Looking forward to ditching at least one "ancient" tool

We've finally given up on dial-up and will be getting DSL next week! This is huge, especially when it comes to being able to do wedding planning - registry, guest list management, honeymoon planning, website development - from home! I'm excited.
Maybe one day we'll get cable, but I don't really care about that.
What I might get before the honeymoon is a cell phone so I can get some pics to Flickr before coming home....

One step at a time, though.

Bad Decline and Other Boston stuff

Ahhh, just finished listening to "our" song - :) - BBVD "Still in Love with You"

Book #5 (finishing the catchup on my recent reading binge...it'll slow greatly after this) - Civilwarland in Bad Decline by George Saunders. Initially, I was curious about this, as Saunders is from the Rochester area and it got strong reviews. Then Sonny said he really liked it. I'm afraid it's just not me. I can do dark. But consistently, story after story? Every story was set in some extremely depressed future version of the US, many take place in run-down amusement park recreations of nature or history, gang violence has crumbled society - it's just all so ... down. At least in the novella, Bounty, it's not all absolutely miserable, though you might expect it to be.



Boston was a good trip. Dinner and hanging with Sonny and Pam was the highlight - as the work brought extreme stress for a good 10 hours and much exhaustion thereafter. Still, good work got done despite the mess. Sonny, Pam, and I went out for Mexican food and then did some CD shopping. I think that prevented from utterly losing my sanity. Thanks!

Falling leaves and more books

J got me a scrapbook punch of a maple leaf a while ago. I thought fall colored leaves would be nice as a part of table decorations and maybe accents to other wedding things, so I've begun to punch. I started in Boston - it's easier while away because I have a ton of other things that I tend to fiddle with at home.

Book #3 - Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis - Dan and I are both reading the Narnia books, but in different orders - I am re-reading my old copies and Dan has the new hardbound compilation. The new edition re-orders the books according to the timeline within them, but I refuse to concede and will continue reading them in the order they were written. Makes more sense to me. Man, was Susan a wet blanket (to put it nicely) in this one!

Book #4 - A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K Hamilton. There were things I really liked about this book and things that made me wonder why I was reading it. It's pretty much a pulpy detective/sex novel - and sometimes it even tried to hard to be that - the opening is so blatantly that of a pulp detective novel that I cringed - if she were making fun of it that'd be one thing, but that really seemed the tone she serously wanted. What kept me reading and lured me in was the faerie twist. I loved that the romance and intrigue were amplified by magic and unusual appearances. Nice variety there! Still not enough, I gave it a shot, but won't buy the next.

Book #2

Book #2 - I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti. A gripping account of desperation and deception. Told by an adult from his 9-year old perspective, I found it very hard to set the book aside. The characters are strong, often conflicted, and very real. It carries you right through to the end. (SPOILER NOTE: If you follow the link above, the editorial review gives practically everything away - I hate that!) An excellent read!

Sunday J and I went for a long walk in our neighborhood and a nearby park, then came back for tea, snacks, and movies. A most excellent Sunday! :)

Catching up (1)

Seems like I'm always catching up...
Wedding things are starting to fall into place - I now have a date, a time, a place, a dress on order, a photographer, Mom's dress, a MoH and her dress - pretty decent progress and getting closer to teh fun, creative stuff, that I'm hoping I can get Jenny's help on!

Read a lot this past week - finished a few I was close on and read a bunch while in Boston last week for work. Here's a start:

Book #1 2006 - Bellows Falls by Archer Mayor. I'm not all that fond of crime/mystery novels in general. This was in my pile because it has many strong depictions of life in VT, J's home state. What bothered me about the style was that one moment he tried to use a ton of police jargon (BOL for "be on lookout" was a favorite), but the next he has cops doing things they never would, like using verbose, complex sentences on the radio during a chase.

Another post later today with more books and little things. Then Boston pics, dinner with Sonny and Pam, weird wedding pressures, etc. later this week....

Well....

Have been a bit distracted the past week. Had a lot of people to call and email, a lot of fact finding to do. You see,

J and I are engaged!!!!!

This is very huge and very exciting and I'm still quite giggly about it while talking/ writing the tale...
HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

I'm so happy, we're so happy. This is going to be the start of an incredible new chapter.
So, how'd it happen? We were out to eat at a nice restaurant, courtesy of gift certificates from J's Aunt Lisa. After the meal, we were chatting and trying to figure out if we should have dessert (my vote=yes, I like to end on a sweet note, J's vote=no, don't want to be too full), when he took my hand, stood me up, came to my side and went down on one knee. Total shock. I get shivers even writing about it. This was followed by applause and a lady at the next table hugging us repeatedly.

We're planning on early October, so I'm scrambling to secure a place, which means pricing a lot of options. I'd like simple yet elegant, but unique at the same time. I think we can get there. This weekend we start visiting sites and I hope to have it nailed in the next week.
I've created a website for the wedding, but that's mostly for guests, so I'll just be sure to get the cool stuff, milestones, creative moments that make me especially proud in here.
:) :)