An Evening at Wedding Camp

Guess who got to bust out the stand mixer and whip up ten dozen cupcakes for wedding camp? No. It's not Felix. And yes, those are Lego people and a Lego dog on top of the cupcake of honor.
A dear friend got married to a great woman this weekend, at a gorgeous camp in southwestern New Hampshire, and I got to spend some quality (though far too short) time with a few other good friends while I was there. I was sad to have to go home before the end of camp, but I had much fun while I was there.

We're Having A Baby... and It's Eaten My Brain

Duh, right?

I honestly think that pregnancy has sucked all my blogging ability away from me, since I have eleventy billion things to do in preparation for the little man (who, by the way, is tickling my internal organs with exceptional frequency these last few days - busy guy).

Yesterday, for instance, I sat down to blog, and ended up registering us for a childbirth class, a tour of the maternity ward, and then calling a potential pediatrician.

I had already been to the vet yesterday, with O, Maurice, & Amelie, to get some meds for her nasty ear infection. And I'm sure I had great plans for a rant about $90 bills for someone to tell me what I mostly already knew, and give me an anti-inflammatory/anti-bacterial/anti-fungal ointment. ::sigh::

During the last two weeks, I've had my tooth mostly fixed, a very successful second ultrasound (which confirmed that Babypants is not, I repeat, NOT, suffering from a kidney problem - hooray!), married off my brother, and replaced the clutch on my VW. Ouch. Life is pricey sometimes.

Oh, and O started speech therapy sessions three weeks ago, at a fabulous new private practice here in Beacon Hill, called Chatterboxes. I love his therapist, she's terrific, and I think he's starting to show some improvement!

I also just ordered a small fortune in yarn in order to complete my Christmas knitting. Christmas knitting? you say.... Yes, since come early November (or Dasein668's birthday, whichever) I'm going to be wicked distracted, I drew up a list of recipients and projects, and figured out yarns, etc... Now all I need is for the giant Knit Picks box to arrive...

The wedding, for those of you who might be curious, was everything I had expected, but all in all successful. The ceremony was very nice, and it was spectacular to have 4 out of 5 of my Mom's siblings in one place, some even with spice and offspring, and their spice and offspring. I love family reunions.

Coming up in the next few weeks: I'm taking Rylee to the Spencer Fair on Saturday, we're having a wedding party for Jamie & Dy in two weeks, and then it's all baby, all the time until the critter shows up, and then it's really all baby, all the time.

Mazel Tov! Part Two

Veronique and Will are now the Corrdins!

I have completed my bridesmaiding/wedding duties for the weekends, and two dear friends are now husband and wife.

The ceremony was lovely, and as I've never attended, never mind participated in, a real Jewish wedding, I learned a lot, and saw some pretty cool stuff.

I am exhausted.

Mark and I have no more weddings for the foreseeable future, and despite the fun we've had at the six weddings we've been to/been a part of this year, we're ok with that.

Love to Allen, Angela, Veronique, & Will!
L'Chaim!

Mazel Tov! Part One

Off to Tiverton, RI, today for the wedding of my old friend Allen, and his too-cool-for-words fiancee, Angela.

Fabulous ceremony, great location, good people, super yum food!

One more wedding this weekend. This one's promising to be a good old fashioned Jewish wedding, and I'm a bridesmaid. I'm also building my first chuppah... More on that another day.

Let them eat...

... CAKE!

My friend Alex and his fiancee, Kara, were married yesterday in gorgeous Waitsfield, VT. It was like a storybook - late afternoon ceremony by the pond, frogs gulping from the water, local, artisan food, a historic round barn on a mountain farm... ::sigh::

And a wedding cake by Cameron's Cakes! (the specimen above was a creative choice by the married couple: my Perisan Genoise sponge cake with chocolate creme patissiere and fresh strawberry filling and Italian mousseline buttercream. Special thanks to the folks at The Blue Toad for coming through with a last minute flower order!)

Mark and I stayed up the road "a fer piece" at the The Wilder Farm Inn which was cozy and charming, and had the largest pancakes I've ever seen (Bickford's Big Apple excepted).

New Hampshire: Boring?

I feel horrible. I have a niggling pain in my belly... crampy, achey, upset-ey. I tossed and turned until 4AM last night - very refreshing. And O's had teething fevers, and isn't napping or eating, and he's basically a wreck. Perhaps we're feeding off of one another?

I also have a wedding cake to finish for my friend Al's wedding tomorrow, and since we have to the drive the cake to Waitsfield, VT in the morning, it really needs to be mostly done before I go to bed tonight. Fun.

Do you ever have the fear, after a sleepless night, that this might be the end of good night's sleeps for you? It's totally irrational, but I know that, as I brush my teeth, exfoliate and moiturize my face, and crawl into bed tonight, I'll be wondering if I can just go to sleep like a normal person, instead of lying there, wide awake and miserable for god knows what reason. Awful.

Lucky for Captain Crabby-O, the big kids have been in NH with their grandparents since Wednesday morning (I should know, I drove them there!). They have this big ol' shingle style lake house with a beach and a dock, and boating and a huge play structure - that's a jungle gym for those of you born before 1985. I'd rather be there than in Beacon Hill any day of the week.I took this shot of the house, and toyed with the tint to see what original pictures of the house might have looked like. Pretty nice, huh?

Now, anyone who's familiar with my travels to and from the great Republic of Vermont between 1995 and 1999 knows that I harbor a less-than-secret hatred for the Granite State. First off, "Live Free or Die?" I won't start. But this from a state that hasn't legalized seatbelts for adults? Or helmets on motorcylists? More like, "Live Free and Die." Regardless of safety standards, it stands between me and my heart's home state. Well, I'm spending my anniversary trip there, so I'd better get over that, hmmm?

Easier said than done, when you see this statement on the side of a truck:
Now, I know it's referring to the work done by this company, but what PR wizard came up with this slogan? I have visions of someone from the state tourism board having a fit when they saw this.... But perhaps my analysis is biased by my dislike?

Monday Musings

Originally published on Friendster Blogs on 1/23/06

The weather in Boston sucks today. Snow, mix, rain, it's chilly and raw. One of those days when you can't get your toes all the way warm, and it's not even super cold out... Or am I the only one who has those days?

It was a busy, and yet frivolous weekend for this nanny. I went to my weight watchers meeting, where I met with promising news on the scale, interviewed a prospective Middlebury student, and then went bra shopping with my Mom in Providence (they have Nordstrom. I love Nordstrom). Sunday morning Mark and I went to Bickford's for breakfast - desperate measures in suburbia! Then it was housework for a few hours before heading into Boston for bridesmaid dress hunting with Veronique. We went to Aria Bridesmaids, and I think some decisions were made. She's so organized.... I'm jealous.

In other news, Maurice continues to thrive. He has a small issue with his dog bed. To put it bluntly, he thinks it's a pee pad. Even if he's just had a huge trip out, and I'm sure he's empty, he takes one look at that dog bed and pees all over it. So, I've had to take it away. Sad, too, since it's a nice bed from LLBean... I guess even the perfect pug has a flaw or two ::wink::

In upcoming installments, I will be recounting our adventures in plaster. Mark and I are going to plaster the walls and ceiling in our dining room, bringing us one step closer to done... Wish us luck!

2005 Archives Redux

Another few posts from that Friendster Blog:

Back blows and chest thrusts!

Off I went yesterday to re-certify in First Aid and Child/Infant CPR. Yes, folks, that correct. I can lay your conscious choking infant on my forearm and perform back blows and chest thrusts until the foreign object is released, the child falls unconcious, I become too exhausted to continue, or EMS professionals arrive and take over.

"Back blows and chest thrusts."

Does anyone else out there think that these terms are, in fact, designed to terrify the average human out of acts of good samaritanism? Seriously, if my baby was chocking (by the way, in the instructional video, the baby chokes on a grape - word to the wise, no grapes for babies under a year unless they've been peeled and quartered), and some wacko runs up and says, "Ma'am, I'm Jane, and I'm Red Cross certified in Infant CPR. I know how to help. I'm going to perform BACK BLOWS AND CHEST THRUSTS on your baby to dislodge the foreign object," I'd just about pass out from the horror.

That said, if I ever come across a choking baby, I'll recite some panicky variation on that same pre-rehearsed-Red-Cross-scenario speech, and promptly start performing the aforementioned BACK BLOWS AND CHEST THRUSTS.

DF and I are off the indulge in retail therapy today. We need a trash storage unit, paint samples, he needs new shoes for the wedding, and we have get our wedding rings engraved. Wow, do we sound old.

HoHum

Nothing of interest today. Bought paint for the family room. Grocery shopped. Got my TB skin test. On Thursday I'll report in whether or not I'm consumptive.

Not dead of Consumption!

I've been very neglectful of my baby blog of late... It's been a uniquely taxing couple of weeks. First off, I'm not dead of tuberculosis or consumption. (I prefer consumption. It's antiquated, but a far more pleasant term than tuberculosis.')

Secondly, I was offered the chance to go back to my former employers to care for their newborn son, and two school aged children, at a considerable increase in salary. It sounds like a no-brainer, but in truth it's been a very difficult decision. My current employers are taking advantage of the extended notice I gave, and now I find myself out of work for the last three weeks in June...  This on top of our first mortgage payment coming due, and our honeymoon right around the corner. Nightmare.

So, what it comes down to is that I'll be starting at my new position July 5, and I'm finished here on June 3. Yikes. There'll be a few arguments, I think, regarding back pay for vacation unused, etc... Ugly. Ick.

On the happy side, I'm getting married in 16 days! So much to do, so little time to get it all done. And then, we'll be in Hawaii for a few weeks - how can that be bad? In the next two days alone, I'll be going to my final dress fitting, getting my hair cut and colored, heading out for waxing, plucking, and nails, picking up the bridesmaids' gifts, wrapping them, handling the seating charts.... AAAACK!

Help...

It's gonna be a great party, though. Just you wait!