In the early stages of planning, we tossed around the idea of just creating a Spotify playlist, finding some speakers, hooking up a phone to the system, and finding a reliable friend who could manage the system during toasts and dancing. Then I remembered the debacle that was Teh Sister's music situation and I nixed that idea in favor of hiring someone to manage the music.
We never discussed having musicians for the wedding or reception. I think we both just gravitated towards pre-recorded music and that was that. When I pointed out that we'd probably need a sound system for the wedding ceremony (because someone becomes Miss Mumbles when she's nervous), a DJ was the obvious choice. They could set up for the wedding ceremony outside and the reception inside. Teh German agreed with this logical deduction.
So I set about researching DJs. Our coordinator had suggested a company that I looked into. Around the same time, a neighbor added me to a Bride Recycle/Sell/Swap FB group. I joined another group that was similar and watched. Several DJs posted on the FB groups advertising their services. I checked them out, slowly. Most of them seemed out of our price range. I wanted to pay $500 for a DJ for all day. Call me cheap, but even after getting a deal on the photographer, I'm still.. on a budget.
I messaged one called Jus Luv Music that didn't have set prices set on her FB page. I also checked her website to see what was there, but it wasn't a completed website. When she responded, she tried to say the prices were listed and I had to explain that they were not listed. I even sent her a link. She was willing to give me $50 off for just pointing out the deficiency. We chatted back and forth and I explained that creating a website wasn't overly difficult, I had done it (and sent her the link to Teh Blog). I explained that our needs were slightly different, but it was possible to build a site for her with minimum costs.
She was over the moon. She then asked me if I would build a website for her in exchange for DJ services and I said yes. Any discount was better than paying full price. A few days later, we set up a meeting to discuss our needs. Shit started to get rocky.
Originally, I had planned our meeting for 4pm near my work since I knew I could be there pretty quickly. Then I ended up needing to work from home that day. At 3:30, I got a text from her saying she was stuck behind a school bus and could we push the meeting back to 4:30. I said ok. Shit happens. At 4:30, I was sitting in the cold at DIG in the Park, alone. 4:35, 4:40, still alone. She finally texts and says she's on her way, but should she have crossed a bridge? I move inside because I was tired of being cold. I call her because texting and driving is pretty stupid. She says she's 5 minutes away. 4:50, 4:55, still alone. Finally at 5 after 5, she shows up, apologizing. I had originally had an appointment at 5:30, but messaged that person to tell them I would be running late and asked if 6:30 was too late but they said it was ok.
Obviously, I am not impressed. Nonetheless, I eventually start to warm up to Jenny. She explains how she got into DJing (generational) and why she continues to do it (she loves music). I tell her the details of the wedding day and explain that we'd need a set up for the ceremony and the reception, which she says she can do.
Then we moved on to discussing her website and what features she'd like to have. She was thrilled with my bride perspective since I can give her first hand insight into what brides are looking for. She explained that if I can build her website, she would be willing to do the entire wedding day for free. Tickle me pink, fuck yes.
She told me that she was doing a charity event in Summerville a few weeks later if I'd like to drop by and check out her work. That night over dinner, I explained all of this to Teh German who was excited with me. We put the event on the calendar.
Fast forward to the day of the event and I'm laying in bed scrolling through FB and see someone post in one of the bride groups looking for a DJ for that day for their Summerville charity event since their scheduled DJ was sick and had to cancel. Turns out, MY DJ was the one who cancelled. The DJ who promised me that if anything were to happen on our day, she'd have backup, blah blah blah. At which point I start to panic.
I wait a week or so to try to settle down and it never happens, so finally I sent her an email with all my feelings, essentially, detailing all the things I just told you about. I ask to meet her so we can hammer out our arrangement, I can show her the website that I had created for her, and arrange a contract. She emails back saying I took her by surprise and she's never had anyone that was unsatisfied with her work, of course she'd meet.
We set up an meeting. This time she wasn't late (wise life choice), although she did bring a grandchild with her, which I let go since she was upfront about being family oriented in our first meeting. We went over her contract and I showed her the website. We were both pleased. My brain felt soothed and she offered to let me write up our contract and send it back to her and she'd sign it. I gave her some homework to get me some info for her website.
Done. We have a DJ!
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Confessions {4/19}
-When I think of the fact that it takes me ~7.5 minutes to print out one envelope and consider how many hours I spent designing the damn things, I question my mental stability and wonder WHY I thought it was a good idea to do anything myself. Then I remember that it would have cost me ~$.50 per envelope to have the addresses printed AND we would have had to finalize the guest list in March when we had the invites printed. #FiguredItOut
-After that one time of Teh German telling me he was tired of working on wedding stuffs (ya know, when he had been sitting in the same room with me playing games on his phone while I actually did the work and every now and then I asked him for his opinion on something), this situation was kind of a slap in the face...
We went to the Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness/Atlas Genius/Night Riots concert downtown on Monday night. That morning we were trying to figure out dinner plans. Teh German asked if there was anywhere I wanted to go and I told him I wasn't sure, but I could research some places.
Let me explain what "researching some places" actually means... It means going onto the Yelp site and putting in a destination address and sorting through the mabillionty restaurants available in that area (because downtown Charleston) and filtering through them to find what is actually in the vicinity and somewhere that isn't $$$$ that isn't going to take forever that has something recognizable on the menu that could be tasty. I find my top contenders and go to their website to view the menu. I generally try to find 1-5 different options, depending on who I'm eating with. Does Teh German see any of this? No.
A bit later, I message him with 3 different dinner options, BBQ, burgers, or Greek with links to each menu. He selects the greek place. I say, "Done." He says, "Easy peasy."
I didn't say anything, I just let it go, but the struggle was real. I knew that he was probably talking about making the decision, not the entire process behind it and I was reading too much into it. But I honestly don't know the proper way of going about saying, "I feel extremely underappreciated for the things I do," without coming off like a cunt.
I think maybe my epic to-do list is burning me out (yet again) and maybe we just need to sit down and have a conversationabout how sometimes, living with him is like living with a child where I have to make all the decisions for someone who constantly huffs and puffs at me for being slightly inconvenienced or if he doesn't get his way. I sometimes imagine just NOT doing all the things I do, but the prospect of the household spinning out of control is something I cannot stomach. The real problem is that I can't really delegate any of my tasks other than the cleaning and I know that would go over like a lead balloon.
I try to go out of my way to acknowledge his contributions (dishes, yard work) and thank him andTeh German DOES do things around the house, yet there are just times that I feel like everything I do (which my super flexible job enables me to do) goes mostly unappreciated. I also realize that he can't read my mind, which is why we need to have this conversation, but I can't help myself from thinking how nice it would be if people just offered to help. #EndRant
PS. I think living with Teh Running Bestie spoiled me.
-I slayed my to-do list on Monday. I sat in a spare office and made calls for hours to take care of business. Things I accomplished:
-Things I have made progress on since posting my to-do list on Friday:
-The concert was fantastic and Andrew McMahon crowd surfed on an inflatable duck.. I kept the concert going on Tuesday in my earbuds with my Monday Night Concert playlist on Spotify. #notsorry
-The way people in our office load the dishwasher drives me absolutely insane. Seriously. Every time I go to put something in the dishwasher, I end up rearranging it to better fit MORE dishes. IT'S NOT THAT HARD PEOPLE!
-We're running a 10k the weekend before the weekend and we've already planned to do "Runaway Bride" and "Runaway Groom" shirts. Fortunately, we'll be "running away" together. I'm kinda hoping more of our guests that are in town at that time will join us since they also have a 5k at the same time (they just get bused back to the 10k finish line).
-When I went home early yesterday to let Phil out to avoid an accident in his crate, I sat down at the computer to finish up my work day and also managed to get some envelopes printed out. #killinit
-I really like it when Papa G complements my using German (which I try to do when I'm sending short, simple messages in WhatsApp, please don't be impressed by me), and he signs his messages to me (not to Teh German AND I), "Love Dad"
-I find it amusing when people on the "Reclaimed Bride" sites on FB say, "Only used once!" Also, why would you ever try to sell something with your hashtag on it? That just seems like a bad idea. #Learn2socialmedia
-I potentially made a bad life choice this morning. When I went into the kitchen to get hot water for my tea, I noticed that someone had brought food in to share with instructions that said to put the sausage roll on the homemade bread, add mustard, and enjoy. All the ingredients were there, so I figured why not. It was as I brought the concoction to my face that I noticed little green spots on the bread. Uhhh, kthxnope. But instead of thoroughly thinking it through, I went ahead and ate the sausage. If the bread had mold on it, how old was the sausage that I just ate. If I'm dead later (or unable to leave the bathroom), we know why. #possiblepoorlifechoice
-DDDUUUUDDDDDEEEEEE... So. A few weeks ago, I bought a couple's massage from Groupon. Now, sometimes I'm skeptical over Groupon massages because some places are always offering a Groupon deal to bring in customers maybe because they are shady or not that good.. but whatevs. I'm all about saving dollas, so I was like, at least it is a massage. Last night, after Teh German had thoroughly fouled my mood, he pretended like everything was ok and we headed to our massage. I was so tight from stress that I was twitching. Then this little Asian lady got her hands on me and I melted and OMG IT WAS SO GOOD. I told Teh German that I wanted to put her in my pocket and carry her around with me forever. When I flipped over, she commented that she liked to hear groans and moans because it was positive feedback that she was doing a good job. Well, I am happy to acquiesce. I asked her what she was doing November 1st. Of course, she didn't get it, but I'm seriously thinking about just planning a massage the morning of the wedding with her because she's perfect and I'm willing to drive the 30 minutes it takes to get there for forever if she's workin' out my knots. I'm so sore today, as expected since she did some serious deep tissue work, but I can tell a difference and I didn't wake up with my shoulders at my ears this morning! If you're local, the place is called Massage Serenity Spa.
-I can feel my pain killers kick in because my brain gets a little fuzzy/loopy and I feel like I have mild vertigo. I assume this "high" feeling is why people get addicted to pain killers.
-PS. It might be PMS week. Thus the appearance of Teh Drama Llama Megan and Teh Drama Llama German. I always forget that for as much as I feed off Teh German's state of being/mind, he also has some pretty severe PMMS (premenstrual MAN syndrome). Anyone else's SO get PMS from YOUR cycle? Please say I'm not the only one who has to deal with this.
-After that one time of Teh German telling me he was tired of working on wedding stuffs (ya know, when he had been sitting in the same room with me playing games on his phone while I actually did the work and every now and then I asked him for his opinion on something), this situation was kind of a slap in the face...
We went to the Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness/Atlas Genius/Night Riots concert downtown on Monday night. That morning we were trying to figure out dinner plans. Teh German asked if there was anywhere I wanted to go and I told him I wasn't sure, but I could research some places.
Let me explain what "researching some places" actually means... It means going onto the Yelp site and putting in a destination address and sorting through the mabillionty restaurants available in that area (because downtown Charleston) and filtering through them to find what is actually in the vicinity and somewhere that isn't $$$$ that isn't going to take forever that has something recognizable on the menu that could be tasty. I find my top contenders and go to their website to view the menu. I generally try to find 1-5 different options, depending on who I'm eating with. Does Teh German see any of this? No.
A bit later, I message him with 3 different dinner options, BBQ, burgers, or Greek with links to each menu. He selects the greek place. I say, "Done." He says, "Easy peasy."
I didn't say anything, I just let it go, but the struggle was real. I knew that he was probably talking about making the decision, not the entire process behind it and I was reading too much into it. But I honestly don't know the proper way of going about saying, "I feel extremely underappreciated for the things I do," without coming off like a cunt.
I think maybe my epic to-do list is burning me out (yet again) and maybe we just need to sit down and have a conversation
I try to go out of my way to acknowledge his contributions (dishes, yard work) and thank him andTeh German DOES do things around the house, yet there are just times that I feel like everything I do (which my super flexible job enables me to do) goes mostly unappreciated. I also realize that he can't read my mind, which is why we need to have this conversation, but I can't help myself from thinking how nice it would be if people just offered to help. #EndRant
PS. I think living with Teh Running Bestie spoiled me.
-I slayed my to-do list on Monday. I sat in a spare office and made calls for hours to take care of business. Things I accomplished:
- Sign up for fall races (Isle of Palms Connector 10k, James Island Connector 10k, Kiawah Island 1/2).
- Purchase stamps (I bought 2 books each of the blue and colored heart stamps, a random stamp will go on a random envelope, done).
- Called Ortho about moving forward with hip appts (his assistant called me back and I have a pre-op appointment scheduled for May 16th - queue my heart palpitations).
- Contacted Dan Ryan about our 1 year "fix it" list.
- Scheduled Phil's sonogram.
- Scheduled a dental for Phil for May 22, the day we're driving from MD to SC. Just a half day pit stop.
- Scheduled Meri and Phil's yearly wellness visit - a few weeks early since I hadn't spoken with the Ortho at that point.
- Emailed CSU about my missing NC State transfer credits (I almost loled when the admissions person "explained" that my NCSU transcript hadn't been received when they did the assessment. Funny, since the NCSU transcript arrived 3/1 and the other transcripts arrived 3/13-17th, but mmkay).
- Walked Teh German through sharing his calendar with me (so I know when he plans things and forgets to share them with me, which isn't often).
- Ordered new checks with my eventual new last name and updated address (since the address on them now is from 4 moves ago...).
- Made dinner reservations for Monday evening since we were going downtown for the Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness/Atlas Genius/Night Riots concert.
-Things I have made progress on since posting my to-do list on Friday:
- I started addressing envelopes.
- I started editing Asheville photos.
- I created a team for the pre-wedding 10k, so hopefully others will join us.
-The concert was fantastic and Andrew McMahon crowd surfed on an inflatable duck.. I kept the concert going on Tuesday in my earbuds with my Monday Night Concert playlist on Spotify. #notsorry
-The way people in our office load the dishwasher drives me absolutely insane. Seriously. Every time I go to put something in the dishwasher, I end up rearranging it to better fit MORE dishes. IT'S NOT THAT HARD PEOPLE!
-We're running a 10k the weekend before the weekend and we've already planned to do "Runaway Bride" and "Runaway Groom" shirts. Fortunately, we'll be "running away" together. I'm kinda hoping more of our guests that are in town at that time will join us since they also have a 5k at the same time (they just get bused back to the 10k finish line).
-When I went home early yesterday to let Phil out to avoid an accident in his crate, I sat down at the computer to finish up my work day and also managed to get some envelopes printed out. #killinit
-I really like it when Papa G complements my using German (which I try to do when I'm sending short, simple messages in WhatsApp, please don't be impressed by me), and he signs his messages to me (not to Teh German AND I), "Love Dad"
-I find it amusing when people on the "Reclaimed Bride" sites on FB say, "Only used once!" Also, why would you ever try to sell something with your hashtag on it? That just seems like a bad idea. #Learn2socialmedia
-I potentially made a bad life choice this morning. When I went into the kitchen to get hot water for my tea, I noticed that someone had brought food in to share with instructions that said to put the sausage roll on the homemade bread, add mustard, and enjoy. All the ingredients were there, so I figured why not. It was as I brought the concoction to my face that I noticed little green spots on the bread. Uhhh, kthxnope. But instead of thoroughly thinking it through, I went ahead and ate the sausage. If the bread had mold on it, how old was the sausage that I just ate. If I'm dead later (or unable to leave the bathroom), we know why. #possiblepoorlifechoice
-DDDUUUUDDDDDEEEEEE... So. A few weeks ago, I bought a couple's massage from Groupon. Now, sometimes I'm skeptical over Groupon massages because some places are always offering a Groupon deal to bring in customers maybe because they are shady or not that good.. but whatevs. I'm all about saving dollas, so I was like, at least it is a massage. Last night, after Teh German had thoroughly fouled my mood, he pretended like everything was ok and we headed to our massage. I was so tight from stress that I was twitching. Then this little Asian lady got her hands on me and I melted and OMG IT WAS SO GOOD. I told Teh German that I wanted to put her in my pocket and carry her around with me forever. When I flipped over, she commented that she liked to hear groans and moans because it was positive feedback that she was doing a good job. Well, I am happy to acquiesce. I asked her what she was doing November 1st. Of course, she didn't get it, but I'm seriously thinking about just planning a massage the morning of the wedding with her because she's perfect and I'm willing to drive the 30 minutes it takes to get there for forever if she's workin' out my knots. I'm so sore today, as expected since she did some serious deep tissue work, but I can tell a difference and I didn't wake up with my shoulders at my ears this morning! If you're local, the place is called Massage Serenity Spa.
 |
| ^^Me preparing to make my visits regular. |
-I can feel my pain killers kick in because my brain gets a little fuzzy/loopy and I feel like I have mild vertigo. I assume this "high" feeling is why people get addicted to pain killers.
-PS. It might be PMS week. Thus the appearance of Teh Drama Llama Megan and Teh Drama Llama German. I always forget that for as much as I feed off Teh German's state of being/mind, he also has some pretty severe PMMS (premenstrual MAN syndrome). Anyone else's SO get PMS from YOUR cycle? Please say I'm not the only one who has to deal with this.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Shit Teh German Said #8
Discussing bugs.
Teh German (T): They don't pay rent.
Teh Megan (M): What do you consider Phil and Meri.
T: Family. Family doesn't pay rent.
M: There's American mustard in the fridge.
T: You mean yellow sauce?
M: Apparently, I like Japanese trees.
T: It doesn't come with sushi though.
M: You're wearing your jacket, why do you care if the AC is on?
T: Because I have my jacket on, I don't have feeling.
T: That could be a fun hair style to try.
M: You could do it. He has the same problem you have. (I was referring to his receding hairline.)
T: He also has a large foreskin?
M: Penises have foreskin. (And my cackles start.)
T: Oh! I mean forehead!
M: Are you sore?
T: No, I'm fine.
M: Did you stretch?
T: Yes, on the couch last night.
M: Swiping and double tapping doesn't count.
T: It does.
M: It don't.
T: That's not right.
M: I'm aware. But it's good you can correct my bad English.
We bought some tulip bulbs from Publix. Teh German was looking up the info on replanting them and was reading it out loud.
T: Tulips may not rebloom for up to 2 years after transported. They require 2 months of temperatures colder than 40 degrees.
Teh German gives a long sigh and looks at the tulips on the counter.
T: Well, you're dead.
T: What is the show called again?
M: Modern Family.
T (opening a browser to search a minute later): What was it? Bad family?
M: Modern Family. Although "bad family" could work.
Shit Teh German Said Edition 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Monday, April 17, 2017
Weekend Review {4/17}
FRIDAY
Teh German was off work on Friday (because German are off work for religious holidays in Germany, so that's what goes in the US office too #jealous) so I slept in. I may have also calculated my hours for the week incorrectly. Oops. I stayed at work until lunchtime though, mostly so I could be there for the going-away cake for an employee of another company we sit with. It was a Publix cake, so totally worth staying for.After I left work, I had Teh German meet me at the oil change place so I could drop off Yurtle for a drs appointment. She really needed her oil changed and I know we'll be taking Yurtle to MD next month, so it was time. Teh German picked me up and we headed home. We decided to ride out to Sullivan's Island for lunch at Home Team BBQ, something we had planned to do a few weeks ago, but it was too windy (which is a valid reason not to ride here because there are so many tall bridges we have to cross).
We set out and I may have accidentally taken us the wrong way, except that it ended up working out. We got stuck in some traffic, at which point Teh German reminded me that it was a holiday weekend and all the tourists were in town. #FML Fortunately, traffic didn't take long to get through and we rerouted a way that I knew but had forgotten. Once we got to Sullivan's Island, we realized that every place to eat was slammed. It was around 1, so I didn't expect it to still be so busy, and that's what I get for assuming. We put our names on the list at Home Team and 2 bar seats happened to open up about 10 minutes into our wait.
Unfortunately, it was too loud to have a conversation, but at the same time kinda fortunate since Teh German was hangry and grouchy. We watched NCAA gymnastics while we ate. How do they make their bodies do that shit? Seriously? Maybe if I had learned to do those things my pieces wouldn't be so broke now?
After we finished our food, we headed back to the bikes to get home. While we were eating the garage called and said Yurtle was done. When we got home, we jumped in Baloo so Teh German could take me to get Yurtle. Once Yurtle was acquired we had zero plans to leave the house for the rest of the day.
 |
| This is my life. |
We opted to hang out at Teh PT Neighbors' house for the evening. Some neighborhood drama went down on Facebook about children playing in the street and refusing to move for vehicles (this isn't a one-time occurrence, the drama or the children)) and we ended up creating our own FB page for our awesome street. We hung out with the visiting parents and chatted until it was finally time for bed. As I was falling asleep, I told Teh German that we had done FB wrong and we created a page instead of a group, oops.
SATURDAY
While it was a lazy weekend, it was also a productive one.We slept in super late on Saturday. After feeding the dogs, I laid in bed and perused the internet. I bought a new region less blu-ray player and the game Organ Attack since I haven't stopped thinking about it since I discovered it. $200 spent all while laying in the bed. This is 2017 and I'm #notsorry.
I also remedied the group/page situation. Unfortunately it takes 14 days to have a page deleted. Thanks FB for that quick turn around... Oh wait. The real problem was that other neighbors who we are friends with that don't live on our street were able to see that we liked/joined a page for our street and then were asking to join. My bad. Honestly, all of our neighborhood isn't bad, but there are definitely some people who ruin the bunch... every.single.time.
Finally, I had to get up to get to the farmer's market before 1 since I had told the tree guy that I would be there for my tree. When I arrived, he said he had sold my tree, but would offer me a different tree for $10 off. I wasn't sold on it since I wanted a tree with red leaves, not dark red/purply. Since the market was about to close, the guy told me that I could meet them at his house and pick out whatever tree I wanted and I said ok.
I headed to their house and waited about 45 minutes on them to come home, which was fine since I was listening to my audiobook. When they got home, it took me a few minutes to select THE tree and while he laid it in Yurtle, I paid him.
My next stop was Target. It has been quite a while since I'd bought house supplies (TP, cleaning stuffs, laundry detergent, etc) so I decided that this was the weekend (also we were almost out of TP). I printed off some coupons and knew what Cartwheel was offering. I almost chickened out once I arrived when I saw the checkout line, but a Team Member assured me that the line moved fast (spoiler alert: he was right). I was in and out in about an hour and a half and I had estimated 2 hours. I ended up saving $77 at Target with coupons and Cartwheel and I got 3 $5 gift cards. #likeaboss
During all this, Teh German was at home gardening. Specifically, he was digging holes for said tree and for a palm that Teh WJL had bought for us when she was here in February. When I got home, he unloaded the tree and planted it while I unloaded the stuff I had purchased. While Teh German was working, Teh PT Wife came over to hang out. She and Phil supervised while I worked on the invitation envelopes.
Since Teh German had worked all day, outside, and I had zero plans for dinner (oops), I gave him 3 options for me to pick up for dinner: East Bay Deli, Willie Jewell's, or Texas Roadhouse. He picked East Bay Deli, which was perfect since I had a $2 Yelp24 coupon I could use. Phil and Meri rode with me to pick it up. When I got home, we ate and had planned to watch TV for the rest of the evening to chill. Instead, I went outside to water the flowers and then we ended up going on a pack walk and then Teh German watered the grass and I worked on the RSVP envelopes.
By the time I completed the design and printed out 9 (not 10 since the first envelope was messed up and then I proceeded to print on it until it was jamming the printer #notsorry) envelopes, it was almost 10pm. Teh German had given up on me and was on the couch watching a Netflix movie. I said I was going to go upstairs and read my book (ya know, ticking off to-do list tasks) and he said ok. Later I learned that he wanted to spend time with me, but didn't say anything about it, so I didn't know. I told Teh German that maybe next time he needs to just come out and say these things since I can't read his mind. He eventually came to bed and I was glad because I was super tired and my book is making me feel dirty.
 |
| Only 10 RSVP cards because I am forcing people to embrace technology and RSVP online. |
SUNDAY
Sunday morning we didn't get out of the bed until almost noon. Teh Mom called and chatted with me for a few minutes. My new weekend routine includes going through all the Snapchat filters when we're laying in bed on our phones. That egg carton filter is seriously my favorite.When we finally got up, I made grilled cheese for breakfast/lunch. We weren't motivated to leave the house for any reason, including for brunch since I knew that everyone else would be out for brunch since it was Easter. After foods, we started the process of invitation envelopes.
It was tedious and the font that Teh German had selected on Saturday evening for the addressee ended up not having special characters that I needed since the German alphabet has special characters. Ugh. Deciding on a new font took at least an hour. Several hours later, I finally got the design finalized and all the addresses formatted in a Word document so I could just copy/paste them into Photoshop instead of having to format them in Photoshop which is a pain in the ass.
During all this, Teh German is sitting in the office with me, as well as Phil who was supervising from his crate, and giving me his opinion on layout changes that I made. When Teh German said, "Why are we doing all this? I'm tired of it." I very calmly lost my shit on him and said, "You're tired? From all the work you're doing sitting there playing your games on your phone and once in a while giving me your opinion when I turn my computer around or when I hand you a piece of paper and tell you to pick your favorite font?" Yeah.. that shut him up.
When I told him he was definitely going to be helping me stuff envelopes, he scoffed and said nope and I quickly informed him that the process was putting an invite in the envelope, sliding in the "no children" paper, and maybe an RSVP card depending on who the invite is going to, then sealing the envelope, and putting a stamp on it and it wasn't nearly as difficult as anything I had done up to this point. Again, crickets. Good, Groom.
Finally, I started to print the stupid envelopes. FINNNNAAAALLLLYYYY. Around 4, I realized that most of the day was gone and I was getting tired of printing out envelopes. Once the printing process was started, I opened up Lightroom to start working on the Asheville photos while I was waiting. By 5:30, I was duuuunn with that shit. I counted and I had only printed out SIXTEEN envelopes. 16. #killmenow #whothoughtthiswasagoodidea
 |
| That tall stack is UNPRINTED envelopes. #FML |
I had told Teh German when the printer ran out of envelopes, I was done printing for the day. Yet, we still sat in the office for 10 minutes after the printer had stopped. Finally, after piddling around on the internet and asking Teh German what he wanted to do, I said to him, "Babe, this is me saying, 'Come up with something for us to do beside sit in this room.'" At which point, I got up and finally left the office to pee and refill my water and feed the beasts. Just as I arrived to the kitchen, my phone knocked and I had a text message from Teh PT Wife asking what we were doing and if we wanted to come over. I texted her back, while reading it outloud to Teh German, "You just saved Teh German from having to come up with entertainment ideas for me. He says thank you."
After the beasts were fed, we headed over for socializing with their parents who were over for Easter. Meri ran around the yard at full speed, much to the awe of the visitors. Everyone lurves Meri because of how different she looks and how fast she is and how soft she is, so she was a real star. Phil was a cool dude and just hung around the humans getting pettins and looking pitiful because he didn't have a couch to lay on.
Around 7:30, we finally headed back to our house since Teh German and I hadn't eaten dinner. I had pork chops in the crock pot and I whipped up some mac and cheese and heated up some green beans. At which point, I noticed the microwave was disgusting under the plate and ended up cleaning it. Of course, I took a blogger picture and Teh German caught me and asked what I was doing. I told him, "Taking a picture for the blog," and he didn't even question it. My weirdness is normal. Eggcellent.
Dinner was more delicious than I expected. Afterwards, I cleaned up while Teh German went outside and watered the yard and the flowers. I was extra nice and even did his dishes for him. We had a minor tiff when I gave Teh German shit for wasting a $44 bag of grass seed/fertilizer last year for maybe 20 square feet of yard when the entire bag was supposed to cover 1000 square feet. He got butt hurt and I explained that I was giving him shit and if I was really pissed about it, I would have brought it up when it happened, not 6 months later AND I wouldn't have done all his dishes chores for him. Again, no response. Either I'm being a real bitch and he's taking it like a champ, or I'm batting 1000 this weekend with the comebacks, I'm taking it either way.
After asking him if he was going to continue to be on his phone for the rest of the evening, I got some sighs and huffs and explained that if he was, I was going upstairs to read and get ready for bed.. or he could get off his phone and we could watch Parks and Recreation. He decided on Parks and Rec, which was wise. After 2 episodes, it was time for bed and the weekend was over. Boooo.
_________________________________________________
What's the dude version of Suzy Homemaker, because that's what Teh German was this weekend. I was super proud of his manual labor accomplishments and we both love looking outside and seeing the tree in the front yard.I've decided that Parks and Rec is almost just like The Office and it kinda annoys me. We had to put a pause on Modern Family because we think that my blu-ray player is going bad and freezing. It's not out of the realm of possibility. I bought the blu-ray player in 2012 after I got back from Bahrain and I purposely bought a Philips because it matched the TV brand. The problem was that it was the last one in the store and the box was absolutely beat to shit, but I still bought it. At the time it was a super good DVD player since it was also smart and had Netflix. But, it's a mabillionty moves later and that poor DVD player has had a good run and it's probably just time to replace it.
My to-do list barely got dented this weekend, but wedding printing kinda consumed most of my free time (seriously though, why did I think it was a good idea to print these bitches out myself?). I realized there are 3 other big items that I hadn't included on my to-do list (send Dan Ryan our 1 year "fix this shit" list, clean, and something else I've already forgotten). I'll probably set up shop in a private office today so I can make some phone calls to set up appointments (for my hip, for Phil/Meri, etc).
I noticed on the RSVPs that the invitation designer didn't correct the word / word to word/word with the slashes and I considered calling up the stationary company and complaining, but really, I'm the only one who cares.. BUT SERIOUSLY.. no spaces! NO! Google it if you don't believe me. No spaces is real. It's not cluttered. I think spaces with a slash are confusing, it's like this piece of punctuation that is just hanging out by itself. Obviously, I have strong feeling about this. Don't get me started about the Oxford comma.
Reading has been going well. I am worried about making it through 2 books before the loan period expires on them, but we'll see what happens. This Sex & Girls book has me torn between feeling like a perv and feeling like a prude. It's complicated. It reinforced the fact that women should walk around naked in front of their kids and we HAVE to talk about lady parts because they even more important than dude parts, in my opinion. Female parts are complex and if you can tell me that male and female parts are on the same playing level, I'd love to hear your side, but I just disagree. To me, the female part is an engine while the male parts are a bicycle. Obviously, I'm simplifying that some, but I wish I could understand why we (including myself) are so shy and even ashamed of our vaginas while penises are completely acceptable.
I digress. This weekend was good. It is over now and I am sad. At least there were fun Snapchat filters this morning.
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| Meri trying to figure out what Teh PT Husband was crunching. |
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| Phil avoiding eye contact with me because he knows he's not supposed to be at the table. |
Friday, April 14, 2017
Five on Friday #105
EINS
Being a Bride means being concerned over trivial details.. Like sayyyy the stamps on your invitations. I even had a moment where I considered which different stamps I could combine to not have to use the international stamp. Although Papa G has said they would mail out our German invitations from Germany (thus saving us money (potentially) and reducing the risk of our invitations getting lost), part of me thinks, but I could use the pretty stamps! Silly Bride Brain.Anyways. For the American invitations, I'm having a tough time deciding which stamps to put on our invites.
Tell me, Gentle Readers, which is better? Blue or Heart? I love both and can't decide. Hhhhhaaaaaaallllppppppppppppp.
I could also just buy both and then I'd get to use both designs. That's probably what I'll do, lets be honest.. But still, I'd like to hear your opinions.
ZWEI
My to do list has been growing out of control.. mostly because I've been ignoring it except for the mandatory things (like grocery shopping). But now we NEED toilet paper which means a trip to Target, so I'm going to make the best of it and go alone so I can be there as long as I want. #dontjudgemeOther things that I need to accomplish:
- Address wedding invites (this has slowly moved towards the top of the list, ugh)
- Work on the DJ's website
- Create the contract for the DJ and us for our wedding (yeah we met March 6th about that and I have done ZERO things to follow up)
- Edit Asheville photos - not editing in a timely manner eliminates the demand, but uggghh.
- Sign up for the races I want to do in the fall.
- Buy stamps for the invites (after I get your opinions)
- Peruse Target and restock the house with things we're no longer stocked up on (cleaning stuffs, TP) and use coupons.
- Call about my follow up appointment for my hip next week (to possibly schedule the surgery)
- Figure out when to schedule surgery for, taking into consideration our MD trip in May vs recovery time vs wedding.
- Read library books.. expiration dates really make me feel pressured.
- Ride Bagheera. I haven't gotten to ride in a while and before I'm out for the count for my hip, I'd like to get in some 2-wheel time.
- Take Phil's blood pressure. I acquired the cuff from Teh PT Wife, now I just need to replace the batteries and get it done.
- Dremel the dog's nails. Extra ugh on this one.
- Go to the farmer's market on Saturday to pick up my tree. Also buy veggies while here to save myself from a grocery store trip, potentially.
- Go to the gym
- Determine a good weekend to go to NC to ride the bikes and arrange for a dog sitter.
- Read through other SYUB linker-uppers (I got through half last month!)
- Figure out where we want to stay on Wedding night (near the venue or downtown)
- Schedule a sonogram for Phil
- Schedule Meri and Phil's yearly wellness visit
- Follow up with The Citadel about transfer credit if they haven't emailed me by the end of the month.
- Work out the video situation for the wedding (I'm thinking we're going to with WeddingMix or something similar)
- Wash Yurtle and Bagheera AND vacuum Yurtle... she's a dirty girl.
- Set up Teh German's calendar so I can see it.
- Go through my closet and get rid of things unworn. No saving things for if I might need them.I haven't needed them in over a year. Time to go.
DREI
From the phone: |
| Conversations with Teh Running Bestie. #RunningProblems |
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| Nooooommmmmmm. |
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| Teh PT Wife and Teh Dental Hygienist enabled me into buying this dress. I got multiple compliments on it. #Success |
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| It's kinda difficult to read but this sign at the gym says S-2 Stairs. This isn't significant unless you were in the military and you know what S/N/J-2 means, but every.single.time I think that maybe this is the stairs that lead to the gym's intel unit. |
VIER
From the internet:Steph talks about sexual assault awareness. and it's something we should talk about more.
Burger King made technology work for them.. and then they got trolled, but it was still awesome.
I really hate click bait, but I didn't regret watching this James Cordon/Beauty and the Beast thing.
This short TED video about the benefits of knowing multiple languages makes me want to better my German ASAP.
FÜNF
10 things that made me happy this week:- I signed up for the 2018 Bridge Run the day registration opened, like I do.
- Evening pack walks.
- Cheesy Teh German lines and Snaps.
- That stupid little face big teeth voice changing Snapchat filter. I don't know why I love it as much as I do, but I'm pretty sure I get way too much joy from that thing.
- Grey's Anatomy elliptical sessions.
- A slow week with few activities... and a weekend to match.
- Scheduling a couple's massage for us after finding a Groupon deal.
- Groupon deals for activities like bowling and massages and local things to do.
- Going to the dentist to get my broken tooth checked out and being told that it's fine and not being charged.
- Being productive at work.
Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Confessions {4/12}
-When parts of songs only play in one earbud or the other, it freaks me out. Like, are my earbuds broken? Wait, there's singing in one ear and music in the other. Interesting effect. Was that on purpose?
-I finally posted our engagement pics on FB. I still can't pick a favorite. We're going to have a MegMo shrine in the living room. I just know it. #notsorry That's why I'm paying this guy so much money. #SelfShrine I wish they had watermarks, butttt it's fine. Our engagement photos were taken by Nicholas Gore. Full album here.
-I know I could have posted all the engagement pics here, butttt that seems like something that should have it's own post and I didn't feel like that is necessary. #atthistime
-Doing 1 wedding thing last week helped me feel better about not accomplishing invite things, so now I'm good for another few weeks, at least. #countingdown
-I've started buying milk based on when it expires. Not just like selecting which one I want (whole, 2%, 1%, skim, etc) then the date, no no.. I check all of the them for the furthest date and that's the type of milk we have. #efficiency
-Pretty sure this is one of my more epic FB statuses:
-My brain has been struggling with the proper use of passed and past. I second-guess myself every time I use either. #grammarnazilife
-I took a lot of shit this weekend for shooting so many flower/tulip photos. After seeing some of the gems on my camera, #NOTSORRY #NOTSORRY #NOTSORRY I might not be great at animal or people photography, but daaaaaaayyyyuuummmm I can shoot flower pics #likeaboss.
-I've had the desire recently to go "walk around" Target. I know we need some supplies (toilet paper), but "walking around" generally results in me buying things, which I like to avoid doing. It's complicated.
-Last year RunDisney did a virtual run event. Essentially, they send you medals for "running".. IMO, this is a cop out. It's a cheap way for them to make some money because people collect medals, especially Disney medals. In fact, it took about 3 virtual runs for me to realize that I didn't "earn" those medals. That isn't actually true, but it is. I did the run, but it wasn't like I showed up for a race. I usually just counted one of my normal or training runs as the virtual run, which is NOT the same at all. Anyways, RunDisney is doing another virtual run event this summer and I want to punch someone.
-This whole United thing.. I've not really read into it at all, but my question is, how many times has this happened before and it wasn't documented because cell phones didn't exist. These passengers and however many people are pissed off and upset that it happened, but he claimed he was a doctor and not any of those other passengers volunteered to take his place as tribute. So thumbs up to the asshole who recorded the video (I assume knowing exactly what they would do with it), maybe before it got to that, someone should have just volunteered? People will always find a reason to find fault with everyone but themselves. #Ihateeveryone
-When Teh Running Bestie and I attended the Flowertown Festival thing I finally found a vendor for a Japanese Maple for the front yard. They were super awesome and explained the differences in trees to me and listened to me inaccurately describe what I wanted and they were able to show me what would best work for me and let me pick. Because I was out of town last weekend, I couldn't meet them at the Farmer's Market to pick it up, but I am planning on taking care of that this coming weekend and I'm pumped!
-Pretty sure my bra was crying from being overworked and being tired and relief when I took it off on Monday night. I wore that poor bra Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It wasn't even one of my favorites... so that extra sucked. Things I've forgotten in the past and won't forget again: pajamas, socks, underwear, toothbrush, and now.. BRAS. #gross
-I'm a spaz. When Teh PT Wife tossed one of my Cadbury eggs into the trash that fell out of a bag that was laying on the top of the fridge (she thought it was just laying on the top of the fridge), you'd have thought that someone had been stabbed. I scanned the garbage for it, but I wasn't digging through the trash for a mini Cadbury egg (only because I knew I had 3 more stashed away). #MyPrecious
-Teh Dental Hygienist and I bought towels for this weekend since there weren't enough. She tossed her in the garbage on Monday morning and I'm like, NOPE. That's a perfect dog towel. I did pick it off the top of the garbage and put it in it's own grocery bag for the ride home. #MegantheCheapo
-I haven't been back to the Chiro since I officially started physical therapy. I struggle paying the Chiro $25 when Teh PT Husband and pop my back and I'm already seeing him for my hip AND paying him $25, which actually goes towards my in-network insurance.
-Teh German gave me a back rub last night. I bribed him (with things from Asheville) and then had to beg him to actually do it. Super relaxing......
-Why is Sean Spicer still associated with the US government? That said, why are soooo many people in leadership roles in the US government still associated with the US government? I'm embarrassed and I can't figure out how these people remain in their positions. #Idontknowyou
-I finally posted our engagement pics on FB. I still can't pick a favorite. We're going to have a MegMo shrine in the living room. I just know it. #notsorry That's why I'm paying this guy so much money. #SelfShrine I wish they had watermarks, butttt it's fine. Our engagement photos were taken by Nicholas Gore. Full album here.
-I know I could have posted all the engagement pics here, butttt that seems like something that should have it's own post and I didn't feel like that is necessary. #atthistime
-Doing 1 wedding thing last week helped me feel better about not accomplishing invite things, so now I'm good for another few weeks, at least. #countingdown
-I've started buying milk based on when it expires. Not just like selecting which one I want (whole, 2%, 1%, skim, etc) then the date, no no.. I check all of the them for the furthest date and that's the type of milk we have. #efficiency
-Pretty sure this is one of my more epic FB statuses:
On the scale of professionalism from very to not, where would "Took an Uber home after utilizing vodka and children's juice boxes from work fridge to numb the pain," fall?
-My brain has been struggling with the proper use of passed and past. I second-guess myself every time I use either. #grammarnazilife
-I took a lot of shit this weekend for shooting so many flower/tulip photos. After seeing some of the gems on my camera, #NOTSORRY #NOTSORRY #NOTSORRY I might not be great at animal or people photography, but daaaaaaayyyyuuummmm I can shoot flower pics #likeaboss.
-I've had the desire recently to go "walk around" Target. I know we need some supplies (toilet paper), but "walking around" generally results in me buying things, which I like to avoid doing. It's complicated.
-Last year RunDisney did a virtual run event. Essentially, they send you medals for "running".. IMO, this is a cop out. It's a cheap way for them to make some money because people collect medals, especially Disney medals. In fact, it took about 3 virtual runs for me to realize that I didn't "earn" those medals. That isn't actually true, but it is. I did the run, but it wasn't like I showed up for a race. I usually just counted one of my normal or training runs as the virtual run, which is NOT the same at all. Anyways, RunDisney is doing another virtual run event this summer and I want to punch someone.
-This whole United thing.. I've not really read into it at all, but my question is, how many times has this happened before and it wasn't documented because cell phones didn't exist. These passengers and however many people are pissed off and upset that it happened, but he claimed he was a doctor and not any of those other passengers volunteered to take his place
-When Teh Running Bestie and I attended the Flowertown Festival thing I finally found a vendor for a Japanese Maple for the front yard. They were super awesome and explained the differences in trees to me and listened to me inaccurately describe what I wanted and they were able to show me what would best work for me and let me pick. Because I was out of town last weekend, I couldn't meet them at the Farmer's Market to pick it up, but I am planning on taking care of that this coming weekend and I'm pumped!
-Pretty sure my bra was crying from being overworked and being tired and relief when I took it off on Monday night. I wore that poor bra Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It wasn't even one of my favorites... so that extra sucked. Things I've forgotten in the past and won't forget again: pajamas, socks, underwear, toothbrush, and now.. BRAS. #gross
-I'm a spaz. When Teh PT Wife tossed one of my Cadbury eggs into the trash that fell out of a bag that was laying on the top of the fridge (she thought it was just laying on the top of the fridge), you'd have thought that someone had been stabbed. I scanned the garbage for it, but I wasn't digging through the trash for a mini Cadbury egg (only because I knew I had 3 more stashed away). #MyPrecious
-Teh Dental Hygienist and I bought towels for this weekend since there weren't enough. She tossed her in the garbage on Monday morning and I'm like, NOPE. That's a perfect dog towel. I did pick it off the top of the garbage and put it in it's own grocery bag for the ride home. #MegantheCheapo
-I haven't been back to the Chiro since I officially started physical therapy. I struggle paying the Chiro $25 when Teh PT Husband and pop my back and I'm already seeing him for my hip AND paying him $25, which actually goes towards my in-network insurance.
-Teh German gave me a back rub last night. I bribed him (with things from Asheville) and then had to beg him to actually do it. Super relaxing......
-Why is Sean Spicer still associated with the US government? That said, why are soooo many people in leadership roles in the US government still associated with the US government? I'm embarrassed and I can't figure out how these people remain in their positions. #Idontknowyou
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
SUYB: March 2017
Another month of praising audiobooks. Seriously, I wonder what I did with my life before audiobooks were my life. The library came through for me this month and I was numero UNO on the King's Cage list so I got to "break the binding" of the book, if that's possible with ebooks. This past month has taught me about about the long duration of a library hold and just how miserable it is to be #20 on 1 copy of a book. WTF? If each check out is 2 full weeks (assuming no one turns in early but me), that will be FORTY WEEKS until I can read that book. There's 52 weeks in a year. Math is hard, but even I can tell you that's too long to wait. Le siiiigh.
Now that my Audible queue is caught up, I have a feeling I'll restart Outlander. I am torn though because the Lord John books are only available from my library in ebook format. This is relevant because technically the Lord John series should be consumed before book 4 and I'm debating if I want to read them via ebook (if a 2 week check out will be long enough to get through a Diana Gabaldon book) or listen on Audible, which essentially means using my monthly credits on Outlander for the next 16 months, unless there are good sales (which I've been looking for and not finding). #readingproblems
I got to talk about books and audiobooks throughout the weekend and I even browsed a bookstore while we were in Asheville which brought me so much joy in my heart.
Anyways, on to this past month and what I've devoured.
Rating scale*:
1/5 - Hated it, didn't finish.2/5 - Tolerated it on principle to finish, didn't like it.
3/5 - Eh, didn't love it, didn't hate it. Had some good parts/kept me interested/finished it on principle.
3.5/5 - I liked parts of it.
4/5 - I liked the whole thing.
4.5/5 - I liked it a lot, but not sure I'd read it again.
5/5 - I LURVED it and I'd read it again.
*Subject to change based on my mood, the phase of the moon, or other unpredictable variables.
Skimmers, stick with the bold text (TL;DR* parts).
PS. Possible spoilers included in reviews.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly 4/5 (audiobook)
Throughout the entire book I hated Caroline. I struggled with Kasha's bad attitude, as if I would be any different. I also struggled with Heta's indifference, but appreciated the view from the other side of a well-told story. I would actually groan when Caroline's parts started. Learning that Caroline was a real person didn't make me like her anymore.
This book has 3 main characters. An American who is obsessed with France and has an affair with a married French dude then war happens and they are separated then they reconnect and then she ignores him and then gives him a chance, then ignores him again, and in the end we learn what I thought all along, she's a selfish bitch. A Polish teenager who ends up as a Nazi test experiment and a bitter woman (expectedly) and in the end finds redemption. And finally, a Nazi doctor who was very pro-Aryan and ends up getting let off the hook for the shitty-shit she did while working as a doctor in the camps. The characters do eventually all connect in the end, but I was worried that wouldn't be the case for a while.
TL;DR: WW2 book about 3 different characters. The title is only relevant because lilacs are a very hearty flower that bloom despite adversity (adversity being war, of course).
King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard 3.75/5 (ebook)
The 3rd book of the Red Queen series, which was "long" awaited after Kristen turned me onto the Red Queen last summer. Picking up where I left off, I still hate Mare Barrow. She's whiny and annoying and I want to punch her in the ovaries. So to see her tortured made me feel better that I had suffered for so long. But then, it becomes a passive torture with silent stone and even I started to feel like I was wearing silent stone manacles. About the time I started getting bored, Mare was "rescued" and characters started turning on each other (as they tend to do in this series). The bullshit with Mare and Cal and Maven continues on; "I'm fucked up, so I should be with the most fucked up of the brothers."
There is supposed to be a 4th book. I still mostly hate Mare. I'm reading now because I'm committed and want to know how it ends. Lord, please let it end soon.
TL;DR: When Mare is like, "Thanks for rescuing me, but go fuck yourself," to Cal, I probably would have thrown the book if I hadn't been reading this on my Kindle. I HATE MARE. She is infuriating.
A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron 4.5/5 (audiobook)
This book is written from the dog's perspective and I worried at first that I would get annoyed with it. I can't say that I didn't, there were parts of the narrative that were just story telling and then the author remembered this is from the dog's perspective, so we need to remind readers about that. I started to get annoyed with the cycle of life and I was glad when the book finally ended.
Parts I cried at: Putting Bailey down. Holy balls, the ugly cry.
My neighbors are trying to talk me into reading A Dog's Journey, which is the sequel to A Dog's Purpose, but I'm not sure how motivated I am. Maybe if I can find it from the library for freeizzle?
TL;DR: A story about dog who is on a quest to fulfill his life's purpose. For as many lives as it takes, apparently.
Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid 4.75/5 (ebook)
TJR is officially one of my "must read the entire collection of works" authors now. I was skeptical about this book because I wanted a resolution. I was riding the struggle bus for the first half because I just wanted to know which scenes were "real" vs not. It's complicated. Also, there's been a lot of recognition lately that I'm not a kid-person, so the whole story line about being knocked up just didn't really do anything for me. That was probably just a Megan problem.
But by the end, I really enjoyed this book.
TL;DR: Hannah either gets hit by a car or doesn't and you get to read both story lines.
Hemingway Didn't Say That: The Truth Behind Familiar Quotations by Garson O'Toole
1-DNF/5 (ebook)
I wanted to like this book because I like quotes and history and language and technology and this book was just boring to me. Essentially he took a quote and presented his research and that was it. I'm not sure why I expected more after all the reviews, but maybe I took them with a little too much salt?
TL;DR: Word Etymology is so much more intriguing that quote history. Says me.
In Progress:
- Black Cross by Greg Iles */5 (audiobook)
- Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein */5 (ebook)
- The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood */5 (paperback)
On Deck:
- The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon */5 (library)
- Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon */5
YAY for books!
*TL;DR = too long, don't read
Monday, April 10, 2017
Weekend Review {4/10}
Last month, Teh PT Wife invited me to a ladies weekend that she had planned in Asheville and I was like, DUHH YES. This past weekend, it went down.
We were leaving Charleston at 11, so at 1050, I walked my stuff the 2 doors down to get loaded in the car, went back home and put the dogs in their crates and locked up. After the car was loaded, we headed to Summerville for a "quick" lunch at Wendy's and to the bank. Due to traffic, we didn't manage to get on the road until almost 1. Oops.
The biggest excitement of the drive was when I spilled almost an entire xxlarge cup of tea in the center console because the lid came off as I was putting it back in the cup holder. We had to pull off at the first exit so I could clean up my mes.. Fortunately, no one was super wet by the splash and the cup holder caught most of it. Pretty sure I/we used most of a roll of paper towels to soak up all that tea. Excitement box checked, we continued tracking to Asheville, arriving 5ish.
We got into the house (an Air BnB find) and got the car unloaded. We had one other person driving in from Raleigh and she had hit some serious traffic. While we were waiting on her to arrive, we went on a field trip to the grocery store. We were obviously starving and super thirsty.
There had been talk of going out dancing and I explained that I didn't bring any fancy clothes with me (turns out, I also didn't bring any bras with me either, so I got to wear the same bra from Friday to Monday and when I took it off on Monday night, I could hear it weeping). Additionally, there were only 4 towels in the house and we had 6 people, so we needed to pick up 2 towels. Conveniently, near the grocery store, there was also a Family Dollar. We stopped by and picked up towels and I also happened to find 3 cute "fancy" shirts. We also walked around the thrift store before we headed back to the house.
After our final posse member arrived, we all decided we were pretty tired and opted to order Papa John's instead of going out. Since it was a Friday night, it was a 30 minute wait, but it worked out fine. I went with Teh PT Wife to pick up the pizzas. When we got back, it was pizza and drinking and chatting until we all agreed it was bedtime.
I discovered as I was getting ready for bed that I had forgotten to bring bras, which made sense, since I knew I was forgetting something when I left but couldn't figure out what it was. I definitely felt bad for the bra I wore on Friday since it was going to see a lot of action all weekend long, since none of it's siblings was there to give it a break.
My big news on Friday was that I finally joined the Snapchat world. I'm seriously no good at it and the rainbow mouth filter is my favorite. I even talked Teh German into signing up purely so I could send him Snaps. Things I'm sorry for: NONE.
After we finished walking through the house (which took longer than I expected), we were famished, so we found the first food place that would take us and ate lunch. After lunch, we walked through the shops at the house. I couldn't contain myself anymore and broke off to get a head start on taking a mabillionty photos. #worthit
Eventually the other ladies joined me at the gardens and we walked through the Consvatory and we started to walk to the pond but got tired and turned around. We did see a bride taking her bridal portraits and we did the, "congratulations, when are you getting married?" chat. I can't remember when she said, but she did say she was mildly embarrassed to be doing the photo shoot with all the people around and I told her to embrace it and explained how awkward we felt in downtown Charleston kissing and looking at each other as randos passed us.
When we got back up to the house, we walked to the end of the yard for pics in front of the entire house, which happen to be on my camera... oops. Here's a selfie instead.
After we got back to the house, we jumped on the shuttled and headed to the car. We had planned on going to the winery for the tasting. On our way there, we got distracted by the baby sheeps where we learned that I speak sheep. Every time I would "bahhhh", one of the adult sheep would "baaahhh" back. This reminded me of the screaming goats videos on YouTube, which I happily disseminated the link to since no one else had heard of it.
After the sheep stop, we finally made it to the winery.. except first we had to go visit the petting zoo to see the baby goats. I won't lie, they were kinda cute, but I was super thirsty. It was a miraculous discovery when I was washing my hands after the animal area and there, in a golden beam of sunlight (or maybe that sunbeam was fabricated in my mind), was a water fountain. I seriously made a poor life choice when I opted not to bring a Turvis or my Camelbak with me. #Meganfail
We did finally make it to the wine tasting.
I endured sips of wine, but mostly just passed off my samples to the other ladies. The one that I did enjoy was a German wine, imagine that. While the other ladies were buying wine, I walked around and noticed the Asheville Half Marathon commemorative wine which made me sad about not running. Eventually, I headed outside to take a few more flower photos (because golden hour is important).
After the winery, we decided we were done with Biltmore and headed to meet the other ladies who had been downtown all day since they hadn't want to visit the Biltmore. My gang was super awesome and stopped for me to take pics of the canola fields.
We met up downtown at a bar that didn't have food and quickly moved on to Asheville Brewing Company so we could eat dinner. A random guy ended up joining us for dinner, which was an awkward thing. I watched the end of the Hurricanes vs St. Louis hockey game while we ate, which we lost in a shoot out, BOOOOOO. My wings were so spicy I couldn't eat them, but the tater tots were delicious.
After dinner, we headed to Hookah Joe's since most of our posse hadn't smoked hookah before. After walking around Biltmore all day, the last thing we wanted to do was go out dancing, so chilling at a hookah bar was perfect. We were able to get drinks too, which made it extra perfect. After 2 hookah sessions, we finally left around 0030 and headed back to our house for bedtime.
Things I was disappointed by: 1. Disappointment that was food related: 0.
When I took my first bite of bacon, I felt something hard in my mouth while I was chewing and I managed to fish it out and threw it on the ground and I didn't think anything of it. After consuming that mound of deliciousness, I was cleaning out my teeth (since bread really like to stick around, espceially behind my molars) and when I stuck my finger behind my molar (like the lady I am), I noticed that a piece of my tooth was missing. W.T.F. It didn't hurt, so I didn't even notice. I didn't even notice while I was eating.
One of the ladies is a dental hygienist so she tried to look at it but said that since it wasn't sensitive it was probably fine. But seriously, ya'll, my damn tooth broke! This was jarring to me because nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I've had some cavities, but nothing serious like a piece of my tooth falling off. I take care of my teeth! This doesn't make it seem like it.
After we all finished eating (and I tried to supress my freakout), we walked through a consignment shop and then headed to the car. We went to the Biltmore shopping area and walked around and checked out overpriced stuff. I tried on some bras at Soma, but none that I tried on really did it for me. #moneysaved
We headed back to the car to drive downtown to peruse the downtown stores. After walking through a few stores, we stopped by a wine bar (water for me, kthx) where the bartender/server had a rat tail. Oh you think I'm joking? NO. The female server had a rat tail. You'll have to click the pic to see it.
We saw a LOT of interesting hair styles in Asheville. A lot of things that made me uncomfortable. Eventually, we left the wine bar and headed to the chocolate shop.
While we were walking around downtown, I sent Teh Running Bestie this photo with the caption: Why do we want to run an Asheville race again? She quickly responded that she would be promptly removing Asheville from her running list..
After the chocolate shop, we rushed over to Mast General Store which most everyone hadn't heard of before. I tried to explain the history behind the store, but we all kinda split up to explore the store since it closed 20 minutes after we arrived. I tried on a few tops, but nothing worked, so more #moneysaved.
We had dinner reservations at 7, so we started to make our way back to the car while looking for a bathroom since I was about to pee in my pants. Several shops spoke of this mysterious public bathroom that took me forever to find and then it was closed because Sunday. I was ready to shank a bitch. We managed to find a bathroom in a bookstore with a cafe, #praiseAllah. Since we weren't in a super hurry, Teh PT Wife and I perused the bookstore, which brought me so.much.joy. I didn't buy anything because library and Audible, but I probably could have spent all day in there.
Eventually the group caught up with us and we made it back to the car. We headed to Copper Crown for dinner. It was "fancy" but only kinda. The food was good, even though the brussel sprouts (not pictured) were fried and gave me super horrible indigestion.
After dinner, I spied that the Hot Now sign was on at Krispy Kreme, so we stopped and picked up a dozen.
Finally, we headed home for a "quiet" evening of drinking and playing Cards Against Humanity.
Teh PT Wife wanted to stop by the mall, which did. I bought a dress at Belk since it was on sale. Teh Dental Hygienist bought a super cute pineapple shirt (a real unicorn) that I would have bought if I could have found another one, but it wasn't for me, despite checking the racks and at other stores. I reminded her several times that I'd rehome the shirt if she decided she no longer wanted it one day.
We left the mall by 1:00 to head back to Charleston.
Teh German was home when we got home and helped me move back in. Phil and Meri were super excited to see me, which is unusual. Phil was velcro-ed to my side throughout the evening and Meri's springs were extra springy. We were lazy for the rest of the evening. I made sweet carrots and we had those with sandwiches for dinner. There were leftovers from the cookout Teh German had hosted Sunday, but it was easier to have sandwiches for dinner than eat the cookout leftovers and have to figure out something for lunch on Tuesday.
I have a super sexy rash around my mouth and nose and starting on my neck, which I assume are from the face wipes I had purchased to travel with. I deduced this since this same thing happened when we went to NC in March and I used these face wipes. Said wipes have been thrown in the garbage.
I was a good fiance and I gifted Teh German with a new pint glass (not that it was pretty, but that it said "Asheville"), NC coffee, and a cigar. I tried to barter a back massage out of it, but we'll see if that turns out.
This week and weekend are currently empty, which I'm sure I know how that will turn out.
Phil update:
He pissed in the loft before I left, but Teh German said he had no accidents all weekend. He's taking the doxy, but I'm still on the fence about his BP meds. I will probably start him on them this week and monitor him very closely. We haven't done any diet changes because I'm just not certain about kidney failure.
Hip update:
I spent a lot of time sitting and walking around during the weekend and my hip still hurts. At this point, if the cortisone shot was working, I'd be feeling no pain. This is disappointing, but expected news. I think I may call the Ortho on the 21st to be like, "This shit ain't workin'," since he wanted to give it a month. I want to expedite this process to get my recovery started as soon as possible.
Reminder: I have Snapchat now. Send me funny things.
FRIDAY
While I could have been a nice person on Friday and called in for my meeting, I didn't. Instead, I flexed my hours and slept in and didn't give any fucks about work (after deciding that I wasn't interested in doing work). I had intentions on going to the gym, but after sleeping in, getting dressed (to include putting on my shoes), and getting downstairs, I realized that I'd have to rush to get ready when I got back if I went to the gym. Boo. Instead I sat at the kitchen island and ate a bowl of cereal and did my morning internet routine. Eventually, I got up and started packing. While I was in the bedroom, Phil decided that the loft was a good place to pee and I got a little ragey at him for ruining my relaxed zen and making me have to run the carpet cleaner. The only good thing about the situation was that I caught him in the act so I was able to scold him. For punishment, I put him outside until I left. |
| I left Teh German a sappy note... Which he didn't notice until Saturday afternoon. |
We were leaving Charleston at 11, so at 1050, I walked my stuff the 2 doors down to get loaded in the car, went back home and put the dogs in their crates and locked up. After the car was loaded, we headed to Summerville for a "quick" lunch at Wendy's and to the bank. Due to traffic, we didn't manage to get on the road until almost 1. Oops.
The biggest excitement of the drive was when I spilled almost an entire xxlarge cup of tea in the center console because the lid came off as I was putting it back in the cup holder. We had to pull off at the first exit so I could clean up my mes.. Fortunately, no one was super wet by the splash and the cup holder caught most of it. Pretty sure I/we used most of a roll of paper towels to soak up all that tea. Excitement box checked, we continued tracking to Asheville, arriving 5ish.
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| Teapocalypse |
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| YAY NC! The state line sign never fails to make me feel giddy. |
We got into the house (an Air BnB find) and got the car unloaded. We had one other person driving in from Raleigh and she had hit some serious traffic. While we were waiting on her to arrive, we went on a field trip to the grocery store. We were obviously starving and super thirsty.
There had been talk of going out dancing and I explained that I didn't bring any fancy clothes with me (turns out, I also didn't bring any bras with me either, so I got to wear the same bra from Friday to Monday and when I took it off on Monday night, I could hear it weeping). Additionally, there were only 4 towels in the house and we had 6 people, so we needed to pick up 2 towels. Conveniently, near the grocery store, there was also a Family Dollar. We stopped by and picked up towels and I also happened to find 3 cute "fancy" shirts. We also walked around the thrift store before we headed back to the house.
After our final posse member arrived, we all decided we were pretty tired and opted to order Papa John's instead of going out. Since it was a Friday night, it was a 30 minute wait, but it worked out fine. I went with Teh PT Wife to pick up the pizzas. When we got back, it was pizza and drinking and chatting until we all agreed it was bedtime.
I discovered as I was getting ready for bed that I had forgotten to bring bras, which made sense, since I knew I was forgetting something when I left but couldn't figure out what it was. I definitely felt bad for the bra I wore on Friday since it was going to see a lot of action all weekend long, since none of it's siblings was there to give it a break.
My big news on Friday was that I finally joined the Snapchat world. I'm seriously no good at it and the rainbow mouth filter is my favorite. I even talked Teh German into signing up purely so I could send him Snaps. Things I'm sorry for: NONE.
SATURDAY
Saturday was the big day. We had planned a trip to the Biltmore House. We slept in, had cereal for breakfast, and started getting ready. Everyone but me is into makeup/hair, so I was feeling a little under-dressed. One of the ladies is a hair dresser, so she blow dried my hair and curled it for me. I went the extra step and borrowed some mascara to put on and I was "Megan fancy." We had to stop by guest services to have our tickets printed which took a few minutes, but we were able to get into the house right at our time, 1130. Walking through the house was great because I was with people who had never been to the Biltmore before, so it was super exciting for them. Having been there before, I've seen the stuff so it's not as exciting for me, but I love experiencing other people's excitement. I was containing all my excitement for the flowers.
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| I sent this photo to Teh German asking if this could be his next Crossfit box. That rowing machine though... |
After we finished walking through the house (which took longer than I expected), we were famished, so we found the first food place that would take us and ate lunch. After lunch, we walked through the shops at the house. I couldn't contain myself anymore and broke off to get a head start on taking a mabillionty photos. #worthit
Eventually the other ladies joined me at the gardens and we walked through the Consvatory and we started to walk to the pond but got tired and turned around. We did see a bride taking her bridal portraits and we did the, "congratulations, when are you getting married?" chat. I can't remember when she said, but she did say she was mildly embarrassed to be doing the photo shoot with all the people around and I told her to embrace it and explained how awkward we felt in downtown Charleston kissing and looking at each other as randos passed us.
When we got back up to the house, we walked to the end of the yard for pics in front of the entire house, which happen to be on my camera... oops. Here's a selfie instead.
After we got back to the house, we jumped on the shuttled and headed to the car. We had planned on going to the winery for the tasting. On our way there, we got distracted by the baby sheeps where we learned that I speak sheep. Every time I would "bahhhh", one of the adult sheep would "baaahhh" back. This reminded me of the screaming goats videos on YouTube, which I happily disseminated the link to since no one else had heard of it.
After the sheep stop, we finally made it to the winery.. except first we had to go visit the petting zoo to see the baby goats. I won't lie, they were kinda cute, but I was super thirsty. It was a miraculous discovery when I was washing my hands after the animal area and there, in a golden beam of sunlight (or maybe that sunbeam was fabricated in my mind), was a water fountain. I seriously made a poor life choice when I opted not to bring a Turvis or my Camelbak with me. #Meganfail
We did finally make it to the wine tasting.
I endured sips of wine, but mostly just passed off my samples to the other ladies. The one that I did enjoy was a German wine, imagine that. While the other ladies were buying wine, I walked around and noticed the Asheville Half Marathon commemorative wine which made me sad about not running. Eventually, I headed outside to take a few more flower photos (because golden hour is important).
After the winery, we decided we were done with Biltmore and headed to meet the other ladies who had been downtown all day since they hadn't want to visit the Biltmore. My gang was super awesome and stopped for me to take pics of the canola fields.
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| I'm probably most proud of this photo of the 500 I took. |
We met up downtown at a bar that didn't have food and quickly moved on to Asheville Brewing Company so we could eat dinner. A random guy ended up joining us for dinner, which was an awkward thing. I watched the end of the Hurricanes vs St. Louis hockey game while we ate, which we lost in a shoot out, BOOOOOO. My wings were so spicy I couldn't eat them, but the tater tots were delicious.
After dinner, we headed to Hookah Joe's since most of our posse hadn't smoked hookah before. After walking around Biltmore all day, the last thing we wanted to do was go out dancing, so chilling at a hookah bar was perfect. We were able to get drinks too, which made it extra perfect. After 2 hookah sessions, we finally left around 0030 and headed back to our house for bedtime.
SUNDAY
Sunday morning was lazy/relaxed/shopping day. We weren't in a hurry, so we took our time getting ready. I had a snack because I had learned on Saturday that "getting ready" is a process that takes time. I even laid down and took a quick nap since I was ready well before everyone else. Once everyone else was ready, we headed out to Biscuithead for brunch. |
| Biscuit, pulled pork (of course), with a poached egg and bacon. |
Things I was disappointed by: 1. Disappointment that was food related: 0.
When I took my first bite of bacon, I felt something hard in my mouth while I was chewing and I managed to fish it out and threw it on the ground and I didn't think anything of it. After consuming that mound of deliciousness, I was cleaning out my teeth (since bread really like to stick around, espceially behind my molars) and when I stuck my finger behind my molar (like the lady I am), I noticed that a piece of my tooth was missing. W.T.F. It didn't hurt, so I didn't even notice. I didn't even notice while I was eating.
One of the ladies is a dental hygienist so she tried to look at it but said that since it wasn't sensitive it was probably fine. But seriously, ya'll, my damn tooth broke! This was jarring to me because nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I've had some cavities, but nothing serious like a piece of my tooth falling off. I take care of my teeth! This doesn't make it seem like it.
After we all finished eating (and I tried to supress my freakout), we walked through a consignment shop and then headed to the car. We went to the Biltmore shopping area and walked around and checked out overpriced stuff. I tried on some bras at Soma, but none that I tried on really did it for me. #moneysaved
We headed back to the car to drive downtown to peruse the downtown stores. After walking through a few stores, we stopped by a wine bar (water for me, kthx) where the bartender/server had a rat tail. Oh you think I'm joking? NO. The female server had a rat tail. You'll have to click the pic to see it.
We saw a LOT of interesting hair styles in Asheville. A lot of things that made me uncomfortable. Eventually, we left the wine bar and headed to the chocolate shop.
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| Cell phone pic I'm most proud of. Look at that set up. #foodie LOL |
While we were walking around downtown, I sent Teh Running Bestie this photo with the caption: Why do we want to run an Asheville race again? She quickly responded that she would be promptly removing Asheville from her running list..
After the chocolate shop, we rushed over to Mast General Store which most everyone hadn't heard of before. I tried to explain the history behind the store, but we all kinda split up to explore the store since it closed 20 minutes after we arrived. I tried on a few tops, but nothing worked, so more #moneysaved.
We had dinner reservations at 7, so we started to make our way back to the car while looking for a bathroom since I was about to pee in my pants. Several shops spoke of this mysterious public bathroom that took me forever to find and then it was closed because Sunday. I was ready to shank a bitch. We managed to find a bathroom in a bookstore with a cafe, #praiseAllah. Since we weren't in a super hurry, Teh PT Wife and I perused the bookstore, which brought me so.much.joy. I didn't buy anything because library and Audible, but I probably could have spent all day in there.
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| We passed this place and I had to get a picture to show Teh German. |
Eventually the group caught up with us and we made it back to the car. We headed to Copper Crown for dinner. It was "fancy" but only kinda. The food was good, even though the brussel sprouts (not pictured) were fried and gave me super horrible indigestion.
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| scallops |
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| adult beverage with Sailor Jerry |
After dinner, I spied that the Hot Now sign was on at Krispy Kreme, so we stopped and picked up a dozen.
Finally, we headed home for a "quiet" evening of drinking and playing Cards Against Humanity.
MONDAY
Monday was a slow start. We were lazy. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast since we knew they wouldn't last the drive home. We were out of the house by 1050, 10 minutes before "checkout" time. We had to play tetris to get the back of the car loaded. #challengeaccepted
Teh PT Wife wanted to stop by the mall, which did. I bought a dress at Belk since it was on sale. Teh Dental Hygienist bought a super cute pineapple shirt (a real unicorn) that I would have bought if I could have found another one, but it wasn't for me, despite checking the racks and at other stores. I reminded her several times that I'd rehome the shirt if she decided she no longer wanted it one day.
We left the mall by 1:00 to head back to Charleston.
Teh German was home when we got home and helped me move back in. Phil and Meri were super excited to see me, which is unusual. Phil was velcro-ed to my side throughout the evening and Meri's springs were extra springy. We were lazy for the rest of the evening. I made sweet carrots and we had those with sandwiches for dinner. There were leftovers from the cookout Teh German had hosted Sunday, but it was easier to have sandwiches for dinner than eat the cookout leftovers and have to figure out something for lunch on Tuesday.
_____________________________________________
Overall, an amazing weekend. I was able to hang out with some amazing women who tolerated me for 4 days. They all deserve many gold stars.I have a super sexy rash around my mouth and nose and starting on my neck, which I assume are from the face wipes I had purchased to travel with. I deduced this since this same thing happened when we went to NC in March and I used these face wipes. Said wipes have been thrown in the garbage.
I was a good fiance and I gifted Teh German with a new pint glass (not that it was pretty, but that it said "Asheville"), NC coffee, and a cigar. I tried to barter a back massage out of it, but we'll see if that turns out.
This week and weekend are currently empty, which I'm sure I know how that will turn out.
Phil update:
He pissed in the loft before I left, but Teh German said he had no accidents all weekend. He's taking the doxy, but I'm still on the fence about his BP meds. I will probably start him on them this week and monitor him very closely. We haven't done any diet changes because I'm just not certain about kidney failure.
Hip update:
I spent a lot of time sitting and walking around during the weekend and my hip still hurts. At this point, if the cortisone shot was working, I'd be feeling no pain. This is disappointing, but expected news. I think I may call the Ortho on the 21st to be like, "This shit ain't workin'," since he wanted to give it a month. I want to expedite this process to get my recovery started as soon as possible.
Reminder: I have Snapchat now. Send me funny things.
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