jenepel | Entries tagged with weddings

Happy (belated) birthday to

lin! I know you've had a crazy time lately, but I hope your birthday was both fun and relaxing. :)

So I feel like I haven't been around much lately, which is mostly just because of busyness. Of course Nano has kicked off (and is totally kicking my ass) and then there was all the election stuff. That was like two whole days down the drain right there, even with me taking a day off work.

We went to an American ex-pats in London thing to watch the results all night, which was pretty awesome. They had rented this venue out until 6AM, and thankfully that was plenty of time for it to be decided and all that. I was dreading having to go home at that point and still not know a result, but yay for being spared and for correct polling. It was actually a pretty incredible experience. I think there were over 2000 people there (although that petered out a bit the later it got) and in our little group we had six (of which three were American) that stayed until the bitter end. It was just a great atmosphere - lots of cheering, and countdowns, and just generally happy people. We took our "London for Obama" sign, which we have dragged everywhere for months, and tons of people came up and took pictures of it. Also, at one point early on, Amy dared Rach to run across stage with it, and she totally did, because she is awesome. It got tons of cheers, although she did get yelled at for it right afterwards by about three different security guards. Bleh.

We did play Obama Bingo, although mostly just as normal Bingo and not as a drinking game. It was pretty dark for it in there, so we were doing that thing where you use your mobile-phone to see, which only made it funnier. And towards the end when results were coming in fast it was really really hard to keep up. Also, I won £10 off Seb because he bet me that Texas would go blue, to which I was like "I wish, but yeah right" and promptly shook his hand. Sucker.

We stumbled home on the tube at about 630AM, still carrying the Obama sign and just very very happy. I will never feel fully and completely "American" (or "British" for that matter, so whatever) but I think this week I have felt the most patriotic that I have in years. It will be very interesting to see what this does for us in the opinions of other countries, and just in general what Obama actually turns out to be like as a President. But for now, I seriously watched his acceptance speech with tears in my eyes, and I really welcome that kind of emotion in an arena where I haven't felt it for a long time.

Also election related, we almost got to be on this C4 show as a "group of loud and proud Democrats" but turned them down because we have a write-in that we promised Claire we would go to. (*waves* Hi Claire if you're still stalking me!) Groan. Damn you Nano - you're ruining my chances at stardom!

Oh, also, my dress for the wedding is done now - she took up the front and added a panel, and hemmed it. I'm not happy with it really, but it can't be helped. I mean the alterations look great, but the dress just isn't a good style for me. The thing is that Kristen's sister and I are wearing the same dress, in an attempt (I guess) to make it kinda like we're bridesmaids even though we will be the only ones there. I should have vetoed that, however, because in the best traditions of the way that crap works, she is tall and willowy and I am short and squat. So this dress is not ideal. I was pretty upset about it last night when I was trying it on, now I'm kinda just eh. Ah well.

I leave next Thurs for the States, and between now and then life is pretty much just Nano. We have a write-in like every day. I hope it helps! I'm writing like molassas this year.

On a completely random note, I'm about to pass out here from the smell outside our office. They're cleaning a drain or something, and it's almost unbearable. Seriously. I have kleenex stuffed up my nose and I still feel like I'm going to gag. Going home early is seeming like a really good idea...

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: work

So the biggest news is that after an (extremely short) house-hunt, we found a fantastic new place to live! Seriously, this house is so great, and it has so many things that I was sure we wouldn't find or be able to afford, so it's just incredibly awesome that it worked out. The deal isn't done and dusted yet, as we still have to do references and pay in full, but we've put the deposit down to secure it, and everything seems to be going to plan. It was the third house we looked at, which I think made my mom nervous, but really once she sees it she's totally going to understand. ( Info about the house, because it is AWESOME. )

Okay, I have this other section that I wrote up before and never posted, so here's our weekend and some shopping:

On Sat in the AM we went house-hunting. [BLAH BLAH BLAH - it's all out of date now so I deleted it!]

Then in the Sat PM Rach and I went to this Democrats Abroad thing. We weren't sure what it was, but it turned out to be canvassing (at a festival on the Thames) to try and get Americans registered to vote. It was a bit scary at first but after you got used to it, really fun. A few people were rude, but most were really nice - probably tons easier then doing something like that in the US because the sentiment was overwhelmingly Democrat. We got a lot of confused Brits though - "why are you doing this here?" - but it did seem to be worth it because there are just SO many Americans in London. We were some of the last to leave, so we inherited this huge sign "London for Obama" that we have now hung in our front hall. :) Also, I randomly saw a friend of mine from university, so that was weird. I just heard my name and turned around, and there he was. (Actually, if you ever follow/remember my stories, it was the guy who got married earlier in the year and didn’t invite me.) Anyway, overall a positive experience on the campaign-related stuff, and nice to feel like we were actually doing something! ( Also, it got me a new facebook profile pic, so that's cool. )

Then on Sunday we cleaned. Ugh. (Well, mostly Rach cleaned and I just sorted out my room.) But at least now my room looks beautiful. It was really getting out of control. Oh, and I made cookies, which if I do say so myself, turned out awesome. It's much harder without an electric mixer though.

Also, have been doing a bit of (US) shopping online:

Erin(Kristen’s sister) found a dress for the Costa Rica wedding. We're dressing matching, to give a semblance of a wedding party feeling I guess. I think it’s really pretty, although I’m sure I’m gonna have to hem it. (Or get someone to hem it if the fabric is too delicate – we’ll see.)

I’ve been looking for a new laptop bag, and have searched a bit in actual shops but not found anything that fits what I want. I needed it to be something that didn’t look too much like a laptop bag, because when I carry my current one around London I feel like a target. Also, I wanted it to be big enough to hold quite a bit of other stuff, and also to be pretty! So I finally ordered this one from the Mac store. I was just a bit worried because the straps don't look that padded, but hopefully it will be okay. I found it for about $20 cheaper on some random sites, but none of them ship to APO's. Stupid. I talked to mom this weekend and she was just saying "why buy it online? you can't look at it that way" but I just think it's so much easier! Real shopping is such a pain in the ass.

The last thing I was considering (but haven’t ordered) is this raincoat. I have been looking (for like two years! man I suck at shopping) for a raincoat/trench that would be nice for work. The only summer/fall coats I have are casual, so I mostly end up wearing sweaters until it’s cold enough for my wool ones. (I have tons of winter coats!) But I don’t know – the pretty blue doesn’t come in petite, so I can’t decide.

Other than that, not much. Except that I think I might be allergic to the new shampoo that I bought. AND THAT WE FOUND THE PERFECT HOUSE. Ahem. I'm done now, I swear!

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: work

So tonight I've been looking up flights for the Costa Rica trip in November, just kind of a prelim shot at pricing, to see what I'm looking at. The airline industry truly makes no sense. In this particular case it's going to work in my favour, because taking a side trip through the US won't cost me more money than I would already be spending, but I still find it very very weird. I've come to terms with the pricing, kind of. Well, not come to terms, but I've accepted that I'm going to spend a lot of money on this wedding, and now I'm just seeing how I can get the best trip out of it that's possible.

Case in point:

Lon -> Costa Rica (Liberia) -> Lon (20th-25th) = between $1100-1300 depending on airline (and that's with like two flight changes too; not direct) Spending that much money for a five days trip (and double it when you add the hotel) REALLY does not appeal.

And yet when I go to the AA site and use their multi city thing, I can do this:

13th London -> Newark
16th Newark -> Atlanta
20th Atlanta -> CR
25th CR -> London

for only $1174.59!

WTF?

I'm not complaining...exactly. I'm just baffled.

So

adinarj, what do you think of those dates?!

And

basilm, what is the other site that you said had a multi trip function? I can't remember.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: couch

We're ın Turkey, and ıt ıs pretty great! Thıs wıll be short because ı just cant deal wıth thıs keyboard - ıts really hard to type on and everythıng ıs ın the wrong place. They had to add all the extra characters ın (çöşğ etc) and so they made extra space. So here are random thıngs about Istanbul...

1. Thıs cıty ıs amazıng. ıts huge and there are a mıllıon churchs and mosques. everywhere you look there ıs somethıng to see. ı dont know how we are decıdıng whıch parts ot see for the tıme we are here.

2. Our host here ıs great. He cooked for us tonıght and has just generally been totally helpful. Also he has the cutest kıtten ın the world!

3. We went to see The Dark Knıght and halfway through ıt stopped and the lıghts went up. We were totally confused but evıdently ın Turkey there ıs an ıntermıssıon at the movıes. Crazy.

Argh there ıs more but I cant concentrate to wrıte ıt. ı just got a text (phone ıs on roamıng) from my frıend who ıs gettıng marrıed ın costa rıca later thıs year. so ı check my emaıl. turns out that ıts gonna be ınsanely expensıve. ıts some resort place that costs $1300 for three nıghts - now we are sharıng rooms so mıne ıs half that BUT STILL. plus the flıghts whıch are almost 900 from the us. plus ı have to pay around 1000 to get to the us ın the fırst place. WTF? ıts gonna cost me lıke 2500 just to go to thıs freakıng weddıng. ı could do so much for that money - ı could buy a new computer for cryıng out loud. ı dont know because ı actually dont see how ı can afford that and yet ı promısed her ı would go. ı just had no ıdea ıt would be so expensıve! ı am couchsurfıng rıght now - surely that ıs a good ındıcatıon of my funds and my form of travel!

anyway sorry for the ramble ı guess ı need to get offlıne...

Current Mood: indescribable
Current Location: İstanbul, Turkey

Once again proving I am not actually an adult person, I got very little sleep last night. We had a chat for the Virtual Season that went from 2AM-5:30AM (my time) and then I was afraid to properly go to sleep, so I alternately napped and read, lights blazing. On the positive side, it was a very productive chat, so at least my sleep was donated to a good cause. Either way, I'm now at work, trying very hard to be productive here as well. I've already had a cup of coffee - and I DO NOT drink coffee. The energy of that and of staying up all night will last for a while, but I know I'll be fading around mid-day. Hopefully I can leave early since I got in early.

Hmmm. So this entry is mostly just because writing it is keeping me more awake then working on taxes. I would regale you all with stories of my weekend, but really there isn't much to say except that I didn't get as much done as I meant to (shocker!) so that's annoying. [Ha! I said I didn't have much to say and then blathered on for many paragraphs. Oh well.]

( Travel plans and movies and even some pictures! )Okay, I should actually get some work done. This turned out to be a more marathon entry then I expected. But I'm SO TIRED and taxes are not helping! Also, I must have pulled a muscle or something this weekend, because I've had this pain in the lower left side of my back for like two days now. It hurts the most when I sit a long time - when I got out of the movies yesterday it was throbbing - and so sitting here at my desk is not feeling so good. I don't think there's much to be done though, other than hope it goes away soon. Ah well, just one more thing! Happy Monday everyone.

ETA: Wow, I have a tag for sleep. I did not remember that. It should be a tag for lack of sleep! Maybe I'll make one - or change it.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: work
Current Music: none - maybe that would help!

My best friend from university just called to tell me that she is engaged. I mean, it's been a long time coming, it's a four year relationship, so I'm not exactly surprised. And yet it still knocked me for six. I'm having trouble believing it's actually true. And now that the initial excitement and squeeing is over (I yelled SO LOUD down the phone) I feel...IDK, a little weird about it. It's probably just in the realm of the whole other people moving on thing, because that's just not where my life is headed right now. And it feels so PERSONAL since it's her - it's the closest thing to having a sister getting married (I don't have a sister). I only have one friend I am closer to, and she is no where near marriage. So this feels really really big.

Also? They are considering having the wedding in November. THIS NOVEMBER. She was like "well that's not for sure, and I wanted to know what your schedule was, and when you would be able to get away" which WOW. But actually that works out pretty well since I already asked for two weeks sometime in either late Oct or Nov. The only sad thing is I'll be away during Nano! Oh how shallow I am. But it sounds like it's going to be a really tiny wedding, and there's some more emotional stuff there to do with that, and I can't go into it now since it's almost 2AM and I only got 3 hours of sleep last night and I WAS SUPPOSED TO SLEEP MORE TONIGHT and obviously I suck at that. I'm totally exhausted and obviously crazy. My bed calls me. But I needed to at least mention it in the first full flush of amazement. Maybe tomorrow I will come to terms with reality. (Oh and chat -

basilm I NEED you to be on gchat tomorrow because there are things that should be discussed. I gotta talk to someone about it all and I need YOU!)

[ETA: It says something about the time of life I am at that I actually have a "weddings" tag that gets used fairly often. I was all thinking that I was going to no more weddings this year since the one last week went haywire, and now look at it all! Should have known I wouldn't get away with just the one this year...]

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: couch (soon to be BED)

I'm not exactly sure why, but I've been really teary lately. I guess in part it's just that everything is kinda in flux, people are leaving for the summer, flat stuff is as usual up in the air, and I just feel like I'm in for a lonely few months. Which is ridiculous, because my parents don't even live in London and I survived just fine before November when I knew the Nano folks. But whatever. There are also a few other things that I don't care to go into with anyone, but that are not good for my peace of mind.

Oh, and one more drama that is semi-public. One of my best guy friends from university is getting married on Saturday, and I'm not invited. Actually, I am not, my roommate from college (who was his best friend since middle school and dated him at uni) is not, and her sister isn't either. Crazily enough, her parents are. So we've been back and forth on this for the past six months - knowing about the wedding from various sources, waiting to be told it was happening, waiting for an invite, etc. We had come to the conclusion that it had to do with their past relationship, which is INSANE, because it ended mutually and they have remained good friends. Our other two good guy friends are groomsmen, and the bachelor party was this week, so one of them was charged with finding out what the frak was going on. His report (emailed to be by my ex-roomie): "According to [groom], he and [bride] decided not to invite any exes to the wedding. Thus, I was blacklisted. I would like to point out that I have known [groom] for 15 years, and only dated him for 2ish. Further, he said that he thought it would be "too harsh" to invite you or [sister] and not me, thus you two were out by proxy. Not sure how he invited my parents w/o considering THAT harsh." Seriously, WTF? Fine if they made that decision (even though I think it's stupid, considering), but the least he could have done is have the balls to call her and let her know. And especially he could have called ME and said "hey Jenn, I know we've been friends for 9 years but I'm not inviting you to my wedding and this is why" so I wasn't expecting anything. The communication broke down between the two of us right around the time they started dating a year ago, but that doesn't mean I expected not to be invited to the wedding! I was making plans - I was considering taking time off and flying to Texas. And now, as far as he knows, I might not be aware it's even happening - although, let's face it, in the era of the internet that's impossible. Basically I think it's cowardly, and he's pretty much just thrown three friendships away. BAH HUMBUG!

Okay, so let's talk about TV now so I stop getting mad about real life! Also on the crying front, I've been watching Everwood S4, and man can that show make me cry. I cry when happy stuff happens, I cry when sad stuff happens, it's ridiculous. And I'm watching it on my ipod on the tube, so it's also kinda embarrassing. I'm alsmost done now too, and that kinda sucks. I have just the final double episode, and then I'll be completely done with Everwood. ( Everwood S4 spoilers under here - mostly shippyness )

I'm also trying really hard to be awake right now, because the three of us flatmates stayed up to about 4AM, sitting in the living room talking about stuff. No reason in particular, just once we got started we didn't go to bed. Oh how getting up sucked this morning.

Speaking of flatmates, tonight we're having a house party to say goodbye to Rachel and Jessie, so we'll see how it goes. It's hard to throw a house party in London; people like to come out and meet somewhere, but getting them to come round your place is more difficult. We have some failed (well not *failed* but not as well attended as we would like) shindigs to prove it. So we'll see who comes. But I'm sure it will be fun no matter what, because the people who we right now know for sure will be there are awesome.

And now I'm off to get back to work, which, strangely enough, today is going to involve painting. We've got this renovation that has been happening for about a month now and is almost finished. For whatever reason he's decided that we're just going to paint it ourselves. He's already done a bunch, now he's off to his house to grab coveralls so that I can paint too. Which is okay, because painting is fun, but obviously has nothing to do with taxes. But surely it will be easier to stay awake while painting then it is while sitting at a computer?

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: work
Current Music: Elaine Paige

Just a drive by posting to say that I got to my parents' house and what was waiting on my bed? The Gilmore Girls Complete Seasons Set!!! I'm SO excited. I totally plan on starting with the pilot and watching all the way through - I wonder how long that will take me, between other things I'm watching? I'm pretty happy with it, although to be honest it's a bit weird. The case is actually foam padded. And as I've said before, I don't like the artwork as much as I do on the individual season sets. But it's so lovely and compact! So that in the end, wins for me.

Also, one little annoyance that happened last night. The second season of Bones finally downloaded, so as a reward for finally packing I was going to watch the first episode before going to bed. I was at least ten minutes in before I finally had to be like "this CAN'T be the right episode". I had no idea what was going on. And the worst thing of all is that now I'm totally spoiled for a really important shippy thing. ( Cut for S2/S3 Bones Spoilers ) I'm usually not a huge spoiler-phobe, but in a case like this where I would have never known and it would have been so nice to watch organically develop, it makes me really mad. Plus, now I have to wait and download the first episode again because I hate watching things out of order. (I did check a few of the others and they seem to be the right ones.)

This was supposed to be a short entry!! Whoops. Anyway, I'm home and I've got my Gilmore Girls. Plus, tonight was already fun. My (sorta) friend from highschool who I haven't seen SINCE highschool is staying with us with her boyfriend, and they're both really cool. And we went to the first party tonight and had tons of fun, although we (and the bride and groom) were the youngest for miles. And then tomorrow, ceremony and big party! Yay.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: my parents' house
Current Music: Friday night with Jonathon Ross

So I got home from the wedding a week ago, but I’m also a sucker for completeness, so I’m gonna write this third entry detailing the rest of the trip despite the time lapse. Most people on this side of the ocean have already heard the story, but hey, LJ is for the telling right? I mean it’s all about getting the words out there, and journaling for yourself. Or something.

So anyways. ( It begins with the epic (and surprisingly serendipitous) tale of my brother’s journey from Atlanta to Chicago. )

Ridiculous. As I told

basilm and

iamseb when we were out on Friday night, I sometimes think I exist in a constant state of drama. I must be really annoying to put up with! But that’s just in real life. As for LJ, isn’t that kind of what this place is made for? Maybe I need an icon that just says "unnecessary drama!" to use like, all the time?

ETA: I just reread this entry, and it's really stream-of-consciousness sounding. But I can't really be bothered to edit. So read it if you dare, or care.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: bed

So I find I have a little time to kill as other people figure things out, so I thought I might as well be productive, and actually write something about everything that has been going on. I’m only one day into this wedding trip, and more things have happened, gone wrong, gone awry, etc than you could possibly believe. Here’s the timeline – I was arriving Wed, there was a cake baking thing the night, Thurs (today) was the rehearsal dinner, Fri there is a cruise on the river and the wedding is sat. Wednesday as I’m arriving, the airport is insanity – evidently AA has over 1000 flights (10,000 passengers) canceled because of some sort of technical thing. They didn’t get something properly inspected or whatever, and thus half their fleet of some sort of plane (a specific small prop) got grounded. Yeah, so needless to say this massively impacted the traveling plans of wedding people. I mean, in most cases it’s not a huge deal because a lot of the guests aren’t even getting here until Friday. But all the people getting in Wed and Thurs are the most important ones. They’re all the people who are up for the rehearsal dinner and the kind of preliminary stuff. So we’ve got my friend’s sister and his father and a list of about ten other people (including my bro!) who are stuck in various places and not sure what flight they are getting on or not getting on or whatever. So.

( Names have been left out to protect the innocent and the guilty. )

So after sitting here for like two hours, unable to do anything but listen to the millions of phone calls, this is what seems to have happened:
- The groom got my bro on a flight that gets in tonight, hopefully that goes through
- He got his sister (and husband and kid) on a flight tomorrow morning
- He got his father on a flight today
- The rehearsal dinner has been changed to tomorrow
- The cruise has been changed to an hour earlier so everyone can make it

So it's been the six of us all day - the groom, the bride, the best man, and the bride's two brothers. Lord knows how I ended up being the sixth person in such a close to the event kind of group! The fun thing is that the new plan for tonight is that we all go out on the town. So somewhere in there my brother should get in and I’ll have to sort out picking him up. More later perhaps!!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Drew's house

NOTE: So I wrote this at work on Thursday but since I still haven’t looked up how to email an entry in I just emailed it to my home address…which means I’m not posting it until now. So it’s a bit out of date, but still a trip update, so whatever…

It’s already Thursday – I just can’t believe that! I meant to write this entry on Tuesday right after I got back (or even start on the plane Monday and then post it afterwards) but other things just got in the way. I’ve actually been pretty exhausted ever since I got back – whether it’s jetlag (which I never like to admit to) or just the fact that my body is tired after all the activity and lack of sleep on the trip, I’m not sure. I got in around 11PM on Monday, left the flat at 7AM Tuesday for work, got home at 6PM and went straight to bed. Last night I lasted until 8PM before I crashed, so I guess that’s an improvement. Maybe tonight I can make it till 10PM?! [NOTE: didn't happen!]

Anyhow, I want to at least write a little about my trip, so a quick run-thru is under the cut…

( details... )

So now I’m back at home, and back at work, and that’s fine. I do enjoy the States, but it was SO NICE to get back home to England. I was only away for a week and a half, but I missed it. Plus, it’s always a little bit of a relief to end a trip and get back to normal life. And there is a lot going on in the next month or so – I’m already trying to plan out my weekends to see when I’ll stay in London and when I’ll go to my parents and when people are going to be visiting, etc. So yes, life goes on.

But I still miss Trevor!

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: couch
Current Music: Travis