WE'RE ON TV!!!

Go to this site: http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/Sports/Detail?contentId=2756317&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=6.10.1 and then click on the top "Sidebar Video" - the one with the people in Butler blue. Watch through to near the end and there are a group of Gator fans walking down the street, drinking and screaming - THAT'S US! Cody's pretty obvious - he's the really tall one - I'm the one in the orange shirt to the right of him in the picutre (right on the screen, his left) screaming. Cool, huh?

Dress Drama

Of course I couldn't leave now without a quick dress drama update. It's been insane! Totally insane. I'm on dress #3 now! So we realized Dress #1 was never going to work - then we argued about refunding me my money because "that doesn't happen in the bridal business." Well then, give me the dress I ordered or my money. Anyway, on Saturday I was tired of dealing with them so I sent in my reinforcements (Cody) and he got my money back. It's funny that I'm the lawyer that argues all day for a living and he is so much better at handling things like that. Anyway, then we went to another shop, tried to buy a dress, but the only place in the ENTIRE COUNTRY that had my size (allegedly) was California. God love California, they have people with small sizes. Anyway, I ordered it and had it shipped overnight. Dress #2 arrived on Tuesday. It was not my size. Someone miss-tagged it after the orginal tags were for some reason gone. It was huge. Another huge dress. So I went back to the store to exchange it for the bigger size and have it taken it but they had since sold that one.
Welcome Wednesday - total dress meltdown. Still no dress and running out of time. Well, they found another store in the St. Louis area that had the bigger size. So my options were: (1) get the bigger one and have alterations (along with hem and bustle) done in 10 days, (2) find another dress in my size that I could live with (and then have it hemmed and bustled) or (3) find a tea length dress in my size - no hem no bustle. I came so close to getting the tea length because then it would be my "I hate wedding dresses and the entire industry" dress, but then I realized months and years from now I'd look at the pictures and marvel at how dumb I looked with everyone in long stuff (including bridesmaids) and me in a short dress. I tried on every dress they had in the smallest sizes they had and hated them all. No luck with not having it altered. So I got the bigger size and thanks to Cody's mom, we now have someone in Tally who can alter it, hem it and bustle it before the wedding. It's likely going to cost a fortune with so much to do with such short notice, but she won't even tell me how much it is so I can't even freak out about it - yet! :) So now Dress #3 is at the store, being cleaned and steamed. I pick it up Friday at 8:30 pm. Then Saturday at 6am we leave for Atlanta, watch the Gators beat some UCLA butt, then go to Tally, drop off dress at alterations lady at 9am on Monday and then go back to Atlanta to see the Gators win their second National Championship (in basketball)! Fun with time crunches! I'm still holding my breath until I see the dress done, pretty and fitting correctly but at least now I'm not an emotional basketcase and I have some hope. :)

First time with Raffensperger

So, I've officially now registered for the 1/2 marathon here on April 15th - yes that's the week after the wedding. I wasn't posting anything about the possibility of running it just in case I backed out but I told myself if I make it to the 9 mile run in training then I'm in. And I did my 9 mile run last Sunday. So this weekend, in Tally, I'll do 10 or 11 miles and then I'll be set.
But that's not the point of the post. The point is I had to fill out the registration sheet. I started to fill it out and put "Melissa Flynn" but then I realized by then I'll be "Melissa Raffensperger." So I had to scrap that form and do a new one. Then I had to sign my name for the first time as "Raffensperger" - very weird but cool at the same time. Of course, being a pack-rat, I photocopied the form for my scrapbook as the first time I used "Raffensperger."

I love weather.com.

I know it's been a while - things have been so insane it's not even possible to describe. So crazy that you don't even want to read about them - trust me. :) Anyway, while I had a moment to breathe I had a few quick posts. First: weather.com.
Since we are now within 10 days of the wedding, the weather.com 10 Day Forecast now includes my wedding day! So far it says we're looking at a high of 80, low of 51, partly cloudy with a 10% chance of rain. Sounds good to me. Now I can obsessively check it every few hours for the next 10 days to see if it changes. :) Trust me, it's better then me obsessing about other things right now. :)

St. Pat's Day

Can you tell I downloaded my digital pictures onto the computer today? :) Anyway, here's a cool picture Cody took of the start of the St. Patrick's Day run. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people run in this race - more then a few of them drinking beer and probably already drunk (the ones not in hats and gloves as it was 31 degrees at this time). I honestly think most of these people run 5 miles per year - this one race - and then never again until next year - but hey, good for them for getting out there. :) That's Union Station (home of one of two TCBY's in the city - the other is at the airport) in the background - very very cool place to check out.

16 days to go.

I've got 16 days to go until my wedding and have no dress. I guess I technically own one because I've paid for it (but it's still at the dress shop because we're going to argue until pigs fly for my money back - another story), but I don't have one that actually FITS. So today I went dress shopping - again. Cody said "But look, Missy, not many girls get to go wedding dress shopping TWICE." - like I was lucky or something. I quickly reminded him that I hated it the first time around and I certainly hate it even more now with SIXTEEN DAYS TO GO! Anyway, here are pictures of two of the dresses I tried on. Neither are perfect but might do. I love the short one but given the late date and the fact that everyone else had their outfits (including bridesmaids which have long skirts) I don't think I could pull of tea length - though I do like the dress. :) I think it makes me look like a flower girl though (and like I weigh significantly more then I do). :) At least I have some humor with this. :)

Another first.

A list of firsts.
Last week (or was it the week before?) I got my first speeding ticket in Missouri (to go with the 15+ from Florida) - watch out on Brentwood STL folks - though he did NOT give me a ticket for (1) the out of date tag, (2) having a Florida tag, living in Missouri, or (3) still having a Florida license. Good thing in Missouri if you know a lawyer (which I just happen to) you can get out of any ticket. :)
This week was the first time I was 16 days away from my wedding with no dress.
I also got my first complete make-up makeover last week. I had an appointment at Clinique and we went to get my wedding make-up makeover. Thankfully Marissa and Melanie were there to take copious notes so we know exactly what to do on the wedding day (that's assuming I'm actually wearing a white dress - I'm not sure what to do with my makeup if I have on jeans instead). You would never know how complicated being a girl is! I thought you could just wash your face with the soap in the shower (Zest, Irish Spring, etc.) and then put on tinted moisturizer. OH NO! No No No! There are actually about a dozen steps - take off make-up with remover, cleanse (with face soap), apply toner, apply anti-aging blue stuff, apply moisturizer, apply fountation (apparently tinter moisturizer just doesn't cut it these days), apply powder stuff (with special powder brush). And that's just your base - that's not counting the exfoliating and actual make-up part - it's all actually quite confusing.
I also ran my first race totally, how should I put this, unsober. I wasn't drunk - but I had been drinking at 2am and the race was 9am the next morning. Friday night we went out for Marissa's going away (she is moving to NJ) and we all had a good time - only problem was we didn't get to bed until after 3am - then the race was at 9am. So I ran 5 miles (not a long run, but still running) hung-over/not yet recuperated. Not to mention it was 31 degrees when the race started. Needless to say it sucked. Official time was 43:30 but that doesn't count the time it took me to get from where I was at the back of the pack to the actual start line (the clock starts at go time even though it make take everyone a few minutes to pass the start). Oh well.
And my last first for today is my first daffodils. I planted these back in the fall wondering if it would actually work - and it did! I now have daffodils. This picture is from yesterday when I only had two - today I have about 15 or 20 but it was too dark to take a picture by the time I got home. Something cheery for my not so cheery self. :)

So this is what crazy feels like.

Wow. So much to catch up on I don't know if I'll ever have time. Seeing as though I can write pages about nothing, it would take many pages to catch up on everything lately -I hope to do that shortly, but for now, today's current drama.
My wedding dress saga in short sentences: Looked for wedding dresses, on time, even early. Couldn't find any dresses I liked. Kept looking. Found some that were okay. Kept looking. Nothing perfect. Narrowed it down to three. Still couldn't decide. Kept looking. Still no decision. Deadlines loomed - made a choice. Paid extra for a custom hem (because said dress could not be hemmed after making). Paid extra for a 9 week rush. Dress arrives 13 weeks later. Dress is HUGE - I mean HUGE! Also dress was too long. Dress was mailed back to company who confirmed dress was too long. Another dress magically appeared from company, correct size, style and color and suposedly correct length. Dress was too long.
So that leads us to the present. I went to presumably pick up my dress last week and it's still too long (go figure - they didn't fix the length). The dress shop offered a bunch of half ass options for fixing the situation - wear really really high heels (not what I wanted to do on my wedding day), wear a poofy thing to make the dress poofy (I did not want a poofy dress), move the dress up on my body (it fits fine where it is now - I didn't want it shoved under my armpits), and finally to just hem the scalloped hem and hope no one notices how horrid it would look. Needless to say I was less then pleased- so I was told to return today to discuss matters with the seamstress. Seamstress, who is a rational person, said the dress was much longer (THREE whole inches - that's a lot) then we ordered and the company messed up AGAIN. Only problem? Too late to order another dress. So shop people pondered more half ass ways to rig the dress so I wouldn't trip over it. I continued to be less then pleased and my pleased factor continued to decline as they continued to not offer any reasonable (in my crazy person eyes) solutions. My solution? GET ME THE DRESS THAT I PAID FOR IN THE SIZE AND LENGTH I PAID FOR. You would think that wouldn't be difficult but apparently if you order something custom, that doesn't really mean custom it means as close as they feel like getting and you'd better hope you can figure out how to make it work - because your wedding is LESS THEN THREE WEEKS AWAY!
No, I'm not happy. I'm actually crazy. :) So I left the dress there. Tomorrow dress shop is to call dress company and see if they happen to have another dress in my size and length. If not, I plan on getting my money back and finding a dress that does fit properly between now and LESS THEN THREE WEEKS. So yet again, I have no wedding dress. Although before I had several weeks to spare - I now have NONE. I need to find a dress this week, have it hemmed next week, find a veil and get it all ready to go by next Friday when we leave for Florida (or Atlanta if the Gators make it). Yes, I am now officially insane.
So I don't have a dress - I hope to again soon however. I'll keep everyone posted on my sanity in the meantime - it's not looking good. :)

Cleaning as therapy.

Okay, I really don't think I'm the only person in the world who does this - I've actually heard of other people who do the same thing - so don't laugh at me.
Yes, I can barely keep my house clean on a regular week. I can barely manage to get our clothes washed, our dishes done, the floors swept and vacuumed, the counters cleaned, the mail sorted and dealt with, the bathrooms clean, the yard in order, etc. - it rarely, if ever, is all done at the same time. I can never catch up. Until I get really really really stressed and am just about to my breaking point - then the cleaning kicks it. Some sleep, some drink, some have actual productive means of coping with seemingly unmanageable stress - I clean. I guess I just never learned real stress management tools, because I pretty much stress, stress, stress, until I almost break - and then I clean - a lot - until all hours of the night/morning.
So that was today. I left work early because I just couldn't deal with it anymore. Ran some errands. Came home - and cleaned. I started out cleaning in my work clothes and then eventually changed into appropriate cleaning clothes. I cleaned our bedroom like it has never been cleaned before. I took all the clothes out of my closet (yes, I'm crazy, impulsive and I know this did nothing to solve the source of my stresses but it helps) - even the boxes and boxes that were still packed up from when we moved almost 2 years ago. I took them ALL out - and went through them. I managed to get rid of tons of clothes (Donna - you'd be proud!). The biggest victory of the day was that I found I can finally fit back into the jeans I had in the 8th grade. I know that's not a big deal for some people - but it meant a lot to me - and now I can finally get rid of the 8 pairs of jeans that I had been hanging on since middle/high school. They're hidious jeans - well before low waist was in style - some are even tapered - so they needed to go but I couldn't get rid of them until I could get back into them. I admit, however, that I did save one pair for posterities sake - and to keep me on track in case I ever need to lose some weight again. :)
So after going through every bit of clothes in my closet, I finished cleaning our room (I might like to add that I'm not TOTALLY insane because I did not drag every item of clothing out of my drawers - I let those be -for now). Then I moved on to the hallway - same deal - clean clean clean - viciously clean. Then the bathroom. The tub was scrubbed like it was never scrubbed before - stress and aggression taken out on a tub is better then it taken out on my friends, family, loved ones. :) Then the stairs (I skipped the spare room because that was just too much). Then the Boy Room. Then onto the rest of downstairs. Then I decided that I just HAD to go to Wal-Mart TONIGHT to get some thread for my bridesmaid dresses - yes, I thought that it honestly needed to be done NOW and couldn't wait. So now I have thread.
Needless to say, I got a ton of stress out. I didn't actually deal with any tiny bit of the stuff that was causing the stress - that will still all be there tomorrow - but I at least got some housework done. :)
On another note, my stress was also all put in perspective by an unfortunate event in Cody's family. His cousin (pregnant with twins) was put in the hospital because she was having some problems. I'm not sure on all the details yet, but it certainly put my life and stress in major perspective. Here I was totally stressing like a mad person about the wedding and this and that and she had such bigger things to deal with! I can't believe I was going insane over a wedding, when, at the end of the day as long as we're married, we succeeded when she has her two little babies to worry with. We wish her (and the babies) all the best and want nothing more then to see them born safe and healthy and happy - when they are ready.

More fun with pictures.

While I have Picassa open, I found another picture I just had to post. There were so many great ones from this series, it was hard to chose just one, so there are two. Yup, that's Cody's mom and Aunt Jackie sledding during our trip up to Wisconsin. They were HILARIOUS out there in the snow! It was awesome to watch them sled and spin and fall and spin some more down that big hill.

Not Awesome.

To top off my already insanely busy week where I feel like I have barely had time to breathe, I had to go to the endodontist this morning because of a tooth I've already had two root canals on. Sure enough, I had to have the third this morning. Just what you want to start the day - a root canal. The good news is they didn't even have to numb me because all the roots and nerves were already dead from the other two procedures. Fun fun.
In other, much more awesome news, the bridesmaid skirts came in today - 2.5 weeks early! Yes, I was cutting it pretty close, but luckily the store was great and got them here early. Yipee.

Awesome.

Check this out! This is one of the coolest gifts I've ever received - actually I should say "we received" because it's to me and Cody. :) It's a HUGE stone, carved with "The Raffensperger's 2007" - it's serioulsy huge - I swear it weighs as much as I do. Cody's cousin Trish and her husband, Joe, (who are expecting TWINS in July!) gave it to us while we were up in Wisconsin. Here's a picture of it in our back yard - notice how the yard looks dead - it is - welcome to winter in Cold Corn Country. :) I still can't belive in a little over three weeks I'm going to be a "Raffensperger" - I think it took me three tries just to type it correctly! That's going to take some getting used to. :) Thanks Trish and Joe!

I'm still alive I promise.

Man it's been a while since I posted - SO much going on - SO little time. Seriously this is the first time since I got off work at 5:30 this evening that I have actually had a chance to sit down (other then in my car on my way to running errands, errands and more errands). Things have been insane. Since the last post, we have been to Florida (the first weekend of March) - Cody for his bachelor party in Panama City and me to Tally to get some wedding stuff done - tons of great stories here -but for another time. Last week was just insane - as insane as they get - zero sleep, tons to do. I did get my first speeding ticket in Missouri. That was exciting. More to catch up on there later as well. Last weekend we went to a friend's wedding - gorgeous - got tons of great ideas! :) Then the Gators won the SEC tournament - AGAIN. And then they got the No. 1, First Seed! Then they got put in the Midwest bracket which means we'll see them play HERE in the semi-finals. Yes, we already have tickets. Then we hope to see them in Atlanta in the Final Four - yes, again. So so so much to tell - but I'm beat and need to get about four hours of stuff done before going to bed. One really cool thing today though - I think Cody and him mom picked a mother/son song for the wedding - I won't give it away here, but I'll just say that I would have never thought of it in that context but it is PERFECT! I totally teared up when listening to it. In other wedding news, tons going on! More to tell later - but just wanted to say I'm still alive!!!