We went to Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim’s for Easter today. We were running a bit late due to a silly squabble about laundry. It got heated and James said he didn’t want to go to Easter any more, that I should just go without him.

How can I go without him when the reason we’re going to Aunt Mary’s (as opposed to my aunt Val’s, where we were also invited) was that my dad’s side of the family wanted to celebrate the engagement? Happy engagement! Where’s your fiance? That looks good.

Though I love being engaged and knowing that we are committed to each other, it imbues every little argument with so much weight. If we break up now, it’s not just a break up, but breaking off an engagement. If we fight about laundry now, are we going to be fighting about laundry for the rest of our lives? The stakes just seem so much higher since I said yes.

But we resolved the Great Laundry Dispute of 2007 and headed off to Easter dinner.

We walked in the house and were handed champagne and immediately enveloped in hugs. The residual tension from our laundry fight dissolved and I remembered again why we are getting married. It’s about love and family. I love James and I want to start a family with him. Seeing my family and feeling their support reinforced our committment to each other.

Since we hadn’t seen anyone on this side of my family since the cruise, I told the whole story of our engagement, which everyone ate up. About the time I was nominated by my high school friends to give the toast at our friend Anne’s wedding, I realized that I enjoy speaking in public. I like to tell stories. And there is no story I like telling better than this one.

But even more surprising than our greeting were the gifts! Our first engagement gifts! My cousin Brandt and his wife, Becky, gave us the cutest bunny dip bowl with spreader (the spreader is the bunny’s tail! It is so cute!) and a nice card. Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim gave us a measuring mixing bowl from Pampered Chef. I admired hers a few months ago — it’s going to be great for making pancakes.

I accidently gushed too much about how much I love engagement cards (I didn’t even know they existed before we got engaged) and made Aunt Mary feel bad that she didn’t get us one. That wasn’t what I meant! I didn’t expect anything!

We played some King’s Cribbage, Brandt’s newest obsession, and when I got home I caught my brother, Billy, online and chatted with him a bit. It was a family day. I don’t see any of my family on a daily, or even weekly, basis, so these holidays are really important to me.

I saw a description on a wedding board of how someone made her own guest book. It looked so easy, I just had to try it myself.

Of course, with over a year to go before the actual wedding and only an inkling of what the style will be, I was not ready to create a guest book. But many sites and magazines recommend you have a three-ring binder with notes and ideas. And what’s wrong with making it look pretty?

James and I headed to Torrington today and visited a few stores. First stop was Staples for some basic supplies. I got the three-ring binder and some divider pages (since I planned to glue stuff to the pages, I wanted something sturdier than notebook paper). I got glue sticks and some pastel sharpies. Pastel sharpies? Wow, I am getting girly.

We also looked at some do-it-yourself wedding invitation kits. We found some that were okay, but nothing we were thrilled with. But there was some nice paper that we decided could work.

Next was JoAnn’s. Did you know that JoAnn’s is no longer in Torrington? Neither did I. So we headed off to Wal-Mart, the store of last resort. I got some white fabric with roses and some batting. We also looked in the wedding craft section and found some invitations we liked even better and are seriously considering. They have little picture frames on them for real customization.

We were barely in the door before I ripped into the craft project. It’s been a while since I’ve tackled anything other than knitting.

I’d say it was about an hour to put the book together, then several hours going through my stack of magazines for pictures to cut out. But here it is:

The outside of the book, covered in fabric with some fun wedding ribbon and doo-dads glued on. The batting underneath makes for a nice puffy feel. I just stapled the batting and the fabric to the binder. Unfortunately, some of the staples went through, but that’s what the doo-dads are for. Glue gun for those.

The first page, which made good use of the pastel sharpies. Our names and wedding date, plus a cute sticker from Wal-Mart.

An example of an inside page. I cut out things that I like and grouped them by subject. You can see the various subjects on the tabs on the side. This is the dress page (obviously).

This was such a fun project. We’re too far out from the date to work on any craft projects for the actual event, so this will tide me over for a bit.

James looked at invitations with me last night! Alleluia!

I’m just kidding. He’s actually really good about giving input and talking about the wedding. Well, most of the time. He sometimes says that I’m planning things without him. But he says that when I ask him about something. I am looking for input; that’s why I’m asking.

I don’t know how to make him feel more involved. He’s so busy with work and his freelance projects that he never has time to look at flowers with me. And he says that we have so long to decide on things, why worry about it now?

But, anyway, we did talk about invitations last night.

He didn’t like most of what I had picked out, but he did get very excited over a very simple monogram with a colored sleeve. We have tons of time, but I think the longer you have an idea in the back of your head, the better the eventual design will be.

I also emailed with my cousin, Sharon, yesterday. She’s thinking about having Edible Arrangements instead of floral centerpieces. As she says, if you can’t see around the centerpiece, you can just eat the chocolate covered strawberry that’s in your way. I think it’s a great idea. I’m so glad I’m going to her wedding!

James really likes the idea of having apples with sticks in them to hold the escort cards, so I’m sure we’ll do that. Maybe I can come up with a way to incorporate apples into the centerpieces, too. Growers Box has 168 gerbera daisy stems for $280. 336 for $500. I have no idea how many I would need, but I think those prices will save me some money. I just have to figure out how to arrange them. My editor volunteered herself and some other women from the office (unbeknownst to them) to help decorate the tables, so once I figure out what I’m doing, I’ll have help.

Today is Sunday and we don’t have a single thing to do. I spent about 2 hours packing my apartment. Sure, we’ve got a month to move, but since I don’t live in the apartment, it doesn’t matter if I fill it with boxes. And it should make life easier.

I packed up all my matching dishes before my end roll ran out. I got all the pots and pans into boxes and even emptied a bookshelf. I also got two duffle bags stuffed full of clothes. It didn’t look like I’d accomplished much, because everything I packed was in a cupboard, but I think I got a good start. We also got some more boxes and another end roll, so there will be more packing next weekend.

Neither of us can wait until we move. Of course, the actual moving is going to suck, but we’re so excited to have our own house. With our own space! And an office!

James already has big plans for that. He told me that he’s going to buy a 19-inch LCD monitor for his desktop in May (he sold the monitor that went with the computer when he moved out of his apartment — an excuse for an upgrade, if you ask me).

I just want to to have enough shelf space for my books. I’d love to just line the walls with books. Then it will be a library/office/guestroom.

We also have to find a washer and drier pretty quick. What’s the point of having a house if you still have to lug your dirty clothes to the laundromat? This ‘n That for Habitat seems to have stuff like that pretty regularly for low prices, so we should be okay there.

Yay! House!