One week, 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Not that I'm counting...

Austin weather

Well, hurricane Rita missed Austin completely. Barely a cloud in the sky and not a drop of rain here. The city was still deluged with people from Houston, but that's something we're willing to put up with, given their need to evacuate.

The disappointing thing is that Rita was supposed to break the freakishly hot weather that we've been having here. Instead, by heading North, it just pulled the high pressure dome all the more securely over us. Yesterday, we set an all-time high for the date, pegging 108. Yes, 108. That's not a typo. It was 11 degrees higher than the all-time high.

The good news is that things here should cool off by the weekend into a more normal pattern, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. Hopefully, it will be something like that (maybe a little cooler still?) for the wedding day. I'm willing to put up with just about anything short of a plague of frogs if we can have sunny, dry and 78 degrees on the wedding day.

Directions to Wedding

I've posted more detailed directions to the wedding venue. There's a version for out-of-town guests, and one for in-town guests.

Post a comment to this post, or email rsvp@mattbecky.com if you have questions.

Also, remember to rsvp via email sent to rsvp@mattbecky.com if you haven't yet.

Thanks!
Becky

Hello, Rita...

Unless you've been living under a rock the last few days, you've probably heard about the hurricane that's apparently headed for the Texas coast. Rita, as she is known, has been measured as the third most powerful hurricane in terms of low pressure in the recorded history of the Atlantic basin. It's a category 5, which the national hurricane center describes as "potentially catastrophic."

We're pretty far inland here, so it's almost certainly nothing to worry about. But we're taking precautions just in case. They're saying it's possible that the storm comes to Austin and is still at hurricane strength. But that's the most extreme case. More likely it passes to our northeast and we're on the drier side. The odds are that we get a bunch of rain, maybe some wind and a few downed tree limbs.

Of course, in the aftermath of Katrina everybody is taking this very seriously.

I have food and water and a full tank of gas in my car. Becky and I have talked through a few things, and believe we're at least mostly prepared. I may go buy flashlight batteries, just in case power's knocked out. In the event that bad stuff happens in Austin, we will attempt to contact my sister and Becky's parents.

Please pray for our friends and neighbors in Houston and Galveston. This will most likely be a nuisance for us, but is far more serious for them.

Registry Update

We were doing some updating of the registry lists, and noticed that the Pottery Barn list has only one item remaining (now, we can entertain on the white dishes!). And, that item has been discontinued and is likely not available in-store (and is definitely out online). The Amazon.com, Target, and Crate & Barrel registries do all have items, if you desire to purchase us a gift.

Additionally, a few people have asked about shopping for the Fiestaware dishes at a local store instead of ordering online at Amazon (I think both Dillard's and Kohl's stock them in Austin.) Feel free to do that if desired. We are getting the 4-piece settings in various colors (the 4-piece has a mug instead of cup & saucer).

Preferred colors: Cobalt, Plum, Sunflower (have one place setting in each - but these are our favorites!)
Other colors we like: Cinnabar, Juniper, Periwinkle (have one place setting in Periwinkle) Peacock (new color!)
Maybe: Shamrock, Tangerine, Turquoise
Probably not: White, Black, Grey, Scarlet, Sea Mist, Rose

If you want, let me know and I'll mark off the color.

Becky

3 weeks from now

3 weeks from now, I'll presumably be getting a little bit nervous. :) Lots of you will be making your way through a little bit of Austin traffic out to the peaceful hill country. Yes, we'll be getting together in 3 weeks & 42 minutes for the wedding!

Just 3 weeks away. Wow.

Becky

(the rings arrived -- very fun!)

Sudden Honeymoon Changes

I got home yesterday to discover two things:

1) FedEx had tried to deliver a package of honemoon stuff from my travel agent
2) A call from my travel agent with some bad news

Specifically, my travel agent pointed me to this story. The picture you see on the upper left is the hotel in Bora Bora where we had reservations.

They've been able to find us a room in another resort, so our plans aren't wrecked. The good news is that the new place is really nice. The bad news is that it's a bit more expensive. Thankfully, I have the money to spend.

Oh, and incidentally. I wasn't able to get the package from FedEx. Turns out that stuff sent via FedEx ground can't be picked up at same location as other FedEx packages. In fact, you can't pick them up at all without making special arrangements. You have to either arrange to be home between 8-5 on the delivery day, sign a sticky note saying it's OK to leave the package on your porch, or make some special arrangements. Between this foolishness, their heinous 800 number (hint: you can speak to a human being by saying "operator" even though they don't tell you this in their menus) and the joke they call a website, I really hate FedEx right now.

But life goes on.

Have you the ring?

We bought our wedding rings yesterday. Not a big deal in some ways - cheaper than a lot of other wedding expenses, and less planning required besides. But still, wow.

Ohmigosh. I'm getting married in 3 1/2 weeks...

Mom's visit

My mom came in over the weekend -- made last-minute plans to visit. The phrase "vendi, vidi, vici" attributed to Julius Ceasar could just as well apply to Mom this weekend: she came, saw & conquered!

We conquered packing. Together, we went through virtually everything in my apartment, including all my clothes, all but one bookshelf, all my quilting stuff, and my entire storage closet. We washed every piece of clothing and every dish in the kitchen. We donated bags and bags of clothing and books and miscellaneous household stuff to charity. We have another pile to take to church or give to friends. There's still stuff for me to do eventually (packing the kitchen will take some time), but it's so much better now.

We conquered wedding prep. We had my final dress fitting (it fits!). We investigated hair salons. We got more details on the venue (and started working through some complications about space). We finalized contracts. We reviewed decorations. Again, there's still stuff to do, but it's much better now.

We also managed time to have manicures -- which I'd never done before. :)

And, we met up with Matt at Chuy's Green Chile Fest (too bad it ends in September...), watched part of their Fantasy Football draft, went to church, etc.

We were busy, tired, and working hard, but we did well! My mom is amazing at this stuff -- she just has a knack for making big tasks like this seem less daunting. And, it's somehow easier to do things like this with someone to help. Thanks, mom! :)

There's still a lot to do, but I know we'll get there! October 7th will be here soon!

One last note -- if you haven't RSVPd yet, Matt & I would be honored to hear from you. Both regrets and replies can be emailed to RSVP@mattbecky.com.

Becky