Exit 179

I have noticed that as we get closer to the wedding, weekends are no longer a time to relax. The good news is that what is in the place of relaxing is just as fun. :)

Friday night Michael and I met up with some of his work friends and had dinner at Los Cabos (Riverwalk in Jenks). My lunch consisted of mashed potatos and applesauce (don't ask) so I was starving. Folks, I devoured an entire basket of chips by myself. I was quite proud of myself until they brought out 4 more baskets of chips in less than 30 minutes. I had a slight hatred for corn and its by-products by the end of the night. After dinner and a delicious strawberry margarita, the group walked over to the Cigar Box. I found a small cigar that sounded odd/fantastic so I gave it a try. Cigars are one of those things that I enjoy for about 5 minutes and then I spend the rest of the time contemplating why I ever thought it was a good idea to purchase such a thing. The contemplation resumes when I wake up the next morning and my mouth tastes like an ashtray.

Saturday was great--we enjoyed the sun for a few hours and then drove to Jenks to check out the Parade of Homes. We found one house that might as well have been called the "Michael and Meredith plan." It was perfect! AND affordable! AND I want to live in a house RIGHT NOW! :) We spoke with a nice man who solidified our thoughts on wanting a house as soon as possible. Now where is that money tree I've been trying to find for so many years?! The fake trees in our apartment only grow dust. Saturday evening was spent watching the movie, "The Prestige." It was excellent! We gave it two thumbs up (Thumbs the cat did not participate).

On Sunday we drove to Shawnee, Oklahoma to visit Leslie and drop off the envelopes with the master invite list. Michael and I had some great conversations on the way, which caused us to miss our exit completely. At mile marker 171, Michael noted that we were supposed to take exit 179. Turns out the next exit was not until 166 so we had 26 miles of extra driving. I guess I'd prefer missing an exit due to lively conversation over crickets chirping in the background or my fiance snoring in the passenger seat. :) We finally made it to the lovely town of Shawnee and enjoyed visiting with Leslie. After taking her to a local favorite for lunch, we got back on the road and drove home. Michael spent the rest of the day cleaning and catching up on work and I watched a girly movie that I knew I could never convince him to enjoy: Catch and Release. 1 thumb down.

Karen and Myer's shower invitation came in the mail on Saturday and is now proudly up on our fridge! I wouldn't say time is flying, but it has moved from a snail's pace to a Jeep Liberty's pace (who just so happens to miss exits). I blame it on the new license plate.

Mildly Depressing

It's official. I am now a bad driver:



Quite possibly the world's ugliest license plate--what was Oklahoma thinking??!

The good news: In 3-4 long months, I will be the proud owner of something much, much better. :)

Bug Off

This just in! My dad, the bugologist, recently discovered what attacked us on Saturday. Allow me to introduce you to the sweat bee! Isn't it a beaut!?



I'm a little disappointed--most of the sites I've read rate the pain of the sting very low (see "pain tolerance of a 2-year-old" in post below). I was just starting to stand proud with my "I've been attacked by killer bees!" story and now I find out they bit me because I was sweating and their stinging pain is considered minimal. Shoulders are now slouched and embarrassment is at an all-time high.

Let's end this post the proper way, shall we? Michael and I are getting married in 88 days! I have been playing phone tag with Bill Buker, our pre-marital counselor. He's on vacation this week so we are going to meet with him next week and take the PREPARE test. I have been quizzing Michael with random questions to see if we have the same thoughts on different issues. Hey, I was raised not to fail tests, I don't want to start now. :) I'm really not concerned, I figure this test will only solidify my thoughts that we were MFEO (Made for Each Other--"Sleepless in Seattle"). How is that for an optimistic bride!?

Not everything He created was good...

Another weekend behind us and another story to share....

Michael's parents and my parents both came to Tulsa this weekend to visit. My parents primary reason for visiting was to take some pictures of us for the newspaper (announcing our engagement) and also some for the reception. Michael's parents decided to join the photo shoot so the 6 of us met at my place at 10:00 am and drove to the beautiful Woodward Park at 21st and Peoria. I've always seen people taking pictures there so I figured we might as well steal their idea and leave all creative thoughts alone. It was already very hot so we were hoping it would go by fast.

Everything started out great. Mom and dad were both taking pictures and Michael and I enjoyed being able to sit so close in our parents presence. :) We would walk 50 feet, see a neat spot, take a few pictures and then move on. The sun continued to play the bad guy so we kept walking further into the "forest" to stay in the shade. And then, it happened...

Michael and I were taking pictures next to this bush when I felt a little pain below my knee on my right leg. I just assumed I had scratched my leg while we traipsed around the park and tried to ignore the pain. We finished taking the picture and I went back to retrieve something when someone said "watch out, it looks like there are some...." That's all I heard before I looked down and saw that I had bees or wasps (we're still not sure) all over me. My legs, my arms, my shirt, my feet, COVERED. So of course I started screaming. Dad kept saying "calm down, they don't bite" (as I feel one, two, three, four hundred pricks of pain) and I don't remember it well but I'm sure I looked like I was on fire with the way I was running around. Of course I start crying as I realize that I have been attacked by some horrid family whose nest I interrupted.

So ended the photo shoot.

We walked back to the car and the tears refuse to stop. 50% out of pain, 50% out of complete embarrassment that my future in-laws are seeing me so upset. I was hoping to make it at least a couple of years before they found out I have the pain tolerance of a 2-year-old. My parents and I drove home while Michael and his parents went to the store to buy some Benadryl. I continued to fret. There was never a grand count, but the bites were between 8-10. 5 on my left arm (including 1 on a knuckle!), at least 2 on my stomach, and another 2 on my leg. They all hurt SO BAD! Michael's dad made some paste with baking soda and water and mom nursed my wounds. Dad was also tormented by the BEEzlebub family and had several of his own bites to deal with.

So there you have it. The photo shoot from hell. I will no longer drive by that park with pleasant thoughts. In fact, I might avoid it altogether.

On a happier note, the Benadryl made me so out of it that I don't remember much else that happened on Saturday. The bites stopped hurting that evening and now just itch. I'm really wondering how this creature made it on Noah's boat--it is 100% useless as far as I'm concerned. The 6 of us had a nice time together and my parents got some great shots pre-attack. I'm already kicking myself for an earlier post where I asked "What are the chances of everything else going that well for the next 3 months?" ARGH! :)

A ridiculous quote: "Listen! O, listen! Here come the hum the golden bees, underneath full blossomed trees, At once with glowing fruit and flowers crowned." (Right. Go to hell golden bees.)

4 Seats Filled Around the Breakfast Table

Have you ever spent an entire weekend reminiscing? I was lucky enough to have that experience over the past several days. My brother flew to Tulsa on Friday and I introduced him to the delicious "honey-pepper bacon burger" at Baxters. Afterwards we picked up Thumbs and drove home to Fort Smith. It has been a long time since it was just the two of us and we had a great time catching up. He gave me some early marriage tips and I tried my best to listen and not interrupt. My first watery eye experience (among many this weekend) came as soon as we were greeted at the door by our parents. I realize I'm already an emotional sap with this wedding approaching, but the last time it was just the 4 of us was over 3 years ago. It was one of those moments where you breathe easier and know everything is going to be ok. We stayed up until after 1a sharing stories and laughing.

Saturday was spent visiting my mom's friends and perusing leftover wedding decorations. We picked up several items from both Susan Echols and Lynn Horn--it was very generous of them and I'm excited to use all that they let us borrow! We also went through 15 picture albums looking for pictures of me for the rehearsal dinner video. It's a little depressing seeing so many cute pictures of Justin and so few of me! I will always believe there IS such thing as an unattractive baby and I have my own baby pictures to show you if you don't believe me! :) Justin met up with some friends on Saturday night and together they went to their 10-year-reunion. I was very anxious to hear details since I will be planning my own class reunion in 3 years! Mom and I went through an old chest looking for my parent's unity candle and we ran across their wedding album. It was great to see them looking so happy and I KNOW the feeling they had of being so anxious to begin their lives together as husband and wife. I wonder if they had any idea on their wedding day that they would still be so happy 37 years later? I know I mentioned this on our "wedding website," but it's worth mentioning again: If Michael and I experience half the joy that my parents have shared together I will feel so fortunate! I was also able to look through my own baby book filled with stories of first steps and childhood prayers. I could tell I was a very happy baby.

Sunday morning was spent listening to stories from Justin's reunion--He didn't come home until after 4a! It was neat to hear about old friends from so long ago! Some had changed dramatically while others were the exact same (perhaps with less hair or a few kids, but still the same). :)

We set up the camera on Sunday afternoon and took some pictures of the 4 of us together. The next time we take a picture like that I will be wearing my wedding dress and my last name will no longer match theirs. I think we all knew how important it was to have this weekend to spend together and cherished it we did! Please understand that I am so excited about starting my new life with Michael and I have been wishing my life away for the past 8 months so I can be married to him, but when we said goodbye and did the Besancon family "group hug" I didn't want to let go. This weekend was my chance to re-live the past 25 years and prepare myself for the next 50. It was filled with sentiment and laughter and was the "closure" I needed of being my parent's single daughter and my brother's baby sister. I drove back to Tulsa with a smile on my face.

Double Digits!

And we're down to 99 days!!! I'm just a little excited... :)

Also--our wedding invitations arrived on Monday--they turned out great! What are the chances of everything else going that well for the next 3 months?

What Is That Thing In The Sky? Oh, It's The SUN!

What a fantastically marvelous weekend!!! For the first time in about 17 years, the sun made an appearance and stuck around for the entire weekend! I must admit, I was skeptical--I looked for any and all signs of inclement weather and it never showed up. I am one of those people who just FEELS better when the sun is out and doing its thing.

Friday night, Kait, Steve, Michael and I had a Mexican fiesta. What was going to be a low-key evening for Michael and I turned into a HUGE meal that we all took part in creating. I love that couple, I am going to miss our sporadic evenings when Kait and I are no longer roommates.

Saturday was spent lounging at the pool for 5, yes 5 hours. My skin turned a dark shade of red and I reveled in the burn. Anything to replace the pasty white skin that had been there before (yes, I know, skin cancer, blah blah blah). Some younger DGs were also at the pool so we had a great time catching up with them. Nothing is better than a story told by Ashley Smith. :)

Saturday night we rode the train. The Sushi Train. It was... ok. I had heard that it was competitive to In the Raw and I disagree immensely. I will say, Michael and I had 3 rolls there for the price of his favorite roll at In the Raw, so for a couple trying to save money (Michael and Meredith), it was a decent deal.

To finish up the weekend, the 4 of us went to church this morning and then I spent the rest of the afternoon reading the newspaper and Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope--I highly recommend it to anyone. Even you dad. I'm about to go to a birthday celebration at PF Chang for one of Michael's friends from work. Afterwards I will start preparing myself for a long week at work! Things have started moving pretty fast (getting ready for the "back to school" excitement already!) so I'm desperately trying to keep up.

And I'll leave you with this: "Anytime you hear someone say it's a win-win situation, they either don't know all the facts or they have a stuttering problem." -Aim Low (by Dave Dunseath) Great "pool read."

Nightmare on Denver Street

After I started planning our wedding, I was told about the "wedding nightmares" that were common to girls preparing for their big day. I was excited about this concept because I have always had some pretty crazy dreams and have been given the "gift" of remembering most of them. I recently started having these wedding nightmares and I figured I might record a few of them so (hopefully) after the wedding I can say "Whew! Thank God that was only a dream!"

A dream from a few nights ago: It's our wedding day and I have forgotten to make the makeup appointments for the girls. I'm frantically trying to find someone that can help. Then I realize, dun dun duuuuuun, I don't have a dress either. So I decide that I'm going to go for the casual look and wear a white skirt and white tank top. I know it will be a pretty ensemble. So I put on my "beach wear" and start wondering where my mom has been the whole day. She finally shows up mere minutes before the wedding and lets me know that she has been at the beauty shop all day getting her hair and makeup done. She looks at me, tells me I "look like shit" and then comments, "At least one of us is going to look good today." And then I wake up. WOW.

Last night's dream: It's the day of the wedding and I receive my flowers. They are HIDEOUS! My calla lilies are the color of some awful pink mess and the stems have all started breaking. The bridesmaids flowers are one single daisy each. I'm furious so I call the florist and they make all new arrangements. I put my dress on, which is a 2-piece short dress that has sparkly blue puffy sleeves (I'm not kidding) and shows about 3 inches of my stomach. What's so sad about this dream is that I don't freak out about this dress, I actually think I look uber hot. Now it's time for the wedding, but in order for me to get to my "place," I have to walk in front of the entire congregation so everyone sees me before the wedding. I take my new flowers (which are about 2 feet by 2 feet in size and resemble monkey grass) and hide behind them as I walk to my spot. My bridesmaids are waiting for me and I notice the processional group is massive. Turns out there is a parade nearby that is going to walk down the aisle and get the congregation "pumped" for my wedding. I tell the girls I'm not that excited about this idea and Leslie says, "Oh don't worry, I had them at my wedding and they were a huge hit." And then I wake up. WOW.

I need to stop eating so late before I go to bed. :)

The Only Things Missing Were Braces And Acne

This past weekend, Kaitlin, Stephen, Michael and myself drove to Arlington, Texas for a weekend of adolescent fun. Friday night we met up with Stephen's friend from college, Johnny, and his wife Lindsay. The 6 of us went to the Rangers vs. Astros game, which turned out to be a blast. Sammy Sosa hit his 601st homerun about 20 feet from us. There were 2 other homeruns hit during the game and one of those also landed in our area. It was pretty neat. We drank $6 beers (they were not covered in gold, I checked) and I even managed to get a wave from the Rangers right fielder. Afterwards, we split up from the other 4 and stayed the night at Michael's parents house. I went to sleep at 1:30a but woke up at 7:30a with the biggest grin on my face. It was the day I had been looking forward to for so long: SIX FLAGS! We met the other 4 at the park right when it opened and spent the next 7 hours riding roller coasters. Not to be a penny pincher.... but Six Flags is officially ridiculous. To park your car it costs $15; tickets to the theme park are $47 each (luckily we were given comp tickets so we didn't pay a thing). While both prices are absurd, my main problem was with lunch. I had a cheeseburger, Michael had chicken strips and we shared a coke for a total price of $25.00. AHHHHHH!!!! "I remember when I was a kid and it cost $1 for a decent hamburger. I also walked to school every day, uphill both ways."

Enough ranting on Six Flags--we had a great time and left the park exhausted. Michael and I had dinner with his parents and our friends Karen and Myers, and I was asleep by 10p. A little depressing that a theme park kicked my ass. The next morning we had breakfast with Michael's parents, picked up Kait and Steve, shopped at Northpark Mall for a bit, and then drove home. It was a great trip with great friends. Perhaps we can have a Rangers/Six Flags reunion in the future but we might wait a few years. Long lines in hot weather is not something you want to do every day.

In other news, Karen and Myers told us they are going to throw us a couples wedding shower in Coppell on August 18. We're really excited and very grateful. It will be neat to meet several of the Coppell families before the big day. Michael is SO excited about meeting the Fort Smith group the following weekend for another wedding shower. Haha. I don't understand why being in a room with 75 women is such a problem for him! :)

We are at 116 days!! I looked ahead and realized July 13 will be 99 days. I do believe that will call for a celebration!!

It's Official!

We received our first wedding gift yesterday!! It's sitting in my parent's house just waiting to be opened. ARGH!

Sleeping With My Eyes Open

It is Tuesday morning and I am in quite the robotic state. It has been a crazy past few days, and while I wouldn't change any of it, the lack of sleep is pretty overwhelming. Over the weekend, I drove with Kaitlin and Aubrey to the lovely city of Kansas City, MO. The reason? My bachelorette party! Friends came from all over the country to share this special weekend with me. Those in attendance: Kaitlin, Julie, Leslie, Emily, Summer, Melissa, Karen, Cari, Aubrey, Jamie, and Sara. I had an absolute blast and I think the others had a great time as well. Putting 12 girls in a small space for 48 hours could have been a tragic site, but everyone got along and enjoyed each other's company. Friday night we picked up several girls from the airport and spent the night at Summer's new house. After several bottles of wine and 4 bags of popcorn, we called it a night. Saturday was spent shopping on the Plaza and then everyone came back to the hotel for the shower at 5:30p. It was so much fun--I've always been a big fan of lingerie so this was my dream shower. Who needs pots and pans when you can get matching unds?! :) We had dinner at Brio and then out on the town to several bars. The first bar, Blonde, was straight out of LA. They had several bouncers at the front and the red velvet rope keeping people out. After thinking about it for far too long, they finally let the 12 of us in. RUDE! We had a good time and I ended up on the stripper pole at one point. Let me explain something: I was not drunk and my "dancing" included hanging on the pole and smiling at my friends. It was peer pressure of the best kind and there are some great pictures from this event. I will say, I was completely sober and appropriate, but if I ever had any desire to run for president, I have ruined all chances--the pictures definitely don't scream "sober" even if that was truly the case. Afterwards we headed to another bar (can never remember the name) and after several hours ended our evening there. I had such a blast with these girls! It was so neat to see friends from every part of my life (child, high school, college, post-college) and see them get along with one another so well. There were several moments this weekend where I had fun memories with each of the girls flash through my mind. I'm glad I have this fantastic weekend to log away as well--it will not be forgotten.

I only have 2 negative things to say about the weekend. The first was the drive home. Not only were we all pretty tired, but the drive was less than thrilling. We had lunch in Iola, Kansas and I can't think of one nice thing to say about the town. I guess it's impressive that a 4-letter word has 3 vowels. That's about it. The other is that I missed Father's Day with my dad. :(

Several months ago after we chose this weekend for my bachelorette party, I decided I was going to go home on Monday (yesterday) to surprise my parents for Father's Day (Sunday) and for my mom's birthday (today). I left work early yesterday, picked up a cake in Ft. Smith, and definitely surprised them! I hope it was a good one--it was so great to see them and be back in AR, even for one night. I woke up early this morning and was on the road by 6:30a.

So now you might understand why I am at work and able to sleep with my eyes open. I've had a few co-workers come in and say hi and I believe each of them has been greeted with a wave and a yawn (oops).

If the only repercussion of this fantastic weekend is a bit of drowsiness, I believe I can consider it a great success. I'll take the yawns any day if it means having all of my best friends together in one place and being able to spend Fathers Day and mom's birthday with both of my parents. That's what vitamins are for, right?! :)

I'm A Blogger!

Hello all. I'm not sure how long this will last--my record for journals/diaries is 2 weeks. But, this is such an important time in my life that I thought a blog would be perfect. I have several friends who have a blog to showcase their ever-growing belly or their ever-growing children. Seeing that I do not have children (can't say the same about the ever-growing belly, thank you metabolism for halting), I guess the pictures will just be from weekend festivities where a camera was invited.

I am SO excited about the next 4 months. I remember getting excited when the countdown reached 299 days, and now it is at 130. I hibernated with wedding planning for about 5 months and now my type-A personality has reared its OCD head and I'm back in action. We sent out the save-the-date cards last week and are ordering the invitations tomorrow. Mom kindly let me know that once the invites are ordered there is no turning back. Thank you mom. :) All joking aside, she has been a fabulous wedding planner and I would be going crazy without her.

Michael has been the perfect fiance throughout the engagement. He has been a part of every decision, even if the conversation goes something like this...

Me: What do you think about these invites?
Him: They are nice, what other options are you considering?
Me: That is not important. Pretty sure we're using these.
Him: OK.

What a great guy!! :)

My bachelorette party is this weekend in Kansas City and I am so excited to see my friends! They are coming in from all over the country, which I never expected could happen! Last time I was in Kansas City I ended up on stage with a band and a tambourine. I'm hoping for a second go at that because the tambourine has become one of my favorite instruments. :)

Alright, I'll wrap this up for today. Have a good one!