Less than five minutes!

I didn't have good internet access until now, so I didn't do the Monday NYTX last night. And for the first time, I got under five minutes today! There are people out there who can do it in 2-3, which I don't even know how their fingers can even type that fast even if you were just holding down the "T" key the whole time--but I don't bother with those lofty goals.


It's been a weird weekend/day. Really Good, but also kind of tiring and I don't feel I ever really caught up on sleep.

Saturday, Dad drove Neil & I to the Botanical Gardens, where Neil hadn't been before. I hope he really loved it--the place was more crowded than I had ever seen it, without any apparent events going on. I took photos of the best-named plants, and this was my favorite:



...well, second only to BladderNut. Seriously, plant-namers, were you expecting folks to look at the name "Diarrhena" and not think of intestinal problems?

It was a glorious day--high 60s, gray skies with the occasional hint of sun, and the rain hit just as soon as we got in the car to drive home.

Sarah Miller was in town on an impromptu Mother's Day visit, and offered to go dress shopping with me (after I whined in an e-mail to her--I swear, it wasn't to get her to make time for me! I was exaggerating, as I am wont to do...); I had called the bridal shops in town, and much to my disappointment, they didn't have sample bridesmaid dresses in my size to try on, just fancy wedding gowns. Not going out shopping worked out because of our Gardens trip, but it made me really depressed. I really don't want to order a sight-unseen dress from the internet, since most are nonreturnable and can't even be exchanged. On such a tight budget, I can't afford to buy a dress with only the slim hope that it will work. I'm getting so sad about it that I may wait until July or so to look again.

But anyway, I drove out to the Millers' new house Saturday night after we got home, and spent many happy hours there chatting, taking a tour of this gorgeous home of theirs, eating strawberry cake, looking at the dresses I'd picked out with Kaye and Sarah, and delighting in Sarah's enthusiasm. She is in her element and is so excited to help me with the little wedding things, and knows about how to keep it within budget but still classy. Her mama offered up their home for the informal reception/gathering the week after the wedding, and I was thrilled...what a load off that would be! Sarah talked about showers and luncheons and how to recognize Mom in the ceremony and just all around knew what she was doing. Which is, like, 180 degrees from my own approach. I vaguely know what things should be done, but I don't really want to deal with it, and all I have to go on is some wedding-magazine checklist, which is of course full of things they really want you to buy from their sponsors.

So I'm pretty comfortable with the details now. I have my Emily, helping me with all the stationery needs (and I get many excuses to see her during the summer as a bonus!), cupcakes, photography, and by extension her lovely family with the music; Amanda's a local source to help with dresses and to get excited with looking at various wedding photos; Sarah and her mom with the reception and many of the preparations (when Sarah asked if I wanted to get ready for the wedding at her house, I was totally excited; now Lily won't have to stand in the tub behind me to do my hair! They have such huge bathrooms there!)...it's just such a big relief. The dress is the only thing that bothers me, and I'll probably feel a lot better about it after I shed a few pounds and don't feel so icky about my appearance. I hate that something that should be so princessy and is supposed to make me feel pretty is just making me sad. What I'd love is to find a seamstress who's worked with plus-size clients before, and can help me for just a few hundred dollars. It's a tall order though.

Enough wedding stuff for now, though.

Mother's Day was yesterday, and we went to papa's for homemade chicken enchiladas verde (OhmyGOSH, so good! Neil had three) and Scattergories. It was such a nice evening. Dad even made me some split-pea soup to take home so I can have a nice home-cooked substitute meal when I make Neil something not so healthy!

Today started busy, because bossie & I are doing serials binding this week so she's always working by my side. I really wanted to make a to-do list for the week, but work will be way too busy to do so from there. I made the dumb decision not to swim, so I'll make up for that the rest of this week. This was neat--I was lying down, and my hand was resting on my other upper arm, and when I moved, I felt a muscle flex that I swear hadn't been there before. Could my water-weight-lifting be paying off??

I finally finished listening to Lipstick Jungle this weekend. I've said it before--it's not great. I didn't love Sex & the City though, either, but the show was very different. Maybe I'd actually like the TV show...?

Two other nice things about today--the final Lemony Snicket book came in on PBS for me, which I snatched up, to make our bookshelf totally complete (and we only paid money for two of them!), and I got a really great long message from Betsy. I'm so happy to be in touch with her again.







P.S. One more ending: The Bachelor season finale is on later tonight. Goooooooo, Chelsea!