Engagement Photos!

I inadvertently visited my first nude beach. Black's beach, in La Jolla, is reportedly the largest nude beach in southern california, and now I know. Walking on the cliffs with my fiance and our photographer, we had no idea what was waiting for us at the gorgeous beach below. When we realized we could walk down to the beach, we were ecstatic. The idea of the waves crashing in the pictures, or the magnificent cliffs as a backdrop. We set off to find the path as quickly as possible.

It was a little steep, but manageable, and we were able to make it to the bottom in about 10 minutes. The opening to the beach was narrow, but through it we could see the waves crashing in teal and white, clean sand, and very few people.

And then Nathan said: "Um, Roxy.... I think this is a nude beach..."

I looked around and sure enough there were easily 10 naked people walking or sunbathing, and even a really old man running down the beach in nothing but his beard, shoes, and socks.

Way more than I was interested in seeing.

After deciding that this beach was much to beautiful to pass up, we walked further down the beach, and passed a heavyset man who ran out of the water to his towel, and began doing lunges, and when he had finished, stood up, and slapped his penis so it bounced side to side, and I looked away praying that flaccid penises were bouncy, because it might make the experience slightly less traumatizing.

We found a nice secluded area of the beach and, with no naked people to interfere... took our photos. :)

Dress Shopping

Took most of the girls dress shopping on Sunday, and was very sad that one couldn't be there :(

We had a good time, and got some good ideas. Unfortunately, I fell in love with the dresses out of the price range. Dresses in which the girls are all in red is my absolute favorite, and Ashley is holding up a dress in the right color.

My second favorite dress is the one where there are only 3 girls, Britnie in blue, Jennifer in yellow, and suzanne in green.

After that is the tea length with the broach in the center. The tea length with the bow I didn't like at all, and I really really didn't like the semi-halter dress... whatever that is... it was really unflattering on all of the girls.

So that's all we found. I hate to say it but the woman at the bridal shop we went to was not very helpful, was hardly around, and brought us the wrong dresses and sizes a few times. A little annoying....

After that we headed to the mall where they had...

NOTHING WHATSOEVER. bummer.

So we looked around and found nothing... and then the girls followed me into Frederick's of Hollywood where they had me pick out item's that I liked... and then pointed out some silly stuff too... like the dental floss arranged in a one-piece swimsuit type fashion... with sequin hearts in strategic areas.... I passed on that :)

We finished off the day with In-n-out... mmmmm. And I'm back to square one with the dresses :( Because I really really like the $165 ones.... and that's before alterations and shoes and whatever other accessories my poor bridesmaids need to fork out cash for. So I'll keep looking. :)

Wedding!

My mom and I met with the caterer on Friday afternoon, and now we can REALLY get going. The issue has been that my parents are expecting each individual person to cost $40+ per plate. Um... are we having lobster? Veal? Shark maybe? No...

Brian Danchuck, of Two Shepherds Cooking gave us a quote for an amazing dinner, at $16.50 per plate.

This consists of tri-tip, chicken (with his homemade barbecue sauce), a poppyseed salad (his homemade recipe with candied walnuts and mandarin oranges), a fruit salad, baby potatoes, baby carrots (with broccoli and corn) in a honey butter sauce, coffee (decaf and regular), sweet tea, punch, water, cider for toasting, set up, break down, flatware, glasses (plastic tumblers), and cake cutting.

He has an event coming up so we will go do a food tasting. I am really excited about this.

After our meeting, a woman walked up to us and tells us she's a nursing student but she used to be a wedding coordinator, and if we didn't mind if she shared some areas where we could save money...

can you say styrofoam cake (with a costco sheet cake hidden in the kitchen?) This is not one we would use, because a cake has been generously offered to us, but apparently is pretty common for the wedding cake to be simply fondant layered over styrofoam. The couple pretends to cut it for the pictures, and then feed each other a slice from the costco cake from behind the pretend cake. And no one ever knows haha.

flowers... buy wholesale... easy enough, but still good to mention. If you can do them yourself (which we can), do it. Oh, and if you want flower petals, just let the florist know. They'll charge you maybe $5 per bag of petals from other arrangements they've been making... and that's a lot of petals.

When renting linens... why rent 2 tablecloths per table? Just rent a white tablecloth, and accent it with rented napkins which are WAY cheaper. Plus, it can make the centerpiece look bigger if you place them right :) Another centerpiece extension.... mirrors... but they're a little more expensive.

When renting anything... if you go through a business, they may tell you they have a 10% discount, but are really pocketing %20 of a %30 discount... so check the prices for yourself before you sign anything.

In your centerpieces... you can put sand in the bottom of the vase... it's free... and for me... it's ten minutes away.

This is a dangerous one... if you have a limit... and the people you want to invite exceed that limit... form an A and B list. Send out invites early to the people on the A list. As the inevitable "no" responses return, send out invites to the people on the B list. It is very possible you may get to invite everyone you want... We were told that if 200 invites were sent out, probably between 125-150 would show... which is exactly what we're aiming for.

SO enough of that...

I like this cake... a lot.

and I like this cake... and the flowers on it... but maybe not organized quite like that...

Flowers.... I've become a huge fan of Dahlias... they're very energetic and big and they come in really versatile colors...

This is pretty....

Similar idea to what I'm looking for... we have a much darker blue though (david's bridal: blue velvet)... among other things...

Thats all for now... I need to scan a few pictures that I have been madly cutting out of bridal magazines....

:)

Sweet Justice

There is a wonderful sense of satisfaction one gets when they feel that whatever wrongs have occurred, have been justly dealt with. For example, when you see the moron in the raised truck try to cut off the idiot in the hummer, then swerve quickly around the opposite side...

and find himself trapped behind a prius.

Or perhaps the socialite blonde chatting away on her cell-phone while swerving dangerously from side to side in her lane, and cutting off three different people, including myself...

sirens.

And then of course there was the man who was so concerned about keeping his spot in 5mph traffic, that he continually accelerrated to keep the least amount of room between himself and the poor little old lady in front of him. He then rear ended her, and I was able to change lanes, waving happily at the man who now greatly resembled a tomato.

Sweet Justice.

As wonderful as these incidents were, I was quickly reminded of where I was headed...

Not only will I be waking up at 5 in the morning this coming Thursday, I'll be getting four very large teeth yanked out of my aching head. Then I will be restricted to few food items, like mashed potatoes, pudding, and yogurt.

So disappointing.

The fun part is, after I've finished off the vicodin, I'll still look like a chipmunk... theodore, most likely. He's the chubby one right?

I guess the really good thing is that Nathan will be driving me to and from the appointment. He'll probably be laughing at me, but it's nice to know that I have someone who loves me enough to wake up at five in the morning to take me to get my teeth yanked from my gums.

My mom offered, I think they really want to see me, but she'll be visiting soon; and when she does, the planning will REALLY kick off. We're ready for a complete overhaul of all things wedding related. Bridesmaids dresses, flowers, cake, video, photography, music, venue.

The next seven months are going to make my head spin. There will be headaches and heartaches and frustrations, fights, tears, and yelling just to let it all out. But it's going to be worth it, because in the end, when we walk through those brightly lit doors, away from the music, through a shower of bubbles and rambunctious calls of "Git 'er done!", when we step into that fantastically decorated car and shut the door, he'll be mine. We start our lives together, complete with the ups and downs of joy and pain. Peace and war. Sickness and health. Richer and poorer. Till death do us part.