Babes in Heat

The WHOLE wedding rundown will eventually appear here. For now, please enjoy this photo of the bride and the largest assembly of Scary Feminists from Hell ever--six out of nine. Clockwise from left: Sylvia, Lara, JaneAnne, Robyn, Janet, and ME.

If we look especially glowy, it was due to the record high temperature of 112.5 degrees.

Karma & the fired photographer

Backstory: Wrote a polite letter to fire the photographer because three weeks before the wedding, they couldn't tell me which employees they were sending.

Also asked for my non-refundable deposit back.

Update: Today received polite letter from fired photography studio 1) thanking me for my candid letter, 2) expressing regret that my experience with them was not more positive, and 3) refunding half of my non-refundable deposit!

YAY!! I can SO find a way to spend the extra $200.

Now, if we can just finish up the items on the 4-page-long wedding itinerary and find a vintage car to take us from reception to hotel, we'll be ahead of the game!

We So Horny

The hats I mentioned in the previous post. By popular demand, they made an appearance at the last bridal shower (with church ladies & neighbors) and have been requested for an encore at the rehearsal dinner. My hat has daisies on the brim and horns, too, though they aren't as visible in this picture. My former colleagues are a creative bunch!

Why so silent?

Probably has something to do with the wedding being 8 days away and me having almost literally a million errands and details to take care of.

It's late, so I'll be brief:

--Work colleagues threw a lovely luncheon/send-off, complete with good food, good company and live entertainment. (My successor led everyone in singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with lyrics re-written to be about my life and the changes ahead). Oh, and there were HATS. Will post photo separately since Blogger mucks up the spacing.

--Last day at work was also my birthday, which took a back seat to all the other preparations. Mike took me out for Thai food and surprised me with Martinelli's, lovely gifts and a movie. Saturday night, we enjoyed a salmon dinner at Lee & Angela's. Got to play with the kids and see Chris, Kirsten & Skye, who stopped by too. We also worked on putting the wedding ceremony program together, though our information was (and is [grr!]) incomplete.

--On the way home, I had what will probably be remembered as wedding meltdown #2, during which I raged loudly about how I can't cross an incomplete task off my list. Even though we made progress on the program, I was unsatisfied believe my exact words were, "If it's not 100% done, then it's NOT DONE!"

--Mike quoted my meltdown moment during birthday dinner with mom, dad, brother John and Christina Sunday night. When HE said it, it sounded so unreasonable...

--Alas, one of my cousins won't be making it to the wedding. I made the unfortunate mistake of scheduling our wedding one week before his employer, Kurt Bush the NASCAR driver, is getting married. (Could have been worse; think of the poor brides scheduled against Star Jones' product placement wedding).

--Got an interestingly timed email from an estranged friend, inquiring about how I'm doing. I invited her parents to the reception so I suspect she's heard about the wedding from them. I agonized over whether to invite her, but ultimately decided against. She'd been critical of me and Mike from the start; not the vibe I want at the wedding. Asking "how are you?" isn't enough of an olive branch after a year's worth of nastiness.

--Gave a talk in church Sunday re: my time in the Pasadena Ward and what I've learned from being a part of it. Gave context--where I was when I came into the ward, my "spiritual growth spurt" while I've been there, and where I'm going. Discussed my top 5 demonstrations of Christ's teaching enacted/embodied by people in the ward. The bishopric guy wisely scheduled me as the final speaker. Had some weird hissing/feedback from the microphone at the start of my talk--even after they turned it all the way off. Got a lot of positive comments afterward on my remarks and for handling the technical difficulties so well.

--I hereby repent of my past transgressions of not RSVPing to other people's weddings. I guess I should have seen that coming, eh karma?

Will try to write more leading up to the Big Day, but make no promises. Must. Sleep. Now.

Let the waterworks begin!

Aaron, the guapo recycle guy, stopped in my office today to say goodbye. He mock-tearfully said "You'll always be the one who got away," referring to his mistimed attempt to ask me out after he stopped dating a friend of mine. (I declined because I wanted to stay friends with her). Soon enough, he recovered enough to marry someone else and continued to tease me about my love life.

On his way out, Aaron saw Jose, the young, friendly guy who used to empty the trash in our building. A while ago, they put the housekeeping staff on night shift, so I didn't see Jose very often. Aaron told him I was leaving, so Jose came up to say goodbye as well.

And dammit, I got all misty after Jose left. Not because we were the closest friends, but because of all the cumulative pleasantness and goodwill I've felt from the people here, whether they've been on my team or just said Hi when they've emptied my trash can.

I got a call from our section secretary today. She's out on medical leave and won't be back before I leave. She'd heard the good news (and she LOVED Mike when I brought him to work last year) and wanted to wish us well. I did likewise and hope she continues to kick cancer's ass.

I said goodbye to Wesley last week, who was one of my favorite security guards. I wanted to do the same with Larry, who's also stationed at the East Gate and has a ready smile and greeting for me each morning. Alas, I think Larry's on vacation or has rotated to a different gate; I haven't seen him this week. There are a couple of other guys from transportation and the mail room that I haven't seen to say goodbye to, either. Makes it feel unfinished.

I don't think it will REALLY sink in until Monday that I no longer work here. But I'm sure my preliminary waterworks today are a mild precursor to the weepy mess I suspect I'll be at tomorrow's goodbye luncheon.

Crab Hat

I would be remiss if I did not mention some of the Other Things that happened over the weekend.

First, let me explain the crab hat. Many years ago, my friends Diana & Scott gave me a baseball cap with a red-orange crab embroidered on it. It refers to my astrological sign, Cancer, and also serves as an early warning system if I happen to be in a crabby mood.

The crab hat would have been apt a couple of times this weekend. On the drive down to Lake Elsinore, for example. I asked Mike to drive so I could relax. Instead, I stayed mostly awake to help navigate the 4 different freeways it took to get there and to criticize his driving. You can imagine how well that went over.

Mike asked whether it would stress me out more to have him drive my car than it would if I did the driving myself. Well, yes. But I was pooped from getting a touch too much sun on Saturday and from my woozy spell earlier that day in Target.

Plus, after having a few "commuter" relationships in LA/OC and an alcoholic boyfriend whom I ALWAYS had to drive around, sometimes I want to NOT DRIVE. The rest of the time, I would rather drive so I can be in control of my circumstances.

So I ragged on Mike's driving and he kept explaining why I shouldn't feel worried. And even though I complained, I still wanted him to drive home (even after his mission buddy asked him if he was still driving the way he did in Argentina, which I interpreted as driving crazy. Like someone would be notorious for good driving?). We talked through it, translating what I said/what he heard and did a round of apologizing.

The crab hat also would have been appropriate for the Tuesday afternoon marathon on pre-wedding finances. After some agitation, two Advil and some incoherent mumbling, that all sorted out fine, too.

Tuesday night we saw The Breakup. The fight scenes/dialogue covered different subjects, but were strangely reminiscent of the driving discussions we'd just had. The film was more like a case study than a romantic comedy overall.

Maybe we would have been better off seeing Nacho Libre. I like campy fun, odd characters, and oblique references to Mormons as much as the next gal, but I wasn't rushing to see another Jared Hess flick. Napoleon Dynamite just didn't do it for me.

Takin' care of business

Mike's in town! I picked him up Sunday morning at LAX and we stopped for brunch at Tito's Tacos, one of my favorite places to eat when I'm out that way. Dad brought me chips, salsa, and half a burrito from Tito's last week, but it wasn't enough. Mike and I pigged out and took Dad a burrito. Good food karma.

Since we were on the westside, we tried to meet up with our officiant. Since I didn't have Mark's phone number on me, I had to call Angela for it. I did catch Marianne who said Mark was in meetings/unavailable that day. We talked later and made plans to get together this weekend to go over the ceremony.

We also met with the new photographer Monday morning. She's a peach! We walked her around the yard and explained the set up and she's excited to take pictures there. We're getting color, black & white and some sepia prints, which I think will look extra bitchen with the vintage dress and the garden setting.

We also picked up my new glasses and stopped by Target where I had a moment of sudden onset physical ickiness. Usually, I know enough to get off my feet, but we had so much to do, I would have kept soldiering on had Mike not insisted I go sit down.

After a V-8 fruit infusion and some down time in the Target cafe, we headed out for the rest of the errands. Stopped for lunch at Gerlach's Grill, a cook shack attached to a liquor/convenience store in Pasadena. They had a stunning array of fresh fish, Mexican and Mediterranean food. I had salmon and Mike had their asada tacos. We headed over to the South Pasadena Library block and spread out a blanket in the shade to eat.

Then off to the Alhambra Market for carne asada & fixings. We were going to Lake Elsinore to BBQ with an old mission buddy of Mike's. They've had some similar experiences since their missions in Argentina--divorces they weren't expecting, being single again, being single fathers of teenage kids. I'm glad Matt and Mike are back in touch. Matt was the best man at Mike's other wedding and he said he'll be able to attend ours, too!