Happily Ever After?

We were at the bookstore today and I came across 'I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper' a 'keeping your marriage together after babies' kind of book.

***me lets out of a big pocket of breath***

And egad, did it speak to me. In fact, it reached out, stroked me & gave me a fracking orgasm.

I can't tell you how afraid I have been to say that my marriage is not a 'happily ever after', not because it isn't working out but because my expectation of 'happily ever after' really has been so insanely high that the poor boy never did stand a chance.

• The book talks about women thinking of marriage (and I paraphrase here) as the comparatively easy part (And I am so guilty of this - the hard part was finding the boy, getting the parents to agree, planning the beautiful wedding - so definitely the marriage should be easier). Whereas men see marriage as a sort of 'giving up of things' - which though it sounds terribly unromantic, makes them better prepared to face up to the work that a marriage is.

• It also talks about the shift in gender roles that has left men and women confused and confrontational about what they should / should not be doing within the house & without. Like, there is no more a road map for this generation to look to as to what their roles should be like. We are constantly redefining ourselves & striving towards equality in our marriage.
  

• One of the best quotes in the book is from a 10 year veteran of marriage, & it goes:
  

"My poor husband has cereal three nights a week. I feel awful about that - I know I should be doing more! I have this anger about having to do it...I know that it's expected, so I rebel and don't do it and then feel guilty for not doing it"

Oh unknown Sara from Becks County, USA - you made me cry!!!

I don't mind feeding the husband
I don't mind cooking for the husband
I don't mind making his meals
It is so traditional and so what my mom used to do that I am having a hard time even writing the fact.
I like cooking but I hate being expected to do it.
I hate being looked at as a wife because, much as I love my liberated-in-comparison-to-the-rest-of-the-family father, there were so many things I heartily disliked about what my dad expected my mom to do that I vowed that when I got married things would be different.

And though our relationship is vastly different, yet I yearn for perfect equilibrium.

• The book speaks of how "in this pro-feminist era....with more choices & opportunities...we expect to be happier than our mothers".

How very true! I thought that since I had grown up in much more unrestrained world than my mother, I expected to be much more in control & to be in a more perfect relationship (which in my mind, equates to happiness).

And while I am, yet there seemed to be a constant need to do more, to experience more photograph worthy moments, to have more, to be yet more closer.

It's almost like I was trying to judge my own marriage/relationship from what it looked like from outside & found it lacking perfection.

'We are supposed to be romantic'
'We are supposed to be out and about'
'Our wedding anniversary has to be superlative. Superlative I tell you!'
'We need to be having more sex and being more adventurous'

Old news but it took seeing it in print for me to realise I was struggling not with the boy's expectations but with my own.

I am happy. Not excited in a Harlequin romance sort of way. He doesn't make my heart flutter all the time like he used to when we first started dating, we don't rip off each other's clothes all over the house as much as we used to, sometimes we are out and we have really boring conversations.

Is that normal?
Are we normal to be like this after 7.5 years of being together?

And today, the boy & I were discussing it and he was like - you think we don't talk enough???
Ugh.
Don't you even remember who I was when we first started going out?

And gawd, yes I do - that reticent gangly man with a cute behind who grunted his way through a conversation.

And we have come so far!

And yet, I want more. NOW!

I know that the boy is a far far cry from any of the male role models in our combined families.

But he is not yet the Renaissance man.

An example:
You think you know everything about a person and then he comes out with - 'no, I won't be comfortable with our child being gay'.
And it boggled me.
Because he has gay friends. And I have gay friends. And we have mutual gay friends.

And to confront the fact that we have such fundamental differences as above perplexed me.
Because hadn't we known each other forever?

Where does that leave me?
His nonacceptance of a potentially gay child?
Why is it easy for him to accept gay strangers and not a gay flesh and blood?

Side note:
He would not budge even in the face of disapproval from friends. I suppose it is good that he's stating his opinions and not pretending to be one person online and another offline who goes 'Oh no, I couldn't possibly move in with that person, because he/she is gay/divorced/single mother'.

Another instance, he still maintains that the appropriation of Palestinian land by Israelis is justified.
How is it that we can love each other and yet have such vastly different view points?

It's been a struggle for me to get away from the fact that two did not become one after our marriage. We are still two different entities, with unique personalities and differences, living in love. And to accept that that is fine too, in fact it may just well be fantastic - our differences creating a more interesting household.

The relief has also come from the fact that with the boy, there is no pressure to be similar.
From him, there is always acceptance of differing view points & even a matter-of-factdnessabout it.
He accepts my attitude and I am learning (v.slowly) to accept his conservatism.

And live with the fact that perhaps we may see eye to eye in the future or we may not.

It seems like such obvious fact but I am constantly surprised that our relationship is still a work in progress.

The pics

Wed!!!

I have been writing and rewriting this post in my head.
I don't have the skills to put in words the joy I felt on my wedding day.
How do I even begin to give you an idea of how perfect I felt Aug 15 was
How the night before I talked till forever with people who know me the best
How the day of, I woke up with such peace in my heart
How in the morning, the mother & I drove around looking for a Kinkos & headed to WAL-Mart to get some milk (so random, I know but that's how totally at peace and relaxed i was) & to pick the small cake on top (everything just flowed and fitted so well)
How I sat with my parents at my home, which was a split second later, invaded from all sides by the boy's groomsmen and wives - who were prepping meat & veggies for the next day's barbecue
HOw giggly friend, fiance & roomie came by and helped tie programs?
How the wives of groomsmen & best man helped wrap the beautiful cup cake stand that the boy & friend built
How I changed into the beautiful salwar my beautiful friend L gave me in Hyd, remembering her and her wonderful kindness in driving all around town and making sure I had the most wonderful wedding shopping experience ever.
How my dad, mom and I went upstairs to a room for a little prayer and how my dad couldn't talk because he was so choked up
How the boy drove me to the wedding venue and we talked like it was just another day, except our eyes were shining and we couldn't help laughing at every turn
How I just handed over everything to the wedding lady there, who we met for the first time on the rehearsal dinner day
HOw I don't remember saying bye to the boy, because I was whisked away by my make up peeps who made me look so glamorous
How my wonderful friends came and swooped in and helped dress me in the best way ever
How they listened to my every whim, how the RP ran around and scurried around getting everything for me
how the AD stood on chair to do the pallu and how the redhead twisted herself to do stuff
How beautiful they looked and how grown up we all felt
And oh that growing excitement, as the music started, and we were lined up in the club, outside the tent and how all i could remember while waiting for my turn was the M.L's back and how tall and elegant and dignified she was
and walking on the grass with my handsome father and my gorgeous funny mother to the beaming boy, who had tears in his eyes and who kept whispering - you are so beautiful , I love you.
How I kept grinning and smiling and thinking to myself - maybe I should stop beaming so I look a bit demure but didn't.
And how after it was all over, my friends held me close and my parents hugged the boy
And when came time for photos, the M.l so calmly made sure that all the right photos were taken - the bride with the groomsmen, the groom with the bridesmaids- things I didn't have a clue about.
how my heel broke, and we fumbled the first dance but nothing bad seemed to matter because we were so happy
And how I felt so blessed that i have such incredible friends and parents!
And how we danced
and danced
till it was time to leave at 10,
and after, how we just didn't want the night to end and so headed back to our place, where the parents were resting and changed and headed out again to the club where we really just danced away the night till the wee hours
and how after all that , the boy took me to a lovely resort hotel, which his friends had decorated the place so lovingly.
And That's what we felt, all day, every time - love, for each other and for others, from friends, from all around us.
I could not have asked for anything more.
It was that special.

yEsterdayor

I want to remember yesterday in waves.
Wave after wave of seeing my friends, at the airport, at the rehearsal, at the dinner,
Of picking up the AD & husband from the airport (on time!!!) with the mother.
Of the AD & I running v.late to pick up the RP
Of the harried calls from boy because he couldn't find his clothes
& how we got slighted ticked off we each other
Of the deep sense of calm that came over me for tomorrow I was going to marry him and knowing that I needed to learn to not yell so much at him for he truly is my one
Of the slightly crinkled shirt the busy busy boy wore because he couldn't find the shirt I was supposed to have ironed :)
Of the million calls back & forth between redhead & I for directions
Of the joy on seeing the RP unchanged
Of the yellow dress the M.L wore when she came running into the club at the rehearsal
It was as if time had stood still and the intervening years had never happened.
The rehearsal - didn't go by without a hitch.
There were delays, and more, and missing people but throughout it all, i was smiling ear to ear looking around this room filled with my past and my future.
The dinner was late but I remember laughter, my dad's jokes, his egging M.L on to drink, the shared jokes about 'add on' ceremonies, my beautiful mother sitting next to me, the boy moving table from table, making sure all our friends were taken care of, and being the perfect host, while I sat with M.L and laughed.
Later, we all headed back to the new place, where the friends and I took over the bed and traded stories, and laughed at ourselves in old pictures.
I was so happy!
And today,
No matter how it rains, or how delayed we get, or how much negativity I think may spew from my crazy uncle, i will be floating on a cloud above it all, waiting for that walk with my father down the aisle to join my boy!

oh, can it be?

One blessed day more?
My feelings go up and about - when I am alone I tingle with excitement,
but then there are so much work to be done and the excitement gets replaced by the mundanity of getting things done.
But one more day
the bridesmaids arrive tomorrow
the friends also arrive
and then the rehearsal and the dinner and then

Today

Maincure & Pedicure - done & done
One cousin to be picked up - done
One family lunch to be had - also done
Vases to be dropped at the florist - need to be done
One best man & wife to be picked up at airport - delegated to friends
Rehearsal dinner dress to be steam ironed - to be done

oNe post to be put up - o h so done!!!

Why oh Why

do I have this need to get approval from my parents?
Why is it that no matter how old you are, you still want your parents to do the beaming thing ?
Why am I so needy - at this particular moment?
I haven't felt this way in ages - I have lived on my own, in different countries, without feeling this need this strong?
Its weird to feel that you come from people who are so alike & yet so different
And who are such a big part of you and yet have no idea of who you are.
We know know so much of each other yet fail to connect the dotes?

I want more, than anything, for my dad to go - wow - you did this all your own
And sadly he, wanted more than anything, to do all this for me all on his own.

What I do feel right now :

So excited I can barely put together a sentence
Relieved that everything is falling into place, for Yesterday I had to organize all the pick ups and put together a itinerary sheet for everybody
Weirdly emotional like needy for my parents' attention at one moment, supremely confident of my abilities the next, happy in a quiet way, happy in 'LOOK AT ME' way, so in love with the boy I hurt, so hate the boy i could hurt him the next.

One thing that has been constant is my excitement at seeing my friends.
They are coming from all over and from different parts of my life.
High school friends who know my deepest fears,
College friends who make me laugh
High school friends who were also college friends who gave me consistence,
Friends from Missouri who stood by me

Having more friends than relatives at my wedding gives me less anxiety. because you know they won't bitch or moan or rain negativity on you.

I am buying some last minute wedding stuff.
Getting some more lingerie (heck you can't have too many right)
Getting my programs that the redhead made printed
And oh, I am not making the cupcakes - we are getting them from this cute bakery place that we found while taking the parents out.

I am going to try and post till the very day of the wedding because I want to record it all!!!

4 days

4 days

4 days

4 DAYS

I want to stand still and let every, single feeling, moment, look, word, glance, smile, touch, envelope me.
i love you boy.

I am quite exhausted.
What with getting the house set up, waiting for our slow, slow furniture to get here, doing last minute wedding stuff and sitting up late talking to parents, I am doing the falling asleep as soon as I hit the pillow thing
The funny thing is I always wake up with a smile.
Every time, every day since my parents arrived.
Its because I hear them moving around & their presence brings so much normalcy into my life.
I didn't realise how alone I had been feeling about this wedding till my parents arrived.
And I know that when my bridesmaids & M.L gets here, I will feel complete.
So right now, I feel exhausted but v.v.happy

Am I drunk?
I think so...or maybe a bit on the happy to be alive and loving the world and alll
i Had a wonderful - wonderful time at the bachelorette party that the boy's amazingly fun friends threw me.
Ii should stop calling them the boy's friends for I have the FB pics to prove they are mine too and I like them i really really do because they are amazing.

At the bar they took me to, there were 5 other bride to bes & Boy's bff assured me I was the prettiest & skinniest

She lied on the skinny bit but I know she didn't on the pretty bit - :D

I feel amazing about my body not just because I have lost oodles of weight from disgustingly globulous 220 pounds.
but just amazing because I just look so good to myself.
I don't know if that's the alcohol talking or the amazing songs the amazing band played or the positive vibes i got or the kiss I shared with stranger man as part of a dare - it was on the cheek so that doesn't count - or the flirty convo I had with cuuuute so so work out bravo type chick, I just felt all in the zone about body. wow. thats a lot of amazings for a drunk bachelorette.
Arms are still large but in a 'oh I can live with them and position them right and blind people with dazzling smile way'.

OH frack that!
I AM GETTING MARRIED ON FRIDAY!!!! AND ITS GOING TO BE BRILLIANT BECAUSE I am marrying this amazing, gorgeous man :DDDDD

that's right - you heard me - i lvoe the word amazing.

My parents are here!!!

& oh, I can not tell you the relief I feel having them here.
We were late picking them up (oi!) but the boy & they hugged & my dad and mom traded funny stories back and forth with him.
They loved the mini gifts the boy bought for them - esp. my mom, for it was so apt for her.
And they had tons of goodies for the boy, including his v.first mundu
I could not have imagined a better meeting.
Thankyou, sweet God.

After they got our their jet lag, they went about examining the house and made a list of things that needed to be bought!
Went to the nearest store and bought a heck of a load of stuff to organize everything everywhere.
I just felt so provided for.
I was so dreading the shopping after our clothes fiasco in Kerala, but its like my mom & dad are just so much more relaxed and in their element outside of Kerala.
It's like Kerala just spells insurmontable troubles for them - getting the place, the traffic jam, getting the driver, getting the relis, blech and blah!
But outside, they are just so much more relaxed and in control!
So it was just brilliant...
My house is starting to resembling home and I am just so happy.
The boy came over for dinner and I don't what it was - but the food I cooked was rubbish.
It was like the culinary part of me just completely betrayed me.
Oh
But never minds, I didn't care - I was just happy :)
the rest of the relis and friends arrive this week and I can not wait .
I can not!
Only thing left to do is make the cupcakes :)
and oh, get married
(grin grin grinning away)

Yipee & out tumbled words

We just got our v.first couple gift.
v. thoughtful and different :)
my german cousin asked for my address and one can only hope she sends me the beer I want badly and nothing else.
I am glad I am doing the registry/list thing because if not, like the vicar of D says, we'd get 50 bibles & a dildo

Its 9 pm now and I am so tired I am off to bed.
Spent the entire day cleaning and then spot cleaning kitchen, dining room & varied utensils
Landlord came over to fix something and stayed on for coffee & chat. Boy & I are kind of getting used to his southern accent and funny stories of crawfish.
He's so young that we are surprised at his owning a house and being a landlord to boot, mostly because he just seems so un-landlordy like

My parents come in = OMG = two days!!!
I can not wait, as my FB status states.

We also got our dish TV, after much yelling and complaining to customer service because oh the annoyance, they took forever to come.
Got the international channels - Hindi/Mal/Bangla - so my dad has something to watch, unlike the last time where he was hooked on to the Catholic channel. Oi!
boy's groomsmen are having his bachellor thingy this Saturday, where they've chartered a yatcht and are taking him fishing and boozing. The only one missing out is His best man whose stuck in Austin :(
The boy's peeps are/were thinking of taking us + parents out for sushi on sunday but the father has just yesterday returned from trip to Japan, so doubt if that'll go well with him.
I want to do the Ethiopian place, which is nice & quaint and slightly reminiscent of Arabic style of eating.

That's it.
I am off to bed.

Thank you

So we are sort of trying to make the new place look like a home. 'But its hard to do so in the space of a week or so.
So far, we have got some of our furniture, ditched the idea of painting, found a couple of cute wall stuff we like and now are in the process of choosing photos to hang on the walls of the staircase.
& in the midst of it all, a spontaneous, totally un-like whinny me screamed - I am so blessed.!!!!
I am truly blessed in the family, friends and boy that I have.
I have had so much joy & laughter in my life that technically, I should be grateful and never ever ask for more.
I am at peace and I don't care if the boy's wacky groomsmen play weird songs at the wedding, I am marrying the one I dreamt of, in the presence of my fam & friends & other various loved ones. There is a part of me that is devastated the sibs, Annmol & Sammon, can't be here but I am so thankful for technology that will let them participate in it, in a way.

Looking at all the photographs made me think of the faceless others in my life who have been there for me. For even in the midst of devastating loneliness & heart break & things just not working out, I was spent reprieve through the the kindness of strangers and strangers no more through the blog.
If I have never said it before - blog friends - Thank you for your kind wishes, for lending me your shoulders, for your warmth, for listening and for everything in between.
My heart is very grateful to you all for being there for me through this long, what seemed like a no end in sight journey.

For the past week, I have been doing Nothing about the wedding.
i have been on a self imposed exile from the wedding prep and concentrating on getting the new place habitable for adults.
The boy and I got our furniture that we had to assemble and it looks nice but takes so much work! And I have been sort of doing the 'uhmm...maybe if I do a bad job at tightening this bolt, I can be left alone to read my book' thing. Which is massively evil of me! but oh, I wanted to be left alone with my books & thoughts. atleast just for a bit
I have been weirdly nostalgic about random things that I will never get to experience again
actually just two - a first kiss & dates
I know I should be infused with romantic notions about life with boy, but I know what that life entails and I felt this last week, i was taking stock of the my other life that is coming to an end. That single life where dressing up for a party involved notions & hopes of good, flirty first convos with nice smelling men, and so much more. the surprise kiss, the surprise crush, the 'will he / won't he' the 'should I/maybe yeses'
Which really, technically, came to end 6 years ago when the Boy came into my life.
But this is the first time I am taking stock of it.
And then, I spent time thinking of all the men I have lusted after, the ones who lusted after me, the ones I kissed, the ones who could have been but weren't, the ones you yearn for but are glad never became....
That's it, it was like a mental revisiting of the things I had, the things I may be giving up.
And now I am ready to be deliriously happy & invested about assembling furniture & the upcoming nuptials.

I am also tired of all the work we have to do for the wedding.
my parents arrive next Friday & I want everything but the cupcakes to be done before them.

And I am sickeningly tired, to the bottom of my bridal heart, of all the nonsensical but well intended advice I have been getting about marriage.
What is it about upcoming weddings that make people spout out advice about married life?
Random people, blog people, acquaintances, cousins, aunts and so on and so forth.
i love people but really I don't want any more pearls of wisdom.
After you have been doing it and living together and sharing finances and having to bloody well work through it all, you don't have time to listen to some starry eyed 25 year old tell you that 'that marriage is all about compromise but is so worth it' and 'its' best to never go to bed angry'
no shit sherlock!
I think the universal rules should be, you are good to go
- if farting during sex does not faze you anymore,
- if shaving your legs is only for other people
- if the rules of remote sharing are clearly defined and have been in operation for more than 2 years

I think maybe it is the age thing and the differing circumstances that make me not want to hear anybody's advice.
If they are not older to me, and I have not had to go through my kind of struggles I don't want to hear how it all came together in the last minute.
Also, I am heartily sick of random strangers asking me about the honeymoon.
The Boy and I are not doing it right now! And yes, that is different but OMG, it is not the end of the world.

Other than that, i just want to get to the day and look gorgeous and see pretty things around me & be in the boy's arms and dance the night away with him.
When I think of Aug 15, I see the boy and I in the midst of crowd of 50 of our closest family & friends. Just surrounded by love, and good will and in each other's sight and arms.

I also had to finally make a decision about my car.
It is completely unrepairable.
It just lies there in the junk yard, broken. So my little car is v.def. gone.
However, the promise of brand new car, because of the v.excellent insurance the boy made me get, looms in the horizon!!!

21 days to go for the wedding!

We go this weekend for our final meeting with the new contact at our old venu (this is the third new person we are having to deal with, and by far she is the most efficient)

We are almost done with selecting our menu - we are having two buffet tables - one western & the other Indian
I am going a little crazy finalizing the centerpieces and the table decor.
I simply can't make up my mind.
Either I go with the big huge damask vase in the centre, surrounded by tiny vases of white hydrangeas or upturned damask box with black vase on top surrounded by tiny vases of burgundy carnations.
Oh my lord.
And the head table - I think I am pretty sure I have the damask table runner for that.
I dream in damask now!
And I don't ever want to see them or be near them again. ever.

I am doing a mock up of the table on Saturday, suggested by Boy, to eliminate clutter and confusion in my brain.

We decided to get ourselves a tent under which to hold our outdoor ceremony because its boiling hot now and expected to get hotter in a couple of weeks
The boy's groomsmen did all the prelim checking out of the places I suggested
and the boy & I went to look at the tent and the chivari chairs
so, I think I went a bit anal again about something...
and the boy turned out, took me aside and said:
"What exactly has slipped out of your control?"
Well, your groomsmen are looking at indian menus and tents and hindi songs...I am going for a sex & the city kind of wedding (;) M..) and i DON'T WANt a Hum Apke Hain Kaun kind of wedding!!!!
"Yes. But what exactly has slipped out of your control?"
They are talking and making lists of all these hindi things and hindi songs..
"Yeah, but has anything been implemented or send to the vendors without us looking at it, has it?"
no..but I don't want people to suddenly go berserk and put salman khan photographs as centerpieces.
"Babe...nobody plans to do that. The lists can be made but nothing will be done unless we ask the vendors to do it. The closer we get to the wedding day, the less you are trusting me. And besides, Salman Khan is passe these days. Get with the Hindi times."
sigh.
When he is right, he is right.

We moved to our new place this weekend and its this wild empty place, which needs to be painted, filled and inhabitated.
For now, we have the boy's gigantic, obscene to my eyes big screen TV in made for it nook in the living room and his smaller tv on the bedroom wall.
The boy & I had an insane argument at Target about towels. According to the boy, since we have just two bedrooms & one half, we only need two towels, which can be rotated.
Me: sigh...we need to wash them right? So we need atleast one extra.
Boy: Why, the guest bath will never be used. So the towels in there don't need to be changed. ever.
and on and on it went.
Till we just finally compromised and got what I wanted.
I know - i got what i wanted but it's always after a huge long, discusment.
I wish the boy came programmed to recognise that certain things like the need for extra bath towels, the need for bathroom access in colours other than brown and black, the need for a simple trash can and not one of those insane touch thingies are simple necessities and not luxuries.
Because we were college students when we lived together before, we just made do with minimal stuff and had no extra bathrooms to take care of...so now, the boy & I are just annoying each other because we have such different ideas about setting house.
He is hard to figure out. For instance, he is extremely picky about getting the latest electronics - i mean, head of the curve electronics, but then goes berserk begging to get a disco light - it's 2008 outside Boy, what the heck do you need a disco light for??????

Today, I went and registered at Bed, Bath - by myself. Because after our registering fiasco at Linen and Things, we decided that it would good for me to just do it myself.
In the end, we just told everybody we are registered at these two places but would rather just get gift cards from Pier One.
I think the only reason I wanted to register was so I could go around with the little gun thingy and scan, scan, scan - and be there to receive the happy smiles everybody in the store would send me! I am done talking to the florists and it was surprisingly easy - well, yeah - because I have been planning this for-ever!

The boy & his groomsmen have taken over booking the tent, chairs and the Indian menu. But even then, i am kind of tagging along.
i don't care if anybody thinks I am an anal pest, and my vision does not translate - in the end, I just do not want to have ANY regrets or to have fleeting thoughts in my head going 'oh I wish i hadn't allowed this person to do this or I wish I had said something earlier' or rubbish like that.
Even if everything goes wrong and the wedding is a logistical and/or aesthetic disaster, I'll still be perfectly, brillantly fine because it will be MY, MY, MY vision from start to finish
I'll either do the fake serenity bride who beams - oh who am I kidding??? - I'll be the insane grinning bride who 'll give one of those 'I knooow!'= looks when people tell me how beautiful everything is or the mad Neroish figure while everything around comes crashing down.
Either way - I shall be buzzed and happy!!! because the boy & I are getting married!!!! in a way that is kind of our own.

Also, I feel so completely blessed to be able to say that I have not allowed anybody's, except the (& spl mention here - v.diplomatic nudges and hints from the long suffering and ever patient M.L & not so diplomatic but equally long suffering A.D) boy's opinions to influence or cloud the way I wanted this wedding!!!
It feels so good to own this project completely. Because I know I am going the right direction and I know I am getting what I want.

After years of watching cousins get married in out of way places where beauticians think make-up means covering dark face with white powder and where aunties, and uncles and everybody in between has an opinion on what you wear to how you talk, I feel blessed and humbled and sooo thankful to God that this, for better or worse, is how the boy & I are getting married.

The Boy was right - waiting was worth it!!!

various beautiful chairs in town acorss river

We move this week, but instead of packing all of one room into neat little boxes to fit into new home, i am currently obsessed with buying this


to go into what I see now as overwhelmingly unwhimsical new bedroom and this, for the guest bedroom:


I go today, "way across the river to a little town" to get chairs that were advertised as 'various beautiful chairs & things' :)

Weekend

Friday night
Wanted to see Hellboy II but ended up at Hancock which wasn't too bad, especially considering Will Smith's gorgeous bums were on display.
Drove around with the boy and ended up at the beach being alone & together, instead of joining friends at club.

Saturday
Did our registry at Linens & Things (our first, yippeee) and then headed over to Pier 1, only to find the Pier does not do registries.
Helpful bride-to-be-salesgirl at Pier gave me many tips & hints - for eg: Bed, Bath gives back money on returned gifts, while another random bride-to-be told she told parents all she wants is Pier 1 Gift cards...hmm...nice idea!
Helpful sales girl also told me about Linens & things filing for bankruptcy, so we may just cancel that.
lets see.
Afternoon/evening - Kicked boy's behind in Scrabble but got beaten badly at ever Wii game by Boy, except for Boxing, which the boy refuses to play with me because I am just that good :)
Laughed over silly things and generally had a glorious time.

Sunday
Went to authentic Hong Kong restaurant where I had salted fish with eggplant and Boy had something with duck feet. v. diff.

Sigh....
Nice restful weekend after the whole engagement weekend.