Music Moment #1: Like a Friend by Pulp

I've done this before
And I will do it again
C'mon and kill me baby
While you smile like a friend
Oh and I'll come running
Just to do it again

 So, this is the song that I picked to kick off this whole music month thing. This song is a guilty pleasure for me, that now has special meaning because it's the song that hubby and I chose for our bridal dance at our wedding. If that sounds like an odd choice, well, I'm prone to those. It came about like this: I told Josh to pick a song, and for God's sake find a song that doesn't scream WEDDING CLICHE! This song was played over the finale of Venture Bro., so it was imbedded in his brain, and he suggested it. I loved it. It's not a wedding song, and it's funny and bittersweet and it actually captures many aspects of our relationship perfectly. We are friends--and lovers, and enemies, and we adore and annoy each other in near equal parts. So, yeah, we danced to this song. The fact that the music video is hilariously awful is a different, but no less important dimension of entertainment.

What book does this song remind me of? Anna and the French Kiss, for two reasons. One, because I was reading that book when we were planning the music for our wedding, and so it was part of my reading playlist at the time. Two, because Anna and Etienne are also friends, although they are much cuter than we are.

Misc Monday: This is true love. You think this happens everyday?

It's official! I'm MARRIED now! So, I thought I'd share a handful of snapshots with you guys!

Here's me all dressed up before the ceremony!

Aren't my bridesmaids lovely?

Here's the whole wedding party, making funny faces.

Slow dancing among other couples

Really excited about cake.

Cake in my nose.

Big sugary kiss!

Yanking off that garter...

Our wedding day was a total blast, and simply beautiful, and we could not have asked for more. The biggest compliment that anyone paid us, was when our very good friend and florist (Starr), said to me "If I weren't already in love, you two would make me wish I were." She and her husband are real proof that true love lasts, and I only hope that years from now the same will be said of us.

We made a lot of people cry, but we had a lot of laughs too. If there's one thing I've learned in six years of love, it's that you ride those waves of emotions and come out stronger. I'm so grateful for that. As my father in law/best man said, "Finding your soul mate is not a given; it's a gift."

Misc. Monday: Lather, Rinse, Repeat: A Shower Story

My bridal shower took place Saturday, and it was originally my intention to use this post to show you guys all of the cool things people gave me. With special attention to the cookbooks, because who doesn't love cookbooks? Trouble is, it's all locked in my new apartment right now--the one I haven't moved into yet. So instead I will briefly regale you with the story of how my shower was awesome, despite lots of things going horribly wrong.

Retrieved from: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20346563,00.html

Thing #1) Nobody knew who should make the first move in actually planning this thing. Back around Christmas time, my future mother in law started grilling me about it, so I gave her my mother's number. I also gave her number to my maid of honor and all other inquiring female friends. "Go forth, and plan!" I said. "I do not want any part of planning my own shower." I said. But nothing happened. And months went by, and no one did anything, and I was so busy that I mostly didn't care if there was going to be a shower at all. But again, everyone kept asking about it, and so I finally gave in and made sure that several of us were in one room for a weekend to plan....

Thing #2) When you wait until the last minute, you're stuck with last minute dates. Our preferred venue only had two weekends left in the whole summer, one of which would definitely not work, so we were stuck with the one that only sort of worked. My maid of honor had a conference the week before, and wouldn't be back until the day of, but we'd just have to manage.

#3)...Then one bridesmaid found out she couldn't make it because of work.

#4)...Then my fmil had a gall bladder attack, and found out she needed surgery. She pushed the surgery back to a week after so that she could still make the shower, but was obviously much less able to help with set up than was originally planned.

#5)...Then, after weeks of job hunting, I finally found something, which was great. But they wanted me to start working nine hour shifts right away, cutting my free time instantly in half.

#6) So the night before, I'm trying to bake cookies and put together games last minute when I get a call from my maid of honor. Her flight got cancelled due to weather and she was stuck in Denver. No way to make it here in time. So now I'm up to my eyebrows in cookie dough and I'm worried about my best friend getting lost and/or mugged in Denver.

#7) The cookies kept melting and my back was really sore from work, and by the morning of I was unbelievably exhausted. My mother, too, was sweaty and tired and nervous about everything. And I want to say that, in my defense, I was a really good sport about everything, but there was just so much everything. I told my fiance, in a moment of frustration, that in the future I was never throwing a party, ever, unless it was after we won the lottery and hired an army of servants.

Here's what helped turn the event around for me: My last remaining adult bridesmaid instantly kicked it into high gear and started doing the work of four people to make everything work. She passed out name tags and called bingo numbers and kept track of presents. It was like the origin story of a new super hero--The Incredible Bridesmaid, with the power to organize ALL THE THINGS in ten seconds or less...

Obtained from: http://muccamukk.dreamwidth.org/609302.html

...I'm now confident that, should my wedding be interrupted by gun wielding villains, she will be just as effective as Kate Bishop. 

Plus, there's nothing like a party to remind you that there are people who actually like you--or at least are willing to put up with you in exchange for delicious cake (there was strawberry shortcake, and it was divine). Everyone was so warm and so generous, and so while I missed everyone that couldn't be there, I couldn't really feel sorry for myself about it. I think my favorite moment was at the end, when Josh walked in with a big smile and a dozen roses. He has never failed to make me feel loved, but these little moments where he treats me like a princess are still particularly special to me.

My advice to other brides is this: 1)Be more successful at forcing other people to plan for you, because you can't do everything. 2) Expect things to go wrong, and roll with the punches. 3) Thank everyone who comes through for you when your in a pinch, and most importantly, 4) Don't forget how lucky you are that all of this is happening to you. Not everyone gets to marry their soul mate. Even if every other thing goes wrong, you'll have been extraordinarily blessed because you met him.

Miscellaneous Mondays: Catching Up

This week the name of the game was multi-task, as I tried to complete as many mundane tasks as possible while also watching the shows and movies that I've really wanted to get caught up on. So, here follows an account of my adventures in TV land. But first, a personal anecdote.

Sometimes Plans Change...

This is the dress in question...

I don't know that I've mentioned before that I was to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding in May. In any case, that friend and her fiance broke things off over Thanksgiving break. It was one of those break-ups that, while shocking and sad, was really for the best.

Emotional drama aside, the incident has left me with what I'm referring to as The Dress Dilemma. Our bridesmaid dresses were bought and paid for months ago, and it's too late to return them. Thankfully it's not a fancy or expensive dress, as the wedding was to be a simple one. I thought about keeping it, because it's pretty close to my taste, and maybe it could be worn to a baby shower or wedding some day down the line...but I don't want my friend to see me in it, because she does NOT need the reminder. The other problem is that it's a tiny bit big--a size 4 was the smallest size available, and we had planned to get it altered because I'm very petite in the bust area.

Interestingly, when The Dress Dilemma was brought to the attention of certain male parties (who shall remain nameless), the reaction was "Oh just keep the damn thing!" Some people told me to donate it, but I don't know how useful a sundress would be to the city mission in the middle of winter. So I'm selling it on ebay, for way less than I paid for it, just to be rid of it.

I'm not trying to imply that this is some huge tragedy or frustration for me. It's just that life was going in one direction, took an abrupt left turn, and left me in a different situation where a dress became useless baggage. Things change.

What I've Been Watching

I got caught up on Terra Nova. I have to say, the novelty is starting to wear off for me on this one. It still has it's interesting aspects, and I'll keep watching it for now...But it's definitely my least favorite of the shows I watch (now that The Secret Circle has been taken off the list). It's starting to feel a lot like Lost used to, where they are constantly trying to build up to some big reveal that is never satisfying, and each episode adds a layer of ridiculousness until you can't even remember the point of the show. But I guess that's what happens when your shows entire premise is a location.

I am NOT caught up on Supernatural, having missed the mid-season finally do to impromptu napping. So don't spoil it for me. Seriously, I am prepared to fling penguins at you.

The last episode of Grimm that I saw featured Bluebeard as it's villain. It was a decent episode...But it felt a lot like Law and Order SVU with a slight paranormal element. This show has loads of potential, but it needs to get more confident with it's use of mythology and supernatural aspects. I think next week there will be two episodes, so I expect I'll have a lot to say about it. Incidentally, last year I read an erotica version of Bluebeard that I can't seem to find (if someone thinks they know, please send me the link). Anyway, the erotica version prompted me to read the originally version, and I enjoyed both equally.

I think Once Upon a Time is the show that I currently look forward to the most. I am well and truly aware that it's basically a soap opera with fairy tale characters. I don't care. I find it cozy, familiar, interesting, and occasionally surprising. I love the Disney references, I love the characters, and I love the storytelling style. This week's episode gave us a back story for Prince Charming (James) and I have to say, I'm loving his character.

Our Favorite Fantasy Creature!

 Dragons took the lead in this week's poll, with over 30% of the votes! I really love dragons. They're a part of all that great high fantasy that I really wish I read more of. Sometimes they're monsters, other times sidekicks, and sometimes heroes. Even the monster dragons are majestic and demand respect. So yeah, I wish their were more dragons in my books and movies.

This week's poll is a blood thirsty one--What's your weapon of choice when battling evil? Remember to vote on the right side of your screen! Have a great week, and Happy Reading!

Miscellaneous Mondays: Dinosaurs and Zombies

Terra Nova

I watched the first three episodes of this online. I was curious because the premise is so cheese-filled and outlandish, it rivals even to most contrived dystopian YA novel. For those of you that missed the commercials, it's about people from the year 2149, when the Earth has become overcrowded and polluted, that travel through a rift in time to the age of the dinosaurs in order to start a new colony. Ridiculous? Yes. Delightfully cheesey? Absolutely.

I ended up really enjoying this first episode. We meet Jim and his wife Elisabeth. They have 3 children, and in 2149 families are supposed to be restricted to two. One thing the show did really well was that it established, in very little time, how harsh the conditions of the 2149 world are. You see the family get really excited about and orange that Jim found. And then you see population control come and raid their house, where they find the third child and send Jim to jail as a result. Jumping ahead in the plot, once the family travels through the time rift the show takes a turn from gritty dytopian to bright fantasy world. The thing is, though, even here I can't fault them. The show is very imaginative in it's vision of humans coping in a world dominated by dinosaurs. The show stumbles on it's own "science" a bit, explaining (in awkward dialogue) that this is in fact a separate time stream from the own they were living in, so no worries about those pesky paradoxes.

Episodes 2 and 3 confirmed to me that there are a lot of interesting stories that could be written in this universe. I find the character's likable, the setting and plots interesting, and the overall tone to be good dramatic sci-fi fun. I'm caught up now, so I may be able to watch the shows at the time they air (if I remember) from here on out.

The Secret Circle, Episode 4


This was actually a surprisingly good episode. Cassie wants to use the magic in her family's spell book to help a woman who appears catatonic, in order to get some answers about the fire that killed everyone's parents. I liked seeing Cassie actually take some kind of action, even if the decisions she made were rash. And as I've said before, I like the fantasy element of this show, so having an episode that's more focused on that than anything else was a big plus.

Clothing My Wedding Party...

...has certainly been an adventure. I picked out my dress in July, and it was the third one I tried on. I went in pretty much knowing what I wanted, found the perfect dress, and that was that. So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be about three times as hard to find bridesmaid dresses that I really liked.  It was really important to me that my minions friends have something that they like and feel pretty in. I was well prepared to be flexible, and I told them they could pick whatever they liked as long as they were all the same color. They really wanted to match though, so the search was on to find something that would flatter three very different body types. We finally found this one, and I have to say I'm quite pleased with it. The waist is designed to create a nice hourglass shape. There's some subtle beading on the bodice and underskirt that compliments my dress (which has quite a lot of bead-work).

I still have to find something for my junior bridesmaid, who will be 9 at the time of the wedding. I have no idea what a 9 year old would feel comfortable in, so that will be interesting. Plus we have to figure out what the guys are wearing, but boys have it easier, right?

Weekly Poll Results: Your Favorite Classic Monster

Zombies prevailed over all contenders with 21% of the votes! I was pretty surprised by this, because I was so sure it would be vampires or werewolves. But not even close! Ghosts came in second place by only one vote! Apparently you guys like dead things.

I think my favorite zombie book would have to be one of the early Anita Blake books, most likely The Laughing Corpse. I don't really have a favorite zombie movie. Possibly Shaun of the Dead, but I've only seen it once. Anybody have good recommendations for zombie books or movies? Share!

Finally, don't forget to participate in the new weekly poll: What influences your reading choices? Happy Reading!