My maid of honor (Meredith) and my other bridesmaids threw me a bridal shower in Peoria today. I wanted to do something with all of my school friends before they scattered, so we rushed the planning to get it all done before our finals started. I think it turned out to be a nice break from preparing for final projects. We also celebrated with several of the ladies from church, both moms, and all of the bridesmaids.

My aunts are throwing shower in June that they and hopefully some of my other relatives can come to. This shower was just too short notice for everyone to make it here - understandably so!

On April 27, I installed a large-scale sculpture in the gallery of the art building here on campus.

When I graduate, I will receive a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) degree, which requires more intensive studio work, and the installation of a personal art exhibition in one of the galleries on campus. I was lucky enough to get the gallery that I like (it has a super-high ceiling and tons of windows...and I love windows)

The piece I installed is the project I've been working on all semester. It consists of large, 3 foot triangles made out of 5/8" square wood. The triangles are covered with a collage of paper that I had - homework, mis-printed graphic design projects, junk mail, old to-do lists, drawings, and whatever else I could find. The triangles are then tied together and to the walls of the room to create a structure that is simultaneously strong and weak - strong because triangles always have the protential to create a sturdy structure, and weak because the triangles are just wood, and they're held together with bits of string.

So...we're not going to buy a house. Everyone we've told this to looked relieved, which makes me wonder a little what other things I'm insisting on doing that everyone thinks I'm crazy for...

We signed a lease for an apartment about a week ago, and started moving some stuff over there yesterday. It's a little (tiny, actually) 2-bedroom with a tiny balcony, but it met all of our (or at least my) requirements for an apartment, space aside: it has a dishwasher, it is close to campus and the interstate (for getting to work), and Meredith (my maid of honor and our good friend) is living in the same building, on the same floor, two doors down from us...there are also lots of empty apartments in the building still (newly remodelled, so it was empty) so if any of our other friends decide to stay in Peoria, we can have one big happy building!

It is now mid-March, and we are still actively planning our future. We've been house hunting three or four times now, and have finally begun to find some houses that are serious possibilities...at the same time that we've started to seriously consider that buying a house might not be the best financial decision right now, as we're looking to move somewhere for grad school in a few years.

So who knows what we'll end up doing...

In the meantime, we made the final decisions on and purchased bridesmaid gowns last week, and flower girl dresses a few weeks before that, so all we have left to do in terms of clothing is find a suit for the ring bearer and get the moms and grandmas all straightened out.

We are T-minus 5 months 'til what I've affectionately begun to call "W-Day." Thus far we have finalized a lot of details and realized we have no idea how to make some of the decisions we need to make! Things that have been finalized are:

• The date! 7/7/07 is officially ours.
• The place! We reserved a gorgeous brick patio with an amazing view for the ceremony, and a cozy banquet room for the reception. Both are at the Wildlife Prairie State Park in Peoria, IL. (www.wildlifeprairiestatepark.com)
• The Cake! We put a deposit down on a cake from Le Cafe/Le Bakery in Peoria. Brian knows the owners personally and they make the MOST AMAZING food in general, and cake specifically.

The last few weeks have been a blur of activity with the holidays and trying to make some important decisions for our wedding...like when and where. A few days ago, we met up in Peoria from visiting our respective families to go take a look at the facilities offered at the Wildlife Prairie Park just outside of Peoria. We liked what they had available so much on the day we were thinking of, that we decided to put down a deposit that day to reserve our day and rooms (with a little bit of nudging from my mother not to doddle).

For lunch that day we went to Le Cafe/Le Bakery, a bakery owned by my friend Pete Hanssen and got some lunch and looked through their wedding cake picture books. Wanda, Pete's wife, came out to talk with us and brought us some samples of their wedding cake. Their cake is amazing! So we put down a reservation with them to make our cake for us.

Tuesday, 12/12/06, was the day of Brian's last two finals, so we had planned to go out to celebrate that night...dinner and a movie, or something. His finals were in the morning, so by lunch time, we had settled into the relaxed "THE SEMESTER IS OVER!" kind of mindset, and weren't in a hurry to do anything. We had lunch with some friends and then putzed around the GCC for an hour or two, just catching up with people and wrapping up loose ends. As we left for home, Brian said to me "You need to pack an overnight bag." to which I responded "Why?" and he said "It's a surprise"
"Are we going to my house?"

Yesterday (12/12/06) I surprised Abigail with a trip to Wildlife Prairie Park where I had rented us a cabin atop a hill and then I surprised her again with a ring while we were out on a walk in the woods! See the pictures in our new picture gallery!