We were at the Eastern Market on Capitol Hill yesterday. It was chillier than we expected, but we still had fun wandering and looking and even a teeny bit of shopping.
Thing 2 and I stopped to look at the street art created by local school children.
This was my favorite. Thing 2 decided she was the smiley face that was a bit out of focus. This amused us both.
We swung by Sona Creamery to pick up their delicious goat cheese but there wasn’t any. The owner told me it would be ready Monday and she’d have it all week. (That’s cool, but I live an hour away and she doesn’t ship.)
We found a house for sale on South Carolina Ave. If there were no kids at home, I would totally pack up and move there. Of course the house was 1.34 million…so yeah…that won’t be happening.
We caught up to the boys and went for an early dinner at Ted’s Bulletin. Pretty delish comfort food with great decor.
Was nice to have a break from wedding wedding wedding…
All the napkins are finished.
The ribbons tied round the wine charms.
The “busy work” complete.
I’m feeling pretty good right about now…and I’m not even waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We met with the DJ this evening. He’s going to be perfect for what we have in mind to celebrate with our friends and family.
We talked about special music, those songs that absolutely must be played…
Wedding party introductions he’ll play Willkommen from Cabaret with Alan Cumming as the Emcee.
Willkommen. Bienvenue. Welcome.
First dance:
L-O-V-E ~ Nat King Cole
I introduced this song to YBW and he loved it (no pun intended…well maybe a bit intended)…it was a no brainer to make it our first dance.
YBW’s “dance” with Thing C:
The Pretender ~ Foo Fighters
Thing C played this with his first band at his high school talent show. He’s since moved on to his second band. (they don’t play this song)
YBW’s “dance” with Thing G:
Happy ~ Pharrell Williams
Thing G is the only one of our four who isn’t a music kid…but he LOVES this song! It brings YBW SO MUCH JOY!
My dance with Thing 1:
Raise Your Glass ~ P!nk
What’s the dealio? Thing 1 adores P!nk and we are totally “wrong in all the right ways”.
My dance with Thing 2:
Dancing Queen ~ Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski (from the movie soundtrack)
We have a whole routine to this song…well part of a routine, anyway…
She just turned eighteen and remarked that she’ll never be the Dancing Queen again because she’s no longer seventeen. I think we’re all a little bit “dancing queen young and sweet only seventeen” no matter how old we are.
Last dance: (save it for me)
Let’s Get it On ~ Jack Black (YEAH! I got it in there after all!!)
Y’all saw this in let’s love…sugar
Whatever gets played in between is fine with me! I’m going to be so busy visiting and hugging my friends and family!
I’m stressed like crazy trying to get the last things finished.
Sundance had the idea we should make the napkins for the reception…Thing 2 and I’ve done literally nothing else for the last two days…Sundance, not so much.
Thing 2 says she’s going to punch her Aunt Sundance in the mouth when she sees her. (I gave her my blessing.)
We decided to take a break tomorrow and just be. (Yay!) Then we’ll get back on it over the weekend.
Thing 1, fiance N and Thing 2’s D will arrive Wednesday. My friend and mentor and her beloved will arrive Friday afternoon. The Arizona contingent won’t arrive till super late Friday (the trouble with flying backwards across the country) so we won’t see them till the wedding Saturday.
My ability to control my anxiety and “freak out mode” is SUPER low…I’ve warned everybody, but at the moment only Thing 2 really understands the magnitude of that.
I was having a total temper fit yesterday and she finally told me: Get your shit together Momma!(The kid doesn’t lie.) I was whining about people volunteering to help but not bothering to show up. My darling (ex) co-teacher is doing all our decorations and has flaked the last two times we were supposed to meet so she could get all the stuff. (I already mentioned the napkin idea girl hasn’t shown up to make any.)
I can’t sleep so I’m writing and drinking wine straight from the bottle. (Classy, I know. But it was only a glassful in the bottom of the bottle so I figured, why dirty a glass.) I might need a Xanax…or two.
I have one more thing to do before I try to close my eyes. Create the special mad libs that YBW and I will write for our guests in the beginning of the response book.
The bride/groom are honored you’re here to celebrate with us and kiss you all!
I love Jack’s version of this song so much I suggested we use it as our first dance…YBW was not convinced.
This is the clip from the sad Americanized film version of a British book I loved.
Close your eyes and just listen.
I guarantee it’s a fun way to start your Friday!
As I mentioned in It’s a date!, A charged us to each plan a date for the other.
Last night was the date YBW planned.
We arrived about half an hour early and decided to wander a bit. I took a few photos (with my phone) outside the Museum of the American Indian while YBW blew up portals on Ingress.
It was just breezy enough to make the shadows of the corn on the building feel almost Halloween-y!
Our date was an event called “Museum Moonshine, Eclipse in the Garden” at the National Air and Space Museum downtown. Telescopes set up on the garden terrace to better see the supermoon eclipse. Yummies and goodies to taste. Event panels to educate and entertain.
We were totally getting our nerd on!
But I love the moon like crazy, so it was perfect for me. The event was at the air and space museum, therefore it was perfect for YBW.
Food was a little charcuterie bento box from Sona Creamery. Apparently the first creamery to actually make their cheese in DC proper. They had the absolute best goat cheese I’ve ever tasted. (Y’all, I eat a LOT of goat cheese.) It was creamy and buttery with much less of that tang you get with goat cheese. I love that tang, but this was something else entirely. There’s a wine and cheese paring class in October that I’m hoping to take. Just for fun. (And to buy some of that goat cheese.)
Drink offerings came in the form of “Bee Sting Mead” (I seriously checked how they made their mead before I tasted any because I’m allergic to bees and didn’t feel like YBW having to stab me in my thigh because I had a drink.) I was assured it was just a fun name and I would be safe. Charm City Meadworks offered us a mead spiced with a pepper I can’t remember the name of, and a basil lemongrass mead. (YUM!) They’re Baltimore based but they do ship via Schneider’s of Capitol Hill
The mead maker and two Smithsonian Gardens employees gave a talk called “Bee There” about pollinators. They discussed Charm City’s beekeeping to create their mead as well as what the Smithsonian does to make it easier for natural pollinators to visit their gardens.
It was actually quite interesting. We need pollinators, especially bees…even though they could kill me.
A second talk was lead by Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi Brewing Company. Essentially it was about how some of the brewing company’s yeast had been to space and back aboard a model rocket. It was playful and fun with clips of model rocket “bloopers”.
The beer they make from the space traveling yeast is an imperial stout called “Ground Control”.
It was gross…but I don’t like stout.
After the talks, we went out to the garden terrace and watched the eclipse. It had been cloudy and foul since late Friday night but the breeze on Sunday began to clear the clouds away. And we were able to watch as Earth came between the sun and moon!
We weren’t able to really see any of the umbra because the clouds came back in with a vengeance. So we drove home quietly holding hands.
It was great fun and we didn’t talk about the wedding once.
I ordered the wedding favors today.
Wine charms. Little silver discs stamped with each guest’s name.
I ordered them via Etsy from a girl in Kansas called Coco. I’m not sure why I love that so much. But it really tickles me.
I even ordered one for each of the children. Now, the little kids can’t drink wine, but everybody loves something shiny with their name on it. I’d love to see my little D tie his to his bike as a name plate…must remember to suggest that to his dad.
I have all the mad lib responses back except for one of Ben’s frat brothers who apparently lost the invitation, Sundance and her family, and my sister-in-law and her family.
Sundance knows I’m shaking my head at her, but I also know they’ll be there. Sundance has known YBW since they were in elementary school and Girlie Thing is reading at the wedding.
My sister-in-law and her family aren’t going to be able to make it. She and I have already talked about that. I am sad, but I understand. It’s about doing what’s right for your family, and right now them coming here for a weekend in October isn’t going to work. I told her that our love was solid and it was fine if they didn’t come. I do have a bit of sadness, but I understand how hard it is to make everything work for your family.
Thing 2 and Boyfriend D’s responses finally arrived early this week which made me SO happy!
I’ve given the final count to both the caterer and the event coordinator and the three of us will meet at the winery next week to make sure we’re well sorted.
There’s a laundry list of things that still need to be completed.
I’ve got time.
Sort of…next week is October. I better get a move on.
At our last pre-wedding meeting, A charged us to go on a date.
YBW and I side-eyed each other.
Pfft! We know how to go on a date.
Needless to say, she noticed our conceit and challenged us further. Instead of one date, we each had to come up with a date for the other with the strict stipulation that we couldn’t discuss wedding stuff.
One more smug look was a silent “we got this” and we were on our way.
The date I planned took us downtown for a picnic at the National Arboretum and a side trip to Oak Hill Cemetery. I broke the rule straight away in the car. YBW reminded me and I sat on my hands as long as I could stand it. But then I had a stroke of genus! Traveling to the date wasn’t actually being on the date. I immediately amended the rule to include wedding talk in the car but only until we arrived at our destination. (I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s Robynbird logic…just roll with it.)
Of course this time of year there isn’t much in bloom at the Arboretum, but that was actually beneficial because it meant less people.
The first thing we did on our date was split up. (I know…) But YBW wanted to see all the bonsai and I wanted to visit the herb garden.
I was fortunate to catch a few things still in bloom while successfully avoiding the bees gleaning the last little bit yummies before there were no more blossoms to be had.
The light was harsh, but I enjoyed my time behind the lens.
It may seem odd that the first thing YBW and I did on our date was walk in opposite directions, but neither of us wanted to follow the other around like a puppy so we did what we wanted to do knowing we’d end up in the same place. And as it turned out, just as I was finishing up in the herb garden, the most adorable man walked up and kissed me. Then we walked together up the hill to see the Capital columns.
Kinda pretty, don’tcha think?
We picnicked on fruit, veggies, potato salad, and cold fried chicken trying to figure out what was actually going on at the Grove of State Trees. We drove all around the arboretum, even out the non-existent road that was the original entrance.
Then it took forty minutes to drive about six miles. As we passed embassies I used the long lens of my camera to read the plaques over the doors and YBW teased that the red light cameras saw and we would be branded spies. I just laughed.
We got to Oak Hill Cemetery just in time to capitalize on the most glorious afternoon light.
Once again, we split up. Me meandering along looking for good shots on the way to Kay Graham’s gravesite. YBW playing Ingress…turns our cemeteries are ripe with portals for the hacking.
Allow me to quote Minerva from Midnight in the Garden, “To understand the living, you got to commune with the dead.” I’m a firm believer in this concept.
I love cemeteries. I love everything about them. The gravestones seem so natural in the environment, on the hillsides and under trees. I love the peaceful quiet. There was construction on R Street, and I mean jackhammer construction, but the further I walked into the cemetery the more quiet it became.
There was one place in the cemetery that wasn’t still. It was quiet, but there was work going on. I can’t believe it took me passing it twice before I realized what I was seeing.
Construction on the mausoleum of Ben Bradlee, one of my most beloved folk heroes! Qu’il repose en paix.
It’s a bit modern for my taste and for it’s location, but I wasn’t consulted…what are you gonna do?
YBW and I ended our day at a cafe table on the patio of a small restaurant in Old Town sipping cocktails of vodka laced iced tea.
Never once talking about the wedding.
We all have them.
However unrealistic they may be, there is that one guy or girl that just rings your bell.
I’ve always been partial to light haired, light eyed guys. Built sturdy, but not beefy. I prefer them kind of lanky…almost feline.
When I was a very small girl, my celeb crush was Shaun Cassidy. I loved that Joe Hardy something fierce. I even had a poster of him in my room.
I was not yet in second grade. It was the late 1970s and I thought I knew what was up even then.
When I was a little older it was John Schneider. It was the 1980s and Friday night meant the Dukes of Hazzard! I remember lying on the floor in the living room propped up on pillows watching the Duke boys outwit Roscoe P. Coltrane week after week. He had the most adorable smile AND he was good at archery!
In the 1990s there was a new “blondie” for me to crush on. Not a natural blonde…but that doesn’t really matter.
Oh Spike. My all time favorite vampire baddy.
And he was punk to boot! (As Buffy assures the bouncer, “Billy Idol actually stole the look from him.”)
Now I’m all grown up, so is my celeb crush.
I cant’ even. That thing he does with his lower lip when he’s playing vulnerable. Gah! It gets me every time!
Would I leave YBW if Daniel Craig came knocking?
…no…
I obviously have a type. (What? I’m as much predictable as I am enigma.)
But what’s kind of interesting about my crushes is that I’ve ended up with a real guy who resembles this collection of celebrities.
Light hair. (Well it’s gotten darker as he’s become an adult, but he started out very blonde indeed.)
Blue eyes.
Tall.
Built kind of lanky. (Well, like me he’s porked up a teeny bit in the last few years…I hear that’s what happens when you’re happy.)
When I asked YBW who his number one celeb crush is this is who he told me:
Just so you know, Zooey Deschanel and I look absolutely NOTHING alike.
I’m much more Bette Midler in the 1970s. All nose and teeth and frizzy red hair. (But not that much make up.) (I swear it’s true.)
I’ll get to see my Daniel Craig revise his role as James Bond after we come home from our honeymoon. YBW can watch his Zooey Deschanel play that quirkiest of girls, Jessica Day on New Girl starting again sometime this fall.
We’ll crush on them like crazy.
But I have a real boy to crush on. And he crushes on me. So much so that we’ve decided to get hitched.
I don’t need a poster on my wall. I have the real thing right next to me. (Yeah, I know…it’s nauseating. I just roll with it.)
Finally! After a twenty day countdown today is the day!
Thing 2 arrives at Dulles at 11:45 this morning!
I am quite possibly the happiest human being on the entire planet!
I can hardly wait to get my arms around my baby!
My joy knows no bounds! I wish this level of happiness for absolutely everyone!
The county fairgrounds back up to our neighborhood. One week a year we hear the goings on. The beginning of the week we hear the ridiculously loud revving engines of the tractor pull. The end of the week we hear the cars crashing into each other.
Last night, instead of waiting for my dress to come we went to the fair. It was the first night of demolition derby and YBW could hardly stand himself! Plus it was ladies night so I got in for free!
We grabbed the most delicious of all the “bad-for-you” foods ~ fair food, and went to the grandstand to wait. (Yes, our “white trash” is showing.)
The wind was blowing towards the bleachers and the dirt and stench of busted up cars came right at us. At the end of the first heat, girl power was in the air. The winner was a young woman! (And quite possibly a high school student, based on my observations of her cheering fans.)
YBW was lit up like Christmas! Cheering and grinning and having a total blast! He was just like a little kid! And then it occurred to me. I asked if he’d ever been before.
Nope! This was my first one! Can we come back tomorrow?
Me: Buy me a funnel cake?
YBW: Sure!
Me: Of course we’ll come back tomorrow!
The rain came in middle of the second heat and spit on us on and off until the fifth and final heat when the sky opened up and pelted us with big fat plopping rain.
YBW looked at me, he wanted to get more food.
I told him: We’re already wet, who cares.
One corn dog (for me) and a big bag of kettle corn later, we sloshed our way home.
Soaking wet, a little “trashier” but super happy!
therobynbirdsnest 