Funny story. These two aren’t actually legally married yet. They forgot to bring the marriage license to the ceremony and have been having trouble getting all parties needed to sign it at the same place at the same time. I’m on call as a witness since the majority of wedding guests are from out of town.
Last night I fell in love. Again. With my venue. The Winfield had an open house with chairs set up at the ceremony site and the ballroom as it would be for a reception. Finally I got to see in person (not in my dreams, not in Jill’s gorgeous pictures, not in the 1 in x 1 in pics they put on their blog) this place as it will look on my wedding day. Ok, so not my wedding day, but someone’s wedding day. My vibrant plum-red-orange color scheme is a far cry from their simple but beautiful bronze and celadon set-up. Celadon is light green, isn't it?
Did I mention there was free booze, food, and Amy’s ice cream?
Oh yeah, and I just tried on MY dress. The one that gets to be nipped and tucked to fit me and only me. It pretty much kicks ass. And I’ll get to wear less than 1 inch wedge heels. No one loves a wobbly bride and Emily + heels + booze + nerves = hot mess.
Mr. H and I are off to Florida for our last wedding of the summer. We’ve known the groom as long as we’ve known each other. He was also on that fateful study abroad trip. Jim was a wonderful friend to me on the trip. He patiently taught me about each of the different types of engineering as I had no idea what EE, ME, IE, MSE, AE, and so on were at the beginning. He also accompanied Mr. H and I to a special performance at the Sydney Opera House commemorating Mozart’s 225th birthday.
The 3 of us at the Ice Bar in Sydney
Plans for the weekend include… Cheers!
A few highlights:
Yesterday was Day 1 of Jillian’s 30 Day Shred. I was a doubter. Seriously how can a 20 minute work out actually work? How can you be tired and sore from just 20 minutes? Serious doubt. Until I woke up this morning and could hardly move my legs. What did you do to me, Jillian? I like to think I’m in pretty good shape. I do yoga and cardio interval training. Thanks for giving this busy girl a nice pre-wedding workout. My goal is to have a date with her at least 3 weekday mornings and 1 weekend morning every week.
In other morning after news, Mr. H and I saw The Hangover last night. Run, don’t walk to go see it. It is absolutely hysterical. And no, the previews don’t show every funny part. Afterwards, Mr. H and I discussed how well they handled the “just woke up and have no clue what happened last night” scene. My head hurt for them. My stomach felt unsettled for them. I felt dizzy and off balance for them. I could smell the stale alcohol and poor decisions in their hotel room. Despite that, I told Mr. H, “I’m kinda jealous they had a night so crazy that they suspended a piano bench from the ceiling with bed sheets and made a bowling alley with champagne bottles for pins. I want that minus the consequences.”
His response? “That’s my girl.”
As I mentioned yesterday, we got our first wedding gift! That began an evening filled with tiny joys. When Mr. H got home from work, he checked the mail as he usually does and produced a manila envelope. Still at an elevated state of glee from the place setting, I (for the second time in one evening) squealed with joy over my new workout DVD—Jillian’s 30 Day Shred. More on that later.
Then we were off to Rudy’s for dinner with my former church youth choir. I’m not some creepy high school Harriet, the director is the mother of one of my oldest and dearest friends. Just as 33 high schoolers were about to gorge on smoked meats, one very observant 16-year-old says, “How are we supposed to get our food if our plates aren’t portable?” while looking at the wax paper Rudy’s calls plates. Good question.
Another good question is how these same 33 high schoolers only at 10 out of the 16 pounds of meat purchased for them. I’ll give you three tries to guess who got the remaining 6 pounds of various meats, 1 gallon of creamed corn, and 1 gallon of baked beans.
On the way home Mr. H and I stopped by Target so I could buy hand weights for Jillian’s 30 Day Shred. I also purchased Weeds Season 4 (haven’t seen it yet—no spoilers please!), 2 books (Something Borrowed and My Sister’s Keeper), a bottle of Chateau St. Michele Chardonnay ($7.99 at the checkout). I still love you Target.
I returned home to find 2 hours of The Bachelorette on my DVR and snuggled into the couch with a slice of Red Velvet cake. Evening of bliss.
Yesterday marked 100 days until I will be Mrs. H. How cool is that? We ushered in my last 100 “single” days with quite the celebration. Coincidentally, parents arrived on Wednesday for a weekend full of wedding planning.
Thursday Recap
Tasting at Winfield Inn: I’d heard the food was good and it certainly lived up to that expectation. We’re having food stations so our tasting was more like a 6 course meal with champagne! I was so excited to finally taste the food we’ve been discussing for months and show my dad the grounds of The Winfield Inn. Even better, I ran into Vic who was there for her layout meeting! (And then had to explain to my parents that I have friends in the computer)
Flowers: My parents picked up a test arrangement of my flowers from the florist. Though the arrangement fell off the seat and was destroyed on the ride home, I can still visualize what they will look like when a professional arranges them, instead of my mom. They are beautiful.
Cake: The benefit of ordering a cake from a bakery that doesn’t do sample tastings is that you get a whole cake of each flavor! This round we got Red Velvet and Mocha Almond Fudge. Verdict: Red Velvet is so overrated and rarely good. I’m done making excuses for you red velvet, though you are an excellent carrier for cream cheese icing. Mocha Almond Fudge=rich deliciousness.
My mom also came with a trunk full of gifts for Mr. H and me. She felt bad since my sister had 6 (yes SIX) wedding showers and I am having one. So we had a mini-shower last night where we got fancy schmancy liquer glasses and candlesticks that we’ll probably rarely use and fancy schmancy shot glasses and high balls that we’ll probably use frequently.
In case you can’t tell, my parents are basically the most generous, thoughtful, fun people in the world. I like to think the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Thank you to the Texas Department of Transportation, or whoever decides we need new license plates, and the fine people of the great state of Texas for choosing the ugliest, cheesiest, tackiest license plate. Thanks to your poor taste, our cars’ most prominent accessory looks like a white trash T-shirt.
Now the big question—do I care enough to pay extra for a “Save the Wildflowers” or “Education Matters” plate? Eh.
It has also been brought to my attention that the new U.S. passports look like patriotism and bald eagles threw up all over our international travel documents. My NPR crush and host of “Marketplace” Kai Ryssdal interviewed a woman who is also disgusted with the new, tacky passport design. Karie Jacobs says:
When I travel, I try to be the Complex American -- a citizen of the fascinating, nuanced, multicultural, messy and basically decent place I know this country to be. But I feel like this passport blows my cover. It's like suddenly, against my will, I'm wearing ugly khaki shorts and talking way too loud.
Thankfully, my passport is valid for many more years thus delaying my receipt of a hideous passport. Oh wait. I’m changing my name in 102 days. Must rethink this…
