My Peeps

My natural inclination is to hibernate/hide/be a hermit about 75% of the time. I'm one of those people who doesn't mind being alone. But, there are so many super-awesome people in my life and I'll gladly crawl out of my turtle shell for them! I was so excited to see friends and family who came to town a few weeks ago.

Mother, Aunt Vicky, Uncle Lito, and cousins Joe and Lisa. Apparently, I come from a family of Apple users. They all took out their iPhones and iPads to sync them so they could Facetime each other...while all in the same room. My own mother shunned me from the family because my phone does not have an apple on it.

Joe gives a tutorial. He is sort of a genius.

We always do a lot of eating--this time at Jerry's Sno-Cones.

I got queasy afterwards from a strawberry milkshake and fried pickles. This used to not be the case. I don't like getting older!

Culprit!

Zach's and my families got along really well with each other. I wish we had more time to spend with everyone; it sometimes felt like we were stashed away while everyone else got to have fun. 

Ronni and Grace, or "Wonni and Glace." Ah, youth speech impediments!

Everyone who isn't Zach or me, having fun without us at The Cove. 

After dropping off Claire, Grace, and Cheeky at the airport, Ronni and I had an impromptu photo shoot by the I Love Memphis mural.

Friends! In Mindy Kaling's book, "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?," she writes about a posse of girlfriends she had as a pre-teen. They had a little acronym of their names: JLMP. I loved this part because it was exactly me and my friends. Except we were ELAR. We used to make paper airplanes and put those initials on it (because it sounds like the name of an airline...I'm embarrassing us now.) Anyway, we met Erin's baby, Nikolas, aka "Wolf!" He was absolutely adorable.

Precious and drooly!

He and Leigh Ann's son, Leo, were obsessed with each other. It was pretty sweet!

I wish we could see him grow...Erin, start a blog! It's so weird to be an adult. I don't feel like one, except when doing boring things like paying bills or standing in line to pay bills. When I start feeling too "old," I think of growing up with all of these wonderful people and creating all sorts of crazy memories. Can someone just clone me and I'll travel around the world, hanging out, having fun, and bumming off the people I love? Maybe someone will develop the technology for this to happen. Or I could win Powerball. You know, whichever comes first.

*This post is about 10 days old because it took me forever to finish it, but I'm publishing it anyway!*

Happy Married Day

The first graders made me cards! I'm keeping them forever.

The Great Wedding of My Life has come and gone. It's been a week; things have settled to normalcy. I was never super into weddings or even the idea of a wedding, until I had to plan one. Overall I am relieved and happy! I want to record things while they're still fresh in my memory.

My calm face.

I surprised myself by being calm and--wait for it-- relaxed. This has never happened, ever. Apparently Ronni also thought the same, but she said I looked like I was having fun all day. I attribute the calmness to spending the night before alone, in my home, in my own bed. This was not intentional; it just sort of happened. Thank God the spaziness took a break for one day.

Much hyped.

The reception decorations were such a labor of love and everything came together better than I imagined. Pinterest boards really can come true!

Most of our decor was recyclable. We used a lot of paper for the bunting, the garlands, and of course the lanterns. I saved some of the bunting because I love it so much. Everything else went to recycling. The lanterns were a steal at paperlanternstore.com! I spent less than $45 on 17 of them, including shipping. Some we'll keep; the rest my sisters took or will be given away as presents. Hi, family.

Centerpieces, and my cousin Claire. Hi, Claire!

We played it fast and loose with the flowers and didn't hire a florist. I spent 6 months saving spaghetti sauce jars, beer and wine bottles, salsa jars, and creeping through thrift stores with my mom. Ronni and I bought flowers at Fresh Market the day before, took them to the church reception hall, and our friend Robyn arranged them during the rehearsal. She did our bouquets too! I adored our table arrangements. It made me sad to take our jars to recycling.

Robyn, of Robyn's Flowers. She needs to open a shop. A flower consulting business. Is that an actual thing?

My #1 talent is hoarding.

My dress. The original plan was to bling it up with bracelets and jewelry, all of which I forgot to bring to the church. As a bonus, my future daughters can wear it to a Latin convention. (They will not be given a choice about the Latin Club. Zach's brother Wes, Christina, and I were all up in the Latin. Genetics.)

Not sure what this face is about...

Our friends and family. Aside from marrying Zach, this was the most significant part of the experience for me. My (talented, generous, awesome) friends played such a huge role from the beginning. Erica designed our invitations and the stickers on the favor bags. Leigh Ann made the cake. Robyn did flowers. We put pictures of family members and loved ones on our cake table.

We were literally grabbing frames off tables and walls as we walked out the house on Friday.

Siblings, aunts, uncles, brothers-in-law, and cousins, some fresh off an airplane, helped set up the flowers and hang things.

So. Much. Thinking.

The Ladder. I want one.

Consultants.

Ellie, planner extraordinaire, made about 3 miles of bunting. Her boyfriend Nathan helped her with it, and he showed up to help with decorating. The day (and I) would've been something else without Ellie. Honestly, she has no idea how much her organization, patience, and enthusiasm saved my sanity in the past 4 months.

Ellie doing her thing. Love the Haire sisters!

I like to think I'm capable of handling everything (hahaha) but hiring a wedding planner was the smartest thing I've done in like 6 years.

I have the best parents in the world. REALLY!

And of course, my parents went above and beyond--without them, the day wouldn't have happened. I can't thank them enough. Maybe with grandchildren? (Someday, Mom, don't get too excited yet.)

Indeed!

The day wasn't about just me and Zach, but the loving, generous people in our lives. Typing this makes me want to cry. I love everyone. Life is grand! Mostly I want to remember how I felt on April 14, 2012 because it was so much more special to me than I thought it would be. Who knew I'd be so into a wedding and not just for the food?

Some Happenings

Things have been busy lately! In a revelation which shocks no one, I'm desperately looking forward to summer. It's kind of sad, like I'm wishing my life away. I am trying to stay in the moment though. Baby steps.

Z and I went to iTea for dinner. I love how sushi fills you up, but doesn't leave an "OMG I just committed gluttony!" feeling. There's no guilt with sushi! Shame it's too expensive to eat more than, oh, once every 2 months.

Lavender milk bubble tea with tiny boba. Different.

Another bridal shower, at a Chinese buffet! This time with my mom, her friends, my future mother and sister in-law, and my friends. 

A cake Leigh Ann made, and a slide show my mom put together on her iPad. I am impressed with her technology skills. The picture on the iPad is one of the first ones taken of Zach and I together, when we started dating. It's possibly the first photo we took as a couple. And I am throwing up some weird hand signs. Classy and mature!

Me and my future sister-in-law, Leigh! She is awesome and is studying to be an interior designer. She has free reign over my house when she wants to practice.

Me and my mom. Since my maid of honor lives out of town (thanks for moving, Ronni), Mom put the shower together. She's opening the hostess gift I got her--a basil plant and a candle which smells like the national flower of the Philippines. The candle was pretty popular among my mom's friends. Speaking of which...

My mom and some of her best friends. We (sisters and I) grew up with their children. They are like surrogate mothers to me! They're always going out together, lunching, dining, going to the theater, and buying each other presents. Basically, they have more of a life than I do! It's fine, except for the time I called my mom on a Sunday night and couldn't reach her at home or on her cell phone. Of course I think she's been kidnapped; I panic, keep calling, etc. Turns out she was out with her friends at a bar. On a Sunday night. 

I went to Seize the Clay with some friends to paint pottery. It was BYOB night, hence the wine bottles. I love hanging out with these ladies. The waiters at our favorite Mexican  restaurant hate us because we get really loud and sometimes inappropriate. I always have such a good time with them!

Love these ladies!

Proud.

Lastly, Zach scored a ridiculously awesome deal on a Patagonia jacket at the Outdoors Inc. outlet. We stalk this place regularly but I usually have more success. (Sometimes, but not often, it pays to be a short person.) We really like finding deals. Zach's favorite matra: "Only suckers pay retail." We are an economists' worst nightmare.

Things I Bought That I Love

A post in the spirit of blatant materialism, and also because I love Mindy Kaling. I really don't have a shopping problem, as defined by the DSM-IV-TR. I put money in savings, don't have credit issues, contribute to my retirement, etc. But I do like to buy things.

Nail Polish!

If there is one thing I am prone to impulse shop, it's nail polish. It's cheap, small, and just...makes me happy, I guess! I bought the purple one at Target, from the fancy makeup section. The light blue is from Urban Outfitters.

I'm digging pastel colors right now; basically anything which looks like it could be on an Easter egg. As a bonus, these colors stayed put on my nails for at least a week before chipping. I'm pretty hard on my hands.

New shoes!

A clearance buy from the Navy Exchange. I wore them around the house and wasn't feeling them. Before I could return them, my beloved Nike Frees mysteriously disappeared. (I think--hope--they are at my parents' house.) Out of necessity, I've been wearing this pair and they are growing on me.

Soap!

I'm one of the rare individuals fortunate enough to deal with adult acne. (Sarcasm.) It's super frustrating to walk around looking like a teenager just entering puberty. I've tried everything short of laser therapy: Proactiv, Clinique's yellow bar, Acne-Free, Dove soap, not washing my face, etc. Proactiv works but seems to lose it's potency after awhile. For a few years I rotated between Proactiv and a brand called Arbonne which my former boss bought me. Anyway, after this final round of Proactiv I started looking for more natural (i.e., hippie) solution. I found this Dead Sea soap bar at Whole Foods and really like it. It cleared up my face a few days after I started using it. I'm still breaking out occasionally but this soap dries everything out quickly. And it's significantly cheaper than anything from a cosmetics store.

Toms!

Not a new purchase, but I love these. For little canvas shoes, they are insanely comfortable, no? I was conservative and got black, but am now craving something more colorful. The other day I saw a lady in a green pair and she looked adorable. Green it is!

Hoot and Louise t-shirt!

Looking smug. And tired.

Hoot and Louise is one of my favorite stores--so bright, cheerful, happy, stylish, cute. The good adjectives! But I love their t-shirts the best. They are made out of the good, really soft, worn-in t-shirt material. And they are gray! I love me a gray t-shirt. Can't have enough gray t-shirts. This will be my new motto.

My phone!

I swore up and down I wouldn't be one of those people walking around, fixated on their phone like a zombie. Haha.

Basketcase: a rambling post

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Philippians 4:8

One of the readings we picked for the ceremony is Paul's letter to the Philippians. I really like the excerpt above, because it reminds me to calm my ass down. I should get it tattooed on my arm as a daily reminder (kidding, Mom).

Lately--or always, depending on who you ask--I have been focusing way too much on the negative, letting things out of my control get the best of me, and indulging in my worries. Maybe it's a combination of job and wedding stress, but my spastic tendencies have reached new levels. The other day I was thinking about babies (hi again, Mom) and starting a family and all nice, sunny things. Suddenly the reverie spiraled into one of me pregnant, both of us being unemployed and without insurance, and living in a house which is slowly being overrun with my glue/adhesive collection and Zach's bicycles. I started devising a plan to clean out the closets so the spare bedroom could be turned into a nursery, which led to wondering how much it would cost to build or buy a storage shed in the backyard for all our stuff and maybe we can swing by Lowe's over the weekend to get an estimate.

Yes. I am THAT person. The sad part: I used to be much worse. But when I'm already anxious, may as well go all out. Why be a little stressed when you can be a lot stressed?! And no, I'm not medicated or looking to be. I'm functional. Really! I just get carried away and over-think to the point of unecessary.

Basically, it's a work in progress. I'm honestly trying not to be so spastic all the time. It's exhausting to be this way. Especially since I'm apparently good at hiding it from people who don't know me well. On several occasions I've been told, "You are so calm and quiet." HA!

My new thing: When I realize the freak-out meter has gone from zero to sixty in the span of 2 seconds, I stop and think about the right, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable in my life. There are so many of them. I am blessed. My life is awesome, and better than 99% of the world. (Am I the 1%?!) Despite my brain's attempts at sabotage, I am truly happy.

The True, Noble, Right, Pure, Lovely, and Admirable

Aside from the most obvious and important things--Zach, my parents, sisters, family, and friends-- other blessings which get a shout out:
-Food: it's one of my joys in life! I love to eat good food. Presents for birthdays or holidays are unnecessary. Just feed me and I'm happy.
-Coffee. I'd literally die without it.
-Funny, warm, supportive, and generous coworkers. They make my job fun.
-Opportunities to travel and see new places, and old places which never get old.
-Target. How much do I love this place? It's embarrassing how I'll find any excuse to go to Le Targ. Toilet paper? Drain-O? Socks? Ok, Target then!
-My health. I try not to take it for granted.
-Nice, friendly people.
-The future. It's so wide open. I'm excited to see what it will bring!

*About the house being run over by glue: I. Break. Everything. Hence, the need for different types of glue. I have non-toxic, non-flammable cement, glass glue, ceramic glue, jewelry glue, plus Mod Podge, regular school glue, glue dots. It's all necessary. And, no, I don't sniff any!

**One of the pictures has faces blacked out because it was a Cinco de Mayo celebration and literally every person in the pic is a school counselor. I have to protect their identities, you know.