that rosebud girl

oh my life … so busy, busy, busy …

it’s been quite a whirlwind week or so. still planning the wedding. still mapping out my san diego trip next week. actually, i think i’ve got that trip straight. but it will be busy. i’m trying to keep all my meetings in order. and i hope i can hang out with edgar one of those days….maybe shoot some pool….do something fun….

it’s also been busy because ed and i are trying to buy a house. we made a formal offer today for a house. whew. kinda crazy. i never realized how much effort went into buying a house. not to mention how much money. oy. i’ll be saving up my paychecks for a while. no paying off credit cards for me. money will be quite tight but at least we’ll have a new house. hopefully. we have to wait and see if our offer is accepted. i’m crossing my fingers. i want a new house. i want to paint the room that will be my office. i want to fix stuff up. i want to put up new blinds and rearrange furniture and plant flowers and refinish the deck and do other cool home projects like that. it will be fun (not to mention expensive).

(aside: i really, really need money. between the wedding and the house, there are a lot of dead presidents being exchanged here. maybe i need to rob a bank. or beg my parents for wads of cash. i think i’ll do the latter.)

anyhow, it’s already the eve of new year’s eve. wow. 2003 went by fast. and it was pretty eventful. i got engaged. i switched job duties. i took a lot of trips. damn. it would have been better if i’d been able to end the freakin’ year in new orleans at the sugar bowl. oh, well. i would have been preparing for that trip at this very moment. *sigh* but it’s all for the best — i would be even more broke now if i were in new orleans.

i have no fancy new year’s plans — i have to work on new year’s eve. hopefully i don’t get shot at on my way home. but i will probably hear the fireworks going off in wilmington while i’m in the office. and then i’ll be watching the rose bowl on jan. 1. maybe ed and i will hang out at martin’s house (he went to michigan, which would get interesting in a hurry). i just want to play with martin’s kids.

okay, i’ll stop rambling now. i need to get back to work….

happy holiday!

merry christmas to all and to all a good night.

it’s also my four-year anniversary with ed. how sweet it is. i love him to death.

a blast from the past!

every so often, someone drops off the face off the earth…and back into your life….

so i got to work today and checked my home e-mail….and i saw this e-mail that was from “rodney & marjorie silva”….and i about fell out of my chair! turned out that marjorie had discovered that i was trying to find rodney on a website (guamreunions.net) and so she went and e-mailed me. it was totally wild.

turns out she and rodney are married….they had a civil ceremony and will have a full-on ceremony next year….but it was so great to hear from her. i hadn’t heard from her since we graduated from high school. she’s in georgia now. i’m so excited to hear that she’s married. i always thought it would happen. and to think i had a hand in it! *sniff, sniff*

that was totally the highlight of my day. i’m still freaking out over it…..

planning, planning, planning.

only 11 months to go….

i’ve realized that i’m a planning nerd. seriously. who else gets all worked up about planning a wedding that’s 11 months away??? i’ve had people tell me that ed and i are more organized and more ahead in planning than them, and that their weddings are happening sooner than ours. oh, well. i think i have the planning gene. we in my family plan everything to death. as long as everything comes out fine, i will be happy. but i also hope i’m not going to spend ridiculous amounts of money, either. i am poor!

at least we think we have our venue nailed down. i just need to see the contract. and i have my dressmaker nailed down. and i’ve decided i’m going to make the party favors myself. (i really must be crazy.) see…

now i am obsessed with finding a photographer and a videographer. whew. so much to do!

i am going to san diego in early january for four or five days to try and nail stuff down. so many vendors to interview, so little time! i’m trying to get a hold of people before the holidays and before things get really crazy.

and of course, to complicate matters, ed and i are trying to buy a house. so that’s another project on my plate…

this is so fun but so crazy at the same time….thank goodness for good friends and a kick-ass maid of honor who happens to be my cousin and shares the planning gene….

stupid bcs.

first, the bad news: usc got screwed. sigh. no national championship, no new orleans. sigh.

the good news? (well, not so good, but well, it’ll do.) i get to save about $800. and i need money.

still, why did the BCS have to be such a bitch. it’s such bullshit. usc is no. 1 in the country and yet they don’t get to play for the national title. what a shame. and i’m not going to the rose bowl. i’m going to watch it in the comfort of my own home.

oh, well. still an excellent season for the trojans. we’ll get ‘em next year.

let it snow!

our first snow of the season….woohoo! we’re supposed to get 1-3 inches today and 6-10 on saturday….which wouldn’t be too good, considering i wanted to go to the delaware football game on saturday. but maybe i’ll get the chance to watch a game in the snow like i’ve always wanted to do….

on the other hand, at least i don’t have to go anywhere today….and shovel my driveway….

ed’s car, just a little snowy.

more snow on my car.

view from the front porch.

the yard across the street.

our grill, all covered in snow in the backyard.

what a surprise!

sometimes the best things happen by surprise….

so yesterday started off as a rather ho-hum, blah day. it turned out that december 2, 2003 would be the best day of my life (well, so far).

ed and i had the day off. i didn’t really have much planned, except going to the gym. ed insisted he didn’t want to go because he was going to?do something nice for me — which i assumed was cook dinner.?as it turned out, i nearly wrecked my own surprise. that was because i went to the gym, got stuck in traffic because of a car accident and nearly turned around to go back home. but, after giving ed a call, i decided not to go home.

once i finally did get home, i arrived the same time ed did, just as he was digging around in his trunk. he told me to go into the house, go upstairs and not come downstairs until he told me to. so i complied, and about an hour and a half later, was called downstairs….and was greeted by the sight of all sorts of candles lit around the dining room and living room, a fire going in the fireplace, and the sofa bed all rolled out with rose petals all over the place. it was awesome. and i was floored. and here i was just expecting some dinner.

but it got better. ed gave me a big white box, which was full of roses. i lifted up the roses and saw a little blue box in the box. i opened the box and inside it was a diamond ring! and then ed told me to stand up (we’d been sitting on the sofa bed), and he got down on one knee and proposed to me. it was lovely. and i was a sobbing mess. but it was great. pretty much everything i dreamed it would be. no need to be in public — just having ed and all those candles and a fire was more than enough for me. and i got a lobster dinner to boot. it was pretty damn impressive. that he got it together in about two hours was more impressive. apparently this had been in the works for months, but ed felt the best time to pop the question was now. and i am happy. very happy.

and now i have a wedding to plan. whee! exciting stuff….