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!

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!)

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.

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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.

So, um, yeah.

Apparently Lincoln is home to Arbor Day, not Earth day.  (Thanks for that, Honey.)  Clearly you can see how interested I am.


Anyhow, the boy and I are off the visit Nana and Pops in Minnesota this weekend.  Should be fun.  And I get to get my engagement ring resized, finally.  Though I do fully admit to being a baby and not wanting to give it up.

I have all sorts of photos of fun things that you'll get to see either when I find my camera cord (uh huh) or my new (yay yay yay!), hopefully correctly functioning this time, Canon 20D arrives for me to redo the pictures.  Though I suppose that's also dependent on the giant rain cloud currently occupying the sky over the entire Midwest gets the hell out of here.

You go, girl!

Had to pop in to have a quick brag.  My little sister just got her acceptance to American University!  She's five for five and just waiting on three more schools.  She's so damn smart, I'm so proud of you Samara!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Today is a very important day, it's my mom's birthday.  My mom, is an amazing person.  Kind, generous, talented, created, selfless and just all around awesome.  She is a teacher and a student.  She's my family and my friend.  I trust her to tell me what's what, push me when I need it, and hug me when it's over.  She has spent the last 23 years making me into the smart, independent woman I like to think I'm becoming.  Plus, she's a damn fine artist!

There are no true words for how special you are to me Mom, I love you!

You can find her and her art at Artistkaren.com and KarenFriedland.com.