dissabte, de maig 27, 2006

The Calm Before the Storm

Today is a week before our wedding. People keep calling to ask what we're doing and if we're getting nervous which is interesting because now I feel like I should be doing something that I'm forgetting and that's making me nervous. But not too nervous.

We are being l-a-z-y all weeked because we can. Tonight we're having dinner with some friends and catching a movie. Tomorrow and Monday, hanging out with friends and probably doing some grilling in the humid, 90+ weather.

There will be some wedding-related work like finalzing our program so I can assemble them next week, checking in on some guests who have not contacted us since receiving the invitations, etc. But it's nothing too difficult or overwhelming. As Austin points out, it's no use freaking out now because it's too late to change anything. I like that philosophy. Live in the present moment like I learned in yoga class.

dijous, de maig 25, 2006

An Old Friend Is Back Home

When we moved, we had to reassess our tv viewing technology due to certain limitations by the location. It turned out we had to leave TiVo behind and use a different company whose name I won't say but it rhymes with "Farter." I don't really care that much about watching tv but there are a few programs I dig and it was easy for a girl to get used to never watching commercials. I wasn't terribly concerned about the new system, again I was just in it to record programs and ditch commercials, not for any of the special features. But it wasn't long before the system started sucking bad. As I said, it was easy to get used to recording and watching tv in a certain way so I was really mad when I only got one second of Scrubs recorded during a critical episode.

Last night we went and got TiVo back. It's different than what we had before (no dish and I don't know the other details) but it was so, so nice to see the little TiVo cartoon guy again. He did a little welcome dance for us which we both watched with delight and then we purposely made him make the little bloopy sounds just for old time's sake.

It's funny that I care about this enough to write a post since when I lived alone, I had a tiny 11" tv that got about three channels (poorly) and was connected to a 1984 VCR. Living with a technophile has changed so many things...

dimecres, de maig 24, 2006

The Bachelorette

Now that I am done with classes, I have more time to blog and the race between RJN and Bad Z to comment will be awesome!

Anyway, Saturday was the bachelorette party and shower with my closest girlfriends. I always get a little anxious before an event centered on me so I wasn't sure how this would go but it turned out to be outstanding! I wanted a Spanish Tapas theme (the "topless" jokes never got old) so I made a tortilla española and some flan the night before. My amazing friend LeeAnne put together a beautiful paella and made pa amb tomaquet. We also had cheese and crackers, olives (ick), and other munchies.

The highlight of the party was the wine expert, a former student of mine, who taught us how to to taste wine and more about it's history, how it's made, etc. He was absolutely outstanding and the party great louder as the tasting went on. Then he had us make our own rosé blends and did a blind tasting, writing up hilarious comments about what he tasted. Everything went better than I had ever imagined and there are some wonderful memories from the event.

dimarts, de maig 23, 2006

Done!

The other thing about today, besides getting the marriage license, is that I'm officially free of Spring Semester. All correcting is done, grades are in, and my work email is set to "out of office." Woo Hoo!

On Marriage Licenses (for RJN)

Ryan J posted a comment asking if getting the marriage license means we're technically hitched. To answer that question, we're not. Only after the ceremony when the officiant, the wedding couple and two witnesses (i.e. Maid of Honor & Best Man) sign that bad boy are we official.

The County Clerk, who issues said document, told us people often don't know they need a license or they don't realize there is a certain window of time for processing, oops. We got ours right in the middle so we're good to go. Also, we had to pay almost a hundo to get that thing and we had to raise our right hands and swear we weren't married. That part was funny. Because I had to pay for something and was therefore the customer, it felt like my American right to complain. I wanted to make a tiny statement about the fact that all couples, regardless of gender, should be allowed to get married but the secretary lady had a number of doilies and fake flower arrangements on her desk so I made several assumptions about how that would go over and chose not to air my grievances. Sometimes I can be a little soap-boxy, I get that from my dad.

Anyway, I picked up the license today and got tons of pamphlets with it including how to change your name (which I'm not) and a lovely flier telling me not to drink and do street drugs while knocked up. Um, thanks, Government.

And that's how a bill becomes a law!

dilluns, de maig 15, 2006

Updates

Today Austin is taking a half day so we can get our license, finalize with our officiant, and finalize with our caterer. The wedding is 19 short days away and I'm sure that time will fly by.

This week is finals week and I'm done with my "have to be here" time on Wednesday afternoon. After that, I will have tons of grading and the bachelorette event but then will have a little under two full weeks completely free from work to focus on the wedding. That will be really nice but hopefully I won't get nervous. Right now I'm too busy with students and exams to spend much time dwelling on nerve-wracking situations.

The only non-wedding tidbit I have is that we planted our herb garden: basil and rosemary like last year with the addition of green peppers and tomatoes. We aren't doing cilantro again because it's a real pain to grow in our climate. Pizza margarita, pesto, salsa, mmm... summer foods...