Long time no blog!

So it's been quite awhile since I've posted, but I've obviously been a little busy. The wedding came and went and I can't believe it's been almost a month since I said "I do"! It was absolutely amazing and a day I will always remember and cherish.

I've heard multiple people say it was one of the best weddings that they have ever been to and that makes me so happy and makes me feel like all the planning was worth it! Josh and I both enjoyed our wedding a lot, and it really couldn't have gone better. The two surprises I planned for Josh even went off without a hitch! Josh was able to sing with On the Rocks during the reception thanks to alumni from both On the Rocks and Outspoken and two very special bridesmaids to sing tenor and beat box. They all learned the one song that Josh said he wanted to sing with On the Rocks at our wedding, The Moment, a song that the current group of On the Rocks sings. It was wonderful and Josh had no idea, so bringing him down the hall into a room before the wedding to show him, "Some friends that were there to see him...", and then having them start singing the song and having Josh not even be able to sing the first part of the song because he was so choked up was the greatest thing for me to see :)


I was also able to surprise him with a grooms cake that my friend Joanne made. I decided I wanted to do this for him near the beginning of our engagement and knew I wanted to incorporate World of Warcraft into our wedding somehow because it's been such a sore spot in our life, but since it's so important to Josh I wanted to sort of say, "Even though I hate how much you play the damn game, I appreciate your love for it, and I love you no matter what." I think my point came across, and I could tell he just loved it.

Well, now that our wedding is over, nothing has really changed. We're living in the same house, with our same roommates, and the same jobs. We took about a week or two to get all of our new stuff settled in the house, and now our house is clean and back to normal. We spent about 10 months making a mess out of it and it's now finally liveable again, lol.

We're now preparing to have a garage sale in the next couple of weeks to clear out the garage and all of the old stuff that we don't need anymore. After that we're finally leaving on our honeymoon!

We were actually supposed to have already left and been back by now but we had to change the dates of our honeymoon because Josh applied for an amazing job opportunity. He applied to be a 911 call taker for the city of Eugene and his application was accepted and so he then had to sign up for the first part of testing, which he passed, and then the dates of the second part of the testing was scheduled during our honeymoon. We decided together that it was more beneficial for our future to have him take the test and even risk not getting the job then to not know at all if he'd get it or not and leave for our honeymoon earlier.

So we'll see how that goes! I'll do my best to keep you all updated with how married life is going :)

2 months left to go!

Well, it's June 21st, which means we only have 2 months to go before the wedding! Am I excited? Of course? Am I nervous? Not at all... Am I freaking out? Hell yes!

It's not getting down to the wire and I'm feeling like all of the little things that I kept talking about are just piling up around me, and it's getting a little insane. Luckily I have my mom helping me with a lot of it and Josh has even been helping out a lot.

I'm getting really anxious and excited though! I can't believe 8 months has gone by so quickly and I just know this next 2 months will go even quicker!

In 2 months I'll be Mrs. Megan Lenhardt! Ahh!

That's all for today... got too much to do!

Music

So as you can see we only have a few months left before our wedding, but we still have a lot to do. So, so many little things. But the main thing that we've been stressing about is money. Last month our old roommate moved out and we had planned on having someone else move in but at the last minute that person kind of bailed on us. Having roommates leading up to the wedding was helping save money for it, but now that we won't have one for the next 3 months we're kind of freaking out about whether or not we're going to be able to save enough. Needless to say, we kind of got screwed over, but we're working on figuring it out.

I've been stressing majorly about all of this along with the fact that there's still a lot to get done, but the other day I got in my car and decided to play my wedding playlist on my drive up to Salem. This is actually a playlist I made before Josh even proposed and we had already decided all of the music that we wanted played and sung at our wedding. I listened to all the songs. The processional, the song that I'll walk down the aisle to, the song that will be sung during the ceremony, our first dance, my father daughter dance... all of them. I just sat and listened, of course cried a little, and realized that this is what my wedding is really about. It doesn't matter if everything is perfect... it doesn't matter if everything I wanted isn't there because we can't afford it, what matters is that I'm marrying the love of my life and that what brought us together, music, is playing such a big role in our wedding.

That's the part that I started planning months, maybe even a year, before I was even engaged, and sometimes I just need to remember to listen to those songs to bring me back and remind me of why I'm doing all of this work. It's not about the money, it's not about the food or the flowers, it's about us, and the promise we will make to each other that day in front of all of the people we care most about.

We have a a saying hung on our wall in our living room that reads, "Love is a friendship set to music", and in our case, that's precisely what it is : )

129 days!

129 days and counting! I can't believe the big day is getting so close. We have been getting a lot done in the last few weeks, but we still have a lot to do.

Josh and I went and bought his suit at Macy's last week, and were also able order all of the groomsmens matching ties! Josh looks so handsome in his suit and I think he's pretty happy with it.

My mom and I have been working a lot on getting everything prepared to make the invitations. It will definitely be a long process but I think it will be worth it in the end financially. We've also been working on getting all of the decorations and everything together as well. So much work and so many little details.

I've also finalized everything with the florist and have that all done, which was a big thing that I wanted to get worked out.

Josh and I also went to Salem last weekend to meet with Dan, who will be the officiant at our wedding, to figure out the ceremony and how we're going to want everything to go. It was really great to get that all worked out, and was actually really exciting to think about the actual ceremony and how amazing it's going to be. I'm getting kind of nervous about our vows. We've decided to write our own, and as amazing as it will be, I still have to write them, and I don't even know where to start!

That same day I also went to the bridal shop where I got my dress to meet with alterations, and also pick out my jewelry. They had a trunk show there that day for a woman named Meg who has a line called MEG Jewelry, and she was there that day and helped me pick out the jewelry I will wear on my wedding day. It was all so beautiful, and I found the perfect set of earrings and a necklace. I also ended up buying my veil and ordering my shoes that day. I got a lot done, and it felt good to have all the things I needed done for me out of the way.

It's amazing to me that I had no idea how much work would go into planning a wedding! It's all going to be worth it in the end, I know, but I just wish it wasn't so stressful. I want to pull my hair out and cry some days, but I remind myself that this wedding is something I will only get to do once, and I should cherish this time, as crazy as it all is.

My Better Half

So Josh and I just got back from a trip with Divisi to Los Angeles. Divisi competed in the Intenational Championship of Collegiate A Cappella while we were down there and placed 2nd, which wasn't what we were hoping for but we're excited about it regardless. Divisi had a blast all being down there together and even got to go to Disneyland for a day. But what made this trip in particular so amazing, was watching my fiance be so unbelievably amazing!

What did he do that was so amazing, you ask?... Well, he volunteered himself to drive a 15 passenger van full of 11 college aged girls, me and one other girl followed in our car, all the way down to and around LA! That in itself was enough for me to love him and appreciate him even more than I already did, but he did it with more patience than I could ever dream of having. He stayed calm in situations, he problem solved and figured things out, and took control of situations that needed a leader, and all 13 of them still loved him! All the girls just fell in love with him, and he had way more fun than he thought he would.

I just couldn't get over how much better of a person he is than I will ever be when it comes to having patience and solving problems in a calm manner. The fact that he could step in and take on somewhat of a leadership role in a group of girls that barely knew him and 3 days later they are completely in love with him, is beyond me. He gained their love and respect, and he didn't demand it, he earned it and deserved it.

He is an amazing, kind, giving, and patient person, and someone that I truly look up to. When I was so fed up with the girls at times that I just got annoyed and walked away, or was so frustrated that I took it out on Josh, I would look back at him, and there he was working it all out, with all the patience that I couldn't find.

I told him on the drive home, how much I appreciated him being there, and that I really fell in love with him more each day that I saw him with all of my friends, and how he handled all of those situations. He continued to receive texts from Divisi on the trip back about how much they missed him and appreciated him, as well. It's really something when a group of 13 other women who also happen to be your friends all like, no... love your fiance. I think it says something about who you're marrying, and I realized, again, for the 80 millionth time, how amazing the man I get to marry is.

He's more patient than I will ever be, has more love in his heart than I thought he did, and is really, truly, my better half.

My dress!

My dress is here, my dress is HERE! I just got a call yesterday that my wedding gown came in to the shop and I get to go try it on and have my first fitting! Eeeeee! I'm so excited! My mom and I made an appointment for next Wednesday morning to go see and try it on, and I can't wait! MY dress for MY wedding, ahhh!

We also got our save the dates all sent out in the mail the other day. Josh and I went to the post office together to put all the stamps on them and we had them all in a stack ready to go, and we opened the door to the mail box together, and set them in, and I looked at him and asked, "Ready?", and then we closed the door. We both got really excited about it, even though we were both at the same time a little nervous. Not nervous to get married, like I told him the other day, I'd marry him tomorrow if I could, but nervous because now the wedding's really going to happen. I have to have a whole wedding planned in almost 5 months... there's no turning back now. The deadline has been set!

Besides being busy planning the wedding, Josh and I are also still both busy working our jobs, and picking up as many extra shifts to save as much as we can before the wedding. We've also recently been talking about looking into and getting more information to buy a house. With this $8000 tax credit we kind of feel like it'd be pretty stupid of us to not at least look into seeing if it's even a possibility. So wish us luck! We're going to be contacting a lender soon to see if this can really happen and how much we're approved for! I hope we can, because it'd be so nice to be able to have a house that's all our own and start our married life settled in our own home : )

The Countdown has begun!

... Just because....


Custom Countdown Clock