Making Reservations

This week I've been researching and booking our bed and breakfasts, car rental, and excursions for our honeymoon to Ireland. 

Every confirmation e-mail I receive puts a giant smile on my face!  This one is a great sample of their Irish accent:

Hi Ali,

Thanks very much for credit card details. 
Just to let you know that I have availability i.e. double room en-suite with breakfast
included cost 30 euro per person. If ye happen to be late arriving i.e. after 5 p.m. would you mind
giving me a call to just to let me know that ye are en-route.

If ye are coming from the South I am one mile before the Cliffs and if ye
are travelling from the North I am one mile further down that road, and it is the first
turn left (sharp turn). Ye will see my Yellow Dormer house from the Road.

Ring me if ye get lost.
Many thanks and I look forward to meeting ye.
-Mary

Don't you love the way the Irish speak/write?  I'm familiarizing myself with the maps and tourist attractions so that we'll have plenty of ideas when we arrive.

It will be interesting for us to travel around in Ireland for 9 days without phone or internet.  We'll definitely need to buy a map when we get there!  I'm worried about the ease of exchanging money from dollars to euros.  I read on-line that one of the towns we're visiting doesn't even have an ATM!

In a few short months, we'll be making our first trip overseas, and my fiance doesn't have his passport yet!  Ugh!  He also needs to get an International Drivers License since he'll be the driver of our rental car.

Have you ever travelled to another country?  What did you learn that you'd do better next time?

Wedding Registry

Austin and I set up our wedding registry this weekend at Bed Bath and Beyond, but we're already thinking about changing it.  After looking around Target's website, it looks like they have a wider range of options, and they're more affordable too!

We registered for the "expected" things like plates, bowls, bath towels, sheets, a stand mixer, blender, coffee pot, tablecloths, bakeware, and we even went for a few "unconventional" items - like a massage cushion!  And when we set up at Target, Austin wants to sign up for a Wii.

We thought about signing up for home bar furniture, curtains, and closet organization devices - but all of those things are best purchased when you know the arrangement of your house.  Since our lease ends in March, we're unsure where we'll be living after we're married.

Registering was a lot of fun, but it took a lot longer than I expected!  Now we just need to decide if we're going to delete our registry at Bed Bath & Beyond, or just have two registries - one at Target and one at Bed Bath and Beyond...

What's your favorite department store?

A Third Year

The end of the year always brings things into a new perspective for me.  Usually around Thanksgiving, I start reflecting on the past year's events.  For the past month or so, I've been floating on a cloud of total bliss and thankfulness.  This year has been amazing.

Austin and I celebrate our 3rd anniversary of dating on Sunday!  I can't believe it's been so long.  We've been through so much together since January of 2008...

Our first picture together

Here is a quote I found that I truly believe captures our relationship.  As we've been planning our wedding together, we've faced a few hard decisions - but in the end, the sacrifices we make are worth it.

“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away. This is both an art and a fortunate accident to have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from the branches you realize that you are one tree and not two.”

-Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres