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Wednesday, June 20, 2001
I found a great new web site. Much more my style than some of the other fluff. Advice on life after the reharsal party, and what to do if you are the only single woman at a bridal shower (tho unfortunately the advice seems to be 'run away'). Come to think of it, I managed to get through the last one with flying colours. Not a single comment about "oh, both your sister's getting married. When is it your turn, dear?". Which means either the guests know me too well, have given up hope, or most likely, both. I had a lovely time with Mrs. L, we came sans the doctor. Being of the previous generation, this is more of a mental hurdle for her to overcome than many would acknowledge. Mrs. D (who is in her 60s, somewhere) and I shared our slices of cake, and had lots of giggles. I avoided the son of the hostess, whom only spoke to me about four times, each time to tell an obscene joke, and I swear, not one other word. There were a few other amusing anecdotes from that party too. Shannon proposed a great roast (as opposed to 'toast') to Kristin, mocking her choice of cats, and fashion wear. Tho to turn the tables, Kristin actually fit into her grade 8 graduation dress and pranced about a bit. Had a kick-ass day at the gym. A complete stranger commented to my trainer on how well things were going. Woo Hoo! Had to hug him just a little. If I don't breathe too deeply, I can get all the buttons done up on my Tristan skirt, which is a size 9. Ironically, I couldn't wear (I could get into, but they were too tight) either of the size 14s I tried on yesterday. Did they change the sizing of womens clothes while I haven't been shopping the last couple of years? Monday, June 18, 2001
Gosh time flies. Invites are done. Used them as an excuse to buy a printer/scanner/copier - too much fun. I love doing things like this, and it gave me lots of time to spend with Kristin. Everything is printed now, and they just have to be assembled and addressed. Which means we still need an address list. Oh well, at least my part is done there. Next on the list is the website. Went over the prototype with Kristin and she seems pleased with it, which is good. I'll have it up by the end of the week. Things seem to be much better attitude-wise. Everything is starting to come together, and most of us are treating it more like a big party than a wedding, which I think is what Kristin and Mark want. Dee is still fairly hyper - "its the last chance I'll have to spend time with my daughter like that". Honestly. Its like she'll be moving to an alternate universe. Mom will get to see more of her now that she's moved back to Ontario, and not much else will change as she has been living with Mark for more than five years now! But how to explain that to the dear sentimental old fool. The first shower was on Saturday. Poolside at Graham and Joan's, it was fabulous, as they always are. A good time had by all. Graham and Joan picked out the most beautiful sheet set, towel set and bed cover set (its some where between a quilt and duvet). Kristin proceeded to get all liquored up at the dance she was as afterward. Apparently there was several amusing moments involving a contest, a plunger and a roll of toilet paper. I didn't ask for the details. Next event is the Jack and Jill which is now on July 7th (yes, again). The tickets are done up, but we have to get cracking on the games planning. Casino games and fish races is the plan so far. Personal news. After not getting much response last weekend, I had a lot of random compliments on the weight loss this weekend, and just now at work. And from people who have no reason to offer such things. i.e. Aaron, who made a point of saying how noticable it was, and he just wanted to make sure to say that because he nows how much harder it is when people don't notice. Nearly everyone at the shower commented, one lady took a second to recognize me, and one of the guys I work with just commented too. I'm ridin' high on those comments now. To make it more exciting, I have my date for the wedding confirmed now too. Warren and his girlfriend's relationship has cooled considerably, and he has agreed to play the bagpipes for the processional and recessional. He also won't have seen me since this fitness kick started, so that should be a *very* fun meeting. I'm starting to get excited. Tuesday, May 29, 2001
Karen gave me an amusing perspective on the sibling / mother fight. She figures that as long as it remains a novelty, we're not trailer trash yet. She says to start worrying when it becomes so common place that it doesn't bother me anymore. Makes sense. :) I am so fired up over this fitness thing, its scaring the begeesus out of me. I'm going home this weekend, so I'm extra-firing it up this week. Somebody had bloody well better notice. Monday, May 28, 2001
Just finished lunch with my sisters. They were in town theoretically to do some work. Wedding notes: The July 7th shower has moved to June 23rd. I think. I do get confused. Mom is going mental. She has taken a second job, after saying that she was not going to work for the summer. This is disaster in the making. Otherwise, things are progressing well. Connie spent the weekend wearing out my parents be redoing the gardens - all the flowers will be grown in my parents and my aunts place next door. The deck on the cottage should be finished on Wednesday-ish. It is quite large apparently. I'll get to see it this weekend. There is just zero time left. All the weekends between now and the wedding are scheduled. I am going to have to take days off to go shoe and accessory shopping for the dresses. Fitness notes: It was a good weekend. Apparently, my scales were the problem and I am making progress. Plus, I have been going around for the past couple of days saying (quite proudly) "My pants are falling down." Almost time to go shopping, I think. I just realized I have a pair of jeans I will be able to wear again, leftover from the last fitness kick I went on. Also, I went out on the weekend with 'the girls', and I do believe there were guys actually checking me out. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, but right now I'm enjoying it, as it has been a couple of years. 75 days until wedding #1. Wednesday, May 23, 2001
Two part post. Firstly, the wedding is back on. The family meeting on Monday resolved the issues, without me, thank Secondly, just a mini vent on the fitness thing. Lots of working out and eating right for the past two (plus) weeks has gotten me exactly nowhere. I wasn't expecting to drop 20 pounds the first month, but I thought I would be down a pound at least. Yeah, yeah "All the working out is turning the fat to muscle and muscle weighs more." Bollocks. I want a number result, and now. I'm beginning to think the looseness in the waist of my black pants is the result of the elastic dissolving in the wash. Sigh. Oh well, I'll concentrate on the other victories. Like the fact that I am going to the gym at all. Tuesday, May 22, 2001
I've decided to add one more tangent to the blog. Relevant in that hopefully the result will be my having a date to the wedding(s). I do actually have a date right now, a close friend of mine who will also be serving as the piper for the evening. However, knowing him as I do, I expect him to find some way to back out. I've known him for more than five years, alternating between a platonic relationship and not, depending on who else we were dating, and he always finds a reason to back out of meeting anyone in my family. Without going into the sordid details, here's what stands psychologically between me and a date for the evening. Firstly, about 50 pounds. I'm working on that via the usually agressive training program (not so much the eating - I've maintained this weight for a couple of years). Between that and moving back to a real city, I'm regaining much of my lost 'all-that-and-a-bag-of-baked-Tostitos' attitude. (Provided I don't get bitter over how shallow men are, when start paying attention again after I lose the weight.) I'll keep that up to date in a general way - i.e. I'm already down one size. That is the easy part. Secondly, and much harder, 'moving on'. People usually guess my age between 5-10 years younger than I am. The worst example so far has been the guy who thought I was finishing high school. Partly, that is family genetics. Everyone in my family ages *really* well. The other part is the bizarre mentality I've gotten myself into, thanks to being severely emotionally burned early on. Some days I feel like I haven't changed emotionally since I was 20. Between the physical and emotional, I do feel that I'm playing a bit of catch-up. I've basically thought, since beig burned: "I'm quite happy on my own, thanks very much, I don't need an emotional depth of more than 6 inches." Somehow, I think I've mutated that into *proving* that I am, and always will be, happy on my own, I don't need anyone else, dammit, and if I cave in to a serious relationship I'm just proving to everyone what a weak-kneed, lilly-livered, typically pathetic female I am. Bunk. Don't know how to fix it other than acknowledging the problem, but I'll let you know how it works out. Back in about '94, my friend Billy put me on the 1243 step plan to commitment. I think the fact that I actually went out on a couple of 'regular' dates this year must mean I'm on step 621, at least.
Interesting. The post about the engagement party seems to have gotten lost. Not a whole lot missed, I guess. All seemed to go well. We had a great turnout, everyone had a good time, the only catch is that we couldn't convince everyone to eat the food. Got Shannon the tiara, got Brett the crown. There was an amusing incident where I managed to avert a battle after Shannon forgot the tiara in the washroom and someone not of the party picked it up. Monika and Cindy were all ready to kick some ass to get it back, which I averted by the simple expedient of asking for it. My guestbook idea (Advice from the Ladies, Advice from the Gentlemen) seemed to go over well, tho apparently the advice got a little lurid toward the end of the evening. I wonder if the rugby team had anything to do with that?
Classic. We've had the first major row over the wedding. Honestly, I thought my family was above this sort of thing, but apparently its just me. In true "trailer park" style, my brother threw a kegger for 24 weekend (for the Americans in the crowd, that is the May 24 weekend in honour of Queen Victoria, usually referred to as the "two-four weekend"). Everyone but myself was in attendance (Where others may not, I have a strange aversion to bedding down with thirty-odd drunken 21 year old boys. I have to draw the line somewhere.). The story as I hear it, is that Kristin and Dee both drank too much, and then said things that you typically don't want to say to each other. i.e. Dee: "I'm not hosting this wedding! You can just call it off! I'm not paying for anything!". I'm trying to make light of it, but it hurts to the quick that they could possibly exhibit this sort of behaviour. Its just so trashy. That was Saturday. Shannon, Kristin and fiances left very early on Sunday, around the time I arrived, which left me with a lovely tension filled day. I'm torn about this one. I can be my usual diplomatic self, and give all parties involved the advice that they should be able to figure out for themselves (i.e. "WTF were you thinking?"). Or I can stay out of it, because, honestly I think its better if I don't know all the gritty details - technically its none of my business. But then I run the risk of looking like I don't care. Sigh. Thursday, May 03, 2001
Oh my goodness. Its been a while. Time to get back in the kick of things. Kristin is back, with a new job. Mark followed about six weeks later, after he resigned and sold the house. We did the shopping for Kristin's dress. Its just beautiful. The poor other ladies were there with maybe one other friend. We were there on mass: Mom, Shannon and I. With notes in hand, ohh-ing and ahh-ing and generally making a rucus. Luckily for Kristin, the dress she liked best was the cheapest. I know all dresses are beautiful, but this one really suits her. I'd give the description, but you dont care, and I'll have the pictures later. We narrowed the ones she tried on down to three finalists, and we decided the winner when we all got choked up when she came out in it. The one that makes you cry is definitely the winner. Last weekend, we chose the bridesmaid dresses. A lovely summery lilac colour, they are definitely bridesmaid dressed, but might work for a new years gown. How often does one wear formal gowns for any occasion now anyway? Kristin is going with the approach of "we all wear the same colour, but different dresses if we choose". So Shannon and Cindy are wearing the same, and Melissa and I are wearing the same. Monika and I are throwing an engagement party for Shannon and Brett on Saturday. We really hardly got our shit together for this. Only one weeks notice, etc. Fortunately most of our family has very little going on this early in the season. Still haven't called Bretts friends in Ottawa - bad form, that. Taking tomorrow off to do all the shopping etc. (Side track there to start making lists). (I broke my Visor - cant tell you how annoying that is going to be.) Mom and I came up with a bit of a gag for the party - Shannon has her 'princess' kick ("I *am* the princess-a!") - so we got her a tiara, and a crown for Brett. I need to come up with a "the Princess has found her Prince Charming" line. So, given how I'm stumbling already, I found a book at the store last night. "The Bridesmaid's Guerrilla Handbook" by Sarah Stein and Lucy Talbot ($18 - that $10/wedding after tax :) ). A great little guide for etiquette, timing, duties etc. I'm going to start making more lists after this post...  |