The "Oh, snap. Remember when we got back from our honeymoon A MONTH AGO?" post

Uh, yeah. I don't know how this happened, but somewhere in between flying home, unpacking, going back to work, attempting to catch up on schoolwork (sidebar: this semester? Not my best performance), getting through two-thirds of our thank-you notes, adopting a kitty, changing my name, getting back into the swing of cooking rather than eating out all the time, and gorging myself at Thanksgiving...I sure did not finish my Very Exciting Honeymoon Recap. Sorry. So what you get now? Is just a small explosion of my favorite pictures with a sentence or two thrown in for some extra tastiness.

Leaving Sydney, we headed up to tropical North Queensland-- Cairns and Palm Cove, specifically. While there, we hit the beach (which was about 50 yards from our hotel lobby-- pure bliss)...



trekked, took a gondola, and finally rode a train through the rainforest...







and, knowing that we had to take advantage of the fact that we were so close to such an insanely beautiful natural wonder, went out on the Great Barrier Reef. Our underwater pictures ended up sort of lamely, but! There was tea and cake time on the boat. I died.



and champagne! Or sparkling wine, at least. Whatever, there were bubbles.



And then it was on to Melbourne, complete with my fancy new sunburn (because it is some sort of law that no matter how much high-factor sunblock I slather on, I will be charred, while GP barely dabs it on and he is just fine). I really loved Melbourne because it's so neighborhood-y and really rewards you for just walking around-- there is a lot of cool stuff down some of those alleys! (Including a duty-free shop in Chinatown where I scored a ton of cheeeeeap Jurlique products. Sigh.)

We found our first dinner in Melbourne down one of the alleys-- delicious Chinese, complete with lots of wood paneling. Thanks, Fodors!


The next day, a walk down to the Yarra River that runs through the city.




Then a trip to the Old Melbourne Gaol, where Ned Kelly was hanged. (Note: the Ned Kelly movie with Heath Ledger is free on Hulu! Total win.)


And lo, the walk back to our hotel from the Gaol included a pass by the Victoria State Library! Another win.


We took in a performance of Chicago at a theater down the street from the hotel. I was worried about the accents, but the actors managed well-- is an American accent an easy one to imitate? I wonder...


Our last full day in Australia was occupied with a tour of the Yarra Valley, one of the country's wine-growing regions. (Like we were not going to go wine tasting on this trip. I mean, come on.)


GP tried kangaroo at lunch--turns out it is sort of a cross between beef and venison. (I had the vegetarian entree, a better-than-usual lasagna. You're welcome, animals.)


We ended the day at Chandon-- sort of funny, considering we haven't been to the one up in Napa yet.


Ok, that's the Official Honeymoon Wrap-Up! Now we can move on to more important things, like me complaining about the shipping of all the Christmas gifts I've ordered online, talking about my cat (I can't stop, I'm sorry), and being crazy-excited about the finale of Top Chef (Team Kevin, all the way. Or Jen, I love her, too. Really, anyone but the obnoxious Voltaggio brother.).

Oh, and my birthday is tomorrow. Yay!

The one where we went to Sydney

As you may be able to imagine, this honeymoon recap is going to span several entries. What is slowly dawning on me, however...is that it's likely that Sydney alone demands multiple mentions. Don't worry, though, they'll be picture-filled (we did, after all, take 585 pictures)!

We departed SFO late Tuesday night, and, through the magic of flight and time travel, completely missed out on October 14th. After landing in Sydney and dropping our bags at the hotel, the exploring began! We started with some tea and scones (I knew I could expect great things from a country with The Queen on their money)...

...and proceeded to explore much of the major tourist area in Circular Quay, The Rocks, and the CBD. This included a tour of the Opera House (which we could not stop photographing),

a walk across the Harbour Bridge,

and a short stop at an amusement park (you're welcome, GP).

We arrived back to the hotel to find our room had been prepared with some champagne and a note-- Marriott must have known that alcohol was the way to secure our loyalties.

Our first dinner-- tapas at a Spanish place called El Capitan Torres-- was not as magical as it could have been, because it was then that all the exhaustion of traveling halfway around the world and traipsing all over the city of Sydney caught up with us. As we munched on crispy chorizo and chilled white wine, it was all we could do not to pass right out, sitting there at the table.

However! (And here is the great thing about flying west versus flying east, we discovered.) When we woke up the next morning, we were well-rested and ready to go. Some activities that filled the remaining four days that we had in Sydney included a trip to the Taronga Zoo...

(Those giraffes have no idea how good they have it. Check out those insane city views!) There was also a little wallaby-petting:

(GP maturely pointed out that I was touching the wallaby's butt. What was I supposed to do, buy it dinner first?) Also, a trip out to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, was in order. Apparently "hiking" is a thing people want to do on their honeymoons?

Well, someone should have told me that, because I hiked for miles and miles in flip-flops. Comfortable, lovely flip-flops that drew numerous sideways glances from other (actual) hikers who were trekking along with those ski pole-like things that somehow make what amounts to slow mountain climbing easier (and also double as weapons against whatever terrifying creatures were rustling around in the underbrush). Oh, and might I add that, while there were stairs to help in the climbing of the Three Sisters (pictured above), some of these stairs were over thin air? Not cool, Australia.

But we lived to tell the tale! Coming up next, valuable Australian lessons.

The first of many: remember that time I got married?

I'm trying to get Blogger to let me change my "identity," but it looks as though the best that's going to happen is adding my married-lady Google account as an author to the blog. So don't be confused...there is only one Megan around here, she's just in a weird, between-names place. (What a great excuse to have ADD and just create a new blog, though, right? I've been toying with the idea of naming a new blog "Hot MES," because those are my initials and I am often in ridiculous situations. I feel like it's dumb to call myself "hot," though, so that is a problem. Opinions?)

Anyway, to the task at hand! Since there was very little blogging lead-up to Wedding Day, let me fill you in on some key stuff: the event coordinator at the venue (cute downtown hotel) hadn't proven herself any more useful as time passed, I had a completely disastrous post-alterations fitting in which it was a challenge to get the zipper up (tears, shockingly, did not ensue), and I had completely lost the ability to sleep past, ohhh...5:30am? And yet, as it got closer and closer, I got more and more calm. I was able to tune out the idiocy of the coordinator (and ended up loving the hotel's day-of person), I went on this crazy (and probably pretty unhealthy, though I was still eating) diet and lost enough weight to be comfortable and attractive in my dress (and haven't gained back all the weight since, yay!), and I made the most of my all-the-time wakefulness with a ton and a half of craft projects. I was ready!

We got married on a Sunday, and people started getting into town around Thursday, which made my decision to only work Monday a pretty easy one. Things really started on Friday, when my mom and stepdad threw a wedding-weekend-kickoff cocktail party at their house. It was a lovely evening, and a good reminder to me that, since I wasn't eating much, maybe I shouldn't drink a ton. Unlike an engagement party that my mom and stepdad had thrown for us last August (well, last-last...it was August 2008), my dad wasn't invited-- not to be hurtful or exclusive, but I would say that it's the norm for divorced couples not to invite their exes to parties. This isn't terribly important now, but will become more so later. (Just trust me, ok?)

On Saturday morning, I took my maid of honor and bridesmaids out to breakfast and had scheduled a mass mani/pedi appointment for any in-town ladies who wanted to get together pre-rehearsal dinner-- this included out-of-town people and friends of mine and my mom's, etc. However, when we were on our way to the nail salon, I got a call from the owner, confirming my appointment for Sunday. As in, the day of my wedding. This would not do! Luckily, we all got our nails done and no one was the wiser-- and I think that was my only episode of "bride brain." Thank god. We arrived at the hotel later that afternoon for the rehearsal, during which my dad spotted the very meticulous timeline I'd put together on a bridesmaid's clipboard. Pointing at the entry for the Friday cocktail party, he asked my friend, "See that?" Gulp. "I wasn't invited." Fun, dad, thanks for that.

Saturday night was our rehearsal dinner, a delicious and less-stressful-than-I-feared spread put on by MaGP and PaGP. As the spokesperson for the couple, I got to be the one to give the thank-you speech and kick off the slideshow, a tearjerker complete with Ben Harper soundtrack (seemed more appropriate at the rehearsal than the wedding). I (unlike a certain spouse of mine) wrote all my cards to parents and the soon-to-be in-laws and husband, and finally managed to get some sleep.

Now, I could give you a blow-by-blow of the wedding day, tell you about hanging out in the hair-and-makeup room with the girls, listening to music from Glee to pass the hours and hours before the ceremony, waiting anxiously to do the "first look" photos with GP, and mildly panicking when I was told it was time to go and my fricking dad was nowhere to be found, but all you really want are pictures, right? Well, who am I to deny you? (NB: these are just stolen pictures from Facebook, not the lovely ones that I anticipate from my awesome ninja photographer.)

I had both my dad and stepdad walk me down the aisle.

I surprised myself (and GP, and many others) by not crying my eyes out during the ceremony. Instead, because it was so surreal, I had to stop myself from giggling a little.
Then, what seemed like about 2 minutes later (seriously, our ceremony felt so short!), we were married. Good thing we had practiced that kiss!
What we had not practiced was appropriate hand-holding. Let me explain: by the time we were getting closer to the kissing part of the ceremony, GP had developed a death grip on my hand, and my ring was digging into my left pinky finger. It did not feel awesome. But as the kiss got closer and closer, I knew I couldn't pull back, pause, and go, "Ow! Nice hands, please, sir." So I just went with it. And, not to bombard you with pictures of us kissing (I assure you it was an appropriate kiss), but come on... (and look how happy GP's sister looks!)
With all the kissing and finger-mangling done, we were ready to take our triumphant walk back down the aisle as husband and wife.
I had to pause for a second to collect myself...
(don't judge my double chin! I love this picture despite it)
After the cocktail hour, we had the dad and stepdad toasts (respectively short and blessedly tear-free, and long and sentimental), we ate our delicious meals, had the best mens' and maid of honor's toasts...and at some point got to eat cake. I love this picture because it shows a fraction of the awesome job our florist did.
He also made us some gorgeous centerpieces (there were three styles in all, distributed among our eleven tables). That program, though (and the ninety-nine others just like it)? All me.
Here we are cutting the cake-- less awkward than I feared, and with an Ingrid Michaelson accompaniment-- with our super-sweet photographer all up in our grills (oh yes I did).
When I have the much-anticipated pro pictures, I will share some of my favorites, but for now, I leave you with this: one of the more adorable ones of my brother, who was so sweetly teary the whole day. (And called me the previous Thursday to say that the Jim/Pam Office wedding made him cry because he was thinking of us. That kid!)


Up next: some honeymoon recaps!

NaNo...not even going to attempt

I don't think that the best way to welcome myself back to Blogtown USA after taking a "Hot damn, I'm getting married and going on a big fat honeymoon, y'all!" break for the last month and a half would be to try blogging every single day (witness my previous failure to do this), but I promise you this, blogfriends: you will have the wedding preamble, wedding day stories, and honeymoon recaps by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. Well, I guess I can push it back to my birthday if I'm being realistic. But that's it! December 2 is my self-imposed deadline for getting all. These. Stories. Into writing!

The short version? I got married! It was awesome! Then? We went on our honeymoon. Also awesome! But then, last Friday, we had to come back home, and today...they made me do work. Which is not as awesome as vacation, even though I enjoy my job and coworkers. So at this moment, all I really want to do is play with my duty-free Jurlique products and come closer to finishing My Life In France.

In which I feel like a narcissist

(Which is sort of moot, this being a blog and all.)

Anyway. Last month, my mom and Grandma threw me a gorgeous shower at a local mansion, and asked everyone to wear hats. It was an adorable theme, and I got some sweet gifts. I hadn't blogged about it yet because I was waiting on the pictures from my photographer, who came to shoot us for about an hour. Much to my great delight, he had the pictures ready yesterday-- and here are some of my favorites:

Um, ok. I make this face a lot. I am, probably thanks to (and much to the great chagrin of) my mother, a terrible eye-roller. Like, to the point where she would say, "Don't roll your eyes at me!" When my back was to her. Moms are magic, aren't they? Anyway, now it is something I do to convey strong emotion of any kind. In this case, joy. Or maybe anticipation, who knows.

Between my mom and GP's mom, who made the trip across the country to come to the shower. Bet you can guess who is who!

Seriously, how cute is my Grandma? If you answered, "Quite," then you are correct.

Here, two thirds of my bridal party are seeking shelter under my enormous hat. (Notice that they both wimped out and are wearing fancy headbands.)

The only bouquet I will ever throw, because I think that it's sort of a mean tradition. At the wedding, we'll be giving the "toss" bouquet to the couple in attendance that's been married the longest (might be my aunt and uncle, or maybe even GP's parents!).

Finally, all the ladies together! I am usually sort of "meh" about group photos, because invariably someone is blinking or making a weird face...but this one ended up very nicely, I think.

The Best-Friend Problem

Warning: this post starts mushily, and will end even more so. For the faint of heart, click away now!

Ok, so for the same reason that I do not have a favorite color (I am not nine years old), I do not really have a "best friend." I don't want my friends to think that they have to compete for my affection (because you know there would be fistfights if they did), and each friendship is so different that I wouldn't even know where to begin choosing a "best." A related problem to this is that I am fairly uncomfortable even using the term "best friend"-- I don't describe anyone as such, and can't really bear to say that I am "marrying my best friend." Just like "journey" and "soul mate," "best friend" sort of makes my skin crawl. I can't explain it...and, because we are writing our ceremony with a lot of help from our awesome officiant, I don't have to. What I do have to do, however, is find adequate words to express what we're feeling. Commence brow furrowing!

And then. Last night, amid cheers and agonized cries brought on by the beginning of college football season, GP turns to me and says, "You know how you are trying to find another way to say 'best friend' for the ceremony? What about...constant?" He assured me that he was about 40% joking, and it may have been the combination of beer and cheap riesling responding, but I was instantly won over. Sure, it is a fairly dorky term from a television show. But! People who know it in the context of Lost are likely to smile along, and people that don't know the connection are likely to still "get it" and appreciate the term for its own, non-sci-fi-tv-show-related, meaning. Right? Is this a terrible idea? Because right now, when I look at our ceremony and I look at this clip, I feel like it just...fits.

Ta-da!

Here is The Hair! I just love my hair girl so much-- she offered to do a second trial when I do my highlights later in the month, so I will get to be Dr. Awesomehair one more time before the wedding...

P.S. Thanks for being sympathetic to the Bride-Beast behavior. It definitely made me feel less like a crazy person. :)

Big hairy deal

(Yeesh, the word "hairy" grosses me out more than I thought. But there it is.) In the name of not having such a venomous post up at the top for more than 12 hours, let's talk about The Hair Trial! It's happening this afternoon, and you know there will be pictures...

And if you're sick of wedding things...sorry! There's only about a month left, then we can all breathe a big sigh of relief. I mean, excitement. Nah, I sort of mean relief. Whatever. I can get back to blogging about food and whatever it is I used to talk about.

The bride-beast

So, here is why I am a faux-bitchy bride: we are having an "adults-only" wedding--with the single exception of one of my cousins who is five years old (her two younger siblings will be hangin' with the babysitter on Wedding Night). I thought we would be able to avoid the ol' Surprise Additional Guest trick by addressing invitations only to those people we were inviting to the wedding, but there were of course a few add-on boyfriends and plus-ones. (For what it's worth, the add-ons were all people that we've met, and there are only two of them, so I feel ok about them coming.)

Enter the friends of GP who have one-year-old twins. They live on the other side of the country, they have "misplaced" the invitation that we sent to them (which, p.s., was addressed only to them), and emailed GP to let him know that they were "planning on bringing the girls so that everyone could ooh and aah over them." CUE THE TEARING OUT OF HAIR. First, we aren't having more than this one child at our wedding. Second, we didn't invite your-- surely delightful, but who can say for sure-- kids. Third, (and this is where I sound like the crazy bitch that I usually am not) we are not having our wedding for people to be able to gasp over how adooooorable your kids are. Believe it or not, we're having a wedding so that we can publicly display the promises we will make that day. Not so that we can meet your fricking kids.

I hate being in the position of Bitchy Bride Who Clearly Hates Your Kids and Only Wants Her Wedding to Be About Her (or BBWCHYKOWHWBAH, if you want to be brief about it), and I hate that there is no "nice" way to resolve this. GP drafted an email telling them that we aren't planning on having any super-young kids at the wedding and would gladly help them find a babysitter, so we'll see what happens. I'm sure these friends are nice and all, but I'm worried that all I'll be able to think when I meet them is, "Oh, nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Entitled Parents. You are so, so ridiculous."

/end rant. Feel free to call me a bitch.

Let's accessorize, shall we?

Now that we are within two months of the wedding (seriously, less than fifty days...let's freak out for a minute about that), just about all the Big Decisions are made. We have a lovely venue (with two coordinators whose heads I want to just knock together sometimes, they are so frustrating), an officiant, a florist, a (super-ninja) photographer, a DJ, clothing, attendants, the whole shebang. Since I have decided that I do not want to be making decisions about the wedding past, say, mid-September, we've begun planning some details. You'll be happy to know (you will, won't you?) that we have decided upon a first-dance song (point, Buble!), the ceremony is in a nearly-completed state, bridesmaid and maid-of-honor gifts have been purchased, and, oh yes, there are shoes!

And then, on a recent shopping trip to the Stanford Shopping Center (likely my new favorite mall, luckily--for my AmEx bill--too far away to visit regularly), mom bought these for me:

Cue a teary exit from Bloomingdales-- it seems so real when we're thinking of things like earrings, rather than, "What might be a good month for the wedding?" and "The dress-- white or ivory?"

Finally, and most excitingly (that's a word, right?), The Precious has a new friend:

They look cozy together, don't they. I'm not gonna lie, GP and I have been "practicing" wearing our rings. We sit around the living room and he says, "Look at me...I'm a married dude." My future husband, ladies and gentlemen...

Soundtrack

With exactly two months until Wedding Day, we have yet to choose a first dance song. While GP is not in most ways a "music person," he does have the occasional opinion, and I am all about the music and lyrics. This does not mean, however, that either of us has any idea what song will be the soundtrack to our first official husband-and-wife dance. I've been mulling this over for months and months...and here are the finalists, in no particular order:

Forever and a Day (Always) - Jewel
I Only Have Eyes for You - Jamie Cullum
You Are the Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne
God Only Knows - Joss Stone
All the Things You Are - Ella Fitzgerald
It Had to Be You - Harry Connick, Jr.
L-O-V-E - Joss Stone
Never Had Nobody But You - M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel
Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley
I Will - The Beatles
Your Song - Elton John
To Be Alone With You - Sufjan Stevens
Everything - Michael Buble
They Bring Me to You - Joshua Radin
Everyday - Vetiver
Melt With You - Nouvelle Vague
Nobody Knows Me - Lyle Lovett
Question - Old 97's
Real Love - Regina Spektor

Thoughts? Suggestions? Also, don't be bitchily judge-y. Now is not the time.

Divorce, marriage...and tv

I was twelve-- nearly thirteen-- when my parents divorced. When they sat down with me and my brother on the deck of our house, whatever warm late-summer evening it might have been, telling us that they had decided to end their marriage after seventeen years, I was not surprised. More than anything, I was relieved. I'm sure there was a time when my parents liked each other, probably even loved each other, but that time had since passed, and now my dad had taken to sleeping on the couch. It was upsetting to watch them constantly be at each others' throats, and worse yet that the arguments managed to continue even after they weren't even in the same place-- there was a lot of under-the-breath commenting in the laundry room, in the car on the way to school, as one watered the lawn and the other, each just wanting out.

I write these things, of course, from the perspective of someone who has lived roughly half of her life with divorced parents. And I will repeat-- I was relieved. I knew, even then, that the marriage wasn't making either of them happy, and that it was beyond the point of being salvaged. I was relieved then and feel pretty lucky now that everything that followed went the way it did: my dad moved out, but never missed an opportunity to be around for me and my brother; my mom eventually remarried a man who makes her happy and truly cares about us, all of us, as a family; my once-broken and now reformed (mutated?) family that includes me, my mom, my dad, my stepdad, my brother, and a stepsister, regularly splits holidays and attends special events together, with no ruffled feathers or raised voices. I am incredibly lucky.

As GP and I move closer and closer to our wedding date, I am thinking more and more about the ideas I was presented about love and marriage growing up: love is a leap of faith, and marriage requires constant attention and nurturing. We are not religious people, GP and I, but we believe in love as if it were a prayer, an altar, a relic. I am not daunted by what my parents went through-- I am hopeful that I have learned the lessons available to me on both what to do and what not to do. I will be the wife that I want and need to be...minus the occasional disagreement over taking out the trash (boy chore!) or washing the dishes as a team (just leave me alone, it gets done faster that way!).
_________________________________________________________________

And yes, of course I have to comment on the media-saturated divorce of Jon and Kate (of "Plus Eight" fame). I became a fan within the last year, but loved to watch all! those! cute! kids! Also, sometimes Kate would remind me of my mom, all Type-A and whatnot. It was easy to see how their marriage would be challenging-- twins before even a couple years of marriage, and eight children before either of them was thirty would be enough to drive any couple apart. It was hard to watch last night's "special announcement" (which-- come on, there is the internet now, how are we possibly going to be surprised by this news?) episode because, in separate interviews, neither of them took any of the responsibility. "I'm here for the kids," each said. And me? Well, Jon and Kate, I am here to call bullshit. I would have loved to have seen them at least attempt to talk about their problems together (hey, like grownups!), and am sort of dreading the episode when they tell the kids about it (you know it's coming! It's going to be awful!). Did you watch? What did you think?

Please don't make our names rhyme

May, we hardly knew ye. GP and I agreed at the beginning of May that we had both written the entire month off, due to the planned-since-the-moment-we-were-back-on-American-soil engagement party that his parents were throwing us in New York. The thinking was that, since the bulk of his extended family and all of his parents' colleagues and friends live out there, it would be best to have something near them if we didn't want to end up having a Big Fat Armenian/Italian Wedding (hint: we didn't. Don't. Whatever.) And so it came to be, that when anyone asked us to do anything in May, the idea was almost immediately rejected-- this is how absolutely looming this party was.

And...yes, it totally lived up to our expectations. Because GP's mom can throw a party like nobody's business, it was lovely. Because I had been threatening the weather gods with my unending fury if there was a thunderstorm during our outdoor photo shoot, the weather was sunny, even if the air was full of what I think was tree sperm (in the form of cute little puffs, but still). Because we are fortunate enough to have people that care about us, we had a complete blast. It feels like we had a good practice run for the wedding-- minus ceremony and most of the toasts and dancing (no first dance, no parent dances, etc)-- and now I have some idea what people are talking about when they talk about it going so fast.

We're still awaiting the official pictures (yes, there are those-- and a video. What the hell), and so far the only unofficial pictures are of the most mortifying moment of the whole party (and not a portion of Wedding Day that I am looking forward to)...the cake cutting. Someone explain to me why cutting cake feels so awkward, please!

Now it feels like the wedding is coming up so fast! My dress is here, invitations are ordered, and mom has been put on flower duty (turns out I care very, very little about that aspect of the wedding). Four months and two days...is it honeymoon time yet?

P.S. Re: post title. For some reason, it is very tempting for wedding/engagement party guests to use shortened versions of our names because they rhyme. This is fine for GP-- that's what most people call him, anyway-- but it is awkward for me because no one calls me that, and it happens to be the name of his most recent ex. So...enough with the rhymes, people.

Frustration Friday

Fair warning: if you don't want to hear about my wedding problems-that-might-not-be/seem-like-real-problems, you're welcome to skip today's post. I am feeling like Crazy Wedding Lady today, which is extra upsetting because I have been working pretty hard not to be her. At the very least, it's tiring.

Wedding "problem" the first: The Tasting.
The menu that we have chosen for the wedding is what qualifies as "mid-range" at our venue, with passed appetizers during our champagne cocktail hour, whatever salad we end up choosing, four entree choices, and a cake. I love that the cake is included, and it was pretty easy to select what we wanted. I am happy that we will have passed appetizers, so that people can mingle while the reception is being set up (in the same space as our ceremony, so we'll see how that goes). As our date creeps ever closer (163 days, what the hell), I thought it would be a good idea to try to set up a tasting, so I emailed the "new" catering director (the old one had retired, unexpectedly. Maybe there was some sort of catering coup?) to see what we needed to do. She replied to my email, telling me that a tasting could be arranged for two people (rather than the at-least-three that we will need), and that these two people could taste two appetizers and two entrees. Now, I am not a math whiz...but that is half of our total entrees. We are not paying $85 a head for me to have tasted half of the fricking food. When I brought this up in a recent in-person meeting, she said they would "see what they can do." I hope that "what they can do" is let us sample the food we're paying for...or someone is going to get slapped.

Wedding "problem" the second: The Room Block
I was excited to plan the wedding in a hotel, not just because this particular hotel is cool, all historic and art-deco-y, but also for the major convenience factor. Just imagine-- our out-of-town people might not even have to get cars! Ceremony, reception, brunch...all at the same place! How exciting. My stepfather, being an excellent haggler, looked into the rates for blocks of rooms at the hotel back in January, and was quoted two fairly decent prices, one that included breakfast and one that did not. When I inquired a few days ago about the prices (not knowing that StepDan had already asked), I was quoted prices that were...higher. Not astronomical, but...higher. I was also told that all of our guests would have to be at the same rate-- that is, we would have to decide whether all of them would be required to pay the rate that included breakfast, or have to pay $14 per person extra for the breakfast. Now, I have never worked in a hotel, so maybe this is more complicated than I think...but how hard is it to allow people to pay two different rates, that allow for different amenities? I'm sure that regular guests do this all the time, right?

Overarching wedding "problem": Am I a Crazy Person?
My biggest issue (or, if you are as Completely Over Planning Your Wedding as I am, and just want to Be Married and Go On a Honeymoon) is that this woman is in charge of basically my entire wedding day. Sure, we are hiring hair and makeup people, a photographer, a dj/pianist, and a florist, but at the end of the day, she is the Boss of the Space. She could be licking my cake, or cutting off my pigtails while I'm taking a spelling test, or whatever other evil things her mind might come up with. I have worked in customer service, so I get that there is likely a good deal of annoyance with Certain Customers. But I'm trying really hard not to be Certain Customers! I need some consistency, and reasonable accommodation with regard to preliminary wedding stuff. Jebus lady, just let me taste all my food and not charge my flying-across-the-country-in-a-shit-economy guests eleventy billion dollars to eat a breakfast they don't want. Is it possible to assertively ask for the things that I think I reasonably deserve without being seen as Crazy Bitch Bride?

I know you have opinions, internets...lay them on me.

What I am doing today

Sending out about 80 of these puppies...



I guess this means we have to get married now, right?

Win/lose

Win: My mood has been fantastic recently, probably because I've been working out regularly. Weird, right? Thanks, endorphins!

Lose: I am convinced that I have some sort of specific social anxiety that rears its head only in my Issues in Academic Libraries class. It might be the combination of "I have no idea what I'm talking about," a professor who is formidable and intimidating, and a few classmates who really, really like to talk. This week will be our third meeting, and I am determined to say something other than "here."

Win: I tried on dresses for the first time with my mom a couple weekends ago, and it turns out I am not a plus-size bride. (They don't vanity-size wedding dresses, folks!) The two dresses that I liked the best were this one and this one (sans flower).

Lose: The dress trying-on expedition for this past weekend was thwarted by a dental emergency that my mom had. Also, I have few local friends who are readily available for such tasks...so I stayed home and watched America's Best Dance Crew at the gym. Not a total wash.

Win: I found a DJ who is also a pianist! And is not crazy-expensive! That means that I may only have to pay and feed one vendor for a couple services. Yay!

Lose: I have realized I would much rather be planning my wedding than doing schoolwork of any kind. This had led to massive amounts of procrastination and stress. Turns out grad school is just allowing me to continue the habits I developed as an undergrad...but if it wasn't constantly rewarded with good grades, I'd stop! Seriously. Life is hard.

Win: My weekend ended really well-- first, I attended Wedding University with my best friend/MoH, then met up with another friend for some PF Chang's. Wedding University is much more fun than graduate school, but I don't know that it will improve my job prospects.

Lose: I have a terrible assignment that is due tonight by 11:59. I have no idea how to go about starting it. Whoops.

As promised

Los fill-ins del viernes!

1. I'd really like to have both the will and physical strength to complete the first level of the 30 Day Shred without wanting to die right now.

2. "Whyyyyyy???" is the word you'd most often hear me say if I stubbed my toe. I like to be as dramatic as possible, as often as possible.

3. Possession is a pretty great book, but only an okay movie. Hello, it's about English scholars! Totally a dream come true. Also, Aaron Eckhart. Delicious.

4. I'd like to have a drink with Captain Jack Sparrow. After that, I am not responsible for what happens.

5. Marshmallows and fire go together like...peanut butter and jelly? Man, now I totally want a roasted marshmallow. And some sort of fire. Can one roast a marshmallow over a candle?

6. If you get me talking about cooking, I could go on and on. I feel like I know just enough to be knowledgeable, but am still insecure enough about my skills not to be a jerk about it. Don't worry, though, I manage to be a jerk about other things.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having a couple days off to hang out with the friends and loved ones. Tomorrow my plans include a cake tasting at our wedding place with GP, trying on dresses with my mom (is this a terrible idea, following cake tasting with dress-trying-on?), and Sunday, I want to be satisfied with a normal portion of chili and (light!) beer at our Super Bowl/Puppy Bowl party!

What I think of Prop 8 passing

My sheer elation about Obama (yes, I am still glued to news programs so that they will continually reassure me that it actually did happen) is tempered by the seething rage I feel about California passing Prop 8 last Tuesday. Granted, there was a lot of money spent on both sides (and I don't know enough to form an opinion of the funders), and the margin was the smallest it's ever been in a vote on this issue...but I feel so let down by my reliably blue state. I know that I'm in a blue bubble here in the Bay Area, and have been raised with values of acceptance and love for everyone that others simply weren't...it is truly unfathomable to me, that anyone thinks that we can, in the 21st century, ban any two consenting adults from marriage. Inspired by Renee and The Modern Matriarch, I had to take this picture:



(Yes, I am aware that this makes my hand look beefy.) I am so fortunate that no one will question my impending marriage, that no one is scared that their kids will learn about me in school. (God forbid! Oh, and parents? Someday your kids will learn about homosexuality, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.) I don't believe the struggle for equal marriage is over, and I will fight until it is, and everyone's love is considered legal and legitimate.

Friday fill-ins are baaaack

Now I only have to put actual effort into entertaining y'all six times a week. I'm tearing myself away from a dvr-ed NBC Nightly News to present to you...Friday Fill-ins! Get in on the action!

1. My blueprint for success includes finishing library school in a reasonable amount of time and finding a job that is both fulfilling and better-paying than my last full-time job. (I'd like to think that I have more earning power post-master's degree, right?) Besides that, I am excited for my now-less-than-a-year-away wedding and all that will follow it!
2. A mini Crunch bar was the last candy I ate. Damn you, Halloween!
3. The best facial moisturizer I've ever used is this Pond's one that I found on a recent Rite-Aid jaunt. The packaging is mostly in Spanish, which is fine for my bilingual self, and a little internets-research told me that there is some awesome "science" behind this overwhelmingly baby-powder-smelling lotion! (Not my favorite frangrance, btw, but I'm willing to deal.
4. Cooking can be good therapy.
5. I'd like to tell you about all the competing color schemes that I have floating around in my head for the wedding. But I won't, because even I am bored by wedding stuff, most of the time.
6. My willingness (nay, compulsion!) to be truthful with everyone (sometimes much to my detriment) is my strongest characteristic.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching this weeks episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, and Grey's, tomorrow my plans include a presentation/class meeting in the morning, work in the afternoon, and a wine/cheese party in the evening, and Sunday, I want to visit another potential wedding place with my mom. So begins the process...

FAIL.

Yep, I managed less than a week of consisted NaBloPoMo. However, I am planning a double-post Friday to make up for it! Seeing as there is no governing body for this "everyone write, every day!" month, I am not afraid of much censure, so let's just move on. I'm sure all eleven of my readers will forgive (right?).

Today is an unofficial day off, as there is no work-work to be done, but a ton of school and a bit of wedding stuff to do. That means I got to sleep in (until 8! Nice!), and watch multiple episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8...before beginning my prep for a presentation I have to give tomorrow on blogs. Yes, blogs. Specifically, blogs about/by libraries/librarians, which will be a scintillating 7 minutes in Elluminate. Yay, Powerpoint (picture the Michael Scott emphatic pointing here)! Later, my mom and I will check out the house that is a potential wedding venue-- it's in Morgan Hill, and is the home of my former boss's mom and stepdad. GP and I have been there before, but I have to run it by the benefactors before we finally have a venue decision made (this is the other current front runner-- any feedback?).