PT Woes: Part Seventy-Four

When my mom and I were getting in the PT Cruiser to go on a random errand the other day when I noticed some rust. A scratch. A few dents. As if something large and heavy had fallen on it. Perhaps a tree branch. Perhaps a tree branch during a recent Nor'easter. I didn't let it bother me. I went about my business, mentioned I'd call my best friend* soon and talk to them about it, especially since I haven't spoken to them in a few days. Put it right back out of my mind.

That is, until I called them today. And reported the "damage

" like a good samaritan. Guess how much it's gonna cost me? Oh, just my $500 deductible. When I originally got the Cruiser I was only supposed to have it for two weeks so I didn't accept any of their supplemental coverage. I'm still waiting for the silver lining in this PT Cruiser experience to show itself.

*USAA

(This is not "my" Cruiser, this is the Cruiser we took to Tennessee last year.

Have I mentioned I've rented 4 of them in my life?)

Whoa

I bought a wedding dress on Saturday.

Reality has not completely set in yet.

Inspire Me

Big news friends! Last night I opened a fresh new InDesign document and named it "J&S_weddinginvite_v1"!!! And I worked on it for twenty minutes before bed. And I'm pretty sure I found a font I want to use -- Lauren, you can appreciate the hugeness of that statement given how we've flip-flopped over fonts together!

Perhaps I owe it to the inspiration board I pulled together last week at the suggestion of the previously mentioned bride. If you've looked at any wedding blogs you know the importance of a inspiration board -- a place to pull together all those images you've been bookmarking or squirreling away, and take them with you to vendor meetings as well as email them to mothers who don't see why you don't want red roses? And in the wedding blog world you always site your sources...so umm yeah I'm thankful for my small readership here. You guys won't be offended. Besides, five of them are my own pictures.

Some of them are obviously just that--inspiration, a starting point. Some of these are things I'd pluck right off of here and wear down the aisle if I could. So I'll be taking this in my hot little hands when my mom and I go meet with our caterer to discuss table settings on Friday. Our caterer sets up everything with the rental company...which is awesome if you're having a (half) tent wedding like us.

And for my sanity, here's a list of things we've already accomplished:

- Ceremony venue

- Reception venue

- Caterer -- menu at 95% completion

- Rentals

- Bridesmaids dresses (hey, I'm claiming it!)

- Some crafting (guest book, lanterns)

And hopefully by this time next week I'll be able to add:

- Wedding dress

- Table setting design

Whew, off to work...

Thanks, Mom

On a recent walk with the dogs, I realized I needed to call my mom and thank her for being so wise. Although I hated the rule as a child, she was right for not letting me play in piles of leaves.

Dogs do pee on them. On every single pile that they pass, as a matter of fact.

Here and there

- Yesterday Mary tripped whilst jumping out of an ivy bed. And skinned her chin on the pavement. And it started bleeding. And J started feeling his first paternal instincts kick in. She's ok, i just can't get over how strange it is that our dog face-planted on the sidewalk.

- When I was getting ready to blow dry my hair yesterday morning, I somehow managed to gouge a strip of skin out of my forehead with my thumbnail. Quite possibly the most randomly attained self-inflicted injury of my life. It looks like I accidently drew on myself with a red pen. Great.

- My car is going to be ready: apparently never. I get daily email updates from the "collision specialist" and I think they're trying to figure out how many times they can tell me the vapor canister doesn't fit before I freak out.

- After finally deciding what to take to Thanksgiving next week at J's folks' house, I did a test run last night of Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes. I don't even like pumpkin desserts, and holy crap these are amazing. And beautiful! I did follow reviews and omit the crazy frosting recipe and used a simpler cream cheese frosting. I'm taking a bunch of them in to work today to disperse of them, which means I'm going to have to actually speak to people today. And you know how I hate that.

- My mother gets here in 5 days! We have appts at bridal boutiques and meetings with caterer to look forward to! While I am upset my dad isn't coming this time, I'm excited because it means we can just sit around and talk and do the down-time things we gals like to do together.

- My back is getting itchy from my sunburn. Yes, we made it to Florida last week. I haven't quite figured out what to say about our whirlwind trip other than: I have the coolest in-laws in the world and I love Ft. Myers Beach.

- It did become apparent to us though that after more than 2 years together, our dogs don't like to be apart. They may not play together or really pay any attention to each other, but both of them had some issues with not eating and umm, other stuff, while we were away. From now on we're going to use an in-home pet service so we don't have to split up these two knuckleheads. Jamie, interested in some travel? :)

The Mighty Nor'easter

When I moved to Virginia five years ago, I knew that I was trading the Midwest's tornados for the East's hurricanes. I didn't know I was also in the market for Nor'Easters. I don't even think I'd ever heard that word before.

I arrived here the year after Hurricane Isabel, the most severe hurricane these parts have seen. My friends have told me horror stories about being without power for weeks (weeks!) and how the tunnel I drive through twice a day for work was closed for months (months!). There is a special clause in our contract with our wedding venue that if a hurricane comes through and wipes out the entire museum before our wedding date we will be refunded for 100% of our deposit. Just a crazy way of life that I never had to think about before moving here. And since I've been here, I haven't seen a real hurricane, thankfully. But I've seen the Nor'easters. I can't tell you the difference between a hurricane and a Nor'easter, but I know that the latter of the two are not named storms. Other than that? Umm, no difference? The local news sources are comparing this storm to Isabel, with massive power outages, higher than normal tides and severe coastal flooding.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning in a true attempt to go to work. I still have my awful cough and rough voice (as can be confirmed by Laura, who got a good chuckle out of it last night), but I'm getting better. At the same time that my alarm went off, J was driving through our neighborhood, dodging downed trees and lakes of flood waters. Stuck. After 24 hours of heavy rain, the whole region is stuck. J couldn't make it out of our neighborhood. And even if he had, the tunnel that he was headed for was closed. Marooned. He came back home, defeated...and promptly went back to bed. With the rain pounding rhythmically against even window in our house, I don't blame him.

My boss is flooded in on the island she lives on. We chatted this morning as I sipped my cup of tea sweetened with the cinnamon/lemon honey she steeped for me as a gift -- as she looked out her back window, commenting how the water has now swallowed the pilings of her dock. She doesn't have any power. She's staying home today. She doesn't have a choice.

As we nestle in for another day of gray heavy rain, the toughest decision on my plate is how to get the dogs to their weekend destinations today. At some point we're going to have to decide, come hell and high water, if we're going to be able to make it on this trip.

Willing myself well

About two weeks ago J's mama invited us to join her at their timeshare in Florida this weekend. I jumped for joy. Especially when we both got clearance from our jobs to go. True it may be a short trip, but I prefer to think of it as a long weekend instead.

Two days ago I woke up with the worst pain in my ears and that familiar rawness in my throat. I dealt with it, made it through the day. Yesterday was much much worse. I suddenly had a cough that made me sound like a 30-year career smoker with a rough and tough voice to match. I snuck in a quick trip to the doc who gave me some antibiotics, and the "Well it's not the flu!" verdict that I needed. I've been pushing the OJ like it's going out of style. You could set your watch by how religiously I've been gargling with this crazy witch-doctor antiseptic mouthwash. True, I've been coughing up things that make me a little sick to my stomach to see, but dang it, this will pass.

I just got a picture message from my future mother-in-law -- she arrived at the condo today. It's a picture of the balcony overlooking the ocean with the message, "Come on down!" We leave for Ft. Myers at 6AM on Friday morning. I will be well. Oh yes.