7 Quick Takes

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I’ve been a big fan of Hotwire for a while.  I’ve usually gotten some pretty good deals and sometimes I can even figure out which hotel I’ll get before I make my purchase.  I’ve noticed, however, that the extra fees I’ve been paying are much higher than they are on Priceline.  When the cost of the one decent hotel in Canyon kept going up on the hotwire site, I tried Priceline and was able to get it for a better rate.  So yesterday I was looking for a honeymoon hotel for when Matt and I head up to Buffalo.  On a whim I tried putting in $75 a night for a 2 1/2 star hotel or above.  Surprisingly, my bid was accepted for a 3 star hotel.  I guess Matt and I should get our airfare arranged soon.

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I couldn’t see what the big deal about Pinterest was at first.  I signed up for it a while back, but I found it most helpful for my wedding planning.  (Although it almost caused me to spill the beans about being engaged early.)  I’ve posted a bunch of library and scrabble themed ideas that I’m trying to incorporate into my wedding decor.  Lately I’m working on this:

Unfortunately, cutting the book is not as easy as it looks and mine will not be even remotely straight as it appears in this photo, but I think it’s a cool idea for my ring bearer.
I’m still trying to come up with Scrabble board scrapbook ideas, but haven’t found my inspiration on that yet. 
I also have some old books I’ve been incorporating into decorations and plan on creating a table runner.

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Matt and I found wedding rings last weekend.  We headed up to the outlet stores in San Marcos which is only an hour away.  We checked out Kay Jewelers, Zales, Helzberg, and Jared Vault.  Zales was too pricey and Helzberg had a limited selection.  We found my ring at Kay.  It was a little more difficult since my engagement ring is so unique, but we found a diamond band with an antiqued look with the beading similar to my ring.  We found Matt’s ring at the Jared Vault.  It was similar to one we liked at Zales, but was $400 less.  It is a little more fancy that Matt probably wanted, but I thought it matched my ring fairly well.
 

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Josh has moved into a new place in Houston.  He and his roommate decided to get two more roommates and have rented a 4 bedroom house.  They still need a washer and dryer and we happen to have an extra one.  The problem is finding a way to get it to him.  I may have rent a pick up truck for a day and drive it over to him.   

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Matt and I still don’t know if his mother is coming to the wedding.  He refuses to call her, but has an intermediary at least.  His friend Kristi has been friends with his mother for several years and has a good relationship with her.  She is going to see if she can find out anything.  We won’t be surprised if she chooses not to come, but I know it will hurt Matt’s feelings – even though he won’t really admit to that.   

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Matt and I got this storage bench as a wedding present yesterday.
 
I spent yesterday evening sorting through the numerous t-shirts that Matt has been keeping in baskets and bins in his closet and sorted them into drawers and this nice storage bench.  Matt was kind of indifferent about it, but he has a nice closet where he can keep his laundry bin in it and actually close the door now. 

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I ordered my bridesmaids gifts the other day and three of them arrived this morning.  The fourth is probably in my mailbox at the moment.  I thought these were perfect for my friends:

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Sonic for dinner and the NBA draft

What has happened to me that I’m watching the NBA draft?  It must be that there isn’t anything good on t.v.  I don’t know any of these players, I don’t even get how this draft thing works with trades and such.  I’m just curious as to who the Spurs will pick when it’s their turn. 

I have to give a shout out to my friend Andrew who inspired my dinner choice for tonight.  I couldn’t think of anything I really wanted and he keeps mentioning the Asiago Chicken sandwiches from Sonic.  So I headed out and picked up a combo with tots and a root beer.  I also added a caramel oreo shake which was quite good.  Now I’m fairly stuffed.  The sandwich was very good but I thought I’d ordered the club sandwich but there wasn’t any bacon. 

I’m going to keep this short and sweet for tonight.  Be on the lookup for my seven quick takes post tomorrow. 

Wedding, wedding, wedding stuff

I have to take a benadryl or sleeping pill to get to sleep lately.  I cannot seem to close my mind down and get wedding stuff out of my head.  I’m thinking about flowers, musicians, decorations, things to take, things to do, and so on.  I took my dress into a seamstress on Monday to have the sleeves altered.  It was a little more expensive than I anticipated, but she didn’t charge me a rush fee since I need it in two weeks and it was less than I paid for the dress.  I’ll be able to pick it up on July 4.  I’m leaving to go to Canyon on the 6th. 

I finally got an estimate from a florist in Amarillo and I thought it was a bit high.  I knew that wedding flowers would be expensive, but the bridal bouquet alone was going to be about $200.  I contacted a florist in Canyon and went a different route.  I gave them my budget up front and limited it to just the essentials.  We’ll see if they can come through for me. 

I’m still trying to find a flute player to play in the wedding.  Josh wrote a woodwind quintet piece and it’s crucial that I get a flute player.  I’m hoping the horn player that I got from WT will be able to get someone.  I thought having my wedding in the middle of band camp would allow me to have some options, but it’s more of a hindrance at this point.  Most people I’ve asked can’t play because of the concerts going on that day. 

I’m thinking about going to see The Fault in Our Stars tomorrow.  I need to make sure I have lots of tissues to take though.  I enjoyed the book when I read it, but the book itself made me cry.  I should be doing a lot of reading this summer, but I haven’t found anything that has really grabbed me.  I did read the latest Janet Evanovich book though.  It’s a quick and easy read and a summer tradition. 

7 Quick Takes Week 2

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Spurs won the NBA finals!  I really thought that the last game would be tougher for them.  They didn’t get off to a very good start, but once I changed my shirt, they started playing better – not that I’m superstitious or anything.  Matt and I went to Academy Sports after the game on Sunday to get championship shirts.  We had to wait in line an hour and fifteen minutes before we got into the store.  On Wednesday we went to the Championship River Parade.  I got there a few hours early to get a good spot – which I did, but I wished I would have taken a blanket or some kind of cushion to sit on. 

 

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So my last day of work was a week ago.  I spent all of Saturday being a complete slug.  I didn’t even change out of my pajamas all day.  I even talked Matt into going to the store for me just to get a can of cat food for Lucy who was out.  I haven’t done a whole lot this week though I’ve done some wedding stuff.  I still haven’t found a horn and flute player and I’m getting a little worried.  I’ll be sending out an all call to my band director friends soon. 

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I spent most of Thursday driving all over town getting wedding stuff.  I went to two different Half Priced Books stores in search of an old book to use for my ring bearer’s book/pillow.  I went to two different Party City locations to get the plates, napkins, cups, and other things for the reception.  I went to Sam Moon to get some bling for my bridesmaids.  I had lunch at Panera.  I didn’t get home until almost 9:00.  I had a fairly raging headache by the time I got here, but took some headache medicine and ate dinner and it quickly subsided.   

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Have I mentioned lately how much I love living in San Antonio?  Even though I had to drive all over town today, the traffic wasn’t really that bad.  I still smile when I drive by downtown and sometimes I still can’t believe I’ve lived here for almost three years now.   

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We’ve gotten some new dinnerware sets as wedding presents and I think they are very nice, but I have one problem – the dinner plates don’t fit in my upper cabinets.  I don’t have room for a hutch to display them either.  I guess I’m going to have to find a place to put them in one of the bottom cabinets which is just weird for me.   

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I had to renew my library card this week.  It expired over a month ago, but they require people to renew it in person.  Since I had to head downtown for the river parade on Wednesday, I just parked in the library parking lot, renewed my card, and checked out a book to read.  I’m going to try to get some reading done this summer.  I set a goal of reading 52 books this year and I’m about 8 books behind at the moment.  Then again, I spent the last two weeks rereading the Harry Potter series.   

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Matt and I need to find wedding rings soon.  Matt will be fairly easy – he just wants something simple.  My engagement ring is pretty unique which makes it more difficult to find something that works with it.  I think that will be our task on Monday. 

 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Trying 7 Quick Takes

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So this blog I read has been doing 7 quick takes posts almost every Friday and I have really enjoyed the format of it.  I thought I’d give it a try myself since I’ve been a very bad blogger lately.  But I’m full of excuses!  I have a wedding coming up!  I’ve been finishing school!  The NBA finals are on!   

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Can you believe that I’ve become a basketball fan?  I was NEVER into sports until I met Matt and moved to San Antonio.  You cannot live here and not be a Spurs fan.  It’s infectious.  But I am and they are doing great in the finals.  They killed Miami in the last two games on Miami’s turf.  I think they might close it out on Sunday, but I think it will be a much tougher game – the Heat will be giving it everything they’ve got.  I think the Spurs are just a better team this year.   

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Today was my last day of work for the school year.  Yay for summer break!  I actually finished early and am already home sitting on my couch.  Most of my friends up in the panhandle have been out for two weeks now.  I am looking forward to sleeping in, napping, watching tv, reading, and finalizing the wedding plans.   

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My wedding is less than a month away now.  It’s coming much faster than I’m ready for.  Now that school’s out, I still have several things to get done.  I still need a flute and horn player for the service.  I need to order wedding flowers.  I need to finalize the rehearsal dinner list.  I need to figure out wedding attendant gifts.  I need to figure out all the reception stuff – decorations, food, etc.  I think I’ll get started on all of that tomorrow.  

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The new dog Angie has been a very bad dog.  I think I’m going to have to totally baby proof the house.  Lately she has taken to tearing up books.  The first one was left out by me – my fault.  The second and third ones, however, she actually took off the shelf and chewed up.  Her chew toys last no more than five minutes before they are de-squeaked and unstuffed.  I have found something that she is afraid of though – bubble wrap.  If I pop the bubbles, she runs and hides.  This is the dog that tries to attack the vacuum cleaner and likes the hair dryer.   

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I have lots of bubble wrap because Matt and I have been getting wedding presents!  We hadn’t really planned on doing a registry, but since so many people were asking us if we had one, I created one on Amazon and another on Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  We now have three sets of matching dishes!  We also have a new kitchen clock and a wedding photo frame.  We also have gift cards to Home Depot and Lowe’s that will probably get used this summer. 

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Matt is taking me out to dinner tonight to celebrate my last day of work.  Not sure where we will go yet.  The thing about San Antonio is that there are LOTS of restaurants to choose from.  That’s why I’ve gained about 20 pounds since moving here.  I’m going to try to behave by only eating half of my dinner and saving the rest for lunch tomorrow. 

So what do you think about the quick takes format?  At least I can try to make sure I post something every Friday – maybe that will bring some life back to my blog.  

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!