So it’s 57 days until the wedding day, and Josh and I have recently started thing, “what are we going to do after the wedding?” The wedding has seemed so far away for so long, and now that’s it’s so close, it will be here before we know it.
So these are our plans for after the wedding:
1. Watch the new series of Top Gear
2. Go on the Utopia Drive with the BMW club in October.
3. Visit Ralph & Jenny in New Orleans.

So that’s it…that’s our list so far. Two weekends worth of travel and about 8 hours worth of television. I know that I’d also list to visit Ashley in Boston if time and money allow, and perhaps we’ll travel to Cincinnati for the holidays, but we certainly need some post-wedding activities! Any suggestions?

Yes, it’s been a long time since my last blog post, but I’m back now. You’ll be happy to know I survived a pretty rough tax season this year. I managed to earn six weeks of vacation time through all of my over time, which is nice…but still…when you’re working 60 hour weeks and vacations are months away it almost seem better to have the extra pay instead of vacation time which I never end up completely using. This is the first week all year that I’m attempting to work a somewhat normal schedule. I’m now officially up at the time I used to leave for work. Isn’t that disgusting? Blerg. Enough about work.

Wedding planning has been going really well. All those little details we had been putting off for a while are finally all taken care of. I had my first dress fitting last week, and it’s just so pretty I’m so excited to wear it. The bridesmaids dresses are all in, eventually the groomsmen will be told what they will wear and we will all show up to a perfectly orchestrated wedding. People still look at me funny when I say that we’re serving waffles at our wedding, but I think it will be fun. Who doesn’t love breakfast food? After everyone RSVPs we’ll have another round of ordering things, but until then all we have to do is coast.

In other news, Josh bought me a new iMac this past weekend which I like very much. He even managed to transfer over the Sims from the windows version to the Mac version. How awesome is that? It’s amazing to look through years of old data and wonder why I keep it all. Do I really need old projects from high school? Probably not, but you never know! Now that hard drives are so huge there’s really no point in deleting stuff, it’s just funny to see what I’ve kept over the years. So now between my new computer, my iphone, mac mini and my Kindle, I’m pretty well set for technology. I know before the end of the year we’ll have an ipad, but that’s not in the budget until after we pay for the wedding.

I’m still enjoying my Pilates lessons and I’ll be sad when the wedding is over and I can’t justify paying for personal lessons every week. I’m going to try to do a duet with someone, but it’s going to be a challenge to find someone who is at my level and can commit to going every week. I’ve also thought about rejoining my yoga practice, but I’m worried about hurting my back again. It’s taken over a year of Pilates to correct all the things I do wrong with my back, I don’t want to start doing them again.

Josh and I have started doing some things with the Tejas Chapter of the BMW CCA. It’s a really well organized group, and they put together some good events. Now, I’d say the average age of the membership is somewhere hovering above 55, but no one seems to mind and everyone is really nice. We’re going on the bluebonnet drive this week, so I really hope the weather is nice. Last time we went I had to wear two coats it was so cold and we didn’t even have the top down.

I will make an attempt to blog more. I just really don’t want to blog if all I have to do is complain about working too much, being tired from work, and how stupid I generally think things are. It doesn’t make for very interesting reading.

It’s almost Christmas time, and once again it feels that this year has flown by. It really isn’t all in your imagination that time goes by faster when you’re an adult. I think it has do to with working 5 days a week, and constantly wishing it were the weekend. Maybe that’s a clue we should slow down and enjoy each day as it comes along, even if it does involve working 12 hour days 4 months of the year.

This is going to be a bit of a different year for me. As my friend Elizabeth pointed out, it’s the first year that I won’t be wondering if Josh is going to get me an engagement ring for Christmas. Thankfully, we’ve already taken care of that this year. It’s also the first time I’ll be traveling to Cincinnati to meet some of Josh’s very extended family members. I’m nervous about flying in what might be bad weather, but I’m sure once I’m there it will be nice to see his family again.

This Christmas, Josh and I had a lot more people to buy for since we’re combining our gift-giving lists and had to include the Kentucky family in our list this year, but I must say that I really do enjoy picking out gifts for people…even if they are people I’ve never met before. Luckily I started really early, and even though I missed many of the super great Christmas sales, I feel I was still able to get good value for my money….without having to risk life and limb on Black Friday sales. I just don’ do well with shopping when I have to be in crowds. I’m far too efficient for that!

In other Almost Christmas news, we were lucky enough to get to attend Josh’s sister’s graduation from UH. She’s taking her first steps off into the real world, and I just hope its’ everything she’s dreamed of!

I’ve spent the past week spending time with friends in Houston and making cookies with my mom. We decorated cut-out cookies yesterday, and every year they turn out better and better. My mom is so well equipped now after taking her cake decorating classes. I’m quite fond of my penguins and reindeer this year and I always like doing the Christmas trees.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets plenty of time to spend with their family!