the g life

Wedding Decade

It’s not just “wedding season” for me. It’s the wedding era, because it seems that lately all I have to do before another friend gets engaged is wait about 5 minutes. Now, this is not a bad thing. I am so joyful at the happiness my friends share with their lovers, just as they are happy to share in my own engagement. But with all these weddings revolving around me, I have to just stop and think for a minute…what’s this really all about?

There are parties. Presents. Drinking. Dining. Drinking. Traveling. Rehearsing. Invitations. Money being spent like it’s going out of style.  Oh, and then there’s a wedding. Two people getting married. 

Parties are fun. Personally, I love them. But what if I can’t go to one? What if someone can’t go to mine? It’s okay. It’s not about that. It’s a about two people. On their wedding day. Attendance to a party will not affect that.

Presents are fabulous. Who doesn’t like shiny, new things, all wrapped up and waiting for a reaction from the opener? But what if I can’t afford to give someone a present? What if I don’t get what’s on my registry? What if I get 5 of the same thing? Again, it’s okay. Presents - material things - do not define our relationships. I’ll give what I can with what I have. I’ll appreciate every duplicate gift I’m given, because after all, it was a gift. Given out of kindness. And kindness is just a great add-on to friendship. A friendship that will not change based on the giving of a gift. 

And the traveling! Can there be a more expensive component to a wedding? Plane tickets. Gas money. Wear and tear on vehicles driven for 20 hours round-trip to get to the destination. Exhaustion from plane and car trips. Booking the hotel rooms. Booking the bachelor and bachelorette parties. I’m not a millionaire. In fact, I have debts! As far as I know, my friends are not millionaires, and so why should we expect each other to spend money like we are? Why should we waste precious time off of work and energy on long, extravagant weekend getaways ? Because we love our friends? Of course we love our friends! If we can afford these things, then we will have fun. But if we can’t? Well, I think we can still have fun. Maybe it won’t be in such a big city, or on a tropical island. Maybe it won’t even last a whole weekend. Maybe it will just last one night. And the friendship will not suffer.

Because what is this about? Two people getting married. Standing by your friends on their wedding day. On their wedding day. Not out at a bar, or on vacation, or at  yet another party. 

Not being able to partake in wedding festivities is often not a matter of choice. Not everyone made it to my bachelorette party. Or bridal shower. And you know what? It’s okay. Because they’re still going to be there on “the” day. The big one. And all of the days that follow that one too. 

Parties are fun, and drinking is grand. But that’s not the reason we chose our wedding parties. We chose them because of what they’ve done with and for us before the engagement. Because they are our true friends who understand that life gets in the way of life sometimes. 

Planning a wedding is not simple or relaxing. After planning one, I can truly sympathize with anyone that has planned a wedding for more than 20 people. And it takes a lot of effort to step back from it and ask, “What is this all for?” It’s not to impress people. It’s not to make sure someone’s feelings don’t get hurt. It’s not to spend more money than your parents earn in a year. 

It’s all for the bride and groom. Two people. It’s about who and what they want to surround them on that big day. It’s about a show that cannot go on without them. It’s okay if there are a few hiccups along the way, but if by the end of the day they have been married in the presence of those whom they love, then the rest really does not matter. 

4.21.12. wedding decade,wedding era,

4.04.12.

This is not my beautiful ring. I don’t know who it belongs to! But I do have a story for story time, because guess what…I had another wedding nightmare!

This one wasn’t as bad as the others…

I went into a restaurant with the man and we were seated at a large table with other guests who we did not know. Much like when you’re seated on a cruise at meals with complete strangers. We picked up our menus and to our surprise this was not a restaurant where you ordered food…it was a restaurant where you ordered jewelry. We were actually pleasantly surprised by this, because we still have not purchased a wedding band, so what a great opportunity to be at this restaurant where we could just order something off the menu and have it brought right to our table!

So we made out selection, put in our order, and waited. When our server returned with our order I took one look at it, and I was shocked. It was so ugly. It looked NOTHING like what I had seen on the menu! Rather than being a beautiful diamond-studded band set in white gold, it was glass beads on a string! The beads were all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Atrocious.

But wait, I thought, this is a restaurant. I can just send it back! You always send stuff back at a restaurant when you don’t like it. I took another moment to look around, and to my surprise all of the other guests in the restaurant who had ordered jewelry were experiencing similar ugliness in the pieces that they had ordered too. It was like everyone had been duped, and now everyone was pissed off that their jewelry was so friggin’ ugly. 

I flagged down the server and requested to send back the ring. But then to my utter surprise, he said that there are no return or refunds! All sales were final and I would have to keep the ring!! What a complete disaster!!

(Source: ifluentlyspeakfashion, via mycrazy-beautifulife)

2.25.12.

Can this please come to my town?? Thank you.

(Source: bunnies-and-bicycles, via meggielynne)

2.05.12.

2.03.12.

I would like to own this. 

1.31.12.

The Countdown

Oh lookie, it’s January 26. That means in exactly 4 months I will be getting married! And I suppose in observance of this future monumental day, my brain is beginning to give me nightmares about it. And I have decided to keep a record of these horrid thoughts. Right here. On this very website.

I’ll start from as far back as I can remember these…

The first one was a few months ago. I was about to walk down the aisle. The church was full of people. The doors opened and all of the sudden I just felt this feeling of terror. A sensation came over me like I was about to walk down a plank and into a pool of hungry alligators. Like I was just marching straight towards my death. It was a short dream. Perhaps this means married life is going to be like trying to live in a pool filled with hungry gators that just want to eat me? I guess I’ll find out in May!

The next one was a few weeks ago. I dreamed that it was my wedding day, and I was getting ready to put on my lovely white dress. All of the sudden it dawned on me - I hadn’t taken it to get it fitted! So I hollered to my mom, “Mom! I didn’t get my dress fitted!” But she promptly hollered back, “Don’t worry..I got it altered for you so now it’s a one-size-fits all.” Oh. How kind of her, my dream thoughts told me. So I donned the dress but the first thing I noticed was that it had been completely changed! It was now a strapless dress…I did not pick out a strapless dress for myself at the dress shop! Then I noticed, it was solid black too! This was terrifying to me. I hollered to my mom again in distress. Then I looked at the clock. It was already two minutes after the ceremony was scheduled to begin. And I was still at my parents’ house, in a black strapless dress, going bananas. It seemed so real! Then I woke up. Thank God.

It happened again last night too.

I was getting ready for the wedding…the day of, again…and for some reason I hadn’t ordered a cake. So I started making one. I don’t remember if I was making the batter or the frosting, but whatever was in the mixer, I was adding sliced mushrooms to it. For some reason I thought this would be a good “filler.” But when I started mixing it up, it all just disappeared! Then someone approached me and asked why I was putting mushrooms into the cake. This caused me to begin worrying a bit. Then I started to try to get ready for the wedding. I was really pushing it for time though, since I had been right in the middle of making that cake! I was a little sweaty, and definitely in need of a shower. But I had half an hour until the start of the ceremony, so I thought it best to remain calm. But not for long. Time slipped by, my hair wasn’t done, my makeup wasn’t done, and I was totally freakin’ out, man! I was about to miss my own wedding, again! Then, I woke up. Ah, relieved! 

1.26.12. wedding terrors,

I would like this as a cake topper. I think it’s just lovely.

(Source: GlamourZombie, via prima-verra)

1.25.12. flower topper,

Pitbull

International Love feat Chris Brown

Planet Pit

1.08.12.

Merry Days!

Merry Christmas! One lucky nephew will receive this! It’s the most poorly wrapped and packaged Christmas gift probably ever. (Yes, that is the actual gift sticking out of the packaging.) I hope it survives its nearly 900-mile shipment and arrives in less than 5 pieces. 

Ho ho holidays. Here is my tree. Hand-picked from the local Christmas tree farm. Those honest farmers will give you an honest rip off for one of these 6-foot beauties. And they’ll assume you want a tree stand too and just throw it in on top of the price of the tree. I’d like to thank my angel ornament for pretending to be a tree topper, and I’d like to thank my apartment for being so neutrally-colored for the sake of this photo. Now I hope Santa will hurry up and put billions of presents under this pine-scented twig before it turns into a Charlie Brown tree. Which it will. Because I will not be feeding it any more water as of Friday.

12.22.11. from the heart,pine twigs,the holidays robbed me blind,

Resolutions

…that will be kept for 4-6 weeks following January 1:

1. Stop speeding so much. At least, when I’m not in the “fast” lane. Everyone knows that the speed limit in the fast lane is infinity. 

2. Make my body look just like Marissa Miller’s. I’m not fat or anything, I just don’t look like her…yet. Maybe I’ll keep this one till May. 

3. Save money. Why is it that every time I see an extra 50 bucks in my account I just HAVE to buy a new pair of shoes or some other meaningless item? I mean, what am I saying…I need that stuff.

4. Be more stylish. Ya know, live out my childhood dreams of looking and dressing like one of those fashionable gals with a great job that also goes out to cool bars least 4 nights a week filled with equally well-dressed and successful individuals and wears a different expensive-looking outfit every time. Those do exist outside of movies, right?

5. Cook some better food. If I put a pizza in the oven, I believe I have made a true home-cooked meal. And a delicious one at that. But it’s getting old. I could probably use more some vegetables. 

6. Keep in touch. Phone my friends more often. Reply to emails promptly. Maybe I’ll even get a few pen-pals.

7. Be a nicer person in general. I know I can be a bitch, and sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it! For realz, I could give more compliments, be kinder to the AT&T internet “specialists” while I’m complaining to them about the horrible service that is probably not solely their fault, and perhaps pass a friendly “hello” to the co-workers I awkwardly see every day of the week.

That’s good. Seven resolutions is PLENTY! Sure, there are other things I could do, like volunteer in my community, try to not let the laundry pile up so much, quit cracking my knuckles and all the other joints that crack, become a rich and famous reality TV star…blah blah blah. That stuff is easy. In 2012 I’m tackling the tough stuff. It’s gonna be a real life-changer. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do before the world ends. And this stuff is going to make such a huge difference…I can just tell already. 

12.21.11.

This is a great way to go on a diet. Look at their little judgemental eyes. You just know they think you’re too fat. 

12.04.11.