Mars/Venus: Thank You cards

It's been a busy few months for us. We had our "real" wedding Memorial Day weekend. Immediately after it was over, we packed my apartment, moved almost everything to Louisiana, packed up K's apartment, sent it with the Army-contracted movers, I quit my job, and we set out to see my family in OK for a couple days, then drove out to Virginia to start our lives here. That all happened in barely over a month.

We looked at houses, signed a contract for our house, returned to Dallas for a ER's wedding, came back just long enough to have our furniture and household goods delivered, and then departed for 9 fabulous days with the in-laws. We meant to take our thank you cards with us, but a quick decision to use K's computer bag instead of mine meant the cards stayed in Virginia. Whoops.

We had little time to catch our breath after the PA trip was over. We had lots of unpacking to do, we had several visitors, and we were trying to get settled.

Last month, I looked over the list of gifts, and I got out a large portion of our thank you cards. The ones I left were cards K said he would write. (We figured his uncle in Florida who I'd never met might appreciate a card written by K more than one from me.) So I wrote a few dozen cards. I made K sign each one, and he wrote the return address on a lot of them. He bitched about the fact they weren't already done, but it was better late than never.

I went through the remaining names and starred which ones would get the feminine version of the cards I'd designed. His close guy friends could have the masculine version. I left everything stacked neatly for him in the living room, until last weekend, when I finally moved them to the office so our guests wouldn't have to stare at them all weekend.

And today? We get an email from his aunt about how one of their older relatives (she wouldnt' say who) had said she was worried the gift wasn't appreciated because she hadn't received a thank you card yet. She actually was worried that her gift wasn't enough.

I can understand her having that reaction. I hate that she feels that way. And I hate that K hasn't written his damn cards yet. I knew I should've done it myself.

I called him immediately and read the email. He's as disgusted with himself as I am. You can bet those cards will be in the mail tomorrow.

Part 1: K's gift

I decided what I was getting K as a wedding gift on October 4 of last year. I was with Jeremy at the OU-Baylor game. Jeremy was wearing his custom-made OU jersey, which has his last name on the back and the number he wore when he played high school football.

Since K is a real Sooner fan now, I decided he needed a jersey. And if he gets a jersey, why not have it personalized?!!! And if K gets a personalized jersey, how awesome would it be if I got one too, complete with my new last name?! The numbers would be 9 and 22, for our Florida anniversary, since that's the day we were legally married. Perfect!

I immediately started searching for plain jerseys. Turns out they are NOT easy to find! N!ke owns the rights to Sooner apparel, but they don't sell plain jerseys (hello, gigantic marketing opportunity!). If I managed to find a solid, could-be-the-right-shade jersey, I then had to find a smaller version that would work for my jersey. Not an easy feat.

Back in December, when I was in Oklahoma for Danielle's wedding (sorry, I never posted about that), I went to the store in Oklahoma City where Jeremy's jersey was made. Once again, the smaller jersey was creating a problem.

I finally found a company online that sold plain jerseys in adult and kids' sizes (evidently women don't wear jerseys), so I ordered them. A month and a half later, when I still hadn't received the jerseys, I learned mine had been sent elsewhere by accident. I got them a week or two later, and they were the perfect shade of Aggie maroon. Yikes!

I called the jersey company and spoke to a few different people before I was connected with someone in the warehouse, who actually looked at the different jerseys to tell me which color would be the perfect shade of Sooner crimson. I returned the Aggie jerseys, and a couple of weeks later, I got two beautiful new crimson jerseys in the mail.

I immediately shipped them up to a store in Norman (the one that does the REAL players' jerseys!!!) to be personalized. They were finally ready just five days before the wedding, so Danielle picked them up and brought them with her to Dallas the week of the wedding so K wouldn't see the box and be tipped off by a Norman label.

As you can tell, these jerseys took months of work and effort, but they were worth it. They looked gorgeous!

I had ordered some cutesy cards off etsy months ago, so I used one that said "you're better than chocolate" (if anyone ever questions something I'm saying, I tell them that I swear on chocolate and Sooner football -- two things most people know I'd never joke about) to write him a note to read before he opened his gift.

I took a picture of the back my jersey, and I placed it in the box on top of his jersey so he would get the significance of the numbers I'd chosen.

I put so much time and effort into it, but come football season, it'll be totally worth it!

I Do, Part 2: Pictures

I obviously don't have the professionals yet, but here are some that friends have posted on facebook or passed along to me so far.


Me with my bridesmaids.

Right before I walked down the aisle.

The groomsmen.

The kiss.




















We're married (again)!





















Entering the saber arch.














Right before our friend WHACKED me on the butt with his sword!

Our sign-in table. Check out the awesome ceramic boot that held the sparklers for our exit!










Our cake with the awesome, specially made topper! We went with French vanilla with strawberry filling. Mmm!

K's groom's cake. It was red velvet, and it was delicious! I learned that groom's cakes are a Southern tradition. K's Yankee friends hadn't heard of them before.

Cutting the cake. K was pretty nice. He only got it on part of my face. I was going to be nice, but he gave me the go-ahead. I smashed some in as nicely a way as I could, but evidently it still went up his nose.















Showing the Yankees how we Southerners do it!

Heather, me & Elle.

Our fake exit at 10:00 p.m. Our photographer got to go home, we got pretty pictures ... and we got to go back in and party some more!

What the hell were we thinking?

Who plans a wedding when they're already married?!

I'll tell you who: CELEBRITIES.

They plan a second ceremony because they're rich and have nothing better to do with their time. And they love attention. And they have someone else to plan the wedding.

Never mind that we had perfectly legitimate reasons for planning this "I Do, Part 2" ceremony. Never mind that we based every decision for the Florida wedding off the fact we'd have this ceremony.

We are stupid, stupid people. We should be commited.

If the fact we're having a second wedding doesn't make us crazy enough for such drastic intervention, I assure you this week has gotten me to that point.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Communicating with clients! Imagine that!

The new hair & makeup lady texted me this afternoon to confirm our trial appointment tomorrow.

I'm likin' this lady already!

I just fired my hair/makeup person

I had three vendors I was trying to get in touch with yesterday. I got ahold of two of them. The third, my hair & makeup person, was still MIA.

I hadn't heard from her since last Tuesday (5/5). And that email had taken multiple emails on my part. She had asked if I'd be available for a trial on Thursday, May 14 (which is now tomorrow). I immediately emailed her back saying that should work, but asking for a specific time. I didn't hear from her.

I tried her again on Friday, when I sent her an email telling her I'd heard from all of my bridesmaids, and they would be doing their own hair and makeup. Still no answer.

I gave her the weekend, and Monday I was too swamped and forgot to email her. So I emailed her yesterday morning. Still no answer.

I called her late yesterday afternoon. You guessed it: No answer.

I texted AJ: "She better give you commission for my business, because if you hadn't recommended her, I'd have given up on her 2 wks ago."

AJ couldn't believe I still hadn't heard from her. She told me she had a great backup, and she gave me her information. I called the new hair & makeup lady, but I got her voicemail. I left her a message. She returned my call 30 minutes later!!! [cue angels singing]

I finally got an email from the first girl at 11:15 last night. By that point, it was too late. I had to email her this morning to fire her. I did it politely and very nicely (and no, I did not use the word "fired").

I've never had to fire anyone before, so it sucked that I had to do it. But I have enough to worry about without adding the fear that my hair & makeup girl won't show up on the day of the ceremony.

When did I become a babysitter?

Dear Cake Lady,

You told me on May 4 that you'd be calling me the next day to discuss our wedding cake and groom's cake. I still haven't heard from you.

Considering that my wedding is 11 days away, I thought maybe it would be a good idea if we could get this shit planned already.

Sincerely,
Girl Who Would Find a New Baker If She Had More Than 11 Days to Go

_______________________

Dear Hair & Makeup Lady,

After several attempts to get in touch with you the previous couple of weeks, I finally heard from you late last week. You never told me for sure that you'd be available to do my hair and makeup for the ceremony, but since you said you wanted to do a trial this Thursday, I'm taking that as an all-clear.

And since Thursday is two days away, if you could answer my third email attempt to find out a specific time for said trial appointment, I'd appreciate it. I'd also really like it if you'd answer me about where your office is.

Thanks for sucking at communication,
Girl Who Would Totally Use Someone Else If AJ Hadn't Spoken So Highly of You

_______________________

Dear Hotel Coordinator Lady,

Thank you for your offer to do two shuttle runs from the hotel to our reception site for our guests. I really appreciate it, and if you're still able to do it, that'll save us a little bit of money since we'll just have to pay for a shuttle at the end of the night.

However, I'd really appreciate it if you would answer me on whether that offer still stands and if we can work it out for just the beginning of the night. I understand I can't be too upset with you since I'm not paying you for this service, but at the same time, yours is our primary hotel, so we've brought you a good amount of business for next week -- and you did offer this service to us.

Please answer my dang email so I can book the shuttle for the end of the night.

Thanks,
Frustrated Chick Who Is SO Never Getting Married Again! (twice is plenty, thank you)

19

We just have 19 days to go until I Do, Part 2. Nineteen days to keep trying to get ahold of our baker and my hair person (they suck at communicating).

Nineteen days to design & print programs and table numbers. And thank you cards. (Worst decision ever. I've told everyone I know who's planning a wedding that it's totally worth it to have someone else do them for you.)

Nineteen days left of stressing: What if no one else comes? What if the ceremony is just us and dates of the people in the wedding party? Why have so many people not RSVP'd yet? Is this all going to be worth it?

Nineteen days until I can get my life back. Oh, please let it be worth it!

I'm makin' an entrance!

Miss Amy tagged me for this meme two months and one day ago, and for some reason as I laid in bed this morning trying to catch another 45 minutes of sleep after my workout and before getting ready for work, I remembered I still haven't done it.

Oops.

So here it is, fashionably late. I'm supposed to reveal 10 things about myself, and then tag 7 other people. Well, since it's so late, you've probably all done this thing, so I'm tagging no one. If you want to do it, feel free, but I won't hate you if you don't.

1) I suck at parking. I'm so bad that a lot of times, I'll straight up open my door, peek at the parking line and then readjust. It's a rare occurrence when I manage to park in a straight line, and it kind of makes me want to do a happy dance.

If I ever manage to park in a straight line and be perfectly centered in my parking spot, it won't do me good for long because I'll immediately climb back in my car and floor it to the closest gas station so I can buy a Lotto ticket.

2) I recently realized that if I gain any weight at all, the place it becomes most obvious, unfortunately, is my face. A 5-lb weight gain can evidently make the difference between me having cheekbones or a round, fuller face. (Which evidently leads to my FIL calling me fat.)

3) I am not inviting my mom to the Dallas wedding. I made this decision several times, which means I faltered on it several times. But every single time I started doubting not inviting her, something would happen to remind me why I had decided to exclude her to begin with. This time, I'm sticking to my guns.

4) I am one of those people who works really hard to stay in touch with friends. Which is funny, since several of my good friends, including K, are terrible at staying in touch. I used to wonder if maybe these friends were better about keeping in touch with other friends, but they just didn't think I was worth trying to keep up with. Or I'd wonder if they were leading such amazing lives that they didn't have time to answer the phone or return calls. Now, although I still don't quite understand why, I know keeping in touch is just not everyone's forte.

5) I really, really want to go on Wheel of Fortune. I would rock at that game.

6) I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have a good job with some awesome perks and a pretty decent salary, but I'm ready for a change. I just don't know that this economy and the potential move location (whichever it may be) will make this the best time for a change.

7) K is the most amazing person I've ever met. He makes me feel so lucky, and sometimes the part of me that worries I'm like my mom feels like I don't deserve him.

8) I have a closet full of solid-colored shirts of various styles (3/4 sleeve, short sleeve, long sleeve, knit, cotton, cable-knit, etc) and a drawer full of tank tops of various styles (lots with lacy trim, a few patterned, and a lot of solids) for layering. This is because if I see a cute patterned shirt, I worry that it'll be too obvious where it's from or that everyone else will have the skirt, shirt or dress in the same fabric, so I usually don't buy it (especially if it's in the store's ads a lot). And I don't want to buy a shirt with a company's logo on it because if I'm going to advertise for them, they should just give me the shirt! So it's solids and layering for me ... unless I find a cute striped shirt or polka-dotted tank. (Exciting, huh?)

9) When I booked our reception venue two years ago, the reception coordinator asked me my favorite wedding-related thing I'd ever seen. She said it could be anything -- color mix, flowers, ceremony idea, picture ... whatever -- and it could be something I'd seen in real life or a movie. I immediately knew exactly what my answer was: a scene from Love Actually, my favorite movie ever. It's the part right after Keira Knightley gets married. Just as she and her new husband turn to walk down the aisle and exit the church, a small choir appears in the loft and starts singing "All You Need Is Love." An amazing soloist comes out and picks up the melody, and small groups of musicians stand up and play from within the congregation. That scene makes me so happy, and it makes me cry every time. Ever since I answered that question with the coordinator, I've secretly hoped that K arranges something like that at the end of our wedding. (Lots of band people will be there!) I'm pretty sure I would just die of happiness right then if he did. (Readers I know outside the blogosphere, feel free to drop that bird in K's ear -- but don't tell me if you do!)

10) I hate card games.

Exciting things

Because I can't leave you with just that post after such a long break:

• Look! A homecoming picture (more later, really really really, I promise!)!

• My wedding dress is in! (I haven't run in weeks ... here's hoping it zips up!)
• K and I are going to be famous! (OK, not quite.) There's a media outlet that does a little love story-type feature, and K and I got interviewed for it today!

Don't let the door hit ya, 2008

Dear 2008,

Man, will I be glad to see you go. At first glance, it seems like I really shouldn't be that angry with you. After all, it was 2007 that took my husband away from me for over a year. But still, you did bring things like this and this to me out of nowhere.

I did my best to celebrate your arrival. I went out with two friends to an overcrowded bar, even though all I wanted to do was sleep! Maybe you could tell, though, since you decided to do all you could to drag yourself out, throwing a leap year at me and even adding an extra second to yourself tonight.

I did my best to make you go by quickly, and praise the Lord you did. I kept myself ridiculously busy with training and completing umpteen billion athletic feats (OK, like 6, but whatever. It was a lot.). I went on a couple trips with friends. I got promoted. I met some famous people. I went to a handful of concerts (interesting ones and awesome ones). I rode a hot air balloon for the first time and made it to Day 12 for the first time ever with K. Thanks to K, I got pampered a lot, which was definitely awesome. And I was only in one wedding this year (sorry, haven't blogged about it ... but it was just over a week ago, and I haven't even looked at my pictures yet!).

But I spent a lot of 2008 just waiting, getting by. Almost everything I did was designed to get me closer to 2009. Every step, every pedal, every countdown (man, there were a lot of those!) was added intentionally to make the next countdown seem that much closer. I spent a lot of time exhausted, but my plan worked.

Despite your stubbornness and added time, 2008, I won't look back at you as a bad year, but I'm still glad to see you go. And I'm going to celebrate tonight the way I wanted to last year: I'm going to bed. And I'm sleeping in.

And when I wake up tomorrow, I'll have a smile on my face. It's just that I'm really looking forward to so many things 2009 holds for me: My Sooners are in the national championship (here's hoping we don't roll over and die), I'll get to leave Dallas (thank you, Jesus!), K and I will have our "real" wedding (and it will be awesome!), and I'll finally finally finally get to live with my husband (in case you're wondering, we still don't know where).

But the part of 2009 I'm most looking forward to will come only a few days into the year: K will come home.

So please don't dawdle on your way out, 2008. I'm ready to start living to the fullest again.

Love,
me

It's a bad time of year for Save the Dates

Over the last few weeks, I've been collecting addresses to send out our Save the Dates. Many people have figured out why, responding with things like, "I can't wait for the wedding!"

A few who aren't really close friends, though, have replied, "I need yours too!!!" I can only guess what that means: They think I'm sending them a Christmas card, so they want to be sure to send me a card too.

I sent out over 40 Christmas cards last week. Maybe that's not a lot, but to me, it was -- especially to do by myself (and signing K's name and mine)! I sent cards to K's family, my family, K's closest friends and my closest friends. I addressed all of them by hand. I sent out every card I had.

But I'm still getting a few, "I need yours too!" messages. Guess I'll be buying more cards tonight.

Coolest Save the Dates* ever

I think so, anyway.






















*Yeah, so we ordered them a couple months later than we'd hoped. It turns out it takes quite a bit of reminders, phone calls and help to get a list of family and family friends when you only have two dads to work with on it!

You can't say I don't have school spirit

ER is in town for the weekend, and I had an important errand to run yesterday. She came with me, and we were headed back to my apartment, where I was working from home. We were driving along on a three-lane highway in Dallas when I noticed a truck in front of me with a car flag on each window. Both flags were a gorgeous shade of crimson, but I wasn't quite sure they were OU flags.

For those of you who haven't realized the excitement, joy, frustration and obsession that is college football, it's a pretty big week for Sooner fans. Saturday, we'll be playing our biggest rival, those awful t.exas longh.orns. I've blogged about it a few times before, so if you've been hanging around awhile (or have ever lived in Oklahoma or Texas), you know how big of a deal it is.

Well, during the week of OU/t.exas, you see quite a bit more school spirit than usual. There are more car flags, more team shirts, and more trash talking than any other time during football season. Today, on my way home from work, I passed a leather furniture store that was having a "T.exas-OU weekend sale." Even Spr!nkles is getting in on the action.

So there's this unwritten rule that everyone knows that says if you come across anyone sporting memorabilia of YOUR team, you give them the associated hand gesture. If you're a Sooner, you give them the lon.ghorns down hand sign.

So when the flags on the truck in front of us fluttered just in the way we could see they were OU flags, ER and I got excited and knew what we had to do. Unfortunately, I was behind the truck, so he couldn't see the OU memorabilia on the back of my car. We had to pull up beside him to get his attention. Only the person in the middle lane was going too slow to allow that. Bummer.

The OU truck sped up and moved into the middle lane. Sweet!

I sped up to get alongside him, and ER and I prepared to show some school spirit. Only the OU truck moved into the right lane. "No!" I shouted, and I began honking the horn to get his attention. ER was rolling down the window, ready to wave and flash the lon.ghorn down sign.

The driver was staring straight ahead. "He's not even looking!" I said. It was disappointing. I directed my full attention back to the road ahead of us ...

... only it was a teeny bit late.

We had drifted a little into the middle lane. I had just realized my mistake when I heard my car make contact with the car in the middle lane.

Shit.

In that split second, I knew I had to get us back into our lane to avoid further contact, but I had to be careful not to overcorrect and throw us into the concrete barrier in the middle of the road. I handled that task fine.

I lost sight of the car we had hit, but I made my way over to the right side of the road, where the other car pulled up behind us. I waited until the right lane was empty to get out of my car and check on her. We had barely hit, so everyone was just shaken up. We decided to exit the highway and pull over into a parking lot on the access road.

When we got out of our cars in the safer area, I walked over to the woman's car. "I know you're not supposed to say this after a car accident, but I'm sorry. I feel so stupid."

The woman laughed. "It's OK. Are y'all in town for the game?"

"No!" I said pathetically. "I live here! I feel like such an idiot."

I was able to survey the damage. We really had barely hit.

To give you an idea, ER had bought a drink at Subway just minutes before the accident. They had been out of lids, so she didn't have one on her cup. She had drank maybe one sip out of her cup before she put it in my cupholder. Even through the wreck, not a drop of that drink spilled. Considering we were probably going 60 mph when the wreck happened, we were pretty lucky.

The woman's car looked fine. If you inspected it closely, you could see a tiny little mark (circled in yellow in the close-up) that must have been made by my rear view mirror. Other than that, nothing.

































And then there was my car.

















Eek.

Granted, I would much rather have it be MY car to sustain the majority of the damage, given the whole thing was my fault. I spent the whole rest of the day frustrated at myself for being such a dumbass. Geez.

I went to dinner at ER's parents' house that night. Her family, who's pretty much like my second family, just laughed. They've all got silly car accident stories like that. In fact, when ER told her mom the story of how the accident happened, her mom actually said it was kind of precious. (I told her she needed to see my car, and then she could tell me if she thought it was still precious.)

So basically everyone had a good laugh at me yesterday. And I totally deserved it.

Gah!

Now, to leave you with more pictures and some exciting, more responsible news, the important errand ER had come with me on was ORDERING MY WEDDING DRESS. I got all measured for it, and what's really cool is that my veil is free with my gown. Score! [*Note: The "sweetheart neckline" was just pinned here to give me an idea. It will look better when it's actually really altered. And when the dress is the right size, obviously.]











































I'm not one to spend a whole lot of money on one thing. ER has seen me panic for a few days after spending $100 on a blazer that fit me perfectly and I knew I'd wear for work someday. She's seen me go back and forth again and again on spending $60 on a pair of jeans. So she knew how hard it was going to be for me to throw down hundreds of dollars on one dress.

When it came time to make the transaction, I was fanning my face a bit, since it started feeling a little warmer in the dress shop. The woman helping me joked with me, saying, "Now, now, don't go and hyperventilate on me!"

I had to sign my name on a few different things, and the woman said, "All right, that's it! I'm gonna go get your packet now."

"I get a packet?" As the woman headed to the back room for a moment, I looked at ER and asked, "Does it have a paper bag in it?"

The woman came back to the front of the store with my packet. She turned toward the radio in the corner and turned on the wedding march. She picked up a small bottle of bubbles that looked like a champagne bottle. She began blowing bubbles at me and telling me congratulations. ER and I kind of laughed at the whole thing, but it was really sweet.

And then we headed toward my apartment and I got us in a stupid wreck.

When we were finally back at my place, I told ER this would give her some interesting material for her speech at the reception. I mean, how many people do you know who can say their love for their alma mater actually resulted in a car accident?

I bet at least some of you DID see this one coming ...

Saturday was the big day: dress shopping with Mom. We'd talked about it a few times last week making sure we had things planned out.

I talked to Mom early last week to see when she was coming down so I knew when to schedule appointments. She said she was thinking of leaving her house at 10. I told her I wanted to get an early start so the stores wouldn't be crowded. If she left at 10, she wouldn't be here until 12:30 or 1. I told her she was more than welcome to stay at my place Friday night so we could get an earlier start on Saturday. She said she'd just leave earlier.

I scheduled appointments at a couple dress shops and made plans to go to a couple more. I wanted my mom to see the two dresses I'd liked before, and we'd move on from there. I emailed all the details to my mom on Thursday morning, and we talked that night. I told her our first appointment was at noon and that the shop was 10 or 15 minutes from my apartment. I told her I'd chosen a few dresses at a few shops, so we could try on just those or even try on more -- whatever she wanted to do.


Starting off on the wrong foot

On Saturday morning, I woke up around 9:15 and started cleaning my apartment to make it spotless and getting ready for the day. I called my mom around 10:00. She was just leaving. I reminded her that our first appointment was at noon and that I thought she was going to be here around 11:30.

"I thought you said I didn't need to be there until 1," she said. She also said she thought it didn't take that long to get to Dallas.

"Mom, you're coming from another state," I said. I told her I thought it took 2 1/2 or 3 hours at least. I was frustrated, but I kept my cool. There wasn't much that could be done. We got off the phone, and I called to move back our two appointments.

About 10 minutes later, my mom called me back. She apologized for starting the day off late. She had really thought it wouldn't take that long to get to Dallas and that she wouldn't need to be here until the afternoon.

"But why would I have told you that you were welcome to stay here on Friday if you didn't need to be here until the afternoon?" I was still staying calm.

She apologized again, saying she was "so ... very sorry" for getting things off on the wrong foot. She said it was her fault and that she should've read my email more closely the night before.

"Mom, it's no big deal. I'm not mad," I said. "I'm annoyed, but I'll get over it. It's not that big of a deal. I already called and told the places where we had appointments that we'd be late."

My mom asked if I wanted to do this some other time. I told her I didn't have some other time. This was my last free Saturday until October, really. She said she could take off work sometime during the week, and we could try it then. "Yeah, but then I'd have to take off work." (I'm trying to roll over as much vacation as possible to next year. Between K's returning from deployment, the "real" wedding, the honeymoon, moving with K [!!] to our new base, and the umpteen billion weddings we'll have to go to next year [chalk those up to the deployment -- talk about a make-or-break event!], I'm not sure I'll have enough as it is, even with the fact I get 20 personal days a year.). I told my mom it was up to her, though, and that we could do whatever.

"No, you tell me. It's your decision," she responded. We did that a few times before I finally said, "Just keep driving. We planned on doing this today."

Around 11:30, my mom called to tell me her GPS said she'd be at my place at 12:30. "Do you want me to just meet you at the first shop? You could just tell me where it is," she said.

It didn't seem like a good plan. I thought it would be better for us to just ride together from the beginning. Plus, she'd been to my apartment before. It's not hard to get to. We'd just stick to that.


The problems continue

At about 12, I had to run a quick errand near my apartment. I called my mom to make sure I wouldn't miss her while I was out. When she picked up the phone, I asked where she was.

"I don't know," she said. She told me her GPS had had her turn around a couple times. I asked why she hadn't called me. "Well, I figured the GPS would be right. They update these things all the time."

"No," I said, "they don't." I gave her K's spiel about how you can't solely rely on GPS -- and why would you when you know someone who can give you directions with 100% confidence? "I've lived here for three years. Why didn't you just call? It's easy to get to Dallas. You just stay on 75. That will take you right into downtown if you want." I told my mom at least three times in that conversation that she would hit the exit on 75 for the highway she needed to get to my apartment. I told her she didn't need to exit until then. She told me she couldn't talk to me and drive at the same time, and she hung up on me.

I was really starting to lose my cool with her. It was bad enough that she left late, but the fact she was driving around in circles miles away from my apartment when she could've just called me to get back on track made it even worse.


Are you seriously still not listening to me?

Mom called me about 10 minutes later. "I think we need to rethink the way I'm coming," she said. "This isn't gonna work. There are cars everywhere. I can't even move."

I was confused. I didn't think they were doing any construction where she would be coming from. "Where are you?" I asked her.

Imagine my frustration when she told me (after I'd told her MULTIPLE TIMES in the previous conversation how to get to the right highway) that she was on another highway a ways north of the one she knew she needed to exit on. Before I knew it, I blurted out, "How the f*$k did you wind up on 121? I told you not to exit 75."

She told me her GPS had said she was supposed to turn. "I'm not even sure I'm on 121," she said. "There are so many cars around that I can't even see." She was definitely on 121. It's a highway with stoplights. It's pretty much a parking lot.

I asked my mom for any sort of indication where she was. If she could tell me what intersection she was at, I could tell her how to get back on track to get to my place. She told me she couldn't see anything for all the cars. (Seriously?) Finally, she saw a sign that told her [Major Road] was three-quarters of a mile ahead. "That's good!" I said. "When you get to that light, turn left. Then stay on that road until you hit the next big intersection. Then, I want you to call me so I can tell you where to go from there."

My mom started griping at me for talking to her like a child. She said I was cussing and yelling at her. "Mom," I said," I only said one cuss word. It was a bad one, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it. I haven't been yelling at you. I yelled that one sentence, but that was it." She went on to say I was talking to her like a sailor. "Mom, I said f*$k one time. One time. That's one cuss word. That's not talking to you like a sailor."

"It's not that big of a deal that I'm late!" she said. She was starting to get emotional. "Just call the shops and tell them. It's not open-heart surgery. I'll get there!" She repeated "it's not open-heart surgery" about three times in the conversation, to the point I finally cut her off and said, "OK, OK. I get it. I get it."

I asked her again where she was. It had been at least five minutes since I told her she needed to turn left. "Have you turned on [Major Road] yet?"

"I can't turn left there. I'm in the wrong lane." How could she not have gotten over? She'd had plenty of time! "Well I don't know how I'm supposed to get over there!" she responded. "There are so many cars I can't even move!"

"Mom! You have to turn on your blinker and butt your car into their lane. They won't just let you in. They don't drive nice here. You have to push your way in there."

My mom told me again to quit talking to her like a child. She again said she couldn't talk to me and drive at the same time. She hung up on me. Again. Awesome.


The peak of the drama

My phone rang again about 10 minutes later. "Where are you?" I answered.

I can't remember if she was crying when we got off the phone in the last conversation -- knowing her, she probably was -- but I could tell she was crying a bit by this point. "I'm in some parking lot."

"OK, are you at an intersection?"

"I don't know. I just pulled off in some parking lot."

I was really losing my cool. "All right, you gotta work with me here. I can't help you get here if all I know is you're in a parking lot that may or may not be off of [Major Road]."

"Well, I turned on [Major Road], but then the GPS started --"

"YOU'RE STILL LISTENING TO THAT THING?! Mom, I told you to turn left and keep going to the next intersection!" (really losing my cool now)

"I'm just going to turn around," she said.

"Mom, that's stupid. Just tell me where you are."

"Well, I turned on [Major Road], and then I turned off into a parking lot. It's just confusing and there were so many cars around. I can't drive and talk to you at the same time. I didn't know where I was, so I just pulled into this big parking lot."

I tried to calm down. "OK, that's good. That's good that you pulled over. Do you see any signs around?"

My mom already had her mind made up, though. She was still babbling about me talking to her like a child and cussing at her. I reminded her I'd said one cuss word. She said, "I don't let anyone else talk to me like that. Why would I let you?"

"I don't know, Mom," I said cooly.

"Why do you have to be so hateful?" she asked, crying more.

"Why do you have to be so emotional?" I asked her. "For the first 20 years of my life, you were tough. You could be mean even. You're big thing was, 'If you can dish it, you better be able to take it too.' You could dish it, but you could take it. And now? You can't handle anything! Someone says hardly anything to you, and you get all emotional! I don't even know you anymore!"

"Well I'm sorry if I get offended when my child says f*$k to me. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's not that big of a deal. Maybe I should ask around and see if anyone else I know has kids who talk to them like that. I bet they don't."

I was tempted to tell my mom while she was at it to ask how much trouble those people's kids gave them in high school -- how many times they snuck out, got drunk, got detention, got arrested or whatever else my brother and I never did. I'm sure they'd much rather have their almost-25-year-old child say "f*$k" to them than any of those things.

My mom told me again that she was turning around and going home. This was kind of funny to me, since she had no idea where she was and seemed determined to rely on a stupid GPS system that clearly had no idea how to navigate the highways in Dallas. "Best of luck," I said.

The conversation only lasted a few minutes longer, and it didn't get any better. It also kind of just repeated the things from above. I was frustrated and annoyed, but I honestly wasn't that surprised. This is my mom for ya.


Not surprised ... and realizations

When I get really frustrated, I cry. I held it together until I talked to my dad and told him what was going on. I told him everything -- even my 121 comment. "You said that?" he asked.

"Yeah, and I shouldn't have, I know. But seriously, how the f*$k did she wind up on 121?"

My dad laughed. "True." He wasn't surprised my mom had turned around either.

I was so annoyed about the whole thing. My mom has been to Dallas and in the suburb I live near hundreds of times. How can she just forget how to get here? Why wouldn't she just listen to my directions instead of the stupid GPS?

After a while, I couldn't help but feel bad that my mom had gotten so upset. I shouldn't have gotten so frustrated at her and cussed at her, but I couldn't help it.

I realized part of the reason I get so frustrated with her is because she's just so emotionally weak now. When my brother and I were little, she really was mean a lot of the time -- especially to my brother. So many times when she and my dad fought, she'd shout at him, "Maybe we should just get a divorce" (my brother and I heard her say that many, many times). When my dad finally told her he really did want a divorce (I was 19 then), she softened. Overnight.

So now that we're adults and we don't have to deal with her every day, she's all nice? What wonderful timing. So I get annoyed when she starts breaking out the tears and acting like some softie. Whatever. I know better. My mom was a bitch. Really. How can you completely transform overnight (trust me, it was overnight) from such a huge bitch to someone who cries over everything? It's a little melodramatic. Unbelievably melodramatic, actually.

Anyway, I didn't let myself waste too many tears over it. A minute or two, and I was done. A little while later, I sent my mom a text message saying I was sorry I had gotten so frustrated at her.


Funny how things work out

Somewhere in there, Heather sent me a text message. I'd given her a few updates throughout the morning via phone calls and texts, and she knew my mom wasn't coming. She asked if I was still going to the appointments. And then she offered to come with me. She was eating lunch with Elle, so they both wound up coming with me.

As I left to go meet them at the first shop, I called my mom. I felt bad that she was driving all the way home again. She didn't answer her phone, so I left her a voice message. I apologized for cussing at her and for getting so frustrated. I told her I had been excited that she was coming, so it was frustrating when the plan kept getting messed up. I told her I was sorry she wound up losing half her weekend to driving.

I called because I felt bad for her (and because I wasn't sure she can get text messages), even if it was her decision to get just a few minutes from my place only to turn back around. By the end of the day (and still today), I wished I hadn't called her. The text message was almost too much. Knowing my mom, she'll take that as my admitting full responsibility for what happened, when really, I wasn't entirely to blame. I think I kept my cool through a lot.

The day wound up working out well. Heather, Elle and I went to two dress shops, and I actually found my dress!

It's the same designer as Heather's dress was, which is cool. And what's great is it's a lot like the lacy dress I'd liked before, but the things I disliked about the first one were just right in this dress!

I don't have a picture of me in the dress, since the store won't let you take pictures unless you're ordering it. I'm pretty sure I'll wind up doing that, but until then, here's a picture of the dress from the designer's site. (FYI, I'm going to have them alter the top to a sweetheart neckline.)






















Thank goodness for Heather and Elle! (Also, pretty sure my mom and I aren't talking again.)

Bet ya didn't see THIS coming!

This Saturday will definitely prove to be a very interesting day ... As you know, I've had a little trouble getting motivated to go look for wedding dresses. There's just that little thing about me already being married.

I've looked at dresses twice since I found my Florida dress last summer. The first time, I left after 5 minutes because I felt stupid and because the people at the shop were awful. I left frustrated. I felt like a washed-up beauty queen who refused to stop wearing her crown and sash.

So the second time, a friend from work came with me. That definitely made it better, but I think our tastes were a bit to different for it to really get me in the mood to keep going.

Well, May 23, 2009, is only getting closer. And considering that my weekends are going to be partially planned from June 19 through the end of September, that leaves me this weekend to really get moving.

There are two people in my life who I think are perfect to take wedding dress shopping with me. Both of these people have great taste, know my taste (and will take it into consideration), and have no problem telling me the truth if something I like isn't quite as great as I initially think it is. One of those people is CG. She's in Hawaii, which is a bit far to travel for a weekend of dress shopping.

The other? My mom. The thing is, though, while CG would be a bit gentler about telling me what I like isn't quite what it could be, my mom likes to overdramatize. Real-life example:

I'd just gotten my hair cut in high school. I'd decided to liven it up by throwing in a few layers. I had also cut off a good few inches. I'd cut off a few inches before, and I was all too familiar with the face my mom would give if I'd turned my back to her for a moment and looked back at her. She would always give me this disapproving face, like she couldn't believe I'd cut my gorgeous hair (whatever). Well, after the layered cut, the look managed to get even more sour.

"What? What!" I said to her.

Somehow, her face managed to sour even more. "Well ... it's just ... It looks like you were sitting in math class, and all through the class, the person behind you had a pair of scissors and slowly started snipping away at your hair, and you didn't know it."

See what I mean? Is that really necessary? I mean, I happened to like the layers.

I was torn about asking my mom to go dress shopping with me. Especially since I've only seen her once in the last year and a half. But I knew she'd be a good person to take with me as far as honest, good-taste opinions go. She knows my taste well enough to help me make such a decision. And I know my taste well enough to be able to overrule hers without worrying about upsetting her.

So I asked her to come. And she is.

Saturday morning, my mom is driving to my apartment. I can't even remember the last time she came here. Geez, K might not even have gone to Afghanistan yet. Crazy.

I made sure when I asked my mom to tell her that I didn't want her to make any faces and give dramatic explanations of why she didn't like a dress. I told her a simple no would do it if she didn't like it. As for the faces, she said, "Well, sometimes I have to study it a bit first."

"If you have to study it to decide you like it, then it's not the right dress," I said.

"You're probably right." (Duh!)

I told my mom about the two dresses I had fallen in love with before. As I described them, she said, "You don't need a strapless dress. Your shoulders are too broad."

There's one thing we're gonna disagree on ...

So please, after you've said your prayers for world peace and blessings for your loved ones, please say a (tiny bit superficial) prayer that I have the patience of a preschool teacher on Saturday.

And if that whole patience thing doesn't work out, hopefully I'll at least find a dress that does.

Busy busy busy

This past weekend was a pretty hectic one. Friday night, I went out to a bar with Jeremy and couple other friends. Most of them were some of his friends from work, but a college friend I know through Jeremy was there with her fiance. We had a good time talking and hanging out until this awful band started playing at the bar, and we wound up text messaging each other for a while in an effort to keep communicating, since it required screaming to even be heard by the person next to you. That got old pretty quickly, so we wound up leaving, but I was glad for the early night.

I had planned on getting up early Saturday morning to go bike riding. When I woke up, though, I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted to sleep some more, and it looked like it had rained the night before. I could feel myself starting to get the first signs of a cold anyway (because I'm a genius and slept with my window open and two fans on one night last week), so I opted to skip out on riding and sleep instead.

I had plans to meet up with a co-worker friend to go wedding dress shopping anyway, so I think I made a good move. The dress shop we went to was great. I absolutely loved it and the people there. I found a couple dresses that I really liked. I don't know if either was necessarily "the" dress, but we'll see. They're definite possibilities.

After dress shopping, we had lunch and hung out a bit. We haven't hung out much outside of work, so it was fun to catch up -- especially since work has had the two of us going in different directions lately anyway.

I ran a couple errands -- including getting my fourth massage, which was really nice, but would have been much more enjoyable had I been able to breathe through my nose. I ran a couple more errands after the massage, then came home and collapsed for a 30-minute nap. I woke up an hour later (oops!) and hurried to change for Miss Heather's bachelorette party. We met up in a very exclusive spot for dinner, which was quite an experience. I immediately felt my small-town roots showing when the waiter got to our table and asked what kind of water we wanted. I know there's bottled or tap, and there's some crazy expensive kind that some people drink (Perignon?) and I was forced into trying once but found it utterly disgusting. But I had no idea how to answer that question. At this restaurant, I figured the "type of water" could have been cucumber water, spring water or even water with some kind of flower floating in it. I figured there was no telling. Luckily someone else answered for the whole table: "Tap is fine." (Easy enough!)

The menu was just as intimidating. I knew part of most everything on the menu, but then there would be something else thrown in that would make me a little unsure about that particular item, like throwing fig on a salad or something. I don't get too adventurous or exotic with my food, so I went with crab cakes (I had had them once before in my life, and they were good, and I knew this place wouldn't mess them up) and a Caesar salad. I figured the two probably weren't the best combo, but I didn't care. I chose the two items I could understand on the menu!

The food was delicious, and we had a really good time gabbing over dinner, yummy fresh bread and drinks. After dinner, we went to a hotspot bar for a bit. I was pretty tired from a full day, so I only stayed until about midnight or so, but it was really a good time. I'll have to post the pictures I got later. I'm sure Heather will post plenty herself.

I went to church the next day and then out to lunch with ER. It was good to catch up with her, since we've both been going crazy with our hectic lives lately. The afternoon was full of errands and straightening up around my apartment. That night, I went to see Brit in her new house. She and her boyfriend just bought a house together that's really just a couple miles from my place. I went to go check it out. It’s gorgeous – and big! I was really impressed -- and jealous. I can’t wait until K and I can have a house together! I'm happy for Brit, though. I like her boyfriend a lot.

I stayed at their place for a couple hours hanging out and then eating dinner, and when I left there, I immediately rushed home and changed into crappy clothes, then went straight to Jeremy's to help him paint his room. I helped out for a couple hours, and before I knew it, it was 10:30.

I came home and put a care package together for K so I could get it sent out this morning, since Friday night and Saturday morning had left me no time to get one made. I needed to give Piper a bath, but I decided to put it off until tonight.

Surprise of all surprises, when I woke up this morning, my cold was much worse. I felt awful. I guess I have just been running myself ragged. I decided to work from home today so I could get some rest and hopefully get to bed early. I've been ready for bed for a while, but I'm still getting things done around my apartment. It's about that time, though, and the Nyquil I took is kicking in. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow. It's been a long time since I've done that!

Things are picking up AND looking up

I have been feeling so much better the last couple days -- thank goodness! I realized yesterday that I have a lot of fun things coming up, and some of them have just come up over the last couple of days.

I'm going to go riding on Saturday to officially start training for the MS150 again. I wasn't looking forward to it as much because I wasn't going to have a riding partner this year with K being gone. Riding it with him is part of what made the experience so great.

My new friend Topeka, though, is really thinking about riding it with me, which I'm really excited about. Plus, one of my old roommates keeps talking about doing it as well. I've been feeling all along like she'll wind up backing out due to money, but so far she still says she's doing it -- she just hasn't registered (or rented a bike ...).

I decided I wanted to do a 10-miler in June or July, so I started looking those up. I found one in July that sounds like fun. I emailed the info to my dad's girlfriend, Jeremy and Topeka, and they're all in for it! A couple more of Jeremy and Topeka's co-workers who ran the 5k with us on St. Patrick's Day are coming as well. I'm excited! (Yes, I still hate running, but it's good for me, and I'm in it for the fun time with friends and the ability to say I've run 9.3 miles at one time. If I actually go through with it -- which I will -- I might then be insane enough to do a marathon just to say I've done that too. Maybe that's how people get into them.)

Not to stop the physical feats with May's 150-mile bike ride and July's 10-mile run, at the end of August, there's the Hott.er Than Hel.l 100, which I'm thinking about subjecting myself to as well.

And then K comes in September, so we'll take it easy and enjoy ourselves (but we'll go running and work out together while he's here).

Aside from the Feat.s of St.rength (10 points to whoever's cool enough to get that reference!), I've got a few getaways coming up that I'm excited about too. I'd hoped to do something cool for Memorial Day. I have Army-significant-other friends in Miami, Daytona and Orlando, so I had thought it would be cool if we got together down there that weekend for a little mini-reunion. I miss seeing them all, and Memorial Day would be perfect because since it's a holiday, no one would have to worry about losing a vacation day so we can all save them for our guy's R&R.

Well, yesterday one of the significant others who lives in New York emailed me to see if I'm interested in a little Memorial Day trip to Daytona to visit our friend. Of course my answer was, "Heck yes I am!" I'm really excited about that.

And the very next weekend I'm hoping to make it to Miss Heather's wedding in Tahoe. There may or may not be a little layover in California on my way, so I'm excited about that.

As if all that wasn't enough, today is the four-month mark of the deployment! It's really going quickly -- thank God!

And if that wasn't enough, I've scheduled my fourth massage appointment for Saturday afternoon. In addition to that (I know!), I'm going dress shopping for the Dallas wedding on Saturday, and one of my co-workers wants to come with me! Yay!

Word of this post: silly

I woke up early Saturday morning so I could go to a small bridal boutique that had been recommended to me by several people. From what these friends had told me, it sounded like a really great place to go for a variety of nice dresses. I was interested to see the selection a boutique would offer.

I had scheduled an appointment for 9:30 a.m., which is when the store opened. A few other girls were there waiting for the store to open when I arrived. I was the only one by myself. When we walked into the store, a saleswoman asked me my name. She identified herself as the person assigned to help me. "I have one more appointment coming in, too," she said.

Just then, a girl walked in the door and looked right at the woman who was to help me. She was the other appointment. She told the saleswoman that she wanted to try on her favorite dresses from the last time she was in the shop. The saleswoman said she'd go get the girl's card, and then she looked at me. "Do you want to try on straight dresses or full dresses?"

"Yes," I answered. "Both."

The saleswoman pointed toward a small rack loaded with dresses. "Those are the straight dresses, and the full ones are back there." She walked to the back of the store.

I started looking through the straight dresses. They were crammed onto a fairly small rack, so I had to push the heavy dresses aside one at a time to try to get a good look at them. They seemed to be organized by designer, which meant nothing to me. I didn't know which ones came with sleeve options or what my color choices were. My arms were still a bit sore from my last workout, and as I struggled to move dress after dress aside so I could look at the selection, I realized I didn't even feel like trying on dresses.

I felt silly to be looking for a wedding dress when I'm already married.

K and I knew it would work out this way -- having two weddings -- and I was OK with it originally. We had paid for half our Dallas reception before we ever realized we'd have to have the Florida wedding because K was deploying. We told everyone we talked to about the Florida ceremony that we'd have our "real" wedding once K got back from Iraq. That was always the plan. It's why we chose to make the Florida ceremony so simple.

The thing is, though, that weekend was perfect. I feel like we're just asking for trouble if we think we can have a second wedding go so smoothly and wonderfully. And it feels silly to be having a wedding again. Maybe if our first one had been smaller -- like if it was just the two of us at a justice of the peace or something -- it wouldn't feel so weird to be planning another. (But I still wouldn't want to change a thing about the Florida wedding.)

The saleswoman came back after I'd been looking at the dresses for a couple minutes. "Have you found anything?" she asked me.

"No, I don't really know what I'm looking for," I half-lied. The thing was, I realized I was looking for the two dresses I've already found. Plus, I'm afraid I've seen one too many episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, so I was expecting a similar experience: I wanted to walk into the store and have a salesperson devoted to helping me for a short time. I wanted the person to ask me what my budget was for the dress and to ask what style(s) I was looking for. I wanted the salesperson to help me.

The woman motioned me over to the couture dresses, saying I could start out there if I'd like.
"Is this kind of a help-yourself-type thing?" I asked. The woman nodded. "OK, because I have no idea what I'm doing here," I said, which wasn't a lie. I didn't want to waste my time looking at dresses that were way over my budget. It was the saleswoman's job to know her inventory and to be able to point me in the right direction.

I had heard her tell someone else in the store that the appointments each lasted an hour and a half. If the saleswoman wasn't helping me find a dress, what was she supposed to do in all that time? And if she wasn't going to help me find a dress, why did I even schedule an appointment?

The saleswoman chose to ignore my obvious desire for help, and she turned without saying a word and headed to the back of the store again. I returned to the straight dresses, but I was frustrated. I'd gotten more help at Dav!d's Bridal! If I was going to be spending hundreds of dollars on a dress, I wanted help, and I wasn't going to get it at this boutique.

There was also the fact that all the dresses were the exact same size, which was a few sizes too big for me. If I even found a dress I liked, they'd have to clip the back to the point the dress would just look odd. I'd have to use my imagination, and for a dress that important, I didn't want to be blindly ordering and having to guess what the dress would actually look like in the correct size.

So I left the store. As I walked past the front counter, I considered telling the woman standing behind it that I was abandoning my appointment. Since no one seemed to care about helping me, though, I figured they wouldn't care about my leaving either, so I didn't say a word. The woman didn't look up as I walked past her.

My whole experience in the store was probably 10 to 15 minutes. Still, I could have slept in! I could've skipped the drive to the store, which is in a different part of Dallas than where I live. I could have done so many different things with the beginning of my weekend.

As I drove back home, I fought off tears. I was just frustrated about the whole situation. I would be fine with leaving things with the Florida wedding. I can't get into planning a wedding again, and I don't want to have to try to explain to people why I'm planning a wedding if I'm already married.

Forty-two people went to Florida for our wedding. All 42 traveled a good distance by plane or car, and all 42 stayed in the hotel. All of those people spent a lot of money to spend that weekend with us. I can't ask them to do that again, much less ask another 100 to 150 people to join us this time to watch us reenact something that already happened.

It feels silly scheduling appointments under my married name. I can't help but wonder if the people I'm scheduling with think to themselves, "Wow. Good thing she's getting rid of that impossible last name!" (Little do they know ...)

I don't want to put my friends through listening to me talk about planning a wedding again, and I don't even want to make you all read about it a second time. Not that it's a bad thing to hear or read about, but I just can't help but think to myself that it's silly to be doing it over again.

Regardless, though, we're having the Dallas wedding. Which means I have to plan it. Luckily, since it's still just under 15 months away, I have some more time to get over my reluctance about the planning.

At least through all my hesitation about wedding No. 2, this weekend did give me one certainty: I have absolutely no second thoughts about writing off that stupid bridal boutique for good!

Finally: A normal week!

Behind!
Wanna know how crazy my life has been the last month? I haven't been to the gym since Sept. 13.

September 13!!! That's almost a month ago! At the end of August, I was complaining about a three-day break. I'm sure after a four-week break, my next workout will totally kick my butt.

I haven't read most of my blog reads in over a month. I was able to catch up on just one of my regular reads. But I have absolutely no idea what's happened in almost all of your lives. One of you could have realized your new guy is Prince Charming! One of you could be finished with one of the biggest projects of your life, and one of you might have gotten a new job. I'm missing new baby pictures and wedding planning -- I'm so far behind!

Week after the wedding: Preparing for another wedding
Since the wedding, I feel like I've hardly been home. I got home from Florida late Monday night. That left me Tuesday to unpack, rest and look at all my pictures from the wedding. Wednesday, I hung out with ER. We watched Private Practice, which I decided I'm not a fan of. I packed, and Thursday, I headed to Louisiana after work. K's cousin was getting married that weekend, so I'd taken off work Friday so K and I could fly out bright and early to Pennsylvania.

We found out on Thursday that our original flight had been cancelled. We rescheduled for a larger airport a couple hours from K. Our flight time was 6 a.m. I got to K's house after midnight Thursday night, and we slept until 3 a.m. Less than 30 minutes later, we were headed to the airport. K's dad picked us up in Pennsylvania a little after noon. I showered as his dad finished up lunch. We had just enough time to eat and head out for the three-hour drive to the wedding rehearsal.

I was really glad I'd taken that shower before lunch, because traffic was so bad that by the time we arrived at the hotel, we only had about 10 minutes to get dressed for the rehearsal. I had packed my Biosilk in my suitcase, and the bottle had managed to completely drain itself in my suitcase, primarily on the shirt I'd brought as my single option for the rehearsal. I threw on a denim jacket and tried to hide it. When I shared the story with K's cousin's wives, they looked at me with confused expressions. They had no idea what Biosilk is! Poor things!

The bride had requested that K and I have a dance at their wedding since many of K's family couldn't make it to Florida (partly because of this wedding). She knew we had had a smaller ceremony and that we hadn't gotten a first dance. When she first approached us, K and I told her we didn't want to take away from their day. She insisted and persisted, though, until the night before the wedding, we found ourselves telling her she was the bride, and we'd do what she wanted.

So at the reception, after the father/daughter and mother/son dances, we were called onto the dance floor. The DJ told everyone that K was deploying in a couple months and that we'd had our ceremony just the week before. K had been a reader in the ceremony, and the bride and groom wanted him to wear his dress blues, so he was in his uniform with all his medals and ribbons. We danced to Josh Groban's "When You Say You Love Me." I love that song!

The wedding itself was really pretty. The bride and groom incorporated some neat things into the ceremony that really made it special. The reception was really fun too, and had I not already been to the reception of all receptions in June, I'd have thought it was even better. K and I have already decided we're totally stealing their idea of handing out glow sticks and other fun party favors on the dance floor. But the ice sculpture, crab cakes made in front of us and the 8 bridesmaids & 8 groomsmen were a little fancier than our plans.

Football (backtracking a bit)
At the reception, I realized I had forgotten to check our football score. I had K check his phone, and I couldn't believe it when he told me we lost. In fact, I made him hand over the phone so I could see for myself.

I think the altitude had a little bit to do with our troubles in the game, but I think our players probably were overlooking Colorado too much and looking to our game the next week: texas. I was so sad that we'd lost! I thought we were going to be undefeated. I actually cried when I saw the score.

Later that night, though, I saw the scores from all the other games and realized that if we had to lose a game, that was the day to do it. And after USC's loss (thank you, Stanford!!!), I don't think any team will go undefeated. (LSU will lose to someone this season.)

Back in the South
The weather in Pennsylvania was gorgeous. It was true fall weather, and it felt amazing. So when K and I landed in Louisiana again at about 10 Monday night, we were both feeling pretty cranky. I worked from K's apartment the next day. He had a long day, so I didn't even get to see him that night before I headed back to Dallas. I got home after midnight.

I managed to catch K's brother's cold, so that night, I stayed home hoping to get to bed early. Instead, I caught up on laundry and cleaned my entire apartment. I had a big weekend coming up, and Danielle was coming in the next night to stay the weekend with me for OU/texas.

Thursday night, I watched Grey's Anatomy with Danielle and ER. I'm about on the end of my rope with that show too. It's just getting to be too ridiculous to me.

Big weekend in Big D
This is Danielle's first year to experience OU/texas being out of the Pride (she graduated in May), so she wanted to experience all the traditions of the weekend. We went to watch the Pride's halftime performance at a high school football game, and then we headed to the West End. We ran into so many people I haven't seen in years. It was really cool to catch up with everyone. It would have been nice if I wasn't coughing my head off from my cold and the fact I was having to yell to carry on a conversation, but it was a fun night.

And Saturday, we all headed to the fair to enjoy the festivities and watch the game on a big screen. We had a really good time. We had beer, funnel cakes, Dippin' Dots and corny dogs. We didn't try any of the new fried foods, which included fried cosmopolitans, fried lattes, fried cookie dough and fried peach cobbler (seeing a theme here?). We yelled with all the Sooner fans, and we went crazy when we scored our last touchdown of the game. We won by 7, which is good enough for me.

Still not too late for marriage counseling!
Sunday, K and I went to church and then met with the pastor for our first marriage counseling session. This was just a getting-to-know-you kind of meeting, since K hasn't really ever gotten to talk to the pastor here like that. We got the information we'll need to get the ball rolling on the rest of our counseling sessions, so I'm excited to start that.

I do think it's kind of funny that we're doing all this now that we're actually married, but honestly, it's all still the same. We still live 5 hours apart. We're not joining finances, so all that will be changing from this is my last name and an additional sparkle on my left hand.

So that's my life over the last two weeks. This week is finally back to normal. I'm going to go to the gym tonight for the first time in forever. Thank goodness! K is coming here again this weekend, so I won't have to worry about having to get things in order and pack by Thursday night. Finally, I can relax -- and catch up on my blogs!