#6 I call it 90% Complete

The goal was to host a dinner party for 6 before the wedding. What did I do? I hosted an impromptu pizza party for five on the back deck the two Fridays before the wedding when Jessie got to town. To my credit, there was a homemade salad and dressing...and a picture to prove it. Why don't we do that more often?

Also, if you count Skippy who hid in the closet the whole time, it makes six. I call that a win.

#2 Acting Like A Responsible Adult Blows

So. Interesting things happen when you marry an illegal immigrant. Obviously, he's a great deal more than that but, for the sake of humor and snarkiness, we'll stick with the label that the U.S. Government is interested in. Without getting into all the nitty gritty details, the husband and I are going through three major changes that all involve a great deal of paperwork. Here's what's on the to-do list at the moment:

-Change my last name

-File Green Card paperwork

-Get ready for filing joint taxes

None of these things are a joke. Put them together and my brain shuts down. The one bright spot in all of this is that we've been able to find some professionals to provide us with legit advice and subsequently help me cross #2 off of the list.

Obviously, there are a lot of opinions and emotions surrounding the name change question. Are you going to keep your last name or change it to your spouse's? Will you hyphenate? Are you giving up your identity if you do change it? If you don't change it, what last name will you give your hypothetical children? Just check out the comments on this post from one of my favorite blogs to get a taste of the debate.

I did some research and listened to some of the opinions out there but, if I'm being honest? I knew pretty early on in our engagement that I was going to change my name and I didn't have a problem with it. I never felt like I was giving anything up. If anything, I was gaining access to something. Conor and I were going to start a new family together and I liked the idea of having a name that I chose to go along with it. As far as the logistics, I knew a couple of people that used the MissnowMrs service and really liked it. For about $30 you input your personal information and they prefill all the forms you need. I have yet to print them all and file but I'm getting there soon.

The reason for the hurry? The sooner I change my name, the sooner we can file all of the Green Card paperwork. Having the same last name will be one more point in our favor when we go through the process. You know, to prove that it isn't a sham marriage. That's actually something that we're going to have to convince someone of. Sheesh. Thankfully, we found a free legal clinic in Southie which walked us through the paperwork and answered all my nervous, policeman's daughter and I don't break rules questions. Believe me, it's more complicated that Gerard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell make it out to be.

The last, and arguably most amusing, part of the whole thing will be filing our taxes. We met with an accountant last night. While he was just a lovely person, no one wants to hear about the possibility of having to pay thousands of dollars in April. I'm not going to get into it (she says as she writes the longest post ever) because talking about money is crass and it makes me anxious but, since Conor is self-employed, he gets extra beat up when joining the rest of us tax-paying schmoes. There may be a lot of ramen noodles in our future.

An Overdue Update

So who else is sick of that salmon photo? I am. I'm still making the recipe though.

The old blog is long overdue for an update. On the upside, a lot has happened since May. I went back to Denver. I cooked some tasty food. I planned a wedding and pulled it off. Most importantly, I was reminded of how amazing my friends and family are.

On the down side, the sheer awesomeness of this past summer has paralyzed me to the point where I don't know how to start describing it all. I'm in recovery. I'm getting back to normal. That in itself is pretty great.

I feel like the first order of business should be to talk about the wedding, how it made me feel, and share pictures of all my favorite moments. Sorry folks* but I'm just not ready yet. I'm still in a bit of a haze and I think it will be a little while longer until I've really wrapped by head around that amazing week and that gorgeous sunny day when Conor and I officially created our new little family.

Until then, I'm going to focus on the easy stuff. Now that I've knocked goal #1 off of the list, I'm going to revisit the rest of my goals and blog about some of the other progress I've made. My 29th birthday is in less than a month. Am I halfway there?

*Of course, "folks" is more of a figurative term since I don't know if anyone is still reading.

Who had a productive little Sunday?

This kid.

First of all, the countdown is on...for my herb garden. Goal #15 in the thirty before thirty challenge is to plant a container herb garden that survives longer than three months. The demon cat that lives in in my apartment goes after all other living things with a vengeance leaving all of my houseplants sequestered to the mantle and on top of the bookcase. I decided to take it outside to the deck with this one.

I found this metal window box that the landlords left behind and only had to shell out $23 for the liner and four perky little plants. Fingers crossed that I'll have basil, parsley, rosemary, and cilantro all through the summer! I would have taken better photos but the neighbors were out grilling and they already think I'm a total weirdo.

In other news, goal #29 is still going strong. I found a recipe for Strawberry and Black Pepper Crisps on my new favorite food blog The Year in Food. I thought that maybe I could trick the boyfriend into trying a fruit dessert if it involved balsamic vinegar and black pepper. He's more of a savory guy. The finished result was delish. I might use a little less vinegar the next time (I went for a full 2 tablespoons) but it mellowed out in the fridge overnight and was even better the next day. Chalk this one up to a win!

#29 Mmmmm...Salmon

In keeping with my goal to try out new recipes on the regular, I picked out this one from The Kitchn for salmon with cilantro vinaigrette. I really love this site. It's the food division of Apartment Therapy and always has quick recipes and interesting articles. The recipe is on the link so I won't repeat it but it was as easy as it sounds.

It was a huge hit with the fiance too. We were both so excited to eat that I forgot to take pictures until I was packing up the leftovers for lunch. I also ended up making it twice in one week.

False Starts

The seven people that read this blog may have noticed a certain lack of posting lately. There's no real reason except that I can't seem to form an extended, cohesive thought. I think my attention span is shot. I've been reduced to interacting with the world around me in the quickest ways possible...texting, pinterest, flicking channels...Conor's even getting one word sentences most of the time.

I have all these half ideas that I can't turn actual posts. Oh well, let's fall back on the 30 list. I'm updating the list with a new goal since looking back, a couple of them feel like cop outs. To that end, I'm committing to trying a new recipe every two weeks.

The first attempt was a complete failure. I decided to make savory breakfast mini-muffins using two different recipes. It was ugly. The first was goat cheese and chive, the second was bacon and cheddar. Neither were appetizing once baked. I won't go into detail but I should have known things were off when they came out of the oven looking pretty much the same as they did going in. Just harder.

Luckily the iPhone was there to capture my epic failure.

This week's attempt was much much more successful even if the photo wasn't any better. I give you black bean and potato fritatta with cheddar.

Trust me. It was delicious.

#8 Take that FINRA!

One down, twenty nine to go. Remember the list? You should. It was only 2 posts ago.

After what seems like ten years of studying and practice test, I finally finished my last securities registration exam today. In typical fashion, I didn't tell anyone on my team, slipped out under the pretense of "an appointment" and came back an hour and half later with a solid passing grade. I'll spare the details about feeling like I was going to throw up all day and staring at the screen with my heart beating out of my chest while I waited for the computer to calculate my score. It's all over now.

The best part? I can now focus on things I care about far more than my job (oops) like making decorations for the wedding and getting drunk on weekdays. More interesting blog posts are in our future.

New Inspiration

It's nice to make connections that in hindsight seem so obvious. I just found Amy Merrick's blog An Apple a Day. I've loved her posts on Design*Sponge for a long time but never knew she had her own blog. Of course she does. She's wonderful. Seriously...I sat at work and devoured her blog even though it was waaayyyy too obvious that I wasn't doing any work.

I especially liked her 2010 wrap up post. It was such a sweet way to remember a year's worth of events. I want to be like her. Check it out here.

Don't call it a Thrisis.

Ok. You can if you want to. That's probably what it is anyway.

I've been reading Making It Lovely for a long time and was inspired by Nicole's "30 Before Thirty" list.* Since I'll be turning thirty in relatively short order (October 20, 2012!) I thought it would be cool to put my own list together to make the next couple of years a little more exciting and driven. It was only when I sat down to write this post that I did a little google research and realized that this whole concept is already a pretty big movement.

Maybe I'm cheating a little by giving myself almost two years to tackle the list but, if I know myself, I'll cross a few things off right away and then go into hibernation until about six months before the big 3-0. We'll see. Here we go. I can't believe I'm putting this out there.

1. Get married.

2. Get some professional advice on the green card process and how to file taxes in the meantime.

3. Bake an edible loaf of bread.

4. Visit Conor's hometown in N. Ireland.

5. Finish the photo albums of my nephews I've been promising to everyone for years.

6. Host a dinner party for at least 6 people before the wedding.

7. Vacation in Italy.

8. Complete securities registration exams for work.

9. DIY a headboard.

10. Buy a house.

11. Get a short haircut.

12. Visit the new wing of the MFA and take Conor to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

13. Sew curtains for the living room.

14. Attend 2 concerts a year.

15. Plant an herb container garden that survives longer than 3 months.

16. Make a full Roth IRA contribution for 2012.

17. Watch less TV, listen to more music.

18. Reduce paper towel consumption.

19. Start a recipe box. Maybe this one?

20. Make pasta from scratch.

21. Babysit the nephews in Boston for a day.

22. Create some real life photo albums for myself.

23. Go to a new restaurant every time we dine out (not that often these days) and keep track.

24. Spend a weekend in Providence with Conor and show him the old stomping grounds.

25. Visit the Mapparium.

26. Take more walks, especially when I don't feel like it.

27. Volunteer twice a year.

28. Stretch and do situps 3x a week.

29.Get more sleep but wake up earlier.
This goal was a total cop out and it is being replaced with:

29. Try a new recipe every two weeks.

30. Go see a movie outdoors in Boston.

Obviously, the list is in no particular order. It was pretty funny reading back through it and realizing how funny certain goals looked next to each other. I mean, of course DIYing a headboard and buying a house carry the same amount of significance for me in the next two years. Haha. At the very least this will be a good source of blog posts.

*By the way, her stationery is also super cute. I've ordered a few different patterns and have always been really satisfied.

The Poser: Holiday Edition

Harrison doesn't like getting his picture right now. Case in point:

Luckily, Gus is right there to pick up the slack. He LOVES the camera.

This is his "What up party people? Wanna wait for Santa with me?" face.

"I had NO idea that oysters were this fun!"

"Oh hey Aunt Kate! Course you can have a photo with me. Get on in here!"

"I am going to sit in this ALL. THE. TIME."

Happy New Year?

So it's a new year. It's that time of year where you're supposed to finally put down the cookies and the party mix, stop eating mashed potatoes at every meal, and take stock. Look back, look forward, and make plans before the sugar high and the tryptophan wear off.

Emerging from the cozy fog of the holidays with newfound motivation, I flip the tv back on and am told that it's time for new beginnings.

New gym memberships (to sculpt the new me!)

New cars (before the holiday deals are all gone!)

New wardrobes (because the new me deserves it!)

That's about the time when I get sick of the whole "new year" thing. It makes me feel like a sheep. I've resisted being part of the herd since a very influential person in 8th grade told us that we were all sheep. It's a long story.

This year though, I really feel like I'm on the cusp of something pretty great. Yes, the wedding is a huge part of that feeling. No, I'm not going to apologize for that since getting married is awesome and I'm psyched about it.

However, it's made me reevaluate a lot of things, recognize my short term goals, my long time goals, and realize that Conor and I are forming shared goals for our future. Big time stuff!!

I don't think I'm fully ready to jump on the resolution train so I'm going to stick in my safe zone: The To Do List. This post is already long enough so I'll be posting to do list of significant proportions soon. There's nothing better than the public shame of failure to keep you motivated!

Eff you, you effing effers.

Do you ever have one of those days where you want to beat the s**t out of an innocent bystander? I had one of those days today.

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Now, obviously the innocent bystander wouldn't be your first choice but, you feel so utterly shut down by the people that destroyed your day that you start looking for an easy target.

Phew. Back to the real world where I've never started (or participated in) a physical fight in my whole life and would never take it there. I got close today though. I started to type out the story of today and why it sucked but then it all started to seem very petty. That's the thing with rage, it takes too much energy to keep it up for very long and once it's gone, it seems like a waste of time to rehash it.

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Let's just say that it brought me right back to that time in 2nd grade when I wasn't invited to a classmate's fairytale princess party but all the other girls were and that was all anyone talked about the next week at school. Except that I work in a office with all dudes and instead of a princess party it was a football game with luxury seats, a limo to the stadium, and lots of booze and bonding. The only things that these two instances have in common are a pizza party and a lot of hurt feelings on my part.

Before you tell me that it's a guy thing and I probably wouldn't have had fun anyway, DON'T. That's the kind of misogynist nonsense that made me want to punch someone in the face.

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There will be a record of things...I hope.

So. I may have found a photographer. I don't want to jinx it until she and I get together and discuss things but, she's young and starting out with weddings, came highly recommended, and has a really unique eye from what I've seen of her portfolio.

Did I mention that she's also within my frugal Yankee budget???

I've been totally avoiding the "find a photographer" check box on my to-do list because it matters to me more than I want to admit but I just don't want to pay too much. There's been too much budging with our budget lately. After taking photography in college, I also find myself being really critical of poorly executed photos. All of these factors create a perfect storm of "Idonwannadealwithit."

However, I think I might have found the perfect combination of talent, flexibility, and affordability so keep your fingers crossed and hopefully it will all be sorted soon! So excited.

On Pinterest and the exacerbation of desire...

I think I may be addicted to Pinterest. That's a little beside the point though.

I had heard rumblings here and there on the interwebs about this new site. Of course, Jessie and Kristen are much much cooler than me and were all over it already. Jessie soon sent me an invitation to join. Long story short, I now have a way of collecting all of the wonderful images I find online everyday with just a couple of clicks. It's amazing. If anyone wants to experience it for themselves, I have four invitations left.

What's the downside? Instead of working, instead of studying for my horribly boring securities exam, instead of putting some time into nailing down a photographer for the wedding, I sit around and OBSESS about having my own house. It's borderline ridiculous.

I've posted before about my desire to find a house that Conor and I can renovate together. He'll do the technical stuff, I'll annoy him by trying to help, and then we'll decorate with salvaged, vintage, and restored treasures.

...

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Sorry. I just went over to Pinterest to get that example photo and got distracted for 10 minutes. Do you see what I mean?? Anyway, a house is a long way away for us. First we need to save for a wedding. Then we need to actually get married. Then we need to save for a house, find a house, and save up for all of these magical renovations I have in mind for the house I haven't found yet.

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None of these realities help the fact that I stare at gorgeous interiors all day long now and troll the web for more and more images. It's never enough. It's like crack (not that I would know). I need to put all of these ideas to work soon or I'm going to go nuts. I almost wish that the company firewall would start blocking the site from me so I'd start focusing on more near-term goals. However, we all know that that's not nearly as fun.

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I Have Become A Cliche...Almost

This was going to be a post about how I'm slowly realizing that all of those "bridal" cliches have some footing in reality. They are cliches for a reason. I was going to write about lists, stress, money, vendors, etc. etc. etc.

Then a couple of things happened.

I read a blog post that my best friend in the world wrote about me and the amazing place I'm at in my life. Then I realized that things aren't so bad when you have people in your life that know all your secrets and take time out of their day to be your cheerleader.

That revelation made me reflect back on this past weekend that Conor and I spent at my parent's house. In between me stressing about what size tent we should order and what in the hell we were going to do if it rained, I was surrounded by people who are just as excited about the wedding as I am. My parents, aunt and uncle, cousins, brothers and sister-in-law, and even extended family, are already offering time, guest rooms, cars, and a million other things that are way beyond the norm. This is the kind of wedding cliche I can get behind. My family is pitching in to contribute to the "big day" in any way they can and it's an awesome feeling to have all of that energy directed my way.

Add to all that the fact that some of my favorite people are headed into town this month for visits, I came home from a boring day in the office to Conor's homemade lasagna, and my heart broke wide open watching him doze off on the couch next to me after dinner, life turns out to not be such a cliche after all.

What is there to worry about when I'll be here in about 10 months?

Saturation Point

That's it wedding blogs. I'm done with you. Actually, I was done with you about three weeks ago but I've been too lazy to write a post about it. It was fun while it lasted. I mean it. Totally. However, when you get to the point that you start to judge other people's weddings (mason jars and mustaches on sticks* again? Really?) and second guess your own feelings about what you want your wedding to be, it's time to shut off the noise.

I'm set. Promise. It's going to be epic. Before we say goodbye though, I think there are a couple of things that we need to be honest about.

First of all, engagement photo shoots are totally bogus. Seriously. How the hell do these girls convince their fiances to dress up in bowties and short pants while sitting in a field having an overly styled tea party and get their picture taken? What do you do with those photos!?

I'm pretty sure that no one wants to sit down with you after a dinner party and look at a photo album of you two frolicking in an orchard or artfully leaning against a grafittied brick wall in Harlem while forming your hands into the shape of a heart. No, I do not want a portrait of us touching foreheads and petting bunnies as we lie on a picnic blanket surrounded by clothbound books. Posing with your mouth open and looking away from the other person doesn't make make you a real model. It's called trying too hard.

I would have posted examples but I'm not that mean. I'm sure these photos mean something to the people that paid for them. The last thing I want is for those people to look back at the hundreds of dollars they spent on pictures of them slow dancing in a desert with vintage clothing on and regret it.

Second, don't try to convince be that the only alternative to wearing a veil is pinning a silk flower the size of a pizza box to my head. Better yet, let's add a single ostrich plume sticking straight up from my forehead. Yeah. That will go over really well with my great aunt. I won't look back at the wedding photos 20 years from now and compare myself to this trend:

The volume makes you look skinnier. Promise.

Lastly (for now), there are so many amazingly talented people out there related to the wedding industry. However, I'm pretty tired of all the things that I'm "supposed" to have at my wedding. Yes, I took a bunch of graphic design classes in college and I'm passionate about beautiful paper products. However, custom letterpress invitations start around $600 and quickly go up from there. Calligraphers? Try $4 per envelope. Multiply that by the number of guests. Now consider that that is just for envelopes.

Yes, I love Etsy too. However, I'm not going to pay $120 plus shipping for a custom cake topper or $45 plus shipping for a monogrammed paper parasol so the pictures will look good. I could go on.

Maybe I'm bitter because I thought I had a really honest conversation with a caterer about what we wanted and he came back with a quote that equaled my ENTIRE budget. What was on the menu? Mini crab cakes and grilled cheese. Thanks but no thanks.

BTW, A Practical Wedding really sums this point up the better than I ever can. That's one blog that I'll keep reading thank you very much.

*Don't be surprised if mustaches on sticks show up at my wedding. They're hilarious even if they are over-blogged.

Map Man?

The good thing about having a Man Friend in the house is that when you find things on Etsy that you just have to have, you can tell them it's a present for them AND get them to hang it up for you.

Actually, the map is a present to both of us since Conor's from Northern Ireland, I studied abroad in Scotland, and his brothers live in England. It's an all-encompassing visual aid.

I think something is up with my camera since it's been taking less than wonderful pictures lately but here's a shot of the map in situ. The fact that the office is a shoebox doesn't help with the angles but I promise it looks good. I need to get the chair that Conor brought home for me reupholstered but I think that's going to wait a while. For now I'm going to make do with an impromptu slipcover.

Also, I saw a little chatter over on Kristen's blog about printer's drawers and how I'm currently borrowing Jessie's for my shell collection. Here are some photos for reference. Again, photos were taken on my tired camera, at night, after 3 Miller High Lifes. Nonetheless, you get the idea.

It's all about the building blocks...

What could this be you ask??

Baby steps.

I promise this mish mash of crappy iPhone photos will turn into something great come August 20, 2011.

Winner Winner Roasted Dinner

Granted, it's not the smartest idea to turn the oven up to 400 on a 98 degree day and make a roast dinner but the results were well worth it. Say hello to my friend roast pork loin. MMMMmmmmmmm.

Bonus points for eating out on the deck with an honest to goodness tablecloth.

Studies in Twilight

Let's talk about a time of day that's perfect in Boston (and some other places) in the summertime. Let's also talk about the fact that my iPhone takes pretty perfect pictures in this kind of light.

The Custom House from the Waterfront

Boston Common

New Haven, VT

Fenway Park

Palm Beach Inlet, FL