Monday, July 28, 2008
getting married makes you busy
I totally failed on the blogging every day mission last week. Sorry! I got all busy with people coming into town and lots of fun social gatherings. In summary (see here for more info):
1) It was a wonderful, exciting, and beautiful day. I was pretty anxious about the whole ceremony (i.e. being in front of lots of people) but it was so sweet and nice to be up there with my honeybunch. Why didn't we do this sooner??
2) My bridesmaids are the hottest ladies in the world.
3) Our friends are such caring, friendly, and gorgeous people. I wish we all lived five minutes from each other.
4)We'll be in Paris in just a little over a day! Lots of blogging potential if I don't wuss out.
Love,
Mrs. Cupcakes
1) It was a wonderful, exciting, and beautiful day. I was pretty anxious about the whole ceremony (i.e. being in front of lots of people) but it was so sweet and nice to be up there with my honeybunch. Why didn't we do this sooner??
2) My bridesmaids are the hottest ladies in the world.
3) Our friends are such caring, friendly, and gorgeous people. I wish we all lived five minutes from each other.
4)We'll be in Paris in just a little over a day! Lots of blogging potential if I don't wuss out.
Love,
Mrs. Cupcakes
Labels: wedding
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Oopsie
I realized this morning that I never did a blog post for yesterday. This is possibly because yesterday was spent cleaning, changing litter boxes, doing laundry, etc., and it wasn't really all that interesting. Today was spent doing much the same, because tomorrow we leave for St. Paul and the festivities begin!
I am taking "down time" by watching season 3 of Felicity, which is set in bizarro New York, where your dorm suite has about four bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen with Sub-Zero type appliances, a working elevator, and gorgeous bay windows. My sister and I used to watch Felicity in her college apartment, which consisted of two bedrooms held together with tape and prayer, a tiny living room, and a kitchen approximately as wide as a fridge. I do not say this to criticize, since my college apartment bedroom was suspended over a parking lot by two old, peeling posts. I believe it was originally intended as an open porch, and at some point they put storm windows in. It was incredibly cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Yet I found it charming and bohemian and infinitely preferable to the school dorm options.
Anyway, we used to watch the show because it was such an idealized version of college life, with impossibly handsome and emotionally attuned young men always at the ready, and quirky--dyed hair!--but warm friends to form a urban pseudo-family. When Felicity has a hangover she looks a bit wan but still has shiny ringlets and rosy cheeks. Kind of like Shirley Temple, come to think of it.
See you tomorrow from the great state of Minnesota!
I am taking "down time" by watching season 3 of Felicity, which is set in bizarro New York, where your dorm suite has about four bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen with Sub-Zero type appliances, a working elevator, and gorgeous bay windows. My sister and I used to watch Felicity in her college apartment, which consisted of two bedrooms held together with tape and prayer, a tiny living room, and a kitchen approximately as wide as a fridge. I do not say this to criticize, since my college apartment bedroom was suspended over a parking lot by two old, peeling posts. I believe it was originally intended as an open porch, and at some point they put storm windows in. It was incredibly cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Yet I found it charming and bohemian and infinitely preferable to the school dorm options.
Anyway, we used to watch the show because it was such an idealized version of college life, with impossibly handsome and emotionally attuned young men always at the ready, and quirky--dyed hair!--but warm friends to form a urban pseudo-family. When Felicity has a hangover she looks a bit wan but still has shiny ringlets and rosy cheeks. Kind of like Shirley Temple, come to think of it.
See you tomorrow from the great state of Minnesota!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sundazy lazy
I'm watching this show on E! about celebrity plastic surgery, and I don't think a single person looks better in the "after" pictures than the "before" pictures. Maybe because really good plastic surgery is not usually so severe as to be immediately noticeable. I don't even want to discuss the "full body lift." Ay-yi-yi!
Alex and I met Bethany at the Blue Oar this afternoon for sandwiches and beer. I sat with my back in the sun and perversely put sunscreen on the tanned skin only. I really do not recommend such cancerous behavior, and I think I am beginning to understand why so many brides wear veils.
Tomorrow I plan on cleaning and organizing around the house, working out at the gym, getting a massage, and going to the public library. I love weekdays off!
Alex and I met Bethany at the Blue Oar this afternoon for sandwiches and beer. I sat with my back in the sun and perversely put sunscreen on the tanned skin only. I really do not recommend such cancerous behavior, and I think I am beginning to understand why so many brides wear veils.
Tomorrow I plan on cleaning and organizing around the house, working out at the gym, getting a massage, and going to the public library. I love weekdays off!
Labels: wedding
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Vows
Mr. Cupcakes worked on an outline of our ceremony today. We have the basic structure in place, but we still need to flesh out the more personalized parts. Alex pointed out, when we were at lunch today, that a big part of what makes our relationship work is the fact that we are pretty different. Yet, he said, highlighting independence and difference during a ceremony that is supposed to unite two people maybe isn't the way to go. But the truth is: Alex will never want to see movies about street dancing with me. I will never want to play war video games with him. Yet neither of us want to give these things up or deny the other the pleasure of dancing championships in hard-scrabble inner cities. Now I just need to think of a way to say how much I love that without bringing up Save the Last Dance during the ceremony.
In other wedding news (sorry, but this week is just going to be full of it--I'll be done in one week, promise): I unwrapped many of our place settings and the silverware today. Crate and Barrel wrapped the plates in enough paper packing material to ensure that whether the box was kicked, dropped, or run over by a UPS truck, everything would remain perfectly intact. Next time we move we're all set.
Skin tone status: I might be imagining it but it seems like the stuff (for those of you keeping track: Jergen's Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer for medium skin tones) might be beginning to work. If it hasn't taken real effect by mid-way through the week, more drastic measures will have to be taken. Pray for me!
I've read a bunch of books since I last posted a book review but I just finished Empire Falls by Richard Russo and it totally blew me away. Those of you who live in Maine (I think there's just one of you--hi, Pat!) should immediately go out and read this, and the rest of you should too. It's about a man who grew up in small Empire, Maine, and it details the people in his family, his restaurant, and his town with such heart-breaking honesty that you feel like you know the people from childhood. There's also a super mean cat named Timmy, which is awesome. This is the first book I read by Russo--will definitely look for more at the library.
See you tomorrow!
In other wedding news (sorry, but this week is just going to be full of it--I'll be done in one week, promise): I unwrapped many of our place settings and the silverware today. Crate and Barrel wrapped the plates in enough paper packing material to ensure that whether the box was kicked, dropped, or run over by a UPS truck, everything would remain perfectly intact. Next time we move we're all set.
Skin tone status: I might be imagining it but it seems like the stuff (for those of you keeping track: Jergen's Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer for medium skin tones) might be beginning to work. If it hasn't taken real effect by mid-way through the week, more drastic measures will have to be taken. Pray for me!
I've read a bunch of books since I last posted a book review but I just finished Empire Falls by Richard Russo and it totally blew me away. Those of you who live in Maine (I think there's just one of you--hi, Pat!) should immediately go out and read this, and the rest of you should too. It's about a man who grew up in small Empire, Maine, and it details the people in his family, his restaurant, and his town with such heart-breaking honesty that you feel like you know the people from childhood. There's also a super mean cat named Timmy, which is awesome. This is the first book I read by Russo--will definitely look for more at the library.
See you tomorrow!
Friday, July 18, 2008
My promise
In eight days, Mr. Cupcakes and I are going to make it legal. Since many friends won't be able to come to the wedding, my promise is to blog each day, at least until the wedding, and fill you in on how crazy I'm going. I realize that I've probably not even done eight posts this year, but I'm really going to try to document every day at least a little.
Today was my last day of work until August 11, which is a lovely feeling. We have four full days before we leave for the Twin Cities, though. Time to clean up, straighten up, get rid of old things, integrate new gifts--especially kitchen things--into our lives. Right now I have a very large pile of beautiful and thoughtful gifts in the living room. I think I'm a little weirded out about starting to use them before we actually marry. Is it poor etiquette? We've been opening them as they arrive and writing thank you notes (I wrote 18 of those suckers on Monday). And then I ceremonially add them to the pile.
Other issues: last Saturday we went to Brooklyn to visit some friends, and we sat out in Sunset Park all afternoon. It was a gorgeous day, and the park has views of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. It's a great people watching spot, too. Lots of goofy kids and their goofy parents. I thought we had been sitting out chatting for two hours....but it turned out to be five hours. Five hours of sun on my shoulders. Luckily I don't burn easily but I do tan rather easily. Now I must do emergency tanning correction, so that I don't look like I'm wearing an undershirt under my wedding dress. I bought some Jergen's tanning lotion after doing some super professional librarian research by googling "wedding tan line help!" If random, illiterate strangers recommend it, it's gotta be good.
That's all from Crazytown for today. Tomorrow: VOWS!
Today was my last day of work until August 11, which is a lovely feeling. We have four full days before we leave for the Twin Cities, though. Time to clean up, straighten up, get rid of old things, integrate new gifts--especially kitchen things--into our lives. Right now I have a very large pile of beautiful and thoughtful gifts in the living room. I think I'm a little weirded out about starting to use them before we actually marry. Is it poor etiquette? We've been opening them as they arrive and writing thank you notes (I wrote 18 of those suckers on Monday). And then I ceremonially add them to the pile.
Other issues: last Saturday we went to Brooklyn to visit some friends, and we sat out in Sunset Park all afternoon. It was a gorgeous day, and the park has views of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. It's a great people watching spot, too. Lots of goofy kids and their goofy parents. I thought we had been sitting out chatting for two hours....but it turned out to be five hours. Five hours of sun on my shoulders. Luckily I don't burn easily but I do tan rather easily. Now I must do emergency tanning correction, so that I don't look like I'm wearing an undershirt under my wedding dress. I bought some Jergen's tanning lotion after doing some super professional librarian research by googling "wedding tan line help!" If random, illiterate strangers recommend it, it's gotta be good.
That's all from Crazytown for today. Tomorrow: VOWS!
Labels: wedding
Thursday, June 12, 2008
kicking it, summer style
It's been a busy few weeks at Casa Cupcakes. The agony and ecstasy of Reunion/Commencement weekend was capped by a visit from the Chosen One. It was pretty awesome, honestly.
And it was nice of him to take some time out of his busy schedule to pose with us. Ignore the cardboard crease at his waist-level. It was an exciting day in my library's history too--first time snipers took up positions on the library!
The next weekend Bethany and I had a nice little Sex and the City girlie afternoon. Alex came too, of course. He just loves that Miranda! The movie was fun but that Mr. Big....he needs a slap. Do you hear me, sisters?
After SATC we went back to Bethany's place to play Wii! Wheeee!
Don't judge. I'm going through a Sally Jessie Raphael phase.
Can I just say? Guitar Hero is AWESOME. We're did level 0, the one that infants do, and it's pretty damn hard. Is real guitar this hard? I have newfound respect for John Mayer. (Secret confession: I totally listen to his albums at work through the weird access I have to people's iTunes libraries at work. Alex won't let me listen at home; he says John Mayer songs sound like asthma attacks.) Anyway, I've had "Slow Ride" in my head for two weeks now.
Then last weekend we were at Sonja and Jonathan's gorgeous wedding in St. Paul. They are too adorable.
It was a lovely, happy, fun wedding with lots of great people who were joyously celebrating. This was only enhanced by the flowing champagne.
Plus, I got to hold a baby!
This is Molly and Kenny's seven-week-old baby Calvin. I totally caught baby fever from holding him! He was very sleepy. But I hear that sometimes babies are awake and cause a ruckus. Calvin seems like a pretty cool dude, though. No ruckus-having for him.
So all in all, it's been a pretty good few weeks. Next up: a wedding in 44 days. Not that I'm counting.
By the way, all pictures stolen from Alex. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right, sweetie? Right?
And it was nice of him to take some time out of his busy schedule to pose with us. Ignore the cardboard crease at his waist-level. It was an exciting day in my library's history too--first time snipers took up positions on the library!The next weekend Bethany and I had a nice little Sex and the City girlie afternoon. Alex came too, of course. He just loves that Miranda! The movie was fun but that Mr. Big....he needs a slap. Do you hear me, sisters?
After SATC we went back to Bethany's place to play Wii! Wheeee!
Don't judge. I'm going through a Sally Jessie Raphael phase.
Can I just say? Guitar Hero is AWESOME. We're did level 0, the one that infants do, and it's pretty damn hard. Is real guitar this hard? I have newfound respect for John Mayer. (Secret confession: I totally listen to his albums at work through the weird access I have to people's iTunes libraries at work. Alex won't let me listen at home; he says John Mayer songs sound like asthma attacks.) Anyway, I've had "Slow Ride" in my head for two weeks now.Then last weekend we were at Sonja and Jonathan's gorgeous wedding in St. Paul. They are too adorable.
It was a lovely, happy, fun wedding with lots of great people who were joyously celebrating. This was only enhanced by the flowing champagne.Plus, I got to hold a baby!
This is Molly and Kenny's seven-week-old baby Calvin. I totally caught baby fever from holding him! He was very sleepy. But I hear that sometimes babies are awake and cause a ruckus. Calvin seems like a pretty cool dude, though. No ruckus-having for him.So all in all, it's been a pretty good few weeks. Next up: a wedding in 44 days. Not that I'm counting.
By the way, all pictures stolen from Alex. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right, sweetie? Right?
Labels: obama, vacation, wedding, wii
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
thanks!
Wow! Susie C. has broken her all-time comments record with that last post. I very much appreciate all the thoughtful replies, and I'm not just saying that because y'all overwhelmingly agreed with me. Mr. Cupcakes and I have resolved to not let wording tear us apart, and I think we can all go on living happily. So thanks!
On Sunday, we went to West Hartford, the swanky city cousin to poor Hartford's country mouse. Recently a "shopping experience" opened, one of those new downtown-like shopping centers that are usually placed next to or in the downtown that was destroyed by shopping centers. We live in dangerous times. But anyways, it also has a super huge Crate and Barrel with an escalator and cool zappy wands that you use to register for gifts!
But you guys, I had no idea that the awesome responsibility would be so overwhelming. In choosing plates, you worry that you will accidently get the kind that can't be microwaved and has to be massaged with a soft cloth rather than tossed in the dishwasher. You worry that you will choose the wrong set of pans, one given only the shameful "recommended with reservations" in Cooks Illustrated, and you will have to live for the rest of your life with a non-ergonomically designed handle or something. In two areas, however, the Cupcakes really excel at making choices: gadgets and drinkware. I think I registered for an avocado splicer or something. And I know we registered for miniature martini glasses. Even so, after an hour we were too confused to look at mini-muffin pans and placemats and decided to do more zapping next weekend.
Any recommendations for "must have" items that I might not think of? I wish you could register for booze.
On Sunday, we went to West Hartford, the swanky city cousin to poor Hartford's country mouse. Recently a "shopping experience" opened, one of those new downtown-like shopping centers that are usually placed next to or in the downtown that was destroyed by shopping centers. We live in dangerous times. But anyways, it also has a super huge Crate and Barrel with an escalator and cool zappy wands that you use to register for gifts!
But you guys, I had no idea that the awesome responsibility would be so overwhelming. In choosing plates, you worry that you will accidently get the kind that can't be microwaved and has to be massaged with a soft cloth rather than tossed in the dishwasher. You worry that you will choose the wrong set of pans, one given only the shameful "recommended with reservations" in Cooks Illustrated, and you will have to live for the rest of your life with a non-ergonomically designed handle or something. In two areas, however, the Cupcakes really excel at making choices: gadgets and drinkware. I think I registered for an avocado splicer or something. And I know we registered for miniature martini glasses. Even so, after an hour we were too confused to look at mini-muffin pans and placemats and decided to do more zapping next weekend.
Any recommendations for "must have" items that I might not think of? I wish you could register for booze.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
We seek your opinion
Things that are great:
1. Leaves! On trees!
2. The OC, Season 1. Chrismukkah to Yogalates, it remains a perfect gem. I like to think it ended right there.
3. Obsessively reading Paris guidebooks. I bought three slightly out-of-date ones at the library book sale this weekend, plus one really out of date one (1950). I assume, however, that stuff like Notre Dame and the Catacombs don't change too terribly much in 58 years.
4. Registering for gifts! So materialistic. SO MUCH FUN!
5. String cheese. I forgot how good string cheese is.
Things that are grrrrrr:
1. Mr. Cupcakes and I have a dilemma. In our wedding invitations, on the "info" card, he wants to write
"please be prepared for a short but sweet ceremony, followed by cocktails, dinner, and dancing."
My feeling is that "be prepared" conjures up notions of homeland security, upcoming exams, and boy scouts. Mr. Cupcakes feels that "be prepared" conjures up none of these things, and simply lets guests know to expect. This is ripping our future marriage apart! In his words, "I'm fully willing and able to remove the phrase, but I think you're wrong."
Weigh in, please. Our domestic bliss depends on it! Alex says Buckles is depressed too. I'm simply not prepared for a depressed cat.
1. Leaves! On trees!
2. The OC, Season 1. Chrismukkah to Yogalates, it remains a perfect gem. I like to think it ended right there.
3. Obsessively reading Paris guidebooks. I bought three slightly out-of-date ones at the library book sale this weekend, plus one really out of date one (1950). I assume, however, that stuff like Notre Dame and the Catacombs don't change too terribly much in 58 years.
4. Registering for gifts! So materialistic. SO MUCH FUN!
5. String cheese. I forgot how good string cheese is.
Things that are grrrrrr:
1. Mr. Cupcakes and I have a dilemma. In our wedding invitations, on the "info" card, he wants to write
"please be prepared for a short but sweet ceremony, followed by cocktails, dinner, and dancing."
My feeling is that "be prepared" conjures up notions of homeland security, upcoming exams, and boy scouts. Mr. Cupcakes feels that "be prepared" conjures up none of these things, and simply lets guests know to expect. This is ripping our future marriage apart! In his words, "I'm fully willing and able to remove the phrase, but I think you're wrong."
Weigh in, please. Our domestic bliss depends on it! Alex says Buckles is depressed too. I'm simply not prepared for a depressed cat.
Labels: great/grrrrrr, wedding
