Meg,it's almost here!!!  Enjoy your wedding and try to relax!  Very hard to do,but just enjoy yourself,your guests and your new hubby!!   We're all thinking of you and wishing you and new hubby to be the very best!!

Happy wedding day (tomorrow)!  I wish you nothing but happiness in your wedded life together.   

Congratulations, Meg!!! 

May your marriage always be blessed with happiness, honesty, dedication, luck...and most of all, love. 

All the best to you guys, and to your mother.

Thank you, thank you thank you, everyone! Wow, you must all think I fell off the face of the earth, huh? My life has changed a lot and I was just lazy. 
Well, I'm back and with lots to tell. Oh where to start....oh how about the wedding? 

The day was the most wonderful thing ever. I was not stressed at all (though I got a little bit of stage fright before going out before all those people! more on that later) I chose to get married on a record breaking day for heat everywhere in San Diego. It was 113 where we were going to be living and about 109 where the cerimony was happening! Needless to say, I was a little hot! But the weather cooled off some and we had shade for the cerimony so it was actually quite nice.

My dress was perfect. My mom has finished the last touches the day before (not last min. at all  ) It was made from a costume pattern: A-line, princess cut, with lacing up the back. I then had a lace overdress that went over it. It was very nice. My bridesmaids had the same pattern, but without the overdress and had cap sleeves. They were all beautiful. I had my two little sisters (21 and 19), my husband's sister and sister-in-law and my best friend. His groomsmen were in just vests, no jackets (which they were very greatful for, cooler that way) All the bridal party was in royal blue and my dress was cream.

For maggie, my flowers were done by the mom of one of my young people I work with. She was very excited. I had white roses, blueish irises, and a big white flower in the middle that looked kind of like an iris in shape, but I have no idea was it was. I told her the colors I wanted and she picked most of the flowers. I'm not a really picky person when it comes to flowers. The groomsmen has carnation button hole flowers (can't spell the real word) and the girls had long stemmed candle holders with some fake carnation and roses around the bases. I figured that giving them candles would be different and cheaper. It gave a nice effect.

The pictures are online (I hope they are still there) The address is http://agapephotography.lifepics.com/. Just type in Circo and you can see them if they are still up. I'm not sure how long they are going to be up. I hope to be downloading some on to my computer so you can see them here.

My hair....well, I chose the hair style that I put up in the "wedding styles", the one with the long hair. And I asked a lady friend of mine who is a hair dresser to do it for me. I loved the result, but I wasn't quite prepared for the process. Instead of using my natural curl, she just curled it all with a curling iron (after blow-drying it) I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, thinking "what must my hair be thinking, will it survive and how will I get it all out again?"  . It looked good in the end though. I had it half up, half down. The top was pulled back into a little bun on the top of my head, under which I put my veil (which didn't go over my face, it was just there for effect) I had around 30 bobby pins in it to take out later and needed a shower something awful.

The wedding itself went wonderfully. We had a recieving line after the wedding to say hi to everyone. It took us 45 min. to get through it all and not everyone went through. We had over an estimated 400 people! More chairs then we had. We had standing room only!  I guess we know alot of people.  It was cool. At the end, my feet were tired and I was ready to leave in our borrowed, 1959 New Yorker, the most beautiful car I had ever seen and it matched our colors. We had borrowed the car so no one would be able to "decorate" our get-away car.  And it made for a grand exit.

The honeymoon was great. We stayed in town the first couple nights in a little Bed and Breakfast which I didn't even know was here. Then we went up to a little mountain town and stayed in the cabin of a friend of mine. The family was kind enought to loan it to us. It was so nice. Secluded, but with a little mountain town that we could explore. Oh and side note, I forgot to bring my comb and my oil on the honeymoon!  So, after all that abuse, I couldn't make it feel better. I had to wait until we got home on Friday to comb the rat's nests out of it. It's still not sure if it wants to talk to me.

Since then, we've been getting settled into the new apartment. We got so many gifts. It took us 4 hours to open them all and that's doing it the economy way "he opens the card, I open the present"!  It took us 3 car loads to get it back to the apartment and we still have presents stacked in the living room because I just don't know where to put it all. My computer situation has changed. I'm now on dial-up, so anything I do takes longer. I should still visit (more often than once a month) and will keep you updated.

Thanks for sticking in there and reading my book here. I hope all is going well and it won't take me very long to get caught up.
Meg

Hi Meg,
The pics are beautiful,but you made a more beautiful bride!!  It sounds like all was wonderful.  Whew there were alot of people!!!!  Glad you are back and when things are more "normal" for you can't wait to read your journal!

I can see them now! 

Your dress was gorgeous!  I love the simple lines.  And your hair looked fantastic.    You were a glowing, beautiful bride (and hubby is quite handsome as well!).

Thank you for sharing your pictures - it looks like it was a lovely ceremony - elegant without being overstated.

Congratulations!

Never fear Meg!!  My sister has a little stone placque thingie in her garden that says "Grow Dang it,Grow" and the tomatoes listened!!!  lol  So maybe if you gently threaten you hair to grow it might listen!!!  All kidding aside, you know patience is key here!

A couple of things you can consider when swimming:
1.  Rinse your hair BEFORE swimming in fresh water.  The hair will absorb this water and minimize how much of the chlorinated pool water is absorbed.

2.  Rinse your hair AFTER swimming in fresh water, then add conditioner to re-moisturize your hair.

3.  Depending on how you feel about adding "stuff" to the pool water, you could consider oiling or adding conditioner to your hair before swimming.  This helps to coat and protect the hair.

4.  Wear a swim cap?  Or at least try to put a baggy on the length of your hair.  Braiding it then putting the braid into a plastic bag which is held in place with a rubber band works well.

You are so lucky to have a pool to jump into when it is hot....sigh.  I'd love to have a pool that handy.