celebration

What do I do in my spare time now?  I look at wedding venues.  I told my fiance tonight that at some point we have to decide we’ve seen enough and just pick one.  Easier said than done because 1. we’re new to London, so the activity is also a newbie’s crash course in learning about the city, 2. there is such a gap in cost from place to place and 3. I just keep finding more cool places.  Granted, I’m getting sick of trekking all over the city and the outskirts (which requires getting on a train) in the cold February rain/sleet.

Maybe feedback will help.  Below are the three current contenders.  The toughest part is being at peace with the rain options for the ceremony when all of these places have drop-dead gorgeous garden/grounds.  The hippie in me wants to get married under a tree or next to a rose bush.  But lets be honest, it’s rains a lot here.  London could water the world with it’s surplus from drizzle alone.  Can I get married in wellies (that’s British for rain boots)?

Fulhman Palace

Pembroke Lodge

Horniman Conservatory

Yes! Score one for Ashley.  It’s official, my brother is engaged to the coolest chic, which now fulfills my life-long yearning for a sister.  Last night the families celebrated and told funny stories about the bride and groom to be (I should be tame, that could come back to bite me in the rear).

There’s an endless list of things I love about Valerie, but I’ll just highlight one that is the most painfully obvious to me: I no longer will be the only tall woman in the family.  We probably even have the same impossible-to-shop-for-inseam.  Yeah, I know it’s a shallow observation, but give the 6′ tall girl a break.

YEA!  Go Paul!  I’m so excited for them.

If I worked on this mayor’s staff, I so would nominate myself to be the fake maid of honor.  I could give one stellar bogus toast.

I had a housewarming party last year that turned into a friend appreciation party.  I told my guests that I brought them together to thank them for their support through my move and a rough life transition.  Then I gave them the chance to do the same thing for some of their friends via photo message.  I set up a tripod, camera, and lights in front of my favorite blue chair.  On the coffee table in front of the chair was a stack of blank paper and Sharpie markers.  They could write an “I’m-thinking-of-you-note” to anyone. That night I posted the photos to my flickr account and sent my guests the link so they could forward their message to the recipient.

I got a little carried away and sent the joking message above to residents I was an RA for my junior year of college (yeah, we’re still BFF).

I was expecting some sort of comical response, but not what I got: a care package showed up on my doorstep soon after the party.  The contents consisted of a box of brownie mix and the reply photo message above.  I later found out that the girlfriend of the guy on the right willing wrote my name on his ass.  That’s true love.

The bare-bottom-duo now grace my fridge’s collage-style wall of fame/shame.  It is a frequent source of smiles and spurts of laughter.

Yes, I did say that.  But it was my mom’s birthday and what did she want to do? A 5k at 8am on a Saturday morning (just what every normal person wants to do on their birthday). The funny thing was that I never found her before the race, so plan A: brisk walk with birthday girl turned into plan B: the first time Ashley ran more than 2 miles in maybe a month.  No, I didn’t like it and I had to run through stinky Butchertown (who on route committee thought that was a good idea?), but blah blah blah.  I did finish a 5K, in under 30 minutes nonetheless.

Eh, the really happy part about this supposed happiness-blog-post-story was breakfast at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe promptly afterward with my lost mother, who I obviously found, and this really cute guy from Cincinnati. Yay for ugly lamps, yummy omletes, and useless 5k shirts used for oil painting rags (which I have a secret affinity for, kind of like fridge magnets and post-its).

I spent most of my workday on Friday on the phone selling tickets to last night’s DinnerWorks Gala Dinner.  I did better than I expected; so well in fact, my boss told me to pick which of the 15 tables I wanted to sit at with my guests.  Of course I picked the table that came packaged with a creative activity.  My choice was a creation designed by a group of art students at St X high school.  The ceramic dishes by Neil Patterson inspired the students to make our table into an art studio: flatware doubled as paintbrushes, the place mats were painting palates, our chairs were drawing benches, and every place setting had a small easel in front of it.  The students left instructions for us to draw our table companions.  There was some resistance at first, but by the time the serving staff brought dinner, the newly budding artists were scrambling to find room on the table that didn’t interfer with their artmaking.

I had an absolute blast and was incredibly impressed that my friends came together at the last minute to support the exhibit and LVAA.  It was one of those times where I said to myself, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this.”

To begin with, today’s word of the day email put a huge smile on my face when I got up:

“audacious: 1 : daring, bold; 2 : insolent; 3 : marked by originality and verve”

The next highlight was the birthday love that found its way to my desk at the office, which was followed by the surprise of actually being able to leave the office early as planned.

Then mom and I were off to Z Spa for massages. It’s amazing how relaxing pushing and moving muscles around can be.

My evening consisted of girlfriends, carry out Vietnamese dinner, three Homemade Pie Kitchen cakes (with no plates), and watching “the Office” via Hulu.com and a projector. It.was.awesome!

One last highlight: Although I’m not a fan of horoscopes, I was super glad to get this one from a friend via Facebook:

“Happy birthday, Capricorn! You’re often seen as the Rock of Gibraltar by loved ones and close associates. Your words of wisdom have helped many a friend through rough times. Benevolent and selfless, you’ll form many strong friendships in your lifetime. The coming year is the payback …  Read Moreyear. A heavenly reward will transform an area of your life for the better. Get ready for good things to start happening.”

Hell yeah! ’twas a good day!

27 years ago today this world was gifted with the birth of a very special person (both in the serious and humorous sense).  I wish everyone had a Colleen Rosshirt in their life.  It’s great to have her as a constant among all of the fluctuating chaos.  Regardless of what unknown variables are going on, she’s always there for:

• sending cards that I consider laminating
• voice mails that make me laugh so hard people look at me funny
• brainstorming great ideas we never finish (ie starting a summer youth camp Colleen and Ashley style), but will someday
• co-creating the most unbelievable, laugh-’til-it-hurts stories
• spontaneous craft time
• screening potential boyfriends
• board games (and if none are available, making one)
• being a trustworthy guardian of my deepest secrets (at least until I’m 50 she says)
• telling me the truth no matter what
• helping me dream and stay on track

Yeah, she’s great.  Happy Birthday girl!

My very best friend came down from Cincinnati to spend New Year’s Eve with me.  Before we went out for the evening, we were hanging out at my apartment and she asked me if I still had the plastic toy horses she sent in a care package years ago.

See, Colleen and I long ago decided we were going to make a Kentucky Derby board game.  We spent a considerable amount of time designing the game board and coming up with rules.  We never got around to making game pieces.  She later mailed a hodge-podge of quirky stuff to me, included a tube full of plastic miniature horses and a card explaining she had found the missing component to our game at a Cracker Barrel.  She named the gray one “Gallop,” which the card stated only eats double-stuffed Oreos (the card will forever remain on my fridge).

While she was staying in my guest room (aka the pull-out bed in the living room), she hid eight of the plastic horses around my apartment.  I’ve only found five so far, including Gallop.  That’s right, we’re twenty-something going on thirteen (and proud!)

For a mere $9, I am declaring myself the winner of best Christmas gift given.

I went to see an iMax movie at the Louisville Science Center last week and stopped in the gift shop on the way out.  There, I found diseases.  That’s right, Polio, ulcers, chickenpox, and more.  I grabbed some Salmonella for my uncle Jim to put in his stocking.  It seemed fitting since he actually had Salmonella poisoning this year.  He got a big kick out of it, and then took his traditional Christmas nap (Salmonella is exhausting you know).