theprotagonist5

Since this is the longest running blog/log I have I thought I should post an update of what is happening as of late.

It's november already? October flew by fast and so did Halloween. We didn't do the costume thing this year as we were too busy working. Steve has had a lot of work to do (that only he can do) for clients despite the market being so slow and his pay cut for himself and his employees due to the costs of the business. I have had more to do since we lost 2 analysts here and I now have 13 clients. That is an average of 2 days I can spend with each client and most take 3-4 days to complete a report and present it. We both have been working weekends and the work around the house has come to a standstill.

The bathroom is not finished, it hasn't been worked on in about a month due to our day jobs taking over our lives. We did talk with someone who wanted to quote the cabinet refacing job but they wanted $12,000. (Quality kitchens from Geneva, IL ) Um, no. Its a small kitchen, a bathroom cabinet and a small wet bar. The doors, laminate and granite don't cost that much. We have to go back to HomeDepot's service and see if they can do a detailed quote and get the project done right for less money. They originally quoted $6,000 but it did not include the upstairs wet bar or bathroom. I'd like to do this soon but I am not sure we will find someone both competent and affordable. We can't do it ourselves, it would take 3 years.

I also found out I have a thyroid nodule. It is 1.2 CM wide and sits under my thyroid on the esopagus on the right side. I have seen a regular Dr, an endocrineologist and now have to go to a surgeon and have it removed. (all the thyroid blood tests were normal) There is a biopsy they do to try and see if it is cancer, but after 3 tries, nothing was able to be extracted, just fluid, no cells to analyze. This could be good or bad. One of the 4 types of thyroid cancer is not detectable with the FNA biopsy and I may have that. Who knows how far it has spread too, since the first doctor to say that my thyroid looked big was back in 2006. I could have cancer everywhere by now, who knows. I see the surgeon on Nov 25th to plan out when to remove the tumor.

The holidays are approaching fast and although I would like a happy time with the family I am not so much into the gifts this year. With the wedding we have more stuff than we could possibly need and our family/parents are pretty happy too. Maybe this year is a no-gift year? It would save a ton of time too.

I am trying to learn to cook, but all the results have been me getting fatter thus far. I eat more when I cook, which sux. Steve is the easiest to please ever with food, as long as it doesn't involve a tomato you can put it in front of him and he will eat it. I need to find more low fat recipies too since my cholesterol is still sky high and blood pressure also. It is startling to see how much fat is in all meats, even fish like salmon and other common pre-made foods. About the only thing that is low fat that I like so far is instant oatmeal.

Zeus is better now even though he does favor his right paw over the left and he is back to stalking cinnamon every chance he gets.

Pogo on the other hand had to get his teeth cleaned and they found that he has lost over 1 lb since December. We had them do a senior cat blood screen and everything came back normal. So we are trying to get him to eat kitten food to see if that adds some weight because it is a richer food.  We don't know why he would be loosing weight, so this is another mystery left unanswered.

I love having the cats around, they are so entertaining and affectionate but the health problems can get expensive and take a full time job to figure out what is going on and how to get them to the vet to treat it. I am usually gone from 7 amd to 7 pm so it usually takes me getting a day off when a client isn't needing something urgently and taking him in. Steve always just thinks they're fine and doesn't think they need to go in to the vet. I hope he isn't that way when the hypothetical kids are sneezing and have a fever of 102. Anyway it's been a learning experience.

I wanted to write an archive summary of my wedding day because these moments are forgotten all too fast. I got married to Steve on July 11, 2009 in Wheaton, IL. 

We had the rehersal on Friday at 5:30 pm at the church and then a laid back buffet style dinner at Steve's parent's house in Glen Ellyn after. A lot of relatives from across the country came in to see the wedding and the rehersal dinner was the first chance I had to meet them. Steve's Aunt Evie and Aunt Carol were visiting as well as his Aunt Ruth and Uncle John (JR). He also had some cousins in town, Daniela and Ryan with their kids. All three bridesmaids and groomsmen were there also at the dinner. It seemed like there were a lot of people to talk with and catch up with in conversations.

The actual wedding day started early. Steve set the alarm for 7:30 knowing I had to be at the hair/makeup place at 9am. Yes, we were in the same house, we felt like we didn't need to be elaborate and spend days apart beforehand. I think I rolled out of bed at 8am and left at 9:00ish. I got there at 9:15 thinking I was late and was suprised they were not really even ready for me. Susan was already half done with her hair by that time and Amy was getting started. Both had very cute styles they were doing. I ended up sitting around until 9:30 and not getting my hair completed until 10:30am. Then I had to wait another 1/2 hour for the makeup lady since she was working on someone at the time. I started makeup at 11am and was finished at 12pm. I was supposed to have been done at 10:30 am or 11am. I was supposed to be at the church at 11:30 and was way late.

The makeup looked ok but the hair was a bit weird for me. They decided without asking me that I should have a bunch of fake hair extensions shoved in my head to make it look like I had a ton of hair and a beehive in the back of my head. Yes the end result did get a lot of compliments but it did freak me out to have alien head behind me all day and hitting the seat in the car. Why don't they ask the person who's hair they are actually doing? It was too late by the time I realized what they were doing to make them re-do it and make us even later than we were.

I actually got there at 12:30pm and was just jumping into my dress when the photographer found us and asked for the dress to take pictures of it hanging. Ugh. I know we have to do the picture thing but this was making us even later. I would find out later that this was a critical scheduling mistake and making sure you have vendors that will listen to you about scheduling things is very important. If things are behind schedule people have to be willing to cut stuff off the plans to make up time when dinners are concerned. this is about the time the Florist walked in with the flowers. They were amazing. Purple mokara and vanda orchids everywhere with some purple stock, black callas and pink roses scattered throughout. (And some rhinestones suspended on wires.)

Anyway, we finally got my dress back and she then wanted to do pix of me in the dress in a small chapel there, and in front of a large mirror in the main room of the church house. Then we had the "reveal" as they call it where Steve and I get to see eachother for the first time that day. This took longer than expected also, and I was not able to keep them on schedule because they said I was not allowed to wear my watch because it looked bad in pictures. (if you can, wear your watch!) The photos may end up being nice but involved a lot of posing for a long time when they would change all the settings on the camera for like 5 minutes before taking the shots, I am pretty sure no natural smiles were captured during the entire day. After Steve and I saw eachother and realized hey, we're the same people we always are, we went to the church for the group/family pictures. There again we took too long and didn't get them all in because of how long it took to stage the setup of people, the setup of lighting equipment and the camera itself. Also we blinked sometimes at the flash, and had to do this close our eyes until she counted to 3 and then open them when the picture was flashing thing which doesn't get a decent smile because we have our eyes closed. I am afraid these pics will also look weird and everyone will look tired.

The most frustrating thing was that we asked everyone (both sets of parents, bridesmaids, groomsmen and 2 ushers) to be there for the pictures at 1 pm. We didn't start until 1:45 and then didn't do group shots until the last 10 minutes or so. Basically it looked like I just wasted all those people's time and told them to come when they weren't needed. I wish the Photographer would have done the group ones first and then ours later when we had time or whenever other people weren't standing around waiting. How come photographers never realize this? 

So then we had to go back to our seperate areas again at 2:30 because people were arriving and entering the church. And the ushers (MIke and Simon) went off to greet them) We used some of that time to take some interesting pictures on a staircase in the church house and to eat because we didn't have any other opportunity to eat until like 7:30 pm that night. We joked that bagels were the only food that could not ruin a dress, so that was what we had to bring in. I also tried to fix my dress which seemed to not want to stay up quite right. I would find out later that sitting in a dress with a full corset is not a good idea, it breaks the structure and shoves my bustline upwards and out of the dress innapropriatley.

You might think by this point that I was pissed, and annoyed by how things were going, but really I was just trying to make it through all these prescribed set events that had to happen, per tradition, per the church and per the photographer and we never quite made it to everything. Every once in a while I would get a glimpse in the mirror of the flowers or the dress and think it didn't really look like me. I'm nowhere near this girly. It was kind of like playing a part in a movie, with a lot of staging and sets and scripts. Steve and I decided on a hollywood wedding not quite knowing it at the time. The videographer was also tailing us through the entire day. I did know that both moms liked how things looked and turned out, so  that was good. At least someone thought this was going well.

The ceremony had an odd start too. I got there just as they were starting the mothers walk down the isle escorted by my brother Scott and Steve's brother Brian. They lit the unity candle and then waited for the rest of us. The guests were still arriving late (as people do in my family) and the organist started early throwing us off. Then the pastor and groomsmen missed their 3 chime queue to walk out and the coordinator had to sprint under the church in the secret hallway to tell them to get out there. Then the organist also started into the main processional too early and we were late starting that as well. Oh, well at least we all got down the isle. Even with a rehersal this never goes perfectly. Too many requirements for staging things means something is bound to go wrong. I walked down with my dad and was a bit teary with all the people there that I saw. Steve's mom slipped a kleenex in my dad's hand while we were stopped at the end of the isle and he passed it to me. Nobody noticed. (I think) Then my dad gave me a kiss on the cheek and passed me on to Steve. Steve jumped the gun and tried to do the same kiss and the pastor said he had to wait, it wasn't time to do that yet, and everyone laughed.

The ceremony was nice and not too long. It involved a welcoming statement, a statement of intent from us, a statement from the parents and a statement of support from the entire congregation. Then Pastor Jay went into some descriptions of why we were here today and what all this really means. Then we moved further up on the steps and he talked more about us specifically and read from some emails we sent to him earlier in the week. I had no idea that he would read them verbatim. I liked that one of the things Steve wrote was that he loved the way she loves me. Pastor Jay thought that would make a great Lionel Richey song. Then we did the vows repeating after the pastor and I think Steve's microphone for the videographer picked up most of that from both of us. When it was all over I asked Steve if that was his car stereo in his front pocket and he said it was the microphone and I get that was all on tape.

We kissed at the top steps of the altar and walked back down the isle with the wedding party following us. Then we walked up the side isle to come back up front to greet everyone as they exited the isles. It was nice to see everyone in person at this point and have an informal recieveing line of sorts but what I did not know is that about 15% of the people did not come to the church so they were not greeted and we missed them until I randomly ran into them at the reception.  Then we walked back to the altar to take some pictures with the pastor and lastly we walked out into a sea of bubbles on the front steps of the church and into the car. Those sale price Target champagne bubbles did actually work out ok. We did have a delay though since the photographer said 5 min to pack up stuff and leave again and then took pictures of a bunch of people including the bridesmaids and some guests. We ended up standing around looking out of place for a while and poor brian was holding the door to my dad's white buick for a while like he was a limo driver and everyone wondered what was going on.

After that was all settled we did get to Cantigny and I will write more about that later since this is a ginormous post.

 

I am always saying how I wish weekends were longer and now that we had a long weekend last week, the 2 day weekend is completley inadequate.

We had our last counseling meeting at the church this Friday night after running around nuts all week trying to get work done by deadlines.

Saturday AM I had to go out to OP to pick up the test flowers and bring them to Cantigny to see how they worked with the linnen colors. Purple/Plum is an odd color to match. The flowers rocked, the runners didn't but something will work out. The good news is that the black footed urns are way cool and I have a huge arangement at home right now full of way cool hydrangeas and orchids.

Then I had to get a parking contract/reciept signed by the guy who I rent parking from for the new owners because they would not accept the cash for the 1 yr free parking. Sigh.

Then I had to pack a few additional items and run home because my parents and Steve's parents were coming over for dinner. Partly because my mom and dad haven't seen the place where I live now and then also Steve's mom wanted to see the flowers. She agrees that they are very dramatic and unique. We thought it would be easy to do burgers on the grill and even with Steve on the grill cooking I wasn't the best host. For some reason I forgot utensils in things on the table and silly things like butter, salad dressing and salt and pepper. So I spent most of the evening running to get things for everyone that I should have had out in the first place. I guess I have a lot to learn with hosting as well as cooking.

Then on Sunday we went to my place to clean out the last of the personal stuff and empty the contents into 2 cars and Steve's dad's SUV. All 3 were full and we even had 2 boxes to spare, but it took about 5 hours. We loaded about 1/2 of the stuff into Steve's parent's basement and the other 1/2 came home with us. Now I have to spend my week sorting through all our stuff and digesting my items into his house and tossing the stuff from both of us that is really old and worn.

My family was also nice to come help clean things out, my brother being the muscles of the operation. He lifted these insanely heavy rubbermaid containers full of wrapped up glassware down 3 flights of stairs. I am not sure how that was possible. They were all glad that was the last time they had to go to the condo and see it. Nobody was much a fan of my living there, because of the long drive there, the traffic, the pollution, the lack of parking and the 3 flights of stairs. (but my mom did say that it was a cute kitchen. At least Steve and I enjoyed cooking there.)

We have the movers coming tomorrow June 2 to remove the big furniture and put that all in Steve's parent's basement also. I hate that we are imposing on them but it saves us like $300 per month not having to pay for storage. Plus we go visit them more when we need to get into the stuff. After that it will be completley empty and ready for the new owners.  The closing is 2 weeks later on 6/19. I had to get the movers in now since my work schedule will be too crazy then to miss a day.

Additionally we have yet to meet with the photographer or DJ and I still have to go get the dress fitted one more time. The shower is this Saturday but I am not sure what to expect since Steve's mom keeps saying it is for girls only and he can't attend. Why not??? I am not comfortable being the only center of attention at something like that.  Especially if I don't know half the people.
 

Well this weekend was no different than the last several. Lots of stuff to do and not much sleep.

Its weird when you sit down at the computer at 10 pm or so and look up and it is 1 am suddenly. How does time travel that fast?

We thought things would calm down since we mailed out the invitations on Friday. So, Friday night I can't even remember what we were up to. Possibly sleep? I think we were working on the website and figuring out wedding favor labels and doing laundry. And rubbing Zeus' belly.

On Saturday I got engrossed in Flickr and tracking down the origins of these cool looking lamps, (is mid century finally growing on me? After I sell my heywood dining set?) and then went to go get my hair and makeup done as a trial for the wedding. What was supposed to be 2 hours ended up being 3.5. Ouch. The guy who did my hair was quite unique. He had a mohawk and a mullet at the same time. I think my hair/makeup turned out ok. I just have to make sure they do the more age appropriate french twist rather than the HS Prom twist with curls all over.

Then we met up with Steve's parents for dinner for Mother's day at Pal Joey's. A small restaurant they want to have the rehersal dinner at. Sinde this is like the 20th restaurant we have considered, I really don't care anymore. We just have to get it booked because we are running out of time.

Then I chatted with Janice via skype after I took the rabbits nest of teased hair down. It is cool to be able to chat real time like a video phone with Skype. I haven't talked this much to Janice in years. Her father in law is in the hospital recovering from a brain tumor that was removed. I hope he gets better, although it is serious and nobody knows what will happen.


On Sunday we ended up doing some work at home and more laundry and then went to my parents house and out to dinner with them and my brother for mother's day. Omega isn't fancy but they have some of everything and that is good for us with a variety crowd. They gave all the women there roses even though I am not actually a mom, except to 3 cats. We do say go find dad or mom to the cats when they want attention. It's a little weird but that's what you do before you have kids right?

At my parents house I tried to make up the wedding favors with all the little clear plastic boxes and the bulk packs of candy I ordered online from JellyBelly.com. Jordan almonds are easy to find but most of them are harder than a rock and break your teeth. Only Fannie May has good ones, and only in multicolor for 17 per lb. Out of 3 boxes we got about 1 lb of white/pink almonds. I guess we get a lot of green/blue/yellow snack leftovers. I am mixing the almonds with chocolate candy coated mints and then i have a seperate mix of jelly beans and champagne bubbles. If you put the mints and champagne bubbles together someone would have puked when they ate them at the same time, so we have 2 different kinds of favor candy. And I only had enough for 58 favors so I have to go order more again. Sigh.

Then we went back home and finished up more on the website and I finally found a design to copy for favor label stickers from etsy. And I scanned in some vintage wedding family pix. If you want to see the site, it is steve and cherie dot com.

Then we realized we forgot the laundry in the dryer AGAIN and had to put that away at 1.30 am. I am not sure how I got up at 6:30 this morning.