Thursday, September 22, 2011

The whirlwind, as of late.

WoooooEEEEEE it's been a crazy month!

Devin has started his new job as Assistant Electrician for Carmel's Center for the Performing Arts. Carmel is a well-to-do town directly north of Indianapolis. This place is kind of a big deal - there are 3 performance spaces, the largest of which is The Palladium, and everything is completely state-of-the-art. It's great for Devin because he gets to learn some new things and be a part of this place as it grows (it just opened in January and still isn't completely finished). He has a steady (weekly!) paycheck and a flexible schedule - their approach seems to be "as long as the work gets done, you can do it when you want." So some days he goes in at 9, others not til 10 or 11, and he's usually home by 5 (except, of course, on show nights).

And with him getting this job came the apartment search. It wasn't a huge deal because, if nothing else, we could have stayed in my apartment and renewed the lease with both of our names, but we looked around to see if we could find something closer to Carmel. Nothing was looking very promising (my old place had the extreme convenience of good square footage, affordability, and all utilities paid except electricity), but then we found a loft apartment at Woodlake on the northwest side! The ground floor (which is still 2nd floor of the building) has the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and a big bedroom with a walk-in closet, and the loft is a 10x13' space with a skylight, accessed by a spiral staircase. Yep, it's pretty sexy! We looked at it on Tuesday the 6th, applied for it on the 7th, went up to Wixom to rent a truck and grab all of Devin's stuff on the 8th, and signed the lease and moved in on the 9th. Whew! With the exception of a few leftover possessions at my old apartment and some remaining boxes of Devin's random stuff, we're all settled!

Another draw for us with this particular community was their pet policy - $150 refundable deposit and only $10 a month per pet, with no size restrictions (whereas one place we looked at had a $300 non-refundable, and $30/mo. This place also made you pay for all utilities, water, and trash pickup. The $710/mo rent they were advertising could have easily ended up over $900. No thanks!!). This was important to us because even though we didn't bring any pets with us, we have both wanted a dog or two for quite awhile. Which brings me to the next awesome thing, if you haven't seen on facebook - WE GOT A DOG. We named him Chewy and he appears to be a 1 year old corgi/terrier mix. Basically a big bundle of adorable. However, as this post is looking pretty lengthy already, I think I'll devote a separate post to his story :) I will be posting pictures of him and the apartment soon though!

Small bits of news: one of my good friends is having a baby and just found out it's a boy. She wants me to be one of the godmothers (two godmothers as opposed to mother and father). :-D Even MORE happiness at being close by, now there's another kid that I get to see grow up.

I bought us our wedding insurance yesterday, as we're required by TACA to have a property damage/liability policy. $95 from Wedsafe.com.

My dress has been made and is now on its way here!

We're about to send out invitations - should be happening today or tomorrow.

Actively searching for an officiant. 

Happy. :)


Amount spent: $1,008
Amount left: $3,992

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Back in Indiana!

We are back in Indiana (that's right, the man followed me home!) and gettin' thangs done! We're just a little more than 3 months out, and things are pretty dandy. Here's what's happened:

Devin accepted a job with Carmel's Center for the Performing Arts! YAY! This means 1) we will have a steady income, and 2) we'll be close to family. All good things! It's been a busy couple of weeks between job stuff and apartment stuff - we're waiting on a phone call today that will determine if we move or renew my current lease. If we move it will be into a supersweet loft, so we're hoping for that one! Either way, we are DONE with any long-distance shenanigans. Whew! Now we can be excited about getting our first dog...not sure when exactly that will happen, but we love scouting our favorite pet websites.

I bought Holi paint powders (a $25 splurge), to be used kinda like this for our engagement shoot. Not only is this pure awesome, it also ties in wonderfully with our unity paint pour for the ceremony and the prints of famous paintings we plan to have at every table. Yes, ours is an artists' wedding. Ahhh...

I bought my dress ($220, including the fabric swatches I also bought to help me decide between white and ivory). I went through JJ's House, and was even able to give them my exact measurements - hopefully the only thing that MIGHT need adjusting will be the actual length of the dress itself. It should be here in about six weeks, and I can't wait! My bridesmaids are also ordering through this site, so when all is said and done I will be sure to post a review of how everything turns out. Money saver: I've decided to wear a pair of shoes I already own. They're stylish and since I've already worn them for another wedding, I know they won't totally kill my feet! 

I also went on Etsy and bought wraps for me and my girls to wear for any outdoor photos that we take ($62). Indiana in early December can be kind of a crapshoot - it might be 25 degrees, or it might be 65. I'm certainly hoping for the latter...

We've decided on a honeymoon location (HAWAII!) and are hashing out the details thereof.

We officially booked our caterer (MCL) after a very tasty tasting. Having never done anything of that nature before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but basically it was a free meal. Score!

We scouted photo locations. This was an especially important step for us because a) we are both photographers, and therefore quite picky about what our photos will look like (more on my philosophy later), b) Anderson is a small town, and so the cool, unique little spots are not always obvious/marketed, and c) with the wedding in December, we won't have any added beauty from flowers and other foliage. This was where Google Maps' street view was very helpful! I looked at their regular map of Anderson and found the names of businesses that seemed photo-friendly, then switched it to street view to get a good look at them (and visited in person, of course). We came away with a few spots that will look amazing, even in winter. It just takes a little bit of vision and creativity to know where to look ;-) And so, I give you a few wintry/grungy/urban wedding photos to serve as eye candy, and a lesson that things don't always have to be "pretty" to be positively gorgeous. Thanks for reading!