I just got an email from WordPress that my yearly payment of $48 to have an account/this blog has been automatically deducted from my account, so I figured I better write a post because otherwise that’d be a waste of money. That’s how they get ya: humans err on the side of laziness and know they won’t unsubscribe. And also I have all these followers I can’t let down.

Since I last wrote, lots has happened even though it seems like not much has happened because I’ve been living at my parents house slowly checking things off the to do list. Bill and I have been planning a wedding, I’ve been applying to jobs (because I’ll need to work when we move back to San Francisco on January 8th), and we’re looking for a place to live (as we don’t have a place to live right now when we get back to San Francisco on January 8th).

I’ve been quite stressed out. Those three big things happening in my life right now (have a wedding, find a job, find a place to live) all carry some uncertainty and require a lot of planning and effort. The planning and effort part isn’t the most stressful, it’s the uncertainty and the general demoralizing nature of trying to find a job and not having one. I had the option to do some part time remote work for my company back in Kenya, but I know myself well enough to know I’d still work full time and would stress myself out even more. Not having a place to live yet is not really stressing me out yet, because of AirBnB. We can always get something last minute for the rest of January, and we can spend that time looking at apartments to rent starting in February. Also, I think where we end up renting might depend on where I get a job. If I end up working in the South Bay, commuting to the East Bay would be rough, and vice versa. Bill’s office is in downtown SF so East Bay or South Bay or the city would work for him. Not having a job lined up is super stressful and I have these major ups and downs of emotion where I get excited about the jobs I applied to but then get really bummed out feeling like I’m not qualified or good enough or competitive enough in the market that I’m looking to work. So I have days where I apply to a bunch of jobs and days where I make no progress at all (except that I am and these thoughts are stupid). Any of you readers want to hire me? Despite my insecurities, I’m actually awesome and the best at everything. Just read the recommendation my former CEO wrote for me on LinkedIn for proof. Also Bill not being at home with me is hard. He stayed in Chicago at his parents house but I came back to New York a week after Thanksgiving to do wedding stuff that couldn’t be done on the internet, like taste food, put stuff in welcome bags, print place cards, go to Michaels, go to fabric stores, go to the dress alteration place, gather sticks, spray paint sticks, go to Michaels again, go to Costco, receive 1-4 Amazon packages daily for the past month, and what seems like a million other things I can’t seem to remember right now. T-minus ONE WEEK until Bill and I get married, and most everything is done! Now we just have to actually get to the venue to put the centerpieces together, put the spray painted sticks in the vases, and that’s pretty much it! HUGE shout out to my mom and my grandma for helping with everything, from tying bows, to tearing the place card perforated paper, for helping shop for the welcome bags, for putting stuff in all the welcome bags, for coming with me to all the craft stores and finding fun great things, for helping find and carry sticks, for helping spray paint the sticks, for putting up with me when I get stressed, for translating everything (the full wedding program and ceremony) into Hungarian to print out, and for being happy and excited for me. And HUGE shout out and thank you and more gratitude than I can ever express to my dad and mom for dropping a boatload of chedda. It’s so gonna be worth it.

Since most of my family lives in Hungary and most of Bill’s family lives not in New York, lots of people are arriving days before the wedding. The actual wedding is on Monday, December 31st (New Year’s Eve wedding/party!) so we have events planned from Thursday evening when a handful of people arrive! I am so excited for everything we have planned for that long weekend and that day. That part was a bit stressful too, because I wasn’t only planning wedding stuff but NYC sightseeing stuff for like 40+ people! I made a very impressive GoogleSheet with all the activities, our bitmojis, the exact times of everything, maps, links, and suggestions for things to do in the afternoon “free time”. Getting the details of the itinerary right was a long process and I ran a lot of ideas by Bill and by my bridesmaids. Now let’s hope for no rain on Friday Ferry Day and Saturday (ice) Skating Day. Snow on Sunday would be great because then it would leave a beautiful white dusting on everything for the wedding on Monday! The greatest thing about the venue is that all three buildings are connected with these inside bridges so you don’t have to go outside from the ceremony in the Mansion, to the cocktail hour and reception in the main building, and the guest rooms in the hotel building. It’s going to be the best! And all of our guests are staying on the same floor – party floor!!

There definitely is quite a lot of work that goes into planning a wedding, and with sites like Zola and the Knot, they make it way more complicated than it needs to be and make you think something that costs $$$$ is a necessity when it’s so not. Bill and I have had a lot of fun planning it, as I wanted a lot of it to be DIY – hence the spray painted sticks. One thing that bothers me is when people ask me, when Bill is right next to me, how wedding planning is going for me. I answer saying WE are checking things off the list and everything will be great. And everything will be great! Everything is done and now I just can’t wait for it all to begin. Not just the pre-wedding events, and not just the wedding, but the rest of my life with Bill. #he’ssolucky #butmostlyi’mlucky

Oh, and Merry Christmas Eve today to those of you to whom that applies.