After months of planning, blogging, worrying, crying, grinning, crafting, and general thumb twiddling, the wedding week was HERE. I had arranged to have the Wednesday through Friday off from work so we could set things up down south, greet family, and try to relax a bit before the big day.

Because our caterer was awesome and set everything up for us at the venue, all my projects had to be done by that Wednesday — that’s when we had to bring everything to them, from the favors and champagne to the banners and the guestbook. We had already taken the collected centerpiece bottles to our florist three weeks out, so this meant my wedding crafting room was pretty much cleared out a few days before the big day. This made the rest of the week especially relaxing, with plenty of time for visiting with friends and family without the stresses of last-minute-favor-baking-and-program-folding. Over the next couple of days, family trickled in, and we tried to make as much time as possible for everybody.

Me, MIL and Mr. Ladyfingers

Puppy Ladyfingers, happy as always to have new playmates.

And then, all of a sudden, it was the Day Before the Day.

We arrived at our venue for the rehearsal around 2 on Friday, greeted by a relatively blustery day. Even the New York in-laws-to-be pointed out it was actually warmer up North than it was in Florida that day — but we assured them the forecast predicted a temperature hike the next day, accompanied by sun and blue skies.

Going through the motions and making last-minute arrangements, it started to really hit me — we were getting married. Here. Tomorrow. Our caterer had assigned us a rehearsal and ceremony coordinator, who was seriously worth her weight in gold. I highly recommend appointing somebody to help you with this aspect of the wedding specifically, even if it’s a friend or family member. It made the whole scary “everybody’s staring at me” part of the wedding — the part before the party, the part that seemed so full of details with the potential to screw up — virtually stress-free, and answered so many questions for everybody.

First, she went through the agenda and explained the process based on what Mr. Ladyfingers and I had established during earlier meetings with the caterer. We started at the end of the lawn, and then came back up to the deck to process the actual way we would that day.

Mr. Ladyfingers walked his mom down the aisle…

(Side note: previously, he was adamant about not doing this, so we decided the best man would walk her down, followed by another groomsman walking my dad’s fiancee down. Two days before the wedding, he said, “Wait — why is somebody else walking my mom down the aisle?” So we changed it. The day of, she asked me, “Why is my son walking me down the aisle?” Yeesh — it was all sorted out in the end, but apparently confusing for all.)

And Best Man Maverick escorted my dad’s fiancee.

The dudes processed down during the rehearsal, but in actuality would be waiting off to the side while the rest of the procession occurred, and would fall into place right before my ladies.

Dad and I strolled on down…

While the rest of the crew waited at the end for us. Let me point something out here: Look at the right side of that picture (specifically, the dudes). Now, look at the left side of that picture (specifically, the maids). Look how orderly the right side is — standing tall, hands clasped (OK, with the exception of Mr. Ladyfingers). And there are my maids, chit chatting away. Our coordinator had to point it out, and they were chastised more than once!

We ran through what would happen — the handoff from father to Mr. Ladyfingers, the way to exchange rings, the bouquet handoff to MOH and all that jazz.

And, ta-da — we were “married”!

Yay!

We’d brought along our wedding license along at the request of our Reverend, who signed it along with MOH Ginger and Best Man Maverick, tucking it away to send off after the ceremony the following day.

Then, we made the vehicular switcheroo, transferring my stuff from Mr. Ladyfinger’s to BM Prego’s car, and my girls and I stopped off for some much-needed coffee and had our nails done at a nearby salon.

I definitely suggest a nice little break like this sometime in the days leading up to the wedding. We’s had a little thank-you-bridesmaids dinner the weekend before, but having this additional time to decompress and be girly and pampered was so welcomed. Even if it’s just you — maybe even ideally if it’s just you! — it’s great to have a little time to yourself(ves). This moment of relative solitude, with each bridesmaid in their own chairs getting fingers and toes painted, brought another level of reality to things. We were still at the point where there were enough big moments between now and the ceremony — the rehearsal dinner, hotel time with MOH, getting ready in the morning — but really, not many of them. Eleven months later, we were one day from our wedding.

With our freshly painted fingers and toes, we stopped at BM Prego’s house to get dressed, then met the rest of the crew at the rehearsal dinner.

We could not have been more thrilled with the food, service, and everything else. It was about 50 degrees and windy outside at our beachside rehearsal dinner site, and I was nervous that the dinner was outside. But — yay! — the pavilion turned out to be covered, with heat lamps. See? Everything works out in the end. No, really — it DOES.

BM Esquire, me, MOH Ginger, and BM Spotty

The dudes and their ladies

Dad and FIL Ladyfingers get along swimmingly

After the tasty dinner, Mr. Ladyfingers handed out his groomsmen’s gifts: beer mugs engraved with each dude’s last name and the date of our wedding.

And then, we milled about for the big surprise: Mr. Ladyfinger’s groom’s cake.

It was even better than I’d planned, and he was thrilled! Everybody lined up like paparazzi, taking shots of the cake, him with the cake, us with the cake. Then, we ate the cake. Mmm.

(Side note: It being a round cake, there was a bit of confusion over how to cut it, but the servers were able to convince a bartender to do the honors — another Yankees fan who said that if anybody was going to cut into the precious team logo, it should be him.)

Oh noes!

With our rehearsal dinner over and done with in what seemed like such a short amount of time, Mr. Ladyfingers drove me over to the hotel, where I’d be staying that night in a suite with MOH Ginger. I was seriously expecting to get no sleep and be up until all hours and totally cracked out on my wedding day. I started second guessing our arrangement — was it wise to have my best friend staying with me the night before the wedding? Shouldn’t I be getting my beauty rest??

Well, turns out all my worrying was (as usual) for naught. We were both exhausted and sacked out by midnight. All the better for the whirwind day ahead…

*All photos personal and courtesy of friends and family.

I keep saying that, then qualifying myself. We haven’t technically bought it yet, right? I mean, we found it. And we placed an offer. And they accepted it. And we have a signed contract and are in the process of closing our mortgage. But it’s not our house until we have the keys — or so the husband tells me.

Still, I can’t help fantasizing about all the delicious things I shall to do our house. Errr… the house.

It’s a cutie-patootie 1950s number, concrete block, with a basement-level garage in the midst of quite the nice neighborhood. The front steps lead up to a slate-tiled front porch, the first sign that this house has been rehabbed in a serious way. In fact, the seller is still sprucing things up, putting final touches on the kitchen (uh, the brand-new, open plan kitchen with granite countertops, hardwood cabinets, stainless steel appliances, a stainless steel double sink and a wet bar YES ANOTHER SINK BASICALLY THREE SINKS FOLKS), bathrooms, and family room. The floors have been replaced with amazing dark hardwood. The windows are new. The bathrooms are all new – new tiles, new vanities, new sinks. The back yard is plenty big for Ro-Po to race around a couple hundred times.

Oh, and also? It’s ours. Like, we’re going to own it.

Our house.

We’re just waiting for the sellers to finish up their work and close the permits, and then we shall set a closing date. As excited as I am, I can’t help doing that thing I do — namely, worrying just for worries’ sake.

I’m worried we won’t get final loan approval. I’m worried it won’t pass a home inspection. I’m worried it won’t appraise. I’m worried everything will work out then we’ll move in and realize it’s a money pit. I’m worried we’ll be broke. I’m worried we’ll lose our jobs and then default and go bankrupt all in the span of a few sad months.

A friend wisely point out that I’m so practical, that I guard myself against the unexpected by expecting it. I never enjoy the moment I’m in. And you know what? She’s right. I was ding-donged sure we weren’t going to get the house at all. Our offer seemed ridiculously low for such a house, and one that had been on the market one day. But lo and behold — they signed the contract the same night we submitted it, even after three showings that afternoon.

I’m not one to look for signs (OK, I am), but perhaps that was sign #1 that this is indeed Our House.

Only time will tell! We may be back on the market for a different abode in time. But for now, I’m letting myself be excited and Pin home ideas and surf Craigslist and fantasize about all the new furnishings we’ll need to acquire to replace our shabby stuff.

Do you have a hard time living in the now?

It wasn’t our first Christmas living together, either – that would be last year, which was also our first Christmas as an engaged couple.

This season did have the distinction, however, of being the first Christmas we spent as a married pair. To celebrate the occasion, we carried forth a few of traditions we started last year, and started new ones for our new life together.

This year, we also bought a few ornaments to represent the year and its goings on, with the intention of doing so each year following. Over the course of the month, we received additional ornaments from Aunt Ladyfingers and a special blogging friend from the Bee.

Top row, left to right: A puppy ornament to represent Puppy Ladyfingers; my Bee moniker in ornament format from Mrs. Seabreeze; a little something we picked up for our cat, since he may have felt left out (being black and white, it was the only thing we found that could really rep him well).

Middle: Our new shared last initial.

Bottom: Aunt Ladyfingers’ gift to us (we weren’t quite as cold as this couple!), and our ornamental gift to Puppy Ladyfingers.

This year, as with last, we attempted to snap a few self-portraits with the pup in front of the Ladyfingers Family Christmas Tree… but as usual, she’s a bit camera shy.

That, combined with our poorly timed and placed shooting in the middle of the day in front of a large picture window made for… a very, very ludicrous holiday shoot.

She didn’t really love the antlers we bought her, either.

I, on the other hand, was a big, big fan.

Christmas morning came and went with the usual flutter of wrapping paper and subsequent isolation with our new goodies. Mr. L made out with a Yankees knit cap and belt buckle (yep) from my dad; and a Christmas story T-shirt, boxer shorts (what?), a new wallet, a baseball trivia book, and an iPod.

And me? A necklace and a Kindle

And a little visit from the hair fairy, apparently.

Puppy Ladyfingers got herself a sausage and cheese squeaky toy set… which we already regret buying her (squeesqueeSQUUEEEEEsqueesqueesqueeSQUESQUSQUSQU)…

I’m sensing a pattern here… I don’t believe she’s a fan of things on her head.

In all, it was quite the banner year in the newly minted L household. There were tears aplenty on my part when I received my first-ever “To My Wife” Christmas card. I remember my mom getting one of those every year, oversized and puffy with sentimental somethings inside. I used to think they were so lame. Is that what growing up does to you? Makes you cry at cards and that part in “A League of Their Own” when Betty Spaghetti finds out her husband died in the war? If so, I’m a total grown-up.

Pretty soon, we’ll be ringing in the New Year, and then it’s that sad, dead period of the year with no major holidays until the Fourth of July (or holidays period, if you count Memorial Day).

How was Christmas in your household? Any traditions — either old or new?

By far, my healthiest habit in 2011 was exercise. Before this year, I could count on two hands the number of times in my life I’d attempted exercise. I guess you could say I wasn’t ready. But still, I had been crying for months because my snack-and-fast food habit had earned me more extra pounds than I was comfortable with and clothes that no longer fit. Enter the engagement — and a concerted effort to drop weight and feel better.

In the final months of the year, my workouts started to grow less frequent. I’m a big fan of the workout-at-home DVDs, but I found myself dreading the work and just napping instead. So I started walking and running in the mornings, and plan to (try to) supplement this activity every other day with some sort of workout to tone certain areas of my body.

So far, I feel healthier and more accomplished, waking up an hour earlier than normal to stretch and walk/run for about 20 minutes. My day is more productive before I even leave the house — time to take my time, eat a good breakfast, do some reading — and I get to work earlier. Things go more smoothly. I still have a ways to go on eating better, but I feel better getting back on things.

In 2012, I hope to continue the Couch to 5K program and run a 5K sometime during the year. I plan to get a routine down for additional workouts that can tone problem areas and help boost my overall serenity — yoga, pilates. I plan to be more conscious of what I eat, practice better sleep hygiene, and get my body and mind nice and prepared for the family planning years.

What was your healthiest habit in 2011?

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1. Read a new book each month. I’ve just recently had the time and inclination to begin reading again, and I’ve started finding fiction interesting again. I’d like to ride this wave and discover new authors and stories.

2. Take a trip to a town we’ve never been to (together). We won’t be able to travel very far in 2012, but there are plenty of little towns in our state we can take a weekend trip to. I like it when we go away together at least once a year, even for a couple of days.

3. Conceive a child. I’ll try not to lose my stuff if this doesn’t happen in 2012, but it’s a working goal at this point.

4. Buy a house. We plan to start lining up the finance end of things soon, and start looking and hopefully be somewhere by May. It’s when our lease on our rental house is up, but if need be, we can go month to month — if our landlord will still have us. I really crave a place of our own!

5. Create our wedding scrapbook and our wedding and honeymoon shadow boxes. Lord knows I saved enough paraphernalia and whatnot from both events .

6. Run a 5K marathon. I am just on Day 3 of Week 1 of Couch to 5K, and if all goes well, I should be wrapping up the program in January and ready to run my first marathon. I’ve really found that I love running in the morning, and it sets the tone for my whole day.

7. Bake 5 things I’ve never made before. I have so many recipes saved up, and I so love sweets! Most of all I like baking something and having a bit, then taking it to work for others to nibble off of

8. Learn to sew. This has been a goal of mine for the longest time. If we do end up pregnant in 2012, I can start slow with crib sheets, perhaps…

9. Participate in a daily photo blog challenge. I’ve loved WEverb and want to get more use out of my camera. I really enjoy seeing others’ works on their blogs, and would love to participate at least once in 2012.

10. Learn HTML coding and start self-hosting my blog. I have a monthly membership to Lynda.com, where they have tons of useful tutorials. I’d like to have more control over my blog layout and design, gain a new skill, and just in general get super frustrated all the time. Yay!

What 12 things would you like to accomplish in 2012?

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It’s hard to write one of these posts without referencing the wedding. It was the BIG EVENT of the year (at least for us). And by far, it was my biggest creative project. Some highlights:

What did you create this year?

Today’s prompt is brought to you by Tara of Two Wishes and Eileen of My Name is Eileen. Check out their blogs!

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I try to make gratitude a part of my everyday life. I write a nightly gratitude list — sometimes it’s very detailed, other times it’s “husband, job, friends, family” — but it keeps me in that mode. If I have the opportunity to slow down during my day and experience life, I’ll get a glimpse of gratitude then, as well. But so often I’m rushing through, complaining about what could be and what is. I’ve started the Couch-to-5K Running plan, and running every other day early in the morning is a nice chance to reconnect with gratitude. I’ve also made a conscious effort to spend less time on the computer while at home, and more time cuddling with my husband and our dog, talking about our day, reading — just slowing down.

As for my MOST grateful moment of 2011, it just may have been the moments I spent in the bride’s room, after my bridesmaids had left me to take their walks down the aisle, while I waited for the cue to exit the room myself. I heard our processional song swelling up, and stood there holding my breath in my tight-tight dress, trying to remember how to hold my bouquet. It struck me how I never really thought I’d ever get to that moment — not with him, but just in general. For many years, I thought a marraige-caliber relationship was out of the question for me. I had to undergo some significant life changes to put myself on a path where that was possible. I haven’t been as grateful as I was in that room, in quite some time. A close second would be walking down the aisle while a bunch of people stared at me.

What was your big moment of gratitude this year?

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I’ve sat on this prompt for days, now, sure that if I wracked my brain enough, I could come up with the perfect, most profound and jarring answer to this question.

Of course, if I’d made a decision that mind-blowingly huge, I probably wouldn’t have needed to wrack my brain to uncover it.

Every year is made up of a million small decisions. Sometimes, they’re difficult. Sometimes, they’re life-changing. Sometimes, they’re the difference between eating strawberries for breakfast or oatmeal. Or wearing a brown shirt or a black shirt. This year, most of my choices bordered on the latter two types.

Some choices lobbed my way:

• Take the shiny, new, potentially awesome job? Or stay in the soul-sucking, dead-end position that gave me ulcers and made me sick every Sunday night and turned my own home into a cesspool of despair because it had become my office? Decision: Take the shiny, new, actually awesome job. Why did I choose this? Self-preservation. Logic. Fear. The fact that my at-the-time-fiance probably would have broken up with me — and my friends would have stopped talking to me — if I’d passed up this opportunity.
• Remain aloof but polite to a former BFF I’d grown apart from over the past couple of years, or allow her to reopen that door and have a probably awkward coffee date during which I tried to explain why we weren’t really buddies anymore? Decision: Avoidance. To be fair, I thought this was a chickenshit decision. But after talking with every “advisor” type person in my life, I realized I get to choose my friends. And if we’re not friends anymore, it’s OK to keep it that way.

I also chose to:

• Start exercising more
• Take a good look at what I’m actually eating (mind you, this was a decision — not necessarily something I always act upon!)
• Stop worrying QUITESOMUCH — not complete, that might be impossible — but in cases like, oh, if I think a coworker is slinging crap about me behind my back, and I start to obsess over whether that means I’m a terrible employee after all. Today, I choose to ignore it. If I’m a terrible employee, odds are, somebody will directly talk to me about it — and it probably won’t be the crap-slinger.
• Treat my husband like a team member, not like an enemy. Oddly, since actually getting married, I find myself treating him with a bit more kindness. Maybe it’s the sense of ease that comes with the commitment of marriage. Maybe it’s just because I’m not in the throes of insane wedding planning any longer. Or maybe my medication is just hitting that sweet spot. Whatever it is, I think we’re both grateful.

What was your biggest decision this year?

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We took a much-needed vacation just a few weeks ago to celebrate our honeymoon: a 7-night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. It was well worth the wait: We cruised to the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk. We loved the cruise enough to start planning a second one in January of 2013.

My favorite parts, in no particular order:

Waking up to the view of the Atlantic Ocean stretched out in all directions, or approaching islands we’ve never been to before.

Laughing with my new husband about stuff that only we would understand.

Giving nicknames and backstories to some of the fellow cruisers we saw more frequently on the cruise.

Visiting a 28,000-acre tropical rainforest.

Not having to really be anywhere at any particular time (sure, we’d paid for shore excursions, but nobody was going to fire us or fine us if we didn’t show up).

Falling asleep at the pool.

Getting to eat as much as I wanted every single night (oops).

Snorkeling in 45-foot water that dropped off to 7,000 feet.

The animals our room steward made out of towels each night.

The all-you-can-eat 24/7 soft serve ice cream.

The views.

Getting to show my spanking new passport around like I’m some kinda jet setter.

Coming home to a great life.

In 2012, I hope to take a little trip to visit some blogging friends, and perhaps a little jaunt in the summertime to another town within our state. For the most part, we’ll be lying low as we attempt to build a house-buying fund — and save for the next cruise!

What traveling have you gotten up to lately?

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I have to go for the double threat 11/11. Why? Let’s see:

• We got married
• We took a 7-night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean
• Thanksgiving

I think that speaks for itself.

Today’s prompt is brought to you by Jen of Living a Brighter Life. Check out her blog!

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