Thinking about the Future

I am definitely ready for school to be done.  Three weeks left + one week of finals and then it's the summer.  I can't believe it!  I have NO CLUE what I am going to do after I take my last test.  I literally have nothing to do until July.  Unless of course we have a house to move into and then I have TONS to do.  Move in, paint, cook, clean, etc.  This may be really weird for those that don't know me, but I'm really excited about the first day we can move in, because I am going to go into the house and wash every little corner.  If you think about it, it's the only time that you can really clean the entire house because there's no furniture to get in the way.  Having a brand new perfectly clean house makes me so happy :-)  I really cannot believe that in a month we will have our first home.  It feels to me like the start of our 'adult life' and kind of the start of me and Daniel's 'adult relationship'.  Even though we won't be paying for anything ourselves except food, we will still be completely on our own and responsible for the house.  It's so exciting!  Another thing I'm super excited for is entertaining.  It will be so fun to go grocery shopping and cook a beautiful meal and set the table nicely and invite friends over.  It's my housewife dream come true!  It seems like Hope is going to be around for June so hopefully she will move in right away too.  Then I won't be completely by myself.  Daniel will have to live in the dorms during the music camp to keep track of his kiddies.  But I'm sure he'll be over at the house a lot helping me decorate and all.

It's really hard to concentrate on school when I have all these exciting things to look forward to this summer.  Studying and homework and tests just don't seem to matter in the big scheme of things.  I have also really started looking at wedding stuff.  I have saved a bunch of pictures of stuff I want to do.  It's hard right now because I have no idea what my budget will be.  Right now this is what we've decided:  The colors will be dark teal and brown, there will be a snowflake theme (printed on the invitations, programs, on the cake, etc.)  and I think it would be really cool to have snowflakes hanging from the ceiling in our colors.  I want my mom to make cushions for the chairs in teal to dress up the plain wood a little bit.  We'll have to do a lot with decorations to make the cabin look elegant and not mountain rustic.  I was also thinking of having pashminas for all the ladies since it will be cold out, but that may be a bit too expensive.  I want lots of flowers and everything to fit in with the theme.  I haven't thought about the menu at all.  Except that because it is an overnight/weekend kind of thing, I think we'll serve dinner and then brunch the next morning too.  Like muffins/bagels, that kind of thing.  My dress is going to be A-line with a v-neck or sweetheart neckline.  Preferably not strapless, because I think that would look silly in winter.  Also, I'm hoping to include some teal accent on it like maybe a ribbon that goes around the empire waist and all the way down my long train.  And I want it to sparkle everywhere!  I haven't even thought about food yet.  Daniel wants a brass quintet to play for the ceremony and he wants to commission our very own piece to walk down the aisle too.  I'm not so sure about that, but if Daniel really really wants it, then I guess it's okay.  What else....  Oh!  I want to have some kind of cover to go over my dress so that we can take pictures outside.  I so hope it snows, but I'm not sure it will in late October.  We may have to move the date later or just settle for the dead trees in between autumn and winter look.   Yuck.  We are still planning on having a ceremony and reception in Estes Park and then a reception in Phoenix as well.  I'll wear my dress again, and hopefully the whole wedding party and family will be there as well.  We won't serve dinner at that.  Maybe it'll be a dessert kind of thing.  

It's unfortunate that Daniel and I have such different perspectives on the wedding.  I think that the most important people are those that I have grown up with and have been there my whole life (church people, family, Nicole/Sarah/Beth) where Daniel thinks that the most important people are those that we are friends with now and in the future (school friends, fraternity brothers, family).  We'll have to reconcile that somehow when we make the invitation list.  The nice thing about having a small ceremony in Estes park is that we can do it a little nicer because there are less people to pay for.  80 people really is not that many.  Family will account for probably half of that.  Luckily neither of us have big families.  In fact, we both have rather small families.  

So, as you can see, we have already put a lot of thought into this.  But nothing's for sure at this point.  We have a long way to go.  A tiny part of me is hoping that somehow we are able to move the wedding up a year or two, but it probably won't happen.  We can't get married until we can completely support ourselves and that means after graduate school.  But by then we will definitely be able to support ourselves, and maybe a baby too!

Speaking of babies, I really want twins.  I have been watching old videos of me and Nicole when we were babies and we were so cute!  I think twins are waaay cuter than just one.  Of course it's not like I'll have any control over that.  This is such a fun time of life.  When I have all these possibilities ahead of me.  House, dog, trip abroad, graduation, marraige, babies.....  it's all so exciting!  I'm so impatient to experience all of these things.  But I know there's a possibility that once I'm sitting there in our house, with our puppy, graduated from college, married, with a baby, I'm going to be sad that it's all over.  Nothing more to look forward to- I've finally accomplished it all.  I hope it's not like that.  Then I get to look forward to first words, first steps, first day of school......