Too Excited to Sleep!

It's 4:50 AM, and I am not going to be getting back to sleep.  I woke up, realized that I hadn't checked to see if my veil is in the dry cleaning bag with my wedding dress, and that little bit of worry was more than enough to keep me up from now until I collapse, exhausted, tonight.

It's still too soon to start getting ready.  I am getting married (in just over 12 hours!) at a vineyard, and am staying on the property in a suite above the gift shop.  My sisters were scheduled to stay with me last night, but then we rethought having 3 of us squeeze into a double bed.  As it wouldn't feel right having one sister with me and not the other, we decided to all get a good night's sleep in our own beds.  I'm sure Lindsay is grateful--I shared a bed with her the previous night, and she told me she had had to build a pillow wall between us to keep me from cuddling her.  However, since I am all alone on this property in the middle of Oregon wine country (emphasis on country), there is no way I'm getting up and moving around while it's still dark.  The suite has huge, curtain-less windows in the living room, and I am honestly too scared to turn all the lights on and start moving around.  Who knows what is lurking in this country.  I don't really want to jinx myself by mentioning which phantasmic creatures I'm thinking of, but it's the stuff of urban legends and, well, zombies.  It's really just zombies and hook men.

So under the careful watch of Lamsicle, my stuffed animal lamb that I got in college and who looked so sad and lonely on my bed in Seattle that I just had to put one more thing in the car, I am quietly typing this in the bedroom with the curtains drawn until daylight starts peeking over the hills.

Yesterday was amazing.  I woke up completely hung over from dinner Thursday night in Portland.  I was drinking in advance, as I wasn't going to drink at the rehearsal dinner or the wedding, but in no way needed to drink as much as I did.  I was supposed to be up earlier yesterday to finish some work, but slept late and then couldn't really function until I drank a gallon or two of water and threw up a little.  First reprimanding myself for dropping the organizational ball, I soon realized that it was good that I had.  I wasn't up at 6:00 collating and highlighting itineraries, but the disorganization loosened me up enough to put me in an amazing mood all day.  I felt as if I had just learned the true meaning of Christmas (Jesus, love and family, not presents).   I was just so happy to be in a hotel suite with my mom, dad and little sister (Caitlin hadn't arrived yet), and knew that almost everyone I love is going to be at my wedding tomorrow.  What's really important about this weekend isn't my perfectly timed itinerary.  It's that I am really happy and really fortunate to have such an incredible family and such and incredible future family and (in my opinion) THE MOST AMAZING future husband.

Enough sentiments--let me tell you another highlight from yesterday.

While driving from Portland to my aunt's house in Silverton (1 hour) to pick up all our decorations (her house had been our staging area over the last month), and then to the venue in Dayton (1 hour), Ken's cousin called to see if a T-Rex lawn sculpture would get a thumbs up or a thumbs down as his wedding gift to us.

"Amazing, yes, we want that," I said.  "How tall is it?"

"About 3 to 4 feet," Ken's cousin Paul, who I had not met yet, told me.

"Yeah, that will fit in the car."  We are borrowing our Seattle-based aunt Susan's SUV because we knew our minicooper would not be a big help to us this weekend.

"Ken, you want a 4-foot T-Rex, right?" I double-checked.

"Yeah!"

"Yes!" I told Paul.

A few minutes later, Paul's mom Aunt Liz called.

"Are you seriously sure you want this?" she asked.  "It's really big."  And really stupid, I'm sure she was thinking.

I assured her we did, but I thanked her for being responsible.

So one of MANY highlights of our wedding will be the 3 to 4 foot T-Rex sitting a the head table.   It conveniently goes with our centerpieces, which consist of lavender flowers, handmade wood table numbers and white spray painted plastic dinosaurs.

Well, I think it's that time.  5:30.  Time to start getting ready.  Just because I now know the true meaning of weddings, it doesn't mean I'm not going to stick to my schedule.