final single days

i have eight days left of being single...ever. i remember that beyonce song (you know which one i'm talking about) was the first song i truly danced to after i got home from my mission. i really enjoyed my twenty eight single years, i really did. but after eight more days, i won't be able to, in good conscious, put my hands up during that song! it's wild to think how close i am to my life changing forever.

here's some tidbits from my final single days...it will never be the same again...

-i'm loving my (soon to be our!) new neighborhood in palo alto. i turn the corner driving home and see tree-canopied streets with stanford's hoover tower pointing at the perpetually blue sky. there's these two beautiful victorian homes on the corner near our street, and there's a park two houses down where we had a lovely picnic date the other day. runs at night under the moon and the trees are totally safe and totally lovely.
-a couple days ago, the boy and i bought a couch. we've been talking about this for a long time - a nice, pretty couch has been the example expense we've used in conversations about finances. we feel pretty great about using some of the cash gifts we've gotten (gosh people are so generous!) to get this navy tufted settee that i'm a little obsessed with. setting up our apartment has really been an adventure because the boy and i have very different tastes and preferences in interior design etc, but the pretty couch is something we are both excited about!
-i've been taking barre classes this month on some new-client special, and it's been really fun! like i've mentioned, i'm pretty determined to be in the best physical shape of my life at my wedding. i'm not sure i've totally peaked, but i'm feeling strong :) wedding dresses are good motivation... there's been no time to cook, but i love having dinner at home with the boy, so we've gotten pretty creative. (we also have verrrrrry different relationships with food, so that has been another adventure!)
-things at work have been busy, and especially because i'm finding it hard to focus with such a huge life event coming so soon! :) yesterday we had an official opening ceremony for our second middle school, which opened in august. it was pretty exciting and inspiring - the namesake of the school, a latino astronaut, gave a really fantastic speech to 170 completely star-struck middle schoolers. i love moments when i remember the importance and significance of the work i am involved in. i am really grateful for that.
-the boy comes over to my (soon to be our) place each evening for dinner and working on things together, and i haaaaate having to say goodbye when it's time for bed. he usually comes by in the mornings for breakfast, scriptures and a prayer as well. we are both so excited for when we can just both stay.
-my to-do list for wedding stuff is finally getting shorter (it seems like for the past three months it just kept getting longer!). the weather forecast looks good and even though there are some things that are still floating and i'm bracing myself for all kinds of catastrophes, my stressed:excited ratio is leaning the right direction for sure. it's just crazy to think that i'll never dream about my wedding again, because it will have happened. that's on the list in my brain of things that will pretty much forever be absent from my life after eight more days. along with stuff like falling asleep while watching some dumb show on my laptop in bed, going shopping with only my income/expenses at stake, and being pretty untidy with things around the apartment - so, obviously i've been just relishing doing those kinds of things a tiny bit the last few days :)

the boy asked me a while ago if there is anything else i want out of my singlehood - things i didn't get to do or experience before that phase of life is over. i thought about it, and said no. i feel like this transition is coming at just the right time for me to have the experiences and learning that i've needed. i'm ready.