tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

This is it.

This is the last time for everything I will do as a single woman. I can’t wait to marry my love, and yet I wonder if I should be feeling some sort of nostalgia for my single days. I really don’t. I recognize that this is a monumental occasion in my life and as such feel excited, overwhelmed, grateful, joyous, and nervous, to say the least. I really just can’t wait and also hope I don’t screw anything up too badly – mainly tripping, falling, spilling wine on myself, bawling through the ceremony so much that I can’t say “I Do”, bawling before walking down the aisle (since my dad won’t be there), bawling while walking down the aisle, all of these things are very real possibilities.

At any rate, I don’t know when I’ll legally change my name, but you can call me Mrs. Randolph in two weeks!

I’ve been pondering rudeness a lot lately. And what people think they can gain be being blatantly rude. I’m not exposed to poor manners all that often because I choose my friends carefully. Although sometimes rude people get inflicted upon me in unforseen ways.

I was so inflicted upon recently, and I assume there was a sense of wanting to make themselves feel better by making me feel ‘bad’, however it would involve me actually caring in any way for me to feel bad. And I find it odd that a person in their mid to late thirties would still possess this juvenile mindset. Perhaps not odd, but sad. Have we really not progressed as a society? Or are they still so damaged that they would stoop to such a level in order to achieve momentary happiness?

At any rate, I found some interesting quotes on the subject, both enlightening and apt.

Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength. ~ Eric Hoffer

It’s not a slam at you when people are rude – it’s a slam at the people they’ve met before. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
– Emily Post

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
– Oscar Wilde

Aaron and I went to Snowshoe this weekend and had an amazing time. I’m so happy we are going snowboarding for our honeymoon – perhaps not a traditional honeymoon destination, but we always have the most amazing time boarding together that it just makes sense.

We met up with Becky and JT as well, and it’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised by people. It felt like we had known them both for forever, rather than just a few months – and that only for Becky, we met JT for the first time on Saturday. We just seemed to fall naturally into place.

It was tons of fun hanging out with them. At one point we were trying to guess JT’s age. We guessed way high – for him and Becky, both. Not because of how either of them look, by any means, but more the way they act. They’re very mature 24 year olds. And then you contrast that with the childish games some older people play, and wonder what happens along the way to make people behave the way they do.

At any rate, I wish I was still there. I wish I lived there. This working thing is for the birds.

I’m so proud of Molly. She made her first cd!! It looks great, it sounds great – I love it! You can hear some of here stuff here. It gets me all warm and fuzzy listening to it. The girl was born to make music.

Ah, and I knew her way back when, before she could play guitar and I accompanied her. We would play The Cellar together, getting drunker and more out of tune as the night wore on – and I have the cd to prove it Those were the days. Sigh.

And I even get a thanks on her liner notes!! WOO HOO!!

Anyway, you should go check her out!!

I love, love, love new sheets. And bedding that actually matches! And new towels! (Thanks A&K!!!)

It is SUCH heaven to get into bed every night with our new sheets – and I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally have a replacement for that ugly ass brown duvet cover Aaron had when I met him. I guess it wasn’t that terrible, but brown? Not my favorite bed time color. And the buttons sucked – always coming undone. Always. I hated that damn thing. Good riddance!

Although it is much harder to get out of bed in the morning now.

On Saturday I had the best bridal shower ever. It was nothing short of perfect. It is such an amazing feeling to feel so loved!!

Kim and Kelli did the most amazing job – they could easily go into business together! I arrived at Kelli’s house Saturday morning to find it fully decorated, stocked to the rafters with delicious food, coffee, and of course mimosas! What a way to start the day. One pink feather boa later, we were ready to hit the road!

Kim had rented a van through Girls Night Out, and Russel (the love muscle) was our driver. He carted us around to 3 different wineries in the area where we had tastings – I was surprised that I loved almost all of the white wines, and I normally despise white wines! We took video during the tastings and in the van, so all of our incriminating stories will be preserved for posterity! I haven’t laughed that hard, for that long, probably since college, if even then. I was beaming the entire day.

We had lunch after the last vineyard, told more incriminating stories, then headed back to Kelli’s house for even more food, drinks, and presents.

I got the best presents, too! Apparently everyone knows about my wine obsession which I can’t complain about! Aaron will be especially pleased with some of the presents. To be saved for the honeymoon!

Austin apparently did a whole bunch of running around on Friday to prepare, which was so sweet. All this for little ol’ me, I still can’t believe it. It was literally an ideal day.

I’m still in awe of how much everyone did for me. I really do know how to pick my friends! They just don’t get any better than this.

Kim, you are a wonder. A true testament to friendship. Thank you.

Kelli and Austin, you guys are a blessing. No other way to put it. Thank you.

And everyone else, thank you so much for coming, and helping make this a most memorable experience. I had a blast.

I didn’t have the best day today, and to top it all off, everyone in Prince William County was at the Giant right when I was. The lady in the front of the line at the check out didn’t have to write a check, thank God, but she did have to question the price she was charged for her chicken, and then her card wouldn’t swipe. And wouldn’t swipe. And wouldn’t swipe. Keep swiping lady, maybe THIS time will do the trick!!

So I came home, and Aaron, seeing the state I was in, calmly started unpacking all the groceries. Then, the sweetest sound from the sweetest man. The soft, luscious pouring of a glass of red wine into a glass. Ahhhhh yes, as someone asked me recently, “Is Aaron really perfect?” he may not be perfect, but he is perfect for me.

And then, then! I made my famous beer can chicken, which came out fantastically well – not sure if that was due to the fact that the bird (dead hen, as Dee calls it) was organic, or I hit the magical combination of liquid smoke and Gates barbecue rub – but at any rate, it was, yes I will say it, orgasmic.

As I was sitting on the couch, basking in the afterglow, I heard another sweet sound from the kitchen: pots and pans and running water! My love was doing the dishes!

If you’re reading this, I guess it means I have not died and gone to heaven. But really, is there more you can ask for in life than a man who pours you a glass of wine without asking when you need it, and cleans up after dinner?

No, no there’s not.

I’m getting married in 37 days. We leave in a month. FOUR WEEKS!!! That’s so soon!!! Begin stress level overload: NOW!

Well…..not really, I guess. I get butterflies in my stomach thinking about it, but it’s not really that stressful. All the details are pretty much planned out. I had to have an early RSVP date since it’s a destination wedding, and since people have to book flights, odds are low that we will get a) wedding crashers or b) guests who don’t show. Always a good thing, especially as I have to give final numbers to the coordinator in a few days! I guess after that I really don’t have much to stress about. Just the packing, the dress fitting….yeah, that should be it. Everything else is done. Maybe that feeling I’m overwhelmed with is not stress so much as excitement!

I have to practice not crying. Or at least trying on my makeup and then crying, to make sure it really IS waterproof.

And I keep forgetting to add ‘kleenex’ to my packing list. I hope the hotel room we’ll be getting ready in has some, because otherwise I am TOTALLY going to forget to bring any with me (concealed in the bouquet I guess….) when I walk down the aisle. And I am going to need some. Ok, a LOT.

Ah, I’m also way excited for my shower which is next weekend…but it deserves a post of its own, and I should probably wait until after the shower to do it. Suffice to say I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my amazing friend Kim for throwing it for me, and for everyone else who is helping in the planning, and attending! I can’t freaking wait. It’s going to be so much fun.

I am terrible at remembering birthdays. TERRIBLE. I only know my immediate family and Aaron’s by heart. The rest? Nope. If you’re lucky, I remember the general season it falls in. Even then, I have been known to be off. Very off.

I used to rely on the mass email a few weeks before someone’s birthday saying “Hey my birthday is in two weeks, please come to the party on this date….” But some people don’t send those emails out since they don’t WANT to celebrate their birthday, and yet get upset at you when you forget that today is their birthday. But do you have any idea how many people’s birthdays I SHOULD know? Good lord, between high school friends, college friends, work friends, friends from old jobs, friends of friends that are now MY friends…..that’s a lot of people, people! I’m sorry if I can’t commit ALL of you to memory!

So I have this birthday reminder program thingy on my PDA. And I input everyone’s birthday’s (gleaning from past evites, emails, etc). Then there was a backup, a pda replacement, a retrieval, a few synchings to Outlook thrown in there, and voila! Everyone’s birthday is now a day early in my PDA. So Molly got a happy birthday email yesterday, instead of today. I guess it’s better than a day late, all in all.

So, if you are a friend of mine, please let me know your REAL birthday, as I have updated some of them, and not updated others. Kim, 18, 19, maybe 17? I have no idea anymore. And some people aren’t even in there….I know, I’m a terrible person. Why does anyone hang out with me?

Oh, I do know Andrew’s because mine is 1212 and his is 121 and some drunken night in England we had an hour long conversation about how the numbers were ALMOST the same, except for that last 2, and did that mean we were somehow twins…I don’t know, it was a strange night, but his birthday stuck in my head for good after that.

I suppose it’s not as bad as my mother, celebrating her 50th birthday in a big blowout fashion, hats, cake, streamers, everything ‘Over the Hill!’ that we could find in Hallmark….and then my brother suddenly doing some fast addition in his head and blurting out, “Wait a minute…..you were born in 19xx! That makes you only 49!”

So yeah. Not so good with the birthdays in my family.