Where were you?

I'm gonna steal an idea I saw on a friend's blog today and talk a little bit about 9/11.

Where was I?

I was at home, in Rhode Island. I was going into my freshman year of college, at Northeastern, but NU didn't require us to come up until the 15th, so I was enjoying an extended summer at my mom's house.

Naturally, I didn't get up all that early in those days, and when I did, I didn't exactly flip it onto the news. But the news was on. In my early morning haze, it looked like they were concentrating on some big fire (didn't stay on it long enough to realize it was the fire at the Pentagon.) I don't remember what brought me back to the news a few minutes later, but I ended up flipping on the Today show. And I don't think I left it for the next 8 hours.

About 2 minutes after I landed on the channel, watching Katie and Matt catch me up, the second tower (the first one that went down) collapsed. I remember they didn't notice right away and I yelped, audibly, even though I was the only one home. I couldn't believe I just watched an entire building crumble.

After that I went into a little bit of panic mode, I called my mom at school. She said people were watching and she knew what was going on. I called my then-boyfriend who was already at school at Boston University. He didn't answer.

I called my best friend Andrew, who was going to school in D.C. He didn't answer. That was very stressful for me, as there was a reporter there who kept screaming because because he thought he heard a plane. Does anyone else remember that? That guy, perhaps understandably, was not keeping it together.

So I sat at home and stared, watched in silence like everyone else. Finally, my boyfriend called. I was furious they hadn't dismissed his class -- and that he hadn't called me despite the fact that he saw what was happening before he left. 

About this time was when they thought some of the terrorists were in a Boston hotel. Santino (that was his name) decided it might be a good idea to go down there and check out the commotion. I was not into that idea at all.

Finally, I got in touch with Andrew in D.C. (This would be a good time to admit I had, until that point, thought the Pentagon was in England. I have no idea why. I also thought to myself, "This is definitely Russia right? Russia is bombing the US!!" Until Santino told me, no, there are terrorists in the middle east, including this one called Bin Laden who sort of hates us. Once I realized how wrong I was, and how little I knew about basic government, I decided to become a political science minor at NU. I never wanted to be that embarrassed by my lack of knowledge again). Thankfully, Andrew was OK, not worried, per usual.

Eventually, I had to go to work. I kept waiting for them to call me off, to tell me I didn't have to come in. They didn't. It was a little Italian restaurant with a Dels counter. It was a slow night so I got to watch a good deal of TV. Around 6:30, my old boss who worked at the tuxedo shop across the plaza, who I was still friendly with, came in with his 4 year old daughter to get a lemonade. I kept trying to strike up a conversation about the day's events by giving him, "Can you believe it?" eyes. He didn't bite. I realized later, he probably didn't want to talk about it in front of his daughter.

Doesn't quite feel like seven years yet.

It's not hard to make me happy

So here I am, getting hungry for dinner, craving what I always crave:  Qdoba. (well, guacamole really.)

And I'm thinking ... I wonder if I can get Jeff to go for me?

Well first thing's first, I'm gonna have to call and sweet talk him. After all, we had a little tiff this afternoon (Him: Changing my insurance is a major pain. Me: That's life.)

It's 4:45, and I know he's on his way home, and I know this will take extra work since he seemed upset with me ... and I call him and ask if he's still mad, and he says:

"Well, no, but I am going to be late coming home today. I'm going to Qdoba to pick up dinner."

Not only is he the love of my life, he reads my mind. And he knows the way to my heart (and to apologize for taking out his frustration on me) is paved with avocados.

I know this isn't an exciting story for anyone but me, but I love my guy :)

Pics!

So I published that last post by accident with no pictures and no editing. Ouch. Take another look :)

My girl is married!

Oh my. What a fun wedding! I am just so happy to say that one of my favorite people in the world is happily married and had a beautiful day. "I don't know that there will ever be a more beautiful bride," I said at the end of the night. Jeff's response? "I don't think I should comment on that." Good boy.

We drove into Boston in the early afternoon to meet Katie at her Allston studio where we would be staying the night. Katie did ma hair, I put on my Kabuki make-up, and Jeff took about 3 seconds to get ready (men!). 

We headed out on the T towards St. Cecila's (a church behind the Christian Science Museum). We were greeted by Meg's lovely brothers, who escorted us to our seats, about halfway down the pews. I wanted to be closer!!! Who cares if immediate family is supposed to be at the front! :) 

I anxiously waited, tissues in hand, for my girl to make her appearance, while Jeff sweated bullets in the church. Let me tell you, Saturday was HUMID. I gave my self a mental pat on the back for rallying for Meg to put her hair up (Of course, it was ALL my doing).

Finally, the processional began, and there was my girl. During the bridal processional, I like to spend at least half of the time looking at the groom. Well, Troy was barely holding it in. Who could blame him -- so was I! Meg was breathtaking!! As she passed, and I teared, I'm pretty sure she gave me a "stop tearing or you'll make me cry" evil eye. I tried to hold back :)

It was a longish full Catholic mass, which I knew was coming, so no surprises there. The pastor was actually the Priest for the Northeastern University Church. He's this really young guy, with a wicked Boston accent, who has to be the most laid-back Catholic priest on earth (disclaimer: I'm not Catholic). I knew he would be able to relax Meg, and I think he did.

Then came the vows. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear them!! There was no mic, and Meg is a naturally soft talker. Oh well, Troy heard them and that's all that mattered.

And that's all she wrote ... they were married!! So excited!

In the receiving line at the end of the church, Meg took the oppurtunity to tell me how nice I looked, to which I was responded, "NOOO YOUUUUU LOOOK GREATT!!" Figures Meg, gracious and kind even on "her" day. (I should maybe mention now how I know Meg? Meg was my 'randomly assigned' roommate freshman year at Northeastern. Of course you all know that your roommate freshman year can do a lot to make your freshman year awful or great. Well, Meg made mine great. Although I wouldn't say Meg and I were a lot alike, we started a friendship based on respect and friendliness. We ended up living together all five years, three of which where we shared the same room. And despite my propensity for messiness, and my late night typing on the computer, we NEVER fought. We still haven't. She cried when I moved to San Diego. I guess I wasn't that bad to live with. I love her to pieces.)

So after bubbles, Meg and Troy were on their way to take pictures in the common, and Jeff, Katie and I headed over the Sheraton to wait in the hotel bar before the reception. While we were there it started to rain, and I was sad for Meg she couldn't have a sunny wedding day.

At 5, we headed upstairs for the cocktail hour and nom nommed on some appetizers and cheese, and started the drinking :) 

At sixish we were shuffled into the reception hall which was BEAUTIFULLY decorated, and found our table. We were seated with Meg's two brothers, a few of her male cousins and the best man. They were all very, very nice and fun to sit with!

It was a four-course (five?) dinner that included acorn squash soup, a pear and walnut salad, a mango sorbet and my main, a filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes! Yum! Cake was two slices, one vanilla and one chocolate, with a chocolate covered strawberry that was my favorite part!

Then came the dancing, and that part was so much fun. Jeff actually danced with me the whole night! He was getting mad at me, because he thought I was laughing at his moves, but I was just happy he was out there with me :)

The only thing that kind of stunk was that I didn't have much time to spend with Meggie at the reception. She had to work the room!

However, after the reception ended, Jeff, Katie, me and some of the wedding party went up to Meg's suite and had some champagne before leaving them be and heading home. What a fun night!

The next morning, after sleeping in Katie's sweltering apartment (AC, girl, get it!) on an air mattress that left me feeling like I was repeatedly punched in the spine (better than spending money on a hotel), we went out to breakfast. We walked down into Brookline to this deli that Jeff and I used to go to every Sunday. He would get a meatball sub, I would get lox and bagels, then we would come home and watch the Pats game!

Well, we rediscovered the tradition. Made me miss Boston like crazy again. :(

Aside from the incident that occurred around 1:45 ET that may go down in infamy, it was really a special weekend. I hope Meg and Troy enjoy their time in Napa Valley!

New look

Phew. The last work week was a bit stressful for me, given that it was six days long. (An anomaly of scheduling due to the fact that I needed Saturday off). I usually have off Thursdays, and when I do work Thursdays, I normally work 11-8.

So you can imagine my confusion when my co-worker Jon called me at 10:15 Thursday morning and said, "Are you OK?"

In my head I'm thinking, "Yeah, I'm sleeping. WhatcanIdoforyou?"

He informed me I was supposed to start at eight. Of course I was. 

Due to my boneheadedness, a two-editor shift as opposed to the normal three and a multitude of posts, we didn't stop working, even for a moment, from 10-3. Usually in my shifts I get a few moments to myself where I can run to the kitchen, make a sandwich, or ya know... go to the bathroom. I felt too bad yesterday to do anything until we were caught up. Stupid schedule!

Anyway, I did manage to get myself up on time today to make a trip to Rhode Island to get my haircut. I haven't had one since January, and things were getting kind of rough.

It doesn't make much sense for my to drive to Rhode Island to get my haircut, but I've been going to this guy forever (read: since I was a kid), and since his average clientele is 65+, he gets a kick out of doing my hair. 

I decided to get some highlights, too. I'm going to be taking engagement pics eventually and I'd like to be a little more blonder-er. It came out great, I thought.

Thoughts?

Anyway, after my haircut I stopped by to visit with my buddy Justin, to get a snack and talk politics, just because. Oh, and he finally de-birded my car. (Story for another time).

Now I'm home and containing my excitement for Meg's wedding tomorrow!!!!!!!!! I seriously can't wait. I bought a new dress. I mean, I never do that. Dress shopping gives me anxiety. I'm also currently taking over/under on how long I'll keep my shoes on at the reception.

Seriously though, having seen Meg in her dress more than once, I can say she will be an absolutely stunning bride and her wedding is going to be a downtown Boston blowout, the likes I probably won't ever see again. I'm going to try and keep it in check as best I can considering I have to work the next day ... aka, the start of football season. 

I'll report back with all the fun on Sunday :)

Get rid of 'em

Can I just say how excited I am for the new series of the Ricky Gervais Podcast? In case you haven't heard about them, or read here about how much I love them, you should know that it's the most downloaded Podcast of all time, and it's the funniest thing -- Ever. In the World. Of all time. 

You can find them on iTunes and I think you can get 10 hours or so for $15. It's so worth it. I started listening to it when I was working at Upper Deck in California (for a month). I was writing copy for hockey cards (shoot me) and I started listening to this. I was cracking up all the time, and my co-worker Kirk, would peek over his cubicle to look at me, confused. 

They've been sort of doing them randomly for the last 2 1/2 years, but claim this series (starting September 16) is the last. 

The show involves Ricky Gervais (star of the Office and Extras), his partner (not in that way) Steve Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, their idiot producer. The show basically involves Steve and Ricky prodding Karl to say something stupid, and he obliges, none the wiser. The YouTube clip above is from season 3, where Karl started writing poetry. 

He hates Jellyfish. Get rid of 'em.

Check, Check

I have two kinds of people in my life right now: people who "know" about weddings, and people who don't. Aka, people who understand the time and effort and money and resources it takes to plan a wedding, and people like Jeff. (Just kidding!)

But to both of those people, I seem to be doing "OK" on this wedding stuff. The non-wedding people can't believe how much I have done, while the wedding people understand it sort of is necessary to book a reception hall, photographer, caterer, dress, DJ, and florist almost a year in advance.

We added those last few checks in the last few weekends with gas-guzzling trips to Rhode Island. First was the florist, Florals by Semia, in N. Providence. I tell Jeff that for every vendor I make the decision to visit, I've spent hours researching, sent a dozen emails or made a half-dozen phone calls. So when I make the decision to visit -- I'm pretty much decided on that person unless they really turn me off in the interview.

Well, that didn't happen with Semia. She's got a pretty fantastic reputation in RI (my date twin, high school buddy Sabrina is going with her as well). She helped me decide on my colors -- sage green and bright "Rhode Island" blue (her words) ... with touches of hot pink, like my bouquet. 

So excited for this. At first, I had planned to use minimal flowers because I didn't see the sense in spending so much money on something that dies. But then my mom insisted ... and she made an offer I couldn't refuse. So we're going "big."

So far in this wedding process, I've had this "feeling" three times. A feeling that after I walk out of a meeting with a vendor, I feel perfectly satisfied about it, not second-guessing at all. Completely comfortable. I felt this way about our photographer. That's how I felt about the florist.

Moving on. My mom had recommended a DJ who DJ-ed a friend's daughter's wedding. She said he had everyone dancing, young and old -- which is of course what we want. So we met with him this past Saturday and he seemed very friendly. He also does uplighting in the room for cheap, so we might use that depending on how the budget shakes out. Done and done.

Finally, we met with a possible rehearsal dinner spot. Ever since I told Jeff's mom she was in charge of the rehearsal dinner (she didn't know the traditions and legitimately wanted to know what she was "supposed" to do), she has been a bit anxious about booking a place. I wasn't. There are a million restaurants in Newport, I was sure we'd find something, eventually. She still asked Jeff about it every time they spoke.

So I looked around .... I had decided pretty early on that I didn't want it to be a traditional rehearsal dinner in the sense that it was just the wedding party and parents in a sit-down meal. I wanted to change it to an appetizers and cocktails "Welcome Party" for all those same people, plus the out of town guests. See, Newport hotels have two-night minimums, which means that most likely, all out of towners will have to spend both Friday night and Saturday night in Newport. I wanted to make it "worth their while" by having something for them to do Friday as well.

But we had to work within the budget, using the same amount of money for more people. So I asked around -- and we found this great little place in Newport called "Pop -- Kitchen and Cocktails." I emailed back and forth with the owner a few times, and it seemed within our budget. Finally, we made a meeting with him to see the place.

From the outside, I was totally unimpressed, and worried that I'd kind of gotten my hopes up. However, on the inside, the restaurant/lounge was totally cool and hip-looking. There are both tables and couches (Play "Where's Schaible?" below). The owner explained what he could do for us (shut down the whole place for us for 2, 2 1/2 hours, let us plug in an iPod for music) and let us taste some of the food (mini burgers, scallops + bacon -- yum!). I think it's going to be fantastic. I'm almost as excited about the rehearsal dinner as I am about the wedding. I had that feeling again...

It's all coming together ...