Hours of happy times with friends and family Abundant time for relaxation Prosperity Plenty of love, especially when you need it the most Youthful excitement at lifes simple pleasures
Nights of restful slumber, or romantic bliss Everything you need, and most of what you want Wishing you love and light, with each new day
Years and years of good health Enjoyment and mirth Angels to watch over you and yours Remembrances of the happiest times of your life!
Happy New Year indeed. I hate that I haven't been by here to say hello and to wish you all well. I also hate that none of us seem to chat as much as we once did. Maybe with the holidays behind us now we can all get a little less busy. I need to text Jessica, she should come say hello. I told Tess once that she should pop in and she didn't. I guess we just have to keep up with her on FB.
So we had a nice surprise during our last week of the holiday. My sister's boyfriend finally popped the question and they are getting married this February. That is right, less then 2 months to plan a wedding. And they are talking like 100 people. Assuming that all of the family makes it out. I guess that is where they are spending their money is on plane tickets for siblings who might otherwise not be able to make it.
Anyways, what is everyone up to today? How is the weather everywhere?
Shelly, where is the wedding going to be? Is there a concern for weather? I hope all goes well for your sister and she and her betrothed have a happy and long life together.
-- Edited by Sundancer on Thursday 14th of January 2010 10:56:05 AM
We had a somewhat uneventful holiday with the usual chaos and dirty dishes etc. Then my mother took a turn for the worse and has been a real concern for me. That's where I've been most of the time. Physically she's strong and wiry although her mobility is much worse than it had been. She needs to be encouraged to walk about on her own but becomes rather belligerent... And, as usual, my father is completely uncooperative, has taken up insulting my husband and me. Not particularly pleasant.
Shelly, what fun you'll all have planning a wedding with your sister! It's so refreshing to hear about a bride and groom just wanting to get on with their lives and putting the ceremony in its proper perspective. So many brides are taking this wedding day thing FAR too far. It's what happens AFTER the wedding that's important, not the day itself, as fun and pretty as it can be. It ought to be a celebration AND a ceremony of this wonderful right of passage, not some ego-driven maniacal nutso scene. Hurray for Sharon and her intended!! You must tell us all about the details as they unfold.
Finally winter is here in full force, not that I'm complaining, lol. Today is a good day to stay inside and avoid all the ice on the roadways. I baked again this morning, one of my m-i-l's recipes. It's easy enough but uses up so many pots and bowls that I've had to run the dishwasher just for that clean-up.
Mike is in NZ having a wonderful time in the sun, touring with his band, Nick's Club Crawls are selling out each week in Whistler, Tony is teaching two of his kids to ski at the local "Mont Garbage".
I've missed our chats, but I'll be around more regularly now. And Shelly, if you're still watching Y&R, I've started it up again, so we can compare notes on that if you like.
Kae I am so sad to hear about your mom and the troubles you are having and that your dad is just making it all worse.
The wedding will be small although she is inviting our entire church so it could easily be 100 people. But she is getting married in the church for free and is having the reception there, also for free. And a lot of people in the church are helping with the food. I am actually going to do the bulk of her cake. Crazy eh?
She found her dress, it was like 900 bucks but she has always been that way. Always somehow drawn to what costs the most. Her color is yellow (color of friendship) and so her dress will have a yellow sash in it. Its nice. Although we are hoping to find a seamstress to do the hemming and to change out the sash because the dress shop wants like 200 bucks. Yikes!!
I agree about winter in full force. While its not snowing like it does in CT its still darned cold. The kind that makes you chapped everywhere. Ick.
I have been watching YnR again, though I really am afraid that they may bring Sheila back.
Kae, how is your mom now? Are things getting better? I hope they do. So sorry to hear of the troubles.
Shelly, $900 is quite a steal considering what wedding gowns typically go for these days. I agree, it's a LOT of money, but have you ever watched Say Yes to the Dress? Brides come in typically with price points of $3,000 to $6,000. YIKES! For a dress you'll wear once? No thank you.
Shelly, that's such great news about your sister's engagement!
I completely agree with KaeEll that your sister is being very smart about focusing on the marriage, and not on the party so much. She'll be very glad later that she held down costs.
I've been to enough weddings to have seen the entire spectrum, including very simple receptions that offered cake and punch in a church basement. ALL were lovely!! It's about taking your vows, and then celebrating with your friends and family. And Jojo is right about the dress; you can find beautiful dresses that are very affordable. I think it's insane to spend thousands of dollars on a wedding gown, and even if I could afford to do that for my two daughters, I would refuse! Frankly, neither of my daughters would even try to justify that kind of spending either. They've been taught to look for good quality at bargain prices, and they've become very good at it...
Simple, classic elegance ALWAYS works, and if you can find that at a good price, you're good to go! Anyway, that's MY philosophy. LOL...
I also love wedding receptions where there's a buffet table (mine was like that), rather than those where everyone is assigned tables. You don't find many people doing these kinds of buffet receptions anymore, but I like to MINGLE, not sit with the same group of people all night. Add to that the fact that I love hot and cold h'ors d'oeuvres, and often prefer that food group to heavier food. It's perfect for something like a wedding reception where you can have many things on a buffet table, but also have foods very elegantly passed around by waiters (or family/friends/church volunteers).
Jim and I had a long buffet table (in the most beautiful room in Washington, DC, in my opinion), laden with hot and cold h'ors d'oeuvres. The table also held an entire MASSIVE King crab for people to pick at, and a separate table where roast beef was being carved for small sandwiches. And, the cake. That was enough!
The other thing that I DIDN'T do was to offer hard liquor (much to my mother-in-law's chagrin), but champagne only. I also offered coffee and punch for those who didn't drink. This also saved on expenses. My mother-in-law, however, did manage to get herself some bourbon, probably playing the mother-of-the-groom card, but no other guests (as far as I know) had anything beyond what I was offering. After all, I wanted a lovely celebration, not a bunch of drunken guests! LOL...
We also didn't have any dancing. The room wasn't conducive for dancing, and I wasn't interested in that anyway. It was predominantly an older crowd because most of the guests were friends of my parents, and those of Jim's parents, so there weren't a lot of people who were itching to boogie. Instead, I had a string quartet positioned in front of a fireplace, and they played throughout the reception.
The holidays were crazy here, and I swear that I'm STILL recovering from them. I've also had to deal with some doll club stuff, and computer issues. I love my new computer, but I need to get some files off of the old one, and haven't been able to accomplish that yet. The problem is primarily some saved AOL files, and AOL doesn't make it easy! I'll try to be better about posting over here, now that things are calming down a bit. (Now, I've probably jinxed that!)
Shelly, it certainly HAS been cold here in Virginia. I don't know about where you are, but up here, it's always a very damp and penetrating cold. I'm guessing that it's the same for you too.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Yeah, she is actually getting quite lucky. Our church is letting her use it for the wedding and reception. I think I may google like a VFW place or something though because our church does not have enough space to feed 100 people. And since they are doing so much for the wedding Sharon has pretty much opened up the wedding to our church. I think she is inviting about 50 people family wise...and amazingly enough they are all coming. I am thrilled that I get to see family so much sooner then I had expected.
I had volunteered to do her cake with a woman at church who does them for a living but she said she would do it all so that I don't have to take time away from family. And she still is doing it as a gift. That was my big thing was being able to keep Sharon from paying several hundred dollars on the cake.
And Anna said she would teach me, I really want to get more proficient at this cake decorating thing. I think it might be a good side job for me to earn extra money.
Shelly, I just LOVE how you're so interested in the cake baking and decorating! I can see how it could become very addictive, and I've read that many women have begun these kinds of businesses. It also satisfies the creative side to a person's nature!
You should definitely take advantage of Anna's offer to show you some tricks of the trade, since she's been kind enough to offer, and also see if you can find some classes. As I understand it, sometimes craft stores like Michael's offer these classes, and they're very affordable. Your new county may offer these classes too, and they're usually really inexpensive. A gazillion years ago, my sister and I took a class together in French cooking, through Fairfax County, and we had a blast!
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
