10 Days

Eddie and I get married in 10 days! I can't believe we're this close. In some ways it feels like the closer I get to the day the further it feels! I'm very excited and anxious and am ready to be married all ready. :)

There is a lot to do between now and then though, so I probably should be focusing on that instead of what's happening 10 days from now. Eddie and I are meeting tonight to do organize our to-do lists and figure out our schedules for the next week and a half! We don't want to miss anything and are trying to be as organized as we can.

The one uncontrolable is the weather. We're still hoping that it might clear up and be gorgeous for us. I actually don't even care if it's sunny, I just don't want it to be rainy and wet! I am forbidding myself to look at the weather reports again until Saturday (there's no hope of them being correct 1 day in advance so I'm not going to start looking now).

Until next time!

Dessert

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to announce that "The Dessert Debacle 2010" has been resolved. Thanks to some suggestions from all around we have finally decided how dessert will be presented at the wedding and everyone is happy! It's a win-win that only took us five months to get to!

In the Mail ... Finally!

Invitations are finally in the mail! I know it's terribly late (considering the wedding is less than six weeks away) but we sent out save the dates, so it's ok, right? :-\

Anyway, they're on their way out the door with super awesome postage because of their "oversized-ness" and the only extra postage they had was an awesome looking ram. It's glorious and gets the job done! :)

Now we just have to cross off all the other things on the list, but at least a big one is done!

Wedding Bands

On Saturday, Eddie and I went to Green Lake Jewelry Works where Eddie had my engagement ring custom designed, to order our wedding bands! Eddie already had my band designed and tested (in a green plastic mold) but we had not yet officially ordered it. My engagement ring is a bit big on me and so I wanted to have it re-sized a little before the wedding band was made so that they would fit together well. After much debate and going back and forth with the sales assistant I finally decided on a size for the ring. I then handed my engagement ring over to them to re-size, which I wont get back until this coming Saturday. Once my engagement ring is re-sized the wedding band will be re-cast in the green plastic and if we're happy with it, it'll be cast in the white gold to match the engagement ring.

My ring on my hand after Eddie proposed in Paris.

A close-up of the engagement ring.

Eddie was a bit quicker in picking out his wedding band. We decided to go with a basic titanium band with beveled edges. It's pretty sleek and cool looking and very "Eddie." When we were looking for the rings we both gravitated toward the same one so we knew it must be the right "one" for him. It was a pretty simple process for him and not to mention a lot cheaper than the process of getting my rings. Eddie likes to tell me that I have it easy when it comes to buying his ring. Eithe way, I'm excited to see BOTH of the finished products!

I'm also quite anxious to have my engagement ring back. It feels so strange not to be wearing it.

Bridal Shower and Daphne

Last weekend, my maid of honor, Ashley, and her mother threw me a bridal shower down in Portland, Oregon! It was quite fun to hang out with my friends, some of who I hadn't seen in awhile. My mom had not planned to come to this shower and at the last minute changed her mind. It was great to have her there to hang out with my friends as well and meet some people she hadn't met before! On our way back to Seattle we stopped and saw my brother (who lives in Portland) which was great as I hadn't seen him in awhile as well.

All in all, it was a great day, just very long! I think I did a total of about 8 hours of driving and was gone from my apartment for over 12 hours!

Me with my new apron, courtesy of my mother.

I came home to Eddie's dog, Daphne, eagerly waiting for her dinner and to be let out to use the bathroom. Eddie was down in Nevada for the week helping my aunt and uncle with a motocross race. Daphne and I did pretty good for our first real one-on-one adventure together, which is a lot to say for me. As some of you may know, I am not really an animal person, let alone a dog person, so the week had it's challenges, but she and I both survived. Eddie has since reclaimed her and I now only have a few more weeks of freedom until I officially gain this furry little roommate.

Invitations

I am excited to say that the invitations are 99% completed and just about ready to go out the door. There are only two things holding me back from this.
1. I ran out of paper to print the directions and hotel information on so I had to order more - it should be here by Monday
2. Eddie and I need to address and stamp everything

I hope to have the invitations mailed by Wednesday. I think this is a reasonable goal - especially since I am delinquent in sending them out!

I have been working hard on them the last two weeks though and am pleased with the final result. I hope you all enjoy them too!

The Westwynd Motel

We have found a more budget friendly motel for guests, which is the Westwynd Motel. Information can be found at their website. I will post more later, but basically it's a good option for families especially because there are multiple room units and some with full kitchens. It may look a little sketch from outward appearances, but the rooms are clean.

The New Apartment

Eddie here.. Yeah that's right. The Groom-To-Be is writing a blog... odd aye? She's asleep in her room right now. Unaware of me typing away....

Latest news: Today, we signed a lease.

We got keys for the place that we will be moving into after we get married. Ann will be bach'n it for the next few months until I move after the wedding. We are both really excited. It's a simple little place, nothing fancy, just two bedrooms. It's not the four bedroom palace, facing Greenlake that we dream of. However, we do get some night time freeway noises, thanks to I-5 to fall asleep to. =)

All this to say:
It's ours and we are excited to make this awesome small yet huge step in our life to be. I am so excited for the future and to live life with my best friend. I am looking forward to figure you the nuttiness we call life, best part is I get to do it with her.

-Eddie

Eddie's Absence

Eddie's best man, Adam, flew into Seattle on Wednesday and they drove down to Salem to visit Adam's dad. In Eddie's absence I have managed to not kill Daphne (Eddie's, and I guess soon to be my, dog). I also was able to get some shopping done with my mom yesterday and we accomplished quite a lot.

I'm the kind of person that I need someone else around to bounce my ideas off of and I need to talk everything through. In most situations this is fine, but when it comes to do-it-yourself wedding invitations and other arts and craft activities, Eddie can only handle so much from me. So, shopping with my mom was wonderful and we were able to talk through a lot of ideas and I think I finally know what my wedding invitations are going to look like!

I also thought through more details regarding the wedding favors and how I'm going to do my guest book. I have a ton of ideas flowing and it's great! I'm excited to get started working on several of them next week - specifically making invitations so that they can get in the mail soon!

Save the Dates!

If you're viewing this blog, most likely you have received your save the date in the mail!

Eddie and I are busy planning the details for the big day. It is true that I am handling most of the "details" but he is definitely helping and I could not do it without him. I feel quite accomplished that our registries are basically finished. We have save the dates completed. We have our photographer booked and I know who is going to do my hair and flowers. Bridesmaid dresses are all purchased and groomsmen tuxes have been picked out, they just have to be measured and pick them up the day before the wedding. We have begun our pre-marital counseling and have started working on the ceremony program. We have gotten a lot done in the (almost) three months that I have been home. Plus, when you consider that we've been traveling for a significant portion of that time it's even more satisfying.

We now have just over three months until the wedding and things are not slowing down one bit! Our next to-do item is to find a cake and confirm a few details with our catering. Invitations are going to be my project for this week and next and hopefully those will be out by mid-March. There is a lot to do, but I feel like we have a good handle on it and I am excited and ready for it!

The Knot

We have a wedding website at www.theknot.com as well. Feel free to check it out too!

Our Story

I imagine that who don't know already are quite curious to hear how Eddie and I met, so I will fill you in on the details (at least from my perspective - Eddie may have to provide his side of things later).

In late 2008 I was told about personal ads on craigslist. Two people had told me that they had posted ads in hopes of meeting someone. I have always thought that personal ads were a little silly especially for young people living in a thriving urban area and I told these two people just that. My curiosity however was sparked and I started browsing the craigslist personal ads on occasion when I was in need of a break at work or a good laugh. I had no real intention of ever responding to any of them, but just perused them for amusement.

Well, as you can imagine (or may already know) I ended up responding to one and began e-mailing with a seemingly nice guy named Eddie. I told him I was planning to leave for Europe in three months and that my intentions were simply to meet new people. I assumed that even if I did hit it off with him, he wouldn’t be interested in starting something since I was leaving.

As it turns out we Eddie and I had a lot in common and began to e-mailed each other pretty frequently. The e-mails quickly became short novels and after about a week and a half we moved on to the next "natural" phase of online dating, which of course was to become Facebook friends. A few days later that was followed by the exchanging of phone numbers which led to several late night phone conversations.

Finally, after much anticipation on my end, Eddie asked if I would want to meet in person. He had just ran his first marathon and was motivated by the sermon he heard at church that evening. I think I shocked him when I agreed to meet him, especially since it was 11:45pm on a Sunday night! None the less, we met and had our first date at a bar in Ballard (Seattle) called Kings Hardware.

After several dates over the following few weeks, amidst Eddie’s random hiking trips and a vacation to Chicago, we decided to make things official. It was a pretty cute, but very cheesy moment, which seems to be a trend for our relationship. In the months that followed he and I took a road trip to Vegas so that I could meet his family. He also met my parents and was "interrogated" by my parents (really just my mother) and we started to meet each others' friends.

I left for Europe at the end of August (if you want to read more about my European Adventure check out my blog at www.anngohrick.blogspot.com) and was not scheduled to return until December 23. There were no plans for anyone to visit me during my time abroad but that quickly changed after a few weeks. First Eddie found cheap tickets to Paris in late November/Early December and then I decided to shorten my trip by two weeks when I realized there was a significant risk that I might not make it home for Christmas. Eddie did visit me in Paris, where he proposed (I'll post more on that later, but if you want the long version of the story you can find it on my blog).

When I returned home in mid-December the wedding planning started immediately and it has been busy, busy, busy ever since! We are both very much looking forward to June and spending the rest of our lives together. Neither of us ever expected to find someone so great through Craigslist but thank God daily for the blessing we are to each other. We are so excited to share this special day with all of you and hope you can make it on the big day!

Welcome to Our Blog

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the Eddie and Ann blog. This is our attempt to keep those of you who are interested in our lives up to date. At the moment things are pretty busy with wedding planning and wedding details, so that is what the bulk of the website information will cover. After we are married (and as other exciting and interesting things happen) the main focus will shift to other events and updates on our lives together.

We hope that you will be entertained by our craziness and feel a little bit more a part of our lives. We love comments so please feel free to leave them at any time!

~Ann and Eddie