Wednesday, November 22, 2017

So we did a thing... and so many things went wrong.


A selfie with the dogs at midnight:30?  OF FUCKING COURSE.  Would you really expect anything less?  Nope.  So, you're welcome.

So I mentioned in my week review post that wedding things went quite horribly.  Obviously, this is from the perspective of someone who knew exactly how everything should be.  I've talked to several people that said they didn't even realize things were going "badly"...  Because ya'll, I'm good at keeping my shit together.  Crazy good.

I didn't even let Teh Mom get under my skin, when she was trying her damnedest.  She even got to Teh Sister and I just had no reaction for her except for one snarky comment back as we were walking across the yard to walk down the aisle.  Truthfully, I have no idea how it happened because I also happened to start my period on Tuesday or some other inconvenient day before the wedding.

Let's just walk through the day, shall we?
PS.  All the photos from this point to the end are by wedding guests, but probably Teh WJL, or selfies that I took.  

Hair and makeup went fine... except by the end of the night, my face was having another reaction to whatever had been on my skin all day.  EXACTLY the same reaction as I had when I did bridal portraits.. turns out, I'm not just allergic to the equate makeup wipes, but probably either the lip stuff or the airbrush makeup, but I'm only sensitive around my mouth and nose.  Fantastic.  Oh yeah, the next morning, Teh German had something on his lip which he tried to swear was herpaderp so I gave him a dose of my Valtrex (Dr. Megan to the rescue!) and told him it probably wasn't herpaderp (I was right).  Soooo essentially, we both had a reaction to something that was on my face.  The chemical peel for the week after the wedding was exactly as delightful as you'd imagine and Teh German got to find out that he always has those white dots on his lips and they are NOT herpaderp.  Paranoid Husband.


Back to wedding day..
We made it to the venue on time, even with stopping at Wendy's for lunch.  I knew better than to just eat snacks and I didn't want Hangry Megan to make an appearance, so I just had lunch AND snacks.  It was wedding day.  #TREATYOSELF

Things were going well.  I recorded a video for Teh German before the wedding which was pretty sweet but I couldn't get the audio to work.  After 3 times of recording it, I gave up and had Teh Running Bestie deliver it to him and let him figure out the audio problem.  I headed upstairs to the reception area and had a chat with the wedding planner, who told me that the moss she had planned to use was staining the linens so she wasn't going to use it.  I figured that the other things we had discussed would still be there, so I wasn't worried. 

I headed back downstairs and got dressed and Teh WJL, Teh Sister, and Teh Running Bestie took shifts to button my dress.  Lacy (my dress) had a LOT of buttons.  Which, ya know, didn't really affect me since I just had to stand there while someone else did all the work.  I texted Teh Mom to see when she was going to arrive, but she didn't answer until too late to get a chance to button my dress.  /shrug

After I was dressed and Nick got some pics, Nick and his assistant, Nikette (sp?), set up the first look.  Teh German was waiting outside under the big tree and I was super pumped to finally let him see me in all my bridal glory.  Have I mentioned that Teh German is a sap?  Because he is and I loved every minute of it.  After our first look, family arrived and Teh Running Bestie coordinated people and photos while Teh Sister helped me repair my sash that was falling off.  Apparently, the tailor barely tacked it on and didn't leave any wiggle room, so the tacks popped as I was moving around.  THEN the decoration stuff on the sash started to come unglued as well, so Teh Sister pretty much just glued me back together and I headed back outside to join in on the family pictures.




After pictures were over, the wedding planner met me in the yard to tell me that she needed to leave to go get something and it would take her at least 30-45 minutes.  I was chill about it.  NBD.  I didn't ask what it was, I just trusted her to get whatever it was taken care of.

After photos, we did an impromptu photo session on the playground across the street.  It was super fun and all the children staring at us made me laugh.  I don't know if they will be the best photos, but they were fun, nonetheless.  Afterwards, we headed inside to wait until go time since guests were starting to arrive.  Apparently, at one point we had a ceremony time of 4pm on the website and people didn't check it again after that.

While we were waiting, Teh Mom was being so _______ (adjective needed because I don't have an accurate one to describe it) that everyone was asking WTF was wrong with her.  Not just friends and family, but also the wedding planner, the photographer, and the officiant.  #goodtimes  Teh German and I did take the opportunity to practice our first dance while we were waiting for it to be time.  I'm glad we did.  It was nice to be able to have some time to ourselves without everyone else around and to feel confident that we were going to do the dance well.

Eventually, it was ceremony time and everyone got lined up and went outside with the exception of myself.  Teh Dad thought he was going to be a cool dude and wear sunglasses and I shut that shit down quick because if I can't wear sunglasses, ain't nobody wearing sunglasses.  Same thing for Teh Mom.. and instead of leaving their sunglasses at their seat, they both carried them down the aisle.  #whatever

While I had been waiting to head towards the ceremony, I learned that the wedding planner had only hired one assistant to help her with our wedding and this assistant told me all about her life drama rather than notice things like... my missing bouquet.  Eventually, it was time to present myself to our guests.

There was some drama when Teh Mom said something and I couldn't tell if she was being a smart ass or not and she had to clarify that she was being genuine and I had to say I couldn't tell.  By that point, we were pretty much to the aisle and there was Teh German and I no more fucks to give about anything else.

I won't lie, I don't remember much of the ceremony.  I had read the ceremony that Teh Builder had written more than once, but I was just thinking, "Let's get to the part with the vows already!"  I was patient enough and we did eventually make it there.  Teh German got super choked up and I just wanted to hug him and I wasn't sure if that was allowed and then I didn't care anymore and kissed him on the cheek and he finally was able to read his vows.  Apparently, Teh German was the first person to ever make Teh Builder choke up.  I finally got to read my vows.  Oh yeah, I should mention that I was doing commentary throughout the entire ceremony.  #notsorry  When we did our glass unity ceremony, Teh German accidentally spilled nibs (the technical name for the little pieces of glass) and I cackled.  I did try to put them back in his container, but it was glass and they were small and I didn't want to cut myself.  Right before the ceremony was over I realized that I didn't have my bouquet.  Nonetheless, we made it work and we exchanged rings and we got to walk down the aisle as husband and wife.




Instead of doing classic wedding music choices, we tried to pick applicable/fun songs (full playlist linked).  We rearranged the song order several times to get it perfect, but it honestly didn't take long and it was one of the easier part of decisions Teh German and I made together.

Seating music/parents being seated: Appalachia Waltz
I had picked out this song for something wedding in 2006 when I was engaged to Ex-Fiance, but obviously that didn't work out, but I had kept this song in the back of my mind for all these years so it was an easy pick.



My entrance song: Come to Me by Goo Goo Dolls
It's Goo Goo Dolls, it's a song he wrote before he married his wife, I love the meaning to this song.


Recessional Song: Good Day for Marrying You by Dave Barnes


Our reception entrance song: I So by Beatsteaks
This was a song Teh German suggested and I was pumped to use it and actually let him listen to the above song, even though I was trying to save it until wedding day to use it to wake him up.


Our first dance: Something Just Like This (No Riddem Trap City Remix) by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay
Despite dance lessons, I'm still not tired of this song.  We may not have perfectly nailed our routine, but it was close enough and that was perfect for both of us and that was all that mattered to me.



Father-Daughter dance: Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle
This is another song that I've had picked out for all my life essentially.  I serenaded Teh Dad while he made gave me motion sickness by turning us in a circle and swaying back and forth for 5 minutes.


Mother-Son dance: 93 Million Miles by Jason Mraz
After Teh German selected too many incestuous sounding songs, I finally did some research and suggested this one and he gave it the ok.  Mama G seemed to enjoy the song and maybe even knew some of the words and she seemed very happy dancing with Teh German.


Mother-Daughter dance: You're Gonna Be by Reba McEntire
I had wanted to have this song played as a fast song break, but apparently Teh Mom thought it was a showcase.



Cake cutting song: This is Why I Need You by Jesse Ruben
This song went back to my vows when I told Teh German, "I promise to need you."



Immediately after the ceremony, we headed to the bridal suite to Skype with Germans/Auntie P.  Auntie P had actually recorded a video from Opa and sent it to us earlier in the day and it made me cry, so we kind of assumed he wouldn't be on the Skype date.  Nonetheless, Auntie P was excited to chat with us for a few minutes since she wasn't able to make it to the wedding.  After we Skyped, we signed the marriage license (because that's important and it's often overlooked), then Timo and I took a few minutes to ourselves.  I asked Teh German if he wanted to practice the dance again and he said no.  At which point, the photographer came in and suggested taking some sunset pictures.  It was this point that Teh German remembered the audio recorder in his pocket that we had turned on at the beginning of the ceremony.  He turned it off and we headed outside for a bug infested photo shoot.

Despite being (literally) covered in bugs, we were still laughing and having a good time.  Since Nick had shot weddings at Alhambra Hall before, I trusted him to know the best locations for photos.  Once we finished hanging out in the swamp, we headed towards the Hall to join the reception.  2 things happened.

1.  Our wedding planner came out and announced that we were almost out of wine.  We had guessed that the guests would go for the beer first, then the wine, but that was not the case.  She offered to go get more wine and we agreed that she should do that.
2.  When we got up the stairs, Mama G popped her head out and asked us to wait 2 more minutes to enter.  I was mildly irritated, I won't lie.  I was excited about going in and hanging out and eating.  But it was totally worth it.



Someone had purchased streamers and they shot them off as we entered and it was such an awesome surprise and seriously one of my top memories of the day.  I twisted myself up in the streamers and it was awesome.

After our entrance, we sat down to eat and then I started to notice things, which led to a downward linear trend of my satisfaction with the people I had hired to take care of things for wedding day.

There were no blue napkins at our tables.  When someone delivered my plate of food, things I didn't like were on it (which no one had asked me about, but that would have been nice) and things were missing.  Additionally, I had requested "fancy" plastic plates (the kind that you question if you should wash them or toss them), and I noticed that everyone was eating off thick paper plates.  Then as I started to eat, I noticed that I had a plastic silver knife and a plastic white fork.  I remember discussing with our wedding planner having "fancy" plastic silverware as well.  Teh German and I had discussing having a budget-friendly wedding without looking cheap and I felt like things were looking cheaper and cheaper.

Once we finished eating, which was mostly interrupted by people coming up to offer their congratulations and chat, we took to the dance floor for our first dance.  We messed up in one place, but we recovered with no issues and we were proud of a job well done when it was over.  Then it was the father-daughter dance, then mother-son dance, then the DJ played a German song to start off the dance party.  It was awesome because so many people were on the dance floor! 

We danced for a bit and eventually it was time for the cake cutting.  We didn't do cake smearing, which was fine with me.  We fed each other off white plastic forks and I wanted to die a little, but ya know, it's just stupid details.  Clear would have been preferable over white since silver didn't happen.. No matter.


At some point I noticed that none of our tables had succulents on them as I had discussed with the wedding planner, which only served to make me more angry since my bouquet also didn't have any succulents like we had discussed.  But the wedding planner had found some very pretty purple orchids.  Trade off?  IDK.  There was a really awkward, fake looking succulent on the cake which I had specifically requested.  As I looked around, I noticed more and more things that were missing.

I had arranged for a lady who made macrame decorations to create some decorations and she wanted professional photos in exchange for her services and I was pleased to work with her.  NO macrame was anywhere to be seen.


The wedding planner had said that she would put greenery around the windows that I had brought as decorations (btw, if I hadn't brought them, we would have had NO decorations other than sticks on the tables and the signs I had printed out) and that hadn't happened.  We had discussed a crate set up for cupcake display, there was a SINGLE crate, nothing like the photo she had shown me when we had the discussion.  Also, the wedding planner talked me down from ordering "too many" cupcakes and we definitely had people eating cake by the end of the night since all the cupcakes were gone.  Not that this was an issue, but it just seemed odd to me and I would have rather had cupcakes to take home than run out of cupcakes... that we so fucking delicious.

In fact, we had soooo many compliments about the cupcakes.  I think, by far, our best vendors was our baker and the photographer.  I didn't get to interact with the Willie Jewell's staff to know how they were, and I know we had pretty much the perfect amount of food since there was one pan of leftovers with sausage and sides after the caterers had packed up and left.  I have no idea what happened to it.

The DJ didn't seem to be into playing the songs that I had requested.  Eventually, Teh SC German took over the DJ's job and was playing music from YouTube that we were asking for.  For example, I asked for Chandelier by Sia at least 2 times and others had asked for it, and the DJ was NOT playing it.  Someone asked for an explicit song and they had to come ask us for permission to play it, even though I had said that explicit songs were fine on the form I had filled out with our important and requested songs.  When I asked for the Cupid Shuffle, she played some remix that no one knew.  No.  Just play the boring shit that you're tired of hearing that we hear at every other wedding.  Not an 8 minute remix that goes on forever and makes everyone exhausted.  I know she definitely didn't play a few songs that I had put on my MUST play list, to include Dare You to Move by Switchfoot for Teh WJL and I to have a singalong to.

Instead of a bouquet toss and garter toss, we opted to do the shoe game where Teh German and I answer questions about ourselves and answer with shoes.  It's cheesy and become super popular recently, but I think it was fun for us and our guests and way less awkward than a bouquet toss to single out single ladies (of which there were very few in attendance).

I think the turning point of my positivity and trying to ignore all the problems was when I was handed a toasting glass by someone and noticed that it had wine in it.  Ya'll.  WINE.  Let me tell you about one of the things I made perfectly clear to my wedding coordinator... I HATE wine.  Teh German and I thanked our guests for coming.  There wasn't really any opportunity for toasts for multiple reasons.

1.  Papa G had told us that if he said anything, it would be at the rehearsal lunch and then he told us that day that he didn't want to say anything.  Done.
2.  Teh Dad wasn't allowed to say anything unless I vetted what he was going to say.  After the shit show debacle that happened at Teh Sister's wedding, I didn't trust him not to say some stupid shit that embarrassed me, Teh German, or my Sister again.
3.  No one else had said anything about giving a toast, so we just didn't have them.

I spoke in English thanking our guests and Teh German took the German translation and ended it by choking up again, which was again, super adorable.  When it got awkward, Teh Running Bestie came in for a home run and led a toast to us, at which point I had a sip of that nasty ass wine in the toasting glass, because I didn't want to be an asshole and it was fucking disgusting and Nick showed me the photo he got of my face after tasting the wine.  It was obviously unpleasant.  VERY unpleasant.  The extra irritating thing is that the assistant had seen me pouring my own beverages and I assured her that it was liquor only since I didn't drink anything we were serving to our guests.  So I have no idea whose good idea it was to give me wine instead of something from the cup that I had been drinking from or even water, but whoever handed me wine needs to DIAF.

Germans are notorious for closing a party down and I was starting to worry about losing deposit money because they were NOT leaving.  I was finally able to strong suggest they wait on their Lyft ride outside so that way the wedding planner and her assistant could finish cleaning up before midnight.  The DJ had packed up around 10.  We didn't have a formal send off, so our guests had left when they felt like it.

Teh WJL and Teh Sister and Teh Running Bestie had cleaned up the bridal and groom suites and packed up the cars.  Teh WJL had driven Yurtle home for me, while our chauffeur, Teh Running Bestie, had been waiting on us.  When the Lyft driver finally showed up, I warned him that his passengers were drunk Germans and he actually spoke German!  It was an awesome end to the night.

Teh Running Bestie delivered us home and then she headed to Roux's house (where she was staying).  Teh German and I were exhausted, but I made sure to get a family selfie and Teh German had actually not had that many beers, which made getting out of my dress much easier.  I, also, hadn't really had that much to drink, so we were mostly sober when we crawled into bed as newlyweds.

The End.




TL;DR

This is the shit that (I noticed) went wrong on the day of the wedding:

-My sash started coming off.  I didn't bring a sewing kit because I'm the worst bride ever.  We used hot glue to get my sash to stay on.  It worked just fine.

-Wedding planner had to leave 1.5 hours before the ceremony because she forgot something, she was gone for "30-45 minutes" but probably more like 45 mins to an hour based on Charleston traffic and where she was going.

-People arrived super early because they didn't check the website since it was created.  I didn't even think of this being an issue.  I had completely forgot that the website had even said the ceremony started at 4 since the invitations said 5. 

-Teh Mom was acting "out"?  Idk, seriously I can't come up with a suitable adjective for the behavior we all had to endure until she got drunk at the reception.

-Teh Mom and Teh Dad wanting to wear sunglasses down the aisle.  If I'm suffering, everyone is suffering.  #DONOTCURR

-I didn't have my bouquet for the ceremony, and the assistant didn't remind me... but she did tell me her life's story while we waited for people to be seated.

-We were almost out of wine around 6:15.  Wedding planner had to leave (again) to get more.

-Mismatched eating utensils.

-Missing vendors (macrame lady)

-Missing colored napkins

-Missing "fancy" plates.

-Missing decorations and no succulents anywhere, which is the ONE flower I had actually requested.  Correction: There was A succulent on the cake and it was horrible.

-I had to respond to my photographer's emails on wedding morning telling him WHEN to be at the venue since Wedding Coordinator hadn't bothered to email any of our vendors to tell them when/where to be where they needed to be.

-I had been told that guests could bring their own alcohol as long as it was left behind the bar.  Cool.  So Teh Sister brought a bottle of wine, but there was no wine opener to open it! 

-There had been discussion of boutineers/corsages for the parents/grandparents but nary a flower was on any parent that I saw.

-The DJ didn't play songs that I had listed as "required to play" despite telling me that she would acquire whatever music I wanted her to play.  She also played remixes of popular songs that people were wanting to hear/dance to and it was miserable.

-The audio recorder was complicated and didn't record ANY of our ceremony.  There was 8 seconds of audio which was Teh German turning the recorder on accidentally after the ceremony when we thought he was turning it off.  #operatorerror #Ionlyhavemyselftoblame
PS.  We are super lucky because Teh PT Wife was recording the vows and you can hear us on her copy!  YAY!


_____________________________________________



My real problem with all of these things is that many of the details that were missing were things I had already paid for, which makes me a little stabby, since I do not like to waste dollas on shit I don't get to see (unless it's a race where I can consider those monies donated to charity).  If I did it over again, I wouldn't have hired our wedding coordinator.  I would have hired a day of coordinator and dealt with all the details myself since I was mostly already doing that.  I would have also just paid for another DJ instead of trading services with her.  Other than her not playing my songs and playing mixes, she was great and provided uplighting and a photobooth backdrop and some props.

I would have ensured that I sent out an email to ALL the vendors with a timeline to let them know where to be and when instead of relying on someone else to do it for me (which obviously didn't happen). 

But at the end of the day, we got married.  I got to finally read my vows to Teh German and vice versa and that was the most important thing to me.  Eventually, none of these stupid details won't matter and I won't care about the money lost... But today is not that day.


Friday, November 17, 2017

Five on Friday #130

EINS - Shit from the week

-Math test, chem test, German test... At least we're getting these out of the way before we spend a week out of school, when I will promptly forget everything I've learned.  #notsorry

-I'm not disappointed that we took a nap instead of going to see Jason Segal.  Not even a little bit.

-I am disappointed by my food choices over the past week and I'm making it a goal to do better.  Less treats, Megan.  You are not a dog (yes I am).

-When people don't contact me when they say they will, I get stabby.  That includes my wedding planner and DJ.

-Teh German was super frustrated on Monday night trying to install the new thermostats.  I called the HVAC company we deal with on Tuesday afternoon (when I remembered) and talked to the dispatcher some about the issue of neither thermostat (the new one Teh German had installed or the old one we hadn't touched) showing anything on the display.  She said it would be best to send a tech out and she informed me that it would cost $150 per thermostat for a tech to install it.  When I got home on Tuesday evening, I asked Teh German to have the new thermostats installed before the tech arrived.  This way, the tech could just troubleshoot instead of saying he couldn't do anything since I didn't want to pay him to install them, when I was 100% confident in Teh German's work.

Jerry, the HVAC dude who had spent so much time at our house in August, was the tech to show up and he confirmed that the fuse was blown and our HVAC warranty covered it.  WOOT.  Finally a warranty that doesn't just waste my money.  With the fuse replaced, BOTH thermostats worked and Teh German was friendly again AND we saved $300 since Jerry didn't install them.

BTW, it is super simple to do things like replace the light switches with motion sensors and change out a thermostat.  Many a people on YouTube are willing to show you how to do things.  It's super helpful in home ownership needs and saves us a LOT of money... AND Teh German gets satisfaction from doing home improvement projects.  Unfortunately for him, my next home improvement tasks won't be as simple (paining, hanging pictures)...

-I try to be on my best kitchen behavior when I cook things that are being eaten not at my house.  For instance, I try to use clean, unlicked, utensils when I mess with the food and I make a conscious effort to wash my hands before messing with the food if I've touched the dogs, even if I'm just stirring something.  I hope everyone else is the same way..... (don't burst my bubble, kthx).

-I made 9 POUNDS of sweet potatoes for Company Thanksgiving.  Granted, I used about 2/3 of it and the remaining 1/3 is at home for Teh German (and I) to eat.  The only reason I used all of the sweet potatoes that I had was because I noticed that the 4 potatoes I was going to save for later were on the peak of going bad.  So instead of wasting them, I just cooked them.  It's good that Teh German likes sweet potatoes, especially since I'm leaving today for MD.

-At our wedding, Teh German got very choked up before reading his vows.  Well, I'll just admit here that every time I listen to my vows to Teh German or read them, my eyes leak.  I love what he said to me, but what I said to him makes me more emotional for some reason.  Maybe because it's things I've promised to do for forever?  That said, the part where he calls me the "strongest, smartest, toughest woman [he] knows" gets me every time...

-Someone brought Cheerrwine Punch to our Thanksgiving lunch at work.  I have to say, it's not as delicious as regular Cheerwine and you should not bother.

-Yesterday, I walked into the kitchen to fill up my water before we ate lunch and noticed that my insulated bag was on the floor and it was standing like normal instead of laid on it's side, how I'd put it.  RAGE.  Here's why it mattered:





So much gd rage.  Apparently, my bag (that was holding my heated sweet potatoes) had been placed in a location that was "in someone's way" when it was laying on it's side, so they stood it up......  At which point, all the carefully laid out, perfectly toasted, marshmallows became stuck to the lid.  I had to scrape all the marshmallow out of the lid and plop it back on the sweet potatoes.  It wasn't pretty and I might have been a bit hangry thus my overly ragey response, but WTF! DON'T MESS WITH PEOPLE'S SHIT ON BRING IN FOOD DAY. 

I had let Teh German shower first so I could get the sweet potatoes heated up before work.  Then, I had meticulously laid out the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes so they could melt and be toasted.  I even dealt with shitty morning traffic since I left late...  And then THIS.

TL;DR: Just because you might not understand why something is the way it is, doesn't mean it's not like that for a reason.  Thus, leave other people's shit alone.


-Greyhound owner's worst nightmare happened when I was walking the dogs with Teh PT Wife earlier this week.  We were about 20 feet away and a car was parked on the street.  The door opened and a little puffball dog jumped out, fortunately on a leash.  Pax immediately went to alert.  I can control Meri, but I knew that if Pax took off, he was going to take me (and Meri) with him.  Thankfully, the humans saw me reel my dogs in and brace myself for either one of them to take off and they picked up their step.  Unfortunately, they did NOT pick up their dog, so we had to pause and wait for them to get into the house before continuing on.  It took no less than 6-8 houses before Pax stopped turning around to look for his potential new toy.  Meri was whining and rearing back the entire time the dog was walking in the house because she loves new friends...

-I'm skipping Chemistry today to leave for MD.  #priorities


ZWEI - Shit I've spent money on

Ugh.

-Chiro visit
-Shipping for some thangs (amazon return, and Teh Sister's usb hub)
-YALL Fest shirt (which was a disappointment.  Essentially, I paid $25 for a sleep shirt since that was the smallest size they had left.  Then, later they posted you could order online.  Grr/boo hiss.)
-Teh Sister's Christmas present
-Hookah downtown
-Callie's Hot Little Biscuit
-Willie Jewell's
-The remaining items on our registry.... (Turns out, people have a year to buy a wedding gift.  Oops.)
-Sam's Club membership.
-Gas
-Food/things from Sam's.
-Cards Against Humanity's Holiday Thing
-Chickfila sweet tea (FML they finally opened the one on campus up and I have no will power against the sweet nectar of life)
-Disposable pans for the Thanksgiving celebration at work so I don't have to worry about reclaiming my Pyrex dishes.
-98 Rock Fest tickets to see Seether, Three Days Grace, 10 Years and some other bands in April.



DREI - Shit from my phone


Whew, definitely gonna fail German now.  😆

Pumpkin/squash soup = fall.


Whiteboards are... remarkable.
My dry humored coworker even laughed.  #notsorry

What do you call an anxious dinosaur?
Nervous Rex
I wrote this one specifically for Teh German since he was coming to Company Thanksgiving Lunch.

#vacationgoals
I'm headed to MD to play nurse for Teh Running Bestie.
She's not currently running, so it seemed like the perfect time to complete this puzzle that Teh WJL gave us as a wedding present of Schloss Neuschwanstein (which we visited in Germany, where Timo did not propose).

Another gem from TehWJL, this photo of me.

WORKING smart thermostats!
The problem was not Teh German's install job, but a blown fuse.
Which that expensive ass HVAC warranty covered. 

YYYAAASSSS Thanksgiving!


VIER - Shit from the internet

Essentially, I am a dog...

If anyone was considering getting me a Christmas present, I'm happy to accept this as a gift, as well as the "free" bag that comes with it.



FÃœNF - Shit that made me happy


  1. Haus is a Smart House.  I can view my thermostats from my phone and Teh German can tell Siri to turn off the lights at night.  Once I figure out how to set up my phone to turn off the lights when I tell it to, we'll be in business.
  2. Teh German actually laughing (not just a chortle) at the joke I shared on Teh Blog's FB page.
  3. Sending the DJ her website information and being done with that whole thing.
  4. The cleaning lady agreeing to redo some of the shit she didn't do properly when she did the deep clean when she comes this month.
  5. Google.  For all the answers.
  6. Thanksgiving puns.
  7. Completing assignments prior to school vacation so I don't have to worry with them during vacation.
  8. Teh Running Bestie gifting me with The Handmaid's Tale.  I've been wanting to read it for a while.
  9. Visiting old web comics I used to read and being nostalgic.
  10. I'M ON MY WAY TO MARYLAND TO VISIT TEH RUNNING BESTIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Shit Teh German Said #15





Teh German was washing a pot that had food burned on the bottom.
Teh Megan: Did the boiling water unstick it?
Teh German looks back at me from over the sink with a distressed face: I don't know, I can't see!
His glasses had fogged up from the steam when he poured out the pan.



tM: What was she wearing?
tG: That Lula Roy stuff?
tM: Lularoe?
tG: Yeah, whatever.



At Fort Sumter.
tM: There was a fire ant biting me.
tG: See, the fort is still active.



tM: It's chorizo.
tG: Shitshow?
tM: No, it's like a spicy sausage.
tG: Also, a possible shit show.



tM: So many things I just held back just now.
tG: Let it out, we know you here.



Teh German was eating spice cake.
tG: This tastes like Christmas.



tM: What are you doing, showing me your new tattoo?
tG: Yeah, can I keep it?
(PS. He did not get a new tattoo.  He was just scratching his arm.)



We were looking for a Mexican restaurant.
tG: There it is!
tM: Where?
tG pointing at Taco Bell (which was not our destination): Right there. 





Shit Teh German Said Edition 123456, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, adadas 

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Weekend Review {11/13}

FRIDAY

Thankfully, Friday afternoon classes were cancelled, which I am happy to thank Steve Bannon for (at least there is one thing redeeming about that shit show).  School was school and then after classes were over, I headed downtown to acquire some autographs from Young Adult authors.

I took this photo for Teh German.
It asks what you would like to do on a first date and ride motorcycles was listed.
JUST like what Teh German and I did.  Awww.

I waited for almost 2 hours in line to meet Victoria Aveyard, author of Red Queen.  She was super nice and she complimented my "That's what I do, read books and know things" shirt.  #win

After, I headed to Lauren Oliver's line.  Fortunately, I only had to wait for about 45 minutes total on her.  She was super fun, although she thought that I was with the lady in front of me who worked at a zoo, which led her to write "I LOVE ANIMALS" when she inscribed my book.  Mkay.

Lauren Oliver headed to her signing table selfie, lol

While waiting in line, we cheered on this bride and of course I took an awkward selfie while she was getting fitted.
#CreeperMcGee #noapologies

Top: Victoria Aveyard
Bottom: Lauren Oliver

YALL Fest things.
The bottom left picture is Cassandra Clare being recognized and she actually stopped to take a few pictures before getting in her car.

AUTOGRAPHED COPIES!
PS.  I haven't read the Lauren Oliver book(s) yet...

I didn't end up getting home until around 5.  We had planned to stay home since Teh German was being a party pooper, but he had a change of heart and agreed to go out.  Teh PT Wife had suggested we go to a brewery since they had a cigar thing going on.  It was cool, but it was chilly out.  Then it came up that there was a smoking lounge downtown that offered hookah at which point I suggested we go try that out.  I was driving since I don't drink beer and that allowed everyone else to enjoy beverages, so everyone else was down with that.


We hung out for a few hours, mostly waiting on Callie's Hot Little Biscuit to open at 10 so we could get a late night snack.  #worthit


We headed home after our snacks were consumed.  Then it was bedtime.


SATURDAY

While I had been downtown on Friday, Teh German had went to Summerville after work to pick up our race packets for the Sweet Tea 10k we were running on Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, Saturday morning came super early.  Nonetheless, we got up and got ready to head out and run/walk the 10k.


I couldn't figure out why there was such a huge military theme to the race this year and it finally ...dawned... (around dawn) on me that it was Veteran's Day.  #WorstVeteranEver


Shortly after mile 5, I noticed a little library box and HAD to stop and check out the selection.  I ended up carrying A Thousand Splendid Suns with me for the remaining .75 miles of the race.  It garnered plenty of comments, to include a few who said it was a really good book and I had to agree. 

Medals acquired, we headed home.  We had tickets to see Jason Segel at 1, but we laid down for a nap around 1030 and I woke up for some reason around 1220, but rolled right over and went back to sleep.  We ended up sleeping until around 2 and finally got out of the bed around 2:30.  It was worth it.  We piddled around the house for a bit until it was time for Teh AF Maintainers surprise retirement party at Wild Wing Cafe.

Teh AF Maintainer was definitely surprised, so good job to Teh Dental Hygienist!  After the party, we headed back home.  Teh German said he was tired and was going to bed at 8:30, but Teh PT Wife and I went to the neighborhood ladies night.  We ended up playing Cards Against Humanity, and in a rare occurrence, I WON!  BOOM.


Eventually, we headed home and it was bedtime.

SUNDAY

Sunday was accomplishment day.  I had studying I needed to accomplish since I had a math test on Monday.  I didn't accomplish much of that, but I did do all my other homework and studied some.

When we got out of bed, Teh German agreed to walk the dogs with me and we met Roux's Humom for a walk.  I really wanted to ensure that the dogs didn't harass me while I was trying to be productive. 

Can I just say how much I love the fact that USPS delivers on the weekends?  Luuurrrvveeeee.  Sunday, another box of registry things arrived.  Teh German had been asking when the new Hue Bridge would arrive and it arrived that day!  He was like a kid at Christmas with the new Bridge.  There were so many things in the box and all he cared about was the Bridge. 


The box also contained new bath sheets (aka really fucking big towels), motion sensors for the closet, motion sensor covers (which annoys me that the switch doesn't come with a freaking face plate, ugh), 2 new Hue lightstrips since they were on sale, the new Hue Bridge, and a Hue motion sensor. 

Teh German installed the new Bridge first and he was pumped to be able to tell Siri to turn the lights on/off.  I won't lie.  It's pretty awesome.  He wasn't pumped about the Hue motion detector.  It took a little bit of tweaking, but I eventually got it to work as it should and I fucking love that beeyoch.  I don't care what Teh German thinks.  I haven't been able to get my phone to turn the lights on/off with a voice command, but I also didn't take the time to troubleshoot setting up. 

The moon must be in Mercury or something because I haven't been able to get my technology to work correctly for about a week now and communication is going poorly. 

Teh German installed the motion sensors in the closets and worked on the Bobber bike while I accomplished school things.  When he had to go out to Lowe's for something, I also had him stop by the grocery store so I could make kale/sausage/lentil/sweet potato soup for dinner.

I took a school break to fix dinner.  After dinner, I focused my math cramming and was overwhelmed at how the wedding made me forget all the things.  Things that I know I had been able to do before the wedding, I now had ZERO recollection of how to do.  I eventually gave up out of frustration.  At which point, it was bedtime.


MONDAY

Monday was school and my math test went over as expected.  I didn't know some things, I recognized a few of the questions from my review.  After school, I headed to Sam's to pick up a few things.  I had finally purchased a Sam's membership on Sunday during a school break.  I had my membership card printed out, pick up my items, got gas, and then headed home to unload everything.  Right away, I agreed to a dog walk with Roux's Humom because I knew the dogs would be crazy.  Teh German ended up arriving home in time to walk with us.

When we got home, Teh German brought in the last of the packages from Amazon.  Barry, my new Shark vacuum arrived and it's Barry like berry and he brings me much joy.  I have this mindset that appliances are appliances.  But I bought my original Shark, Goldie, back in 2012 and while I love it, Barry is such an upgrade!  He makes vacuuming the thick pile rugs/carpet easier than Goldie ever did. 


The real reason I upgraded is because 1- Barry has lights.  This doesn't seem like a big deal, but Goldie didn't have lights and that's shitty because even vacuums from the 90s had lights.  2- One of the container clips on Goldie wasn't staying properly latched all the time.  After 5 years of abuse (because I know how I roll), I wasn't really surprised I needed a new vacuum.

The new smart thermostats also arrived and Teh German set about installing them after some work on the Bobber and dinner.  This didn't work out well and I'm pretty sure a fuse was blown since last night, neither of the thermostats would display anything (new or old).  I get to make a troubleshooting call today to see what the next steps are.  I'm going to call Honeywell and if they can't help, I'll call the HVAC people to see what the policy is on upgrading the thermostats with our warranty situation.  I'm hoping the solution is as simple as replacing the fuse.  We'll see.


Nonetheless, it put Teh German in a super shitty mood and despite all my efforts to cheer him up, it wasn't happening and I went to bed pissed off.

______________________________________________

Overall a great weekend/start of the week.  I'm certainly ready for Friday. 

Wednesday, I have a test in German and chemistry.  Friday, I'm planning on skipping chem and heading north to visit with Teh Running Bestie!!!  She had surgery on her ankle on Monday, so if you'd send her some healing vibes, that'd be great.

I'm skipping the SYUB linkup again this month.  I blame wedding, but I've mostly accomplished nothing significant on the reading front.  It is what it is.  I'm hoping that Thanksgiving week will bring some welcome reading time, in between playing Nurse to Teh Running Bestie and work needs. 

Teh German will be joining me in MD the day before Thanksgiving, while Pax and Meri will be spending Thanksgiving with Teh AF Maintainer and Teh Dental Hygienist.  Teh German and I will be headed back to SC the weekend of the 26th.

Here to this week going quickly!
PS.  Shit Teh German Said is coming this week.  Yer welcome.



Friday, November 10, 2017

Five on Friday #129

EINS - Random Shit

-I wore my dress backwards on Tuesday because I liked the way it looked on me and my boobs weren't as exposed.  Fortunately, it was tagless and no one noticed.  #FashionPolice

-I initiated contact with both my wedding planner and DJ after the wedding to meet with both of them and both said they would get back to me.  Neither has.

-I registered for spring semester classes.  Next semester I have: Calculus 1, German 2, Computer Science 2, and Photoshop.  The calc class is 5 days a week @10 which is kind of annoying, but not overly and it's better than having to be at class at 0800 5 days a week.  Mostly, I'm just excited not to have 2 extra lab classes.

-I'm certain my wedding day post didn't go live like it was scheduled to (probably my own fault) so I backdated it because I do what I wawnt.

-Depressing is seeing your property tax double because they are taxing your house and land this year, unlike last year which was just the land.  Boo hiss.  #homeownershipwoes

-Sitting outside at work brings me great joy.  The No See Ums do not bring me great joy.

-10 days until I get to be with Teh Running Bestie again!  We seem to like to plan our visits of each other within short periods of time and then go long periods in between visits.  It's weird, but it works for us.

-YALL Fest is on Friday and Saturday.  I wanted to go downtown on Friday for the festival, but school is cockblocking me in multiple ways.  1- Classes are still being held despite it being Veteran's Day, 2- We have Hurricane Irma make up class from 1500-1800 on Friday evening.  3- Steve Bannon is going to be at The Citadel for a speaking/dinner event and protestors are already planning to protest.  I don't mind their protest, unless it gets me trapped on campus on a Friday night.  I'm kind of curious how The Citadel is planning to mitigate issues and I'm really hoping the gates will be closed except the main gain all day long with access only to those with visitor passes or Citadel identification.

We do have tickets to see Jason Segal speak on Saturday though.

-Also on Saturday we have: the Sweet Tea 10k in Summerville, downtown for Jason Segal, a dinner in North Charleston... and if I was super awesome, we could also go to the Stingrays game, but I'm just not sure I'll have it in me.

-Speaking of Stringrays, I've been encouraging Teh German to buy the ECHL ticket on the iPad so we can just watch all the games at home.  I know it's a copout, but I also know that we haven't really been to very many games since moving out of Shitty House since Haus is "so far" away from the coliseum.  I feel like $150 for the games is still cheaper than going to the games in person since I know that Teh German would watch the games if he was at home and we usually spend $40 on tickets, $40 on dinner, then at least $20 for Teh German's beer, plus $7 for my doughnuts... so really, we would end up saving money NOT going to the games.. and even if we were to go to a game in person, watching a majority of the games at home would be a wash.  If anyone is more stringent with money than me, it's Teh German....  unless it's for that stupid motorcycle.

-The Sweet Tea 10k is tomorrow and I'm super pumped.  We're going to walk/run.  Yes, WE.  Teh German committed to doing it with me "since it's only a 10k..."  Ugh, we're those people.  Have I trained?  NUPE.  I've done no physical activity besides walking the dogs and intermittent PT exercises.

-The Kiawah Half Marathon is in December and I'm excited for that too.  I'm planning on walk/running that one too.  I am hoping to at least get in some runs before Dec. 9th.  We'll see how that works out.... I run participate for medals.  I checked the website and I have 6 hours to finish the course.  I feel like I can accomplish that.  That's solid audiobook time.  I will be doing that race on my own.

-I miss Spotify lyrics.

-I had my name changed for my work email.  It almost motivates me to go get my named changed.  Almost.


ZWEI - Money things

I tallied up most of the money spent for the wedding.  Let's just not talk about that and live in denial for forever, mmmkay?

Other things I bought this week:
  • Dinner for company
  • Year's supply of allergy meds (thank Allah for generic Zyrtec)
  • Sudafed (I'm going to try and wean myself off, pray for me)
  • Gas
  • Water bill
  • Cookout Milkshake
  • Willie Jewell's gift certificates
  • Dog treats and clearance halloween toys for Pax and Meri
  • 2 new books from the book trailer, don't judge my weakness 
  • Surprise appt for Teh Running Bestie
  • Lunch at Rutledge Cab Co since I didn't want to stay on campus.
  • Most of the remaining items on our wedding registry.
    • In my defense, most of the items on the registry were things I/we had been wanting for quite a while, but I was waiting until after the wedding since we assumed people would want to have options for gifts to buy.  Also, the 20% discount from Amazon didn't hurt my feelings.
  • McDonald's sweet tea
  • Chiro visit


DREI - things from my phone


Faack my dogs are cute.
And super well behaved.
And beg like mofos...

5 Disney wedding cards, 3 of which are the same.
Obviously, our guests know us well...

New knife and sausage.... DANGEERRRR

Part of Teh Sister's wedding gift to us was these awesome bride and groom dinosaurs.
Pax was pretty sure that the feather on the groom meant that they were edible.

Nov 2nd = matching Thanksgiving collars equipped.


What do you call crystal clear urine?
1080pee
(I had to explain this one to a coworker and I was disappointed)



VIER - things from the internet

I think I need to watch some 90/00s movies over Christmas break to revel in the ridiculousness.

How to teach girls to set boundaries.  This also applies to women and people in general.

Story of my life right now.


Seems legit.



FÃœNF

10 things that made me happy this week:
  1. Being called Wife/Mrs. G and all associated name change activities (mostly email related stuffs and work stuffs as I'm not doing the legal stuff until at least after the end of the Fall semester.  Although I'm considering putting it off until after our honeymoon so that way I don't have to change my passport before we go AND it's closer to my passport's expiration date of 2020.
  2. Finishing up a 45 hour long audiobook.  It was definitely a haul, but now I want to listen to the next books in the series (which is currently estimated to be 10 books, FML).  Also, I'd like to finish listening to Outlander at some point during my life.  Eventually, maybe.  #ReadingProblems
  3. Catching up on my Feedly... whew.
  4. Accidentally on purpose forgetting I had make up class on Thursday.  #YOLO
  5. Teh WJL's pictures from the wedding.
  6. Uploading said photos to Facebook for everyone to like.  I won't pretend like I don't get a moderate amount of validation from likes.
  7. My broken fingernail hanging on until yesterday, when I finally cut it off.  I had superglued it twice.  #classyAF
  8. Double dipping for class.  As in, there was a special event that I went to last night that got me extra credit in my computer science class and credit for something in my math class.  That's pretty much the ONLY reason I was willing to go to campus, near downtown, in the rain, on a not-class day.
  9. Registering for my spring classes.
  10. Accomplishing one week of marriage.




Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Week Review {11/7} - The first week being MAWWIED.

Let's rewind a week to get caught up, shall we?

TUESDAY - Day before the wedding

Tuesday was our rehearsal at the Hall, then we headed to Mellow Mushroom for a late lunch.



After "lunch" we headed home, we gathered ourselves and got ready for Halloween celebrations.  It was Teh German's first time trick-or-treating.  Teh Neighbor Besties did a prehistoric theme.  Teh PT Kid was a kid dinosaur, Teh German was the adult dinosaur, Teh PT Husband was a caveman, and Teh AF Maintainer (Ret.) was an asteroid.  They got a LOT of compliments.  Teh PT Wife, Teh Dental Hygienist, Teh Running Bestie, and I handed out candy and got eaten by No See Ums.




The next day was....


WEDNESDAY - WEDDING DAY!!!

Teh German and I had agreed that since neither of us sleep well apart and/or not in our bed, we would spend the night before together and come home after the wedding to sleep in our bed.


Pre-wedding selfie and the last time Teh German saw me before I was a blushing bride.

At 10, Teh WJL, Teh Running Bestie, and I were at the salon.  Teh Running Bestie and I got our hairs and makeup did and Teh WJL took photos.  The trial run really helped my stylist out and we were able to figure out modifications that my hair style needed AND she had acquired a "fun" pallet of eye shadow colors for my look.  #notsorry

After hair and makeup, we made a pit stop at Wendy's for lunch, then headed to Alhambra Hall to hang out and wait for shit to go down.


The photographer, Nick, arrived and the ball started rolling.  I had dictated Teh German and I had decided that we would do a first look and then we would do family pictures before the ceremony.  PS, if you don't do family pictures BEFORE big events (for instance, a wedding) you hate your photographer.

This was awesome because Teh German and I got to share a special moment together and then our families came in and we all took photos.  I did have a dress mishap and #worstbrideever didn't have a sewing kit, but we were able to fix my sash with some hot glue.  Yeah, we had a hot glue gun but not a needle and thread.  This is my life.

After family pictures, Teh German and I took some pictures together and we had an impromptu "play session" at the park across the street from the venue.  Spontaneity at it's best.  Afterwards, it was time to play "hide the bride" since the guests had started arriving (which was in part due to the wedding website saying that the ceremony would be at 4/4:30 way back in February).  We all sat down in the bridal suite and ate snacks and hung out and made jokes and tried not to let Teh Mom upset us.


We got things started a few minutes late, because I think no one was in a real hurry, but we were all ready.  There was some mama drama going down the aisle, but seriously, nothing could touch me.  It's cheesy to say, but now, it all feels like such a blur.  All I wanted was to be at the end of the aisle with Teh German saying my vows to him and hearing his vows to me and finally getting to put those rings on each other's fingers.

I do remember that Teh German got super choked up when he started to read his vows and it took him a minute to gather himself.  I can also tell you that I had stuffed my bra with tissues and I kept pulling them out like a magic trick to give to him when he needed.  I also kept making smart ass comments throughout the ceremony which made people who could hear me (which turns out was definitely more than just Timo and Teh Builder (who was our officiant)) laugh.  Teh German spilled some of the glass nubs during our unity ceremony, which only made me laugh.


During the closing prayer, I realized that I didn't have my bouquet, but I was quickly distracted when I finally got to kiss my husband.

After the ceremony, we headed straight to the bridal suite for a quick German skype session with Auntie P.  Earlier in the day, Auntie P had send a Whatsapp video from Opa, so we assumed that he would not be on the call.  Nonetheless, it was awesome to get to chat with Auntie P, despite the spotty wifi.  I love 2017.

After the Skype call, we signed the marriage license and now everything is really ours.  Then, we headed outside for some pictures.  We were swarmed by the bugs in the swamp, but I'm pretty sure it was worth it based on this teaser photo from Nick's instagram...

A post shared by Nicholas Gore (@nicholasgoreweddings) on

Then, it was time to enter the reception.  We were about to go inside and Mama G popped her head out the door and asked us to wait 2 more minutes.  I won't lie.  I got kind of annoyed.  I was a bit sweaty, hungry, and I'd spent the last hour or so being eaten by bugs (to include the ceremony).  Buuuutttt, it was totally worth it.  When we walked in, the DJ announced us and WE were surprised when streamers popped out and showered us.

Photo stolen from Ms. Boomkin.

IT WAS COMPLETELY AWESOME!!!!

After several people unwrapped the streamers that I had twisted myself into (because if there's a day that I'm going to be Megan to the max, it's going to be my wedding day), Teh German and I headed to our table to eat dinner.  The Germans kept coming up to us to congratulate us, which really made it difficult to eat.  I had planned for us to go to each table and talk to everyone, but that never ended up happening.  Then again, half of our guests had come up to our table to talk to us, so that made me feel less guilty.

We didn't do a bouquet or garter toss, but we did play the shoe game.  We had agreed on the questions about 2 weeks beforehand and everyone definitely got a good laugh out of it.  My favorite was definitely the "who planned the honeymoon" question and neither of us raised either shoe... because ya'll, we haven't planned a honeymoon.  We're going to Australia in May 2018, but we haven't even started to plan it yet.  #notsorry

There was dancing and shenanigans.  If you remember the creepy bunny from my bachelorette party, you'll find this hilarious...  Teh Neighbor Besties, Teh Sister, and Teh Running Bestie had Creeptastic Bunny make an appearance at the wedding.  Most people was incredibly confused by it, but those of us who knew thought it was hilarious.  Teh PT Husband was Creeper Bunny and the ladies had on bunny ears and it was one of those moments that the inside joke was so awesome and even when you explain it to others they just nod and smile, but you always giggle because it's so awesome and ridiculous and when your people know you that well, you've got some damn good people in your life.

The night ended with Teh Germans shutting down the Hall.  Our wedding planner had cleaned up everything but the table the Germans were gathered around and I had to apply some strenuous pressure to get them to vacate so we wouldn't be charged extra for going over our time.  A fortuitous event meant that the Lyft driver for some of the Germans actually spoke German, which was not something anyone expected, but made the night that much more perfect.

Teh WJL and Teh Running Bestie (and whoever may have helped them) had already loaded up the cars with everything.  Teh WJL had left and Teh Running Bestie was waiting patiently for us to be ready to go.  After sending off the Germans in their Lyft, Teh Running Bestie chauffeured us home.

Fortunately, we had both limited our alcohol intake so we were pretty much sober when we got home.  I was glad.  When we got home, we weren't in a rush to get to bed, despite being tired.  Meri and Pax were excited to see us, despite Roux's Humom giving them lots of attention several times throughout the day.

I had to make sure to get a family selfie!


THURSDAY - day after the wedding

Teh German and I got up around 9:15 to get moving to head to the post-wedding brunch at Graze in Mount Pleasant.  It was nice to get to relax and be able to have some one-on-one time with people who I hadn't had a chance to hang out with at the reception.  Also, the food was delicious, as I had planned.

After brunch-lunch, the Germans decided to go to Folly Beach.  I was inappropriately dressed, so I used it as an excuse to go by Fleet Feet and buy a new pair of (needed) flippy-floppies.  Then we headed to the airport to pick up a rental car, then to Folly.

We were at the beach for several hours and we made a coffee pit stop because midday coffee and cake is totally a thing the Germans need.  I was able to work some translating magic for Mama G and Aunt P to get them an "iced coffee" which actually means shots of espresso over ice cream.  That's apparently a thing.  Who knew?

Married selfie!

L.Lubi makes me cackle with this picture.

P.Lubi is adorable.

Pier puddle splashin'

Beach babes.

Our rings!

Ridin' dirty!

After the beach, we made a pit stop at the hotel to pick up some dirty laundry, then we headed home.  We ordered from Stoners Pizza to feed the masses who were coming to Haus to socialize.  Despite having school and work on Friday, I stayed up until the last guests left.


FRIDAY- when things went back to "normal"

Friday was my first post-wedding "normal" day.  I was at school (where all my teachers were excited for me) and then I headed to work (where my coworkers were also excited for me).  It was nice to not feel like my brain was being pulled in every direction while at school.  Weddings are VERY distracting, seriously.

I didn't get home until around 6.  I had told Teh German if he wanted to have company, I was fine with that.  It was the last possible night the Germans would be in town, and I wanted to make sure that we maximized our time with them. 

While we waited on company to arrive, we finally opened our wedding gifts!  I won't lie, it was killing me that we had unopened gifts in the house.  We took turns opening presents/cards and I did the dutiful thing and wrote down a list of names/gifts to send out thank you cards to.  I've even pulled the cards out of the drawer and told Teh German that he can write the German cards and I'll do the American ones.  This means that I got a heavier load, but it is what it is. 

Eventually, our guests arrived.  I also invited over some neighbors (Teh PT Husband particularly, so he could get one last dose of Germans before they left).  Since I was feeding a large group again and I really didn't want to have to order pizza (again), I chose to make kielbasa and rice with black beans, chickpeas, corn, cheese, and cilantro.  I had Teh German stop at the store on his way home to pick up the kielbasa since I wasn't sure if I had enough in the freezer and I didn't want to have to deal with thawing it.

Fortunately, one of our favorite concoctions was a hit with the adults and the children.  Also, does anyone else find it amusing that I was serving Germans Polish sausage?  Just me?  Mmmkay.


We had planned to have a fire on Sunday during our first gathering, but it was waaayyy to windy.  Instead, I introduced the Germans to smores on Friday night.  #MeganWin


Eventually, everyone was tired.  The Germans left and Teh PT Husband and Wife hung out with us for a little bit longer.  Around 11, we all called it quits, because we're #oldAF.


SATURDAY - no more company

Saturday was our first "normal" day.  Another Megan win = scheduling a couple's massage for Saturday morning.  What had happened wassss...  I had a groupon for the bowling alley that expired because we just don't go bowling and we've heard we can't use bumpers as adults and we know approximately 2 people who are actually good at bowling, so it just didn't seem like a good idea.  Soooo, when Groupon suggested I trade in my voucher for something else, I was like fuck yes.  THEN I noticed that the awesome couple's massage Groupon we had used back in the spring was available for purchase every 30 days.  Which means that I definitely did buy that sucker again.

Again, our massages were aweeeesome.  It is really a shame that the place is 30 minutes away because otherwise, I'd become a member and go there regularly.  After our awesome massage, we headed to the Charleston Deli and Bakery for breakfast.  The food was aaaahhhhhmazing.  We were also so blissed out from our massages that we may have sat and watched the lava lamp for several minutes.  #notsorry


With breakfast accomplished, we headed back home.  I had lofty homework goals and Teh German wanted to work on his bobber motorcycle since he was expecting a few packages to arrive.  I didn't really accomplish much homework, but I did clean up my office/organize wedding things and ripped the media from all the cameras and consolidated it all on a single SD card.  I also discovered a this bride's biggest nightmare, the audio recorder that was supposed to record our ceremony recorded a full 8 seconds at 5:43, well after the ceremony was over.  It went something like this, "Oops..(silence).. what was".  This is completely my own fault for not starting the audio recorder properly.  In my defense, Teh German didn't remember it until we were starting the ceremony so I was feeling a little pressured to get it going while everyone was being swarmed by Lowcountry Critters (aka No See Ums and other various flying insects).

I tried not to be disappointed, but truly, I am mostly crushed.  I keep telling everyone that the end goal of the day was met and we are married, but fuuuuuuccckkkkkkkkkkking seriously?  This was the ONE thing I really wanted and I fucked it up.  Sounds about right.  #WelcometoMyLife

Eventually, Teh German came inside, having installed his new toys on the bobber bike as much as possible and with only one trip to Lowe's.  I tried to do homework and was mostly unsuccessful, #YOLO.  I did get our glass unity ceremony stuff and the Wedding Mix recording stuffs repackaged to be mailed off.  We had leftovers for dinner, because there was no shortage of already prepared food for eating after all the company we'd hosted all week.

After dinner, Teh German and I settled in on the couch for some Mad Men before bed.


SUNDAY

Sunday we slept in and it was glorious.  I did get up with the dogs at 7am, which would have been 0800 DST notwithstanding, so I was impressed that they lasted that long.  After the dogs were fed and watered and went business, I went back upstairs for more sleeps.  We eventually got up around 11 and had breakfast.

After breakfast, Teh German headed back out to the garage to do motorcycle things and I headed to Homework Hell (aka, my office).  I didn't get any homework accomplished, but I did fuck around on the internet quite a bit.  Then I decided to make a delivery to Roux's house since his parents had let us borrow a cooler for the wedding and I had a gallon of unsweet tea in my fridge that was bound to spoil since I won't drink that garbage.

I visited with Roux's Humom for a bit while Pax and Meri and Roux ran around the yard.  We discussed the wedding mostly.  After almost an hour, I headed back home with pooped puppies and then finally started on my homework.  I had warned Teh German that I needed to go to campus at 7:30 for some homework assistance and we were both psyched out by the darkness at 6pm.  This is the first year that I've disliked the fact that it's dark at 6pm.  Yet another tick on the #OldAF list.


Our eating schedule was off due to the time change, so we didn't eat dinner together, but we hung out together while I waited on 7:30 to finally roll around so I could head to campus.  Once the better tutor arrived, I was able to clear up my issues in about 30 minutes.  After that, I spent 15 minutes doing the lab assignment that was assigned on Wednesday.  I was pumped to have only spent 15 minutes on the project and it was correct!  BOOM BITCHES, LEARNIN'.

I was on my way home by 9pm, which was perfect to come home and get ready for bed and still have some reading time.


MONDAY

Monday was Teh German's first day back to work.  It was a delightful school day since I was able to focus on only school for the first time in about a month.  Teh PT Wife and Roux's Humom had sent me with their leftover Halloween candy to bring to places where other people would eat it.  I had planned to bring the candy to the Vet Center, but instead opted to tote the bag around with me and let the Cadets eat from it.  I hope my German teacher gave me extra credit on my test for tossing in some marzipan bars that I hadn't eaten.

I won't lie, people telling me my mouth and teeth were blue made me feel like a real adult.

It was weird to watch one of the Cadets eat a huge bar of marzipan like a Snickers bar.  The German instructor and I both started to stop the kid, but he was already biting into it when we noticed.  Instead we shared a glace and just kinda shrugged, knowing that kid was probably going to suffer some digestive stress if he ate the whole bar (which he didn't).

After class, I headed to Staples to make a return, then stopped by Cookout for a milkshake I had been craving, then Willie Jewell's to pick up some gift certificates as thank yous, then home for work/homework time.  I was absolutely exhausted and when Teh German encouraged me to take a nap, I did.  When I woke up  I mostly ignored the homework part so Teh German and I could act married and do boring married things like eat leftovers for dinner and sit on the couch and watch Mad Men for the entirety of the evening.  #notsorry


Finally, it was bedtime.

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I will be doing more wedding posts, just FYI.  I'll be doing a critical review (because despite how idealistic everything sounded on this post.. from this bride's perspective, the day was far from perfect, even with my anxiety medication induced leniency) and I'll be sharing a million years worth of pictures as they roll in.  I'm super pumped about Nick's photos based on the instagram teaser alone.  And I'll probably have a random thoughts post, because the things in my brain have to go somewhere.

So here's to the wedding finally being over and getting my life back under control!!
Also, if you commented on any posts from last week, you probably didn't get a response from me and I felt like you probably understood why.  That said, thank you to everyone who sent well wishes and thought of us last week.  My Gentle Readers rock!