Engaged in some marrymaking

It's super weird for me to be as writer's-blocked as I have been for the last few months. I thought at first I'd just go with it and let myself have some time to ramp up to writing new posts and keeping in touch. That doesn't seem to be working at all, since this corner of the web is about as dusty and neglected as the top of my fridge.

So I think I'm going to have to put myself on a schedule and post something up here every day...at least until I get my blogging discipline back.

It's not that there's nothing happening. Tons, actually:

1. I turned--gulp--30. I guess since I put this out there on the Internet, there's no lying about my age option anymore.
2. My reward from Marc for making it to my fourth decade was a sweet-ass Nikon SLR camera. I guess this means I'll have to challenge myself to take nice pictures and post them here. I guess this also means the old Minolta is staying at the suburban Steak N' Shake indefinitely.
3. Oh yeah...Marc and I also got engaged. On my birthday on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier! It was wonderful and fun and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world these days.

...so I suppose that means I could torture you loyal readers who still check back from time to time and turn this into an OMFGWEDDING! blog. But I promise not to...well, not too much anyway.

Seriously, though. Our plan is to have a lil' civil service ceremony at the Chicago Cultural Center ($10, yo!), followed by a nice cocktail party reception for some family and friends. Not janky, but not break-the-bank expensive, either. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, give them to me. I'm begging! I've called about 10 restaurants and go through my spiel about doing this without picking up a bridal magazine or attending a wedding expo, and just when I think the event coordinator gets it, he or she starts trying to give me vendor information for lighting technicians, aisle decorators and trolley rental services.

It's really starting to freak me out. So much so that, in the face of wrangling so many vendors and writing a big old stack of checks, committing my life to one special person seems like a piece of (tiered, overpriced) cake.