Beautiful Wedding #5: Life in a Cherry Red Fiat
Because these wedding posts are all about me and my hot rental car, right? Let’s just get that out of the way:
I cannot quite express just how Sexy Italian we felt jetting around vineyards and golden sunlit hills in this little puppy. I was just missing a perfect silk scarf and a trench coat with the collar turned up. And trust me, at this point I needed all the glamour I could get–otherwise I was feeling nothing but chubby and zonked.
Anyway, so here’s the good news about this wedding: I took photos! And Ethan was the one in the wedding. In fact he performed the ceremony, so I was free as a bird. I was also extremely exhausted and not getting much sleep (apparently pregnancy hormones can be very disruptive to one’s sleep), so a disclaimer about below photos: those dark circles under my eyes? I swear they’re not permanent, and keep in mind that that’s how I looked after a heavy does of “eye brightener.”
The bride and groom were Jaime & Calder, one of our favorite couples, who were wed in the year of their tenth anniversary of dating. They’re both fantastically stylish and live in one of the coolest apartments I’ve ever seen in San Francisco. They got married at a stunning intimate B & B in Sonoma:
The idea was to have their closest friends staying with them at this perfect hideaway, allowing for long mornings or coffee and being together. It was pretty perfect to wake up to this: 
. . . Sipping coffee with good friends, sitting in these chairs, looking out on this:
The rehearsal dinner was held in an open barn/stables on the property, romantically decked out with fairy lights and wine country vistas. And the food! They had a travelling brick oven pizza operation. . . I was/am obsessed.
And the wedding the next day was, not surprisingly, the perfect combination of relaxed, stylish, dreamy, and all about love.
Ethan was very nervous, but he brought the house down!
Beautiful Wedding # 4: The Science of Perfect Nuptials
Better late than never?
August 5th marked the 4th event in the Summer of Weddings. It deserves a special nod on this blog, because it was hosted at the Boston Museum of SCIENCE. I mean, is this not the epitome of science and relationships?
The bride was my step sister, Elizabeth. (Is it correct to say “was the bride”? When does someone cease to be the bride?Immediately after they’re married?), and groom is/was her lovely fella, Jeff.
Needless to say I totally failed on the photos front, so you’ll have to just imagine it. Key details:
1) Ceremony and reception were held under this gorgeous tent and pavillion right on the Charles river at the back of the museum, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Breezy, not too hot, not too cold.
2) Bride’s dress was lovingly handmade by a family friend and painstakingly hand-adorned by my stepmom–I mean seriously amazing effort was put into this stunning number.
3) The bridesmaids wore coral dresses and turquoise shoes, which might sound puzzling, but looked so cool!!!
4) The groom and his men wore suits with turquoise converse–very hip.
5) My dad performed the ceremony which was incredibly moving. (There’s also just something about seeing your dad giving a speech and being an MC that is kind of awesome–go dad!)
6) The passed hors d’oeuvres consisted of absolutely delicious things I mostly couldn’t eat (blue cheese, tartar, etc), which was torture! But man, they looked good. I was having an internal debate about the statistical likelihood of contracting any illness from raw fish and any time a waiter walked by with poached pear on crostini, you better believe I was all over that. I’m sure this made me pretty much the most attentive and delightful bridesmaid ever.
7) And naturally there was a dance off involving my sister, also a bridesmaid! This shouldn’t be a surprise given this, and it’s worth mentioning that she also had a dance off at our wedding last summer. Leila was born with the moves just waiting in her limbs, ready to pounce!
All in all a truly gorgeous night.
Interesting!
I’m pretty hungry for science on the infant-parent relationship these days (which marks a shift–normally the studies I read ask about the quality of the participants’ sex lives), and this seems like a good one!
Note that “co-sleeping” here does not mean the same bed–it means the same room.
http://www.scienceofrelationships.com/home/2012/1/5/co-sleeping-with-infants-reduces-their-stress-reactions.html
2012!
Because I’m lazy, because I’m currently importing Baby Einstein Lullaby CD’s onto my laptop, because my back aches and I can’t even see the space bar on the other side of my belly, and because my house is too messy to even think about, I’m going to do a New Years post that isn’t even really MY post, since I’m stealing the questions from someone else who stole them from someone else. So, without further ado. . .
1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
I was going to say “ask someone else to tie my shoes for me” but then I realized that probably isn’t true. So instead I’ll fess up to being excited to receiving something called the Nose Frieda Snot Sucker as a present.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Hmm, well let’s see. Here they are.
Number 1: Success! But I DID lose my computer power cord for like 6 weeks, which I decided meant that the fates were telling me I should do no more than 3 hours of work a day (which is how long one charge from Ethan’s cord would last). It worked out well for me.
Number 2 (fab abs): Epic fail, as is evident here:
32 Weeks, 12/13/2011
Number 3 (take more photos): In spite of complete inability to take photos at weddings, I really DID take more photos this year. But there is clearly room for improvement.
Numbers 4-11 (lots of little things): various successes and failures. I did not, however, drink nearly enough champagne. To be remedied this year, one hopes, for the love of god.
And will I make new ones? How about a repeat of the drinking more champagne one, and oh, I guess to you know, be a decent parent.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Oh lordy, I feel like the whole world is pregnant, and yet, why can I not remember who gave birth in 2011?! Please don’t hate me if your baby was born in 2011–today I also demanded that Ethan tell me where he put my coffee whole holding it in my hand. I’m an insane person, ok?
Oh Conor! He was born in 2011! Damn he’s a cute kid.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully, no.
5. What countries did you visit?
That’s kind of a presumptuous one, don’t you think? I feel like the next question is going to be “which newspapers did you acquire?” or “how many cars did you buy?” But since you asked: England, As I’m sure you recall.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A passion for cleaning our house.
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oh wow. Well I hate to fall down on the obvious here, but finding out we were going to be parents is a big one. May 31st. It was pretty stereotypical as far as these moments go. I screamed to Ethan from the bathroom at some crazy early hour in the morning, and Ethan was like “oh, huh, wow,” which later turned into something more closely resembling excitement and awakeness. It was a good day.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being on Fox News, as sad as that is. Good god that’s pathetic. Please say something more resembling an “achievement” happens in 2012. Like being on E! Entertainment Television.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Let’s just say that I have yet to be able to NOT lie when the dentist asks how often I floss. I’m sure there’s something bigger, but apparently I am very good at blocking things like that out.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Thankfully no.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well I will say that the smartest thing I bought was a studded blue collar for One Eye. It’s very him.
12. Where did most of your money go?
These questions are so mean! Do they even want me to be excited about 2012. Sheesh.
13. What did you get really excited about?
Skipping this one on the off chance I’m boring you to death or sound like an insufferable pregnant person.
14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
15. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter?Richer or poorer?
Happier, Fatter, Same.
16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Staying at home, cooking.
17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Being busy.
18. How did you spend Christmas?
At home in Minnesota with all of Ethan’s family and our very first Christmas tree!
19. What was your favorite TV program?
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts. . .
20. What were your favorite books of the year?
Can I pretend I didn’t read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen until 2011? Thanks.
I figure it’s just insulting at this point to make a new year’s resolution about posting to this blog more. So how about, this post not withstanding, I just say I’ll try to post better? In the mean time I’m off to waddle upstairs and fall asleep half way through folding some laundry. It’s really sexy. Just ask Ethan.
Beautiful Wedding #3: Firearms and Frito Pie Edition
Mari & Grant were actually married LAST summer (2010), but they did it all stealth style, so this was actually their re-wedding. After they got married the first time, I nervously checked in with Mari monthly to make sure they were still planning on having a wedding. I would have been VERY upset to miss out on this celebration.
Mari is one of my bestest friends from my college days at NYU. Sophomore year and we shared a suite in NYU’s absolute worst (also cheapest) dorm (Oh yeah, 26th St for those of you in the know!), and we trauma bonded over our horrible other suite mate who did things like turn up her heavy metal to the highest volume, leave, lock her door, and not return for 3 days. It was awesome. Mari and I did things like drink a lot of tea to calm our nerves and walk the 25 blocks to school together. She was my hippy-ish friend from New Mexico whose calmness I relied on to get me through that year.
I also went to Bali once with Mari and her parents, at which point I officially and completely fell in love with the whole clan. So really, now they can’t get rid of me. I will insert myself in their lives any chance I get!
Anyway, fast forward a decade, and much to everyone’s surprise, this lovely hippy-like fabulous dancing photography queen feel in love with a rather structured Military fellow named Grant. Grant, it turns out, is unsurprisingly lovely and perfect for my friend Mari.
So, the wedding! Mari and Grant were re-married on her parents Homestead in Ribera, NM (about an hour outside Santa Fe). It’s pretty freaking gorgeous:
I arrived a few days early to do things like help make signs so people wouldn’t get lost:
I know those signs might look excessive, but her family can’t even use FedEx anymore, because they always get lost! Its the craziest twisy-est most awesome desert dirt road to get to their house. The signs were necessary, I assure you. We also made ones to show people important things, like the bathrooms:
In these days leading up to the wedding, Grant also taught me how to fire a handgun. Now before you get all worried or think I’ve gone gun-nutso or something, you must know that Grant and the rest of the folks at the Homestead are uber-responsible gun-folks with lots of reasonable rules and safety is a first for all. I was so nervous that I made Grant give me a dry run like 100 times and then stand right next to me supervising my every move. I confess that part of me only did this so I could put a picture in the baby’s album of me all bad-ass, (barely ) pregnant, and firing a gun. I would share it with you, but I feel like that’s the kind of thing we’re not supposed to put on the internet these days–photos of ourselves shooting weapons. Instead I’ll show you my target!
Not bad for a first timer, right?
Ok, so the actual wedding. Well, once again I have failed completely on the photo front. This is like the summer of me not learning any lessons. SO, here’s what I got.
The weather: Stormy! This was romantic and fabulous when it just meant wind blowing up the bridesmaids’ dresses and rendering fancy hairdos disasters (and we looked so cute in grey dresses and cowboy boots!). But it was less fabulous when it rendered the sound system dead and put a halt to the dancing. Where there’s a will there’s a way, and before anyone could get sad about the lack of Brown Eyed Girl, we were in the house dancing up a storm.
The food: This is where Frito Pie comes in. Have you ever had it? I’d never even heard of it! How thrilled was I when I found out it was essentially a bowl of chili, but in place of a bowl you use a small bag of Fritos and then you top it like a taco. So it’s an awesome meal in a bag. This proved very handy when I spilled my drink on my plate–my enchiladas and roasted pig were swamped in vino, but my Frito pie was totally safe! Delicious AND practical.
The Bride: Mari looked amazing in an art-deco inspired gown. She seriously wowed. We all wore leis since Grant’s mother is originally from Hawaii. It looked so rad. If you have any legitimate reason to ever wear a lei (or really even if you don’t), do it! They’re so pretty and cool looking! I’m sorry to report this is the only photo I got of the bride and groom–the first dance was moved inside during the height of the rain.
First Dance
You’ll have to trust me on the beauty of the whole affair–it was stunning, and I clearly need to get this photo-taking issue taken care of before the kid arrives!
Calling In The Big Guns When It Comes To Excuses
I do realize that it appears that I totally abandoned project Science Gnome since mid August. I do realize that I have four more beautiful weddings to tell you about. I realize that there is a world of science-y psychology related scandals and stories to share. But here are my excuses:
First:
I’m pregnant! And have been since around May. More on this later, but the important details are February 6, 2012 (due date). I accidentally just wrote “dude” date, which leads me to the next thing: Boy (gender!). Ethan and I are over the moon and can’t wait to meet the little guy.
Now, second and far less exciting excuse: the dissertation. Now don’t get all crazy excited and start thinking I’ve actually written anything or won anything or something. When I say “dissertation” I mean basically that I’ve been getting it off the ground, getting some fabulous research assistants together, and getting the whole data collecting machine in gear, so that when the previously mentioned Boy arrives, I will actually be able to continue to be somewhat mindlessly productive even if I haven’t had more than hour of sleep.
So, those are my excuses. Now, I will begin catching up and atoning for my absence, which I have no doubt has injured all 3 of you who read this blog.
Science of Relationships Strikes Again
Many thanks to Science of Relationships for posting a version of this post this week, and with videos! Needless to say, this is far far more exciting than the boring video-less posts I put here.
Also, just back from North Carolina where I spent approximately 40 hours talking nonstop with my closest friends over fantastic food/cocktails/desserts. We’ve made this a roughly annual affair, creatively called Girls Weekend. I’d show you pictures, but you know, then I’d have to kill you and all that. All I can say is that it’s somewhere between Eyes Wide Shut and Golden Girls. Use your imagination. Or as one of our husbands called it, “Ya Ya Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.” Needless to say, I’m completely refreshed and ready to take on the world.
