It's hard to believe that a year ago, we were just weeks away from saying our "I do"s and now we're getting ready to celebrate our first anniversary.

Yep, we've made it - longer than Cher and Gregg Allman, longer than Lisa Marie Presley and Nicholas Cage, longer than Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman and longer than Britney Spears and Jason Alexander. Perhaps it's not much to brag about, but I'd like to think of the past year as a good start to what I hope will be a long and (mostly) happy marriage.

Hosting the holidays - the very thought of it gives me chills and yet, we are T-minus two days from actually doing it.

We always knew the day would come when we would step into adult shoes and open our doors to the family, ready to feed and entertain until we collapsed. We just didn't think it would be so soon. We envisioned opening the doors to a house, not an apartment and giving people guest rooms to sleep in rather than inflatable beds to sleep on.

But fate would call on us to do things without the ideal accomodations this year.

"So how's married life?"

It's a question my new husband and I have received more than a few times since we married 18 days ago. Luckily, we developed a good retort for this while lounging in our hammocks on our honeymoon.

"Married life is great," we say. "We had a big party, got a lot of gifts and went on vacation. If I had known this was what marriage was all about, I would have signed up a heckuva lot earlier than I did."

Well this is it. As I write this, I am smack in the middle of my last work day as a single woman. Yikes - even reading that back sends a shiver through my spine.

Yes folks, the time has come to get married. All of the plans are in place. The caterer has been paid. The DJ has our song list. Flowers are waiting to be tastefully arranged. And our dining room is overflowing with presents.

The countdown is on. By the end of this month, Chad and I will be married. That's not to say it's all smooth sailing between now and then, though. The real grunt work still lies ahead.

*The Guest List*

We're at the six week countdown to the wedding and time is beginning to slip away.

Our weekends between now and the big day are jam-packed with activities. While many of those plans are related to our wedding, several of our friends are celebrating milestones as well, including marriages and babies.

This past weekend, we had a doubleheader - wedding on Saturday, baby shower on Sunday. It was great to see old friends and catch up, but the events were also a stunning reminder of how much gets heaped on women folk during these milestone events.

While we have been obsessing over getting our own wedding invitations printed, other wedding invitations have been filling our mailbox, signaling the beginning of the wedding season.

These are joyous occassions for our friends who are ready to take that next big step in their adult lives. But somewhere amidst adding wedding dates to our calendar, news of another wedding came tumbling through the grapevine - a wedding we were, quite honestly, less than ecstatic about: My nineteen-year-old cousin had just accepted a wedding proposal from her boyfriend.

Three months of single-life left and Chad and I are on cruise control ... at least, for now. Anything that requires a contract has been signed and deposit checks have been flying out the door.

It's true, we've hit a lull in the wedding planning process and for that, we are quite thankful. It's given us a chance to enjoy the nice weather a bit.

Last weekend, we made the trek to the Brainerd-lakes area to spend the weekend with my grandparents and talk about the ceremony. My grandfather, an ordained minister, will be marrying us this summer.

Saturday morning I awoke from what felt like a six-hour long dream. It was a wedding-day-preview dream that involved my grandfather (who is performing the marriage ceremony) droning on and on and on despite our instruction to keep it short and sweet. People were dropping like flies at this thing because he wouldn't stop talking (which is not that far fetched of a scenario).

Along with eating cake, creating a wedding registry has to be one of the best parts of the wedding planning process.

It's akin to being asked to put together a giant wish list that you actually have a pretty good chance of getting some stuff from (unlike any birthday or Christmas list that I ever wrote out).

I can finally say with almost complete confidence that we are getting married.

Last week, my fiance (I'll call him Chad - since that's his name) sent in the checks to reserve our date. So come July, at the very least he's getting married to someone (or having one heckuva "I'm-still-single" party).

We've got an appointment to talk food with the caterer and have even tackled the dreaded cake tasting. And yes, it was as horrible as you can imagine - five slices of cake so divine it would soften the grumpiest of demeanors.

For two people that have relatively small families and don't claim to be any sort of social butterflies, we already have a wedding guest list that seems to be spiraling out of control.

I've always envisioned a wedding where I would be surrounded by people I could easily sit down and have a conversation with. Those are the people that I want to share in the celebration of our special day.

There is nothing to stall wedding planning quicker than the flu.

Not long after we made plans to look at venues and even purchased tickets to a wedding fair, the fiance was struck with illness. After a full weekend spent nursing him back to health, I went down the same road (without the luxury of a nurse, I should mention).

Now that the hacking and nose-blowing and general yuckiness has subsided, we're ready to get back on track and try again.

I am engaged. That's right, folks. Off the market. Spoken for. Betrothed.

I guess technically I should be saying we are engaged. After all, it's no longer all about me (a darn shame).

We have actually been engaged since October, but due to unforseen circumstances, have only just begun to plan for what we hope will be a July 2008 wedding.