The invitations are in the mail.

Well, most of them anyway.

I ran out of stamps for the RSVP envelopes, so the majority went out but we still have a couple that are waiting to be sent. I didn't have time to run to the post office this weekend, so they are probably going to get boring ol' liberty bell stamps, instead of the cutie heart ones that everyone else got. Sorry guys.

I can't wait for everyone to see them. I think they are SOOOOO cool.

Happy Turkey-Day

Yesterday was an overwhelming success.

The only slight snafu was that the turkey took longer to cook than I expected. I blame that entirely on our wacky oven. That's one thing I WILL NOT miss about this house. Okay, there's a lot of other stuff too, but that's probably the most annoying.

Regardless of the delayed dinner, the turkey was amazing. I've never had a brined turkey before, but wow. It's unbelievable! So juicy! It's SO easy to brine a turkey too, I don't know why more people don't do it!

We probably had enough food to feed twice the number of folks that were here. I was a little saddened actually - knowing how many people have been needing food assistance lately. We donated to the Indianapolis Interfaith Hunger Initiative when we went to church on Wednesday night, so I feel like we shared our blessings. Plus, the way Aaron is already tearing through the leftovers, it's not going to waste!

The final menu was:
blue cheese ball
deviled eggs
red beet eggs
turkey
ham
stuffing
green bean casserole
acorn squash
potato filling
baked beans
cornbread muffins
pumpkin pie
cherry pie
ditty pie
banana pudding
pumpkin cheesecake

Man, everything was AWESOME!

House update

Yesterday I was having a bit of buyers remorse because I felt like we didn't look at enough houses to feel confident in our decision on this one. Part of that was from my friend, because she kept sending me links to cute houses (just in case it didn't work out).

In the late morning we got a counter offer from the sellers, and we decided to stand our ground and not offer any more money. Like Aaron's Dad said, why bid against ourselves? We knew we were the only offer on the table.

So yesterday afternoon our agent took us out to look at two houses we found on the web that looked like potentials. Both of them were duds.

The first one was pretty nice inside, but the remodeling wasn't finished, the bedrooms were TINY and the basement wasn't finished, nor could it be. The ductwork and pipes hung too low in the ceiling. In addition, the neighborhood was okay, but not great. It's currently being gentrified.

The second house was in an awesome neighborhood, and was a pretty neat old house (built in 1915), but it needed sooooo much work. Everything practically was original. If we had a ton of time and disposable cash, it would have been a fun project and will be an amazing house when it's all updated. But we don't have the time (or the cash haha). We need something move-in ready.

I was starting to get a little dejected, thinking maybe we should have just met the sellers in the middle since their house really was the best we'd seen... but at 7:45PM our realtor called. THEY ACCEPTED OUR FINAL OFFER!!!!!!!!

Hyperventilating aside, I am sooooo happy. Now onto the crazy stuff!

Like, Woah.

Aaron and I had been discussing getting a professional photographer for a few hours on the day of our wedding. Our chapel package includes pictures of the ceremony and around the chapel grounds, but originally we just planned to ask our friends and family to take pictures at the reception. However, after looking at all of Daniel and Lexi's AMAZING wedding photos, I kinda wanted something a little more... well, I guess professional.

We looked into it and found a guy who was in our budget who we liked.

But then today we decided to put in an offer on a house.

Guess we won't be booking that photographer after all!

We should know tomorrow whether our offer is accepted. We offered REALLY low, so we expect them to counter. If this all works out, we'll know by the end of the week.

Fingers crossed and breathing deeply.

Thanksgiving

I am so excited. I head back to Indianapolis tomorrow, and I don't have to travel next week. I can't wait to host our first ever Thanksgiving dinner.

I have never cooked a turkey before. My mom says it's easy. I really really hope so.

This weekend we'll have to go buy the turkey and all the other stuff we need for our dishes - onion, celery, baking cups, butter, champagne. I ordered the pies through our church. Our oven is a little funny which is no good at all for baking. Save myself the heart/headache and do a little good works too (the proceeds benefit charity).

Maybe by next year... we'll have our own house to host Thanksigiving!

3 months, 3 weeks

I booked our flights to Las Vegas today. The cheapest flight is also the only direct flight from Indianapolis to Vegas offered by any airline (thank you Northwest!). I was tired of watching and waiting and hoping the prices would drop before buying them. I just wanted to be one task closer to TOTALLY ready for the wedding. The tickets were a little less than I had budgeted for, so what the heck. At least I know I won't be paying MORE than we budgeted.

We're arriving on Friday March 13 around 8am, and leaving Monday March 16 at 1pm. We're leaving two days earlier than we originally planned, but I think that will be better in the long run. Saves us $500 on hotel, and who knows how much on entertainment, gambling, etc!

And the money could be very useful... as Aaron and I are desperately trying to figure out how we can buy this house that we love. We can afford the house, we just don't have a down payment yet. And we really really really really love this house. Sigh. Maybe we'll win the lottery and have enough for the down!

Careerbuilder

I received an email from Careerbuilder a few days ago listing job "matches" for my resume and related searches. I'm really not sure why, but a whole lot of nursing jobs come up, even though I have no nursing experience, nor am I interested in nursing. Strange.

But I digress.

In the email was a job listing for a Senior Application Developer at Conseco (large insurance company). I think I am going to apply. It's pretty close to our house, and it sounds like exactly the type of work I am interested in doing.

Can't hurt, right?

I love my job, and I LOVE my company, but seriously, this traveling sucks. I just want to have a normal life. I want to take my doggies on walks, and cook dinner every night, sleep in my own bed, and not have to buy 2 of everything so I can always have one with me.

4 months, 1 week and counting

I've got a little ticker that tells me how long until the wedding. I got excited as 6 months turned to 5, then 4. It's starting to stress me out though!

Really, the only things left to do are:
1) send invitations
2) book our flights & dog sitting
3) pay everyone
4) go out there
5) get married!

I suppose there will be little things, like finding lingerie to go with my dress, getting my dress altered, and possibly ordering another dress to run around Vegas in.

Otherwise, I don't know why I am even stressing. I'm really excited to finally become Team Heilbron!