64 bucks

That's the credit the printer gave us for mucking up our wedding invites FOUR times.

It's better than nothing!

IOU

a blog about my bachelorette party.

I promise. It's coming.

Take 4

Why would we need to mail out our wedding invitations? That's crazy talk.

The company we hired to print our invites are reprinting one of the cards for the FOURTH time. Yes, FOURTH time. What was supposed to be on the "Dinner & Dancing" card was:

Gran Bahia Principe Akumal
Poolside

* Resort Formal Attire

Read:

Gran Bahia Principe Akumal
Poolside Resort Formal Attire

Yeah that's what I said. WTF is "Poolside Resort Formal Attire"? I can only imagine what people would show up to our wedding wearing. So the invites went back. The first time they left off the last sentence all together. The second time came back like the example above. The third time they came back they had the wrong font; a font with a shadow. So keep your fingers crossed that they come back tomorrow correct. We needed to get these bad boys out 2 weeks ago!!!! Our RSVP date will be 10 short days after they are mailed.

Was it Chatty Cathy or Chatty Jack?

I've always been under the misinformed notion that girls love to chat with one another but recently, I've decided that is just not true and in fact, is a complete misnomer.

Compared to the guys in my office and the guys I know (particularly one I live with) who chat it up all day long about professional sports, their recreational sports teams, cars, finances and politics, women truly have got nothin' on them!

And you know what? It's really annoying. All day long I have to listen to phone calls or water cooler chatter about who traded who and how that trade will affect the upcoming season, or the local basketball game last night in someone's church league, or how someone's son was pinned in his first wrestling match (I've heard that story 17 times and that is not an exaggeration), or if another person should sell tumbling stock. I mean, the list goes on and on. And what's funny is that my girlfriends and I communicate via text message. "Do you want to do lunch? Can you meet me at 6:30? Did you have fun last night?"

I think the roles have definitely changed. One would think it was the male counterpart sending the one lined text messages, but ahem, it most certainly is not.

Does anyone agree with this assessment? If so, are you equally as annoyed as I am? It's all I can do to hold back a scream that would sound something like, "Hang up the phone and get back to work you lazy f*ck! You have a whole entire lunch hour to hold hands with the guy 2 cubes down and talk about basketball!!!"

It's never that bad.

I’ve been thinking about my friend, Skip, a lot since I read a blog about his Mentor, Paul Tilley, yesterday. Paul was the top Creative Officer at DDB, the ad agency where Skip used to work. Paul decided that he couldn't take it anymore and he jumped from the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago on Friday evening, which is right next to the offices of DDB. He was 40 years old and had a wife and 2 little girls.

I’ve been googling it to find out more. I'm a little obsessed with it to be completely honest. I want to find out that he had a mob hit out on him or was being blackmailed and his family's safety was being threatened. I want to read that he was just informed that he had Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer and didn't want to have to suffer or let his kids see him deteriorate. I have been unsuccessful in finding out any details as to WHY a successful ad exec with two small kids and a wife decides to take his life....and to jump from a building no less. The only thing I read was that his wife said, "Life is complicated. Paul was a complicated man". That seems like the understatement of the year.

I can’t help but look up at the buildings as I walk to and from my office every day. I feel so sorry for the CTA bus driver who witnessed the event. I just can’t wrap my arms around something like that and I didn’t even know the guy. I can only imagine what my buddy, Skip, is feeling right now.

I just don’t get it. It’s NEVER THAT bad. It’s NEVER something that you can’t come back from. If it was his job, then quit. If it was his wife, then figure it out or move on. If it’s criminal or drug related, deal with the consequences and learn from it and move passed it. If it's health-related then fight it.

It’s messing with my head in a very gruesomely curious way.

For now, all I can do is to pray for his wife and his family. I'm also praying for Skip.

Life's Tough. Wear a Helmet.

To add more crap to our never-ending TO DO list:

Brian was picking me up from the train tonight. As I was walking in front of his car towards the passenger side to open the door I see an SUV behind him turning right. Towards Brian. Not looking. Yep, you got it.....BAM! Brian's whole rear end is MESSED up (he thinks its about 4k worth of damages).

And to make matters worse....

He was hit by a guy with no drivers license.
Who is an illegal immigrant.
Who was subsequently drinking.
Who didn't speak any English.

We called one of our groomsmen who happens to be a Chicago Detective who came to the scene and tried to talk to him. He had 2 beer cans in the truck. Soooo the police arrested him.

:/

Poor guy. I know.....of course it was a stupid mistake on his part to drink and drive, not pay attention AND drive without a license, but dang, do we feel bad! We were just trying to get home....we didn't want anyone to go to jail!!

He was cooperative and gave us his insurance card (ummm, anyone heard of Magnum insurance? Yeah, neither have we) and let us talk to his boss who spoke English, but what were we supposed to do? Cross our fingers that his insurance will pay for what is sure to be expensive damages?

Sorry, buddy. :(

(Oh and both of us are totally fine and still made it to the gym to work out)

Vulnerability

By a show of hands, whose comfortable showing that they are in a vulnerable state??

Anyone?

.
.
.
.

Anyone?


Okay, now that we have that out of the way.


Last night when I got home from work, I immediately went to my room and had a good cry. I didn't even take off my winter boots. And it was a GOOD cry. Not just a few tears, mind you, but I had an all-out, hyperventilating, soaked-the-pillow cry.

Without going into too much detail, I was recently let down in a big way by someone very important to me. Couple that with all of the stress that wedding planning brings and I guess I'll say that a mini-meltdown was creeping up. I was very hesitant to call this person and let them know they had let me down, because the last time I did that, I lost one of my best friends forever. Hypersensitive? Yeah, you can say that.

So as I was crying, B encouraged me to pick up the phone and let this person know how I feel and I finally did. And between sobs and very deep breaths, I was able to get out my feelings (in a non-abrasive way, thankuverymuch) to my friend. She knew she had let me down but wasn't aware of how badly my feelings were hurt in the process. We talked it out. She apologized and I accepted. We will move on.

Afterwards, I must admit that I felt better. I felt good. I felt really good. I felt relief. I felt like a big weight had been lifted off of my shoulders after over a week of this festering in my mind and more importantly, in my heart. Did all of my problems drift away? Of course not. But I genuinely felt lighter. If anyone out there in internetland knows me, they know I bottle things up and let them simmer long enough to the point of boiling and then boom - EXPLOSION. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's certainly something I'm working on and will continue to work on for the rest of my life.

The lesson I learned last night is that it's okay to show your vulnerability. I spent 4 years in the military where it was drilled into me that one should not, under any circumstance, show their feelings. And today, 11 years later, I can now tell you without falter and without any regret that it's okay to show your feelings. It's even okay to cry (gasp)! AND I encourage it (double gasp!!).

You will feel better for doing it.

Cranky

Throughout the entire wedding planning process, I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot about myself, about my fiance, about my family and friends, about everyone really. I've been let down and felt disappointment in others far too often to the point that I'm left with a huge pit of uneasiness in my stomach. I wish I could just do it all but I know my limits. I know that I have to let go and let others handle their own responsibilities in this process, but I'm so tired of being disappointed. I'm tiring of having to fix things. I'm tired of having to do the things that do not fall under my list of responsibilities.

Sometimes I just wish we would have eloped. Sometimes I'm glad we are having a wedding.

I guess I'm just flooded with a mish-mosh of feelings not only about my own self reflection but also about others in my inner circle right now. On the bright side, my house will soon be filled with out of town guests ~ all of my friends from Ohio (mostly all bridesmaids) ~ and we are sure to have an awesome time this weekend for my Bachelorette party. They will put a smile on my face; that's for sure.

And for crying out loud, does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of a 4-day old headache?

It's B on National TV!

Brian taped a short segment on FoxNews yesterday. He was interviewed by Neil Cavuto show about Project Lifeline; a new lender program designed to help people who are in arrears in their mortgages.

Click here to check it out. (click on the 2nd “QuickView" box).

It was taped live and for his first time on national television, he didn’t do too bad!

**And for the record, Brian doesn't have any clients who have foreclosed on their homes!! Yes, indeedy, he's one of the GOOD guys. MY good guy!! (wink wink)***

2 Months from today.....

We'll be right here saying "I Do".

A Short but Open Letter to Old Man Winter

Go away already!!!

Enough said.

Dr. TATOFF

I had what I HOPE will be my last tattoo laser removal appointment today for my shoulder. Last one before the wedding, that is. I think it was my 10th treatment. Ehhh, maybe it was the 11th. Who knows. Dr. Yoo, my doc, always replies, "Anything under 20 and you should consider yourself lucky", when I ask him, "How many more?????????????"

So if that was in fact my 11th laser appointment, that means I've spent $3,300.00 so far getting this freakin' thing off my shoulder so that I can wear a lovely strapless wedding dress down the aisle in 2 months. Do you know what you can do with 3300 hundred bucks? AND it would have been $4100 had the front desk girl not hooked me up with $300 appointments when the price went up to $400.

Does anyone watch LA Ink? It's about the daily going-on's of a Los Angeles tattoo shop. I was very happy to see the last episode followed one of the ink-covered staff members to a laser removal appointment at Dr. Tatoff's office (yes, that was really the name on the door). You should have seen her jaw drop when she found out that the ink isn't removed in one shot. And that she needed to come back every six weeks. For the next few years. It was pure comedy! After she gathered her composure, she went ahead with the treatment. She didn't opt for the numbing cream (and for what it's worth, I've NEVER been offered any kind of numbing cream. I just take Tylenol beforehand, ice my back for 2 minutes and then clench my jaw the entire time and encourage my doctor to tell me one or two of his many dirty jokes he has up his sleeve as a way to distract me...). I digress.

Well I just wanted to give a nice hats off to LA Ink for showing the world that there are consequences to every action. Even the people covered in tattoos don't always love them and have to endure the same costly and painful procedure that the rest of us endure.

And it ain't pretty!!!

Accomplished

B and I got all of our errands completed this weekend. I love the feeling of accomplishment.

I got my new car!!! Yay! We traded in my 325i and B's Range Rover and I got a BMW X5. I love it! I've never had an SUV and with all of this snow, our ski trips and our trips back to Ohio with the dog and suitcases, we need an SUV. I hated driving the Range Rover because it's just so big and didn't "zip" around like my BMW, but it was necessary in the snow. So now I get the best of both worlds....a fun car to drive in the snow. And the best feature that I didn't have before....a heated steering wheel!! Oh and the front and rear sensors that tell me how close I am to something will come in very handy with all of the parallel parking we do in Chicago.

This is a picture from the dealer website...it's not so good, but it'll do for now.



On the wedding front, we got our invitations ordered (complete with a personalized line on the invite from yours truly), we got Brian's outfit picked out and our groomsmens outfits picked out. We are slowly chipping away at the do-to list. I also have all of my attendants gifts purchased AND picked up. How ya like them apples?? Oh and this week I ordered my veil, too.

Dinner at AI Sushi last night was fantastic! I highly recommend it! We overextended our visit a bit by dining for 3 hours but the restaurant bought us drinks in the lounge so that they could give the table to another party.

Now THIS is freakin' hilarious!!!

You must watch THIS!!! It's a riot! And if you are at work, use headphones, but TURN IT UP!

Now that I think about it...

....if the Valet guys want to steal my car for whatever reason, they can at least steal 40 cents out of my change so that:

a. they don't get busted and
b. so I don't have to pay THEIR tickets!!!

I mean, come on!

Jerks.

TGIF

My week has flown by. I mean just ridiculously flown by. Sometimes I just want to grab onto the hands of time and stop them from moving to the right. Can't someone take that battery out for a day or two?

Anyhoo......

We awoke to at least a foot of snow today. What a train wreck it was getting to work...even by train. No, not literally, but it was just a mess to schlep through the unplowed streets and sidewalks. Our SUV was parked outside (and the inside was still all torn apart from the latest repair that Brian had to do....but unfortunately, the leak he was trying to fix is still leaking) and Brian had to dig it out from the foot of snow we got.

I got hit by falling ice on my walk to the office from the train. I had a hat on and a hood and it slid right down my back....Thank GOD!

Onto other topics, we've decided to take both Brian's SUV and my car and trade them in this weekend for a different SUV. I drive my car like 4 times a month* and when it snows, then I take the SUV, so it just makes sense. Did I mention we have 4 cars? Yes, FOUR cars. Granted, one doesn't see the streets but for the 4 or 5 times during the year that B races it, but still, 4 cars? So yes, we're ready to get that number down to 3.

As for the weekend, we have so much we need to do! I need to buy my shoes for the wedding so that I can start my fittings. I need to pick up some of my attendants gifts at the bridal store. Brian and I need to finish the wording of our invitations and get those ordered Saturday. We need to trade the cars in. Oh so much to do and so little time!

Saturday night we'll be enjoying a meal at AI Sushi with some friends. I've been wanting to try this place since it opened and can't wait! Sunday we'll be watching the big game with some friends and I'll be trying not to negate all of my efforts this week with bad...errr.....good food.

* So I get a letter in the mail yesterday telling me I owe the state of Illinois 63 bucks and change for blowing through tolls on the toll ways. Come again? Ummm, I don't ever recall blowing through any tolls, thankuverymuch. I always take Brian's IPass when I drive on a toll way. But there it was....a picture of MY car and MY license plate glaring back at me. Upon further examination of this document, I notice that two of the tickets happened during the week around 2pm....while I was at work......and while my car was SUPPOSED to be sitting in the garage......where the Valet put it!!!! Can you friggin' believe this? What the F? So I called that state and yes, the time of the ticket is accurate and no, they could not tell who was driving in the pictures (too dark). But they said I could fight the ticket in the not-so-convenient suburb of Downer's Grove. I think I'll just pay the 63 bucks and put a hidden camera in my car!!!

(And yes, I need to pay better attention to my mileage and gas when I get my car from the garage. Crazy that I thought I could trust these guys. LESSON LEARNED!!)