Setting a Date

It is DONE!! We have a wedding date (for 2013...enough time for even me to plan...) and we have a wedding location:

This will be my dressing room:

Wedding to take place in the courtyard...

Then appetizers & wine inside while giving staff an opportunity to transform the courtyard to something like this:

Hopefully with evening lighting provided by overhead white lights and these babies, complements of an Etsy seller:

We haven't decided on much else (we hope to have acoustic guitar during the ceremony & dinner)--but we have decided that the food will be the main event (that is: No Dancing. None)...with formal dining and deserts served rather than wedding cake, and blood orange martinis for toasting rather than champagne.

One of my bridesmaids is working with the caterer on menu, another bridesmaid has taken over procuring all of the wine & making wedding invitations (holy shit, have I mentioned that my friends are amazing??), and my maid of honor is running the show on setting up a bachlorette party, AND has offered to come to town 2 days early to help with any last minute needs. The best part is that I finally get to marry my fiance. I actually tear up when I think of how special he is and how much I'm looking forward to this day, and to being his wife. I might be a total mess at the wedding, but I'm sure my friends will bring handkerchiefs.

Another item off the list: Car - Financed!!

Purchasing a car was not easy for me. I have been brought up to believe that you DO NOT take on debt. Taking on a student loan in graduate school was my first experience of having anything in the red on my ledger of life, and it was very uncomfortable for me. So despite my excellent credit, I had been putting off financing a car. In addition to the difficulty experienced on the financial guilt end, I struggled to make a decision on make and model. I didn't want a little sports car because I need 4WD for the winters here. I wish I knew how to paste in other blogs, because I would paste in the one in which I complained about getting in trouble for not coming to work on a day when my car literally couldn't make it out of the garage. I also didn't want something huge. The midsized cars and crossovers are so often called "Mom Cars" (by people like me), and in case you're wondering, Yes--that is a bad thing. It shouldn't be, and my inner feminist is kicking me, but I didn't want a "Mom Car." I did, however, want something that I could fit all of my gardening stuff into, throw my mountain bike into rather than getting a bike rack, and fit several friends and luggage for road trips. So after much debate, this is what I got:

It's a brand new Toyota Rav4 Sport. As in, so new that I picked the color from a book and had to wait for the truck to bring it in. I love it! I've had it for about 2 weeks and already put 1,000 miles on it, thanks to a trip home and a road trip with my coworkers:

(To Sandpoint, ID)

It has been great for trips to pick up gardening stuff at Home Depot:

And next weekend we'll be taking it to the OR coast where we've rented a beach house with 2 other couples. Life is good right now...