The Wedding of the Century.

First lets get a few things out of the way.

My brothers wedding was awesome. There was Opera (including the theme to The Godfather), fancy clothes galore, and more food than even I could eat (there was a potato bar, something I had never heard of but now I wonder how we lived this long without one.)

Oh yeah and the Bride and Groom had a wonderful night.

Romance all around.

Looking good!

My officiating was officially awesome. (if everyone is to be believed that is.)
FYI my internet license in good in Connecticut for the next 3 years if you are looking to get hitched!

Luckily this is a still so you can't see me wobbling.

I didn't stutter, or forget anything and although my balance was suspect (can you say heels in grass?) I didn't topple over.

I look angry here but I'm pretty sure it's just because I didn't want to cry.

Let's not forget there was also Uncle Sal. No I don't mean my brother. I mean MY Uncle Sal. (sorry. I know it's confusing. In total there are 5 Sals in my immediate family. I'll draw you a chart sometime.) Uncle Sal and Aunt Doreen (married 37 years!!!) flew in. We had breakfast and dinner and talked and talked and talked. Actually it was more like tawking instead of talking but it's hard to express that in text. Needless to say there were a lot of expletives.


Charlie tried to convince Uncle Sal to tell him the most insane thing the Big RECCO had ever done but all he would say was "some things you take to your grave." This was of course after some very interesting stories that I sadly can't repeat here as I'm not exactly sure if that would qualify me as an accessory after the fact.

 I need to consult my lawyer.

The Big RECCO's Favorite brother. (He had 4 so that's saying something.)

The kids were great, seriously, everyone said so.



Now lets talk about THE BRIDE for a second. Pam, my new sister in law.

Natalie giving Aunt Pam tips on the 7/10 split.

There was a moment when I knew she was perfect for my brother.

Sal had been running around trying to make sure everything was perfect when he returned to their suite once more. Pam was sitting in a chair putting on her makeup as calm as can be when he came in. He asked her in a very sarcastic tone if she was planning on putting her dress on any time soon and then he left again.

After the door closed Pam turned to those of us in the room with her.

"Do you think his head will explode if when he comes back I'm still not wearing it?"

Her lovely face twisted in a slightly evil grin and I knew she would keep my brother on his toes even while she was making him happy.

(she did put the dress on after deciding that maybe Sal was a little too close to losing it.)

Basically it was awesome. (I'm tempted to use a thesaurus for a word that is like awesome but isn't awesome but then it occurs to me that there is nothing quite like awesome so get used to it.)

Here are a list of random highlights in no particular order:

1  Sitting in our hotel room watching the Little League World Series the children and I were picking teams. Panama vs Japan. Everyone chose Panama except for Natalie.

Colin- "If your not Team Pamela then you have to go."  He's a smart kid.

2  Natalie learned to dive.

pretty good form right?

3  We got to pet sharks! at the Norwalk Aquarium.

Everyone left with all of their digits in tact. Great whites these were not.

4 Triple S got into an argument about the name of the Captain in Jaws. He walked away since they refused to see reason. He was wearing a shirt at the time with Quints name on it and still they refused to admit defeat.

I'll never put on a life jacket again!!

 

 

5 Uncle Charlie leaped from the car to chase a deer through the neighbors yard to the endless delight of the kids. (they spent the next three days re enacting the scene. Complete with impersonations and actions. They are very method)

And last but not least.

My children danced together. I was dancing with Triple S when I turned and saw them being adorable and sweet to each other dancing slowly. Colin even tried to dip Natalie after watching Uncle Sal do it to Pam.

Sometimes I love them so much.

We lead a wonderful life but moments of perfection are still rare. This was one of them.

I was going to end with my moment of Zen (to quote Mr Stewart) but that isn't exactly my speed so instead I'll leave you with some of the highlights from Sal's friends speech.

In no particular order:

Midget wrestling

Fur coats

fantasy football and how Sal has never made a bad trade

Midget strippers

tricky bar stools

late nights

possible run ins with the law

love and marriage

Midgets in costumes

(you might be detecting a theme)

That seems like a more appropriate ending to a blog post from a crazy person.

Proof I'm Not Normal. (In Case You Had Any Doubts)

Many of you faithful readers (Pause while I check my view count. YEAH double digits!) might remember I got a JOB! At a preschool!

We can discuss all the ways that is crazy another day. Right now I want to talk about my meeting.

Yes Preschool teachers have meetings. There are a lot less charts and talk of streamlining and a lot more talk about the taste of paste and who has any wipes to spare.

So I was sitting in my meeting talking about how to plan the weekly activities to make sure my little ones get all the education they need when I mentioned our philosophy was going to be based on Omerta.

 Now if you already know what this is you are my kind of people but sadly, my fellow preschool teachers did not. (I still love them.)

This is mandatory reading in some neighborhoods.

I found this lack of knowledge disturbing. I thought everyone knew the code.

Wikipedia, in part describes Omertà as an extreme form of loyalty and solidarity in the face of authority.

Basically Snitches get Stitches.

Luckily they are now aware of this word and it's meaning and I am reminded that I am not normal.


As a side note I have a long post about my brother's wedding in the works. Hopefully I will post it soon. This vocab lesson will come in handy when I do so keep it close by. 

Fancy Shoes

Right Now I am walking around the house wearing brown shorts and a  Amity Island T Shirt.

Perfect for Shark Week!

Normally my shoe choice would be a nice comfy pair of flip flops but today I wanted to feel special. 

So I'm wearing these.

That's reasonable right?

Okay Okay. I'm wearing them because I got them for my brother's wedding. (fancy, remember?)  I just need to be sure that ten minutes into the wedding my feet aren't going to start screaming or worse, bleeding. 

See, completely logical.

Hair Cut

Sorry but that is about as clever as the title is going to get.

So in a week my brother is getting married. I have a dress and some fancy shoes all picked out.

The kids are all set too. Fancy clothes for everyone!

I'm not exactly a high maintenance kind of girl so I've been trying to think what I could do with my hair. I watched a few YouTube videos about curling hair and a few that would help me get 'veronica lake' waves.

Basically I have no idea what I am doing.

I decided to try pin curls. So the other night after my shower I pinned the whole thing up. It only took about 15 minutes and I was pretty impressed that I managed it.

The results were not exactly what I had in mind.

 

Oh wait sorry. That not the right picture.

 There we go. All I'm missing is the bow.

So yeah. Basically I looked like a bad SNL character. I'm not funny either.

While this is entertaining it isn't exactly the 'look' I was aiming for so I called the salon and am getting my hair cut today. (Triple S, please count this as fair warning that you should comment on my hair when you get off the boat.)

I'm hoping for something amazing but it will probably just be a bob.

Maybe I'll just shave half of it and dye the rest pink? (Probably not though since I'm not 22)

Update:

I love my new haircut. I feel so much lighter. Plus I got talk about NJ at the salon. One of the hairdressers had just moved down here. We bonded over volume control issues and hand talking.

Weekly Round Up

So it's Sunday and I thought I do a weekly round up.

Since I'm not super organized this will contain more than a weeks worth of stuff.
(Like you're surprised by this.)

Lets start with my lovely burn. Yes a burn from the shell casing of a .22.  

At this point Triple S is sighing and hanging his head. He's pretty used to my minor injuries. You might remember me saying something about being invincible but that never included minor injuries. Right now I have three burns and 4 bruise and I am only sure about where two of them came from.

That freaking thing is hot!

This is a week old. I'm guessing a scar is in my future.

 

This loveliness happened during a timed exercise at the range. Had it been longer than 10 seconds I might have put down the gun and pealed it from my skin but...

Next we got to drive to Greensboro to put Triple S on a plane to head back to the boat. A Corpus Cristi crew change. He was thrilled.  Will they never be able to get eggs onboard again?

Next I got to take two children shopping from My brothers upcoming wedding. A dress For Natalie was accomplished in 10 minutes. Honestly I have never enjoyed such an easy shopping excursion.

It's pretty and blue and she will look sweet in it.

Now for a suit. Colin wanted a tux but I thought I suit would be a better choice. 4 stores later and more than $100 and he has everything he needs to look extremely handsome.

 It was hell.

I thought Hell would have more flames? Maybe a spit or two?

Not litterally hell. And not even Hell on Earth. But it was bad.

The poor kid had to try on more pants than I cared to count. He was good for a while but it wore him down.

Colin's suit is bigger than this. Like by almost 50%.

I've been told you can rent a suit. Seriously. Why did I not know about this?

Next was the best part of the week.

We've had thunderstorms almost every night this week. Nothing horrible. Just some pretty lights in the sky and some loud booms.

Last night we got more rain but as a break it was fireworks free so we took advantage of it. The kids and I running in the driveway until we were soaked to the bone.

There was much giggling.

 Then they took a rest.

Happy Children.

All the running and the laughing made it easier to black out the shopping.

I feel the memory slipping away.

Hopefully the nightmares have gone too?

Ignorance Is No Excuse

First post from my touch pad. (Not an iPad, I'm not that fancy)

 

For Christmas triple S got me an HP Touch pad. I had asked for an e reader but he decided this would be better. (If I were the sort of wife who told my husband he was right, I would say that now but...)

Sadly since HP decided they couldn't compete with apple they quickly got out of the tablet market. This led to software companies not bothering with web os (HP's answer to iTunes or android) versions of all their cool stuff.

No angry birds man. It is a catastrophe.

 

Triple S promised he would unlock my touch and get Android to run on it.

Spoilers: this post is sort of proof that he succeed but don't let that ruin the story.

So after 3 days of struggling and mumbling and some seriously scary curses he did it.
Please note the title. I'm pretty sure I bought this thing and I can do whatever the hell I want with it. I mean it's not like I downloaded illegal music right? Seriously I'm asking.

If this is all really shady keep it on the down low. No narcing on me to the internet police.

I know people, really scary people. I will send them after you.

Update:
I've had to fix this twice. I guess trying to blog from a touch isn't as easy as I thought.

Self Promotion.

I've resorted to Internet meme.






If you want to make your own there is of course a website for that.

It even has Chuck Norris memes. AWESOME 

I realize some of you are busy and I can let that slide, but not all of you.

Some of you have plenty of free time to comment and forward and then comment again. Seriously.

I don't mean to sound desperate but... If the shoe fits.