Since Then

A month and some change has passed since returning home from our ScandiVenture. In that time, we've all launched back into real life and while any human makes a "time flys" statement every once in a while, I've never felt time pass as abruptly as it has in the last few weeks. I can feel minutes blowing across my face like I'm hanging my head out of a car window. Back when I started working in events I likened that passage of time to doing an army crawl through the mud and every so often you stop crawling and lift your eyes out from underneath you and go, "Oh look, a lovey day." or "Oh look, it's June!" When you're always working towards future dates, the present slips right past you while you have your head in the mud just trying to get to the end of the year, I mean, obstacle course.

In the midst of the usual work things I've been wrapping up the wedding planning which is a painful job. I'd gone in with a big head about it since I do weddings all the time and the assumption is that planning your wedding is fun. As it turns out, a non-traditional wedding is just as expensive and detailed as traditional weddings are except that you also have to deal with people who are entirely perplexed by the idea of switching things up a bit. Brett has been easy-going about my wedding schemes and pipes up every once in a while suggesting that I'm being too casual or hurried about things. We've bickered a little about this, me assuring him that I'm creating a seamless and awkward-downtime-free wedding day and him suggesting that people like all that standing around and mingling with strangers bit. He might be right. I'll concede...but I think I'm right. In a fortuitous turn of events, we attended a wedding where we didn't really know anyone and he suddenly realized the genius of my abbreviated wedding day.
(He didn't use the word 'genius' but still.)

I'm also cheap and stubborn which only makes the price-gouging nature of the wedding industry something I refuse to succumb too, which in turn means I do everything at a delayed pace because I'm spending most of my time trying to figure out how to beat the system. (Those were Dad's comforting words of advice to me when I was little, "Listen kid, it's all about beating the system.")
It also means I'm doing a lot of things myself which a normal non-tightwad would hire someone to do. Makes for more work but it also lets me tailor things a bit and you know how I like to customize things to suit me. This is the first time I've ever thrown a party and I just want people to be happy they came all this way.

Speaking of weddings, Ellen, Brett, and I attended the wedding of Ellen's best friend. It was out at Boone Hall and I was employed to do the decorating so Brett and I had a long day. We got there early to set up and then he took a nap nearby at his parent's house while I got dressed and then we went to the wedding. T'was lovely and the bride cried the whole time. We started to worry that she was going to get dehydrated. We danced and snacked and when all of it was over, Brett and I had to stay to clean up in our nice clothes. A truly exhausting day.

I'm writing this post as we wait for hurricane Florence to arrive. Her pending visit sent all the ninnies out of town on Tuesday and now today, a beautiful, sunny Friday, Dad and Brett are in my yard digging ditches and I believe Ellen is at the beach. It's finally supposed to start raining tonight so we're planning on hunkering down at my folks house to play games and eat snack foods. Dad seems very excited about it. My new brother-in-law was forced to leave town for work so I've "temporarily" inherited a cat that likes to sleep in the sink. His name is Lucca. He purrs a lot and is not phased by my two barking pups and my sister-in-law thinks he doesn't get enough love and attention over at their house, what with the two toddlers, so she's hoping I'll keep him. Jeff needs a little more convincing. Brett is also unamused by the idea.
... I'll keep you posted.

Ellen came home from our trip with a fully met quota of Family Time and has been avoiding us since.  She's suddenly become very aloof and "busy" and while that might make you think she's secretly dating someone, it's actually that she's not so secretly dating a handful of fellas and one of them found out and got angry about it.
Mom left her personality back in Sweden and she's been ornery for month now. She's stressed about hosting a wedding and taking care of her parents and Ellen's collection of boyfriends. I can sympathize but I wish Mom would look back on this as a happy time and not a stressful one. I'm starting to stress about her stress.
Dad feels nothing but contentment and inner-peace most days. I hope I come back as Chris Union.
Pippa continues to thrill me with her gumby limbs and tendency to sleep in strange places. I love her so much it's silly.

Here is a collection of pictures from recent weeks.

One night, Brett got us pulled over on our way to dinner because he didn't use his turn signal. That's all fine and dandy but he couldn't find his registration. We looked and searched and the cop (a kid younger than us - blew our minds) even wandered off while we checked the car's nooks and crannies. We gave up and when the kid came back Brett says, "I'm sorry officer. You've caught me with my pants down. I can't find my registration."
I've only heard the expression "caught with your pants down" from my dear father who shouts an abbreviated "Pants down, pants down!" when he wins a round of Shanghai.

We've had dock time, pup cuddles, a wedding shower for Ari and Nate, Dad's started building the two houses in my backyard and I'm very put out about it. We've finished my new flower studio, celebrated Mom's birthday, and a month ago I started working at Dad's office a couple times a week to help take a little off of Margie's plate. I enjoy working at the realty, mostly because Margie and I share a strange sense of humor but it also gives me an outlet to scold irresponsible members of society without feeling bad about it. Property management is really just babysitting- harassing people to pay rent, fill out forms, call maintenance workers, etc. I like calling out people for being lazy. Obviously I'm nice about it but it's satisfying, like getting the last word with someone who cut you off in traffic. I have authority and anonymity over at the realty. Hear me roar!