April showers bring...

...Jamaican flowers! Hee he...time is really flying by, in a matter of weeks we will be seaside. I need a vacation so bad. And a husband. Ha!

Yesterday marked the end of a really huge project at work--the culmination of months of planning with our third and final family workshop. Three workshops over the course of three days, a beautiful experience but a monster event planning feat. Makes me glad I didn't try to plan a big ol' wedding at the same time.

It probably won't surprise you that Sean still doesn't have an outfit to wear for the wedding, and we can't go shopping today since he has an extension on a paper that was due for class last week. Oh, isn't it comforting to know that he's still the same Sean after all these years? But the earrings Kate and I picked out arrived this week and they are beautiful, like a Balinese princess. And Cindy and I found the perfect material for the veil. And mom is helping us find the perfect new camera to invest in so we can capture the wedding in all its lovely simplicity to share with you all when we get back. And dad...well he's dad...he makes me feel like I'm the most special girl to ever get married. And the best news of late is that Sean's mom Yukiko is going to fly into minnesota for our send-off party at el meson the night before we leave. We really are so lucky to have the families we do--even though the wedding will be an "intimate" affair, we look forward to sharing a rainfall of new memories with our families as we move into that chapter of life where we start adding our own contributions to the Sand/Suzuki/ Jahnke/Sadowski/Madsen brood.

The List

We've already gotten our plane tickets, arranged lodging and transportation, found our passports, I have a dress, we've ordered rings, and we've gotten the minister to pencil in April 20th. It almost seems too easy...I worry I am forgetting something.

Here's what's on my list:

• Find something for Sean to wear (easy since he's so good-looking)!
• All those finishing touches like a veil (cindy's making me one) and jewels and shoes
• Figure out the whole "ceremony thing"...sean has some cool ideas
• Possibly purchase a new digital camera and an mp3 player to bring along (thank you tax return!)
  
• Get some White Strips to make these coffee-lovin' teeth pearly again

Am I forgetting something huge?

falling in love

Sending out all the wedding announcements has gotten us all sentimental, and so I thought it would be fun to reminisce again about how Sean and I met...how we became "We".

The summer after high school my best friend Vita and I moved out to Seattle to live on our own and have some adventures in the Wild West. Before heading out there, the two of us had arranged jobs with AmeriCorps. Well, half way through my year of service one of our team members resigned and someone new was hired to take her place...Charles' buddy from Japanese class. Sean and I both remember the exact moment we met...I was making copies in the office and Sean was being given the tour before his first team meeting. He had on his jean jacket, baseball hat, and his sparkly red messenger bag. Neither of us claims 'love at first sight', indeed neither of us would ever have guessed how our lives would be changed by whatever twist of fate it was that had us in the same corner of the world at the same time for the same reason. But no doubt there was some connection from the first day...an easiness in each other's company and sweet admiration for a kindred spirit. And of course we're both pretty funny, so we made each other laugh.

But who knows how things might have been different if not for Sharon Davis--an older member of our AmeriCorps team, an outspoken firecracker of a lady, with a huge heart and some crazy strong intuition. "I saw the way you looked at her!" Sharon leaned over and whispered to Sean during that first meeting. She saw something that we didn't realize until several months later, and she played matchmaker nudging us along right from the beginning. Now we joke that she was some kind of guardian angel since she seems to have disappeared...we haven't been able to find her and tell her how right she was. "That man's gonna love you forever," she once told me.

We don't really have an "engagement" story....we just kind of knew. Before a year had gone by we realized our fantastic luck...to find a love story when we weren't even looking. Our seven year anniversary is on March 13th...the date of our first kiss. We never looked back.

The DRESS

I found the one! I am giddy with the afterglow of the whole experience. Really, I am very lucky. Mom, Cindy, Kate, Annabelle and I only went out for the first time on Wednesday...we thought David's Bridal would be a good place to start trying on different styles to hone in on what would look best on my body. And as fun as it was to have all my lovelies there with me to oooh and ahhh, I was a little disappointed by the mass-production feel to the dresses there (something disconcerting in seeing a dozen of "your" dress, one in every size). So even though we found one lace number that could work, I was ready to look around some more.

So Saturday morning a lady from Rush's Bridal on Nicollet Mall calls back about an appointment for this weekend. Turns out they are closed Sunday/Monday, so if I want to visit them this weekend, I would need to be there for an 11:30 opening (in about an hour)...I was still in my pajamas. Mom says yes she can look up the address and be ready to go in half-an-hour. We race over there with no idea what to expect--I've never been to an "appointment-only bridal salon".

Long story short...the first dress I try on looks like it was made for me...fit, color, personality, elegance, can't-put-your-finger-on-it perfect ONE. It seemed too good to be true, so I did end up trying on a lot of dresses, and the whole experience was really pretty cool. They had jazzy love songs playing, thick carpets and huge dressing rooms with floor to ceiling mirrors, and lucky for me a huge selection of off-the-rack gowns at 40% off. And because I am getting married in nine weeks, and because the dress is breathtaking, mom and I decide to buy it right then and there.

I wanted to include a picture in this post...but i forgot my camera, and mom doesn't know how to upload photos so we'll need to wait until Storrie can get me the photos. So here is a link to the designer's website if you want to check out my brand new wedding dress. But I have to say, the photos don't even do it justice.

Checking out rings

Making all the preparations for getting married helps us get used to the idea of it. I mean, we've been together for almost seven years, and lived together for the last four years, but we still feel all funny and grown up contemplating this whole husband-wife thing.

Yesterday we went to the little jewelry shop on Como to check out wedding bands. It was the first time we've ever (EVER) looked at rings, and it turned out to be really fun. The lady was really nice...I don't know why I bothered to put on nice clothes since I never even took off my big jacket (it was freezing yesterday), and Sean had on his big brown work overalls...but the three folks in the shop were very friendly and she just gave us a bunch of photo books filled with rings the jeweler had custom-made and also rings they could send out for. Sean ended up finding the one we liked best and the lady smiled and was all, "Wow! That's amazing that you agree on one so easily...so many couples come in here and it takes them hours to find one they can agree on." She probably says that to everyone, but we walked out feeling kind of giddy about the whole thing. We didn't buy anything, but we are going to go someplace bigger to try on a few more styles and then probably go back to the small Como Ave place to buy something. I believe that when you're on the right path, things fall into place...it feels like that right now.

Gifts not necessary

Sean and I do not need any gifts! We are not having a typical wedding/reception, and we are not expecting or needing any material goods. Seven years together and we have already collected more household stuff that we really even use (much of our stuff is in mom's garage right now).

Still, at the urging of a few key people who are convinced there are friends and family who will really insist on getting us something, I found an alternative gift registry. It is a website called HoneyLuna.com that lets us come up with our own gift suggestions related to the wedding/honeymoon. If you are impelled to contribute in some small way, you are welcome to check out our new registry and help us plan our getaway.

We are sending out announcements to share our big news with everyone. Honest-to-goodness, you should not feel obliged to do anything more than let out a big "woo-hoo!" for us...and maybe buy us a round of drinks next time we're together.

How we decided on Jamaica...

Once we made the decision to run off and elope, we were thinking we'd probably go to Zijuatanejo. I did a bunch of research, but never came across any location that seemed just right. One day I was reading an article on sustainable community tourism in the Caribbean and was intrigued by the alternative development movement in Jamaica.

After a few weeks of reading up on responsible tourism options on the island, Sean and I found the Buccaneer Villa. We are planning to get married on the rooftop. After a week in Treasure Beach, we will head to Negril for five nights at the Rockhouse Hotel.