Sick day

Well, I ended up staying home Tuesday. My allergies got completely out of hand. My throat swelled nearly closed and my head felt like it was trapped in a vice. After failing an attempted shower, I crawled back in bed, emerging only to make lunch for my love and fall back to sleep on the couch in an allergy med induced stupor. My entire morning passed that way. The rest of the day, I just felt stung out on antihistamines, which is highly unpleasant.

Here's to hoping Wednesday is a bit more pleasant!

My favorite morning

I woke up the morning of our wedding in my own bed....our space bed. No alarm went off. I just opened my eyes, just before the sun. I was snuggled up and warm....right next to the man whose arms I'd fallen asleep in. I slept well. I got a full night's sleep the night before my wedding - a thing I'd been told was impossible to accomplish.

"It's Christmas!"

He gave a very sleepy giggle. Of course, you all know, I didn't get married at Christmas. :) We meandered to the living room and shared a pot of coffee, nipped with hazelnut liquor and almond biscottis that were left over from making the favors. I made a good, homemade breakfast. He played video games. I sat at the kitchen table and scheduled a couple blogs for during the honeymoon while listening to our wedding playlists. We practiced our first dance in our lounging clothes (except I had my wedding shoes on, which is pretty funny with pajama pants). Then we showered, and he ran out for a few missing items and lunch for us and two bridesmaids. We were together, alone, until about 1:30pm. We left the house an hour later, with the two bridesmaids and all of our booty for the wedding packed neatly into my Element.

It was the most amazingly relaxed morning I have ever experienced. Thanks to my wonderful maids (and honorary extra maid), everything for the wedding that could be finished ahead of time, was. There was nothing lingering that needed our attention. We'd even loaded the car the night before. All we had to do was shower, and I had to do my makeup. Everything else had to wait til we got to the venue, and there was no need to worry about that ahead of time. We were utterly calm on our way out of the house. The stress that occurred after we arrived at the venue was made far more palatable by our slow, stress-free morning alone. It just strengthened what I already knew about our relationship - together, we are far more likely to succeed at whatever we put our minds to and far more effectively and efficiently than we could alone. It made me even more confident in the vows we would be making later that day.

Alone time

I debated and actually sort of agonized over whether my husband and I should spend the night before our wedding apart. Did we want to tempt the fabled "bad luck" of seeing each other on our wedding day? It really came down to two issues.

First I had to research the tradition to decide if it even made any sense for us and who we are as a couple. That's how I decided whether or not to use almost every tradition attached to weddings. After a little digging, it turned out that brides and grooms were kept separate so that one party could not change their mind at the last minute based on looks in arranged marriages where the betrothed couples had never met. This is not an arranged marriage. The tradition of this stand point seemed lacking. I believe in our culture today, we're suppose to be kept separate to keep us from fighting out of stress. Again, if we can't work together during stressful occasion, we don't need to be getting married yet. Life is stressful, after all, and I chose to seek him out in times of stress, not avoid him.

Once tradition was thrown out the window, we had to look at practicality. I know that waiting to see him at the head of the aisle for the first time that day would have been far more dramatic and climactic. Other brides have told me that they didn't think they'd get the much of a reaction if they'd seen their groom all day leading up to that. So, I worried I was robbing us of this feeling. Worse, I worried I was robbing our guests of witnessing that heightened emotion. Semantics would have been a nightmare though. We did not hire coordinators. Our family and friends pulled together to set up the venue in an hour and a half....part of which I had to disappear to put my dress on and finish my hair. Our venue was a wide, open space. There was no way for us to both be in the venue at the same time without seeing each other. The practicality of avoiding one another seemed even more stressful than coming together to make this wedding ROCK.

After much thought and many conversations with one another, we decided that we really didn't want to be apart during one of the most exciting days of our relationship so far. No energy was put into staying away from each other. It actually added to the calmness of our day. It was a wonderful decision for us, and it lead to one of my favorite mornings ever.

Quiet

It's our quiet day. He's asleep on one side of me on the couch. Both cats are asleep on the other side of me. And then there's me....making a grocery list and resting a tweaked knee. Certainly not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

This wasn't taken today, but it's a good representation of the scene here.

Dawning of a new day

We woke up not-so-bright-but-early! It was still dark outside. Now, really, this is probably because we were so worn out that we fell asleep at 9pm sharp! Waking up at 6am is really quite a good night's sleep. I feel refreshed!

The sad part comes first.....funeral in a log church in the woods.

Next comes the merriment.......Scarborough and friends I haven't seen in a year.

Quite a mixed day. I hope I survive the emotional rollercoaster.

Friday updates and a memory

So, my little herb garden has bloomed are starting to be come recognizable plants. Unfortunately, they look a little pale and weak. I'm afraid my kitchen window sill just isn't allowing the little guys enough good, hearty sunlight. The problem is that I don't have a convenient space outside for my little babies. What's a girl to do?! Get a UV lamp? Has anyone done that?

I am so proud of my workout accomplishments this week! I did two hour-long belly dance practice sessions and an hour Latin fusion dance class plus 2000m on a rowing machine this week. I think that's a decent week's worth of exercise, don't you? And my reward for this effort......? I gained half a pound. (Insert expletives here.) Are you kidding me?! Ugh. Oh well.


Now for the memory....I think this one is appropriate, as Scarborough opens tomorrow. This was Memorial Day 2008. I was in sheer heaven. We were all freshly in love. We'd been together three months. It was a completely wonderful, carefree feeling. We're standing in the field in front of my cabin for these photos. It was such a good day!

Making me wait

This week is a week of waiting. It's been a VERY long week due to this waiting.

• Waiting for the car to arrive at the dealership.
• Waiting to attend a funeral.
• Waiting for a friend to make it into town.
• Waiting for Scarborough to open.

I feel like all I've done this week is count minutes. Every evening has been spent preparing for the very busy weekend ahead. It's hard to enjoy the day itself when it's spent waiting and making ready. I'm tired already. I hope I'm not exhausted by the time it finally arrives.

Anyone else out there having a week like this? It's so draining.