Keeping all the tops spinning

Ok, I am not the first person to mention this, and I think I scoffed a little reading other posts about this, but I now throw up my hands and say “it’s true!” – hitting the 3 month mark is SCARY!

I was so utterly calm up until now, and it’s not like I have whipped myself into a panic, but I sort of started to realize that this wedding is..well… SOON! It’s starting to get warmer outside, and it will (very hopefully) stay that way until the wedding! No more winter between us and the wedding, no more big holidays, really nothing except for planning planning planning!

so when I get a little panicked, I make lots of lists. My college roommates can attest to that one – I always had long lists of tasks scrawled on my arms and hands. Now my lists have (thankfully) migrated to my (amazing) planner pad. But of course, lists alone won’t get the job done, and after catching my breath at all of the zillions of things I still had planned to do, I decided that the best course was simply: ACTION!

I have been zipping through my to-do list like nobody’s business, and have a new goal of finishing one DIY project every week. Hence the title of this post – I feel like I am trying to keep a zillion tops spinning at once! Every time I do something, I move on to the next, and then next… and by the time I reach the last task, 3 or 4 of the first ones have stopped spinning and need to be restarted!! ahh!!

Here is a little summary of all the stuff I (we) have been working on for the last few weeks:

• sorting through photos for slideshow

• Buying undergarments for dress

• DIYing cocktail stirrers

• making appointment to get dress altered

• purchasing decorations

• hunting for out of town bag supplies

• buying bridesmaid gifts (shh)

• making travel arrangements for relatives to travel to Prague and Vienna

• tasting cake and picking a bakery

• brainstorming a pattern for chair covers, purchasing chair cover fabric

• ordering supplies for 50+ tissue poms

• corresponding back and forth on our tri-lingual invitations

• making appointment to finalize our registry

• hunting for (and finding!) shoes

And more. Phew. I am not complaining – this is lots of fun! But those are sure a lot of tops to keep spinning… :)

Nesting

I took my own little thanksgiving hiatus here on Wedding Diplomat, but I'm back! I was in Berlin with my MOH and her crew, hosting the most amazing thanksgiving party ever. You can tell our in depth study of wedding and deco blogs has paid off. Dinner for 21!

the table, all set for 21

the hostesses!

eating, in action

On the drive back to Munich, Mr. Schnitzel and I discussed various options for changing up our apartment. I have been reading (and loving!) the book Apartment Therapy , which basically details how the home is such a central part of health and well being. Since there is so much going on in our lives right now (wedding planning, preparing for operations, masters thesis writing..) it is very important that our home become a sanctuary.

We have some great ideas, and we're starting on the Eight Week cure detailed in the book today. I thought I would give you some updates and photos of our progress, since (in my book) nesting and making a home for ourselves has so much to do with starting our married life together.

And, there should be some wedding planning related tips coming out of the whole thing. For example, we are planning on turning a section of our large bedroom into a work area, which includes thesis writing, (wedding) website programming and all other wedding related planning tasks!

Wish me luck! What did you do to get your "pad" ready for your married life?

First Steps

For those of you who know me personally, you are already aware of my love for organizing. I am addicted to Real Simple and Target (two things I miss TERRIBLY in Germany) and I subscribe to serveral dozen organizing blogs. In practice, i mostly like the act of buying organizational materials and unwrapping them, writing those first neatly handwritten labels and invisioning my organization prowess. This ambition, however, usually vanishes within a few weeks and I am back to happily throwing all my papers into one pile.

But what better excuse to buy new shiny binders and exciting plastic sleeves and labels than planning a WEDDING? So I ventured out today and purchased a pretty plum (a possible wedding color) filofax, with all the trimmings, and a neat filing book for bigger brochures and notes. Here are my purchases.

I wish I could have bought the wedding planner as seen here but they don't ship to Germany! I think I am going to definitely print out many of their PDFs though, and probably use Miss Cloud's categorization system.

Any tips to keep myself motivated to stay organized?