Filler Post

I haven't been so great with the posting, but things should get started up again next week when I'll hopefully have some fun things to share about TLA (I got two stipends to attend! Yay!). After that, it'll just be another month until school is over and I'm free to spend more time on the internets. Another yay! Meanwhile, here's a filler post of flowers that Pat got for me a couple of weeks ago.

Save the Date

Well, Emily Post is probably rolling over in her grave right now...but, yes, I'm going to use this blog post as a save-the-date of sorts. Pat and I opted not to do save-the-dates because I felt lazy and broke and figured everyone knew the date. What I didn't really think about was how save-the-dates also give people the 411 on travel and lodging, which tons of people have been asking me about. D'oh!

So, anyway, here's the scoop.

First, our wedding Web site, which has the venue addresses and ceremony and reception times.

Travel by Plane/Renting a Car

You can fly into Portland, ME, Manchester, NH (1.75 hrs), or Boston, MA (2 hrs). (Technically, you could also fly into Bangor, ME, but you probably won't want to.) Obviously, flying into Portland will get you closest to the wedding, but it is also probably the priciest option. You'll probably want to rent a car (and carpool), regardless, because the ceremony is in a small town that's about a 20-30 minute drive from Portland. If you opt not to rent a car, just let me know and we'll make sure you get where you need to be! I can definitely help coordinate carpooling.

Hotels

First, a helpful link: our Wedding Mapper. This map shows hotels, attractions, and restaurants in the area (and the airport), as well as the ceremony and reception locations. We only included the five hotels closest to the reception venue in the map: the Regency, Eastland Park, Portland Harbor, Hilton, and Holiday Inn. All are in walking distance of the reception venue (though in fancy shoes, it might be a trek), so here are some details about each:

Regency: Pretty pricey, but it is literally across the street from the reception venue. Across the very narrow, cobblestone street. It's also where Pat and I will be staying. We have rooms blocked there until April 13, so get 'em while they're hot.

Hilton: We also have rooms blocked there, mostly due to proximity, but it's kind of pricey.

Holiday Inn: Actually really nice and definitely the most affordable! I've stayed there before and I endorse it. They wouldn't let us block rooms, but I recommend them anyway.

Portland Harbor Hotel: I was at an event for work there once. Definitely very nice. Probably expensive.

Parking

Parking on the street in the Old Port, as in all cities, is a challenge. You'll probably want to go to the ceremony, park your car at your hotel, and then walk or get a cab to the reception. Or, if you choose to stay further out of town, here's a list of parking garages. I've also included 8 of the closest lots/garages on the map. Basically, though, if you just circle around the venue there are multiple garages within a couple of blocks. The closest is the garage at the Regency, which you can park at even if you aren't staying there.

First Dance Lesson Tonight!

ETA: I originally wrote and attempted to post this entry this morning but that clearly didn't work out, so now I have to add that we've had our first dance lesson! It was wicked fun! Our first dance is going to be a foxtrot. :)

I'll blog more generally about what I've been up to these days later, but for now I'm going to do an entirely wedding-centric post. A few things have happened in the last couple of weeks that have sent me into wedding overdrive and I'm just getting really excited. Still, I'm going to try to contain as much of my wedding gushing to this blog as possible so that I don't drive everyone nuts.

The things that have sent me into this wedding-obsessed state are: hitting the three-months-'til-wedding mark on March 13; being a bridesmaid in my friends Ian and Michelle's wedding (it was beautiful and I had so much fun!); and...picking up my wedding dress! I did that on March 8 and here's what Pat and I have been up to in terms of wedding planning since then:

• I selected and have started acquiring bridesmaid gifts. Details, of course, will have to remain a secret here.
• My tiara arrived in the mail--it's even prettier in person!
• I bought my foundation garments. A huge shout-out here to Kate, who was extremely patient during this process, and the Nordstrom's salesperson, who was super helpful.
• Pat and I signed up for dance lessons--our first one is tonight! We also just decided on our first dance song in the last month or so.
• Pat sent my engagement ring to the jeweler to be recoated. White gold is really an alloy of yellow gold and some other metals so it tends to yellow over time and has to occasionally be recoated. I really miss having it so I hope they send it back soon.
• We've also done some really unexciting things like following up with our baker (who has not returned my e-mail, much to my frustration); booking a hotel in Boston for the night after our wedding night; and making some decisions about favors and programs. Thrilling, I know, but it's just amazing to me that even when it's a boring or mundane little thing, we're now at the point where we are doing something wedding-related nearly everyday.

At this point, now that I've got my dress, tiara, and foundation garments, I've pretty much got everything for my "look:" dress, underthings, shoes, jewelry, tiara. I do still need to sort out the whole "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" thing, but I'll get there. I also need to decide what I'm going to do with my hair and makeup.

Psych Season Finale

I do not even know what to do with myself with that ending. What?

Also, the Lassiter Psych-Outs are always so funny I nearly wet myself.

And finally, I do not like the serious Psych episodes so much.

I can't wait to hear Melissa Marr speak at TLA.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I have read several good books recently, this was the first page-turner I've read in a while. Every time I had to stop reading Wicked Lovely and return to the real world, I was frustrated by the interruption.

Whenever I like a book this much, I kind of just have a visceral reaction to it and it's hard for me to put my finger on what it was that I liked in order to write about it.

First of all, and somewhat surprisingly to me, I really enjoyed the setting. I had always been a little hesitant about urban fantasy, but there's something kind of great about reading about magic happening in a world you can actually relate to, not some distant world of princesses and knights and corsets and bows and arrows. It just makes the world seem like a place of possibilities.

I also enjoyed the characters, especially, I admit, the sexy, tattoed and pierced love interest. Marr takes a very pragmatic approach in describing relationships and sexuality, which I enjoy. The realism, set against the fantastical elements in the story, contributes even further to the whole "world of possibilities" effect. Marr's basically saying, "yep, this is the same world you live in, where people get tattoos, have sex, sometimes with people they don't care about, go to clubs, maybe drink or do more, etc. And it's magical."

I most enjoyed that there were a couple of times that this book could really have been trite, but instead Marr took the road less traveled. There could have been a love triangle complete with lots o' drama, but there wasn't. Seth could have doubted Ash's ability to see fairies, leading to a major falling out between them and a redemptive story arc in which his failure to believe her leads to near tragedy averted just in the nick of time when he finds evidence and swoops in to save her. But, he didn't. He believed her and they moved on with the plot.

In Which I Condone the Objectification of Men...or at least one man...

Jamie Bamber is yummy.

China Beach

I can never get enough of pop culture countdowns, but this one was pretty mundane: best tv shows of the '90s, Seinfeld, Friends, yada yada yada. Then, it surprised me by including China Beach, a show I thought nobody but me even remembered! I loved that show and am really looking forward to the day it comes out on DVD.