A Very Crabby Birthday

Just a fun little note to say that today (and all night) (oh, and all weekend long too) we'll be celebrating the Beaner's birthday!



Even the crabs and seagulls will be dancing!

Happy Birthday there thither!

Done Yesterday

This week's Deep Thought Thursday is brought to you by my grandmother.

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch applying to jobs when my phone rang. It was Nanny. I knew because the photo of her pouring a gin and tonic popped up on my screen. (You wish you grandma was this awesome...) What you should know about this post is that just after the wedding Nanny took a tumble down the porch at my parent's house and broke her foot. This was the first time she's hurt herself in the past thirty or so years, Nanny's always been very sturdy and well preserved (we like to say from the alcohol), and so she has never had to stop and sit and do nothing for any extended period of time.

She said she was calling everybody and they kept on cutting out but her battery was charged and she wasn't sure what was wrong. But anyway, how was I?

Any news?

Well I have an interview tomorrow, but still applying to things.

How is being a housewife?

Well, it's a little boring. I've kind of worked one to three jobs since I was 17 and now I'm going a little crazy not working.

Yes, I'm a little stir crazy too. I spent the week with your mother, and now I'm with my sister and then I'm going back to your mother for a week. I'm being taken care of very well, but I don't like not doing things myself. I tell you, I know it's only been about a month, but I'm going mad, I need to get out and do things!

I feel your pain Nanny.

I'm not used to sitting around, I've got things to do. I don't like being sedentary!

You know Nanny, I'm so glad you said that. Everything makes so much more sense now. Mom's all like, oh, things will get done eventually, but Julianne and I are we need to get this done YESTERDAY. Now I know where we got it from.

Haha, yes pussycat.

Good to know this came from you.

All this time...it was Nanny. Crazy. My life suddenly make so much more sense. Maybe that's why Nanny and I get along so well. That and we both are a little silly when it comes to everyday things.

And the award goes to...

ME!

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm the worst blogger ever sometimes.

We're still waiting for photos from our photographer, but I'll post some non-pro snips from the wedding.

And I'll do a nice long post, or maybe even a series of posts on our amazing honeymoon.

Countdown

Today is T-minus 10 Days until our wedding.

We are now officially at Code Kermit.






That is all.

It's official...

I'm the worst blogger ever!

I had things to update, I really did! But then a certain someone absconded with my camera so I have no pictorial illustrations of anything I wanted to share. And let's face it, I'm a visual person, I like pretty pictures!

Things are slowly...very slowly...taking shape. The wedding is almost here and no, I'm not nervous or anxious or anything about it. The wedding will be fine, I'm certain it will even be more than fine it will be splendiforous!

But no, I'm not worried about the wedding, I'm worried about finishing the move, getting things done, finding a job, and buying a new car.

WHERE THE HELL DID REAL LIFE COME FROM?!

Countdown

Today is T-minus 20 Days until our wedding.

That is all.

NAKED PANIC ATTACK

Long story short. Julibean had the worst night ever last night trying to see a Mumford and Sons concert (which Ashley and Cynthia said was the best concert they ever saw) and it turned into a story very reminiscent of the Naked Bronx Zoo story our Dad likes to tell us sometimes.

So here's something for the Beaner (and Becky) to make them feel better. Seriously, we'll be laughing about this in a year's time.




P.S. I LOVE this song and didn't know the name of it. I have an entire Pandora station dedicated to Mumford and Sons and other bands in the what I like to call "Jig Rock" genre.

P.P.S. We have decided that the next time they're nearby Julianne and I are going to their concert and doing it right. Tailgate. Beer. The whole nine yards.

WW: Favors

The to do list is slowly but surely getting done. There's still a LOT to accomplish, but I've been checking things off in the midst of packing.

Bouquets still need a lot of work. I've been making beaded flower petals like a mad woman and I'm going to start constructing the flowers and looking to see how I can make the arrangements.

I DID however get a heck of a lot done on our favor front. We decided to get tote bags. More like plastic bags are the bane of my existence and I wanted to give a useful favor. I originally planned on ordering tote bags and screen printing them myself with my handy dandy Yudu, but 4-Imprint was running a promotion and they screen printed them for free!

Hooray!
They arrived last week and I've been folding, tying, and tagging them for the past few nights.


So every guest at the wedding will walk away with a cute little magazine tote. Perfect size for carrying a book, a bottle of water and some sunscreen to the beach!

Dancing in the Street

Me: so today
Me: I have legit, nothing to do
Me: T is in Germany
Me: Charo is in Springfield
Me: and I just finished my one assignment for the day

Ash: watch that
Me: hahahaha
Me: I love you so hard right now
Ash:

WW: Awesome 80s Prom!

I love my friends.

No really.

My friends are flipp'n fantastic and I'll tell you why.

When I said I wanted to do the Awesome 80s Prom for my bachelorette party my friend's didn't look at me like I was crazy. No! They didn't think, wtf is wrong with you, why would you want to relive the 80s? No! They didn't scoff at me and tell me it was stupid to get dressed up and hit the town like we did the time warp again.

Instead they rose to the occasion, and boy, did they EVER turn it out for this party!

My fabulous cousin Jaclyn planned everything to a T, organized the girls, and got e-invites out to everyone, all while she was preggers. She couldn't join us day of (nursing a baby is kind of killer on your social life) but she was a very integral part of this fabulous event. Day of, Casey took the lead and hosted 8 girls in her house (we actually were expecting more than 12 originally but some NH ladies stayed in the City instead) and if ever there were an event for Casey to be on point, this was it.

She went all out. I showed up at her house and this is what I was met with:

Slowly but surely the girls started showing up and
we started teasing and spraying like crazy.
I think this is why all photos from the 80s are mad blurry,
because of the hair spray in the air!

When everyone was dressed we walked to the LIRR station a few blocks away.
But not before snapping some fantastic photos.

Chrissy & me, she had the most fabulous dress!

The sister, the soon to be sister, Meg, and me.

Is it just me, or does Julianne look FIERCE in this photo.
Totally loved the Joan Jett look she was going for.

Chrissy killing it.

Singing along to Madonna on the train.

We made new friends, they took our photo.

She loves rock and roll.
Subway to the prom!

I love the lurker in this photo, and his expression to Casey trying to lick my face.

The ladies of the Shire!
Chelsea, Meg, Kerri, Hana, and Jenn look'n fab.

Although I'll be Jason's wife after July 3rd, Veebs has been my Wifey since college.

Rock'n out. I just realized Mel went for the Sloane Peterson look, LOVE IT.


Laura and Casey take a breather.

Smashley got a second chance to wear her Gem dress!

I like this one mostly because you get a good look at the fanny pack Casey wore.
It was epic.

And here she is with her killer dance moves.
And yes, she wore a thong leotard.
And yes, people were coming up to her all night long telling her:
"Damn, you've got balls."

And like classy bitches we bough more beer in Penn Station.
And drank it from brown paper bags on the ride home.

So I had the sweetest little conversation with Amanda no the train ride home. She was basically just super excited that she'd finally have a sister, which I thought was so incredibly sweet of her to say. She grew up with two older brothers and no in-house female cohort.

Julibean and I pretty much told her we're a package deal, and that she's getting two sisters for the price of one. Amanda seemed okay with the deal :P


In review:

1. Top night!
2. I have the greatest friends EVER
3. If you decide to go to Prom, make sure you buy a package with drinks included. Trust me it's worth it! Amanda bought a round of shots and it was like $50+ ...for 4 shots. We assumed they'd be crazy NYC drink prices, but $18 for a shot is a little overpriced and the drinks in the packages are only like $5-7 each.
   

DPF: Raining, Pouring

Nasty weather means hilarious entertainment apparently...



Gotta love the boys of summer...no matter where they hail from...

To Whom it May Concern

Today is my birthday.

If you loved me, you'd buy this for me.

It's beautiful, shiny, and historically significant in it's own small way. I mean, why else would the Smithsonian be selling it?

Plus it has a hint of Art Deco, which I always love.

It would look nice 'round my wrist on my wedding day, don't you think?

Love you forever!
-Me

Silly Day

May is like a tidal wave of events in my family.

Today is especially special.

Happy Birthday Jason!

This'll be the last time we have to spend our birthdays apart, how exciting is that?!

Brudder Day

Today is a special day. It is Dan's birthday. I'm not quite sure how to put into words how awesome my brother is.

But whatever words or motions or actions that would be, I'd be doing it as hard as I could...and hoped he could see it from here.


Love you! Can't wait to see you!

Countdown

Today is T-minus 50 Days until our wedding.

That is all.

DPF: The 80s were AWESOME

Tomorrow for my bachelorette the girls and I are going to the Awesome 80s Prom. It's going to be EPIC. I'm going for the Madonna rolling around on the floor in a wedding dress look. Fantastic photos to follow...

For today's dance party Friday I'd like to glace back at what I was doing around this time in say, 1987. Although I was only two, I remember it well.

My Aunt Nancy would come over (almost every day) with my cousin David. While Nancy and Mama chatted in the kitchen, Dave and I would watch Sleeping Beauty. ALMOST EVERY DAY.

We would take turns hiding under the covers when Maleficent reared her ugly head and swirled into green hurricanes and flames to move around.

Our mothers would find it hilarious that we would shout things like, "Touch the bindle!" at each other while we were playing.

In celebration of that simpler time, please enjoy Prince Phillip's dance of rejoicing:


(Image borrowed from someone fantastic on Tumblr.)

WW: Slowly but Surely

On Saturday I had my first dress fitting. I'm not going to post a photo since Jason glances at my blog now and then but it fit like a glove. As of right now I need absolutely no alterations.

How awesome is that?

I have my final fitting the first week of June so we'll see if I can manage to lose a few pounds this month, but I'm happy with the way the dress looks and everyone at the salon adored my shoes...and that's really the most important part, right?

I was very worried that there would be SOMETHING wrong with the dress, but really, it's perfect. The added fabric to the top is just high enough on my chest that I'm not in danger of falling out, but the girls still look glorious...and that's really the most important part, right Jason?

When I started dress shopping Jason's only criteria was that I find a "sturdy" dress. At Jaclyn's wedding my boobs popped open the seam on the front of the dress and I was pretty much just hanging out the whole afternoon. At Laura's wedding I had the seamstress reinforce the seam that popped at Jaclyn's wedding, but instead a strap popped.

As for my wedding dress, there are no wrap-like seams, and there are no straps. So the likely hood of me breaking a seam or a strap is nil. Did I mention it fits like a dream?

All of the invitations are in the mail now. It is taking USPS FOREVER to get the invitations to people and to get the RSVPs back to me. I have it on good authority that a friend of mine in Jersey sent her RSVP in over a week and a half ago. Usually it takes two days tops for mail to reach me from NJ...what's up with that? Just adding stress I don't need.

Since we have about 90% of the guest list responded next week we're going to start trying to work on the seating chart. I'm hoping for the most non-traditional seating arrangement we can figure out. A lot of our friends are friendly with each other. My brother is friends with people that Jason's brother is friends with, so we're not separating any of our friends by "side"...meanwhile I'd really like to have all the younger people on one side of the room and have all the family and family friends on the other side. Mix everyone in, you know? So instead of his and hers it's more a generational gap.

I was very happy to get one RSVP from a friend of mine who is very elusive and I was worried wouldn't come. But hooray! He is! There are a few friends we're waiting on but then we're done! YAY!

I still have oh...idk...a dozen beaded flowers to make for the bridesmaids bouquets and the mother/grandmother corsages, ~160 pinwheel escort cards to make once I order the wooden dowels, OOT bags for people staying at the Hilton, favors, and of course I have to stay on top of my two bridesmaids who are making all the chair ties.

But wait, there's more...I'm moving first week of June! So add into that a packing frenzy and you've got yourself one stressed bride.

I just want to give up now.

This weekend we're settling the cake, the rehearsal dinner location, the ceremony details, and I have my hair trial. Now THAT I'll post a photo of, I don't have my veil yet unfortunately so it won't be the entire look, but it'll give me a good idea of what to expect.

Meanwhile I have awesome friends and a fantastic bridal party that's trying to do as much as possible to keep my stress level down.

My Awesome 80s Prom Bachelorette Extravaganza is next weekend, SO excited, SO can't wait to see all the girls, and SO can't wait for the EPIC photos that will ensue.

*sigh* are we there yet?

America FUCK YEAH

I'll always remember that I was sitting in bed rolling pennies while watching the Swan Princess when my brother txted me to tell me Bin Laden was dead.

My manager said something funny this morning when he went to sign my time sheet.

Well if they killed him today it would have been 9/11.

5/2/2011
5+2+2+0/11
9/11

T's a little special with the numbers sometimes.

But Ding Dong Bin Laden's dead. Justice has finally been served. Thank you yet again you fine men and women in uniform for giving America a sense of closure.

DPF: Ouila!

This one is for Julibean:



Allow me to explain. Yesterday morning Julianne told me she wasn't feeling well and that she thought she had pulled something in her sleep. She had a pain in her side.

Immediately my mind always flies to APPENDIX mostly because freshman year a friend of mine (after two trips to the hospital, and then being dismissed twice for "nothing") had his appendix burst on him and it was quite possibly one of the most horrible things ever.

So I ask her more about her symptoms and play doctor. She said stabbing pain, immediately I think APPENDIX, but the pain wasn't in the right spot. She was having shortness of breath and a pain in her ribs on her right hand side. At that point I thought maybe gallbladder because our mother had hers out back in '96 and had trouble with it even in earlier years.

I am the last person who will jump up and go to the doctor on a whim. Unless I think I need antibiotics, I'll get through it on my own. But when it's something like shooting pain in your abdomen I say, get thee to the doctor!

Julibean called her doctor, but he couldn't give her an appointment until noon today, and suggested going to the doc in the box. She goes to the clinic and has a few tests done, and they say, you should go to the emergency room. At this point we all were thinking gallbladder.

After a round of tests at the emergency room, and a day sitting around in pain at the hospital since they didn't give her any pain meds until they knew what was wrong, finally at around 11pm they told her it was appendicitis and they'd have to yank it out of her.

AHA! APPENDIX!

All night all I could think of was the Madeline episode where she has her appendix out and all the other girls want theirs out too. I asked Julianne if she was going to have a funny shaped scar and she said no, they were removing it through her belly button...which really only made me think of mummies having their brains yanked out through their nose.

...I'm sick that way.

APPENDIX!

DPF: Real life?

Sometimes I really wish I lived inside a musical. So things like this would happen:




Thanks Veebs!

I can has interview?

I totally just realized it was Tuesday. Where the hell did Monday go?!

In other news, yesterday (which apparently was Monday!), I applied for a few more positions in Connecticut. Long story short, someone called me back today and I have an interview on Friday.

Huzzah!

Jason is in awe of how fast the turn around on that one was. When he asked me how I did it, I just told him it's 'cause I'm awesome.

Are you awesome?

DPF: Oh no!

I saw this and immediately knew I had to share it:



Thanks to Chris for brightening my day with something I otherwise would never have found on my own!

MM: Totally Making my List

Today's man isn't a real one.

I'll be the first to admit that this is crazy. But listen, it's totally legit even if he's animated, right? RIGHT?

Ashley and I have discussed at length how some cartoon characters are just freak'n attractive as all get out. Apparently she even has a very in depth list she made with her friend years ago that they add men (real and animated - they don't judge) to as the years go by.

We may or may not fight over Dimitri and I may or may not often agree with Ashley over the fact that Robin Hood is the foxiest fox in town (Oodelaly!).

But damn, just watched Tangled for the first time this weekend and hello. Sexiest man ever animated in my opinion. Go ahead, judge me. But don't deny that Flynn Rider is hot!

Maybe it's the floppy hair. Maybe it's the big nose (we know how I love me a good schnoz!), or maybe, just maybe it's that he's just a pleasant type of theif. Whatever it is, I thoroughly enjoy this Tangled character...like woah.

Check out his smolder.

This Just In!

For some reason I woke up at 4am this morning. Couldn't get back to sleep either. So I was away at 4:16am when I got a txt message from my cousin.

A baby is born!

Alexandra, the golden child. 21" 6lbs 15oz.
Best part, she has a freak'n mohawk!

Jaclyn is healthy, baby is healthy. Family is HAPPY.

We went to visit at the hospital this afternoon and oh man, all I can say is this girl is going to get so much love and attention it's not even funny.

Nanny's first great grand child!


Mama holds the newest little addition.


Dave is the happiest new uncle on the block.
I personally think Alexandra has his nose.


I get in some snuggle time.

I have a photo of Jaclyn and the fresh out of the oven baby, but as most new mothers do Jack looks pretty worn out in the photo so I'm not going to post it out of kindness. However, let me be the first to say that Jaclyn looks fantastic for just having squeezed out a little bundle of joy.

I think other than the epic mohawk, that I love the fact she just kept on putting her fists up against her face like, no more close ups, please! It's snuggle time and I want to just sleep in a cocoon.

We're moving!

...I just wish I knew where!!!

I know, I know, I've been a horrible blogger AGAIN. You think I'd learn my lesson by now, but no.

Anyway. It's been very stressful the past week. Yes, amazing things have happened. Jason got a job offer in CT! He also had three other phone interviews, two of which lead to on-site interviews.

So cue to last week when Jason realized his interview on the 11th in Schenectady might be cutting it close if he had to give his answer to CT by the 15th. Mad dash to see if they could bump up the interview, it was a no go but the guy did say since Jason has such a tight deadline he'd let him know the evening of the 11th if he got the job and he'd pressure HR to get right on sending him the offer.

Meanwhile there was a third possible on-site interview in Baton Rouge. Of course since this is the least ideal place to live it is the job Jason wants most. Of course even though I'm not really interested in living in the south I'm behind my manfriend all the way if it's what he wants to do. Of course since it's the job he really wants, they can't seem to get their act together and don't think they could possibly work with the 15th as a deadline. This is still up in the air.

I did some housing research both in the Schenectady area (which of course I already know a lot about housing in the capital region and Laura has moved so many times she knows the ins and outs of apartment complexes in the area) and I also took a look at the areas between Groton and the other major cities in CT.

It'd be killer easy to find a decent and affordable place to live, apartment-style, in the Capital Region. It's a little harder to find an apartment-style place in CT unless you're looking in the areas immediately surrounding a major city...which of course we're not. I haven't found any positions worth applying to in Groton but I have applied to things in New Haven and Hartford, and even Providence, RI. But all the housing between any of those two points is house rentals. We don't need anything more than two bedrooms, we can't afford anything more than two bedrooms, but that seems to be what's available in CT. Obviously the search will continue.

I told Jason my findings and asked him if NY gives him a comparable offer to CT where he would rather work/live. I wanted to know what he wanted. I already know what I want. The Capital Region is already home, we have friends there, we know the area, we're getting married there, it'd be everso convenient! Color me pleasantly surprised when he said he'd probably prefer the NY job if the offer was similar.

Yesssss.

Laura will be so happy to have me back :P

I'm not getting my hopes up. The CT offer is a solid offer and in my mind CT is WAY better than Louisiana any day of the week. (I don't like humidity, and I don't like bugs...so sue me!) I'd be content with Connecticut, I'd be ecstatic with Schenectady though!

We'll know by the end of next week where we'll be moving, and we'll be going apartment hunting next weekend. All I'm going to say is next week can't come fast enough!

It's almost like dancing...

DPF: YAY!

JASON GOT AN OFFER!

COMMENCE THE EPIC DANCING!

Well, maybe don't smack a flag. Old Glory has feelings too.

Hokay so, Jason got an offer for the job in Groton, CT. Which is fabulous and lifts a huge weight off of all of our shoulders, and I can also call Nanny and tell her to stop praying to St. Anthony to help Jason find a job.

He's still going to see if he can move up the interview for the Schenectady job. Just *sigh* I'm so freak'n happy that we can move forward and look for jobs for me and apartments and things and not worry about living out of my bedroom in my parent's house after we get married.

WW: Invitationapalooza

Tonight I print out all the invitations, inserts, and finish addressing the last few invitation envelopes. Then tomorrow all that stuff gets cut down by the wonderful Chris and on Friday I'm headed down to MD to enslave enlist Julibean and her Sasquatch for help assembling. We'll also stop back at Curvaceous Couture to check out the veil I'm totally in love with, so that's another thing I can scratch off my list.

Meanwhile I've ordered snazzy cufflinks for Jason, socks for the groomsmen, and some additional items for the bridesmaids gifts.

m'Dad bought a tuxedo and we're still debating whether or not we'll just tell the fathers to wear black ties or we'll get them blue ties or something special. m'Mama bought a dress but that doesn't mean we're going to stop looking. She's not 100% sold on it and I'm meeting her at a dress shop in our town that's going out of business to try on a few things and possibly catch something on clearance.

I've set a date with the amazing Ashley and creative Courtney to have a paper flower making pow-wow and get the centerpieces done. I cannot even put into words how at ease I'll be once THOSE are done.

Once in the invitations are all set and in the mail I can breathe and work on other things, like, oh, idk making all the bouquets and organizing the rest of my life. Oh yeah, and pack maybe a little? Because even if we don't know where we're moving we're still going to be moving come May.

On a complete tangent:
I've decided to make completely anal RSVPs. I've heard that sometimes when you leave the RSVPs open so the guests write their names in themselves they forget and you have to like, brand the back of the RSVP with a number and correspond that number to a version of your guest list so you know that, Oh it was just Crazy Uncle Jerry who forgot to write his name in, but he's having the Veal.

Or you get people assuming that they can bring dates. No, I will not pay an arm and a leg for your random flavor of the week other who I have never met. And no, you can't just slip that person's name on there and think I won't notice because your name is effing printed in my special scripty font and all official like.

I'm not dealing with any of that bullshit. Each RSVP has the names of the people who are invited. A few have a line to write in a guest's name, but there are less than 6 people who we're extending that option to. We just don't have the room to invite people we don't know. Period.

I've already had some friends ask if they can bring a date. In some cases yes, I know their significant other, and no, I wouldn't mind it if that person tagged along. But I'm not going to sacrifice someone Jason or I actually want at the wedding who got shafted onto the B-List just so you can have a date. Husbands and wives are a different story, I'm not that snide. But unless you're engaged or living with your significant other, I'm sorry, you'll have to wait and see if there's room at the inn.

So hear this friends. I love you all. I love all of your significant others (even if I have yet to meet them, I'm sure they're wonderful people if you've chosen to have them in your life) and I have them on a tertiary list. But please don't get upset if you don't see their name on the RSVP, this whole political undercurrent to wedding invitations is trying enough, I don't want you mad at me too :(

Countdown

Today is T-minus 100 Days until our wedding.

100 Days is a funny thing. We had a 100 Days 'till Graduation party in college. It was epic:

Laura and I with our Pool Boy Ron.

Some of the boys I lived with Freshman year. Chris, Glenn & Jar.
And btw Puppy, you look so funny clean shaven!

Me with my gbf Seth, my favorite shortie Jen, and our friend Aida.

Scary that starting next year I'll have known some of these people for a decade. BAH! We're OLD!

That is all.

It's happening

Dear Julibean,

When we open our bakery we will be making and selling these:


We could do it to support No Shave November or find some legit reason, but it's happening.

That is all.

March Madness

This whole not being home on the weekends...every weekend..?

It's rough.

I'm exhausted. The weekend was wonderful. Although I was too tired to go to dinner Friday night for our anniversary. I felt so horrible, but I couldn't even move. My body felt like lead, it was awful.

The NH Shower was amazing. Like really. My girls are just incredible and Amanda and MamaKoala are party-throwing-machines!

I'm just so tired. I've been too exhausted to do anything. At least I unpacked the car load of presents and organized them and stored them in the basement. At least I wrote out all the thank yous already and all but two are in the mail. At least I unpacked my bag and repacked it for this coming weekend.

Still doesn't mean I don't have three loads of clean laundry to put away when I get home, or a million errands to run this week including getting my taxes done.

Ugh. I want to cry I'm so tired.

No Dancing

Today, dancing would be inappropriate.

Today, pretty much any sort of rejoicing would be inappropriate.

I didn't sleep well last night. I had a horrible nightmare and woke up at 1:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. So I was awake at 3:33 when Jason txted me.

News, Japan, when you get up.

I have a one track mind right now, so my first initial reaction was OMG HE GOT A JOB OFFER IN JAPAN WTF ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH OURSELVES?! But then I realized I was crazy and sleep deprived and I should probably just ask what he was talking about.

Once he relayed that it wasn't anything to do with him and everything to do with a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan I felt relieved and stressed at the same time.

Up until a few months ago we had multiple military friends stationed in Japan. Fortunately those friends are back in the states and as safe as any military personnel stationed here can be.


My heart goes out to all of Japan, and anyone who has family or friends there. It's going to take a long time for them to get back on their feet after this.

For now I'm mostly concerned with flooding on the West Coast of the US, Dan does live near water.

(Image borrowed from CNN)

Half a Decade

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this one says a whole lot more than that:

Happy 5 year Anniversary!
Sharpie hearts Silly

WW: Another Dress Adventure

I'm not going to post any photos on the off chance Chris reads my blog, but Julianne found her wedding dress!

Huzzah!

We started off Saturday morning at Curvaceous Couture. Julianne, Casey, Cynthia and I had been there previously and there were one or two dresses that she really liked and wanted our mother to see.

What's interesting about Curvaceous Couture is it feels like an upscale bridal salon and they treat you like you're the most important person in the store, but they still have that homey family run business feel. Yukia Walker, the owner (who's pregnant - congrats!), is pretty much the illest bridal attendant ever.

She freaked Julianne out a little bit though. Apparently Julibean had mentioned something about her first experience at Curvaceous Couture on her blog and Yukia had not only read it, but taken action. Originally Julianne really wanted to try on a bunch of mermaid style gowns (girl has a nice butt, we like to flaunt it), but CC didn't really have many on hand. So after reading that, she ordered some mermaid style dresses.

I thought it was great that Yukia was so interested in pleasing her customers and catering to whatever need they had. Julianne thought it was weird. This is what the internet is for people! No doubt she's found this post and is reading this right now. (Hey lady!)

Julianne left CC with a few styles written down. I left with a style written down for an incredible veil. But I think I got the wrong style number or designer since I cannot find it ANYWHERE online. It was beyond perfect, white beaded flower (I was planning on making beaded flower bouquets for my bridesmaids so that's an epic awesomeness in coordination right there), with a feather or two, and it was the perfect angled birdcage. My note says it's a Kristina Eaton design but something makes me think it's actually a Sara Gabriel. It just seems more her style.

So if you are reading this Yukia, and you haven't already heard from me by phone, you know the veil I'm talking about? Can we find out what it's called and exactly which designer it is? kthanks.

After that we drove down to Virginia, met up with Becky and Andy, sent Chris off to hit the driving range with Andy, and nabbed Becky to stop in at Curvy Girls Bridal. They're new. Their website isn't fully up yet. But they're pretty fabulous.

The salon is a little bit more over the top than CC is, but they are also family run. They have a bunch of different designers than CC had so there was a little more variety. But they also freaked Julianne out a little. At the time of our appointment there wasn't anyone else in the store, so when Julianne came out of the dressing room for the first time there were like 20 people standing around because they wanted to be a part of it.

The CGB ladies are extremely nice and professional, the place was not as homey as CC but they did in fact have a "man cave" with the TV set to ESPN so any men who got dragged along could have a moment's silence away from all the estrogen. They do need to invest in slightly more stronger clippies. They were using plain plastic oversized clothespins to hold the dresses tighter to get the feel for how it would be in your size. The plastic guys weren't getting it done. They need the industrial metal clips, so that would be my only complaint.

Long story short Julianne found a fabulous La Sposa gown that was the right amount of mermaid and the right amount of ruffles. The price was perfect (hell it's about the same price as my dress and mine has half the fabric), and VA taxes are a far cry cheaper than NY taxes.

One less thing to worry about now that Julianne has found her dress. We'll start looking for bridesmaids dresses within the next month or so.

Overall the ladies at Curvy Girl Bridal were wonderful, but they definitely were not as hilarious as Yukia and the staff at Curvaceous Couture. If you're a plus size or just slightly curvy lady in the Baltimore/DC/N.VA area, I highly recommend going to either place (or both!) to find your wedding dress. They really understand brides who aren't a perfect size six.

...my fingers are kind of itching to try that veil on again...I might have to go back to CC to buy it!

c25k: Week 2, Day 1

For today's workout I didn't do the whole thing. I did more than half of it though. It wasn't because I was tired, because I was really just doing my run to get somewhere.

I ran over to Casey's house and made it there in about 16 minutes. It was only about a mile and I was jogging with a little back pack too.

Felt fine, it was really cold out though and my legs were hurting but I probably could have finished the full work out if I didn't have plans to watch a horrible episode of What Not to Wear and have my hair dyed.

Sum Up:
1 mile in 16:32
on the streets of my town
cold, and with a back pack of stuff

MM: He's so hot right now

If for some reason you forgot. One of my all time favorite movies is Zoolander. It's just so priceless, how could you not LOVE IT?!

Anyway, one of my favorite lines from the movie is right at the beginning when Hansel is talking about people he admires.

I wasn't like every other kid, you know, who dreams about being an astronaut, I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree. Richard Gere's a real hero of mine. Sting. Sting would be another person who's a hero. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that. I care desperately about what I do. Do I know what product I'm selling? No. Do I know what I'm doing today? No. But I'm here, and I'm gonna give it my best shot.

"I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that." QUALITY IN A CAN.

c25k Week 1, Day 3

I didn't actually think she was serious, but Julianne told me she wanted to go for a run with me Saturday morning. I am not really a runner, although I'm trying to become one. Julianne is even further from being a runner than I am.

She was wonderful this week and got to the gym 5 days in a row. That's impressive, I can't even do that. When I woke her up this morning before seven she wanted to hurt me. We got dressed and went out into the misty morning.

For some reason we decided to take our walk/run on the trail in the woods behind their house. About two minutes into the warm up Julianne "remembered how hilly it was"...we're not joking people, it was hilly.

I tried not to think about it. We did pretty well running up and down the little crests and peaks. We hit the main road and Julianne was pretty much done running because her shoes weren't cooperating. She's in the market for a new pair that doesn't let her foot fall out the back.

So I basically continued walk/running and Julianne power walked while I back tracked to her.

Probably the hilight of our run was the following:

An old man called me frisky.

Then he proceeded to tell me to slow down.

All in all, the work out felt good. I have absolutely no idea how far we traveled, but it was a good time.

Countdown

Today is T-minus 120 Days until our wedding.

That is all.

c25k Week 1, Day 2

Yesterday was a momentous occasion. Here's why:

Usually when I go for a run, I go with Casey. We don't necessarily run together since she has a much faster pace than I do and let's face it, is already a runner. But she holds me accountable and makes me get out the door and do it.

Because of a doctor's appointment she couldn't go running with me yesterday. The old Elise would have just given up, lost motivation, and sat around watching Glee with her Dad. Not the new Elise though. On my way home from work I strategized a path I could run from my house to a park and then back around again. I knew it was about a mile but I wasn't sure if running the streets instead of a park would change my pace at all.

I went out and actually got to the park a lot faster than I thought I would and immediately realized if I left the park immediately I would make it home halfway through my workout instead of at the end. I wound up running little random laps in and out of the park and after the 4th running interval (halfway through) I started my path home.

My workout was done roughly 3 houses down from where I live. So I'd say it was a successful distance/time I made up in my head.

I think next time, now that I know I'm walking/running about 1.5-2miles each time I'll head over to the other park that is further away from home. If worse comes to worse I'll have an extra long cool down and have to walk a few blocks outside the workout.

On the upside I didn't really feel nauseated at all this time around and my knee (which was bothering me a bit after my first run the other day) feels fine!

25:13 total time
The loop from my house to the park that I took was ~1.2 miles
The laps I did within and around the park were probably ~.5 mile
~1.7 miles total

Dance Party Friday: Spin it

Yeah. I went there.

After work Mama and I leave to go see Julianne for the weekend. Dress shopping, and hopefully no cat fights.

Thoughts on Being Thorough

Basically until Jaclyn's Baby Shower on the 26th, I am out of town every single weekend in March. Tomorrow afternoon my mother and I leave for Julibean's in MD. Next weekend is my NH Bridal Shower and the weekend after that Jason and I are in Troy for Pre-Cana, a meeting with the florist, and a details meeting with our Event Coordinator at the Hilton.

Since my manager at work is pretty much the coolest guy ever, he doesn't mind if I work an extra half an hour one day to leave a half an hour early on a Friday to get a head start on traffic. He doesn't even mind if I stay an extra hour four days a week to leave at noon on a Friday afternoon. When I have to be somewhere I usually leave the office between noon and two o'clock and make up the hours throughout the week. I get to where I need to be around the time whoever I'm meeting is out of work or in time for dinner.

It's convenient.

I've also become a champ at packing. I think about where I'm going and what I'll be doing and what I'll want to wear. I put aside things up to three weeks in advance and right now I have two different weekend bags sitting in my room. The one for this weekend is already 80% packed and the one for next weekend is about 50% packed.

I realize that sounds a little crazy and it isn't really a habit I picked up from either of my parents. It's just something I do. Apparently my sister does it too. And Jaclyn is the queen of packing. Sometimes her brother asks her to pack his bag for him since she can make it fit in there like magic.

I appreciate the fact that if someone said,

Holy crap! I read this wrong and we have to be at the airport in 30 minutes! We need to leave now!

I might be nervous, but damnit I'd be packed and ready and get to where I needed to go in time. Unlike some other people I know who pack last minute and wind up forgetting pants. Yes this has happened. Yes I'm looking at you Jason and still laugh over the fact you borrowed a pair of my Dad's pants for Easter Dinner.

I don't think I ever realized it, but I can blow outta town like a BAMF. I can have a bag packed, in the car, and get on the road within twenty minutes if I needed to.

BUT, I don't want to have to do that. I don't like stressing out right before a car ride. I like to be relaxed when I get behind the wheel.

My mission tonight it to finish packing my bag, and then get my mother to pack hers so I can pack the car tomorrow morning before I leave for work. That way the only thing I have to do when I get home is corral her into the car and get on the road.

WW: A Week in Review

So Jason came to stay with me Presidents' Week. It was nice. It gave us a little sneak peek as to what it would be like living together. Sort of at least.

Last Friday night Laura swung down and we hung out with Casey and strategized our plan of attack for everything we needed to get done that weekend. Saturday morning Julianne and Chris showed up and while we got our hair cut Chris dropped the 'rents off at the airport for their annual trip down to Florida.

We had a very productive day. Julianne ordered her bridesmaid dress and wound up finding a very cute dress at David's for her wedding that is currently in contention. We searched and searched for silver shoes for Laura for the wedding but could not find any.

Then when Jason got into town we tried a new restaurant for dinner. Julianne and Chris are still looking for a local place to have their rehearsal dinner. The Chophouse was pretty delicious, not gonna lie. We think it's a place that Chris' parents would like and as long as the dinner is timed correctly they won't have to rent out the entire place.

When we got home we popped open a few bottles of wine and got to work. Laura, tape maven, wielded the new tape gun I bought like a champ and got all of the pockets tacked down on the pocketfolds. If anyone is interested, the tape gun is Laura's new best friend. When we did her pocketfolds we literally had to hand cut and tape each one individually. Tedious is a good word for that one.

Julianne folded all of the belly bands and I spent some time gluing down the layers to the monogram piece for the belly bands. Then we got incredibly distracted and wound up watching multiple episodes of Jersey Shore. I'm not proud.

Sunday we all woke up and munched on some delicious banana bread compliments of Queen Bang herself, Julibean. Laura had to leave us because her slave-driver of a company doesn't give her off for President's Day and she has appointments with Jim back at home to look at houses. (Scary that friends are popping out babies and doing things like house hunting!) We glued down all of the belly bands and glued on all of the seals as we watched episodes of Sherlock. BTW if you for some reason get the BBC watch it! It is utterly fabulous on so many different levels. We all LOVE this show now.

Anyway...Then the real fun began.

We took a trip to Mens Wearhouse to register for tuxedos for the groomsmen and Jason. We're flipping through the book together while they're fitting a group ahead of us and Jason drops a bombshell.

He points to the following photo and says,

I was thinking something like this!

For a moment I think he's joking. I look at my sister standing next to me, then back at Jason pointing to the man in the white tuxedo, then back at my sister standing next to me, then back at Jason pointing to the man in the white tuxedo.

It's then that I realize he isn't joking and did in fact truly want to wear a white tuxedo to our wedding.

Now let me add that Jason had mentioned wanted to wear white before. It was always after me explaining that the groomsmen would all be in silver vests but would be wearing different blue ties that match their respective bridesmaid. So I guess since his comment always came after talking about vests and ties that I assumed he meant he wanted to wear a white vest and tie, which was my intent all along.

Jason is a man of few words. I know this. I love him even though he doesn't always communicate the way I'd prefer him to. I'm over it though. Obviously I'm the vociferous one of the pair. We're both pretty comfortable with this most the time. However, when he doesn't communicate properly something like wanting to wear a white tuxedo to our wedding I get a little flabbergasted.

We sat down with the guy, I really can't remember his name but he was fantastic. Really funny and personable, kind of sarcastic in our dry way. Thought us nonchalantly going back and forth about the white tux was really funny. We wound up registering Jason for the same tuxedo as the groomsmen but with the white vest and tie instead of the silver but we have up until two weeks before the wedding to change it if we want.

I am definitely against the white tuxedo. So is my sister, so is my mother, so is my grandma-like friend Marlene over at Priscilla of Boston who we called to find out what color (white or ivory) I ordered my dress in because I'm a very forgetful bride and can't remember.

The only concession I'm willing to make here is a white dinner jacket a la Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom. I'd be all over that. It's sexy, it's eye catching, and it's a compromise that I don't think would look horrible in wedding photos.

My only rule is that whatever color the white dinner jacket is, we have to make sure it matches (close enough) to my dress. I won't be able to get a swatch of my wedding dress until it comes in in April, but we'll see what happens or if Jason winds up in a plain tux.

After tuxedos we went to CozyMel's for lunch (delicious!) which is my new favorite Mexican Restaurant close to home. And then said goodbye to Chris and Julianne so they could head home.

During the week Jason and I printed, punched and stuck all the monograms onto the belly bands. They are now completely done. I'm still conversing with my mother over invitation layouts but I'm hoping to have them printed and cut down by the end of next week. Invitations are almost done! Huzzah!


(Photos borrowed from Mens Wearhouse & The Gentleman.)

Aaaaand We're Back

I know I've said it before, but looking at my calendar and seeing all the crazy numbers this month:

• March 11th is our 5 year anniversary
• March 12th is my first of two bridal showers
• March 20th we have our details meeting
• March 25th is 100 days till the wedding!!!

It's really time to get this show on the road. I am recommitting to the Couch to 5k Challenge and tonight I went on my first run in oh idk, three months?

Basically I found a great new playlist of mp3 podcast whatever you want to call them for the entire work out. I had been listening to a track my friend Kari had put together and she only ever made a mix for the first two weeks. Basically I'm gonna Go Nicole Myself on this one.

The mixes are great and I really like how she used a slower song and a faster song because it gives me a good beat to run to and a decent beat to walk to. Granted I'm still working on my stride so it's a little pathetic to see me at the end of the intervals because I'm starting to drag my feet a little on the run portion, but it can only get better from here.

Week 1: Day 1
Casey is now my butt kicker. I may or may not have mentioned before but sometimes I dream about running. I think it means I'm supposed to be a runner. Getting there however is a bit harder than it should be, so I have enlisted Casey to kick my butt and make me go running with her at least 3 times a week. The girl runs at least 6 times a week so it's not like I'm really making her go out of her way. Add onto that she is working on schoooling for physiology and exercise science and "training" someone is good experience for her.

Let's not forget that this Saturday marks 120 days to the wedding. Yesh! Time to get my jiggly but into gear!

Casey and I went over to a little park in Valley Stream and she basically ran off within about 30 seconds of my warm up walk. It's okay, she offered to totally kick my butt and murder me by making me run with her until I wanted to keel over and die and then get up and do some more. (Not really like that, but she's working on a program with her brother that had him running full miles in two weeks (not too shabby)!) But this was something I wanted to be able to do on my own if Casey wasn't around or available and while I love her encouragement and ass-kickedness it's really something I need to learn how to do on my own. I promised her when I got up to actually running a mile or so then I'd let her kick my butt once a week and we'd do whatever interval, speed, distance, etc. run she wanted.

Onto the recap:
The park is cute. Not huge. I like it. There's a lot of runners, a bunch of walkers, and some peeps playing b-ball. There's even a Public Safety patrol that must have lapped me about two times driving around. All that makes me feel pretty safe.

I ran/walked a little over a mile in about 23 minutes. That includes a 5 minute warm up and a 3 minute cool down. So not awful. Especially since the last time I ran a full mile and had it timed way back in high school I could only do it in 11 minutes. Yeah, I know, I'm awesome.

What was great about this run was I never really felt like I was torturing myself. Sure, I am horribly out of shape and I felt nauseated on the last leg of the run, but I pushed through and felt fine within about 10 minutes after I completed the work out. Other than the slight nauseated feelings during the running intervals toward the end I felt great. I didn't feel like I was dying, which I usually do when running. I didn't feel dehydrated or sore.

This morning I woke up and had a little soreness to my knee, but I think it was just a bit of a hyperextension if anything. I plan on doing a low impact work out tonight, something upper body probably so I don't stress it out any more.

Next run is planned for Thursday. And then I'm hoping I can squeeze one in on Saturday morning in Julianne's complex before we have breakfast and go dress shopping. I've got this people, this time I'm serious.

March = m'bitch

Manjoyment Monday: Mystery Man and Mutt

Dear Sir,
Thank you for proving my point that men can look manly while walking tiny dogs.


Love, Elise

P.S. Your dog is fluffy and adorable.

P.P.S. Your arm veins frighten me.

Oh Dear

Look what just tumbled out...

DPF: Army of Slaves

This weekend lots of things are happening.

1. My parent's are leaving town for a week in Florida.
2. Laura is coming into town for the weekend.
3. Julianne and Chris are coming into town for the long weekend.
4. Jason is coming into town for the week.
5. We're taping down all the pockets in the pocketfolds.
6. We're glue together all the belly bands for the invitations.
7. We're going tux shopping.

So dance it out girlfriend. We got shit to do!

Manjoyment Monday: V-Day edition

Although I'm not militant about it. I am a Batman fan. No Superman here.

In high school I had a friend who equally enjoyed Batman. One day he showed me this Valentine and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. I think about it every year, without fail.

It wasn't exactly the design of the Valentine or the cheesey saying, no, it was the fact that he'd found it on Cap'n's Unfortunate Valentine's Cards and it had the following most amazing caption:

Hello, I'm Batman.

When I was just as child, my parents were murdered right in front of my eyes. I made a solemn vow that day to commit my life to fighting crime. I've sacrificed my childhood and any efforts toward personal enjoyment. My nights are spent in deadly combat with everything from common street thugs to grotesque psychopaths. What little sleep I ever get is usually interrupted by horrible nightmares and my waking up soaked in sweat. I fight a war that can never ben won. I strive toward a goal that can never be reached. I am haunted. I am relentless. I am tortured.

Won't you be my valentine?