How do people do this?

That would be the question D and I have been asking each other these past few weeks. How do people juggle demanding jobs, plan a wedding, buy a house and not kill each other? D's work has gotten particularly hectic lately and we're four months away from our big day. Oh and every single other person within a 30 mile radius of Austin, TX is trying to buy their first home and we all have the same budget. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that we're in a position to buy a home especially while interest rates are so low, but this process is making me crazy.

Every single home we drive by or go into (pictured above) has something majorly wrong with it or someone beats us to the punch and snatches it up before we have a chance to put in an offer. In case anyone's wondering, all of the above houses have some or all of the following problems:

• It's already under contract.
• Someone outbid us.
  
• It's in a really scary neighborhood.
• The surrounding houses are in trashy awful disrepair.
• The foundation is heaving, sloping, cracking or otherwise sinking into the earth (most common problem).
• It's too small.
• It has no yard.
  
• It has aluminum wiring.
• It requires more work than we can afford to do.
• It's downwind from a landfill.
• It was built during the eighties.
• It's in a subdivision that reminds us both of Children of the Corn.
• It's in a subdivision where there are no trees taller than the houses.
  

What I'm having the most difficult time with is all the emotional ups and downs. Our Realtor tells us to sit in a house we like and imagine ourselves there....to see if we fit. So we do that. We drive by to see if we like the neighborhood, we look at the pictures over and over to imagine where our furniture will be. We imagine family dinners and where the Christmas tree would go. Then we go in the house and find that it's slowly sliding downhill and we have to scratch it off our list and mourn the loss of this theoretically perfect home. Rinse and repeat. Our realtor insists that it's just a waiting game and the perfect house is still out there, just waiting to go on the market...but we're starting to feel a little beat up by this process and we're taking it out on each other. How do people do this?

June

The world has been a busy place this June. D's little-est sister graduated from high school as the valedictorian. She quoted Emerson in her speech and made us all cry. D's family had quite a graduation party for her, but my all time favorite part was sitting on their back porch. I could spend hours on that porch drinking coffee and talking to D's mom about crocheting. The view is amazing.



My birthday came and went. I feel like I've spent the last year making the transition from adult to grown up and now, at 28, I don't feel like such an impostor. We had a nice quiet dinner with friends followed by amazing chocolate goodness from Central Market. D's middle little sister showed up at my school with flowers from her and D since D couldn't get away from work. I decided a long time ago that I wanted zinnias for the wedding. And the beautiful bouquet on my desk confirmed that.



We went camping the weekend after my birthday. It was beautiful and hot. We spent the weekend alternating between hiking and sitting in very small waterfalls reading. We ate the requisite hot dogs and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed our lack of cell phone service and Netflix.



The wedding is just over 4 months away and my current project is organza and tulle flowers for mom corsages and hair decor. It was a bit of a challenge finding fall colors at the beginning of the summer, and I keep burning myself...but otherwise I absolutely love the way they're turning out. I'm finishing them with seed beads and vintage buttons. And the kitten keeps trying really hard to run off with my scraps.

We've started spending all our evenings and weekends house hunting. Houses in our price range move incredibly quickly so we keep finding that perfect house and a moment later it goes under contract. Fortunately there's a lot on the market and our Realtor, Abbe Waldman, is amazing. I can't wait to post pictures of the elusive new home...once we find it.

Sweet and Bitter

As sad as it is to see one more state uphold it's ban on same-sex marriages, I'm relieved and comforted to know that my friends and peers who are part of that 18,000 are still married. Until the rest of the country comes to it's senses we'll just protect ourselves legally as best we can and keep trusting in the support of our friends and family. We've received unexpected support from colleagues, family and old family friends and those family members who were less than accepting seem to be slowly coming around.

D and I offer no apologies to those who disagree with our lifestyle. We'll continue living like any other engaged couple staying up until the wee hours making invitations, agonizing over the idea of pre-wedding diets and looking for a new house.

Honeymoon!

In true practical fashion, we will be combining our honeymoon with a professional conference. We'll spend a few days running around the D.C. area being touristy and visiting old buddies from my Maryland days then I'll spend 4 days at a conference while D takes in the museums. And the best part, my school will pay for my flight and our hotel during the conference. We've been talking about going to D.C. for a while so this presents the perfect opportunity to get away in the most cost effective way possible. We're thrilled! Now to find the perfect hotel...

Rings

I've known for years that I would inherit my Grandmother's wedding set once my time came. What I didn't know, was whether I'd wear it as is or have the diamonds reset. Once D and I were officially engaged I retrieved the rings from my parents. My Grandmother's rings were actually in their second incarnation. The original set was very small and simple and all white gold with the date 1937 engraved on the inside. In the mid-sixties or seventies, once the kids were grown and my grandparents were doing well financially my Granddaddy had the rings remade. The new set was gorgeous but much larger and flashier and lost much of it's 1930's deco charm. Grandmother never liked it and once my Granddaddy died she put the central diamond into a plain gold solitaire setting that she wore until she died. Now the diamonds are ours.

We worked with goldsmith Steve Kriechbaum who created a lovely set of rings incorporating Grandmother's diamonds into both our rings along with recycling the gold from both my Grandmother's ring sets (I kept the original set with their initials and the date engraved -- too much history to melt them down). The three diamonds set in the wedding bands represent Orion's Belt which served to connect us during the years we were apart. I love knowing I'll wear these rings every day for the rest of my life.

meet Zipper

She literally showed up on our front porch 3 Mondays ago and has since clawed, chewed, furred and licked her way into our hearts. I've been begging for a kitten for months, but we'd decided to wait until we moved. Zipper had other ideas. She is Betsy the dog's new best friend, though I think the incessant attacking and ankle chomping is wearing Betsy out. She is Spud the cat's new arch nemesis. Zipper isn't even the slightest bit scared of the Spud and chases her around the house despite being hissed at.

When Zipp isn't gnawing on our ankles or fingers or elbows her favorite place is curled up with us on the couch. I love her even if she is sharp and pointy.

button-ierres

We're back in planning mode now that we're almost exactly 6 months away from the big day. In the last couple weeks I've ordered the save the dates (yay for 50% off on Overnightprints!) and addressed most of them, ordered the envelopes for the invitations and made the boutonnieres. D has started working on the music list (hopefully it won't all end up being game-boy derived). Oh, and last weekend we went to City Wide Garage Sale with my mom and found a bunch of $2 vintage table cloths. Most of them are a bit stained, but hopefully nothing a little Biz can't fix.

I made boutonnieres for Diana and Al (who is our unofficial officiant) as well as D's Dad and Papa. We're not at all sure whether either of them will chose to come, but I'm certainly going to be prepared. I also made two little boutonnieres with pin-backs for Ronan and Cooper - our flower boys. The boutonierres may not be the most original, but I think they really suit our wedding and the colors are perfect for fall. The buttons are a mix of old vintage buttons that I've been playing with and sorting since childhood, and new buttons I've acquired over the years.

It's so exciting feeling like we're really getting ready to make this happen.



I'll post pictures of the Save the Dates once I know anyone who reads this blog has received theirs, I don't want to ruin the fun.