Confessions of a New York To-Be-Wed

Secrets of a New York NEWBIE-Wed!

2006-08-09T13:47:00.000-04:00

Here are some fun (and not-so-fun) facts about my wedding.

1. 51 Poeple travelled from out-of-state to come to our wedding, including the bride and groom.

2. The Chester Boys made a special appearance at the Pre-Wedding Karaoke Party.

3. On July 28th, 2006- the day before the big day- I got a SPEEDING TICKET!!! The damage: $132

4. The bride and groom narrowly beat out the groom's father and brother in an impromptu kayaking race.

5. 50 goldfish were harmed in the making of this wedding.

6. 5 guests who RSVP'd "yes" did not show up (I was warned about 2 of them), 1 person dissappeared before the reception and 1 unexpected person did attend.

7. We had a 10 piece band, The Players Club, who were awesome!

8. There were 55 bobby pins in my hair.

9. I lost 1 button on my dress

10. As my new husband and I were checking into the W Hotel Seattle on our wedding night, who else was checking in too? Well, none other than one of Bones' favorite musicians of all time, Trey Anastasio! The lead guitarist of Phish! And yes, Bones went over and spoke with him for a minute or two, he was very nice... Trey was nice too. Bones' joke: "Forever and ever, July 29th, 2006 will always be remembered as the day I met Trey." Ha frickin' Ha.

Bones Wrote This!

2006-07-19T12:45:00.000-04:00

A two-way conversation:

10 Days from now- and I'll be a MARRIED MAN...

Wait- Who?

Me.

Us?

Yes, us- YOU and ME, a married man.

Whoa- that's heavy. But we get Laura, right?

Yes- that's why we're doing it.

Did I approve this?

Yes- remember, she was driving in Seattle, we were stuck in traffic-

-The three of us?

Yes, the three of us- we were stuck in traffic, and we looked over at her, and
just decided, just like that- we decided we wanted to be with her forever give
her hugs and kisses, and make it official, and maybe even have kids, and the
whole deal.

And I ok'd this?

YES- you were there.

I must have been smitten.

Yeah- that's the point.

Am I STILL smitten?

I dunno- I am.

Yeah, me too. Ok, fine- As long as we get Laura, I'm in.
So 10 days from now- do I still get to play X-BOX?

We'd better!

Should we take it with us to Seattle just in case?

No- that's a little much... well... no- we shouldn't- too much to carry.

Oh yeah- well, I wasn't gonna carry it- I thought I could convince YOU to..

You still don't get that, do you?

Get what?

The whole shared body thing...

What about it?

When I'M carrying something, it means YOU'RE carrying- forget it.

Anyway, so what are we going to do the next ten days?

I thought we'd PREPARE somehow.

Ooh- Like "compose our spirit"?

Sure- and that means.... I dunno.

Me either.

So- what else?

Well, we oughtta AT LEAST send out an email- you haven't done that for a bit.

I've been busy- why didn't YOU do it?

Nothing to say, still WAITING for a contract on the book,
and we haven't seen this supposed OLIVE GARDEN spot you're supposed to be in-

You're in it too-

-Yeah, whatever, but there's been no news.

True, well let's send one out right now, ok?

Fine- what'll we call it?

How about "The end of an Era", or "Titanic", or something like that?

Too Hollywood.

Ok- then "Pirates of the Carribean"!

I just said TOO HOLLYWOOD.

Ok, ok- then "Captain Kirk's Guide To Women"

What the hell is wrong with you?

I'M GETTING MARRIED IN TEN DAYS!!!!

There it is.

What?

The Title: "I'M GETTING MARRIED IN TEN DAYS!!!!"

Too long.

Ok then- "MARRIED IN TEN!!"

TWO exclamation points?

Yeah.

Ok, Great.

Done.

X-BOX?

You're on.

I"m gonna kick your ass...

Bring it!

I CAN FLY!

2006-07-02T22:43:00.000-04:00

Their slogan is "Forget the fear, worry about the addiction." It is SO true. I've lived in New York for almost six years and all that time I've never been to Trapeze School New York- until now! That's right, TRAPEZE! No, I'm not going to run off and join the circus (yet)...I just did it for fun, although it feels like I got a pretty good workout- I'm sore all over. SOAR all over?! Ha ha! And the 2 hour class just flew by. Huh, huh, FLEW by?! Ha Ha. I give Trapeze School New York my HIGHEST recommendation!

Requesting the Honour...

2006-05-09T03:08:00.000-04:00

Yay! I sent out our wedding invitations! What a great feeling. It's partly a feeling of relief (a big to-do to cross off on a very big to-do list) and partly a feeling of "entering the home stretch." Mostly, though, it's a feeling of the joy and excitement in sharing, in declaring to the world that we've got something great to celebrate. Yeah, yeah, I sent out a save-the-date, and we've told everyone we know that we're getting hitched, but this makes it, I dunno, official! Not only that, but I'm actually very proud of the invites themselves. Not only are they super cute, but my matron-of-honor handmade each and every invitation. How cool is that?! They are that much more special because of the love and the care she put into making them. Oh yeah, and they also didn't cost a fortune... (What's with the whole blowing a big wad on weddings thing? That's a blog for another day.) Anyway, planning is good, and good friends are great.

Plan-a-Tan

2006-04-30T19:38:00.000-04:00

Strapless gown... the middle of Summer... wedding photos to last a lifetime... and just ONE DAY in the sun wearing the wrong thing and you could look like this! Yipes!
I love spending lazy days in Central Park, playing dominos with my fiance in my bikini, or just laying out in Sheep's Meadow, soaking in the sun and the city. (Wasn't it a BEAUTIFUL day today? And it's only April!) I know that I've got to be careful over the next 3 months. So I go shopping for a strapless bikini, a bandeau top if you will. I go to H&M (always promising for finding INEXPENSIVE swimwear) and I cannot find ONE bandeau bikini! What's up with that? Don't the trend setters know that I'm getting married this Summer in a strapless gown!?!?

The Best Way to Spend 5 Bucks in New York

2006-04-17T00:12:00.000-04:00

I am an actress, I live in New York City, and I'm getting married in July. Simply put, I'm a girl on a budget. You know why I love this city?! Because you don't need to spend 100 bucks on a ticket to a Broadway show to have a good time or a 'New York' experience...you don't even need to pay a fat cover charge to get into whatever THE hot night club supposedly is just to spend $10 a drink once you're inside to have a fun night out... I freakin' LOVE NYC, because of shows like the one I saw last night- and it only cost 5 bucks.
Three words: Red Hots Burlesque. Sexy, Theatrical, Funny, Upbeat, Daring, did I say Funny... everything you could ask for in an awesome night out in New York. Oh yeah, and don't you just love a theatre (aka a stage in the back of a skeevy East Village bar) where you get to scream and cheer and be a little rowdy? (None of this 'Silence is Golden' movie theatre crap- BORING.)

I Heart NY

ps. I have to give props to Red Hots Burlesque's special guests last night God's Pottery... HI....LAR...IOUS! Heck, read their blog.

The Single Box

2006-04-14T11:53:00.000-04:00

I just finished doing my taxes! Yay! And I checked the 'Single' filing status box for the last time. Weird.
But seriously folks, this year was probably the easiest time I've had doing my taxes; I remembered things that I needed to look out for because of my specific situation and easily avoided pitfalls that I've fallen into in the past. It's about time I'm getting the hang of it. Well, next year its gonna be a whole new ball game, huh?
Meanwhile, my fiance is filing for an extension... ha ha!
:)

The Wedding Registry

2006-04-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

108 days to go, and the wedding planning is going great... My fiance and I have pretty much agreed on everything, from the overall style of the event right down to the handmade invitations, and when we've had differing ideas about something, compromise has come easily. Aww, isn't that sweet? Well, it's all fun and games until it's time to register for gifts.

First off, let me say this: the idea of choosing our gifts beforehand feels a little awkward, but as Carley says on The Knot, "You’re actually doing guests a favor by giving them choices." Okay, Okay, I get it. And after being inundated with tips from The Knot and advice from friends, I've started to get a little excited about the whole "build your first home together" thing.

So I'm getting psyched. I start eyeing fine china patterns, sneaking peeks at Calphalon cookware, and copping feels of 600 thread count sheets. Well, not so fast Bride-to-be! The future Mr. lover-of-le Crueset has something else in mind. Okay, I have an open mind. I'm no bridezilla. My fiance's take on the whole thing is why fix it if it ain't broke. Meaning, why get new towels when the mismatching towels we have now are only fraying on the edges? Okay, am I being dramatic? I can understand why he'd rather have a plasma TV than all the fine china in the world. For me, fine china, for example, is not about having something expensive to look at, it's about making special occasions and family holidays that much more special. It's about how we choose to experience the events that will fill our entire lives.

This, we could agree upon. Amazing experiences, for both of us, are much more valuable than things to fill our home with. So, what are we going to do about this wedding registry thing? Well, we're planning on starting off our married life with a European adventure for our honeymoon anyway...So...you guessed it, we're registering for our honeymoon!!! If they want, our guests can choose to treat us to a romantic dinner in Venice, or even a night of luxury accomodations in Madrid, or maybe contribute $10 of "HoneyMoney" to use how we wish. How cool is that?! We get to save a little money and hopefully our guests will feel good participating (in a way) in what will surely be the first of a lifetime of amazing experiences.

Ciao!

Since when do I use Goya Adobo seasoning?

2006-04-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

My fiance, Bones, and I just returned from spending six months in LA (ugghhh.) We are SO thrilled to be back in the Big Apple, to be back home. Yup, I'll say it, I was home-sick. And after spending six months trying to put together meals in an itty-bitty, cockroach infested, poorly equipped kitchen (we stayed at my brother's "bachelor pad" apartment and left all our stuff back home in NY,) I became kitchen-sick too.
Hey, I love to cook! So since we've been back I've sort of had a renewed energy and enthusiasm in the kitchen. So as I was happily cooking up some chicken, brocco-flower (what?!), and a squash experiment for tonight's dinner, I realized that I was automatically grabbing the Goya Adobo seasoning from the cupboard. What the heck is Adobo? I don't seem to remember my mother cooking with Adobo, or seeing it in any recipe in The Joy of Cooking.
But hey, that's what my born-and-bred-New Yorker, Cuban-Puerto-Rican baby likes! And even though I'd never heard of Goya before moving to New York (I grew up in Seattle, my family is mostly Scandinavian) I take great joy in the little ways that Bones and I have adapted to each other. As I reached for the Adobo that I've come to know and love over the past few years, I got genuinely excited for what will surely be our beautifully blended unique mishmosh collage of a black beans and lefse loving future. What a way to Goya!

ps. I've been digging around in the kitchen cupboards and drawers rediscovering my gadgets and appliances. The other day I exclaimed, "Oh yeah! My waffle iron! Yay!" True story. Sad, but true.