I miss you!!!

I miss you loooots!

Between 32 hours at work, 15 hours at school, minimum 30 hours of homework a week, Mr. Bliss losing his job (he just got a new one, hurray!), my computer finally dying, plus you know, normal life stuff, the blog isn't even on the back burner right now. I have been thinking about it constantly and I have SO much to share but I don't have even 10 minutes to really post anything. I miss you all. I miss blogging. Unfortunately, its not like to get better any time soon. I may be able to post a little during Christmas break and Spring break, but I may not really be around until summer hits again.

Being a big girl sucks sometimes. <3

Suprise Visits

Sometimes they catch you off guard. I had planned to post this last Thursday. Then I got a call from my brother saying he and my mom were going come visit for the weekend. Sooo I've been dealing with that. Now on to the regularly scheduled post that has to deal with me slacking...go figure!

DIY: Getting My Lisa Frank On

You know me and office supplies. It would follow that I love being organized. In some (very minor) ways I am just like my mother. Say it to my face and I will slap you. In my mother's house she has an office with three bookcases. One bookcase is entirely full of binders. Binders for taxes, binders for dog stuff, binders for charity work. You better believe both my sister (she is also engaged) and I have binders for our weddings. In fact, my first DIY project as my sister's MOH was to make her binder. I wish I had taken a picture of it. I really think every bride should have her own binder.

A Unifying or Dominant Idea, Motif, Etc.

That's right, readers! Its Theme Day! I've had this blog for two plus months and never once mentioned what kind of wedding we are having. Or well, wanting to have. I'm kind of a terrible blogger, I know this. Anyways, to the subject at hand. Theme. I know wedding is a theme, but I really hate that idea. I wanted an idea or motif to tie the whole thing in together. When I was still an angst ridden waiting girl I was really gung-ho about an Asian and swan themed wedding. Origami folded swans for place cards, Chinese fighting fish for centerpieces, and everything was going to be red and gold. I have no idea why I was so enthralled with this plan. Neither I nor Mr. Bliss is Asian. We love anime (Olivier Armstrong is my favorite if you must know.) and love reading about samurai. Nonetheless, I wanted paper lanterns and I would have them.

Major General Armstrong. This really has nothing to do with the post. I just love her- my total anime girl crush.

No one? No one at all?

Welcome new followers! I assume you come from WeddingBee. Cuz I'm smart like that. >. >

I would really like to pick ya'll's brain for a moment. I started this blog exclusively to become a blogging Bee and to better form my ideas about my wedding. I wanted a place I could look back in three years(the length of my engagement) and remember exactly what I wanted in the first place. I want to be the best blogger I can be and that means keeping my readers happy. So- a few questions for you!

Give Us Four Hurrahs!

Today is our fourth year dating anniversary. Since we never "dated" per se I always just count the day we first talked as our anniversary. We met on an mmorpg (massively multiplayer online role playing game) that we have played for years.

Who couldn't fall in love with this goof? (yes that is a chip bowl helmet.)

Wedded in Michigan I Will Be!

So yesterday I talked about where the Blisses will be wed. Michigan is a perfect state for us because of the weather and the beauty of nature. There are hundreds of homes to choose from each more beautiful than the last. After narrowing it down to about fifty places that had our must-haves I started looking more in-depth. Many had obvious neighbors which means no loud music. Others were very small even with four bedrooms and others were way more than I wanted to pay. After going through the fifty vacation homes I have narrowed it down to my top three. And here they are!

Destination: Somewhere Cooler Than Here

Girls, I've been bad and I have a terribly lame excuse as to why I haven't been posting. Its been hot. Not just hot, but lethally hot. As I sit here the temperature is 96°- with humidity 106°. That's hot enough to slap a severe heat warning on this part of Missouri. Sadly this has been happening since the first week in July. My electric bill this month is FOUR TIMES the previous month. Our wedding is three years and two days from now and I am dead set against anything other than an outdoor wedding.

I don't want my guests to feel like this!

Delta India Yankee

Alfa Bravo Charlie? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Do you know what I'm saying yet? You'd never make the A-Team. I love this Alphabet. Anyways, as soon as I introduced myself to the wedding blogosphere I knew I wanted to be a DIY bride. I couldn't do traditional. I couldn't do a church ceremony and a ballroom reception with the flower centerpieces in a regular vase. Forget the DJ, baker, bridal salon, and the pastor. This wedding is gonna be so US (ok, well maybe mostly me) and unlike anything our families have seen. That's not to say they haven't been seen on the web, because I'm pretty good at being a copy cat.

Puttin' A Ring On It (aka I'm So Original)

You knew this was gonna happen. I love me some Beyoncé and this song never gets old for me. If I had a halo ring I would totally have posted Halo instead. Alas, I do not.

Introducing: Mr. Bliss!

Mr. Bliss and I met through a mutual friend. I have never seen this friend face to face. Its kind of odd to say this with a straight face, but we met through a video game. I raided with our mutual friend. Said friend and I were Myspace (yeeeah, that long ago) friends and Mr. Bliss had seen my picture and wanted to get with me. Super creeptastic right?  Anyways, one day he chatted me up and it was history! Nine months later I went to New York to meet him face to face and this is what happened:

Introducing: Miss Bliss!

I'm assuming if you're reading this blog you may be wondering who the heck I am. Or might want to know more about me. If you don't then just bugger off for this post! (#1 fact about me: I like inappropriate British phrases.)

Cutterpede!

CUTTERPEDE! Cutter! Pede! cutterpedecutterpedecutterpede! /longbreath Ahhhhhhhhhhhhcuuutterpeeeeeeeede!

You might be asking for a little of what I'm smoking, but all I'm breathing in is the highly intoxicating smell of paper. And paper products. And other assorted office supplies. This stuff is my heroin. My mom used to often bring home the teeny packs of post-its.

 

Yay Post-its! This is my crack!

The Proposal. For Reals This Time

I grew up near extended family. My best memories involve lots of cousins. After moving ten hours away I don't get to go back often for holidays and the family parties it means. This past Easter it was the worst. My parents who until this week have lived five minutes away. They went back home to celebrate and Mr. Bliss has to work. I was not looking forward to it. Besides, the Easter before some girl decided to speed through a stop sign and totaled my car so no good memories there. The day before we both worked. The day before any holiday is n-u-t-s. We were exhausted. Like- bone weary. We both were laying on the bed in our nasty, sweaty, gross work clothes.

The Proposal...Just Kidding!

Whew, the tension! Two or three months after getting the tax money and then seeing it quickly fade away. I finally had to put my foot down. What in the heck was going on? Why the hold up? He told me he wasn't ready to get married; mainly because he didn't know how we were going to be in the future. He just didn't know. I was devastated. I was heartbroken. I may have cried for a week straight. He still loved me, I knew that. I just didn't feel good enough. I knew he didn't mean to hurt me and that growing up the way he did had a lot to do with those feelings. Once I calmed down I asked him to talk to two people about his feelings. The first was a good friend from back home who had recently (a year ago last week!) gotten married. I felt that someone his age could give him a super real feeling for what its like to get married. The second was his "Dad" (more on that later). Mr. Bliss' Dad didn't get married for the first time until he was in his 50's. Thankfully, he talked to them in a timely manner. If they had told him that it was a bad idea to get married I would have accepted that. Luckily, their advice was "You'll never know the future so do what feels right in the moment!" Hurray! Now lets get engaged!!

The Lead Up

Every wedding- every marriage- starts with a proposal, does it not? Some are as grand as a bent knee on a pier as it starts to snow in February (my sister) and some are as lame as "Hey, don't you think we should get married?" after a week of "dating" (my parents who just celebrated 28 years together). No matter what a proposal may entail  it tends to come out perfect for the couple.

Mister and I  had talked marriage from pretty early on. Well, early for us. Actually, thinking back on it eight months in is not early at all, especially for other couples. Anyways, we moved in together at one year and I was pretty ready to get engaged at two. Around three years I was getting awful antsy. My little sister was also expecting a proposal around that time. It was nice bonding looking at engagement rings. Our styles are the complete opposite, but ring porn is ring porn, right?? In January of this year (2011) Mister told me to start seriously looking for an engagement ring, because our tax money could buy one. I knew exactly the one I wanted. It is a heavily detailed rose gold solitaire.