I challenge you to find a cuter child than my niece

I have nothing new to report, so instead I will post a picture. Tiffany, one of my lovely bridesmaids, took this picture when she came for a visit in March. Guacamole is delicious, especially at our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Farmer's Market. They also have awesome fried plantains. Aren't we a beautiful couple?

A belated Happy Birthday goes out to
my future mother-in-law, Nancy!

Her birthday is just two days after my mom's!
And two days before my mom's boyfriend, Jim's birthday!
That's a lot of birthdays.

I wish I had something interesting to say

I've done so much planning the last few months, that there's not a whole heck of a lot left to do. I bought a ticket for my bachelorette party in New York yesterday. I used my miles to upgrade to business class, so I am way too excited about that trip. My bridesmaids are THE best. Let's see, what else... it looks like our tasting for the reception is going to be next month. We're still not sure what to do about the meat-tasting. I think we'll probably end up trusting the chef to come up with something good - I mean, delicious.

We're also getting really excited about my brother's wedding in Palm Springs. It's only about three and a half weeks away! And my cousin Mike's wedding is in August, which we're also really excited about. We're also going to Missourri to visit Brandon's family in July! It will be fun to meet Brandon's friends and see where he grew up. I'm especially excited to finally meet Missy and Ila, Brandon's sister--in-law and stepmom. I hear they are pretty awesome.


Happy Birthday, Mama!

Flowers: check!

We are very happy to have found such a wonderful florist. He is very creative and artistic and I know the flowers are going to be beautiful. Maybe you'll see a couple of these gorgeous orange unique roses at the wedding. Gives you something to think about, doesn't it?

Cake: check! Officiant: check!

Brandon and I had a very successful (and exhausting day) in Santa Barbara on Sunday.

I was never really a wedding cake person (I was even thinking about having cupcakes instead), but the second this cake entered my mouth I was converted. Damn, it was delicious. We were equally impressed by the baker's designs. She's got a great eye - the cake she recommended to us was the one we decided on. It's cool-looking.

We also met with an officiant whom we both liked instantly. She is very kind and fun and smart. She's going to help us create a ceremony all our own and we are both very excited about working with her. She was dog-sitting for the cutest little white ball of fluff named Emily. We stole Emily. Emily is now living with us. Emily cries at night for her former owners. I tell Emily to hush now, Mommy is here.

I do this for you.

Sunday will be a big day for Brandy and me. We have four (four!) appointments back-to-back in Santa Barbara. Funny, none of them have anything to do with the wedding. I kid - they all do! We're meeting with one officiant, one florist and two bakeries. I am very excited to look at flowers and VERY excited to sample cakes (one bakery made the cake behind Mr. Michael Jackson in the picture to the left). The officiant we're meeting with sounds really nice, so that's cool.

Oh, and how could I forget? We sent out our save-the-dates! Check your mailboxes, my silly little darlings.