you're welcome

OK, so it's been 18 thousand years since my last post (again). This one is just a drive-by. But it's worth it, I swear. This is quite possibly the handiest thing I have seen in a long time: how to fold a fitted sheet.

count in the heezie

Why yes, this is the best thing I've seen all day. 

One, two, three, four, fizzle.

via

i remember

And you should too. See you at the polls.

tastes like autumn

Ok, I admit it. I am not Julia Child. Or Mario Batali. Cooking, it's not really my deal. But now that I'm the currently at home (aka momma needs a job!) half of the team, I decided that we couldn't have frozen dinners in a bag or ravliolis every single night for dinner. So last night Ari and I spent some serious time cooking. I wrangled a fresh butternut squash from a local farm (which is harder than it sounds) and we got to cooking. It was so good, we had it again for lunch! And the dog liked it! But you don't know about him yet, but he liked it like whoa! We even made our own recipe, and damn, it came out AWESOME. So, friends, for your gastronomical pleasure, bacon butternut squash soup!


Butternut Squash Soup

Plus, it was fun to try out our new food processor (thanks, Browns!). Try it and let me know how it turns out!

bring on the rain

So if you know me in real life, you know how much I love Australia. If you don't, the reason is that I spent six months there doing a semester abroad at the University of Melbourne and touring the east coast.

Seriously, Oz is the most amazing place. It's full of all these totally cool things and sayings and plants and places that are nothing like anything that exists on any other continent. One of the places I didn't get to go to but is on the top of my list for when I go back (and I will be going back, thank you very much!) is Uluru (formerly known as Ayer's Rock). Uluru is in the middle of the Outback in extreme desert conditions. So when I saw this post (via web-goddess), I knew I had to share. This week, Uluru got a rainstorm for the first time in over 20 years. This photos are pretty awesome and speak for themselves.

Photo credit: Peter Carroll

the return

Dear Gentle Readers*,

I have been a delinquent blogger. I got way-layed writing about the bachelorette and just lost my steam. Well kids, I am back by popular demand. I will be back soon with tales of broken bones, a new puppy and of course, the long awaited wedding recap. Once that's all sussed (and I'm not too worried, that's gonna take a while), we can get on to the business of figuring out what to write about now that it's not wedding central up in these parts anymore.

Much Love,

Shayna

*If you get this reference, I will love you forever. I will potentially also mail you chocolate products of some sort because you will have earned it.

lazy blogger placates eager readers

This weekend went all too quickly and I don't have the brain power? energy? werewithall? something else? to write my bachelorette post just yet.  Instead I will placate you with more pretty wedding pictures.

I couldn't resist this one. My husband looks too hot. Also, I can't stop saying "my husband." Husband! Husband! Husband! Photo via Noah Devereaux.

l'shana tova

Ari and I are home this Yom Kippur.  To distract from our fasts, we are having a Battlestar Galactica marathon.  I'm starving.  It's pretty awesome though, not gonna lie.  Best wishes for a happy new year and to be inscribed in the book.

pre-wedding vacation?

So I suppose I should start at the beginning. Well, maybe a little sooner than that. In a fit of "oh my gosh the wedding is so soon and she's moving out" and "holy crap we all reeaaaallly need a vacation" my parents decide that it is a fabulous idea to take me to Block Island, Rhode Island.  Well, I love Block and am pretty much defenseless against its siren call.  We had planned to go Tuesday, I think.  Well, you get there by ferry and Mother Nature had other plans in the form of a hurricane so the ferry didn't run.  Instead, we went down on Friday.  Yes, 9 days before my wedding.  I told you it was insane.

Anyhow, we drove down to Point Judith, RI (where the ferry leaves from) and had lunch at a place looking at this:

After that we got on the ferry and as we were leaving saw lots of cute, tiny beachgoers.

The very first day there we dragged our butts (and beach chairs) a mile up the road (which is far in flip-flops carrying a lot of crap).  I immediately proceeded to totally sunburn my whole face.  I may or may not have had a freak out, yelled at my parents for putting me in this situation a week before my wedding and complained about it all weekend, even as it began to fade.

Complaining, time crunches and panic aside, it was really so lovely to be there.  Block in late August and early September is a thing of beauty.  Sunshine, cool weather (mid 70s!) and the perfect breeze.  It doesn't hurt that it's so damn cute, either.

Also, the best ice cream cone on the face of the planet.  Seriously, Aldo's makes a banana cream pie ice cream.  Banana ice cream with pieces of pie in it!  It is beyond the best thing ever.  Now, there are a lot of choices, and I am a chocolate girl and not at all loyal to one ice cream flavor, but it was so good, I had it two nights in a row.  I'd eat it right now if I could.  It's worth the schlep to Block for this ice cream.

And I found a knitter!  Well, a knitter's car at least...

In the end, it was sad to leave, but I was anxious and eager to get back to New York to finish Wedding Prep (yes, that does require word initial capitals, thank you).  I think the moral here is yes, absolutely go on a quick little vacation with your parents before your wedding.  It was really great to have that nice bonding time with them before the insanity of the wedding week and the insane emotional upheaval that a wedding is for everyone involved.  However, for your own sanity, do it three weeks before, not one!

PS.  Thanks Mom and Dad, I had a blast!

Next Up: Arrivals begin and bachelorette party ensues!

re-entry

And we're back!  Adjusting back to real life is no simple task, and we're tackling it head on with some good old fashioned quality couch time.  Teaser photos are in, so recap and honeymoon talk coming soon!

Ok, I couldn't resist.

Courtesy of our amazing photographer Noah Devereaux.

it's here!

WEDDING DAY!!!

the night before

Forgive me if this post turns to Ramble City, USA.  I'm not sure exactly what I want to say, but I feel like I want to say something.  Or I should.  Or something.

I am getting married tomorrow.  Well, it's 1:12am, so technically I am getting married today.  It's the most surreal feeling.  I told my dad tonight that I'm as ready as I'll ever be, that I think you can only be 95% ready until you've already done the thing.

Ari called me his wife today.  I turned into a little gooey mess of girly loveitude.  Really, honestly, I love the "stuff" that goes with my wedding, but I am ready for my marriage already.  It's not about my beautiful dress or lovely flowers (that my mom, friend Ros and I have slaved over for the last 2 days) or the dancing or the cake.  It's about this wonderful, incredible, perfectly imperfect person who has chosen to love me and let me love him back.  Ari, Baby, I can't wait to stand in front of all the people I love and tell them why I'm yours.

I have this song stuck in my head.


It's going to be a good day.  I can't wait.  Married.

my brain is too tired to come up with a witty title

These posts keep getting shorter and shorter, I know.  But it's really crunch time (2 days)!  The family has descended and with them the chaos (and love, but still chaos).  Family BBQ tonight followed by bachelor and bachelorette parties.  The boys are going to a steak house, but the girls and I, we're going to see some hot boys take their shirts off and drink sugary drinks with umbrellas.  I for one can't wait.  Maybe I'll have some pictures for you.  Hopefully there won't be any tame enough to share.

it's on

Ari and I got our marriage license today.  This thing is officially on. 

blue skies

This makes me very happy.  According to weather.com, Sunday will be sunny, 74 degrees, 0% chance of precipitation and 50% humidity.  I could not have ordered better weather if I had a direct line to Mother Nature!  I've decided this bodes well for the whole event!

sneak!

My little sister showed up tonight!  A day early and a total surprise to Mom and I!  What a little sneak!  (So glad you're here!)

my photographer is the best!

Yes.  My photographer.  He's so awesome, I have laid claim.  Though I did pass kindergarten, so I am willing to share (just not this Sunday!  eep!).  Take a look at these awesome engagement shots he took of Ari and I in Central Park last weekend.

This is just a teaser, Noah was so nice and sent along a few photos sooner rather than later so I'd have something to buzz over to the NY Times (which I may have been too late to have published anyhow, but it's worth a try, I suppose).  I'll post the rest when they come around, but it'll probably be after the wedding and our honeymoon.

Seriously though, Noah has been really great, totally relaxed and unobtrusive.  I can't wait to sing his praises even more after the wedding!  Check him out on his site: Noah Devereaux Wedding Photojournalism.

All images taken by and courtesy of Noah Devereaux.

The Final Countdown: One Week

Sorry for that little bit of down time earlier this week.  My parents took me on a last hurrah mini-vacation to Block Island.  Suffice (for now) to say that it was divine (minus my sunburn).  I'll have a real post for you once I get a chance to look at the photos I took.

---

It's pretty astounding (to me at least).  One week.  Seven days from today I'll be getting my hair and make up done, chatting with my family and best friend and generally getting prettified and trying to stay relaxed.  Something will go wrong and I'll try not to fuss.  I'll get in the car and walk around with my face all done up and veil in my hair... and a tshirt and shorts.  I'll hide away in a restaurant manager's office and my mom will zip up my wedding dress.  Right now it seems so surreal...

Fact is, my to do list is still two full pages long.  Heck, my to do list for today has 9 things on it, at least four of which are starting or completing some big projects.  When I have so much tangible work in front of me, it's hard to think about the really huge emotional thing that's happening so soon.  I mean, in a week I'll be a wife!  Now if that's not trippy, I don't know what is.

I'm trying to think what to write next and realizing that this post has no structure at all.  Guess I'm a little rusty... the beach melted my brain in the most pleasant way.  I think maybe I'll throw in a random list of things about... here:

• I'm excited. 

• I'm worried about the wedding (and all the stuff I have to do for it!) but not the marriage.

• I am so excited about the honeymoon, I'd have a pretty hard time explaining it.  Whenever I get stressed, I add a day to the wedding countdown and say to myself "in 8 days I'll be on my honeymoon! honeymoon! honeymoon!"  

• There's a song that goes with the honeymoon chant.

• I got a letter from the White House yesterday in response to our wedding invitation.  I'm being a good girl and waiting for Mr. McGee to show on Wednesday.  He said I could open it without him, but it's not every day you get mail from the White House...

• I still have to get my ceremony readers and chuppah holders together.

• I'm pretty excited to not know every nook and cranny of my ceremony text.  I know Carie is going to say lovely things, and I loves me some surprises! 

• I am seriously marrying the best person ever.  (And we're getting married!)

• Plus, bonus points because he's so hot (we're going to make pretty babies some day)!

• Bachelor/ette party plans are in full swing and I absolutely cannot wait for mine!  I know any time my sister and best friend put their heads together to plan a party it's going to be beyond insane.

• On a related note, any tips for dressing up like "a sexy pin up girl?"

• Holy crap, I'm getting married in a week.

words

After our meeting with the rabbi on Sunday, Ari and I have sussed out what our ceremony is going to look like.  Well, so far as we want to know.  We know all the parts, but some things that the rabbi will say, and our vows to each other are still saved for surprises. 

Initially I had been reading all of these ceremonies (I moderate an online forum of knitter and crocheter brides and we have a dedicated thread for that) and thinking we'd use one or another as readings in our own.  I saved only my very favorites, and read them to Ari on the porch one night, but he just wasn't sold.  I was a little bummed at first (the words, they are so beautiful!), but I understood his reluctance and we decided not to have readings.

And this one wouldn't have worked anyway, not for our wedding at least.  But for a spring wedding, all sunshine and peonies and joy, this would be perfect.

Today by Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
-------------------------------------------------------
source

And, in case you were wondering, my favorites were Our Union Could Be Like This by Hafiz, a children's book called I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg and I'll Be There For You by Louise Cuddon.

I found Billy Collins through the ever-awesome East Side Bride, who posted my now favorite video of a three year old kid reciting from memory Collins' beautiful poem Litany.

putting the knits back into mcgee

Considering my name, there's not much knitting content on this blog.  However, thought I'd throw some in here, just for fun.  I can across this font two days ago, that has all the fabric care symbols.  So, if you knit, crochet, sew or anything else fiber related, this is for you. 

I said tumble dry low!

Go here to download the font "Notice 3" (heads up, the site is in Russian, use google translator for the page if that freaks you out!).  It is the fifth paragraph down, the top link of the two in that group.  Now, I must admit, I have no idea how to install a font on a PC, so if you're not a Mac, you're on your own.  However, if you are using a Mac, once the download is complete, open the zip file (font_notice3.zip) in your downloads file by double clicking.  Then open the file Notice3Std.otf the same way.  This will open a program called "Font Book."  Just click the "Install Font" button at the bottom right.  Et voila!  Next time you're putting together a cute little tag for those socks you're gifting to Uncle John, you can put the real care symbols on, easy peasy!

yum!

Hey all, just popping in to tell you that my good friend Stefie just started a new food blog, Four Tines and a Napkin.  It's full of info, opinions and photos of places that make me hungry just to think about!  She has really good taste, putting the bakery of my wedding cake on her "bucket list" without even knowing!  You should definitely check it out, my girl is a funny one, I predict big things for her!

Stefie and I at our fraternity formal in college!

awesomesauce

Between this insane dress and hat combo

via once wed

and this insane floral display

via truly smitten

it's been a good day in blogland.

flowers!

Yesterday was a big steaming heap of amazingly productive exhausting fun.  My mom and I met our friend Ros and her son Alex in the city yesterday.  After a quick powwow on what we were looking for, Alex left to go sort out a upside-down book and we hit the flower district.  Turns out we didn't have to go far.  Pretty quickly we found Kathy at George Rallis, Inc., a flower wholesaler.  We liked what we saw, the flowers were in good shape, pretty and well organized.  After about an hour of questions and pointing and saying "5 bunches!" "50 stems!" and "will that be enough?" we had ordered a whole bunch of flowers and were set to pick them up the Friday before the wedding.  Here's a sample I threw together to give you a taste of what we got. 

After lunch on the go, we headed into Jersey to Ros' wholesale floral supplier (she's the queen of the Maplewood Garden Club and has the hook up!), Suburban Wholesale Florist.  We got all the little goodies we need, plus the tall vases for the bar, aisle and card table.  At first we'd bought a whole bunch of 5" glass cubes for the centerpieces, with the plan to possibly spray paint them gold or silver.  Lo and behold, as I'm walking out, I spot none other than a whole whack of 5" cube vases in silver and gold!  Successed!  So we took a bit more of their time and switched out clear for metallic and were on our way.

Our last stop was Ros' house for powwow part 2.  We went though our list, figured out how we actually wanted things and cut out all the stuff we ordered because we had big eyes and well, flowers are pretty.  After chopping off about a third of what we ordered, we felt pretty damn accomplished and celebrated with some awesome Chinese food. 

I was so exhausted, I went to be at 10:30 (not my usual 3am) and slept 11 hours.  It was a good day.  Now, off to work on the chuppah and ketubah!

boom!

The thunder happening right now is in-sane!  So loud and awesome.  And you can even see the lightning, even though it's still daylight.  I love thunderstorms, and ones during the day seem a rare treat.  Plus, it's not even raining so hard, so it's like a show with free tickets.  Happy Monday, indeed.

the almost elopement

When the wedding insanity starts to set in (starts is perhaps not the right word...), or works itself to a pitch, I often ask myself, or Ari if he's handy, why we didn't elope.  Weddings are exciting and fun and a labor of love, don't get me wrong, but they're not without their share of tears, fights and anxiety.  My fantasy for a good long while was a flight for this weekend (whichever weekend it happened to be), and a trip to San Francisco City Hall (which is beyond amazingly gorgeous).

In the end, we both knew that what we really wanted was a wedding with our friends and family.  But hey, if you can narrow down your nearest and dearest to 30, and would rather trade the big city for sandy beaches, you might be in luck.  Pacific Weddings Magazine is giving away a wedding in Maui.

You give them a photo of you and your fiancé and tell them how you met, fell in love and got engaged in 300 words or less, and they might give you

• Wedding and reception at Timba in Lahaina, Maui
• Honeymoon stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui
• Wedding and ceremony for 30 people
• Reception including floral décor, dinner and drinks for thirty guests
• Photography coverage of wedding and reception
• Oceanview room for bride and groom for three days
• Sunset sail for two aboard Trilogy Excursions

Sounds pretty damn good to me.  And since the whole thing is paid for, the head count comes with a concrete cutoff and you're already at your honeymoon, I'd say the only thing you have to worry about is what to wear.  Have a pina colada for me.

photo city

This is the reason that you really need to research a photographer before you hire them.

It's one of many reasons I'm glad we picked our photographer (who is definitely not the perpetrator of the above photograph!), Noah Devereaux.  I'm excited for totally awesome photographs like this instead.

Ari's coming in next weekend and we're doing our engagement session (better late than never, right?).  I'm really looking forward to working with Noah and getting comfortable on the receiving end of the camera lens.  We're thinking maybe the Met and Central Park for a location.  Anyone have any cool places in the the city they like to take photos?

home again, home again

jig a dee jig!

This afternoon I'm off home to New York for my sister's birthday, delivery at college and the rest of my mad wedding prep.  Still not done packing so I'll keep it brief.  I may be sad to leave my honey, but I'll sure be glad to see this:

Think on time, non-turbulent thoughts for me!

heart and sole

Ok, lame pun.  Sorry.  Anyhow.

In case you were crushing on these Alexander McQueen heart-shaped peep toes but aren't quite in the market for $800 shoes Frederick's has knock-offs for $20.  Admittedly I couldn't handle their 4.5 inch heel, but the price tag, yeah that works for me.

Alexander McQueen at Saks                                            Frederick's of Hollywood

wowza

Please.  Somebody wear this dress.  This is a dress meant to be rocked.  Duuudes... please.

Tadashi Shoji from Nordy's.  $548.  He-llo.

ehhh...

Sorry, I'm not feeling so great today so a real post will have to wait.  Be appeased instead by this picture of a puppy.

letters of note

Came across the blog Letters of Note today via another blog I'm fond of, called neither snow.  Letters of Note has handwritten or typed (most often on a typewriter) notes and letters from all sorts of famous people and influential times.  Some are responses to fanmail, and most are quite gratifying to read.

I liked this one in particular, a response to a fan letter requesting a signed photo from Pixar creative honcho, Peter Docter.

yet another reason why i go to kareoke

This made me happy.  And just like webgoddess said, gotta love a practical joke that's really funny but not actually at anyone's expense.  Clicky and enjoy the next five minutes of your life.

Undercover Karaoke with Jewel from Jewel

Honeymoon! Honeymoon! Honeymoon!

This has been my mantra of late.  Anytime I get stressed or nervous or anxious or frustrated with the wedding, I repeat that over and over again (in a fun little singsong voice) until I feel better.  Because no matter how crazy things get, on September 6, Ari and I will be getting on a plane and going here.

That's Club Med Turkoise.  Everything is already paid for (except tips).  Air is booked and they take us to and from the airport.  I expect my hardest decision all week to be whether I should drink my pina colada by the beach or the pool.  And bonus points for being an adult-only resort.  I love kids, I really do, but I don't want to have to deal with them on my honeymoon.  Oh yeah, and did I mention I will be doing lots of this?

Only I won't be sticking my ass out like I'm terrified of leaving the board.  Shoulders back, hips forward!

Cos they have a flying trapeze there kids.  I haven't flown in almost two years and I miss it so badly.  I am beyond excited.  I really hope the safety belts really are that gold color, because then I will totally pretend I am Wonder Woman.

I am predicting a very good week.

wedding photography giveaway

Photographer Kara Layne is giving away free wedding photography!  The deadline is 11:59 PM on Sunday, August 15th, 2010 and your wedding has to take place in 2011.  Check out all the details here on her blog.  Good luck!

covet

With as many wedding blogs as I read, it's sometimes hard not to think "what if I'd done it this way instead?"  Especially with dresses.  There's just so much goddamn-badass-prettiness out there that it's hard not to covet more than just the dress I've got.  But the fact is, some of it is just pure fashion lust, and really, we can combat that pretty easily by sharing the love.  So here you are, my current wedding dress obsessions.

First up is Sydney-based Australian designer Rachel Gilbert.  If I had about 70 billion more rock 'n roll points, I'd've gotten married in one of these:

Next up is an etsy vendor, Peppermint Pretty.  Her style is a little more rockabilly than my taste, but her Pictures of Lily dress just slays me.

Lastly is Romanian (if my google-fu serves me right) designer Maria Lucia Hohan.  Her style reminds me of an Amsale and Romona Keveza having a baby that likes to go to Heart concerts.

There.  I feel better already.

on the docket

So with 45 days to go, things are coming fast and furious.  Some of the bigger things have gotten left later than they should have (thank you blog overload and massive indecision!) but it means they all start happening pretty rapid fire.  On the agenda for today is ordering our ketubah, booking our honeymoon and ordering my veil!  That means I'll actually have a complete outfit, the ability to have a ceremony and a week of total bliss full of booze, beach, flying trapeze (we're going to club med - so excited!) and my new husband (husband!).  This thing is really happening!

confession

I have a confession to make.  This will not surprise anyone who knows me personally, but it's a little wacky, and it's made wedding planning more stressful if not harder.

I am afraid of the telephone.

There.  I said it.  It's true.  And it's not like I'm afraid of the actual object, or won't use it, or won't pick up the phone, or won't call people at all, I just really hate it.  I get really anxious when calling anyone, to the point that I have to spend serious time psyching myself up to call people (have you guessed that I am writing this to avoid calling someone yet?) that aren't my parents, sister or Mr. McGee, and I'm pretty sure they're all that way because I speak to them so often.  I don't know what it is, or why I do it, but it makes life pretty complicated sometimes.

Once, in college, I at dinner 3 and 1/2 hours later than I'd planned to because I wanted take out but Ari wouldn't call for me because he thought I was just being silly.  Well, he still thinks I'm just being silly (or crazy) but I can't help it and he eventually did order me food.

---

OK, so I made the call.  (Yay!  Go me!)  But like I was fervently hoping as it rang, the call went to voicemail.  The downside being that I have to have another phone call.  This is not so good.

balloons make everything better

Image by Ashley Rose Photography via Green Wedding Shoes.

See, I told you so.

useless

I have no idea where I'd use this but it doesn't stop me from really wanting one.

the city so nice they named it twice

When I was home visiting my folks, I happened to remember that I had been planning to visit M & J Trimming (6th Ave btn. 37th and 38th).  I remembered when I was standing at 5th Ave and 10th street... and decided to walk.  Not such a bad thing, but perhaps Birkenstocks weren't the best choice in footwear.  Anyhow, I punctuated my walk with a few stops, on of which was Anthropologie.  Now, while some of their stuff is overpriced to my mind, walking into their store is always a spectacle of loveliness, so well designed.  Needless to say I walked out with a couple of goodies.

A little sparkle never goes amiss.

Not sure where I plan to use them, but I got an A and an S to use for the wedding.  Plus, really, I can never have enough mugs.

And my piece de resistance: my guest book.  When I told the cashier that's what I was buying it for, I got a brief, but clearly incredulous stare.  I don't really care (she did recover well) though, I think it'll be really cool.  It's a kids book all about New York from 1960.  It just tied into my gently New York themed wedding, and it has lots of empty space on the pages for signing.  Here's hoping it'll be a hit!