Counting down to "V" day!

"V" minus 5 and counting. 5 days until we go on vacation to New England. Can't wait!

Today, I printed out a Frommer's article about Acadia National Park in Maine which we'll be visiting later in the trip. It mentioned something about carriage rides and whale watching tours in the Fall, so I'm hoping we get to do that.

Check out this slide show of photos of the park by David Patterson at Photo.net. Pretty cool stuff!

Got some other good news today too. I'm helping to plan a reception for some friends and it was set for Oct 18th, which is really soon after we get back from vacation, so I've been scrambling to get as much as possible done before we leave.

Good news is that the couple decided to move the date to NOV 1st, which works out SO MUCH better for most of those involved. Turned out that one of their friends was getting married on the 18th, plus some other activities that would prevent people from coming. So, now I have a few extra weeks to pull things together. I'm just about to finalize the caterer and have secured my A/V guy (our friend Don at Valhalla Sound - He's such a great hard working guy that will bend over backwards to do whatever needs to be done. He's got amazing rates on all kinds of equipment sales and rentals. You should check him out if you're planning an event.)

Now I need to reprint the invitations (good thing most of them didn't go out yet). It makes me realize that it was for the best that my home printing didn't work well (it smeared) and I had to go to a printer. If I had done them myself, they would all be mailed already. Now it's just a dozen or so that the couple needs to contact with the change.

I still need to finalize flowers, linens and a few other odds and ends, but I'm feeling pretty good about things now. The next five days will be busy, but then I can relax and enjoy vacation.

Another tidbit: We may end up with Kevin's cat, The Professor temporarily while he's away in the Middle East. There's one last option, but if that doesn't work, we didn't want him to have to give the cat away, so we'll see what happens when he gets here and meets our cat, Shredder. I don't really like the idea of having 2 cats here for those who visit us that are allergic, but it should only be for 6 months or so.

Also, I'm approaching my 300th blog post, so I'll need to do something special for that. Stay tuned...

Now I'm off to meet the caterer at the home where the reception will be. We need to determine the space layout in the backyard for people, food, etc. Space planning - really one of my favorite things. I already have a diagram drawn up.