We're officially hitched!

I'm now a wife!  Everyone has been greeting me with Mrs. Mitchell, and I keep getting confused - Chris's mom is in the other room...and then I realize they are talking to me!

Our ceremony and reception was absolutely amazing, and the reason it was so beautiful was because of all of you (besides how beautiful Chris and I are of course!).  Here are specific people we'd like to recognize and thank (it kinda feels like receiving a major award: "And now I'd like to thank the following people...":

• My parents:  Thank you so much for all of your love and support throughout my life, and for welcoming Chris into our family (with Pokey's permission of course)!  Dad, the plant stands and cupcake stand you made for us made our day feel all the more special!  Mom, your words during the ceremony made me laugh and reminisce, and it made me more fully appreciate all of your advice and encouragement throughout my life.  Thank you to you both!
• Jamie and Sue: Thank you so much for welcoming me in the Mitchell clan (and for not simply replacing Chris with me!).  Thank you for the grooms dinner and for brunch - it was wonderful to see everyone's reactions to our photos and for the fun stories retold about Chris and the hairbrush!
• Mom Mom, Seanly, Nina:  Thank you for driving across the country to share in our day!  It was fun spending time with you (hope it was fun winning my money in poker!).  I am honored to officially be part of the Mitchell clan! 
• Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jabbour: Thank you for flying across the country to be an important part of our celebration.
• Kim: Yo Sis!  I would not have been able to get through all of those extremely busy days without your help!  I honestly cannot find the words to say how much I appreciate all of your support and refusal to let me do anything!  You gave me a rocking bachelorette party (I don't know the last time I laughed and danced that hard!).  You gave me a place to relax.  You gave me a saucy makeup job (who would have thought!).  You gave me an out if I wanted it - if you were wondering why I asked you to be my maid of honor, that's why, you are my best friend first, Chris's sister second when it matters most.  You organized and ran around for several days straight to make our day wonderful.  Most of all, you share yourself with me openly and without reservation; you have given me amazing emotional support and great advice regardless of the situation; and you are a kick-ass women.  Thank you.
• Eric and Chanda: Thank you for all of your help on our wedding day!  Your mad decorating skills and height gave us a great stage.  Eric, thanks for being the best man even though you only found out the day before the wedding.  
• Adam, Ildiko, Russ, Lisa, Brent, Autumn, James, Mary, Greg: Thank you so much for all of your help on our wedding day and for being part of it!  You all made the space look beautiful - I didn't imagine it could look that great!  We've gotten comments from several people telling us we have a good group of friends :)  You are all amazing!
• Becca: Thank for being the honorary personal attendant!  Thank you for filling the role even though I didn't realize you'd be put in that position!  You did a magnificent job - everything went more smoothly with you there.  BTW: the Skittles His and Her packs are amazing (I ate the Her pack, working on stealing the His pack)

• Gina and Perry: Thank you for being the photographer and DJ.  Perry - our photos are so much fun!  I am so amazed at how much thought you put into them!  Gina - the music was wonderful!  Thank you for all of your help decorating and setting up/tearing down too! 
• John and Maria: Thank you so much for letting us borrow your van for so many days and for helping with all of the set-up and tear down!  You made everything so much easier!  Sweet moves on the dance floor :)
• Andrea and Greg: Thank you for all of your help during the set-up and tear down!  I cannot get over how beautiful those centerpieces on our table were!  You also have mad cupcake-arranging skills!  Your support before/during/after the wedding was great!
• Gretchen: Thank you so much for all of your help and suggestions before the wedding and for being a kick-ass bartender!  We definitely need to go salsa dancing sometime soon!
• Friends and Family (and anyone we forgot to thank specifically!): Thank you for being part of our day!  Your love and support over the years has shaped Chris and I into the people we are today.  Thank you for traveling so many miles and braving road construction to get here!  It was an incredible feeling to look out over the crowd and see all of your faces smiling back at us!  It wasn't in a creepy way; more like a loving/encouraging way :)  Thank you.

Chris posted some preliminary wedding photos on Flickr.  Enjoy!

I have a husband!

Guess what today is...

It's our wedding day!!!  I'm really excited and a bit nervous about everything running smoothly for the most part.  Thank you all for your support!

Holy s&%# - it's almost here!

That day is just around the corner - I actually got butterflies in my stomach when I logged off and recorded my voicemail at work saying that I'd be out until July 6.  It meant our wedding day was really close.  Holy s%$#.

6 days to go!

For anyone that's looked at our wedding website today (or if you've looked at a calendar!), you'll know it's six days until Chris and I get married!  We're working on last minute stuff, like getting the wine (very important!), gathering supplies, etc.  I'm feeling pretty good about everything now, which is great. 

I'm also still working on my wedding shawl.  It's getting much closer to being done, so I'm holding out hope that it will be done by next Saturday.  And I bet you anything if I do get it done, it will be ridiculously hot outside and I won't be able to wear it!  It will be something wonderful I made for myself though and I'll be able to wear it plenty this fall.  It's been a great project for me because I find knitting so relaxing and it's a good excuse to relax a bit during the last-minute planning. 

I have been itching to do some more yard work though.  I have two rain barrels that are ready to be installed, but I have to modify the downspouts, level and clear out an area for the barrel, etc.  I'll be doing that soon after the wedding I hope, like maybe during the week we have off!  I am so excited to have some time off work!  It will almost be two full weeks including the July 4th holiday (which we get to take on July 5).  I only have two more days of work, and everyone will be lucky if I don't mentally check out earlier than that!

Time to run some more errands!

13 days to go

It's less than two weeks from our wedding, and I have resigned myself to the fact that I will likely not get my shawl done.  For those who didn't know, I am in the process of knitting myself a shawl for the wedding in case we have weather like we did today.  I am working on the second side and it's highly unlikely that it will get finished.  Mom suggested I take a day off work to work on it (granted she was saying it jokingly). 

I'm super excited that I only have seven more work days to go!  After that, I will be completely removed from work for almost two weeks including the July 4th holiday.  I can't wait!

Both Chris and I are getting excited.  We finally planned the ceremony and I can picture in my mind how everything will happen and it's wonderful.  I was working on music this weekend (with the help of Mary's excellent playlist - thank you!). 

See you all soon!

I rocked my presentation

For those who don't know, I presented at the national conference for GFOA in Atlanta (that's the Government Finance Officers Association - the club for government finance nerds).  I was extremely nervous given that this was my first time presenting at a national conference of anything and because I was presenting in front of a few hundred people.  Yikes!

It has been an incredible experience to come to Atlanta, and I've temporarily forgotten how crappy my job can be.  I am incredibly honored that my boss and the higher-ups asked me to give the presentation (granted it's because the Controller of the City was originally asked, but when he told his wife about it, she reminded him he had a family vacation planned that weekend, so to ensure they wouldn't need a divorce lawyer, he asked if I could do it). 

I've gotten a lot of really positive comments from people and someone stopped me at the even tonight and asked if I presented and told me what a great job I did.  Man it feels good!  I feel so happy!

Toastmasters certainly helped and I was surprised at how much less nervous I was for this presentation.  My mouth still got a bit dry and I stumbled on some words, but overall, I felt pretty calm.  I guess that's what happens when you know the subject inside and out! 

I've met some really great people at the conference, and hope that I'll see them again sometime.  For now, I'll focus on getting some sleep before my flight tomorrow morning.

Thank you to everyone for your support!  The good vibes reached me!