1 Week Later

      It's been a week since Eric proposed! It actually doesn't seem like yesterday! This week has been so CRAZY and went SO fast but it doesn't seem like it was only a week ago that we started this awesome adventure!
     My mom, Eric's mom, Brittany, and I looked at venues on Monday. On our way to meet Cindy and Brittany, my mom and I stopped to get coffees. Brittany had insisted that I don't buy her one but I had a plan! I had bought her a thank you card for the binder and bride shirt she had bought me. I wrote the typical cute/long "Thank you. You mean so much to me" in the card. At the end I told her to find her coffee. I had written "Bride", "Mother of the Bride", "Mother of the Groom" on three of the coffee cups and on the other I wrote "Will you be my Maid of Honor?". She was so surprised! She started her job as soon as we started looking at venues. Every place we went she would put the paperwork into the correct place in my bridal binder (I had a tendency to just put them on the seat when we got in the car). She has been great and I am so lucky that she is in town and has a fairly open schedule. Her sister trained her well when she was her maid of honor! We found the reception venue, Oak Ridge Winery. It was one of the first ones we looked at that Monday. It is beautiful and I can''t wait to spend hours there with family and friends.
       I started school on Tuesday and also returned back to work from a long weekend. I am so thankful for how everything has fallen into place. A couple months ago I was sure that I wouldn't have any classes because they were all full and so were the wait lists. I was very discouraged but constantly looked online for openings. I was finally able to get on the wait list for a couple of my needed classes. On Tuesday, I was still only wait listed and figured my chances of getting classes were slim. By the end of the day I left school with Anatomy, Chemistry, Math, Nutrition, and Sociology!!!!! Talk about a LOAD! I dropped Nutrition and Sociology.  I am so happy that this semester won't be a waste and that I got 3 of my mainly needed classes. I have to say that even though I have been to school only 4 days, it is a bit overwhelming. I have a LOT of support and know that I can do this! Besides a couple of quick trips to the book store, every hour break I had between classes/work I was on the phone with vendors or other wedding related things.....should have been studying right?!
     On Friday night my brother and sister-in-laws dog went missing. We drove all around Lodi trying to find her but had no luck. On Saturday morning she was spotted by my sister-in-law on the other side of town. This set off another multiple car search and we still had no luck. All day we were driving very slow and looking down every street. In the midst of this we looked at another church (we had looked at one during the week). I had an appointment at Davids Bridal to try on wedding dresses but decided to cancel it because Lexi was still missing and it was going to be too hard to be all the way in Roseville trying on dresses. My mom and I decided to stop in at Elizabeth Bridal assuming they wouldn't be able to help us because we didn't have an appointment but we thought we would just stop in to see what they had to offer. They ended up not being busy and were able to help us. I tried on several dresses and fell in love with one. I had 3 favorites but when I put this one on I got a weird feeling....butterflies, heart beating fast...weird feeling. I just knew! We left there and searched more for Lexi. While on our search Brittany had text me that she had been church searching (did I mention how great shes been?). Her grandma is a member at St. Joachim Church in Lockeford. She had called to get more information for us. After getting some helpful information that seemed too good to be true, I called right away to go see the church. Eric and Travis met my mom and I there and we all agreed that it is the church!!!! I was so relieved to have the 3 of biggest things in place, the church, the reception, and  the dress.
    After we left there I checked my facebook and realized that a friend had posted on my "missing dog" status that Lexi had been spotted in her parents neighborhood, again, across town from where she was in the morning. We right away went there to scoop the neighborhood. We again had no luck!!! SO disappointed. It was getting dark and we didn't want her to spend another night out alone. We searched the nearby area for a while but I had finally decided to go spend some very needed time with my fiance. I was so happy to FINALLY get the wonderful phone call from my mom that delivered the greatest news...LEXI WAS FOUND!!!!! She was in the neighborhood that my friend posted she was seen in. This was such a relief!!!
     Today, Eric and I took a few pictures for our Save the Dates. My good friend Beth took wonderful pictures of us. It had stopped raining for a bit but it was windy and FREEZING! You might ask "why torture yourself and not just wait until the weather is better?". I am planning a wedding in FOUR and a half months people!!!!! With Eric being out of town all week we have to use every weekend hour we have to be productive, bad weather or not! I also ordered the Save the Dates today and should receive them tomorrow! Thank you again Beth for taking such great pictures!
     Two other things happened today. My mom and I were able to talk to my cousin who has agreed to photograph our wedding. I am so thankful! She takes great pictures and I am so excited to see the great shots she will get! Also, Eric and I looked at a house to rent. We are starting now so that we can be picky and not have to settle for whats out there in May/June. This one didn't end up being THE one, but certainly glad we looked.
    So in one week we have picked a date, found a church, found the reception venue, bought my dress, took pictures/ordered save the Dates, found a possible caterer, and asked bridesmaids/groomsmen to join us in this chaos (more on that later). This has been a crazy but very productive week!!!!!!!!!!!!!