a real job

hi there.
it's been over a month since i've blogged. and a crazy month at that. in the meantime, the major thing is that I have pursued and accepted a staff job working at my current company. I'll be working on a different team (fashion) and it will be a huge, exciting move for me. The job change has been more problematic and all-consuming than anyone could have imagined, which has been a factor leading to my online disappearance. Also we have been looking at houses in South Mpls and are very interested in one. SO there are huge things going on. ALSO we need to send out the invites! We sent out save-the-dates a couple of months ago but our destination wedding is now 6 months off, meaning we should start to design/print the real invites. ANd i'm still working on my friend's skincare line. BUSY BUSY BUSY. but good. thanks for not forgetting the Schmark.
Much love.

ladies! ladiesladiesladies. so sorry for the absence. can't believe it's been a month. it's hard not being able to blog at work, and I am drained of compuer interest after a day spent staring at one. Not to mention that my fiancee is an internet addict and is completely tethered to it while at home.

SO here I am on a friday morning... in Ginger's house back in Norman! Our parents' thirtieth anniversary is on Monday so we planned a little surprise visit. They were COMPLETELY shocked yesterday when we walked in. It was adorable. Mom was in some terrible tank-top/muumuu-dress and had a sink full of bras. Dad came sneaking in the back hall from a nap in his tighty whities. Obviously they weren't expecting company... until my aunt and uncle arrive this afternoon, which WAS a planned visit. It's great to be home and see them; we didn't know when the next time we'd come home was going to be. Also, ginger and her man are gone all summer teaching at music camps together (they get their own cabin with Sterling the kitty) and after that they will likely move to portland or florida, so we won't see them when we come to Norman after this either. Sadness. But for now the trip is going so well we're thinking about making a surprise visit back to Adam's parents in CT (ssshhhhh, Ari!)

in other news since i've written: we went to NYC for a long weekend last month. It went way too fast. I got shitfaced with the Lauder crewe on friday night making saturday a hungover wreck, BUT we got to see adam's parents and sister, and he found a suit for the wedding and I found shoes (all budget at Saks off 5th at woodbury commons) and we ate lots of good NYC fave food. fun but too brief.

I also got 80 save-the-dates printed, cut and put-together myself with NO help from you-know-who, and sent out to well over 100 people! How quickly the list grows, but a lot was relatives who "won't come". I guess they'd really have to want to come to spend the money to be in Playa del Carmen in december, though. If it were a synagogue around the corner we'd have had a million and four! We're hoping for 50 - 70 which would be awesome.

Now I need to focus back on being a gym bunny as I've totally fallen off the wagon and have a 7-month deadline. We're only talking 10 lbs but I'd like to do it "for a lifetime" now and really develop reasonably good habits and stick with them. Why is that so hard? Part of it is that yummy fatty food sounds... yummy. And I get hard-core sweet AND salty cravings. And now that I have lots of work buddies and Mpls is NICE OUT, it's not as appealing to stay in and work out during lunch. I just have to keep focused on 50-70 friends taking bikini bride pictures. and the fact that I feel like a disgusting turd. ahhhh.

what else? so yes, it's finally NICE in minnesota. it makes it really hard to get on the bus when I just want to go sit on a beach and read or go thrift shopping like all of last summer. but I have a job, which pays good money, and that's nice. we've begun to casually look at open houses on sundays and are talking about buying a house. I guess that means we're looking to stay in MSP for at least five years, which is cool. we're still adjusting somewhat and I swear we're going to make it to the seward neighborhood one of these days, but I think we're ready to make a commitment somewhat. Think we'll end up buying in SoMpls. Were looking in Bryn Mawr for a while but there's not enough commerce and it's so cut off. Whatever, we'll see; we're not in any rush right now, especially with a changing real estate market. maybe at the end of the summer when all these sellers get desperate and realize they've got their places 10% over market value. we're seeing a lot of delusional sellers. AND we love zillow.com, where we check the "real" value of a place we like after walking through. We've seen some things priced spot-on, and other places as much as 25% over market value. I don't necessarily think we can get an "awesome deal" anymore in the market, but we don't want to overpay!

anyway, think it's time for a little coffee and pumpkin bread to start the day. love to my girls! Schmarks

and if you feel a little left behind

we're taking a break from the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson while adam talks to an old friend. That is One Funny Roast. please, do yourself a favor and put it in the netflix queue. watching courtney love roll around on the couch is like old times at Lynda's apartment in NYC watching a marathon of The Anna Nicole show—you don't know if it's RIGHT to laugh at the mentally challenged, but it can be fun, especially under the influence.
had a late lunch at Bryant Lake Bowl and then went to Tatter's at lake and lyndale. There's a half off sale all weekend on everything so I encourage all you MSP assholes to make your way down there if you need some cowboy boots or the like. I personally bought a fantastic kelly green jackie-o-esque dress with matching jacket for $13. Not bad, eh? We'll probably round out the day with a quiet night watching movies. Pulled some chili from the freezer, it's flank steak and bean chili that was awesome the first time around. Will have with some chardonnay and Annie's Mac and Cheese.
Tomorrow doing some crafting with Holynn and Abby. Trekking to a far-off fabric store and then showing those two how to use their new sewing machines at Abby and Josh's new house. then the guys will join in time for dinner. and then UGH the weekend will be over. Oh and the oscars are tomorrow, right? Hopefully we'll get a bit of that in, too.
finalizing wedding plans. we got our preferred date, Friday Dec 8, pending confirmation that the Justice of the Peace the hotel uses is available. We're doing it at the hotel we posted pictures from, the Riu Palace Mexico. I am so excited. Working on the save-the-date this weekend which we'll be almost ready to send once we get final confirmation and put the deposit. We've tried to keep the guest list smallish but it's already over 100. Would like to think that everyone will come but I hear that only 50% of invitees come to destination weddings. Assuming you know adam's or my full name, our wedding page can be found on theknot.com. dreading registering because we already have too much stuff for apartment dwelling and what we'd really like is the cash towards a down payment. there are options where you can register and then return it all (crate and barrel) but i feel a bit sneaky about that...
feeling like a fatass. the gym-bunny of late fall is nowhere to be found, i'm proably averaging three trips a week but I think this week may end up at two ONLY if I can get motivated tomorrow. sadness. am halfway between where the scale started and where it was pre-christmas. my skin has been clearer than usual lately, though, which helps to compensate. it's been all about proper exfoliation and moisturization, just like the facial lady at litespa said.
lots of good music in the house. adam bought about 15 new cds a couple of weeks ago but i'll let him talk about them all on his blog. i'm especially down with the martha wainwright cd. and i got hooked on a song on thursday on someone else's work itunes: bloc party's song Banquet from Silent Alarm. download that shit. f-yeah, it's like a 4-course meal in a piece of chewing gum ("you're turning violet, Violet!") listen to it really loudly in headphones twice and you will see the light, too. it's hard not to do the hipster chest-popping dance. and the guitar in the background... magical. I think a unicorn is playing it for fukk's sake.
on that note, enjoy the weekend. I'll try to keep in better touch. It's nice to know you guys still care. Love, Mess

have been somewhat busy. working on a fun freelance logo design project for a friend, and just the normal work stuff. also we will hopefully be sending in the documents reserving our wedding date in mexico tomorrow. WHEW. generally i have been very tired, not sure why. just made plans to visit NYC in mid/late march which will be so nice and long overdue. anyway, more this weekend but wanted to say hello for now.

vacation pictures

The Riu's lobby:


Looking out the back of the lobby towards the beach:


Downstairs you get a better view of the gazebo, set for a wedding with chairs out. For a fee they'll do some decorating, too:


This is looking backward to the main building. The rooms are on either side of us (can't see them):


The pool looked lovely:


But the beach was better:


Here we are:

here's JOHNNY

it's a good thing you guys harass me, and the comments are set-up to email, because otherwise I wouldn't think to blog anymore. Somehow blogging fell off my radar. Like this weekend, i've been into cleaning mode: tidying, putting away christmas decorations, and sorting my reciepts etc for tax time. but it's definitely time to sit down and say hello to the ladies...

so the vacation was nice. we stayed at two resorts: first the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar, and secondly the Riu Palace Mexico. both were riviera maya, just south of cancun 30 minutes to an hour. the first resort was OK but rather large. It was part of a complex of three resorts, and they were housed in many small buildings. It made for a huge, sprawling mass. Our room ended up being about a 10 minute walk from the beach... ugh. Also, the Iberostar was fairly close to cancun (30 minutes) so the dense foliage they'd kept on the property was half torn-down and not as appealing as it once must have been. And the food was mediocre to say the least. And the margaritas required an extra side shot of tequila to make them worth our while. So overall the Iberostar maybe got a 5 or 6 out of ten... it wasn't bad, but we're looking for something more special.

Halfway through the week we moved to the Riu, about 30 minutes farther south from Cancun. The Riu was wicked. It was also part of a resort conglomeration, but the hotels were much more separate there, which was nice. The property seemed managable. And the resort itself was beautiful. Adam immediately compared it to Versailles. It was one large U shape, which we preferred to the million individual buildings at the Iberostar. There was lovely landscaped fountains, a pool, and a huge, deep beach of soft white sand, merging with blue-green water. NICE.

The rooms were fantastic, each being a split-level mini-suite with a living room area. Also i was hugely impressed by the bar in the room: over the minifridge that contained mixers and water were four upside-down bottles with shot dispensers: bacardi, smirnoff, cuervo and a brandy. NOT BAD. so nice to mix a drink in the room in that pre-dinner afternoon time. and certainly better than having to order an extra shot with my margarita. call me a lush but that totally tickled my toes.

And the food. I thought the food was really quite good and I can certainly be called a food snob. HOWEVER we both got some stomach sickness while at the Riu. It may have been the bathrom water (non potable) or something we ate (shellfish) but that was a downer. If not for that i'd be absolutely sold. BUT the riu is still in the running. We started talking it out last night to decide if we're doing that or looking more. I'm over looking and think the riu was awesome overall, that people will be happy with the rooms, service, food and facilities, so i'm about ready to jump. Adam's more hesitant. We'll see. If we want to do something nov/dec we need to be booking now so... EEPS.

being back is fine. work is good, and I realized this week how much I love my work buddies. There are three guys in particular I love to have a drink with after work (and we did so THREE times this week). They all go way back to college so I feel lucky they're letting me into their circle. Also i'm working on fun projects so that's good. Hopefully the freelance thing will keep going, that's my only hesitation about my job: stability...

last night we hung out with a work friend of Adam's and his fiancee. Both very nice and we had a fun dinner at a wine bar followed by "good night and good luck" which was good but a bit slow/tiring after 9 on a saturday night. The male was a reality TV star and I heard some of those stories for the first time, which are totally fascinating...

tonight is the super bowl as you guys all know. we don't have any plans, but i bought a shitload of wine and sake yesterday at the Liquor Warehouse by whole foods, and bought stuff to make chili. I miss my butcher in brooklyn who I could have grind meat really coarsely. I think chili should have more substance than hamburger meat. Anyway, so I bought a couple of flank steaks i'll dice up and turn into frito-chili pie. There's enough for at least four so if anyone wants to call and come over, we'll be here.

BYE!!!

alas, the wrestling mask didn't arrive in time for the vacation. we will have to find other means of excitement. however i'm getting pretty excited now in my jeans and cowboy hat, waiting for the cab that's coming in 12 minutes. HECKYEAH.
Otis tried to kick sweet little Iggy's ass yesterday. TheHo had to pull them apart. Hopefully they'll be buddies by the time we get back, but maybe they will have to live a long quiet lonely week here. It's a lot to ask of Otis to share his house and his mama with two foreign cats for a week. Well, iggy's foreign (UK), nico's just a streetwalker from the Bronx which may be weirder...
Tired...excited... have a good week, peeps!

Did I mention what I bought today?

Had so much fun wearing shad's mexican wrestling mask at the craft-o-rama that I picked this up on ebay today. YOU ARE SO JEALOUS.

vacation bound

i just walked in from trying to acclimate Iggy and Nico with HoLynn's little Otis. It was kinda adorable and frustrating, watching them interact. Nico was a bitch, Otis was a monster growler, and Iggy just wanted to be friends and kept trying to sniff Otis or offering his ass to Otis as a peace offering. It was cute. I hope nobody gets torn apart and they end up having lots of fun. In any case it was SO WEIRD just now walking in and not having any kitties running to the door. I was about half an inch from bursting into tears... THE BABIES ARE GONE!!!

So WHY you may ask are my cats at the Ho's?! We leave early saturday morning for a week in Playa Del Carmen, checking out two resorts with the excuse of finding a home for our destination wedding. HECK-Mutha-Effing-YEAH. I am about to be excited, even though it doesn't feel real. It feels a little more real with the cats gone I guess. Also i'm mostly packed, and adam hasn't started... however there was an unanticipated late-night at the office and it's 11:00 and he's STILL THERE... WTF?! He missed out on watching otis freak over catnip and iggy's ass offering and nico being her crazy self. (He probably would have been stressing anyway while the kitties were howling and would have wanted to bring ours home.) Anyway, so we have a direct flight down and then Whoomp There We Are, on the beach. I have been packing vacation books (The Dirt: Motley Crüe, that new-ish book by the woman who wrote The Secret History about a million years ago, etc) and DVDs for evening entertainment as we have the new portable DVD player... though i'll mostly just want to watch Law & Order as you may already know... Good Times.

As I mentioned briefly last week, it's been busy times. Christmas was awesome, but coming back to work, everything exploded into overload. And I was on a shoot in NYC last week, which was fantastic and I think the shots turned out really rockin'. My boss won't see them until tomorrow so hopefully he agrees as it's my first AD gig since starting my job. It would be nice to be sent on shoot more often; i LOVE that part of my job. Also I love my coworkers. I love them to Bits and Pieces. especially a shout-out to Graham and Dave who hopefully will never find this blog. I want to adopt them both as honorary kitties. Or maybe set Graham up with a sweet friend 'cause he's the best but oh-so-sensitive. My manager even rocks too. The one night we overlapped in NYC we stayed out dining and drinking until 2am. The Man Can Still Party, even with 2 kids. My only regret about NYC was how short the trip was. There were so many friends I didn't even tell I was in town; I didn't have the time to see more than a couple. Massive guilt. Oh Well. If you're reading this and you're mad I apologize. :(

Now a few shout-outs since i'm a bad blogger and have been out of touch: Hello to my dear lauren, good luck with all your mulling until we talk again (SOON!) Hello to Leigh Ann and her little girl, I swear i'm taking you for a drink soon. And hi and thanks to Anna for hosting good craft fun at her house. And it was rockin' to see Julie at the craft binge, always a blast! And hi to Sarah and her fantastic sewing machine with 8 million stitches. And of course, big love to the HO for watching my preciouses. And last but not least, love to the sisters, Ging and Ari.

More, for real, after the vacay. Love to all, and good night!