Umm.. this seems to be a reoccurring theme around here.

Hi. It's me.. again. Being a bad blogger.. again. It's not that I've been busy (although I have) or that I don't have things to write about (because I do) or that I'm not spending much time on the Internet (because oh lord, I am). I have no excuse. So once again, straight from my laptop, here's what's been going on over here for the past, oh fourteen days.

Well, most recently, Michael Jackson died. Whoa. So strange. I am enjoying the Tribute To Michael that every radio station in DFW has been playing this afternoon and omg MTV is playing all his old music videos. It almost made me jump on Itunes and buy his greatest hits album. But then I remembered that I AM TRYING TO SAVE MONEY for this (kind of) big deal that I have coming up... you know, the wedding.

So since I officially brought it up, the wedding. It has and hasn't been consuming me. I go through waves where all I want to do it sit online and read wedding blogs and look at wedding photos and agonize over colors and dresses and flowers and decor and DJ's and more more more. Then I have days that go by where I don't want to look at a single bride magazine or even talk about it. We did set a date though, which I'm hoping will be the most difficult decision I have to make because lordy, it was a tough one. Spring? Summer? May? June? July? April? Soon? Far? Middle? Ahh. We have officially booked the church, the reception and the photographer. July 10, 2010. I want it to be less than a year away. I think then I will be able to really feel like its okay to start hard core planning. Because right now, I feel like every vendor who asks me "so when is your wedding date?" is rolling their eyes internally as i try to casually say "oh next summer."

I am so excited for our photographer. So. Excited. Check out his work at www.brooksblog.com. Mark and I are chipping in to cover the costs of the photos because its something we are so excited about and we want to have great photos, naturally. What I didn't want, was for my photographer to take up a substantial part of the budget, so we're taking on a large portion of the photo costs, which doesn't bother me in the least.

I took two days off this week and went to look at dresses with my mom and sisters. I wasn't too jazzed for it, because of the whole my-wedding-is-over-a-year-away thing. But once I started putting those dresses on and once they'd pin the veil in my hair, it got really fun, really fast. I have a good idea of what I'm looking for now. I even found a potential THE dress. But, I've got so much time on my side still, it's just going to sit in the back of my mind, burning a hole until I start looking again. I am taking off more time in mid-July and Mark's mom is going to come up to look with us too.

I also found some FABULOUS bridesmaid dresses that are exactly what I had in my mind. My sisters got to try them on and they looked adorable. The designer is offering a great deal for Summer 2010 brides, so I will likely jump on these pretty soon. But, that requires me PICKING A COLOR. This is all my mom talks about. Colors, colors, colors. We cannot do ANYTHING until we have our colors, according to her. I am really torn on the colors. I have some great options - but I'm afraid of committing to one and ordering dresses and then not being able to go back! One thing I know I want is naturals, greens and whites in my flowers. Green hydrangeas. White peonies. Bright green leaves. So I need colors that will match that. My two front runners are deep royal blues and rich plums/raisin colors. The cute bmaid dresses that I found come in both shades, so I'm weighing my options and trying to sell myself on either one.

Over the weekend, I started working on creating a wedding website. It was quite addictive. More to come, once it gets some more beef to it.

Mark found out this week that HE PASSED HIS PE TEST!!!!!!!! Huge news over here. Finally, he can relax and stop stressing about this stinking test. We went out last night to celebrate with dinner at Texas de Brazil. This was my first time at this place. Let's just say that by the time we left, I wouldn't even let Mark say the word "meat." I was beyond full. But it was Fabulous.

How on earth is the fourth next weekend?! We are heading up to the lake and I cannot wait. We haven't gotten up there even once yet this summer and Mark's brother will be home from Beijing and coming along with us. It's the first time we've seen him since we got engaged (or any of Mark's friends for that matter) so we get to celebrate.. yet again! My favorite part of the summer is going to the lake.. I'm glad it's finally time!

We went to my parents' house last weekend to meet with the priest at the church where we'll be getting married, and to take one last look at the reception site. While we were there, my mom and I did crafts while the boys branded the cattle. Yeah. Branded cattle. No one knew what they were doing. It was horrible and hilarious all at the same time. Mark was covered in mud and cow poop and he has an awesome farmer's tan to show for it too.

Work has been going really great and we've got some fun events coming up this fall. Plus the summer hours are completely spoiling me. When school starts again in August, it's going to be a rude awakening.

It's hot in Dallas. Like really hot. Argh. I am enjoying some quality time at the pool though. This summer is flying by, like always.