My Wedding Up-Do

Per wedding, tradition before my cousin's recent nuptials the female bridal party met up at a salon to get our hair done. 

I hadn't decided how I wanted mine done, I just knew I wanted it up. My hair stylist was young but very pretty and had very cute normal hair, no red stripes or bleached anything, so I gave her carte blanche. I told her I wanted "classic and simple". "Classic and simple". Like Charlotte York I told her, nothing promy, no corn rows or anything of the sort. "Classic and simple".

My dear friends, does this look simple?

I think not. There were more twists and curves than am Appalachian road through the mountains. It wasn't bad per-say, but it was about as far away from my style as possible. 

This leads me to another point. See the beautiful girl in the back? She's a G, my cousin Danielle. G genes tend to be pretty dominant. We pop out slightly pale with freckles, reddy hair, and big ole blue eyes. When seen together, we are very clearly a family. We are small in stature and large in sarcasm. Dear Danielle's mother must have found a man with very stubborn genes. Uncle Robin shines through in Danielle and her brother like you wouldn't believe. She gets to be skinny yet curvy, be permanently tan, have beautiful thick dark hair all the way down her back, and did I mention she gets to be curvy? This picture does not do her justice. She's the envy of the G's...

You're the Only Reason I Keep on Coming Home

I briefly mentioned that my cousin Dena got engaged this past year and that her bridal shower was this past saturday but I never got around to actually blogging about it! I just want to say, I love my family. They have their fair share of drama and we are anything but normal, but I love it so much. My dad's side of the family is completely dominated by these strong amazing women with outrageous and fun personalities and when we get together it's like all of these rockets taking off in different directions and occasionally pausing to chat and commiserate but mostly it's just a lot of women telling a lot of stories at the same time and laughing a whole heck of a lot. Dena's bridal shower was filled with her family and the grooms family and their friends. All in all there were 8 tables of people, but no matter what game we were playing or what course we were eating there was one table that wouldn't shut up. That was of course, the aunts, mother of the bride, and grandma table. It was so hilarious. They were rowdy and refused to follow any rules, they flicked the rubber bracelets we were supposed to be competing for across the room and made questionable innuendos the whole time. All in all the absolute best bridal shower I've ever been to, which is a shame because the only other one I've been to was the one I threw for my best friend... More than likely I will be posting some more pics from the shower in upcoming blogs!

I love my family : )

I love that commercial! And the song seemed to fit at least a little...

Photo by Char

My Best Friends Wedding... Not the Movie Pt II

Well later friday the BF arrives and right away we head to a restaurant in town that is owned my some family friends and my sister waitresses at to meet the bridal party. Well the bridal party was fairly rude to our waitress which just happened to be the daughter of the owner, my sister's best friend, and my adopted little sister so I just felt awful and it was just not helpful in an already stressful day, plus being rude to the wait-staff is probably my biggest pet peeve. So we all stayed up very late decorating the reception hall. After two trips to Wal-Mart (this was a slightly unorganized wedding, strangely it was fine for the bride but somewhat stressful for me...) and 3 bags of balloons we were finally done a bit after midnight. So the BF and I went home and took a quick dip in the pool and went to bed. 8:00 rolled around way too soon and I found myself decorating the gazebo where the nuptials were to take place with the BF inpouring rain. After that we had to rush back to my house and get ready. Well eventually I made it to the bride's mom's house where she was getting ready only to be told that the electricity at the gazebo had broken down (assumedly due to the torrential downpour earlier that morning) and the boom box that they had been planning on using to play the music as she walked down the aisle didn't take batteries. So I ran home and grabbed my boom box and batteries and as I was running down the stairs at my house I tripped and fell down about half the steps. Very unfortunate and very embarrassing, it happened literally in front of the BF. And even worse, I ripped my bridesmaid dress in the process! Luckily it was only the overlay to the dress so it wasn't terribly noticeable. However my skinned shins were pretty noticeable. Anyway after that the ceremony went off without a hitch as far as I can recall. Then the bridal party went off to the reception where we waited outside for the newlyweds to join us so we could walk in together. Well in the 10 minutes that we waited for them 2 small catastrophes occurred. First, the BF texted me (he was inside with my family) and told me that there were ashtrays out and people were smoking. Well the brides family does smoke, but she made it blatantly clear that there would be no smoking at the reception because she hates it and it gives her a terrible headache. Luckily right after I got the text the groom's mom came out to talk to us and I sent her right back in to gather up all the ashtrays and open the doors so that the smoke would dissipate. Crisis averted. Then I remembered the candles. I texted the BF, "Are the candles lit????" "Nope" This time I sent the bride's stepfather in to fix it, but he proved pretty worthless so once again the BF came to the rescue by lighting them all with a little matchbook (I got sooo many compliments on him this weekend btw). Then just to top it all off the groom's brother/best man informs me that my hair looks like a big frizz ball. It took all I had not to make a nasty comment about how he had recently failed to graduate high school and casually mention that he bore a very strong resemblance to a rat (which he does), but I kept my mouth shut, besides, my hair was pretty frizzy. And so, that was the wedding. The bride never found out about the ashtrays and candles and the rude best man, and as she doesn't read my blog I assume it will stay that way. They had an absolutely wonderful wedding and even thought it's weird that two people I went to school with (the groom since 3rd grade, the bride since 7th) are married it was so wonderful to see the love they shared and I just know that they're marriage will be very successful. I love them both so much and I was so happy to be part of their wedding. Well they spent this past week at a Sandals resort in Jamaica and actually the bride and I have been playing phone tag for the better part of today. Hopefully I get ahold of her tomorrow and then I'll fill you in on the honeymoon!

BTW anytime you see bridesmaids, I'm the short one in the middle...

My Best Friends Wedding... Not the Movie Pt I

So July 19th my best friend got married. Which is happy and sad, mostly happy, but sad because I'm no longer her best friend, someone else is, and it's a boy. But regardless, I must fill you in on the details of the happy day and the stressful days leading up to it. Well I had come up with the brilliant idea of making her a scrapbook for her wedding. I worked for a very long time getting ahold of all of her family and our friends from high school and I had them give me a message or advice from them to her and her new husband and each person got a page in the scrapbook and it was all very cutesy. So the reason this is relevant is so that you know that for the whole week before the wedding I was up until 2 every night making this scrapbook. I was exhausted. So Friday comes, the day before the wedding. Well I had been on my pink eye drops for over a week, my eyes were crystal clear and they had been gunk free for 3 mornings so with my doctor's blessing I decided to try my contacts. All seemed well so I went about my business getting ready for work when I noticed my eye itched, so I scratched it. Big surprise there, I know. Well it kept itching so I looked in the mirror and it was red, like American flag red, like worse than any pink eye has ever been in the history of the world. So I go to the bathroom and take out my contacts, pretty bummed. Well as I'm taking them out I notice that there's a lump in my eye! It was about the diameter of a dime and looks like a bubble. Ok so a bump on your eye is never good. I start crying pretty much immediately, I mean it's early and I'm exhausted because I was up so late and the kids had been sooo bad that week, plus I just so needed my eyes to be healthy, I was so tired of having abnormal eyes. So I run downstairs and wake my mom up to look at it but she can't see it so I run and find my dad. Now my dad is probably the calmest person you'd ever hope to meet but as soon as he sees my eye tumor he says "You have to go to the doctor, now." Yikes! So I called in sick for work which was a hassle in and of itself but whatever. So my dad calls my md, but he says I should go to an eye doctor. So he calls my eye doctor, but he says that he's just an optometrist and that I need an ophthalmologist, which let me tell you, are not easy to find early in the morning. Finally he gets me an appointment and we rush to LaPorte. I fill out the paperwok and soon a nurse took me into a room and asked me what my problem was so I told her I had a bump on my eye (and of course I started crying again) to which she replied "Ooooooh" in a very very deep and concerned voice that really said "Oh you poor girl, you definitely have cancer and will be blind in a few days." Finally the doctor comes in and tells me that I had just had a really bad case of pink eye and some leftover infection had caused some sort of irritation that made my eye swell up (who knew your eye swells up in sections) and he gave me some drops and told me I'd be fine within a week and although he advised me against using contacts the next day at the wedding I did anyway and it turned out fine. However I really really dislike the mother that sent her kid to camp with pink eye because she cost me 2 days of work, 2 doctors visits, 2 prescriptions, and millions of dollars in emotional distress. Grrrrrrr.

Fillin' In the Blanks

So I've vacated the blogging world for awhile which makes me sad, but as such I feel that a "Fill In" blog is necessary, a teeny update. First off, all of my work issues are fixed which is a big YAY. Turns out my bosses boss doesn't hate me, she turned everyone else's schedules upside down because she was worried I'd quit. I feel loved. Secondly, a long time ago I wrote about how I was throwing my best friend a bridal shower and how unbelievably mystified I was about this secret wedding world with it's private protocol and elusive etiquette, well it went quite well. The weather was gorgeous and even though not as many people showed up as we expected it all went very well and I really think she had a good time. Now thirdly, the BF has permanently exited the blogging world. Sad face. But now I can write mean things about him. Happy face. Kidding! Fourthly (I didn't think that was a word but my Mac spell-checks everything and it's not underlined so I guess it is a word) my foretold scrap-booking addiction has not yet fully bloomed, however with my love of pretty paper and embellishments I'm fully enjoying just collecting things to help me start so much so that this stage could last for awhile... However the delay can be blamed on the BF and I. For our first Valentines Day I gave him a disposable camera so we could work on our small number of couple pics, well 1 year, 4 months, and another Valentine's Day later we've yet to use up even half of the pics. So I decided that our next weekend together we would take tons of pics and finish it off and those pics would fill my first ever scrapbook. But we forgot last time. Sooo maybe this time. Fifthly, my little sister graduated from high school amidst much drama (blog to follow, it makes me too angry to not blog about it) and had her open house. I'm officially old. Sixthly (this just doesn't seem like it should be a word), at said open house one of her friends offered to give GIVE  us his 6 month old Westie puppy. Yes we have 2 dogs already. Should I want another one? No. But do I? Yes! So if you happen to see my dad anywhere, it would be great if you could tell him that Westies always fetch the ball and bring it back, and that they are an underground symbol of the Cubs. Yup that would probably do it. Seventhly, I got a High School Musical back pack today to carry at camp- Monday I am going to be the coolest counselor EVER. 

Updates

Day 3 of fabulous hair. This can't possibly persist... Bumps are spreading, but some seem to be disappearing. I can only look at this optimistically because earlier in the evening when I looked at it pessimistically I had a mini break down and well I just can't do that too often. Bridal shower seems to be progressing well enough. Invitations will be sent out tomorrow. I think that's it for me. Oh and I have a spectacular boyfriend- be jealous. 

Help Me! Bridal Shower!

This whole thing started out a little crazy but a few things happened and now I'm planning my best friends bridal shower even though I'm just a bridesmaid. Now honestly, I love to plan certain types of things, and this would be one of them. However, there are a few problems. The first of which being that although I understand that my 20s will probably be spent in a whirl of my friends bridal showers and weddings this is my first one, so I'm a little mystified about what needs to be done. I've been to many many weddings, but no bridal showers. The second problem is that she and I are complete opposites. Where I would want yellow and blue she wants hot pink and orange. Where I would want flowers she would want crepe paper. Where I would want Dean Martin playing she would want B. Spears. Now this is one of the things that makes us such wonderful friends, however it does not help when it comes to planning something for her. I did find the perfect invitations, not only are the flowers her wedding flowers but those are also her wedding colors. 

Anyway, so I need some help. I just don't know any of the basics. I don't even know how to address the card! Do people care? If I put *****'s bridal shower, or to celebrate *****'s upcoming wedding, will people flip out? Or will they even notice? And what about the time? It starts at 11 but is there an end time? And if so how long do these things last? And what about party favors? I just found out I needed to get those a few days ago! The whole thing is ridiculous! And people are supposed to kind of dress up aren't they? Do I put that in the invite or do they just know? And what about where they're registered? Do I just put in a little card that says ***** and **** are registered at such and such a place? Or is that tacky? I don't know why it would be, but maybe it is, maybe there is an entire secret language and structure to wedding society and I'll probably disobey all of them and her bridal shower will be shunned. Well wouldn't that be fan-fricken-tastic?

Congratulations Dena!

First of all, congratulations to my beautiful cousin Dena! She and her boyfriend of two years got engaged last night! She's 28 and my grandma has been jabbing at us all (not so much me thank goodness) for great grandkids anyway so its about time! I blame her for the absence of great grandkids though, us Glassley women are notoriously independent and that must be where we get it from! Anyway, I promised a Spring Formal blog and I shall now deliver. So this was my second year with the same date. Now some of you might think, "Char, you went to the same formal, in the same place, with the same guy. Why do it all again? Doesn't it just get boring?" and I would say in reply, "Why I'm glad you asked. Actually you are wrong. It just gets better, like a fine wine, a fine wine that I cannot yet legally drink, hmmm.... But anyway, yes, it's better!" This year's formal was completely amazing! However, I must say that I have never seen two boys (we went with his roommate and his gf) put up such a stink about dancing. They complained the entire way to Ft. Wayne. They complained for the first hour. When Mary and I went to the bathroom we were sure we'd come back to find them gone and hiding underneath a table somewhere. Fast forward two hours later and you'll see me begging him to stop dancing because my super cute Forever 21 shoes are killing me and I want to sit down and him adamantly refusing. Boys. So now I'll share some pictures! First a few serious ones, then some funnies. 

Isn't he handsome?? Now for the funnies!