Thunder in the Midwest

I have missed thunderstorms so much. I spent the last three summers craving their magestic, impressive relief from opressive, muggy heat. We certainly had the muggy heat part of it, but- for the most part, Japan doesn't really seem to do thunderstorms like the Midwest. This morning we've had some real whoppers roll through Indy; perfect ones that you can see for miles away- complete with purple skies and periodic hail (not good for that nice, shiny car of mine, but this time I will let it go). As I left church this morning (met with their wedding coordinator) I made a mental note to just start carrying my camera with me everyday. I'm not sure if it's a culture shock thing or what, but I'm finding myself really impressed with the beauty of daily life back here.

I think I've got to be pretty happy with myself and all I've gotten done in the last few weeks. I still feel fairly "behind" on the wedding scene, but as of yesterday we officially have 3 key ingredients that were still very much up in the air when I left Tokyo:
1) a date (November 25, 2006
2) a ceremony (Saint Elizab*th Ann S*ton in Carm*l, Indiana
3) a reception (Woodl*nd Country Club, also in Carm*l)

(*note: the asterisks are a privacy issue- I don't want people to find this info and website on accident by randomly "google-ing" these terms)

Also... (drumroll please), I have The Dress! Unbelievable, really. Mom and I spent the weekend in Milwaukee with my grandparents for Mother's Day. I had suggested that we take Grandma to go dress shopping for fun... totally no expectations but I had no idea where to start and Grandma lives almost on top of one of the local branches of the biggest national chain for formal wear... as I told my dad, "the McDonald's of wedding dresses". I had absolutely NO plan other than to try on some different styles. Yeah right. We liked the first dress a lot. The second dress was also quite lovely. The third.... DINGDINGDING... WE HAVE A WINNER! I did actually try on about 10 total, but all three of us loved Dress #3. I wasn't ready to buy... "on my first day out...?" but then the saleswoman plunked a tiara on my head ("oh! there's a tiara on my head! wow!"), then added a veil. (".....WOW....exhale"). Sold. Just like that. I've haven't enjoyed being turned into a princess since I was about 8 years old (the year I ditched the princess costume for the Punky Brewster one).

So now I have a dress (grin). And I really, really feel like I'm getting married. Yippee!

Just so you know, I am trying to get some "save the date" cards in the mail... but that's a little more involved than I'd imagined. So... save the date already, will you? Oh yeah... school's great too! (except for the 2 hour world history lectures at 8am an forty-minute drive away from home). But yeah, good thing I skipped that whole "re-entry" thing... I've been running from the minute my feet left the plane.

PS: About the decision on the reception for those who are curious: Col*mbia Club is in the middle-est smack dab center of Indy- and there's a (holiday) tree lighting going on the Friday between Thanksgiving and our wedding. And it was too over the top fancy and also really, really pricey. Out. Prairie View was out from the begining, too. The museum was one of my favorites, but it was too small. Plum Creek would've been all right, but it was the most expensive (even more than the C.C. with room rates) for a very, very plain room and no extras. That left me with Bridg*water, O*kHill, and Woodl*nd. My favorite was B.W., but the staff left a lot to be desired from the begining and then we found out we needed a sponsor. I was really torn between O.H. and W.L... and it basically came down to me wanting somewhere comfortable (O.H. felt to fancy and girly for me) and the fact that the chefs at W.L. will work with us on just about any kind of food (bring on the sushi!, right?). Oh, and there's no room rental feel at all there. None. So... there you have it. On a whole, I didn't really like any of them as far as fitting my image of what I wanted. That image is going to have to change a bit to fit in Indy, apparently... but by doing it where we're doing it we're going to be able to have a lot of fun with all the other pieces (live band, fabulous food, and tons of flowers). We're cool.