Measi's Musings

Archive for the ‘Wedding’ Category

I owe three people fanfic beta work – and yes, it’s going. I should have two of the pieces done this evening. The third is a long-term project, and I’m hoping to get two chapters completed by mid-week. My problem is that my inner editor isn’t letting me READ the stories first, and just wants to jump into editing… and I don’t like to do that. I need to read a story first, to see how the whole thing strikes me before I start combing through it.

As for my own writing? Hell if I know when it’s going to happen. My brain is just in a pouty don’wanna sort of mood. And honestly, it’s probably good for it to be that way, considering I have Lots of Wedding Crap To Do. But I need to get that little fic piece done for the “Anywhere but Cardiff” ficathon. I don’t expect to have anything stellar to contribute, sadly. My question is should I post what I have during the ficathon, or shelve it and apologize, but add it in late, when my brain decides to work?

*sigh*

On the stuff-to-do front, it’s been a very productive weekend, but I also found time to get some relaxation in, too. I took a half-day off from work on Friday (VERY needed after the three fourteen hour days earlier in the week). As always, the Commuter Rail sucks ass, leaving South Station about a half-hour late. What I wouldn’t give for an on-time train. (sigh) But it does beat driving every day, and I have to remind myself of that. The Jeep isn’t exactly good on gas, and it IS a 60+ mile drive each way. With Boston traffic.

Anyway – picked up my wedding dress from alterations on Friday afternoon. It fits beautifully now. Hem is just perfect, and the two small tucks under my arms make everything fit just right on the top. The bustle is a contraption to behold, I swear – ELEVEN ties. Because I have a fat ass. But the girls at David’s Bridal were kind enough to number each ribbon and each loop for me (without me having to ask for it) to make it easier on the poor bridesmaids who’ll have to deal with them.

So now, I basically am done with dress stuff. I bring it back two weeks before the wedding to have it steamed, and that’s it.

Since I was in the area, I also picked up some metallic ribbon for my wedding Chucks. I wasn’t thrilled with a lot of the color options, but I found a pretty metallic iridescent orange organza that has just a bit of wire in it for some strength. It’s pretty close to the metallic shade of the orange on the heel stripe, so it’ll go well. I bought three lengths, just in case one breaks.

So shoes are now done.

Updated the spreadsheet with our guest invites – so far we have 42 yes, 4 no. About half have sent RSVPs and the deadline is Friday. It’s funny – my friends all said that they got a burst of RSVPs the first week or so, and then a trickle. There’s really been no burst with us – we’ll have one or two one day, none for a couple days, and then maybe four another day.

MY family are slackers. Like… only two families have sent back RSVPs. And I might note that my mom is NOT among the returnees.

(and I wonder where I get my procrastination?)

We got our first wedding gift delivered on Friday. We haven’t opened the box yet, but it’s from Linens & Things. I’m not sure whether to open it or wait until the wedding. For now, the box is sitting in the kitchen. It’s not like Erich and I aren’t staying together. But I know the tradition is to not use anything until the wedding, so… I guess it’s probably better to wait.

Mom informed me that she has bought me the Margaritaville blender from Williams Sonoma as one of our wedding presents. She also said that “she needs to try it out first.” But needless to say, it’ll be getting used for both the girls’ day/night out if anything happens at my house and for the Unrehearsal Dinner. Because seriously… drinky things are required for wedding parties. And oh, this thing will get used – because both Erich and I like our drinky things.

and can I just say I’m cracking up at the tote bag on that webpage? I seriously may consider it… because I have a feeling this thing will be requested to be transported to various houses for use.

We wrote our vows this weekend so we can order our rings on Monday. Erich just needs to double-check his ring size before he sends in the order (because with the etching of our vows on the inside of the ring, it’s not like they’ll be easily resized).

And I’ve done a shitload of laundry. I’m not sure where it’s all coming from – I feel like every weekend I’m doing a TON of laundry. There are only two people in this house– where the hell is it all coming from?!?

And we reordered some of our kitchen, too. About two weeks ago, Erich found a great sideboard for the dining room that provided some much needed storage space. It’s too big a piece for the kitchen, so we’ve put it in the dining room and moved all of the silverware, barware, bottles of booze, and bigger serving dishes/platters to sit on it. That opened up nearly an entire side of our upper cabinets in the kitchen, so we now have better storage space for dry goods.

I’m on the switchboard all day tomorrow, so I’ll be doing a lot of the emails I didn’t get to this weekend. And who knows, if it’s quiet (which August does tend to be with the last weeks of summer vacation), maybe I’ll get some scribble writing done?

I can only hope…

Day three of getting up butt-ass early (aka “crack of dawn,” which IMHO is the same as “butt-crack of dawn,” ergo butt-ass). I can now see through time due to fatigue

I dreamt that John Barrowman sang at my wedding last night. Dressed as Jack. ’twas a good dream. And in said dream, masquedbunny was doing a damn good impersonation of the teenage girls screaming and fainting that you always see in 1964 Beetles reels. Unfortunately, the alarm woke me up during this dream, so I have no further details to provide. *sigh*

No, David wasn’t there. Bastard.

Speaking of which, have I mentioned that the love of my life dared me to send a wedding invite to him when we wrote our wedding invites? I said no, of course – my fangeekery would cross over into fanwank soooooo quickly with that idea. (although seriously… from a complete stupid fanwank angle… if he happened to come, OMG!)

*ahem* *takes back control of self*

I really miss cross stitching. I haven’t picked up a needle now since… ugh, mid-May? The last time that masquedbunny and I had a Stich, Bitch & Who and bothered to even attempt to do crafty stuff. I seriously can’t wait until the week post-wedding, when I pull out the Qsnaps and fabric and get a sense of where the hell my stitching even is at this point. I know I have Apache Wedding Blessing, Egyptian Sampler, and Floral Bellpull in various Works-In-Progress stages, plus a couple little pieces here and there (the elemental dragons from Dragon Dreams come to mind)… but other than that? I have no friggin’ clue where I am. And I’d like to get my OWN wedding sampler stitched at some point, too. Post wedding. All post wedding…

Erich sent me an email when he first got to work this morning. All it said was in the subject line: “WE’RE GETTING MARRIED NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!” Freaks. me. out.

Tonight’s plan, should I not drop over exhausted upon driving home – beta reading. Followed by some more writing of my own.

I’ll honestly probably pass out, though.

I’m very glad I’m not a member of Harry Potter ‘net fandom right now – particularly the kink fanfic community. Because seriously… using miscegenation as a prompt? Sweet jeebus, whose bright idea was THAT one? It made metafandom assplode yesterday. Rightly so.

I’m hungry. Want food. Now.

Yay! Manager on project just told me I’m done… final copy is completed. Woo hoo! *runs off to lunch*

All in all, it was quite productive. I got a lot of the email work I needed to finish completed – already have heard back from the caterer, and a few of the panic questions (i.e. we do have a tent reserved for the reception, right?!?) are now solved to my relief. I got caught up on a decent amount of housework. I leveled my character in World of Warcraft to 70. And I did some file cleaning on my computer. Not too shabby.

Oh, and with the help of my father, I’ve hopefully solved the poor timing of female systems during the wedding issue, with the help of Walgreens. Dad called in a resupply of my birth control pills to the Walgreens near me (gotta love that as long as it’s not a narcotic, he can call cross-country). I’ll be picking them up and starting them tomorrow, making sure to take no placebo pills at all to force my period to skip. And if all goes well, I’ll be requesting my own OB/GYN to please put me on the Seasonale that’s now on the market, which is essentially the same idea.

Didn’t get to my office as I’d hoped – but the pouring rain that was supposed to last all weekend and cool things off didn’t really happen. It poured for about a half-hour this afternoon, but I swear it’s muggier now than it was before. And so it’s just miserable upstairs. But I’ll get to it. It may be a midnight project next weekend, but I’ll get to it.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be getting up bright and early at five, driving into work (let’s hope the Jeep doesn’t break down like it did last time I did this… on Memorial Day weekend), and pushing a potentially very long day. But it will be a good thing. It’s for a large, complicated client, and working with one of the senior account managers and a principal of the company. And I definitely want to make good on putting a strong effort into my workload. Hopefully it all goes well.

It’ll be a short work week for me – I’m taking a half day on Friday because I pick up my dress from the alterations late Friday afternoon (eep!). By then I’m hoping to also have figured out the hair stylist issues and transportation for this shindig.

My god, it’s August already. Where the hell has this year gone?!?

Random aside – day to day, I’ve been hanging out over on LJ a lot… as I’ve become pretty involved with the Doctor Who fan crowd there. So if you have a LJ account, pop on over and say hi. My screenname over there is measi, just as it is here. All of my journal entries are cross-posted, though.

I’d originally toyed with (and signed up for) the Blogathon for tomorrow, but hadn’t received an approved message by this morning. And honestly? I know better. I’m already running crazy, and I can’t afford to blow the day on it this year.

So I’ll do it next year. When I’m theoretically sane.

Instead, I’ll be working through a massive half-wedding, half-house chores list this weekend. Thankfully some of it is just email/computer related, so hopefully I can get a head start on it if I have some lulls in work today.

-Update RSVP list, email to Mom and Erich
- Email caterer
- Email DJ
- Email payment addresses to Mom
- Finish Lowes registry, double-check Linens & Things registry
- Update wedding webpage
- Laundry
- Dishes
- Scrub office
- Move bookshelves in office
- LoM files to iPod
- Backup all mp4s to DVD
- Whittle through “my docs” folder
- Time and Chips “Anywhere but Cardiff” fic… 1,000 words written
- Level Tennetty to 70
- Email girls list to Melinda
- Strip beds from last weekend, wash, remake
- Grocery shopping
- Beta reading

Seriously… with all of the crap I have to do… there’s absolutely no way I could do that Blogathon. I was stupid to even think of it.

But hey, I’ll find a way to get through the list. And I’ll multitask when possible to try to get stuff done faster. I’m a professional admin assistant. I can multitask quite well. And since the weekend’s supposed to be absolutely craptastic, it may help me to stay on task.

I can dream at least. Stop giving me those looks, Erich.

I do hope to have at least a couple hours of couch time this weekend. I bought copies of The Second Coming and Revengers Tragedy (both with Chris Eccleston) weeks ago and haven’t watched them yet – and since I can only watch them on the living room TV since they’re Region 2 discs, it limits my time a bit. Doctor Who was mostly to blame for that, of course. But maybe this weekend I can find a couple hours for one of them.

We’ll see.

Happy Friday, all!

So… the insanity continues in the wedding planning. Talked to Mom, who I think had a heart attack this morning over money. But so am I, so no worries there.

By process of elimination, we’ve picked our rings: ooh… shiny!

And then the email thread commenced on vows, since it relates to the ring…

I start the conversation off quietly – with vows I actually really like, either as-is, or with some modifications by us to personalize them:

I love you. You are my best friend.
Today I give myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you,
and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.
I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard
These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.

As a joke, I also suggested that we could send my family into spasms by doing the ceremony this way: http://weddings.about.com/od/yourweddingceremony/a/SeussFunnyVows.htm

In response, Erich sends me the link to a google search… all on the word “Obey.”

Now… we’ve had a lot of discussion on that word – and my distaste about it. It won’t show up in my vows (whether Erich decides he wants to say he’ll obey me… well, hey… *wink*). But I can joke about it.

So then the next proposal for vows he gives is this:

I promise to put up with your family, pull your pigtails less, and obey the cats.

Followed by a quick revisement, with both sets of vows. Me = Erich, You = Me.

Me: I promise to pull your pigtails less, mow the lawn more often, and obey the petting needs cats always.

You: I promise to cook more (because I’m good at it), clean more (because my office is scary), and buy more coffee (because we both need more coffee).

That may have potential…

Both other admins are late this morning for doctors’ appointments. How’d this work out? Well, no matter. It’s nice and quiet.

I’m highly annoyed, based on current events and some calculations, that I’m going to have my period during my wedding, thanks to my cycle deciding to do some timing switches and show up a week early. HIGHLY. ANNOYED. (seriously… on ALL OF THE DAYS… the one that I’m going to be wearing white on top of white on top of white. SERIOUSLY). Pissed. off.

Gathered all of our contracts for vendors to double-check final payment dates. Glad I did… ’cause our site payment in full was due Sunday. *sigh* Have already emailed them with a copy to my mom to get that resolved. *sigh* So the panic ensues again.

We have six RSVPs already returned to us. It’s very freaky. OMG people are coming to this thing. *runs* *hides*

I seriously need a haircut. And a recolor. And a clue as to what I’m going to do with my hair for aforementioned wedding, which frustrates me because I’m just NOT a hair person and don’t care about it like I really should be doing.

Thank Goddess for Indiebrides.com, which has a kickass repository of readings and vow ideas that others have used. Me thinks I may be diving into those threads on the Kvetch boards this weekend to get those vows written.

Speaking of writing – scribbled 300 words on my piece for “Anywhere but Cardiff.” Whether I finish or not, no can say. But I’ll give it a try.

Well, no… it will get finished. Whether before or after the wedding is the real question.

Shit, I still have lots of beta reading to do, too. Hmm…

Life on Mars is awesome. Just finished Episode 7 of Series 1 this morning.

I need more coffee.

I haven’t watched an episode of Who since Friday night. Scary.

No, I really need more coffee.

Shit, I hope we didn’t fuck everything up with our reception site by missing that deadline on Sunday. Fuck fuck fuck.

.

Contrary to popular belief, I’m not playing hooky today due to Harry Potter. Yesterday I was feeling off-kilter all day, very pissy in fact (and need to apologize to my co-workers on Monday because of it… because I really was right on that cusp of being out of line, IMHO).

Woke up this morning with very sharp stomach pains – and have been dealing with that off and on all morning. Mind you – I’ve been dealing with this off and on for the past two weeks or so. I’ll be fine for a couple days, and then have a stretch of three days of ow. I’m 99% sure it’s all stress related. But I’ve left a message with my doctor to see if I can schedule some sort of an appointment, preferably for the 3rd of August, when I’m already taking a half-day. It’s annoying, but I can deal with it until then one way or the other.

But goddess forbid that it’s not just a weird stomach bug, and something more chronic, like IBS. Because I’ve had a LOT of stomach/intestinal issues recently. A lot of them – averaging probably 10 days a month at least. And it needs to end.

Ahem… anyway, off that TMI bandwagon…

So I’m home. Parked for the most part in front of the A/C because it’s humid enough outside that MY hair has the slightest curl at the end of all of my wispies (no small feat, that.) Since we have a few of the guys coming over for this weekend’s Mega d20 Modern Gaming Insanity, I’m also using the time to get some of the basics done today… wash sheets & towels, do dishes, scrub the bathroom.

And I learned something the hard way this morning. Corelleware bowl + linoleum floor = shattered chaos. Seriously. I’ve NEVER seen something shatter into so many little pieces. I did a sweeping and vacuuming of the kitchen floor, but I imagine I’ll be finding teeny tiny pieces of the bowl for months. When he gets home, I may ask Erich to help me push the fridge aside just a bit because I think quite a few of the shards flew under there.

Beh.

Went out to dinner with whishastar last night at Faneuil Hall. Got soaked to the bone on the way over, but had a great time over dinner. She seems to be doing pretty well on her wedding planning. We chatted about Who, including my continuing “I feel so weird…” attitude regarding yesterday’s entry. We chatted about other fanwank stuff. We chatted Potter. We chatted legal rights over same-sex marriage. All in all, a good conversation about random things that just kept bouncing back and forth between topics.

I got home around 9:30 last night, and was just too worn out from my day and feeling grimy due to the rain to do much. Didn’t sleep well, though, due to the humidity.

And now Elly has climbed onto me to nurse on my shoulder because she needs comfort, so I guess I’m typing one handed for a while. She’s such a poor little kitten.

My mom called Erich last night – apparently the wedding invites are already showing up to people out of state. Scary. So I imagine I’ll start seeing RSVP envelopes show back up starting tomorrow. Maybe even today from some of the Providence crowd. I need to do some serious wedding info updating. I’ve neglected it for a while. So perhaps I’ll get that done today – get our registries up there, and additional directions and such.

We got the estimate from the florist, and while my eyes popped out – my mom apparently thought the price was quite reasonable (and came in at nearly half of what she was estimating… so she’s REALLY happy). Which is good. So that’s now a huge check off the list.

This thing seems to be coming together. I may actually be able to relax!

t-minus 8 weeks from this weekend…

Oh… almost (oh thank god… Elly left… although now I have a black shirt coated in white fur. bleh) forgot – I finished uploading the Series 2 Confidentials. They’re with the Series 2 episodes on the master upload list (for folks newer to my flist, just search my tags by the *wink* tag… easy to find). As soon as I finish this entry, I’ll paste those links in.

Which also reminds me – BBC America is apparently completely screwed up with their Graham Norton broadcast announcements. David Tennant wasn’t on last week as they had listed, and my cable service doesn’t have him listed for this week. Did I miss it somehow? Anyone in the Who fandom know? I mean, I’ve SEEN the episode, but the U.S. broadcast includes the Cooldown, too.

Anyway… I’ll stop. It’s after noon. I should eat.

Back later.

Wedding Chucks, yo
Originally uploaded by measi.

The official wedding footwear has arrived – positively geeky, and just what I wanted.

The orange is a bit brighter than I expected, but it’s perfectly autumney against the red.

Now I just need to get the organza ribbon I’ll use as laces for the wedding day. Color suggestions, anyone?

My accomplishments this weekend:

1) Wedding invites are DONE (save two that we need new addresses for). All addressed, all compiled, all stamped. They go out tomorrow.

2) The Linens ‘n Things portion of our wedding registry is populated. I feel like such a mooch. But I have to admit to being excited that I may actually get some of these things and finally break free of college decor-itis. Somewhat, anyway.

3) Laundry – ongoing. I’m on load 3. One more load of towels, and then a mini-load of delicates to go.

4) Erich and his dad put together our guest room bed (yes, masquedbunny… an actual bed. With a headboard and footboard and everything!). Unfortunately, the Queen-sized boxspring will NOT go up our stairs. We removed the back staircase pole. We removed the front staircase ceiling molding. Won’t happen. So… if you’re in the general southern New England area and need a Queen boxspring (now or in the near future), lemme know. We’re going to have to go purchase a split-style boxspring for the Queen bed. Depending on how that goes, we may have a mismatched mattress shortly, too. We can make arrangements somehow.

5) We narrowed our wedding ring decision down to five different bands. We’ve decided to get matching bands, rather than the newer trend of getting ones that each person likes. Thankfully, we both have similar tastes, so it’s been fairly easy. Choices we’re down to now are: A, B (possibly in the rose/white combo), C, D, or E (not bicolor).

6) Saw Harry Potter: OotP again today. It was Erich’s Dad’s 64th birthday today, so we treated him to a heavy breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, followed by the movie.

It was better on second viewing. Still not my favorite, but I did like it better this time around.

7) Attended the wedding of Erich’s cousin, Katy, and her (now) husband, David. It was at Sakonnet Vineyards in Little Compton, RI. Lovely place. Definitely a setting I’d recommend to anyone looking for peaceful New England space – near the water, surrounded by the vines. Although it was a bit buggy in the evening (welcome to July). Otherwise, weather was incredible for July – absolutely perfect. I can only hope we have such good weather in September.

Went a little snarky with Doctor Who fandom. But I’m better now and moving on.

Good weekend. Definitely can’t complain!

My accomplishments this weekend:

1) Wedding invites are DONE (save two that we need new addresses for). All addressed, all compiled, all stamped. They go out tomorrow.

2) The Linens ‘n Things portion of our wedding registry is populated. I feel like such a mooch. But I have to admit to being excited that I may actually get some of these things and finally break free of college decor-itis. Somewhat, anyway.

3) Laundry – ongoing. I’m on load 3. One more load of towels, and then a mini-load of delicates to go.

4) Erich and his dad put together our guest room bed (yes, … an actual bed. With a headboard and footboard and everything!). Unfortunately, the Queen-sized boxspring will NOT go up our stairs. We removed the back staircase pole. We removed the front staircase ceiling molding. Won’t happen. So… if you’re in the general southern New England area and need a Queen boxspring (now or in the near future), lemme know. We’re going to have to go purchase a split-style boxspring for the Queen bed. Depending on how that goes, we may have a mismatched mattress shortly, too. We can make arrangements somehow.

5) We narrowed our wedding ring decision down to five different bands. We’ve decided to get matching bands, rather than the newer trend of getting ones that each person likes. Thankfully, we both have similar tastes, so it’s been fairly easy. Choices we’re down to now are: A, B (possibly in the rose/white combo), C, D, or E (not bicolor).

6) Saw Harry Potter: OotP again today. It was Erich’s Dad’s 64th birthday today, so we treated him to a heavy breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, followed by the movie.

It was better on second viewing. Still not my favorite, but I did like it better this time around.

7) Attended the wedding of Erich’s cousin, Katy, and her (now) husband, David. It was at Sakonnet Vineyards in Little Compton, RI. Lovely place. Definitely a setting I’d recommend to anyone looking for peaceful New England space – near the water, surrounded by the vines. Although it was a bit buggy in the evening (welcome to July). Otherwise, weather was incredible for July – absolutely perfect. I can only hope we have such good weather in September.

Went a little snarky with Doctor Who fandom. But I’m better now and moving on.

Good weekend. Definitely can’t complain!

I am jumping back into internet whoredom, and just cross-posting my entries from measi(dot)net again. It’s more interactive on LJ anyway.

Read the rest of this entry »

My brain has officially gone into wedding mush autopilot, so I don’t really have anything witty for this week’s Thursday Thirteen. But I can come up with 13 random thoughts for the week.

Measi’s Brain-Fried Thursday Thirteen

1. My wedding invites are all addressed, save the four that my mom finally just emailed me fifteen minutes ago. That means I can get them addressed and out the door this weekend. Big, big check mark off the wedding “to do” list.

2. If you live in the U.S., love science fiction, and aren’t watching the new series of Doctor Who that started last week – turn on the television on Friday night. Seriously. Having seen the entire series, it’s fantastic. It’s not the goofy sets of the 70s on PBS you may remember, as good as Tom Baker was. The last six episodes of this series are not to be missed, in my opinion. Blink, in particular, scheduled to air on September 7th, is not to be missed TV for any lover of really good, creepy TV shows, sci-fi or not.

3. Next shows on my Brit TV list – I’ve just started watchng Life on Mars. Brilliant writing, great acting. I garnished stares on the commuter train this morning as I broke out laughing at episode 2. I’m also starting Our Friends in the North, as a continuation of shows starring actors from Doctor Who. I’ve heard it’s an amazing series.

4. I’ve now lost a total of 20 pounds due to wedding stress. Which I’m really not happy about, because I tend to double-gain back once I’m out of stress.

5. There is a distinct weather line ringing Boston at Route 128/I-95 this week. Outside of 128, it’s hot and humid. But inside the ring, it’s been in the low 70′s, and foggy until today. It’s throwing me off on my commute – hot when I leave in the morning, cold when I arrive at work.

6. I’m tired of hearing people chew loudly at their desks at work. The sound of people chewing (presumably with their mouths open) makes my stomach turn.

7. My World of Warcraft guild, the Burrito Bandits, has a new tabard – looking like a lobster bib. (a photo is over on my Flickr page). Our guild leader is insane… in a good way.

8. Speaking of burritos… I think a buffalo chicken one from Boloco is calling my name for lunch today.

9. I bought my first Moleskine notebook over the weekend for doodling and scribbling random thoughts. Because I need more notebooks.

10. I’m tired of my work wardrobe. It’s bleh and boring and getting sloppy. But I hate the plus-sized clothes for summer, and can’t justify a spending spree. Until after the wedding, I’m just going to endure it.

11. New official count on Hoodsie’s toes – 7 on each front paw, 6 on one back paw, 7 on the other back paw. Boy’s got a lotta extra claws. And my legs have paid the price as he play-pounces.

12. Holy shit I’m getting married in 9 weeks.

13. I really, truly need about a month-long vacation.

The fog that has decided to settle all day over Boston Harbor definitely reflects my attention span today – lots of little things floating around, but nothing’s quite distinct.

I have an omnipresent thought floating around regarding Melinda today, who’s now recovering from surgery. As of the first update last night, she was doing quite well. Erich, who’s had the same procedure – albeit under the methods done eight years ago – was surprised that she was up and walking yesterday. He told me this morning as I read Kevin’s email that it took him the better part of a week before he was moving.

Amazing what a few years does for surgical procedures, eh?

In any case, Melinda’s a fairly strong presence in my thoughts today, and I’m hoping her recovery goes smoothly so I can envy her in about ten weeks when I see her looking fabulous in a floor-length truffle gown.

Add to that the fact that I’m completely distracted from work today because my office bought out two theater showings for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Erich and I are going tonight after work. I cannot wait.

On the planning side, now that it’s ever-present…

I’m about 3/4 done with addressing my wedding invitation envelopes, taking a break after every few to rest up my wrist so my writing doesn’t start getting scrawly. When my wrist is fresh, my handwriting is surprisingly good – if I’m not using a ballpoint pen, at least. Ironic, considering that I always flunked handwriting in grade school!

Most of my friends have asked why I don’t just print out the invitations using a pretty font on the printer, and I’ve said I don’t want to. This is just one of those things I feel the need to do. It’s the right thing to do – spending the time to personally address envelopes for my wedding. My love of writing isn’t just in the structure of words on a page. I’ve always loved getting letters written by hand, and whenever possible – I’ve made a point to write letters by hand. There’s something elegant and relaxing about it – reminding the world that it’s not all about computers and technology. It’s personal, and it’s very me. And besides, it’s not like I have hundreds of these to do. I have about sixty total. Not too bad at all.

Although I have to admit that writing formal envelopes to my close friends addressed as “Mr. and Mrs. HisFirst TheirLast” is a bit surreal. I’m going pretty casual on the inner envelope, just to stop weirding myself out.

I still have to get in touch with someone regarding hairstyles for the wedding. And I need to touch base with the caterer to start getting those gears going.

T-minus ten weeks…

Running through the mental checklist for the wedding has summed up my week. But we are now under three months, and it’s officially “Okay… you need to get this shit done now” time.

And I just remembered that we forgot to sign the photographer contract. AGAIN.

*ugh*

Anyway… the list in the last week’s accomplishments have been thusly:
- deposit for the cake
- finalized the hors d’oevres list & decided on the alcohol, style of catering, etc. from the options given
- had my fitting (god, was that only a week ago?)
- brought Masquedbunny to order her bridesmaid dress. All of the girls are now ordered.
- Erich decided up on his kilt tartan and the kilt rentals for the groomsmen
- We got in touch with my brother, miracle of miracles
- Designed and purchased my custom Wedding Chucks
- Invites arrived
- I bought stamps for said invites.
- Found our florist
- Met with said florist last night for a sample centerpiece. Absolutely lovely. She’ll be sending cost estimates & contract this week.
- Drank an intriguing “ninjarita” at the impromptu Fourth of July celebration as I caught up with Sara about our wedding plans
- Did a quick tour of the hotel where my mom has reserved a block of rooms. We prefer the hotel she stayed at last week, honestly, but the one with the block *is* a half-hour closer to the wedding site, so she’s keeping the block. Erich and I may rent a room at the other place, though, for our wedding night
- Dad sent me my pearls (on my request) that I got as a gift for my high school graduation. I’ve never worn them, and they’ve been at my dad’s house the entire time. They should be arriving today here at work.
- Accepted the fact that no, I’m not into the wedding planning, but I’ll deal, knowing that I’ll have a good time on the day, even if it takes a crapload of alcohol to loosen me up

This weekend’s projects (that will undoubtedly bleed into next week):
- address invites & get at least the long distance ones in the mail by Monday
- gather list of the girls for whatever Melinda is planning behind my back. (Goddess help me)
- Harass my mom for those final addresses she keeps telling me she wants added to the invite list
- Contact the spa regarding hair/massages/etc
- Contact the bridesmaids once I have prices for hair and stuff, and see who’s interested, and who prefers to do their own
- Find time to sleep. A lot.

To kick off the weekend, though, we’re heading to the drive-in tonight to view the Uber Manly Double Feature (TM), consisting of Transformers followed by Live Free or Die Hard. And since both are fairly long movies, we’re not expecting to get home much before two a.m.

I has insanities. Mel brain go boom.

It’s Thursday morning – I’m very tired, sitting at work, and it’s a depressingly gloomy day. If you watched any of the Boston coverage on CBS last night, you didn’t get the half of how dreary a day it was. But it was fun. I just want the rest of the week off.

In any case, it’s time for the Thursday Thirteen, and since it’s the 100th edition of T13 on their site, they asked for a special T13 linking to your top thirteen favorite posts for the meme.

I’ll be getting to THAT this evening, when I have time for it (and to also make up a couple missing T13s). Until then, here’s my normal one…

Thirteen things I’ve learned in the last week

1) My mother is completely, utterly unpredictable. Things I don’t think will bother her about the wedding… do. And things I think she’ll flip a gasket over… don’t. I’m so confused.

2) Fourth of July celebrations on a Wednesday make for absolutely brutal Thursday mornings.

3) Guys vs. girls when it rains on the cookout: The guys all duck for shelter under the porch. The girls take over the chairs in the yard vacated by the guys, make sure the chairs are relatively under cover of the trees, and go about their business.

4) I’m severely out of practice with any sort of healing energy work. The girls were working with it last night, and now I have an energy drain headache.

5) Watching six cats work out the pack pecking order is fascinating. Particularly when the humans are dead wrong as to who the alpha male of the household was. I laugh at the idea that cats are solitary animals.

6) There’s clearly something wrong with me since I don’t enjoy the wedding planning like others do. But that’s okay. I just don’t like to fuss over things, and wedding planning is a whole lotta fussing.

7) I’m thankful I don’t live closer to the Italian markets in Federal Hill, Providence. I’d be broke and even fatter than I am now. OMG, the food is so good though!

Weddings are frighteningly expensive. Even when you think they won’t be. I should have really figured this out before, honestly.

9) Apparently, I can write NC-17 rated fanfic quite well, based on my livejournal friends’ list reviews. (blush). Not sure whether it’s a good or a bad thing that I have my friends requesting that I “write more smut.” Heh.

10) I don’t like gin and tonics. I do, however, like whatever Chris and Sara were putting in their “Ninjaritas” yesterday at the cookout.

11) There is nothing quite like having David Tennant, John Barrowman, and John Simm on the TV screen at the same time. The only thing I can think of to make that better is to add a young Mel Gibson to the mix.

12) Reactions that came from the groomsmen about their wearing kilts – my brother is suggesting he’ll be tempted to recreate the bottom-bearing scene in Braveheart (and well… he would.) One of Erich’s friends – “What did I ever do to you?” One of the other groomsmen reminded said dreading groomsman that apparently he tried to kill Erich with an icecube tray once. I have not heard this story yet. And I think I need to. Very soon.

13) I’ve rarely paid much attention to him since he left ESPN, but Keith Olbermann did an amazing commentary the other night on TV. This is the type of discussion the First Amendment was made for. When our nation is in crisis. Regardless of which side of the party fence you sit on, please watch it.

Off to work.