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With only four weeks left until the wedding, and with one of those weeks reserved for the IA Summit, we are getting down to the wire on all the planning. Things are going nicely. Thanks to Livia’s advice, I have created a fantastic personal to-do and project list that is really helping me get things done this weekend. It will be the most productive I’ve been in a long time :)

Since the engagement I’ve been planning the wedding every free moment I get. It’s tough to plan a wedding in three months, but certainly doable. What surprised me most about planning was the cost of venues and food. The moment you mention “wedding” prices increase significantly. What is the point of all this cost? Why are weddings so expensive? For example, $2,500 just to use a site, $75 per person to eat, and if you want to offer any alcohol the price can be ridiculous. A couple can easily drop $10,000 on a small, simple wedding with reception.

We changed our tactics and now we are getting some really good deals. We’re looking at non-typical venues and not mentioning “wedding.” As of Friday, we’ve made significant progress. We’ve chose a venue for the party we will through for our friends. On Sunday we’ll check out the ceremony site and officiant. And, on Wednesday I’ll get together with a friend about invitations.

2006 was my best year yet. A look back…

• January - I moved to Croatia to spend the last 5 months of Dinko’s compulsory civil service with him.
• February - Made a lot of new great friends in Croatia and started my language courses
• March - Trip to Venice, Italy! Finished my first 5K race in over 10 years!
• April - Trip to Pula, Croatia!
• May - Trip to Budapest, Hungary!
• June - I returned to the States!
• July - We spent a lot of time and money finally turning our condo into a home :)
• August - I was nominated to the Board of Directors of the IA Institute
• September - Road trip to Acadia National Park in Maine!
• October - We adopted Pablo!
• November - Dinko finished his first marathon in under 4 hours.
• December - Got engaged!

There are great things to come for 2007. It’s going to be a blast! Here’s just a few…

• Celebrating Shawn’s Birthday in Vegas
• Attending the IA Summit and planning the social events
• Getting married in March! Honeymoon in Alberta, Canada!
• Friends coming to visit from Croatia
• Visiting Chicago
• Running the Broad Street 10-mile run

Happy New Year everyone!

After almost 9 years together, Dinko and I are now engaged! He proposed this Christmas morning with a beautiful family ring over 50 years old.

I haven’t been posting lately, and this is one reason why. I’ve been writing in a journal. I tried this when I was younger, but it never really stuck. I find it to be a really freeing experience. It’s a great way to self reflect without the worry of people reading or the ideas being stale.

I don’t know how many people out there are similar to me, in that I am much better at writing than I am at speaking. I like having the top to think about an issue, consider options, and identify solutions.

Journal writing fills one need for me, while blogging fills another. I’m having a hard time writing in this blog though. I literally have 12 started posts related to personal and professional concepts that I have been unable to complete and post for you all to read. Some of it’s related to time, some of it’s related to my own inability to post something with real substance without making it perfect.

So, I hope to share with you more in this blog. Don’t be surprised if you find 6 postings in 1 day :)

While reading my new issue of Real Simple magazine I found a snippet talking about National PC Turn Off Week. The first week in August has been dedicated to this little “holiday.”

I haven’t really voluntarily removed myself from my computer for a long period of time before. But there have been a few times when I was without it.

First, I went to Croatia in the summer of 2000 and spent a week along the Adriatic Sea without a computer, but I had German satellite TV.

Second, was when I spent 2 weeks in the Southwest hiking the Grand Circle of national parks. There was no way I was going to lug a laptop with the rest of my gear.

Third was when I went to Iceland and England. My boyfriend had a laptop to off load pictures, but I was very good at not touching it.

And last, was when I was in Croatia again. I spent almost a week in Dubrovnik, but during it, I broke down and checked my email at an Internet cafe because I was anxious of news about my sister’s pregnancy. I got that news, and it was bad, but we move on.

So, most of the times I’ve been without a computer have been related to travel and not having a computer accessible. In college I took a communications class about mass media. As an assignment, we were forced to not listen to the radio, watch TV, go to movies, or surf the Internet unless absolutely necessary for another course. It was a test on realizing how dependent we have become on mass media in our everyday lives. At first I didn’t have a problem, like most of my classmates, but halfway through it was really hard to keep away.

So, for the first week of August, I will be home and my computer will be calling my name, but I’m going to try and keep it off and do more things outside, even if it’s hot. While I’m at it, I will probably avoid the TV as well (and even harder task :)

In preparation for moving to my new house, I’m getting rid of or selling some of my stuff. I’ve already sold my bike. Now I’m selling my car, and a few other things. I’ll be posting these on the Philadelphia Weekly site and Craigslist. Check them out!

2002 Chevrolet Cavalier - $9500.00 OBO
< 17,000 miles

24 city / 32 hwy
Single owner car
In excellent working condition
Never been in an accident
Some minor scratches due to “living in the city”
Dented driver-side door estimated at $550 to repair
Price and body repairs are negotiable
See post on Craigslist

Would also like to sell the whole lot of my 2,000+ Magic the Gathering cards from High School. I can’t believe I still have them ;) An MP3/CD player, and other small items.

In preparation for moving to my new house, I’m getting rid of or selling some of my stuff. I’m selling my car, my bike, and a few other small things. I’ll be posting these on the Philadelphia Weekly site and Craigslist. Check them out!

Giant Boulder SE - $150.00 **SOLD**
17 inch Women’s 23 speed bike
In excellent condition. Hardly used. Will include bike lock, headlight, and helmet if desired. See post on Craigslist.

2002 Chevrolet Cavalier - $9500.00 OBO
< 17,000 miles

24 city / 32 hwy
Single owner car
In excellent working condition
Never been in an accident
Some minor scratches due to “living in the city”
Dented driver-side door estimated at $550 to repair
Price and body repairs are negotiable
See post on Craigslist

I love NBC’s new show, Medium. I’ve always been excited about the psychic and paranormal. For the past two weeks, this great new show has not been on during its regularly scheduled time. The first week was due to some sports event. The second week was because of the Miss USA pageant, yay. This week NBC has the nerve to throw on a repeat. I wish I better understood the logic and strategy behind scheduling TV shows. Mayabe my new project at work will provide some insight.

I’m not a TV whore, pardon my language. I only watch three shows religiously the whole week–Medium, CSI: New York, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. TV is my way of letting my mind go at the end of the night and relaxing me enough to go to sleep. Sure, reading can do this for most, but not me. Reading either puts me to sleep after the first paragraph because of the “mind” effort, or keeps me in such suspense that I can’t put the book down.

Grrr. So, I hope that next week I will not have to say grr to NBC again.

Just got back from pub quiz at Nodding Head. Sadly our Team of Wheat has lost again. We did have a much better performance this week than in the recent past.

Irish John needs to find a new favorite country. Every other question he asked was about French. He often asks questions about France and it’s getting a bit annoying. Several times he has asked for the French word for egg (ouef). We’ve gotten that wrong every time. We never will again ;)

Last night he asked at least 2 French language questions and 2 France-related questions in each round.

Oh well, we at least had a strong joker round. Nearly got them all right. Woo hoo.

And can I just say, mmm Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse!