Whoa.

I am getting married in 10 days.

I am on my third cup of coffee for the morning.

I haven't seen my best friends or fiance for a month.

I have the strong urge to make lots of muffins.

I want some more coffee.

I don't think I need any more though. right?

Right.

10 things

1. I am getting married in 16 days. wow.

2. I babysat two little cuties yesterday. I thought I was such a clever babysitter, playing play-doh with them, drawing pictures, playing outside... I thought I would tire them out so when Mommy and Daddy came home they would be all nice and quiet. nope. They, in fact, tired ME out. Well played, little girls, well played.

3. I am getting married in 16 days. Seriously??? Seriously. That's insane. I haven't even finalized the wedding cake, or the flowers, or the favors, or the place cards.. whoops. It will get done. As God as my witness, with Starbucks coursing through my veins, I WILL finish all my wedding projects before the rehearsel.

4. Did you hear that? Yeah, I think God was laughing at me. Silly girl.

5. I tried on my wedding dress a couple days ago. It fits perfectly. Not too big, not too small; just right. *phew*

6. My future brother in law is in charge of the slide show, and I have a sneaking suspicion he may have dug up some pictures of me in my high school band uniform. Will the fun never stop? Oh my. Oh my my.

7. I read a few chapters of The Fantastic Mr. Fox (by Roald Dahl) to my sweetheart over the phone last night. He fell asleep like a baby, so I had to press a few buttons loudly to get him to wake up to turn his phone off... but whilst he was in dream land and I was reading aloud about the Fox family, I started to mentally make a list of all the books I want my children (nonexistent, hypothetical children I will have in the future) to be exposed to... any and everything by Roald Dahl. The Jungle Book by Kipling, everything by Eric Carl (Karl?), Where the Red Fern Grows, all the Madeline books... and then I realized it was almost midnight and I don't have children, so maybe I could finish the list in the morning. oops!

8. Today is the first cloudy, rainy day I have experienced in Grand Rapids so far this month. Everything is cool, dewy, and I could just curl up and take a nap. Even though I got 9 hours of sleep last night. But still.. nap anyone?

9. I am excited to report I will be shopping for some bridesmaid's gifts today! I love buying my friends cool stuff. It brings me joy.

10. I am getting married in 16 days!!!

Socks

Yes, socks.

I generally don't wear socks often. Living in snow-less Florida and having unusually long feet means that flip flops are my day-to-day shoe. Ask anyone. Black flips flops with a little bumble bee on them or leather flip flops that are on their last flop; I wear one or the other every day.

Which means I can avoid socks. Socks make me feel claustrophobic. Socks are funny shaped, and they get sweaty, and they are a pain to deal with when doing laundrey, and one always disappears from the dryer... you can probably tell that I am not a fan of socks.

But would you like to know how I spent my evening last night? Helping out Milli because she found a basket of about a bazillion kajillion (these are precise numbers here) SOCKS. It took me the better part of two hours to pair as many pairs as I could, scan the nearly identical remaining socks to try to match them, and ultimately end up with about 47 zillion (again, exact figures here) pairs of socks, and about 32 bazillion "pairless" socks. There is literally an entire load of laundrey in the washer made up of paired socks. Incredible.

I am not complaining; I had nothing else to do whilst watching 'The Devil Wears Prada' for the umpteenth time, and offered to help.

Ultimately, I feel bad for the poor "single" socks. They have lost their partner, their mate, their other half. I sympathize with you, little single socks. My other half is flying helicopters and watching Discovery Channel in Florida while I am doing wedding-things here in Michigan. I am a sad other-half-less little sock.

I should really talk to a professional about this sock issue. Or maybe just finish watching 'The Devil Wears Prada.' They don't wear socks in that movie.

Michigan.

I am here in Grand Rapids after a weekend at Glen Lake. The wind is blowing in the trees, I am wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a scarf, and spend almost the entire day wrapped in a blanket, drinking coffee and reading on the porch.

This is quite possibly the most relaxing day I have had all year.

We don't have crisp breezes where I come from. We don't wear long sleeve shirts until, oh, about November. and we certainly don't sit on the porch and read in the afternoon because it is normally so humid that it would be akin to voluntarily reading in a sauna for hours on end.

This is my first "real" autumn since I was eight years old, and I am relishing every second of it.

Of course I miss Future Husband something fierce. I miss living in the happy noises of a house of five folks and one very emotionally needy terrier. I do miss the unpredictable rain storms that accompany hurricane season, and the "y'alls," and the seafood restaurants. Of course I miss palm trees, white sand, the strange rainstorms that happen with the sun shining brightly, and my friends who are the only people who don't think I'm a complete loser because I snort when I laugh. I miss it all.

But soon Future Husband will be here, and we will be going to our wedding rehearsel, and then our wedding, and then our honeymoon, and then we will back amongst the white sand and palm trees. and I will probably then miss the cool breezes and the "you betchas" and the comfy sweaters that make Grand Rapids so cozy to me.