I’ve been inspired by many people to make a list of things I hope to accomplish before my next birthday. With a little over a month to get these done, and the holidays between here and there, I’d better get going! I tried not to include too many holiday things (everyone has to Christmas shop) or too many wedding things (there is life after April 18, or so I’m told).

1. Make these cupcakes.

2. Find a fabulous Christmas dress. (I have my eye on this one.)

3. Make a magnet board.

4. Plan a trip to Spokane.

5. Start a 2009 P.S. (Pretty Sweet) journal, to record something good from each and every day.

6. Start writing an honest-to-goodness business plan.

7. Try at least three new dinner recipies and make three batches of cookies, tarts, or other treats (preferably on my road to being a domestic goddess).

8. Read at least one page from a real book every day (i.e. magazines, blogs, and anything on my iPhone screen do not count).

9. Do yoga at least once a week, in addition to my regular training and cardio.

10. Join, and sign up for a class at, the IPRC.

11. Send five cards. (Christmas cards and wedding invitations do not count.)

12. On nights when it isn’t raining, stop to look at the stars.

13. Wireframe the redesign for my website.

14. Purchase one item specifically set aside for my future home with Josh.

15. Do a December Daily, or at least take a photo every day.

16. Simplify something.

17. Make the table runners for the wedding.

18. Apply for three freelance projects that seem out of reach and are more in line with what I want my business to be.

19. Finish my never-ending personal design/writing project, Listen Closely.

20. Relax.

21. Test drive a Tiguan. Just for fun.

22. Make a new year’s resolution.

23. Take a floral decor, cooking, or dance class.

Just a quick post to wish my mom a happy birthday. My mom is amazing — she’s brilliant and crafty and godly and generous and fun and just wonderful all-around. And she reads my blog, so she gets serious brownie points there. I am so unbelievably fortunate to have a mom who is also my best friend. I love you, mom!

I’ve been collecting vintage glass containers for several months now. I have close to 50 of them now, wrapped in packing paper and stored in a giant Rubbermaid bin in the basement. (I bought said bin thinking that everything wedding-related could fit in there until I was ready for it in April. But we’re six months out and the bin is nearly full. Hmmm. Planning a wedding while living in 636 square feet = bad news.)

I want to give some of them away after the wedding, but there are several (or, like, 20) that I can’t bear to part with. They deserve to have a good life after the reception. My mom sent me a magazine clipping of an eclectic collection of vases lining a windowsill, filled with various flowers, and I think that would be lovely. But maybe I should pick one big one to follow Brooke’s lead…

I found this awhile ago through Tara, and I think it’s such a fantastic idea. Maybe have one jar for memories that make me smile and another jar for fun ideas — things Josh and I can do together, places we want to go, people we want to see. They could be big things (vacationing in Italy), small things (dinner and dancing), or anything in between. We’ve really learned how to make the most of our time together these last three years — even when “making the most of it” means spending a whole day at home, talking and laughing and cuddling and watching movies. I never want us to forget how to cherish every day.

I’ve been a little out of my blogging rhythm the last couple of weeks, but there’s good stuff on the way! The save-the-dates are in the mail, so I can get back to neglected things and get on to new projects. Table runners, here I come…

Today is exactly six months from the big day. It sounds like quite awhile — some people plan their entire wedding in less, I know (and I am in awe of those people, btw) — but it feels so close. I’m just so relieved to have all my vendors lined up, deposits paid, and lists in order. Despite some minor hiccups (the eight potential florists come to mind), everything has been pretty darn smooth so far. I feel so blessed.

Four things I did today:

• Ordered envelopes for everything; paper for the save-the-dates, programs, welcome cards and thank-you cards; and postage for the save-the-dates. (I want the postage to match, but postage will be probably be $1.37 by the time March rolls around.)
• Cross-browser tested a couple of new freelance projects.
• Tried to explain to my mom why some photo-less, friend-less doppelganger gets to have their Facebook profile as the first Google search result for her name. (She was not a happy girl.)
• Day two of Project Bride: Healthy Eating Edition.

Four things on my to-do list:

• Check out the city pool to see if I can save myself a $48/month gym membership.
• Design our wedsite and make revisions to the save-the-date and wedding invitation designs.
• Try to articulate my new business ideas into an honest-to-goodness plan.
• Watch the Netflix that has been sitting in my living room since last Tuesday.

Four of my guiltiest pleasures:

• Making too many lists. I have lists in Backpack (though not many anymore). I have lists in Listomni on my phone. I own multiple to-do pads from Knock Knock. And there’s more I can’t even mention.
• Listening to Keri Noble almost daily.
• Perusing the vintage section on Etsy.
• Buying paper goods. Notebooks, cards, post-its — anything and everything. I’m a menace to letterpress shops everywhere.

Four random facts about me:

• I was 5′8″ when I was 11 years old. A few years before that, the doctors ran a bunch of tests on me because they thought I was growing too quickly. In our annual San Jose Aquatics swim team pictures, I never got to stand with my friends because I was always standing four or five rows above them with the swimmers who were six years older than me.
• I started saving Martha Stewart Wedding magazines during my sophomore year of college six years ago. Yes, I’m one of those brides.
• When I was a kid, I must’ve read Jack London’s The Call of the Wild a dozen times. At some point, my go-to book changed to anything Jane Austen and then to Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Now it’s The Time Traveler’s Wife.
• My first Christmas present from Josh was a simple heart-shaped pendant with a single small diamond. Amazingly, seven years later, it still suits my taste. There’s very little in my wardrobe, or even in my house, that I can say that about. Other than my mom, no one else has ever been able to choose clothes, jewelry or accessories that I loved.

When I let a certain amazing photographer slip through our fingers, I was distraught. It was probably my first true bridal panic. I’d reworked our budget and squeezed every last dollar out of every last line item, sacrificing things I thought I had to have (letterpressed everything! elaborate save-the-dates! draped fabric! petal cones for every guest!) because I knew photography needed to be a priority.

I called Mr. R, and the first words out of his mouth were, “Do you want to change our date?”

Not, You’re overreacting. Not, We’ll figure something else out. And not even the true but momentarily frustrating, It’ll all be fine. Instead, he indulged me. He was willing to change everything else so that I could have this one thing that was so important to me

It’s the little things that touch your heart. Here’s to the hundreds of little things that lie ahead.