Small town style.

Chris has been handling researching, contacting, and getting quotes from caterers for our wedding, and I've been secretly, fervently feeling grateful for this as the appetizer choices alone make my head spin. I told him "thank you" the other day and he said, "No offense, but you couldn't handle this, babe."

I was insulted for a little while but deep down I knew it was true. If I was in charge of finding the caterer you'd all be eating Domino's pizza at my reception AND LIKING IT.

Evidence for the prosecution regarding my inability to coordinate: I'm supposed to be handling florists, something I'm excited about. Why then did I wait till five days BEFORE my trip to Virginia to start making preliminary Google searches, phone calls, and asking for appointments? Did I really think I could just show up?

The week before Valentine's Day?

However, so many things for the wedding have fallen very casually into place despite my best efforts at fretting and complicating them (location, officiant, photographer, suit, dress, hair stylist, and, knock on wood, rehearsal dinner) that I have a feeling the florist who works out of her house up the lane from my mom's house is going to be the one. Just like the way I have the feeling the people who own the house next door to my mom's and on whose property Chris and I had the best February day ever sledding two years ago* (and whose parents sold my mom's husband his land decades ago) AND who coincidentally run a restaurant and catering company could easily wind up being our food choice.

Word-of-mouth totally beats the Internet.

*Aha! Sledding! Another one for the list.

Baby, it's cold outside.

The dog days of winter are really getting to me so I thought I'd try some reverse psychology and post what's nice about this time of year:

Dark evenings with the lamps on and a British mystery
The return of Lost (last night's episode was awesome!)
Hot toddies
Red wine
Baking things
Cough syrup (mmm) (I'm a freak) (I DO have a cold, I don't just take it for kicks)
Hot tea
Lots of blankets
Rain boots
Thick knee socks

Do you have any?

But meanwhile

Maybe someone could self-publish Domino? It's folding, and I hadn't even received my first Christmas gift subscription issue, either. The one magazine I like!

Re: self-publishing.

Yes, I'm a snob about this. Yes, I should probably be more open-minded. But to me, this quote from this article about the "huge boom" in self-publishing says it all:

Indeed, said Robert Young, chief executive of Lulu Enterprises, based in Raleigh, N.C., a majority of the company’s titles are of little interest to anybody other than the authors and their families. “We have easily published the largest collection of bad poetry in the history of mankind,” Mr. Young said.

Look, we're DESPERATE to find and publish good books. Look how many bad books we publish while we're waiting! So if your book didn't get acquired by a regular publisher, either you didn't try hard enough

or it's just not very good.

I hate this smug attitude that self-publishing is the lovely frolicking egalitarian way of the future. Yeah, a future overrun with terrible, unedited, poorly spelled, badly designed books that won't live on for a second longer than this blog post.

The people who write these articles or who tell me "But why shouldn't everyone have a shot at being an author?" are always people who have never read the kind of horrible crap I sift through every day.

You have no idea.

Self-publishing has its place. But that place, at least for me, is not on MY bookshelf.

Perspective.

It's still surprising to me that copy I wrote for a book that I acquired and edited is featured on Amazon.com. Not a review I posted. Not a comment I left. It's part of the book page. Crazy! Sometimes I take my job for granted, and then sometimes I realize that certain books would not exist in their incarnations if not for me.

And then I humbly remember that, oh yeah, I'm not the author; and I get back to work :)

About that dress.

You know, as much as I love fashion, the frenzy surrounding what Michelle Obama was going to wear on Inauguration Day (or any day, really) has kind of bugged me. She's a hugely intelligent woman with Ivy League degrees and incredible accomplishments under her belt. But I confess to being as interested in her wardrobe as most, and the reason is that she uses clothes to express herself. She takes chances. She dresses beautifully--but more importantly to me, interestingly. I LOVED her yellow dress and coat--and, yes, the green pumps she wore with it. Sure, she could have worn gold or beige shoes ... and been that much more of a conformist. So shut up, haters! Live a little! Green shoes are awesome!

And I love her ballgown. Wouldn't it make a gorgeous wedding dress? (Or do I just have a one track mind?) I love that she chose a 26-year-old designer and a gown that's not only pretty but that's totally different from the strapless satin columns so often preferred. Go, Michelle. And go Cathy Horyn, for recognizing that:

"Here is a bolder woman, a serious woman from Chicago and Harvard who is not afraid to express herself with fashion, and it is the kind of confidence that many women will recognize in themselves. Her clothes tell us that she has an adventurous spirit, as well as a sense of humor, and if some of these garments have almost an old-fashioned womanly quality, then they tell us that she is indeed not your average fashionista."

A new day.

The whole event, obviously, is something I'll never forget. But one thing really stuck with me--

"a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves"

There, that's what I've been looking for. That's exactly it.

Ravishing...

I found a dress; it's white. (Shocker!) But oh my gosh, how beautiful is this bride and her gown??




Via Once Wed.

I wish I could marry Chris once a year so that I could take turns wearing some of these:






Update: a few more. (I've lost all the links to these so please let me know if you would like credit or if you would like it taken down.)

You know you're jealous.

I get to see these guys tonight and tomorrow for a family wedding.

A real cut-up.

Chris's persistence has paid off. I, the girl who can't stand gore, is AM now a fan of Dexter.

Rita found the shoe!! What's going to happen?

Le sigh.

I'm not a J.Crew fanatic--I think they're overpriced and overrated, although I do think they have a fabulous stylist and I love perusing their catalog for ideas on how to reinvent my own wardrobe with new color and texture combinations; and I do love the yellow zebra-print cardigan Chris's mom gave me last year even though she couldn't possibly have known I was secretly lusting after it.

And I have a lot of "Scotch blood" in me so I don't know if I could justify spending $265 on shoes even if we WEREN'T in a recession and I WEREN'T planning a wedding on a budget, but ... wouldn't these be dreamy wedding shoes??
















I'm reminding myself strenuously that our wedding is on a farm...heels that can sink into the ground are not a good idea. Yeah.

Just a few more.

Engagement photos.

This past fall Chris's sister came up to Brooklyn and shot some engagement pics of us around Gowanus, near our apartment.