That’s some bad hat, Harry

Last night during a ‘roll in the hay’ between episodes of The Wire, I glanced over at Boy Dog who was nestled between pillows sleeping soundly.

“Is he wearing my underwear as a hat?” I asked, incredulously.

Yep. My black thong had been carefully placed upon his furry head by the fiance.

I giggled for a while then went back to the business at hand.

I need a towel

“Love!….Love?…Love!…I need a towel,” he shouted from the bathroom at the top of the stairs.

“Coming!” I yelled back, and started to walk up the stairs.

And what a sight awaited me. All 6 foot 3 inches of him, dripping wet in the middle of the bathroom, arms out offering a sopping wet hug, penis wagging from side to side and a goofy grin on his face. What a weirdo. His silly antics always bring a smile to my face and I love him more every day.

Christmas Theme?

Um…no.

This morning Dad sent the following text:

Mom is at the [old lady department store] sale and wants to know how you feel about a “Christmas” theme for table decoration. Can you call her?”

Yes, the wedding will be just before Christmas but a Christmas theme for the wedding? Absolutely not!

I called her and told her something along the lines of, “Over my dead body,” hoping that she would forget the idea.

Mom really wants to help with the wedding details and I’m thrilled about that, but I worry she’ll go a bit overboard. She’s brilliant when it comes to design and decorating and I could really use the help.

After I finished my morning meetings, I felt bad so I called her back.

“Mom, sorry I crapped all over your idea. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings. We’ll have plenty of time to figure out the wedding stuff when you come to visit.”

“Not to worry,” she said. “I bought it all anyway.”

Of course she did.

Bridesmaid Dresses

If planning the rest of the wedding turns out to be as difficult as buying bridesmaid dresses, I’m eloping!

The only criteria I had for bridesmaid dresses were:

• Finishes below the knee
• Not too bridesmaid-y
• Under $300

Sure, there were a lot of dresses that met that description, but not as many as I would have thought. Have fashion designers gotten lazy lately? Most of the dressed out there now look like pillowcases with arm and neck holes cut out with sequins glued on. Too short, shapeless, and ugly. When did potato sack chic become fashionable? And don’t even get me started on actual bridesmaid dresses. Yuck. I love my friends too much to make them wear that crap.

My lovely sister, the maid of honour, had the dubious task of choosing the bridesmaid dresses. She was given the above criteria and told that she could pick something that she likes that she’ll be able to wear again. After trawling through 100 stores in 2 cities, she found “the dress(es).” Simple, midnight blue, silk, fell just below the knee, buttons and loop closure in the back (to match my wedding dress), white skirt poking out from underneath, perfect! And…on sale! From $350 to $155! Deal.

Then came the hard part: finding sizes for four (yes four) bridesmaids. Three of whom live overseas. My fiance insisted on 4 groomsmen, hence four bridesmaids.

My sister was described perfectly as ‘about as sturdy as a Barbie doll.” Tiny bones and no meat. Size 6. Not in the store, but not to worry. An altered size 8 would do in a pinch.

One bridesmaid and I haven’t seen each other since her “I’m obsessed with food, really, and I actually eat, see? (proceeds to munch on celery)” phase that nearly shut down her vital organs, five years ago. She’s been living in the UK for six years now. Fortunately she’s healthy again and is taking good care of herself. But damned if I know what size she is now. We’re the same height and judging from pictures about the same weight. We’re guessing an Australian size 8.

Another bridesmaid is petite. Short, small and adorable. We guessed an 8, but decided on getting a 10 and getting it altered upon her arrival because she has a strong upper body.

The other bridesmaid lives in Sydney so we didn’t have to guess her size. She’s a 12 but we were told that the 12’s were out of stock, so we got a 14 and will have it altered closer to the wedding date.

Sizes chosen, 2 bridesmaids fitted, problem solved, right? Wrong. The day we tried on dresses there were plenty of dresses available. The next day, not so many available. When gorgeous silk dresses are on sale for a price like that, they go like hotcakes.*

Begin mad scramble for dresses. We purchased the size 14 and a size 8 on day one, but all the other ones we were counting on being there the next day were either sold (oh no!) or on hold (grrrrr!).

Some other bitch bride also decided that these dresses would make good bridesmaid dresses, and put 3 (in sizes I needed) on hold for a week. Store policy says that they’ll only hold items until the end of the day. I don’t know who she is, but I loathe her and her special treatment. Earlier that day I had been told by the head office that those were the only dresses left in the nation. Being the unabashed American that I am, I decided to take a trip to said store (I was in the neighbourhood anyway). The bitch bride just happened to be in the store with her bridesmaids at that very moment! Sorry to disappoint, but there was not a knock-down drag-out bridezilla fight. I simply told the shop assistant that if she didn’t buy all of the dresses, to let me know and I would buy the remainder. Soon afterwards she called and said that the size 6 was available. Score! Three down and one more to go.

Head office hunted down a size 12 at the Meyer in Chatswood and the set was complete. Relief.

One week, a gazillion phone calls, a lot of begging and 5 (different) store visits later, we had our dresses. Victory!

* I never quite understood that expression until I discovered ricotta hotcakes. If you live in Sydney, treat yourself to some at Flat White Cafe or Bills in Woollahra. You won’t be disappointed.

Bon Jovi

Call me a dork, dated, living in the past, whatever. I love Bon Jovi and I don’t care who knows it!

Last night I got to cross something off my things-to-do-before-I-die list: see a Bon Jovi concert.  BEST concert EVER!!!  Not a drop of alcohol and I was screaming like a schoolgirl.  Pathetic, but oh so enjoyable.

Rant of the day: Even though Jon Bon Jovi is the lead singer and namesake of the band, Bon Jovi is still a band, not an individual.

My fiance and I don’t have a ‘list’, but if we did, I’d have Jon Bon Jovi on mine.  Oh, and Hugh Jackman.  ::drool::

Moving to Sydney

I look at my life now and wonder, how did I get to this point? Four years ago I packed up my entire life and moved from the good ol’ US of A to Sydney, Australia.

My life at the time consisted of enough stuff to fill up half a container. Things that I packed:

• The most comfortable bed in the world.
• A sofa bed (aka budget accommodation for visiting friends).
• A closet full of unfashionable clothes (the only kind of clothes available in small towns).
• A few pieces of furniture that wouldn’t fit in my parents’ house anymore.
• Kitchen stuff.
• A relationship that had run its course (That didn’t get transported in the container).

It was bizarre to think that my life could fit into a few cubic feet. Since then I’ve accumulated two dogs, a fiance (and his belongings), one quarter of an old house, and a reliable Honda.

Looking back on the move, I can’t believe how brave (or naive, or stupid) I was to take such a blind leap into the unknown. Ok, it wasn’t totally blind. It’s not like I hadn’t been to Sydney before. Truth be told, I was born in Australia but moved to California when I was fairly young. My family had come back a few times over the years, and I fell more in love with the Emerald City with each visit. At some point in High School I decided that I would one day call Sydney home.

But dreaming of living in Sydney and actually moving here were two totally different things! I had a job lined up before I arrived. Upon contacting the Australia branch of the company I worked for in the US, they practically offered me a job on the spot. My goal in contacting them was to simply let them know that sometime in the future I would like to transfer. Apparently there was a skills shortage in my area of expertise and they were desperate to fill an open position immediately. So three weeks later I arrived in Sydney with three suitcases to last until my stuff finished its leisurely sail across the Pacific.

Even though I had lived here many years ago, I didn’t know anybody in Sydney. Most people don’t keep in touch with people they met in pre-school, and I’m no exception. It’s daunting moving to a city of 4 million people and not knowing a single soul. Coming from a small town in California was liking walking into Cheers: everybody knows your name.

I realised when I got to Sydney that it was possible to be surrounded by people, but totally alone.

Hello from Sydney!

2008 is going to be one helluva year, so I thought I’d start a blog to document the ride. If anybody reads this, great. Thanks for stopping by! If nobody reads this, I’ll at least have something to remember the year by.

Here’s what’s on the agenda for this year:

• Planning a wedding
• Surviving a month-long visit from my parents
• Working on a masters degree (half way there!!)
• Taking care of two rascally mutts
• Fixing up and decorating an old house
• Oh, and working full time.

My goal is to catalogue the wedding planning process, post about design ideas that inspire me, post photos of the progress made on the house, and write stories about anything interesting that happens.  I’m told my story-telling skills are appalling, so please bear with me while they (hopefully) improve.