wednesday night
we went to our zuzda's meeting, where the guy tried to tell us we were not going to do a tapas-style dinner, but that he was just going to prepare something... we said no. he said yes. we said no. we won. modified menu, but got it changed. also, we tried to find the rioja wine we had last time and found out that we'd accidentally been served the $56/bottle wine rather than the $24/bottle that we'd ordered. fun that we got to taste the good wine, sad that we can't afford to have it at the rehearsal dinner now that it's extremely pricey! we came home, i tried to be cheerful though i was upset that page cancelled on the harp-playing for us, but was happy when my brother agreed to play the piano at the last minute.
thursday
after work, i investigated several boarding locations for the dogs. one sounded really good, large runs, outdoor play area, etc... but i showed up and it was a scary guy's backyard operation where the "grassy area for playing" was a gravel walkway in between the two rows of kennels. so i vetoed that one and proceeded to the snobby vet's office. they had pretty small runs, esp for two big dogs to share, but a nice large play-area and an extremely nice kennel manager guy (not sure if he is actually the manager, but he works there a lot). we decided this would work for the weekend, and we'd re-evaluate about the honeymoon week when we got back. they ended up doing a good job, but were booked for our honeymoon week, so we have scheduled the dogs for boarding at the place andrew investigated, which despite the concrete-slab turn out area, seems very nice and has good reviews. we didn't meet with anyone wedding-wise, but the kennel hunting was enough for the nigh. we had dinner at pepper's, which was good, and then we came home to relax. andrew watched tv, and i worked on our wedding program in illustrator. it's pretty straightforward, nothing fancy, but i like it.
friday
last day of work for two weeks! boy, could i ever not concentrate! i kept trying to work but kept zoning out. but i got paid for the week, and that is good. i had gotten up very early to take the dogs into the vet for boarding, got to work early, went home for lunch (since i left it in the commotion of the two-dog wrangling at 7am), and rushed home from work to leave nice and early. i wanted to get going so we could go to the 7:30 football game at my highschool. i packed up and skipped the shower i should have taken in anticipation of andrew's arrival. however, he worked later than expected, and by the time he got home it wasn't worth rushing. we took our time and got into durham around 10:30. we had originally planned to meet up with marc and lora, but by the time we got in town, it was late, we were tired and hungry, and they were tired too... so we just decided to go to pf chang's for a really late dinner. it was good food and EXCELLENT cheesecake. my new favorite! it is fresh and creamy and comes with a lot of nice fruit and raspberry drizzle on the plate. definitely the highlight of the night. we went back to my parents' place and tucked in.
saturday
was filled with errand running (none of which got done!) in the morning, then lunch with arun, mark doliner, my brother, melissa, rachel, mike, mackenzie, and tommy at the village draft house. this was the beginning of andrew's "bachelor party" but it was the co-ed part. interesting, i know. then andrew, matthew, arun, and mark went bowling while melissa and i went shopping again! yay for shopping... kind of. it was still a rather fruitless trip, as i was trying to get andrew a wedding-day present, and the thing i found in the store in crabtree was messed up, so i had to go get it from southpoint, and we were trying to find me a rehearsal dinner dress, and still have yet to do that! but we did find a cute shirt, control-top "hosery" for the wedding day, and a new bra (cause, who doesn't love a new bra?). then we rushed back to melissa's, where i had quite the hair-emergency, and we were the last ones to arrive to my bachelorette party (sorry guys!).
the bachelorette party! (yeah, it gets its own sub-category)
melissa and i arrived to the melting pot to meet up with jessi, kim, lora, cindi, christin, sarah, carrie, and eventually lindsay. christin just made a fleeting appearance and had to go back to roanoke rapids, but it was good to see her briefly. we sat down at a rather strange, partially divided table that made it difficult to talk much to cindi, sarah, or carrie, but other than that, it was ok. i opened presents, which ranged from a sexy neglige to some raunchy penis paraphernalia, and we all laughed a lot. we had a multi-course fondue, complete with bread and cheese with apples, salads, assorted meats (including steak and lobster!), veggis, and a dark-chocolate raspberry fondue. it was a lot of fun, even though the waiter was pretty lame. the bills were pretty high though, and i remember why i don't go to the melting pot all that much.
then the group broke off, and the core of the party headed to the longbranch for some dancing, karaoke singing, bull-riding fun! the remainders were kim, jessi, lora, melissa, and me. the karaoke part had been redone, so it was a new and different experience, and the whole place was really empty for a saturday night, but we always enjoy the bull-riding. the machine operator threw jessi off, which was pretty funny since she almost never falls (but she was riding in a skirt, so i'm sure that didn't help), and kim rode excellently for a second time, i had a fun ride, and we got lora to try it out! though hesitant, she had a good time (minus chafing - don't ride bull in short-shorts!), and melissa was the diligent photographer. we also went to the booty-shakin' side for some bachelorette dares (none of which were completed due to lame guys), complete with pole dancing. three cosmos, four shots, and a busted toe-nail later, we closed down the bar just in time to witness the obligatory parking lot brawl before the group broke off again. jess and lora headed home, while kim, meliss, and i went to kim's for the night. i enjoyed jeremy's california king size bed all to myself, and though i did not get sick that night, had quite the headache in the morning. that's ok though, it was definitely worth it. 
andrew's bachelor party took him from bowling to dinner at the rockford, followed by drinks at the flying saucer. i hear he did not quite handle his alcohol, as he paid a visit to the porcelain gods at byron's house that night. hehehe, i can drink my man under the table :-P probably mostly due to the fact that i eat about triple the amount of food he does!
sunday
sunday melissa dropped me and my armfuls of bags off at caribou where andrew met and picked me up. we went back to my parents' house for a little, and then i took the car to carrie's bridal shower while andrew hung out with my family. i definitely kicked butt at the clothes-pin game at the shower, but had to leave early to get to my aunt and uncle's house in north raleigh for dinner. i met up with andrew, my mom, and my brother there and we hung out for a little. it was ok but the food was mediocre and we didn't get to see some of the people i was really hoping to get to spend time with. andrew and i ducked out early and met up with jessi and norman over in hillsboro. we hung out and chatted and enjoyed jessi's homemade strawberry short cake (delish) before tucking in for the night.
monday
in the morning, norman had headed off to his first day of classes, so jess, andrew, and i headed to durham, had coffee and breuggers, and went to the paper shop jessi told me about in search for the perfect program paper. unfortunately, they are closed on mondays, so we had to delay the search yet again. andrew and i headed to the mall for more shopping (had to get presents for the parents - andrew made the comment "aren't people supposed to be buying us presents??" i thought it was pretty funny). mark doliner met up with us for a little, and then we headed out to raleigh to meet lynn for dinner/re-doing andrew's haircut. the haircut was approved with two thumbs up from me, and then we had a wonderfully fresh tuna-steak dinner complete with fresh fruit, veggis, and some really good 9-grain bread. we discussed the many different numbers of grain and the sadness of not being able to find good fresh food in boone. then we left, later than intended and met up with lora, marc, emily, mark, and gabe for climbing at the vertical edge. i still prefer real rock to the gym climbing, and tend to get frustrated when routes are just an inch or so too tall for me to be able to reach, since on real rock there are many more options than just what some guy lays out. but i am definitely much stronger with my upper body than i used to be and once i warmed up, was able to do much better than i have before. i never give myself enough time to warm up, and then i get mad when i can't do something i did last time, forgetting that i was actually warm by the time i attempted stuff. but i learned how to use an intermediate hold to get up to something i otherwise couldn't reach or jump to, and i did a route andrew was befuddled on how to navigate, (which he later made look easy) so it was good. we left a lot later than everyone else, since we arrived late and wanted to take full advantage of our money's worth, and headed to marc and lora's to change. unfortunately, i got a ticket for "not stopping at a stopsign" THAT I STOPPED AT and waited for someone to turn in front of me before going!... but apparently in wake county that doesn't matter... so we were really late but marc was kind enough to wait for us. then we got to the blue martini, but by the time we got there, byron and jackie were ready to go, and the waitress was so bad we didn't actually get any drinks. i tried to be cheery, but i was pretty upset. i cried most of the way home, and my eyes were almost swollen shut when we woke up tuesday morning.
tuesday
we left bright and early for my dress appt in boone at 11. but at about 9:30 got a call from donna (the seamstress) asking to postpone it until the afternoon. we took advantage of this time to stop by 3 more paper stores, none of which had what we wanted, and shopped at hanes mall for yet a few more family presents. we hit the road and got back right in time for the appointment. while i was being fitted (again), andrew picked up the dogs from the boarding facility. apparently lillie ate a squeeky toy; however, i did not bring her a squeeky toy, so i'm wondering how she got it. they also threw out our bones, which really ticked me off, but what can you do. then we met with the photographer, dropped our stuff off at home, had dinner at black cat, and came back and crashed. i fell asleep at like 9 and could NOT get up for the life of me.
...
so yesterday was the day of running around crazy. we went to panera for breakfast and coffee, then to wal-mart, then to blowing rock, then to precision printing, then to did someone say party?, then to the church, then to the bank, then to two art stores across town from eachother, then to a framing store, then back to wal-mart, then to blowing rock again, then to lowes, then to wendy's for lunch, then back home. we got everything we could but the wedding favors still won't print in the printer correctly, we still have to pick up the programs (and put them together), we need to go back to blowing rock after two today for the flower girl basket, and we have to meet with the seamstress again to make sure that andrew's tux fits, melissa's dress fits, and my bustle is right.
stuff that's still not completed:
guard for parking lot
someone to run sound board for wedding - edit: donna just volunteered to do this - yay!
transportation of stuff from place to place
finish flower girl basket and ring bearer pillow
packing for wedding hotel
packing for honeymoon
pay people!
whoo. that's a lot of stuff. and i totally should have been working instead of blogging, but i needed a break!
until later...
peace out!
probably signing off for the last time as Emily Erin Welch... sad.
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