Wednesday, May 31, 2006

other people's wedding

so last weekend we had a black tie wedding to attend. this gave me the opportunity to a) try out a new hairdo and b) practice my dance moves with Thurston. let's just say that the hair was more of a success even though it was rainy on the way to the wedding (out in Long Island).

five seconds after this photo was taken, i sneezed and actually felt the seams of my dress straining not to bust open.

during the ceremony, Dr. Sexy and his bride-to-be exchanged their own vows. hers included a line in which she stated that her groom was "the sexiest man" she had known. their rabbi picked up on this (as rabbis are wont to do, all of them, in my opinion harboring dashed dreams of a Catskills-based comedy career) and then also referred to the groom as being "sexy." Thurston, from that point on, has refused to call the groom anything other than "Dr. Sexy."*

the freshly wed Dr. Sexy and the missus.

happily, the wine flowed as freely as our rocking dance moves. and somehow, without the involvement of any hydraulic systems, i managed not to fall out of my dress. (see below).

this is what happens when you insist on wearing a dress that fit you when you weighed twenty pounds less.

at the end of the wedding, the somewhat inebriated Thurston and i managed to finagle a ride home with my parents. (who were not at the wedding, but were in Long Island for the day and held off returning to the city in order to save us the hassle of coordinating a car service with the end of the wedding.) i am sure that ride was a super-fun experience for the JadedParents. at one point, T mentioned that he had only had "one drink", meaning he had one cocktail and wine for the rest. the next morning my mom called me and asked me if Thurston had had "only one drink". i told her that he had one mixed drink, but many glasses of wine. "ahh," she said. "that makes so much more sense. because after we dropped you off, daddy asked me if i heard T say that he only had one drink. i said i thought i did. then dad said, 'it must have been a pretty big drink, because those two were *drunk*.'"
that JadedDad. he's a good sport!
* yes, even on the video, he made a point of calling Dr. A by his newly anointed title. sorry 'bout that!!

potential wedding hair


sabrina and eric wedding 004
Originally uploaded by jadedem.

here is how i wore my hair to the Dr. Sexy nuptials. i was trying to replicate Felicity Huffman's Oscar hairdo, but my stylist decided to editorialize a bit, and added the Medieval-esque twists. hmmm...

compare with the Felicity 'do below. although i have a lot more hair than she does, i think hers looked a little more "organic," and i think i prefer that to mine. well, we have another wedding on 6/17 where i'll experiment yet again. maybe a loose pony... or another updo. who knows!?

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

lost weekend(s)

due to many events of late (the wedding Dr. Sexy and Mrs. Doctor; dinner with the Handsomes; my birthday all-you-can-eat meat extravaganza (w/ karaoke bonus!); Memorial Day weekend on Long Island; and my DIY car-washing adventure), i have been a bad blogger, indeed.

more on all the events (with photos too!) tonight.

meantime, i will leave you with a photo of a *good* present.



this is what is on the t-shirt that i got Thurston for *my* birthday, since i am all of a month and a few days older than he... for some reason, it brings him great joy to extol the benefits of "marrying an older woman."
so i say, f my age sensitivities. (hey, whatever makes him smile...!)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

gifts i would NOT like

in case any of you had thought the following t-shirt would make an appropriate engagement gift:

it would not.

Friday, May 19, 2006

video killed the radio star

or not. in any event, we've met with two videographers so far and have liked them both.

  • Valerie Barnes
    last Friday night we met with Valerie Barnes and saw a few wedding videos that she had done. i had already watched a few videos with wedding-planner-extraordinaire Farrell last month, and from that viewing, Valerie had made my (very) short list. with packages starting in the $4K range, she was definitely within budget and her work was very cohesive, subtle and the opposite of my bar/mat mitzvah video nightmares.
    "oh my god, you look amazing! and you did so awesome on your Haftorah!"

    the videos told a story and they were really cinematic and lovely. i was particularly fond of the possibility to have Super 8 footage taken as well as some Super 8/grainy effects that could be added to the digital video in the editing process.

i have to say, that meeting with various wedding vendors has become a lot less of a drag since we've been capping off the appointment-evenings with dinners with my parents. post-Valerie Barnes, we hit Bobby Van's (with the JadedBrother, to boot*). i skipped steak at BV's, though, since T and i already had Saturday night plans to hit the Strip House with the Née Whites, and had fish instead. (how responsible!) i will say this: if you get to the Strip House, do not miss the "Crisp Goose Fat Potatoes." my, oh, my, were they amazing. and my rare ribeye was also excellent.

  • Milk & Honey
    Wednesday night, my mom, dad and i went to M&H's office and met with Lauren, who was really enthusiastic and definitely seemed to be flexible as to my thoughts on video. i had seen a M&H video clip with Farrell, and the clip was amazing. a lot of interesting stuff with split screens, showing action/reaction shots and had a very cinematic feel. we watched the whole video at the appointment and not only did i love the video style, but the couple's wedding was a-ma-zing. (probably this is why they were featured in New York magazine's Weddings issue.)

    check out their wedding write-up. really!

    anyway, we also saw that M&H did plenty of indoor shooting, and saw one of their Met Club weddings. it's easy to get wowed watching someone else's outdoor wedding video, with sweeping landscapes, ocean views, etc. however, i always have to remind myself that my wedding is start-to-finish indoors. happily, M&H's indoor work was also lovely. M&H's price point is a bit higher than Valerie's, starting in the $5Ks.

    i have to say, that our post-M&H dinner was not as impressive as our post-Valerie dinner. we hit Black Duck, in the Park South Hotel, and the food was ok. (but it was no Bobby Van's!)

now we have to decide! since Thurston skipped the M&H appointment (stuck at work) this will be a me and my parents decision. which is always a tougher one to make since T and i have a better deciding system. my mom calls it "i defer to you, sweetheart." and, obvs, since i am somewhat of a control freak, the line belongs to T. he (like my dad) will go down in history as a "good sport."


* for better or for worse, T and i have been seeing a lot of my brother lately. not only does he live but two floors above us, but he has also been somehow convinced to join Thurston's supercool darts team, which plays every Monday night. plus, last Friday he already saw me for a Chinatown lunch (at New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, which did not make it onto my lunch place round-up) so i was surprised he came to dinner at all...

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

all's well,

that ends in me getting my LoveBird stamps.

i ordered them on Friday:



and, if the Post Office's web site is accurate, they're waiting for me at home as i live and breathe.



sometimes i am scared about how easily pleased i am.
i think i will point this out the next time someone (i.e. EvilA or my mom) calls me "high-maintenance."

Monday, May 15, 2006

let's go to the videotape

before i got engaged, i had taken the time to prepare and plan an elaborate wedding in my head. despite the fact that these plans were for a wedding that i was pretty sure i would never have since i pretty much exclusively encountered frogs looking to be kissed, the plans were fairly involved. but anyway, this wedding (the imaginary one) did not, in any way, include a videographer. i envisioned a giant tripod laden camera being wheeled around by some guy wielding a giant, foam-covered microphone and was so not having that at my dream wedding.


Beta or VHS?

the concept did not exactly fit in with my romantic, classic wedding image.

of course now that i am actually planning my wedding, there is no effing way that the ridiculous time, effort and investment in the event is going to go unpreserved on celluloid. they say the only thing that lasts from a wedding is the pictures and the video (and, presumably, the loving marriage) and hells yeah am i preserving mine.

so now, courtesy of my brilliant planner Farrell of the Wedding Library, we have a couple of appointments to meet videographers.

the first one was Friday, with Valerie Barnes. more on that one tomorrow... (i've managed to exhaust myself stuffing save-the-dates and sealing envelopes while Thurston enjoys the soothing sounds of Guns N' Roses. hopefully, EvilA, with whom T went, is looking out for T so that he doesn't rush the stage and beg Axl to be his new best friend.)

Saturday, May 13, 2006

stamp-gate 2006

well, yesterday was a close call!
sometime in the afternoon, Thurston went to the post office across from his office to purchase a quantity of LoveBird stamps, the ones i had chosen for our save-the-date.*

the clerk informed him that "those stamps are done."


when T called me with this news, i was in a bit of disbelief. i then sent my brother on a similar errand, to the post office in our neighborhood. he also called me with similar news. the downtown post office was also selling the same story: the stamps are "over" and have been for months.

victims of bird flu??

anyway, i decided to log on to the USPS web site and, lo and behold, they appeared to have the stamps for sale. so i bought many of them. phew!
because i mean, clearly, the stamp is the most important element of the STD, right? that's what people look for, no?
* in emails to T and to my wedding planner i often refer to my save-the-dates as STDs. this please Thurston no end, as he is now enamored of telling people that he will be sending them an STD through the mail. oh, that T...

Thursday, May 11, 2006

T-Minus 6 Months...

that's right. in a mere 1/2 a year, i'm to be wed.

right now, though, i'm trying to decide on what stamps i'll use on my save-the-dates (to be sent to out-of-town guests in the near future).

here are the top three contenders:

Lovebirds-- aren't they cute? this is my first choice.


animals from kids' books--being a huge Curious George fan, i like there. but acknowledge they are probably too babyish for wedding-related mail. (at my age, no one can accuse me of being a child-bride...)


the Post Office's snazzy new "Our Wedding" stamp. perhaps a bit formal for save-the-dates, no?

i know i have been a neglectful blogger of late. it's due to social overextension. since the weekend before last we've been cuh-razy with the plans...
a brief summary:

Friday, April 28th--dinner at Agave with the Thai-talians. our 8:45 dinner really started at 10 because that's when the Mr. was allowed to leave work. Mrs. T (and the margaritas and sangria) kept us company in the meantime. if you go here and do not get the Santa Fe Shepard's Pie (which is essentially mac and cheese on top of chili) you will regret it. (or be forced to eat off the plate of the smart one who *does* order it. right, Mr. Thai-talian?)

Saturday, April 29th--(daytime) Yankees day game for the birthday of one Scotty G. (one-half of the couple who introduced us.); (night) dinner at Salt with Traveling John and my sorority-sister-made-good. this dinner occurred after the horrible Cuba,* on Thompson Street, completely ignored our reservation. Salt was great though. i thank my erstwhile sorority sister for the clutch recommendation...

Sunday, April 30th--(daytime) Tribeca Film Festival chick flick: One Last Thing; (night) dinner at The Red Cat with Dr. A and his fiancée. i particularly like Sunday dinners that i can drive to. happily, i was able to find parking just a block away. the driving bit limited me to but one cocktail (like T would skip the drinking to drive? puh-lease!), which happened to be an excellent one called the 1815 or something like that. it involved bitters and amaro and ginger ale. quite good!

Thursday, May 4--gym with trainer; Veselka with the brother for his 25th birthday

Friday, May 5, 8PM--dinner with the Bean at good. (i highly, highly recommend the Green Chile Macaroni & Cheese topped with tortilla crumbs. the "tortilla crumbs" are actually Frito crumbs. which is so freaking awesome.) 9:45PM--pass out due to Zyrtec plus two Pisco Sours.

Saturday, May 6--(daytime) not-my-favorite-Tribeca-Film-Festival-movie Fifty Pills followed by lunch with Lola and Ted (again, the Veselka, because it is just that awesome). Fifty Pills? not so awesome. kinf of trite and seemed way too efforted. shame on you, Veronica Mars! i expected more from you! then at a street fair on 2nd Avenue, i ran into the brother of the Porn King and his wife; (nighttime) my brother's birthday shindig at the Magician, which was also the going away party for my faux-younger-brother, T-Bags.

and here i am, woefully behind in blogging as well as tv-watching. (i'm have like three weeks of Big Love yet to watch!) wedding planning has taken a backseat to the food and the booze. but with my new WeightWatchers dedication (as of yesterday i am a slave to the points) the social life shall be curtailed. then it's all blogging, all the time. lucky you!

* here is my review of Cuba that menupages and CitySearch seemingly refuse to post: I have never experienced more dismissive and less apologetic poor service than I did at Cuba. A friend made reservations this evening and when we arrived we were told the wait would be a "few minutes." Indeed, another party that arrived after us was seated in the interim. Over 1/2 hour later (and after a few inquiries to the smug host who, coincidentally, looks a lot like the smug Stephen on "Top Chef") our party of four was seated at 2 two-person rounds hastily thrown together, in the bar area that also served as a general passageway. The butts of people at the overcrowded bar area were pressed against the tables. The host was completely unaccommodating and rude, so we left. If you have the option to not eat or eat at Cuba, I say choose hunger.

all about me(me). again.

i have nothing original to say, hence another meme.
Jolie had it on her blog via Brico who had it on his blog and now me!

This is how it works: Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write ten words beginning with that letter on your blog, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

Jolie has assigned me the letter "L" (as in Lovey, of course!)

Lazy: this is my middle name. really. i am all about the laziness.

Liar: this is not just an awesome Henry Rollins song. (although it is most definitely that as well). it is often me. lying kicks ass.

Loser: no matter how time goes by, this insult stands its test.

Louche: this word is fun to say. and everything it represents rules. it's the perfect "l"-word for debauchery. which is another great word.

Liver: only when said à la Beavis, like so: "ah, my LIVER. MY LIVER!"


Laissez-faire: this is how i ought to be. alas, it remains but an aspiration...

Loud: this is a great word when it's about volume. but also when it's about outfits.

Logarithm: even though i hate all math of the calculus or pre-calc sort, i always had a soft spot in my heart for a logarithm.

Lambada: if you don't know the "forbidden dance" then you are really missing out. it's not every dance that can save the rainforest. (i mean, what has the foxtrot done for me lately?)

Leitmotif: this one's just fun to say. and pretentious to use. hence my often-as-i-can usage. (if P were my letter, it would be all about the pompous.)

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

those were the salad days...

ah, high school. where i used to know all kinds of stuff about stuff.

John F. Kennedy High School -- home of the Cougars.

anyway, the Bean just sent me this link:
What Do You Remember From School?

apparently, i remember a lot, as i got an A+ on the quiz.
how well will you do?
(and, to some of your chagrin, the quiz does not include extra-curricular subjects like smoking pot in the parking lot or hooking up with shady guys from other towns. sorry!)

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

my (new) favorite china pattern

though it's approximately twice the price of my dear, departed pattern, T and i have now selected Bernardaud's Elysee as our "fancy" china.

such is life!

but, thanks to the generosity of various family members and my mom's friends, we are already well on our way to a full set of Elysee. i am telling you what, if not for my mom's dedication to helping me register, re-register, return merchandise, etc. i would have entirely lost my mind by now. i think she's been to bloomingdale's in my stead no less than five times this week. how nice is that!?? insanely so, i think.

so now we only have to find crystal and silver to match up with the china. i'll post about the contenders anon. (oh, you know you can't wait. nothing's more exciting than tabletop posts!)

Monday, May 01, 2006

reason 1,023 why i would prefer to not be on a diet

Exhibit A:

i am so obsessed with this site.
so so so obsessed!

i am also now consumed with the idea of a Giant Cadbury Creme Egg. nothing could be more wonderful.


i also wouldn't throw the giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup out of bed for eating crackers. i'm just saying...