Wedding Dress

Two weekends ago, my mom stopped by Seattle on her way to Hawaii.  I wished I was going to Hawaii with her, but I told her I would settle for a wedding dress.

My mom, aunt, and two Seattle besties, Lauren and Theresa, went on a day-long shopping adventure that brought us to three bridal shops, thirty dresses, and one gown of my dreams.

Saying, "This is it" while standing on a runway after trying on thirty dresses felt really weird.  It wasn't as though the heavens opened and angels sang when I put this dress on, but I could tell it was "the one."  Like so many other aspects of my wedding, there was one clear correct choice, and that was the one that, while not perfect, had nothing wrong with it.  Most dresses were great, except... This dress, while not my favorite, had no "excepts" when I put it on.

It wasn't the dress I imagined getting, and I don't mean that I was surprised to find that the dress of my dreams was other than what I imagined.  The true dress of my dreams doesn't look good on me.  The dress I bought was the one that looked best on me.  It's not the sleek, stunning dress that I really want, but it is a dress that won't make me feel fat just in case I don't end up looking like a model by the time of my wedding.

And that is kind of how a lot of my wedding planning is going.  Nothing much is going as planned, and few choices jump out as "the perfect thing!", but some choices present themselves as the option with the fewest flaws (like my dress and the venue, and also our apartment, which doesn't have anything to do with our wedding), and I accept them immediately.

I do not have a picture of my dress.  I was getting too picky analyzing the pictures my mom took on her phone, and was quickly banned from looking at them.  If you'd like to see it, you'll either have to ask my mom or wait and see it at the wedding. 

The Ratings Are In

My mom laughed at our apartment. 

That was not the respect I was hoping for.

Nor is it what I expected from my mom.  She thought our Harlem apartment was very nice, and the Seattle Digs is about a million times bigger, it doesn't smell like pot all day, and I haven't seen one empty dime bag on the sidewalk outside!  I also haven't seen anyone get out of their car and pee.  I'm nothing but impressed by this apartment.

Our first overnight guest, Cousin Shaun of Ellensburg, liked it too, and tells us he is going to show up all the time and crash.  I suspect this is because we brought him doughnuts and coffee in the morning and not because we gave him a borrowed twin sized air mattress (without sheets) to sleep on with a Styrofoam addition taken from the table packaging to accommodate his 6 foot 5 frame.  I also suspect it is because we live in Seattle and not Ellensburg. 

I bet my mom would have been more impressed if we'd had doughnuts waiting for her when she arrived.

Assembled table and new curtains

Home Sweet Home

As I mentioned, we recently got a table, and just in time for my mom's visit this weekend!  Mom is stopping by for a day on her way to Hawaii, and with our sweet table (if we get all the pieces), we will impress her with how up-and-coming we are.

We don't have a lot, but mom will see me as a real adult.  Shall we all take a tour of the apartment together now?

Let's go...

We have this table, which may or may not be assembled by Sunday, depending on the incompetency of West Elm.

We have four of these folding chairs from Ikea.  

With those chairs, we can have a couple of people over, and they can eat at the West Elm table instead of the boxes pictured below.

We have this arm chair, that will not be getting the armchair friends he so desperately dreams of until after I buy two round trip tickets to Hawaii for my honeymoon.

And we have this bed.

Ken's final boxes from NY also came this week, so we have this picture,

and this lamp.

 (Did you notice that the Ikea folding chair also doubles as a side table?)

 We also have my contributions!

Birthday Girl

That's right, dedicated readers, today is my birthday.

I've always been very satisfied with my birthdate, as I have a 14% higher chance than the majority of humans to celebrate my birthday on a weekend, due to the national MLK holiday falling on or around my birthday.

This is the first year since high school that I have had to go to work or school (this year, I actually have to do both, since I work at a school) on my birthday.  I've always taken off, or conveniently had off, but as I recently started my job, I don't yet have access to my vacation days.

I don't intend to do this again.  Next year, I'll definitely be on vacation.

If you're reading this now, don't forget to wish me a happy birthday!

Hospitality

My cousin is staying over this week, and I was super excited to finally get the table we ordered so that our establishment would be a little more presentable, but sadly, the table we picked up at West Elm today is missing pieces and so instead of a beautiful stainless steel table in front of our windows, we have a giant table sized box and unassembled parts all over the floor.

My cousin asked if he could sleep on our couch, but "Ken and Ashley's Seattle Digs Motel" is not quite up to par with the "Bontjgan C&C" of lower Harlem.  We have neither couch nor coffee.  All we have is a hard (though pleasantly level) floor and a French press.  I haven't bought any coffee to go in it because I forgot we had the press, plus we have an amazing coffee/doughnut shop a block away.

Rates are definitely lower for the Digs Motel, but I think clientele will pick up once we advertize the doughnuts and coffee that are just steps from their bed.  I mean, floor.

Green Thumb

We were straightening up around the apartment, and I realized I hadn't watered the plant my cousin gave us as a housewarming in a while.  It had stayed pretty green (see image below), so I assumed Ken was probably watering it and between the two of us, we hadn't killed it in the full month we'd had it. 

Well-maintained house plant

I was impressed with its life-span because the plant at my office didn't fare so well. 

My boss gave me a purple orchid (go Huskies) on my first day of work, and after thinking, "Wow, people are so nice here," I thought, "Shit, I'm going to kill this thing in a week."  I have heard orchids are difficult to maintain, and I know nothing about taking care of them.  Within a couple of weeks, all the blossoms and leaves had fallen off.  I kept the dead plant on my desk for another 2-3 weeks because I felt badly throwing out a gift.  I also hoped that it would inexplicably spring back to life despite no access to direct sunlight.  Or water.  Why would I water a dead plant?  Given the oppressive environment, it didn't revive and I finally threw out my potted stem.

Don't worry.  In no way does this imply that I will be a bad pet-owner or mother.  Animals and babies kindly remind you that they need to be watered, while plants are pretty quiet about their needs.

Because of the tragic demise of my orchid, I was pleased that the house plant was staying so green, but was concerned that no one was watering it regularly.  I didn't know how long it would hold up.

I brought it over to the sink, and while filling the pot asked Ken if he'd been watering it and admitted that I wasn't doing a great job.

"Ashley, that plant isn't real."

I dream of NYC

Last night, I had a dream about New York...

Ken and I were waiting for the subway, and when it pulled up, we had to choose between the really crowded car, or the car with the crazy person ranting in it.  The crazy car was less crowded.