'Here is a calm so deep, grasses cease waving."

My eyes opened and there was a beautiful creamy dress, hanging. The most beautiful dress that ever existed, glowing, waiting for the moment I would put it on and walk downstairs to greet my handsome groom. The most handsome groom a girl could ever imagine, waiting for me so that we could become husband and wife.

Footsteps, Mom was bringing coffee to her principessa, still bleary eyed on her wedding morning.

Wind howled and the sky darkened. I pulled the covers closer, took a sip of the steaming coffee and was thankful that I had a wool cloak to wear on my stormy spring wedding day.

The doorbell clamoured, insisting we take notice of the beautiful bridesmaids waiting to come in out of the cold.

The loveliest of lovely bridesmaids who ever existed were coming to spend the day with me. They made sure I had everything I needed, which was only their love.

Love, a champagne toast.

Love, laughter from downstairs as mom curled my hair.

Love, squeals of delight as the flowers arrive.

Love, anticipating my every desire.

Love, the loveliest of lovely bridesmaids.

A flurry of action: curls, dresses, shoes, a touch of makeup; the groom is arriving, he is here!

I descend into a room full of only one person. My most handsome of grooms is smiling at me, his eyes twinkling.

After so much anticipation we're finally off! Dad is driving us slowly towards our destination.

Arrival!

Pictures!

Waiting!

Finishing Touches!

Hiding!

Music!

And now, it is time.

A multitude of people are smiling at me and for the first time I understand why one might be nervous at such a moment. I cling more tightly to Dad's arm as he walks me toward my sweet smiling groom.

And then there is only Seth. Sunny sparkling eyes, sharp handsome suit and that smile, beaming back at me. He actually wants to love me forever and the thought makes my soul ache with love. The love-ache overflows and my eyes fill with burning, blurry happiness.

But then it's time to go. We are man and wife and we have a spectacular party to throw.

On Wedding Planning, Part 3 :: The To-Do Lists

When I left Vermont two weeks before the wedding the skies were blue and clear, the sun was shining intensely through the still frigid air. The grass was still brown. The trees were still bare. There were no tulips or daffodils shooting through the barely snow-free earth.

It wasn't until I blew through Columbus that I started noticing green grass and leafy underbrush. By the time Cincinnati materialized before my eyes not only was there green grass and leafy underbrush, but hints of green on the trees as well! The pear trees and magnolia blossoms were peaking out of tiny leafy surrounds. The air was fresh with new life. There were tulips and daffodils and pansies and it was WARM. I knew that by the time the wedding rolled around Spring would be developing nicely - exactly as I had envisioned it.

I had two weeks to get everything prepared, and I thought that seemed completely reasonable. I planned on getting everything done the first week, so that the week before the wedding I could just relax and do whatever I wanted. (Get a manicure, go out to dinner with friends, practice my hairdo, get a massage, do absolutely nothing...I had very high ambitions.)

I called Mom when I was a block or two away from her house and she met me in the parking lot. She helped me carry all my stuff in, gave me a glass of wine and started snapping pictures to document the bride's arrival on facebook. She had it all planned out. (I could tell she'd been waiting for this moment all day.) We ate a quick dinner and headed off for our first task: a dress fitting with Lana.

While I was driving home I had called Lana to confirm our appointment for that night. She said that she had to tell me something about the dress. This wasn't going to be an almost final fitting as we had expected, but she had a new practice dress for me to try on. She hadn't been comfortable with the plan we came up with in New York. She kept trying and trying but it just didn't look right, so she'd been researching 30s dresses and styles, and she didn't think our plan really went with the look we were going for at all, so she had a new practice dress to make sure I liked the new changes. (She had shown it to Anne, who loved it and said of course I was going to like it, but she just needed to make sure.) Based on the way she described it, I was sure it was going to be even prettier than I had imagined before, and I was so excited to see it (and I felt terrible for causing such angst and stress).
She said she was just about to cut my veil before I called. "Oh! I had been thinking about that, and I'm not sure if I want it finger-tip-length anymore," I said, "you never see short veils in the 30s, they were always long, so I wasn't sure if that would go with the 30s thing either." She laughed. "Joanna, you don't know how close I was to cutting that veil when you called." She had the scissors in her hands and put them down to get a different pair when the phone rang. We decided that Grandma was looking out for me. (Thank you Grandma!)

When Mom and I got to Lana's she had the dress pinned together on a mannequin so we could see exactly how it would look. It was so beautiful! Mom and I oohed and aahed over it, and then I tried on a practice dress. We put the veil on to decide whether to cut it or not. We had originally been planning to cut the veil finger-tip-length because the back of the dress was so pretty and we didn't want to cover it up. But since the veil netting was so thin, we didn't think it would make that much of a difference and decided to wait and see. We could always cut it later, but we couldn't un-cut it.

When we got home Mom's organizational skills kicked in, and we started a master to-do list. The plan was to write down everything we needed to accomplish, and then divvy it up every day into smaller to do lists. We wrote down EVERYTHING. We needed to make the chuppah. In order to do that I needed to pickup the supplies we had left at Seth's Dad's house, we needed to buy flower pots, we needed to fill those flower pots with concrete, we needed to figure out how to attach the lace to the poles, we needed to buy flowers to cover the concrete in the flower pots, we needed to put it all together to make sure it worked, and we needed to figure out how to get it to the Highland Country Club. We put every step on the to do list.

We also needed to get the seating chart printed up. I had to talk to Paul about where to have it printed, I had to finish the vintage-train-station-departure-board image so that it could be printed, then we had to take it to be printed. Then we had to pick it up.
All on the to do list.

Half way between Vermont and Kentucky I had discovered that I forgot the amazing vintage travel posters that we had printed to put at each table. I decided it didn't need to be professionally done, they were only 8x10 after all, and Paul could help me print and cut them. (Since he's a professional.) I also had to figure out how to put them on the table and get some kind of frame or stand to put them in.
All on the to do list.

My dress for the rehearsal dinner didn't fit quite right, and Mom was going to fix it for me. To do list.
I needed to get shoes for the wedding. To do list.
We had scheduled our next dress fitting with Lana. To do list.
Even the fun things I planned to do AFTER the to do lists were finished went on the to do lists. We may have gone a little overboard.

Some other items from our master list:
"Rings - going to who when - J"
"Find easels at work - J"
"Take Seth's clothes to Mitchell's - J" (for dry cleaning)
"Brooks Brothers - J"  (Seth needed a new shirt, Paul's suit needed to be picked up, the ring bearer needed pants.)
"Buy wrapping paper and gift bags - J"
"Wrap presents - J"
"Print Clear Labels - J"
"Make place cards - J & C"
"Buy brown green & blue jute - C" (these were going to be attached to the luggage-tag style place cards, letting the servers know whether someone should receive prime rib (brown), vegetarian (green), or a kids meal (blue).)
"Fish or Chicken - FISH!" (what to have at the rehearsal dinner?)
"Look at ceremony"
"Email Bill about Ceremony - J"
"Tell M & D to sit in front - J" (Melissa and Dustin, parent's of the ring bearer and flower girl)
"Greeter at HCC - assign. Tommy? Ben & Felicity? - J"
"Get Sarah a gift. - J" (Sarah was the flower girl)
"One Gold Necklace - C"
"wedding bracelet - J"
"buy shoes - C"
"Jo's shoes"
"Elizabeth's poem- J" (I believe this meant that I needed to find a nice book for Elizabeth to hold while she was reading, so that she didn't just have a piece of paper in her hand.)
"Intentions?"
"Talk to Paul about sound"
"Programs - elephant - person assigned"
"print programs"
"change playlist" (I had noticed some glaring errors on my trip home.)
"umbrellas?"

Every morning Mom and I sat in bed drinking coffee and making a new to do list for the day. (Actually, to be more realistic, I lay in bed falling asleep with a mug of coffee balanced on my chest while Mom sat in bed drinking coffee and making to do lists - and asking me if I was falling asleep and spilling my coffee.) Every night we sat in bed with tea or popcorn and checked off the things that we had accomplished. The things we hadn't accomplished rolled over onto the next day's list. Mom's list was always longer than mine and was always finished by the end of the day, while all my tasks seemed to roll over for an eternity. My to do list was growing instead of shrinking.

Items from Monday's list (April 4):
Carol
get shoes
buy flower pots
get stain, stain chuppah caps
laminate music
Paul - talk to kinkos
buy hair products
umbrellas?
make place cards
find mirrors (mom wanted to have mirrors set up for everyone to use while they were getting ready on the day of the wedding)
find jewelry
haircuts for Jo and Paul
Joanna
buy wrapping paper and gift bags
make reception schedule
buy Sarah's gift
ask Paul about ideas (?)
start to sketch program
brooks brothers
wrap presents

The week went by agonizingly slow, and surprisingly fast at the same time. Before I knew it Saturday had arrived, the point at which I thought I'd have everything accomplished, and the to do list wasn't even close to being finished. (Saturday's list includes "Brooks Brothers," "Make Chuppah and fix it," and "gift bags." Two of these things are obviously rolled over all the way from Monday...) It seemed like Mom and I went shopping every single day. (Mom also still had things on her to do list. She still needed shoes and a necklace. So there.) Even though I clearly remember reaching the half way point and the to do list not being finished, I still managed to have a relaxing second week. I think instead of rolling over items on my list, Mom rolled them over onto her list and took care of everything. (Thanks Mom!)

We got the chuppah up on Sunday, but something wasn't quite right about the way the fabric was hanging. We needed much more weight in the bases and had to add more and more concrete. Mom did that the next morning while I was at work.
Items on Monday's to do list (April 11)
Carol
Fix chuppah pots
pick up poster
think about blue dress
practice hair
grocery
fix mirrors
email musicians
email Julie
necklace
Joanna
wrap presents
sketch program
finish intentions
pick up sushi
write reception schedule for Jake
bracelet
change playlist
glass for Seth to break
bag for glass for Seth to break
place card redos

(notice any repeats?)

Kelly and Julie came over in order to accomplish "practice hair" on Mom's list and I picked up sushi on the way home for dinner. For some reason, even though we had great fun, the hair-doing was a total flop and no one's hair would hold curl. Mom got stressed. What if it didn't hold on Saturday either?! Why wasn't it curling! It was a crazy thing to behold, Mom had a curling iron in Kelly's hair, and when it came out the hair fell back down again as though nothing had happened. Totally mind boggling! Julie and Kelly graciously decided that Mom should not have to stress about their hair on the day of her daughter's wedding and ended up having it done elsewhere. Now all she had to worry about was my hair, which also required curls.

On Tuesday I was scheduled to go out for a celebratory dinner with Julie and Kelly. I must have been anxious to get everything off of my plate and relax at diner, because on the way home I stopped and bought flowers for the chuppah pots (something we had put off because it rained all weekend and I was lazy). Then I went to the Village (local thrift store) and bought a glass for Seth to stomp on. I had forgotten whether or not they accepted credit cards and it didn't occur to me that they might not til I got there. I counted up all the change in my car and it amounted to about $2.00. I went in, hopeful that I could find something for $2.00 that Seth could break. I perused their dinnerware section and found lots of possibilities. I was trying to figure out which glass had the thinnest walls and would be the easiest to break. I finally decided on one, and it was only 60c! It felt like a great accomplishment after buying buying buying all week long. When I got home I put the flowers out back, and put the chuppah back together. It was perfect! I placed the glass on the bag that mom had made for it on the kitchen table. I left notes all over the house showing mom the things I had accomplished that day. I left the chuppah standing perfectly in the living room, with a note taped to one of the poles mentioning that it was perfect. I left a note taped to the window to LOOK! at the flowers on the table outside. I wrapped the presents. I sketched out a tiny tiny program (picture 1/4 of a normally sized piece of paper folded in half with tiny writing on it) and left it on the table by the glass.

(Later I discovered that the glass said it was made in West Germany, and I wondered for a second whether it would be terrible to destroy such a piece of history.)

It was SO much fun relaxing for an evening with Kelly and Julie over dinner! It was just the right way to start unwinding from the dreaded to do lists. After dinner we decided that even though it was a partying kind of evening, we were all perfectly content to go back to Mom's house and talk (in peace and quiet, which you don't get in public places). We sat under the recently perfected chuppah and polished off a bottle of wine that we had started the day before. We called Anne, our missing comrade, because we needed clarification on a detail of our family oriented discussion and we usually assume Anne knows all the family details that we don't. We ensured that none of us would sleep that night by telling each other about scary things we had heard about or experienced. It was great fun.

Wednesday, back to reality. Wednesday's to do list is a little more bearable since I got so much done on Tuesday.
Carol
Flowers front. (Mom wanted to put nice flowers in pots out front in so that her house looked great on Saturday.)
plant flowers (Now that the chuppah is weighted properly we can plant the flowers in its pots.)
finish blue dress
mirror out of basement
music in binder
fix finger cymbals
clean house
hard head hairspray
mow grass
pickup dress from cleaners
Joanna
Print posters
print programs
Ask Ben & Felicity
Finish intentions
place card labels

We got everything done Wednesday and went over to Lana's for my final dress fitting. Anne was there and had baked a practice cake. After we declared the dress perfect, we had perfect cake to top it all off! Anne gave me the rest of it to take home. In a totally uncharacteristic moment I decided it wasn't a good idea to consume an entire cake 2 days before my wedding, so on Thursday I brought it into work. Dad and I had cake for lunch, and then I shared the rest with co-workers (who said it was the best carrot cake ever, Anne!) Thursday evening Anne, Kelly, Julie, Mom and I all went out and got manicures. Seth was flying in that evening, and I was going to pick him up from the airport! I was excited to finally see him again!

When we got out of the nail salon I had a message from Seth that he was stuck in Detroit and wasn't going to be in until Friday morning. Thursday night I did not sleep. Seth called me around 6 to say that his flight was on time and he should arrive around 8:30. I picked him up and we went over to Lana's. Lana had graciously agreed to alter Seth's grandfather's suit coat for him, as it was slightly to wide for him. It is his favorite, and he wanted to wear it to the rehearsal dinner. She had it all cut out apart and just needed him to try it on and sew it back up. Then I brought Seth to his Dad's house where Hannah and Raffi were already waiting for us.

Mom and I had all the place cards wrapped together in tables, stacked in the order that they should be placed out so that people were sitting next to the proper people. My last task from the to do list was to check these. Hannah helped me and we got it done in no time. The middle of the day passed very calmly. It was delightful. Then we all realized we had errands to run, and set about running them. I wanted to get champagne for Saturday, needed to pick up my dress and Seth's jacket from Lana, and Hannah needed a few things too. Seth and Raffi either had something to do or concocted something to do. We all set off, Hannah and I together and Raffi and Seth together. The afternoon was a whirlwind of rain, errands, and Cincinnati traffic. When I finally got back to Mom's to get ready for the rehearsal dinner she was waiting, exasperated that she wouldn't have enough time to do my hair.

At this point my attitude was "if it's not done, it ain't gettin' done." I knew that anything I had forgotten to do probably wouldn't matter even remotely in the scheme of things, so Mom and I set about getting ready for the partying to start!

Laundry the Eco-Old-Fashioned Way - Joanna Style

I've been on this kick lately of not using the dryer. For anything. At all. Under any circumstances.

The problem with this idea is that I don't have a clothesline.

When Seth and I first moved in together (almost 5 years ago!) Seth had more than no interest in hanging clothes outside to dry. He loathed the idea. He said that the air outside is DIRTY and one shouldn't hang CLEAN clothes in it. I never really figured out how the air outside is really much different than the air in the dryer, in the basement, where Seth regularly fires up a motorcycle and fills the house with exhaust. (If anything, I think the air outside is cleaner.) But still, Seth maintains that if a bird were to sit in our tree and poop on our clothes, we would have to wash them again, and I really can't argue with that.

When we got home after our wedding, for some reason we had a ton of laundry. I think we left a bit of laundry and then came back with only dirty clothes. We did load after load after load of laundry, but the piles never seemed to get smaller. As I switched the clothes from the washer to the dryer for what seemed like the thousandth time, I thought "man, the electric bill is going to be a doozy this month!"

[Sidenote: I just looked up the word "doozy" because Google doesn't believe that its a word. So, I found it in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Here's what they say:

doo zy : noun : an extraordinary one of its kind.

Does anyone else find that definition hilarious?]

Anyway, the electric bill came. I suppose "extraordinary" could be an accurate description. Seth's eyes almost popped out of his head.

The next day, I needed to wash our sheets. Not only did I not want to use the dryer (and its huge amount of electricity) because of the bill, but in general I'm always trying to use less electricity, or at least get my electricity from sustainable sources. I can't control where the electric from the grid comes from, but I can control whether I use that electric or not. Sometimes. OK, I can at least take small steps to use less of it. Right?
Of course right. (name that movie!)

So I was interested in washing my sheets and not using the dryer. But I don't have a clothesline!
Don't despair, YOU CAN DO IT!

We don't have a clothesline, but here's what we do have. 
A drying rack (for clothes that don't go in the dryer).
Two hangers with clips on them (for pants and shorts and things).
Two clothespins.


So, I put the sheets in the washer confident that when they came out I could find a way to hang them up to dry. And I did it! I positioned the drying rack in the middle of the dining room, hung the end of one sheet over one edge of it, and clipped the other end to a hanger, which I hung on a nail in the doorway to the kitchen. (Normally this nail is only used to hold Christmas lights up. I'm not sure what its original purpose was.) Then, I did the same thing with the duvet cover, hanging the second clippy hanger in the doorway to the living room - which also has a convenient Christmas light nail in the center of it.


I had the fanciful feeling of a 7 year old making a tent clubhouse out of quilts and blankets.

I attached the two clothespins to another hanger and hung the end of the last sheet from the door of the guest room, with the other end of the sheet draped loosely over the ironing board. I hung the pillowcases on the rack.


I did this around noon, (lunch break!) and everything was dry well before it was time to go to bed. I'd even say they were dry by the time we ate dinner! How exciting! How inspiring! I can do it! We can do it! We don't need a dryer!


When Seth came home ("this place is like a Bedouin tent") I told him of my electric bill theory and may have started rambling about mountain top removal, clean coal propaganda, unions, labor, solar power and windmills. He remembered doing load after load of laundry with me, and he thought perhaps the section of my rant that had to do with us not using our dryer had merit. I told him we should get a clothesline outside so I could hang ALL the clothes out to dry, and he said "Ok, and we'll just hang a sign on it that says '$$' so that I remember not to complain about it."


So I'm taking off and not looking back. I haven't used the dryer for all of June, and I don't even have to skimp on a load. (And I haven't even gotten a clothesline yet!) I hang most things on our drying rack, which is a pretty good size. What doesn't fit I hang on hangers in doorways. Everything is usually dry by that evening.


So - I'm going to see how long I can go without using the dryer. I'm shooting for - all summer. Who's with me!? I've already even started thinking I can manage all of this without a clothesline too. Who need a clothesline anyway, when you have a drying rack, two clippy hangers and two clothespins?


Not I!

Seth vs. KTM vs. The Stream of My Conciousness

Interruption, again. Apologies - I don't find wedding planning fascinating enough to let it take over my life.

As you may recall, Seth has been having some minor problems with his motorcycle. After he got it going last time, we began working on our new fully enclosed motorcycle trailer. We're building a clubhouse inside of it.

Or something like that.

Here are some shots of Seth when he got the trailer home:

It kinda reminded me of when Dad and Urban brought the "new" rollback home.
:)

I'll tell you more about our new clubhouse later. Back to the story at hand. Seth left his bike sitting for a while, neglected, and it didn't appreciate it. So, of course, when we tried to go for a ride on Sunday (Seth hasn't ridden a motorcycle since February and is racing in a prestigious race in 2 1/2 weeks - eeek!) it didn't start. Actually, oh yes. It did start, but conked out when we were about 2 miles away. Seth left me in the parking lot of a hotel with his bike and took my bike (which starts every time) home to get the clubhouse trailer.

When we got home we stripped his bike down, preparing to open up the engine for worst-case-scenario investigation. In the process, we saw a wire that was split in two. "Oh" said Seth, "that's obviously the problem." He took off the wire, which goes to his computer system (the one that tells him how fast he's going and silly things like that) and put the battery on the charger overnight.

On Monday when he got home from work, Seth put the battery in and took the bike outside. He tried to start it and

WREE WREE WREE WREE WREE

no go.

Last time this happened he bump started it and everything was fine. So he tried that again, but everything was not fine. It started, but it sounded TEEEERRIBLE. He managed to keep it alive around the block, and rode back up the driveway with blue exhaust sputtering from his tailpipe. I told him his exhaust was blue and asked if there could be oil getting into the gas. Or something...not that I really know.

"I hope I didn't blow a head gasket in this baby," Seth despaired.

Upon closer examination we found black gunk all over the place, like it was spitting out from the engine or the exhaust pipes. Seth hopped in the car and went to "the shop." When he came back he had an idea! He had cleaned the carburetor on Saturday, maybe he messed something up! He spent the night taking his carburetor apart piece by piece, cleaning it, (over and over again) and then carefully putting it back together again. Around 12:30 he had it together, and decided he'd put it in the bike the next day, and we'd go for a ride.

Tuesday. Seth got home from work and went straight to the basement. He brought his bike outside and turned on the gas. Immediately a stream of gas came pouring out of the petcock. I started cracking up, he gasped, and quickly turned the gas off. "Did you forget something?" I asked. He grinned and went inside. When he put the proper tubing back on his bike, he turned on the gas again, and tried to start the temperamental beast.

WREE WREE WREE WREE WREE

WREE WREE WREE WREE WREE

He tried to kick start it.
CaTHUMP
CaTHUMP
CaTHUMP

He looked at me with a frown.

He tried to bump start it. He rolled down the hill and it started for a few cycles of the engine without ever sounding like it was going to keep going. It didn't.

He pushed it back up the hill and tried again. It did the same thing.

We pushed it back up the hill and tried again.

We pushed it aaaall the way up the hill to our main driveway, and he tried again.

We pushed it aaaall the way up the hill and tried again.

We pushed it back to the basement driveway and poor Seth looked at it in despair. He decided to check and see what the spark plug looked like. Every other time we've tried to start it we've burned up the spark plug, so this seemed like a reasonable idea to me. He went and got his tools and a new spark plug. Suddenly, he looked up at me with a huge grin on his face.

"This is perhaps not my finest mechanical hour," he said.
"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I forgot to put the spark plug back in."
He he he a ha ha ha  ho ho ho.

I was rolling on the ground with laughter. He put the spark plug in and it started. right. up.

We were both sweaty hot from all that unnecessary pushing his motorcycle (with a full tank of gas) up our steep hill. "Wanna have a freezy pop and go for a ride?" I asked.

"YES" Seth responded.

When we finally got out for our first ride of the year it was ultimate bliss. We were so excited. Paul got us a new camcorder for our wedding present that you can attach to helmets and bikes and stuff, and Seth put it on his helmet. (We were testing it out before he races pikes peak!)

Now that Seth has finally (once and for all - hopefully) conquered the KTM battle, I thought I'd humor you with the thoughts that run through my brain while we're on a motorcycle ride. Our plan was to go over Warren Mountain (Roxbury Gap), Lincoln Peak (Lincoln Gap) and then come back over the App Gap.

Here goes...
"These mountains are SO beautiful. I love Vermont. How could we ever consider moving away? What a beautiful summer day - the wind in our hair, the sun on our faces, aaaah perfection. What? We're getting on the highway?? That never happens. Seth is pretty far ahead of me. I'm going about as fast as I care to and I'm not catching up. There are a lot of cars in between us, I hope I see where he gets off!

OH! He's getting off!

I enjoy this road. Wait. We're not turning here? Ooooh we're taking a back way. Woo-oo-ooah this road is bumpy!

Holy Cow that guard rail in the corner of my vision is totally mangled. It's down in the creek! Oooooh. I'll bet this road got wiped OUT during the flood. Huh. I wonder if we're going to come across any huge crevasses. Seth would probably manage to hop over it and I would tumble into it like a daydreaming WOAH there's a stop sign. Those things always sneak up on me.

Ha! This is Roxbury? What a dump. I'll have to tell Mom never to move here. There are so many houses for sale on Warren Mountain. I'll have to count them as I'm going up. The whole dagon mountain is for sale! I wonder how much it would cost to buy all of those properties and just have an entire mountain. Probably a gazillion dollars. (There's a house for sale!) Seth and I totally need a gazillion dollars. That house is for sale! And its so pretty! Mom could buy that house! Naah, its to close to Roxbury.

Oh yes, the road is turning to dirt. I prefer dirt to pavement [babump] I take it back. I like pavement way better than gravel. Gravel slides and moves, pavement usually doesn't. That transition from pavement to dirt was tricky! Huh. Pikes Peak is partially paved, and partially dirt. Seth is going to be flying over those transitions. I wonder what the dirt part of Pikes Peak is like. Is it hard pack with a few pieces of gravel here and there  like this? or is it just hard pack and the same as pavement? I'm not nervous at all about this race.
Nope, not me.

There's a house for sale! Its driveway is so long I can't even see the house! That's a good sign.

Wooooah that was a tight turn. There's a house for sale!

There's another house for sale! The whole mountain really is for sale!

Oh, here's the top, now back down. Huh, there aren't any houses for sale on this side, I wonder why.

Duh Joanna, remember how dumpy Roxbury was? And you know how nice Warren is, of course this side of the mountain isn't for sale.

I love going over covered bridges on motorcycles.

Lincoln Gap is Sooooo beautiful. I hope Seth turned the video camera on for this. Ugh. We forgot to come skiing here last winter! Going up steep mountains is so much easier than going down. Oh. Here's the top! Holy Cannoli that is steep! I can't believe we braved this gap with Paul when it was already closed for winter. What a bunch of eejits. Woooooah man this gravel is deep! I'm-not-going-to-make-this-turn, I'm-not-going-to-make-this-turn, I'm-not-going-to-make-this-turn eeeeEEEEEEAAAAAIIII'm going to diiiie!! phew! Made it. Yikes. This gravel is AFRICA deep.
I hope the dirt section of Pikes Peak doesn't have deep gravel like this.
It probably does.
Seth is probably sliding all through this stuff on purpose.
I am sooo not nervous at all about the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

Hey! There's a church for sale! We should buy it and Dad can have two kids living at church. Ha.

Oooooh the App Gap. I am at once terrified and in love. Seth must be blazing. I wonder if he turned the camera on. I'll bet he forgot about it. Maybe he'll remember and film me from the top. That would be awesome."

As soon as I get to the top Seth tells me that he totally forgot about the camera. "Did you get me coming up the last stretch?" I asked.
"No, I forgot about it til just this instant."

Then we took this video...

Then he filmed me going down the mountain, but its like 10 minutes long and really boring. I'll spare you.

Then we ate at the Dairy Creme, which has the best fried chicken and the only good french fries in all of Vermont, and then we went home.
Wasn't that fun!

: On Wedding Planning :: Part 2 :

Fun, Comfortable, Simple. These were the elements we were trying to achieve at our wedding. Sometimes it was hard not to get carried away with all the fun things we could do, and remember to keep it simple. Fun vs. Simple. It's a fine line. We didn't want our wedding to be so simple that there was nothing special about it, but we didn't want to get so carried away with customizing that we didn't enjoy the whole process (and the actual event!)

Once we got a venue, everything else would fall into place.

I really thought that was true and to a certain extent, it was. We knocked out a lot of other vendors by having only one location and by selecting a location that has a built in "restaurant." The Highland Country Club was our wedding location, reception location and caterer, and they were even providing centerpieces. They provided everything we needed to have a swell party.

There were still other things we needed to turn our party into a wedding though. Looking back I think our vendor selection process helped keep things simple. We chose people we trusted to do exactly what we wanted, and then let them do their job. We didn't have to worry about those things anymore - we knew they were in good hands.

Photography was important to us. I wanted beautiful, artistic photographs that caught all the special moments of our wedding, and Seth recognized that it was important to document the occasion "for posterity." Enter Varland Photography. Varland Photography was started by two of my high school friends who are now married. I've been following their blog since they started, and I've always loved what they do. They tend to document weddings as photo-journalists, taking pictures of things as they happen. Because of that I think their pictures have less of a formal, stiff and posed attitude. They are natural. They are comfortable. They are fun. (They will still do posed traditional shots, but don't limit themselves!)
They are perfect. They are amazing. Hiring them was the very first thing I did, and then I didn't worry about pictures until the day after the wedding when I wanted to see them all right away!

The second thing I did was to ask my amazing brother to design our invitations. Paul is a master designer. Perhaps it's just because great-minds-think-alike, but everything he designs I look at and think it could not possibly be more perfect. I've always been jealous of people who get websites, business cards, or whatever - anything designed by Paul. At the Car-Part training conference last year I received a name tag designed by Paul. It is still hanging in my office and I smile when I look at it. I've never seen such a perfect name tag!

So obviously, here was my big chance. Paul said he would be honored. I didn't realize at the time how much pressure designing perfect invitations for your sister's wedding might be. I told Paul I thought the invitations could maybe represent travel or adventure, something about a postcard, but he could do whatever he wanted. He said I should at least give him the words to use!

So I "hired" Paul and forgot about invitations.

Seth and I decided to have a secular wedding ceremony with a few Jewish traditions thrown in here and there. We asked my uncle Bill if he would marry us. He said he'd be honored. He said he'd send us a sample ceremony and we could get back to him on whether we wanted to change it or not. I was really glad that Bill was going to marry us. It made the whole thing more special.

Next up, the florist. DUN-Dun-dun.
I had no idea what kind of flowers I wanted. I had all sorts of contradictory ideas floating around in my head. Indecision led to reluctance, and I did not want to commit to a florist. "Can't we just get flowers and put our own bouquets together?" I kept saying. This time it was mom who stepped in. "Do you really want to be putting flowers together the morning of your wedding?" she asked - hinting strongly that of course I didn't want to be putting flowers together the morning of my wedding.
"Maybe we could do it the night before, at the rehearsal-dinner-afterparty?" I suggested.
"You want to be putting flowers together while everyone else is having a good time?"
"Putting flowers together doesn't exclude me from having a good time!" I argued, "we can all be putting our flowers together, and its not like people will shun us because we are making bouquets..."

I was going to be stubborn on this one. I really didn't feel like calling florists.

In December, I started to worry again. I had flimsily suggested that Paul have some kind of draft maybe by the end of October so that we could order the invitations in December and mail them in January. It was December and I hadn't heard anything. In January we went to New York and I made him bring his computer. I told him he couldn't go to any shows unless the invitations were done. He went to shows both nights we were there, but the invitations weren't done.

I told him he should work on them all the way home. That didn't happen.

He had a business trip the next weekend, and I told him to work on them in the hotel at night. I don't think that happened, but a week or two later, at last he emailed me the first draft. It was 11 at night and I looked at them on my phone. "I love them!!" We changed a few small things and ordered them. I sent a sample to Mom, who noticed a typo. A pit formed in my stomach and I called Paul. Paul called the printer to halt the presses, and sent them a new file just in the nik of time. We ordered expedited shipping.

I had ordered the envelopes ahead of time and had them all stamped and addressed so that when the invitations came I could just stuff-and-send.
BAM!
Invitations done. Thanks Paul! They were just perfect!

 

By the beginning of February the invitations were taken care of and Mom started asking about the florist again. I was still reluctant. I felt like I had been spending lots of money lately and still didn't know what kind of flowers I wanted.

Finally, she said she'd heard good things about Ft. Thomas Florist, and asked if she could please call them.
"OK."

In a few minutes it was all dealt with. We put a deposit down and had a meeting scheduled for when I would be in town. That was pretty relieving, but I still didn't know what I wanted. I emailed my bridesmaids and asked what THEY wanted  - afterall, most of the flowers were for them! Anne emailed back with a series of BEAUTIFUL pictures of different bridesmaids' bouquets and bridal bouquets. They were so pretty! All of a sudden, I was excited about flowers. I scoured the internet for more pictures and put my favorites into a document I printed out to bring to the florist. Even the day of the meeting I wasn't sure what I wanted. There were so many variations! Which direction should I go in? - there were bright colorful wildflower bouquets, mono-color bouquets, faded color bouquets, different styles and shapes of bouquets ... the only thing I knew was that I wanted the bouquets to look like spring flowers  you could have gone out and picked in a field. Or in a garden. Or something. Spring flowers. They had to be right for the season.

I talked to Kelly at lunch and we decided that for the bridesmaids I'd show her two pictures of bright beautiful wildflowers. I still didn't know what I wanted for my own bouquet. These are the bridesmaid pictures:

When Mom and I got to the florist, I showed her the two I wanted the bridesmaids' based on, and then, to my surprise, it became perfectly clear which one I wanted mine to be. It was the prettiest, afterall, and Anne's email had reminded me that I do like pretty things. This is the one I showed her for mine:

She took the pictures downstairs and put together a sample bridesmaid bouquet. Perfection. Mom said my face lit up when she walked back in. It was so perfect that we didn't make her put a sample of my bouquet together - she obviously knew exactly what we wanted. I knew the flowers were in good hands. (Thanks Mom!)
Boom! Flowers done!

I really wanted to make the cake myself. Seth and Mom didn't think I knew what I was getting myself into and said I would have plenty of other things to do the week before the wedding. (I couldn't fathom what else I might be doing, and they could only reply with "stuff.") Anne has always been great at baking things, and she made the cake for her brother's wedding, so I asked her if she would help me make mine. She said that sounded like great fun and we swapped a few pictures. Based on the pictures she sent me, I knew she knew.

We kept making plans to go to cake supply stores and make practice cakes, but they kept falling through. Anne eventually took the initiative and ordered everything she'd need to make the cake. She graciously made a practice cake, selected the perfect picture to base it off of, then painstakingly made the real cake and brought it to the country club the morning of the wedding. She took care of everything. It was beautiful. It was delicious! (It was delovely!) Thanks Anne! I don't think I could have gotten a more perfect cake anywhere in the world.

But wait! Cake was not our only dessert option! Cindy took on the task of organizing a whole dessert table! This falls into the comfortable and fun categories. She made cupcakes and jello and chocolate covered strawberries, and my aunt Laura made some delicious amazing chocolate pecan pies, and my aunt Julie made a delightful cherry supreme! Anne of course, made the cake.

The dessert table was a raging success. It was situated in between the bar and the dining room, so everyone saw it while they were getting drinks, and everyone made a beeline for it as soon as they were done eating. There was a huuuge line. Thanks Cindy, Anne, Laura and Julie, for your delicious desserts!

Music has always been a big part of my life. Mom's family is very musical and we would get together occasionally for the sole purpose of singing and playing together. Mom plays flute and piano at weddings professionally, so she was obviously interested in obsessed with my music. The problem - again - was that I didn't know what I wanted. Again - Mom didn't let my lack of ideas stop her. She put herself in charge of music and sent me a few sample songs online. They were perfect! They were beautiful Jewish songs and I loved them. She wrote the music out for the instruments we had available, asked family members to play and held rehearsals to make sure everyone was practicing. Is it obvious that she does this professionally?

We opened up the prelude section and asked for volunteers to do solos or duets. Then Mom had the grand idea for the very last prelude song - to have all my Lander aunts singing "For the Beauty of the Earth." They threw it together at the very last minute and it was extraordinarily beautiful. It was the only prelude song that I heard since it was right before our big entrance. Thanks Mom, Laura, Julie, Alex, Carolyn, and Nick, for your beautious music!

For the reception music I put together a playlist and The Frankl Project provided speakers and Jake, who did a fantastic job overseeing the whole evening. Seth didn't stop me from putting the playlist together, it was relatively stress free and I started working on it immediately. Between February and April I only made minor tweaks to song order, with a few adds and deletes here and there. It was done way ahead of time. Thank you Jake!! You were the greatest!

So far even though I haven't had to do a lot myself, my family and friends have been making major contributions. Our wedding was definitely a group effort, which allowed us - I think - to keep things simple and fun - and unique - all at the same time. The only thing I actually took on myself was figuring out how to let guests know which tables to sit at and let the servers know who got what for dinner.

I had been discussing ideas with Jody, the wedding expert, and she said that the more clear it is to guests what they are supposed to do, the smoother things flow and the happier the guests are. Ideas were circling in my head like vultures. Place cards, escort cards, seating boards...

Sometime in January I had this vision of travel posters from the 20s and 30s. Stylish, Art Deco - the golden age of adventure when far off places were still exotic and mysterious (and far off). It came to me as a complete idea (unlike that last "sentence"). Each table would have a different poster, and each guest would be assigned to a "destination." I would make a train station style departure board to get people to their table, and each place would have a "ticket stub" style place card.
Bing! Done. (sort of)

That's all for Part 2! I've delegated everything I could and kept one pet project for myself. I know everything else is taken care of and my brain is filled with images of destinations portrayed in fabulous art-deco glory. Google Image Search Results for "vintage train station departure boards" play like a slideshow in my brain.

It's two weeks 'til the wedding. I've kissed Seth goodbye and I'm racing towards Kentucky, the reception playlist playing over and over in the background. Winter turns to spring and here I am! Hugging Mom hello and formulating the first of many to-do lists over a glass of wine.

Seth vs. KTM

We interupt this regular scheduled programming to bring you an important story about a boy and his motorcycle.

At the Sandblast Rally in South Carolina Seth's bike always gets filthy dirty. Covered in sand-clay-dirt-mud, it arrives back to snowy Vermont in no season for a bath. For the remainder of winter it sits, wallowing in grime in the dank dark basement. Occasionally Seth looks down and sighs wistfully, wishing he could give his beloved a good scrub.

This year, as soon as the first sunny day came Seth was out giving his baby a bath. He's been washing it over and over, trying to get it clean, slowly taking layer after layer off, cleaning every piece. While it's all taken apart, he's been working on it, preparing it for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in June. Today he was cleaning out the carburetor, bringing it up to the bathroom sink piece by piece and cleaning them all out. For some reason the sink is a little clogged up now - there are rings of oil around the sides where the black water pooled in the bowl. Gross. I have to admit that I find an oily bathroom sink pretty annoying. That'll need to be cleaned up post haste.

Anyway, this afternoon when we discovered there was no food left in the house and we were both starving, we decided we would need to go shopping. There is a bike (bicycle) fest going on in Barre, and we've been thinking of going all weekend, but Seth just had too much work to get done on the bike! So, since we had to go out anyway, we thought it would be fun to ride the motorcycles down to the bike fest, and then go "motorcycle shopping." Seth put his bike back together in record time, I got mine out and started it up. Seth brought his outside and pressed the start. "wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE pupupuPOP puPOP puPOP POP pupPRRrrrrrrrrrrrr."

silence.

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

I had been getting my boots on but I went downstairs. "What's wrong?" I asked. There was a puddle of brown liquid on the floor.

For whatever reason the bike had spewed rusty water onto the ground when it almost got started, and now it wouldn't start again. Seth was beside himself. "What's wrong with you???" he moaned.

He tried a few more times to no avail. He thought the water came out of the exhaust pipe, so we took the exhaust off to see if there was any water in it. There wasn't. We put it back on. We found a tiny hairline crack near the muffler, and decided to blame it for the strange and poppy sound when it did start the one time. We decided it wasn't starting because it's temperamental and never likes to start at the beginning of the season. We didn't really know what to do, so we put my starts-right-up-every-time-BMW away and took the car to the store and made dinner.

Seth sulked. His favorite toy was broken, and he didn't know how to fix it.

When we were done eating he got up, heaved a sigh and said "well, I guess I'll go take the exhaust off so I can bring it to the shop tomorrow." He was hoping the shop would be able to reweld the crack and he wouldn't have to buy a whole new exhaust system.

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

"wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE wrEEE"

I finished up the dishes and went downstairs. I found Seth outside with the bike. He had taken the spark plug out and discovered that the bike was running too rich. It wasn't getting enough air? Or...there was water in the engine?? So, he decided he would try to bump start it. (?) Luckily we live on top of a huge hill, so this isn't a problem. He pulled in the clutch and started rolling down the driveway. When he got to the road he let it go and "baBAM poPOP poPOP poPOP po po po POP POP va vaROOOM vaROOM VVROOOOM" and he was off! As soon as he disappeared down the road, I heard the engine cut out.

I put Thunder inside so that I could walk down the road and see if he needed anything. By the time I got back to the basement door to start down the hill, I heard his engine start up again at the bottom of the hill! (His motorcycle is pretty loud, I can hear it all over our fine hill. I'm sure our neighbors hate us.) I jumped up on the retaining wall so that I could see the road better, and saw Seth FLYING past, his shirt billowing in the wind as he came back up the hill, a devilish grin on his face. I felt like jumping up and down and cheering, arms over my head - Hoorrraaayy! It works!

When he got back a few minutes later, he smiled and said "Well I don't know what it was ..."

"...I guess you blew it out, huh?" I finished. He smiled.

My bike may start-right-up-every-time, but it's certainly not nearly as exciting.
And now I have to go clean the bathroom.

: On Wedding Planning :: Part 1 :

The first, last, and perhaps only lesson I learned from planning a wedding is - if you can't do it (way) ahead of time, don't do it yourself. I learned this lesson from my darling fiance who, while everyone else was saying "whatever you want," was saying "is that really what you want to be doing the day before the wedding?"

Seth keeps me grounded. That's why I married him.

We decided right away that our main goals for our wedding were for things to be simple, comfortable, and fun. My first goal was to figure out where we would be wed. After that, I thought, everything else would fall into place.

Seth and I spent many lingering July twilights staring up at the layers of leaves in our tree, discussing scenarios, options, and hashing out where we would have our wedding. Our first thought was to have it at Seth's Dad's house. It would be comfortable and it would be SO fun! But as I let Seth in on my vision for this stay-at-home-wedding ...

...every room could have a different theme! All the food could be buffet style in the kitchen with tables throughout the house and a tent in the lawn! And a tent on the patio! There could be so many places for things to be going on! People could gather in small groups! It could FEEL like a small wedding even though its a huuge wedding! We could have croquet! The whole third floor could be where the kids hang out, we could decorate it like UP! and have Pixar movies for them to watch! And popcorn! We could make little lanterns for each table! We could...

..."Do you really want to spend the day before the wedding making lanterns, decorating my dad's house, setting up tents and tables and speakers? Do you really want to make everyone we know come over to help us blow up hundreds of balloons the morning of the wedding so the kids can pretend the house is flying away?"

Comfortable and fun - yes - but not simple. We got rid of that idea.

Then I began frantically searching the internet for places in Kentucky and Cincinnati where you can get married and have a reception. SO MANY OPTIONS! There were so many options! Some I nixed because of price, some I nixed because the carpet was ugly, some I nixed because they had drop tile ceilings, some I nixed because they had no windows. (I admit that I am a complete snob when it comes to decor.) Some Dad nixed because no one should have to drive more than an hour to get to my wedding. (Although by that logic I probably should have been looking for a place in Middletown.) In the end I had about three or four viable options. Even so, all these locations were spinning around in my head with their attributes, lack of attributes, menu options, price ranges, seating capacity, rental cost, rules, candle policies, availability...

At the very end of July and the beginning of August I was home for the big Car-Part Training event. There was a lot going on at work, and I had so many things to do after work! My to-do list involved getting a hall, getting a caterer, getting a florist, getting everyone you are supposed to get ahead of time, looking at dresses, looking at bridesmaids dresses, mothers dresses... Mom and I finally made plans to go see a hall on Wednesday, and Dad and Cindy were going to come too. When we got there it was pretty awesome, but we quickly realized it couldn't even hold all the Schroders. (Why they list 200 as their maximum capacity I will never know.) As this realization slowly sank in, all the other locations and their many attributes began spinning again. My brain was on the brink of a chaotic expulsion of hullabaloo, when the lady showing us around said that they had just made a deal with the Highland Country Club, and they were having a special hugely discounted price if you booked in July, and she could take us there right now!

We walked in to the Highland Country Club and were greeted by Dan, the manager, with a huge smile, a handshake and glasses of water, or coke, or anything we wanted. They showed us around and we asked questions. "Oh sure, of course." "Oh yea, we do that all the time." "Oh, you know, the dining room is basically a wall of windows looking out over the sunset." "Oh - and did we mention you can use our glass hurricane centerpieces for a total of $50 extra dollars?"

I think maybe my brain did expel the hullabaloo. This was easy. This seemed fun. They have two fireplaces. (In my brain that means they are automatically comfortable.)

This picture, incidentally, is what I see when I look into my engagement ring.
This picture is what flashes in my head when everything is right and beautiful in the world.

So now we have a venue, and everything else is going to fall into place!

The Dress.
My wonderful and talented aunt Lana generously offered to make my dress for me. This was such a huge relief, since I am never able to find dresses I like that fit me well and look good on me. The first step towards Lana making my dress was to go try on dresses and get a feel for what I wanted, what looked good on me, the different fabrics, what can be done, etc. We went and tried on dresses. The only way to make the thought of trying on expensive uncomfortable dresses bearable to this ragamuffin hillbilly was to surround myself with people who looove dresses, and love me too. I asked the lady at the store if there was a limit on the number of people I could bring with me. She said there wasn't really, but I should keep in mind that the more people came, the more opinions there would be, and the harder it would be for me. I didn't tell her that she was full of malarkey, we weren't planning on finding a dress to buy, that I needed as many people as possible to tell me  her dresses weren't ugly, and that she probably shouldn't let me touch her pretty white expensive dresses in the first place.

I didn't tell her any of that, and brought an entourage of 2 moms, 1 aunt, 3 cousins and my reluctant self. If I had known at the time that Paul was going to be my maid of honor I would have made him come too.

Mom, obviously, provided lots of emotional support, and has lots of experience deciding whether things look good on me or not. (And honestly telling me when they don't.)
Cindy is really great at making me feel good about myself no matter what.
Lana is an expert at her craft, and knew how we could recreate all the dresses I tried on. (And what fabrics they were made out of, so that when I said things like "I like how this does this," she knew what I meant. I think.)
Jody is a wedding expert and knows everything there is to know about what's fashionable and what looks good. She's also already planned her own spectacular wedding and knows what's up.
Anne is a combination of Lana and Jody, and loves pretty things. She always reminds me that I like pretty things too, and that sometimes it can be fun to dress up. Anne also has already planned her own spectacular wedding, and also knows what's up.
Julie makes every event fun no matter how horrifying or dull it could be. Always smiling, always laughing, always a gleam in her eye!

These were all very important people to have with me. The whole event turned out to be quite diverting.
"I like how this one goes whoooooosh."
"I like how this one fits like this here and like that there."
"I like the sash I guess?"
"I like how this one goes whooo! in the back."
"I loove the lace on this one, but its scratchy. We shouldn't have lace anywhere on the bodice or it will be too scratchy."

"You're taking bridal comfort to a whole new level!" Jody teased.

Finally we decided we had to stop and let Anne and Julie try dresses on. That was way more fun.

Oh! Remember the Car-Part Training Conference? That's the whole reason I'm in town. During the different talks and presentations, I spent my time drawing different dress designs, front and back, on the notepaper that was (conveniently) provided. I had two main designs going on, and they were pretty similar. Later we went to Lana's and I showed her my drawings and we talked about materials, looked at Grandma, Jody and Anne's dresses, talked about different shades of white, different levels of glossiness, weight, thickness...all sorts of things I'd never thought about before. We determined a neckline, a skirt and a basic idea of what the front and back would look like. I already knew it was going to be a thousand times prettier than anything I'd seen at the store!

When I was back in Vermont Lana sent me samples of some fabric and some lace. I was so excited! I opened the package and showed it all to Seth. Instead of looking at them and giving a verdict, as I thought he would, he rubbed each fabric in between his fingers and got this disgusted look on his face. "That feels terrible!" This was not at all the reaction I was expecting. Feeling. Now different fabrics and their various qualities (including softness) are swirling through my brain.

Anne suggested that we all meet in New York City in order to find my fabric. What fun! That sounded SO exciting! We decided to go for it, and got a crew together (my support group) of cousins, Lana and Mom. Anne found a great extended stay apartment style room for us for the whole weekend. We arrived on Thursday and left on Sunday. Lots of fabric stores are closed on Saturday, which meant that we had to find fabric on Friday.

Lana, Anne, Jody, Kelly, and Julie arrived eeeeearly Thursday morning. Mom, Paul and I arrived later in the afternoon. Our drive started out pretty relaxed, and as we got closer and closer to New York City we got more excited to be there and more anxious to get out of the car! When we finally got within sight of the City Paul was driving and Mom was giving him directions. "You need to be in the right lane" "I can't get over this guy won't let me in" "Follow the signs to the Lincoln Tunnel" "This asshole won't let me OVER what do you want me to DO!!!"

Tensions were high.

When we finally made it through the Lincoln Tunnel and emerged into the light on the other side, Paul had to make an immediate left. Old Crow Medicine Show was playing in the cd player and we all realized that the most frantic bluegrass song you've ever heard was playing, and getting louder and louder. "Turn left here!" "WHAT?!?!?!?!" Mom punched the radio knob, silencing the chaos.

We all started cracking up.

We were glad to chill out for a while once we got to the hotel. Paul did so by taking pictures of our amazing view!

Did you know Paul was afraid of heights? Look at those knuckles!

That night we had a delicious sushi dinner. I was forced to pick the restaurant because - "you're the bride!" - so we wandered around for a while before dinner. Luckily when I finally decided to take some initiative and walk into a restaurant it was a pretty good one. After dinner we found the cutest little bakery that makes the tiniest little cupcakes! See! In this picture, Kelly tries to take a normally proportioned bite out of an undersized cupcake.

The next morning, even though there was a snowstorm raging and we had a mission (and poor Anne had a sinus infection), we decided to walk some 70 or 80 blocks to the fashion district. Paul graciously documented our excursion:

We stopped at the Met for a photo-op.

Julie and Kelly are characteristically enthusiastic, even though they are cold-wet-and-miserable.

I am characteristically oblivious that snow might be miserable:

Look! We made it!

Finally we arrived at Mood Fabric...Paul and Julie are so excited!

When we walked in, someone told Julie she shouldn't touch anything since she was obviously soaking wet. She, Kelly and Jody hunkered down by the door while Lana, Anne, Mom and I searched through piles and piles of fabric and Paul went around taking pictures. We found the corner of lace, and started looking at each option. There were so many! And yet, so few that were really viable options. Anne would pull one out and unroll it, and we'd all look at it and say what we liked and didn't like. Lacey designs, sequence and pearls began to spin in my head. How could I choose from all of these?! How could I remember the differences between each one when we moved on!? We decided to start looking at fabric and leave the lace decision for later. Very quickly we found a PERFECT piece of charmeuse (?) in a PERFECT color. We took a sample of it and left for the next store, all excited!

When we got outside we realized that it was actually time for lunch and we were going to have to take a break before everyone starved to death. We spent a long time at lunch, warming up and drying off!

Then we went to Lace Star. They had walls of lace. I had been overwhelmed with the corner of lace at Mood; I had no idea how I was going to decide between all of these laces!

Then, we spotted it. It was a nearly perfect lace. It was very similar to the lace on Anne's wedding dress, which, when I first saw it I had declared the most beautiful lace I had ever seen. We got the swatch out of my pocket and put the lace on top. It was the perfect lace in the pefect color. We gasped. Paul took a picture to document the occasion.

We bought the perfect lace and raced back to Mood to get the perfect fabric. Paul graciously took another picture to document the occasion.

Mom took one too!

After we had the perfect fabric and the perfect lace I felt my brain let go of all the differences between the laces we had looked at, the softness factor, the colors, the weight. I had the perfect fabric and the perfect lace in a bag - which Paul was guarding with his life.

Some other photo highlights from New York:

So now, we have a venue and everything else will fall into place.
We have material for the dress and everything is right in the world.


Except, it's getting awfully close to time to send out the invitations, and Paul hasn't started them yet! Oh no!