HONEYMOON IN MAUI!!!!!!!!

We booked the honeymoon! On May 8th at 9:55am we are flying Hawaiian airlines to Maui for 7 days of rest, relaxation, and fun in paradise. We are staying at the lovely Maui Prince Hotel on one of the nicest beaches, with sea turtles and great snorkeling I am told. I am so excited not only to be going to Maui, but because I spent an absolutely ridiculous amount of time trying to plan this trip and stay within a reasonable budget. I am so happy to just have it planned and done. Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, Travelocity, Priceline and many more, you name it, I tried it. After hours and hours and one major freakout which scared the bejezzus out of Brandon, we finally found that our local travel agent at AAA got us the best deal through Pleasant Holidays.

We get:
2 coach plane tix, Lei greeting, compact rental car for 7 days, Partial-ocean view hotel room for 7 days for around $1500 each. Not bad, but not cheap either. We figured though that this is the honeymoon and as I am going to be an intern in July, ain't no other chance to have a super romantic vacation for at least 3 years. Our typical vacations involve us camping out of our car and doing 20 different things every day. Given our hotel choice, we still went as cheap as possible. We plan to bat our eyes and look cute as much as possible and tell everyone we are on the honeymoon in hopes of upgrades to plane tix, car and room.

We are really excited and will try our best to not overbook ourselves, spending as much time lounging and drinking pina coladas as possible. Some things we plan to do however are to go to the top of the volcano for sunrise, driving the road to Hana with lots of stops, jumping in waterfalls, the Old Lahaina Luau, and geocaching of course! I also plan to take my second-ever surfing lesson one morning (with a female instructor per Brandon's request.) If we somehow have extra money, I'd love to try side-by-side massages at one of the spas on the beach there or a sunset dinner cruise on the Maui Princess. Ahhh, heaven...

January Planning

Big Huge thanks to Susan, Dorothy, Bonnie, Gladys, Mom, and Katie for coming to the meeting this past Sunday. We got a lot done, especially since Kelly the flower person came and we got to discuss what flowers we need. All ideas discussed, will be mostly roses with some callas and gerbras. I'm meeting again with her on March 21st to go to the wholesaler to pick out the actual flowers. She and Bonnie will assemble everything on Friday and Bonnie (with help) will bring everything to the LCC on Saturday for the wedding. Bonnie offered to let me look through her jewelry for some to match my dress. We discussed the basic timeline for the day and nailed down the favors. I got the bags off eBay for super cheap!

Then went over to Mary's house to finalize the design blueprint. Mary-Martha is the most creative wedding planner, I highly recommend her. She completely understood my set-design vision for those big trees and has some awesome ideas. It's gonna be pretty! Also has a very special something borrowed, old, and blue for me. At this point it seems like all the plans are in place and now we just need to put it all together. I am excited. We have some fun arts and crafts projects to do for the wedding.

Other news is that the bridesmaid army received their instructions for dresses, B and I reserved the tuxedos, we reserved a king jacuzzi room at the Phoenix Inn in Oly for the wedding night, my dress is all paid for and picked up and just needs alterations, I got a great veil on ebay for cheap and am bidding on my and the flower girls tiaras! It is going to be a fun party. So far DIY wedding is going well thanks to all my great help!
Love,
Angie

Tsunami Relief Effort

B and I are both stunned and deeply saddened by the ongoing aftermath of the Tsunami the devastated Southeast Asia. The staggering loss of life and threats to public health in the region seem insurmountable. In an effort to not idly standby as comfortable Americans we decided to donate $50.00 of our wedding savings to the International Response Fund of the American Red Cross. We have so many blessings in our lives and felt it was important to give what we could spare. If you feel the same, we encourage you to support these relief efforts in whatever way you are able. Contact info for the American Red Cross is below.

AMERICAN RED CROSS
Contributions to the American Red Cross International Response Fund enable the organization to help those affected by the tsunami crisis. The American Red Cross does not accept or solicit in-kind donations in times of disaster. Monetary donations allow the American Red Cross to purchase relief items in the region, eliminating the added costs of shipment and transport from the U.S. In addition, cash ensures the acquisition of culturally appropriate goods and helps to stimulate local economies.
To donate ...
via phone - (800) HELP-NOW or (800) 257-7575 (Spanish)
via the Internet - donate securely at https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp (click "International Response Fund")
via mail - mail contributions to:American Red Cross International Response FundP.O. Box 3724Washington, DC 20013