The Welcome Cookout

You'll remember that the Welcome Cookout was the first event that all our guests were invited to on the Weekend Activity Card.


Here's where we invited them to - the back view of the "Hanger House" that also served as our Honeymoon House after the wedding. This lawn was perfect for our needs - and a true rarity among beachfront vacation homes in that area.


The menu was down-home comfort: barbecue, shrimp, clams, crabs, sausage, veggie burgers, coleslaw, green beans, and cornbread. The decor was down-home comfort too: red and white gingham tablecloths, lanterns, and lots of lawn games. Now we just needed people... Come on down!

Playing Horse Balls... or its more sanitized name, Ladderball.

Retrieving lost footballs

My aunt made us the coolest beach quilt as a wedding gift - our names are embroidered on the sailboats! (Trevor's sailboat is plaid, of course.) Does anyone else have super-talented aunts who make them feel lacking of any useful skill whatsoever by comparison? Hmmmm....

The quilt hanging in all its glory

My brother cooking up some yumminess...

...and spreading it out so folks could dig in

My sister-in-law Avery is marrying a college teammate of Trevor's (got that?) and he is known for his famous cakes and fondant skills. Do you know any other professional hockey players who are pastry chefs on the side? Yeah, I thought not. Alex proposed to Avery with a ring inside of a cake made to look like a Tiffany box. It opened as cleanly as a real box to present the ring. Alex has also made hamburger cakes, Guinness cakes, turkey cakes, pretty much anything that you think would be funny as a cake, he can make. Here are the cakes he made us for the Welcome Cookout, which look exactly like yummy summer pies. And sorry.... like Trevor, Alex is taken!

My brother kept chastising me that I was too busy meeting and greeting to eat (which was kind of true... while more people from my side attended the wedding, I had only met about half of Trevor's side before, so that night I had *lots* of folks to meet. I'm so glad I got to do that here and not at our wedding, by the way - weddings are crazy enough as it is without having to go through introductions in the middle of it!) Anyway, back to the cookout... Lane was right, so I finally put a plate together and dug in next to my pal Michael, who I always kind of thought of as my surrogate little brother when I lived in New Mexico. Those smart younger brothers!

Here's my dear friend Mikaela (who is a total Wonderwoman) with her husband Eric. See that little face peeking out from Eric's chest? That's Umea, our MVP Guest! She got a shout-out attendance award from me later in the evening...

Trevor's father and Best Man opened up the mike later in the evening. We had some really fantastic toasts - some touching, some hilarious, all right-on and so fitting for the occasion. Unfortunately I don't think I have photos of any of them - or of the two of us up there together. When it was our turn to speak, we thanked everyone who helped us put the weekend together and gave out some special gifts as a way to thank our parents and introduce our wedding party. More to come on those gifts.

Here we are with some of Trevor's college friends - they've been married for eight years already. We joked that at their wedding, digital cameras weren't even invented yet ;-). Mike most definitely received the "Town and Country" attire award for the weekend, by the way. I really wish I could do a photo spread simply of the male attire at Adams-Hanger '09. Outstanding.

A group shot of the high school gang. And hey, recognize the dress?!

Much later in the evening at one of the rental houses, there was a Texas v. Yale v. Maggie's Crew drinking game. Oh yes, it was that kind of weekend... You're looking at Team Texas right here, who I believe was the winner? Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

As you can see, SO MUCH FUN!

Wedding Lead-up

The lead-up to our wedding was just as we'd envisioned... loads of friends and family, great food and cold beer, a balance of hanging out combined with structured activities, and a general sense of mellow goodness.

Much of Trevor's family was in Duck the entire week leading up to the wedding, which was great fun. Having them there early meant we could kick back and really enjoy their company before the rush of guests arrived (plus get help assembling/eating cookies for the Welcome Bags!). We had fantastic meals over at their big house every night - the same house we took over after the wedding for our honeymoon. A typical scene from a fun dinner over there:


My parents arrived at their rental house (just on the other side of the Sanderling) on Thursday, so that night we brought them over to the festivities at Trevor's family's pad for another great dinner late into the night. By Friday morning, my siblings, their partners, plus our one and only flower girl arrived! Here's my sis - so pregnant and adorable - with our niece and flower girl Taylor petting her future cousin.


I had friends trickle in all day Friday, which was so much fun. By Friday night, my parents' house was FULL. A group from Trevor's house came over and hung out for a while too, meaning the place was slam full (to use a fave down-home expression) with fun. There was an emergency beer run involved. All night, I kept looking around just grinning... my high school pals there, my freshman year roommate there, my grad school troublemakers there, our officiant there, Trevor's sisters there... just the best feeling ever. I think 22 people slept in my parents' house on Friday night, since most folks' rentals didn't start until Saturday morning. A couple of scenes from Friday night, definitely not capturing the full-on rowdy reunion:


Unfortunately for many of us, Saturday's wakeup call was a tad too early. Hello sleepy hangovers! About a dozen folks went to play golf, and nearly 30 of us went kayaking. Being on the water is so relaxing for me that I couldn't have asked for a better activity to recharge my spirits. I have countless hilarious photos of us all loading up into our kayaks, but the one photo I didn't get, to my regret, was the scene I still have so vividly in my head: a brilliant day, sun making the water sparkle, the sound opening up in front of me and littered with yellow and orange kayaks of people I know and love, and hearing them all joke and laugh together. It was fantastic.

Move 'em up, and head 'em out... as my parents always say ;-)

Can my sisters-in-law get any cuter? Doubtful.

I wore the biggest and ugliest sunglasses I could find and applied sunscreen obsessively. And STILL got too much sun on my chest and shoulders!

My aunt wisely decided to let my cousin do all the work.

My pal Dan had a faulty kayak, which provided the comic relief for the morning.

Our star kayaker! Taylor was so relaxed out there that she was asleep by the time my brother pulled in to the dock. What a trooper!

So. Much. Fun.

Coming up next... the Welcome Cookout, the official kickoff for all the guests!

Why we love our officiant

We're ordaining our friend Gene to marry us. We actually laughed about how great it would be have Gene as emcee before we were even engaged. He's The One for many reasons - he's an actor (presence!), a writer (great with words!), and a talk show host (knows how to manipulate a crowd!). But more than all of that, Gene just gets us. He was one of the first people to whom I admitted my burgeoning feelings toward Random Preppy Pink-Shirted Guy. And when random guy became regular guy became boyfriend stuck in the Never-ending Election Recount from Hell, Gene was the one who listened to me whine (I know, I know, why was I whining?!), and then bought me beers at our favorite spot and took me to the movies to get my mind off things. When I introduced Gene and Trevor at a backyard dinner party my best ABQ gals and I hosted, it was like they'd known each other forever. Couldn't have been more seamless. Plus, Gene might have used the phrase "epitomizing youthful love of today" about us once or twice. ;-)

Importantly to us, Gene is also freakin' hilarious. I can't wait to see what our crowd thinks of him. Today while Gene and I were chatting about some ceremony stuff, he summed up in one brief exchange why we've asked him to do this for us:

Gene: Oh my Gawwwwwwwd! The invitations!!!

Me: So fun, huh?

Gene: I swear to you, I couldn't even open the thing. I was just in awe of it and knew that what was inside was going to break my ass it'd be so powerful, so I just kind of carried it around with me unopened for a week.

Maggie: Wait, seriously? You couldn't open it?

Gene: No! It was going to break my ass! I couldn't do it! Had to just sit with it a while.

Maggie: You are hilarious. Should this story make it into your ceremony intro somehow?

Gene: Ha ha... noted.

Maggie: Only if you repeat the phrase "break my ass," of course.

Oh, Dallas

It's fairly surprising that I had my bachelorette weekend in Dallas given my tumultuous relationship with this town. When it came down to it, the weekend that worked for everyone else was the same weekend I had Morrissey tickets, and helllllloooo, not missing out on that one. I'm also sick of traveling, so having everyone come to me felt like such an indulgence. My girls are the best, and threw me such a party all weekend long. And really, when you combine the good of Dallas (friends, food, ability to wear a bikini in April) with the bad (I'm looking at you, Women of Dallas who aren't my pals), you really just end up with some kick-ass people watching. Nothing bad about that at all.

Ladies, I think we can all agree that the epitome of class is a pink felt "cowgirl" outfit that can fit into the equivalent of a Ziploc bag. And yes, that hat was indeed included in said Ziploc packaging. All hail the magic of felt!

No pink felt here. My out of town ladies (and our fab local host!) sipping bubbly.


My too-pregnant-to-travel sis sent everyone yummy cocktails in her absence! And ohhhh, let's talk about how delicious Nobu is....


We were joined by fun blogger friends, who are always up for an opportunity to sit back and watch Dallas Ridiculousness unfold before them. Speaking of...


Women like this actually exist in this town.


FYI, this is what I look like when I am completely uninterested in what you are saying to me.

We have *so* many hilarious late-night photos, but out of respect for my girls who aren't used to their faces being splashed online, I'll refrain from posting. I think this one sums up the night pretty well anyway...

I miss you, gals! And I can't *wait* to all be together again in six weeks!

Bachelorette blunder photo op

The weekend was spectacular: old friends, a shirtless 50-year-old British icon, the best bar ever named after a presumed assassin, pool time, hilariously trashy lingerie gifts, a spectacular Saturday night dinner, ridiculous only-in-Dallas people-watching, and your standard guys-trying-to-grind-on-you stopover.

My favorite photo? Late, LATE into the night, this guy tried to ruin our Girl Power photo op. The presumption!

Girls Weekend is ON!

Woo hoo, my Girls WeekendokayfineBachelorette is here!

Today's travel overview looks a little something like this:



Tonight: Morrissey and my fave dive bar. (I adore the irony of Mozz kicking off a bachelorette weekend in a big way. Enough to use the word bachelorette without prefacing its use by explaining my hatred of traditions where girls where ridiculous things on their heads in bars, even.)

Tomorrow: Laid-back nothingness during the day. Sushi extravaganza at night. Drinkydrinkydrinky after that.

Starring:

• My oldest friend Allie (fellow gloom-rock freak, we had a fortune-telling business together in fifth grade)
• My college friend Amy (partner in all things procrastination, "The White Ghost," oh the late nights together...)
• T's sister Avery (just back to the US from her annual half-year in Europe - Dallas will blow Linz, Austria away, OBVS, and we are ready to welcome her back in style!)
• High school galpal Heather (vivacious redhead who goes way back with T now ;-), and will actually be in Dallas for over a week!)
• T's sister Morgan (who like Avery is awesome and who unlike us lives in DC and we're jealous of her for it)
• My college gal Nance (supreme power mama/hot scientist, who is ready to light it up on her first weekend away since having her little man Patrick)
  
• The fantastic Lisa K, our local host, who was the first girl I met in this town and thought it just might be okay after all. For that, I owe Lisa plenty. Kicking out her husband for the weekend and letting seven girls crash in her home? I owe her even more.

On Saturday night, we'll joined by three ladies we know and love in blog word: Kate, Slynnro, and Mojito Maven. I have a feeling they're going to kick our evening up a notch, don't you?

YAY for these fantastic ladies descending upon me! Special shout-outs to those that will be missed this weekend: my sister Lisa (pregnant), college galpal Tracy (pregnant), and my New Mexico girls Mikaela (juuuuust had her baby), and Marjorie (family wedding).

Let the games begin!!!

Week in Photos

Although it hasn't been a banner blogging week for me, the week has actually been full of lots of little decisions and events. Take a look:




I haven't been wearing my engagement ring. Instead, I'm sporting a beloved family ring on my left hand while the magic ring elves make me a matching wedding band. Tick tock, tick tock...
















We've selected two finalist menus for the reception, and based on some questions I need to get answered next week during my OBX planning trip, I'll be able to make a decision then. Also OBX planning trip-related: rearranged all the appointments (again).
















Received my very own invitation in the mail to the lovely Kate's wedding in Austin later this month... woo hoo!

















We received our first round of supplies to make the goodies for our Welcome Bags: 1 oz spray bottles for bug spray (OBX skeeters know how to attack, trust me) and 2 oz bottles for sunscreen. Send tips on economical gallon containers of both on over!













Made a decision on bridesmaid gifts, and the creative process has begun! (Enlarge for mysterious hints about what we're talking about... the gals read this blog so I can't spoil the surprise!)











We did the final proof of our invitation suite! I can't believe we're ready to go to print... aaaahhhhh!!!! I love them, and can't wait to show off all the little details in full. Also invitation-related: I started formatting our invitation list for the outer envelope and inner labels. We've eschewed "Mr. and Mrs." to honor our event's mellowness and the fact that about half of all couples attending don't have the same last name. You'll see very very soon.... :-)














Massive J.Press order arrived (pleasing the F-Word's preppiness and town of matriculation), so we now have navy linen ties for everyone, some belt ideas, and are trying out a red and white gingham pocket square in lieu of polka dots.

















Here's the seersucker paired with gingham. Pretty fun, huh? Turns out a red and white polka dot pocket square in cotton or linen is nearly impossible to find, so we're trying out this look while we continue our search. Thoughts?
















Our Fox and Prince parasol arrived! It's absolutely gorgeous. (Me, in workout finery, not so much.)
















Got a loooong overdue pedicure, and after some classic Dallas weather twists this week (40-degree temperature swings, per usual), was greeted with a balmy 80 degrees for champagne night with the girls last night. My toes were so excited to be free again on the patio. (My shoe collection is probably 80% open toe... I'm in trouble if we move north.) I neglected to take a photo of the fun night out, which is probably a sign we were having too much fun to bother, wouldn't you say?











An impulsive post-champagne rendezvous with the F-Word found the two of us at one of our favorite neighborhood haunts, Victor Tango, where I indulged in two of my favorite things: the Pepper Smash and some Ahi Tuna Nachos. YUM.

















Late-night frivolity = being late for work this morning and realizing I forgot to fill up on gas. Oops.

F-Word Fridays: Postmortem

A quick recap of last week's looming questions regarding the guys' weekend in Arizona...

1) What is the number of Vodka Red Bulls that can be consumed before the heart explodes: 17 - I don’t think the group drank 17 vodka red bulls combined over the weekend. It was all beer (and a lot of beer pong), with a smattering of whiskey. And few if any shots. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have friends that are past the shot-taking stage of their lives.

2) What is the ratio of beers consumed to golf balls lost: 6:1 - This depends on whom you ask. On Saturday, seven golfers and three designated drinkers consumed roughly 102 drinks over 18 holes, and even then there’s no way we lost 17 golf balls. However, yours truly, um, struggled a bit, and my 12 drinks to four balls lost did not help the cause. Whatever, I put my tee shot to within 4 feet on the 13th hole with a 55-year-old divorcee talking all kinds of smack from her tee-side front porch at the urging of my opponents. And then made the putt, thankyouverymuch. Maybe my finest moment of the weekend…

3) Likelihood of a hurricane: 12% - 72 and sunny the whole time. Just like the aforementioned bachelor party in Myrtle, only the exact opposite.

4) Average age of the women who talk to this group: 41 years old – This was, +/- 6 months, exactly right. As were implied predictions regarding surgical enhancement levels. At dinner Saturday night, we were seated between two tables of eight to nine locals all on the dreaded Girls Night Out and all 35 to 45 years old. We were very popular. Then, in a span of five minutes, a drunk friend of mine popped 2 buttons off of my shirt “for the hell of it” (leaving me looking like an extra from Mamma Mia....yeah, i've seen it), and the long-haired roguish hunk from Lost walked in to the restaurant to have dinner. You could just stick a fork in us right there.

5) Number of times Credit Card Roulette rears its ugly head: 5 times – Never happened. Was only even suggested once, and quickly dismissed. Biggest shock of the trip.

6) Number of times the phrase “I/you/we are too old for this” is uttered Sunday morning: Pass – Honestly, we were all too hung over to speak. It was mostly a series of grunts and nods. But the sentiment was there.

All things considered, it was a fantastic time. It was very cool to have my best friends from college meet my best friends from Dallas and have them all get along like I’d imagined. What’s more, I think it sets the stage for a great wedding weekend in May, complete with plans for a “Playing with the Boys” style volleyball game/montage to impress all the wives. Speaking of, my dad more than held his own, taking home the Pete “Maverick” Mitchell Award for best wingman. And my future brother-in-law was a beast, although he was struck with a curious case of homesickness Saturday night?! Must have been missing his increasingly pregnant better half something fierce! He did, in his defense, put on an epic drinking display on the golf course that day, and he should remember that there’s no shame in not keeping up with a Republican from DC wearing seersucker shorts with lobsters embroidered on them. [ed. note - And *swoon* goes The Hops].

And on that note, I should offer a thank you to the three lovely ladies inhabiting the apartment I returned home to Sunday night for putting up with my incoherence and inability to make myself useful by either properly pouring champagne or bringing the funny. Your patience was much appreciated.

With that, I think I’ll call it a day, and head home to take care of Maggie, who’s at home and apparently battling a terrible case of ranunculus…

F-Word Fridays: Razing Arizona

I was going to start this column with some sentence along the lines of “Look out, Scottsdale! My boys and I are about to descend like vultures on your fair city, and tear it up! You’ll never be the same! Wooooooooooo!”. Of course, that would have been terribly, unforgivably lame, and probably would have cost me at least half of my four (4) regular F-Word Friday readers (love you guys!). And furthermore, it would have been textbook hyperbole. There are 12 of us going, ranging in age from 28 to 59, with a mean age of 31. There will be a grand total of two single guys there. Everyone else is married or getting married. These days, the descending is less “like vultures” and more like “on an escalator,” and the only places we’ll be tearing up are a couple of very nice golf courses.

But fun will be had. Dinners will be expensive and laughs will be cheap. And almost entirely at my expense. I have a nervous energy, and I think this must be what the hours leading up to your own roast must feel like. And I’m brimming with questions. For example:

1) What is the number of Vodka Red Bulls that can be consumed before the heart explodes: We’re not talking the medical version of exploding, where a valve goes or something. We’re talking leaping out of your chest and running as fast as it can in the other direction. I’m guessing that number is 17

2) What is the ratio of beers consumed to golf balls lost: This is a very athletic group. And they’ve always been good at holding their liquor. So normally I’d put this at something like 12:1 beers:balls. But something tells me the odometer might be a little higher than we realize. 6:1

3) Likelihood of a hurricane: An unusual question, to be sure, but considering that the guy who planned this weekend also planned his own bachelor party in Myrtle Beach four years ago and managed to pull it off in spite of the mandatory hurricane evacuation order the state issued for that weekend. You know those movie scenes where everyone is fleeing the city and traffic outbound is at a standstill, and the hero is driving the only car on the inbound side of the road? That was us, in a cab. 12%

4) Average age of the women who talk to this group: I have it on good authority that during these late winter months, Scottsdale is the epicenter for single women of…how can I put this delicately…a slightly older demographic. That’s right, it’s the Cougar Capital of America! I find it hard to believe after having spent my share of nights drinking at the Dallas Ritz Carlton bar that Scottsdale has anything on Big D, but I’m eager to know more. 41 years old

5) Number of times Credit Card Roulette rears its ugly head: Honestly, this could happen anytime anyone has to pay for anything. None of my friends are degenerate gamblers, but they can’t help themselves when it comes to this game: 5 times

6) Number of times the phrase “I/you/we are too old for this” is uttered Sunday morning: Vegas won’t even put odds on this. Pass

My girls and Mozz, coming to me this April

Introducing the man kicking off our spring bachelorette weekend:






Seriously? Seriously.









I get slightly skin-crawly at bachelorette sightings that feature costume props etc. But a Morrissey kick-off, a day of pooling and spa-ing, and a night out on the town? YES. And on my birthday weekend to boot? YAY!

How about an ode to romance, Smiths style, to kick off this Thursday?

Ironic

To follow up on this:

As we all know, including registry cards in an invitation is beyond tacky. And if we know that, Anna Post certainly knows that. Williams-Sonoma, however? Not so much.

Because in our grab bag of goodies last night? Registry cards.

The horror!

Wedding scandal!

At a hotel bar on Saturday night, Trevor and I were lucky enough to witness all sorts of wedding shenanigans taking place around us. The bar was filled with wedding guests who'd come straight from the reception in the same hotel, and they were hammered. The drama included:

• Woman falling over
• Woman having a fight with her husband
• Woman yelling at her mother
• One guy gearing up for a fight, with another telling him, "I have your back"
• "I'm just too old for all this," according to an older woman leaving the bar with her husband
  
• Various states of dress-up decline: shirttails out, ties off, buttons undone, no shoes, in some cases a complete change into pajamas and flipflops

It was enough to make us wonder... what are the scandals going to be at our wedding? It was pretty fun fodder for a couple of drinks, actually. We're thinking along the lines of the garage-party craziness of Tracy's wedding, the groom getting us kicked out of both the reception and the after-party at Nancy's wedding, and of course Mikaela's apocalyptic storm on top of the volcano... all the stories that have us still talking about each wedding, the reasons why each was way more fun than if nothing out-of-the-ordinary had taken place.

So if you're on the guest list, chances are we already debated the chances of your contribution to scandal at the wedding. Did any of you make the cut on par with a bridesmaid getting extra-friendly with a guest on top of a table at a wedding that Trevor once attended?

We'll never tell... ;-)