS representative I briefly flashed through every worst possible scenario and then understood why people "go postal."  The woman weighed the envelope and said, "oh."  I had one tear fall out and simultaneously almost barfed on her scale (today was like the last day I could mail these puppies and fall within proper etiquette for invitation arrival).  She obviously noticed my panic-stricken face and said, "It's good!!! It's one ounce exactly and it has the stamp on already, you're good!"  I was immediately relieved, no longer felt like barfing and after flashing a grin and saying thanks as I went back to my tiny mail slot and pushed through the last handful of invites.  Yay!

Various dating of the ups

I feel organized!  Go us :)

Mark booked us a room for the wedding night and we will also use it to get ready before the wedding.  Who exactly gets to use it is up in the air.  I vote me because I'm the girl.  Sounds totally fair to me.

I also met with our florist (aka Mark's mom) and went over what sort of flowers I like and the look and feel.  I am 100% confident they will be great!!

Invite proofs will arrive this week, then hopefully we have the actual invites by the end of this month. Then time to address and mail.

What else, what else?!?!

Did I tell you about the honeymoon...?  If not, the hotel is amazing, breath-taking and I want to go right now!  Belize.  We're staying here, I almost can't believe how awesome it is!!  Mark spends many moments looking on You Tube for videos people have posted of their vacation to that hotel.  And it looks like we will find that perfect mix of beach/pool time and adventure.

In case you were of the myth that Belize was an island, see below.  The heart is where we are staying, Ambergeis Caye, a Belizean island east of the mainland and south of Mexico, or is it actually an isthmus?

dining with the (almost) Mark Zuerners

ooooooooooo-wheee!  That put a chill down my spine and a smile on my face.  I'm going to be a Mrs. Mark Zuerner in like whoa, EXACTLY, three months and one day.  And cue the...oh snap, three months?!!? Time to buckle down.  Or is it four months and one day?  Yeah, four.  Math by Sara: takes you a wrong answer and a redo but you'll get it, eventually!

Next up, really need to get those invites figured out.  Gots to.

But the fun part of registering is about 60% done.  I believe we got all of our dining and kitchen things on the lists (Crate & Barrel, Macy's and Target if you care; if you really care about half our registry is on sale at Macy's).  Next up will be bed/bath pieces.  Phew, time consuming but the advent of online registering is a life saver!! 

Merry almost Christmas,
Sara

Weekend update

Let's see, I was handed a invitation catalog a few weeks back and finally got around to ordering some samples.  The prices are way low but for someone who loves paper and design (me) it's not all that cute.  Budget says, it will work.  My inner Martha Stewart says we can jazz it up somehow.  Now I just need Markers to weigh in.  I will go out on a limb and say he picks the simple white invitation and really doesn't care if Martha attempts to improve them.

On Saturday (11/14) my mama had her birthday--yay!  And Heather and Ken got married--also yay!  I got to spend the day with both of them, Heather did a great job pulling the day together.  We both had so much fun and by the end of the night realized the next wedding we go to will be our own :D 

time for another list

So we decided that we'd been making decent progress without a planner and nixed the idea. My heart starts palpitating (is that a word?) when I say this out loud but we can use that cash towards something fun now. I need a list to slow down the heartbeat. Next up we need to work on the following:

1. invitations
2. finalizing the people participating in our ceremony
3. research florists

Side note, I am kind of a boring blogger. My bad. I will use pictures in the next post for excitement.