Honeymooning

Initially Moose and I were planning on heading to Disney World or Disneyland to get away from it all for a few days since finances are a little tight, and then maybe doing a larger trip later on.  Disney World is a favorite weekend getaway of ours, and we thought the idea of possibly staying in Bay Lake Towers on his family's DVC points would be a great way to get away.  On the other hand, Moose hasn't ever been to Disneyland, so that was also a viable option.

Until a good friend made a comment that her dad had a house in Costa Rica.

Now, Moose and I will be spending ten days in Costa Rica.  HOORAY!

We plan on flying in on a Friday and spending the night in San Jose before taking off to Arenal Volcano National Park for some volcanic fun.  Included will be some soaking in the hot springs and eruption viewing.   Of the volcano, perv.   The next day, we'll head over to Monteverde where we will zip line through the cloud forest before relaxing at our hotel.  After that?  Five nights in Dominical, relaxing by the beach and potentially making day trips to Ballena Marine Park for kayaing, rappelling down Nauyaca Falls, or learning how to surf.  We'll end up heading back to San Jose via Cerro de la Muerte, enjoy a night on the town, and then head home.

I can't wait.  But it's required actual planning and things like oh, renewing my passport... oops.

So far, so good.  I'll update with more info if I get it.

I've been slacking.

Surprise, surprise.

But these past three point five weeks have been a shitshow of stupid with little snippets of awesome mixed in.

Moose has been off teaching a training for work, so I've been home over three weeks alone with the pugs, planning a wedding, interviewing for jobs, all while waiting for the grad school decision to come in.  It doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you-- it is.

On the job front, looking for a job is a full time position in and of itself.  Between applying for just about everything I can, reaching out to make phone calls to recruiters, and trying to connect anywhere and everywhere, it's easily a few hours a day.  If only I could get paid to do this, which, if I were actually eligible for unemployment, I guess would be "payment" for that, but you know...

The pugs and Annie are good.  Fairly low-maintenance.  They've started to act out a bit, especially around meal time, and will go through a stint of peeing on Moose's luggage if he comes home for the weekend.  I know they're just missing him as much as I am, but I've steam cleaned the rugs four times over the past few weeks and have lost count over how many times I've had to drag out the spot cleaner.  Luckily the weather has been nice enough that I can prop the door open and let them all hang out in the back yard if they want to go out, which has been a godsend.

On the wedding front, things are falling into place.  We've finally narrowed down an officiant and are really excited about that.  All that's really left is transport between our hotel and the Codman, floral, cake, mailing the invites (they should be here any day now!) and figuring out things like menu, song list, alcohol list, and the photos we want taken of the wedding day.  Not too shabby.

AND (which will be a follow-up post in and of itself) our honeymoon is set!  But more on that later.

So yeah, that sounds like just about everything that's going on in the world here.  We've finished the PSA AR build, so Daphne will be starting up any day now-- HOORAY!  That's another positive.

Now on to the other updates!

Jewelry DIY- not as easy as I'd hoped

I know what you're thinking.  It should be easy enough to DIY some strings of beads and make them look like what I'm hoping them to look like-- right?

Well, yes and no.

The idea itself is really simple.  Just put things together and go at it.  But it seems like the advice I received on the internet just wasn't up to par-- shocker.  That's of no fault to Fire Mountain Gems (which, by the way, has EXCELLENT shipping times and customer service)-- they didn't give me that recommendation.  They recommended wire.  But the internet tutorials from other sites looked SO EASY with this stuff, and I know how I am when I'm drinking, so... yeah.

First, multiple sites recommended using Powercord.  I don't know if the assumption was that glass beads weren't as heavy, and the stretchiness of the cord would be beneficial, but not for my purposes.  These glass beads are heavy as hell.  And yes, the Powercord droops.  Especially with a ton of weight on it.  Which these beads have.

And overall, I'm not sure if I just didn't expect the necklaces to look like this, or what... but they kind of remind me of Indian corn.  They've had positive reviews from those I've shown them to, but they're still not what I'm hoping to do.

Today's plan?  Giving it the old college try with some string and not worrying about using more beads than are necessary to get the look I want.  I can always go and buy more beads.  It's not ideal, but it can be done.

Hotel Decisions

I'm currently trying to reserve a room block for our wedding guests.   Right now it's between the Marriott Courtyard and the Westin.

The Courtyard is offering a room rate of $118/room, and right now the rack rate is $118/room.  With that we'll get free parking, use of pool, and wifi.  Woo.  No free breakfast or anything like that.

Our quote for the Westin (so far) is at $129/room.  There's a gov't/military discount of $111/room.  Rack rate is between $214-$253.  I am still waiting for the details on the proposal, so I'm not sure what type of room this is for and what amenities come with it, but it is a nice hotel.

Time to start the polling.

Wedding Tent- Booked (and for half the initial quote)

When Moose and I set out on our wedding journey, we initially set a budget for $10,000 that WE would personally spend.  We figured that number would be good enough to cover the basics and still have a damn good time to show for it in the event that we did not receive any family help.  Before you get all "oh, being in your thirties you shouldn't expect family help"-- we didn't.  We told our families that while we would love it if they could pitch in if they wanted to help us out, the expectation wasn't that they had to. Our families have been beyond happy with that approach and helping in ways that I didn't expect-- but more on that in another post.

Back in December, my initial tent quote for a 30' x 45' x 8' tent, lighting, dance floor, and canopy to the Carriage House (land of dancing and, more importantly, the bar) was $2374.00.  Yep.  A good (almost) quarter of our budget.  So I did what any good bride on a budget does: freak out.

I started thinking of things that we could cut back in order to hit that number.  Maybe I consign a dress, rent a dress, or even better: don't get a traditional wedding dress.  Maybe I could cut back on things like having a cake-- sweets bars are all the rage, right?  Hmm... WAIT, I KNOW... I'll see what we can cut out of our catering budget.

So I sheepishly called our caterer (Tastings Caterers-- so far, working with them has been absolutely freaking WONDERFUL) and asked what could be done to cut the menu a few thousand dollars.  I may or may not have bust into tears at that point, but was given the best gem I have been given so far in the grand world of wedding planning: "Can you see if you can share a tent rental with the person the day before you?"

MIND. BLOWN.

I immediately shot off an email to my contact at the Codman Estate to see if there was anyone there who might want to split a tent for the weekend.  At that point, the Codman was still not rented for the day before our wedding, but they would keep me posted if things changed.

When a little over a month went by and I didn't hear from anyone, I reached back out to our tent vendor and requested some things be changed to our proposal since we needed to have it booked, stat-- we could keep the tent and canopy, but getting rid of the lighting and dance floor would cut down around $900, making it slightly more affordable.  I kid you not, an hour after hitting send, I was emailed by my contact at the Codman to see if it was OK to make an introduction between myself and the people who are holding a wedding there the day before.

At that point I had written off a dance floor and lighting, but when the mother of the bride mentioned they were things she wanted, I reconsidered.  I mean, spending $200 on a dance floor instead of $400 was in my best interest now that the tent itself was only $800.  We still wouldn't need the lights, but I am able to remove them from my quote.

Final quote cost?  $1140.  So I get the tent, the canopy, and the dance floor for HALF the price.   Plus now we will be able to go in and decorate on Friday night once the tent goes up, rather than running around on Sunday morning.

I never knew that you could do this, but it's apparently a little more common than people realize.

Lesson learned: always look for creative ways to cut the budget without compromising what you get.  ALWAYS.