Diversions

Three days left! The suspense is killing me.

In the meantime, we've found a few distractions to help the time go by faster. Last night was Olivia's employee party at work, and she brought me along for companionship. Being a movie theater, the featured entertainment was an early showing of Avatar. Despite my initial misgivings, it was actually quite good, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. It doesn't have to be especially pagan and anti-American unless you want to watch it that way. It basically took the Pocahontas story to an epic level.

I've also discovered eBay, which has been consuming the greater part of the rest of my time. I have a $5 limit for my recreational spending, but I'm hot on the trail of several fascinating artifacts. My very first conquest, yesterday, was a bran new 10" blue vase with gold fleur de lis for the kitchen; $3.30, free shipping. ;)

Short Notice

Apparently David won't be able to stay home as long as we thought he would over Christmas. Due to leave restrictions he won't be home until the Monday before Christmas, and has to be gone at a ridiculous hour the morning after the wedding to catch his flight back. Prayers for the timely departure and arrival of that particular flight would be very much appreciated.

As far as "for better, for worse" goes, the worse part of being married will seem like the better compared to all this.

No News is Good News

It's been rather slow lately, and there really isn't anything new to report. David is settling in and killing some time before he can really get down to business. It's been great now that he has his phone, internet, AND snail mail, even if they don't let him have Hulu or YouTube. I've been up to my neck in Halloween candy and tacky decorations at work. The life-size skeleton butler with pipes for legs was a bit much. The overall theme this year is the Skelanimals; I liked it better last year when Domo was king. The rumor is that the Christmas lights get set next week, sneaking in on the back wall behind all the other fourth quarter seasonal madness.

The wedding is on track, so far as we know. There still remains some paperwork to clear, but it's being dealt with in due time. Invitations are still en route, leaving the house in waves, about as many as will fit in a ziplock bag I can grab before work in the morning and drop off on the way home. The recommended hotels, driving directions, and all other such useful information included in the invitation (and some that isn't) will also be posted here and linked to the sidebar for future reference. The registry has been edited and streamlined for what must be the tenth time. This imminent cross-country move is already giving me a headache.

Oh, and I bought an iron yesterday. So, just in case anyone was thinking of gifting us one, that's all right; we're covered. :)

The Dress Mix-Up

Here's the whole comedy of errors which resulted in the bridesmaids wearing the wrong color.

The moral of the story is to never trust online color swatches to be accurate. Because I did all my window shopping online, and because my laptop screen is apparently brighter than most, I was under the impression that "Marine Blue" was actually a kind of cobalt. When we went to get Beverly fitted, there was indeed an example of the dress we wanted in that cobalt blue satin, which we assumed to be "Marine." The tags either did not specify, or did so in very fine print. We had it in our hands when the nice salesperson asked us what we had in mind, and we said we wanted that dress "in this blue." That was all well and good, but they didn't have her size on hand, and she had to try on a green one. Once her size had been determined, we actually ordered the dress in "Marine Blue", and so it was written in the paperwork.

Enough time passed for all four bridesmaids to order their dresses, and for two to actually receive them. I got my first look at what "Marine Blue" really was when Bev brought hers home. Rather than the lovely royal blue around which I had planned my decorations and flowers, what we had was an almost black, military uniform blue. Too late now.

I don't hate it, but it's not what I expected. However, if I had planned on a blue that dark, I would have gone with white accents instead of black. Oh, well. Hopefully it won't look too much like a funeral.

Halfway Through

It's been nearly four weeks, and apparently David is still alive and doing well. He finally got all his mail, and sent some of his own. He also earned several ten-minute phone calls, so his family and I have been enjoying those immensely. The connection wasn't so great, and it sounded like talking to someone two rooms away through a ventilation duct, but it was certainly better than nothing.

I spent a great deal of my day gathering addresses and stuffing invitations. They aren't quite finished yet, but I hope no one objects to receiving them a bit early. I'd rather err on the side of caution, considering how much advance warning one needs to travel, and also the unfortunate proximity of the event to the busy holiday season.

Registry Info

The elusive baptismal certificate did indeed arrive, and all the rest of the paperwork seems to be coming together nicely. It's just turning out to be more expensive than planned. >.<

I was initially opposed to wedding registries by nature because the idea seemed very mercenary. Weddings aren't supposed to be about how much stuff one can accumulate from the guest list. But everyone seems to want me to register somewhere, so as a favor to all our generously inquisitive guests I've made up a gimmie list, David & Stephanie's Wedding 2010. It's still undergoing some construction. Anything and everything will be appreciated.

There may not be any polite way to say it, but by no means feel guilty if you're thinking about just sending a gift card. With the Navy breathing down our necks, we can't help but observe that gift cards are very easily transported to a new household on the other side of the country.

Foiled Again

Ladies, I don't know what to tell you.  We picked out a dress today, but I'm not sure why, because the whole thing is a shambles once more.  It may not happen at all, but we won't know until the last minute.  It could be this year, it may be next year, it may be in six years.  I don't know.

I've never been so close to abject despair in all my life.

The Current Plan

The idea of having a current plan is actually quite laughable. Any plans we've made never seem to have time to set, like Jell-o that hasn't been in the fridge long enough before someone takes a big scoop out of it. I don't mind being adaptable myself, but I hate to keep changing our itinerary when it affects dozens of other people.

If the current plan doesn't change, please God, I'll be leaving home in a week to visit with David's family until mid-July. During that time we'll do what planning we can for a prospective wedding in January 2010. He'll suffer boot camp from July to September, hopefully make it to Monterey without any significant delays, and then be back home in mid-December so we can pull it all together before he leaves again. That's "the plan." But as usual, we're all at the mercy of the unpredictable realities of the situation.

The one variable in this equation remains the unconfirmed date upon which he would be shipped out.  The original one we've all been working around was set when he was supposed to be going to Pensacola.  Ideally it won't change, but the recruiter has not been able to say one way or the other because he's been inconveniently out of town.
Again, many thanks to Sarah for sharing the necessary insider information to make all this possible on such short notice.