The Beauty and the Mess

Yay! I just had an impromptu lunch with Casey at our traditional lunch place, because I was having a huge craving for their turkey pita sandwich. It has turkey, Swiss cheese, sprouts, and cucumbers, with ranch dressing to dip it in. SO GOOD. I'm glad we got to go.

It's going to rain on my wedding day. Cue Alanis Morrisette. I had hoped that the sun would shine on me, but that's the risk we take having a wedding on Thanksgiving weekend. It's always either gorgeous or horrible. In fact, the worst tornado to hit Memphis hit on a Thanksgiving weekend...and tore the roof off my church, though it wasn't my church at the time. Oh well, people will still come to the wedding. They'll just need umbrellas.

Last night we took all the decorations over to the country club and finalized the menu and stuff. Then my mom took me to JCPenney and bought me an outfit for the rehearsal, which was very nice and appreciated. She also bought a button-down shirt for Evan, since I was concerned that he wouldn't have enough nice clothes to last our honeymoon. He needs non-T-shirt clothing. Badly. I think I know what he's getting from my entire family for Christmas. :) Anyway, my mom has been driving me nuts in some ways, but really, she spoils me. So does my dad. I don't deserve all that they give me. They've always sacrificed for us kids. I wish they'd take better care of themselves, though. I was reading my book of Cathy comic strips (good stress relief) and Cathy got frustrated because her mom kept trying to give her her sandwich. She was like, "Mom, you're a person too! You deserve to eat a whole sandwich!" That reminded me so much of my mom...she does that all the time. I hope someday I can help my parents the way they've helped me.

We were going to move Evan's dresser and papasan tonight (the only pieces of furniture he's keeping), but there's a 100% chance of rain, so we're doing it tomorrow instead. We both have a half-day tomorrow - this is my last full day of work. It's really quiet here since most people took the week off. Everyone keeps asking what I'm doing here this week, apparently forgetting that I get two weeks' vacation a year (as opposed to most of their four and five weeks) and it's really stupid to use it all at once. Anyway, we moved some of his boxes last night, most of which were full of books. When we get home from Jamaica, I should take a picture to show you what happens when two bookworms marry. It's a little scary. I told him I felt like I was acquiring a used bookstore.

Everyone is also commenting on how calm I am. Should I be worried? Maybe everything hasn't really hit me yet? I don't know. I think our culture has such preconceived notions of how people ought to feel and act when they're about to get married. If I'm a weirdo, I'm happy to be one. :)

Last night's dinner was so much fun. The food was delicious, although my pie didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Two friends shared some (different) awesome news with me, and I'm so excited for them. Watch this space for future updates. :) The evening ended with a bunch of us singing around the piano while Luke played. By request, he even attempted to play "Summer of '69," but it doesn't work on a piano. It was hilarious. God has blessed me with such precious, amazing friends. It was kind of a bittersweet time, though...some people at this group have indicated that Evan and I are "graduating" from it, since it's supposed to be for singles. I look forward to meeting other couples and stuff, but I don't want to leave my friends. Evan says we can keep going anyway. I told Myla, "I'm sad, I won't see these people again before I'm married." She answered, "Hey...you're not dying!" I needed that. :) On some level I feel like getting married marks the end of my current life, but things really won't change that much, I don't think.

The only thing that marred the dinner was my struggle with the girl who demanded to be my bridesmaid. ( Cut, mostly for length. )

Tonight is my bachelorette party. I didn't want the standard Beale Street party that's been done to death, so my mom and my sister have put together a creative evening. We're going to go to Paint-a-Piece, one of those ceramics places (I suggested that), and, well, paint pieces. Then we're having dinner at Benihana, and after that, doing some karaoke since they have it there. Then we will go back to the house and watch a chick flick while we put the wedding programs together. Also, my mom is coming with us and I'm glad. I think this sounds like a really fun evening and have been looking forward to it for weeks. I mean, I've never been a pick-up-guys-in-bars kind of person, so why start now? I'm sure a lot of girls will think I'm a dork or a freak for doing things this way, but oh well. I'm going to have fun.

My mom really knows how to come through in a crisis. I couldn't have done all this without her. Ever since I had a breakdown at their house about the planning, she's completely taken charge. She's already finished things that just occurred to me yesterday. I feel guilty that she's doing so much, but when I said so, she just said "You have enough to worry about." It's nice to be given permission to let other people handle things for a change.

Sorry this is so long. I just have a lot to say. I may post more later.

The snow stopped after about twenty minutes this morning, but it's still very wintry and dark outside. I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed a little more this afternoon. We hung paper snowflakes from the ceiling in my department, so now it looks the same inside. :)

I am headachy and could really use a long winter's nap right now. I also want to try one of those gingerbread lattes from Starbucks before the season is over. I didn't get to go to Wednesday Lunch today because my conference call was extra-long, but then I took care of some things on my late lunch, so it worked out well. Plan B for Lion King: check. Gingerbread-boy cookie pan, part of the plan to impress boyfriend's parents: check. Fajita Stuffed Burrito: check. After last night, Christmas cards are also: check. Yay for getting things done.

Speaking of the boyfriend's parents, my mother apparently wants them to know how insane our family is, right off the bat. She bought special picture frames for my grandparents that have an audio thing, so you can record something. Her plan was to take a picture of our family in Santa hats, then sing carols into the picture frame. On Saturday night. While Evan's parents were there. I despaired of this to Evan, and he assured me we would go early to the house and help my mom take care of it beforehand. He's so sweet. I need to be less worried about making a good impression. Evan really has the easy side of this because my family already loves him. Oh well, I'm glad he's spared from the anxiety. :)

My sister comes home tomorrow. Yay!

It's weird how the sun is usually out in spring and summer, but in fall and winter most days are overcast and dark. No rain, no snow. Just clouds and darkness. Can you tell it's Monday? :P

My weekend was nice. Friday night Evan and I went to Lawson's housewarming party. It was fun. I'll have pictures tomorrow. Robin and Helen were there (but not at the same time). I was happy to see them. Some of us played Trivial Pursuit. Jeremy and Teresa were kicking all of our butts, but then Lawson, Lance, and another guy I had just met swept in and took the game. It was my personal worst game ever, but there were still fun moments. Lawson's house is very nice. Evan commented to me later that it would be cool if it had a creek behind it, so we could call it Lawson's Creek. :D

On Saturday my mom had a massive photo-printing project for me. She took me to lunch at McAlister's and then to check out the sales at Michaels, and then we came to the apartment and I printed her pictures. After all that, I went to Evan's. He had been moving all day. Em and her Daniel were in town and we were going to meet up with them, but Evan was exhausted and I was pretty fried myself. Plus, I could tell it wouldn't be quality time- there were going to be a lot of other people there. So instead he took me to Garibaldi's for a quiet dinner, and then we rented Fight Club (first in a series of Movies We Have Always Meant to See). It was very interesting. I don't think I'd recommend it to everyone because of violence and some raunchiness, but that aside, I enjoyed it.

Yesterday Evan and I got to ride to church together for the first time. It was nice going to lunch and stuff in the same car. :) We went to my parents', where I scrapbooked with my mom while we all watched the poor Dolphins get slaughtered. (It was a bad, bad week for Miami football.) :( In the evening I was supposed to go to my 40 Days of Purpose study, but I skipped it. I've realized that once again, my whole life is being planned for me. I have obligations almost every night. When I'm home, I'm cleaning or exercising. I have zero time to read, work on my scrapbooks, or even take a nap when I feel like it. I have no room for spontaneity. I'm not in school or anything, so there's no excuse for this. Whenever I get to this point, I try to rearrange my priorities. Unfortunately, they keep un-arranging themselves. As one of my co-workers told me today, "I need to quit work. It's interfering with my life."

Ryan's roommate, Ashley (a guy), has moved his wedding up from June 26 (Em's wedding day) to March 20, so now I can go to it. I like his fiancee, Katherine, a lot, so I'm excited. Just thought I'd share. Ryan is probably going to move in with Royce, which is also fun. God works things out.

According to that thing going around, I write at a 6th grade level. Isn't that just based on syllables? Should I start using words like fangoriously, extrapolation, and administratively?

Okay, things have calmed down now.

I guess I don't have anything else to say about my trip. My flight home yesterday was fine, if long. People looked at me strangely in the airport because my backpack, shifting on my charred shoulders, made me cringe in pain as I walked through the terminal. There was a cute flight attendant guy on my connection flight. He was Canadian. Eh?

Breakthrough: I've decided that I couldn't live in Miami again. Every time I go there, everything's gotten worse. More crime, more drugs, more overcrowding, more seediness. I love the ocean and the culture and the memories I have there, but in a sense, the city made me feel...dirty. Does that make sense? I was glad to come home. I love Memphis. Sometimes I forget that.

I'm staying at my parents' tonight to bunny-sit and do laundry. I'll probably also watch The Wedding Singer, since I've had a strange urge to watch it lately. It'll be a nice mini-vacation from my vacation.

My mom told me this weekend that she's proud of me. She says a lot of her friends' kids are "bums" who won't get a job or get out on their own, and she's glad to have a kid who's working and active and taking care of herself. That meant so much to me. At the end of everything, I really just want to make my parents proud, and I've worried that my mother is ashamed of my seemingly-eternal singleness. (I don't worry about my dad- he'd still be proud of me if I became a nun. He's even proud of my astronomically high standards. :)) So hearing that was like a weight off my shoulders. Yay God. :)

Spring has temporarily disappeared. It's irritating. But I won't talk about it, since I know some of you have snow on the ground. :)

Tonic will be playing at Newby's tomorrow night. The tickets are only ten dollars. I just found out about it on Sunday, and I really want to go. But I have church band practice, and the director would probably be mad if I skipped, especially since I joined the band late. Why, oh why, does the show have to be on a Wednesday? :( I want to continue playing in the band after Easter, but the Jean Larroux Bible study is supposed to start up again in late May, and the thought of never attending it makes me sad. I'm not sure what to do about that.

I received a monkey, complete with palm tree, in the mail the other day from sominfun. I also got a nice letter from mickey24sync. I love fun mail days.

My sister has three weeks to decide where she'll be going to college. She's torn between two schools- one in Nashville and one in Oklahoma City. Up to this point, she's preferred Nashville, but her friend/prospective roommate just announced that she's going to the OK City school, so Debra is rethinking everything. OK City is also cheaper and is pursuing her more actively. I wish she would go to Nashville, because my mother has implied that she won't be able to afford to fly Debra home from Oklahoma and I may never see her again if she goes there. How uplifting.

Sometimes I feel bad that I went to college at Memphis. The fact that I could have gone to a "better" school always nags at me. I didn't have much choice, since I didn't want to leave town, but people have such disdain for U of M. In the end, I think just having a degree matters more than where you got it, but people (including your own family) scoffing at your school and referring to it as "Tiger High" never boosts your self-esteem. :P Anyone have any thoughts on the importance of a Big Name school?

I mentioned a long time ago that a new movie theater/entertainment complex is being built nearby. It's almost finished now! My mom mentioned it to me this weekend...because she thought it would be "a good place to meet someone." Great. Because that's the kind of person I want to end up with- some random guy I met at a movie theater. Should I really be that desperate? Good grief. Some mothers would be proud to have a daughter with standards. Mine just wants me to hang around waiting to get hit on. The older I get, the more my life resembles the comic strip Cathy. Frightening.