Last single December…

Hi folks!

Not much is new this month; David sent off his packet 3 info to the London embassy and now we’re just waiting on an interview. Unfortunately, they only schedule the interviews once a month, so it’ll probably be early January before we find out anything. Next month we’ll be going to Seattle together for an engaged encounter retreat and my parents will be having an engagement party for us, which I am very excited about and he slightly nervous… : )

I’ve moved into my (soon to be ours) new apartment a couple of weeks ago and it is fabulous. Having my own washer/dryer, microwave, dishwasher, and no unsightly creatures is wonderful! It’s a bit more expensive than what I was paying before, but it works out almost evenly since Virginia’s state tax is much lower than D.C. tax.

In wedding news, we’ve decided to scale back the reception (95% sure). I still owe about $17,000 in debt (nearly all student loans at this point) and while I have done wonderfully and paid off from the original balance just over $30k, I took a look at our $20k budget for the wedding that we’ll be paying for in cash and asked David, “Could we really do it? Could we really spend that much money on one day when I’ve got my loans and you’ve got your $18k in your own student loans?” We’re already going to DisneyWorld this summer after going to the opening of the new Harry Potter theme park and it just seemed like a lot of money to spend on just one day. Be rest assured, we’re not going bare bones here, but we’ve managed to trim our budget down to about $13k and will have our reception at the church rather than at the Environmental Service Building.

In the materialistic parts of a wedding, all I really care about are having great pictures and our photographer will let us go to two places besides the church itself so we’ll definitely be getting some wonderful shots; I’m thinking about the Lakewold Gardens and at one of Steilacoom’s beaches : )

Okay kids, make good choices! as Melanie (maid-of-honor) would say. I need to finish setting up my apartment!