que sera, sera...

This photo, taken last night at one of the many Inaugural Balls, pretty much sums up how I feel about blogging at the moment: like it's time to sit it out for a dance or two. Despite your lovely comments in the previous post, I'm not sure yet if I'll return to the blogosphere again at a later date. For now, I bid you adieu... My accordion and I need a little breather.


Photo source: Chicago Tribune photo by Nancy Stone (January 19, 2009) of Alex Smith from the Strolling Strings resting before the band starts playing again at The Illinois Gala.

musing

So I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about this blog lately (in case you couldn't already tell). When it started off and I began receiving comments from literally across the globe, it was a lot of fun. In the blogosphere, however, commenting is a two-way street. In order to receive, you must give. Sadly, I rarely find the time to visit my favorite blogs and comment, thereby inviting others to visit me. The result is circular: no one comments on my blog, and consequently I lose the motivation to continue posting. Frankly, I just like attention. Without it, I'm not terribly inspired to make the time this blog requires.

I'm beginning to realize this was a lovely experiment, but maybe not my piece de resistance. I'd hoped for a forum to display some of my photos as I learn the art of photography. But time and other limitations have severely hampered my picture-taking of late, and I've failed to post much material. I hesitate to post too many details about my wedding, as I want most of it to be a surprise to our guests. And if You're not going to share details about Your wedding, what's the point of a wedding blog?

With that said, I invite your thoughts [...that would be novel on this blog of late!...] Is this little lovely even worth the web space it takes up?

Photo source: My own - taken of seaweed on Singing Beach in Manchester.

SERIOUSLY?!

There is a blizzard warning in effect here in Chicago.

This, on top of the record-reaching 33 [THIRTY. THREE] inches of snow we've already endured this season.

I never signed up for life in the arctic tundra, so I'm not entirely sure what's going on here. But I am definitely OVER. IT.

Photo source: Chicago Tribune (Snow blows across the Dan Ryan Expressway).

oh, the weather outside is frightful

Some days I wonder why I - or anyone - lives here.

Snow actually accumulated ON ME walking to the train this morning. As in, between point A (my house) and point B (the train), roughly 1/2 inch deposited itself on my parka.

Photo source: Miles Storey

hint hint

So I've mentioned that the colors for our wedding are black and green... and I'm wearing these delicious green shoes...(I think). Imagine my *joy* when I stumbled across this beautiful quartz & marcasite (I love marcasite...is that weird?!) ring by Judith Jack, at Nordstrom.

Dear Fiancé: In case you were considering buying me a wedding gift (you were... right?!), consider your shopping done.

I mean, just imagine how fantastic this would look on my right hand on our wedding day... I'm imagining it...

Then, it will look lovely sitting on our bureau ... Even in a jewelry box it's stunning. I think I'm in lust.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I've had the darndest time falling asleep - and staying asleep - the past two nights.

Today is 102 days from Our Wedding Day, 8 days from our closing day on our new home, and 11 days from our moving day and our couples' shower with friends here in Chicago.

In 25 days I have my first dress fitting. I'm supposed to be svelte by then...

In 30 days we leave for Mexico to celebrate our dear friends' destination wedding. Before we go, I have six depositions to cover. Immediately after we return, I have two more.

In 40 days, The Fiancé and I will be in Boston for our nephew's ("The Godchild's") christening. Five days later, Bailee has surgery scheduled for a minor [but terribly disgusting] growth on her back that needs to be removed and biopsied. And her breath stinks, so she's getting her teeth cleaned too.

In 52 days, we head to Indianapolis for our food-tasting for the wedding reception and plan to stop by City Hall to get our marriage license. The next day, my sister will throw a luncheon shower for my Indy girlfriends and I'll hopefully do a trial run of my hair and make-up [if I find a hair-stylist by then...] Some time that weekend, we need to chat with our priest about the ceremony...

In 59 days, my dear girlfriends will descend on Chicago for a fun-filled bachelorette weekend... Seven days later, I head to Indianapolis for my friend Abbie's bachelorette (her wedding takes place 3 weeks after ours!). Six days after that, The Fiancé and I head back to Boston with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law for the full-family-meeting and our final wedding shower. Somewhere in there, I go to trial for my asylum client... no small task, and decidedly more weighty than any of the events above. I sometimes can't sleep at all thinking of that case.

And in 104 days, The Fiancé and I will climb onto a plane bound for Belize. We will be married. And I maybe, just maybe, will finally fall asleep absent visions of count-downs and to-do lists that have plagued my sleep the past two nights. Maybe. Just maybe.

it's raining presents

The Fiancé and I had our first wedding shower this past weekend. It was hosted by my extended family and attended by all of my aunts and uncles, the majority of my cousins and their families, as well as a few close family friends. It. was. fantastic.

After years [30] of always being the bridesmaid and never the bride, I must confess how special it felt to be The Bride... how flabberghasted I felt (again and again) to realize the reason for the party was our wedding! ... how amazing it was to see some members of my family that I literally hadn't seen in ten years... And it all reminded me that a wedding isn't just about two people [at least, This Wedding isn't]. It's about all of our friends, it's about The Fiancé's family and my family, and my five aunts, five uncles, grandmother, 16 cousins and their 12 spouses and their countless children (...all of whom will be included on a pop quiz I'm preparing for The Fiancé to test how much he remembers... KIDDING!) In other words, a wedding is so much larger than just Us.

Which is why even the act of writing Thank You notes last night (yes, We are on. top. of. things!) seems inadequate. How do You thank a friend, and Your family, not for towels and martini shakers (though these items ARE certainly necessary for a happy marriage...), but for being Your friends and family and for being happy for You and supporting You? ...If You figure it out, please let me know. In the meantime, I'm just going to feel blessed this Monday morning. Not for the presents (though opening them was seriously like drinking Rasberry Vodka...yum). But for the amazing start to 2009 - a year I honestly can't wait to experience with all my friends and family!

Photo source: Barca

leaping leprechauns... I'm back!

This time of year just makes me feel like this picture (taken on Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea of The Fiancé... my own little leprechaun)... happy and carefree. This feeling may be induced (ok, is induced) by my brief hiatus from all responsibility... hence, no blogging, no working, no anything, really. Everyone needs that now and then, no?

We just returned from the holidays in New England with The Fiancé's family. I must confess spending the week apart from my parents, sister, brother-in-law and Bailee was more difficult than I'd anticipated. If we could shrink the surface of the Earth and make both of our families live close to us and to each other, that would be ideal. But that's simply not our reality, so the new reality is holidays divided between families. If I said I didn't deteriorate at one point and consider jumping on a plane back home, that would be a lie. However, the feeling was more indicative of my love for my immediate family than any lack of love felt in The Fiancé's family.

...Besides, The Fiancé's family exchanges presents (we gave up gift-giving in my family recently [I was the lone hold-out the past few years still demanding gift exchange...] once it was agreed that it was silly to buy presents for sane adults who are capable of buying whatever they need when they need it... oh, and then there's that whole wedding they're throwing us this year, making a request for additional gifts seem a bit superfluous).

The irony of the whole his-family, my-family holiday celebration division took a backseat, however, to the realization that this year, The Fiancé and I become our own family. (Or as the Fiancé called us, "our own corporate entity"... You'd think he was the attorney, not me). The new-found awareness of this fact hasn't fully sunk in yet. But I confess the feeling is somewhat akin to that photo up there.

mea culpa

I know. I know. I have been a terribly delinquent blogger lately. This thing called life keeps getting in the way of my hobbies.

Anywho, know that I'm still here, albeit less frequently. Inspiration is hard to come by when it's a whopping 7 degrees outside and Spring (and our wedding) seem like they are incomprehensibly far away. Today, the inside of my nose actually crystallized as I was walking to the train to come to work. Now, if that doesn't scream "CHICAGO IN WINTER" I'm not sure what does. I truly think the deep freeze is passing through to my brain and sapping all creativity.

As soon as I thaw out [soon] I will resume regular posting. This could be in a couple hours, could be a few days. Who knows. Like sunshine in December in Chicago, you never know when (and if) it's gonna appear.

inquiring minds want to know

If one were to be in the market for a new couch, when's the best time of year to get a good deal? Anyone know? Is it true what they say that post-holidays is a prime time ?

...just in case ... one [i.e. me] might be shopping [for a big pretty leather sectional that she has her heart set on at Macy's...]...