stranded in omaha, nebraska due to blizzard conditions near lincoln, ne and the closing of the interstate. we hope it will reopen tomorrow so we can continue our road trip back home! we left hyde park today at 2:30pm and arrived in omaha around 11:30pm. I drove the car on the highway for the first time (and first time past 3rd gear--I'm learning!), and ended up driving for 6 hours.
good times in hyde park. niceness at the registrar (with secret money-saving). and meeting with ruthie. hurray.

stranded in omaha, nebraska due to blizzard conditions near lincoln, ne and the closing of the interstate. we hope it will reopen tomorrow so we can continue our road trip back home! we left hyde park today at 2:30pm and arrived in omaha around 11:30pm. I drove the car on the highway for the first time (and first time pass 3rd gear), and ended up driving for 6 hours.
good times in hyde park. niceness at the registrar (with secret money-saving). and meeting with ruthie. hurray.

the roadtrip starts today! a quick trip into hyde park, then the drive west. looks like snow, snow, storms, and more inclement weather. fun. :o) wish me luck driving stick!

happy thanksgiving!

We're in Chicago/Wheaton. And my parents are on their way over with the car (it got fixed fast!!!). They have a 10 hour drive today and should be arriving this evening in Wheaton. Things are looking up. Although we had to leave a wedding gift behind in Norwich due to the large size of it. It's awesome though--a globe with a silver stand, black oceans, and the globe is made out of some neat rocks and minerals.

Paul just signed up to take the GRE. On FRIDAY. This Friday. Which means that he needs to study like crazy until then. All the Portland dates were full, so we were thinking about signing up for a Nebraska test and driving over there on the way home, but then the Chicago data on Friday seemed like the best option. For the past few hours I have been quizzing Paul on vocab words. The goal is 3500 by Thursday night, but that's almost impossible. We've done around 1000 so far from last night and this morning.

As I sit typing this right now the wedding tour is on hold indefinitely. In terms of a driving tour that is. The Portland and Connecticut receptions were excellent and I'm sure the Chicago/Wheaton one will be this Saturday, but we've had some glitches along the way, and one huge one just came up. The plan was for my parents to leave this morning with a car from Connecticut and go on a road trip to wherever they want (Niagara Falls, etc.) and then meander to Chicago for Thanksgiving to meet up with Paul and I (who will be flying to Chicago tomorrow morning), and his family. Then sometime after the 26th after my parents flew back to Oregon, Paul and I were going to take that same car and start our drive from Chicago to Portland. The problem is: the car is busted. Thoroughly broken and unusable at this point, in the shop, with an estimated fix-time of at least a week.

My parents flew into Connecticut on Friday evening, the night before our Reception here, and also when we started setting everything up at the church (ironing tablecloths, placing tables, etc.). After the setup on the drive to a restaurant around 9:30pm the car started acting up--the heat stopped working, the car was overheating. We checked the oil and it was empty. It needed water. The power-steering went out, and the car died in the middle of the road three times. We had to ditch it.

Add a couple more ridiculous details to the wedding mishaps list. What an amusing list! But that's the good thing--we're still laughing about everything. Two main good things: we're married, and at least the car broke down BEFORE the trip and not DURING. Otherwise my parents would be stranded who-knows-where and might not have made the chicago reception without having to spend a substantial sum to figure out a way to get to Chicago. At this point though, we're not sure what to do. Here are some options:

1.) Buy my parents plane tickets to Chicago from Connecticut. Meaning that they will be stuck here until Thanksgiving morning because that's the only time left to fly without spending an arm and a leg. If this happens, then Paul and I will be without a car also, so we'd have to buy tickets from Chicago back to Portland and mail presents and extra stuff back.
2.) Let my parents take the only remaining working car (Paul's parent's minivan) on their roadtrip to Chicago. Then Paul and I would drive it back to Connecticut after the 26th reception and find a flight home from here. The problem with this option would mean that all members here would be without a car all week in Norwich, and we wouldn't have rides to the airport in Hartford (45 min away).
3.) Have my parents rent a car for their road trip to Chicago. An expensive option. Paul and I would then buy tickets from MDW-PDX.
4.) Take no action and wait it out, assuming the car is miraculously fixed in time.

The other semi-amusing part to all this is that if my parents do stay in Connecticut all week this will mean that our two sets of parents will live together for two and a half weeks. (a week in OR, a week in CT, and half a week in Chicago). The good news is that they actually get along. ;o)

Wish us all luck in whenever happens! We need it!

to share in joy
to comfort in sorrow
to cultivate love

from this day forward

through triumph and trials
through sickness and health
through laughter and tears

as long as we both shall live

Hey there.

We're at the Bend Library. Cell phones are turned off for a few days, but we just can't live without the internet it seems. ;o)

The wedding was amazing. A couple of little blips (most noticeably my grandmother thought the wedding was at 4:00pm instead of 3:00pm, so we held the ceremony up for 40 min until we couldn't wait any longer--she ended up arriving before the vows, but after the processional), but everything worked out in the end. It was beautiful, meaningful, and fun. Sooo many people showed up at the reception that I hadn't seen in such a long time. I wouldn't say that the reception was a blur, because I do remember everything, but it definitely was a whirlwind--In retrospect I realized that I didn't even get to talk to everyone who was there, which makes me sad. We were pulled in a ton of directions talking to people. Sudeep--one of my biggest regrets was not being able to dance with you!! Time slipped away and I wasn't able to come back.

There's so much I want to write about. Like how amazing it was to have many different people helping out setting up the ballroom, and all the support and help I got from everyone (especially Kate and Nicole--ps. I cried when I walked into the hotel room). How beautiful the candles looked, joyful crying mothers, the gorgeous flowers, and a stunning groom. :o)

I'm still caught up in the excitement. Out of nowhere I smile and squeeze Paul and think: I'm married! I don't know what to compare it to--maybe getting accepted to college?--it's such a big step in life, and one that I'm super excited about. I'm still giddy.

I'm also excited for the two upcoming receptions. Still lots of events to come and people to reunite with.

Happy 24th Birthday Kate!

Good apartment news. Today Paul and I splurged and bought a brand new premier futon mattress to go with the nice free queen bedframe that we got from craigslist. Picking it up tonight. Also, speedy auto glass inspected the apartment windows yesterday and made and appointment to come and fix our three broken windows tomorrow. Yesterday somebody came and cleaned all the carpets, Brian took out the broken shelving on Sunday, and my mom and I worked for 5 hours this weekend on cleaning just the kitchen alone. Score. Things are working out [although all this should have been done BEFORE we moved in and I should not have had to vaccum and clean the carpets myself for a bozillion hours before they were done professionally].

Car and renter's insurance is also working out. Things are looking up. Even the weather! And I went to Burgerville for lunch with my coworkers and had the pumpkin shake to celebrate my last day of work until dec 5th. What a great day.

Many thanks to Nicole for organizing an amazing bachelorette party this weekend! Possibly more details to come, if I have time to post later.

Our Wedding Tour/Honeymoon/Receptions Schedule

Tues 8 Nov: My last day of work
Wed 9 Nov: Paul's parents fly in
Thurs-Fri, 9-10, Nov: Friends and relatives arrive
Sat 12 Nov: Ceremony & reception
Sun 13 Nov: Leave for Central Oregon (Bend)
Wed 16 Nov: Return to portland from Central Oregon
Thur 17 Nov: Early morning flight to CT, arriving in evening
Fri 18 Nov: My parents arrive in CT
Sat 19 Nov: Connecticut reception & then dinner with out-of-town friends
Sun 20 Nov: My parents take the car from CT and go on a roadtrip to niagara falls
& through canada to chicago (arriving in Wheaton, IL sometime Wednesday?)
Tue 22 Nov: Paul and I fly to chicago in the morning
Thurs 24 Nov: Thanksgiving in wheaton with my parents & both sides of Paul's family
Sat 26 Nov: Wheaton/Chicago reception, meet up with out-of-town friends
Mon 28 Nov: My parents fly back to Portland
Sun or Mon, 27-28, Nov: Paul and I leave chicago and go on a roadtrip back to
oregon, possibl stopping at relatives in Omaha and Colorado along the way (to
be determined!)
Mon 5 Dec: I return to work. Paul finds a temporary job.

:o)

I am sick...and super tired. Went through two boxes of tissues, couldn't sleep til after 1am due to sneezing and nose-blowing and coughing and lung restrictions (but of course my inhaler was outside in the car and I didn't have the energy to go get it, even when I couldn't breathe so well). I hope this blows over before the wedding on Sat otherwise it will not be as much fun. And there is still so much more that I need to do to prepare. That list that was in effect a couple of days ago is still up to date [sadly], but at this point I just want to say screwit and just stick with what I have already. To skip the alcohol (gasps from the crowd), to let my mom pick out a cake, and to just do my own hair somehow. I still do need to do the gift baskets, gifts, and polaroid film though.

Two good pieces of news:
--Luckily, I decided to take off Wed-Thurs-Fri from work, so tomorrow is my last day at TriMet until December 5th.
--Even though the forecast calls for rain rain rain and more rain for today, tomorrow, wednesday, thursday, friday and sunday, Saturday's is actually the best outcome according to the NOAA forecasters:
Saturday...Cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs 50 to 55.
Saturday Night...Cloudy with a chance of showers. Lows 40 to 45.
The only problem is that in Portland it's almost impossible to forecast the weather more than a day or two at a time, so I have little confidence in this. My prediction is rain.

I finally got a hold of my landlord about our filthy new 2-bedroom apartment. She hadn't even read the letter that I mailed over a week and a half ago, explaining all the maintenance and cleaning issues. She refuses to refund any of the rent money (even though the nastiness has prevented me from moving in for over half a month and I have to spend many hours cleaning myself), but did immediately start taking action after my call. The cleaning service (the one she only pays $50 for, and who sucked the first time) is going to come back and reclean, speedy auto glass will fix the two broken windows, a manager will take out the broken shelving unit in the closet, and some window covering place will take out our blinds and clean them in the next couple of days. I have hope that the apt will be at least 50% better by next wednesday. Just in time for the wedding, with luck. It sucks that on top of wedding planning I also have to have all this drama with our apt and spend so much time cleaning.

crap. 9 days left!
i still need:
a cake
to figure out where to get my hair done
a hairpiece
alcohol
glasses for alcohol
rent coatracks
directions
gift baskets
gifts
polaroid film

Had lunch at the springwater grill with amy this afternoon. she's leaving for riverside, ca to join the ATF the same day as my wedding. sadness that she won't be in portland anymore, but at least we're still on the west coast together.