I've updated my artwork section. Before it was just a dump of my latest posts on PD. Now its a selection of my favorite works for your viewing pleasure.

The art section still has a long way to go. I'll be adding better navigation and descriptions soon enough. For those interested, the art section is not databased but the data is in an XML file. I've been learning about XML, XSL, and how PHP can work with those sorts of documents so I'm trying to find ways to experiment

Yesterday I added a new Projects section to my site devoted to info on my projects. Much of it is just brief info on my projects but I intend to expand it more in the coming weeks.

I've been using Google Reader to subscribe to various RSS feeds. And there's this nifty feature where you can share an item that you find interesting. And then those shared items go on a shared page and then there's a feed for that shared page.

Confused yet?

Well don't worry. Just visit my new Shared Items page to see what I'm reading on the net!

Mike and I have been engaged for about 6 weeks now. I've been jotting down random wedding ideas in a Google doc. I've got some crazy ideas for what I want to do. But I'm going to stick to a strict budget of $10K. Some of my friends and co-workers who have planned weddings tell me that doing a 10K wedding is hard and the average cost for a wedding in this area is about $30K. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a single day. Even 10K sounds like a lot to me.

I started using a wedding budget calculator and I became depressed. There were so many things that I didn't consider and it was starting to look impossible to get a wedding for under 10K. But then I came across a website that had links to places in the area that do a whole wedding package. They take care of almost everything from food, DJ, ceremony space, chairs, tables, centerpieces. And they do it all for an affordable price under my budget. Now I am excited about planning again.

I've got some crazy ideas about my dress. I am thinking of making my own dress and everyone is trying to talk me out of it. I want something kind of fantasy/medieval style. I'm going to probably try on some regular dresses to see what kind of shape goes well with my body type and if at that point I figure out that making my own dress wont work, then I'll just buy one.

But I really want to try making my own. We probably wont be getting married until summer of 2010 so I have some time to figure out what I want to do. I might try making it and if it doesn't come out that good, i'll save it for a halloween costume or something and just buy a dress.