Back In The Game

Hey, been a long time since I posted anything serious. I got married and all that, just a tad busy. Everything turned out great!

That's our engagement picture to the right, taken in Laguna Beach by Matt's dad. He's an awesome freelance photographer. Everyone thought it was some store-produced professional job, not US!

I don't have pictures of the wedding on my computer yet, but I'll put some up when I get around to it.

So, lately I've been playing wife. We've got a nice little one-bed apartment in the downtown area, but it's not too bad of an area. We just spent our first Christmas together as husband as wife. Not too much. We went to his parents' house, had a great dinner, and got some nice gifts, mostly more stuff for the house.

Get Beat

Just wanted to post this comic. I love Get Fuzzy, maybe because my husband (oooh sounds so neat to use that word!!) has a SharPei and I once had a cat who lost a tooth... and had an attitude like Bucky. She was the Queen!

Wedding Preps

Well, one month before the big white dress day. Wedding jitters haven't hit yet, but I'm expecting them to any day. Matt and I will be going up to Portland for our honeymoon, checking out our new home, then a trip down Hwy 101 and the raw beauty of the Pacific Coast.

I know I won't have time to keep this updated, although there will be lots to talk about, I'm sure. I'll start back with posting after the wedding is over.

Rascally Wench of the RenFaire

Well, I finally got around to attending a Renaissance Faire, after obsessing over them for years. It's always been too far away, but now it's just over the hill. So, I donned my dress and Matt wore his new kilt. We made quite a dashing couple!

One thing that caught my attention was the bawdiness of the songs. In history class you don't get the true feel of what the Ren times were all about. You hear about castles and knights and artists and playwrights, but there's little for the senses. You don't smell the Renaissance times (and trust me, it was so hot and dusty, by noon there was quite a smell). And you don't hear it. There's a sound to Renaissance faires. Not just the language. There's the harp and pipe, the nasal of the sackbut, the strumming of the lute, the drone of the bagpipes, and the bouncing lyrics of the songs... songs that are risqué while still presuming to be peasantish and simple.

I have a favorite group called the Brobdingnagian Bards. They're in Texas, so I've never seen them live, but I caught their music on download.com and instantly went wow! Please, if you want to know what Renaissance music is like, check them out. I have some of their CDs, and they have free songs to download, too. Now, whenever Matt wears his kilt, I start singing "Donald, Where's Your Trousers."

Another great RenFaire music group who I saw yesterday was The Merry Wives of Windsor. These girls (and guy musicians) are not only lovely and talented, they made me laugh until my corset hurt! You've gotta love songs called "The Bartering Whore" and "I Live to Give My Husband Grief." I warn you only this: these songs are not something to play to your children!

Then there was of course the beer, the sonorous language, meeting the Queen, working on my genuflect, drinking beer, the jousting, the jugglers, the beautiful costumes, someone dressed at Captain Jack Sparrow (and damn good!), the tasty beer, the magicians, the gypsies, the who-needs-bloody-utensils food... did I mention the beer?

One lesson I learned, and a hint to anyone thinking about dressing up for the RenFaire: corsets are not for the faint of heart! I've worn corsets before, but this was pure torture! It reached over 90 degrees yesterday, and I thought I was going to pass out. I had to keep sitting to catch my breath.

Everything was great otherwise. Matt got some training in sword mastery. I just wish I had thought about pulling out my camera, catching a shot of him swinging around that huge claymore! He was in heaven! I couldn't help but think of medieval phallic symbols and hum one of those Windsor wenches tunes.

I'm definitely going again next year, even if it's bloody hot again.

The Bermuda Triangle

A little background. Things in my room disappear and reappear way too frequently. I mean, they will vanish and reappear smack dab next to me.

Well, I was looking for my W-2 forms to finish up my tax returns. I did the State taxes already, but lost the Federal forms. So, still unable to find the forms, I decide, what the heck, I'll do it online.

I knew I filed my W-2 forms in my top drawer, where I put all my important papers. So I look. Not there. I just cleaned my top drawer too (looking for something I knew was there, and never did find it until a week later)! I get my little sister, and we look everywhere for these stupid forms. I tell her about things disappearing, and she says she knows, Dad has complained about it too, losing tools in my room just to have them reappear exactly where he knew they were last (see this past post).

Well, I'm freaking out because many hours have passed and no sign of the forms, and taxes are due in four days. I checked the drawer multiple times. Finally, I complained about it to Matt over IM, and he asked if I just shout "I give up," maybe whatever is hiding my stuff will give it back. That worked once, looking for a necklace. I had cleared my piano seat totally off, knowing that's where I left it, then shouted "Forget it!" in frustration. Thirty minutes later, the necklace was laying in the middle of the cleared piano bench.

So, it worked once, I try it again.

Hour later, I look in the drawer.

Nothing.

My sister suggested I start looking in places I know I would never, ever put it. Well, one instantly comes to my mind. My vanity desk. I keep the mirror lid down all the time, usually piled with crap on top, so I never put anything inside in. I clear off the lid and open it.

There, in the middle of the vanity, are my W-2's.

I screamed with frustration.

Someone is getting a kick out of doing this to me.

La Conchita

I want to say, perhaps someone wanted me to truly be thankful.

Just a few hours ago, I posted about being thankful California rains aren't too bad. And then this happens just a few miles north of me.


I hope the people of La Conchita find their loved ones

A little perspective

It's been raining nonstop for a while here, and my neighborhood has started flooding. We live in the bottom of a valley, and my street is one of the major roads coming down off the hill, so it can turn into a real river. I spent this evening sandbagging our front door and garage.

Now, I usually gripe and complain when I have to go out in the rain and put heavy bags of sand up, making our house into a miniature fortress. But as I hunched over the sand pit with my shovel and a wet bag, I thought of the people in East Asia, people who had no warning, people for whom some foot high wall of sand would have been no security.

Perspective!!!

I stopped grumbling instantly. I think other families filling bags with me thought the same thing, because it was surprisingly quiet.

So what if a few inches of water seep into our house. Who cares if the carpet gets wet. At least we'll have a house in the morning! And our lives!