I was surprised- I actually had a pretty good time at the L0ckheed thing. The open bar didn't hurt :) Making small talk with Ryan's former co-workers wasn't too hard with the engagement, house, and Jersey to talk about. We ended up sitting with 3 other couples that were actually pretty cool (despite us being the young 'uns) and turns out they're big Idol fans, so I got to prove to Ryan that I'm not the only intelligent person who got sucked in to watching! Dinner was impressive: bacon-wrapped filet and salmon duo entree. It was pretty clear they don't throw this type of party very often.

Today is Nibblin's birthday! He's 2 years old. We got him a new cat teaser and tub of catnip. Pretty soon he'll be getting some friends, too! We've been visiting the animal shelter and have our eye on these two, if they're still available in three weeks:














Cute, eh?! They're not related, but they need to be adopted together because they've become such good friends. The one on the left is Walker, a 2 year old male, and when we saw him he was very playful. He and Jibblin can get into all sorts of trouble together. The one on the right is Isabelle, an 8 month old female. She was sleepy when we visited but they tell us she's very cuddly. We'd rename them- if Walker really is as mischievous as he seems, he'd be Gremlin. If Isabelle is as cuddly as they say, maybe a name like Cuddles.

Yawn. Just killing time before my open-note stats final. I love how grad school finals are so laid-back.

Ryan and I are going to Syracuse this weekend for an all-expenses paid trip courtesy of L0ckheed. Basically, while he was working up there, he was on a project proposal team. The government eventually awarded them the contract. This is the big victory party, held at the OnCenter (civic center), with open bar, dinner, and dancing. They're even paying for Ryan's mileage and a hotel room! How frivolous yet fun for us is that?!

Jen is visiting me next week. We're going to the bridal shop so I can get her opinion on dresses. Otherwise, the only person around to take shopping with me (other than school friends that I'm not super close to) is Ryan, which I may end up taking anyway. Superstition, smuperstition. But a female opinion is good.

Oof. Ryan and I biked 30 miles yesterday and I am beat. Even he was pretty tired afterwards, and he's been biking about 3x/week while it was my third ride of the year. It was a beautiful day and today is supposed to pass 80 degrees, but then by Thursday it's supposed to be back down to the 40's and raining.

All I want to do is plan house and wedding stuff. May 18 can't come fast enough. My summer plans are beginning to shape up. I think I will be in Maine for the first 3 weeks of June, then coming back for a week or two for Scott and Julie's wedding and spending some time with Ryan, the new kitties, and the new house. Fortunately it works out that the tides are bad that week, so if I were up in Maine I wouldn't be able to get much done anyway. After that, I'll be up in Maine until mid-August, and Ryan will join me for a week during July's bad tides. Since I won't be super busy, we'll have the freedom to take trips on the mainland if we so please.

I'm going to try to get the aquarium booked before we close on the house, because once that happens I'll be super-busy and then heading straight to Maine. So much exciting stuff, but it seems to be coming at a snail's pace.

I tried on wedding dresses for the first time today. I was very pleasantly surprised- I looked great in all of them (I tried on about 8). The women working there kept saying how everything worked because I'm "tall and thin." And yes, I realize they suck up a little because they're trying to sell me something, but I do agree that I'm well-proportioned. There were two dresses I really liked, and both were very much in my price range, but I've got over a year and it's fun to try dresses on (especially when they all look good!), so I'm going to visit a few more shops. Also, they only had a couple mermaid & trumpet styles, which I still like the best, so I want to try more.

Exactly 1 month until we close on the house!

We got the aquarium wedding tour yesterday, along with more info on pricing. Holiday weekends are considerably more expensive than regular weekends, so now we're thinking Saturday May 31, 2008. Any scheduling conflicts, other than bachelor/bachelorette party hangovers? We'll just be sure to drink lots of water to minimize the damage. So we didn't put down a deposit because we wanted to check with people about the date, but we're still 99% certain that we're going with the aquarium.

Tomorrow is my last day of classes. I'm so relieved. For a couple weeks there I was stressed beyond belief due to non-stop days where I was consistently supposed to be multiple places at once. In the next couple weeks I have one take-home final and one open-note final, plus lots of grading and a few miscellaneous assignments. But overall I can breathe again.

7:30 am, 50 feet behind my apartment:


Note the car. That's some crazy shit. Almost looks like Ryan's car, eh? And the boathouse than Dan commented about (my picture, not the AP's):

There's supposed to be a road between the foreground and the submerged bushes.

The water went down a couple feet (vertically) during the day even though there was intermittent light rain. I don't expect it will get as high again; it would take another day or two of really hard rain. We weren't inconvenienced much at all, which is good.

Whoa, the picture on the front of CNN.com was taken like 200 meters from my apartment! The river is pretty flooded. Fortunately the apartment complex is a few feet higher than the water and, if nothing else, our apartment is on the second floor.

Friday Ryan and I went shopping for the house. We used the Lowe's gift cards that his mom got us for Easter and bought gardening and painting supplies. We also went to the mall and bought a bedding set for the future guest bedroom.

Saturday we went for a 20 mile bike ride. Although I'd planned to go along with Ryan a lot, this is actually only my second ride of the year. I'm not too sore today, though.

Today it rained. We did our taxes and organized wedding stuff. We're meeting with the aquarium coordinator on Tuesday, and may put down our deposit if it goes well. Then we can start the official countdown.

Ok, I assume that those who've held their peace are fine with either date. So since it's unanimous (between 2:) ), I'll try for Memorial Day weekend when I meet with the aquarium coordinator. Either Sat or Sun would be fine by me, but the advantage of Sun would be:

Fri night: Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties (ladies- Atlantic City?)
Sat morning: hungover
Sat evening: rehearsal & rehearsal dinner
Sun morning: not hungover!
Sun evening: get hitched!
Mon morning: hungover, but can sleep in and guests travel later in the day

We're definitely up for guests staying at our house after the afterparty at the house, being that it's so spacious and all. You just can't be allergic to cats. Maid of honor has dibs on the guest room with real bed. We also have a double sized air mattress and 2 couches. I'm assuming we should give the best man one of those. After that, superabundant floor space for your sleeping bags and/or air mattresses.

It's gonna be the party of the century! Woot!

Easter was nothing too special. I guess it was good to get out of town for a couple days, maybe?

Ryan's dad did loan us some money for the wedding, though, so we can go ahead and put down a deposit at the aquarium soon, which means choosing a date! So, I want your input!

The two options we're considering most right now are May 17, 2008 (Saturday) and May 25, 2008 (Sunday of Memorial Day weekend). It will be in the evening. Basically, would the extra day of Memorial Day weekend make life easier for you, or do you think traveling that weekend would be a pain so you'd prefer a "normal" weekend? Discuss!

School had me quite stressed out there since returning from the conference, but yesterday I turned in my big paper that was due so I should be returning to a much more manageable level of school stress now.

Normally I wouldn't pay $6 for one pair of socks, but I couldn't pass these up:
They're pirate kitties! With pirate hats and eye patches and bandannas and treasure chests! Even I wouldn't have been able to dream that up.

We're leaving this afternoon to go to Po-town for Easter. It doesn't sound like mass is involved this year, which I'm relieved about. Just food and family gatherings, which means a new audience of people I can show my ring off to (after the first week post-engagement there have been very few showing offs). And there'll be plenty of conversation topics regarding the house and wedding, so I won't have to end up talking about fishing with Ryan's grandpa.

This weekend I went to a mini conference at Rutgers on Saturday, then Sunday was pretty much a wash except that...

I forced Ryan to go with me to the animal shelter so we could look at kitties. And there was a sign on the wall that said something to the effect of "Buy one kitten, get the second half off." We're still waiting until we move, but after more discussion it seems very likely that we'll get two more :) Ryan and I will each choose one independently (provided they seem to get along at the shelter). I'm sure Ryan will choose an orange one, but I could be persuaded within a few colors based on personality. The two I liked best yesterday were a black one and a brown tabby. We'll see. I really wish I could fast-forward through the end of the semester and get right to the new house and kitties.

We also went to Home Depot again to pick up more paint chips after having spent lots of time in the house for the inspection. After much consideration, the chosen colors are:

living/dining: pale blue
kitchen: sage green
upstairs hallway: pale yellow
office: purple
guest room: stays white
master bedroom: tan/taupe

I guess we haven't thought about bathrooms at all. Maybe I can still get something blue-green in there after all!