Life and Lemons

Life lately. How is life going? Mixed bag, honestly.

Last week Michael and I met with a photographer for the wedding–the last we were interviewing before making a decision–and after the meeting we went out to discover some asshole had broken into Michael’s car. They stole my backpack and one of Michael’s bags. Luckily I had my purse and stuff with me so that was okay. It was clearly a smash-and-grab because they passed up hundreds of dollars in cycling gear inside the car and the very expensive bike on the back of the car. That sure didn’t make either of us feel any better, though.

I felt violated, angry, upset. It came on the heels of a bunch of other stuff that I am not going to get into on the internet as well as paying a vet bill for Bella. All things accumulating felt like one big kick in the butt from the universe. It was hard not to feel beaten down and sad. The damage to the car of course was not enough for insurance to cover, but just expensive enough to put a crimp in holiday plans. Thanks insurance deductibles!

One of the things that was in my backpack was a flashdrive with my novel in it. As well as my resume. THAT crushed me. My novel, that I worked on for years, gone. Yes I have a backup in the iCloud but not the most recent set of edits. I believe the cloud has bare bones. So it’s essentially gone. That brought tears to my eyes. Also, knowing that the crackhead that stole it could potentially have access to where we live freaked me out. My garage door opener was also in that bag. So that night Michael changed the codes just in case. That still didn’t make me feel any better!

It seems as though bad luck as been following us around lately.

The Wedding

In GOOD news, the wedding planning is going alright. We have the venue, my dress, the bridesmaid dresses, the florist, the caterer, a day-of-wedding coordinator, the officiant, the photo-booth is booked, engagement photos are done, and now the photographer.  We went with Sean Morrison Photography here in Portland. Not only has he done weddings for awhile now, he is a photography teacher. 🙂

We have a pretty tight wedding budget and even doing the bare-minimum we’re pretty close to the budget. My mom and I are looking for ways to cut costs and we’re going to DIY some of it. For example, we’re sending out save-the-date postcards instead cards in envelopes which will save on paper and postage costs. Also, Michael made our save-the-date himself! I found some examples I really liked on Etsy and he said, “I can totally make that, you don’t need to buy it” and he was right. It took him like 10 minutes in Photoshop to make our postcard. Now we just need to figure out the postcard paper and get them printed up and mailed out!

What we have to do next is to make our wedding website for family, register, and then we can RELAX for a little while! That will be nice.

Bella

Bella is doing MUCH better after her paw mishap. We’re still putting medicine on her paws but she’s up and running around like her old self and she’s been off the pain-pills for awhile. She’s just as crazy and active as before.

The cats are getting along with Bella. Or at least, tolerating her more. It’s pretty funny because Bella will take her toys to Fat Kitty, drop them down in front of him and then smile and wag her tail. She REALLY wants him to play with her. He gives her the cold shoulder and walks away. I hope one of these days I’ll see them play. 🙂

Misc

A little while ago I watched the TV show “Luther,” which was such a good show! And then this weekend I started watching “Hemlock Grove.” I like the new generation of TV shows that feel more like movies than TV. Sometimes Hemlock Grove feels like it has potential, sometimes it feels like a bit cheesy and a little “Twilight-y”. Time will tell. I’m giving it a few episodes before giving up.

What’s going on in your life lately?