Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Location, location, location

Location no. 1 is our our apartment. After Evan narrowed down all the apartments that Promove gave us based on our needs, he handed me a list of six apartments. I only went to four before calling it a day. But what we (I had Josh with me) found was pretty good place with an easy location -- that is if you consider fighting 285 traffic easy. But it's not that bad. It's two traffic lights away from I-75, so it's easy to get to, just a longer drive from Tech than anyone wants. Besides the ease/distance for the drive, it is a nice apartment, and more importantly, it's one we can afford.

Our second location is The GT Alumni House and that's for our reception site. We are both really excited about this place. It's a great venue and only three blocks away from All Saints' Episcopal Church! Both the church and the Alumni House have lots of parking spaces. Both lots should be able to support the number of guests we expect (combined if not alone).

And our last location is our individual locations for the rest of the summer. We will get to see each other this weekend for a few days and then not again until August 20th. This weekend we will be at a lake house in North Carolina that belongs to a former neighbor and remaining friend of the Valdyke family. After this weekend though, I'll be in a sunny Quantico, VA for Officer Candidate School. Evan will be vacationing with his family at their island in Minnesota. So while Evan is off having fun in a cabin surrounded by a lake, I will be running around surrounded by my peers all drenched in sweat. But I graduate on August 21st; family day is the day before.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Tech starts on August 23rd?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

I think I've found my dress

Yesterday was a great day! And it didn't even start out to be as great as it was. Evan's family was in Charlotte, NC for his cousin's high school graduation. They were going to make a special trip through Macon, GA to meet my mom for lunch. Evan is the only one from his family to have met my mom. She was shorthanded at the State Farm where she works, so she wasn't able to make it there, but I bargained to have Josh with me instead. Since we were going to be meeting in Macon, I thought it would be a good idea to stay at Lindsay's house the night before.

My good day started out when I took Josh with me to go apartment hunting in Atlanta. We visiting several places and liked about half of them. They each have their reason for why I like them (price, location, neighborhood, etc.) but there were three that stood out. The first one, Conservatory at Druid Hills, stood out due to its love for pets and it's location in a great area of Atlanta. It's also within the perimeter. There is a dog park for residents! Some rooms have fireplaces, some have decks/patios, kitchen was satisfactory (and the "tour guide" was from Milledgeville). The fourth(?) place we went to, Forest Hills, has a great price! They also have options with a loft and a spacious, private patio area. But that's about all they have. The bathrooms are tiny! It's good that those doors open out instead of in to the bathroom like most other bathrooms I've come across in my life. The last place we went to, The Abbey of East Cobb, had very friendly staff, pet and family friendly. Two features stand out that make The Abbey the best choice: 1) It's two traffic lights away from I-75 N! It's so easy to get to. 2) The entire complex was redone in 2008, including the kitchen. The kitchen that I saw at The Abbey stood out from ALL of the kitchens I had seen at ANY apartment I have checked out. It is small, but plenty of cabinet space and new appliances. (They also had spacious bathrooms!)

Then Josh and I went to Chick-fil-a for lunch before my orthodontist appointment at 2 pm. I had the new #2 which was a chicken sandwich with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. And then off to the orthodontist. It was my last adjustment, so I was already excited about that part. I thought I was going to have to wait 2 weeks before they could come off. But Dr. E told me to make an appointment for the next available time. IN ONE WEEK MY BRACES COME OFF! Yay! On the way to Macon, I told Josh that I wasn't sure which I was more excited about: getting my braces off next week or seeing Evan tomorrow. Josh and I both thought that I was more excited about the permanent mouth-piece being extracted next week.

And then Josh and I arrived at Lindsay's house. We had dinner then Lindsay wanted to show me her wedding dress she had chosen earlier in the week. So she and I went to David's Bridal to see her try her dress back on. Then she turned to me and said, "You know you want to try some on." I gladly put up the fight to try some on. I tried a few on. There were ones I liked, and didn't like at all. I kept on truckin' through the dresses I had chosen. There was one that I liked a lot but it was restricting, and short. There was another that was a "high to low." I liked the "high," but not the "to low" part. And then there was my dress. Yes, my dress. When I was wearing, I felt strong, without being masculine, and sexy, without being trampy. I like the minimal beading, the neckline, and surprisingly I like the train. I wasn't sure if I was going to love Lindsay or hate her for pressuring me into trying dresses on, but I do love her for it. Thanks, Lindsay!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

So much to do; so little time

Sorry it has been so long since a post has been made, but Evan and I have been busy. Right now Evan is on a ship somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean and I just got back from Camp Rainey Mountain where I spent a week helping instruct/chaperon MCJROTC cadets. So not much has happened in the past week, but a few things have happened before we both left.

Our dear friends at All Saints' Episcopal Church have graciously agreed to allow us to be married at their church. Evan and I feel so blessed to be able to have this opportunity. The first day we started working with them, they were more helpful than any other church we worked with (you know which one I'm talking about). In about two days, they offered to give us a space as well as allowing us to use Rev Pat from St. Luke's. They had been more than helpful; in fact, they did all of the work. Geoffrey from All Saints' personally spoke to Fr. Dan about our situation to find out if they wouldn't or couldn't marry us due to lack of space. Here's the real kicker that demonstrates lack of communication at St. Luke's: Fr. Dan did not know that there was a time conflict with our wedding time and the re-scheduled musicians' practice. This leads me to believe that someone did not put our chosen wedding time on the church calendar. So when the practice had to be re-scheduled, there was no issue because our wedding was not on the calendar. [That is an assumption, but makes perfect sense so I have no trouble jumping.]

On another note, Evan has been working on finding a place for us to live for the next year. We first started our apartment hunting with the aid of the internet. Then went to those places we found, but along the way we saw more apartments we should check out. When we went to one place, they suggested we use Promove. It is a free service that does all the apartment searching for us. So we stopped by Promove later and they handed us a bajillion apartments that were within our price and proximity range. Evan narrowed them down to about six different places. Since I live closer to Atlanta, I will pick up where he left off and visit those apartments to make the final decision. YAY EVAN!

On the 22nd of June, my mother, Pat (a family friend and not the priest), myself, and possibly Lindsay will go up to Atlanta to do some stuff. We'll narrow down vendor choices, sign contracts, go to the seamstress who will make my dress, get inspired for the reception, and most importantly we will go to The Flying Biscuit.