wedding band shots

Bridal portraits

Arthur took some pics of me Sat in my wedding dress at the Botanical Gardens in Mobile. Considering he still hasn't given me the shower photos or the shots of the wedding bands, don't hold your breath waiting to see the bridal portraits. You might see them all before the wedding, but with baseball season fast approaching, then again you might not. Although I don't think either or us was having our best shooting day so there may not be that many that we use from that session. We didn't intend for it to be a "trash the dress" session since I haven't worn it for the ceremony yet, but it did end up being a trash the shoes session. I ruined the heels walking through dirt and am going to try to clean them up, but I don't know if I'll be able to get them white again.
I think we've decided to stick with the original schedule for getting married. I am burdened right now with lots of decisions to make in regards to the job hunting process. Several options are out there, although none of them would be the ideal, and I am at a loss of what would be the right thing to do. But I think we've decided that we could survive the next few months without having to push the date up.

if it weren't for bad luck

I'd have no luck at all. Arthur says I have already inherited the McLean curse. Things just don't seem to be going my way anymore. I don't know that I can even begin to recount all the things that have gone horribly wrong in the last week. I'll just tell you probably the best one was falling out my door the other day and hitting the concrete. My left knee has a huge knot on it (with some bruising of course) and my right knee is scraped up worse than falls I had as a kid or wrecks I used to have on my bicycle growing up. I jammed my left shoulder from trying to brace myself in the fall but it feels better now. But you don't want to hear that kind of stuff, you want wedding news........ Well, I got my wedding band. I'm having some alterations done on the dress this week and weather permitting Arthur and I may try to do some bridal portraits this weekend while the azaleas are in bloom. And if I don't get any more promising job leads in the next week, we may be bumping the wedding date up. We can't change the honeymoon or reception date at this point in time, but we may try to eliminate half the bills by going ahead and doing the deed a few months early. You'll just have to wait for the celebration. I need to get photos from the TBC shower from Arthur so that I can post those and Arthur took some great shots of our wedding bands that I need to get from him and post for you to see. We've almost finished the wedding favors and I sent out 84 thank you notes this week (See, it's a good thing I've had a little free time on my hands the last two weeks!). Umm, I believe that's all that I can think of to tell you right now. Stay posted for pics and for the ultimate decision of to wed early or not to wed early!

can it get any worse?

I probably shouldn't blog for all to see while feeling like I'm in the depths of depression. I'm supposed to be bragging about how wonderful the shower was Sunday and all the fabulous gifts we got, but right now all I can focus on is the negative. The day was a disaster. My parents got into a fight that morning and decided to call me and drag me into it. I went to early service and Dr. Gunnells talked about all these stressors in your life and I qualified for every one. Sunday School was about chaos and confusion in your life and boy does that sum up my life pretty well right now. Arthur's sister didn't get to Mobile on time to pick up Arthur's mom for the shower so they arrived at the time it ended. Even after the fight from earlier in the morning, Mom decided to show up at the shower after all. Despite everyone's best efforts to engage her in conversation and include her in what was going on, she chose to sit like a knot on a log throughout the time she actually stayed for the shower. (She ducked out as soon as she got the chance) My best friend since jr high didn't show up and hasn't bothered to respond to the last few emails I've sent much less call to check on me during my spiral down into what at this moment feels like one of the worst times of my life. But to focus on the positive----everyone who was there Sunday did shower me with love and compassion. The gifts were exquisite. The few hostesses who were left at the shower loved Arthur's family and commented on the love they appear to have for me. I've had the last few days to clean the house and prepare it for Arthur's stuff to be moved in, which wouldn't have happened if I had a job. I'm going in a few hours to pick up my wedding dress and make the final decision on my wedding band. I've had plenty of other friends who have taken the time to call and email and check on me in the last few days to make sure I'm "hanging in there". So, know that I really do appreciate all the wonderful things that people have done for me in the last week or so, but that reality sunk in here in the last few days and for one of the few times in my life I'm admitting to everyone that I'm struggling. Someone at church commented Sunday that they knew I was a private person and didn't like to "air" my personal business, but that sometimes I need to so that people will know how to pray and how to help. So, this is my cry for help!

premarital counseling

Guess it's a good thing you're going through premarital counseling when a major crisis like a job loss occurs. My position was eliminated yesterday when we completed the merger with another economic development organization. Makes discussing financial management issues in your counseling session interesting when you don't know what's going to happen now. It also makes for lots of good therapy when you have to talk about what your family "origin" contributes to the relationship when your family is turned upside down at the moment. I'll keep you posted on how things resolve themselves, but know that we (me, Art, my family, etc) all need your prayers right now. I just have to keep reminding myself God is in control!!

It looks like the people chose.....

Monogram #3! It was a tight race with #4 though. We like them all, but I guess we'll go with the one the majority picked. So, look for the design at the reception!

We went to Mobile this weekend to pick up some items for the wedding. Arthur got a new dress shirt, a tie, socks and a belt to go with his suit. We bought flowers for the bouquet. We decided to go with an artificial bouquet since I would need them for the bridal portraits, the wedding day and the reception day. But Arthur will attest to the fact that I searched high and low for the most realistic looking ones. We also looked at wedding bands (for me, Art already got his). Again, I think the theme of this wedding is that things aren't just jumping out at me saying PICK ME! PICK ME! So, there are several options out there, in a variety of price ranges. I do know that I want something with diamonds in it and not just a plain band. I do know that the mounting on his grandmother's ring makes it where you can't just put anything with it. We should have the money coming in in the next week or so for us to actually make the purchase, so who knows what we'll pick! I don't think I'll post a poll for that decision, though! :)