This is a combined 3-day weekend post - Veteran's Day Weekend, to be exact. I'm not sure if all weekends will be in this format, but I figured it is best since I was out of town and away from my laptop (AKA Laptopless).

Days 197, 196 & 195

Friday - Sunday, November 11-13, 2016

Temperature: Better than Pittsburgh, that's for sure! High 50's-Mid 60's all weekend.

What Kind of Weekend Did I Have & Why?

I had a great, family-filled weekend! We went to D.C. to celebrate my grandmother's 78th birthday and it is always great to be around people who I carry memories with and who also look like me. It's a special feeling that I have grown to appreciate more and more the older I get. I got to see cousins, uncles, and aunts that I haven't seen in years, but yet it always feels like home. It's a bonus to get to introduce everyone to my soon-to-be husband!

How Did I Feel? Health/Lupie Status?

Well, this is where I have to snitch on myself. I did all the wrong things this weekend. My uncle's cooking cannot be declined, and I already knew that working out wasn't going to happen...sooo I was quite the mess once I came back down to reality. Achy hands, wrists, and ankles...terribly in need of a nap or coma (whichever was happening once my eyes closed)...a stank ass attitude since I hadn't had my coma-nap yet... all of that. For the most part, I was able to recover with the help of an emergency dose of meds and a nap on the way back home. Now, was it worth it? Yes, because the days prior were filled with hugs, kisses, laughter, dancing, tequila, comfort food and so much more. I did take my meds, and I could've done some form of exercise over the weekend, but I'll make up for it in Week 2 of my Destination Wedding Workout Plan.

Workout Time & Duration?

Nope & Nope... None of that went on... Sad face

Destination Wedding Tasks Tackled:

On the road to D.C., I was able to handle a few things since I'm the best passenger known to man - at least that's what I like to think.

Napkins - I was able to send out emails to my top 3 huipil vendors about my vision for these napkins and am expecting to hear back soon on some numbers and get some photos. I can't believe I just admitted that I have a VISION for NAPKINS... but I do! Oh well, don't judge!

Wedding dress fabric - Of course, as soon as we get on the road, Flo from Bridals by Lori calls to discuss the fabric fiasco. Me being the awkward person I am, I tried my darndest to speak in some sort of wedding dress morse code out of fear that I may slip up and give away any details about my dress with Che sitting right next to me. Now that I think about it, it was quite ridiculous. I think I actually said, "it's the one inside of the thing" and she knew exactly what I was talking about...Gotta love Flo! It turns out my dress is right, but the designer messed up my order. She is having a FedEx label sent to me to return the fabric and get what I need. Oh, happy day!

This is what we got done outside of the car and over the weekend:

Che's shoes - Che was able to go shopping in Georgetown with my uncle and find his wedding shoes! I haven't seen them yet and he is kinda excited about them so I'm happy. I can't decide whether I want to see them now; or wait until the wedding day, so he's keeping them in the box for now. Maybe it'd be cute to have my dress as his surprise, and his shoes as my surprise... I'm still pondering on this one.

Wedding Ring News - Our jeweler Melanie came back with a great quote including the 20% discount that I found out about on Day 198. We only have until the next weekend to get in on this, so I had to discuss with Che and we're getting it done next week!

Any Old Destination Wedding Tasks Making a Comeback?

Travel Agent Queries - We received the funniest email from our travel agent, Sarah. Her first question was basically, "Omi, what the hell is your legal name?". I get this a lot and really don't ever pay it any attention, so I was kinda tickled at the realization that even our travel agent is confused by what the hell my name is. Because my first name is Bianca and my widely used (and personally loved and preferred) nickname is Omi, we use them interchangeably and tend to cause confusion.

Reservation with the resort: Bianca... Wedding Website: Omi...Email to guests: Omi... Registry: Omi... Work email signature: Bianca Personal email: Omi... It's a mess when I think about it.

Obviously, in this case, we need the travel arrangements to be in my legal name, so we have to clear that one up. She also wanted to confirm the number of guests that we have and ask when we are ready to release our rooms (release our rooms: we paid a deposit to reserve 25 rooms before sending our invitations and asked guests to RVSP by booking their room and paying their own deposits. As our guests booked their rooms, we receive our deposit back. Any unbooked rooms will need to be released by a certain date so that we don't get charged for them at the time of the wedding. I hope this makes sense, but if it doesn't, leave a comment below and I'll be happy to answer or clarify). Che volunteered to take the reins on this one and reply to Sarah, which is always appreciated.

“Definition of Release our Rooms: We paid a deposit to reserve 25 rooms before sending our invitations and asked guests to RVSP by booking their room and paying their own deposits. As our guests booked their rooms, we receive our deposit back. Any unbooked rooms will need to be released by a certain date so that we don’t get charged for them at the time of the wedding. ”

— I hope this makes sense, but if it doesn't, leave a comment below and I'll be happy to answer or clarify - Omi

Guest List Defense - One thing to be aware of when visiting your large family while you're planning your destination wedding is the "where is my invitation", "I better get an invitation" conversation. I had to explain a few times that we had so many family members, that we decided to take an all or nothing approach to inviting aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is not a popular choice (and that was made very clear by everyone), but it is what was best for us, so that is what I had to express - several times. My uncle Alton was so gracious as to offer to host a reception for us, so we are going to figure out how we can make that happen.

Loving Black Love Moment?

That volunteering to email the travel agent fiancé is a beautiful thing, let me tell ya! One less thing on my list.
No matter how good of a time we are having, Che always makes sure that he is in a good enough position to get us back home safely.

What am I happy for?

Family...and tequila never giving me a hangover

What could I have done better?
I need to work on being more comfortable in communicating our wedding guest list decision with family and other uninvited guests.

What am I doing tomorrow?