Two weeks ago I became engaged. While we were in Italy we had theoretical discussions about planning the wedding. we were dealing mainly in hypothetical. It has now been a week since we got back from Italy, and Mario can attest that I am already starting to worry a little bit about how to plan this whole thing and how to get everything to go off without a hitch.

The thing that has been causing me the most stress (in this short time) is figuring out a place to have the wedding so that we can get a concrete date so that we can then start figuring out when things need to be done by, and what things need to be done for that space.

The other thing has been how to manage all of the lists and tasks and calendar dates, and keeping track of ideas I find online and so on and so forth. I had set up a Google calendar, and the invitation list has been started as a Google spreadsheet, but the problem with Google is that there is no integrated task list, or list making sort of feature. Additionally you have to be online to get to your Google docs, which is not always possible. I have a lot of time on the bus that I could be utilizing for the planning period. And what about pictures? They say that when you go to look at a wedding dress or think about decorations you should take in the clippings that you have.  Well me being a digital grrl in a digital world most of my clippings will come from online sources. There is no place in google to do such a thing.

So some solutions that I was looking at were to use Remember the Milk with Google calendar. Remember The Milk is an online list/task tool that you can use with google calendars, but I didn’t really like the way it integrated.
37 Signals has a service called Backpack. It allows you to do task/list stuff and have pages where you can add pictures and notes to, but you have to pay extra to use the calendar. The other thing is that these solutions require that you be online to use them.

SO this morning while walking the dog i remembered a BETA calendaring planning system that I had signed up for a while back that I had never really tried out yet. Its called Scrybe, and it includes a really slick calendar, a task/list feature, the ability to keep track of internet clippings, and write notes. AND one of the coolest things, it allows you to work OFFLINE as well as online. Check out the Youtube demonstration.

So you login to the site online, and you can make changes and so on. On my laptop, I have it set to make the calendar and all the features available offline as well. So once you have logged into the site online the next time want to use the calendar offline, you can set the browser you are useing to work offline, and log into Scrybe, and everything is there. You can then continue to work on whatever you were planning. Then the next time you log into the site while the browser is actually connected to the web, it syncs up the changes you made while you were working off line and there you go. Your work is backed up and synced up.

I am very excited about using this for the planning of this wedding. I can also share calendars and note areas with people so that others can contribute and be involved as well. This certainly takes a load off of my mind as to how I was going to pull this all off.If only finding a place for this wedding was as easy as all this.

I am listening to my mp3 player and having just moved all of my music over to it I am listening to a bunch of stuff I haven’t listened to in a while. I just decided to listen to the Green Day album Dookie, and I am currently listening to the song “Welcome to Paradise” and thinking to myself, WHY did I use parts of this song in the letter that you write to support your application to college.

I only applied to one college, and for some reason Grinnell College thought it wise to allow me to enter their hallowed halls of education (for that I am thankful btw). I wish I could see my application letter. I am sure it was very moving… what with the Green Day references….

I just realized the other day that I have not worked on any of the web stuff I have been telling myself I wanted to be working on.  For example, since I fixed the RSS feeds for the Mixed Student Resources I have not posted anything on it and now its in jepordy of becoming another stale site with potential.  Orantes Gallery is in serious need of redesign, and I kind of want to tweak this one some more.  I think I am a little bored with it.   And I have a slick computer now, I no longer have the excuse that my computer is slow, or that I am tied to the wall.

I think i just need to figure out a way to fit in all the things I want to do.  Computer stuff, art stuff, working out, planning a wedding, training Mono, spending time with the boy, getting together with my friends from time to time, working with Janie on college stuff, working with Nicole on school stuff.

I think once the kitchen gets functional and finished we will feel alot more at ease.  Even though I am one to live in Chaos it is starting to get a little old.  I miss watching movies on the projector and cuddling on the couch as a family (cat, dog, boy, girl)