Woohoo

Obviously in the midst of schoolwork, my job, and planning a bunch of stuff in order to merge lives with S, the blog is taking a backburner. Bummer! I have a lot of things going on about which I could blog, but by the time I think about it, it's time for some sleep.

I haven't been feeling extremely well that past few days. Kind of generally icky, a bit of a sore throat, tired, weird appetite, etc. so I have been laying low and just doing homework and things that absolutely have to get done. I did two presentations in class on Sunday (Services for Children and Young Adults) which I think both went okay. I also got my first two written assignments back, and got perfect scores on both. Woohoo! Now I'm just hoping that my mad storytelling skills and inexperience but exuberance about manga/anime will net me even more points.

Other things am contemplating: how soon to start planning a honeymoon (the best part of getting married, in my opinion), what do with with my last name, where we're going to live, where S will do student teaching in the spring, and if I should try to get a full-time job and just graduate later. It's a lot, really, to ponder.

I feel really good about my decision to never, never, ever look at the checklist of things to do on my theknot.com account. According to that website, I am overdue on doing about 50-some odd things, and have 175 or so to go. Oh heck no! I made my own checklist, which fits on one page of a Word document, thank you very much, and I feel very good about it. I can even add eight more things to the list and still have it on one page. Some things are just things we have to do closer to the date (confirm hairstyle), and others are more pressing (choose a reception venue!?! ack!). I definitely understand why people elope, except that we've broken it down to the very minimum of things to do, and some of the things you skip when eloping (invitations, reception menu) are the things I'm looking forward to doing. I am also glad we're pretty set on our very tiny guestlist, which at this point is right around 50 attendees. Can I get a woohoo for small weddings?

"Emotionally Engaged" and other stuff

I posted some more photos of me and S at the Mardi Gras fundraiser on my flickr account and of course, more pictures of my ring. Whiteflash was so great for us. I got exactly what I wanted, and my does she sparkle!

I started reading "Emotionally Engaged" by Allison Moir-Smith, and have started journaling all my feelings during this time. I'm very excited to be marrying S, but less so about all the planning, except for... the shoes! I originally wanted the rouge of this style (Caparros Val) but Zappos.com was out of my size, so I ordered the vintage pink. Then, suddenly, one pair of the rouge was available, so I jumped. Obviously the red are the more fabulous color, what what with my fascination with Judy Garland, the Wizard of Oz, my red slipper fetish since high school, and my general love of all things red, they make the most sense. Plus, talk about being able to wear them again! But the vintage pink is so lovely, too. Lucky for me, Zappos has a great return policy (365 days from purchase, and they can still be returned for FREE) so I can decide the day before our wedding, or I could wear the pink for the church and the red for the reception...

Silly silly taxes

So, as usual, I was very excited about doing my taxes. That sentence is not sarcastic. I really was super pumped to get my refund! I don't make a lot as a library assistant, so I always get something back. Last year, that 'something back' funded my part of S's and my trip to San Francisco. So, you see now why I was jazzed to do the 'ol 1040.

Well, I filled in all the boxes in TurboTax as usual, except I had a question about the amount I spent on school this year, which is a lot. Let me repeat: graduate school costs A LOT. Unless your Masters or PhD is going to lead you to either A) a lot more happiness, or B) a lot more salary each year, then it is not worth the money/effort/time you spend getting the darn certificate. This year, I entered how much I spent on school tuition (paid for via loans) and my refund was like ca-ching!$!$!$!!$! The dollar signs included in that bit of punctuation represent how big my refund is going to be this year. Crikey!

So I got to thinking: hmm, refund last year was nice, paid for a flight/hotel/food for one week in a glorious California city, but it wasn't nearly as much as for my 2007 return.

This morning, of all mornings, I fired up the 2006 version of TurboTax and tried to see what would happen if I amended my form (1040X for all you tax nerds out there). Well, wowsers! I had plum forgot to put in the amount I spent on tuition! Silly me! Even a girl in grad school sure can be dumb sometimes. Maybe I shouldn't have filled out my form while sipping a rum-infused drink?

Anyway, so now, I am going to refile for last year, along with filing for this year, and so last year's even bigger refund can help fun my honeymoon!$!$!!$! The punctuation represents my new shiny refund amount.

Now I really cannot wait to get my refund. Oh, and my crazy President Bush induced tax credit, which I will pay for later, I'm sure of it, damn you W, I refuse to spend it! I will buy a Certificate of Deposit and nothing more, I swear to God!

What is there to be happy about?

Today I am especially thankful for coworkers who really care about me. We have such a great staff in the department where I work, and I genuinely appreciate their support and encouragement when I am feeling less than my best. I've heard it said that our library has some of the best staff anywhere, and I wholeheartedly agree!

One thing down, and I don't even want to think about the rest

So, I'm pretty sure that this dress is the dress I'm going to wear to marry S. It's the J.Crew Goddess Long dress, and it's currently on final sale. Yipee for a wedding dress on the cheap! It fits me quite well, and S's aunt is an incredible seamstress, so she can help me tweak it (omg, I need a bustle?).

The only bummer is how weird my sister is acting since I got engaged. I guess I expected some strangeness, but not this much, you know? I was showing her the dress tonight, and she asked, "Is it a wedding dress? I know you're going to get married in it, but is it a wedding dress?" I just said, "Yeah, it is, it's got a train..." and she flipped and said she was just asking, because some people get married in dresses that aren't labeled as such, and blah blah. I just wanted to say, dude, it's fine, drop the drama. I think she just wants to roll her eyes at me constantly, but what are you going to do with more than six years of age between us.

I guess weddings bring out the best and worst in people, so wish me luck!

An announcement

So, my blog readers may like to know... S proposed last Friday night! I said yes, of course. The next evening we went to the Mardi Gras fundraiser dinnner/dance. Here are some photos.