5.25.98

    It's been awhile since I've written. First it was because my life was boring and then it was because it was too exciting. Basically, not much happened the first few days of last week and then T. and I went out of town. We went up to my parents place in Bozeman, Montana, to do wedding stuff.

    Montana is such a beautiful state and Bozeman is just charming. As usual, it was nice to get away from Los Angeles...and work.

    Unfortunately, there wasn't much relaxing to do. I had many wedding details to deal with including talking with the caterer and the flower person. Had to try on the wedding dress and get a fitting. The wedding dress is très cool though I need to lose an inch in the waist to be happy with it. Picked out a tux for T. and another for the best man (his father). We had photos taken since we've never had any together and thus got to meet the photographer who'll be doing our wedding. The photographer is awesome since T. and I are actually ecstatic about the pictures. I haven't been happy about a photo of me in years.

    I pretty much contained the flipping out at my mom to two events, the first was in front of the caterer and the flower person. See, I'm trying to keep this wedding as simple as possible even though half the planet seems to be invited. Even with just the major details attended to it gets crazy. So, we're up at the place where we're having the whole shebang and my mom suggests that we involve a cousin in the ceremony. I pretty much flip out. I have a Maid of Honor and a T. has a Best Man. My brothers and his sister are acting as ushers. We have three kids doing the kid stuff (ring bearer, flower girl, etc.). And that's it! No more! That's even too much for me. So, I flip when my mom suggests this cousin because I'm so afraid that we'll start including and including and I'll be pulling my hair out.

    The second freak-out came out over the veil. Yes, I'm wearing a veil. It's not a "blusher" as they call it (something that hangs in your face) but just pretty plain. Anyway, my mom was suggesting something really long and fussy and I wanted something short and unfussy. Basically this devolved until I said, "Whatever." We came to something of a happy medium and that was that. I was so exhausted by that time that I really didn't care. Bozeman is at such a high elevation that it always takes me a few days to feel something besides lethargic.

    Hmmm...what else did we do?

    We celebrated my birthday with my grandpa's birthday early. His is on the 27th of May and mine is on the 28th. I will be twenty-three and he will be eighty-two. It was pretty fun. Most of my mother's family is in Bozeman. So, dinner was with my maternal grandparents and my aunt who is my mother's younger sister and her new boyfriend. I shouldn't say new since they've been dating for something like a year. Anyway, he made lots of sexist comments which I was too tired to respond to. Ha. Ha. Yes, very funny. Moving on, please.

    I got to hang out with my little brother some. He's fourteen now and every time I see him he's changed. He's now taller than me and starting to get a grown-up voice. He's so very different from my older brother and I but then he and I are also very different from each other. Regardless, my little bro is definitely getting the "only child" treatment. It can be annoying.

    Now we're back in Los Angeles and we did a bit of shopping today. We wandered around the Promenade and talked about wedding stuff. I bought a purse and a card for my father for Father's Day and he bought a gift for his mom and a card for his father. We also took advantage of the Memorial Day sales and bought shirts and boxers for T. Then we searched around for a paper supplier to take a look at their stock. We're thinking of making our own wedding invites. That could be hell. I'll let you know.

    Tonight we planned to make twice-baked potatoes and roasted garlic on toast. But, we were invited by our neighbors to a lavish barbecue. It was nice since we really don't know any of them and it's been difficult to introduce ourselves. We were also able to reaffirm what idiots our apartment managers are. Basically, half the complex is related to each other. This is also good to know.

    Well, that about wraps it up. I've got to head into work tomorrow although the car might still be in the shop so...maybe not. There is no way I'm driving my MG on the 405 to work that's just begging for a break-down.

    T.'s watching The Shining right now so I have to go and cover his eyes. He saw it for the first time a couple years ago when I took him to see it at the campus art theatre, the Bijou, in Eugene. While we're waiting in line I asked him if he liked scary movies. He said no. I asked him if he had ever seen The Shining and again he said no. So, he got to see the movie for the first time on the big screen. It was so cool and you really got the ear-shattering Stanley Kubrick musical score in full effect.