Alright, so there’s been a lot going on in my life as of late, and a lot of things have been put on the back-burner.

One major thing? My wedding.

So, lately, things have been slowing down and all of a sudden I’m a wedding fanatic. “What is that?” you ask? That’s someone who spends all of their free time thinking of elaborate ways to ask their bridesmaids to be in the wedding, pouring hours into pinning things on their “Becoming Mrs. West ~ 05.26.13” board, and making numerous (read: over 200 billion) trips to Hobby Lobby because she thinks she’s crafty.

Yeah, that’s what.

So I’m not totally thrilled with the idea of being this person, but I realized that I’ve sat on my laurels far too long and am now maybe a little (a lot?) behind. I will say one thing, and that’s that coordinating a wedding across 9 hours worth of distance isn’t exactly simple. Logistically it proves to be complicated, but not impossible.

Example: Daniel and I won’t have our engagement photos taken until Thanksgiving break. That’s the first time he, Laila, and I will all be in the same place to shoot them. So maybe I won’t be one of those adorable brides who wears a white sundress in her engagement photos. Instead, I get the opportunity to rock jeans, boots, and some adorable oversized sweaters. Basically my favorite kind of outfit anyway. You know why? Because I love fall clothes.

Actually, I love fall everything. I have two giant trees in my yard currently starting to shed their leaves, gum balls, and pecans all over my grass. Do I mind? No! Those leaves will help to keep my grass/plants insulated for the upcoming winter (apparently there’s potential for a REAL winter here, complete with more than an inch of snow) so that I have some awesome greenery next Spring.

In case some of you aren’t pseudo-hippies like me, the Fall Equinox was this past Saturday. Naturally, I was ecstatic to finally have the opportunity to celebrate the fall and hung up my beautiful, giant fall wreath my sister gave me (maroon, green, and orange make a surprisingly adorable fall scheme), set out my scarecrow, and hung my fall owl flag (also from Brittany). The rod-iron pumpkin is out on my table and the scarecrows are strategically placed (out of Moose’s reach) all over my house. Nobody can tell me that because it’s 90 degrees outside that it’s not fall. Fall Equinox is like a hall-pass for crazy fall decorators to go nuts without shame. So I’m nuts without shame.

Also, now that it’s fall, I’m allowed to proudly wear my gorgeous rust-colored knit sweater from Express over black slacks with complete disregard for the fact that I look like a giant pumpkin.

It’s fall, guys. Giant female pumpkin coworkers are completely acceptable.

But back to the wedding. Daniel is coming up this weekend to play house with me and meet some of the amazing friends I’ve made since I’ve been here. More importantly, we’re going to finalize the wedding invite list so that I can finally get some names/addresses on our adorable hand-made Save-The-Dates we knocked out this past July and maybe–just maybe–get them in the mail before the end of October. Hand-calligraphy-ing each and every one is proving to be rather time-consuming, but I think it’s definitely worth it in the end. We’re having a smaller wedding, so it’s not like I have to write out 500 invites, and I think it’ll make the invitees feel more loved.

That’s the idea. Love love love!

But the kicking it into high-gear part is tough. Moose is bound to his kennel during craft time (he likes to stick his nose (and his mouth) into my handiwork), so naturally I’m feeling that neglectful-dog-mamma guilt. At least he’s not a real kid. I’m pretty sure neglectful-real-mamma guilt has an entirely different set of consequences (namely, CPS likely frowns upon you leaving your child in their kennel while you do crafts… or anytime, really).

I’m very excited to have Daniel here. We get to clean out the garage this weekend as well, and make a budget. Being a big kid is just so exciting.

Being a big pumpkin is even better.