Why??

Why did I do this to myself? I tell myself every year, I'm not going to take on as much as I did the year before. Here I am, once again.....doing way more than I should even be thinking about.

My dance show takes over my life in the spring.....and although I am super organized it will always take a lot of time when you hire choreographers to teach your kids and then have to supervise all rehearsals and learn the material to practice with them once the choreographer leaves. I also design, and screen print all the show shirts. I design and have our programs printed at our r.o.p. print shop at school. On top of it all, I choreograph 3-4 dances for the show and organize it all to run smoothly.

Now.....I have agreed to choreograph the spring musical...which has become a much bigger job than we originally agreed on. I was only supposed to be choreographing 4 dance numbers. The cast list keeps changing (on a daily basis) and now I'm supposed to choreograph 4 additional dance numbers.

Then you throw a wedding into the mix, and I look insane to try and do it all. I am so grateful my parents are incredibly generous and we have a ceremony and reception site that is taking care of so much. BUT, I have decided to create and print our wedding invitations with help from our print shop at school. We still have bridesmaid dresses to shop for, tuxes to rent, and decisions to make about food, flowers, and cake. That doesn't seem so bad until you add in moving and trying to find new jobs.

Ben's house is on the market and has already had a number of people take a look. I've decided to keep my house and try to rent it out once we move. We are ready to make the move to Northern California to be closer to family, so that we can start one of our own very soon.

We just need to find jobs! We really do have a good set-up at our school....but we're both ready for a change. We're hoping for a miracle when it comes to getting jobs....and we'll take whatever we can find...but I can't imagine not being at the same school as Ben. We have literally spent the last 2 1/2 year together, every day, all day. I'm usually stuck in my cave (my dance room has no window), but I know that Ben is just outside that door (teaching P.E. of course). Whenever I need something.....he's there.

We're planners, and expect things to be difficult......but we're hoping for the best.

It's About Time!

I finally have my wedding dress! It is beautiful and I love it.....but it took forever to find. I started looking for my dress 2 weeks after I got engaged, and here we are 5 months later and I've made my decision.

I started with your typical bridal salons...David's Bridal, Alfred Angleo, Brides by Demetrios....and found dresses I really liked at all of them. But, I decided it would be a great idea to rent a designer dress. I went to an upscale bridal salon and found a dress that I loved! My family loved it....and I knew I had to rent it. I had gotten a recommendation for a rental place, but after researching them, found horror stories of girls not getting their dresses in time for their wedding.

Needless to say, I was freaked out and thought it would be best to avoid the drama....unfortunately I found a dress I wanted that was out of my price range. The bridal salon called me a few weeks later and I explained the situation. They said they just got the new collection in and had some similar dresses that might be more in my price range. After trying on 5 new dresses....I found an amazing dress. Too bad the sales girl snuck in the dress that was $100 MORE than the original one I wanted. I was distraught and decided to wait until I went home for the Holidays to make a decision.

In the end, I found a dress that will be great! It's great for my body type, and it was half the price of the dress I found in San Diego. I can't wait to wear it on my wedding day.

Everyone says when you find "The Dress" you know. I can't say that was true. It took me a little time to warm up to "The Dress". I'm excited! I've found it....and I am so happy my search is over!


Here are the catalog pics of my dress before design alterations.