A happy memory

Today Alex and I attended a wedding of two friends.  It was a beautiful ceremony, the bride was beaming (as was the groom), and celebrations were merry.


This morning as we were preparing to go to the wedding, I reflected on the morning before our wedding last June.  I find the memory of our wedding day to be sweet - sweet to call back the accompanying nerves and jitters, sweet to flip through pictures and remember all the faces of the people there to support us and witness our marriage (and party, of course!), sweet to think of the progression of moments that were the beginning of Alex and my life together.


One of the most memorable times of the day, though, was before the wedding itself.  It was the morning of the wedding.


My mom had decided that with a late afternoon ceremony and a late morning hair and make-up appointment, we had plenty of time and opportunity to gather family and bridesmaids for a nice breakfast.  We asked my brother and his fiancee (now wife) to plan and cook the meal.


I had woken up and silently freaked out to myself that it was my wedding day.  There is nothing like that feeling - I still get it on Christmas morning every year, although its intensity has decreased some since my childhood.  I waited until I was ready to share that feeling with my family, and then went downstairs.


The first hour of the morning was laid back. I sat on the couch and peeped over the counter watching my family bustling around the kitchen. My extended family arrived and we chatted.  Then, around 9:15, the bridesmaids burst in to the scene -- all of a sudden there were seven girls in pajamas and curlers running, jumping, hugging me, and exclaiming "AHHHH! It's your wedding day!!!!!"


From there the morning unrolled in a rather friendly fashion.  We all dug in to a de-li-cious breakfast of huevos rancheros with fresh salsa, avocado and slices of carne asada, accompanied by freshly blended berry smoothies and coffee. We sat out on the patio in the San Diego sunshine. My bridesmaids took the time to remind me that their role as bridesmaids was to meet my every need.  At one point I began to get up for more coffee and one of them shouted, "Wait! Why are you getting up? What do you need? Let me get it for you."  Unfortunately for them, they also promised to meet my every request - upon hearing this I promptly demanded that they form a human pyramid.  And they did.


I loved the quietness of that morning. I loved the excitement. I loved that we got to eat a yummy breakfast (half of us in our pajamas) on the patio on my wedding day: a relaxed two-and-a-half hours to be with dear friends and family, to anticipate the day and begin the celebrations.


* Image credit: Painting by Judith Lamb, http://www.chacerandallgallery.com/.

Pink Lady

I recently discovered in conversation with a co-worker a common choosiness in types of apples we are willing to eat.  Apples cannot be so tart they demand I drink a glass of water to balance the acidic taste in my mouth.  And apples that are at all soft make me want to gag. Generally, I used to base my apple preferences on color - I know that the green granny smith is really tart. I know that the red delicious apples often are underfirm and disappoint the eater's desire for that first crisp bite.  So, for a time, I thought the perfect balance of sweetness and crispness lay in the apples of the...tye-dyed variety.


I was wrong. This fall I tried buying various kinds of tye-dyed apples. I discovered that Braeburn apples are mushy. Fuji, Gala, McIntosh....all failed. My theory was ruined. Lesson: Do not base all decisions off of color.
Anyways, after this long search, I did eventually find the perfect apple (for me).  And, it did fit into my color expectations.  It's the Pink Lady. And it is delicious. Though my regular grocery store does not sell them, Trader Joes offered generously sized ones for fifty cents a piece.


(Note: I have learned again the wisdom of specificity when performing a google search.  "Pink Lady Apple" led to much more cooperative results than simply "Pink Lady". Try for yourselves.)


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Pink Ladies are now out of season. And now, even when I travel to more than one grocery store in pursuit of the perfect apple, I come up with a small, softer than usual Pink Lady. This is sad.


Also, tonight I spent two hours ironing, making lunches and preparing tomorrow night's dinner. This is a little bit sad.


Also, the musical artist who used to help me get through my essays and studying is now helping me get through my ironing. I think this is more happy.

Valentine's Day 2010

Yesterday, (which was a Friday, which was the end of a work week) Alex and I came home (after an especially long work day) and tried to decide what we should do for our "date night". Friday nights are our date nights, and traditionally have been even from the initial stages of our relationship in our sophomore year in college, when, with the combination of limited "open-hours" in our dorms, roommates with varying schedules, and a college-man's budget,  dates had to be very creative. Alex did an admirable job coming up with creative ways to work around these obstacles, my favorite being his "Christmas in September" date which involved decking one of the cafeteria tables with Christmas lights, music and fake snow, having me open a "stocking" full of things from the dollar store, making sugar cookies in our dorm kitchen, and finally, watching White Christmas on his laptop up on the soccer field, with blankets and  cookies to keep us warm.  However, on the days when we were too tired from unrelenting homework and the exhausting duties of college-life (like having to do (and pay for!) our laundry), the most creative idea we could muster was to grab dinner at the school cafeteria, maybe get something from starbucks and watch a movie on his laptop in one of the library's study rooms.

So last night our date night consisted of throwing together a dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, watching an episode of "Community" (on his laptop), debating for 30 minutes whether we should watch another episode or read, reading, and falling asleep on the couch by 8:45 p.m. What a wild life we live.

Actually, the real reason we had such an uninteresting "date night" is because we are celebrating Valentine's Day today.  Sorry if I misled you to think that we are boring homebodies (really we are, 90% of the time).

So with that, I'm going to go make us chocolate chip pancakes. I will attempt to make them heart-shaped, in spirit of the holiday, but since I have no heart-shaped mold they will probably look like blobs. Over and out.