letters from the wedding.

i'm having a hard time with my words today. i want to tell you all about my sister-in-law's wedding, because it was a great day and i love a good wedding and because these two are one of the sweetest couples i know, but all my words seem inadequate. i can't quite find that sweet spot between a dull detail-oriented play-by-play of the days events and a lazy photo dump with simple captions. the sweet, flowing prose just isn't there today. but short, sweet letters? i think maybe i can handle that.

Dear Victoria - you were an absolutely stunning bride: you were glowing, bubbly, graceful, gracious, and absolutely beautiful. and even though you're still very new at this, i know you will make a wonderful wife. you and Russ have such a great head start, having known each other for so very long. i have only known you for the past few years, but i have always loved watching you two interact: you are both so sweet and laid back and understanding. so i'm sure you first fight will be a real doozy! but seriously, i really look forward to seeing the great things that God has planned for the two of you. Congrats again, Mrs, F!

PS - i just love this picture of you. again - absolutely stunning.

Dear Groomsmen - you are proof that Russ has good taste in friends. you are all upstanding gentlemen, with good senses of humor and selfless attitudes. it was a joy spending a sunny afternoon celebrating with you. and i just have to say, you all look quite dashing in pink bowties.

Dear Bridesmaids - i am so glad that through Vic i was able to meet all of you and get to know you so much better. you are all stunningly beautiful ladies and a ton of fun to hang out with!

Dear Weather - thankyouthankyouthankyou for cooperating and giving Vic and Russ such a gorgeous day! you gave us a nice little scare on friday night, what with your giant thunderstorms and ACTUAL TORNADOES and all, but you really turned it around for saturday. a gorgeous day for a gorgeous couple.

Dear Trinity Church - you are a lovely venue for a wedding and needed very little extra decoration. but i have to say that these pew decorations were pretty kick-butt.

Dear Mens Wearhouse - you might want to look into providing shoes with rental tuxes that are slightly higher quality, so they will not fall to pieces if one groomsman accidentally gives another a flat tire while walking up the aisle. while fixing a flapping sole or two does make a strong argument for the versatile uses of duct tape and sharpies, no bride ever wants to actually have to USE those items from their wedding day emergency kit.

Dear Delaney - you are an awesome flower girl, and a very careful lollipop eater. it takes some serious skillz to eat a blue raspberry dum dum and keep it confined to just your tongue and not your teeth or lips or hair or dress. if this were munchkinland, you would probably be voted president of the lollipop guild.

Dear Vince - just curious, how many people have you ever had to squeeze into a limo? was this 16 person bridal party anywhere near maximum?  i mean, we were still quite comfortable, but i'm not sure where we would have put a 17th person... thank you for being such a courteous and helpful driver, and for making sure we did not have to use any of the emergency exits.

Dear Russ - i know you already know this, but you are an extremely lucky guy. your new wife thinks the world of you, and i know you think twice as highly of her. your mutual respect and love for each other is inspiring, and was evidenced by the fact that you both kept your promise to forego the cake-face-smashing and keep it clean. also, props to you for keeping your honeymoon plans a secret. i still don't know where you guys are this week. i wish you all the best in your married life, and am proud to call you my brother-in-law-in-law.

Dear Self - you should maybe think about overcoming your fear of screwing up your settings and actually play around with your new camera a little bit and figure out how to take action shots that arent a complete blur.

Dear Everybody Else - with all the traditional wedding formalities out of the way, you took full advantage of your opportunity to party hardy. thank you for this. it was much more fun dancing with all of you than it would have been if i was the only one making a fool of myself on the dance floor...

...we threw our hands up in the air sometimes, jumped on it, chicken danced, cupid shuffled, and just generally danced the night away. and it was a blast. i am amazed that i kept up with you guys, especially since i forgot to ever change out of my heels and into flip flops... but my throbbing feet at the end of the night were worth it, because i got to dance and laugh and sing at the top of my lungs with you.

Dear Mark - you are a great brother. i have always loved watching you and your siblings when you are all together. you all share a ridiculous sense of humor and a close relationship that you can really only have with people you have grown up with. i can tell that your brothers and sister all look up to you, and you are a wonderful role model for them. watching you dance with Victoria was one of my favorite moments of the day, and one of many that made happy-tears well up in my eyes. i love you.

Dear Mark and Cynthia - you done good. i know weddings are a little bit stressful, and i know it is hard to give away your only daughter, but you handled it superbly. you have raised your kids into responsible, respectable young adults, and as one of the two people that have married into your family so far, i thank you for that. your love and support for your kids is evident in every decision you make, and i feel blessed to have such wonderful in-laws.

Love Always, Mando.

meal plan monday: june 4.

June? really?! already??? wow.

moving on to some completely unrelated things...
...things that are making me smile today: my earrings.

...things i am glad to no longer be wearing today: my bridesmaid shoes.

more wedding photos to come. promise. 

...things i am mailing today: a box. 

...things i am ready for today: a nap.

...things i have to do today: groceries. laundry. dishes. cleaning.

...things that i am totaly unprepared for today: this week's meals.

Monday: pasta in vodka sauce. (jar sauce, of course.)
Tuesday: i'm feeling taco night.
Wednesday: the crockpot is finally clean. let's dirty it again.
Thursday: is it in bad taste to have two mexican nights in one week?
Friday: we should grill something. and eat s'mores.
Saturday: lunchmeat sandwiches?
Sunday: breakfast for lunch.

anyone care to help me fill in the specifics?

he's a lumberjack, and he's ok.

so Mark's memorial day weekend was probably not just all fun and games like i might have led you to believe yesterday. he had some pretty hard work thrown in there too.

on Sunday night, while i was on my way home from the beach, we had a little mini-storm at our house. the winds picked up, the rain poured down, the thunder and lightning came out to play, and part of one of the trees that line our driveway fell over.

into the neighbor's driveway.

narrowly missing their cars. (whew!)

but even though thankfully nothing was damaged, since the trees are technically on our property (at least we're pretty sure) we had to do something about the fact that our neighbors cars were blocked into their driveway.

so on Monday morning, Mark and his borrowed chain saw took on the tree. i helped at one point to get the blade unstuck from one of the thicker branches, but mostly i stayed far far away from that terrifying chain saw. (read: i went shopping and out to lunch with a friend) (ps never ever use a chain saw when you're home alone. they are dangerous. and terrifying)

after about 4 hours, Mark had the tree out of the neighbors driveway, and mostly cut up and stacked with our firewood out by the shed. some of the leafier branches are still in need of attention, but they seem perfectly happy to wait. so now it just kind of looks like the tree fell into our driveway.

these trees are apparently Bartlett pear trees, which are kind of known for their tendency to rot and fall over once they grow to be full sized, which is exactly what happened in this case. we're thinking that it might be a good idea to get the other ones checked out by some sort of tree expert, just in case. there is little to no chance of a car or house being hit by any of the other ones, (since they are all further down the driveway from the one that fell) but its probably not the best idea to have a bunch of trees lining our driveway that are rotting from the inside out.

so, anyone else out there doing some memorial day landscaping? was yours planned, or rather unexpected? if you're feeling left out of the fun, you can always come over and help us get the rest of the tree out of our driveway! just bring your own saw, and we'll pay you in s'mores!

meal plan tuesday: may 29.

this week's meals are all subject to change with little to no notice, because it is wedding week here in MD. Mark's one and only sister is marrying her high-school middle-school sweetheart this weekend, which means that this week has the potential to be a bit crazy, especially since both Mark and I are part of the wedding party.

part of my wedding party duties involved the burdensome task of spending the majority of this past weekend at the beach with the bride-to-be and the other bridesmaids. we did important things like work on our tans, eat and drink some fabulously unhealthy things, and try to convince the bride-to-be that she really needed to get her picture taken with the guy who brought an inflatable swan to the ocean.

she refused, so i took this stealth shot instead.

Mark's wedding party responsibilities this weekend had him go-karting in full racecar gear, eating crabs for dinner, and having a celebratory cigar with the groom and groomsmen. let me tell you guys, being a bridesmaid or a groomsman is really rough stuff sometimes.

but this week is when the fun starts. we're basically on-call every evening and need to be ready at a moments notice to help with anything from favors to flowers and programs to escort cards. but since its always best to at least start with a plan even if you might end up changing it, heres what we've got:

Monday: lunch with friends, memorial day picnic with family.
Tuesday: pasta in jar sauce, a veggie.
Wednesday: citrus herb chicken with rice and a veggie.
Thursday: most likely dinner out after softball for Mark,
     dinner out before my nail appointment for me.
Friday: rehearsal brunch.
Saturday: wedding deliciousness!
Sunday: can't think this far ahead.

foxy boxy.

this week's project-that-should-have-taken-a-day-but-ended-up-taking-way-longer: a recipe box.

it all started way back when with my sister-in-law's bridal shower. we had all the guests fill out a recipe card to give to the bride-to-be, but we had no way to corral them so that she would actually be able to use them in her new kitchen. a scrapbook seemed like a hassle (both to make and to use as a recipe book) and all the recipe boxes i found in stores were ugly, unfinished, and/or too big for the recipe cards we had.

fast forward a few weeks, i found the perfect box on eBay. it was the right size, had a classic look about it, and $9 later it was in my house. but it needed some love. this thing was kind of ugly, and it stank like a chain-smoking grandma. so on the same weekend that i made-over my kitchen stool, this guy got some love too in the form of sanding and staining and sitting out in the sun to hopefully quench the stench.  

in all its original stinky glory.

after i stained it, it sat in the basement to get good and dry before a final clear coat or two. and then it sat there for a good long time while i did other things like dishes and laundry and i went to Europe and i hosted a Mother's Day barbecue and i completely forgot about the recipe box in the basement that i was supposed to be re-finishing.

i rediscovered the half-finished box a week or so ago, and figured i needed to get on that already. instead of just throwing on some clear polyeurethane and calling it good, i decided to paint the inside to make it just a little more happy, and to hopefully ensure that the grandma-smoke-stank would not make a reappearance. and also to prove to the hubs that yes i really was actually going to eventually going to do something with those random paint samples i picked up on clearance at the Depot for like 50 cents a piece. i picked a color. i pulled my hair back so it wouldnt be in the way. and i went to work.

and then i still managed to paint the end of my ponytail a lovely shade of celery sticks. because i am just that talented. and prone to waving my hands about in the air at random like a crazy person, whether or not i happen to be holding a paintbrush.

**related sidenote**

the next day i went to see about getting a haircut, and i seriously contemplated telling her to just 'take off all the green' and see what i ended up with. i ended up not getting a haircut at all, so my plan was foiled. **end sidenote**

so what i'm trying to say here is that the box turned out really well, if i do say so myself. it was the first time i have ever chosen to stain something, since i am normally inclined to paint all the things, and i'm a little bit proud of myself. so check it out! BAM! from icky-nasty-stinky to tall-short-dark-and-handsome!

and the inside? crisp and clean as a celery stick!

i'm finally going to be able to gift this really belated bridal shower gift to my sister-in-law at her bachelorette party this weekend. probably one of the lamest bachelorette presents in recent history, but i dont even care because this thing is awesome. and also because we'll be at the beach. aaalllll weekend! that's right. be jealous. and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend of your own because YAY for long weekends!

(and also YAY for all the service men and women who have given their lives over the years so that we can enjoy our freedoms and beaches and long weekends!)

next on the list.

- read through my Bible.

i downloaded the YouVersion app to my iPad the day after my birthday. i downloaded the ESV Bible yesterday so that i can read it without an internet connection. i signed up for a reading plan this morning. the Eat this Book: One Year Bible with Daily Psalm Reading Plan, to be exact.

i fully expect it to take me more than a year to make it through. its not that i'm excpecting to fail, just that i'm learning to have more reasonable expectations for myself. and that's ok. no pressure on this list, remember? these aren't things i have to do, just things i would like to do.

and i would really like to do this. because there is a lot of good stuff in this Book that i have never read before. pages i have never turned. and even on the pages that i have read multiple times, there are still new truths to be learned and new depths to discover and new thoughts to ponder.

i like this plan. i'm excited to be a part of it.

if you want to be a part of this plan with me, you can find it here. 

fashion police.

Acceptable Uses for Leggings:
1. worn under a dress.
2. worn under a skirt.
3. worn under shorts to go running.
4. worn under jeans on cold days.
5. worn instead of shaving your legs that day. (i wont judge)

Unacceptable Uses for Leggings:
1. pants.

i thought we all had this figured way back in the day when BettyJo was mocked for her generous use of spandex in her wardrobe. leggings as pants are not a good idea. they were not designed to function as an outer layer of clothing.

i may not judge you for being too lazy to shave your legs. but i will judge you if you abuse your leggings by showing up to work wearing what is basically an undergarment. i will judge you so hard.

TL;DR Version: leggings are not pants.