Bridaled Out

Man, what an epic weekend.

On Saturday, D and I hosted a dinner party at our house. My friend, Harmonious (It isn't her real name, but I call her that anyway), made a delicious vegetarian pasta dish and I tried my hand at some Coq au Vin in a crockpot. It looked fancy! But was nice and easy to make!

While the partay was happening, Harmonious and her boyfriend became our witnesses as we finally signed our PoAs. It was such a tedious task, because we thought we had to get the dang thing notarized, but our only day off of work was Saturday, so-- we scrambled to the bank before it closed, only to discover-- no notary needed.

So that was a little frustrating. But it is done now! Yay! We are one step closer together as a legal couple.

On Sunday, D had to leave tow to visit some relatives, so I went to the Bridal Extravaganza without her. One of our bridesmaids/florist/jackie of all trades went with me and was my rock of sanity during the three hours of florescent lighting and sugar highs.

Many amazing things happened at the Bridal show! I think we nailed down a venue. We are *hopefully* going to to tour the facility sometime this week, but when posed with the "How open are you to gay weddings?" question they responded-- "Well, we are having one in August if that answers your question." And it did! And they won't cost an arm and a leg and it looks like they have on-site catering, which would be really nice.

And so it goes- we may be able to get in touch with another gay couple in our town that is 'gittin' hitched' this summer-- which would be so wonderful!

I'm loading bridal show photos on the computer when I get home.

I hope you had a great weekend!

PoA!

Hooray! For most of you around the country it was Spring Break for all of those associated with education! It was for me and it was flippin' awesome!

D and I have a PoAs and Living Will! Commenter/Reader/Amazing Person Christina commented that she and her gal went through LegalZoom.Com

And so did we.

EVERYONE-- please, if you need something quick, easy and cheap that covers just about everything go check it out. It took us 6 minutes and only cost us $90 including tax. They priority mailed the package and it took about a week to get it in the mail! (We completed it last Friday, got it in the mail today). This won't cover everything, but it will protect us if D got into an accident-- I would be allowed visitation rights (which was the most important thing for us).

Tonight, two of our closest friends are coming over as witnesses and we will get it notarized at the bank tomorrow! I am excited!

For those in Texas who were looking to go through a lawyer for all this:
The LGBT lawyer is named Timothy Thomas in Dallas. I'd check him out. We will be using him in the future and he totally understood where we were coming from. His estimate for domestic partnership paperwork was around $5,000. So, start saving. There is also another LGBT lawyer in Houston that we looked into Katine and Nechman. These were the folks that represented John Lawrence in the landmark Lawrence V. State of Texas that reversed the sodomy laws in Texas! So they are A. BIG. DEAL. We never ended up contacting them, because D is from the Dallas area, so it seemed like a smart choice to work with Tim.

I hope you are having a Happy Friday!

Tomorrow or Sunday I'll post pics from the wedding we went to last weekend!

About to lay down the mula.

First and foremost, I want to say THANK YOU! To all the new readers who traveled over here from my friend Meg's blog. Isn't she awesome? Hello! I hope you are having a great Friday! and THANK You to everyone who has made comments. They are very nice, and helpful and encouraging and just wonderful! so Thank you! You are great people!

D and I are going to getting our Power of Attorney done this Monday by some 'big wig' LGBT lawyer in a larger city.

I'm pumped. This is the first of many big steps in our 'official legal relationship'.

I am not pumped that we'll be spending an estimated $350-450 for ONE DOCUMENT.

Doesn't that seem much?

I did some investigative work amongst lawyers in our own town. My hopes skyrocketed when one lawyer said he'd do it for $50. When I asked if that covered medical PoA. He said "No, and who is this for again?"

"My partner."

"Well, business partners don't need medical powers. That is just for elderly people and man and wife."

I really wanted to respond "Oh, well sir, see we are in the LESBIAN business together. So as LESBIAN business partners, it is necessary."

But my freakish need to be nice and polite kicked in. So I just hung up.

Hmmmm.

So to the LGBT lawyer it is. Which, in a way, I'm okay with. All this guy handles are LGBT cases and estate planning. So he knows TX law pretty well (more than pretty well, I'm hoping for $350 freaking dollars). So this means if anything happens, I can call him and for an exorbitant amount of money he will take care of it. Which-- though not very budget friendly, it is comforting in some way.

We are just doing medical PoA for now. Partly to save on cost, and partly because financially we don't exactly have much of anything except college loans.

Exciting day though! And if I can find my digital camera in the murky depths of clutter in our house... I'll take some photos.

Happy Friday!

When do you take a stand? When do you sit and watch?

This weekend we are traveling to a small(er) town in North Texas for a wedding. I couldn't be happier for this couple. Seeing them together just makes me smile and they share the same ideals, the same goals in life-- this guy and gal have been through thick and thin already and I know that this wedding will be a true celebration of love, devotion, happiness, quirkiness.... etc. Happiness all around.

But did I mention it is in a small town near the Oklahoma border? Conservative City. My fiancee and I, personally, know the groom. The bride and I would be what I call "step-friends". As in, in a group we are chums, but I would never just call her and ask her out for coffee without her significant other.

So, this week D and I are getting ready for the wedding and she turns and asks "Are we going as a couple? Or are we going as roommates?"

It is sad. But I thought "Oh, shit. I better check with the groom first."

Some of you may say-- "NO! You are who you are and people can just suck it!". Or "How dare you deny your love?" Or something along those lines.

And I agree.

But, (here's the big ol' but). It isn't our wedding. This isn't even one of our best friends weddings. This is a wedding of a good friend, and it is not my job to take a stand at their wedding and make their family or less open friends uncomfortable. That. is. not. my. job. My job, as a guest, is to celebrate with them and for them.

But I asked the groom anyway.

His response?

"Of course you are a couple. I invited you as a couple, not as roommates. And I'm in theatre-- so my family better understand that I have gay friends. And they better be okay with it. This is my wedding."

And I smiled, thanked him-- double checked a few times-- and then called D to tell her. So, with his blessing, we will be dancing together at the wedding. Slow dancing even! Not just the chicken dance.

But what if he said no? Could I really blame him?

I don't know if I could.

Gay wedding etiquette. It just seems more complicated than it should be.

Hydrangea Extravaganza!! (Google Search: Hydrangea Wedding)

Hello! This is going to take a little while to load. But here is the google search for hydrangea wedding. I feel like these flowers are traditional but have a fun flair to them (a bit like us). But they do seem a little restrictive in the type of bouquets you can do. And I know we already have our cake planned out but I like the ruffle cake so much-- I'd be willing to have two cakes.

And really. Two cakes? THAT would be a total travesty. I mean, a plethora of sweet icing, delicious filling and pretty pretty designs? That is just silly.



I love the idea of multiple colors for the bridesmaids.
And that wreath is so pretty.


These are more interesting than the plain ol' hydrangea ball.





These are spring flowers, and are currently in season. You can get them relatively cheap at the grower's market in larger cities. They also make great, simple, and chic table arrangements (the pink one above).

In other news, D and I are getting ready to get our power of attorney in line and I'm freaking out over all of these options. We contacted an LGBT lawyer in a bigger city and the prices for this crap is just ridiculous. I know how important it is. And the cost is honestly why we have been putting it off, and I just don't think we can anymore. But $200 per person per contract? Doesn't that just seem a little steep?

If any of you out there have your PoAs already done, I'd appreciate any sort of help.