A Story To Cherish

At least, that’s the way it has seemed this week. I commonly flipflop between optimism and pessimism, but after the past few days, I am convinced that everyone is in a bad of a mood as I want to be when it is this cold. Up until yesterday, the weather here has been in the mid-80’s and beautiful. In late October. All of a sudden, yesterday morning rolls around and its 60 and raining. Today it was about 70, but tonight it dropped pretty significantly and it was just bitterly cold. Yesterday was also when customers at work (I’m in customer service) decided to be irrational and rude. Coincidence? Maybe. Perhaps its the optimist in me that wants to blame the weather on people who (hopefully unintentionally) point blame at us for being the bearers of bad news. Perpetually shooting the messenger, so to speak. That is the nature of what we do. There are so many aspects to my job that are super rewarding to make up for the people who are just plain jerks. I really do love being able to help people when they are in a stressful situation and their technology just won’t cooperate.

Tonight, however, was a night for celebration. Chris and I went out for a drink with some of my dearest friends. My friend and bridesmaid Chelsea and her boyfriend, bridesmaid Nicole, and high school friend Chris G. We tried out a new place here in our hometown that opened up recently and attempts to cater to the 21 – 30 age range. Unfortunately, Nicole is deathly allergic to peanuts, and they serve peanuts on every table and shells cover the floor. After our first drink, Nicole was having a horrible time with the atmosphere, so we moved our celebration to the local Elephant Bar for late-night happy hour. We started off with a Washington Apple shot for the birthday kids: Chris G, Nicole, and I (Oct. 28, Nov. 6, and Nov. 13, respectively). Then we had a round of cactus coolers, a shot of mandarin vodka dropped into Red Bull. Tasty! We finished off the night with another round of shots, and now I am sitting here writing this post. (Thank goodness for spell check.)

Chris and I are currently in the process of putting our room back together and moving back upstairs after living in the downstairs guest room all summer. We painted the walls a warm cream color last week, and over the weekend I shampooed the carpet and picked up new nightstands. I’m really excited to turn our room into our space, and once its all done, I’ll be sure to share more about it with all of you.

Right now, the thing I’m looking forward to most is my birthday. Not only will my sister (who lives halfway around the globe in England) be in San Diego for my birthday this year, my best friend Fletch is flying in from San Francisco for the weekend. Since my birthday last year ended up not going as well as we had planned, I’m really happy that I’m going to be able spend this one with the people who matter the most to me. Don’t tell my dad, but I’m planning to get some professional shots taken with my sister to give him for his birthday, which is two weeks to the day after mine. He only gets to see his daughters together once every five years or so, so giving him a way to keep us with him would mean the world to him. I can’t wait to surprise him!

Things are about to get hectic, but I have more wedding stuff to share before I go off the radar for a little while. Thank you for being patient with me while I get caught up with the real world. I love each and every one of you. Really, I do.

Any other Scorpios out there prepping for birthday celebrations? Am I the only one who has the winter blues when it drops below 70?

Very shortly after we became engaged, Mr. Mog and I agreed that we wanted to have our wedding in San Diego, California. Mr. Mog spent ten years there, and many of our friends still live there. Also, a good portion of Mr. Mog’s family lives there, including his elderly grandparents who are in assisted living and have a hard time traveling anymore. It was extremely important to us that they were able to attend the wedding and be comfortable. We started looking at venues online, so we could narrow it down to a few that we would actually visit. Then, I stumbled upon Twin Oaks House and Gardens. Twin Oaks is a historical landmark, and the bridal parlor is a restored schoolhouse from the 1890’s. Combine old-school charm with complete natural beauty, and I knew this was a place we would be giving a hell of a look.

I must say that I absolutely LOVE it when Mr. Mogwai and I agree on stuff pretty much instantaneously. It doesn’t happen often, let me tell you, with as stubborn as the both of us are (but we do work things out pretty quickly usually!). Luckily, every now and then, we are in sync from square one and don’t even miss a beat. We play off each other better than Bill and Ted.

seriousland

So I’ve been through two stores, eleven dresses, and countless websites in my search for my dream dress. I know I left you hanging last post, so at long last, I’ll tell you the story of the day that dress became my dress.

I made an appointment with the first salon I visited a few months earlier. I was pleased to find that when I had an appointment, the service was wonderful and my consultant was a total sweetheart. I showed her a picture of the dress I was looking for and she went searching. She brought a few over that she thought might be the dress I was looking for. Third in the stack was my dress!! I headed into the dressing room and stepped into it.