Wait...What?? 8 months?!?!

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday Ned and I were headed to the Pantages Theater in downtown to see the very brilliant Henry Rollins when, after a short picnic dinner by Lake of the Isles, Ned pulled the car over on Franklin Avenue to propose to me. Wasn't that just yesterday? I swear it was.





Or, was yesterday when Ned took me to San Francisco for the first time and I got to spend time in the city where he went to college and spent 7 or so years in his twenties?





Or, maybe yesterday was when Ned and I purchased our first house together in the quiet neighborhood of Nokomis Heights in Minneapolis?


But really, all those things happened some time ago. It's quite shocking that its been over a year since Ned proposed. Over a year ago that we went to San Francisco. And almost a year ago that we bought our first house. Now it's time to face reality that there are just 8 months left to go until the wedding. That was something I was shocked with this morning when I opened my email to find an update from TheKnot.com that said exactly that. 8 months. 8 months left until we throw one huge kick ass party with all our friends and family. 8 months until I get to say, "I do" to the man of my dreams.

As I sip out of my giant latte cup from The Knot that I scored at a wedding fair, I'm realizing that we are still pretty far behind. No dress. No caterer booked. No florist. Haven't even sent out our Save The Dates. Haven't even finalized our guest list. But we do have a caterer we want to book and have discussed things with. We do have some ideas for the florist we want. And Ned has designed our Save The Dates already. It's all just a matter of taking that next big step and finishing things.

I find it a bit funny though that my email from The Knot says that we should be registering for gifts right now. Gifts? 8 months from the wedding? Really? Seems a bit early to me. I have no idea what we are going to register for as we already have a lovely home with lovely things. And wont stuff change between now and the wedding? Wont we just have to redo the registry as items become unavailable? Waste of time in my opinion. For now, we just need to focus on the other things. I think the project for this week will be getting those Save The Dates out. Especially to our friends and family in Austria.



- Gan

The story of Plus One

When I was very little, I used to have these competitions with my dad over who loved who more. He would say he loved me, I would say I loved him more. He would say he loved me most, I would say I loved him infinity! And then he would say he loved me infinity plus one. Nothing could trump the "plus one". No matter what I would say, he would add the plus one to it. If I would say I loved him times a trillion, he would love me times a trillion- plus one.

When my fiance and I first started saying we loved each other, I introduced him to the plus one rule. He never could have guessed that there was something out there more than infinity.

After that he wrote the cutest, albeit a bit dorky *wink*, blog entry about Plus One. It was probably the sweetest thing anyone had ever written for me.

"Magic.

As a child, I learned of true magic playing Dungeons and Dragons. I discovered, early in the game, there were normal, forged items, such as swords, shields, and rings, and then there were objects that were imbued with... something extra - the blades that glowed when orcs were close or a suit of armor that enhanced a person's strength. Magic always meant something extra - the usual plus a little more. Magic meant +1.

Magic trumps just about everything. For example, in science, there is nothing larger than infinity - it's a concept that has no equal and no end. Infinity is supreme, practically its own damn theology, and there's nothing larger. Nothing, that is, except for Infinity +1. I love you. I love you more. I love you infinity. I love you infinity +1.

When it comes to weddings, dates are commonly referred to as +1 - you and that someone extra. Suddenly magic axes are replaced by a partner or a child or a true friend. It's no longer just you by yourself on your adventure, exploring the dark passages by a flickering torch. Suddenly it's you and your +1 - one upping infinity - being with someone else, someone extra special.

If I had a wish, a wish that knew no limits, I would wish that every person could have a little magic in his or her life - that every person could have a +1. Even if it is merely access to magical Potato Salad (+1 to constitution) or an enchanted pair of shoes (+1 to charisma), I would wish that every person in the world would have access to an additive that would shine against the darkness.

Have you found it?

Do you possess that object that gives you that extra strength to battle the demons?

Have you found that special someone that gives you the power to one up infinity?

I wish with all my heart that, if you haven't found it yet that you find your +1.

Because the only thing that's better than a world with you in it - is a world with you in it +1."

Now whenever we are across a crowded room, or a store, or a park, or wherever from each other, one of us will hold up our hands in the shape of a heart. The other will then follow by making a plus sign with his/her fingers and then the number one. Its our way of being able to tell each other that we love each other without speaking. We love each other- Plus One.

-Gan