Saturday....getting closer!

ANOTHER little step coming up.

Nathan and I are meeting with our marriage commissioner this Saturday.

Checklist so far:

Location: booked and paid for
Rings: mine is ready and his has been ordered...again
Commissioner: booked and meeting with her this weekend
Vows and ceremony: re-written from original to reflect Nathan and myself
Marriage licence: purchased...mwahahaha.

Things to still do:
Dress: so far the hunt has been an epic fail
Book apres-ceremony eaty place
Inform guests as to the when/where parts
NOT PANIC...still working on that one.

As most of you know...I went and had my interview with the TEP people for UFV yesterday. Came home *very* depressed and basically went to bed for the night at about 1pm.

I still have yet to hear back from the other schools I've applied to, which is a bit disheartening. This leaves me slogging through work and stumbling through the days in a cloud of sad confusion. I hate waiting.

Taking deep breaths...and little steps...

Good advice was given - take a deep breath, then take another. ;)

So I took a deep breath, then another, then went next door and picked up my marriage license.

And realized that people who don't listen exist all around.

Apparently, 'Sharon' was going to marry Nathan. This was the name the woman put down - while she had my passport in her hand, copying everything from it. *sigh*

Oh well...one more little step in the right direction.

Though I apparently also live in Surrey.

Wedding bands...

So.

*My* wedding band was ready about 2.5 weeks after it went in to the studio. The diamonds came in from Boston. Those took 3 days to ship. The ring is a near perfect match to my engagement ring.

Getting Nathan's wedding band done....is another story all together. Apparently, it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a white/red/white gold 11.0mm wide comfort fit band made:

Early February: I send in a request for a quote to have Nathan's band made up by the studio. Now word back for 2 weeks. Faxed it through again and got word back the same day from Cindy that: "Oh, we don't do that, Imperial will do that." Why the HELL doesn't anyone tell me this for the two weeks that have gone by?

Mid February: Fax Imperial with same exact description for the band. A fax comes through a few days later for a white/red/yellow band with a note that they don't solder tri-coloured bands together. The hell? Tri-coloured? Are these people literate? Turns out, no they aren't. Spoke with one of the bubble-brains and had them redo the quote for the PROPER ring colours. Get the proper quote the same day, tell them to move ahead with it. Ahhh...all is right in my world.

Beginning of March: Imperial calls - they can't do the inside round like they QUOTED me TWO and a half WEEKS previous when I gave the go-ahead. Fine - my ;client; is right pissed off that it took two weeks after he gave the deposit and the go-ahead and now they re-neg on their contract. Fuck.

Mid-March: (now-ish) Faxed BACK to the studio for our designer to get a quote on making it. If anyone can figure this out, she can. Also faxed another company in Quebec on the off chance that they could give me a quote for what I want.

Today: Got off the phone with the studio designer - order the rings from Imperial. Have them do the bands, solder them together, and do the grooves on the outside. Then have it sent to the studio to have them round out the inside.

Damn - I feel like I'm running around in an Abbot and Costello skit.

Venue

Yup - got the venue for the ceremony all booked. See? Nathan's holding it for us.

As usual, Nathan was right from the get-go. I was thinking about the area by the cute little heritage schoolhouse, he was thinking about a gazebo or little pond I had no memory of. Of course, my memory extends as far as grade 6 (I think) slogging through the marshy area to examine pond life (and do you think for one second that this gal took to the cloudy waters in her bare feet like she was instructed? Hells no. Not on my life - there were *things* in there that I could actually see....skittering about), and to the horse trails that Dallas and I would ride...back in grade 11.

Sooo....it's been a while.

Nathan scouted the area after I'd put my application to hold a ceremony in the park - and I spoke with the G.V.R.D. lady today to request a slight change in venue. She had absolutely no problem with the change and, in fact, encouraged the area we had now chosen to be the spot we get married at.

Here's the little schoolhouse area - note the lack of any shelter should it rain (though, I'd be that annoying person who doesn't care if I get rained on at my own wedding).

And here's the new, improved venue!

Did I mention there's the cutest little bridge that goes over the stream that leads into the duck pond?

Proof is in the pictures

Yes, I remembered to post pictures of the beads I've done in the past few days.

Why am I here instead of at volunteering? One of Mom's renovation guy's truck is completely blocking me in. I'm hoping to make it for the last half of the day.

These are from practicing how to do that nifty ribbon technique.

Oooohh...Aaaaahhhh

Going back to my roots with the classic 'Rainbow Swirl Bead'

Simple set with Caliente glass in the Deep Purple

New to me - working with silver foil. I've had the stuff for ages, but I've only revently gotten around to doing anything with it.

EEEE!! Stars (that I made myself, thank you very much) and glowy universe to go with it. Actually DOES glow in the dark.

Did this one early in the year...or was it late last year...? Anyways, it's the 'new' yellow from Moretti...I miss my shimmery odd lot yellow.Something fun...
I know I did this one last year, but I only got off my butt in taking a good picture of it now.
Ahhh....l'amour.

More beads, can it be true?

Yes, I know, it's hard to believe...I've made more beads.
That makes two days in a row. Holy cow - two days where I've had time to make anything?! How can that be? The answer is simple: I didn't do any of the chores I assigned myself. No laundry, no cleaning (though I did do dishes....I can't stand a sink full of dishes).

Pictures to follow (you know...for proof).

Actually did some torch work today...

Not a lot, mind you, only 3 beads. And two of them were smallish.

But, hey! It's an improvement over not getting anything done, right?

Here's a few beads that I've done in the past month or so (I'll see if I can get off my butt tomorrow and take pictures of the newest additions) :

Marrying my best friend....best *guy* friend.

Yuppers....in just a few short....Tuesdays.....I'll be marrying Nathan.

Sometimes it just amazes me that we've actually gotten to this point. Not just that we're older (realitively) but that we're grown up enough to realize that it's just each other for....each other. Not that either of us have been big on the relationships in the past, but it's just....is 'neat' a good enough word? I don't think so, but it'll do for the moment....it's just neat that we're taking the next step to solidify our lives together. And it's funny that everyone says 'Oh, marriage is a big step,' when really, for us, it's not.

Then again....This is a fairly typical moment for us.