Ravings of a Textual Deviant

My new brother-in-law’s new in-laws know how to party!

Tired now. More Later.

Now that the wedding is done, I actually have time to do all the blogging that I couldn’t do when I was too busy doing things. I beg the Reading Public’s indulgence for a few posts, as I know that listening to someone gush about her wedding is pretty boring, when it comes right down to it. That said…

I love it when a plan comes together, I must say. Some of the planning had been going on for quite some time, too, but the reality of it was just so much more than I could have hoped for…mostly because of all the wonderful people who were around to share the fun.

I intended to sleep in after the bachelorette party on Friday night. My body had other plans, though, and got me up at my usual workday time on Saturday morning. This was after being out until 12:30 partying, then coming home to find that the entrances into my neighborhood were all flooded on account of the storm. My brother and I were in my car with our designated driver and another friend, and I was all for parking on high ground and walking through the neighbors’ yards the last few blocks to my house. But Ari said, “Mom’s never in bed before 2:00; let’s try there.” (My parents’ house is three blocks from mine, as the crow flies; it’s less than 5 minutes even as the minotaur mazes, which is a more accurate reflection of the geographical situation.)

It turns out that when there’s a power outage, Mom is in bed before 2:00 AM. So, my brother and I ended up coming back to our parents’ house drunk after midnight…which I believe is the first time that has ever happened for either of us. But hey, we’re both over 30 and we had a designated driver. We opted to park the car at Mom & Dad’s and ride home with Soon-to-be-Spouse, while our friends got picked up at a slightly different location than planned. Our parents were kind enough to hang out with us until our various and sundry rides arrived…which took longer than usual as there were many puddly obstacles to navigation that night, and M was still on the south side of town visiting friends when I called him.

But I digress.

So, it was 6:15 AM on Saturday, and I’d had about 4 hours of sleep. What the heck, I was already up, so I walked over to my car and brought it home, then did some stress-relieving cleaning. Next, went to the gym for Zumba class…which turned out to be just what I needed to sweat out the last of my night out. I also dragged my brother out of bed so that he could go running; serendipitously enough, the gym was having an open house weekend, so no guest pass was required.

We had a few hours before we had to be elsewhere, which I passed mostly in some stress-related cleaning and rearranging of furniture, while we waited for some out-of-town relatives to arrive. I also checked on my parents, who still had no power at their house. Unfortunately, when their power goes out, it’s usually out for days. This time was no exception. And when they don’t have power, they also don’t have running water. Fortunately, we had both at my house, so while I had a few extra people showering at my house, I was sufficiently keyed up to barely notice, let alone care.

When one of my friends got married last year, we had a manicure party on the day before her wedding. I thought it was a great idea, so I arranged one for Saturday afternoon. The nail salon was kind enough not to care that the number of people who showed up was slightly different than the number of people we’d planned for, and got us all done in very good order—much faster than I anticipated, in fact, as I expected to go directly from manicure to rehearsal. Michael and the non-manicure bunch went bowling, meanwhile, which I am told went well. I got home first, and the only thing that kept me from doing a little stress-relieving cleaning and furniture rearranging was uncured nail polish.

If you think you’ve detected a theme here, only imagine how far around the bend my soon-to-be spouse was.

In my own defense, my aunt and uncle were bringing me  a couple of large furniture pieces from my grandmother’s storage unit, and I had to have a place ready for them…which I did, when they arrived about 45 minutes before we had to leave for the rehearsal. It pays to be prepared, let me tell you, because we got everything unloaded in very short order, and with a minimum of cat-wrangling. Magnus didn’t even have time to figure out that he’d been shut into a room. I had to resist the temptation to start reorganizing the books immediately (one of the pieces was a revolving bookcase).

I let the cats go free and we dashed off to the rehearsal. (We also took the opportunity to drop off a couple of folding tables and other odds and ends at the ceremony site.) For those of you who’ve never been to one, a wedding rehearsal usually consists of about 45 minutes of figuring out exactly where everyone needs to stand, based on factors like relative height of both the participants and their footwear, the smoothness of the surface one is standing on, and whether or not the guests have a good view of the back of the bride’s dress.

It’s about as much fun as it sounds, but less organized.

Next, the rehearsal/family dinner. Many people have been very gracious in their feedback regarding the rehearsal dinner, and I want to make it clear that I had absolutely nothing to do with it at all–the credit goes to the mothers, and to the restaurant, all of which were lovely. I got to meet some of Michael’s relatives who’d come in from a couple of different states, which I had been looking forward to. They were absolutely wonderful people, and I wish we’d had more time to spend with them…and everyone else who was there, actually. At every family gathering I’ve been to, there are soooo many people to talk to, and never enough time, especially if you’re trying to spend at least a few minutes with everyone.

I was running on pure adrenaline and excitement and even though I’d been up both late and early, it took me a while to get to sleep…during which time I had intended to load up the car with the various necessaries for the wedding and reception. Ari made me sit down while he took care of it (very clever, my brother…) and then summarily sent me off to bed. Next thing I knew, I was wide awake at 2:39 AM. And hungry. I was up for a couple of hours before I felt tired enough to go back to bed for a couple of hours.

Soon-to-be-Spouse was awake the entire night.

By 7:00 I was up again, and did a little yoga…during which I inadvertently woke up my brother, who was gracefully philosophical about it and did the only sensible thing under the circumstances; he made coffee. (Spouse had gone to breakfast with an aunt and uncle whom he hadn’t seen in several years).

I didn’t start feeling nervous until I got to my hair appointment. I cannot say enough wonderful things about my hairdresser; she is a genius AND a sweetheart. I was the first customer in the salon that morning, and  everyone gravitated over to where the action was. I expect that it was a lot like any workplace when things are slow; I just gave them a topic of conversation. Everyone there was wonderfully nice, providing color commentary on the action and let me join in the joking, chatting, and laughing—which went a long way towards calming me down. I hadn’t planned to get my makeup done along with my hair, but given the way my hands were shaking, it seemed like a good idea.

If you’ve never had your makeup done professionally, imagine sitting in a chair with your eyes closed for about 20 minutes, while various creams and powders are applied to your face in a brisk, decisive manner. While this is happening, you have absolutely no idea what’s going on. You could end up looking like the cover of Vogue; you could end up looking like Tammy Faye Baker.

But, as I said, my hairdresser is a genius, and when I finally looked in the mirror, I couldn’t believe it was me. Not even after I put my glasses on. “Now all I have to do is avoid touching my face or my hair for the next eight hours,” I said.

I dashed home, collect my dress and my brother, and we headed out to lunch with the wedding party. My perception of wedding party events is that you either have a bunch of people who have known each other for years and are all abuzz with mutual excitement, or you have a bunch of people who don’t know each other and you end up talking about the weather, your pets, and other safe topics of conversation. We had a mix of both when we started, but one of our ushers had a great story about her job that unfurled like a perfect sitcom episode, and pretty soon everyone was very nearly falling out of chairs laughing. The last of my nervousness melted away, leaving me excited beyond the telling of it.

It didn’t rain.

I got married.

There was cake. Good cake.

Oh, and my brother is full of awesomeness.

That was what the organizer of the bachelorette party wrote in the email. Fortunately, my brother and a handful of my good friends were kind enough to show up anyway (one of whom claims she can’t even talk about her first bachelorette party in public). Mine, fortunately, is completely suitable for public conversation, although there is just enough innuendo to keep it from a G rating.

Alas, with weather moving in, the organizer was struck down by a full on migraine-with-nausea. (”[Sharktank]” is in charge, he told me, sounding the very picture of misery on the phone.) Another person couldn’t make it at the last minute either, having previously committed to run sound for a band at one of the few local pubs I know of that has a regular schedule of live music.

Well, when you put that particular person in charge, you end up where the Celtic music is…and we did, which mean our sound-tech pal had quite the surpise when we showed up halfway through Kennedy’s Kitchen’s first set, just as the first raindrops were coming down and the lighting started doing a very fine imitation of fireworks, after a delicious dinner at what may well be the only good Chinese restaurant on the north side.

Well, before I’d even made a dent in my Bell’s Oberon, the bachelorette party had turned into the Roving Bachelorette Irish Chorus and Dance Troupe; singing along with the band when we knew the words, and enjoying the piper’s total awesomeness when we didn’t. (Were I not about to be very happily married, a young gentlemen with such talented tongue and fingers could prove quite the temptation.) I’m a passable singer, in that I can carry a tune if the bucket is big enough, but at least one of my pals is practically semipro. Near the end of the second set though, I couldn’t help but join in on “Wild Mountain Thyme,” and afterwards, the bass player was kind enough to tell us that he got a feeling that he more usually associated with a bottle of wine and someone to whom he was very close.

Squee!!! We didn’t even notice the storm that, as we later discovered, floded all three entrances to the neighborhood. But that’s another story…

To answer everyone’s questions…

1. No, I am not nervous. Excited, yes, but not nervous.

2. My checklist isn’t done yet, but it will be before the wedding. (The project plan is at 98% complete.)

3. Yes, I am ready. Put me in, coach!

Fiancé and I got our marriage license today. We could get married at any moment.

Squee!

T minus 52 days and counting.

Some of our friends threw a lovely shower last weekend, complete with yummy citrus cake and Holy Hand Grenade punch (asti, chambord, and something raspberry). I was great to see everyone, and the shower games were, for the most part, fun rather than embarrassing. It’s nice to know that I can correctly guess that Fiancé would rather play the harmonica than the accordian, even if I can’t remember that when he loses his keys, they’re usually clipped to the belt loop of yesterday’s pants. (I can’t even lose my keys properly; I keep hanging them on the designated hook by the door.) One of the most useful gifts was exactly the right amount of stationery to write all the thank-you notes, which is done, although I have been lax about getting them delivered.

We’re starting to get reply cards back, and while I am disappointed that some of my family won’t be able to attend, I am hoping to see them at my brother’s wedding in early August. At least I’m getting mail that is neither junk nor bills, and that’s always nice.

And, having determined that Bridebrain seems likely to continue, I have found an alternate method of keeping track of things. To nobody’s surprise, (but everyone’s amusement, apparently) I ended up creating a project plan for the remaining pre-wedding tasks. Yes, it is color-coded, and yes, I am using the percent complete column. On the other hand, I feel far more certain of the computer’s memory than my analog one at this point in time. And I am getting things done, which is quite nice.  Well worth the risk of an emergency upholstry removal*, I think.

Tomorrow, we apply for the marriage license. Squee!!

*Absolutely Fabulous, Series 2, Episode 4 “She was so anally retentive she couldn’t sit down for fear of sucking up the furniture.”

Or, Bridebrain, Part II

I thought I had escaped my unfortunate habit of playing April Fool’s pranks on myself.

I was wrong, but I didn’t find out until the wedding invitation I’d meant to send to my parents’ address turned up in my mailbox today.

Postmarked April 1st.

It’s a lot like birdbrain, if you rearrange the letters.

At long last, I have a moment of time and a smidge of wherewithall simultaneously to get caught up…

The past couple of weeks, the other 50% of my time has been spent on a New Project at a New Client. While I can’t go into details, I can say that it’s been a while since I enjoyed the level of job satisfaction that I did upon completing my deliverable. I’ve gotten positive feedback on it as well, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. (There are a couple of meetings next week that will help determine that.) At the same time, I am glad to have a little breathing room until whatever happens next actually comes along; even though I didn’t put in that much overtime in the last couple of weeks, it felt like a lot. At any rate, even though things were a bit stressful, it was totally worth it just for the experience I had. Whatever else comes along will be icing.

Wedding planning is also advancing nicely. Invitations are about 60% addresses and assembled; we’re still collecting some addresses, but I’m confident that we’ll get them out on time. Contracts with the photographers and caterer are coming along. My dress is back from alterations and fits perfectly. We have measurements for the site, so we can plan tent setup, etc. Checklist, blah, blah blah…I am getting to the point where I want to get past all the planning and picky details, and just enjoy the anticipation. At T-70 days, I’m actually starting to feel like The Bride.

The big news this week, though, is the total eclipse of the Saturn. Priscilla, Queen of the Suburbs, has done her last drive with us. The old gal was no longer weatherproof, she was burning oil like a Kuwaiti well, and it was past time for her to go into a well-earned retirement. We traded her in on Friday for a 2008 Civic LX; gray interior and “atomic blue” exterior (I always wanted to be the person who got to name colors). It’s my first brand-new car, and I have to say, it’s kinda weird driving something without any weird sounds or smells. It almost feels too nice for me to drive. I seriously considered the hybrid, but it was about 20% more than I had planned to spend, and the handling felt kind of stiff and strange on the test drive. The LX, though, handles so well (at least, compared to what I’m used to) that it’s almost not like driving. I console myself with the fact that at least I’m reducing my emissoins by not driving the 14-year-old oil-burner. Part of the reason we took so long to get this done was that I hate going car shopping, to the point where I had never bought a car that hadn’t been found for me by a mechanic. However, the dealer was easy to work with, and the customer service was good; they waited while Fiancé read every bit of paper I had to sign, from the financing and warranty to the odometer statement, even though it was well past closing by the time I handed over a check and drove off. When we accidentally left a parking hang-tag in the Saturn, they had it waiting for us when we pulled up.

And now that spring has finally sprung, I’m feeling much better. Since the equinox, we’ve had enough sunshine to go a long way towards banishing my winter blahs. I have a bridal shower to look forward to (Squee!! Getting to see people I haven’t seen in ages AND have cake!) as well as a seder to plan (already!).

Stay tuned for more news, next time I get a break.