Ho hum Monday la la la

Sorry there hasn't been anything interesting up here in a while. Pictures of adorable nephews captivate for only so long, right? We're only days away from our East Coast trip (and, praise all that is holy, the purple dress fits!) My folks come back to the mother country this weekend and my second wedding anniversary is tomorrow. Tomorrow's post shall be ultra-saccharine and wet-kiss-slurpy.

(Tomorrow is also my sister's twenty-first birthday. Yes we got married on her birthday, yes that completely smacks of Sixteen Candles and yes, I get the Worst Sister Ever award. Unfortunately for her, Katie kicked off year 19 at an hour-long wedding Mass at which she was forced to wear the same dress as two other girls and super uncomfortable shoes. She then had to swelter through the 90 degree reception and still look cute in the pictures. The bride neglected to give her a happy birthday toast and I think she probably had to stay with my parents that night. But seriously, Katie, it's not like you could have been out ordering sugar-rimmed cosmos- that's for tomorrow. Of course, I will be too busy celebrating my anniversary to buy you a birthday drink. Bummer!)

Items of Note

• My fingernails are long. The last time they were this long was, oh, almost exactly two years ago. Funny how knowing you have to wear a fancy dress makes you stop biting your nails and start plucking your eyebrows. Sort of. The first thing is really really hard to stop doing and the second thing hurts. A lot.
• There were 9 people in my living room last night glued to the fourth episode of Lost. This was in a vain attempt by myself and Katharine Hepburn to hook the Original Thursday Night TV Gang on Lost, thereby moving TV Night from Sundays (Desperate Housewives- meh) to Wednesdays (Lostzilla! Awesome!) Some of us, however, go to things like bible studies on Wednesday nights and you people are ruining the plan.
• This furniture store? Is super cool. And also has a barely-dressed mannequin standing guard out front waving balloons. Phillip would not let me buy the cherry-red sectional sofa with the zebra-stripe pillows.
• All attempts to purchase a storage trunk/bench for the entry way were thwarted by 1. the people on craigslist who sold their bench a half hour before we called saying we could come pick it up and 2. the woman at Don Willis furniture who HOVERED and GOD I HATE HOVERING. If there is any way to persuade me to NOT buy something from your store, it is HOVERING. Yeesh. We are so going to buy the trunk from Don Willis though, because they have all KINDS of neat stuff and you stain it yourself and then you feel all artsy crafty AND like you've saved money. Except probably not with the saving money thing. Really, though, unless we buy this from Pottery Barn, the bench choices are few and far between. Unless someone wants to send us $500. Anyone? Anyone?
• A just-embarrassing-enough bridal shower gift was found amongst the hordes of 18-year-olds at Victoria's Secret sale. Also, I once again had to teach a Victoria's Secret salesgirl the meaning of the word "No". No, for all of you who need a primer, does not mean that you remind me that I can get coupons in the mail or monthly discounts or a free red polyester negligee on my birthday. It means "No" and also "please quit asking me stupid questions." The "May I have your phone number, area code first?" is a bonus round in which the salesgirl is treated to the Miss Manners-approved Withering Stare, the Hollow Smile and a kind but pert, "You must be kidding me."  (Special shout out to the Lieutenant's wife, former Victoria peon and wielder of the scary measuring tape and also the mother of the Freakin Adorable Baby. We love you anyway.)
• The horrible reddish plants in my front yard (they have ANTLERS) were almost all ripped out and replaced by flowering plants that are pretty and colorful and completely antler-less. I still have a few left over (what were the landscapers thinking?) but those will soon be bulldozed to make way for big puffy hydrangeas or climbing clematis vines or even a boring required-by-your-Washington-state-residency rhododendron. Anything but the horrid antler plants.
• Airport and hotel logistics were feverishly discussed by myself and Fellow Bridesmaid, interspersed with bouts of "I am so glad you're in the wedding too!", "No, I'M glad YOU'RE in the wedding!", "No, seriously, you don't underSTAND how glad-", "But I'm so glad YOU are going to be there too-". Yeah.  By this time we are BFF.

Green Lake was not walked around, chocolate was eaten, the laundry I started on Saturday is still in the washer, and people (maybe just me) were completely freaked out by the Newsweek special edition on the crapload of ways your body can disintegrate while you are still in it. Not a bad weekend, but the rotten weather is making me wistful for the warm weather in the east. Except I just checked and they are having a heatwave with a side of thunderstorms. Never mind.