And So We Go On.

It's Thursday.

Or it was Thursday, anyway, a few hours ago when all of this was going down.

I work really hard to make Thursday my Friday. In a perfect world, Friday would be devoted to things like lounging in the backyard with a vodka lemonade  cleaning the house (because good Lord, it takes a beating during the week when both Bob and I are working and K is being -- well, when she's being a 2 year old) and taking care of odds & ends that have already been put off too long. On Thursdays I work until dinnertime, then make/do/go out to/etc. dinner, then sink down into the couch with some wine and let Bob put K to bed while I watch me some high-quality television (The Office/Parks & Rec/30 Rock during the fall and winter, and Project Runway now!).

But then, you know, real life creeps in. It's been a busy spring and summer in the Unlikely Origins household. We planned for a wedding. We unplanned (we didn't 'unplan' the marriage itself, but we moved from a 100+ person guestlist to a private courthouse ceremony and back again before finally settling at something in between). We charged a heck of a lot to a credit card for salon services (but hey, I looked decent!). We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning the day of our wedding folding programs and tying ribbons around them. We, eventually, were married. (We're married!!!)

And life goes on. After the wave of cards in the mailbox and unpacking from the honeymoon (with toddler), we went back to work. Clients sent congratulatory e-mails but wanted to get on with things w/r/t their individual projects. I don't get paid vacation time, so -- heck *I* wanted to get on with their projects, too!

Bob returned to his office. Last week I hovered over my computer in one room while K helped out by simultaneously flooding the bathroom. (Other days this week she used a travel sized shampoo as toothpaste, poured plaque revealing gel all over the downstairs, and emptied out a whole tub of salt onto her sweaty toddler self.) Bob tried to mow the post-honeymoon wilderness yard and the riding mower started smoking. He put K to bed and then she woke up with a scary barking cough/cry five minutes before the winner/loser on Project Runway was announced. Hey, real world. How *you* doin'? (Tell me I'm not the only one who secretly still loves Joey. Right? RIGHT?)

Now it's two in the morning and I'm just now finishing up the work-work that I hoped to have done several hours ago.

And that's okay. Not, "I love everything!" okay, because, obviously, I'd rather be doing things other double crossing my T's for the week work-wise at this time on a Friday morning, but okay nonetheless. I'm not thrilled about certain aspects of the day, but yesterday my new driver's license -- with a new last name! -- came in the mail. I'm not happy that K is sick, but instead of the Project Runway interrupting barking cough, she's (thank you God) back to breathing peacefully. And tomorrow will go on, with all of us doing what needs to be done, and then we'll have the weekend. Just like always.

We're returning to life as normal in every sense of the world -- sneezing toddlers, demanding clients, and trying work commutes, and blogging ;-)

Happy Friday, everyone. I hope yours is everything you want it to be, or at least, everything it *should* be ;-)

We're Getting Married.

If you know me in real life, you know that thus far I've been a bit of a reluctant bride. Not reluctant about the actual marriage part (I'd go to the courthouse with him today!) but about everything else. The arrangements. The cost. The guest list. The dress. Wondering when in the world I was going to have time to plan a flipping wedding when some days I already don't have time to do basic things like bring in the mail. Moping about the fact that the majority of my friend base lives a couple thousand miles away and that the bride's side of the [wedding venue] is going to be. . . sparsely populated, especially compared to the groom's side. Editing out the misogynistic portions* of the traditional wedding ceremony (Dear God, where should I start. There shall be no "giving away" of the bride, for starters. . . ) Um, finding a way to fund it all when we're paying two mortgages and there are no parents to lean on for cash infusions. You get the idea.

When people have asked about dates I've been squirrely and noncommittal. The first one we'd had in mind got nixed when I had a middle-of-the-night realization that if we wanted to get married then, I'd have to get everything taken care of, like, yesterday. (I was even scolded over the phone by a David's Bridal lady!) And so, on to Plan B.

I finally got up the nerve to call the venue I'd been eyeing. (We've talked a lot and checked out lots of websites, but there had only been one real contender in my mind.) I talked with their event coordinator about dates and going on a tour. I thought about backing out when, on the day of our meeting, K woke up at 8am and was not interested in napping before our 2pm appointment, and when I looked outside and saw So. Much. Snow and more still coming down and yucky, yucky roads, and it was nice and warm inside and I had other things that needed to be done anyway and, hey, we've waited this long, what could rescheduling it for next week hurt?

But I didn't. I bundled the baby up in her snowboots and winter coat and turned on the 4 wheel drive and (still!) skidded my way across town to the venue. Their parking lot hadn't been plowed yet so I just kind of parked the truck . . . wherever it stopped. (That sense of bridal entitlement is kicking in already. What do you mean that's not even a spot? I'll park where I want, thank you very much.)

As we made our way into the building, I asked K, "Do you know what we're doing here?"
K responded: "We're getting married!" *She's been to two weddings in the last six months and she's heard us talk about it enough, so this isn't quite as out of left field as one might think.

Once inside, we talked. We toured. We swooned. We penciled in a date & time. (We'll lock it down next week, probably.) And I left feeling excited. Excited! Ideas were flowing. So much so, in fact, that I sat at a flashing red light not realizing that it was flashing and not solid red until one of the cars in the line behind me finally honked. (Again, I can't be expected to follow your silly traffic rules. I'm getting MARRIED. If I want to daydream about weddings at flashing lights, I will!) I stopped at the bookstore to cash in some gift cards on silly bridal magazines. I talked Bob's ear off about my clearly brilliant wedding/party/etc ideas when he got home from work.

It was a good day.

We're getting married.

*Things that I interpret as such. (And I've taken a lot of women's studies classes, and thus interpret a lot as such ;-)  No judgment on others who see things differently.