Where in the world has Belle been?

Everywhere, that's where! The Boy and I began our annual Holiday Tour home a week and a half ago and it's been none stop ever since. First we went to London where he had interviews (keep your fingers crossed). I must say, it takes an insanely long time to get from Singapore to London. What with the flying through like a gabillion time zones (OK, it's only 8), the 6 hour layover in Doha, time spent in airports and on "The Tube", we figured it was something around 28 hours from house to hotel. Without a shower. Or any real amount of sleep. Yum. Needless to say we were exhausted and crashed like a ton of bricks shortly after arriving.

Oh, but London was so completely worth it! It was cold and Christmasy and we had to bundle up where ever we went - quite the change from hot and sticky Singapore. For the most part the weather was lovely. We had just one day of rain, so I was able to explore the city. I think that the best way to learn a new city is just to get lost in it. So I like to have a map and plenty of time find my way around. Together The Boy and I toured The Tower of London, went to an evensong service at St Paul's Cathedral, and strolled passed Buckingham Palace. Believe it or not, we even had some pretty good food! Sadly the one thing that I was not really able to do was blog. And I had such visions of me and my trusty iBook in a cafe, hard at work JK Rowland style! Oh, well, maybe next time...

Right now we are in Cary, North Carolina with The Boy's family for Christmas, which has been pretty awesome. Last night we went to my first hockey game. The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime after coming back literally in the last two minutes of the game with two goals in a row to tie it up. This weekend we're headed over to Ashville to visit Biltmore House and then swinging back through my old college town in Winston-Salem (I graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts). I haven't been to either place in ages so I am really looking forward to this trip.

After Christmas we'll be on our way to Mississippi to spend New Year's with my family. We'll be taking a trip down to Natchez for a few days to visit family and tie up a few wedding loose ends. Hopefully anyway.

So that's pretty much my life for the next few weeks. There will be pictures eventually of all our adventures when I regain access to my computer.

Little boys and girls

The Boy and I are having 4 little ones take an active part in our ceremony. Hopefully anyway - you never can tell with little kids. Between us, we have 3 nephews who we adore. The oldest, my nephew and godson, will be our ring bearer. The other two will be honorary ushers. One will escort my grandmother, his great grandmother, down the aisle to her seat. The other, who is The Boy's nephew, will usher his grandma. They will all be wearing this flax linen short and vest set from Luli/Frankie Boys...

My flower girl is a very dear friend's little daughter. She is quite the princess and I think that this dress is perfect. From Anna Bean...


I'm so excited about how cute they will look! Best of all, these adorable little outfits can be used at Easter (just a month before our wedding) or at birthday parties.

Scattered and Stressed

The past few days The Boy and I have busy bees. He finished his exams on Tuesday and we've been running around the city making last minute preparations for The Christmas Tour 2008, aka The Trip Home. I'm a list person and so I've got about 5 going on simultaneously in my head right now.

1. When we moved from Mongolia to Singapore, we donated most of our winter clothes. After all, there were people there who needed them much, much, way much more than we did. Well, now that we are headed north for the next month, we actually could use some cold weather clothing. There are a few American stores here (GAP and Banana Republic) that have just gotten in their winter lines, but the mark up is so ridiculous I can't bring myself to fork over the extra cash.

Example: Here's a Banana Republic trench coat that would do quite nicely until I can afford that Burberry...

{Photo via A History of Architecture}

This is sold out in the US, but they have it here... FOR S$699!! That's US$466!!!! Back home it sold for $228. It's the same over at the GAP. Everything is marked up over 100%. *Sigh* I think we'll just wait and go shopping when we get home.

2. I am mentally packing our bags before actually packing our bags to make sure that we have everything so that we don't have to run out at the last minute to buy anything. Does that even make sense?

3. Christmas shopping list. We still aren't done.

4. We haven't been home since before we got engaged. Mama Belle was saying the other night that she still hasn't seen my e-ring. In person, that is. While I was quick to book all our major vendors, I've met with only one so far. We will be spending a total of 4 days in Natchez and in that time there is, yup, a list of people I have to meet with in addition to... oh, yeah, spending time with my family.

5. There is a list of post ideas running around in my brain too, but with so many lists, it is hard to concentrate. Thank goodness I bought a little notebook so I could right them all down... ;-)

So, ladies, how do you deal with Holiday stress? I'm afraid I'm not doing a very good job at the moment...

Puppy Update

Mama Belle called yesterday morning and of course the first thing I said was, "Did you find Jasmine?"

A neighbor called Thursday to ask if my parents were missing a gray schnauzer, which of course they were. Sadly, he informed them that she had fallen into his pool and that she had drown. My father went to bring her home and he buried her under her favorite window where she would sit during the day, watching the world go by and waiting for my mom and dad to come home.

I have no words to express how sad I am at this news. Jasmine was with us for a long time and she was much much more of a family member than a pet. She was a dog that loved her people as much as she was loved. She was silly and sassy and funny and smart. She knew the names of all her toys and she could tell when my parents where coming home just from the sound of their cars coming up the road. She was good naturedly voted "Meanest Dog In The Neighborhood" for five years in a row because she liked to bark at the neighbors as they went by on their daily walks. Her favorite things in the world were Milkbones, curling up beside my father in his chair, and tormenting her little brother, Ziggy. She was adorable and snugly and there are a million other things that I will always remember about her but most of all I will remember that she was a good dog.

We will miss her very very much.

Meet the Venue

Even though we're married, we have yet to exchange rings and say "I do". We're saving that for the oh so charmingly Southern celebration we're planning for family and friends next May. Since we're asking most of our guests to travel to be with us on our special day, our location had to meet certain criteria. It had to be an amazing destination, but a place they might not go without some sort of excuse. It had to be a place where some of the things they'd want to see could be included in our venues. It had to have things to do outside of our wedding, but not so many things that they would feel overwhelmed. The location had to reflect our love of Southern hospitality and tradition in an intimate and romantic setting. And it had to have good BBQ, per The Boy's request.

{Natchez, Mississippi}

Natchez is a very special place for me. Both of my parents are from Natchez and we still have family there, so it's always been kind of home. As children, my sister and I spent wonderful summers with our grandparents there. It's my favorite place in the whole world and I love sharing it with other people. It's a small town that manages charm and grace, a little bit of sass, a lot of romance, tons of history, all wrapped up in one picture perfect package.

{St Mary Basilica exterior & interior via Sher Hogue Photography}

The location for the ceremony was an easy decision. St Mary Basilica is a gorgeous historic church in Natchez that has seen the baptisms, weddings, and funerals of generations of my mom's family. My grandparents and parents were both married here, so this church is very very special to me. I can't even tell you how excited I am that we will be saying our vows here.

{1) New Orleans Courtyard. The tables will be moved and this will be our dance floor.
2) Julep's Restaurant}

The great thing about Natchez is that there is no shortage of beautiful places to have a reception. For me, though, there was only one real choice. The Natchez Eola Hotel is truly adorable. I've loved it ever since I laid eyes on the adorable little fire fountain in its New Orleans Courtyard. It has a big ballroom (read a typical large empty space) that's OK, but it really can't compete with the intimate charm of The N.O.Courtyard and Julep's, the inhouse restaurant. Julep's actually looks out onto the New Orleans Courtyard so inside or out, everyone will be part of the action!

7 Random Things About Me...

Elizabeth over at Tie the Knot tagged me!

First here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So...
1. Before I moved to Mongolia, I'd never been out of the US. Heck, I'd only made it out of the South a few times. Talk about jumping into the deep end!

2. I am allergic to heat. Seriously. I break out into hives.

3. I have to read before I go to sleep. It drives The Boy crazy.

4. I collect vintage handbags.

5. I love hazelnuts so much that I will one day name our two future adorable dogs Hazel and Filbert.

6. I love Russian history. This love lead me to read WAR AND PEACE when I was 11, but I skipped all the WAR parts. I didn't actually read the entire book until I was 16. It's still one of my favorite books.

7. I cry at the end of sports movies, and not just the ones you're suppose to cry after, like BRIAN'S SONG. I'm talking like MAJOR LEAGUE. I'm just so darned happy that they won the pennant!

I tag An Excited Bride, The Preppy Wedding, Magnolias Marriage and Manhatten,
Miss Toucan, A Saratoga Wedding, Cloggsy of English Tea, and I Heart Peonies.