wedding task wonders: photographer

My friend Anish took this photo at Laura's wedding...maybe he should be my wedding photographer? 

In the first month or so after we got engaged, there was a flurry of lists and plans and emails. I set aside a notebook especially for all my half-thought out notes, most of which can be found written sideways and in a scribbled handwriting that thankfully my journalism experience has taught me to decipher. 

There was the buying of bridal books and magazines, the adding of new blogs to my Reader (under a new category and everything!), and there might have even been a Google Wave titled "Wedding Research" created. I had friends pass on Excel spreadsheets full of venue details and dutifully, John and I took all the 360-degree tours their websites offered.  

And then, in mid-February, we booked the venue. 

And then, the next day rolled around and we stopped thinking about the wedding. 

I mean, ok, I stopped thinking about the wedding. And our wedding, I should italicize, since I had no problem checking out Erica's invitations and helping other friends with their own venue selections—oh, and reading a million articles this one. 

Lots of people have asked for updates, sure, and I just keep feeding the line that we're in the process of looking for photographers and DJs. 

But now it's not just a line anymore. Since we have quite the popular wedding date, I think we need to get on this whole photographer thing, especially since it's pretty much at the top of our list of "Important Wedding Priorities," as determined by that random list we filled out in that wedding planning book. 

Which brings me to my problem: How does one go about finding a good (read: amazing, artsy, absolutely fabulous) East Coast photographer? 

Every blog I read has me falling in love with photographers that are either on the West Coast or in some other part of the country. I know lots of people who have their photographers fly in from somewhere else, but my anxiety has me wondering how it'll be to meet them at the wedding (what if we don't have that much-talked about click?) and what if, as Sabina mentioned, NY lighting isn't nearly as amazing as Southern California lighting? 

We're in the process of putting together a list now, and while we do have some good leads, I figured better to throw it out there and see if anyone else did, too, before I come up with some other wedding-related thing to distract me. 

By the way, have you seen this wedding dress made of cake? 

and, she's back...

...although barely. 

We haven't had power at the house since Saturday afternoon. And just in case you were wondering, I'm typing this on Thursday  morning. And more than likely, we won't get it back until tomorrow. Le sigh. 

At first it was actually kind of fun: reading by candlelight, camping out at my grandmother's, exchanging those "No, you can't believe the tree I SAW fall down" stories ... but then... well, then it just got kind of old. My clothes—and our food— are spread across three different houses, I'm charging my phone in my car and I haven't slept in my own bed since last Thursday night. (Friday we had a slight re-do of New Year's in Joyce's living room.) And, trust me, I know it could be a lot worse. 

But, on the bright side, if I had to make a list of "Things I Won't Take for Granted Again, I Promise" electricity is definitely at the top. 

No one's crossing this street....

Power lines plus trees equals not the best idea. 

So at 12:30 on Sunday night, as we're finishing dinner at Melissa and Cheri's, Joyce gets an email saying a tree fell on her parents house. Since they're in Florida, we went to check it out. 

The tree uprooted and skimmed the side of the house. After some friendly firefighters told us that no, in fact, the tree won't fall through the attic and into the living room, Joyce called her Dad, who remembered the name of his insurance person IN HIS SLEEP. Here, she's looking at the bright side as well. 

three amazing things

1. Short haircuts 

I've had short hair since the end of April 2008, right after Sherry got married. I wanted it long for her wedding so that I'd be able to put it up, but once the weekend was over, that was it. I chopped it into a short bob, slightly longer in front. And I loved it. Like, loved it to the point where I spent the first week hoping it wouldn't grow too fast, just in case I went back to the salon and my hairdresser somehow couldn't remember how he'd cut it the last time I was there. 

I kept it short, going from bob to cropped and layered and choppy, until this past October, when I had my last haircut. Because in December, I got engaged. And as soon as you get engaged people start asking if you're planning on growing your hair so that it will be long enough to curl or pull up or back for the wedding. I thought about it and since I couldn't really make up my mind, I let it grow. Eventually, it hit my shoulders and was much easier to keep out of my face at the gym.  

Until Tuesday. I couldn't handle it anymore. It was weighing me down, to basically be literal about it. So I went and chopped it short once again, and immediately, right as I was sitting in the chair reading some old copy of Allure, I felt like myself again. 

2. New ways to wear almost-abandoned clothes 

Pretty much any time you walk into the Gap, you're guaranteed to get something on sale. In fact, I can probably count the number of times, I've bought something for full price—a super cute clutch that was stolen one summer in Italy and a t-shirt dress from at least 4 years ago that has become my default bridal shower outfit. So when I found a cute, long green tank for about $10 last summer, I figured there would be some way I could wear it. Turns out, there wasn't. It was too long to wear with jeans and when it was hot out, too short to wear with leggings. 

And I almost forgot about it, poor thing, until earlier this week, when I rescued it from the murky bottom of my dresser drawer.  I tried it on over leggings, pairing it with a long grey sweater, which balanced out the shortness. And look at that— it turns out the whole "shopping your closet" thing might actually work. 

3. Individual hummus packs 

I'm obsessed, obsessed with hummus. The problem though, is that the damn small print on the packaging says you have to use it within a week of opening. And since no one else in my house shares my love, it ends up going bad because, as hard as I try and as much as I'd like, I CANNOT eat an entire package in a week. 

So on Sunday, when I was food shopping with John, I was lamenting this very fact when he handed me this 4-pack of Sabra individually-wrapped hummus containers. AMAZING. 

I knew there was a reason I was marrying this boy. 

[photo courtesy of Sabra] 

lost observations, episode 6

Well, this week went by pretty quickly, didn't it? I swear I feel like I just posted about our favorite island/alternative universe dwelling friends and then look at that, here we are again. 

In much the same way that I'm feeling slightly lazy about writing this post, we were also too lazy to cook last night. Instead, we ordered in soggy sweet potato fries, turkey burgers, mussels (One of these things is not like the other...) and french onion soup. Internet, have you ever ordered takeout french onion soup? No? Good for you. We learned our lesson the hard way. 

Here’s what we thought throughout:

- Sayid goes to visit Nadia. She’s married and Sayid calls her husband “brother.” As in, literally? We Lostpedia it and find out that yes, in fact, it is his actual brother.

- Sayid's carrying a picture of Nadia, says the little girl. Well, little girl, that didn't just make Mommy and Uncle Sayid incredibly awkward.  

- Dogen's baseball drops to the floor and John asks, "What does the baseball represent?" Probably his childhood, we speculate. Maybe we’ll find out in the last episode. You know, when they actually answer some questions. 

 - Claire looks tan in this episode, which gets us thinking: Shouldn’t they all be a little more tan? Or at this point, perpetually sunburned? Maybe it’s the jungle, wonders Dorna.

 - During commercials, we talk about the ridiculousness that is the possibility of Cablevision subscribers losing ABC. Ugh, Cablevision, come on, you want to possibly take away Lost? And Oprah? And the Oscars? Major fail. 

- Back to the show: Omer basically tells Sayid to beat up the guys who loaned him money for  Nadia. We say: Don’t do it, Sayid!

 - Claire tells Dogen to speak English. He’s very obliging with the language changing, says Dorna.

 - Evil incarnate? Oh, right, that’s who smoke-monster Locke (SML) is. 

 - Mid-way, we’re thinking: In both realities, Sayid is being tempted/tested. Even though he's predominantly good (at least, we think so), both Omer and Dogen (and later, SML), want him to focus on and use the bad he has in him. Devil tempting, much? 

 - At least Miles still thinks Claire looks hot. 

 - Did Dogen set Sayid up? Because he knew that if he tried to kill SML that SML would just kill Sayid?

 - SML proves our point. 

 - Sayid can have anything in the entire world: Awww, the only thing he ever wanted died in his arms! Dorna and I swoon.

 - Claire is down in a ditch, singing to herself. Claire = Crazy. Point taken, Lost writers. 

- Side note: Every time I see an egg crack on TV, I automatically think of that old “This is your brain on drugs” commercial. 

- Military guy, or Keamy, forgives the debt just like that? Put it in writing, says Dorna.

 - Woah, Dogen just told Sayid his whole sad life story and then Sayid kills him! But at least now the baseball thing makes sense. ONE question answered! 

 - Where do the burning crosses come from?

 - Previews for next week: So Ben is gonna die? Well, at least they didn’t say that “Questions will be answered!” Because clearly, they weren’t.

 

Thoughts: The content of each episode is pointing more and more towards faith, which leads John to come up with this theory: In their original lives, it seems as if all the principal characters have lost faith somehow, whether it's in their families (Kate, Jack), their marriages (Sun/Jin), or the world around them (Locke), so maybe the island is a test towards regaining that faith somehow. We're not sure, but it's a thought. 

So, what did you think? 

welcome, march

There's something very clean slate about a new month beginning on a Monday, no?

During March last year, I was here:

Lying on a beach in the Bahamas.

And honestly, after a weekend full of this:

I'd take a cloudy day in the Bahamas at this point. Here's hoping that March warms up, even just a little.

What are you hoping for?

lost observations

So, I didn't exactly mean to not post about Lost last week. I just got lost (heh) (wow, that was really lame, sorry) - I just got caught up in a whole bunch of other things and by the time I could actually sit down and write about it, it was way after the fact. And anyway, since it was snowing in NY last week, we actually did a virtual Lost part, which wasn't nearly as fun. 

Clean slate. 

This week, although the weather was still crappy (rain, snow, slush...dear summer, please hurry.) we reconvened at John's apartment. I made pasta e fagioli from my grandmother's recipe—which I can post here, actually, if anyone is interested. It turned out really well, which got my hopes up that maybe one day I'll be able to cook somewhat decently and not have to rely on tuna fish sandwiches and Morning Star veggie burgers. 

Here's what we thought throughout: 

- We were talking through the recap, but realized you can absolutely tell who the episode is going to be about by who is focused on during the 30-second catch-up. 

-  This season, the episodes seem to focus on one or two characters, which is totally reminiscent of earlier seasons. 

- Jack has a son! 

- We think the mom is Kate. Although we're not sure if she and Jack have met in non-island universe. But Kate's eyes and David's eyes are super similar. 

- Hurley and Miles are playing Tic, Tac, Toe, which looks just as boring and pointless on the island as it does in real life. No one ever wins! They do get points for creativity in making the board out of tree branches, though. 

- Jacob appears to Hurley and we decide that Jacob looks like someone we know, but we're not sure who. He looks like he could have gone to one of the Catholic schools around here, which would make sense if you're going with the whole Jacob-as-Jesus-scenario.

- David doesn't want to deal with his father, and doesn't want to go to Grandma's house to look for dead Grandfather's will. Our parents would have dragged us in the car and made us go. AND forced us to take off the damn headphones. 

- Jin is stuck in one of Claire's traps—how in the world is his leg not more damaged? Later, when she "stitches" him up, it's just a hole. Really? 

-  Hurley writes Jacob's direction on his arm in blue ink, which gives us immediate high school flashbacks. 

- What exactly is that animal Claire is keeping in the baby crib? 

- Also, her hair totally looks crimped, says Dorna. 

- Claire is in Jack's father's will! 

- Why does David have an answering machine? asks Dorna. Hm, we wonder, no one has answering machines anymore, do they? We later get into a discussion about cell phones and high school and how kids must text answers to other kids from the bathroom. 

- Jack and Hurley arrive at the Lighthouse. Of course there's a 4-story lighthouse! Of course it wouldn't take years to build by who the hell knows who! Of course they never noticed it before! 

- In Claire's tent, we sort of feel bad for the Other guy. Also, to back up for a second, did anyone else notice that when Claire was stitching up Jin's wound, he was totally sweating? 

- Japanese-speaking, Other-leader is at the auditions David ran away to attend! Creepy. 

- Dorna informs us that she played piano for 10 years. John and I think she should have auditioned for Julliard. 

- At the lighthouse, Hurley starts to move the dial. Isn't this how the island moved back in the day? We wonder who's coming to the island. 

- We want screen grabs of the names on the dial. 

- Jack has a lead pipe in his hand - how is Hurley not scared he's going to smash him and not the mirrors? 

- What exactly is Jack contemplating by the ocean? He's still annoying, we think. Too self righteous or something. 

- Ah, but Jacob says some people need to contemplate by the ocean in order to figure it all out. We stand corrected. 

- We think we're going to find out who David's mother is by the end of the episode, but instead, we find out that crazy mother Claire isn't too happy that Kate was taking on her role. We say: Wouldn't she want Aaron off the damn island? It obviously hasn't helped Claire much. 

- I might stop watching this show if the preview credits for "next week's episode" don't stop saying QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED. 

Overall thoughts: Island-Claire is way too Rousseau-like. Mothers suffering for their children, would do anything for them - even hack a guy with an ax and befriend crazy smoke-monster Locke and all that. Meh. I don't know, it's kind of lame. Also, this episode totally made us think back to high school. Which, since we had a pretty decent time in high school, is fine by us.  

 

Your thoughts? 

old hangouts and new babies

Before this weekend, I hadn't been to Boston in about two years. There's no real reason why, mostly because the majority of friends have moved away and I've moved on to discovering other cities. But when Joyce mentioned a conference she had to go to this past weekend, and suggested I and whoever else was up for it should tag along, I figured it would be a good a time as any to head back. 

And so mid-afternoon on Friday, after making Joyce wait a good hour while I grabbed some last minute, just-in-case clothes (although I forgot my toothbrush, as usual) and sent some last minute, don't-want-to-look-at-my-computer-for two-days emails, we dumped our weekend bags into the trunk of her Camry and headed east on 84. 

I love car rides where you're so engrossed in conversation that you forget to even turn on the radio. When you don't have to bother pressing Scan in hopes of finding a good song playing somewhere in nowhere Connecticut or settle with "Oh, this must be their version of Z100," and hear Kesha for the 8 millionth time. So thankfully, we amused ourselves with talk of weddings and residencies, future jobs and past boyfriends. 

Four hours later we hit the city, taking note of BU's newest dorm, and confirming that the Student Village will, in fact, be the nicest apartment either of us ever live in. We GPS-ed our way downtown to School St., where we checked into the Omni Parker House Hotel. (We also found out it's where the Boston Cream Pie was first created! Oo, but here's the recipe!) Once we crossed Sunset Cantina off our list of dinner choices, we walked around in the not-as-cold-as-expected night, got shut out by a 2-hour wait at Toro and finally settled into a table by the bar at Masa, where tapas were $1 each. 

On Saturday morning, after an ill-fated 6am wake-up call (proving that Joyce still hasn't learned that she and alarms don't get along very well, no matter the medium or size of pillow being thrown at her face), she headed to the conference while I had a Starbucks and writing session. 

Later that afternoon, I met up with Azalea and her friend Alicia for the prerequisite Anna's visit (they have a new location! in (on?) Beacon Hill! with two floors!). If you went to school, lived or just visit Boston regularly, you're probably familiar with the amazing burritos at Anna's Taqueria - and if you're not, and you're planning a trip there, do yourself a favor and add it to the itinerary. And can I just recommend the $3.99 grilled vegetable burrito? 

The girls went off to study while I wandered up and down Newbury St, in and out of stores, remembering when books from Urban were the ideal birthday present. Later, I made my way through the Commons (in the pic below) to meet up with Joyce, passing a saxophonist playing Disney tunes and a middle-aged couple engaged in a serious make-out session next to him. 

Learning our lesson from the night before, on Saturday we actually picked a restaurant before going out. As we walked down Boylston and into Vlora, I had a feeling I had been here before, although in a completely different context. If you were in Boston circa 2002, let me ask you this: Do you remember Q Vin's? And if so, was there an elevator that took you down to the bar? Because that's what I kept imagining, or that's how my memory preserved it, like some city speakeasy where everyone sang off-key. I remember the karaoke clearly, though, even if everything else is slightly blurry. Even if it's what happened after, through a haze of cold and hands stuffed into too-small pockets that I remember much clearer. 

Joyce and I ended with Finale and a late screening of Dear John, which proved that A. We're not in college anymore and B. I'm a sucker for romances. And Channing Tatum's abs.  

On Sunday morning we left early with Azalea to head to Salem to meet Darius, the darling little boy that our friends Laura and Darryl just had. Tell me he's not the cutest baby ever? Those cheeks are seriously amazing. 

Here's mommy and baby.  Darius turned 1-month old on Sunday and we gave him three Dr. Seuss books to mark the occasion. 

And Azalea with baby - so sweet. The four of us went to high school together and Laura's the first of our group of friends to have a baby.  

After a pizza lunch and a four-hour car ride home, Joyce and I made one last stop to see Melissa and Cheri's new condo, which is super close and makes me quite excited for many dinner parties together. 

The whole weekend was a fun realization that things have changed, but not all that much. That the same people I knew when I left for Boston are the same people that I still see in New York. That people have come and gone along the way. That that's ok. That with new babies and new condos and new experiences, the growing up part doesn't really seem so scary, afterall.