| .......Previously
on Sleepypie.................
Wednesday,
October 27---------------Just
Married
+
We did it!
I'm not going to have any exciting wedding stories for you. Everything
went exactly as planned and it was all lovely and wonderful.
What started as a rainy, cloudy and cold few days in Virginia (great
for strolling around the fall leaves with hot chocolate in hand),
turned into a sunny nice day on Saturday. Lucky us!!! The day itself
was relaxing. Even though I was dying to help decorate, I went
ahead and delegated it all to my impromptu wedding planner (a friend).
It was hard to relinquish control, but I think for stress purposes,
it was smart to distance myself. I mean, you can only do so much
and I was lucky to have such competent people to help.
It's funny to think about my somewhat reluctant approach to being
"A Bride." I remember telling Snail that I thought my
wedding dress was too dressy and I wasn't sure about the veil and
this and that. Fortunately, he was there to tell me that I was
being stupid and encouraged me to go for it. When the day came,
I was so glad to have my super duper dress and to have my makeup
and hair done and to have my bouquet made for me! I truly felt
like a million bucks. PLUS, the fact that my wedding photographer
happens to be my father....well, I ended up with some fantastic
pictures. He
took me to a lovely property pre-ceremony for some outstanding
portraits. There were fall leaves, water in the background and
a little gazebo thing ON the water. I don't think that white bridesmaid
dress that I was going to order, would have done any justice. Oh!
the tragedy that would have been!!!
My bouquet had rosemary and sage in it. I highly recommend a fragrant
bouquet.
Since the sun was out, we had the ceremony outside as originally
planned. The site was decorated with yellow potted mums and cute
stemmed pumpkins. The ceremony itself went smoother than I thought.
My emotional moment came right when I first laid eyes on the entire
scene with Snail and the minister waiting up front (no wedding
party) and everyone sitting/standing around. Not to mention my
dad on my right arm. I immediately burst into tears and didn't
think I was going to be able to walk all the way up there. I remember
thinking, "Crap, my dad is going to have to tell them to wait
5 minutes while I go to the restroom and collect myself."
Once I got up to Snail, I was 95% fine---though I kinda wish his
first sight of me in all my glory, hadn't been of me crying. Oh
well.
The reception was at the same location (inside). I ended up ordering
long branchy cut red-orange orchids for the centerpeices from Marisol
Blooms, with about 6 stems per vase. They lended some nice
height to the room (high ceilings). Under each vase was a square
burgundy peice of fabric (cloth napkins from World Market) and
there were mini-sparkling ciders and bags of fall-colored kisses
for favors. The tables looked great. We
had the fireplace going, too.
My cake topper worked fine but I regret that I don't have a close-up
of it on the cake, in natural light.
We used the iPod for music instead of a dj. No problems there.
We even danced some!
I didn't eat any cake that night, but the pumpkin pie was outstanding.
If not for my wedding topper idea, I might have skipped cake altogether.
I had 3 peices of pie.
I had only a few moments to see friends from college and high school,
along with family and folks from church that have known me my entire
life. It was touching to see that everyone made the effort to come
and it was awesome seeing everyone together in one room.
OH,
did i tell you that Snail surprised me on our wedding day with
diamond earrings? It was so sweet. He must have felt sorry for
me after we had gone shopping at the mall, before we left, and
purchased some $6.00 cubic zirconias. I never would have thought
to want diamond earrings, but now that I'm married, they seem like
a perfect idea.
As happy as I am that it all worked out so well, I have to say
that I'm glad its over. I don't miss my 'to-do' lists and always
wondering and re-wondering about decisions made. The best part
now, is the memories we'll cherish forever!
(come on, i HAD to end the 'wedding' post on a cheesy note)
_+_+_+_+_+ _
 Anyway,
back to reality. Now we are trying
to get mentally and physically settled back into life long enough
to clean some clothes, relax, write some thank you cards and then
split town for Hawaii on the 4th. I think I still owe someone
a plate of black walnut/oatmeal cookies and I keep forgetting Halloween.
No time to get out the huge box of decorations, but we must do
some carving and hot drink consuming.
Tuesday,
October 19---------------Snail's
Birthday
+I'm a bit sad to find out that we will be missing
the 2nd annual
Pug Halloween costume contest this weekend. How fun would that
have been?!?! Someone please go and tell us how it was.
+Packing is 90% completed. Its 11:30pm and now
that the sox game is over, we can all sleep.
+That's it folks. I'm off to get married. Talk
to you next week!
Sunday,
October 17---------------Couch
Whisperer
 +My
new favorite show is THE
DOG WHISPERER on the National Geographic Channel, hosted by
Cesar Millan. Don't let the name fool you into thinking this is
some new age stuff; its for real -- well, not really the 'whisperer'
part.
The premise is that Cesar goes into peoples homes where their dog
is acting out in some way. In the end, Cesar kicks the dog into
gear and the owners, too. Very entertaining and the dogs are always
cute.
+Our
boat ride last night was a bust. We got there with our
picnic basket of treats only to discover that our boat was out
of order. There was nothing to do but come home and have our feast
on our comfortable couch.
Saturday,
October 16-----------------
+The
weather is awesome today. Sunny.
No clouds.
Tonight I am taking Snail out on the boats downtown --the
sunset cruise--to kick off the birthday celebrations. Its a little
electric boat made for about 4 that we rent from time to time,
stopping at the store on the way for savories and sweets. Eating
proscuitto on the water, overlooking the city lights is good times.
I am getting super excited about leaving town come wednesday. I
know I'm getting stir crazy when I start daydreaming about quitting
my job and working at the grocery store. Its time for sleepypie
to have some time off. The trip ahead won't be relaxing, but there'll
be lots of family and fun and friends.
I can't wait to see everyone, all together.
Tuesday,
October 12 ----
+Wedding
day contractions are getting
closer and closer together. Tightening of the chest. Shortness
of breath. "To Do" lists rattling around in my brain.
Each day ends with a feeling of accomplishment and a feeling like
I've done nothing. I hope we can wrap this up by the end of this
week and then have the weekend to start focusing on Snail's birthday,
which is early next week.
He has requested black walnut cookies and can gobble those up with
no worries over having to share. I'm hoping he'll want to eat at
PF Chang's because I really want him to eat there and he mentioned
something about wanting some duck. Though, i wish Chang would lose
the 'table' sauce song and dance. They are fooling no one. I mean,
I can see that there are 3 components to the sauce that remain
on the table. Can't we mix it our own damn selves? I could tell
the waiter 'mild' and make it 'hot' the second he turns his back.
But anyway, they have delicious dumplings.
+I'm
having my teeth cleaned in
the morning. If they try to tell me i'm not doing 'this' right
or enough of 'that', I am not going to be in the mood.
My only complaint about my dentist is the dental hygienist. Her
hair is thick, wiry and layered and should be pulled back or in
a net. Could there be health regulations about food service and
hair, yet none about open mouths and hair? [shudder]
Sunday,
October 10----------------------------Success!
 +I
completed the "thank you" card
making project yesterday. All went well and I would happily do
it again for a similar task.
They match nicely with the wedding invitations, but I like that
they are more tactile. The ink dries very matte and chalky, which
has a nice look to it.
To start, I had a rubber stamp made from an Illustrator file --
which was wide enough to bleed off the edges of my A2 cards/envelope
sets from PaperSource.
Because the stamp was so big, i quickly learned that a regular
stamp ink pad was not going to cut it. Instead, I used some bright
red (photos look orange) speedball ink and applied the ink with
a roller.
After 20 or so cards, the fine details were getting mucked up --
the stems of the leaves getting lost and the type gained too much
bleed -- so, i had to stop and wash my stamp, or just stamp off
the excess ink onto some sheets of scrap paper. That seemed to
do the trick.
I would love to use this method, again, to do some handmade card
gift sets for christmas presents -- we'll see.
Tuesday,
October 6-------
+Here's the cake topper. Not
the greatest photo but good enough until I can produce a picture
of it on the cake. I'm rather please with how it came out; particularly
how the veil sits just exactly so. I never did fix Snail's eyes,
but we're at the final hour. The hour of 'i don't have the energy
to care anymore.' Next, a clear coat and a box to ship it in.
If
I get my envelopes and cards
in from paper-source
by friday, then this weekend will be Operation Thank You Card making.
The sooner I get that done, the happier I am. I'm probably crazy
for trying to make these, but when I look by on all this come January,
I'll be laughing.
+My plan all along with flowers for the reception
centerpeices was to bulk order from Costco and toss together some
simple arrangements. Well, it should be no surprise that they don't
sell ranunculus.
(A flower that I wanted to use as an accent...along with probably
some roses.) Which is fine. I don't know. I'm waivering on 'grocery
store' roses. Roses can look really bad, when they're crappy. You
know? I mean, i'd rather see a crappy looking daisy than a crappy
rose. Perhaps a more reliable flower is what i'm looking for.....A
flower I can count on to be perky and fresh. As it is, I need to
put this decision behind me. Additionally, I know that I'm going
to try my best not to have any rose petals sprinkled around. Is
it possible to get married without the sprinking of petals? For
some reason, I'm determined to try.
Monday,
October 4------------Thank you, Mr.
Nordstrom
+Saturday night, I went shopping
specifically for a item to wear to the shower. I was on a mission
- which is nearly the only time I can actually commit and buy something.
My thinking was something along the lines of, "I'm only going
to have one bridal shower EVER. I should REALLY wear something
new..." (note: this line of thinking with regards to weddings
is NOT recommended)
I picked out two super nice shirts from Nordstrom and decided to
go for it and buy both {gasp!}--(only after calling Snail, who
assured me that my arms would not fall off if I made
two purchases, pricier than usual, in one evening). The cashier
rang me up, tossed a garment bag over my shirts and down I went
to the shoe section. After a weak attempt there, but lots of wandering,
I decided to head home.
When I lifted up the garment bag to begin the fashion show/dress
rehearsal, there were two hangers and only one shirt. This was
a problem. I had to laugh because after all of the shirt agonizing...It
was just too funny that something like that would happen.
I headed into Nords after work today to tell them my sob story.
I wasn't so sure that they would do anything; after all, i could
have lost it in the parking lot. But I was 90% certain, it had
fallen off the hanger (the shirt had a bit of a wide neck) in the
shoe section and I wasn't that willing to write off that money
as a loss. Wouldn't you know they gave me another shirt?!?! Isn't
it great when customer service leaves you happy with the world
instead of depressed? Hurray!
+Everyone
freak out with me. We leave
for Virginia (for the wedding) 2 weeks from Wednesday. 2 weeks
from the day after tomorrow. It seems like there's a heck of a
lot between now and then.
Not to mention, Snail's birthday...... I think i'll go pour myself
a glass of wine.
+We have 7 containers of soy milk in our fridge.
Sunday,
October 3------->
+My bridal shower was today.
My friends did a fantastic job with the food and the games and
so many details. A few menu highlights include: sweet tea, potato
salad (had bacon in it), mini-quiches,
grilled chicken tenders, asian cole slaw, ranch dressing with veggies,
a girlie pink cake and more. The party favors were red
iced, heart-shaped sugar cookies. One of the most unexpected moments,
was a dvd of Snail being interviewed. After they asked him a question
on the video, she would pause and make me guess the answer. The
questions were things like favorite food/restaurants/movies. Can
you believe he didn't have an answer for what my most annoying
habit is? Clearly, he knows what's good for him....
My dress and veil are all packed up to be shipped off to virginia
and another box full of picture frames for the reception tables,
ribbon for the favors (caramel covered apples) and cocktail napkins.
I'm sure i'll be shipping more stuff, but getting the dress there
is mission number one.
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