The Beauty and the Mess

One of the local radio stations does 90's at Noon now. They used to do it at 9, which meant I never got to hear it, so this is much better. How weird that Third Eye Blind sounds dated now.

On Friday night Evan and I went to dinner and to see The Incredibles. We loved it. Then we went home and ate some of his birthday cake. It was a nice time. On Saturday I expected to spend the day at my parents', as I have for the last four or so Saturdays, but my mom didn't need me for any planning activities. So I got to stay at home and around my own neighborhood, taking care of things I'd been neglecting. At dinnertime my mom and sister came over and took me to dinner at Bennigan's, and then we went to Old Navy to look for clothes for Christmas. I wasn't too thrilled with their selection, but I did get a $7 brown sweater (which I'm wearing now), and my mom got me a cute hat. I'm so excited about the sweater because it matches a skirt I bought in June and have never worn until today, because I had nothing to wear with it. That'll teach me a lesson. Anyway, then Debs stayed and spent the night. Our last sisterly sleepover in my apartment. *sob* :) I have such a nice family.

Sunday was the day of my last bridal shower - the church one! Debra came to church with me, which was fun. After a quick, light lunch, my friend Rachel and I headed out to the house where the shower was held. It was thrown by Kathryn, her mother-in-law, and her sister-in-law (Jenny, whose wedding I went to two years ago). They did a great job. Jenny went to culinary school, so of course the food was amazing (Evan asked, "How was the food?" All I had to say was, "Jenny was there.") There was pumpkin spice coffee and jelly-roll cake. My mom came to the shower, which made me very happy because she finally got to meet these church girls she's been hearing about for years. We got some fun non-registry things, including a Southern Living cookbook, Easy Weeknight Favorites. Yeah, I'm going to need some of those. :) Also, a box of our regular glasses (Geo by Target), and another place setting! Yay! We may be able to set the table after all.

After the party I felt very tired, so I went home and Evan and I had a nice rest, followed by a spontaneous trip to Garibaldi's for pizza, and a viewing of the Monica/Chandler wedding on our Friends DVD. That cliffhanger with Rachel's pregnancy was the best cliffhanger of the whole series, I think.

Today my stomach feels weird and I'm still pretty tired, so I'm glad we don't have anything pressing to do tonight. I feel a lot calmer this week. All of a sudden I realize that the only important thing is that I get to marry the love of my life in twelve days. None of this other stuff matters. For the first time, I really know that. Can you believe this is all happening next week? Wow.

Oh, and Memphis girls, I need a recommendation for a good and inexpensive nail place. I need to make my manicure-pedicure appointment. :)

I don't have much time to post, but I wanted to share that it's Evan's birthday! He's 25 today. Yay! Thanks, God, for bringing him into the world. :)

This weekend is action-packed. Tonight Evan and I are having our last real date as a non-married couple. In addition to being his birthday, today is also our 14-monthiversary. Not that we'd normally count that, but the coincidence is fun. Tomorrow is his bachelor party (i.e. a bunch of guys playing Halo 2 at Ashley's and consuming mass quantities of meat :)), and Sunday is my church bridal shower, which is my last bridal shower overall.

My other thoughts are wedding complaints you don't want to hear. I spent a full hour on the phone with the church wedding coordinator this morning and got several unpleasant surprises. There are so many rules at our church, I think it may have been better to get married in a field. And things will only get worse from here, planning-wise. To quote Alissa, ::headexplodey::.

Well, this is an interesting day so far. A big storm blew through around 10:30 this morning and knocked the power out here at work. We all sat around under the battery-powered light for an hour and a half and then decided to go somewhere else. Evan is off today, so he picked me up and took me to Memphis Pizza Cafe for lunch. He paid for me because he has been spoiling me terribly these days. :) I called work when we were done, hoping the power was still off and I could go home, but it had just come back on. So here I am! But I get to leave at 4 because we're having our engagement picture taken today.

This weekend was good. Friday night Evan and I had a date (see? Total spoilage). We had dinner at Corky's and then went to the movies. We wanted to see I Heart Huckabees, but the nearest theater showing it is in Dallas, so we saw Napoleon Dynamite instead. I know some of you (whose tastes I respect) love it, but I have to say, it was bizarre. I'm fairly sure that I'm just too old to appreciate high-school humor. Sad.

Saturday morning I drove up to Nashville, and Debs and I went shoe shopping. I found some nice mule-y Unlisted heels for $15! Such a deal. For dinner we went to Outback with a group of Debra's dorm friends. They're all nice, stable, non-boy-crazy girls, which is great because last year she didn't have girl friends like that around. On Sunday morning I went with her to New Song, where she's been attending for about a month. She loves it. Again, last year she had a hard time finding a church in town, so it's an especially good thing. She told me it was pretty charismatic, and it is, which made me skeptical since I'm not. However, I was very impressed with her pastor and the church in general. In some ways it didn't seem that different from my church. The pastor used several Brenda Sermon Bingo words, like "good theology" and "covenantal." :) I feel good knowing that she's going to a solid church. For lunch we went to Baja Fresh! Then we hung out at her dorm for a while, and then I went home. It seemed like a long drive on the way back and I felt zombieish. When I got home I zoned out with a snack and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion on TV. Then Evan came from work and we had our own reunion. Happiness.

So now that the wedding is so close (40 days tomorrow!), I'm having these scary reality attacks. :) As I was leaving Nashville yesterday, I thought, "Next time I come here, I'll be a married woman." It's a thrilling but scary thought. I mean, Evan is absolutely the one for me and I absolutely want to marry him, but I'm really realizing now what a huge identity change this is going to be. I'll be a wife! What does that mean? Even with my study and preparation, I'm sure I haven't even thought of all the little differences there will be. I feel like I haven't cherished my maidenhood enough, or something. Things won't be the same.

Oh, possible good news: Evan has a good lead on a new part-time job opening up at Ryan's company. It's a power supply company that's open during normal business hours - no weekends! Not to mention that the job itself is a million times better. Will we actually begin our marriage with compatible schedules? Stay tuned!

And now....a long update!

My bridal shower on Saturday almost didn't happen. I've mentioned that my mom recently remodeled their entire house, which included new carpet and new kitchen tile. I arrived about an hour early, and my mom mentioned a lot of gurgling coming from the refrigerator. We moved it out from the wall to see what it was, and water started gushing out from under the fridge, heading toward the newly carpeted dining room. We set up a barrier of towels, then frantically ran to get neighbors, who brought a Shop-Vac and turned off the water line at the curb. It turned out that the tile guys had run over the water-line hose when they pushed the fridge back in place, and there was a hole in it. The neighbor fixed it easily and turned the water back on. (We later took them party leftovers as a thank-you.) It was a close one. :\ God was taking care of us, though.

The party was great. Lots of friends came, including Robin, who was so sweet and gave me an array of towels. I'm excited to have them. Yay towels! :) Debra did a fantastic job hosting, which was even more impressive since she had done all the planning herself. I've been a bridesmaid four times now and I don't think I could handle a shower all alone! We watched the slide show Kathy's mom put together. Then we played the traditional shower games, plus Pin The Kiss On Clay Aiken (for those who haven't seen the photos). :D The food was excelente. My mom made sausage cheese balls, which I hadn't had in years. They're SO good. Kathy's mom couldn't be there, but she sent a gift - a Crock-Pot! She had given the same one to Kathy right before her wedding, so she says this is her way of replacing my Crock-Pot. LOL! Anyway, it was great to spend time with so many friends in one room.

After the shower everyone took off except for Myla, and we hung out and talked for a couple of hours. Then she went home and my mom, sister, and I went to see The Terminal at the second-run theater. To me, it was just as much of an experience the second time. I am excessively touched by that movie, and I'm not sure why. I don't think anyone else has been affected by it the way I have. Maybe it's just Tom Hanks, because Cast Away produces similar feelings. That one is sadder, though.

On Sunday morning Evan had to work, so I went to church without him. :( It was Communion Sunday (we have Communion once a month), and instead of having a whole sermon, my pastor did a communion meditation about Jesus as the Living Bread. It was neat. I wish I hadn't been so sleepy, so I could have concentrated better. After church a bunch of us went to Huey's, and then I went to my parents' to hang out for a while. When Evan was done with everything, he came over to get me and we went ring shopping! We ended up buying the bands we'd looked at at Gordon's - titanium for him, white gold for me. We considered a diamond band for me (it was so pretty) but agreed that it wasn't practical, given our financial situation. Maybe for our tenth anniversary. To celebrate, he took me to dinner at Firebirds. It was very nice. :)

We went to Wal-Mart after dinner to get some paint samples. In the tradition of Wal-Mart injuries started by Danielle, I slipped and fell in the rainy parking lot. At first I thought my foot was broken because it hurt so much. Evan wanted to carry me to the car, but I was afraid he'd fall too, so he brought the car around to get me. We sat examining my foot until we determined that it was okay- just a bruise and some swelling. Yesterday I was still hobbling a little, but today it's mostly better. I'm not up to doing aerobics yet, though. No hopping for a while.

My Current Mood has not changed since yesterday. I just want to sleep and sleep and sleep. Maybe I need more vitamins. Tomorrow the VP from Beverly Hills is coming for two days, so I have to look perky. :P

Despite extra rest and Allegra, I think my seasonal sinus infection is descending upon me. I feel feverish - it's like an icebox in here. This morning I wanted so much to wear my nice, soft pajama pants to work. They even matched the shirt I'd already put on. Why must we have dress codes? :) I'm okay with getting sick now as long as I'm not sick at my wedding. Thanksgiving is usually one of my Kleenex holidays. I'm praying every day that I'll get to be a healthy bride...IN 59 DAYS! :D

Evan and I had a bonding experience last night. We totally stuffed ourselves at the Olive Garden and talked about all kinds of things. Then it was off to the gun range so I could learn to shoot. I had never been in the presence of people shooting handguns before, but I didn't think it would bother me that much. When we went into the range, there were several men there rapid-firing, and I started panicking a little. I kept telling myself everything was okay, but it's hard to squash the instinct of gunshot = danger = run for your life. Evan loaded up the small gun and started instructing me, but at first I was physically afraid to even pick it up. It was weird. Finally I got hold of myself and managed to fire a few shots. Then I watched him shoot for a while. By the time we left, I was a lot more comfortable with it. I felt like a wimp, but Evan said I did better than he had expected. He seemed proud of me, and I felt like I had learned to trust him even more. Also, good that I can now defend myself if I ever have to. Though karate or something would be better. :)

Anyway, I'm so glad I get to marry him. He takes such good care of me, and he understands me. A little while ago he called and said, "Did you post yet about your experience at the gun range?" Yes...a man who knows my habits. :)

I made some new icons. (Thanks for reminding me how to link, Vicky! :))

I feel good today. Since Evan has to work all weekend again, he's taking me on a date tonight. :) *cartoon hearts* We're going to Olive Garden, and then we're going shooting. Like, to the firing range. He recently got a new gun and wants me to learn how to shoot it, in case I ever have to. I can't say I'm too excited about it, but it's important to him and he has a valid point. The whole thing reminds me of that episode of West Wing where CJ's cute bodyguard goaded her into trying his gun, and she fell over when she shot it. (That was just for you, Daniel. :))

Last night we rented Mean Girls. It was pretty funny, but I've been building it up in my mind for so long that I was a little disappointed. Maybe I'm finally too old to relate to that kind of stuff. And Lindsay Lohan is gorgeous, but seeing that much eyeliner on a person was almost painful.

Speaking of girly things, my highlights are getting bleachy again and I'm trying a new remedy - Brilliant Brunette shampoo. I can't afford to go back to the salon for another month, so this is my only chance. It's supposed to enhance brown hair without depositing color, but I'm hoping it makes the highlights a little darker anyway. Does anyone remember Glints? It was a mild haircolor that washed out in a few weeks. They stopped making it. I'd give a lot to get my hands on some now, because that's exactly what I need. After the wedding I'm going back to my natural color, and not just because of the money - I'm tired of dealing with all this. Plus, I miss brown-haired me.

This week is taking forever. I could have sworn that yesterday was Wednesday. Lawson is apparently confused too, since he called me this morning to ask where we were going for our weekly Thursday lunch. It must be Mt. St. Helens' fault.

I'm thinking about making a separate journal (or community) for book reviews. But then what would I talk about here? :P

I had fun this weekend. On Friday night I went to a game party at Lance's house. (Lance is part of our weekly lunch group.) I got to meet his girlfriend, who's also my neighbor! She's very nice. It's good to know someone in the neighborhood. On Saturday I went to Goat Days with Ryan and Luke (Myla was busy with her face-painting booth) and had a good old country time. After discovering that the Tigers game wasn't until seven, we decided to go home and then reconvene at the game. I'm so glad I got to go, because it was incredible. We have a winning team. The whole atmosphere of the stadium is different. I've been going to these games for seven years, and I don't think I've ever seen such an excited crowd. We actually left in the fourth quarter, because we were all exhausted and it was obvious we were going to win- and we did, 52-21! Yay!

Yesterday was my and Evan's anniversary. He has a new manager at work who's messing up everyone's schedule, so he had to go to work right after church. I was sad not to spend the day with him, but it was probably good because I got to take a nap. :) In the evening I went to IPC to hear Adolph Coors, the head of Coors Brewery, give his testimony. Yes, he's a Christian! It was very moving - he's had a lot of tragedy in his life. Evan met me there once he was finished with work, and we went to Macaroni Grill! :D It was great. I can't believe it's already been a year...it's flown by, which I guess is good. I am so glad we get to have many more years together. *cartoon hearts*

I don't really have anything else to say today.

( Pictures from my Saturday )

Congratulations time, in advance: Happy wedding day tomorrow to Sharon and Josh! I'll be thinking of you guys! Also, happy early birthday to Danielle, who's been a great LJ friend for several years now. :)

Evan and I are having a date tonight! :) It's our first real date in months, so I'm excited. We got a coupon in the mail for American Cafe, so we're going there for dinner. Then we're going to see Garden State...it was written by Zach Braff, the Scrubs guy, who also stars in it. Speaking of which, who saw the show on Tuesday? The Sugar Hill Gang alarm clock was hilarious.

Last night Evan went to a game night, and I stayed in and watched the President's speech. I was very impressed. Does anyone know what the heck happened with those people who were dragged out by guards? No one's said anything about it. I guess they were just protesters who came too close to the stage? As interesting as the speech was, I had to get up and move around to stay awake because I was so exhausted. I ended up falling asleep at about 10:15, and when Evan called to say goodnight, I was barely coherent enough to talk to him. This week I'm just not feeling right. I knew it'd be rough getting back to my exercise routine after a week off, but I didn't think it would be this bad. I feel sore all over, and especially bad on my left side. This morning I skipped Pilates because I thought I'd just be hurting myself. Sigh. Also, with Debra back at school, I feel a little lonely. Hopefully Myla or someone will be free to get together this weekend.

Anyway, happy Labor Day weekend, fellow Americans! And GO TIGERS GO!

( Movie Survey )

It has remained sunny today, which is a nice change. We've been under a "Whatever" forecast for about two weeks. This is the weather report that contains a sun, a cloud, and lightning bolts. Every morning we have brief sunshine, and every afternoon it rains. Then stops raining for a couple of hours. Then rains again. It's impossible to plan anything outdoors, or even to take a walk, because in fifteen minutes Wet Death 2004 could arrive. Evan hasn't been able to work on his truck because the barn where he works on it is completely waterlogged. So frustrating.

At last all my work for the day is done. It's been a busy couple of days. We just had our June birthdays party- it was my month to pick up the cake and ice cream. Tonight Evan's taking me to dinner at Wang's on Beale, our favorite deceptively fancy restaurant (it looks fancy but is actually very affordable). If the weather stays clear, maybe we can take a walk by the river afterwards. :) Many other exciting things are in store for the weekend, like new furniture. Yay!

This week with Kathy has been great. I feel like we'll part as roommates on very good terms. I'm no longer scared that she'll never speak to me again once she moves. The closer it gets to moving time, the more stuff she gives me. Now she's leaving me the rug in her room, which will look very nice with the futon. :) What will my "new" apartment look like? The suspense!

I look skinny today. Maybe all the salsa-ing is working! I've also been working on my own version of my sister's Limited Desserts Plan. When she went off to college, she decided she was only allowed two desserts a week. Frankly, the idea of only two a week makes me want to cry, so I'm trying every other day instead. The problem is that I can't decide what constitutes a dessert- fruit? a Pop-Tart?- so it hasn't been going too smoothly. I can pretend it's making a difference, though.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

What color am I? Brenda (Wow, I'm pale.)

Hace mucho calor! And I'm feeling it, since I broke my self-imposed rule and am wearing black today. :P

So here's the deal. As I mentioned last week, I was planning a special date for Evan and me. I got a sort of bonus at work and decided that the best thing to do with it was to buy Jerry Seinfeld tickets. He's coming to town June 18 and I knew Evan really wanted to see him. Unfortunately, I just confirmed that there are only four seats left, all in the very expensive section. So that's that. I feel bad about it, though Evan says he's grateful I even tried.

However, in the normal manner of life, as soon as one expense goes away another one presents itself. I'm so desperate to see the ocean that I checked online for airfares to Miami two weekends from now. ( Read on for further vacation waffling. )

Debra's birthday went well. I got her the newest Train CD and a box of Product 19 cereal (Ryan said, "It'll be hard for you to find Product 20 next year"). We had a huge dinner at Chili's, complete with Chocolate Paradise Pie. Then we watched AI and some Friends episodes. Tomorrow night we're having the Family Birthday Dinner. Woo hoo!

Everyone read this excellent article about marriage in our society. It's not what you think, either.