A Good Week

This past week has been particularly busy, and productive.

On Sunday the 8th, we had our engamement party at my apartment. It ended up being much smaller than I'd projected (Only 6 people besides Eden and myself showed up), but it was still a lot of fun. We had a couple of rounds of Munchkin and Fluxx, old favorites that both Eden and I have decided we must own every variant of, as well as a new contender by the name of 4mation that didn't go over so well - too cut-throat for 2 players, and far too few cards for 4 players, even though the box lists 2-4 players. I also had enough of an excuse to set up all 4 of my screens for Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged on the Xbox, which is probably not something that'll happen again, but it was definately a pleasantly geeky diversion. Overall, I judge it to have been very successful for being the first party I've hosted. It was nice to dispose of the left overs for lunches at school, etc as well.

On Saturday the 14th, Eden and I celebrated Valentine's together, which she started off with a chain of notes that sent me to Washington and back to give her enough time to get to my apartment and get set up. Ironically, our gifts to one another were primarily in the vein of relaxation, which I take to be encouraging, since that implies we're both acknowledging the level of stress we're operating under right now. We spent most of the day just watching a few movies and playing Mario Cart 64 since I don't have a gamecube, which was an interesting change up from the rounds of Double Dash that have become our habit. We did go out briefly to revise our dinner plans (an upset stomach made tomato sauce a bad idea) and drop in at Cold Stone for a tasty treat. Word to the wise - ice cream is apparently quite popular on Valentine's. It was worth the wait, though, even though the poor kid screwed up Eden's order twice - easy to see why he was flustered.

Yesterday, the 15th, set two big milestones for our forming family. The first was bringing up my cats (Michael, Amber, and Piranha) to live with her cats (Mei Mei and Luna). They've all met before at various points, but it's been months and there's been a lot of "talking" while each cat figures out territory. I'm sure it'll calm down over the next day or two, but it's certainly motivating to get the king size bed moved over.

The other big milestone was having my parents, Bruce and Kathy (my brother Tim wasn't able to make it), meet her parents, Jon and Suzanne, as well as her sister, Cassie. We spent a couple of hours at Gustav's chowing on fondue and German decadence. They all seemed to get along very well, which makes me feel pretty great. My parent's parents both get along great, even spending time together apart from their children, which would be a purely awesome model to follow. Who knows if that'll happen, but I'm still feeling pretty good.

To top all that off, we'll be attending a shower for Eden tonight that's being held by her aunt Pat. No idea exactly what'll end up happening there, but Pat is a pretty awesome aunt and always throws great parties anyway... I'm sure it'll be a great time.

We've also made some more progress for the actual wedding.

Rings: Josh's made by Grace Hogan, Eden's custom designed by Artwear by Caron
Invitations: Sent, some have already started to trickle back
Photography: We've decided not to have an official photographer (posed shots are not exactly our thing), and have instead ordered a bunch of disposable cameras to pass out. Feel free to bring your own cameras too, and we'll consolidate everything to make one huge coglomerate
Clothing: Eden's designer had her baby Thursday before last (Congratulations Lizzy!) and we're down to just choosing shoes for me!