Doin' It!

Just updated the biz blog with a post about bridesmaids dresses! I am getting things done (albeit not around the house) this weekend and I'm going to be pushing hard to promote Agape Events! Now if only I could figure out how to get a Cutest Blog on The Block background up with the new Blogger template...

More Yes!

I have my first client! A friend from high school is getting married this year on a budget (know a little bit about that!) and in Atlanta, so she's enlisted me to help! I'll be providing my services at a lower price, but a) she's a friend and b) you gotta start somewhere, right?

Now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go dance off in to the night :)

Congrats to Laura and Zach Baston!

Middle School us would TOTALLY laugh at Married us-- there may even be some shunning involved. We were SO COOL in MS/HS ;)

I know, not the best, but I don't have another picture of them where you can see them both! Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Zachary Baston!

Le Baston le Baston hee hee hee haw haw haw...

My best friend's wedding!

From Girl Scouts to Married Ladies!

One of my nearest and dearest friends from childhood got married today! Jill Marie, I love you and I'm so honored I was invited to join you for your wedding! All our love and best wishes!

Best wishes for Taty and Spencer...

My friend Tatiana got married this weekend and I'm so excited for her-- they left the next morning for Hawaii for their honeymoon, and that's where the bad news hits... Tatiana lost feeling in both her legs their first day there and has been in the hospital since! Whether you believe in it or not, send your good thoughts, happy vibes, and prayers for her quick recovery. Not only do we want her better because we love her, but it would be nice if she could enjoy her honeymoon!!

What a week!

This week I had the K-2nd grade boys and they. wore. me. out. I have a lot of patience for small children because they're still learning, but these boys I think maybe got hit with the stupid stick... all week long I had to keep putting them in time out for hitting each other and calling each other names and nobody ever seemed to catch the point! GAH! I was at my wits' end. Jacob, the littlest one, had some major anger management issues but by the end of the week I found out a lot of stuff that caused some major "Eureka" moments on Friday night!

Six Flags was the most ridiculous day ever-- we rode a lot of good rides since we had the "ride what you want" kids, but we had The Wonder Twins who whined all day long. The one cried every time we went to get on a ride bigger than the Mine Train; when we went to the Wheelie, she ran around the thing screaming and crying like she was being chased by a serial killer! It was really out of line. Again, with the patience of Job regarding little children, by lunch time I wanted to shake them. I took them to the JCs with us and was like, "Keep them before I do something irrational. Like leave them in Monster Plantation." I did tell a kid I'd leave him at Lost and Found for the day, but he was on the verge of getting himself kicked out of the park (because it's SOOOO hard to keep your hands INSIDE the ride!) and he just kind of eyed me like, "I'm not sure if you're bluffing or not..."

After Richard took The Wonder Twins away, the rest of the afternoon was great. We rode the Batman and Mindbender with no trouble and headed on home. The one good girl in my group was a total CHAMP. Sydney was the BEST. She skipped (for the record, there is awesome video with each of these links) Acraphobia, but rode Batman, Superman, The Wheelie, The Mind Bender, she totally rocked it out and I was super proud of her!

We also went to the pool a couple times this week, and on Friday I ran in to a good friend from high school who has been relegated back to his high school summer job of lifeguard! "You know that story where I got a college degree and then had to move in with my parents and work the same job I did in high school?" he opened with. "Yes," I replied, "I know that story quite well, in fact!"

Today was Susie's wedding and it was beeeeeautiful! I'm so excited about my own wedding. She also has the exact same color palate, so I joked with her that it was a good test run for mine! They had a lovely ceremony, short and sweet to boot, and Susie looked just gorgeous! They had a little cocktail reception for an hour and then a sit down dinner and dancing-- of which we did quite a bit. I'm waiting for everyone to put up pictures on Facebook so that I can compile away. For now, the 70 that I took (and here I was thinking I hadn't taken any pictures!) are up on Flickr since Facebook is being a butt. I do, however, get very sad when I see all these spring weddings, I wanted one so badly...

No pictures from camp this week, I didn't think it wise to bring my camera to Six Flags, but here will be plenty next week from Stone Mountain and the ones of my girls last week at The Aquarium are also game.

What a weekend!

I'll just give a quick rundown of the weekend since I've told the story a few times now...

Thursday was the girls' preformal (date party) and the theme was Storybook Couples/Characters. My favorite was India and Houston who came as Calvin and Hobbes!

India's tummy was furry and she kept asking me to pet it, which was kind of hilarious. I also met Houston (her boyfriend) for the first time; he's a really sweet kid and I had fun talking beer and some academics with him. The girls were very well-behaved, but someone's date got way out of control and started a fight with the bouncer! I had to step in at one point, and was apparently pretty scary which is good-- it means word will get around that you don't screw up at an AOII event anymore! The girls are always great, but their dates have ruined stuff for them so many times, it's just not going to happen now that I'm here! The place we went to was called Cypress Pint and Plate. It was pretty good, but definitely on the pricey side-- they charged on average $2-3 more a beer than we do at Palate! $10 for a Hitachino White? Whaaaat? The food was pretty good, though, and the atmosphere was very well constructed. I wouldn't mind going down on a Monday night for their twenty cent wings and buying a couple beers then. After I broke up the fight with the bouncer, I came home and couldn't sleep because I was so wound up/ticked off. I wrote the chapter an e-mail explaining that I knew it wasn't their fault, but they needed to impart to their dates the severity of the punishment should they screw up on Friday at formal.

Friday we were on the Henry Grady River Boat at Stone Mountain for formal and it was AWESOME!! The girls and their dates were the most well behaved Greek organization the security folks could remember, and not only did we get our security deposit back, they actually *wanted* us to come back next year! The weather held out and was perfect-- nary a cloud in the sky and the moon was full and high in the sky, we couldn't have asked for anything better. I wore one of my grandmother's dresses, a really cute vintage number from the '40s. Everyone loved it, and so did I. I'm fairly set on having vintage dresses for my nice events from now on, they fit better and are just so pretty and so well made. They're quite expensive, though, so I'm thinking that it might be easier on my pockets to buy the vintage Vogue patterns and use similar materials.
Above is the view from the riverboat just before sunset of the forest surrounding the mountain.

Today was Susie's bridal shower, which was lots of fun. There was a woman there who is a "grace period" foster mother and I think maybe once Jeremy and I settle in and have our own who's a bit older, I'd like to do it, too. All you do is take in babies who are given up for adoption for the 10-20 day grace period Georgia gives a mother to change her mind so that the adoptive family doesn't have the baby and then get it taken away just as they've gotten it. All told, this woman's had 75!! She had her newest one who was only two weeks old with her, she got passed around and was a little shocked at the number of people there. Everyone was great fun, and my Mancala and Jenga went over well with Susie who loves those games as much as I do :) Her bachelorette party is in a couple weeks, I think, and should be a blast. I'm so excited to get to know Susie better, and Joanna as well-- I think we're all going to be really good friends. And it's appropriate, really, since Emily and I are very close now and met through a mutual friend, that I should be good friends with people I have met through her!

Work tonight was rough for a while, but not too bad-- and I really like working with Peter. If Shale gets in to medical school and heads on up to Philly, I'll probably talk to Jill about picking up Saturdays; they're a good money-making night and Peter and I just get along really well.

I'm so exhausted and have finally wound down enough to fall asleep maybe, so I'll leave you with a picture from my last trip to Florida-- my favorite billboard ever. Heck yeah, Chick'fil'A.

Weekend

Friday was low-key, but really nice. We had initiation for our spring pledges (hoorah new Alpha babies!) and a little pizza party after with birthday cake for India. Unfortunately, Alison couldn't be there because they were still taking care of some things with her father's estate. She got back tonight during LC, and is doing as well as can be expected-- possibly better. She's an amazing young woman, it breaks my heart she has to go through this.

After the pizza party, Vicki, Becky, and I went out and signed our gifts for the girls being installed as alumnae on Tuesday. I really wish I'd had an alumnae installation ceremony, I feel like I missed something there. Initiation was nice, though, because it made me think of Natalie (my new member educator) and Lindsey Hughes, our president at the time who initiated me. It's a really nice ceremony and definitely made me tear up a little! On the way home, I made a wrong turn and ended up at Magic City. That would be the strip club they talk about in the rap songs. Ohhhh yeeeeah.

Saturday was lazy, but I did go see Arcadia at GPC, which Alexandros was in. It was really nice, it's only the second time I've seen Alexandros since I've been back (the other when Jeremy and I went with him to lunch and Slumdog Millionaire), and we went to R. Thomas in Buckhead for my (much belated) birthday dinner and it was aawesome. I had a coconut curry linguine with shrimp and salmon. So. Good. They do all organic and locally grown food, it was quite delish. But pricey, definitely pricey. Also, the chai was perfect! I'm super picky about my chai, so I was happy it wasn't an absolute loss.

Tonight was LC, where we discussed some difficult things and I prepared myself to be the hard ass. I also did an arrangement for Alison of some roses and carnations I picked up at the Farmer's Market that looked pretty nice, actually!

That's about all. Clare was married yesterday, and though I wish nothing but the best for her, I'm still not convinced her new husband and step-children are that best thing. I would not have been surprised at the outdoor ceremony if it weren't for the fact that it was a product of him insisting they not be married in a church, which I find strange. I know Jeremy and I aren't getting married in a church, but that's mostly a convenience for our guests sort of deal, not anything to do with religion.

Ah, well, c'est la vie. All we can do is hope and pray that her life is as happy as she deserves for it to be and that he doesn't continue to be as sketchy has he has been to know...

This week: work, hopefully Memphis at the end of the week, and if Memphis is in the books then I will hopefully figure out why Jan and Marc's internet isn't working!

It's all coming together

Heard back from Jeremy tonight that Valerie, Matt, and Ana will be able to make a Dec. 19th wedding, so we're all set!! I'm so excited that everyone can make it :)

I've decided to do it in the afternoon, as mentioned before, and I talked to one of my AAC cohorts about it yesterday and she said that even though they weren't excited about her brother having an afternoon wedding, it ended up being really great. I've already shifted my planning, and I'm going to do wine and beer instead of liquor (which will be cheaper) and cheese plates, light snacks, and desserts since we'll be after lunch through midafternoon. I'm especially excited since you can buy cases of Sweetwater-- I can local-ize this like nobody's business! Also, Jill's (my boss) landlord said that the Solarium could easily hold 300, so I don't have to worry as much about the guest list. I mean, I'm not inviting anywhere near 300, but it means I can invite my GSig girls to come and some other people whose faces I'd like to see.

Now that we have the date, all I have to do is order the postcards for our save-the-dates and get them all printed and addressed, so they'll probably be out early February which works fine, I think. Weights lifted from my shoulders!

Nothing else really interesting, I was just excited to hear that and wanted to share :)

Bride Wars?

My friend and sister Hollis stopped by my Facebook today and congratulated me on my engagement-- as she got engaged a couple months ago and I hadn't heard about a date, I asked her when they were planning to get hitched. Imagine my surprise when she came back with... the exact same date as mine! (Dec. 19, 2009) In Atlanta. Blargh. I don't mind doing an afternoon ceremony, which would mean the oodles of people we share on our guest lists wouldn't have to pick weddings, but I really wanted a night wedding. I wish we could do Friday, but I'm not sure it would be easy for Josh (Jeremy's brother/best man) and I'm sure we're pushing it for Val & Co. to get there which is the whole reason we're having it in December to begin with. I'm trying to stay more amused by it than anything-- I mean, what are the odds of us both having the same wedding date totally independent of one another?! Probably about the same as the odds that she would be best friends with a girl I grew up with. Which is the case, bee tee dubs.

On another note, I've found my dress and it's on sale! If I'd made any money at work tonight, or had any faith in tomorrow (tonight?) I would go ahead and buy it right now but I'm pretty sure since it's been bouncing back and forth from $200 to $99, I'll have a chance. I'm going to make an appointment for next week with a shop in Inman Park to try on some similar dresses (in sillhouette) to make sure it won't make my arse look like Texas. Le dress:

It even has the right color obi on it to match my bridesmaids dresses! I'm pleased that the basic stuff seems to be coming together. Shelby even said she'd come in a couple days early to help out just 'cause she rocks. Mom suggested the two buck chucks at Trader Joes (their house wine, couple bucks a bottle, major discount on cases) for the reception, which is perfect because I'd like to have some wine and not just liquor.

Even though it was a devastatingly slow night at work (our total sales were $4.19 and about $2.10 of that was me), I did get a chance to start on Lauren's (my Maid of Honor) Christmas gift to me, a book called Bridal Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields. It's actually a really great book, and if you know someone who's getting married or planning a wedding, I totally recommend it. They're basically consumer advocates for people planning weddings-- they outline the legalities of bridal salons and deposits, and include warning stories:

"In 1992, a couple who owned a chain of Detroit area bridal shops was indicated on 60 counts of fraud in a "bridal scam." Over 5000 brides were bilked out of $1 million in deposits when the shops failed to deliver dresses."

They're not trying to make people paranoid or anything, but they do a really good job of letting you know how to be a savvy shopper. They also include their address and everything so you can write in if you have tips or want to share pictures, etc. from your wedding that might be helpful to other people, so I might try and do that.

Well, I'm yawning and drowsing (golly, and it's only 220!) so I'm off to bed. Ciao for now, dear readers!

First of the Year

Happy New Year everyone! My favorite holiday next to Halloween, where we can spend our time with loved ones and celebrate a fresh start. Check out the links, they're pictures of and by me in Florida; the ones of the manatees at Blue Springs came out great!

Christmas Eve- flew down to Jacksonville where Jeremy picked me up. We took the long way back down to Daytona, stopped at a beach and took a stroll, and drove through St. Augustine before we got home. Relaxed for a little bit with the History Channel and ordered some Papa Johns for dinner. I'd brought down stuff for mulled wine so we cooked some of that up and had a glass (which helped with Jeremy's coughing nast) and wished everyone in Indiana a Merry Christmas on the phone.

Christmas Day- got up earlyish, put up the pictures I had printed for Jeremy and turned on the tree I bought. I started on a pot roast with onions and potatoes, which turned out fantastically. We ate on that for dinner, and watched a movie but I can't remember which one-- we watched about five or six the whole time.

Up Through New Years Eve- We also caught up with the Eiler's Christmas slideshow-- Analia just keeps getting more and more adorable! If they didn't live in Singapore I would offer long-term babysitting for free, she's got such a great personality for such a little girl. Went to the Bulow Sugar Mill and wandered around, it was a really cool place-- once the biggest Sugar Mill in the area that shipped out to St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Savannah. On the way back we wandered around part of the loop and stopped to take pictures of the pretty bird. We went to lunch with Jeremy's classmate Ron and his wife Cathy the next day, really nice people and very funny. Ron and Jeremy have the same sense of humor-- no wonder they get on so well! Walked around the little shopping complex in front of Wyotech and then went for a ride around the loop. The next day we rode down to Waleka with them and went out to the dock and watched the water for a few minutes. It was so much fun to be back on the bike again, and now that I'm not stressing my joints at work it doesn't hurt to ride for more than half an hour! Stopped at a great little country restaurant called MeMa's where we had corn nuggets (which were amazing!) and I got a shrimp basket for $7 with 1/3lb of fresh shrimp in it! Yum!

We laid low over the next couple days, made a couple grocery store runs, talked wedding stuff, and planned for the next week. We went down to Blue Springs State Park where the manatees were to see what we could see and... there were manatees galore!! We got to see a mama and calf, and several others hanging out throughout the naturally warm springs. We're definitely going to go back this summer when the manatees are gone so that we can swim and maybe find a place to get tubes and tube up to the St. John's river. We got home to find that the USPS had put a "Vacant House" card in the mailbox because I'd put a letter for one of the old residents in marked "No Such Resident, Return to Sender" so even though they've been delivering mail for months for the people who DID live there, they decided they were just going to stop.

New Year's Eve- we just kind of hung out for most of the day, watched some silly TV and played some Wii (though I also just watched Jeremy get angry with the Wii tennis-- way amusing), drank our champagne and watched a movie on Netflix. At midnight, we cheered, kissed, and said, "Well, I guess we're getting married this year, huh?" Went to bed not too much later after that so I could get up the next day and cook!

New Year's Day- Cooked up a good ol' meal of collard greens, black eyed peas, and corned beef. I forgot to get cornmeal, so we didn't have cornbread, but the greens and peas were the important part. We ate plenty, so we ought to have plenty of luck and prosperity this year; I'm not usually superstitious, but I take my New Years seriously! Besides, we could both use a bit of each! Watched another movie, I think the one about Genghis Khan, and discussed how silly the USPS is. Jeremy did get it straightened out, so no worries on the mail.

Jan. 2nd- We decided to go up to St. Augustine because everyone said it was super cute and charming, and I wanted to see all the historical stuff... BIG mistake. Unless you're ready to fork out $25/person just for parking and historical stuff, not including food or even water, don't even step foot in St. Augustine. Drive through, ooh and aah at the cute buildings, and then drive right on out. The parking was hard to find and expensive, all the historical stuff charged, we couldn't find a coherent map to figure out where we were so we just wandered around for a couple hours, and since the whole city seemed out to pick our pockets, we didn't feel like stopping for food. Plus, the few historical items seemed crowded out by the kitschy tourist stuff. Totally awful. We left in a half-bad mood and didn't really feel like doing anything else-- we skipped Ft. Matanzas and came straight back to Daytona where we had leftovers for dinner.

We didn't do too much exciting over the last few days, attempted Outback and was overwhelmed by the number of people and lack of space (they never seem to have enough tables!) so we got takeout, leaving Jeremy with even more leftovers to eat on for the next week and a half! I got to meet one of his roommates, Jeff, who seemed like a really cool, laid-back guy and his girlfriend Natalie who reminded me of someone I used to work with. It was a nice, quiet, relaxing time and that's exactly the kind of time we like :)

Now, I'm working hard to save for the wedding-- we know what we want, or rather I do, so I'm pretty intent on paying for it myself and not having to depend on outside help for it. My mom said she might help with the deposit for the venue, but since we get that money back (and she likes my plan) it won't be a big deal. I'm really excited about the prospects, and I'll keep everyone updated as I get ideas. It's going to be really creative, really nice, and very classic. Yes, it's possible!

Anyway, off to bed-- I'm already ruining the fairly decent sleep habits Jeremy got me in to this week. No cold water, but he's not big on letting me sleep in; which, to be fair, I asked him to enforce. We're also moving soon, which is exciting, so I'm up early to try and start packing up!

Adam and Erin

I wish I knew where my card reader was-- Adam and Erin got married last night and it was so wonderful, and so very them. They had the ceremony and reception at the Moulin Rouge room at Paris on Ponce (antiques store, for those of you not from 'round here). Erin looked absolutely beautiful, and Adam as strangely adorable as ever; they really are perfect for each other, and I can't imagine two people who will be happier together. The food, of course, was amazing and Adam's brother Drew did all the cheesecakes-- I think there was a total of six or seven cakes, the "wedding cake" had a little pumpkin bride and groom, and I munched on a Saffron Spice cheesecake with homemade raspberry sauce. Tres magnifique.

It was also really beautiful the way that everyone was included in the ceremony-- Adam and Erin feel like all their friends are family, and family is extremely important. People were invited up to tell stories and make their own toasts, and the ceremony was done in the middle of the room and led directly in to the celebration (aka, reception). I hope that Jeremy won't mind doing something like that, I'd really like it. Plus, there are a lot of logistical upsides to it. Short ceremony means kids (and I) won't get antsy, being there already means that the entire thing doesn't have to pick up and move the entire thing somewhere else (which cuts costs), and we can do pictures while everyone else gets settled in with food and whatnot before toasts.

Everyone keeps asking why I'm having children there, and I happen to think children are loads of fun at wedding receptions. Apparently friends of mine up north have never had a good experience with children at a wedding, and the way I put it to Shelby is that we always understood that it was a privilage to be at an adult function and we better behave or we would be in deep crap, possibly for the rest of our lives. Also, it would be entirely rude to even tangentially ban children from the ceremony and reception given the number of people I know with children (in both the literal and colloquial senses). Most of the weddings I've been to start early evening and go to late evening, giving those with children an opportunity to come celebrate, and leave when they're ready, and those who might have earlier obligations to celebrate as well.

I'm dying for some sushi, but it'll have to wait for lunch Monday-- that's when Sushi Avenue does their amazing specials, lunch during the week. I'm excited, also, to maybe try a new lunch every week...

On that note, I'll write up my restaurant review and go try to find something to amuse myself until it's an appropriate hour to sleep.