Imma Have Me a Garage Sale!

At the end of my last post, I wrote briefly about how I am determined to sort through the piles of *stuff* we've accumulated ever since we moved in to our apartment a year ago. Tonight, Jeff and I started by going through our clothes. It's amazing how frequently I mutter to myself "Gahhhd, I don't have anything to wear" since my closet is literally BURSTING with clothes. Honestly, I don't wear most of it, either because I don't think a piece works with anything else I own (I feel like I suck at putting together complete outfits) or because certain pieces just don't fit right and I haven't been willing to suck it up and get rid of them. Well tonight I tried to be as discriminating as possible and I ended up with a garbage bag full of items to toss (holes, stains, tears, faded, etc), a big laundry basket overflowing with items to sell, and a metric shit-ton of liberated hangers. My closet is still pretty full, but at least I can now actually see what's hanging there. I still have to go through my dresser and my shelves of sweaters, but I shall save that for another night. I'm quite please with tonight's pruning efforts! It feels good to clear out the extra stuff that was cluttering things up and making it hard to function easily-- my mantra this summer is going to be STREAMLINE.

I would go to this sale, wouldn't you??

I've decided that I'm going to have a garage sale the first weekend of August (which also happens to be Park Ave Festival weekend... aka: TONS of foot traffic in our neighborhood!). That gives me two weeks to finish going through my clothes and to collect household items that we don't want, don't use, and/or don't need. We have a lot of duplicate items (like sets of pots & pans, kitchen gadgets and utensils, etc) because we got nice stuff from our bridal shower to replace the stuff we'd been using-- I figured a garage sale would be the perfect opportunity to make room for the new items and earn a little extra cash in the process! All proceeds from the garage sale will go directly to our "down payment for a house" fund, which already has a nice little sum started. Hooray!

I dream of a super-organized, perfectly staged garage sale, with cute signage and little color-coordinated price stickers and perhaps even a little lemonade stand or table of baked goods as an added source of revenue! If you've got any stuff lying around your house and you'd like to donate it to our sale, let me know- I'll happily take it!

Currently THIS week...

I know... it's shameful how long it's been since my last post, but I've had shit to do (shows to open and close, a giant fundraiser to put on at work, and a wedding to plan and have), so sue me. Here's a short post to jump-start my efforts again...

Reading "The Fallen Angel", by some Dan Brown knock-off dude. So far, it's trying to be "Angels and Demons"... a lot. <LAME>

Writing a shit-ton of grant proposals. I have a final report due on Wednesday, two major final reports for NEA grants due by the end of the month, and then I have five grant applications due in August. Soooooo I'm just going to spend the next 6 weeks typing pages and pages of things. Oh, and thank you notes... must bang out thank you notes in the next 2 weeks.

Eating green things. I swear all I ate in Wilmington last week was steak and sugar. It was amazing. But I need to get my shit together and start eating like a grown-up.

Listening to the sound of the Geva air conditioning and NOT my beloved Pandora station (though I totally intent to put on my giant headphones and rock out to my Philip Glass station while I write this week, so suck my balls, IT).

Thinking about how much I hate the new East Ave Wegmans. I'm sorry, I've tried but I just can't seem to get on board. I don't know what it is about it, but it feels like a cold, suburban factory to me. And every time I'm there, that goddamn rooster won't stop crowing. It's enough to drive a girl to shop at TOPS!

Wishing we had $10,000 saved up so we could just slap a down payment down on a house and move. I/we really want a house and even though we got a nice chunk of change from wedding cards, it still feels like it'll take forever to save up enough for a respectful down payment. Also, it would be super awesome if someone could pay off all my/our debt please thanks okay bye.

Hoping that our fridge is not broken, because our landlord totally blows at responding to me whenever I try to contact him (see "Wishing" section above). We've got some serious condensation issues up in there, people, and I need to make sure that my chilly items remain cool during this time of oppressive heat.

Wearing black skinny jeans and a striped 3/4-length shirt, thank you. I'm looking tres French today.

Loving Jeffrey. Being married to him is the effin' bomb. I get squishy whenever I glance at his left hand and see that ring on it... gyullllll!

Feeling a mixture of overwhelmed-ness (I'm making words up) and motivation. I'm feeling the need to finally get my house in completely organizational order now that the dust is finally settling on a VERY busy Spring (what with doing 2 shows back-to-back, transitioning from one very busy job to a promoted - and even more intense - position, and the whole wedding thing). We have piles of stuff that need to be put away, closets that are bursting at the seams (half of that shit is going to Goodwill, I swear to God...), and new wedding gifts that need to replace old household items, which need to then find homes (I guess we'll add "plan and host a garage sale" to the list of things to do this summer). There's so much to do, I don't even know where to start, but I'm itching to get everything settled and organized. This may take days. Even weeks. If you don't hear from me until August, assume I've died in the hoard and send Jeff a sensible sympathy pie.

Currently This Week

Reading my Facebook newsfeed. My sister gave me a book when I was at her house last weekend and I'm just waiting for a free afternoon to sit outside in the sunshine and dive in.

Writing blog posts. I'm trying to be better about posting more regularly, folks, I swear. Look at me-- 2 days in a row!

Eating lots of sandwiches. They are easy and inexpensive. And we had a lot of boxed lunches leftover from a luncheon the other day, so my life is turkey and ham sandwiches right now.

Listening to the sound of air-conditioning and clickety-clackety computer keys at work... because our IT guy TOOK AWAY MY PANDORA-LISTENING ABILITIES! That's right- streaming music on our computers is now forbidden, which totally bums me out because that is how I WORK, MAN. Now I find myself feeling very distracted and scatterbrained while I sit here working at my desk- now I hear everything that anyone in our hallways says (and there are some interesting things said), I get distracted by the sound of my own loud and fast typing, and I find my mind wandering more. I need my Thomas Newman station baaaaack! And I've already tried streaming Pandora on my iPhone with not so great results. Blerg.

Thinking about scheduling a massage for this Saturday after my morning lessons. I've got a nice little window of time from 11am-6pm and could definitely use 60 minutes of zone-out time!

Wishing I had more time to invest in myself right now.

Hoping that the Etsy seller we bought Jeff's wedding ring from will be able to make it and ship it to us in time for the wedding. Apparently she's on vacation till June 3rd and it takes 4-5 weeks for her to make/ship products... which puts us just a couple of days before the wedding. Here's hoping she can rush the order for us so we get it in time!

Wearing a pair of stinky, worn-out silver ballet flats that are definitely on their very last leg.

Loving our new sheets and pillows. Jeff and I went out and purchased a set of sheets off of our registry (we cracked... our old sheets had holes in them and I couldn't take it anymore) and fluffy new pillows and THEY ARE AMAZING. I've always felt that you should really treat yo'self when it comes to your bed-- you spend 1/3 of your life in bed and getting good sleep is EXTREMELY important to the quality of your life during your waking hours, so it's worth it to invest in your bedding. And let me tell you-- our recent purchases are making a big difference in how hard I've been konking out each night. I love it I love it I love it. Bed is my happy place.

Feeling excited for our wedding. Only 38 days from today! We made some leaps in the last week by purchasing our wedding rings, sending in contracts and payments for the florist and the ice cream truck people (oh, the glorious ice cream truck, I cannot wait for thee!), purchasing the rest of my attire/accessories, following-up with guests for RSVPs (due this Saturday), and reaching out to the caterer to finalize details. Now we can move onto the next chunk of tasks to be conquered! 38 days is going to zoom by- I feel like just yesterday I was excitedly preaching "Only 70 days"!

Things I am looking forward to...

Things I am looking forward to doing this summer once I get my life back next week...


Our new cute porch.

• Sitting in the sunshine.
• Sitting on our cute new front porch.
• Sitting.
• Putting our new Expedit bookcase from Ikea together and sorting all of Jeff's records into it (thus getting rid of the 4 plastic milk crates full of records that currently line the perimeter of our dining room).
• Spring cleaning and getting our house super organized.
• Cooking REAL food! Like chicken! And actual things! For dinners and such!
• Reading books. Thick ones. With paper.
• Going on summer adventures with Jeffrey to places like the zoo, parks, the beach, etc.
• Finally hanging the shelves in the living room and accessorizing them accordingly.
• Planting flowers and playing in the dirt.
• Hitting the drive-in.
• Having the time to finish wedding plans without having to cram tasks into a 45-minute window in between work, rehearsals, lessons, and performances.
• Hopefully going camping for the first time in years.
• Actually seeing shows... as an audience member.
• Going on our honeymoon and having 5 days to do whatever we feel like doing in a totally new place. This will be our first real vacation together!
• Baking. I have so many things I want to bake but I just haven't had the time!
• Getting my ass back to the gym (which I will have to do because of the aforementioned baked goods).

Fatty Intervention

I've been feeling like a busted can of biscuits lately and that feeling slapped me in the face last night during rehearsal for Steel Magnolias. Our costumer came to rehearsal with stacks of things for each of us to try on- my stack was entirely pink, of course. I took my pile to the lobby bathroom (no, I am not one of those actresses who just whips off their clothes and walks around freely in their underwear in front of everyone) and grabbed the only pair of pants in the bunch.... which were a size 16. Instantly, my heart dropped out of my butt and I thought to myself "Do I really look like I should wear a size 16?". I put them on and was a bit relieved to find that they were a little too baggy to be a passable fit, but still... my heart was on the floor of that dirty little theatre bathroom. I grabbed a shirt from the stack- a pink polo shirt... in a size XL. Really? Is this how people see me? Is this how they quite literally size me up? I walked out of my makeshift dressing room feeling completely frumpy and defeated- not at all the confident stylish young woman I have been cast to portray. And not at all the confident stylish young woman I used to be...

This was me in May 2009, at around 138lbs

Four years ago, I was fit-- I could run 5 miles in one stretch pretty easily (and did- around 4 times a week), I lifted free weights twice a week, and though I wasn't totally toned, I was quite lean. Though other areas of my life were a bit of a mess during that time, I had somehow managed to incorporate fitness into my regular routine and within 4 months of starting, I looked pretty awesome. And that made me feel pretty awesome! My life changed drastically right around when this photo was taken and slowly I lost the time and motivation to keep up with it.


Me, last November, at my 10-year reunion

Now, four years later, I'm the heaviest I've ever been- nearly 170 pounds for anyone who's keeping track. I have a year-long gym membership, which I've used many many times this Spring, but I still seem to hover between 163-168. I see all of these amazing before and after photos of my friends posted on Facebook and they are completely amazing-- I am incredibly impressed and envious of their successful transformations, but I am struggling to find the time and energy to make fitness and diet my major priority right now. Certainly there should be no excuses, for the friends I mentioned all have busy lives as well, but I'm finding that working a full day at a stressful and sedentary job (which is currently at its most stressful as I plan the biggest Geva fundraiser of the year AND transition into my new position), keeping up with an apartment overrun by three cats, rehearsing a show, teaching private lessons and planning a very imminent wedding has depleted me of any and all energy at the end of the day. Any slice of time I have for myself is usually spent resting on the couch with Jeff or sleeping so I don't run myself completely into the ground. As much as I try to laugh-off or joke about my body, the whole thing makes me feel incredibly sad and hopeless. I feel ten-thousand miles away from being that person I used to be. After the costume debacle last night, I had a terrible dream where I just stood in the center of a circle and anonymous voices all around me chanted "you look like shit" at me, over and over and over again until I finally woke up. It was horrible.

So, because of this realization, I am giving myself a fatty intervention. I have made the decision that, after Steel Magnolias, I am taking a break from performing so I can focus on my health and my badly bruised body image. I am committing to replacing rehearsal time with activity time-- either in the gym or out in nature. I am committing to ditching soda. I am committing to investing my time and attention into working on those things about my appearance that I've completely lost pride in (which isn't limited to my weight-- last month, someone told me that my hair, which used to inspire envy, looked like seaweed). I am tired of not feeling great about myself. I'm tired of putting what little energy I have into finding ways to hide myself (since when have I been one to hide??). I am terrified that I will get my wedding photos back and I'll be too distracted and ashamed of my doughy arms and trunk-like torso to be able to display them with pride. I know I've said it in previous posts, but seriously guys- this shit ends NOW. I need to find myself again under all this extra physical and mental weight- it's unbearably oppressive and it's taken its toll on my body and my sense of self-worth. So with all that in mind, I officially announce that my next performance will be the role of "Mary" in the one-woman show Fatty Intervention: The Quest to be a Healthy Bitch!, which will run indefinitely.

This Week Currently...

Reading The Phantom Tollbooth, a children's adventure novel and modern fairy tale (circa 1961) by Norton Juster. This was one of my favorites growing up-- It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth that transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. There he acquires two faithful companions, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom—Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason—from the castle of air. The text is full of puns and wordplay and I just reeks of cleverness and imagination. I was reminded of its awesomeness earlier this week when Jeff was flipping through channels and landed on the cartoon version of it-- I FREAKED OUT. Within 24 hours, he had gone out to Barnes & Noble and purchased a copy for me. Have I mentioned that Jeff is the best?

Writing several to-do lists. To-do lists for work, to-do lists for Spring cleaning and getting the house organized, to-do lists for the wedding... it goes on and on!

Eating seemingly everything. I've fallen off the soda wagon (damn you, tiny 7oz cans of soda and your adorableness) and I'm not exaggerating when I say I have around 2-square-feet of delicious leftover birthday sheet cake just sitting on our counter, staring at me.

Listening to whatever comes on 100.5 The Drive on my 5-minute commute to and from work, and then at work I jam to my Thomas Newman Pandora station (mmmm... Thomas Newman). Every time a song from the Little Women soundtrack (the movie, not the musical) comes on, I get very excited, and if it's "Valley of the Shadow", I have been known to actually say out loud "oh GAHHHHD, nooooo! BETH'S DEAD! And now Hannah is sprinkling the red petals on the dolls! Cause Beth's DEAD! NOOOO!!!!"

Thinking that I need to upgrade my work wardrobe so it's more "corporate". I JUST got promoted to the Institutional Giving Manager position at Geva (!!!), so starting in June I'll be responsible for bringing in A LOT of money, mostly through corporate sponsorships. So I'll have a ton of pitch meetings with executive-level corporate types, and I need to look SHARP and super-profesh. Bring on the pinstripes and pantsuits, yo'!

Wishing I had a more defined jawline. <sigh>

Hoping that I get my big "Moses Man" stipend check in the mail in the next couple of days... t'would be really nice to have right about now!

Wearing anything that's still clean! We have accumulated the most ridiculous mountain of dirty laundry! There are literally 3 large laundry baskets in our bedroom and each of them has a mound of dirty clothes that has grown so large that it's quickly creeping up the wall! These piles go up to my waist! Tonight is laundry night. THIS ENDS NOW.

Loving Jeffrey. And sleep.

Feeling tired and slightly overwhelmed, but happy and pretty pumped for the future! Lots of good things are happening!!

Planning a Wedding

So I'm getting married. For REAL. To beautiful Jeffrey, this summer, specifically July 7th. Here are some of my thoughts on planning a wedding...

1. Regardless of all the "off-beat", "non-traditional", "hipster wedding", "DIY-chic" trendiness currently out there in the wedding industry, it's all still the same thing-- the wedding people want you to spend all your dollars (and your parents' dollars, and your fiance's dollars) on this one day of your life. You think you're being all funky and fresh and fun by saying "oh yeah? Well we're not going to have the bride & groom cake toppers. And we're not having attendants. And who needs a guestbook?". And so you set out to plan your casual, non-traditional *personalized* wedding. And then the industry finds out and then start inundating you with the same wedding garbage but THIS time it's funky and crafty and it has birds on it and it's red and turquoise because it's not a traditional wedding, it's a *cool* wedding, just like yours is going to be! But it's the same damn stuff. They still want you to shell out hundreds for a dress, for a new slim-cut suit, for the little paper-crafted penant banners to adorn your reception site, for the DIY-ribbon backdrop to go behind the officiant, for the fun and colorful candy display that you simply must have in order to be a fun and hip bride.

2. Vendors jack prices way up the minute you say "bride" or "wedding". You think you just need a bouquet of flowers to hold for 20 minutes? On any ordinary day, that might cost you $30, but on your wedding day a "bridal bouquet" will cost you $120. You just want a cake that can feed 70 people? Most wedding cakes start at around $200 for the most basic of flavors. (my solution?-- I go to the bakery the day before the wedding and buy 4 regular sized cakes for $20 a pop... that way, I get whatever flavors I want, it's not a pain in the ass to cut, and they aren't charging me up the butt for the same amount of cake). You can be the most conservative bride (and believe me, we are doing A LOT of things to save money and to cut out unnecessary spending), and yet you'll STILL end up dropping thousands and thousands.

3. Some of the women that work in bridal shops are real douchebags. Back in January, I called a local bridal shop in Rochester to make an appointment for Saturday, February 2nd. I had done my research online, knew the dresses that they carried that I would be interested in trying on, knew my budget, and picked a date when my mom and Jeff's mom could both go with me (I called 2 weeks ahead to ensure an appointment). What followed was the most irritatingly rude conversation that I have ever had throughout this planning process (thus far)...

Mary: "Hi, I'd like to make an appointment on Saturday, February 2nd to try on bridal gowns, please."

Bridal Douche: "Alright, and when is your wedding date?"

Mary: "Sunday, July 7th"

Bridal Douche: "Of this year?"

Mary: "Yes."

Bridal Douche: "... ummmm.... yeeeeeeeah, that's only 6 months from now. Usually it takes 6-9 months to even get a dress in the store. This is kind of late in the game for your date.... so yeeeeeeah."

Mary: "... so you aren't going to let me have an appointment then?"

Bridal Douche: "Well, I mean by then you'll be 5 months out.... <talking to herself> but then I suppose February 2nd is only two weeks from now, so there's really no point in trying to get you in here any sooner... ugh... do you know what kind of dress you want?"

Mary: "Yes. I've done some research online on the designers you carry in your store. I have specific dresses with their style numbers that I'd like to try on. That's why I'm calling you to make an appointment."

Bridal Douche: "Well... do you think you want a ball gown?"

Mary: "No."

Bridal Douche: "Okay, cause most of the styles we have this season are more of a ballgown silhouette, sooooo...."

Mary: "Yes, I've seen that. But my research indicates that there are other silhouettes in this season's collection at your store."

Bridal Douche: "Okay, we'll schedule you for 2:30pm on the 2nd... I guess that'll have to work"

Mary: "...fabulous."

Bridal Douche: "Okay, when you arrive for your appointment, please bring appropriate undergarments. Oh, and DON'T bring more than 2 people with you. We hate that."

Mary: "Got it."

Bridal Douche: "Okay, we'll see you then!" <click>

SCENE

4. David's Bridal actually has some pretty good dresses. Feeling completely turned-off by the phone conversation with Bridal Douche, I felt the need to make another appointment for February 2nd at a different bridal shop just in case. I had found a really beautiful dress that had gotten great reviews and looked like it flattered a *curvier* figure. The only problem in my mind? It was a David's Bridal dress. I would have to go to David's Bridal. Now, for someone who thinks the wedding industry is full of shit, the very idea of David's Bridal completely grossed me out. The place looks like a pastel-doused warehouse of polyester poof. But the dress was too pretty and I was desperate for a back-up option in case my 2:30pm appointment on the 2nd ended in a bloodbath. So, with much trepidation, I called David's Bridal...
Mary: "Hi, I'd like to make an appointment on February 2nd to try on bridal gowns."
David's Bridal Lady: "Sure! What time do you want to come in?"
Mary: "I have another appointment scheduled for 2:30pm... could we do something earlier than that?"
David's Bridal Lady: "Absolutely- how about 12:30pm? It gets a little crazy here on Saturday mornings, so 12:30pm should be a little calmer."
Mary: "Sounds good"
David's Bridal Lady: "When is your wedding date?"
Mary: "July 7th"
David's Bridal Lady: "Great! You'll be with Lucille*."
Mary: "July 7th isn't too soon? I haven't missed my 6-9 month shopping window?"
David's Bridal Lady: "No, you'll be fine- you've got plenty of time."
Mary: "Do you limit how many people I can bring with me to my appointment?"
David's Bridal Lady: "Bring whoever you want!"
Mary: "Awesome"
David's Bridal Lady: "Alright, you are all set! We'll see you on the 2nd!"

SCENE

*name changed to protect the identity of the poor woman who had to see me in my underwear while I awkwardly stood in the dressing room with my arms in the air as she tried to load white dresses over my head and onto my body.

Dress #3... the runner-up

I felt much better about how this conversation went! On February 2nd, we ventured out to David's Bridal and after trying on 4 dresses, I found "the one" (barf). And no, I didn't have that "burst into tears because you feel like a princess and this is THE ONE, you guys!" moment. I had an "ooh, this is nice and light and comfortable... I like the way the back looks... it does good things for my figure... it doesn't have a bunch of sparkly crap on it... oh wow, the price is awesome" moment. And then I tried Dress #3 back on because that one was the one I had seen in my research that made me want to come into David's Bridal in the first place, and it looked pretty good too. And then I tried Dress #4 on again. And I stood there for 15 minutes not knowing what to do. And then I finally picked Dress #4 because it was, ultimately, more comfortable and more appropriate for the outdoor summery BBQ wedding we would be having. The Lucille* didn't pressure me, she was totally cool, and she didn't make me feel dumb for trying these two dresses on multiple times. The only barfy "ugh" moment I had was when, after I had said out loud "I think this is the dress. Yeah. Let's get this one"... Lucille* came over with a little silver bell and said "Now, here at David's Bridal we have a tradition... when a bride has found *the one*, we have her hold this little silver bell while she stands in her gown, and we have her close her eyes and make a wish for her wedding day, and then ring the bell".... I know... gross. So I humored poor Lucille, mostly out of guilt for the things she saw rolling over my spanx in the dressing room, and I shut my eyes and made a wish for my wedding day (that I wouldn't spill BBQ sauce on my dress) and then I rang that bell. And INSTANTLY, every single person in the store stopped what they were doing, turned around and looked at me with gigantic smiles, and started clapping and "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing and "She said yes to the dress"ing. And so, I (being a complete asshole) totally fake gushed in a very over-exaggerated manner as though I just won a beauty pageant. But it's alright... the dress it pretty damn awesome and I'm actually really excited to wear it on July 7th, so I'll take it.

5. Going to David's Bridal is like inviting the wedding industry vampire to enter your home. As positive as my experience was in finding my wedding dress at David's Bridal (minus the ridiculous bell-ringing pageantry nonsense), they take your information and pimp it out to all sorts of wedding places. So within a week of my visit, I was getting voicemails from Men's Wearhouse (despite having told them that Jeff had already purchased a suit for the wedding), beauty salons, and David's Bridal (looking to sell me bridesmaid's dresses, despite having told them that I didn't have any bridesmaids). All of a sudden, my voicemail and email inboxes were full of "Hey, it's so-and-so calling from fill-in-the-blank! Congrats on your engagement! I'm just calling to let you know that you've been selected as one of our special brides to receive a complimentary pampering session as part of our fill-in-the-blank package! Blah blah blah...". I've since unsubscribed from the various emails, but I'm still getting phone calls offering me all this garbage that I don't need or want, which are just ways to get me back in the loop in order to try to sell me something else that I don't need or want. I wanted a dress, I got a dress. I don't need anything else, so we're done here, thank you. Enough!

6. Do what you want- who cares? When it comes to weddings, there are some real judgmental bitches out there. But who cares? You are never going to please everyone, so the most important thing is that you and your fiance are excited and happy with what's going down. Bonus points if your close family is also happy (which I really think ours are). People may not "get" everything about our wedding:

• Yes, Jeff wound up proposing to me on December 16th... but I also proposed to him (in a very public way) on the same day
• we set the date for 7 months after our engagement (which seemed to shock a lot of people... apparently year+ long engagements are the norm now?) 
• our "bridal shower" (typically an all-female event at a restaurant with lots of proper girly crap) is a co-ed "Mary vs. Jeff"-themed field day, complete with competitive outdoor activities and team bandanas  
• we're having our wedding on a Sunday rather than a Saturday
• we didn't bother with save-the-dates
• we designed a simple 1-piece invitation without all the additional little pieces of paper 
• I tried to custom-design stamps featuring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze circa Point Break for our invites... but got shot down by Zazzle.com's copyright rules. How awesome would that have been though??
• we've asked guests to RSVP online or by calling the bride, rather than returning a response card 
• we're not having any bridesmaids or groomsmen
• we've asked a completely non-religious friend to officiate the ceremony
• we're not wasting money on favors, but redirecting that money into the food and live band for the enjoyment of all
• we're spending the night before the wedding together... at our apartment (and yes, he will see me on the wedding day before the ceremony... who cares?)
• our cocktail hour features marshmallow fluff, lil' smokies, and chicken fingers
• instead of a tiered white wedding cake, there will be 4 regular ol' cakes... and an ice cream truck

   But that's who we are and what's important to us. And it's going to be a KICK-ASS DAY, so I'm not going to waste time and energy fretting over what we're supposed to do versus what we want to do-- the important people will have fun and think it's awesome no matter what, and frankly that's all that matters to me!