First semester of graduate school? Check!

Well, it's almost over anyway. My first and last final exam is in about a half hour, and I've already studied lots so I figured writing a blog post would be a good way to chill pre-test. Plus I've been meaning to write on here forever, but the two weeks after break and before yesterday were absolutely insane and given over completely to writing my final projects/take-home exams/papers due on Tuesday. Seriously, I barely even had time to feed the cat.

But now I'm almost done and there's nothing but holidays and break ahead, so I can get back to thinking about the wedding a little bit (in between Christmas shopping, which I haven't started... gulp, and other stuff I've putting off).

The Thanksgiving break was just as productive as I thought it would be, or more. Michael and I signed contracts and sent deposits to a bunch of people, so that we've now officially got a ceremony and reception venue, a photographer, a florist, a minister, a DJ and a bartender. Whoa, right? I got the impression that some people shop around for some of these things, like listening to various DJs, seeing photography portfolios and getting estimates from florists, but we didn't. Partly because we got recommendations we trusted, so we didn't need to shop around, but also partly because we were only going to be home for a few days and just had to make a decision, so we did. As a result, it feels like we got a ton done, and even beyond contracts, deposits and other officialness, we also planned out a rough menu with the event dude at Mapleridge, sketched out what flowers we wanted and in what arrangements, and ... wait for it... placed an order for an ice cream cake!! Huzzah!

Clearly, all is well with the world.

Next steps: sketch out a floor plan for table arrangement, find somewhere to rent chairs for the ceremony, send a list of how many flowers-for-people we want (bouques? boutenieres? corsages? what are these and what do they mean? - my guidebook is strangely and ominously silent...), and pick out some songs we like so that the DJ gets an idea of what we want for the reception. Do you think he'll have Beatdown, or will we need to supply a high-quality mp3? Also, I can't even imagine what my Aunt Sandy will look like doing the obligatory hand motions... This is going to be so much fun! :o)