Bachelorette Party

This past weekend we had the Bachelor/ette parties, which were an absolute blast. People started arriving as early as Thursday evening for the weekend shenanigans. On Friday morning the guys left for a ski weekend in some hills that Virginia claims are mountains. That evening the girls gathered at my house after work for an old-fashioned slumber party. Except that now we're old enough to drink, which makes slumber parties a lot more fun.

We started the weekend with pizza, board games, and Disney movies. And a lot of wine. On Saturday morning, Sarah put together a fabulous brunch with Jen's help and we sat around drinking mimosas until we ran out of alcohol. Then, because we needed more beer and it was absolutely gorgeous out, we walked over to Safeway with the dogs. It was a long walk, but it was so nice to be out in the sun on one of the few nice days we've had in a long time. Then it was back to the house for margaritas before we went out to dinner.

The restaurant we picked was delicious, but the bill was an absolute mess. Our waiter didn't really understand math or computers and managed to make 402/6 = 78, which is not even close to correct. It took a while, and a bunch of people, to sort everything out, but we got there eventually. Only to later discover that the waiter had attempted to charge the entire bill to one card, in addition to overcharging everyone else. At least it all worked out in the end.

A most excellent group of ladies

After dinner we bought as much champagne as we could carry and trouped back home, where there was a beer pong tournament, silly Bachelorette games, and an attempt to watch Magic Mike, which has entirely too much plot. Also Jen made delicious brownie pops with butterscotch frosting to share, and she even left me with the recipe.

On Sunday we woke up with the goal to get as drunk as we could before the boys got home at noon. Noon turned into 1:30, and we were all pretty happy by the time they arrived. The afternoon devolved into beer pong and visiting, as it usually does when our group gets together. Though we did make time to check out our neighbor's open house. I don't think the real estate agent was entirely prepared for us.

People trickled out all day until it was just Kevin and me around 9:00. We promptly fell asleep and were still exhausted for work the next day. (It really didn't help that I'd forgotten about the massive presentation I had to give, but I powered through.) All in all it was an absolutely perfect weekend filled with good food and friends. I can't to see everyone again at the wedding.

New York State of Mind

Kevin and I took a quick trip to NYC last weekend to visit his sister before she moves to the other coast and see a few other friends who live there. We took the bus up after work on Friday, arriving at our friend's apartment near Times Square around 10:30. We got home at about the same time on Sunday evening, making for a really short trip. But we were able to do a lot while we were there. Even though the snow and wind caused us to cancel some of our wandering around plans.

We met my cousin for brunch on Saturday morning at a little Mexican cafe in Chinatown. I'd never been that far south in Manhattan before, and it was a little disorienting to be away from the numbered streets and avenues that make navigation so easy. We'd wanted to go down to the Freedom Tower and Battery Park afterwards, but the snow canceled those plans. So instead we headed over to Brooklyn to meet Kevin's sister and her boyfriend for mimosas and board games.

Later that day we headed back to Chinatown for drinks and dinner at my cousin's restaurant. We had a reservation for 7, but showed up around 4:30 because the snow killed all of our other plans. Dinner was delicious. The fried chicken was the best fried chicken I've ever had; I never figured out exactly what they put in it. And my cousin made brussel sprouts that may have caused me to change my mind about the potential tastiness of that particular vegetable. I always find them a little too bitter, but these had just enough sweetness to cancel that.

After dinner we looked around for things to do, but ended up just heading back to Hell's Kitchen and calling it an early (for New York) night. I was still fighting off a cold, so I was happy to get a ton of sleep.

On Sunday we met up with a big group of former college friends for brunch, then wandered through Chelsea Market and eventually ended up in a bar on the West End. By then our large group had dwindled to four as people had to go take care of other things. Before we knew it, it was time to head back up to grab our bags and catch our bus.

The trip was quick, but it was about as much NYC as I can handle in a single go. That city gets really crowded, sometimes overwhelmingly so. When we were walking home from the bus at the end of Sunday night, I was marveling at the novelty of being the only people on the sidewalk. It was a great weekend, and seeing everyone was so much fun. But I'm happy to be back in my boring, suburban home.

Wedding Bands

We bought our wedding bands last weekend. Contrary to what I've heard from a lot of people, this was the easiest, cheapest part of the entire process. It went sort of like this:

Me: I want something like this
Sales Lady: Like this?
Me: Now quite
Sales Lady: Like this?
Me: Yes. Perfect.
Kevin: Can I try on those two?
Sales Lady: Here you go.
Kevin: I'll get this one.

So that's one more thing we can check off the list, which is finally getting shorter instead of longer. The rings will be here in a few weeks, after which we'll just need to keep them safe until April.

Wedding Hair, Take Two

Over Christmas, my aunt mentioned that I should start looking into a hair salon for the wedding pretty soon. My cousin had several trial runs for her wedding style, and the whole process can take a while. Soon after this, one of my bridesmaids asked me to send her the salon information when I had it so that she could book an appointment, too. I realized it was probably time to start looking into this.

A quick Google search later, and I had some serious sticker shock. One salon offered packages starting at $850 and a la carte options, with a minimum of $320. Another salon advertised $95 per trial and $95 day-of. A third place didn't even list prices. These were the lowest prices these places advertised. Given the length of my hair, I was sure the cost would be higher than this.

A second, more in-depth search of the internet revealed that I had, indeed, found the lowest prices in my area. Many brides ended up paying far more (up to $1000). And they all thought this was reasonable!

Granted, I'm not one to spend a lot of money on my hair. I still balk at haircuts that cost more than $20, which is the main reason my hair gets so long. I take a lot of pride in it, but that's mostly my own doing rather than a salon's. For as long as it is, my hair is actually pretty low maintenance, mostly because I keep it braided so much of the time. These prices still seemed way too high for me to consider.

So I scratched the salon idea. I've been braiding my own hair since it was long enough to braid. I actually remember practicing with yarn when I was about six. I'd keep my eyes closed to get a better understanding for the feel of the process. When I was eight, I learned french and fishtail braids from the other girls at school. That was also the year I asked for an Addy American Girl doll. She had the longest hair, the better for me to practice on. By the time I hit middle school I was braiding my own hair almost every day, and in high school I was frequently experimenting with new things.

Since then I've learned about a lot of new braids. Waterfalls, feathers, laces, ladders, and more. There are online tutorials that make all of this look pretty simple. Pick up extra hair here, drop some hair there, don't pick up any at this point, and you get a really cool effect. I hadn't tried out new braids on my own head for years, but I had a few basic staples that already incorporated some of these techniques. It was time to start playing again.

Now that it's been a few weeks, I believe I've settled on the style I'm going to wear for my wedding. I haven't really perfected it yet; it never comes out exactly how I want it to. But it's getting closer. And I still have plenty of time to practice. I'm also hoping that I can use my bachelorette party to recruit at least on of my bridesmaids to help me with the trickier bits. If you're curious, it's going to be a variation on the style Daenerys Targaryan wears in the last episode of the first season. For more detail, you'll have to wait until the wedding.

SHIELD: T.R.A.C.K.S.

Guys, this episode was funny! I laughed. I enjoyed all the different character interactions. I actually felt it in my gut when Skye got shot. And even though I know she'll survive (she has to survive, right?), I'm anxious for the next episode.

A flip got turned somewhere, and I finally care about this show. It's not perfect yet. It's not even really great television yet. But it's worth watching, worth caring about, finally worth writing about.

SHIELD did a lot of smart things this episode. For starters, they shook up the team and created some new pairings. This meant that we actually got to explore a couple of relationships. We got to see May and Coulson's deep friendship on display and Ward's jealousy of that bond. It clearly isn't just sex for him. We got to see Simmons go into over-prepare mode and Coulson be a little uncomfortable with it. (That scene did go on a little long.) We got to see Skye and Fitz work together and Skye completely take charge. It was so nice to see some actual character development in all these little moments that peppered the episode.

The structure was smart, too. At first I thought we were going to get a time-loop episode. Those are always fun, so I was only mildly disappointed when I realized we were heading into flashback territory to get a new side of the story. Breaking it up like this was smart. Seeing the story play out once character at a time built on both suspense and characterization. And having the plot advance a little farther each time kept it interesting.

There were a few things that were off. The holograph table scene was a little jarring, tonally. Coulson's distress over Skye seemed a tad overplayed, though that's mostly due to a lack in previous episodes than anything in this episode.

But those moments get balanced out by May's brilliant escape. By Fitz's concern over Simmons when she gets frozen and the beautiful shot of their hug at the end. By the look on Skye's face when Quinn shoots her for the second time. (Okay, my emotions in that scene may have been tied to my flashbacks to Kaylee's gut wound. This episode had more than a little in common with Firefly. But that appears to be a good thing).

I'm excited again.We have interesting relationships, serialized plot, a cohesive bad guy, promises of Sif. Now if the show can just keep on improving, it may be worth committing to a second season.

Finalizing Food

On Saturday, Kevin and I drove out to our wedding venue for our catering tasting. We had already mostly selected our menu, but this gave us an opportunity to try all the food and fine-tune things. We were able to tweak the salad and the sides to our liking. We narrowed down the appetizers. And we even got to taste the wine.

I'm really happy with all of the food we picked. It's great that we can offer our guests so many options for the reception dinner. And all of it tasted delicious. Though it wasn't hard for me to decide on the chicken for myself. Between the crab and the sauce, that dish was a clear winner for me. Kevin preferred the Rockfish, a nice local treat.

While we were eating everything, we also went over a bunch of details with the coordinator. She has the information for all of our vendors, and it really feels like everything is coming together. We have one more meeting, closer to the wedding, to go over all the final details. For now, I think we're on top of everything. Though it's a good thing that she reminded us about the need for a guestbook. We probably would have forgotten that completely.

In the meantime, I've been practicing my makeup and hair. I think I know how I'm going to wear my hair for the wedding. Now I just need to keep practicing the style until I have it perfect so that it looks good on the day of.

We're going to start looking at wedding bands soon, probably next week. I have a good idea of what I want, but I think Kevin will need to shop around a bit. And it's time to start pulling together the playlist for the reception. There are about a million songs that I keep hearing and mentally adding to it. We'll have to sit down and sort through everything to get a list the right length.

A Tale of Two Reading Challenges

Early in the year, I came across an interesting reading challenge. It looked fun, but it also looked difficult and I've been on the fence about whether to do it ever since. The original is posted here, but this is the quick rundown:

January: A book published the year you were born
February: a book recommended on a blog
March: a book that has been made into a movie
April: a book from your childhood
May: a book from another country
June: a classic you never got around to
July: a book you found on a social-networking book site
August: a genre or format you don't usually read
September: a book from an opposing point of view
October: a book being read by a local book club
November: an award winner
December: someone else's favorite book

There are a few things here that I think are interesting and that line up pretty well with things I've been wanting to read. It turns out that the first novel in the Vorkosigan Saga was published in 1986, which gives me a good excuse to start that series. June may be just the push I need to finally finish Treasure Island. And the May challenge lines up nicely with my honeymoon, so it would be really easy to find and read a book published in a foreign country.

Then again, there are things on this list I'm less excited about. Finding new recommendations from blogs or the internet in general is not something I need to do. My to-read list is long enough as it is, just from me hearing about new and interesting books in the course of my daily life. The last thing I need to do is actively seek out more books. I'm also somewhat less excited about September, partly because I don't know what to read, and partly because I think life is too short to read things I dislike. If I disagree with a book strongly enough, I probably won't finish it. Though I suppose it depends on the topic and how much I'm willing to tolerate another point of view.

Anyway, I'm definitely torn about this challenge. And seeing as January is almost over and I haven't started yet...well we'll see if I end up attempting it at all. Maybe I can do part of it.

Once I joined Goodreads, I learned about another challenge, that seems a bit more up my alley. It's called the Monopoly Genre Challenge. The idea is that each "monopoly" represents a different genre and each property is a specific sub genre. To earn a monopoly, you read a book from each sub-genre. The goal is to collect as many monopolies as possible by the end of the year. Here's the challenge, along with my progress and plans:

Monopoly Challenge Genres: purple are completed books, red are planned books

As you can see, I've already made some headway here. The fact that I had one complete monopoly already definitely push me over the edge on attempting to complete this challenge. Then I realized that my current to-read list actually matches up with this challenge pretty well. Throw in a couple of Kevin's books that I wasn't necessarily planning to read, but that I have easy access to, and this one seemed like a no-brainer.

I read a lot of fantasy and science-fiction, but I like to branch out beyond those categories, too. This gives me a good excuse to read some non-fiction and test out some genres I usually stay away from. It also gives me an excuse to re-read Clan of the Cave Bear, which I've wanted to revisit since high school but can never seem to make time for.

There are a couple of genres that I'm completely stumped on. I haven't got the slightest idea where to begin with romance. But I have enough of a plan to get started, and I can keep my eyes open for interesting books over the course of the year.

There are also a few books I've been wanting to read (Beloved, The Blind Assassin, Time Enough for Love), that don't seem to fit anywhere in these two challenges. But given the rate at which I read, I should have time for them this year anyway. Especially with two transatlantic flights in my near future.

I'll try to remember to keep you all updated on my progress, at least on the monopoly challenge. The first challenge I may treat as more of a guideline than something I really want to finish. We'll see how it all goes. In the meantime, I'm excited to break out of fantasy a bit and explore some more of what's out there.