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Today Rob and I started "planning" our wedding. It's still probably a couple of years off, but we came up with some things we want...but mostly we came up with what we DON'T want! So far we've got:

• I will be wearing a gold wedding dress. I don't believe or agree with what a 'white' wedding dress stands for. Plus, no white woman looks good in white, period. 
• I will not be walked down the aisle or given away. Neither of us believe in, or with, the connotations behind giving a bride away (you used to be my property, now you're his property!). 
• There will be no prayers or mentions of god during our ceremony. We're both atheists and want our wedding to reflect who we really are. This includes 'traditional' religious ideas such as 'obeying' the husband. 
• There will be no lighting of a Unity Candle, because it's tacky and dumb and not our style. 
• We want our ceremony to last about 15 minutes. Neither of us are fans of being the center of attention, and all we really want to do is exchange vows and rings. 
• There will be no receiving line. See above: we do not like to be the center of attention and receiving lines are forced and awkward. 
• We're having Indian food catered in. And red velvet cake. DEAL WITH IT.
• People will not be allowed to bother us while we're eating. So often brides and grooms are harassed and don't even get to eat the delicious food they're paying for. Nope. You try to talk to me during dinner, you'll be pulling back a blood stump. (To be fair: most people who know me know to not bother me when there's food around.)
• There will be no first dance. See above: we do not like to be the center of attention and slow dances are already awkward enough without people staring at you. 
• No tossing of the bouquet or removing of the garter/tossing the garter. They're humiliating for everyone involved. 
• And the biggest one of all: just because someone is a family member does NOT mean they will be invited. Unfortunately a lot of my family members are very negative, spiteful, and have a tendency to cause drama. While I might love them (although I dislike a lot of them) if they're someone I know will be unhappy and disrupt my wedding in any way, they won't get an invitation. 

I'm really happy about these plans, and I'm happy that I have a partner who's on the same page as me. Some of these might cause some problems with others, but in the end it will be about Rob and myself! 

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Welcome to the world, Owen Edward Tryson!

Sometime around 1am this morning my nephew was born. I've been excited about him since I found out in October and I can't wait to meet him this weekend. He's been such a bright spot to me today!

He's not really my nephew (at least not until my boyfriend and I get married, although we do plan to in the future) but I don't have any siblings of my own, so I'm ready to be an aunt to him! I don't even know if I can/should have children, so it's exciting to be around a baby I can totally spoil and take care of and have fun with.

I know I'm just going to love him to bits.

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My boyfriend Rob and I have recently decided to quit drinking for a few weeks. The decision really came after we realized how much money we've been spending on alcohol and the fact that money is tight for the next two weeks or so.

However, we've both realized we have a bit of a drinking problem. Not full-blown alcoholism (otherwise we wouldn't be able to stop, really) but we drink way too much and have too much of a dependency on alcohol. I know it's personally been something I use to 'help' with depression. It's become really concerning to me lately that I can drink an entire six-pack and not even feel a buzz.

It's funny, because I'm obese and struggle with weight loss and often feel discouraged because I have a hard time losing weight. But I really wonder how much of a difference not drinking will make. I've never counted how many calories I'm consuming from alcohol a week, but the number is easily over 5000 calories (if one beer is is 150 calories).