Keeping calm.

I seem to have a lot going on right now.  Generally, life is pretty uneventful.  I meander my way through with the occasional bump and detour but I think I’ve had too many of those lately.  I’m trying to keep a positive outlook but I think the current level of my grumpiness is telling me I’m not doing a very good job.

To start, it seems like every possible expensive thing has come up all at once.  These things also appeared right as Ben and I decided we would really like to take a vacation.  It’s nothing we can’t handle, it’s just annoying.  I’d rather spend money on a fun adventure rather than car insurance or new tires.  It also doesn’t help that Ben and I have complete opposite philosophies on money.  Managing our money has definitely been the biggest struggle of our marriage.  Not that it is much of a struggle, we just have issues agreeing.  It also doesn’t help that we have been asked probably 15 times in the last 2 weeks how much longer Ben will be in school.  The realization of that time frame and the fact that the dual income is dependant on that time frame doesn’t make me happy.  I am not a patient person and I have already been patient for 5 years…with 4 (hopefully) to go.   I’m trying to stay optimistic but lately, it’s been very difficult.

Next thing on the list of annoyances is the fact that I am fairly certain our air conditioner is broken.  We spent $800 to fix it when we moved in last year and it worked fine last summer.  This year however, it appears to not be cooling like it should.  Based on conversations with neighbors and the building management, many people have had to replace their units in the last couple years.  Wonderful.  I found out last week how much it costs to replace a unit in our building…a grand total of $7000!  Thank you president Bush for the first-time home buyer credit, I will no longer be using it to upgrade our kitchen, but to replace our air conditioner.

Now for the cake. On top of all the other little annoyances (not all listed here for the sake of minimizing my pity party), my face has decided to grow a chunk of bone that does not belong.  To be fancy for a second and pay tribute to my nerdy medical husband and in-laws, I have an osteocondroma on my right (and probably left) mandibular condyle, or a tumor-like growth in my temporomandibular joint.  I just wanted a reason to type that, now that I know how to say it all.  All this really means is that there is a growth in my jaw joint that is pushing my jaw out of wack and making it a bit uncomfortable to talk and eat.  It’s been like this for a couple years but has just now started to broach the line between uncomfortable and painful. 

Nothing is 100% confirmed at this point and I don’t want to sound dramatic but from what my current doctors have told me, it’s much more complicated than I thought.  Turns out, it is not a routine procedure to get rid of my little growths and based on what the doctors said, there are only 2 people in the country that they feel comfortable sending me to.  One is in Texas, the other in FL.  Also, based on what I’ve seen online and what I’ve been told, it’s a fairly invasive procedure and will require a hospital stay. 

To really put the icing on the cake…my insurance (so far) will not cover one penny of the diagnosis or treatment.  I’ve basically tried everything outside of having my doctors call and yell at my insurance company but as it stands right now, my insurance WILL NOT cover it.  There is a specific line in the policy that states this fact.  I’m not done fighting, and maybe there will be a miracle, but it is not looking good.  We’ve even looked into Ben’s crappy student insurance and they also have that lovely little line in their policy. 

The plan right now is to see a surgeon at the University of Chicago and hope that he is a miracle worker both with joint intruders and insurance companies.  If he can’t help, it’s off to FL we go and to the bank for a possible medical loan.

So, let’s recap.  I have a boney growth in my face that is throwing my teeth out of wack, which I forgot to mention will require braces to fix (talk about a blast to my ego), it’s messing up my speech, making it hard to eat certain foods, limiting how far I can open my mouth, will cost more than my house to fix, will possibly require multiple flights to FL,  and my insurance company won’t pay for it.

I really hope I am being dramatic and I’ve outlined the worst case scenario.  I would be happy to wear a shirt around saying “I WAS WRONG”, but based on facts and my stupid realistic personality, I don’t think I will get to wear that shirt.

And Ben wonders why I am a little irritable these days.

OK, pity party over.  On the flip side of my medical issue, it could be much, much worse.  I keep telling myself that I could have a life threatening issues that WAS covered by insurance and would feel much worse about things. 

As my mother would say, this too shall pass.

Urban Camping

I’d like to claim that I am the camping type.  I’d love to say that I like being one with nature and I totally appreciate everything it has to offer.  The fact of the matter is, I am SO not that person.  I’ve decided that I love everything about camping except for the whole sleeping in the woods part.  There is nothing about sleeping on twigs and rocks and on the freezing cold ground that I enjoy.  With all that said, Ben and I went camping on Sunday.

It all started with Ben’s little (he’s actually not all that little) brother wanting to go on a post-prom camping trip.  Ben’s mom tends to think all her children are drug addicts, making babies constantly, and are also on the verge of being arrested at all times.  The truth of the matter is, she has three very considerate well-behaved kids that are so humored by/terrified of her craziness that I am pretty sure they wouldn’t mess with her.  Regardless, Tom was not allowed to attend any overnight outing without the presence of an adult.  Given that all his friends were allowed to go without an adult, Ben and I volunteered for the event.  We figured we couldn’t possibly let Tom miss his senior year post-prom event when we knew we had so much fun at ours.  The fact that we were considered adults in this situation still makes me giggle.

So there we were, 2 twenty-seven year olds chillin with a bunch of high school seniors.  We decided that we don’t think Tom told his friend why we were there which left them all thinking that we were there because we wanted to be.  Granted, we would do anything for Ben’s brother and sister but camping with a bunch of 18-year olds was not number one on our list of activities.  Just imagine what they must have all been thinking.  We are so cool.

Ben and I knew right away that we would have to leave at the crack of dawn so we decided to borrow my mom’s Suburban to eliminate any campsite break down in the morning.  Also, I was not at all excited about sleeping on the ground. 

The day actually went pretty well.  We left Tom and his friends alone for the most part.  We were friendly but kept our distance.  I think Ben secretly wanted to hang out with them the whole time.  I gently reminded him that we are OLD in their minds. 

We took Charlie along for the adventure and let him roam the woods leash-free.  This time we didn’t have to worry about him falling down any waterfalls.  We were also near Lake Michigan so we let him go swimming and roll around in the sand.  Two of his all-time favorite activities.  It poured for about ten minutes then cleared up completely.  Boredom was about to get the best of us so Ben decided to make fire, as in “man make fire”.  He claims he felt some heat and saw smoke but never actually got a spark.  This was not for a lack of trying, if you know Ben, you know he put 100% into it.   We spent the rest of the evening raiding campsites for leftover wood because we ran out of cash for firewood. 

(On a side note, I got a text from Ben on Monday saying “Hands = so hurty.  Me no make fire.”)

The “kids” then made everyone dinner and I must say, I was incredibly impressed.  They made brats with sauteed onions, hot dogs, baked potatoes, and brought along pasta salad and enough chips to feed an army.  We then all made S’mores which is the sole reason I will ever go camping again.  You can’t be a cinched marshmallow in my mind.

8:30 rolled around so Ben and I decided to head to the “tent” otherwise known as my mom’s massive Suburban.  We made up our bed in the back, hauled Charlie into the car and proceeded to watch TV on Ben’s computer.  Rustic aren’t we?  We were exhausted by 9 and went to bed.  I woke up at what I thought was about 3am freezing to death and with my body contorted to accommodate Charlie and Ben.  I checked the phone only to see that it was 12:59am.  This scenario repeated itself every hour until 4:47 am when Ben and I decided to just give up and leave.

This is also when we realized we could have turned on the heat in the car to help curb the 35 degree tempuratures outside.  We were frozen in the car wearing sweatshirts/hats/pants and using multiple blankets and a down comforter, not to mention a 100lb dog to help us.  I can’t imagine how the “kids” dealt.  These were the people that forgot to bring socks or shoes other than flip flops.

All the misery aside, we did actually have fun.  Tom got to hang out with his friends which was totally worth the exhaustion/smelling like a campfire/sleeping with a dog/freaking out about the possibility of ticks crawling all over us and Charlie.

As a bonus, we also learned that if the economy got really bad, it is very possible to live in a Suburban.  Those things are HUGE!

Now some pics:

The happy prom couple, us, Ben’s lil sis, and Charles, of course.

So happy!

Can you imagine how dirty he was after this trip?

He tried.

Look closely, you can see the Chicago skyline.

Not what I expected.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the hospital this week.  A very good friend of mine went in early Monday morning for an extensive back surgery and has been in the hospital ever sense.  I’ve been spending a lot of time visiting her and things just aren’t quite what I expected. 

She spent the first couple days in the ICU, which I expected to be a very serene environment.  I was very wrong.  The nurses yell back and forth, there are machines beeping everywhere, and they weren’t quite as strict on visitors as I expected (thank goodness!).  However, the nursing staff was wonderful.  My friend actually told one of them that we wanted to be friends with her…because we do!  She is just that cool.  You can never have too many friends, right?  They took very good care of my friend and I think everyone was a little sad to move away from them.

The most unexpected thing has been the lack of privacy.  Her room in the ICU had semi see through blinds dividing the rooms.  We could literally look intently or lift the blinds and see everything going on with the patient next door.  Disturbing right?  Everyone was thankful that my friend’s side controlled the blinds.  At least she had a private room with her own little waiting area and a window.

She is now in a less intensive unit where she is sharing a room with someone else.  I know MUCH more than I care to know about her neighbor.  I mean, MUCH, MUCH more than I care to.  I would share a very vague version of it but I really think there has got to be some patient confidentiality rules being broken.  I’m almost ashamed that I heard what I heard, but there is no getting away from it.

The other thing I find odd is that there is a nursing staff paging system in each room.  Whenever a nurse is needed they page them and the page goes through every single room.  The intercom just happens to be above the patient’s head and does not have a volume control that we can find.  Inconvenient, right?  Every time my friend has fallen asleep, another page comes through.  Fortunately, no pages have come through for a while and both patient’s mom and patient have gotten some sleep.

Hopefully there will only be a couple more days of this until she can go home to her own comfy spots.

I love where we live.

Given that today is the most beautiful day we’ve seen since August, I took advantage of a lazy day at work and went for a run.  It’s been an average of 40 degrees, windy, rainy, and just plain nasty for the past 6 months so the weather today was a welcome change. 

We may live in one of the best places in the city, depending on who you ask, but it’s perfect for us.  Not only is it somewhat quiet at times, close to everything-including every interstate that goes through Chicago, but we also live so close to the main attractions in Chicago.  People pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to see the things that are literally across the street from our condo.

So today, I headed out on one of my usualy runs.  On my typical route I run up Michigan Avenue to the Art Institute where, depending on the day, I can witness a school field trip, a protest, the bucket boys beating on their “drums”, or like today, multiple saxophone players whipping up some tunes.  I then proceed to Millennium Park where, in the the summer I can watch the little kids playing in the fountain, hear one of the multiple free concerts in the Pritzker Pavilion, and run across the wonderful BP bridge.  I’m not sure what it is about the bridge, but I love it.  I then run to the lake, past the Chicago Yacht Club (where my uncle got married) and down the lake front path, where in the summer, I stare at all the sail boats in the harbor and daydream about having one of my own some day.  It’s then on to Museum Campus where I run past the Field Museum, the Aquarium, and the Planetarium, where Ben proposed and where you can get the all-time best view of the city.  Usually within this trip I will also swing past Buckingham Fountain.  If I want, I can also head north towards Navy Pier/Lincoln Park, but that is only reserved for days that I am really spunky, which is never.

I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that!

For the record, it was my slip.

I’m Famous.

Our phototographer submitted some photos from our wedding and one of them won 2nd place.  I’m thrilled that this is on the front of his website right now.  Actully, I don’t really care.  I think it’s hysterical.

My whole paycheck just went to the Container Store.

Yesterday morning Ben and I decided it was time to finally add some shelving to our pantry/laundry room/closet/shove-as-much-as-we-can-into-this-little-space room.  I’ve mentioned before how tiny our house is and this space is probably the most used room in our entire place.  It was in desperate need of some organization.

We had heard that the Container Store was having a sale and knew a couple people that have used their system.  So, being the computer guru that Ben is, he hopped on their website and we proceeded to design our room.  He had 2 schematics of the room, plus measurements, plus angle definitions, plus a list of everything we needed within about 10 minutes.  This was all before 9am.

We head to the Container Store and proceed to deal with one of the most annoying sales people I have ever experienced.  I wanted to pull her aside and give her a lesson in sales and customer service.  Rule#1 : Do not insult the intelligence of your customer.  Rule #2: 3 is the magic number when it comes to being told no, give up after that.

Ben and I could tell right away she was going to try and sell us a whole bunch of crap we didn’t want so I was trying to nip it in the bud.  I told her that instead of showing us all the accessories first, I would like to get the shelving taken care of.  That was met with a very rude, “Why?!  I mean, I like to get everything taken care of first, blah blah blah.”  I replied with, “Show me the shelves biatch.”  Well, not really, but I thought it.

Anyway, we finally get everything figured out and the total came to just under $600.  Ben and I about crapped our pants because that wasn’t even close to the amount we had come up with.  Turns out, she had added all kinds of things that we specifically told her we did not want.  And we had to ARGUE with her to get them off the bill.  It all came down to an iron organizer, and after 5 minutes of her telling us we won’t have space unless we use it, I finally told her, “TAKE IT OFF THE BILL.”  Amanda, you would have been proud.  Ben then proceed around the corner so he wouldn’t start laughing in her face and I too had to keep myself together.

I made her go through the bill with me one more time, and again, I had to tell her to take things off!  It was INSANE!  I understand the concept of attachment selling and the concept of milking the customer for all their worth, but jesus lady, we said no (more than three times), and we mean it!

Next came the installation lecture, this from a different sales person.  David H to be exact.  Not David, David H, Ben was corrected.  Ben is a very handy guy.  He can hold his own with a tool box and I was positive between the two of us we would have no problem installing the stuff.  No form of “no” was working on David H and I had had enough.  I took the keys from Ben and made him suffer through the lecture on his own.  I later found out that Ben was told how to use anchors and how to pop the shelf in and out of place with numerous visual aides.  For the record, a 2-year-old could figure out how it works.

Anyway, we made it home with all our goodies only to be greeted at the door by Charlie.  If you know us, you know this is very much out of character.  Charlie is ALWAYS confined when we are gone so to see him at the door, we knew we were in for it.  Not only had he cleared out the garbage, but also the pantry.  We can now add an entire bag of bagels, an entire bag of raspberry fig newtons, barley, Panko, lemons, and coffee grounds to his repertoire of things he has eaten.  This is all in addition to his usuals…and visit to all of Kitty’s necessities.  Surprisingly, he didn’t get sick.  Well, not yet at least.

So after an evening of shelf installation, we now have a very organized pantry/laundry/everything room. 

As pathetic as it is, I am pretty excited to show off our new shelves!!

Handy Men

There is something to be said about a man who knows how to fix things.  Both of my dads are pretty handy around the house.  In fact, one of them basically built an entire house from the ground up.  My mom is also quite handy.  If you ask her, she will probably tell you that one of her favorite possessions is her 18V DeWalt cordless drill.  I like to claim that from the teachings of all of them, I can hold my own with a tool box.  It also helps that I have called on a large home improvement store for the last 5 years.  What I can’t fix, Ben always manages to take care of.  I’m lucky.  I feel like a lot of guys these days don’t know how to hang a picture, let alone move an electrical box.

Home repairs aside, I have a new found love for men who can fix cars.  Our car recently started making a loud and somewhat embarrassing noise every time we are in reverse.  I let it go on for a month or two until I realized I should probably get it looked at.  I’ve been dreading it only because I knew Honda would charge me an arm and a leg for something that probably isn’t that difficult.  I was mentioning this issue to a friend of mine who happens to have a dad that knows a thing or two about cars.  We asked him if we could bring the car out to have him take a listen.  This was also perfect timing given that he just got a brand new car.  Mind you, I only wanted him to listen to the car and tell me if I was about to die driving it down Lake Shore Drive.

As we pull into the driveway we notice a brand new Mini Cooper.  We immediately ask if we can take it for a spin and were given the go-ahead.  I handed my friend’s dad and brother my keys and we were off in the new car.  We were gone maybe 10 minutes, max.  As we pull into the driveway I see my car hoisted up on some thingy with one of the back tires off.  I couldn’t believe that they were going so far as to even look at it, let alone take it apart!  Turns out it was a brake issue and they informed me that I needed new break pads since mine were basically worn completely down.  I say, “OK, what do I do next?”  Friend’s brother says, “we call up so-and-so place, make sure they have the right brake pads and go pick them up, then we will install them.”  So off we went to Murphy’s Auto to get brake pads.  Talk about a first time for everything.

About and hour and thirty one dollars later, I have a new pair of brake pads and a car that no longer squeals!  I am still in awe of this whole situation.  I mean, really, all I wanted them to do was listen to the car and they ended up fixing the whole issue!

I said thank you about 1000 times but I’m still not sure if they know how much I appreciate it.  They saved me multiple hundreds of dollars!  And I had fun hanging out with them, too!

Pretty sure I am going to take another trip out there to get a lesson in car maintenance…apparently I should have had those brakes checked 15,000 miles ago.  Oops!

Weekend of bad service and good times.

To preface this post, this weekend has been one of the better ones in a long time.  I’ve seen a bunch of friends that I haven’t seen in a while and it’s been great.  Not to mention the amazing weather.  However, during all these fun times I’ve experienced some TERRIBLE customer service.  If you know me well, this is one thing that generally tips me over the edge.  I tend to go a little crazy, get really bitchy, and have to try as hard as I can to not let it ruin my time. 

So, it started with sushi at Coast.  Our server was a little loopy but she was OK.  After reading all the rules on the back of the menu we started ordering.  After receiving a roll that we could not recognize we asked our waitress what it was.  Three of us had tried it but none of us could place it on the menu.  She informed us that we had ordered the Maine roll when really we ordered the Rainbow roll.  I guess they kind of sound the same…m-a-i-n, r-a-i-n…b-o-w.  No big deal, this happens a lot.  We weren’t worried.  Then she asked us if we wanted her to take it away.  We were all a little taken aback by the question because we had already eaten part of it and they couldn’t re-serve it.  Normally, with sushi, they just don’t charge you for it, right?  Anyway, then, we were really taken aback when she took the entire plate for well over 5 minutes.  There were multiple rolls on the plate that we had already started eating, so again, we were a little perplexed.  Imagine our surprise when she finally brought the plate back and it was missing pieces of the rolls we had already started eating!  After plenty of thought and going back and forth as to how many pieces we had eaten and how many should have been on the plate, we determined that they removed three pieces to account for the ones we ate of the Maine roll.  Really?  We couldn’t believe what had happened.  Did they really punish us for their mistake?  Of course we were going to eat part of it since we thought it was what we ordered.  It was still a fun night and we all had a good time so it wasn’t a deal breaker.  It may have had something to do with all the wine…

The next experience came from Starbucks.  Yes, Starbucks, one of the most customer friendly places I have ever been.  Right there next to Nordstrom.  We went to the Starbucks on Jackson and Wabash.  We ordered our drinks and I got a minor lecture on how to order.  Really?  Dude?  I go to Starbucks all the time, I think I know how to order my grande non-fat mocha.  I was informed, “in the future, just so you know, the mocha comes with whip as a default.”  Oh really?  That may be the case, SIR, but why is it that every time I order a mocha they ask me if I want whip?  If it’s a default, for example, all drinks come with whole milk unless you specify, then why does every single barista in every single Starbucks, in every single state, ask you if you want it with whip?  I’ve been to a lot of them all over the country.  I am versed in this subject.  Grr.  Of course I kept my mouth shut.  This all took place where he was visibly inconvenienced by our presence.  To think, this wasn’t the worst offence. 

After patiently waiting for a 4th drink for a while, they asked us what we were waiting for.  We informed them that we were waiting for a tall non-fat vanilla latte.  You could see the hub-bub behind the counter.  Fortunately, we could hear them too.  They kept saying that the drink was never called, or they didn’t hear it called, and so on and so forth.  THEN, they started discussing how we never ordered it and were implying that we were trying to steal a drink.  Seriously?  I just bought 4 drinks at Starbucks, I think I can pay for it.  Reluctantly, they gave us the drink and we left.  Just out of curiosity, we checked the receipt and in fact, we had ordered and paid for the drink. 

We ended up waiting outside for a while for a friend to arrive.  After about 5 minutes, I saw the grumpy employee coming outside with the register receipt.  He approached us and said “Hey, I think you guys owe us for a drink” as he presented the receipt to us.  SERIOUSLY?!?  I couldn’t believe this was happening.  If we wanted to steal a drink, we certainly would not have stayed at the establishment.  Not only was he accusing us of stealing but he did it in a way that wasn’t apologetic in the least.  He went out of his way to try and humiliate us.  Luckily, I had the receipt, which I busted out and said, “Actually, we don’t owe anything!  Look, 1,2,3,4 drinks ordered and paid for.”  He scrutinized the receipt and ended up leaving us with his tail between his legs.  I was furious.  Every other Starbucks would have rushed to make the drink and then given out a free drink coupon for forgetting or messing up in the slightest way.  This has happened more than once and every time I think, “wow, Starbucks knows what’s up.” 

I will now be looking for a comment section on Starbucks.com and you bet I am going to be grouchy.

Bad Blogger

I noticed recently that many of the regular bloggers have taken a hiatuse.  I am not excluded from this group.  I’m not sure why, but there seems to be a lack of material these days.  Here is a wrap up of the last month or two.

The holidays came, they were wonderful, and then they left.  We had a massive Christmas tree that I loved and managed to fill completely, all nine feet of it.  I was so proud of our Christmas tree decorating prowess that I had to have a girly party to celebrate.  We made a ton of Christmas cookies and a ginger bread house that included some “caulk” and a ribbon cutting ceremony.  Ben and I had our usual struggle of how we were going to split our time equally with our parents but we managed OK.

The economy has me completely freaked out.  I am scared I will lose my job, even though I have been reassured from many people at my company that I am fine.  I do know that there is a sales team restructuring on the horizon and no one seems to be talking about it… 

Ben and I would love to start the updates on our condo, but again, we are freaked out that the minute we write the check, I will lose my job.  We are crossing our fingers for a nice bonus check and tax return to start the loooooong list of things we want to do to our apartment, including, but not limited to: new kitchen, new bathroom, refinished floors, new carpet, paint job, fix the windows, new doors, closet organizers, and lots of accessories.

We managed to spend $210 in the matter of 24 hours on the ridiculous and unfair policies that make up the city of Chicago motor vehicle laws.  Our car was towed because of the city wide overnight parking ban.  On many streets, you are not allowed to park between the hours of 2am and 7am regardless of snow accumulation.  Apparently this law began because in 1970 something because the city was shut down due to snow plows not being able to get through.  Seriously? Ben did not know this and our car was hauled off to the far away corn fields of Calumet City.  This is far beyond the city limits and a completely ridiculous place to tow a car when there are 2 massive lots within Chicago city limits.  Regardless, it was a major adventure getting there since our only mode of transportation was taken from us.  Here is the process of us getting our car back:

Ben gets super mad and realizes that I will get even more mad at him.  He does his homework, makes sure he knows exactly where the car is and what he needs, then wakes me up to inform me he is off to get our car.  I had to remind him that the car was in my name and I had to go with him.  Oops, one thing forgotten.  Thank god I remembered our marriage license since my name has changed and is therefore different than what is on the lease.  We take a 45 minute bus ride that felt like we were on a third world country road…CTA buses are VERY bumpy when they go over 30mph.  We get to the end of the line…as in, the bus parked, bus driver got out, and said, “get out”.  We were in the middle of no where and didn’t have the slightest clue where to go next.  I see a parking lot full of cars over a hill and ask a nice CTA person, if in fact, that is the impound lot.  “Yep, sure is!”  Abbie: “Um, Ok, thank you, but, how we get there?”  We had to walk across a 5 lane highway, find the “side road” and hope that we actually found the impound lot.  Our only reassurance was that we kept seeing tow trucks along what I am guessing was a mile long walk.  We get to the lot and are encountered by a massive man with a CPD badge hanging off his coat.  “WHOSE THE OWNER OF THE VEHICLE.”  Ben points to me as I sheepishly raise my hand.  I walk into the double wide trailer as Ben is told he has to wait outside.  Abbie: “What! He has to wait out here, it’s 10 degrees outside!”  CPD man, “Oh, I guess he can wait inside the the room off to the side.”  So we walk in, I put on the friendliest face I can muster, and start the process of getting our car back.  It’s not a good thing that they wouldn’t let Ben in with me because he happened to know all the information.  So, we managed to yell at each other over the crazies, the clueless, the extremely hungover, and one other guy in there for the overnight parking ban.  Then, I walk outside to get our car.  The attendant points in a very vague direction and tells me to go get it.  As I am walking to the car, I see a gigantic bulldozer with two metal forks sticking out of it.  The bulldozer manages to hoist a car about 20 feet in the air and plop in down in a new spot.  The operator had no regard for me and that I had no idea where he was going with the flying car…it was a little scary.  I found our car, checked it 400 times for damage and bolted.  I managed to pick Ben up at the door and we were out of there.  About 18 hours later, we got a $50 ticket for “expired meter”, 1 minute past it’s expiration.

Here is a random story: I went to the grocery store the other day to pick up chocolate chips.  I find them right away but there happens to be a young couple in front of the shelf I need to get to, so I wait.  I don’t think I looked impatient but they were very obviously stalling to keep me waiting.  I didn’t say anything and didn’t try to give off any non-verbal gestures.  In my head I was saying, “Damn, these people are rude, do they even know I am here?”  THEN, they started making out.  Right in front of me!  I started laughing at them because I was so shocked.  I mean, we are in the middle of Jewel at the ”baking needs” section.  Apparently frosting and chocolate chips turned them on.  I know they did it purposely, just to see what I would do, because after said make-out session, the girl looked at me like, “Haha! look what I have and you don’t.”  And I gave her the look  that said, “look at my left ring finger biatch, I married an almost-doctor!”  Very rarely do I like to bring this up, but it was advantageous at the moment.  Petty?  Just a little bit.

That’s it for now.  Hopefully there won’t be such a shortage of material moving forward.

Mr. and Mrs., The Finale

Where did I leave off, oh yes!  The actual wedding day.

Here I am the morning of the wedding showing off the famous “Whoa Face” and my dress:

This was at about 6am prior to a Starbucks run and before our 8am arrival time at the salon.

Here I am just as Patrick, the amazing hair and makeup guy, was finishing up (I was very happy with the finished product, can you tell?):

I don’t have many photos of us getting ready, but just know, it was a little chaotic.  Trying to coordinate 20+ people was a bit of a challenge.  All I really remember is sitting in the corner of the room eating my Jimmy John’s, while everyone around me was getting dressed and trying to find a variety of clothing. 

Next, was time for me to get dressed.  I felt like I was giving a peep show!  My mom, grandma, 5 bridesmaids, friend, and 2 photographers were all watching me get dressed.  I am fairly certain they all got a shot of my girls.  Just as I finished getting dressed, I got a letter from Ben.  That was the only time, up unitl that point, that I cried.  I thought I was pretty successfull considering I am usually a blubbering mess.

Then, it came time to see Ben.  After many months of deliberating, we finally decided to see each other beforehand, and boy am I glad we did!  Our ceremony didn’t start until 5:30 so it was going to be a logistical mess if we didn’t see each other before, not that it wasn’t a mess anyway.

Our photographer and wedding planner staged a semi-private spot for us to see each other.  I was so nervous and excited that when I saw his reflection in a mirror, I lost it.  We had our one and only moment with just to two of us (but really us, our photographers, wedding planner, and friend who was videoing us).  Benjamin also gave me some wonderful Tiffany bling during this moment of ours!

Then it all began.  SO MANY PHOTOS!  I am not a modest person, I don’t mind having my photo taken, I am a bit of a ham if you will, but my goodness!  After hours of it, I was ready to relax.  We had a blast touring the city with our bridal party and friends prior to our ceremony.  Here are some of my favorite pics:

It was cold, can you tell?

Next, came time to actually get married.  The ceremony location looked beautiful!  It was exactly what I had envisioned and I cannot possibly praise my florist enough!  Ben and I “designed” the entire ceremony from scratch so needless to say, we were a little stressed out about it.  We had some fairly creative and “out-there” ideas, but I think it went off really well and people really enjoyed it.  I personally loved it.  Ben and I have been to a lot of weddings that are always very nice, but they seem a little generic.  We wanted something that actually had a little of our personality in it.  I think we succeeded.

My 2 favorite parts:

We asked a good friend of ours to kick it off with a reading, except we asked her to actually write it.  She says she was nervous, but she delivered it perfectly!  Here it is.  

We asked everyone invited to our wedding to submit their definition of love.  We asked them to return them with their response card.  We thought there would be maybe, 6-10 but we ended up with almost 30, which we thought was impressive.  We then selected people in the audience to read them aloud (they knew beforehand, of course).  I personally think it was awesome.  The best part was that we had kids read their definitions…my favorite (from a 3 year old) “Love is a basketball!”  And he said it in front of 200 people!  One of these days, I’ll get around to posting all the definitions. 

The rest of the evening is honestly a bit of a blur.  We tried so hard to talk to everyone and make sure everyone knew how much we appreciated them being there.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a blast, just a little blurry.

Our florist was amazing, our venue looked beautiful and had excellent food, our DJ had everyone dancing like rockstars the entire night, and our wedding planner had me pretty much stress free the entire day.  Our wedding was seriously everything I could have asked for.  My vision of the evening panned out and it was honestly perfect.

We topped off the perfect night with a perfect midnight snack.  Us and 20 of our friends headed to Rock’n Roll McDonald’s for none other than nuggets and a coke!