Dishes

Niall pretty much let me take the reins when it came to our wedding registry. Registries aren't common in Ireland, so he was pretty unfamiliar with the concept. I decided that our china pattern was Wedgwood Butterfly Bloom because it was pretty with just the right amount of whimsy. Niall shrugged and said that was fine.

I ended up putting a lot of fancy dishes on the registry, because they were nice and also the kind of things we would not buy for ourselves but that other people seemed to enjoy buying for us. (I hate the way that sounds, like I'm deigning to LET people buy nice, expensive things for us. But I had initially put only this set of 4 plates on the registry and at my bridal shower my mom's friend told me flat out that I needed to add more fancy things to the registry because I didn't have enough nice stuff on there. So I added a lot more of the fancy china pieces (i.e. sandwich plate, teacups, teapot).)

Anyhow, this is the pattern:

Image from Amazon.com

Pretty, right?
We received several of the above sets of plates and when we got the first one I opened the box and started loading the dishes into our kitchen cabinets.
Niall, horrified, asked what the hell I was doing.
"I'm... putting these in the cabinet? So we can use them?" My thinking was that we had the dishes and I liked looking at them, so we should use and enjoy them. Niall's thinking was that they were very expensive dishes and that's not what his mom one does with fancy dishes-- one is supposed to put them away and save them for a special occasion.
So we compromised and put the dishes away for a special occasion, but also got a china hutch to display some of my our favorites.

You may also spy some Belleek items. It's possible that I... got a little carried away with the registry.

We've been using my mismatched Goodwill dishes for everyday use, until I got the following BRILLIANT IDEA.
I ordered this plate making kit and these markers and brought them to Thanksgiving weekend with my family. The kit just consists of circles of paper that you color your design on and it turned out to be the perfect activity for kids aged 3 through 16. They all loved it! And it was a good activity for them while dinner wasn't ready yet. And they even liked the idea that the plates were for me.
After the kids finished their designs, I sent the paper circles along with my payment and the order form back to the company. The finished plates arrived last week!

Here are some of my faves:

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. They're melamine, which means you can't put them in the microwave, but they go in the dishwasher just fine. And they're very sturdy. And I just. LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

Oh, you don't want to use the fancy plates on a daily basis, Niall? Challenge accepted.

Mixed Feelings

Severalmany years ago I wrote a post about a darling little mixer that I bought from a thrift store. It really was adorable and quirky and fit right into my retro kitchen that I was struggling to have, despite the modern, new construction apartment I was inhabiting.

I tried to tell myself that I didn’t really need one of those KitchenAid mixers. They’re so highfalutin and expensive and PROBABLY FULL OF NARGLES. I’m too cool for that thing everybody else likes because I’m a unique human person snowflake.

But, uh. Then I was getting married and I made a gift registry (because *I* always appreciate when someone has a registry. Let’s not get dragged down that tangent, she says, deleting three paragraphs about registries). Anyhow, I made a gift registry and I included a KitchenAid mixer because, well, it wouldn’t be something I would want to buy for myself and a wedding is an excellent excuse to get the sorts of things one wouldn’t buy for oneself (see also: fancy china, nice towels, expensive waffle iron).

So we got the new KitchenAid mixer as a wedding present from some of my relatives and, yep, I’m totally that person who needs a KitchenAid mixer.

Look at this beauty. LOOK RIGHT AT HER.

Sweet little retro mixer has gone off to a new owner, hopefully one that will love it as much as I did.

And a few weeks ago the fancy new mixer and I made Irish brown bread, like some kind of MAGICIAN.

contact high

When I was a kid, I was lucky enough to go skiing pretty much every winter with my family. I had a child’s fearlessness and boundless energy, so it was pretty much the most fun evarrrr. Whooshing down the mountain at breakneck speed (no helmet, of course), only stopping for a lunch of chicken tenders and fries? Yes please. Skiing was amazing!

In high school I got a snowboard, so I learned how to snowboard. At first I scoffed at the idea of taking a lesson. I was a SURFER, so obviously I could snowboard no problem. But then it turned out that (for me at least) the skill(s) did not transfer from one board sport to the other, so I spent a day careening down the hills and falling violently ass-over-teakettle many MANY times. It’s a miracle that I didn’t break anything. It’s possible that I did sustain an untreated concussion.

Anyhow, the next time I went I took a lesson! And it was easier. And from then on I’ve been a snowboarder. I mean “a snowboarder” in the most literal way possible—a person who snowboards. Not, like a person EXCELS at snowboarding in any way. I’ve never felt completely comfortable on a snowboard. There’s always the possibility that I very well could break every bone in my body. I  mean, it’s fun, but interspersed with moments of panic: getting off the ski lift, getting on the ski lift, looking down while on the ski lift (though this is not limited to snowboarding- can we agree that ski lifts are terrifying?), going too fast, going on too steep a hill, too much ice, too many trees and/or rocks, that moment when you catch your edge and you’re about to fall, falling, trying to get up after falling with people careening around you.

Last year, Niall and I went to Tahoe for his birthday weekend. We stayed in a little hotel by the lake and went out to fancy dinners like real adult humans. On his actual birthday we planned to go up to Heavenly for some fun on the slopes. Niall had said he was going to rent a pair of skis from the local sports shop, and I got the brilliant idea to also rent a pair of skis. Skiing! Hey, I used to be REALLY good at skiing! I probably still am! It’s one of those skills that you retain forever, I’m sure!  I totally should rent a pair of skis and show Niall just how awesome I am at skiing!

As I learned in Tahoe, if there is one thing that can make me feel like an ace on a snowboard it is SKIING.

Holey shirts and pants, you guys. It was so awful. I hyperventilated every time my skis were pointed down the mountain and parallel. Also, I couldn’t keep them parallel. Also,  I didn’t know how to balance facing forward. I didn’t know how to be on my edges  or to lift up a ski to make turns. I spent the entire time with my skis in “pizza” position, body hunched over, and ski poles dragging on the ground, using them like sad little brakes.

On top of all of this, I also couldn’t wear my prescription sunglasses because they were made more for looks than for sportiness. They wouldn’t have stayed on my face, so I just wore regular, non-prescription sunglasses. Not being able to see very well added a nice extra layer of difficulty, so the whole endeavor was frustrating, to say the least.

I managed to take out my frustrations pretty singularly on Niall (on his birthday!). He would shoot off ahead of me and then stop and wait, but the problem with that was that I got mad at him if he waited for me and also if he didn’t. And then he kept POINTING at stuff with his SKI POLE, even though I kept helpfully REMINDING him that the ski pole was the SAME COLOR AS THE TREES AND I CAN’T SEE WHICH WAY YOU ARE POINTING AND ALSO YOUR JACKET IS TOO WHY DID YOU WEAR THAT COLOR JACKET THAT MATCHES THE BACKGROUND I CAN'T SEE YOU WHERE ARE HAPPY BIRTHDAY BY THE WAY.

So.

Eventually I just took the gondola back down to the lodge, hiked out to the parking lot, and switched over to my snowboard. It took me about an hour to accomplish that task (and it was probably the best hour of skiing for Niall).

As you may recall, I recently got married (Hurrah!). Because I’m vain, I decided that I didn’t want to wear glasses on my wedding day.

Sidebar: I still don’t fully consider myself as somebody “who wears glasses,” even though I wear glasses pretty consistently. Maybe that’s because it came upon me gradually. At first I just needed my glasses once in awhile, if I were sitting particularly far back in a college lecture hall. Then I started needing them in all of my lectures. And then all of my classes and at the movies. And then while driving at night. And then a few years ago I went in to get my license renewed and the lady told me to take off my glasses and read the eye chart, so I took off my glasses and the eye chart disappeared. So. Now I wear glasses.

Anyhow, I didn’t want to wear my glasses on my wedding day which mean my choices were either (a) get contacts or (b) possibly not recognize my betrothed as I walked down the aisle. Niall, apparently traumatized by our skiing incident, encouraged me to get contacts.

So I got contacts! I went to the eye doctor and he had me put my head in an assortment of odd devices while he…. I dunno… took some measurements and assessments of my eyes or whatever. And then he gave me a starter set of contact lenses and showed me how to put them in. I spent THIRTY DUCKING MINUTES (literally ducking) trying to put in the first one before I finally got it. And the doctor, while very patient, had to wrap up our appointment. I went home and FINALLY got the damn things both in. They felt like tiny pieces of sandpaper.

People told me I would get used to them and I smiled and nodded, slightly teary-eyed and headachedy. Despite the initial hiccups, I have indeed gotten more used to them over time and have been able to enjoy a whole new world of non-prescription sunglasses, including this baller pair that I wore on my wedding day:

Niall still hasn’t said whether or not he’ll ever go skiing with me again, however.

missushappenings

I was going to call this post “mishaps” but then I decided the things that happened weren’t ACTUAL mishaps, they were just little stories of some things that went differently than I had expected-- nothing I wish I could go back in time and change. Mis-happenings, if you will. And THEN since they are wedding related items, I decided to call them MISSUShappenings. Get it? Get it? See what I did there?

Moving on.

1. This wasn’t a mishap or a happening at all but it keeps annoying me so I’ll mention it here: When the hell did it become customary to EXPECT there to be a flash mob or a choreographed dance in every wedding? I had several people ask me if we were “doing something fun” like a flash mob or choreographed dance at the wedding.  So the options therefore are either yes there will be one of those things or no there will be nothing fun at my wedding at all. No fun. A non-fun wedding.

Flash mobs can be shocking and fun and choreographed dances can be entertaining, but neither of those things are Niall’s and my style or things we wanted at our wedding. And also, if EVERYBODY has a flash mob, doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of a flash mob? Okay I can be done ranting about this now.

2. The wedding started at 2PM. The church coordinator lady wanted me to arrive by 1:45PM and my mom was in firm agreement. Evidently I was supposed to get there early and hang out in a hidey room so there would be time for me to take some deep breaths and fluff out my dress. Which, fine. Except for the fact that at this particular church the door to the offices and hidey room and so forth was RIGHT NEXT TO the main entrance of the church. There wasn’t some back entrance that we could sneak me into, I would have to go in through the front, presumably with people milling around before the wedding. Niall and his sisters told me that in Ireland, the bride is typically 5-15 minutes late. This made sense to me—they can’t very well start the ceremony WITHOUT me, right? So I decided that I would be the last to arrive. I’d leave the hotel in the last trip the limo made and just wait IN the limo outside the church until the last possible moment, then exit it at 1:58 and meet my dad in front of the church. Boom.
This idea threw my mom into such a panic that I ended up caving and left the hotel in the first limo trip and arrived at the church at about 1:20PM. Of course Niall and his groomsmen had just arrived also. Because of course. So my 4 niecemaids hopped out of the limo and ran into the church and to tell Niall to get the hell (sorry, HECK (we are in church, after all)) away because the bride is here and she needs to get to the hidey room! Shoo! Meanwhile, I’m in the limo outside and our priest opens the door, leans in and asks if the limo is going to make a trip back to the hotel because he forgot a book. Next to the priest, Niall’s uncle leans in and starts taking photos of me in the limo. I threw my hands over my face because I was so overwhelmed and annoyed and GAAAH GET AWAY FROM ME, NO NOT YOU, FATHER.
Finally, the coast was clear and I could make my way into the church. I stomped into the hidey room all aggravated because I KNEW IT I KNEW THAT WOULD HAPPEN, so it turned out to be a good thing that I had time to take some deep breaths and fluff out my dress. Plus, the hidey room ended up being a lot of fun. I told my niecemaids that THEY didn’t have to stay in there with me since I was really the only person who couldn’t be seen, but they were all "We want to be with you!" and were so enthusiastic and excited about unbustling my dress and helping me with my veil that it was just adorable.

3. During the rehearsal, the church coordinator lady had told my dad that once we got to the altar, he would shake hands with Niall and then kiss my hand and place it (my hand, not the kiss) in Niall’s hand. I nixed this because it felt waaaay too much like some sort of barter. “Here is my daughter, you own her now. And also this fatted hog and a small piece of land to till.” No thanks. So Niall and I practiced him shaking hands with my dad and then me giving my dad a kiss and taking Niall’s hand, but we forgot to consider the gigantic bouquet that I would have in my hand, so there was a moment of confusion and fumbling. It’s not noticeable in the video, however. We look totally smooth. This may be the single moment of my life where I feel like "Hey! I might actually BE less awkward than I FEEL!"

4. Just before our vows, the priest accidentally called Niall "Patrick."

5. At the reception, the venue forgot to put out our late-night snacks! This was the one thing I had made clear from the very beginning because I specifically remember being starving at several weddings in the past. I wanted there to be PLENTY of food (and alcohol, but that was already covered with the open bar). At the time I didn't realize that the snack trays never got served because I was having too much fun to notice, but if anybody went hungry during my wedding I reserve the right to be annoyed, because I had PLANNED for there to be snacks. Although, the upswing of this was the several hundred dollars that we (my parents) got refunded.

6. Also at the reception, Niall and I didn’t know how to cut our cake because… well we just didn’t. We ended up cutting the piece too small (my fault, I didn't want a huge piece of cake), so when we tried to use the server to pull out the piece, instead the piece went tumbling down the cake and landed on the table. It was fine, still delicious. But the photos of me during the cake cutting are particularly excellent since I look absolutely terrified.

Haaa

Married

Okay, so now I’m married.

I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.

WHAT.  Crazy. Who would have thought it???! Certainly not five-years-ago-Jules.

Pretty much everything went perfectly. Seriously, PERFECT.

I would like to take this opportunity to write out a(n incomplete, probably) list of everything that was a brilliant decision. Here goes.

- Inviting plus-ones (or in some special cases, plus-twos*). It wasn’t a huge effort, it wasn’t a huge expense, and people seemed to appreciate it. I had a few guests bring people I didn’t know to the wedding and that was absolutely fine, no big deal.  I also made it clear to the reception venue that I did not want to overset any tables. I once went to a wedding on my own (and RSVP-ed for just me) and was seated at a table that was literally: couple, couple, couple, me, empty chair. Now, I don’t know if that empty chair/place setting was meant to be for my imaginary date OR if they had purposely overset that table to accommodate potential shower-uppers, but EITHER WAY I still remember it.

- Niall packed ham sandwiches for us to eat in the car on our way to take photos between the ceremony and reception. I’m convinced that sandwich saved my life, because OHMYGOD that sandwich.

- Back when we were planning to wedding, Niall had mentioned that most of his Irish relatives would give us cards rather than gifts but he didn’t like the idea of having a card box on the gift table, like we were expecting cards. My solution to this was to supply a post box and some post cards and markers so that people could write little notes to us if they wanted, along with a little sign inviting people to write said notes (It said "Please leave advice and wishes for the new Mr. and Mrs." I was worried that it sounded too demanding and I agonized about it for a good long while before I came to the conclusion that NOBODY CARES). Anyhow. What ended up happening was that the table ended up crowded with children drawing on the post cards, which turned out to be a nice little activity for them. And it was awfully cute to open the box later and find, for instance, a card with blue scribbles and a shaky, toddler-written name.

- Speaking of children, inviting them to the wedding was great. I wanted my nieces and nephews to be really involved in the wedding, so I kind of left it up to guests if they wanted to bring their kids or leave them home. We had a mix—there were people who got a nice night out and left their kids with a babysitter, and there were people who brought their kids. I liked hearing babies babbling and screeching during the ceremony and the older kids seemed to have a lot of fun at the reception. You know who spent the most time out of everyone on the dance floor? My 3 year old niece, that’s who.

- Getting the hotel room for an extra night. We stayed in the same hotel as where the reception was, which worked out nicely for collapsing in bed in the wee hours of the morn after the wedding, reception, and after-party at the pub down the road. The next day, we had brunch with some of our family members and then I had to go back to bed for... oh, four or five hours. I had no idea the level of exhaustion I would feel.

- Having a designated pub destination for after-partying. The reception ended at 11PM and Niall had told me that most of the Irish people would feel like the party was just getting started at that time. So we had scouted the area a few weeks ahead of time and picked out a casual, fun pub down the road from the hotel. It was pretty great to have a few drinks in a casual environment, wearing my fabulous wedding dress and tiara. (Which maybe helps explain the aforementioned level of exhaustion.)

* Niall's good friend who has a boyfriend and a girlfriend. She got the plus-two. I guess that's only one special case.

Wedding ish

I keep meaning to write here. And then I think to myself “I don’t just want to write about the wedding, that’s not all that interesting.” But then I don’t write ANYTHING and I do love blogging, so HERE WE GO. If you're uninterested in wedding things, I apologize in advance.

Miscellaneous wedding things!

-          I have my dress. Well, actually. The dress maker has my dress because they are making some minor adjustments like adding a bustle. A Bustle. I thought I was going to be one of those super cool girls who breezes into Macy’s and grabs a little white frock off the rack and breezes right on out, but no. I’m one of those girls who orders a custom made EMEFFIN BALLGOWN. But it’s from a small, local dress shop, not David’s Bridal. Do I get any points for that?
-          I guess I probably don’t get any points for that, since my bridesmaid dresses are from David’s Bridal. My four oldest nieces are going to be my bridesmaids and I took 2 of them with me to pick out the dresses. Naturally, they couldn’t agree on a style. So I told them they could pick any short, flouncy, chiffoney dress as long as they were all the same color. At David’s Bridal, that color is “Begonia.” You may know it as “fuchsia” or “hot pink.”
-          The groomsmen’s ties are also Begonia. My mom is moderately horrified, but I’m totally into it. For the sake of full disclosure, they’re also PAISLEY. Which I love! We already knew my taste runs tacky.
-          Speaking of tacky (see how this blog post just FLOWS? It’s like poetry.), I REALLY wanted our cake topper to be two sheep. Like, a ram and a sheep nose to nose. Kind of like this deer cake topper, but with SHEEPIES. Nobody was on board with that idea, so I eventually grumbled and said “Fine we’ll go with a Celtic knot, like everything else.” (I may have been a little heavy-handed with the Celtic knots on various other wedding-related items.) But then Niall finally had an opinion about something and said he would like the cake topper to be something San Franciscoish. I fretted about where to acquire this, but Emily, Leah, and Jenny all reminded me that San Francisco is FULL of touristy shops where you might just be able to find a mini figurine of the Golden Gate Bridge or a trolley or something SF iconic. We ended up deciding on this one:

-          Neither of us realized before we bought it that it is also a MUSIC BOX that plays “I left my heart in San Francisco.” I’m thinking we’ll crank it up when we cut the cake. MUSICAL WEDDING CAKE. Because, why the hell not?
-          With just under four weeks to go until the wedding I feel like I can now say with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY that I am very very PRO plus-one invitations. I don’t care if you bring somebody I don’t know to my wedding, if that’s what you want to do in order to have a good time. Significant other? Not-so-significant other? Good friend? Let me know ahead of time, but go ahead and bring ‘em! The more the merrier! I gave everybody a plus-one. Well with the exception of one of Niall’s friends-- she has a boyfriend AND a girlfriend, so she got a plus-two.
-          I remember people telling me “oh you’ll feel differently about plus-ones when you get married” and “You’ll see” and “just wait” and NO. I don’t feel differently, I feel even more THE SAME! Plus-ones ALL AROUND.
-          My lovely friends who lived nextdoor to me when I was a wee Julia threw me a beautiful and fun bridal shower tea party. Everything was gorgeous and tasteful, with one or two touches of whimsy. It was just perfect. There were finger sandwiches and tea and fancy drinkies and fortune cookies with hot pink frosting and edible glitter. The games were even pretty fun—they did a good combination of involving everybody and putting me on the spot without making me do anything embarrassing (I didn’t have to strut around in a wedding dress made of toilet paper or anything). I think my favorite part of the day was when I just became so overwhelmed by all the love I was feeling that I got a little teary-eyed, and one of the hostesses said to me “Julia, we’re just here to have a good time. You need to nut up.”
-          I have my somethings old, new, borrowed, and blue. In reverse order: blue earring for my ear cartilage piercing, new tiara, borrowed veil from my sister, and old ring of my grandmother’s. And Stephanie gave me a silver sixpence to put in my shoe!
-          Speaking of old wedding traditions, have you ever heard of an Oathing Stone? Neither had I. And neither had Niall. And neither has ANY IRISH PERSON I ASK, but whatever. It’s an ancient Celtic tradition so by God we’re doing it.
I love the idea that it connects our wedding not just to the two of us and our families, but also our ancestors and, also, the earth. I’m planning to get a stone from my parents’ back yard and we’ll have it at the ceremony. My rather hippieish friend D will be the keeper of the stone for the wedding ceremony and then we’ll take it to Ireland the next time we go. Niall’s opinion on all of this is mild amusement which FINE WHATEVER I’LL TAKE IT.
-          ALSO! Niall’s sister told me that it is a tradition in Ireland to put out an Infant of Prague to guarantee good weather. Niall and I were talking about this at my parents’ house and my mom goes “Oh! The Infant of Prague! Hang on a second!” and she left the room and no joke came back with an ACTUAL INFANT OF PRAGUE STATUE that had belonged to her grandmother.

So guess whose wedding is going to have some kickass weather, guaranteed?