August 31st, 2010
Before I tell you a story of exaggerated and inappropriate behavior that will make you roll your eyes and say, “This woman is out of her MIND!” I would like to say thank you to everyone for your kind words. The funeral services we attended on Saturday might have been the most uplifting of experiences possible for such a sad time. When someone so beloved and so gifted at making other people feel wanted and important passes, paying tribute to their memory is really life affirming. Makes you want to be a better person. Can anyone really ever say anything more flattering about you than, You make me want to be a better person? I doubt it.
I would also like to say: you absolutely adorable poppets who sent us presents! The registry doesn’t give me your address and thus, I am not able to fill out these here thank you notes that I have with your names on them. You should, then, send me your address at thisfish at gmail dot com so as not to cause me excruciating etiquette distress. DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN!
Never mind. Addresses found. Thunder lost. Ah, well.
August 25th, 2010
I’m sorry that things are a little less wordy around here this week. The Dork Lord’s best friend lost his mother very suddenly on Monday morning. The news has been absolutely devastating and totally incomprehensible and all we can do is keep the fridge full of casseroles and beer and imagine what we would do if it happened to us.
Saturday night, the Boy’s family threw us the most wonderful, intimate engagement dinner at his parents home. I wish you could have seen just how amazing every little detail was. Sunflowers and potted basil, burlap laid over the table linens to make it look like a charmed, rustic osteria, our names and wedding date on tiny bottles of olive oil. The theme of the wedding is “la dolce vita” (I went D-I-Y with the wedding website, as well) and if our reception turns out anything like that dinner, it will be everything I could hope for. Food, laughter and love.
I’m a little overwhelmed that two experiences can be in such diametric opposition to each other, and at the very same time, be so similar in how they magnify my appreciation of even the smallest joys. A poignant lesson from the Universe, for sure.
August 20th, 2010
Remember when Issac Mizrahi was designing for Target? Yeah, pretty much from now until my first hip replacement surgery (or first Life Alert purchase, whichever comes first) when I refer to the “good old days,” that’s what I’ll be referring to.
Ok, ladies, here’s the (partial) outcome of the great make up chase of 2010. My face has officially said No, thank you to mineral make up. Disastrous. No amount of moisturizer made up for the drying it caused. However, my face is currently loving Nars blush in Orgasm – I absolutely love it. So fresh and pretty. Also, Lorac powder. Glorious!
Because of priority-realignments, I don’t really *do* this anymore. You know, buy things for the strict purpose of prettying – things you can’t find on sale at Target or CVS. But my Pops sent me birthday money and I made myself promise I wouldn’t use it for anything practical. Promise kept! Today’s after work adventure involves choosing the right shade of Makeup Forever HD and a berry-ish but neutral lip color. From everything I gathered from your wise words, MAC will be my go-to. You realize this involves going into the mall, though, right? That’s like the Lion’s Den for me and my commitment to practical money managing. Hmmm. I wonder where I can borrow a set of horse blinders…
August 18th, 2010
Hooboy, this wedding sure got D-I-Y in a hurry! Which, strangely, also means it suddenly got a whole lot more fun.
Today I am letting the potential caterers know that we’ve decided to go in another direction – the direction in which no one will take advantage of us. See, my brother is a very gifted hobbyist chef. My mother and youngest sister also have The Gift. Sister Number Two (there are three of them, if you’re new to my circus) gently pointed out that with all this talent – and so much willingness to put it to use – I was just being silly indulging these catering companies in their cat and mouse games.
Does doing the food by ourselves take a whole lot more planning and coordination? Why, yes, yes it does. But guess what? I don’t have to do it! Sister Number Two has volunteered her services as Logistics Director. This involves many spreadsheets, a big, fat notebook and loads of research and scheduling – all to her delight. Turns out, she really wanted to go the Do-it-Yourself route for her own wedding this year and got vetoed. The Hunter-Griffith Wedding will be her take two and she will kick some serious ass at it.
Jessalyn, of The Shoestring Bride, will be on hand for coordination on the day of the wedding so that no family members will be involved in back-of-house activities during the event. Period. Time will tell, but this might just be the smartest decision I ever make in my whole life.
Sister Number Three, Director of Photography, and my friend Eleanor have graciously committed to preserving the day in various digital formats. I don’t know how I feel about those newfangled HD camcorders but hey, we’re doing this for posterity.
Sister Number One, who will also be serving as Maid of Honor, has been assigned no tasks yet (aside from, you know, picking a dress). But now that I’ve decided not to let the disgustingly bloated wedding industry have a pound of my flesh, she’s probably going to find herself with some floral wire, a yard of ribbon and dozens of Whole Foods’ finest blooms.
All I have to do is make suggestions, nod and smile as others make the final decisions, and manage the budget. And you know how I love a good budget (it’s like built-in shelving for your dollars). Did I mention it’s a whole lot more fun this way? Because it is.
August 16th, 2010
I promise not to turn this into a wedding planning blog (because one, unless you’re also getting married and going through this circus, you’ll get really tired of me really fast and two, I don’t even like talking about this stuff) but I have to tell you that I got a quote for catering and what. the. hell. Perhaps my grasp on reality is a bit tenuous but there is something that seems so wrong about paying three dollars for one stuffed mushroom. Oh, hey, would you like a tiny wafer with a bit of beef on top? That and a meatball on a toothpick will cost you six bucks.
By wrong, I mean it seems irresponsible and you know, fundamentally icky.
Believe me, I am all for paying people for their gumption and talents. But I’ve already said no way, no how to a photographer (neither the groom nor I even kind of LIKE standing for photos and what’s more, I have never, ever heard a bride say, “God, I’m so glad we took so many damn pictures.That was the best money ever spent!”) because I can’t fathom how anyone really believes that two hours of their time is worth eighteen hundred dollars unless they’re performing some kind of life-saving surgery. Wedding photography and kidney transplants all rolled into one!
I can’t do this.
Addendum: Ha! I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned the photography. The groom and I are agreed. We will not be spending money on a professional photographer and that’s that. We don’t like standing for posed photos and will only do a few of the families to appease said families. We’re all for candids and my siblings are excellent at that. So. I’m afraid I’m unmovable on the point.
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