And we return

With more visual list happiness.  Gray day out, but I've gotta go and do the following before all hell freezes over:

Get to the post office

Find those envelopes

Did I mention I need to go to the post office?

Head out and REALLY find a dress

Maybe drive to Redmond.  Or is it really Bellevue?

Figure out this thing called life.

 

I had a horrible, HORRIBLE dream last night that it was like two weeks until the wedding and I still had like a mile long todo list.  And rather than just saying "You know, that's just not going to happen" I broke it down, figured out timing and committed to pulling allnighters for two weeks to get it all done.  I looked a hot mess on my wedding day because of it.  Uhg.

There's basketball on tonight?  I used to be such a proball freak.  Then they did my city wrong. Okay...it was before that.  Maybe then I got a life?  I don't know.  All I know is that there will be boys here watching basketball which means that I get to scrap on national scrapbooking day!  Maybe.

But I promised photos so photos it shall be.

I won't even tell that "he baked it" lie.  No.  I cannot cook.  Or bake either for that matter.  Unless of course I really set my mind to something.  So we made this "molten lava cake" about like a month ago.  I had to photograph it because cake don't NEVER last in this house.  Okay.  I had to photograph it because it was a hot mess.  Literally.  From no hand mixer (oh yeah, I need to put one of those on our registry) to impatience to me having a finger in the batter, this was just a given.  But never fear.  That boy was TASTY.  And a precursor of things to come for the wedding.  And yes.  Yes I do know that I have a wedding blog and that it would be perfectly appropriate for me to post all this junk there.  I'm consolidating life.  In that whole "move in" mode and all.  Life changes can be traumatic like that (smile).

And this would be why I'm not allowed to go price anything out at Costco.  I was supposed to be pricing tulips for the Staff Appreciation | Easter lunch.  Yes.  I work at a Catholic school so we get to have things like Easter lunches and Christmas parties at work.  And we don't call them Holiday parties and we don't send out Season's Greetings, we send out Christmas Cards.  Just so that you're sure you know what you are getting into when you hang with us I guess.  And yes...at Christmas, there are Christmas lights strung all over campus and it is the prettiest thing you've ever seen. 

I digress.  The yellow pad.  With like two lines of scibble?  Because I remember almost everything without writing it down so long as I repeat it like 3 times?  Anyhow...the Wedding Receptions magazine.  Totally didn't need it but it passed the "flip to three pages, do you see anything you like?" test (score--all three pages were hits so I HAD to buy it). You can barely see it, but there is a big Costco sized stack of handmade specialty papers there too.  I almost got a Cropadile too.  Hush it.  And the budding branches.  I love that Costco has garden bunches for like $9.  Which reminds me, I also want to go to the market today cause I saw some gorgeous GORGEOUS orange flowers at work today and I'm really hoping orange is in bloom now.  BUT...the Market is the last place I hardly never go because of parking.  I know.  Everytime guests come to town they're all "I'd shop here all the time for my fruits and veggies and flowers and fish" and I'm all yeah right.  Until you had to fend for parking instead of having me drive you around and drop you at the door.

They were so cute and pretty stacked all together.  The brown envelopes, the white and blue addresses, the cute little pink stamps.  Pink?  Yeah...I thought I had enough orange blooms to make it work.  Sue me.And yeah, I actually DID have to add an additional stamp to each of those envelopes so that was the drama of timing. Like I was going to let them stick an ugly forever bell stamp on it.

By now the world knows (well, most of the delegates in the state of Washington know) that I am running for national delegate.  It went from the district level caucuses where we were BEGGING people to please sign up as alternates just in case to the legislative district caucuses where there were a good crop of folks trying but not all that hard to the congressional district level where I have a close to non-existent chance. BUT.  In the process I have had the opportunity to meet some really amazing folks to profile for the Because | Democracy in Action essay and the photos are coming out really amazingly.  I'm finishing up the Tibet photo book here in a hot minute and getting that one entered and then I'll start compiling this one.  This one has really stretched me in that I'm generally (hard to believe, I know) a shy girl who is a bit timid to reach out and talk to someone for fear of rejection.  But when you believe in something so right and are passionate and talking to a friendly crowd, it makes it all the much easier to get up and say "hey, would you mind helping me out?"  You all rock!

Did I mention I was recently in the OC?  And what I love about the OC is that there really are oranges there?  And that oranges are my most favorite fruit in the world?  They are actually close to my number one food in the world if it were not for things like Louisiana Hot Sauce and chesse sandwiches.  Or green chicken enchiladas.  Or veggie pho (2 pcs of shrimp...pass on that next time)

Only in the OC do friggin' expensive BOP show up on every median and street corner.  I'm just saying.  You try to publicly plant them here in Burien and you'll see a lot of cut stems.  Which is odd because everytime we go to see tulips, R is adamant that open fields like that would never fly in Cali because folks would be taking a snip or two and making a living off of them.  See: oranges above.

Close to never.  Make that never.  That's how often I get this one to actually focus for a hot second so that I can take a picture.  And he's smiling and a willing participant at that!  Okay, really, I had to break out the huge lens and take this picture of him at the course from his sister's house and he was probably grinning about a great shot someone just took.  Or maybe he was thinking about the trip to the beach later that day.  Or about the doggie he might one day get if he acts right.  Not...I'm in the reflection.  Up close and personal.  Score!

I think you should know that Ricotta cheese is actually one of my most fave foods in the world.  That is what is in the bowl about to be tossed into some shells for stuffed pasta.  I want to go make some right now just thinking about it.  Yes.  Carbs at 9 am is probably the equivalent of drinking before noon in this house.  I can't help it.  The flowers...I want to say that was Safeway.  Bleh.  They look so pretty in mass but for the price, Costco all the way.  But the important image in this shot is the Zappos box.  Can you say wedding shoes?  Okay.  How about free shipping?

Honestly now. Yep.  That is my dress. Holy COW it is so friggin' amazingly GORGEOUS.  You don't even know.  You don't even know.  Heck.  I didn't even know!  I went with Liisa to get all up in her dress business and we pulled mine out the back to show her the color (hard to explain, but GORGEOUS--especially on me if I do say so myself which is okay because on Wed at work, someone came into my office and told me that my orange blouse looked great on me..."especially with my skin color".  I said please and thank you ma'am so I get one to throw out there like "the color of my dress looks damn good on me" it is only fair right?).  Anyhow, the tiny little thing with the cute earring and necklace set flipped it around so we could see the back and the train and I about fell out.  I was like "OH MY REALLY??!"  Course I was wearing the thing and they were piling on the veils trying to get me to buy $500 worth of tulle so I didn't get to see the detailing but oh my I'm about to cry thinking about it.  And I'm so not the girly, crybaby type.  Deep breath. Anyhow, had to order it because I'm a 7 foot amazon girl (6'2 in my heels...I'm marring a 6'6 guy and I'm 5"11 on a short day) and needed the 4 inches extra length and we're going to have to probably still rig something up with my shawl that won't be a shawl.  We got this.

I've already mentioned how I love costco flowers.  But really.  They have such gorgeous colors going on there that I never knew about in my quest for the lifetime supply (clearly, we're living longer than expected nowadays) of toilet paper and the case of artichoke dip that no self-respecting human being should ever be seen carrying out of that store.  I don't know why, but I just remembered that I saw my old landlord at Safeway the other day. He's a cool guy.  So is his wife.  A cool girl. Woman.  They just had a girl--about the same time as my boss actually. Lot of baby going around here lately.

If the sky here looked like this, I'd be out playing.  But since it does not, I'm still going to go out and play because well, it is Seattle and we'd all die in our cozy little homes moping about if we waited for good weather to go do anything.  Good on him--he's out doing another crazy long bike ride.  And me? Right.

 

Stay sane!  Get your RSVPs back.  And yes already.  Myregistry.com for the quirky stuff (you'll need to email us for the password because our address is all up on that joint) and Bed Bath and Beyond.  Thanks Anne and Miranda for the last.  Ya'll should get your referral bonuses soon right?