Bride's Log: Day 287

Dear Blog,

It’s Melanie, here.  Fashionably late to the scene, I’ll admit.  Sis and I devised this brilliant blog idea a while ago.  I still think it’s brilliant, but I’m afraid I don’t have any tidbits to divulge just yet.  “But Melanie, you have been engaged for 287 days!  You seriously don’t have any wedding plans yet?”  No, Blog.  And I’ll thank you to not use that tone of voice when you judge me.  A lot’s been going on the past few weeks, I’ll have you know.  The past several months, to be honest.  And even though My Love and I don’t have a date, I hear it’s supposed to be cathartic or something to tell you my feelings.  It’s better than eating them, I suppose, so here it comes...

My Love and I met on May 3rd, 2008 at the beautiful wedding of two dear friends in NYC.  He is the most intelligent, witty, thoughtful and handsome gentleman I’d ever met.  I spent most of the evening shamelessly flirting and falling in love.  Just as I was planning my big move to NYC to be with this guy, he tells me actually lives in Washington, DC.  Well, that’s where I live, too!  You mean I don’t have to quit my job, sell all my worldly possessions and try to get a 212 area code?!  Perfect.  Even more perfect was that it rained later that night and my hair blew up all frizzy.  I was so embarrassed.  And you know what, Blog?  He didn’t.  even.  care.  In fact, he still seemed to like me despite my Medusa hair.  That’s when I knew it was true love.

So after our memorable encounters with a man we named Sven, Sweedsboro, NJ, and more than one random fireworks show, we headed back to DC and started going on lots of fun dates right away.  We met each other’s families, friends, went on many great trips and did all kinds of exciting activities all around the city.  The more I grew to know him, the more in love I fell with him and even his little (read: huge) Pudding Cat.  

About a year into our relationship, we decided we wanted to try a new adventure.  For various reasons—logical and otherwise—we decided to up and move to California!  So off we went—My Love, Pudding Cat and I headed west.

We moved to beautiful Orange County, CA.  We swam in the Pacific, hung out with Sis and her fiancé, took loads of fun day trips to surrounding towns…I learned to drive a car.  On the freeway.  In LOS ANGELES.  It was (still is) way more of an adjustment than I ever could have anticipated…the weather, the topography, the traffic.  Not to mention living with a…shhhhh…a b-o-y.  I know, Blog.  I. Know.  You sure are a judgy one today.

I'm with My Love and have lots to be thankful for.

Since we met on May 3rd, My Love and I have done something special to celebrate every the 3rd of the month.  Usually it’s something small—just to remember the day and how much we love each other.  Last year, we spent Thanksgiving at my parents’ house in Phoenix, and I stayed on a couple extra days.  I had a ticket to come back to CA on December 3rd so we could have our special day together.  He picked me up from the airport and was in an especially jaunty mood.  Naturally, I assumed he was just so excited to see me!  How sweet.  Little did I know that back at the apartment, he had an elaborate rouse planned that culminated when he PROPOSED TO ME!!!!  As in GET MARRIED!!!!  Dream come true!  I said Yes! Yes! Yes! We tied the knot and I’m now My Love’s perfect wife.

That’s where you come in, Blog.  You and all the cheese I’ve been eating to cope with my feelings for the past 287 days.

You see, right after we got engaged, we started talking about where we would spend the rest of our lives. 

Was it where we were in CA?  Other parts of CA?  Back to the East Coast?  Florida?  (That’s another blog altogether).  These are grown-up decisions that involve lots of factors, frivolous and otherwise, and lots of soul-searching (hence all the cheese).  Every time I thought we had figured it out, we started to plan our wedding.  We now have a half-wedding planned in a handful of states across this fine nation.

So you want to know my bridal experience, Blog?  So far it consists of taking lovely pictures on the beach to commemorate our engagement, trying on dresses in a beautiful bridal salon, picking out fabric and patterns for my wedding dress with my amazing little seamstress mother, collecting estimates from every venue in Newport Beach, CA to St. Petersburg, FL, and a stack of Bride Magazine issues with post-it notes indicating my favorite ideas for a fabulous, albeit nebulous, wedding plan.

That does seem like a lot when you put it like that.  And although I'm thankful every day to have The Man, I'll just be thrilled to pieces when we finally have The Date.  I'm chomping at the bit to finally become Mrs. My Love and a proper stepmother to our Pudding Cat.  That guy really needs a mother’s touch.  I’m just sayin’.

Well, that’s my story.  You know, people we wrong about you, Blog.  You’re not so bad after all.  For the first time in a while, I don’t feel like shoving a wedge of brie in my face and listening to “All By Myself” in a dark room.  But, the old carpal tunnel’s kicking in, so I better call it a day.  Thanks for listening, Blog.  If anything new happens, you’ll be the first to know.

Love,

Melanie