Official Wedding Video

I'm sure most of you remember our friends Leah and Quentin schlepping tons of equipment around during the wedding? Well, Quentin is a professional videographer and while he no longer does wedding videos, he and Leah took photos and video of the the rehearsal dinner and wedding as a gift to me and Robert. And, just in time for our anniversary, here is the finished video! Poor Quentin just filmed tons and tons of footage to make this 5 minute highlight reel but I think it turned out just wonderfully. (I LOVE time-lapse segments! So it's right up my alley.) What an awesome thing to have to look back on for years to come. We're lucky to have such creative and generous friends!

If you'd like to see the video post on Quentin's blog, you can check it out here.

Our First Anniversary!!!

Imagine: Me, sitting at on the couch, thinking "Hey! I think I'll make a cute little slideshow of wedding photos to post on the blog for our anniversary!"

Cut to: Me, sitting at my desk for 3 hours, pulling my hair out because my software is not cooperating.

I was definitely having more fun this time last year... :o)

Oh, the Dancing Arms...

Robert's lack of dance moves have long been a source of humor in the family, amongst our friends... and even a few coworkers. :o) Robert really likes to dance and really, really, really wishes he had a better innate sense of rhythm so as to dance better. He tries. And he's definitely improved. He just... well, he has his signature move and it's hard to break him of it. All these years I'd assumed he'd inherited his dancing prowess from his mother because, well, while I love Carmen and Bob, I have seen both of them dance and I have to say that Bob definitely has better moves. I'm sorry! But it's true. Plus, he can keep to the beat, which is an important part of any successful dance. However... after seeing the video below I may have to change my thoughts on this topic.

Holy crap! It's like they're TWINS, people!!! It's almost eerie. I've never seen them dance in such close proximity but WOW are they ever related. Poor Maria... she just looks lost in the shuffle, doesn't she? ;o)

A big THANK YOU to Carissa for shooting this fabulous footage. It's a hoot! Makes me giggle every time I watch it.

Last Batch of Photos (I Think)

I finally got my ducks in a row and got a couple more albums assembled. I tried to keep the photos - and thus your boredom - to a minimum but the Hawaii album is still sort of big. There are NO lava photos this year (thank you, Jesus!)... but (unfortunately for me) they have been replaced by photos of the glass and metal beaches. And just so you know, even though there are a lot of photos of each beach in the album, I did trim many, many, many more. Robert just loooooooved them so much! He even brought back a bottle full of different types and colors of glass ("Red is the most rare!"). I had to represent a little bit, for his sake anyway. And for the Hawaii photos in particular you'll probably want to read the captions, so you'll have to click the 'Click here to view these pictures larger' link - that's the only way to see the photo captions (sorry). I did, at least, make the captions tell a story(ish) so it will be worth your while, I promise.

First up! The rehearsal at Wente following by bocce ball and dinner at Campo di Bocce:

Click here to view these pictures larger

And now the Hawaii photos:

Click here to view these pictures larger

And to close, a few photos from the bachelorette party in Vegas. There are some things that are sacred that just don't need to be shared on the blog and this is one. However... these are generally vague so I think they're safe. :o)

At the Vegas airport, gettin' ready to hit the town!


This is The Man drink from Chippendales - notice its handy lanyard for easy transport. He was a sexy little drink filled with four different types of rum that tasted a lot like fruit punch. A very strong fruit punch...


And he was delicious. I named him Ridge. We were best buds all night long. :o)

Oodles of Photos!

I wanted to wait until some of the professional photos came in before I posted anymore photos to the blog. After complaining to Biji and Carissa at length about the photographer (not necessarily about the time lag but more about her general attitude) over the weekend, *POOF*! The photos finally appeared on her blog. And since yesterday was my first official furlough day, I spend an hour or so culling photos from all my wedding albums on Shutterfly and created a (somewhat) abbreviated version for your blog viewing pleasure. So, let's begin!

First, photos from Mel, Maria & Carmen

Click here to view these pictures larger

Lyndsay (the photographer)'s photos

Click here to view these pictures larger

Lyndsay has a few photos on her blog so if you want to see the photos a wee bit larger, you should check it out.

Oh! And Lyndsay also put together her own slideshow of even more photos. (Robert loooooooves it! I do, too. As narcissistic as it sounds, it's kind of addicting!) You can view it here.

You can check out our photobooth photos at www.thephotoboof.com and enter in 'laurob3' as the event code. (Robert and I also got a DVD of all the images in both strip and single photo formats. If, for some reason, you'd like to have a copy, just let us know - we'll hook you up. :o) ) I was SO, so happy with the photobooth - almost everyone took a photo and put it in the guestbook!!! I was definitely worried going in that people wouldn't want to take photos but I was pleasantly surprised. And I'm so glad; the guestbook just turned out wonderfully. Robert and I really enjoyed going through it and seeing everyone's photos and comments. So thank you for taking the time to do it, everyone! It means a lot.


And now... it's all over. I will do another post with some photos from Hawaii - I have to edit out about 65 photos of the glass beach (this trip's lava), though, so it might take me a bit! - but I'll try not to wear you out with anymore wedding posts. I said I'll try, not that I will succeed, mind you. :o) But I have to just say that both Robert and I thought the wedding was absolutely perfect - it was JUST as we imagined it. We kind of just wanted to throw a big party and I think we were successful in that hope. Everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves and we DEFINITELY enjoyed ourselves so the evening was, well, perfect. (I keep using that word but it fits!) We had so much fun and it all went by so quickly; our main regret is that, even with such a small number, we weren't able to get to everyone before they headed home. But we wouldn't have had such a wonderful wedding if everyone that attended wasn't there, so thank you so much for making the trek to Livermore and sharing the day with us. There aren't enough superlatives for me to say (or write, as it were) about the wedding so let me just end by saying that it really was everything I'd hoped it would be and I couldn't have asked for more. Thank you all for making the day as spectacular as it was. :o)

[* The photographer wasn't horrible or anything; there were just a couple of things that sort of stuck in my craw and made me perturbed. First off, the woman gives, like, zero direction. I'm not saying I wanted to have a professional modeling shoot or anything but I need a little more direction than "Do whatever you want!" What I want is to hire a new photographer, lady! Give me something here!! Second, I heard through the grapevine that she gave our friends Quentin and Leah, who were shooting video and photos as a gift to us, a bit of attitude. The Bacons are the nicest people around - seriously, every single person I've talked to about the wedding has had nothing but praise for those two - and were not being intrusive or stepping on Lyndsay's toes as far as I could see, so if the attitude reports are true, I am not pleased. And finally, the photographer pulled me aside on the dance floor and asked me if Robert and I were having a formal goodbye. I said yes (because at that time we still were) and that it would be happening at 11. She then said something like "Well, I'm only booked through 11 so if you want me to be able to take a photo, it'll have to be at 10:59." So, I went and chatted with Robert about it and we decided to forgo the professional photos should we have a formal sendoff. Lyndsay came back to ask me if I'd changed the time and I said no, not to worry about taking any photos. Then she tried to backtrack and be all "Oh, it's just that I live so far away, blah blah wah." Who cares?! I paid you a gajillion dollars, woman! Take. My. Photos! Besides, I saw that she and her assistant took some time to take a few photobooth photos. If you want to get persnickety about it, I PAID for those 5 minutes, missy! So why don't you just prorate the 5 minutes you wasted taking your own photos and stay a few minutes to take MY photos?!! All right. Maybe I'm a little more annoyed than I thought. Hmm. BUT... the photos I've see so far are beautiful and I'm very pleased about that. Lyndsay captured some great moments so, in the end, I guess I'm happy. Mostly.]

Sneak Peek at Photos!

As I sit and wait for Robert to snag us some lunch, I thought I'd sit out on the lanai and update our Shutterfly site with some wedding photos. :o) I will, of course, be posting oodles and oodles of wedding stuff when we get back from our honeymoon but if you just can't wait (I clearly couldn't!), please click over to our site and check out some pictures.

Sunday's Weather

Check it out! Sunday will be the coolest day of the next 10 days! WHEW! :o)

The Panic...

Has hit me. Holy bejesus! It suddenly dawned on me this morning as I was making a list of due dates for various vendor balances that, as of this Sunday, the wedding is only TWO WEEKS away!!! There is still SO. MUCH. for me to do!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'll be in Vegas this weekend for my bachelorette party, which means I have to do laundry and pack and blah blah blah, which just adds to my 'to do' list - and it means I'm an entire weekend short of extra days in which to get stuff done. Plus, I'm absotively, posilutely swamped at work and have no time to get done what I need to finish before I leave for the honeymoon. And I have to leave early on Thursday to go to Vegas and leave early on Tuesday to get the wedding license and... There is just no time, people. NO TIME!!! Waaaah...

Only 30 Days to Go!

Wow! It hardly seems possible but as of today I only have one month until I'm forced by law to endure Robert slurping his popsicle. Right now I don't have to - but I do. 'Cause I'm nice like that. :o) I kid! (Not about the slurping though. He really does slurp like a fiend and it drives me bonkers!) What was my point in all this again... ?

Ah! That because today is the start of the 1-month countdown, I thought I'd take a moment and remind you all about our wedding site. The link has been on the left-hand sidebar for a while now but just in case you forgot about it and wake up in the middle of the night in a panic because you can't remember the side dish options for the pork, I wanted to refresh your memory and allay your fears! :o) You can check out our page at http://www.laurenandrobert.weddingpearl.com/welcome.asp - there you'll find info on the menu, venue, wedding party, proposal, etc. It's kept up-to-date; in fact, I just updated it with our vegetarian entree option so you know it's got the info you need! Give'r a look-see if you feel so inclined. It's a good time waster.

Wedding Shower!

My wedding party threw me a loverly bridal shower last Sunday so I simply must update you all on it! Even though you were probably already there. Or I've already told you about it. But whatever. :o) Fridays are definitely the worst days for me time-wise at work so I'm totally going to cheat and copy-and-paste an e-mail I sent to my sister, Michelle, about the shower. I'm sorry to be so tacky but it's either this or no post at all! Suck it up, people.

Okay, here we go:

"The shower was really great. I must admit I was a wee bit nauseous going into it because I just do NOT like being the center of attention. And events where different groups of people in your life have to mingle always stress me out. Never goes well. But on the flip side, I probably would have felt a little gypped had I not had a shower-y shower so I think, all things considered, everything went quite well. [My sister,] Melanie, of course, had everything decorated for the occasion - she had a big wall sign made for me, teal streamers and lanterns everywhere, flowers, photos (even my original birth announcement!), diamond ring napkin rings, little candy engagement rings and star confetti sprinkled everywhere. But nothing super over-the-top; it all looked very nice. Nora and Maria came early to help decorate and they also chipped in and made a lot of the food [imagine boring rundown of the specific kinds of food offered here].

All my aunts came, as well as Robert's mom and aunt, Cindy, Emily and my friend Gladys from work. There was little-to-no mingling, as was to be expected, and I actually spent most of my time visiting with Nora and Cindy. I talked to everyone, of course, but I hadn't seen my girlfriends in a while and sort of wound up chatting with them most often. I very much hope no one was offended or felt ignored or excluded. I was so glad everyone made a point of coming! I hope everyone had a good time. Social interactions are almost the most stressful element of functions like these but I'd give the shower a solid 7 or 8 out of 10.

We played a few games and those actually went over pretty well, too, I think. (It wasn't really a game-y kind of crowd...) There was a quiz on 'how well do you know the bride?' (answer: not well apparently! Boo.) and it was fun because Mel got Robert's answers, too. My favorite Q&A was this: When asked to answer which section of the bookstore I head to first, I said "But I don't go to bookstores! I shop online!! And if I ever do have to buy something in a real store, I usually make Robert go for me. Or with me." And Robert's answer was "Hmm, this is a tough one because Lauren doesn't really like to shop in stores. She usually shops online. If she does need to buy something at the bookstore, she usually has me go for her." We are SO meant to be!!! :o) Then there was a little word game and a Hershey kisses hunt but that was all. Then it was on to presents and then dessert! I HATE opening presents in front of people but I survived. I got some very nice gifts and the cards were all really sweet, too. [Insert play-by-play of gift unwrapping here].

Oh! Cindy made the most gorgeous cupcakes - she baked red velvet cupcakes and decorated them with cream cheese frosting and chocolate butterflies that she made herself... freehand!!! They had blue and orange wings and they were so frickin' cute!!!! And, naturally, absolutely delicious. Everyone loved them."

How's that for a summary? Pretty okay, right? On to the photos!

Favors


Nora attempting to pin on my corsage...

Cindy and her fabulous cupcakes!

Emily, me, Cindy

You can't see it, but this is a shot of the diamond napkin ring

Me & Maria

Carmen & Rosemary

Ruby, Lill, my mom, Candi

Taking - and failing - the quiz...!

Maria did a fantastic job with the ribbon bouquet

And last but not least, the lovely hostess & me

Thanks again, ladies!!! You all did a terrific job! I had a great time. :o)

Violated by the Wedding Dress Industry

Yesterday I had to make the trek to Cupertino after work to have my first fitting in my wedding dress. First of all, let me just say it reminded me how much I don't miss commuting! It took me an hour and 10 minutes to get from Hayward to Cupertino. Crapola! But the dictators over at Bay Area Bridal absolutely insisted that I make the appointment on a weekday, since weekends are so busy I would not be allotted the time and attention needed. What a crock. I went in on a Saturday a few weeks back to pick up my sister's bridesmaid dress and there was no one there! And my other sister went in two weekends ago to get her dress and same deal. But the woman on the phone simply refused to make me a weekend appointment. So Wednesday it was.

Now, I expected the alterations to cost a fair amount. We who cannot sew are a captive audience and I understand this. And every vendor in the wedding industry will rip you off simply because they can. I understand this as well. But the total charge for my alterations came out to $285!!!!! Holy bejesus!!!! Are they sewing my dress back together with gold thread or WHAT?! They are charging me $150 for the hem alone! I realize I'm short but it's not like they're reinventing the wheel here! Lop off some fabric and fold it under! How is that worth $150?!!!! Were I the kind of person that stands up for myself in such situations I would've stormed out with my dress in tow and gotten an estimate elsewhere. As it was I just sat there and said "Okay!" and handed over my credit card. Ridiculous. The alterations will cost almost half as much as the dress itself! My brain is melting. I should've taken Robert's original advice and bought something from J. Crew...

Wente Tasting

Robert and I had our cake and wine tasting at Wente last Saturday and can I just say that I am ecstatic that we are done!!! Which is not to say that I wish we'd never gone; it was great to have a chance to see Wente in spring, when everything is green and starting to bloom. The last time we were there it was January and rather bleak. But now it's absolutely lovely and it just reaffirmed our decision to have the wedding at such a gorgeous venue. However... I was not looking forward to spending 3+ hours sampling food and (especially) wine. I am a picky eater - the prospect of having to eat a variety of foofy cakes does not interest me in the least! And wine? Bleh. Me no likey, not even a little bit. So, Robert and I came up with the brilliant idea of inviting our parents. They could help us with the decision making - a big help - and they would have a chance to check out the grounds before the wedding so they have a better idea of what everything will look like. Win-win! As such, we all got up early and headed to Livermore for our 11:00 tasting appointment. (Maria agreed to dog-sit Garfunkel while we were away which was a huge help. Thanks again, Maria!)

Robert and I had decided long ago that we didn't really want a wedding cake. Robert is not a big cake guy in general and I am not necessarily a fan of wedding cake in particular. It's expensive, the flavors are almost always too exotic for my taste (which isn't hard to accomplish - if it's not yellow cake with chocolate frosting, it's too exotic for my taste!) and usually looks a lot better than it tastes. Unfortunately for us, Wente has their own bakery so, of course, the wedding cake is included in the wedding package. So. We were stuck. But, Wente was very accommodating and worked with Robert (and, through extension, me) to find an alternative to cake. I love, love, love cream puffs so I ran that suggestion up the flag pole and success! Robert was game, Wente was willing and we were thus set-up to taste a selection of cream puffs at the tasting on Saturday. I won't bore you with the details and I won't even tell you the final selection of flavors so as to keep at least a little something a surprise. I will just say - again - that there will be no wedding cake at all, just cream puffs on the big day. I wanted to get that out there in advance so that the more traditional folk can get comfortable with the idea that there will be no proper cake and all its accompanying hoopla to speak of. :o)

On to the wine tasting. I can't really give you any specifics on this because I just do NOT care for wine in any way, shape or form and therefore declined to partake of the tasting. Robert, Bob, Carmen and my dad did, however, while my mom and I sat on a bench and played video games. There seemed to be a general consensus among the tasters and after my dad did a little more research, he provided us with a selection that I think will both go well with our entrees and make our guests happy. And I'll be happy with my Coke.

So! Four-and-a-half hours later we were done!! The time is a little misleading, though, because our cake tasting was schedule to take an hour and we only took about 40 minutes. So, we had to wander around for about a half-hour waiting for our coordinator to finish up with some other clients. We then went over all the finer details of the ceremony and reception and that took some time. Then we all headed over to the restaurant for a leisurely lunch that ate up a good chunk of time. And, of course, the wine tasting took forever and a day because you have to savor the wine, blah blah blah. I was sooooo ready to get out of there after 2 glasses of wine... too bad there were 3 more to go. Wah. I was a big whiny baby. But we persevered and finished and I'm all the happier for it. I also very much appreciated the parents taking time out of their weekend to trek up to Livermore and help Robert and me out with some of our decisions. It was a big help. :o)

Here are a few photos of the lawn area where we will be having both the ceremony and the reception. If you've never been to Went, it will hopefully give you a better idea of where we'll be and when.

As you can see, a wedding is already set-up at this end of the lawn. This is one of four options we were given for an outdoor ceremony. It is not, however, the one we picked.


A view of the restaurant from the ceremony spot. Wente has their own security to keep diners from straggling over to the reception.


This is the spot we chose for the ceremony - between the trees on the lawn, looking out over the courtyard and the vines.


This is the 3rd option - on the lawn, facing the hills. Eh. (I don't have a photo of the 4th option - sorry! It basically entails getting married under the doorway of the building where we'd have had the ceremony had we chosen to do it indoors. It's a nice building... but no.)



The families after lunch. Everyone else thought the food was fantastic... I, of course, eat kid's food so it was not my favorite. Luckily for me, though, I was able to find two un-foofy dinner options for the wedding. And they are:

(1.) Pan Seared Salmon with Mashed New Potatoes, Summer Vegetables and Avocado-Tomato Relish;

OR

(2.) Wente Vineyards Signature House Smoked Double Cut Pork Chop on Creamy Polenta with Garden Chard and Brentwood Peach Chutney

Both selections will be preceded by a Grilled White Corn Soup with Nasturtium-Chervil Butter (YUM! I'm looking forward to that the most!).

All the wedding details are on a site I set-up at Wedding Pearl - you can find our page at http://www.laurenandrobert.weddingpearl.com. I added the link to the left-hand sidebar as well, so if you ever feel like checking in periodically to see what, if anything, has been updated, you don't have to find this post. It has info on the wedding party, the menu, our registries (which we haven't set up yet...), etc. It will be the go-to place to find all the wedding details in one place!

Photographer Blog

Gah! Robert's and my engagement photos are on our photographer's blog! Ick! Actually, there are only three and one of them is a photo I posted on this blog but still. They're just so... big. And out there. Ick. If you feel you must, you can check out the post at this link. (Clearly Lyndsay doesn't know us all that well - "Rob"? Really? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I referred to him as Robert all. day. long. Oh well. At least she got my name right!)

Engagement Photos

Robert and I took our "official" engagement photos a couple Saturdays ago and were notified just last night that they are available for online viewing. Now, I have to say that my expectations were low, low, low - I didn't think I'd care for a single photo. Seriously. Engagement photos are not my thing. We wouldn't even have done them except they came with our wedding package and when we tried to wriggle out of them, our photographer was kind of like "Okay... but it would be really helpful for me to meet you guys before your wedding so I can get a sense of your style and personality." Which Robert and I grudgingly agreed made a small amount of sense. Fine. So, we headed to Washington (High School, that is) on the 21st for some drizzly, overcast photos.

Why Washington? Well, it was Robert's suggestion - he's very into our 'love story' and thought it would be cute to take our photos in the place where we first met. And since I could not envision myself strolling along a beach, frolicking in a field or gallivanting across some pier in San Francisco for some "romantic" shots, I was game. Because, honestly, I wasn't going to enjoy taking the photos no matter where we were. I am definitely not a fan of and am terribly uncomfortable with public displays of affection as it is but to have those moments forced and photographed? While trying to look candid? Oy. Not good. Not good at all. I had hoped that the photographer would give us some very specific direction, but all we really got was "Ooh! That's pretty. Do... something over there." Something? That could be anything! We could start wrestling or square dancing or playing rock-paper-scissors for crying out loud! I needed some real direction!! I was certainly not going to break out into a 'spontaneous' make-out session so I just laughed. A lot. I laugh when I'm nervous. I was fairly certain that about 98% of the photos would be of me, mouth agape, laughing. Romantic, no? Geez.

So, as I said, my expectations were low. But as we started scrolling through them last night, I was pleasantly surprised. There are actually a few good photos in there! None of them are terribly romantic - as I'd predicted - but they are still pretty nice photos nonetheless. Here's a sample:





Not too horrific, right? I'm not sure which ones or how many we'll buy; I'm just glad there are actually some that I'd even consider keeping! And I'm really glad that I don't have to take anymore engagement photos. :o)

Wedding Weight

Well. My coworkers here at The Bay seem to have a vested interest in my wedding weight loss for some reason. One person sent me an e-mail about NutriSystem on sale at Coscto. Another sends me instant messages like "don't eat the Krispy Kreme!" (when we had some in the office Monday morning) and "no more candy! you need to fit into your wedding dress." One guy who works down the hall teaches spinning classes in his spare time and gave me a good-natured lecture - for 15 minutes - about how all eyes will be on me and that I'll look back on the wedding photos forever so I'll want to look my best and that it's not about weight but how toned I am, blah blah blah. Now, when people tell me these things I know they are doing it in a joking manner and they're not really trying to tell me I'm fat or anything but I still feel like people are sort of watching what I eat (and how often). I laugh about it at work but, man, I am definitely feeling a bit of pressure to step up my weight loss habits! Of course, that doesn't really mean very much because I reeeeally haven't been doing too much to get my weight down. Though, to be fair to myself, I haven't gained any weight, either. :o)

Still, I got to thinking and decided that perhaps the prospect of public humiliation would light a fire under my ass to get cracking. And so, I have decided to post about my weight loss adventure here on the blog. Scroll down to the bottom of the blog and you'll see I've added a little graph to track my progress - or lack thereof. Yes, my actual/real/current weight is posted. Everyone can see that I'm pudgy - do I really need to hide how much I weigh? Please.

Seeing as I only have 4 months in which to lose the weight I'm not expecting wonderific results or anything (and nor should you!). But, even a little weight would be better than no weight so I'll give it a whirl. So far, I've cut out 1 soda per day and dessert. (Which means no sweets after dinner - I still eat the occasional one after lunch.) I was Wii Fitting every day after work but quit when I got sick last month... so I guess I'll have to start exercising, too. Boo. 30 minutes a day should do it, though, right?! (But not on weekends. That's no fun.) Maybe taking Garfunkel for walks will help out, too. I have to get fitted for my dress in June, though, so I've really got to get going!!! It'll be rough though - I am a major slug. Stupid wedding dress!

Wedding Invitation Quandary

So, as most of you know, Robert and I are keeping the wedding guest list small, small, small. Only close friends and family, less than 100 people (by quite a bit, actually), etc. Yesterday, however, Robert asked me a question that gave me pause: "Are you inviting your boss?"

Hmm. I don't know about this. Now, my initial response was no - even though Robert is inviting a few work friends, I am not planning on inviting anyone from the Bay. Not that I don't like them or anything; I just don't have anyone here I'd consider a "good friend" that I'd go out after work and do anything with, you know what I mean? (I will invite Gladys, though, because she really has been my closest friend here and she's really helped me out with a few things over the past couple years.) Plus, my department is fairly small - only about 20 people or so. There are a couple people I'm closer to than others, people that I go to lunch with or visit with during my breaks, but for the most part I barely even talk to the majority of the department. (This would be the result of my sitting in a completely separate and secluded location from 90% of the office coupled with my antisocialness - I never just wander over to the other side and start yakking with people.) I keep waffling on whether or not I should invite the couple people I am closer to - like Work Mel, for example. I just don't know. Would it be rude to invite some people in the department but not others? Do these couple people truly qualify as "friends?" Do I have to make every decision a friggin' life or death situation?!! ;o)

Anyway, what prompted Robert's question was I told him that when I told my boss about Garfunkel, she was really excited and told me she and her husband would dog sit while Robert and I are on our honeymoon. When I answered and said I hadn't planned on inviting Rhonda, Robert said he was only asking because my boss and I are fairly friendly and enjoying chatting with each other. And we do. Rhonda is really nice and she and I do chat a lot about stuff outside of work - the wedding, school, her family, my family, blah blah blah. Robert's question got me to thinking, then - should I invite Rhonda? Would that be weird? Would it be rude to invite her but not others in the department? Will I look like I'm just looking for another gift (God, I hope not!)? I need help! Input please!!

Only 30 Minutes to Go...

Gosh. You guys know I'm sick when I don't even post any pointless crap on the blog!! Sorry. :o( This weekend will be one full of nothing, nothing, sleep, sitting, vegging and more nothing. Oh, and perhaps a bit of homework but more on that later. Right now, the only thing on my mind is REST. Seriously. I'm a huge wuss and a baby when I am sick. I can't help it. And these past three days at work have totally drained me. See? This is why I have no kids. Too selfish. And wimpy. But I digress... Point is, after this weekend I'm hoping to feel better and be back to my regular schedule.

Until then, here's a little tidbit to tide you over: Biji's official marriage commissioner paperwork was delivered last week and he passed it along to Robert and I earlier today. Too weird! I am SO excited that Biji agreed to be our officiant - he's our oldest and dearest friend. It's just weird to see my name on marriage documents, that's all. :o) But I guess I'll get over that. Eventually.

My Wedding Dress!!!

I bought my wedding dress!!!!

I went out this past Saturday on a purely information-scouting excursion. I'd gone through a few magazines and Web sites but didn't really know that exactly I was looking for. (That is almost always the case with me - I don't know what I want but I do know precisely what I don't want!) I printed out a few dresses that I liked and showed them to the sales consultant, so she rounded up a few she thought I'd like. I picked out a couple myself and set to work! I didn't necessarily intend to buy anything but I just loved one of the dresses and after much hemming and hawing decided to go for it. After I expressed some reservations about buying a dress on my first trip out (and thus limiting my options... in theory, at least) my sister Mel made a very wise analogy that I like very much. She pointed out that I didn't really shop around for a partner, either - I found what I liked early on and held on to it. The same is true for my dress. That really made me feel better. :o)

And since I can't post a photo of my dress, I'll post a photo of me signing the paperwork. EXCITED!!!

Save the Date!!!

We have picked a date, people!! So jot it down on your calendar because July 19th, 2009 is THE DAY!!!!! We signed the contract and faxed it over today, so it's definitely official. Woohoo!!!!!

The official info so far is as follows:

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wente Vineyards
6:00 PM ceremony start

More info to follow!

We're ENGAGED!!!

Okay, so I know this is totally old news for all of you but I keep hearing "Oh, I haven't seen it on the blog!" so here it is (in a somewhat edited form!).

As you know, Robert proposed a couple Fridays ago, on December 19th. Robert had told me he was working off-site that day on a video shoot and I was to attend a departmental Christmas party at my boss' house from 3:30 to 5. (My point in telling you the minutiae of our day? Just to point out that we both got up and got ready for work, as per usual.) Well, the food didn't even come out until after 5 and I definitely didn't want to be the first to leave the party, so I stayed until about 7 or so. (Robert usually comes home late anytime he's off-site so I figured I was good to go as far as he was concerned.) When I got my purse and coat from the closet as I was leaving, I saw that I had a few missed calls from Robert. Everyone teased me ("Oooh, someone's in trouble!") but I figured Robert just wanted to check in. When I called him to tell him I was on my way, he said he was en route and we should arrive home about the same time. "Great!" I thought. "I'm starving. This will work out perfectly!"

I pulled into the complex, parked the car and grabbed the mail - nothing seemed amiss. When I opened the front door to turn on the lights and hang up my keys, I noticed that my key rack was missing. Then I saw part of a chalkboard out of the corner of my eye and was completely bumfuzzled. When I finally got the lights on, there was Robert, on bended knee with ring in hand, telling me he had a question to ask me. (He also looked quite dapper in his three-piece suit [minus the jacket].) I. Was. SHOCKED. Completely!!! It caught me totally by surprise - I honestly had NO inkling that he was thinking about getting married. I mean, sure we've talked about it over the years but we've never discussed a timeline, really, or about what kind of ring I'd want or anything like that. It was just sort of out there. We knew we'd get married eventually; we just didn't concern ourselves with the details too much.

Anyway, I was completely blindsided and just shrieked "Oh my God!" about a thousand times before poor Robert got to finish his little speech. I believe I finally shouted "Of course!" after he actually got to ask me to marry him... and things got rolling. :o)

Robert was quite the little worker bee - turns out, he'd been planning this for months. (He is the worst liar, so I'm that much more surprised he was able to keep it all under wraps so successfully!) Even though we'd gone to Centerville together, we only "met" the first semester of high school, in Mr. Koski's keyboarding class (where we also met Biji). As such, Robert had moved all of our furniture - and I mean ALL - out of the living room to reconstruct a classroom. He'd made three chalkboards, one of which said "Lauren, Will You Marry Me?" in letters he'd hand-crafted out of scrapbooking sheets and was strung on a wire across the center of the room. The other two chalkboards were strung on a wire directly behind the other board, and Robert had written "Please Say Yes!" over and over again on each in chalk. He'd bought and refinished two actual school desks from the district in Vallejo and set them up with old typewriters and typing books he'd bought off Craigslist. Our old Student of the Week photos (we each received the honor from Mr. Koski while in Keyboarding) hung over the mantle, on which sat a Student of the Week sign Robert had also made. On the other two walls hung about 80 photos of us through the past 14 years. VERY impressive!!

Robert had worked on everything in bits and pieces during those few precious moments I'd actually left the house, and he stored most everything in our patio shed. The desks he stored (and worked on) at his parents' house, and I guess they were the topic of conversation during Thanksgiving amongst his extended family but luckily I heard nothing of them at all. :o) Bob had helped Robert pick up the desks in a van Robert had rented, but Robert didn't want anyone to know about the proposal (he told his parents the desks were part of a birthday gift he was working on for me) so he managed to pick-up the desks from his parents' house during the one hour Bob goes on his morning walk. Again, I say - very impressive!!!

Robert had asked both sets of parents to come over for dinner later in the evening, but my late arrival sort of mucked that up for him. I guess he'd told my parents - who already knew of the proposal - to come at 6:30 and his parents to arrive at 7. When my parents arrived, Robert had to shoo them away because I hadn't yet come home. They ran off, drove around for a while and came back at about 8 or so, which worked out just fine. Robert also had to call his parents and, due to a minor family emergency, they almost canceled. He was eventually able to persuade them to stop by after their detour and we all wound up having pizza (and Taco Bell) at 10:30 instead of Robert's intended home cooked meal at, say, 9. But it all worked out well in the end. Poor Robert had to stand in the dark for two hours, though, because he'd expected me home at 5:30 and didn't want to be in the middle of something when I finally did walk through the door. I think his knee was a bit cramped by the time he finally got to stand up!

And that's pretty much it. A very romantic, surprise proposal and just about everyone we've told thinks it's a marvelous story. I wholeheartedly agree. :o) I realize Robert was under a lot of pressure - given his penchant for fantastic gift-giving, his reputation for inventiveness preceded him - but he pulled it all off beautifully. So now, 11 years, 1 month and 12 days after our first date, we're getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(And no, we don't really have any plans as of yet. We're thinking this summer, August maybe, outside and small. That's all we've got so far... sorry! I'll keep the blog updated, though, no worries.)

(Oh. And because I'm lazy, here's a [gigantenormous] slideshow of engagement photos in lieu of uploading them one by one to the blog. (Sorry.) Most of you have seen the photos anyway, though, so I figured a shortcut was OK. :o) )