Day 284: One more day

As the title reflects, only one more day to the Big Day! And today was full of lots of pre-wedding preparations, including decorating and a trip to a scary Wal Mart for last minute supplies. But before all of that there was the bridesmaid's luncheon at a country club, my first country club lunch. And then the wedding rehearsal and dinner, my first wedding rehearsal.

The country club was very nice, good food, great familial company, and of course, mimosas aplenty. The rehearsal was short and sweet, but served its purpose. Not long now...

A blurry shot of the soon to be Mr. and Mrs.
Another blurry, and cropped, shot of me and the best man.

Day 283: Perfection

Let the wedding festivities begin! What is the best way to recover from weeks of hard work and late nights, getting in at midnite on the train, and most importantly, celebrate the impending wedding of a sister? Spa day! My first trip to a spa, complete with my first ever manicure, massage, and facial. (Had a pedicure too, but I've had those before.) It was a wonderful gift from the bride-to-be, complete with mimosas and too much talking in the "quiet room." Like we could have it any other way.

Day 282: Title

Another trip home, another train ride. Finally I got a window seat, and finally I had no one sitting beside me. Though I did have one little boy that kept staring at me, and three people with the need to comment on the "Doctor Who" episode I was watching. Note to self, maybe not watch the one with a very large and scary Satan-like creature next time, as everyone behind you can see.

Anyway, that doesn't matter. I always get the cheese tray when I'm on the train, because I love cheese and crackers and it's cheap and good. But as I was quite hungry I also got a hot dog, microwaved to perfection for 45 seconds, on a train.

Day 281: You don't mess with someone named Wolfgang

I like food as much as the next person, particularly when it consists of chocolate or carbs. But I'm not a big fancy food person, never watch the Food network or read recipe books just for the heck of it. But I can recognize a famous chef when I see it, so when I saw that Wolfgang Puck had a line of soups at Harris Teeter, I grabbed the can of vegetable, continuing my neverending quest for the perfect canned vegetable soup. Tonite I tried Mr. Puck's veggie soup, my first "famous" soup. Yeah, I think good old Wolfie should stick to the restaurant biz. Or at the very least chill out on the spices. If I knew about spices I could tell you which ones I've been choking on for the last four hours. Oregano, maybe? Or, my favorites, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme? Never mind, the quest will just continue.

Day 280: Walk tall

How is it already Monday? Just doesn't seem fair. But it is and it was back to the grindstone and work work work. But the work was broken up a bit when I received my bridesmaid shoes for the wedding, sent to me ahead of time so I could break them in. And what better way to break them in than to strut down King Street, from the office to the metro in high heels, 8/10 of a mile on brick.

And by strut I of course mean hobble and stumble my way along like a drunk person. I'm quite certain had I been brave enough to turn around, there would have been a group of people following me taking bets on when I would faceplant, or exactly how many martinis I had in my system. Oh, if only they knew that not even four years of tripping on the bricks in Chapel Hill could prepare me for fancy high heels on the bricks of Old Town Alexandria.

Day 279: Cgbraimde sylte

A sduty at Cbgarmide sarevel yraes ago pevord taht the oedrr of the ltretes in a wrod deos not mteatr to the bairn, jsut taht the fsrit and lsat ltteres are creocrt. New tnhig of the day: wnitirn my etnry, Cgbraimde sylte. I tihnk it is a vrey initserentg sudty and has pvoern vrey ture, at lsaet for me. But you hvea to wneodr who frsit reilzaed it. Waht sdsuepoply blianlrit Crmadbige mnid sat dwon one day, jlbumebd all the ltretes in his or her wniitrg, jsut for the hcek of it? And tenh pverod, whuitot the aid of hulgneailcionc dugrs, he or she culod siltl raed it? Tehy wulod not hvea so mcuh tmei on tiehr hndas if tehy had an amoewsoe bkeltbasal or falbotol taem.

Day 278: Busy like a bee...or a crazy person

It has been a very busy week for me this week, lots happening at work and elsewhere, and it will only get crazier next week, with a huge deadline and a WEDDING!! Yes, one week from today my big sister walks down the aisle. Sigh, they grow up so fast. But in preparation of this event, I trekked to Maryland yet again to the A.C. Moore, to spend more than I've ever spent on beads, and make jewelry for the bridal party. Nothing like stringing beads to the sounds of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL to get you in the mood for a wedding.

Day 277: Improving my vision?

I don't particularly believe in nor embrace a lot of the "New Age" doctrines. Or, any, for that matter. And despite the fact that this The Secret stuff is everywhere, I know very little about it. But when I read about this thing called the "Vision Board," where you can collage or list or draw all of your goals and ambitions, and then use all your positive energy to obtain, I thought, meh, what the heck, I'll give it a shot. I made a vision board of some of my goals.

A peak at part of my digital board:
I haven't so much focused all my positive energy on it as I am quite tired and and busy focusing my energy elsewhere, but maybe one day.

Day 276: Psych!

I don't believe in Ouija boards, psychics, or tarot cards. But I do believe in WikiHow giving me ideas at 11:30 at night, so I made a Psi wheel, a post-it note on a needle which you are supposedly able to move through telekinesis.
It moved a few times, but I think that was less telekinesis, and more a combination of my ueneven floor and clumsy knee.

Day 275: Bailout smackdown

One of my favorite lines from Friends is when someone tells Phoebe to "dial down the crazy." I have pretty much adopted this as my mantra in life. I fully embrace my weirdness, my neuroticness, my geekiness - aka my life - and am not ashamed of any of my crazy quirks.

However, I do have just enough social grace to realize you can't let it all hang out all at once. No need to walk up to someone and say, "Hi, I'm Bonnie, I sleep with a blanket, can't touch raw meat, have been known to alphabetize the books and DVDs of others, and have an all-consuming fear of birds. How are you?" That being said, in a discussion at work about organization I admitted to owning multiple label makers, alphabetizing everything, color coordinating my clothing, and having mild panic attacks when things are not as I want them. The multiple label makers and clothes coordination got the biggest reaction. Oh well. At least I haven't labeled the colors. Yet.

Note: my new thing could have been hanging around outside the Capitol whilst the Senate debated the bailout. However, the roommate refused to cooperate with my desire to spy on/wave at/interrupt the proceedings of our government. This is technically also new as I normally attempt to enlist Karey in my plans to infiltrate official business. At least she had a good excuse, she was already infiltrating, I believe Brandie was just tired.