The Wedding Jitters

This picture was taken the night before our wedding, nearly a year ago. A year . . . wow! I can't believe time has passed so quickly! Now it's time for another wonderful, beautiful, glorious wedding (get ready E & J)! People always ask me if I was nervous before my wedding, and the answer is yes, but then I go on to tell them that I spent the night before my wedding having a gymnastics competition with my soon-to-be husband and family. I truly think that night of silliness was like therapy for me, after that I was calmed and so gloriously happy.
Don't let me have you think that I didn't have at least one pre-wedding meltdown, because I sure did. The day of the wedding, my bridesmaids along with my mom went to get our hair done. I forgot that you weren't supossed to wash your hair before you get an "updo" so after being scolded by the stylist I felt on the verge. There were so many other things that I could have freaked out about that day, and my mom and I both still get histerical when we think about what was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. Eye drops. Yes ladies and gentlemen, eye drops. In my haste to pack a bag that I would need for the wedding day I somehow overlooked my Visene, and although I wasn't aware before this, it is really important to me. It didn't matter that there were more than 4 stores within 2 minutes of where I was that could provide me all the eye drops I could ever want or need. That simply didn't matter at the time. I just freaked out and cried and cried. My mom was so sweet, she humored me so entirely, consoling me that she would not let me walk down that aisle without wetting my precious eyes with some refresheing, "get the red out", wonderful drops. So disaster was narrowly averted when we found ourselves pulling into the nearest K-Mart and buying some. The incident to this day seems blurry, my mom still swears that I threatened to "punch someone in the face," but could the bride really be responsible for such threats?
After the eye drops incident, I was happy and excited. We caravaned to Macy's to get our makeup done after the hair, and as I was sitting in the makeup chair I began to "not feel so good." After being asked by one of my bridesmaids what I had eaten that day, and I couldn't remember one single thing, we realized that this bride was in great risk of fainting and my wedding video was not going to end up on America's Funniest Home Videos. So my wedding was supposed to start @ 5, but didn't really start until around 5:40 if I remember correctly, and why? Why? Because the bride was held up in the drive thru line at Taco Bell getting a bean burrito . . . hold the onions. And that's the reality.
It truly was the most magical, beautiful day of my life. Everything went smoothly and I would not change one thing about the entire day, eye-drop meltdowns and bean burritos included. So Emmy, get some sleep, have someone specially assigned to bring your eye drops, bobby pins, mascara, whatever toiletry is dearest to your heart, and definitely don't forget to eat.

I knew he wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. Oliver has a personality unlike any other whale I have ever encountered. I first spotted him not more than a few days old laying on his back on top of his mothers nose rolling this way and that pectoral fins straight out of the water immersed in the brand new sensation of the suns rays on his bright white stomach. All humpbacks have different coloration patterns, and Oliver is unusually unique because of the amount of white he carries, something that is rare in the Northern Pacific group. Even more than his physical markings, you could always tell when Oliver heard the boat leaving our berth because with out hesitation he would start waving his arms in the air and slamming them down on the water calling out for us to come play. Two days ago after not seeing any whales for the past week, Oliver, under the close watch of his mother swam up to the boat one last time. He circled us on his side, on giant eye moving from one passenger to the next until he got to the back of the boat where he stop rolled on his back lift both his pectoral fins in the air and slowly rolled backwards deeper and deeper until his now impressive shadow disappeared. In the four weeks that we regularly encountered Oliver, he gained probably ten feet and twenty thousand pounds, not quite the little guy I first glimpsed but still just as curious, and I know he knew I appreciated the farewell

Oh Happy Day

Yes folks, the rumors are true . . . The braces are off! He's free free free! I can barely contain my excitement (which dwarfs Pat's excitement might I add). I bet Pat's not feeling nearly as nerdy when talking about his "Damon 3's", since they are off and he has straight teeth in a little over a year. (Okay a year and a half if we're being honest) But I think that's amazing! The Damon 3's worked their orthodontic magic and it was relatively pain free (which I know was not the case for Ben's braces seeing as we asked him how he felt after getting them put on and he said "it feels like someone kicked me in the face"). What a glorious day for Patrick, no more metal-mouth jokes, no more being embarassed because he "looks like a kid", no more comments from loud-mouth passengers on the boat saying "son, are you sure you're old enough to drive this boat?" And get this, the kicker is that Pat's braces removal came with a complimentary bottle of celebration Martinellies Apple Cider, complete with gift wrapping and decorative ribbons, and balloons (which Pat failed to mention until just now as he's reading this before posting). And not everyone gets balloons, he's "made some friends" at Dr. Yim's. Unfortunately he has yet to let me capture the "new" pat on film, so I guess you will have to settle for a picture of the apple cider. A lame second I know, but let Pat know your disappointment, and maybe together we can change his mind.

"B is for Bob"

Okay, firstly Angie I am so sorry for stealing ideas for our blog from you, but I was laughing out loud when I read about James's soccer coach! Then I thought about this shirt that we bought for our friend's baby Atticus (isn't it the cutest?), then my thoughts turned to Bob Marley (as they often do for some strange reason), then I thought about a game that I was playing at work a few days ago entitled "What's Your Theme Song", invented by yours truly (yes, I was playing games at work again). So the game consists of each person to think of a theme song that represents them best. Then as a group, we think of a song for each person, but they can't know what it is until they tell us what their own song is. It is a really, interesting way to find out about people's self-awareness, and learn what people think about you in a subtle, fun way. Yes it can be dangerous. . . but always interesting. It's also been more thought provoking than originally intended, because almost a week later, I am the only one to have chosen a theme song, although as a group we have chosen songs for a few of our friends, although some people are proving tricky. So, the gist? (is that how you spell that? it looks horribly wrong but I can't think of another way.), well the gist is my theme song happens to be a Bob Marley song, "Could You Be Loved". Not necesarily because of the words, but because when I hear it I can't help myself from feeling uterly overjoyed, purely free, and I just dance without even thinking if anyone could be watching. It's not the kind of dancing that you practice, and I'd probably be horrified if I say myself in a mirror, but it's just so free, like when you are really little and you haven't developed a sense of embarassment, and you just let all your limbs go in every direction. It also makes me feel like singing, at the top of my lungs, (this is to Pat's delight because we all know that I can't sing and I can't sing to such an extent that even my mom will admit that I can't sing. . . so you get the picture, it's pretty horrific). That's what that song does for me, so, it's my theme song. You all must listen to it if you haven't heard it, I know it'll have a similar effect on most. So it got me thinking, what's your theme song? Patrick claims he doesn't have one, but I know there's one lurking somewhere.

So that's how my thoughts turned from James's first soccer practice to Bob Marley, and now I'm back, isn't that funny?

P.S. 24 Days in the famous words of Yazan Jubran "Get Hyped"