It's been one week of dieting and I'm down 2 pounds. So with exactly 2 months (eek!) to go, I have 8-13 pounds to go. Piece of cake. Wait, no cake until the wedding. Of course, I'd prefer to have most of it gone a couple weeks in advance of the wedding so that I can be sure my dress will fit without alterations. I was thinking about buying a decent digital scale instead of the beat-up analog one I have now, since it's hard to distinguish small increments. It would be more motivating to know that I lost 2.4 pounds, if that was indeed the case (flip side, could have also lost 1.6 pounds). "But why not put it on the registry?" I thought. So it's there, and hopefully it will be gifted in haste so I can get my much needed pre-wedding use out of it (wink wink).

I stuck perfectly to my calorie plan, but actually didn't do any walks or strength training. I did, however, work in the yard/garden 2-5 hours every day except one. That one day I had a root canal (eek!). My teeth seriously suck...bad genes, and I brush of course, but am not good at flossing regularly. I also have to go back for the crown and 4 (eek!) additional fillings. This is my first round of dentistry since I was in Syracuse, which I know I shouldn't have put off so long. But I digress. These are the outdoor things I was able to cross off my to-do list last week:

Plant broccoli, cauliflower, raspberries, hazelnut tree, some strawberries
Hang netting over raised bed arches
Spray paint arches dark green so they're not as conspicuous as white PVC pipe
Further chop up and move around tree debris (almost all taken care of!)
Move more of my dirt pile to various beds
Install edging along beds in front and side of house
Water plants every other day
Chase/round up naughty kittens when it is time to go inside (4-5x daily)

There's a stray cat that lives in the brush behind a house down the street. Jib has encountered him many times and they usually have a stand-off, sitting 15 feet apart while the stray moans/growls. But lately it has escalated so that Jib is growling back, and Jib has started chasing the stray off. Jib is very good at jumping over fences/on top of sheds/etc now. On one hand I'm glad he seems to be higher ranking than the stray so he won't get horribly beat up, but I hope there are no actual fights. I really like having the cats keep me company in the garden (the little ones are good and don't go past our immediate neighbors), but unless we build 6 foot fences there's no keeping Jib in. About half the time when he's roaming, though, if I call for him he comes running, leaping and bounding over fences to come to me. It's soooooo cute and makes me feel loved :)

We went up to Po-town for the Easter weekend. Saturday was my bridal shower. Ryan's mom and aunt hosted it, and it was just the female family members (them, Ryan's grandmothers, and stepmom). Ryan went with me even though it's not customary because I needed him to help keep me from going crazy, or rather, more crazy. I got a crapload of gifts, with highlights including: ALL of the china off the registry, the main silverware set, cocktail glassware (martini, Champagne, and margarita), party supplies for the pre- and post-wedding house parties, Victoria's Secret gift card, and a ton of miscellaneous little houseware-type things. It completely filled the back seat and trunk of my car. Oy.


Over the weekend I also learned that I can connect myself to Kevin Bacon in five degrees. Ryan's cousin (who I've spent many a holiday with, so I'll only count as one degree) has a friend (two) who has a friend (three) who went to private school with KB's daugher (four, five). So now you can connect in six degrees since you know me :)

Invites were mailed today! Keep an eye on your mailbox, unless you've been naughty rather than nice. Destination tally:
NY: 14
MA: 5
PA: 5
WA: 5
CA: 3
CO: 2
FL: 1
GA: 1
LA: 1
RI: 1
International: 2

Now that Easter and all of its candy goodness is over, I'm REALLY going to start my pre-wedding diet and exercise. I'd like to lose somewhere between 10-15 pounds. Based on past experience I know that if I stick with my plan (1600-1800 calories per day, long neighborhood walks 5-6 times per week, weight training 3 times per week, and an abundance of work in the garden), then my goal is entirely attainable. Keep nagging me about how I am doing. There is only a little over two months left!

Today I spent about 5 hours working in the garden. I planted my carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, turnips, and peas. I also started constructing a series of arches that I can drape netting over to keep the birds, rabbits, and squirrels out. Tomorrow I plan to finish moving my pile of dirt, plant my broccoli and cauliflower, plant my raspberries, and finish the arch system. Oof.

A couple new pics on Flickr, including my pricey dirt pile.

I'm scrapping the garden blog. It's enough work to write in here every week or so. Especially now that I'm getting pretty busy. Tomorrow is my all-day training session at the teaching place. Today I bought $225 worth of dirt. For real. 6 cubic yards, being delivered on Tuesday, to fill these suckers:



The big ones are 5' by 20'. That's ENORMOUS. The little ones are 2' by 2'. They're cute. I'm gonna have a bitchin garden.

The downed tree remains are now in "little" (i.e. big, but smaller than earlier) piles:
Ryan's dad came down with a chainsaw and cut it up. We put a "free" sign by the firewood-type pieces, and people claimed most of it. All the branches are left, though. The town will remove brush in small quantities, so we're going to put out some each trash day and it should be gone by the wedding.

We bought a ladder, providing new opportunities for the cats to be cute:

And I'll finish with my first flower of spring, a crocus from the bulbs I planted last fall:

Rain + wind =



The tree was on our property, but came within a foot or two of hitting the neighbor's house! I'm actually kind of happy that it's down, though, because now there's more room for my fruit trees. We wouldn't have cut down the tree for that purpose, but now that it's down, we have room.

Who wants a $20 T-a-r-g-e-t gift card for pretending to be pregnant? Yup, this is the deal that I did a couple months ago. I got another voucher thingy, but can't do it again myself. It only takes about 30 minutes (you have to go around with the scanner gun and zap the items you want to add), and they give you the gift card on the spot. First commenter who asks gets it!

I have the teaching job. Well, they never really "offered" it to me; I went back yesterday to turn in most of the rest of my forms, and the guy just said, "Okay, just make sure to get fingerprinted and bring this form back. The next training session is March 17 from 9-4, right here." So I don't even know how much I'll be getting paid (though I've heard rumblings of about $80 a day). It will be a wonderful thing to have an income again- my savings account has been going down, down, down. You would think Ryan's salary would be enough, but we've got a 15 year mortgage and a 3 year car loan (and $300 gas bills during the winter!!), so we're somewhat overextended. The reduced grocery budget is going along swimmingly, though.

We have our DJ booked and have a tasting scheduled with the aquarium caterer on Friday. Next up is addressing the invitations (going out at the end of this month) and beginning to write the ceremony. Oh, and all the little home improvements before everyone visits.

We were thinking about a co-ed party at our house on the night before the wedding (Friday) instead of bachelor and bachelorette parties. Cornell people visiting from out of town probably want to hang out together, and I don't think the separate parties would be wild and crazy to begin with. Plus, as an added challenge, we can do the CVS egg hunt in the backyard while it's dark (with flashlights) :D