Taking the bait.

Bowing to Knitty Nay's pressure, here are:


Seven things to do before I die:
1.) Take an African safari
2.) Get married
3.) Watch my child graduate from college
4.) Learn see-sign
5.) Attend opening night of the opera
6.) Take a hot air balloon ride
7.) Visit Prague



Seven things I cannot do:
1.) Whistle
2.) Real Analysis
3.) Speak Swahili
4.) Run a mile without stopping
5.) Fly a plane
6.) p2togtbl
7.) Stand avocados



Seven things I say:
1.) Man sakes alive!
2.) Mrrr?
3.) Booty butt booty butt booty butt cheeks!
4.) I'm just sayin'.
5.) Seriously.
6.) Dude.
7.) Seriously, dude.


Seven things that attract me to my mate:
1.) Makes me laugh the kind of laugh that makes milk shoot out your nose
2.) The freckle on his back that looks like a tiny footprint
3.) How unbelievably adorable he is when he plays with his niece & nephew
4.) Booty
5.) Easily the most generous person I have ever known
6.) Smart as hell
7.) Willing to save me from all manner of creepy crawlies


Seven books I love:
1.) Heat
2.) The Princess Bride
3.) Marley and Me
4.) To Kill a Mockingbird
5.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
6.) City of Falling Angels
7.) In Cold Blood



Seven movies I’ve loved:
1.) Amadeus
2.) When Harry Met Sally
3.) Fargo
4.) Farris Bueller's Day Off
5.) The Godfather
6.) Better Off Dead
7.) The Queen

It just sits there, mocking me.

So, yesterday I came home from work to find a large shipping box from Williams-Sonoma in the middle of the living room--our first wedding present! So exciting! I made G come into the living room to experience the momentous occasion then ripped open the box to find...a wrapped box. G*d#%^$%#!!! You see, I felt no compunction opening the shipping box immediately because you really can't be expected not to open that. But a wrapped gift is a different story. I know you're not supposed to use any presents until after the wedding, but is it OK to open them? That way you can send a thank you note immediately, which seems the most courteous. But if that's true, then why would anyone bother with the wrapping? That really implies it's not to be opened immediately. Paralyzed with conflict (and the fear of being haunted by the ghosts of Miss Manners and/or Abigail Van Buren), I put the blasted thing on the sideboard, unwrapped, where it's still sitting. How long do y'all think I'll last?

And G thinks *I* spend too much time in the bathroom.

There are many odd things about this story. Like: Why did she still have her pants on? Had they not been washed in two years? Did she run out of reading material? Where did her boyfriend use the bathroom? And most importantly--why does he still refer to her as his girlfriend?!

For your dining pleasure....

About a month ago, G & I went up to the Lodge for our menu tasting. As you can tell from the photo, G was a little less than enthused about the trip. Poor guy, he was basically a captive audience while the event manager and I talked about wedding stuff for an hour solid. But onto the food:
They were awesome and had a personalized menu printed up for us to describe our choices.



Up first were the cold appetizers for cocktail hour. Starting at the top were: Smoked Salmon on Potato Cake with Creme Fraiche, Point Reyes Blue cheese with Candied Walnuts on Crouton, and Goat Cheese with Sauteed Pears on Crouton. None of these really impressed me, but G really liked the blue cheese (go figure!), so we chose that. I also went off-roading and chose a Hog Island Oyster on the Half Shell.

Moving onto the hot appetizers for cocktail hour and starting at the top: Chicken Sate, Dungeness Crab Cakes with Sherry Cayenne Mayonnaise, Five Spice Beef Sate, Garlic Rosemary Marinated Baby Lamb Chops with Mint Sauce. I'd really been looking forward to the Crab Cakes and G had been looking forward to the Chicken Sate, but neither were very good. The beef sate was good and the lamb chops were really good, but so huge that there's no way they could be eaten without a knife and fork. Since most people will be standing during cocktail hour, that seemed a bad idea. So we kept the beef for a hot appetizer.



For the starter, we tried a (unphotographed) Watercress and Endive Salad with Apple Smoked Bacon, Roquefort and Garlic Croutons, but it was fairly unsuccessful. The salad was mostly watercress and the little tails of the leaves made it difficult to eat. It tasted fine, but wasn't very exciting. We also tried two soups, Butternut Squash and Pear Soup with Toasted Pistachios, and Potato Leek Soup. You can tell by the near-empty tureen that we loved the potato-leek soup. I know--I'm as shocked as you are.


The first entree was a Roasted Chicken Breast Glazed with Lavender Honey and served with Sweet Potato Puree and Roasted Garlic Sauce. Sadly, as heavenly as lavender honey is on brioche pain perdu, it doesn't really work on chicken, so this was nixed.


The fish option is a Pan Roasted Sea Bass with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes, Smoked Bacon Leek Broth, and Wilted Greens. The bacon leek broth is somewhat lost in the horseradish mashed potatoes, but I really liked the potatoes, so I didn't care. =)

Finally, there is a Grilled New York Steak with Smoked Bacon-Roasted Onion Potato Gratin in a Cabernet Sauce. The steak was great, but that gratin was really, really good. Definitely a happy dish.

So that's it! All-in-all I wasn't blown away by the food, but it was pretty good overall and really good in spots. Perhaps my standards are too low for banquet food, but I'm pretty happy with the menu. I hope everyone else agrees!

Ohmigawdohmigawdohmigawd!

My dress is here!!

And then there was hair.

Yesterday I had my hair and makeup trial for the wedding. I was happy with the makeup (and pleasantly surprised that when I said "light & natural" I didn't end up looking like Tammy Faye Baker, RIP). The hair is another story. G loves it, but I'm not sold.

Here are the inspiration photos I showed her.

The stylist did three iterations of the same general 'do, trying to tweak it into something I liked.

This is #1. I hated it. Looked like the sides of my head were trying to take flight.

This is #2. Much better. the back was still a bit large & in charge, but definitely better than the first.

This is #3. The front is basically the same, but she twisted a large section of the hair down to hide it and make the back a little smaller.

This is #3 with the veil (and my hair comb). I think I like it, but it's a little more glamorous than I was going for. I was thinking of something a little more casual, I think. Plus, I'm afraid it makes me look a little old. But maybe I am just old. ;)

What do you think?