Unmitigated

Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if you read the end of yesterday's post, and didn't think I'd actually post today, like I claimed?

Ooh, An 'arm forest.' Huh.

Anyway, I promised wedding stuff today. But first, a little backstory...

Ms. Partly Cloudy has been engaged to her fiance, Lovely Young Man, since just before she graduated from high school, in 2007. The reason I didn't completely wig out at the time was because she promised that A) she wasn't pregnant, and B) it would be a very long engagement. She wasn't, isn't, and it has been! Over 4 years.

Now it seems to have just flown by. The other day, someone mentioned that the wedding was four weeks away, and Ms. P-C nearly fainted! Imagine how I feel!

The young couple are paying for a majority of the wedding themselves, though both sets of parents have chipped in. By far, my greatest contribution has been to keep the bride from hurling herself off the nearest tower in times of stress, which are many and varied when planning a wedding.

Here's a general status:

• The estimated number of guests are paid for, food, drink, etc.
• Everyone but the bride's younger brother is outfitted for the occasion, hopefully that will happen soon, or he'll be attending the wedding in his 'uniform,' saggy gym shorts, t-shirt and sneakers.
• Flowers, cake, and photographer are all set. Flowers are coming from Westborn Market in Dearborn. They took a couple days to get back to me, but their work is lovely and the prices were great.
• RSVPs are trickling in. So far, there are 120 guests, but we still need to hear from 78 more!

And now the really important stuff: The Bride and her Mother

The bride's dress was purchased a couple years ago, when the bride happened to find her dream gown ON SALE. I brought along a consultant shopping with me, someone who understands the Tao of the Girl, a skill I have never had. We found a really gorgeous, floor-length, deep-plum-colored gown, which you don't get to see until the wedding. 

John Paul, the Prince of All Stylists, did a test run on my up-do, and it will be stunning!I am trying to transfer a picture (from my phone, not the best, but the true reveal will be with the gown). So far it's not working.

And now, my favorite thing to talk about: Sparklies!

Ms. Partly Cloudy has very short hair. Sometimes, short to the point of not actually being visible, but just in time for the wedding, it's grown out to a cute boy-cut. Which is adorable on someone as waif-like as she is. I talked her into a fascinator, and then found the perfect one on Etsy from a shop called Silver Frostings. Who knew that the proprietor, 1beader, would end up being so important to the wedding?

And on THAT note...I leave you, until tomorrow!

 

All the Things Piling Up in My World

And there are many of them. I haven't posted for weeks, though I have still been happily following all of your blogs.

See that sentence up there? I typed that sentence two days ago, then started downloading and processing some pictures to share. At this point, I do not recall if I even finished processing the photos, but I am afraid to look, because I will get distracted again.

My daughter is getting married in 26 days. That should answer much of WHY I haven't posted in weeks, though laziness does enter into it to a startling degree. I'm just gonna do this like a Random Tuesday, okay?

Summer Things

We spent Labor Day weekend at one of my favorite places in the world: Wiser Times, on Lake Huron, just south of the fingernail on your index finger. 

That dark gray part at the top of the photo is rain over easter Lake Huron/Ontario. I love the silver sheen on the water in this picture. There was a stunning amount of technical things going on while we were there, of which Husband Styro was mostly the cause.

I have entitled this photo, "The Wyatts are Here."

Two computers, a hacked Nook (now an Android tablet), a terrabyte hard drive, a *Rocker* iPad mount with speakers, and all the attendant wires. It would take far too long to explain why we brought all of that with us. I just need to mention that we also brought a large plastic tub with hundreds of CDs with us, also.

Art Things

I have mentioned previously about some really inspired gifts I commissioned for Husband Styro this year for his birthday, Father's Day and our 26th anniversary. I have finally taken pictures so you can see just how amazing I am they are.

First, Michele painted this beauty, but I never shared the final framing:

We had it framed at Michael's, and though I hate to shop there, they did a really beautiful job framing it for us. They also suggested a really gorgeous frame, that I would never have looked twice at, but which really brings out the rich, deep browns in the painting, and echoes the winter branches, too. That was Husband Styro's birthday/Father's Day gift (the dates are two weeks apart).

Our anniversary is in early August, and something I saw on Tera's blog (scroll down to the California Dreamin' piece), and new I had found what I wanted! I commissioned this from her:

The first song we danced to at our wedding was the Talking Heads, "This Must be the Place (Naive Melody). I sent the lyrics to Tera, and together we picked out which we wanted to include, messed with the order a little, and she applied her graphic genius. Husband and I both love it, and it hangs in our newly-redone room.

Tomorrow? Wedding stuff.

Finally took a picture...

Cut: John Paul at Tres Jolie

Color: Pam at Tres Jolie

Glasses: Double Vision by Nicole Miller

Ratty T-shirt jammies: All me.

(I have just spent an hour searching for these frames. Because I have to take them off to read the tiny inscription. Which, of course, I can't do without my glasses.)

Another Hair Post

Is it just me, or do I spend an inordinate amount of time blogging about my hair?

Wait.

Don't answer that.

It's just that my hair can set my mood for the day. For the next month really. For a couple years, I had what I thought was a cute little boy-cut. SOOOO easy to care for, what a charm. I looked in the mirror and thought, "Okay. Cute. Short is appropriate for a woman my age."

Then I saw a picture of myself. It was from BlogHer 2009, at this awesome Italian restaurant in Chicago, with an incredible group of amazing people: Vodka Mom, Stiletto Mom, Sprite's Keeper, Literal Dan, Jennieology, and more! Of course we had a great time, the food was delicious, the dessert was to-die-for, and the waiter took pictures for us. I think it's on Facebook somewhere. I don't want to see it again.

Because my first thought was, who's the cross-dresser, and he could sure use some hair and make-up tips!

Oh. My. God. That's. ME.

 

 

 

So, I've been growing my hair out for a while now. And I got over the whole silly "woman my age" thing. Yesterday, I met some friends for lunch in the same suburb where John Paul (stylist) and his wife Pam (colorist) work their genius. I needed to schedule appointments with both, so I stopped in. The receptionist said the magic words, "Are you available this afternoon?"

Seriously, my heart leapt. Yes! I am available. I love haircut and/or color days because I feel so pretty when I leave there. And both John and Pam are fun to be with. Funny and sweet and sarcastic and witty. I'm drooling here. It's embarrassing.

As I was getting ready to leave with my new cut yesterday, John asked about my daughter's wedding, "Are you going to wear your hair up?"

I wanted to cry. People, I am nearing 50, and have never once worn an up-do. Never. So the answer is a resounding, "Yes, I will be wearing an up-do, and we'll need a trial! We get to do it twice! to see how it goes! and he'll make recommendations! because he's the best there is at what he does! (really. He has two Tiffany Awards, that's like the Oscars for hair stylists)!"

Anybody want to bet on how many times you hear about this before the wedding in November?