The Joy of the Alter Ego

Photo Friday wants you to FEED THE PIGEONS!!

2009-11-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

Have a great weekend!

2009-11-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

All I had to do was bring the deli plate to work and I couldn't even do that.

Just call it one more task that everyone else gets to fuss at me for messing up.

Photo Friday loves the old city

2009-10-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

A shot of Zurich's old town from a wall across the Limmat.

What's on my computer desktop

2009-10-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

www.hpmphoto.com

Midweek Menu

2009-10-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is actually from Sunday, but W and I made the most fabulous cinnamon French toast ever with homemade Strawberry Peach Syrup. And brie. So good. Be jealous.

Meanwhile, dinner tonight is anyone's guess. Pasta Roni?

Photo Friday wants to hold your hand

2009-10-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

While crossing the street in a 1930s hat and jacket. Cute!

Not bad, I say. Not bad.

2009-10-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

Seriously. I loved getting married.

photo courtesy of our fabulous photographer Heather

Looking back to see how far I've come

2009-10-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I wrote the following in a blog post (found it again while reposting old stuff):

"I just know that love is work. If you find the right partner to work with you can produce something great. If you find a lazy partner the work can eat you alive."

You know, I made a lot of dumb statements about love during that time in my life but this one I think is true. More true than I even realized when I wrote it.

I am so thankful that my husband is someone willing to work toward something great with me.

progress report

2009-10-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yay! I've finished uploading all of my posts from 2004.

Now on to 2005.

2009-10-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've already mentioned this, but I'm slowly working on adding all my old blog posts to my new blogger format (I'm only halway into the old 2004 posts). I wanted to have everything in one place. That and I was kind of curious as to how prolific of a blogger I am. The answer is: holy crap, I've written a lot of blog posts...

Photo Friday says hello to Spiez

2009-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

The chapel at Castle Spiez in the little town of Spiez along the Thunersee. Former home of the Bubenburgs...*snort* (Yeah, I've got the maturity of a twelve-year-old. You got a problem with that?)

2009-10-09T12:33:00.001-07:00

Seriously, not all software updates are improvements. I mean, yeah, Flash CS4 has some really awesome new features, but I kind of hate ActionScript 3. With a passion.

Maybe I'll change my mind after I've been working with it for a couple weeks.

But I'm not holding my breath...

Some days I'm a fairy princess with a Midweek Menu

2009-10-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

And for no particular reason, today is one of those Fairy Princess days.

Okay, there's a reason. I was looking at wedding photos. Teehee! Flowers and pretty dresses will do that to a girl.

Makes me wish I could just step through a door in some castle wall and be in Switzerland again, fluttering about on my honeymoon.

Oh, and I'm making chicken tonight, with spinach and Thai peanut sauce. Sound good? Well, it should. Cuz that's my midweek menu.

Butterflies and feathers

2009-10-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

Seriously, my bouquet rocked. I mean, just look at those colors. And the peacock feathers. And the little matching paper butterfly!

Did I mention I made it myself? Yeah, I'm awesome.

photo courtesy of Heather at hpmphoto.com

Photo Friday is kicking off the Honeymoon photo bonanza!

2009-10-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

So, marriage has been pretty awesome so far. And I would tell you all about it if I weren't currently suffering from an allergy attack.

Anyway, that's a picture of Zurich, one of our first stops on our honeymoon. Pretty fabulous.

Being married means all your stuff gets lost in the move

2009-09-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

As soon as I find my camera cable, there will be honeymoon pictures all over this blog.

Oh, and I'm back. And I'm married. :)

Photo Friday will see you after the honeymoon

2009-09-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

One day left.

I've got no picture for that.

Photo Friday is counting down the days

2009-09-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

...til I officially change my last name. Eek!

A photo of a religious venue in which others have gotten married seemed appropriate...

In the single digits

2009-09-03T16:25:00.001-07:00

20 wedding tasks yet to complete and only 9 days to complete them.

AAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Photo Friday makes nice with the kitteh

2009-08-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

Meet Mr. Muggles aka The Mouser. Or just, The Cat as he's usually called by us, seeing as we don't know his real name and I've only just recently taken to calling him Mr. Muggles in my head as a silent tribute to Heroes. "The Mouser" title is equally recent due to the thoughtful presents he's now left us on the front and back porches (just in case we missed them, you know).

Apparently, Mr. Muggles has been kicked out of his own home a couple doors down by the newly adopted dog. He's decided we are the most suitable replacement family and has been diligently courting us ever since. Even going so far as to sneak into the house on more than one occasion.

He's definitely getting to my dad (supposed hater of cats) who recently started talking about buying kitty litter.

Don't do it Dad! Resist! Resist!!

It was the mouse that won him over. My dad has infinite respect for any creature that is willing to earn his keep.

Personally, I don't mind The Mouser. He's a super sweet cat; constantly rubbing up against legs and tentatively meowing for some love. But I'm moving out in two weeks and I can't take him with me. Oh well. I'll just come back to visit.

Oh, and Mr. Muggles: thank you for the half mouse on the back welcome matt that you so generously stopped chewing on in order to present it as a gift to me last night when I got home. Very thoughtful of you. I feel loved.

Some Wedding Advice for Dealing with a Bride

2009-08-28T09:12:00.001-07:00

If I could give you just one piece of advice for when you're dealing with a bride: edit what you say about the decisions that have already been made and paid for.

Don't tell her that the beautiful bridesmaids dresses she fell in love with and picked because she thought they would be truly lovely and not too bridesmaidsy are secretly hated by one of the bridesmaids who thinks she looks fat in it.

Don't tell her that the Maid of Honor thinks the shoe color she carefully picked out to match the flowers clashes with the dress.

Don't tell her that her colors are ugly and mismatched; don't say, well, maybe it'll look better when it's all put together and then try to retract your statement with, "Oh but it'll be beautiful anyway!" It's too late. You can't take it back. And, besides which, you didn't really take it back at all, just allowed that it might not be a disaster.

Don't second guess her hard won decisions when she's already given up what she wanted for the sake of the budget or the sake of her mother or the sake of her groom or whoever else in her mind (and there's a good possibility it's all in her mind) she thinks she's sacrificing for. If there isn't a logistical problem--if the only problem is that you don't particularly like the shade of red used, please keep your mouth shut.

And please, especially don't say any of these things to her two weeks before the wedding when she has other, more pressing, decisions and she's just found out that the best friend she hasn't seen in four years who she was so, so, so excited about seeing again has announced that she can't come. Your bride may be brave and understanding about her friend, but it's still not a good time.

Don't tell her that she's just pmsing when she now feels bad about the friend and the shoes and the dresses and the flowers as a direct result of everything you've said that I just asked you not to say.

There's a good chance that this bride you're dealing with is a little overwhelmed. And vulnerable. That she's suddenly feeling thrust into the role of grownup and is insecure about the validity of her choices. And trying so hard to please you and everyone else and just make this marriage thing happen that criticizing something as small as the color of shoe she wanted is a bit like stabbing her in the back.

So, in conclusion, please watch your mouth around your poor little bride. It's hard enough to not be a bridezilla without you provoking her by pointing out that the few decisions she was allowed to make for herself are hopelessly bad.

*The "you" for this post may in fact be my mother...

All I gotta do is...

2009-08-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

...ride it out. Just ride it out Marianne. It'll get better and if I do what i know to be right even though it's stinkin hard right now, I'll come out clean on the other side.

But seriously, there's something brilliant about lyrics that decide to forego the flowery language and just say: "When you're screwed, you're screwed." Sometimes being able to sing it like it is makes you feel so much better.

*The song, btw, is Blue by Soler.

Photo Friday Loves the Love-potamus

2009-08-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Because Brimly the Unconditional Love-potamus loves you.

Wedding Wednesday

2009-08-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Twenty-four days until the wedding. Can you believe it?

I've decided to post a few wedding thoughts in honor of this fact.

Most of you probably don't know this, but we won't be having a unity candle. It's not because we want to be different or offbeat, it's actually because Pasadena requires the church to hold a license to light candles inside and we don't have that license. Stupid, right? But I've never been a huge unity candle person anyway, so it's not great loss for me. I mean, unity candles are a recent invention; if thousands of years worth of people can get married without a unity candle, then so can I.

Anyway, I thought of this because I recently read a post on Offbeat Bride regarding substitutions for the unity candle ceremony. One of the suggested alternatives was a "ring warming" ceremony. I've seen this ceremony featured a couple times now and I have to say that there's something about it that appeals to me. There's something beautiful about passing an item so closely worn as a symbol of love, from loved one to loved one to be blessed. I like the idea of all the little prayers piling up on each other, one on top of the other in layers of peace and communion. I imagine looking down at my wedding ring in the years to come and not only seeing a reminder of my committment but a reminder of all the prayers that God has promised to fulfill--prayers made on my behalf; what a reassurance!

Okay, so unfortunately there are practical reasons why we won't be doing a ring warming any more than we'll do a unity candle: too many guests in too short a time, not to mention the super high risk of losing the rings altogether. Not good for a wedding. We need those rings.

Once again, it's no great loss to cross another ceremony off the list. This is not something I've always wanted, it's just a ceremony that recently captured my imagination a beautiful way. But if someone else sees this post and is thinking of such a ceremony for their (much smaller) wedding: I hope you do it and tell me about it. It sounds lovely.

Many good and lovely things

2009-08-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

I gotta tell ya: yesterday was a crappy day. And not just kinda crappy, but really crappy. It was just one of those. Too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

This morning wasn't starting out so great either. Still too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

But somewhere between lunchtime and 4 pm, I had a breakthrough. The sun shone brighter, the people got nicer. I think there may have been a blue bird. On my shoulder. Okay, maybe no bird, but you get my drift. Things got a lot better.

And thanks to the improvement in my day I started remembering some other great things like: my shoes today are totally awesome! Gold and satin aquamarine stilettos. I am one sexy hot mama in these suckers. And I haven't even mentioned my sassy matching scarf yet!

AND HOLY CRAP, LIZ AND DAVID GOT MARRIED ON SATURDAY!!

It's as if, in my major funk over the past day and a half, I couldn't remember this incredible and wonderful thing that had happened to some really special friends. Seriously, what's wrong with me? That wedding was absolutely beautiful. And also the marker to the four week countdown until I'm married. Whoa. Surreal.

I better get crackin' on some of that wedding stuff...