Unrelated News

I've been talking about going to grad school ever since I was a junior at WSU, but I could never quite figure out exactly what I wanted to do. Originally it was psychology so that I could do Marriage and Family Counseling, but after googling the "average salary of a Marriage and Family Counselor in WA", I started looking for other options. My initial thought was that I would just bypass the actual counseling and get my doctorate so that I could be a professor. That way I was still involved in psychology, and I had always thought about teaching, but decided that another 6-8 years of full time school wasn't exactly beneficial to my financial plans. Then, I thought about business and getting my MBA, but after attempting ECON 102, I realized how much that I am NOT a business person. Then I graduated and had to endure the real world and thought for a while that I could just tough out the work force and make it to a managerial position. But, seeing as how I work at a bank the whole "not being a business person" aspect started to get to me.

I knew that I had to figure something out, because nobody should be unhappy and stressed about their job, especially at age 24. I went through a lot of ideas from reconsidering psychology, to nursing school for a few seconds. I had to find something that I would really feel fulfilled by (no matter how overly optimistic that might be) but also something that would offer a salary that didn't make me want to cry.

After a lot of deliberation and research, I finally found what I think will be perfect for me. I'm going to get my Masters in Teaching! It means that I don't have to be an undergrad again, I earn my Masters (which has always been a goal of mine), I get to work with kids and I have a career that has future goals that exceed praying for a 1.5% raise once a year. My immediate plan is to get accepted to City University and begin this October. If all goes well and I get accepted, I will be certified and ready to teach by the 2011 school year! My long term plan, is to teach the hell out of some kids and then get my certificate in Educational Administration so that I can become a principal. It covers everything I've ever wanted! I get to work with kids and hopefully make a difference for a couple of them. I'm getting my Masters, and because of it I'll start off right away making a very decent salary. I have long term goals so that I'm not pigeonholed. And an added bonus, I get Christmas, Spring and Summer Vacation again!

I applied last night, so we'll see if I get in. I also have to pass a test called the WEST-B which sounds easy, but involves math and I haven't done fractions in years... I'm a little nervous, but I'm signed up to take it on May 30 which is early enough that I can take it again if necessary. So that's the plan. Wish me luck!

Lois with the blue dress on!

My mom is always so giving, and never does much for herself. Whenever we go shopping it's never for her, even when I try to get her to try things on. She never "needs anything" or she doesn't "have a reason to wear it". Well now with the wedding coming up she needs a nice dress and definitely has a reason to wear it. We went shopping today at Moms, Maids and More in Bellevue and they were really good about squeezing us in even though we didn't have an appointment. We ended up finding the perfect dress for my little mom. She looks classy and elegant and I'm excited to see how pretty she looks on the big day. Here is a link to her dress! It will be in the blue that is the second option called Bluestone.

Lois' Dress


Also, we checked out a new cupcake place called New York Cupcake in Bellevue. It's a cute, smaller place that Gina told me about after seeing an article about how they just won Best Chocolate Cupcake by Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. The cupcakes were delicious and the pricing is awesome, so they very easily may be who we go with.

DJ, Parents Weekend, and Officiant... Check, check and check

I've really realized that going into this, I had no idea how much a wedding costs. I knew that the dress could be pricey and the flowers and location, etc. However, I had no idea how many little things there are that all add up, such as chair covers... Anyways! When I started looking at DJs I was shocked at how much some guy in a tux wanted us to pay him to play songs. I know that the DJ also is responsible to keep up the flow of events and all that, but I had a problems with a price tag that was more than a monthly mortgage payment.

Lucky for me, my cousin and bridesmaid Gina has a friend who is a DJ that happens to have all of the qualities we were looking for. He can play music, he isn't cheesy, he can keep the events moving, and he doesn't require me to sell a kidney on the black market to make a down payment. Also, thanks to Gina, the DJ and his friend who will be doing our wedding gave us a really great deal. It was a huge relief to be able to mark that off the check list. It was also a huge relief that they agreed with my choice of excluding songs such as the YMCA, Electric Slide, Macarana and the Chicken Dance. I could really live without synchronized dancing at the wedding.

Once we had the DJ figured out, we had to worry about our parents meeting for the first time. Jake's mom and dad, Lori and Phil, got here on Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday. Luckily, all went well and the parents all got along! Everything went really well. Lori, my mom and I went and saw the wedding venue all set up which was exciting. All in all, it went really smoothly. And to think that I was so worried about Jake's parents coming to see our place for the first time I found myself dusting the molding just so that our place would be spotless... And I always said that I would never become my mom...

The next task was to find somebody to officiate our wedding. Jake and I both decided that we would be much happier with somebody that we both knew and felt comfortable with. We joked around with a few friends, but then I realized that I had the perfect candidate! My aunt Eileene is my mom's sister and where my middle name came from. She's going to get ordained online, which I love. I think that she'll be able to keep things light and fun, but still keep it serious enough that everyone knows that it's still a wedding. I'm obviously really excited to have someone we know marrying us, but I'm THRILLED that it's going to be my aunt!

So there are the most recent updates! Also, I added more pictures to the wedding website.

BIG Update

I haven't been doing very well on keeping up on this, so I have a lot to update everyone on.

I found my dress during my first weekend of searching, which was fantastic. It was at the 4th place, La Belle Elaine's and it was by far the nicest place we went to. Our consultant was amazing and actually listened to the fact that I did NOT want a dress covered in beads and sequins. When we got there she asked me the price range I wanted to stay in and then she had me describe my dream dress. Then she went and grabbed a dress based on those two things, and it ended up being my dress. I'm trying to be old school with the dress and not let Jake see it until our wedding day, so I won't post any pictures. However, I trust his willpower (and I'm not sure how often he looks at this) so I will post a link to the designer's page.

www.beautiful-brides-midlands.co.uk/images/harlem-pronovias

Also, I've begun the process of sending out our Save the Dates, which ended up not being magnets. I didn't want to to exceed the weight limit, plus they were perfect the way they came! So for those of you who already received them, I hope that you like them and for those of you who I still need to send one to, I promise they'll be on the say VERY soon.

Next, it's looking like there's a really good chance of all of the bridesmaids will be wearing the same dress now instead of my original plan, which is great with me! Now I have the job of finding a dress that I like, and 8 of my best friends like and will want to wear. Maybe not the biggest of tasks for most people, but it's causing me some stress. I'm not much of a decision maker when it affects other people. Almost all of the girls have tried on a dress from David's Bridal, which is the "thriftier" version of a more expensive dress. I like the both, so now it will come down to price and what the girls like. Here are the links to both of them!

David's Bridal version
www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998974&subCategory=-49998976|-49998975|-49998974&partNumber=83312-4061-P

Vineyard (more expensive) version
http://www.priscillaofboston.com/dress_detail.jsp?gid=620&sfid=51031&f=

Dresses and Save the Dates!

Now that it's 2009, September 12 seems a LOT closer than it did back in 2008. I'm very excited, but also realizing how many little things need to be accomplished between now and then. I decided that it was time to get back into planning mode and started by working on the Save the Dates. One of my friends from WSU (my G-Ma, for those who speak Sorority), as I've previously mentioned, is our very talented photographer. After searching on and off for weeks online, I couldn't find any form of a Save the Date that had everything we wanted, so finally I asked Kristen to help us out. I'm SO happy I thought to ask because I think that the finished product (seen above) is even better than I could have hoped for. Anyways, be on the lookout for your Save the Date in the mail. It will be magnetic, because I know how badly every one of our friends wants us on their fridge.

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The next step I'm taking in the wedding planning is trying on dresses and tasting cupcakes. I'm thinking those two pieces of the wedding probably shouldn't be related in any way, but we're going to do it all in one weekend anyways. Saturday I have appointments at David's Bridal (a safe place to start, I think) and Cynderellies Closet which is in Edmonds. We'll wrap up that day with a few samples from Cupcake Royale in Ballard. Then Monday I have appointments at Amanda's Bridal Boutique in Redmond and then La Belle Elaine's in Seattle, followed by cupcake eating at Trophy Cupcake. I don't want to go into the cupcake tasting biased in any way, but I've been waiting to try a Trophy cupcake for months. In the end I want to go with the place that can go along with my vision of a cupcakes tiered to resemble a wedding cake in our colors while being the most cost efficient... But then again I might want to go with the place that offers toasted marshmallow for frosting.

I'm sure that I will be forced into a tiara or poofy veil by a team of saleswomen and my mom, so I promise to post pictures of what should be a day of boundary pushing for me. In a good way though... I think. At least I'll have a good number of my bridesmaids with me for support.