Snow Day

I am such a dunce. Really. We had a massive blizzard yesterday, which started as soon as we began our journey back from north country. Got home and promptly ran to the grocery store to pick up, well, everything because we live like frat boys and perpetually have nothing in the house, and snuggled in for a long winter's night (sans kerchief, I'm afraid).

This morning, I call the emergency service line at work, which announces that, despite blizzard warnings, the office is open. Defeated, I go about my morning routine foolishly thinking that if I leave a few minutes early, I'll be fine. Remind you, this is early morning and I am entirely sober: what the hell was I thinking? To make matters more ridiculous, I opine, "Don't forget to bust out your knee-high snow boots...oh, and you should wear a skirt to make sure your pants don't get wet." Right - we were beaten with snow and I think that the trusty "7" train, which ceases to run with the slightest hint of precipitation, will safely get me to work. And that a skirt (an article I rarely wear) is an excellent garment, ideal for hurdling snow drifts.

I head outside and *holy crap* there is snow everywhere. I manage to waddle down the street to see the "7" train creeping along the tracks. SWEET - the train is running! By the time I ascend the stairs, which incidentally have not been cleared, and learn from the 50+ people huddled together that there is no Manhattan-bound service and the Flushing-bound side is equally sketchy. So much for NY1 broadcasters, who announced all morning that the "7" was the only line not experiencing difficulty. Ah, the media: long on opinion, yet short on fact.

I waddle back down to ground level and walk headlong up Queens Blvd. (a.k.a. The Boulevard of Death), as the sidewalks are unnavigable. Waiting in the excessively long line yields no results: no buses and no cabs, just relentless wind. I abandon all heroics and stagger home, but not without neighborly assistance: a young man literally gives me a hand traversing the snow mound, and a neighboring Super braces herself on an iron fence while hurling me over the mound she is in the midst of shoveling. The Christmas spirit reigns in Sunnyside, Queens.

So, it's been a snow day. Or I'll be fired. We'll see.

Happy Festivus...I mean, Christmas

Well, Christmas is here...again. I think I've proven by now that I favor Halloween, but I suppose I can rally the spirit of celebration.

Today we haul ass back up north to party with the fam. In preparation, I headed over to Grand Central Market yesterday afternoon (after being released from the Dark Tower (a.k.a. work) at 1pm). Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find few patrons; however, mere minutes later, the gates of hell opened and an innumerable number of bodies were swarming the premises.

It was so crowded that I lasted long enough to grab two focaccia breads from Zaro's bakery, dodge a near black eye from guy flailing his arms at Murray's Cheese, and avoid being trampled by some idiot wielding a SUV-style baby carriage (in the Market - really? This was a conscious choice?).

Paltry treats in hand, I abandon my mission and, after riding a monumentally full (and odoriferous) train home, I arrive at the Sunnyside Post Office. Again, I was pleasantly surprised to find only one person preceding me on line. However, by the time I was assisted, the line grew tenfold and people were winding out the door.

Packages retrieved, I journey next to a lovely pastry shop to see if can find some cannolis (or something equally delicious and fattening), but, alas, the pastries had been picked over until there was nothing, save a lone bran muffin.

Defeated, I stagger home. Plop on the couch. And refuse to move for the rest of the evening. Merry Christmas.

Today, we must now gather the items I failed to retrieve yesterday, get on a commuter train (damn you, Grand Central), and make our way north.

Dear baby Jesus, on this eve of your birth, please give me the strength.

Lunar eclipse

As the sun is now peeping into our windows, I realize that our top-down shade in the living room is lowered. I know my husband slept poorly last night (hence laundry morning over gym morning), so perhaps he caught a glimpse? Alas, I am sad I missed it, but I am a grown-up and must suffer the consequences.

Zoning out

These days I feel like staring at a blank wall in total silence. There's been a little too much over-stimuli invading my senses these days: Christmas in New York is a wonderland of crowds, lights, crowds staring at lights, cloying music, cloying crowds chatting loudly over music...I could go on, but y'all get the drift. Hah - at least we don't have snow drifts...yet.

Right now I am relishing in the relative silence of my home at 7.05am. All I hear is the ticky-typing of keys and the howling wind outside. I am also perusing photos of last night's lunar eclipse. Part of me is kicking myself for not clambering outside to view it myself, but the other half of me - you know, the one that has to go to work today - is happy I stayed nestled in bed.

It's laundry day again (didn't I just do that?) and I am happy to report that I have not seen another soul wandering the building. It might be a good day, after all. God bless us, every one.

I interrupt the lovefest for some needed bitching...

Okay, I'm going to divert my attentions from the wedding lovefest for a little needed bitching. It's currently 7.09am ET and I have slept poorly, so please forgive.

I generally avoid people like the plague. When one lives in NYC, as I do, one is chronically surrounded by...well, everyone. This being the case, I go out of my way to do most activities during off-peak hours. (Sadly, my M-F, 9-5 job precludes me from doing this all the time.)

Anyway, I slept terribly last night and still managed to rouse myself at 6am, so I could go downstairs *in peace* to do my laundry. At 6.15am, I manage to run into four of my neighbors. Three of whom are RETIRED. What the hell? Why can't you people stay tucked into your apartments until after rush hour? I mean, you have ALL DAY to do your laundry, recycle, grocery shop, holiday shop (I could go on), but NOOOOO, you feel the unbridled pull to do all of these chores when the rest of we office schleps are forced do ours.

Deep breaths - good thing it's Monday and I have another long week ahead of me.

Sincerely,
Ebenezer "the Grinch" Scrooge

The Bronx Zoo

Yesterday we drove to Poughkeepsie to collect the wedding presents my parents were kind enough to accept on our behalf (ah, the plight of those who live in NYC sans doorman).

En route we passed the Bronx Zoo and, despite the deepest desire to pull in and say hello to our wildlife friends, we soldiered on choosing instead to reminisce about our numerous visits whilst planning the wedding. We were so lucky to be able to host our wedding at such a unique and personally meaningful venue, and love the fact that when we do return we will always have such fond memories.

I have provided much commentary about our experience working with the zoo and it was, overall, fantastic. I definitely think that, as this is a new event space, the staff is experiencing "growing pains," but I can honestly say that they were attentive and flexed their creative muscles to ensure that we had a day that reflected us.

On the day, we were so touched by the effort made by the the staff. First, because they also loved our awesome invitations, they borrowed the design graphic and used it to create the menus. Second, when we entered the the Schiff Hall we were blown away by the decor; they embraced our Halloween overtones and decked the place out accordingly - everything looked elegant and festive. Finally, when the ceremony concluded a member of the catering staff came up to the bridal suite bearing us giant cups filled with our Unity Cocktail beverage (*) as well as a sampling of all the appetizers; we can blissfully say that we did not miss out on a single food item we selected.

We look back at our experience and are so grateful for the staff at the zoo. Tim, Keira, and Katherine are creative, flexible, and fun people, dedicated not only to ensuring that you have a wonderful time at your event, but also in the effort to preserve wildlife. What more could we ask for?

* The Unity Cocktail has yet to be mentioned. Since several of our guests were following the blog, I kept certain "surprise" elements a secret. We mentioned this idea to Katherine months before the day, and she loved the idea. After weeks of sampling cocktails, Katherine was instrumental in narrowing down our options. The day before, we dropped in to taste several bourbon-based drinks before deciding on Chapel Hill:

1 1/2 oz. Bourbon
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
1 tbsp. Lemon Juice

It was light, fresh, delicious, and a wonderful way for us to incorporate our parents in the ceremony, plus it served as our Specialty Cocktail for our guests, making it a wonderful way to tie the ceremony into the cocktail hour.

Milestone Images

I can't say enough about Angie Gaul, of Milestone Images. Let's just say she had me at fuckwittage.

Yes, this is the Offbeat Bride article where I first developed my crush on Angie. Upon reading, I knew she was the photographer for us and, so, I frantically checked her calendar to see if she was free on October 23, 2010. I immediately sent her a request and she responded within hours. How can a photographer resist shooting a wedding at the Bronx Zoo?

Anyway, after a few email exchanges, Angie gives me a call in the midst of a terrible blizzard - she was, at the time, working for an upstate paper and was en route to photograph an accident (speaking, of course, on her hands-free cell). Happily, the accident yielded no injuries, so we snuggled in for a breakdown of her wedding package.

Well, we ended up chatting for at least an hour and I fell in love with her whirlwind personality - she is chatty, personable, and generous of spirit. I hung up and wanted her to not only be my photographer, but my friend.

If you are EVER in need of a photographer, I wholeheartedly recommend Angie. She is absolutely the best.

(In keeping with my insistence of avoiding posting overtly personal information about myself or loved ones on this blog, I am not providing a link to the preview shots of my wedding - if you are interested, please comment on this post and I can get you the specifics!)

Nasty Little Cold

Man, this little cold of mine is taking on a life of its own. I've tried to kill it with wine, I've tried to pacify it with pizza, and I've tried denying it even exists (denial is a forté of mine; it's genetic, I think) - all to no avail.

In preparation for all the loot we received for the wedding, we are tackling the kitchen cabinets. Why on Earth do we have a meat dehydrator, anyway? We are getting rid of the old and making room for the new. I'll hack my way through the process and then it's time to begin the online Christmas shopping extravaganza!

Wow, this is a lame-ass post. I just felt the pressing obligation to write; however, my head is so cloudy and I am literally mouth-breathing, so perhaps I shouldn't have bothered? I'm thinking that is the case...

Giving Thanks

I know, I know...it's been ages since my last post. I have committed the cardinal sin of social media; however, between Thanksgiving and a nasty little cold, I've been otherwise engaged.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, my husband and I took the pilgrimage (get it? Pilgrims!) to my parent's house for the big event. Upon entering their home, I quickly became the unwilling cream to a proverbial Retriever cookie sandwich - a massive Golden Retriever sniffing my crotch and an equally massive Labrador Retriever sniffing my butt. Drink one.

After shooing away these beastly dogs, I am greeted by my father who says, "Love, I've been reading your blog and, I have to say, it's gotten really boring." Drink two.

Several drinks later (and a snuggle with my nieces), I am back on track and ready for the bird.

In all seriousness, though, we spent the greater part of last week compiling a honeymoon picture slideshow, so that we might include it in a special thank you posed to those that attended our wedding. Although I will not include said slideshow here, I will include the text (I was reminded last night during a lecture on social media that there really is no such thing as data privacy, so I choose not to advertise myself any more than necessary). I'll post some discrete pics on a later post, as well as review each city we visited.

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Dear friends and family ~

As we approach Thanksgiving we thought it appropriate to express our gratitude to all of you for being part of our lives and for sharing in our wedding day festivities.

We never thought we would host a wedding celebration and often found ourselves questioning why a couple would devote such time, energy, and money on a single day out of their whole lives. Well, now that we have experienced it, the answer is so clear that we are humbled: the love and good will we felt on that day, and in the days since, has reminded us of life’s importance. To sit in a room surrounded by those you love – eating, drinking, and laughing as we did – is so joyful that it is abundantly obvious to us why such celebrations exist.

Saturday night we sat down with a bottle of champagne to open a letter from the City Clerk containing our marriage certificate. We followed this momentous event by opening wedding cards, and we are not ashamed to admit that we were moved by the sentiments and overwhelming generosity bestowed upon us. Although some of you may blame the bubbly, we can honestly say that our emotions were solely driven by our happiness in knowing we have such wonderful friends and family.

We wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving and look forward to writing each of you personally in the weeks to come.

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God bless us, every one!