Ok, for those 3 imaginary readers that may or may not visit my blog—I’m sorry for the lack of updates!

There was a period there where I simultaneously got busier, had nothing to write about and just didn’t feel like writing at all. Hopefully now I can get back on the bandwagon. I don’t think I’ll ever be like those other blog authors who are able to update at least once a day or more, but I hope to keep this thing running smoothly anyway.

Since this is my bare-all blog I guess I can tell you that last week I went on my very first real date ever, which was followed up by my very first real kiss ever. And I freaked out. I wish I had experienced this when I was a teenager rather than a twenty-something! Too many emotions involved these days! Anyway it was with a nice guy I met off of Craigslist, but I just don’t think I’m interested. I got my validation—I now know deep inside me that other people may in fact like me regardless of my self-perceived ugliness. Even though I don’t want to keep seeing this guy, I feel a whole lot better as a person, and a lot more comfortable being single.

Moving on, someone from my past has just reconnected with me. J and I met at a business camp when we were about 18 years old. He moved to Kingston for school but we kept up the friendship long-distance style. I also had a mammoth crush on him for the longest time. He knew about it but didn’t reciprocate. Anyway, we ended kind of badly and abruptly mostly due to our personality traits and issues. It’s been a year and a half. He’s now living in Japan and teaching English. He recently commented on my Facebook wall and we started talking again. I still have to find out why he decided to hurt me the way he did. I will have to update as things move along.

Also happy to report that my friend-and-guy-I-crush-on-a-little, K and I are going to see Evil Dead: The Musical together. We’ve agreed to sit in the splatter zone, too. Whee! He’s seen it once before but liked it so much he wants to see it again. Yay for me and small social wins!

And finally, everyone around me seems to be getting married and buying property! Insane! Sometimes I feel like I missed the boat completely in life… but then I have to remind myself of all the things that I’ve already accomplished that some of my friends will never even get the chance to do… Anyway, my best gal pal T is getting married in August and I am one of her bridesmaids.

Since one of my major interests (especially in the blogging realm) is personal finance, I thought I would dedicate the remainder of this post to working out all the costs I will incur as a result of my duties of bridesmaid and best friend for this wedding. Something tells me it’s going to be expensive…oi!

Approximate costs

Wedding
Dress + alterations: $300 (seen here! –>)
Shoes: $50-$100
Pedi + Mani: $70
Hair: $65
Makeup: $25-$50
Wedding gift + cash: $200+
1 Night Hotel: $150
Travel costs: $50
Incidentals: $50

Stag & Doe
Travel costs: $50
Drink “Donations”: $25+

Bridal Shower
Travel costs: $50
Incidentals: $50
(Wedding gift to be given at this point)

Bachelorette
Travel costs: $50
1 Night Hotel: $70
Activities: $200
Bridal contribution: $25+

Grand Total: $1,555+

Yikes! This is just the preliminary count, too. Oh man. I wonder if T realizes that it’s going to cost this much for her bridesmaids… She’s insisting on having our hair, makeup and nails all done professionally as well as the type of shoes we wear. I’m not complaining too much but I just can’t believe how much this is going to cost me in the long run. This isn’t even including food & drink for each of these occasions. I include about a tank’s worth of gas as travel costs because I’ll have to be driving 3 hours one way for each of these events.

I’m looking into carpooling with another girl in order to save some money, and hopefully I can try and keep my costs down in food, drink and incidentals now that I am more aware of how much I will be spending. I’m pretty sure I could get married in the Bahamas or someplace for this amount… eep.

So, dear readers, do you have any other tips on ways I could save money during this wedding period, or even some wedding etiquette for me? This whole Stag & Doe thing is a new concept to me, apparently it’s a small-town thing. I like the idea of the couple getting financial help for their wedding, but I don’t like the idea of me having to fork over more cash!