recap of the longest week ever
perhaps it's because it was the first full week after the holidays, or perhaps it was the fact that marshall and i worked out 5 full days in a row, but this week took forever to finish. work was rather hectic, but as i look back, i'm not really sure why. sure, i had a lot going on and i do have 3 books shipping over the next 3 weeks. well, technically, i have one book shipping each week until the first week in february. it's a lot to get through, especially the last book that i ship is one that was reassigned to me because the original project manager retired last week. i have no problem taking it on, especially since it was being managed by a very experienced production manager (my job at my company is to essentially manage other managers). but it's super behind and there's still a ton to get through before we can see the end. it's already been pushed out by 3 weeks and the book itself is running long (something our editors HATE). then, of course, i had taken on a few extra supplement titles because our temporary help unfortunately lost her son (he was very sick for a very long time). so, she's gone until early next week. i'm surprised to see her back so soon, but i think the faster you get back to normal, the easier it is to grieve properly. that's been my experience, anyway. there's been an introduction of a new time-tracking system, where if we spend more than 30 minutes on content development for a particular project, we are to note it on a giant spreadsheet and that time (based on our salary+benefits) will be charged to the overall book's plate budget. it's interesting and i'm not sure what the overall goal or reason behind doing this, but for production managers i don't think it will really matter. i rarely spend more than 30 minutes on each of my projects during the course of one day, let alone actual content development. they exclude all clerical or management duties, which is pretty much all we do for our projects anyway. originally i was concerned that this was a way to track what we do every minute of our time in the office. in that case, unfortunately, i'd have to track that from 11:30am-1:00pm was spent watching "no reservations w/ anthony bourdain" on netflix, while also playing a few games of bejeweled blitz on facebook. yeah, not something i want to make public... anyway, each day this week seemed to just drag on, which made getting to the weekend that much sweeter.
of course, all i wanted to do was sleep in this morning, but we had breakfast. then i met up with BFF-sarah to go to castro valley to pick up the bridesmaid dresses. everything was in order and the dresses look super cute. i LOVE the ivory and eggplant color combination. we headed back to san jose and had lunch and went to payless to check out possible shoe options for everyone. my sister told me about them originally, saying they were only like $20 and they had a perfect color to use. sarah and i saw them and they're just OK, plus the were NOT $20, but rather $45 for the shoe and dying process. honestly, i think it's pretty steep for a pair of payless shoes, which start to deteriorate as you walk out the store. at this point, i'm thinking of leaving it up to my bridesmaids to make the decision about their shoes. yes, it would look really nice and uniform if all the girls wore the same color shoes, but it's not the end of the world if they don't. originally, i had this plan and told everyone to just buy a pair of black strappy heels and that would be fine. my sister brought up getting these other ones. she can easily round people up to get them, but at this point shoes are really low on my list of priorities.
speaking of priorities: our invitations are at the very top of my list right now and i can't get them until next week. we weren't given a possible date when they would be available OR the fact that she would need the rest of our balance in order to pick them up. neither of these items were clear when we ordered them and when i approved the printer proofs last week, i figured they would be printed and would arrive this week. i called friday and she said that the printer planned on shipping them out that day and they would arrive NEXT week. we're already really behind, according to my etiquette book, which says to give 8 weeks between sending the invites out and the day of the wedding. yeah, we're looking at, now, 5 weeks. marshall calmed me saying that our save-the-dates were really an invitation and these formal invitations are really a formality. everyone who's coming KNOWS they're coming and this is just giving them a way to confirm with us that they are actually coming. so that saves us some time and we don't have to provide a final head-count up to a week before the wedding. i think 2 weeks for people to RSVP is plenty of time. in the end, we're fine, i just wish our invitations were handled a bit better.
tomorrow my good friend from college, sanam, is having me and a few of my friends over for a small bridal tea. she is heading back to NYC, where she's currently working on her masters, next week and won't be able to go to my bachelorette party. she wanted to see me and to celebrate a little with me and thought a brunch/tea would be nice. it's going to be really small, especially since it was set up in rather short notice. but the important thing is that i'm seeing sanam, who i haven't seen since before she left last fall for school, and that's all that matters at this point. :)
i plan on making a giant list of things i need to do between now and the wedding. we need the guest book materials: guest book and polaroid film (i'm going to have people take pictures of themselves, paste into the book and then they can sign and write whatever they want. the polaroid film is going to cost a lot, considering they don't make it anymore and the only place you can buy it is on amazon. although, i might check some of the walgreens in our area if they have any more. it's possible they do and at a cheaper price. we need wedding bands, which we plan on looking at sometime this week. we need to put together our ceremony and our vows. i need to order my bridesmaid gifts. i found these great necklaces on etsy and the artist is in japan. she confirmed that the shipping time between california and japan is 7 days, so i need to keep that in mind. marshall still needs to figure out what to get his groomsmen. favors will require a favor-making party, which will happen in the coming weeks, too. then, of course, we need to get our marriage license. so yeah, i think that's it. i'm trying to keep it together. i think once we get the invitations out, i'll feel a little better.
oh yeah...i just received a main-in traffic ticket for making a right-hand turn at a red light. it was one of those video-monitored intersections and they sent me a ticket with my picture. i knew exactly when it happened and there's absolutely no point in fighting it, obviously. the frustrating thing is, they didn't give me an actual ticket. there wasn't anything on there with a fine i had to pay or a time/date i had to appear in court. the office i have to call has specific hours and if i have questions, i have to call a place in arizona who handles these kinds of traffic violations. i got the ticket in san mateo, california, but i have to call ARIZONA to ask how i just pay my fee? there's no question, it was me and i thought since i was making a right-hand turn, it was OK. apparently it's not, i know that now and i won't do it again. can't i just pay the ticket and move on?! pain in the ass...
of course, all i wanted to do was sleep in this morning, but we had breakfast. then i met up with BFF-sarah to go to castro valley to pick up the bridesmaid dresses. everything was in order and the dresses look super cute. i LOVE the ivory and eggplant color combination. we headed back to san jose and had lunch and went to payless to check out possible shoe options for everyone. my sister told me about them originally, saying they were only like $20 and they had a perfect color to use. sarah and i saw them and they're just OK, plus the were NOT $20, but rather $45 for the shoe and dying process. honestly, i think it's pretty steep for a pair of payless shoes, which start to deteriorate as you walk out the store. at this point, i'm thinking of leaving it up to my bridesmaids to make the decision about their shoes. yes, it would look really nice and uniform if all the girls wore the same color shoes, but it's not the end of the world if they don't. originally, i had this plan and told everyone to just buy a pair of black strappy heels and that would be fine. my sister brought up getting these other ones. she can easily round people up to get them, but at this point shoes are really low on my list of priorities.
speaking of priorities: our invitations are at the very top of my list right now and i can't get them until next week. we weren't given a possible date when they would be available OR the fact that she would need the rest of our balance in order to pick them up. neither of these items were clear when we ordered them and when i approved the printer proofs last week, i figured they would be printed and would arrive this week. i called friday and she said that the printer planned on shipping them out that day and they would arrive NEXT week. we're already really behind, according to my etiquette book, which says to give 8 weeks between sending the invites out and the day of the wedding. yeah, we're looking at, now, 5 weeks. marshall calmed me saying that our save-the-dates were really an invitation and these formal invitations are really a formality. everyone who's coming KNOWS they're coming and this is just giving them a way to confirm with us that they are actually coming. so that saves us some time and we don't have to provide a final head-count up to a week before the wedding. i think 2 weeks for people to RSVP is plenty of time. in the end, we're fine, i just wish our invitations were handled a bit better.
tomorrow my good friend from college, sanam, is having me and a few of my friends over for a small bridal tea. she is heading back to NYC, where she's currently working on her masters, next week and won't be able to go to my bachelorette party. she wanted to see me and to celebrate a little with me and thought a brunch/tea would be nice. it's going to be really small, especially since it was set up in rather short notice. but the important thing is that i'm seeing sanam, who i haven't seen since before she left last fall for school, and that's all that matters at this point. :)
i plan on making a giant list of things i need to do between now and the wedding. we need the guest book materials: guest book and polaroid film (i'm going to have people take pictures of themselves, paste into the book and then they can sign and write whatever they want. the polaroid film is going to cost a lot, considering they don't make it anymore and the only place you can buy it is on amazon. although, i might check some of the walgreens in our area if they have any more. it's possible they do and at a cheaper price. we need wedding bands, which we plan on looking at sometime this week. we need to put together our ceremony and our vows. i need to order my bridesmaid gifts. i found these great necklaces on etsy and the artist is in japan. she confirmed that the shipping time between california and japan is 7 days, so i need to keep that in mind. marshall still needs to figure out what to get his groomsmen. favors will require a favor-making party, which will happen in the coming weeks, too. then, of course, we need to get our marriage license. so yeah, i think that's it. i'm trying to keep it together. i think once we get the invitations out, i'll feel a little better.
oh yeah...i just received a main-in traffic ticket for making a right-hand turn at a red light. it was one of those video-monitored intersections and they sent me a ticket with my picture. i knew exactly when it happened and there's absolutely no point in fighting it, obviously. the frustrating thing is, they didn't give me an actual ticket. there wasn't anything on there with a fine i had to pay or a time/date i had to appear in court. the office i have to call has specific hours and if i have questions, i have to call a place in arizona who handles these kinds of traffic violations. i got the ticket in san mateo, california, but i have to call ARIZONA to ask how i just pay my fee? there's no question, it was me and i thought since i was making a right-hand turn, it was OK. apparently it's not, i know that now and i won't do it again. can't i just pay the ticket and move on?! pain in the ass...