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march 19th... high of seventy one and sunny... if this holds, we could not ask for a better day!

A Memory Story: How We Met

I have something special to share today...

Today marks one year since Dan sent me a message
 All you social networking nay-sayers may be rolling your eyes right now, but as small as it was this marks the beginning of our relationship. 

Back story: my mom and dad bought a car from Dan's cousin, Shane. Through the car-buying process, Shane and my mom immediately became BFF's and started scheming that her daughter needed to go out with his cousin. OK, Shane did more of the scheming and my mom did more of the accomplice-ing. But nonetheless, it was a concerted effort on both parts to get us together, despite much resistance on my part and obliviousness on Dan's part. I think they even decided that we should get married before Dan even knew I existed. After about three weeks of persistence, I finally agreed for my mom to give Shane the OK that Dan could 'friend' me on Facebook if he wanted to contact me...

and that night he sent me a note...

Daniel Griffin March 11, 2010 at 9:54pm

Julie,

Apparently when your mom picked up your sister's new car from my cousin, she got the upgrade package that included a blind date.

Now, I wasn't aware that such an option was available when purchasing an automobile, but I would love to meet up for coffee, if you're interested: say when.

-Daniel

Julie Cole March 11, 2010 at 11:46pm

Hi Daniel,

Yes, apparently there were some negotiations on the side during the car purchasing activities. I'm up for coffee, or hot chocolate in my case. What's your schedule like?

-Julie

Daniel Griffin March 12, 2010 at 8:55am

Good Morning Julie,

I'm leaving for a weekend in California today to compete for the highly coveted title of "Uncle that drives the furthest to watch 3 of his nephews." So we will have to meet up next week sometime. My work schedule typically is 8:30-4:30, anytime after work would be just fine for me. How does Monday sound?

Julie Cole March 13, 2010 at 12:22pm

I coach volleyball on the side and we have practice Monday and Wednesday evenings, and this week I have band practice on Tuesday evening after work... a busy week for extra curriculars I guess you could say! What about Thursday?

I hope you are having so much fun with your nephews!!

Daniel Griffin March 14, 2010 at 3:38pm

Wow, its weird how quiet things are after a weekend with the big guys. I have so much respect for my sister now, how she watches 4 boys day in day out is beyond me. Although I had a blast with them, it's nice to be headed back home. I think I'll be back in town about 7:30. What does your night look like? I'd like to meet up, providing you don't mind hanging out with someone whose been driving all day and changing diapers all weekend. If not thursday will work just fine.

Enjoy your Sunday,

Daniel

480-xxx-xxxx

Sent via Facebook Mobile

Julie Cole March 14, 2010 at 9:43pm

Hi there,

Diapers? That's very impressive. What a great uncle driving to CA to be with them for a weekend! I myself got home from church a little bit ago and am now in my sweats and catching up on some laundry. Sorry I just got your note about meeting up tonight so I think Thursday will work best. Thoughts?

Have a great night!

Daniel Griffin March 15, 2010 at 10:16am

No worries about last night, it was a last minute thought as i was driving home. Thursday after work? 5ish? I think the Barnes and Noble at Tempe Marketplace would be a nice meeting place in case one of us got there before the other. Plus, there is a tea place right there that I have been looking forward to trying out (I'll bet they have your hot chocolate too.)

so, band practice? what kind of music?

That was the beginning
...And the messages go on and on for the next week until we finally got together at Tempe Marketplace on March 18th. One year and one day before our wedding.

this weekend

^ works in progress!

We also got some sun by the pool Saturday and went hiking Sunday where I broke in my new hiking shoes!

The Groom's Last Pre-Wedding Haircut

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that for the last nine and a half months, the thought of Dan's pre-wedding haircut caused me a great deal of anxiety. I mean, this is probably the most important haircut of his life. One bad haircut for a guy is not a big deal most of the time, 3-4 weeks and it's completely grown out. (And Dan has had a couple of bad haircuts since I've known him). But this haircut, if it was too short, or crooked, or too whatever... it would be forever preserved in our wedding pictures!

So, I've noticed that Dan has adopted a practice of increased tolerance for any neuroticism I might exhibit within a month of the wedding (I suspect based on the advice of a few married men). So he was very sweet and compliant when I asked him to get his hair cut this week, as opposed to any later (because you don't want your hair to look like you JUST got a haircut on the wedding day!), and this morning on the phone he told me he'd made his appointment for this evening asked me EXACTLY how I wanted it. I'm sure the flies on the wall were laughing hysterically at the word exchange. Anyway, I had so much anxiety about the whole thing that he lovingly just asked if I would like to come along... so I did.

Turns out (as could have been suspected) I had nothing to worry about. Brett at Mood Swings in Tempe gave Dan a fabulous haircut, and was super understanding and cool about me being there, he even came and talked to me as Dan lay with a hot towel around his face, and told me exactly what he was going to do and how it would grow out for the next two weeks. I felt like I was talking to a doctor who was about to operate on my child, explaining to me how the procedure would go. Kudos to Brett for his patience and humor in the whole situation. Don't worry, I didn't supervise... I was doing things on my phone most of the time I was there... or whatever I need to say to make myself feel better about the whole thing after-the-fact... neurotic. I know.

"Inspection"

Justin was shocked not only to learn that Dan was going to "the inspection" with me this morning, but even more so when Dan asked him if he'd like to come along to see. He didn't realize Dan was talking about the house, and thought for some reason that the "inspection" had something to do with our NFP preparation classes, like a two-week girlie preflight check something. Funny story.

We did have an inspection this morning, of the house that is. It went well, and it was so fun to measure all the rooms and make lists of all the things we want to do to the house if it becomes our own. And we did have NFP class tonight, but there was no "inspection" involved. Just the last bits of data and follow up information.

Daniel and I went to Marshalls tonight before NFP class and inspected about 20 difference pieces of luggage. We are thinking about investing in some before we pack for our honeymoon this weekend, but decided to hold off and sleep on it. You would not believe the smoking deals Marshalls has on luggage! And everything else! Now I know why Daniel goes there about three times a week.

We both vowed to get a good night's sleep tonight in preparation for a productive and wedding-centric weekend starting tomorrow after work. Team Dan and Julie is in crunch time! So I'd better get to bed :)

houses and hiccups

Our wedding to-do list is a little overwhelming and this coming weekend is the last free weekend to get stuff done so I am going to pack a lot into these two days. I'm trying to stay organized in my brain but some of it is turning to mush and I'm having to rely on written checklists and my mother and wedding planner to remind me things. I'm pretty excited to pack for the honeymoon.

Tomorrow morning first thing is the inspection at the new house, which is super exciting. We usually drive by the house once every couple weeks or so just to see it, and last night Dan and I went for a walk in the neighborhood and we walked through the park next door to the house, and down the street that the house is on, but I haven't been inside the house itself since early December when we made the offer. Tomorrow it will be great to be in there with the mindset that it's actually going to be our house (hooray!) instead of just this random house that we wanted to buy. I'll be bringing my measuring tape and my camera! There's a slight chance we will be closing escrow two days before the wedding... which is insane... but kind of awesome. Someone once told me that I have a chaos addiction.

I typically get the hiccups about once a day, but today I had the hiccups five times. The really debilitating violent kind where you don't even want to breathe because if a hiccup catches you mid-exhale, it's twice as loud. One time today I hiccuped mid-cough and I actually got dizzy and lost my balance for a second. That pretty much sums up my day in a metaphor. (I don't really even know what that means but it sounded profound.)

March Madness

This fine Tuesday marks the beginning of our wedding month!!!  I can't believe it's finally March... the countdown, the one that used to be ten months, then was seven months, then was sixty days... is in the TEENS!

The Bach- Parties

This past weekend was our bach/bach-ette parties. Oh what a time we had!

 The guys went to Las Vegas (buffets, go-carts, and dancing), and us girls got together in Gilbert (sushi, scavenger hunt, and general silliness) and crashed at Dan and Justin's house!

Beyond all the silly fun and peer bonding with our best buds, when Dan got home from Vegas Sunday night and we caught up about our weekends, both of us reported feeling an overwhelming symbolism to the events of the night before. I never before realized what a rite of passage the bachelor/bachelorette party can be. And with the timing for us being three weeks until the wedding, it seems to have kicked off the official "go time" of wedding preparations!

Wedding Planning Continues...

Dan was over last night with me and my parents after volleyball practice and we started the task that I've been told by every single person in the wedding industry is the toughest of all of the tasks... piecing together the table assignments for our seating chart. We've got a pretty good start but nothing set in stone yet.

In other "projects"... my mom dug up the goblets that she and my dad used at their wedding 35 years ago!! Each of them has engraved on it John or Cristy and their wedding date. Dan and I are going to drink out of these at our wedding too and my mom is going to add our names and wedding date to the engraved part, how cool is that! The "project" part? Polishing off the tarnish (see below before/after picture)... thanks Mom for putting in so much elbow grease!