T minus one....

[The stream leading to Oswald West]

Well, we're down to one day away from the wedding. Of course this means that everyone is a bundle of nerves at the moment, the bride most especially. We've been doing everything we can to let off steam whenever there's a spare moment, including taking a trip out to Oswald West beach with Cassie and Nick last weekend. It's an amazing beach, with a nice long trail from the parking lot to the beach with some incredible vegetation along the way.

Eden and I also took some time out to visit our favorite Chinese restaurant, China Bay in Beaverton. At the end of the meal, Eden got a fortune cookie with 4 individual fortunes:

"You will soon be part of a team. Work cooperatively for success."
"Be content with your lot. One cannot be first in everything."
"Listen these next few days to your friends to get answers you seek."
"The most direct approach isn't always the best. Use diplomacy."

My own, single fortune, was a little more to the point:

"When the flowers bloom, so will great joy in your life."

We're choosing to view these as a good omen for the wedding.

Today has been a difficult day - lots to get done, and not a whole lot going exactly the way we've hoped. My car has been having issues for the last couple of weeks (which ironically only started after I threw a couple of hundred dollars at the local shop to change fluids, etc), and now won't start at all. Cassie's beau, Nick, is a shoreside mechanic when he's not in the engine room of a boat, and has been looking at it - part of our mission today was to pick up a new starter for the beast, and as I type this, he's working on the car to put it in.

Unfortunately, part of the cruddy things in it finally giving out was timing - we were about to head back up to Eden's to pick up a second load of wedding supplies and it just wouldn't go. In the interest of expediency, we decided to just take Pat's car to get things done and deal with mine later. In the midst of pushing my car out of the way, Eden slipped and fell, skinning her knee pretty viciously. Needless to say, this did not make for a calm or happy bride. All things considered, she took it like a trooper, but it was not a good thing, and continued to hurt for several hours after the event.

One thing that did go right, however, was our family friends the Cutsforths and the Grubes donating a large number of daffodils and hydrangeas for the ceremony, saving us some money and allowing us to incorporate even more of a DIY element.

In any case, we're soldiering along, just trying to get through to tomorrow evening.