The Wedding Week - Part II

THE WEDDING DAY!

I LOVE the fact that we had a DIY wedding. I love that so much of the wedding was US. I love that we kept within a pretty small budget. One thing no one tells you about having a DIY wedding in your in-laws' yard (other than hire a florist) is that you can't still be running around pulling the pieces together 2 hours beforehand, because the photographer will be telling you to get dressed, and then you can't be seen by your soon-to-be-husband, who's still sweaty and running around doing last minute things. So, you're locked in the bedroom for the rest of the time before the wedding. That is where the AMAZING friends & family come into action. They ran in, they ran out, they asked me questions, they referred to The Binder (capitalized as it was the wedding bible for the day), they made creative and ingenious choices all on their own. Annike fixed my hair (the stylist I paid did not do a good job). Thank goodness I didn't make anyone be a bridesmaid in the traditional sense, or they'd have been busy getting themselves ready! ;)

I also have to give huge props to my in-laws for working so hard to get the yard and house in tip-top shape before the wedding.

And then, there was the weather. It rained all night before the wedding. It rained all morning the day of the wedding. It rained and rained and rained. And then... it cleared. The sun came out, and the tables were dried. The wind knocked over all of the centerpieces, so the tablecloths were damp, but the ceremony was sunny and gorgeous. Afterwards, we ran off to do some pictures. While we were shooting, the wind picked up. The clouds rolled in. The caterer insisted the party be moved to the tent. All of our guests picked up their tables and picked up their chairs and marched into the tent. The DJ moved inside. The kegs were moved inside. The friends grabbed the paper lanterns and hung them in the tent for additional lighting. It was beautiful. Dinner was warm and intimate. The clouds blew past without a drop, which meant we had the perfect area for the after-dinner party and dancing!

Okay, now I'm just going to show you some of the pictures. They speak to the day much better than I can.

Next up - the PARTY!!



*Photos by Lauren Pauline, Jessica & Kara

The Wedding Week - Part I

**This is so ridiculously overdue... sorry! I was hoping to gather some more pictures, but never fear, the day of and day after have way more pictures! I think enough time has passed that I can truly appreciate how everything worked out. **



Oh, the wedding week. It had its ups and its downs (although few). I was SO SO SO blessed to have so many friends and family around willing to jump in and help. And a mother-in-law who always made sure I had a full glass of wine in my hand. :)


We got to Florida at 1am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. On Wednesday, Nick and his brother started stringing the lights in the trees. Nick's dad finished our aisle & altar. Mandi, Nick's sister flew in from Iowa. We went and got the marriage license.

Thursday came and we continued doing lights. We met with the caterer, we picked up tables, we ran to the grocery store, we planted ferns, we went to the site of the Rehearsal party to check it out and decorate. FedEx came around 12:30 pm with 13 boxes of flowers. That's right THIRTEEN boxes of flowers! I had never seen so many freggin flowers in my entire life. Never one to underestimate how many flowers I should have, 2 more boxes of flowers arrived on Friday (Thank you Mom!) The rest of Thursday was spent getting the flowers into buckets with FloraLife. Apparently the flowers have to be cut underwater... So, my mom, my stepfather & I sat on the back porch until after dark cutting flowers underwater. I was a soppy mess by dinnertime. We had amazing turkey burgers that my awesome in-laws made.

That brings us to Friday. Oh. Lovely. Friday. The day before the day of. Friday was supposed to be a good day. And I guess, all in all, it was. The tent (which I swore I didn't want, and ended up working out anyway), the chairs, and the bathrooms were delivered. The house and yard was FULL of people. The remaining bits of garden were mulched. Silk flowers were put in along the fence. The tent was strung with lights. The bathrooms were delivered and decorated. The pears had their hangtags tied on. The day was crazy. Needless to say, I was pulled in a thousand different directions, and had a ton of family and friends working away. And when I had a moment to take a breath, my 15 year old brother was walking around the yard playing a bagpipe with a herd of children dancing along behind him. It was very surreal - maybe I had just drank too much wine...

Flowers. Oh my god. Those friggin' flowers. My mom, along with Nick's aunt and a variety of other people were supposed to do flower arrangements. That really didn't work out... My dear friend Annike and I ended up busted out some mason jars and clippers and got to work. We had NO IDEA what we were doing, but in the end, the flowers couldn't help but look nice. Nick's Aunt helped with the centerpieces & bouquets (we had made small nosegays for the women in the family, but I don't think they ever got handed out...), and my mom did the boutonnieres. We had a gazillion different colors of roses & spray roses (my favorite were the peach English garden roses), calla lilies in 5 shades, anemones, tulips, lizianthus, magnolia leaves, eucalyptus, and olive branches. DIY is great, but I have decided that playing your own florist on the day before your wedding, with only a few hours to work with is a bad idea...

Then our officiant, and dear friend MZ showed up and we got to rehearsing. Nick and I had bought Sonny's BBQ, so everyone who had been working all day could chow down. Most everyone left once they were done eating to go get cleaned up for the rehearsal (supposed to be a pool, but it got moved inside) party. We still had some stragglers hanging out until they were ready to go over to the party, so I ended up not getting a shower, and throwing on my dress and some makeup. I painted my toenails on the 3 minute drive to the hotel (no worries - I wasn't driving).

The rehearsal party ended up being wonderful. It was more of a "welcome to town"/meet & greet party than a rehearsal party, but "rehearsal party" gives one the right idea. It was supposed to be a pool party, but it was kind of cold and drizzly, so the hotel gave us a private party room, which was pretty cool. We got to see all of our friends and family that had come into town for the wedding, and all of the in-town friends and family we hadn't yet seen since getting to town. This was the first opportunity I really got to hang out with my sister and nieces. I miss them so much, and it was so awesome they were able to drive down from Tennessee.

Posing with Jessica

The shuttle launch was that night, so we all went outside to watch from the parking lot. It was better than fireworks, and added a magical feel to the whole evening. (Fast forward the video to about second 15 if you're impatient like me - and BTW, this was way cooler in person.)

Waiting for the shuttle launch

Our friend Shaun's birthday happened to be the same night as our rehearsal, so we surprised him with a cake! I had hoped someone got a picture of that, but I'm not sure if they did...
There was an after-party up in the hotel room that night. Nick and I went up to hang out for a bit, and as soon as the elevator doors opened, all we could hear was this horrible yelling noise. And as we got closer to the room, it got louder. And all I could think as I passed my parent's room and my grandmother's room and our more subdued friends' rooms is please don't let that be our partying friends.... Yeah. Room 417. They bring the party. I'm pretty sure they were playing WWF in the hotel room. Nick and I told them the cops had been called (I'd be surprised if they hadn't), and got everyone out of the hotel and to another friend's house. Whew. After that, I was spent. And I had to get up at 7 a.m. for my hair appointment the next day - OUR WEDDING DAY! So, we went home, had a glass of wine with Nick's parents & siblings, and went to bed.

Pimp My Swine Flu Mask

Go here.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

WTF. Sigh... Okay. Where to begin?

I love my neighborhood. We have Progressive Dinners and awesome eateries and shops within walking distance. We have a cute house with a yard and flowering trees with robins nests.

I used to make fun of my grandma for peeking out of her window all the time. I called her a busy-body and a nosy-neighbor. I get it now. I peek out of my window, too. I don't peek to be nosy and see what my neighbors are doing, I peek because I love them. MOST of my neighbors are friendly and warm and would bend over backwards for Nick and me. If a strange car pulls up to their house, or a strange person walks around the side of their house, I want to make sure some crazy person isn't breaking into their house or something else nasty....

Did I mention I love MOST of my neighbors? That would be because EVERY neighborhood has the weirdos and the BBBAAAAADDDD (say that in a really spooky voice) neighbors.

I'll start with the weirdos. The couple that keeps to themselves. That will talk to your husband, but stop mid-thought and stand there for a minute before beginning again staring him in the face the whole time. The couple that for some reason loses their voice when I come out of my house. (Do they hate me?) The couple that never comes to the neighborhood parties (except that once...) The couple that has 2 dogs, but no kids, oh wait... they treat their dogs like misbehaved kids. Oh! AND, they let them out to bark and bark and bark. They bark at nothing and everything and never shut up. They act like they're going to jump the fence (which they've done) and eat our faces off if we walk in our yard. They bark at 7pm when I'm in my bedroom with a wet washcloth over my face because my migraine is blinding and pounding and oh, god, make them stop! Then, the very next morning, they're barking at 6:30 in the freaking morning! FINALLY, the weirdo neighbors take them in, and I think it's over. I can sleep for 15 more minutes before I get up to get ready for work. But my head still hurts, so I lay there as long as possible. AND THEN THEY COME OUT AGAIN AT 7:15 TO BARK FOR ANOTHER 15 MINUTES! I've never wished harm to animals. I love animals. I feel guilty for my face wash which was manufactured by a company that tests on animals. I feel guilty for my chicken sandwich. I wish these freakin dogs would just go away. Hey neighbor - it's called DOG OBEDIENCE SCHOOL.

Oh. That was a tangent. I was supposed to blog about the BBBAAAAADDDD (say that in a really spooky voice) neighbors, which have managed to piss me off at the exact same time as the weirdo neighbors.... Stay tuned.

No news really is good news

It's been a while, but I have an excuse. No - really - I do. Since my 4 devoted readers already know, it's time to fess up....

I'm pregnant!

I just had my 16 week checkup and the doc said it was the "perfect 16 week" appointment. So... that's good, right?
This was the first appt I told Nick he didn't need to come to with me. I figured we heard the heartbeat at the last appointment, right? I regret that now.... It was nearly impossible to hear last time. The doctor kept digging into me trying to get us to hear the heartbeat, but it was so faint over my loud whooshing heartbeat. This time was totally different. The doctor plopped the dobbler down on my stomach, and there it was. Thumping loud and FAST! Not to mention he/she kept kicking the doppler! The dr said the baby was REALLY active. I had to admit that I'd just fed my baby sugary caffinated iced tea to get it all hyped up. :)
The previous 12 or so weeks, not so much fun. And not nearly so rewarding. I have been sick and tired and stressed. I won't go on and on with the boring (somewhat disgusting) details, but let me just say that so far, I would only have recommended this to my worst enemy. I hear it gets better though....

A Korean Poison Manufacturer...hmm...

"Your past life diagnosis:
I don't know how you feel about it, but you were female in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Korea around the year 1450. Your profession was that of a chemist, alchemist or poison manufacturer.
Your brief psychological profile in your past life:You were a sane, practical person, a materialist with no spiritual consciousness. Your simple wisdom helped the weaker and the poor.
The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:You should develop your talent for love, happiness and enthusiasm and you should distribute these feelings to all people.
Do you remember now?"

Who were you?

Thanks to Auburn & Ivory for this little distraction. :)

Get your nose out of my va-gye-nya!

I know it's been a while since I've posted, so why not get everyone warmed up with a nice old-fashioned rant?

Why is it that nearly complete strangers feel they have the right to say anything about my reproductive schedule? So, my boss's boss brought in his baby boy this afternoon. Of course, ALL of the ladies in the office crowded around to ooh & ahh over the 9 week old baby. Of course, this was all happening right outside my cube, so I had to look on (plus, who am I kidding, I'm a sucker for babies, too!) That's when it happened. Some trashy B-more woman in her 50's starting talking about my uterus. "Not too much longer for you! The newlyweds!," she crooned. "Those babies are SOOOO cute!"
Then. Another woman chimes in. Except now - the argument takes a turn. "No, no, no! You should wait. That's WAAAYYY down the road." "Yeah, no reason to rush!," another ones says. And yet another woman (also in her 50's - maybe they're just bored), "Oh! Yes! I want you to get pregnant!"

Okay. This is where I need a breather. First of all, since when is my uterus anybody's business? Second, why are you thinking about the sex that goes on in my marriage. Stop imagining my bedroom! Third. Stop arguing over a timeline for my vagina! You don't know me. You don't know if I want kids tomorrow, ten years from now, or never. What if I'm infertile? What if I'm already seeded? For God's sake, get your nose out of my personal reproductive business!