This kind of turned into a review.

Two more days! Less than 48 hours, actually. It's bananas. Yesterday mom and I went and had our nails done, and today I got a pedicure, which was quite wonderful, except it was cold and I had to wear flip flops. We also picked up lunch from a relatively new restaurant in the area, and it was horrible. I am thinking of starting a (non-earning) career as a restaurant reviewer so I have an excuse to tell you how bad it was. Calistoga Artisan Sandwiches looked exciting. It sounded good. They are a deli-ish restaurant that apparently has fresh baked bread, much like other restaurants that I like, such as Panera. The menu featured exciting pictures of all sorts of sandwiches, salads, and even waffles. They even use aioli on their sandwiches! People who use aioli impress me. We got inside and there were hardly any customers sitting and eating. They didn't have one kind of soup that my dad wanted, even though it was on the menu- they don't serve it anymore. I ordered the chicken salad sandwich (with lettuce, tomato, and mayo on fresh made wheatberry bread) and a cup of chicken tortilla soup. I love chicken salad and have a goal of trying every chicken salad in the city. I also love the chicken tortilla soup at McAlister's, and was expecting something relatively similar. I was quite disappointed in my meal. The soup was very dark and looked greasy. It didn't taste like any tortilla soup I've ever had. It actually tasted like chili. The canned kind. It was warm and tomato-y, with a hint of beef? Very strange. It also came complete with soggy, mushy tortilla strips on top. It wasn't spicy- it had no kick to it at all. The sandwich was nothing special. The bread was good tasting, but come to think of it, it tasted just like the wheat bread you can get with the chicken salad at Arby's. Which is fast food. I think this takes away a few points from Calistoga. In addition, the chicken salad itself was dry and very processed tasting, consisting of little dressing and extremely finely shredded chicken. I have had comparable salad from grocery store salad bars. The salad was scooped onto the bread with one of those perfectly round scoops like lunch ladies use, and I'd say about 30% of the bread had nothing on it but the lettuce leaf. All in all it was extremely disappointing, but it was a learning experience. We now know that we never want to eat there again (mom didn't eat much of her sandwich, and dad hardly touched his, which may be because they put mustard on it even though mom told the guy three times not to.)

Looks like fake food, tastes like fake food

Anyway, since tomorrow will be extremely busy, and then tomorrow night is the rehearsal, and then the next day is the wedding, I don't think there's much of a chance of me getting back on here before the wedding. So I will now announce that I will cease to post on this blog, and when we get back, we will start a family blog (me, Brandon, and the guinea pig we don't have yet) at Me and Mr. Jones (haha, get it? Like the song, except not about what the song's about.)

See you there, and wish us luck for this weekend!

6!

Six more days! Well, it's closing in on five now, but whatever. It's surreal. But things are coming together, I guess. We still have to finish the favors, and apparently there's a lot to do regarding the centerpieces. I have to burn all the CDs for the ceremony, for before the ceremony, for the reception, etc. And of course I'm still taking stuff over to the apartment, but I don't think there's really that much left. I have the clothes I need this week here, and I have some random bags and boxes, a corner of my room with some junk in it, and whatever's under my bed. Then of course, things need to be put away, but that's another story. Brandon is already ready to take down the Christmas stuff at the apartment, which is kind of a bummer, but at the same time there's not much point in keeping it up. It's not as though we're there all the time to enjoy it. I doubt we have the time to do anything about it right now, anyway.

So tomorrow is errands day. I really need to get to the eye doctor because I don't have any more contacts. And we've got some other running around to do. Brandon's family's going to get their tuxes tomorrow, and I think we will pick up my brother's, too. We might bring my dress home, too! I am excited.

Odobenus Rosmarus.

Howdy, and Merry Christmas. May I just say that I am already hungry again. I am trying to resist eating my leftover creampuff from lunch, though, because we will be having chik-fil-a chicken nuggets at my aunt's house in about an hour.

Christmas has been interesting so far. I kind of assumed that I would be moody, since this is my last Christmas at home, but everything's been pretty fine. Dad has a stomach bug so for the first time in the history of forever, he did not go out to Mammaw and Pappaw's for lunch.

So last night, I got off work at 5 and we went to church, which was interesting. It wasn't as touching as the last two years' sermons, to be honest. It was pretty weird. But it was still ok. Then we went home, ate dinner, and Brandon came over and we opened presents as a family. After Brandon went home, I got ready for bed and straightened up my room a bit. Miraculously, I actually slept through most of the night. Granted, I didn't fall asleep until almost midnight, and I woke up around five the first time, but that is actually way better than I've been sleeping lately. This morning we discovered dad wasn't feeling well, and then Mimi and Pappaw (my mom's parents) came over and we opened gifts and ate breakfast. Breakfast was really good this year. Mom always make sausage balls, and dad always makes a pumpkin roll, but we also had mini Cinnabons this year, and they were fab. Mini cinnabons are about the size as regular cinnamon rolls. In case you aren't aware, a normal-sized Cinnabon has more than 900 calories. Disturbing, isn't it?
After messing with our presents for a while, Mimi and Pappaw went home, and the mom, Jonathan and I headed out to Mammaw's for lunch. It is a Meredith family tradition to have fried oysters for Christmas lunch. So I had about four of those, and lots of Mammaw's potato salad (which is AMAZING) and there was cole slaw and rolls and oyster crackers and homemade hush puppies. Oh, mylanta. I was so full I did not eat my creampuff for dessert. And that like, never happens. Then we had present time, which was fun. I am an opponent of people listing everything they got for Christmas on blogs and facebook, because I think it's really tacky. It implies that you want everyone to know what you got, and you want to compare with other people. That's not what Christmas is all about. I usually just say that my family got me some wonderful things and for that I'm very grateful, but I will say one thing I got for Christmas this year, because it was so different and awesome. As many people are aware, I love walruses. So does Kelli. We collect them. This is kind of hard to do, since there isn't a big market for walrus things out there. My aunt gave myself and Brandon a box of animal themed presents, and in there was a bag from the World Wildlife Fund, containing a stuffed walrus and a piece of paper saying that a "walrus" had been adopted in my name. The money from that goes specifically to the conservation of walruses (populations have shrunk quite a bit in the last few years), and I got a nice picture of a walrus, to boot. I made the comment that it would be fun to write letters to my walrus, much in the same way that one would write to a sponsor child, and of course, when I sent Kelli a text message telling her about this gift, she pretty much said the same thing. Great minds think alike!

After presents and everything, my aunt, cousin, and her husband followed me over to the apartment so they could see it, which was fun. And now we are waiting to go to her house (my aunt's, that is) for dinner over there. Chicken nuggets, chips and dip, rolls, her version of potato salad (very good) and lots of goodies for dessert. Brandon will pick me up from there and we'll go to his house to visit for a while, and then he'll bring me back home. And then tomorrow, it's back to cleaning and packing and planning and preparing and such. The wedding is one week and one day away! It's bananas. I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and continues to do so the rest of the day!

bother bother bother...

Yeah, it has been a while since I updated. We have moved a lot of stuff into the apartment, and it looks really nice. We're both excited to have it even though neither of us is technically staying there right now. My room looks weird without a lot of stuff in it- the desk is moved out, along with all three bookshelves, the rocking chair and my cedar chest. Basically all that's left is my dresser, tv, bed and nightstand, some random piles of stuff and a little card table with my computer. I think somehow the furniture made it warmer in here...it sure is cold. Maybe that's because my closet door is off its hinges, though.
We are now about two weeks away from the wedding, and it's a really weird sensation. I'm not really freaking out, but I do know deep down that I still have stuff to do. I really should make a list and work on knocking things out one at a time, but right now I am too tired. And cold. I work all day tomorrow for some reason (both weekend days! Weird, huh?) and then I should try to stop by the apartment and do some things there. Sunday my best pal Kelli is throwing me a bachelorette party. I don't know how often I will see her over the next two weeks. I mean, I doubt I'll see her before Christmas, and even though I'm off work the whole week after that, I have a feeling I'll be keeping myself busy. I also need to pack for the honeymoon sometime, call Disney with our flight information, finish packing up my stuff....and pause for a few moments to enjoy Christmas.
This is my last Christmas at home and its sad because it doesn't really feel like Christmas at my house. Everyone is too distracted by wedding stuff. And moving stuff. And just...stuff. We didn't get the tree up until a few days ago, and normally we have it up way early. I don't know that it's even decorated. We have done minimal Christmas baking. I'm surprised some of us even remembered to shop for presents. And we'll take next Friday off and spend all day with each other, visiting family and stuff, but the next day it will be back to freaking out about wedding stuff for the next eight days.
Part of me regrets choosing a date eight days after Christmas to get married. Oh well.