Well, we have progress. We did our food tasting this past Friday night and loved it. We did the cake tasting on Monday and were very happy with that. We also chatted with a florist who had a variety of great ideas that took Steph in new directions than previously anticipated. So slowly, the ducks are falling into a row.

Philly's weather seems to be against us, though. Every time we have appointments lined up, this time for photographers, it snows. Tomorrow will be the fourth snow of the season. The Chicagoans reading this say, "Is that all? Only four?" I know. It's life in the NE. People here let snow interrupt their lives. Granted, we've had some doozies this winter.

But we are starting to look forward to a fun party..er...wedding.

We found a dress that is both beautiful and elegant. And we are both very happy. In the process, we passed on some very pretty dresses, some not-so-pretty dresses, lots of "eh" dresses, and one evening gown that in the end was not bridal enough.

At one store, the lady helping Steph stunned us. As she took Steph to the fitting room, she looked at me and said, "You know what she's looking for. Go to the front of the store and look through the sales rack for something she might like." Sigh... I desperately clung to what remained of my man-card.

Personally, I'm scared to go tux shopping now....

So we've been shopping for dresses and looking at venues throughout all of January. Many people give us with a stunned look when we say that our wedding is May 1st.

"Oh, that's around the corner!" they say.

Yes, thank you. We realize that.

"We need to get you a dress/venue/rings/chameleon today!" they say.

That's why we're here shopping for a dress/venue/ring/chameleon.

In the middle of all this, we set up an appointment with the Episcopalian minister who is going to do the service. "Don't worry," he says in his email, "we have plenty of time before May 1st to get things done."

It's all relative, I suppose.

and dresses, and dresses, and dresses.

I have been privy to seeing lots of different wedding dresses modeled for me.

I'm there because she wants to make certain I like "the dress" as much as she does. Many are very confused and put out by my presence. One (young) girl almost had a fit that I was seeing my wife-to-be's dress before the wedding. She then proceeded to complain that her fiancee had seen her bridesmaids' dresses and expressed his displeasure with them. Well, her wedding dress was similar to them, so she was at the store purchasing a second wedding dress. And Steph gives me that this-is-why-you-are-here glance. And I smile....

Once, a sales girl walked up to me and asked if my wife was in the dressing room. I replied, "No, she's at home. If she ever found out that I was here with my girlfriend shopping for wedding dresses, she'd be really pissed." At least Steph and I got a good laugh out of it.

So yes, we've been shopping for a dress. I have pictures (which I'm not allowed to share) just so that I can keep up. "Does this look better than the one at the store in the mall? You know, the third one we tried on that day!" Thank God for iPhones... I think we're close now, but I dare not say too much and risk jinxing it all.

And yes, we do watch "Say Yes To The Dress."

Steph and I took the train to NYC a few weeks ago. I wanted to go to the MET to see an exhibit of samurai swords.

Steph planned out the day and the route we were to take. We were to get off the train at Penn station, transfer to the "A" subway to 81st St, then walk across Central Park.

"What?" I exclaimed. "We can't do that!"

"Why not?" she replied, rather confused by my outburst.

"Because, lots of episodes of Law and Order start with someone jogging through Central Park and finding a dead body! To boot, that dead body is usually an out-of-towner! I don't want to be the next episode of L&O!!!!"

She was amused. We took the planned route, and amazingly enough, made it across Central Park alive. She tried to make that L&O sound throughout the trip, but as we all know, it's not an easy sound to make. We had breakfast at a small corner diner--I kept waiting for Kramer to walk in. The exhibit was very cool indeed. Steph's opinion was, "well, after the 40th sword...."

We saw some of the Christmas sights in NYC. The skating ring at Rockefeller center was tiny! It looked so much bigger on TV... Fun time. A little cold, though. That's us with the tree at Rockefeller center in the background.

Steph and I were talking over dinner the other night, commenting that the following day was the anniversary of our first date--20 months. And she makes the comment that it has been, "what, 600 days since we first met?" I thought, no, not 600 days. That's a large number! So I pulled out my iPhone, and opened up AppBox Pro. Sure enough, it was 609 days. Wow.

Yes, I know, I'm a mathematician. There's no difference between 20 months and 609 days. (The anniversary was technically 610 days.) But somehow, 20 months seems a lot shorter than 609 days, at least to me it does. 609 days....

When I moved to Philly, the guy driving the moving van told me that I weighed in at 7200 lbs. Huh, I thought. Ok.... Then he said, "You realize that's 3.5 tons." I nearly fell over. How did I acquire so much stuff? 3.5 tons is significantly heavier than 7200 lbs, right?

609 days.... Just for comparison, as of writing this post, I have been alive 14,238 days. That means I have known Steph for 4.3% of my life. Wow!!!!! Ok, I need to stop doing the math right now, because I'm going to freak out....

609 days.... Wow...

That's 609 beautiful, joyous, wonderful, mind blowing days...

609 days....

Bruce

Part of life for every man when moving in with a girl is that he parts with most items in his apartment since, most likely, she already has said items. And they're probably in better condition. And are more modern. And, well, match. To be honest, I refused to purchase much furniture when I moved to Philly for this very reason.

After agreeing to move in together, Steph came to the apartment one night and, like Ceasar, passed judgment over my items. Almost everything received a ney. The futon, the 27" TV that "fell off a truck" of a big-box store in 1999, the dining room table, the bed (dated 1972--I kid you not!), the dressers I refinished by hand, the office table, the huge 21" computer monitor from 1996, the coffee table (circa 1982) my sister gave me for my first apartment. All of these items, plus many more, had to go. I became a power seller on craigslist.

Steph helped organize a garage sale. We put signs up around the neighborhood, and I posted an ad on craigslist. Here was the text of the online ad:

"You know the story. Boy meets girl. Boy falls madly in love with girl. Boy sells all of his worldly possessions and moves in with girl.

Garage sale on ...."

Steph never saw the post. So during the sale, people show up saying, "Oh, you're the girl" and "That was the sweetest post." Finally, she turns to me and demands to know the contents of the post. :)

She tends to focus on "boy sells..." part, whereas I focus on "boy falls madely in love..." part.

At least I made a few dollars. Many items, however, were donated to Good Will. And a few were finally gotten rid of, such as various traffic signs liberated during my youth....

Mind you, the brewery is presently in storage. That I was not willing to part with.
Bruce