In Memory - a reflection

Tonight we went to my Uncle Jimmy's wake. He passed away on Sunday evening. He was my grandmother's baby brother, 17 years younger than she.

Uncle Jimmy was very sick - he always smoked a pipe and as a result he ended up with throat cancer. About 10 years ago, after he was first diagnosed, he lost part of his tongue and jaw to the disease. His wife became his translator to those who weren't around him enough to understand his garbled speech.

For the past six months or so, he has been in and out of the hospital having trouble breathing. Both he and my Aunt Judy were planning on attending my wedding, although he had a feeding tube and wouldn't be able to eat.

Watching his wife today was so unbelievably hard. Now that I have a person that I intend to spend the rest of my life with, it gives you so much more perspective. As a child, I tended to sympathize with the children of the deceased, because that was the connection that I understood and valued. But now that I have more insight into the other side of the relationship, it is much more poignant.

And as awful as it sounds, I enjoyed seeing everyone today. All of my cousins (really my mother's cousins) are older than I am and when I was younger, I was used to having everyone around. But now that everyone is getting older and having their own families and establishing their own traditions, we don't get together as much. Its especially hard because there are so many of us - my grandmother is one of eleven children! So although I wish it could have been under better circumstances, it was good to see these cousins who I only see at family reunions every other year.

So, rest in peace, Uncle Jimmy - may the angels welcome you home.

She works hard...

for the wedding, so hard for it honey! Ok sorry with my spontaneous outbursts....

But seriously - why does "Its YOUR day" translate into "do an obscene amount of work for the next year or so and stress yourself out about everything from your vendors to the cake to making sure that your exact shade of green is used in all aspects of your ceremony and reception"?

I've really been getting a lot done lately and I'm pretty darn proud of myself. Tonight I have a meeting with the photographer at 4:30 and then Kevin and I are *finally* meeting with the priest at 6:30. Thursday I have a meeting with our venue at 4:45. I am so glad that I am doing these meetings. As I mentioned to my photographer, I feel like the biggest slacker bride - I worried about booking all the major vendors and then just basically said "we can worry about details later..." So I guess that later is....well, now!

Of course, I asked my mom about how she liked all the stuff I got done this weekend. Programs? "Eh, they're nice." How about the favors, mom? "I don't like how the ends stick out. And there's no way you could have done this on darker paper?" What do you think of the gift I got for Heather's shower? "You spent too much money."

So I guess there really is no pleasing everybody.

Oh well....


Enjoy it!

Baby you can have whatever you like

SO I had a VERY successful weekend. I didn't get everything on my list done, but I am still really happy with what I did get done. First I went out and did a couple of errands.

The first stop was Joann Fabrics, where I got 4/6 of the votive candles I needed - they came in packages of 24 for $4.99 and I needed 6, but there were only 4 on the shelf and none in the back :(. I also got white and silver gel pens to use with our Wish Jar.

Next stop was right across the street - Babies R Us. Now, don't go getting any ideas - it's for our Best Man's wife. She is having a shower next Sunday and I figured I may as well stop while I am out. I made a baby blanket for them - its lavender, white and baby pink - and I also ordered an adorable little crocheted hat for them. Obviously it a girl! Heather is due 3 days after our wedding so I am hoping that she either goes early or holds out past the 21st because I would (selfishly) like our Best Man to be at the wedding...

Finally (because I was getting frustrated with humanity at this point) I stopped at Target. I picked up a whole ton of stuff, including 2 new pairs of sunglasses (because I lose them ALL THE TIME), a bunch of supplies for my wedding day bag, Crest whitestrips and whitening toothpaste, a new Biore face mask, and a cute little cupcake Valentines Day card to send to my goddaughter Hayden in Florida.

Then it was time to get down to work. I fiddled around on the computer trying to come up with a design for the cover of my program. Then I had to go out and get it copied at my fave place ever - Office Max. Unfortunately my favorite copy lady was not in (and therefore I did not get my lovely little discount). However, the guy that was there was able to help me with a couple things, so I was glad for that.

I had been texting all day with a local girl on The Knot from the message board we both belong to, so we decided to get together for dinner at a place at the mall. So I went home and got my face on and headed out. I met Maureen and her friend Kim outside the restaurant and we had a great time. Dinner was delicious (as were the martinis and the dessert) and I was so glad to have a break from my crafting marathon.

I got home around 10pm and started folding papers for my programs, while watching Father of the Bride (of course). I've always loved this movie, but it is so much more poignant and meaningful watching it from a soon-to-be (emotional) bride's perspective. And I must tell you, I am oh so envious of how Annie and Nina get along. My mother and I have really hit a rocky road where we are just NOT speaking the same language to each other and it has really been taking a toll on our relationship. Hopefully this is something we can get back on track once the frustration of the wedding is over with.

Because it was freezing and I have no idea how to work thenew thermostat, I went up to be after I finished folding. When I got up in the morning, I got right back into it. Almost.

First I made some mini-muffins, you know, for sustenance. And I also got to use my adorable silicone heart shaped pan, so that was a plus. I found a great recipe online that I was really happy with - normally, my muffins turn out very dry, but using the suggestions left by other reviewers, they came out moist and delicious. More on that at a later date.

Then it was on to tackle the programs - I had to cut the designs out first. Then I found the Top Model marathon on Oxygen, tuned in and zoned out while I attached all 125 of them. Which took less than an hour - super fast!

Shower - quick stop at Office Max again for copies of candy bar wrappers, that will also double as escort cards (my fave part about this was because I only needed them cut exactly in half, I could have the guy who worked there do it and it was only $1.09 and saved me at least 2 hours worth of work) - dinner with my grandma and family. My Aunt Sandy helped me (finally) finish off my blanket by showing me how to hide all my lose strings.

Back at home, I brought out the glue and crystals and started working on my bridesmaids gifts - personalized tote bags. I did their initial in crystals and I have to say, I'm really happy with how they turned out. This was definitely a budget project.

And now for the pictures:

This is the cover of the programs. I only did the outside

because I am a slacker and I don't know what readings or musci we are having yet.

This is a close-up. It says:

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale

My candy bar favor/escort card wrappers. They have our monogram and say:

Thank you for sweetening our day. Love and kisses from the Mr. and Mrs.

This is the gift for Heather's baby shower. I got a diaper changing caddy,

complete with diapers, wipes, Boudreaux's Butt Paste, baby powder,

q-tips and one of those things that sucks the boogies outta babies' noses.

Although it looks like a pillow, this is the blanket I made for Baby Autumn.

Its all folded up and lovely, so hopefully Heather will like it

Here's one of the bags I made - K for Kara

2 Ts - Tyler and Tracy


2 Cs for Carolyn and Colleen

And an E for Emily

All in all, I think I did really well this weekend and I hope I can just keep it moving!

**UPDATE - I forgot a few things...I also got in the handkerchiefs I ordered for me, my mom and Kevin's mom, and both my grandmothers. With this came a lovely brooch that I will put on my bouquet. I also ordered a stand for my unity candle and got two white tapers to finish it off. And I ordered little business cards with my contact info to give all my work buddies so we can keep in touch after I move.**

Enjoy it!

Anatomy of a Weekend

Ah the weekend…a gift from the gods as a reward for the feeble toiling we do all week locked in an office and chained to a desk. So why is it that my weekends have not been restful since the time Kevin and I got engaged?? Ah me, at least there are only 29 days left of this madness!! Squeeeee!

So anyhow, here is the big to do list for this weekend:

Friday:
- Make up a mock program and mock favor wrapper so I can go have copies made
- Trace monogram onto aisle runner

Saturday
Purchases:
- Silver and black pens for the Wish Jar
- Flip flops for the bridesmaids (Sizes 6/8/8/9/10/10)
- 130 white unscented votive candles
- Hershey bars for favors/escort cards (approx 240)
- Supplies for Wedding Day Emergency kit ( Tylenol / pepto / clear nail polish / hair spray / bobby pins / safety pins / band aids / Nos / ????)
- CD holders to organize DVDs and reduce the clutter

Make:
- Paint aisle runner (carefully this time!)
- Make copies of monograms for programs and wrappers for favors
- Fold papers for programs
- Mount monograms on lt green paper, attach to outside of programs
- Make crystal monograms for bridesmaid gifts
- Iron on “bride” appliqué for my white tote.

Misc:
- Figure out what pictures to use for the cardbox
- Clean and pack my room (we’ll see how this goes)

I am also *hopefully* getting together with a local knottie, for what I don’t know yet. Wish me luck on getting through all this! Hopefully I will have a good report and plenty of pictures on Monday ; )

Enjoy it

Bachelorette Pictures

Ok, so here are all the pictures from this past weekend....read the previous post for more details!

Here is my sorry behind, sleeping at the bar after a very long day on Friday...

All dolled up on Saturday night

Again

Showing off my ring...which was pretty much the best thing ever.

It was large, in charge and lit up. What more could a girl ask for?

Me and my hetero lifemate, Carolyn - one of my bridesmaids


I <3>


So does Carolyn


And Kelli....

And Meg

Cheers! One more month and Bud's a married woman!


See, we are lovely when we try real hard

Practicing our Cupid Shuffle, for all the music and dancing later...
you have to warm up, you know!

At the Pig - why hello there, drunk eyes.

So nice of you to make an appearance tonight.

I'm sure its not the last we'll see of you...

Eyes OPEN

Meghan has ridiculously long femurs and is always squatting in our pics....very flattering

My fave Fishies

(minus my friend and fave nurse, Kelly, who had to work this weekend)

Carolyn and Meghan

Kelli and Carolyn

Me, riding the bull

Clearly, this is not going well...

AHHHH!!! Get me off this thing!

Yay! Me and Cair again! Love this lady

Apparently my drunk eyes come out when these two are around

Obviously, Kelli lives in a tanning bed, and since my people shun the sun and my grandfather was Casper the friendly ghost, I'm making her look a lot tanner

Me, Carolyn, Meg, Kelli and Julia (who we ran into in the bathroom)

Weekends are my favorite <3

Well then. I have finally returned to my bloggy domain. And boy do I have some stories…. I was trying to hold off on these until I could add in the pictures, but it will just have to wait – I’ve missed you too much!!

So then, this was a big huge super fun weekend for me. It almost makes up for all the torture of the wedding and invitations and nonsense haha.

But seriously…

I took off right after work on Friday and drove up to the apartment to start preparing for my friends. I knew they were meeting in Albany around 4, so I could expect them around 7:30. I wasn’t sure if they would have eaten dinner so I had a lot of munchies to make.

I started right away and boiled some chicken, both for quesadillas (yum!) and also for some chicken wing dip (which I knew I had to make very mild, since they don’t like spicy things…). I dumped grape jelly and chili sauce and turkey meatballs into my crockpot and put it on low. I melted butter and brown sugar to start out my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip. Then I tackled the bathroom.

I scrubbed and scraped, shook out the rugs and put out clean towels. I lit the yummy candle so it didn’t smell like boy in there and rinsed everything off. Kevin has no concept of clean when it comes to the bathroom.

When the girls showed up, everything was ready and we got right down to it – beer and wine in the fridge, snacks on the table and a small country’s worth of belongings strewn about my living room. Kevin would be coming home to quite the sight.

We chatted and caught up and had a few drinks and ate our weight in bad-for-you-but-mmm-so-good snacks. When Kevin came home, he drove us out to the bars and dropped us off. We met up with a couple of friends. At this point, I have been going all day on about 5 hours of sleep, plus mixing a depressant (thanks booze) in resulted in my, snoozing at the bar. I have definitely had finer moments, but this is not so bad.

Kevin came to pick us up….which actually turned out to be unnecessary because Carolyn (one of my bridesmaids) had met up with Rick, the guy she is bringing to the wedding, so he offered to drive us home. So Kevin took me, Meg and Cair went with Rick and Kelli went with Old Man Rick, the gentleman friend she sees in Rochester. He’s a pretty good guy, so that was ok.

Cair and Rick took the air mattress in the living room (which thankfully the kittens took mercy on and decided to spare it from their claws), and Meg had the spare room all to herself.

The next morning, I was up early and then the girls started making noise. Kevin cursed and grumbled, “Don’t your friends ever sleep?” since apparently they had been up pretty late the night before. But we all reconvened in the second bedroom to discuss the night before and all the craziness that had happened (including but not limited to my unconventional napping spot) – I missed this since school. We ALWAYS used to de-brief after a night out.

We headed out for some breakfast and then to the mall. I tried on a smaller size of pants and miraculously – they fit! Of course this may not be the case anymore, after the weekend-o-empty calories, but still…..

We headed home and the girls went out to Party City to buy some supplies. While they were gone, I put my hair up in curlers and laid down to nap for a while – glorious! Napping is a wonderful thing <3

The girls came back and napped too and then the fun began. I made some quesadillas (way to be prepared, Meagan!) for dinner and downed my first energy drink – spare me the lecture, I couldn’t fall asleep at the bar two nights in a row! They brought some delicious margaritas with them, so we all had some of that, took turns getting in the shower and drying hair and putting on makeup. After we were all dolled up, the girls gave me my presents – a flashing sash, a light up bling ring, a “Bride to Be” pin, and a veil! Too funny!

Then we toasted in the evening with some yummy champagne, danced, drank and played a few games until it was late enough to head out. On the road, I drank my second energy drink (I know, I know, I’m rotting my insides). We went to a bar called The Pig and hung out there for a while. We ran into a couple people we knew from college, including one who knew Kevin and was wishing us the best and everything.

We left the Pig and headed over to Daisy Dukes – you know, the country bar. I love it there. And then….I RODE THE BULL! Seriously. After drinking, I dragged my fat ass up and rode the bull. It was so HIGH and SCARY and ridiculous. There is a trick to the bull. You have to be confident enough to do it fast. And I am not. So the guy would just jerk it around real slow, and it just made it even more difficult to hang on. I have been bucked off of these before, but this time I just gracefully…slid off. I had a blast!

After I got off, my legs were shaking and we went to the bathroom where we ran into Julia, a girl we went to college with. It was great to see her and we all went out and did a shot together. Then we headed upstairs from Daisy Dukes to a different bar, where they have music and dancing. Time to shake what our mamas gave us!

We danced for the rest of the night. It was a ton of fun. Old man Rick and his brother mysteriously showed up. Old Man Rick’s brother was hanging on Meg, and kept putting his arm around me and being a creep and I didn’t really enjoy that, but I was the only one who wasn’t dancing with a guy so I guess he didn’t want me to feel left out or something? Whatever, it helped when other guys came dancing up. I was like, um…dude – do you not see the sash and veil? I don’t need weird guys dancing up on me.

Closing time rolled around and Cair got picked up by Rick, Old Man Rick and his brother took Meg and Kelli out and Kevin came to get me. Funny how I always went home alone… Kevin took me out to stop for a garbage plate – which was on the house, due to all my wedding paraphernalia. Also, Kevin ran into the bathroom really quick and another man proposed to me, and the woman he was sitting with volunteered to be my maid of honor. So when Kevin came out of the bathroom, the man asked “Is this the guy?” and the whole place started cheering. It was so fun!

Sunday morning rolled around and we knew it was going to be a lazy day. Carolyn’s car, which she had left on the street, had mysteriously disappeared – it had been TOWED! So we had to go get it out….luckily 1 – it was there and they were open and 2 – it had only been towed and not stolen! She was pretty angry, but I did tell her not to park on the street….

We just hung around all afternoon, relaxing, eating some McDonalds and watching the Top Model marathon on Oxygen….glorious.

I <3 my friends – they are so awesome! I really enjoyed having them there…and guess what?! They are talking about moving back when their lease is up! I could have friends in my new city!!!! AWESOME!

Enjoy it!

Brrrrrr.....

So it is freezing outside. But I forgot to bring a lunch and so I am trekking across the frozen tundra that is downtown, over to my fave little lunch spot for some chili and a sandwich. Yummers. At least the chili should warm me up a bit.

Wish me luck, you know, so I hopefully won't freeze halfway there and collapse into a shivering mess.

Hope you are all staying warm out there in blog-world. Layers are important!!

Enjoy it!