Big Trip Diary: Athens

Because I had a kidney transplant, Ben and I had to post-pone our honeymoon.  Instead of jet-setting immediately after our wedding, we ended up going to Greece for ten days in May.

I'm sharing a few pictures and our daily observations from this amazing trip!

Well, Athens is definitely a city. According to our driver, Jim, who picked us up from the airport once we arrived, some five million people live in the country's capital city. And you can tell. There are lots of narrow streets lined with residences stacked on top of each other like Lego blocks without any space between. Among the buildings,graffiti-decorated walls, honking cars and exhaust, stand rows and rows of orange trees, which Jim says we'd will find throughout Greece. But they are not for picking, and can only be consumed happily with tons of sugar due to the sour taste.

Athens is surrounded by mountains. And I learned that the Greek pronunciation of Athens is Athina, like the ancient goddess Athena.

Upon arriving in our hotel Ben and I slept for three hours, to make up somehow for being awake for 23 hours in a row while in transit. We went to a recommended restaurant, Hermion, located in the plaka, also considered the "old town" historic section of Athens, about a ten minute walk from our hotel. We ate lamb with olive oil and oregano, Greek style meatballs and rice, and lots of delicious bread with olive oil.  Buckets of olive oil on this trip. 

Dinner at Hermion

It was kind of difficult to navigate our way back to our hotel, because the plaka's streets are really like a maze of alleyways and one way driving lanes.  So it was inevitable for us to get lost in what Ben called, "Graffiti garbage town.  The plaka sits just below the Acropolis.  And even at 9:30 at night the cobblestone streets are filled with people, either shopping (at one of seemingly 9000 shoe stores), drinking coffee, eating pastries, drinking wine, or yelling. It's streets are also crowded with piles of trash, which is not one of the best things about Athens.

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Wednesday morning in Athens started out unexpectedly early. Despite going to sleep at 11PM, we woke up at 3 AM, 3.5 hours before our alarm was scheduled to go off. In an attempt to prevent a severe crash after breakfast, we tried to force ourselves back to sleep.  We managed to sleep for another hour and a half before resigning to the fact that we were wide awake, and there was no changing that. We played on our tablet, talked, cuddled, Ben started a words with friends game. Then we exercised and prepared for breakfast. We were among three couples in the breakfast room at 6:35 a.m., five minutes after service began.

 

Our plans for the day were to participate in a four-hour tour of Athens and its number one attraction, the Parthenon. But first we visited the first modern Olympic stadium, built in 1896. Then it was off to the acropolis and the Parthenon. Our tour guide really could have come straight out of the History Channel.  She really knew her stuff. And the Parthenon is just incredibly awesome to look at, but its story is even more in amazing. It's survived 25 centuries, built with the hands of slaves to honor the city's patron goddess, Athena. Athena's gift to the city was an olive tree, which explains a lot about the cuisine and its popular condiment.Following our tour we took a brief visit to the temple of Zeus. 

We arrived back at our hotel in the afternoon, and ended up taking a four-hour nap to go with our four-hour tour.  The nap was not planned. We woke up, worried about the effects our nap would have on our jet lag, but we ended up getting ready for dinner at the infamous Strofi anyway.

Strofi is special in that it's situated just below the Acropolis, so it provides excellent views of the lit up Parthenon at night. We tried fried feta cheese, fried in filo dough, topped with sesame and honey, which was delicious. Then Ben feasted on kid goat baked in parchment paper while I ate pork with lemon to go.  We washed everything down with a bottle of wine that I accidentally mistook for $30 instead of it's true value, 30 Euro. We unexpectedly spent 100 bucks on dinner, and I failed in my attempt to eat vegetables, which I hadn't eaten since we landed in Greece. After dinner we stumbled back to our hotel, mildly drunk.

Fascinating Discoveries: 

• If Athena is the patron god of Athens, then SNAPS are the patron cookie of Greece.
• You're never more than a stones throw from a ruin, or a police officer in riot gear. 
• The war between the stray cats and the dogs in Athens is alive ad well.  The stray cats rule the plaka, while the dogs run the Acropolis.
• If Ben and I lived in Athens, there's a good chance one of us would not have jobs. One in two Greeks under 35 years old are unemployed.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

OK, just to get it all out in the open:  I'm a spoiled brat.  I grew up in a family where my dad's job in the military made it so we moved every couple of years and my dad received a decent amount of annual vacation.  So basically, we always took a family vacation during the summers, a couple weeks after school let out.  I think I can remember maybe one year that we didn't go on any sort of trip, even a brief one.  My "vacation upbringing" plays a big role in why I am the way I am.  

a tiny plane

Since I started working at my job, when I received my first 10-day allotment of annual leave, I set my sights on using that leave for vacations and trips as often as possible.  So it's not a surprise that I saved up a good chunk of annual leave and a medium chunk of money for our planned honeymoon to Greece, originally scheduled for June 2013. 

Honeymoon starts now

The TV commercials tell us that a couple has a wedding, they say the vows, exchange the rings, dance the dance, and shake the hands, go back to their hotel room and wake up the next morning ready to jet off to the tropical destination that is their honeymoon.  What's funny is that during the course of planning our wedding, I learned that that's not a reality for most couples that get married, young and old.  People told us they had to postpone their honeymoon for money reasons, lack of time, they were closing on their house, they had a kid, or that they just plain wanted to go later.  When the hospital scheduled my kidney transplant for May 3, I knew I was going to be in that club of people who didn't leave for their honeymoon right after the champagne toast, being that our honeymoon was scheduled to take place about a month and a half after my surgery.

I was a little sad about it.  OK...I cried while I was at work....in the hallway.  Someone had to hug me.  I knew people would ask how was the honeymoon or when I was leaving for the honeymoon.  The only answers they would get were "we haven't gone yet" and "next year."  In fact, one time after the wedding, someone said that "I needed to go on my honeymoon."  I responded that I needed to get a kidney transplant instead.   That shut 'em up real fast. 

Greek Beach Days

To be fair though, Ben and I had two mini-moons (or the micro-moon and the mini-moon).  One was at our favorite inn in Virginia and the other was in Sedona and the Grand Canyon.  So, it's not like we were trip-deprived or anything.  But having those two scaled back trips helped us quickly get over the pain of not spending the summer in Greece. And ultimately, postponing our honeymoon gave us something really exciting to look forward to.  

Because we'd essentially been planning our honeymoon for almost two years, this trip had built up a TON of hype in our minds.  We had no choice but to have fun because we'd been waiting for this moment for quite a long while.  Thankfully, Greece exceeded our incredibly high expectations for our honeymoon.  

Now, that I'm back to blogging regularly stay tuned for a bunch of in-depth posts about our trip, more transplant-related stuff (including what it means to work out without any blood cells!) and just the general shenanigans of my life.  

Let me know how your May has been dear readers.

We Got Married: Could, woulda, shoulda

I've mentioned before that I didn't hire a wedding planner.  Ben and I planned our wedding completely on our own, partly because we had a really tight budget, and also because we've known people who have planned incredibly beautiful weddings without professional help.  I've recounted the many trials I had trying to make decisions, get things done, and stay within my budget and also the many victories that we celebrated during the planning process and on the wedding day.  But you know what...I'll be honest, not EVERYTHING was perfect.

FACT:  the most important part, and BEST PART, of the wedding day was actually marrying Ben and saying our vows to each other in front of all the people we love and care about.

FACT:  many of the details that were at our wedding most likely faded out of many of our guests' memories as soon as the sun rose on the day after our big party.

FACT:  I am one of those brides who says "not everything was perfect," and that's OK.  

I've had about eight months to think about it and look at pictures over and over again, and I can now think back on my wedding day and really look what I would have done differently had I known better.  Now, I don't want to get too critical.  I'm just going to point out the main things, the ones that have stuck in my mind since the wedding ended, and even since before the wedding happened.

Looking back, I coulda, woulda, shoulda:

• put more thought into what I wanted the ceremony programs to look like.  My family and I hand made them, and Ben wrote "Ben and Jewel's" wedding on them. And that's what we passed out.  This is really a tiny issue because honestly, I don't think anyone cared.  I barely even care.  But when I think about what I could have done, this is the first thing that comes to my mind.
• started saving for my wedding earlier.  Overall, I'm really happy with the amount of money we spent on our wedding.  At the end of the day, Ben and I spent 15 percent less than the average cost of a DC wedding for 100 people AND we paid for 180 guests.  We paid for half our wedding out of our own pockets. Which apparently is still rare?  Apparently, people still take that whole "the bride's family pays" thing to heart.  Which, in my opinion, doesn't make any sense.  But anyways, the point is, our wedding wasn't expensive by comparison.  But, it would have been nice to pay for our wedding, and  still have some money left over to start saving for another big purchase, like a house.  We've had to start from square one on that. 
• started my DIY projects earlier.  I didn't have many but the few that I did have, I felt like I was rushing to get them done.  During wedding planning, there were a few times where it felt like there was nothing to accomplish really, mostly in the early stages.  Those would have been great times to get a head start on some crafting/printing items, instead of going batS&#t crazy during the last three weeks leading up to the day.
• purchased Ben's suit at a different retailer.  While the final product came out great, I feel like we could have alleviated some of the stress of getting Ben into the perfect suit by just finding another store/designer who could have given us exactly what we wanted exactly when we asked for it, even if it meant paying more money for something a little more high end.
• overrode Ben's choice for the last dance song (The Reason, by Hoobastank).  
• ordered more bouts.  I think I was short about one or two for the men!
• vetted some of my vendors a bit more before hiring them.  Sometimes, my desire to just get things done hinders my ability to determine if something or someone is really the right fit for me.
• ordered a wedding album with my photography package.  Now that I have my wedding pictures, I really just wish I could look at them in a book.  And looking back, why didn't I just order the album?  Yes, there is the sticker shock that comes with comparing the prices of a photography package with an album and one with out.  And during planning I felt like I just couldn't commit any more dollars to that area of the wedding.  But when you factor in the overall cost of everything, is an extra grand really that big of a deal?  I should have figured out a way to shrink costs in other places, even though I really did have the bare minimum in just about every category.

So there you have it.  Those are the top things that I regret/want a do-over on/would change if I could go back in time.  The next wedding I have will hopefully be a vow renewal, and of course not nearly as big.  In fact, it'll probably be in Disney World actually. So maybe I won't have to deal with any of these issues. 

OK enough about regrets.  To end this series on a happy note,  

5 things I would not change about my wedding day and the planning experience:

1. The number of people I invited.  I complained throughout about the cost of having a big wedding, but in the end, it was awesome and fun. I'm a fan of big weddings.
2. The length of time for the open bar.  I thought people would think we were lame for closing the bar during dinner and then opening it up again, then closing it an hour before the reception was over.  It actually worked out fine. I didn't hear any complaints from people.
3. The amount we spent on flowers.  BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED:  real, live flowers are EXPENSIVE.  EX-PENSIVE.  I'm glad I stuck to my guns and my budget, and most importantly found a really great flower vendor to work with.  That goes a loooong way.
4. Choosing to skip fancy transportation.  We saved so much money by just having everyone drive themselves.  
5. Not hiring a wedding videographer.  While planning my wedding, I'd read a couple things about people really regretting their decision to not hire a wedding videographer. Ben's and my budget, didn't allow us the luxury of hiring one.  And this made me sad.  So I prepared myself for the regret and the disappointment in the months following our wedding, when I'd kick myself over and over again for not biting the bullet and blowing some more savings to get a fancy schmancy wedding video.  Well, Ben and I have been married for eight months now. And guess what, I haven't even thought about having a wedding video until now, as I'm writing this blog post. And I'm not even sure I care.  In the past eight months, I have never said "Oh, I wish I could watch a video of my wedding."  

And that's all folks.  I am officially closing the chapter on documenting my wedding.  I just want to say that I love you readers so much.  Thanks for going on this journey with me and letting me talk about "first world problems" like dessert bars and color palettes.  Unless any of you send me specific questions about aspects of my wedding, you probably won't see another post on the big day.  And I'm OK with that. I've realized that my wedding was definitely a great day, up there with some of my best days.  The good news is that since that day ended, I've had several other "best days" come to pass.  And I'm thankful for that.  The wedding is just one day.  A marriage is forever.  And so far, "forever" is pretty awesome.

 

Mini-Moon Time and a Blog-cation

My vacation starts tomorrow.  Oh gosh, you have no idea how excited I am.  I don't know why but I am one of those people who is just absurdly obsessed with taking vacations and traveling somewhere for them.  You won't catch me doing a stay-cation.  Vacations are supposed to be a break from the norm.  And you're probably saying, "Jewel...don't all people like vacations."  And the answer is...no.  I KNOW people who do not take vacations.  I know some people who haven't taken a vacation, ever, despite having the means to.  I know people who have so much vacation time saved up because they never take vacations, that you would probably want to strangle them if you thought that meant they'd give you their vacation time.  

I am not one of those people. I blame my parents.  My dad was in the military and every summer we took a vacation.  Not just a "school's out let's goof around at home" vacation.  We were blessed enough to travel places, mostly because we were moving so it just made sense to go to Disney World while we move.  And Ben's family was kind of the same way.  They drove across the country for many years, stopping at different places and doing all sorts of fun things.  Growing up with a yearly vacation really warped my sense of reality.  When I first started working, I think within the first month, I sent an email to my friends, alerting them of a group vacation.  The first vacation we would take after I'd graduated and had a grown people job.  We went to good ol' San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The first vacation I took was over a long weekend; it was essentially four days long.  I had just started working and I didn't have that much vacation time but by golly, I was going on a vacation.  Upon returning from Puerto Rico, I was hellbent on planning another vacation.  This one had to bigger.  It had to be better.  It had to be Maui.  I told Ben we were going to Maui.  He said OK. And we went.  That's what I love about Ben. He's not much for planning vacations, but he's always down to go on one.  We make a great pair.  

Later that year (2011) we moved in together.  I knew funds would be tight for a number of reasons.  We were paying a much higher rent for living inside the beltway, closer to Washington, D.C.  And I was secretly hoping/thinking that we wouldn't have enough money to go on a vacation in 2012 because Ben was planning to propose.  Rings ain't cheap!  So when I asked him if he thought a trip to Costa Rica in Spring 2012 would work, I naturally thought he'd be hesitant, because, after all, he was going to propose.  Wrong.  Without blinking an eye, he said "Sure.  Costa Rica sounds great." I should have been happy but I was fuming.  I thought Ben would have said no to a Costa Rica trip if he was really planning to propose.  Little did I know that Ben was planning a surprise, secret proposal.  Like most men should be.  And that was all part of his little game.   We got engaged March 2012, and my Costa Rica plans were scratched because we had a wedding to pay for.  But all was not lost!  We took another 4-5 day vacation in May to Miami to attend my grandparents' vow renewal.  

Which brings us to 2013.  Kidney transplants really do cramp your vacation planning. As I've written about before, Ben and I were planning the most spectacular honeymoon to Santorini, Greece.  Looking at pictures of Greece gave me life some days.  We were so excited.  We kept hope alive that we might still be able to go to Greece, up until about three weeks before the kidney transplant happened.  I made a call to our honeymoon planner, and explained that going to Greece in June was not going to be a reality.  My kidney transplant was coming up and Santorini just doesn't have the hospital infrastructure that I need at this point in my life.  Our honeymoon planner was and is so understanding.  He's been working with us to postpone our honeymoon until Spring 2014.  As many people have said to me, Greece will always be there.  It is one of the oldest countries in the world.

So with our Greece travel plans pushed back, that left Ben and I without a vacation to take this year.  This could not happen.  There's just something about going to a different place, even if it's the most boring place, and seeing something other than the same scenery that I see every day.  It refreshes you and makes you appreciate that scenery that you see every day even more.  Unless...you go to Hawaii.  Ben will agree with me:  there is not enough scenery in the state of Virginia to make me forget how gorgeous Hawaii is.  It should be illegal for a state to be THAT beautiful.  But I digress.

I asked Ben if he thought it would be possible to go on a vacation this year.  He said yes but it had to be a domestic vacation for health and budget reasons.  We reviewed several locations.  New Orleans was one of them.  Acadia was another.  One of my savvy travel friends suggested Lake Tahoe. Every place we reviewed had it's attractive qualities and we want to see all of these places eventually. But nothing really grabbed us and made us feel like we HAD to go THIS year.  Then during a quick search of romantic destinations to visit in the U.S. I came across Sedona, Ariz.  I had never heard of it, but apparently most other people have.  Ever since Ben and I decided to go to Sedona, we've been mentioning it to various friends and people at work and family members.  And all of those people have said this combination of things:  A) that they've been there and it's really beautiful; B) that they haven't been there, but they've heard it's beautiful; or C) that they know someone who's been there and that person said it was beautiful.  Then there was this Frommer's guide: 

"There is not a town anywhere in the Southwest, perhaps anywhere in the country, with a more beautiful setting than Sedona."

Well alrighty then!  When you've only heard great things about a place, that's a good sign that you should plan to visit at some point.  From our hotel, it's a two-three hour drive to the Grand Canyon.  I've never been to the Grand Canyon and the funny thing is I don't actually know many people who have.  Most of my friends haven't been, and most of my family members haven't either.  Except for my new family.  Ben's immediate family went to the Grand Canyon during one of their road trips.  The Grand Canyon is one of the few places that I've heard Ben actually describe with excitement, and he doesn't get excited about anything.  The fact that he's agreed to go with me to the Grand Canyon, despite having been there before, is a BIG DEAL.  

Anyways, enough about where I'm going!  Let's talk about my OTHER vacation.  My blog-cation, aka time off from bloggin.  I've been trying to be a consistent blogger ever since I started this blog.  This isn't the first blog I've had.  I've had others and they all failed because I wasn't consistent.  With this blog, I've managed to keep my promise to myself to post a certain number of times each week.  But I figured I would coincide my mini-moon with a blogging break.  There are a number of things I want to share on this blog, and I just need more time to meditate and journal to fully develop them.  To the readers of this blog:

THANK YOU SO MUCH for coming to my little space on the internet, to share in my trials and triumphs, my whining and rejoicing, my pleasures, pain, run-on sentences, typos, and tangents over the past eight or nine months.  I write for you just as much as I write for myself.  

That said...it's AUGUST.  Stop reading this and go enjoy your summer.  Plan a stay-cation, if you must.  But just this once.

Livin for the Weekend: How you know you're having a wedding

So, not ALL of these pictures are from the weekend, but these are some of my wedding-related ones from the past 10 days.

 

•  My good friend Amy and her husband (she's a newlywed of three months!!) stopped into town for a brief visit.  She and her husband are moving to Colorado from Brazil tomorrow.
• I've been getting a lot of good practice writing my new-last name. Many, many forms to fill out.  Hopefully, I'll be done with all the changes by the end of the month.
• I got my hair did!  Yay! I look beautiful again. 
• The cat helped, sort of, with table numbers.
• And the beauti-mous wedding dress made out of toilet paper from last weekend's bachelorette party.  Mermaid one-shoulder.  You want it.
   

In other news, wedding this Saturday.
In other, OTHER news, my baby sissy Danyelle graduates high school today!  Love you, boo.  You're my baby forever :)

The many faces of Danyelle.

 

Last Single Weekend

8 Days 'Til the Wedding

This weekend Ben's groomsmen and friends are celebrating his bachelor-hood at a hotel and casino in West Virginia.  So, except for family and friends that live nearby, and the cat who lives with me, I'll be by myself.  I'll get to experience a bachelorette weekend just one more time.  

Last weekend, I enjoyed my bachelorette festivities.  I think Ben and I were surprised and incredibly honored that our wedding party even decided to do anything for us, given that we couldn't nail down what dates we were available because of this whole kidney transplant situation.  The groomsmen and the bridesmaids have had multiple dates, ideas, events planned and partially scheduled over the past six months, only to have my failing kidneys stomp on their dreams of having an amazing bachelor/ette weekend celebration.  My bridal shower was already cancelled/postponed, so I was prepared for the same thing to happen with my bachelorette party.  But no, I have great friends and sisters who just wouldn't let the party die.  A partial gathering of my bridal party convened in New York City for A) a drag show; B) dancing at Webster Hall, an experience that really can't be recreated ever again because it was just that special; and C) covering one of my drunk sisters in a  mermaid, one-shoulder wedding dress made out of toilet paper that probably should have been saved, preserved and sold in a wedding shop somewhere.  It was that good.  Then naturally, we had brunch the next day, and I was visited by two more sweet people who I wish I got to see more.  Laughs and smiles...and chocolate...were shared by all.  

Throughout the weekend, as the phrases "you're getting married!" and "I'm getting married!!" were unleashed nearly every hour at the top of the hour, my excitement for the wedding and this next chapter in my life grew.  But at least once a day, I felt a strange pang.  I don't know what it was. It wasn't sadness or anger.  It was the gentle nudge, a reminder that after getting married, things will change.  I can't put my finger on how exactly they will change, but I know they will.  That's what happens when you graduate into the next phase of life.  While we were at Webster Hall, dancing in a circle surrounded by shirtless, sweaty guys high on...life...and glow sticks, and strobe lights, I thought, "This is the last time it will be like this."  Mostly, because I'm not sure if we're ever going to that club again.  But also because you can't get back moments in time. You just have to cherish them, take pictures on your iPhone, take it all in, and remember how hard you were laughing because that will help rebuild the memory of that extraordinary moment.  Someday I hope I'll be laughing really hard with my sisters, or my college roommate, or my friend from high school and say "Hey, remember that time we went to Webster Hall?" and we'll laugh even harder.

 

So how will I be enjoying this final bachelorette weekend?  Gettin my hair did, finally, then doing [multiple] projects for the wedding.  Grocery shopping, one of my fave pastimes because I'm obsessed with cooking. And hopefully making it out to church.  I know this won't be my last weekend alone, ever, without my spouse nearby.  But now that the wedding is getting closer, I'm getting more sentimental and sappy and thinking more and more about "the last" of everything.  I guess this next week will be filled with lasts.  Let's start by making this "the last" blog post on the last single thing I ever do.  Cheers.

Wedding Planning-- Ben's View

Hey Y'all!  Jewel, here. I'm elbow-deep in last-minute wedding details.  We are just 10 DAYS away from the wedding and I'm still checking off items on my checklist.  While I'm gettin things done, Ben has graciously agreed to bless us with another guest post on the blog today.  Enjoy! 

Note to self:  don't write a blog post when you are riding a roller coaster of emotions.  My first post out of the gate is a smattering of stress-filled cliches and overreactions.  Sure, it accurately depicts what happens to a man when he overdoses on emotion and under-doses on sleep, but not the first impression I was hoping to present.

My name is Ben. I love football, I work with computers and I'm usually not very excitable (Jewel has enough of that trait for both of us).  In fact, Jewel and I have almost nothing in common outside of both being carbon-based life forms.  It stems way beyond just the obvious white guy/black girl conversation.  At the risk of sounding corny, we really are each others missing puzzle pieces; yin and yang (how appropriately color coded).

So consider the trials that awaited me about a year ago when the hardcore wedding planning started.  How was the mild-mannered procrastinating IT nerd going to cooperate with a sassy, calls-no-man-mister, planning machine?  Not well, apparently.

Forget about all the doctors appointments and fretting over transplants, finding common ground on wedding details has been quite difficult.  Don't get me wrong:  for small stuff we make a great team.
What couch should we buy?  "The grey one", you say?  Cool lets do it.
Need a new TV?  "I yield to your expertise."
What shade of yellow should we use for the wedding day napkins?
World War Frickin' III.

If I say Mustard Yellow, its gotta be Goldenrod.  If I come around and say, "You're right, Goldenrod works," then suddenly its hideous and Sunbeam Yellow is the new hotness.

At first it bugged me.  Why were all my ideas instantly paralleled with bad ideas?  Did I really have a bad sense of what looked good or what song would be good for an entrance or when certain events should take place?  In the end were these attacks against my personality?  Was our marriage doomed to fail before it began?!

But then I realized something:  why was I suddenly deciding that it was a bad thing for Jewel and I to be different?  We are, in fact, opposites.  Jewel has the uncanny ability to stay awake during meetings with the florist, something I will never have. Jewel also doesn't forget important dates and times.  In fact, Jewel was BUILT for this kind of work.  

But you want to know what Jewel can't do?  She can't do arithmatic.  She can't lift heavy objects.  And she certainly can't handle a mouse in the apartment.  So I've decided that in some cases compromising can actually be a bad thing.  Sometimes you just have to let the pros do what pros do.

I'm glad to know that the weaknesses in my own life are mitigated by the presence of an awesome gal and at the same time I feel happy that I can be there for her when she falls short.  Like when she downloads a virus on the computer...again...for the 3rd time. 

Wedding Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

12 Days 'Til the Wedding

Sometimes you're so busy trying to complete things for the wedding before you return to working full time that you just don't have time to write a decent blog post.  That was my week last week.  I could feel the weight of an eight hour workday looming in the future bearing down on me.  Every day as I made to-do list after to-do list, staring at the clock, I groaned every time another hour passed by.  How could a task that was supposed to take 10 minutes turn into 50 minutes?  How did a month off work suddenly turn into only two days left of my month-long break?  How did a year, six months, or 2 months left in an engagement become less than two weeks until the wedding?!  Less than two weeks! Ahh!   

I would do a run-down of everything that got accomplished last week, but I almost feel like last week was so chaotic that I don't even remember what I did.  I know I did some painting for our table numbers.   I know I dropped off a copy of our homemade design for the Quaker Marriage Certificate at FedEx so that it could be printed.  I sent off a few more checks, officially completing payments to six out of the nine vendors that Ben and I hired.  I typed up some more timelines and instructions for my vendors and had my final meeting with the venue and my day of coordinator and her assistant to talk about how everything is going to go down on the wedding day.  I just have to come through with my end of the deal (providing napkins and my DIY items) and everything should run smoothly. 

OH, and I plan to write a blog post about this later, but the ladies in my wedding party through me a pretty fun bachelorette party in New York City this past weekend.  It was kind of awesome and one of the best times I've had in a really long time.  Really long time.  

This week is another big DIY week, because apparently it takes me like 10 hours to paint 20 signs, even with Ben's help.  I guess I'm just lazy, or trying too hard to make everything look perfect. Actually, I'm just not good at painting so doing up a little sign in black is like running a marathon for me.  Yet, I'm doing it, because it's cheaper than buying them already made (seriously, I got these boards for a dollar).

I'm going to try to give more updates on what's happening, since I feel like this is such a pivotal week. Because next week, the week OF the wedding, I want to be doing as little as possible to keep myself from stressing out, and just reflecting on how my days of being a single lady are just ticking away.  I also started my name-change paperwork last week, and seeing my current name on the "former name" lines are kind of a reality check for me.  

It's funny because today is actually Ben's and my date-ivarsary.  We started dating June 3, 2005, two weeks after I took him to my senior prom.  And for our year-one celebration we got each other season passes to King's Dominion.  This year, Ben and I decided not to do anything big to celebrate. I guess we could do something extravagant to mark this monumental occasion:  this really is the last time we'll "celebrate" June 3.  We could have a "Goodbye June 3" ceremony.  But ain't nobody got time to plan a wedding and a "Goodbye June 3" ceremony.  But I'll say it here:  goodbye June 3.  Thank you for the awesome dinners and trips that were experienced and gifts that were given on this day to commemorate the agreement that Ben and I made to foolishly become exclusive the summer before I left for college, and then not date anyone else for the eight years that followed.   Thanks for the cards.  Thanks for the cuddles.  Thanks for the memories. It's been fun.  It's been real.  Now, on to the next! 

Special Treat Wednesday:  My other half returns to the blog.

 

 

Wedding Wednesday-- Something That's Really Not That Fun...Really

24 Days 'Til the Wedding

Sometimes I wonder what you're supposed to feel like when you're wedding is in three weeks.  Stressed? Irritated? Excited? Sad?  I don't know!  I feel a little calm. I have a lot to do! LOL Story of my life it seems like.  Story of this engagement!  I've had "a lot" to do since I became engaged last March!  Something is seriously wrong with me, people.  If you have "a lot" to do for more than a year then something is really really wrong.  But you know what's good about not working?  Even though I have a lot to do, I finally feel like I'm doing things.  I am really going to cherish this next week and a half. It's practically all I have left before I go back to the office and wedding planning has to compete with a busy workday.  OK so, what we did:

• We're on the books!  Ben and I went down to the courthouse and made things semi-official.  We signed paper work, we raised our right hands, we said yes, we signed papers again, then we waited.  Five minutes later...we had our marriage certificate!  I'm a little slow, and apparently so is Ben, so at our "celebration dinner" with Jocelyn at The Burger Joint we had to keep asking each other if we're married or not.  We're not married yet, but the state now knows of our intentions.  We still have to get it signed by our officiant, my second cousin Rev. Dr. Sallie Cuffee.  She'll sign it after our wedding ceremony. Then we'll be married. The next time I go there will be to change my name! Gasp! Last three weeks as just an Edwards, before I enter the realm of hypenate-dom.
• Ben ordered yet ANOTHER suit! I won't even get started on this.  But this is the last straw.  As long as he looks good and feels good, I'm good.
• We reviewed our budget!  This is one of my most hated activities but it has to be done.  We've paid three vendors fully, which is great.  But there's more to come.  I guess the cool thing about these vendors is that most of them only take cash.  Which means there's not a super high credit card bill to pay after the wedding.  At first I looked at this as such an inconvenience.  But one year later, I'm thankful, because once the wedding is over I'll finally have money and be able to save like I really want to. And as a newly married couple, Ben's and my "What We Want to Save For" list is pretty long.  

And now for something we did that no one should have to do ever again in their lives:  we started working on the seating chart for the wedding.   Luckily, we finished.  And as a result of that process I've developed my tips for putting together a wedding seating chart when you're having a big wedding:  

Tip #1:  It's kind of a nice thing to put all the parents together, with their parents, if it works out.  We're seating 10 people to a table.  And even a part-time wedding planning cynic like me can see the benefits of sitting some of the most important people to the bride and groom at the same table.  

Tip #2:  If you're having a big wedding, 150 plus according to DC area stats (where the average wedding is 100 people), it's good to divide everyone into categories.  Some of our categories included "AU PPL" (my friends from college), "Old Friends" ( people not in the bridal party whom I've known forever), and "People with Kids."  The purpose of this was to make sure we didn't put certain types of people at tables where they would be uncomfortable.  For example, I chose to sit all the people who brought kids at the same tables, while my college friends are mostly divided up at tables with people who are in a similar age range.

Tip #3:  It's nice to put people who know each other together, but sometimes it really doesn't work out.  This is especially difficult when someone is coming by themselves and is only really close to one person at the wedding.  At the end of the day, you just hope that everyone is nice to everyone at each table.

Tip #4:  Try not to stress out about who's sitting where and whether or not they're going to like it.  When I worked on the seating chart by myself, while I was recovering from surgery at home, I did this a lot. And not much got done.  But as soon as Ben jumped in, it was like the seating chart was completed in 10 minutes.  That's because Ben is no-nonsense!  And we really don't have time to stress about who's going to be uncomfortable in what spot. That said I think we took a lot of people's personalities into consideration when making this list, and for the most part, no one should be scrambling to try to find a seat. Since it's a wedding, I'm sure there will be at least three people who will complain.  But if we only have three complainers out of 180 people, I'll take that.  I'd consider that a win.

Next Up...
Jocelyn and I will spend the next week completing our DIY projects and I've got a few more payments to mail off and several emails to write.  I guess there really are no more big things to do.  No more research, really.  Just a lot of emails, online ordering, and typing up timelines/schedules/emails to vendors.  I'm feeling good about this wedding.  Things might just go OK.   

In other wedding-related news!

My best friend since high school and one of my bridesmaids, Sajia, is getting married this weekend to her boyfriend of 10 years!!!  Sajia and I have been through several of phases of life together.   And now, we're about to enter a new phase together, wife-dom, which is super exciting.  I can't wait to watch Sajia get married to her longtime love this weekend and get tons of advice from her about married life since she'll be ahead of me by three weeks!   I'm so thankful for her friendship, and can't wait to see how God blesses her and Imran's marriage.  

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.  

~Elbert Hubbard

We've both changed a lot, and I'm glad we still like each other  :D 

 

Wedding Wednesday: 1 Month!

30 Days 'Til the Wedding

OK y'all.  Things just got a little bit real. Or more real. The wedding is officially in one month. 

YES.  WOW.  That means officially I'm not going to be "dating" anybody anymore.  Oh I know, I know.  Married people like to say "But you still have to date your spouse! Make them feel special!  Date night!" etc etc. But no.  Just no, married people.  It's not the same thing.  As my sisters put it so kindly:

Danyelle:  "Jewel, how does it feel?  You're not going to be a 'single ass lady' anymore."

Jocelyn:  "Yeah. You're gonna be a 'married ass bi%ch." 

Danyelle:  "With a ring on it."

Yeah.  One more month  until I become a 'married ass bi#ch."  Awesome!

This is the first Wedding Planning post in like two weeks I think.  You should know that after I wrote that post I did nothing until I guess May 10 when I resumed my planning activities.  It was great to dive back into getting things done, knowing that the wedding is just a few weeks away.  It's pretty great actually.  I can really really REALLY say, things are coming together. I'm sure I've written that before but it's not like this.  Things are legit coming together.  It's kind of a great feeling.  OK sooooo here's what I did:

• DIY Review: I resumed the hunt a little "photo legacy project" that my sister and I are working on.  It's basically a showcase of old wedding photos from all the married couples that are attending our wedding.  I really really hope it comes together.  Jocelyn and I took a major leap forward with this project last week when we ordered the display that we're going to use to show the photos.  Really looking forward to putting this together.
• Guest list:  we closed out our guestlist!  Officially have 180 people attending the wedding.  Just a little bit big!  A little bit!  But a lot of our favorite people are coming and I guess we just have too many favorites.  I'm just happy this part is finished because that makes the next parts of planning just a tad bit easier.  This includes figuring out how many tables we need, how many centerpieces and flowers, how many menu cards, and how many high chairs for kids.  We have 17 kids coming.  Yep. 
• Along those same lines:  Jocelyn and I started working on the seating chart.  It's definitely not going to happen in five minutes.  But we're hoping to finish up a good first draft by the end of the week.  

And today, Ben and should be on our way to the courthouse to get our marriage license, which we have to use in the next 60 days.  

I'll end today's blog post with a special treat from our photographer.  Remember when Ben and I went to take engagement photos?  Well, they are HERE.  Our photographer, Vicki Grafton, has done an awesome blog post of all her favorite photos.  We really do love these photos.  I told Vicki these are like the best photos of us EVER and this is especially good because I actually look like I know how to take a good photo!  I'm still handicapped in the "taking photos" area of life, but when you have a talented photographer holding the camera anything is possible.

Enjoy our photos on Vicki's blog:Ben and Jewel's Engagement   http://vickigraftonphotography.com/blog/2013/05/jewel-ben-virginia-field/

Also....next week's post will be at the three-week mark. 
Whoa.

Wedding Wednesday: Taking a Break

45 Days 'Til the Wedding

YAAAAAAAAY.  In a month and a half, I'll be a married woman!  Woo hoo!  I'm excited.  I'm finally super excited. My "excitement" level took a bit of a hit sometime in the middle of the engagement, when I ran into a few snags booking vendors and accepting my monetary limitations.  But now that we're heading towards the homestretch, I'm really looking forward to the wedding day, and formally starting my life with Ben.  

I basically went through a rundown of all the wedding details I wanted to accomplish over the weekend. And on Monday, I did complete my second fitting for my wedding dress.  I LOVE the dress. It looks perfect. Dare I say, I look perfect??? I don't know! But it's awesome and I'm excited for Ben to see it.  

SO:  What now?  More honeymoon drama unfortunately.  I've written about several "realizations" we've had to come to when planning this honeymoon.  A recap:

• Realization Number 1:  Back in January when we booked the honeymoon to Greece, Ben and I agreed it would be good to purchase vacation insurance, just in case we needed to cancel our trip.
• Realization Number 2:  At the beginning of April, Ben and I finally accepted that we would have to postpone our honeymoon until a few months after the wedding.  
• Realization Number 3:  And this is a new one.  I discovered Monday after going through the pre-surgery teachings, that planning an overseas honeymoon probably won't be practical, or safe, in the year 2013. And now, Ben and I are talking about scheduling it for Spring 2014.   

The reason we're thinking about postponing it even further into the future is because after the transplant, for at least six weeks I'll be going to the transplant clinic for check-ups twice a week.  During first 3 months after the transplant I have to be closely monitored to ensure my body doesn't reject the kidney, and if there are any signs of rejection I need to be close to my home transplant center.  The doctors are OK with travel after three months from the procedure, but that kind of only means travel within the continental U.S., where there's more certainty with acceptance of health insurance and more available information on U.S. transplant centers.  
This is not ideal of course.  But we really have no other choice. As much as I just want to be like, "Well, f*&K it! Let's just go anyways!" I also kind of want to be healthy, after such a long battle with being unhealthy.  

Right now, Ben and I are looking into other honeymoon options within the U.S.  At this point it sounds like we're doing a 2-3 day thing after the wedding, then a five-day thing three months after the transplant, then EVENTUALLY, a 10-day celebration in 2014.  That doesn't sound so bad, right?  I'm getting used to the idea.  I guess it doesn't matter where we go or even when because I'll be with my HUSBAAAAAAND. Aw...yeah!

Another teeny-tiny drama:  RSVPs.  I'm telling you, NOBODY returns these things anymore.  The RSVP deadline is this Friday and right now I'm waiting on 15 more responses.  But so far the guest list for the reception is at 163. When everything is said and done we'll have about 175 heads for dinner, I believe.  And so far we have 13 children attending. 

What's Next:  Well...nothing really.  The "Wedding Wednesday Series" and I are taking a 12-day planning vacation due to the fact that I'm going into surgery Friday morning.  I'll be diving back into the planning pool May 15, exactly 30 days away from the wedding, and there will be lots to plan and talk about.  I'm kind of looking forward to this new phase of planning, because two obstacles for me will be gone! I'll have a new kidney, so hopefully I will have that super-strength and super energy that everyone talks about. And second, I won't be at WOOOORK.  I like working, but honestly, working can suck when you're engaged. You have to coordinate all your vendor meetings and planning sessions either after work hours (which for me, means AFTER 6 PM) or during the weekends.  So that combined with my illness, makes it feel like I have no time to do anything! I'm hoping that by eliminating the 8-9 hour block of working from my day, I'll be able to accomplish more things in a more relaxed manner.  Plus, I'll have a chauffer to drive me to meetings (Jocelyn) if I need to.  I can see us having little planning sessions at home over tea and big breakfasts or lunches.  Which could be fun!

Welp, here goes. Wedding planning pause starts...NOW. ;) 
 

How to Prepare for a Transplant

 1 Week 'Til the Transplant

Every Thursday, Ben and I begin making a list of all the things we want to accomplish or do over the weekend.  And it hit me that this would be my last weekend before the transplant. WOW!  So naturally, there are a lot of things on our weekend to do list.  We have things to do for the wedding, things to do with our families, and things that we're doing for ourselves.  I'm no expert on preparing for a transplant or major surgery, but I'm trying my best.  Here's what I managed to come up with:

• Cleaning the apartment:  Once I depart for surgery May 3, I won't be back in Ben's and my apartment until the weekend of May 17.  I'll be staying with my parents, who live 30 minutes away, for a short period of time.  One thing my transplant team has really been enforcing is the importance of staying away from tons of bacteria and germs. Which means really, really washing your vegetables when you get them from the super market, throwing out and purchasing new sponges and dish towels regularly, and just all around good behaviors that most of us slack off on when things get busy.  So hopefully Ben and I will be able to clean the apartment top to bottom this weekend, as well as do many loads of laundry.
• Take care of a handful of major wedding things:  We're planning to focus on this for the next five days. After that, wedding planning will go on hold for a week, until  Mother's Day, which is probably when I'll leave the hospital. Our big priorities include getting Ben's new suit tailored; purchasing my veil; attending my final dress fitting; and apply for our marriage license. And hopefully, I'll get a chance to make a small list of things that I can delegate to different members of my wedding party and my wedding coordinator and they can get to work on some of these things while I'm on bed rest for 1-2 weeks.
• Pay Rent and handle any other monetary issues:  I'll probably make a list of all my passwords and credit cards to give to Ben. And I also need to get my checkbook. There are a couple of checks I need to write during my off period, mostly for vendor payments.
• Make arrangements at work:  I won't be working for an entire month.  My employers have been really understanding throughout this whole ordeal and I've prepped them for my departure. I just have to make a few lists for the people filling in for me while I'm gone; turn in my FMLA paperwork, in case I have to go into unpaid leave; set up out-of-office messages and message forwarding, and clean off my desk, which has been a long time coming.
• Have the hard discussions with Ben:  One of the things I've learned during this entire process is what it will really mean to be married.  The first time I went through these health issues, I was 15 years old, and was just diagnosed with kidney disease.  During that time, I leaned solely on my parents, because I am their child, and I was their dependent, emotionally, financially, in every way. Now, I'm 26 years old, going through the same thing, but things have changed. I live with Ben and part of being married is learning to depend on and lean on your spouse during hard times, every time.  A friend of mine described the change best:  when you're not married, you run to your family first; when you're married you run to your partner first.  And that's how I feel.  I am CRAZY CLOSE with my family.  Like, I talk to all of them at least six times a day.  All of them. And I see them every weekend, just about.  I know it's definitely been hard for them, not always being in the loop about every aspect of my life, especially when I'm sick and have all sorts of problems.  But I kind of feel like, that's how it's supposed to be.  I think getting married doesn't mean that I'm leaving them out in the dust completely, but that I'm starting a new family and I have to learn how to put that new family first when it comes to the decisions Ben and I make about every aspect of our lives together.  I know most parents understand this, because at one time they had to make the same choice.  So this weekend, Ben and I are going to talk about the difficult things-- like money, post surgical care, and emergency decisions.  We are becoming our own family now, and it feels pretty good.

So those are the big boring things, I guess you can say.  We've also got some fun stuff on our radar.  Ben and I are hosting his annual "Draft Day" party at our apartment.  I probably won't be there the entire time because I don't find watching the NFL draft as riveting as most people (?).  Then on Saturday, my parents are throwing a family barbecue at their house!  My mom has even agreed to offer up some low-potassium options since I'm trying to stay on the straight and narrow until the surgery.  Lord, give me strength!  I'm already making plans for a "Post Transplant Junk Food Binge Eating Party." 

Happy Weekend :)

Wedding Wednesday: High Gear & Death to RSVP Cards

52 Days Til the Wedding

Today is a much needed day off work! YES!  I have a visit with the surgeon who's going to perform my kidney transplant (in 9 days, I might add).  I'm looking forward to getting some information on the procedure, as well as what I can do to prepare, how things are going to go afterward, and when I can start traveling!  And since I'm taking the entire day off, I'm going to use some of the time to get a little wedding planning done without the pressure of having just left the office.    Anyways, below is the planning breakdown. Weird to think that the next wedding planning post I do will be 45 days before the wedding.
 

What We Did Over the Past Few Days:

• So on Saturday, Ben and I agreed: No more messin around! And we decided to get serious about one thing that has been getting on our nerves for the past five two months.  We finally ordered our wedding bands!  Actually, I have mine in the apartment because they had it in stock.  Ben's should be here at the beginning of May.  They are sort of matching bands, hehehe!  I don't know but I kind of like that idea. My friend got married last summer and she and her husband had matching gold bands and I thought that was just the most romantic and cutest thing.  
• In semi-unexpected turn of events, Ben reordered a completely different suit.  At this point in time, usually the bridal party has all of their attire.  They may not have it in possession, but it's ordered, perhaps fitted and almost ready to go.  Well, Ben had to reorder his because it wasn't the right side. We thought about just letting it slide but then we decided, no.  He's the groom. This is OUR wedding.  We're paying a lot of money for this event, and for the photos of the event. I know nothing can be perfect but we're going to try to get him as close to that as possible. Reordering of the suit, which happened to actually be more expensive, turned out not to be that much of a cost difference. So we think it was a good choice.
• We took our engagement pictures!! And I'm soooooo happy we finally did. I CAN NOT WAIT to see what they look like. And surprise bonus: Ben actually had fun doing it.  Crazy, right?  Yeah. In fact, I think he had so much fun doing it that I could probably convince him to do it again!

What Sort of Makes Me a Little Bit Mad.  Mad enough to complain about it on my blog, but not mad enough to say anything else about it again:
RSVP Cards are a COMPLETE waste of time and money.  You've heard me talk a lot on this blog about how enamored Ben and I were with our RSVP cards, designed by our wonderful invitation designer. Well, turns out other people love them too because I'd say of the 80-90 invites/RSVP cards that we sent out, we've probably only received back about 40.  Everyone else, we've had to call or email them about whether they're coming to the wedding or not.  We included those cards specifically in the invitation suite, with stamps so that we wouldn't have to do that.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, this situation has led me to the conclusion: the age of the RSVP is DEAD.  If family members can't even send in postage paid card to say yes/no to the invite, then I've lost faith in everyone.  If you, dear reader, decide to plan a wedding, ignore every piece of etiquette on RSVP cards.  If I ever have another wedding, or maybe a vow renewal, best believe I'm doing online invitations.  People just don't care that much anymore sadly. 

What's Next:

• Let's purchase a veil, shall we? OK then.  Doing that this weekend, especially since my second dress fitting is April 29!!!
• Ben and I have been talking about our marriage license. We might have one of those come Monday since in Virginia you can get it up to 60 days before your wedding.
• Pay considerable attention to my DIY projects.
• We're meeting with our officiant/my cousin this Saturday.  My parents are throwing a BBQ which will be an added bonus.
• This might be reaching but...re-schedule honeymoon?? Let's hope so! We're aiming for September.

Wedding Wednesday: The Art of Not Getting Things Done

59 Days 'Til the Wedding

OK so you know how sometimes you have the best intentions of waking up early and doing everything on time and according to the plan you have laid out for the day?  And then you know how sometimes even with the best intentions you end up waking up about two hours later than you wanted to, leaving an hour later than you wanted to, making a last-minute added stop at a restaurant for lunch (even though you had a huge breakfast just hours before), and then end up not really getting all that much done because of circumstances beyond your control?  Well, that's pretty much how my year of planning this wedding has been.  

This past Saturday Ben and I had a schedule, a plan. We were going to wake up early, eat breakfast, go wedding band shopping, pick up his tailored suit and other accessories for Ben's wedding day outfit, and go grocery shopping for the week.  

Well, we managed to accomplish two of those things.  Wedding band shopping was a bust for the second time this year.  We showed up prepared to buy!  We even worked on our negotiation strategy.  The place where we were going to get our rings isn't like a chain jewelry store that's open the same time as mall hours.  And for once I wished it was, because as it turned out they were closed on Sunday.  We walked right up to the doors, just to turn around and walk back to the cars.  So the wedding is in less than two months and we don't have our wedding bands.  

While we're on the topic of things that didn't get done for the wedding this weekend, let's talk about things we don't have/haven't done yet for the wedding in general, shall we? OK!

• Rehearsal Dinner Stuff:  We handed over the responsibility of securing a tent for the dinner to Ben's dad, thankfully.  Meanwhile, Ben and I were planning to research tables, chairs, and decorations.  I've done the research, but no money has been spent.  
• A Veil:  Prreeeetty sure I said I was going to do that this weekend. 
• Stuff to Keep the Kids Busy:  We're having kids at our wedding.  Kids?! I know. And guess what-- I don't care!  I actually like kids.  We're planning to have special items at the seats for kids.  Again, no money has been spent on these items yet.
• Sheet Music for the Communion Song:  Waaaaaay overdue, but apparently Citipointe is not in the business of making sheet music for piano players.  So we're having to improvise.
• A Marriage License:  In Virginia you can get these 60 days in advance.  So we'll be getting ours before the end of the month.  
• A Guest Book:  I keep trying to think of something that's NOT boring.  But I haven't had much time for that these days.  

 What I'm Proud of Myself for Doing:  writing a bunch of timelines for the wedding day and wedding weekend and sending them to people!  It was only then that I realized...man...I've been looking forward to this day for the past year and it's going to go by extremely fast.  Sigh.  

Next Up on Our Radar:   Ben and I did spend the weekend SHOPPIN!  I never buy clothes because I'm trying to save money for vacations and weddings.  So of course, we had to hit up the mall for outfits to wear for our ENGAGEMENT PICTURES. We're scheduled to have our photo shoot (wow, I feel so fancy) this Friday.  It's also scheduled to RAIN this Friday according to the weather. I'm praying that it doesn't rain so that we don't have to go through the trouble of rescheduling.  Blah.  Either way, I'm realllly excited to have some awesome, professional pictures of Ben and I.  Nearly 8 years of dating, and finally, pictures that will actually look great!!

Also Next:  Hopefully we'll be rescheduling our honeymoon!  I talked to our honeymoon planner.  Seriously...a God-send.  He is the greatest person and so understanding.  And he's agreed to work with us when we hear about what's happening with the transplant situation.  And we're really hoping to find out something soon.  Things are getting down to the wire!!  Postponing the honeymoon was not what we wanted, but I'm just happy that we can still go!  And right now we're trying to think of good, reasonably priced mini-moon excursions.  For us, a minimoon has to A) utilize the least amount of annual leave days possible, because we are still planning to take our big-moon this year; B) be on the East Coast, so that if we have to fly it's not as expensive as, say, flying to California. It would also be a shorter flight; C) include some kind of atmosphere where we can go to fancy dinners and also get massages and do spa treatments.  We really want to use our mini-moon time after the wedding to decompress from everything, and relax.  But we don't want to go so crazy that we end up not being able to do what we really want to do:  which is swimming in an eternity pool and drinking wine in Santorini.  It's one of those things where we have to look at the big picture and our long term goal. 

And we're open to suggestions for any mini-moon ideas.  So if you're reading this, and already have a little mini-moon planned (because I honestly don't) holla atcha' girl :)