Here will be a (daily) journal which each of us will update as the wedding approaches. Currently you can visit our previous site at http://www.JayandLeighAnne.com/RRants/ to read our earlier posts.

Saturday, November 19
Jay - To be honest, I probably should be working on my AnimationMentor homework right now but its been a long time since we've updated (we're super sorry!) and unless you are our immediate friends and family you probably have no idea what's going on with us.  Therefore I shall write as quick as I can to update you on our circumstances!

   (August) As mentioned in our Future section (which now contains a lot of our past) Leigh Anne (LeA) and I packed up as much as we could fit in her car and drove to San Francisco to begin our new lives. We moved in with a friend of the family (Cynthia rocks!) and took over a small room in her house. We then began looking for jobs and planning out how we were going make ends meet. Leigh Anne got a job fairly quickly as a Dental Office worker and I spent the first few weeks in limbo waiting to hear back from prospective employers. In the beginning I got a nice job as a computer salesman at Fry's Electronics (the Sam's Club version of Best Buy) and, not surprisingly, I really abused the employee purchase program. As soon we both had jobs (literally the minute I got the call saying I was hired) we began searching for places to live in the area. We found a wonderful one-bedroom apartment that was too good to pass up. It was only 100 yards from LeA's job, the grocery store, various restaurants, and the UPS store. Since gas was rising around $3.25 a gallon at this time we wanted to find a place that was within walking distance of everywhere we have to go and this fit the bill perfectly.

   (September) The first week of September we moved into our apartment in Martinez.  Since the only furniture we had was what we could fit in our cars, we pretty much lived on the floor for the first two weeks. We have a hi-rez video of our early apartment but be warned it is over 25 megs for a single minute of video. During those early weeks we had planned on flying home and driving a uHaul truck back with all of our furniture, but due to high gas prices, high plane ticket prices, and work restraints we decided it would be best to ship all of our furniture in a freight truck and unload it when it arrived. Surprisingly, this option turned out to be much cheaper than if he had driven across the country in a uHaul. As soon as the truck arrived we were not only living out of boxes but practically living in them as well. Yet another large video (11 megs) depicts this.  It has taken us until today (Nov 19) to get the house into an organized living space, and Leigh Anne is still adding new shelves and in the market for more furniture to free up space.
      My computer was the first object set-up when we moved in, and with hours I had Comcast install the internet on it (I know my priorities). We moved in on a Friday and on Monday I began school at AnimationMentor.com.  Since the school is entirely online the internet was essential and with it we tried to stay in touch with the world. I bought numerous webcams at my job with Fry's and sent them to our families so we could have video conversations.  Being able to see our parents while talking to them really helped remove our home-sickness. Although, being able to visit my grandmother who lives 40 min away also helps as well.
      At the end of the month I had the opportunity to participate in a technology video show podcast called This Week in Tech. The show is constantly the number one podcast in the world (essentially the Oprah of tech shows) which may or may not be saying much (if you know anything about computer tech then you should definitely know about this show!). During the show I was interviewed by the host Leo Laporte about my participation in AnimationMentor.com.  (a video resides here, but beware, it is 196 megs and I show up through out it, but my second interview starts at 51:50 mins into it).  Earlier in the month I had applied at the school for an job opening but the timing just didn't work out.  About the time this podcast aired another position opened up at the school and since my name had come up during discussions among founders/owners (due to the broadcast) I got an e-mail from the CEO/President asking if I was interested in a job with them. I excitedly accepted and immediately gave my two weeks notice to Fry's (and bought as much as possible with my employee discount).

     (October-current) The past two months have been hectic but essentially boil down to the same weekly tasks: I  work at AM.com 50+ hours during the weekdays (commute traffic is annoying), Leigh Anne works at her Dental Office during the same time, during my few free hours I either work on my animations (as I should be doing now) and or do common chores, Leigh Anne is constantly redecorating the house and moving everything to a new location (I can never find a necessary item in the same place it was the last time I used it), and when we have time we watch a good movie together or read in bed.  We always have a nice sit-down dinner each night and relate our days to each other.  Although we don't get to see each other as much as we would like, we do cherish every minute we have together and have had a wonderful time exploring the area and trying new things.
     So much has happened during this time that it is hard to just summarize the events in such a small space. We are having a fabulous time in California and can't wait to see what new opportunities life brings us. Leigh Anne will soon be posting here once again and then she can relate her side of the story (and probably chide me for leaving out the really important details :) 

  As soon as possible we will be redesigning this site and archiving the wedding areas so it will become a family website as opposed to a pre-wedding website (and soon an art website with my work will arise once again).  Until then, send us an e-mail and let us know what's going on in your side of the world!

Friday, June 17
Leigh Anne -We are now just a week away! I can’t really describe the fluttery feeling I constantly have in my stomach, let’s just say that I hope it’s not a virus is disguise. I can’t stop thinking about how close the wedding is. Every day I think, “just *insert number* of days left!” or “This time next week I’ll be *insert wedding activity.*” Just so everyone is warned, I am fully expecting to sob until I have no more tears left. Thankfully, I have my Grammy’s beautiful handkerchief at the ready (Grammy was my great-grandmother, and I was her “Little Princess”).  How do I know that I am going to cry? Because every once in a while I have a moment where I completely and fully understand what is happening. All thoughts of the wedding and what weddings are in today’s culture vanish, and I’m left only with a clear understanding of what is happening and how it fits into God’s plan for my life. And whenever that flash of insight hits me, (in the shower, driving, walking the dogs, in the grocery store, at the Sonic) I begin to bawl forcibly and uncontrollably because I am so amazed at how happy I am and how wonderful God’s plan is.

 I have promised myself that I will not turn into “bridezilla” but there have recently been a string of events that honestly test my patience. First of all, I never really wanted a unity candle, but I got a lot of pressure from people telling me how short my ceremony would be, and plus, Jay really wanted Eternity to be a special solo in the wedding, but he didn’t want to just stand there blinking at me during it’s performance. So, thinking that nothing matters but that we’re getting married, a unity candle is alright with me. According the rules of the chapel, said unity candle must be smokeless/drip-less.  Little did I know that smokeless/drip-less pillar candles cannot be found in the State of Arkansas. This fact has led my mother and me on a long and totally fruitless and frustrating search all across central Arkansas. 

 Next, the dry cleaners where we have taken our dry cleaning for ten years at least was trusted the task of pressing my beautiful wedding dress. My dress was dropped off LAST WEEK and was supposed to be ready for pick-up this past Thursday. But my dress wasn’t ready, because the cleaners just didn’t press it.  

Next, we have the incident of the chapel. On Wednesday I check my messages, and to my horror I hear the manager of the chapel telling me that they have not received my final payment on the chapel, which was due May 25^th, and she really needed to know if I was canceling. But you want to know the real kicker of the situation? We HAD paid the final payment (and paid it early at that), and the lady just didn’t write it down.

 And then, there is the incident of the champagne toast. I’m not sure if I can bear to relieve the tale as I write it. In fact, it’s so awful, I’m sure I cannot. So I just have one word to you who are coming: if we do end up having a champagne toast, it would be to your advantage to taste it carefully before you gulp it down.  

But I want to end this journal entry on a happy note. I have a beautiful pair of earrings to wear with my beautiful dress. Many people have wanted me to try on my dress for them, completely with accessories, and I have been happy to oblige them. But the last time I tried it on for one of my friends, I foolishly forgot to take my earrings off, and ended up going to Arkadelphia with them still dangling from my ears. What happened to them after I walked out of my door, I have absolutely no recollection. All that I know is that when it was time for my bridal portrait session, my mother opened the earring box and the earrings weren’t there. And they weren’t anywhere else for that matter. My portrait session was taken in April, and my earrings have been missing ever since. My mother and I tore up our house looking for them. We looked in every possible place they might have been. This morning, my mother told me that she had come to the conclusion that the earrings were lost and she was going to have to be okay with that fact. The last thing she said was “You wouldn’t have put them in your jean’s pocket, would you?” And that jogged something in my memory. I knew I wouldn’t have put the earrings in my pocket, but I would have put them in a separate pocket of my billfold- a billfold that I don’t use anymore. I ran to my room and searched everywhere for that billfold. I finally found it, went through all the zippered pockets, and in the last one I looked in, there were my earrings sparkling at me. And my mom nearly fainted.

 
Tuesday, June 7, (10:45 a.m.)
Leigh Anne -  Well, the clock is ticking, and I'm not sure that things could be any busier. Of course I say that knowing full well that things will only get busier as the big day approaches. Everyday someone asks me, truly concerned, "Are you nervous?" Single friends ask me this as if my reactions to marriage will influence their own future matrimonial decisions, and married people ask me this as if they are truly concerned for my well-being. It's as if they're trying to pass on a secret message to me through their scrunched-up eyebrows. I wonder...Should this concern me? Of course, I am NOT nervous. I'm not even close to being nervous about getting married. I am nervous that I will hold true to my diet until after the honeymoon. I can't let myself go just yet! But stress has a way of making me hungry, and so, yes, I am extremely nervous that my dress might be a bit too tight for comfort. But life is going to go on no matter what, so I've decided that, whatever happens, I'm just going to have to deal with it. I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the big day by going over disastrous situations in my head: Suppose my flowers don't arrive? What if the string quartet is really awful? What if my brother didn't practice his solo? (hint hint!) What if my food isn't edible? What if my bridesmaid is caught making out with the best man? Ok, that one isn't likely as our friends have more tact than that, but still, I'm sure it's been done before. (Of course, my bridesmaid making out with one of the ushers would be totally different story).

   Most of my "free time" is spent packing boxes and cleaning up the "attic apartment." In case you couldn't tell by the quotations marks, I mean that sarcastically. By "attic apartment" I actually mean "childhood memory dumping ground." It's basically a storage unit for all the junk that my brothers and I will never take with us. It is also a temporary holding unit for all of the wedding present that Jay and I have received. On the bright side, the space is equipped with Central Heat and Air, is carpeted, and has a brand new bathroom. Not to mention that it is furnished with all of the furniture that I have been collecting for the past two years. Of course, with all of this stuff stacked in not-so-neat piles in about a 650 ft. space, room is a tad on the tight side. Every time I go up there I pray that Jay and I can live there for three weeks without being swallowed into a strange abyss. I feel sure that behind the boxes of original Star wars figurines and legos lies a gateway to the 4th dimension. Or a door to Narnia, which would be totally cool by me.

Friday, June 3 (12:30 PM)
  Jay - What a week! Updates have been a little slower than expected but that doesn't mean we aren't working! For some odd reason our wedding announcement has yet to be in the paper even though we submitted it almost a month ago, so we have been in constant contact with the newspaper about that. Not only that but we discovered that not everyone was sent an invitation who was supposed to get one, so now we have to print off more and get them sent ASAP. Not to mention the stack of photo albums I have laying here that need to be scanned. Beyond the normal stress of an impending wedding life is very good. I've been in contact with my friends and have been setting up arrangements on how to get them to the wedding. Its been nice to reminisce with them about our shared good times, and I can't wait to see them again at the wedding.  In other "big" news this week, our new TV finally arrived this week and we've been loving every minute of it.  I've been saving money for a HDTV for a while and the extra income I received from graduation gifts finally allowed me to purchase the one I was wanting.  While its not the biggest TV there is, it is perfect for us. It is small enough where it won't be a hassle to move it across the country and it can fit on a dresser or counter top without taking up too much room (unlike our current CRT behemoths). But best of all, it works as a computer monitor as well so you can work in the beauty that is widescreen. After we watched a single movie on it you can bet where the "TV" went and has been ever since. Of course once we move it will revert to being our TV once again, but since there is presently no other place to store it I just had to put it to use with my computer. But its going to sit unused this weekend because Leigh Anne and I are off to south Texas to visit my grandparents.  When we get back you can be sure that there will be a load of pictures uploaded for all to see!

Friday, May 27 (9:00 PM)
  Leigh Anne - The wedding is fast approaching! *Hyperventilates* Ok, not really. But it does seem sometimes like my To-Do List is just going to swallow me up and regurgitate me. And To-Do list [HCl] just doesn’t sound like its good for the skin. School may be out for the summer, but I’m as busy as ever. Most of my day is spent working at my dad’s office as a dental assistant, which is nearly over-whelming. There’s so much to learn and remember, and although I did shadow an assistant for a few days, this is a hands-on profession which you can’t really learn until you just sit in the chair and do it. My job as a waitress at the best Mexican restaurant in Arkadoo is sadly coming to an end tomorrow. And although I certainly won’t miss having to waitress after nine hours of assisting (we start at 7 AM and end at 5 PM), I will certainly miss the Rosas, who own said restaurant.

     My time after work before I come to see Jay is spent packing and boxing up my belongings for the big move in August. This has been a great lesson in stuff management. Mainly, I own too much stuff and need to get rid of a lot of said stuff. After I finally get to see Jay, I have to spend much of my time writing thank-you notes for the wonderful wedding presents that Jay and I have received. And there is no end to such questions as “Would you like roses or bubbles as you leave the reception?” “Are you sure you don’t want to take all of your wedding pictures before the ceremony?” “Would you like a champagne toast?” “There’s a lot of people who don’t drink champagne, sweetie,” and finally, “Do you know how much two cases of champagne cost?!”   So basically my plans for the summer are:

 get ready for this wedding, keep my figure under control by walking at least 2 miles a day, work full time, pack for a transcontinental move, spend time with Jay, catch the slew of can’t-miss movies coming to theatres this summer (Episode III, Batman Begins, War of the Worlds, not to mention salivating over the Serenity and Narnia trailers) watch Gilmore Girls weekly, marry the love of my life, AND still get my beauty sleep.

 Investing in coffee would probably be a smart move for me.

Thursday, May 26 (12:45 AM- technically Friday morning)
   Jay - Wow, I can't believe in less than a month we will be married. We've been engaged for so long that the wedding always seemed so far off, plus during the past year I focused on my internship, senior show, and graduating.  Now that all of those are completed it seems like the wedding has snuck up on me.  Leigh Anne and I have been working extremely hard to get everything ready for this wedding. In the past two weeks we have created and printed over a 150 invitations, visited the various wedding locales and vendors, made final additions to the wedding party, decided on tux designs, got the groomsmen fitted,  and created a website from scratch.  I must apologize for the lack of content on the website but as one can guess life is a little hectic (yet very fun). Both Leigh Anne and I work until 5 PM each day (Leigh Anne actually worked two jobs and didn't get off until after 8 on most nights) and in the short time we see each other we try to be productive. There is a 30 minute commute from Malvern to Arkadelphia which is short enough where we can see each other nearly every night, but long enough where we always have to cut our visits short because Leigh Anne has to be in bed early enough to be awake by 5 AM.  When we talk during the day we always plan on doing work for the website or other wedding tasks but usually by the time we each get off work and make the commute to the other's house we just collapse in the other's arms from exhaustion (which isn't a bad way to end the day might I add).  As of now the only time I get to work on the website is during the 11:30 - 1 AM hours after Leigh Anne leaves but before I crash. But soon we shall have a 3 day weekend and then updates will be made! For now, my pillow is calling me and over the years I've learned not to ignore its sweet bellowing...