Yesterday was my one-month wedding anniversary.
Today, it's been ten years that I've owned my house.
Tomorrow, I turn 39 years old.

Woo!

So far, the major change in our lives is that Graham now has health insurance. Yay marriage!

Soon, though, we'll start work on the kitchen remodel. We have pretty much everything, cash and gift card wise, to do it. But we need to finish a few things around the house before we get started. I think that we'll probably start soft demo in mid-June, and the hard core stuff starts in the first week of July.

At the same time, I'm meeting tonight with someone to talk about an installation at Burning Man. I'm hoping to join the project if it doesn't sound like a complete disaster. We'll see. Right now, they have a great idea, but I have no idea what the execution will be like. Or what the people are like. But it'd be cool to work on something big, to contribute something to the open playa. So we'll see.

Other than that, I have another few projects that I want to do in the near future, and Burning Flipside is next week, so I'm not having too many post-wedding blues. Apparently the key is to keep yourself super crazy busy.

Noir, the cat who is not our cat, came by today for the first time since the tail incident. He seemed to be in good spirits. He asked for breakfast, said hi to Celosa, let me pick him up, and then went on his way. His fur needs to grow back on his arm and tail stump, but I think he'll be ok.

Tags: 'stina, burning man, home improvement, noir

Noir, the cat that's not our cat, had a rough day yesterday.

It started with a triumph.

Liv and Chicken came over Saturday night after my great-aunt's celebration. We were both (me and Liv, not me and Chicken) a bit tipsy after a lot of wine, margaritas, and beer over the course of the day, and we ended up passing out in my bed pretty shortly after we got home.

My poor husband had to sleep on the couch.

At around nine Sunday morning, Celosa, who had been sharing the bed with the other three of us, got up and asked if she could go outside. Of course, I got up to let her out. Chicken followed. Celosa came back in as soon as she was done with her toilet, but Chicken was concerned about something outside. She barked a few times, and then slowly backed up into the house.

A second later, Noir appeared and walked through the door.

"Good morning, Noir!" said Celosa.

"Good morning, Celosa," replied Noir. "Who is your short friend with the big ears?" Noir turned to Chicken to introduce himself.

Chicken took one look at Noir and ran away. She high tailed it out of the kitchen, returned to the bedroom, and hopped back into bed to be with her mama. And hid. Never was her name more appropriate.

Noir and Celosa were more concerned with Noir's breakfast than they were with Chicken's departure. I went about near daily ritual of making sure that Noir had plenty of food and that Celosa got the spoon that served the food. And I went back to tell Chicken's mama about her disgrace. Liv introduced herself to Noir and found him to be a quite charming and friendly cat.

Once Noir was finished with his breakfast, I got thought he needed to go back out, as he's a busy cat with a busy life. But instead, he asked if he could have some cat nip, and I was more than happy to accommodate his request. I left him with alone with a nip infused mousie and sleeping Graham on the couch in the TV room. Chicken, in the meantime, discovered that cat food is quite tasty, and she came back to the kitchen to clean the parts of Noir's plate that Celosa had missed.

Unfortunately, this left Chicken in a vulnerable position when Noir was done getting high, and she ran into him in the kitchen again when he was ready to make his departure. Face to face with a cat for the second time, she faced her fear, decided she couldn't handle it, and ran like heck back to her mama.

I let Noir out and wished him a good day. Liv and Celosa and I mercilessly made fun of Chicken, until we fell back asleep.

Later, at around seven, I went to hang out with Liv at my parents' house before she took off for San Francisco. Right before I was to take Liv to the airport, I got a call from Graham, who was at home. He saw the neighbors, Noir's other family, looking frantically for a cat, and he wanted to know when Chicken had seen Noir so as to give our neighbors a time frame if they were trying to piece together when and where he'd last been seen.

No more than ten minutes later, Graham called back again. He was irate. He'd found Noir in our back yard with half of his tail missing. Something about a dog biting his tail off. He was able to pick Noir up. Noir was very calm in Graham's arms until he realized that he was going back across the street, and then he started to fight. Nonetheless, Graham got him back across the street to our neighbors, who were in a panic about what had happened. Graham got them to focus on the injured kitty, and they took him to the emergency vet.

About an hour later, after I'd dropped off Liv at the airport, I got the full story.

Noir's other mama's parents had come over for a visit. And they'd brought their dog with them. Noir, being Noir, approached the doggie with friendliness and openness. Unlike Chicken and Celosa, this dog was not afraid of/pro-cats, and instead of running away, the dog bit Noir, breaking his tail. Noir ran like hell and went to his safe* place under our palm tree. Graham is pretty sure that Noir removed the broken part of his tail, and it's somewhere in our back yard. Noir's other parents were very happy that Noir has a second family that loves and cares about him, because otherwise he wouldn't have had a place to go where someone would have easily found him. The fact that it was a third, strange dog made much more sense, because Sky and Lilly, Noir's other siblings LOVE Noir, and like Celosa, they play with him.

Noir went to the emergency vet last night, but the wait was three hours long. His family wrapped and cleaned his tail, and they were going to take him to their regular vet this morning. He's supposed to be confined while he's treated, and he's going to HATE that. But he's very likely going to come over to our house a lot, with permission, because it's clear that he feels safe with us and that we'll look out for him.

I never saw any of this, and Graham said it was probably best that I didn't as it was not a great scene. He would have taken Noir to the emergency vet himself yesterday, except I had the car.

We will bring Chicken over to help Noir with his recovery. Surely a dog being afraid of him will help repair the psychological trauma.

*Safe for Noir, not safe for any of the birds and/or squirrels in our back yard. It generally looks like some sort of murder scene back there, and Noir's other parents said that sometimes he comes home from our house with feathers in his teeth.

Tags: celosa, chicken, dogs, noir

When Graham told me about MCA's passing, I was genuinely pissed off. I mean, totally. I remember hearing about the cancer a few years ago. I remember thinking, "aw fuck," when I heard that the Beastie Boys were on hiatus for awhile, but I totally thought it was something that was beatable. I mean, salivary gland. How hard is that to pinpoint?

Apparently harder than I thought.

Fuck.

I remember when License to Ill came out. I was in seventh grade, and it was the first hip-hop that I was really exposed to, first time I ever really heard sampling. I loved it. Everyone loved it. We played "Brass Monkey" and "Fight for Your Right" and "Paul Revere" and "She's Crafty" and everything else in our school dances. A lot more fun to dance to, without the awkwardness of having to choose a partner. We had no idea what the songs actually meant, and they had NO application to our lives, but we'd sing along as if we were making some sort of profound statement to Catholic middle schoolers.

The Beastie Boys from that point forward were always around. I'm an anomaly in that I think that I was more profoundly impacted by Check Your Head than I was Paul's Boutique and Ill Communication (though like most people, I truly love "Sabotage"). But, because of those three albums, I became adamantly on the side of sampling. The production that went into those albums is so fucking amazing that I tend to judge most remixing/sampling/layering on the work done by the DJs and producers who made those albums possible.

It was weird, in the 2000s, when I discovered that the Beastie Boys, like myself, were becoming middle aged. Their music wasn't necessarily cutting edge or ground breaking anymore, though I still thought it was pretty awesome. I faithfully bought Hello Nasty and To The Five Boroughs, and I loved them.

And even a my music buying habits changed from listening to CDs to MP3s, I kept up with the Beastie Boys. I remember thanking them for fighting the good fight in the wake of the various wars we embarked upon in the early part of the century. In 2006, when I started running with an iPod, I would listen to Check Your Head straight through. I probably know it as well as I know any full length album. I probably have a dozen mashups featuring Beastie Boys songs. It is probably cheating to use the Beastie Boys in a mashup, because their music is such a combination of so many different generes, and in some respect is often already a mashup, taking it apart and putting it back together into something new isn't difficult to conceptualize.

I finally saw the Beastie Boys in August 2007 at VirginFest. I said this about their part of the show:

Anyhow, the trash situation started getting bad right around the time the Beastie Boys came on, but I didn't really pay all that much attention to the ground because I was so enthralled by the music. I have a running playlist on my ipod that is entirely Beastie Boys based, and I felt strangely compelled to start running while listening to their set. I settled with dancing. Everything sounded great, the production of the performance was top notch, and the three MCs played off of each other beautifully. The DJs were also amazingly good. They probably played for an hour and a half, but it seemed to fly by. Their new album, which I've heard once but haven't bought yet, is entirely instrumental, and they played a few songs from it. But they also managed to cover some material from most of their other albums, too. The crowd loved them, and they seemed to love the crowd. Because my sister has been so involved with putting on heavily produced DJ parties lately, I paid a lot more attention to stuff like the mixing and the presentation on the jumbotrons. All were top notch. They came out wearing suits, but pretty soon MCA muttered something about being as hot as a mofo and everyone was pretty stripped down by the end.

It was a pretty awesome show. I remember I knew someone at the time who had connections to the Beastie Boys, and she'd said that this particular tour was pretty much a mobile nursery rather than party buses: Everyone was having kids now.

The next year, I used the "Intergalactic" video as my inspiration for Burning Man prep. I probably watched that video several dozen times while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with our Future Space theme.

I heard about MCA's cancer shortly after he announced it. It sounded, though, that it was a fairly treatable, and it was clear that he was still working, so I was hopeful that it was something that could easily be beaten. Last year, I assumed that all was well with MCA when the video to Make Some Noise came out. I, like the rest of the internet watching universe (at least so it seemed, what with the nearly 5 million views of a 29 minute music video) had watched it on YouTube, laughing at the Beastie Boys acknowledging that their youth had moved on, but still putting out some awesome music. MCA directed the video. Later on last year, I saw AdRock on Top Chef Just Desserts, so I figured that Beastie Boys publicists were busy working on promoting the new album.

All was well, because the Beastie Boys were around, and they've always been around. And I am not the only one that thought so: I mean, "Sabotage" at the beginning of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek felt to me totally appropriate and fitting for the scene, even 200 years later. Clearly Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman felt that the Beastie Boys are timeless. And that remix of the video using Battlestar Galactica clips? Fucking awesome.

I really was shocked this morning when Graham told me. I've been listening to Beastie Boys all day-because I have 3.5 hours of Beastie Boys with me wherever I go on my ipod--and it just pisses me off more than anything else. Graham is 41 years old, just 6 years younger than MCA. That's way too young. Way fucking too young.

Fuck cancer. Just dammit, fuck it. Totally unfair, totally destructive and awful, and UGH.

Will attempt to find some Brass Monkey at some point.

Tags: death, health, music, things that suck

My great-aunt Ana wanted to get her corneas replaced so she could see my wedding.

I back up. A little over a year ago, Ana was in the hospital, having been the second person in the world to undergo an experimental heart valve replacement procedure. She'd been having problems breathing due to congestive heart failure, and at 95 years old, she wasn't a great candidate for open-heart surgery. So they did a procedure to fix her valve using cardiac catheterization.

The surgery was a success.

I stopped by the hospital, while she was recovering, to tell her that Graham and I got engaged. I had always thought that asking the father for permission was utter and complete horseshit, but I knew that I absolutely had to inform Ana before anyone else in the family was told. Ana lit up, and she wanted to know EVERYTHING about the engagement, the wedding, Graham's family, everything. I talked about how it would be at the ranch about a year hence, and we would be getting as much news out as we knew. I remember mentioning that I was a little apprehensive about putting on a wedding, since my parents had eloped and all of my mom's family had eloped. Weddings weren't really part of my family's history. Ana looked at me and said, "Oh, weddings ARE a part of your family's history. And I'll be happy to remind your parents." I laughed.

The major setback that Ana had after her surgery last year was that her eyes started deteriorating. I don't think she had great vision to start with--she'd needed assistance walking in unfamiliar paths for years because she couldn't see gradations in the sidewalk very well--but apparently during the anesthesia, there wasn't enough oxygen getting to her eyes and her eyes started failing more rapidly.

But she didn't let it get her down or keep her at home. In early August, when Jose and our cousin Patrick left Houston to go to their respective graduate programs in Ann Arbor and Austin, she was the light of the party. She traveled to Miami in October to attend the baptism of THREE great-grandchildren. In early November, she took off to east Texas with a bunch of other family members for a small family reunion. We had a wonderful birthday celebration for Ana at an Indian restaurant in early December. And Ana was the hit of our engagement party in late December, wearing this AMAZING embroidered cape, charming the hell out of my friends, and being the last one to leave the party. She came to another party in early January, and we showed her how to work an iPad, thinking that may help her read the newspapers a little easier than a magnifying glass. And in the first week of March, she traveled down to Mercedes, right on the border, to put a historical marker on our family cemetery.

She couldn't wait for our wedding. All of her family was coming in for it, save one grandchild. She asked questions about Graham's family, wanting to know who everyone was so she could talk to them. She knew what she was going to wear, and according to her kids, it was all she could talk about. One of my cousins told me that it wasn't "Chistina's wedding." It was "The Wedding."

The second week of March, right after she came back from the Valley, she was supposed to have eye surgery. She had scheduled it enough in advance so she was going to have enough time to heal before the wedding.

But the weekend before the surgery, she had trouble breathing, and instead of going to the hospital for surgery, she was in the hospital for oxygen. This spring was particularly bad for allergies, and she succumbed to them.

I went to visit her in the hospital during my lunch break on March 13. She was fast asleep in her hospital room when I got there, and I thought I wouldn't be able to visit with her for more than a minute or two. But she woke up when my cell phone rang, and she chatted with me for well over an hour. She was really excited about another engagement party that some friends were throwing for us a week later. She told me that she had her outfit picked out for that party, too. She told me that the worse her eyes got, the brighter her clothes got. She wanted to know about my wedding plans, and how Graham was doing, and how my family was doing, and everything. I asked her how she was, and she said she was really happy to be at the hospital, so she could fight.

I had no doubt that she was determined to get to the engagement party the next week, but I wasn't surprised when it turned out she couldn't go. She'd just left the hospital and was in a skilled nursing facility, and she wasn't quite recovered enough to make it to a social engagement. I was sad that she wasn't there, but I was really happy that it seemed she was recovering.

On March 31, my mom and I were at the ranch two weeks out from the wedding. We were working on some project or another, and my dad called to tell us that Ana had had a stroke. Fortunately, she had been in the skilled nursing facility, and they were able to get her to the hospital and administer TPA within 20 minutes of the stroke. In the next few days, she'd have difficulty speaking, but it was clear that the stroke hadn't had much of an impact on her cognitive abilities.

I think up until a week before the wedding, there was still talk of her trying to go. At some point there was discussion of an RV or ambulance rental, but ultimately, I think everyone realized that it wasn't going to happen.

The last thing that Graham and I did before we left Houston to go to our wedding was to see Ana. Ana had met Graham's mother back in 2008, when my mother-in-law had come through Houston. And she recognized Jan and spoke a few words, in English and Spanish, with her. She looked a lot better than I expected her to look, and though she was quieter than usual, she was clearly following along in conversation and piping up when she had the words. We didn't stay too long, but we promised to come back with pictures and stories.

Almost every single member of her family stopped to see Ana on the way to going to my wedding. Sons, daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews. Everyone was flying into Houston anyways, so they stopped by the hospital before going on to the ranch. Two of my cousins stayed in Houston with her while everyone else went on to the wedding.

Last Saturday morning, April 21, my mom and I were running errands when my dad called. Ana had made a decision, and it was going to be hard on the rest of the family. She didn't want to fight anymore. At least one of her kids and maybe a grandchild or two had been with her non-stop for the last four or five days. My mom and I pulled out some of the leftover food from the wedding, and the family members that were here stopped by my parents house while they moved Ana to a private room. My dad, who deals with this exact situation on a daily, if not hourly, basis with his own patients, said that it was entirely possible that we could have several months with her, but you can never tell.

I went home on Saturday night, and I decided to make Ana a bouquet of paper flowers, since she didn't get to see them at the wedding. I chose the brightest color paper I had: red, orange, yellow and pink. I made 38 paper roses, and the bouquet was big and beautiful, and I was really happy I could do something that Ana would probably be able to see and appreciate. I also loaded my ipad with all the pictures I had so far of the wedding, so I could show them to Ana on Monday at lunch.

The next morning, I took the bouquet over to my parents' house. My mom and I had some projects we never had the opportunity to finish the day before, and I asked my dad to take the bouquet to Ana when he went to see her that morning. My dad suggested that my mom and I come to the hospital to give them to her, because he wasn't sure if she'd be awake when he stopped by. And, I could show her the pictures. We could take the light rail back to their apartment, or since it was a pretty day, we could walk.

When we walked into the hospital room, we found my cousin at the bedside, who had a stricken look on her face. She just blankly looked at us, and said "She's gone. Ten minutes ago." And we realized that Ana had passed away.

Ana Riddel was loved. And she loved. I'm really sad that I don't have her in my life anymore, but I know that she lived her life the way she wanted to, up to the moment she died. She was a woman of opinion and passion and beauty. She liked people unless she didn't. She fought and cajoled and made people listen to what she had to say. She was a fantastic politician, and she was a woman of great humor and compassion. She was a woman who would see a need, and instead of simply talking about what should be done, she went out and made things happen. Jose and I interviewed her for Storycorps in 2007, and we had a blast for an hour talking about her life. We probably needed six or seven hours. I could probably go on for pages and pages talking about the amazing things that Ana did over her nine and a half decades on this planet, but she loved me and she loved my family. And we loved her. And we had her for a long time, but with a woman like her, there's never enough time.

And while I am sad that she didn't make it to my wedding, I'm overjoyed that my wedding brought all of her loved ones to her right before she died.

We're having a celebration of her life next weekend. Everyone is encouraged to wear bright colors. I think she'll be able to see us.

Tags: death, family, memories

There were about 220 people at our wedding, so there are about 225 versions of the party that followed the ceremony. Immediately afterwards, we were swarmed with people, and I hugged and hugged and hugged. Almost everyone was wiping away tears, and people were constantly telling us that it was one of the most beautiful ceremonies that they'd ever seen.

We certainly weren't going to argue the point. I thought it was odd that I made it through with my voice cracking only a little towards the end of my vows. Graham made it through more or less unscathed, but our loved ones were bawling all around us.

We made our way to a pre-designated rose bush, and after about ten minutes of wrangling, we got Graham's dad's family organized for a few photographs. Then my family joined in. And then Graham's mom. And my mom's family. And then my dad's family. Considering how much family was there, it was pretty impressive that we got the photos done within about 30 minutes. ( Read more... )

Graham and I fell into bed, and we tried to talk, but we were so tired we just fell asleep.... married!

Tags: 'stina, celosa, family, friends, graham, party, ranch, wedding

When I was a kid, my sister Claudia got to be in a wedding as the flower girl. I was so jealous. She was maybe four or five years old and got to wear a special dress and looked like a little angel. I was maybe seven or eight and looked pretty much like an ordinary kid in nice clothes that I already owned. I knew at my wedding that I wouldn't single out any one child to be more special than the others.

So I ordered a ton of rose petals, put them in a basket, and got someone to organize the children downstairs to throw petals down the aisle. Any kid that wanted to could participate, but no kid was made to participate. I think that there were probably a dozen kids of flower petal throwing age downstairs, so I was certain that at least some of them would do it. And apparently my dad roped in my friend Vivian (age six and a half) to be in charge of the flower children. ( Read more... )

And we were married!! Holy crap!

Tags: 'stina, celosa, chicken, claudia, family, graham, jose, liv, ooh shiny!, pictures, relationships, wedding, zapata

At some point in the middle of the night on Friday, the wind started to pick up. It woke me at least once, and I started to worry a little more about the weather.

Thus far, the weather had been behaving itself pretty well. We knew that there was a massive storm up north, but it wasn't supposed to impact us much, aside from wind. On the other hand, this is Texas, and you never know what'll blow up in the middle of the night.

I woke up early, again, and I headed, again, to the main house. This time, though, I decided not to run.

There weren't as many people up and about when I got to the house. My mom was up, and a few other people were sort of stirring. I suspect all that beer from the night before was slowing people down.

I didn't have time to deal with waking people up. I picked up my list of things that need to be prepared for the day of the wedding, printed it out, and posted it prominently on the kitchen island. Then I headed outside. ( Read more... )

Tags: 'stina, claudia, jose, liv, ranch, wedding

Friday, April 13, 2012

I woke up early on Friday morning, and I strapped on my running shoes, jog bra, heart rate monitor and ipod. I kissed my sleeping fiance and told Celosa to be good, and I took off on a run of a little under three miles. It was cool and quiet, and it was really nice to have a a few moments to myself before the craziness began. It was one of the nicer runs I'd had in quite a while. ( Read more... )

Tags: family, friends, party, ranch, wedding

Sorry for your friendslists, everyone. I thought that if I posted with the backdates, they'd appear where they were dated on your feeds. That's how they were showing up on my own feed.

These are all my wedding posts that I kept off of my main journal and put on an offbeat bride journal. I didn't want to spoil anything for those going to the wedding, but now I really want to save them in my own journal...

Tags: internet

I'm beginning to process everything, and I thought I'd give the first of the post-wedding updates with a little more detail.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Everything started on Tuesday, when Graham's mom arrived. My mom was already up at the ranch with Celosa, our dog, and Zapata, her dog. And my sister from California and her dog, Chicken, went up on Monday with a bunch of stuff.

I took the day off, and we ran errands. I first took my car into the shop for its 90 day checkup, and while I was waiting for them to go over everything, I sat in the lobby and constructed my veil with a 4" metal comb and some ribbons. My veil took EXACTLY the amount of time it took them to go through my car. I stopped at Home Depot for some light bulbs and chalkboard spray paint, and then to Target for some diet coke and to find an extra camera battery (which they turned out not to have). And then I met Graham, who had been getting a haircut, for lunch at Cafe Express.

That evening, I walked to spin class while Graham took the car to pick up his mother from the airport.

Graham cooked his famous roast chicken on Tuesday night, and my dad and my sister came over to kick off festivities. It's possible that we drank four bottles of wine that night, including a bottle of Crianza that Graham's mom had put a special label on with a picture of our sweet Crianza, who we lost a little over a year ago.

Graham's mom also gave me a charm bracelet that she started when Graham was born. It had three charms on it: a pair of booties, a charm with the date of his birth, and a newer charm with the date of our wedding.

Wednesday April 11, 2012

Busy day!!

Graham got up EARLY to pick up the sound system for the wedding ceremony and dance floor at LD systems.

I started at 10:00 a.m. at Parkview Nails to get a manicure and pedicure. I probably unwisely also asked for a lip wax. Unwisely, because I ended up getting a bunch of zits later, and I NEVER get zits. Oh, well, easily hidden.

Next, I headed over to Timberline to get a massage from my friend Tom. It was heavenly.

After that, I threw random clothes in my backpack (having left other stuff at the ranch the weekend before) and went through my detailed packing list. (I kept probably six separate lists on Evernote to keep track of wedding related stuff, including a packing list.) After checking to see if we remembered the rings for the hundredth time, Graham, his mom and I packed all of our crap into the car, leaving a little tiny bit of room for my uncle's stuff.

Before we left to pick my uncle up from the airport, though, we stopped at the hospital to see my great-aunt Ana. Tia Ana is my grandfather's sister, and she is the matriarch of my family. As recently as a month ago, she was raring to go to the wedding, but she had some health set backs--including a stroke--in the last few weeks, and there was just no way to go. She'd met my mother-in-law back in 2008, when she and Graham's late-stepfather had come through. When we walked into the hospital room, though, she perked up and spent a few minutes chatting with us. We promised to bring her pictures of the wedding afterwards.

We stopped at McDonalds for a quick lunch, and then checked my uncle's flight status. 30 minutes early!! We were able to get to the airport just in the nick of time. Graham asked me if I thought I'd recognize him, since it'd been 20 years or so since I'd seen him. Not a problem in any way, shape or form. My uncle's stuff barely fit in with all of the other crap.

Off to the ranch!! The ride was fairly peaceful, and it was great talking to my uncle and Graham's mom. We stopped at a local chain for fried chicken when we got to Brenham, and then we got to the ranch with plenty of day light left. Liv and my mom and the dogs were delighted to see us.

We showed everyone around the house, and sort of showed how the whole wedding was supposed to work out. Graham got his mom situated into a smaller house right by the main house, and my mom got my uncle into one of the bedrooms. And shortly after we arrived, the tables and chairs got there. Graham, my mom and my uncle got them unloaded, and Graham started thinking about how he wanted them arranged. We chatted for awhile, and then sat down to eat, with lots of happy puppy dogs asking for chicken morsels.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Graham and I had slept in one of the bedrooms in the main house, but tonight we'd be moving to another house on the property, where the rehearsal dinner would be. So we packed up when we got up, and Graham took our stuff to the other house.

I called Claudia with a list of the things I forgot, including shirts and jog bras, as well as a 100 foot extension cord.

Graham's mom wanted to get a present for my mom, so she and I went on an excursion to the Antique Rose Emporium, which was about 40 miles away. We took the scenic La Bahia Road to get there, and the wildflowers were just outstanding. We spent maybe 45 minutes there, wandering through the gardens, and ultimately, we ended up with a Mock Orange for my mom.

While we were gone, Graham set up the lights.

Jose and Claudia arrived shortly after we got back to the ranch, and then my dad and my aunt and our good friend Carmen.

At some point in here, Graham spent time arranging the tables, and then Claudia and I helped rearrange them and put the chairs in place.

I also worked on the backdrop for the photo booth. We'd had a bit of a snafu when we'd ordered the invitations, and somehow we ended up with twice as many as we needed. So I turned a good hunk of the remainders into garlands, which I hung from a piece of wood.



Yay!

At some point, my mom asked me to help Zapata get a bit of a haircut. He was covered in cockle burrs, and it was easier to trim than it was to get them all out. He wasn't exactly thrilled, but he wasn't upset either. I think he was pretty happy with the result, though he would never confess to such a thing in public. Celosa and Chicken watched nervously, but Celosa only got her face trimmed later on in the weekend.

Finally, towards the end of the afternoon, we all gathered by the tables and chairs just to chat and relax. Liv went on a run. We drank beer. The pooches chased balls and each other. Gris the cat made an appearance. And so did our officiant, Smash.

Then, someone heard what sounded like a truck. And for the first time in 30 years, a UPS truck came barreling up the half-mile driveway and dropped off a package addressed to Graham. WTF???

It was from his dad! A poster sized picture of Graham from his senior year of high school when he was a punter on the football team. Uniform, pads, surly face, vaguely kicker's pose. It was AWESOME. And the setting couldn't have been more perfect than with every single member of the family there to watch. One of the highlights of the week.

My uncle then gave his lovely gift: A collection of coins from various points in history for various family members. It was quite extensive and quite personal.

My godfather showed up, and we all sat down to eat Graham's amazing pasta. Awesome.

Smash, Millie, Celosa and I went to the other house while Graham waited for his aunt, the last of the Thursday arrivals to get to the ranch. I fell asleep pretty quickly.

Tags: 'stina, celosa, family, graham, party, ranch, wedding, zapata

The morning of my wedding, I had to dis-invite a skunk. At some point during set up, he appeared.  He was found hanging out under the tables, seemingly wanting to stay.   My parents grabbed the dogs, and everyone nervously stood around looking for the skunk.

Since the tables hadn't been laid out yet, I certainly didn't have time for this.   I calmly walked towards him, and I calmly and firmly told him he was not invited to my wedding. He walked away, and I followed about 20 feet behind, letting him know that this was not a place for him. He wandered into the woods and I told him to keep on going. He didn't come back.

In other uninivted guest news, I have recently found out that the wife of a colleague of my dad's is all upset because we didn't invite them.  My dad has been working with this person for 30 years, and we knew that they couldn't come.   Of the 280 people we invited, the 220ish that showed, NONE were from work unless they were also friends.   None from mine, none from my husband's, none from my parents, none from his parents.  (There are three families that I grew up with whose husbands happened to also be colleagues of my dad's, but our lives have been intertwined outside of work, and all of those families know my husband.) These people may have met my husband once or twice in the four years that we've been living together, and they certainly aren't friends.  Apparently the colleague is totally cool with everything, but his wife is horribly insulted.  I'm giving it a day or two, and then I'll consult with my mom about the best way to handle it so it doesn't too badly hurt the business relationship my dad has.

As far as drama goes, I prefer the skunk.

Tags: ettiquite, wedding

Our photo booth was a great hit!!   We just ended up using the camera and remote, without any software or ability to print out on site, which meant for much faster photos. We had about 150 photos when all was said and done, and I think they all are wonderful. Thew a few props, and everyone had a blast with it!

Here's the flickr set.

Tags: 'stina, graham, pictures, wedding

They came out so wonderfully!!

Tags: making things, wedding

It was awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

These are the first few pictures that showed up on facebook.
 

( More pictures behind the cut! )

I changed into an infinity dress to dance.  Our first dance was to Patrick and Eugene's "Don't Stop."

Tags: 'stina, family, friends, graham, party, pictures, ranch, relationships, wedding

I had a ton of leftover invitations and inserts due to a printing snafu, and my dad had the brilliant idea of using them for decor.  And so I decided to use them for the backdrop of the photo booth.  Hole punch, string, a piece of wood and some nails, and I have an awesome backdrop for my photo booth. .

I learned that if you do this outside in a windy place, it's a good idea to weigh down the bottoms.  I did it by grabbing another board, nailing some tacks into it, and stringing the bottoms to the tacks.



The photo booth won't show the bottom or the top.

Two more days!!

Graham's mother and I went to a local nursery earlier today so she could buy my mother a plant.  It's lovely.

Tables and chairs got here yesterday.  Camera and remote was tested for photo booth. Plants are all arranged. Garden looks great, and my favorite rose decided to go crazy with the blooming.

Tags: garden, making things, pictures, wedding

Last night at the gym, I saw a pile of clothes sitting next to my gym bag. Black and a greyish sweater. Exactly the colors I was wearing today. I thought it was weird that I hadn't put my clothes in my bag, but thought nothing of stuffing the clothes in my bag and coming home.

After my shower, I went to the bag to grab my bra, and I realized that the pile of clothes wasn't mine. The sweater was the same color, but the black pants actually was a dress. The bra was tiny.

My clothes were stuffed into my gym bag, where I normally put them.

My darling husband-in-four-days was kind enough to take the stolen goods back to the gym and explain that his Oxford educated lawyer fiance is a total and complete ditz.

Needless to say, my mind is elsewhere right now...

Tags: wedding

I'm just back from the ranch, where I spent the weekend with my parents and my sister, and we got a TON done.  I have one day of work, and then tomorrow I have a bunch of errands and last minute details.  And the next day we leave and won't come home until we're married!

I think that I can let any and all weather concerns go. This was the weekly weather forecast this morning for Houston, which is admittedly 100 miles east of the ranch. But it's usually pretty close as far as rain is concerned:

This week's weather will be warm, with highs in the mid-80s, but the nights should be drier to start, with lows falling to near 60. The big question is whether it will rain much.

There's likely to be rain and thunderstorms over north Texas today, but it's unlikely that much of this activity will sweep far enough south to reach the Houston metro area. A slightly better chance of rain could come late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, say forecasters with the Houston/Galveston office of the National Weather Service.

But even then, more likely than not, it won't rain. And if it does, don't expect much.

Five-day rainfall accumulation forecast from NOAA. (NOAA)

After this system moves out a ridge of high pressure will likely build over the region, bringing warm days and a southeasterly breeze that will bring up humidity levels. Accordingly nighttime temperatures will rise into the upper 60s. And the weekend should feel pretty warm again.

My youngest sister got here last night, and she's driving up to the ranch with a load of stuff and will stay until the wedding.  Graham's mom gets here tomorrow, and we'll drive up on Wednesday after swinging by the airport to pick up one of my uncles.  My brother gets in on Thursday, and our other sister will pick him and bring him. Finally, my dad will pick up my aunt on Thursday and bring her.   Graham's dad and step mom get here on Thursday late, and we're having a lunch at the ranch with them on Friday.  The rehearsal is at 6:00 on Friday evening.

We got a TON done this weekend.

• All of the wine is there and ready to be served.
  
• The road was cleared of debris so people can park on a smoother surface and it looks nicer
  
• My mother my sister and I arranged 15 bouquets of paper circle flowers and put them into vases.
  
• I sorted 12 assortments of Kusudama centerpieces
  
• Every table's centerpiece components (circle flower vase or Kusudama assortment plus sari) have been put into an individual bag, so assembly won't be much of an issue.
  
• All of the plants we have in small pots are ready to go on tables
  
• We moved several plants to be ready for the ceremony
  
• I made anchors for three glass bouys and got them in place in the pond
  
• We opened all of the tissue paper flowers so they can mark signage.
  
• My dad's rehearsal dinner playlist was tested.
  
• We sampled the Michiladas and declared them suitable for drinking
  
• We ordered three kegs of beer to be picked up on Friday
  
• We ordered 30 breakfast tacos to be picked up on Saturday morning
  
• Tons of weeds were pulled
  
• Half of the photo booth backdrop was finished.
  
• One of the signs along the side of the road was repaired and rehung.
  
• The boat that had been washed up during the flood last month was un-capsized, and put back on the pier.
  
• My dad and my sister made something like a dozen loaves of bread dough that will be ready to be baked later.

The only thing I have left to do preparation wise is assemble my veil, assemble my bouquet and finish the photo booth.  The bouquet I can't do until the day before or day of, because I want to use fresh flowers from the garden. The veil is probably a 20 minute job that involves stitching ribbons onto a comb. And the photo booth I can't do until I get there.   I had thought that I'd spend my time from Wednesday to the wedding doing most of the things on the above list, but we knocked so much out this weekend that I can take my time on most of the other stuff.

And I have made a detailed list of tasks for the day of, so if the army of helpers that I have asks, I can direct them immediately to several items that need doing.
( Pictures of prep behind the cut )

Tags: making things, pictures, wedding

I'm at the ranch right now for a last weekend before we come up on Wednesday for the wedding.  I'm working on my final project, which is to make a photo backdrop out of the invitations that were unused. It's actually pretty easy, though a little boring compared to other things I've done for the wedding.

It's really beautiful here, and I'm getting really excited.

I brought most of the clothes for the wedding up, mine and Graham's, and I gave my parents a fashion show last night. They both loved my wedding dress, and they went absolutely gaga over the infinity dress. The boot question is still up in the air, but since Graham is really pro-cowboy boot, I'm pretty sure that's where I'll stay.

Lots of last minute details to work through, but I think we're on a good track.

The weather report is still mostly ok.  There's a 30 percent chance of rain forecast, but I'm not too concerned.

Tags: ranch, wedding

Just picked up my dress from the tailor.  It looks fantastic!

Anyone who has been following my dress saga knows that I was having some bra problems when I first got the dress, but a plunge strapless bra from Lane Bryant made all the difference in the world.   I'd lost about 22 pounds since I ordered the dress, too, so it needed to be taken in a little.  Now it looks like it totally was made for me, and I'm totally in love with it.

And my new peacock feather tattoo looks absolutely fantastic with it.

My dress was shortened a little, too.  If I wasn't outside for the majority of my wedding, I probably could have navigated in my dress, but now it's about a half inch off the ground and you can see the tips of my cowboy boots peaking out underneath.  I'm much less likely to trip and fall with the dress this length.

( More clothes discussion behind the cut )

Tags: clothes, pictures, wedding

My mom and I went to the ranch this weekend for the next to last trip before the wedding.  We had tons of work to do, but we've done tons.  I think everything is going to go perfectly.

Almost all of my DIY projects are done.  I have:

• Folded 1130 pieces of origami paper to make 226 Kusudama flowers and arranged them into 38 clusters
  
• Made well over 700 paper roses
  
• Made about 200 feather sprays
  
• Made two light boxes and two signs
  
• Cut six saris into 30 squares to cover tables
  
• Wired dozens of brooches for my brooch bouquet (which can't be finished until the day before because I am putting real flowers in it too).
  
• Made about 20 paper pompoms.
  
• Sewn three saris together to make the arch that I'm going to be married under.
  
• Made 53 yards of banners

All of these things are stored in my bedroom at the ranch.  The room looks like an explosion of peacock color, with the hundreds of pieces of paper in various shades of blue, green and purple with a little yellow thrown in here and there,  folded and cut and curled into different shapes and sizes.  The only thing I have left to do is to make a backdrop for the photo booth with the leftover invitations, RSVP cards and inserts.   I think I can finish that tomorrow night.  I also want to make a piece of jewelry for myself for the wedding.  I have all the materials and I think I can come up with the time to do it.

In addition, my dad has grown about 60 flowering plants in little aluminum pots to put on each table.  My mom has done tons and tons of gardening.  I have weeded and mulched and pruned.  My mom has also totally redone a house on the property, including rehabbing old furniture and gardening.

This weekend, my mom and I moved furniture, spent time in the garden, and came up with the final list of things we need to do before the wedding.  Between now and then, I think there is only three days that people won't be up there getting ready. My parents are going up for Easter on Thursday, and my mom will stay until after the wedding.  I'm driving up on Friday, coming back on Sunday, and then going back on Wednesday.  Graham is going up tomorrow with the drinks and the lighting.

I also started stressing about the weather.  There are 15 day forecasts available on Accuweather.  On Saturday, it said it'd rain a little on my wedding day. On Sunday, it said clouds but cool. Today it says sunny.  I'm hoping the progression is towards what will happen instead of just a hodgepodge of weather predictions. If today's forecast turns out to be the true one, I'll be very happy indeed.  We could move things inside if we absolutely had to, but it'd be so much better to be outside.

My photographer is my cousin, and she called last week to confirm everything.  I'm terribly excited about the pictures, and I think that she has a very good idea of what we want for the wedding.  Also, I arranged for a photo shoot with our good friend Pixie, who is going to be shooting a belly dance convention in Austin two months after the wedding.  It will sort of be a reverse engagement shoot.  She did an amazing photo shoot of us three years ago, so I know it'll be awesome.
( Pictures of the ranch behind the cut )

I'm getting really excited!!

Tags: pictures, ranch, wedding