Lately, my happy place has been planning my wedding. I received a bunch of really good wedding planning books for Xmas, and I've been devouring them. I've also spent hours and hours online researching the options I have around here, and I've concluded that my options are endless, constrained only by money.

Of course, that's the big constraint.

Still, the City of Oakland has several facilities one can rent for reasonably cheap, so we went around and looked at some of those this morning.

The plan was to hit all five, but we only made it through four before hunger and fatigue got the better of us. I'm a bit bummed about that, as the last one, the Lake Merritt Sail Boat House, sounds promising if only because of the wall of windows looking right out over the lake. I am a bit afraid of bird poop out on the balcony there, though.

Anyway, the first one has stuck in my mind all day, and I'm thinking we may very well end up going with it. It's called the Sequoia Lodge, and it's tucked up in the Oakland hills and surrounded almost entirely by leafy green trees (Sequoias mostly, of course). It has a skylight, a fireplace nook and a wrap-around deck that looks out into the woods. It also has a parking lot, a big kitchen, and a playground. And there are no catering restrictions. It's rustic, but in a woodlandy way, and it has a very good feel to it.

Tim likes this place too, which is nice. The second we looked at was creepy and run down. The third too modern and sterile (though it has a great panoramic bay view and a nicer dressing area for the bride). The fourth was the Garden Center at Lake Merritt, which is surrounded by Japanese and Botanical gardens, but inside it smelled like an old classroom and was even creepier than the second place we looked. So Sequoia remains at the top of the list. We'll look at a few other options before we commit -- we can't even book this place until 11 months before the date, and since we're not getting married until next year, we have some time -- but it may end up being the place I marry Tim!

EEeeee! So cool!

In addition to scouting my location, I'm also scouting dresses. I tried -- oh, lord, how I tried -- to only look at the styles I could afford but did I listen? NOooooo. No, I had to go peek -- just a little glance, really -- at the Maggie Sottero line. The books all say she's the hottest designer right now, though she gets low points for slow delivery (which wouldn't matter if I ordered soonish, as I have time on my side). And, of course, her line was amazing. There are several dresses of hers I'd love to wear, but there's one that's so good I can't take it off my wallpaper on my computer at work. I might have to get it, if it looks good when I try it on in the store. It's the dress I always dreamed I'd wear when I got married, and I think I might have to have it, no matter what.

Thank god for internet bargains, is all I can say about that dress, really. It's still outside my budget, even at 40% off, but with just a fortunate story sale (or three) I can justify buying my dream wedding dress . . . .

Hear that editors? Buying a Heather Shaw story right now means you're helping my girlhood dreams take form. That's really really good karma, yo.

Eee! Wedding wedding wedding!