It's just what I've always wanted!

Jeff and I spent the long weekend at Jeff's parents' house in Albany>Schenectady>Rotterdam, New York. It basically went something like this from Thursday night on: eat, work, eat, mall, eat, mall, eat, mall, eat. Yeah, it was pretty pathetic. It was nice to see Jeff's parents, his sister and his niece though. They are always good for a good meal and a funny story or two. My favorites from this weekend.

1. Jeff, his 10-year old niece Angel, and I are all driving home from the mall. In my head I'm marveling on how great Jeff is with his niece, seeing hearts and day dreaming about what a great dad he'll be. Then this exchange occurred:

Jeff: "Are you nervous about starting middle school next year?"

Angel: "Yeah, a little."

Jeff: "Well, it won't be much different. You'll just have periods."

Me: shoots Jeff a wide-eyed 'what did you just say to your 10-year old niece?' look.

Jeff: "Class periods! I mean class periods!!!"

He'll be mad I shared that story but oh well.

2. Jeff's mom ordering a take out salad without the lettuce. 

As you can see, it was an entertaining weekend. Saturday afternoon, Jeff volunteered to take his niece to a movie and I took the time to do quite a bit of shopping. Along the way I snapped these photos for you still looking for ideas.

How about stylish kimonos for your entire family? I laugh at this display every time I see it in the mall. And I'm not saying you have to be Asian to wear a kimono, but come on, you would laugh at these people in public for trying wayyyy to hard. Or maybe the Beckham's will rock this look in a few months and it will be all the rage. Here's your chance to be ahead of the curve.

What about a ceramic spikey tooth like thingy for your wall? Mantle? Hang off your rear view mirror? Carry in your purse to ward off attackers? Seriously, Pottery Barn, what is this thing?

And of course, mermen village people. If this isn't a WTF Christmas present, I don't know what is. 

What's my all time WTF Christmas present you ask? Well, I say this with all the love in the world, but one X-mas morning I woke up and unwrapped a present from my brother: "Grumpier Old Men." That's right, the sequel. No, my brother and I didn't share any fond memories of the first or second GOM movie. His response: "It's funny!" Oh, Mike.

I was on my way to meet Jeff and Angel after the movie, Gingerbread latte (for Jeff) and snowman cookie (for Angel) in hand, when out of the corner of my eye.... a blue dress at the Limited! In the color I want for my bridesmaids! Well... it's no harm to try it on right?

Well, I did. And I bought it. It was $62 and I checked online and it's only $59 with free shipping. I'm going to meet up with the girls and have them try it on. Hopefully they like it! Here it is on the mannequin: 

Is it the world's most amazing dress? No. Do I like it as much as the one that didn't fit? No. But it's under $60 and it's the color I want, so.... yeah! Let's see how it looks.

Thoughts? Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

Dream jobs

A lot of my friends seem in various levels of disappointment/distaste/dissatisfaction with their jobs. Some of them don't have jobs at all. Some of them just got laid off.  Whatever way you put it, it sucks and I feel sad for them that they can't be happy in their careers considering how highly I think of them.

It got me thinking about how lucky I am because I really truly love my job. If you had asked me when I left my last job what I wanted my next job to be, it would be the job I have now. No, seriously. The only thing I would tweak is that it would be nice to see my coworkers face to face, but let's be real... working in your pajamas ain't too bad either.

I was talking to Katie tonight and I think there are a few different reasons my friends don't like their jobs. Some of it is normal stress that comes with any job. I have it too ... I work long hours sometimes, and sometimes things don't go my way. But that's life. Some of it is stress going on outside the job that affects the job itself. Sometimes they are under-appreciated or underpaid or they have a terrible boss. And sometimes they just hate their jobs.

I really firmly believe you don't have to hate your job or take a job you don't want. I've only had one job I truly hated: the month I worked writing hockey cards for Upper Deck. I hated it because I was doing the exact same thing every day, I wasn't allowed to be creative and what I was doing I wasn't interested in at all. I really liked the people I worked with though, and I got paid a decent wage. But I couldn't stand to stay there longer than the month I did. So I did everything I could to get out, and I did, finding a job as a sports reporter. And I stayed at that job as long as I enjoyed it. Then I left.

I made it my mission for over eight months to get my current job. Before I was offered this job, I was offered a job for a Boston book publisher. My job would have involved reading, editing and producing textbooks. I didn't want the job at all, I was just fearful I wouldn't get my current job and I needed money. I was put in a position where I had to decide to turn down that job without being officially offered anything from my current job. It was a tough choice to make but again, it wasn't really. I wanted to find a job I was really happy with. And I made sacrifices to make that happen, even if it means I'm still righting the financial ship after six months of unemployment.

I'm not sure what I'm getting at here. I'm not trying to make it sound like I try harder than anyone. I know one of my friends has tried as hard as he could and can't seem to catch a break. And I know how hard dream jobs are to come by in these times. 

But I would like my faithful blog readers to let me know what your dream job is in the comments, and then I want you to think about why you don't have that job. Maybe think about getting that job in 2009.

I mean 'dream job' as in a realistic thing. Obviously I'd love to be a VP with a private jet and an infinite bank account. My current job is my dream job of the moment. I want to stay put at the company I'm at indefinitely and my dream is to go up as far as possible. 

So give it up. 

Backtracking

It hasn't been the best couple of days (clearly) and I've neglected to keep you updated of my life so you can zone out at work.

Thursday night I went out for my brothers' birthday, taking me to my unexplainable chain restaurant obsession: Chilis. I love Chilis and I'm not ashamed to say it. Their chicken tacos make me feel warm and fuzzy. 

After dinner we went to go see the new James Bond movie, which wasn't nearly as bad as some of my favorite critics made it out to be. I spent most of the movie trying to figure out if I find Daniel Craig attractive, and if so, is he more attractive than the Bond girl (the brunette, not the redhead). Verdict: Push. Sometimes he's squinting and sticking his lips out and I think that he looks like the male Renee Zellweger. And then other times, I'm thinking, yeah, he's handsome. Oh,  what about the movie you ask? It was fine. It was a Bond movie, Bourne movie, action movie, etc etc. It was like the McDonald's dollar menu sundae I had after it -- good enough.

Friday afternoon....

Friday night. Jeff and I cuddled on the bed and watched all the Thursday night TV we missed: Office, 30 Rock and Kitchen Nightmares. Some of the best episodes of the season, I thought.

We had to get up relatively early on Saturday morning and brave the absolutely FRIGID temperatures to go cover two HS soccer games (I covered the first, he covered the second.) I loaded up on the layers in preparation that there might not be a press box, to the point that I looked like the Stay-Puft marshmallow woman dipped in various shades of green (lime green jacket, dark green winter cap). I looked... ridiculous. Thankfully, there was a press box with a small space heater that made it much more bearable than being outside. When I had to go down to the field for interviews, my hand froze up while taking quotes. It's been a while since I've been that cold. I have to give it up to the girls and the people who sat in the metal stands. I had it easy -- but damn, it was cold.

Jeff and I went to the nearest Panera to write our stories. My computer was being frustratingly and unusually slow, so I tried a reboot while I went to get a broccoli cheddar soup and bread bowl (yummmmm....) When I got back my computer still hadn't started up, so I knew something was wrong. Now, my MacBook is only six months old. I shouldn't have any problems. I couldn't get it to start past the original screen. So I started to panic a bit, seeing as I had to start work by 6.

I got home at about 5:55 and immediately got on the phone with Apple Care. After an hour and several different tests, it was recommended that I bring my computer in to get it looked at. Well, great, it's 7 p.m. (I'm already an hour late on my shift).. when exactly am I going to bring it in? I check the online appointment times for the Apple store 50 minutes away, and they aren't early enough for me to get there before my shift on Sunday. So my knight in shining Schaible volunteers to bring in my computer for me on Sunday ... after the Pats game.

Sunday afternoon we go out for lunch at our new favorite Sunday spot, where, even though we've only been there twice before, our waitress already knows what we want (Two buffalo chicken sandwiches). We watch the first half of the game there and the second half at home. (Go Pats! Wildcat, mildcat.) Jeff takes my computer around 5 and I wait anxiously to hear from him. If they can't fix it Sunday (they couldn't), it means I have to go back into the city on Monday and the store doesn't  open until 10 ... and my shift starts at 11 ... yikes. 

So I wasn't going to wait for them to call me, I got into the city at the opening of the store. And ... it wasn't ready. Wasn't going to be ready until 1-3. I had to scramble, asking the Apple store guy where the biggest library nearby was, and found the Newton public library. I ended up there for over six hours, on the world's slowest computer with the world's ickiest keyboard. I didn't want to leave less I lose the computer, so I never got anything to eat. Most people who know me know how much of a stressful situation that would be :)

FINALLY, at 4:15 they called me and said it was ready. I rushed back to the mall, grabbed a roast beef sandwich and got back home in minimal traffic at 6ish. 

Monday night ....

This morning I woke up with all intentions of going to the gym before my shift. It didn't happen. Most people have gotten my save the dates by now! so I can unveil them here....

Cheesy, I know. But isn't all wedding stuff by nature?

Speaking of cheesy, tonight I tried my hand at buffalo chicken calzones as a thank you to Jeff for being so great the past few days. I first got the idea off Sabrina's blog ... and it seemed pretty idiot proof, until I realized I had no rolling pin to flatten the dough. How could I forget -- one of Jeff's special talents is working up a pizza dough from his high school days as a pie slinger at Papa John's. So he worked out the dough for me and I prepared the filling, and we made the two biggest calzones I've ever seen. (I only ate half). I would make a few tweaks the second time around but for the most part it was a success!!

Now Jeff and I are watching SVU. Only two days until Thanksgiving!

Let's not talk

There will be a hiatus on this blog for an undetermined length time when it comes to wedding talk. It's gotten to the point where the conversations have bordered on sour, sad and hurtful and those are three words I don't want to associate with what I want to be the happiest day of my life.

At the end of the day, as selfish as it sounds, this wedding is about me. Well, it's me and the man I will stand on the edge of a beach on a mid-summer evening vowing to spend the rest of my life with. The man who covers me in his arms and blankets when I'm sad, saying and doing everything he can to make the sadness go away. The man, who says he'd be more than happy to spend the rest of his days just with me. The man who will be my husband.

Believe it or not, that day is important to me. It's important to me that I'm surrounded by the people who care about us most, by family and friends. Friends who drop what they're doing to comfort me on the phone (thanks JA) and help me put it in perspective. 

It's all about perspective. I'm so lucky to have what I have, to have the people I do in my life. Hopefully the sour, sad and hurtful will sort itself out. I'm hopeful about it. 

Until then.

Varsity Blech.

Last night, while at the gym, I was scanning the channels for something I could daze off to (yes, my gym has tvs IN the cardio equipment ... changed my life) and I happened upon "Varsity Blues." I hadn't seen this movie in probably 5-7 years, but like most --- let's call it what it is --- terrible movies, it stays with you. Jeff and I spent the next 45 minutes giggling at each other from various machines, mouthing lines and, I'm sure, annoying everyone.

We continued watching it when we got home, and by the end, I had determined that it might be the most stereotypical sports movie of all time. It almost feels like a parody of Friday Night Lights (the movie, not the TV show), which is ironic, since it came out five years before. (Of course, the book FNL came out a decade before that.)

Let's run down the list of stereotypes:

(Main folks)

1. Star quarterback. Good guy, (scholarship to FSU!), goes down with knee injury. Tres sad.

2. Backup quarterback. Aw shucks guy, forced into spotlight, excels and faces temptations.

3. Cue: skanky cheerleader with a heart of gold (She just wants outta this town!) and gravity defying whipped cream skillz.

4. Backup QBs girlfriend. Mousy cute girl (see: scrunchie), she will get stepped on, ultimately forgive boyfriend for being an a-hole.

5. Ruthless small Texas town football coach. He runs the place, cops are afraid of him, has a Saddam Hussein-like statue of himself outside the school. (How creepy is Jon Voight in this movie?!? Is it just me?! You kinda get the feeling he could really be this way in real life. Shudder.)

(Side folks)

1. White wide receiver. Perv. Drunk. Perv. My inner-feminist was gagging that his creepyness is supposed to pass for humor. As if.

2. Black wide receiver. Ruthless coach keeping him down. Averages 133 yards a game and only has three touchdowns! Shame!

3. Fat offensive lineman. Named: BillyBob. For real. Like most fat guys in movies, you feel for him, even though he too, is a perv.

4. Sex education teacher who moonlights as a stripper. Sigh. We'll come back to this.

5. Dumb dads who's goals in life is to get their boys on the football team.

I think that about covers us. We've hit on pretty much every character from a sports movie, while at the same time getting most characters from any teen movie. The story goes as you might think, star QB goes down, backup QB get in and thrives, while at the same time rallying against Ruthless Football Coach. Meanwhile, he's tempted by skanky cheerleader, but for the most part remains faithful to mousy girlfriend. It comes down to the final play ... and touchdown! Fade to black.

Along the way there are a series of implausible events that occur, which happens of course in most movies, but I think this might have been at the dawn of movies of the "F it" era, where plots didn't have to work, as long as there were a lot of rapid shots and hot girls.

Football implausibles:

1. We've got Billy Bob, a 350 pound beast, playing on the offensive line as opposed to nose tackle. Most HS players go both ways, but it doesn't appear Billy Bob does. He's also not the center, fine, maybe he doesn't have the hands for snapping. He's also not guarding the weakside. When he passes out, QB fails to recognize and in poor football judgement, allows himself to get laid out. No way the team wins a district championship every year with these poor football skills.

2. Players are launching from outer space on these tackles. There's about 100 unflagged helmet-to-helmet hits in this game. I got six concussions just watching this movie.

3. The team adopts a spread offense after they get rid of their coach, which for some reason, works like they're the 2007 Patriots. Meanwhile, the other team fails to call any time outs and lets the 'good guys' run the most effective two minute drill of all time.

4. They also block a punt in which Billy Bob lays out the middle of the field while white WR blocks the kick. If this worked this well every time, no one would get a punt off against them -- ever.

5. The final play they run is the hook and ladder, in which their super secret code is the player-coach sticking his finger in his mouth and pulling sideways. (I would love to see Bill Bellichick adopt this play calling strategy: laying his hand out and flicking on the flea flicker, holding his arm straight up on the statue of liberty, mimicking a pass on the fake field goal, etc. Can we do this against the Jets?) Their 350-pound lineman, who thinks his job on the play is to run down field like he's confused, somehow is the best person for this job, and he carries about seven players into the endzone.

Teacher implausible:

Somehow, their sex education teacher's night job is stripping ... and NO ONE KNOWS. How is this possible? Is stripping normally an anonymous profession? Are background checks lacking at this school? How is it that the owners at the strip club know exactly who the boys are but there aren't any local pervs who have noticed a school teacher is an exotic dancer? What I find funny, is that she actually seems to feel awkward when she sees them there. Of course, now that the boys know she's a stripper, feel welcome to make sexual advances towards her. This Texas town's school system is is a well-oiled machine! Somehow, backup QB still manages to get into Brown in what I can only imagine is another knock on Rhody's Ivy League school.

And finally, whipped cream bikini implausible:

I'm not even going to argue that it's implausible to have a whipped cream bikini without it melting or sliding off. I'm not going to argue that it seems more likely she had a meringue bikini, or a whipped egg white bikini the way that thing held form. And I'm not going to roll my eyes that she managed to make out with backup QB without any of the whipped cream getting on his shirt. I have one issue, and it's with the cherries. These are the world most gravity defying fruit. When she sits down, and leans over on the couch, they're still there!! Why? Did they need to be? No, they just didn't care. 

Side note: when this scene came on in the gym, I got turned around a creepy guy was staring at the screen, then me with a "what the heck are you watching and what channel is it on" look. Yuck.

So should you rent Varsity Blues because I just dedicated 800 words and a half an hour of my life to writing this? Probably not. And there's so much more I could say, (Dawson as Mox --WTF?, "I don't want your life" catchphrase) But that doesn't mean I won't flip it on in another 5-7 years and relive the ridiculousness all over again.

November 18

You know when, after Halloween sometime, you walk into a mall and it's like Christmas threw up everywhere? There's red, green and silver every where you look and you're thinking, "Damn, when did it become Christmas time?" Then the commercials start soon after, and you're looking at your bank account, budgeting holiday funds, squinting real hard to find Christmas spirit among the ever decreasing number?

I didn't make it to the mall. Sometime last week, Christmas got sick all over my apartment.

My name is Emily, and I'm the wife-to-be of a Christmas fanatic.

He broke out the Advent calender a two weeks ago. He bought this thing last year and spent many nights crafting tiny crayon and construction paper "instructions" ... he didn't quite finish all 25 because they got increasingly complicated. He finished them a few days ago.

The Advent calendar.

OK, I sort of love the penguin. It's one of my favorites.

The snowman ain't that bad, either.

I had no idea he was such an artist! ;)

Apparently, this is what I'll be doing Dec. 18.

Last Thursday, after I returned home from urgent care, I passed out on the couch due to lack of sleep and a double dose of benadryl. When I woke up, I felt like I was in Santa's workshop.

I don't even know where he got some of this stuff! There are at least a dozen snowmen in my house, and I don't know how they got here. We have a tiny shovel on the wall that says "Snow Days Welcome" (they aren't) and Jeff came home a few nights ago with a Santa doormat. "It was only three dollars!!!"

We have stockings, too.

And then there it was. The Christmas tree stand. Empty.

"When do you want to go get the tree?" he asked, clearly excited. "We won't be here that long to enjoy it."

"We're not leaving to go to South Carolina until the 23rd of December!" I said.

Listen, I love Christmas. I get annoyed when people say it's a commercial holiday. I like spending time with the people I love. I commit a good deal of time to thinking about thoughtful presents. It's one of my favorite things to do.

But Christmastime starts, for me, the day after Thanksgiving. 

Jeff is making me feel like the Grinch. And I don't mean to be. It's just ... it's just too early.

It's one of the things I love about him though. He gets SO EXCITED about little things. It's cute. It really is.

But it will be cuter on November 28. Until then, bah.

Silver linings

Yesterday ... yesterday was not such a great day for me. But since I'm a glass-half-full kind of girl, I realize yesterday wasn't THAT bad of a day -- just stunk considering how well things have been going for me lately.

Part I -- I woke up at about 4 a.m. with a BURNING in my throat that was like heartburn times ten. It started in my throat every minute or so, then radiated out into my chest. I thought it was the 'burn, so I took a few Rolaids and tried to go back to bed. No luck. So around 6 a.m. I took some advil, wondering if it was just a really sore throat, but again ... no luck. Around 10 a.m. I started to get itchy and was wondering if I wasn't having an allergic reaction. I've never had one before to anything, but I did start a new medication two weeks ago, and the doctor told me it takes a few weeks to work into your system. 

I decided to call Jeff to see if he could come home from work and take me to urgent care, and he could. (Side note: Telling your bosses 'My fiance is having chest pains, can I go home?' is usually a given, 'yes.') So Jeff and I went off to the doctor and when I got into the office and took off my jacket, I realized I had big itchy welts on my arms and legs. Not good.

They confirmed it WAS probably an allergic reaction and I should stop taking the medication, which stinks because that particular medication was working well for what I needed it for (vague much?) They gave me a prescription for a benedryll type drug and a steroid to stop the swelling in my throat. I felt better almost immediately, but the burning in my throat hasn't completely disappeared.

I was actually pretty disappointed I now have an answer to the question, "do you have any allergies?" I thought God either cursed you with a weak stomach or allergies, and I got the weak stomach -- no fair to have both!!

Silver lining?: Well, it wasn't that bad and could have been a lot worse, as allergic reactions can be. Despite the fact that I had crop circle-like red spots all over my body (TMI?) it wasn't overly itchy. The worst part was the balls of my feet swelled, but even that wasn't bad. Also, Jeff was home with me all day, which is always nice. Good that this happened on my day off too. I'm hoping the reaction was to the medication and not something else. I don't *think* I had anything I hadn't had before and there were no detergents or lotions I had that were new, so it must have been? Also STEROIDS -- this will be so good for my workouts! Kidding :)

Part II -- I had been planning for a while to go down to RI and meet my cousin Sarah to see if we could have the bridesmaids dresses altered. Since I was going to be paying for the alterations, I wanted to see how much it would cost -- see if it was more of a pain to have it altered, because I really liked the dress, or if it was just going to be easier to return them and start over. My ceiling was about $50 and I wasn't overly optimistic we could have it done for that price -- or if the alteration could be done at all. I was also worried that the store wouldn't let us return the dresses as the receipts said 'All sales are final' despite the fact we were told we could exchange them if they didn't fit.

Well the first place we went to -- they pulled and poked and determined it could be altered, but that it wouldn't be a breeze -- and it would cost $100 for each of the two dresses I needed altered. Ugh. So Sarah suggested a different seamstress, that she had been going to for years. She told us that she could alter the dress as is for $80+ but that if we could exchange it for a bigger size, it would be easier to take it in than let it out, and she would charge $50. In the end, I determined this would be too much of a hassle, and was hoping we could just return the dress and start over.

Silver lining?: Well, Sarah called this morning and they are going to let us return the dress ... so phew. Also, it was nice to spend the evening with my cousin, have dinner and a really nice chat! The benadryll didn't affect me too hard and I was able to hold a conversation, haha. I'm going to hold off on an immediate re-search for new dresses, although this one at JCrew has caught my eye -- LOVE the color. It's $250, which is too much, but it has to go on sale right?

Hey moddel -- move ur armz! Ur coverin' the prettay.

PART III -- I got home just in time to watch the Pats game. It was a great game ... but we lost!!! Two crushing, close losses in a row that really came down to a stupid penalty -- again. We're the least penalized team in the league but when we have one of our defensive leaders holding on a third down in the red zone, we're not going to win. So disappointing. These are the games when NFL fans cry -- can we have college overtime rules please? Hate when it comes down to the coin toss!

Silver lining?: Hard to find ... but it was nice to see Cassel lead a come-from-behind charge. Also, our schedule still favors us and we've split the series with the Jets. If we can win out the division we should still have a good chance to make the playoffs.

***

This weekend will be work, work, work. I work 6-2 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday for the WWL, and I will also be covering games for the Globe both days. Jeff and I will have covered 11 stories for the Globe combined in November when this is all said and done. I'm thinking of putting up a "The Werschaible wedding partially sponsored by ... The Boston Globe" at our wedding. ;)

What's the deal?

It's 11 days into November and I only have three blog posts. Although it's fun to get comments and know other people are reading, I mostly do this blog to keep my writing skills sharp -- even if they don't seem so at times.

It's not like nothing has been going on in my life, or I'm amazingly busy, but I just can't seem to find the time/motivation to write! I'm required to be at the the computer at all times for work and with a packed google reader, and the TV on, writing in my blog serves as one too many distractions to get the job done. It can be so hard sometimes to work from home!

(I should say right now I am in flannel pajama pants under my blanket, so ... it could be worse.)

So I thought, since I don't have any major blog topics on the horizon, I'd touch on a few things going on in my life, based off my tags.

• Work: For some reason, my work weeks seem to fly by, but at the same time, I feel like I don't get much time off. Is that weird? Maybe it's because, by traditional work week standards, I'm already at "Wednesday" by Monday. So today is already Thursday for me. The weekends don't really feel like weekends because ... well, they aren't. Fortunately, we're more than halfway through the college football and NFL seasons, so relief is on the horizon!
• Wedding: While last week was good because I booked the florist, videographer and super secret vendor, it took a step back when my bridesmaids got their dresses and they didn't fit! Two of them are busting (literally) out of the tops. This Thursday I am taking them to Sueno, a bridal shop in RI that's supposed to be the best at these things ... and also very pricey. I've offered to pay for the alterations, but I'm wondering how much I'm willing to pay -- where it's worth it over returning the dress and starting over. UGH!!!!

         I've also been majorly procrastinating on the STDs. I want to send them out so I can show them to you all!

         How could I forget: WE BOOKED THE HONEYMOON!!!!! Six days in England, two in Scotland. Will give you more details as time goes on, for now we just got the flights.

• Jeff: He's good. :)
• Sports: How bout them 6-3 Patriots?! This Sunday Jeff and I got a chance to go out to watch the game for a bit, which I usually can't do because I work. (I had the most OMG delish Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, that now I can't wait to have again. I'm so sad.) I'm optimistic about New England's chances to win the AFC East, but when did this become such a solid division? Jeff and I were seriously discussing the Dolphins chances of going 10-6. 10-6?!?! They won 1 game last year! A win over the Jets on Sunday should go far towards the push for the title, but losing Adalius Thomas didn't help. It feels like we are injury doomed this year. (Also: Whhyyyyyyy Ty Law on the Jets? Come on!)
• Weekend in Review: Friday night, Jeff and I went to the Celtics-Bucs game in Boston, using tickets Jeff's parents had gotten me for my birthday. It was dually entertaining because the Celts won, and these dudes in our row started a fight with each other. Entertaining stuff which led to the quote of the night: "I spent $175 on that jacket!!" Yeah, they were idiots. Saturday I covered a game for the Globe in the afternoon. I'll be covering a few things this month, as part of a series I'm calling 'Stories to Finance My Wedding.' It's high school playoff stuff, but I think it has broader appeal. As soon as my game was finished I had to drive to Bristol, getting lost finding my hotel, and ended up 10 minutes late for work. I got off around 2:45 a.m., decided I was awake enough to just drive back, checked out of my hotel and ended up home around 4:45 a.m. Sometimes, I just like being ... home. 
• Weight loss: Well Lord knows I'm trying, but I Lord knows I could try harder. I can't seem to hit this one GOAL I've had for months now. There's been weight loss, but not as much as I've hoped. Now that we're coming up on the holidays, my best hope is to lose 1-2 more pounds or at least try and maintain, then hit it HARD after New Year's. I *think* my gym offers a few classes at 9 a.m. each day for free, which I hadn't realized before. Part of that will be trying to push myself to go to bed earlier so I will have enough energy to participate in the morning. I'll keep you updated.

 

'Hello' FAIL

I got this e-mail from Qdoba. At first I thought it was an APB wondering where I've been since I haven't stopped by in almost four days (I eat there a LOT). But no, it was a 'thank you' e-mail for joining the mailing list ... score, free chips!

But, what happened on this hello?

Hadlo Werchadlo? HAHAHA FAIL.

Sticker shock

I know you've been DYING all day to hear what I thought about last night's election ... but first, this post I saved from yesterday...

*****

I am writing this post on Nov. 4, and if you are seeing this, it means Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.

Why am I writing this? It's a confession. It's to purge my embarrassment, my shame, my disappointment.

I didn't vote.

I've been reading blogs and news all day, facebook statuses telling me to go vote, who voted and who they voted for. And I can tell you this for sure -- as good as my friends and family undoubtedly felt voting for the next president of the US today, or in the days before this, is as equally bad as I feel.

I wish I could give you a good excuse, but I don't have one. I attempted to register in Mass., but found out I didn't have the appropriate documents. I held out hope that I could still vote in Rhode Island, the state I voted in 2004 and am licensed in ... and while I determined it was technically possible for me to do so, I'd have to submit an address I no longer lived at. I didn't want to risk voter fraud.

None of these are good excuses, because I could have resolved these issues if I wasn't so lazy sometimes. You would have thought my passion for this election would tip the scales, but ... I don't know what happened. I can only PROMISE that it didn't happen again ... and hope that I wasn't the one vote that mattered.

I want you to know that I wish I had voted in Massachusetts, as they had some really interesting questions on the ballot (Elimination of the state income tax (NO), Legalization of up to one ounce of marijuana (PROBABLY NO) and Elimination of the state's dog racing industry (PROBABLY YES). I would have voted for Barack, obviously, and am hoping at 3:20 p.m. on Nov. 4, that those who did get their shit together, did. 

I know there will be a lot of you who will be disappointed in me and I don't blame you.

But I'll be back to vote Obama in 2012.

*******

Clearly, I was in a pretty somber mood yesterday afternoon, feeling very guilty about not voting. As the day continued and the election results rolled in, and the good news was coming, I started to shake off some of the sadness. And then the official news was in ... Obama won!

I was tearing up during Obama's speech, thinking how proud I was for others picking up the slack for my wayward self. Now that we've put the silliness of the Bradley effect behind us, hopefully this victory can go a long way in healing old wounds.

I thought McCain's consolation speech was dignified and classy, qualities I admired about him before he got in over his head in this election. Hopefully, we'll still have that old John McCain when the dust settles.

Obama's victory speech -- well, that spoke for itself. What struck me was the quietness of it (I saw you, Howard Dean, in the audience), the calm, the even-temper. I love how he acknowledged those that didn't vote for him -- which was just a few of my 'friends' according to my facebook (And to you guys, I understand why you didn't vote for Obama, I do. I know some of you are staunchly pro-life and have family in the military. And I really don't feel that Obama will let you down.)

I am so glad to be soon saying goodbye to a president who has less than 30 percent approval rating and ushering in a president who had more than 65 million people believe in him. 

I was originally a Hilary supporter, and I understand how African Americans are feeling, because I would have been as equally proud to see a woman achieve this role. We still have time, but I'm fully behind Obama for the next four years.

Today, I've been soaking it all in (OK -- and Jeff and I saw a movie and got lunch) and am eager to see what Obama will do in the first 100 days.

As a quick aside -- I'm disappointed in what has happened in California, Arkansas, Florida and other states who, in California's case, awarded rights to chickens and took them away from humans. It really is sad.

Anyways -- that's enough seriousness from me!! I am no politico. Back to the regular Emily, who's a little happier, tomorrow.

... and they're so re-wearable!

I can tell you, without a doubt, that handling the whole bridal party situation is one of the most stressful things in planning this wedding. And that's not because my bridesmaids (My cousin Sarah, my best friend since middle school Katie, and my college roommate Meg) are difficult people -- quite the opposite. In fact, they're probably the three nicest, kindest people I know.

So that's what makes it so difficult. I don't want to be a pain. I don't want to "require" them to do anything. I don't want to be a brideszilla. I swear!

I really wanted to find a dress option they'd be happy with. Now, despite my pained statements above, and that I'm aware it's easier for a girl to pick out her own dress if I was REALLY worried about it ... I didn't want to do that. I wanted them to look like the bridesmaids, not just guests at the wedding. I wanted people to know these were the three special women I chose to stand next to me on a very, very important day.

I organized a shopping trip yesterday to the Wrentham Outlets. I didn't really want to deal with a bridal shop because I didn't want to worry about the time it takes to ship things from there, alterations (which they always seem to nail you with..) and the fact that bridal store bridesmaids dresses always look... so bridesmaidy. I was hoping if we bought it from a retail store there would be a higher percent chance they would be re-wearable.

So I had a three option color palate: sage green, bright blue or hot pink. And since there wasn't an exact shade I was trying to match, I figured I would be OK finding a few options.

Well.. not exactly. We walked around in a few stores where there were some really ugly, trampy dresses. (Katie tried on a pink one that was so short, it was practically a shirt). 

We headed over to BCBG which I had scouted when I went to Wrentham a few weekends ago. I thought they might have some options there... and they did!

This one looks better in the picture than it actually did on Katie. All three of my bridesmaids have tremendous figures, but for some reason this dress made Katie look frumpy!

This one wasn't really in the running, but Katie wanted to try it on anyway. Haha. If I was going to agree to pink, and I wasn't crazy about that, I wanted HOT pink, not bubblegum pink. Oh well.

This is the winner I think!!!! Not exactly the shade of blue I was looking for, and I had originally wanted shorter dresses, but this looked so nice on them it was hard to ignore. Katie's dress (middle) in this pic is one size too small and Sarah's (right) is one size too big... and Meg's is just right! They are slightly more than I wanted them to spend, but they seemed ok with it. They are going to order them and hope the in between size fits!

... and I think they are rewearable! Right? Right!?!?! Ahh... the wish of every bride.

After bridesmaids dress shopping, we split up to head to our next destination, and Meg and I stopped off at Spike's -- where I haven't been in forever. Oh hi, T-bird chicken. Yummmm!

I can't write much more because the rest of the afternoon was spent on a secret mission (just a secret from Jeff) before I took the girls to my venue because they hadn't seen it before. The sun was setting on the beach and it looked so nice.

Less than nine months...