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Charleston Recap

November 20th, 2007

We started with dinner at Coast. Very good.

Then we dropped Mom off at the hotel and headed to The Blind Tiger for drinks with the wedding peeps. It was funny, because I had been to this bar before, only a couple months after Todd and I started dating. His friend Kate was married at the same place that my friend Marc married at Saturday night, and the night after her wedding, everyone went out for drinks. We went to the Blind Tiger, where Kate passed out at a table in the courtyard. Ah, memories.

We had to wait a while for our friends, and Lisa is knocked up, so she was pretty much over it by the time they got there, but she perked up when she saw old friends and managed to stay out for a good while. I stayed longer, and had the pleasure of chatting with my old friend Pierce’s wife, Fowler, for a good long while. She is awesome, which I totally would have imagined for Pierce.
They next morning, Lisa and I headed out for coffee and shopping. We hit the Farmer’s Market, which really consisted of us oohing and aaahing over all the cute dogs people were walking around. The weather was perfect. We walked all down King Street looking at shops and I even saw real live fancy shoes at Bob Ellis. I think if I ever were rich, I would have a shoe problem. Plus, shoes and makeup are fun because they don’t make you feel fat. Lisa and I both bought matching heart necklaces and did the sister bonding thing. See how cute we are?

After that, we met up with Mom for lunch. It was a good thing we started looking for a lunch place when we did, because if we had waited any longer, Pregzilla might have eaten Meeting St. We went to Monza for pizza, because that’s what sounded good to the zilla. It was really good, and the service was great, and they played Wilco and Bloc Party, and once Lisa ate something, she was a human again. If any of you are paying attention now, you will realize that Lisa is wearing the sweater I wore on Saturday night. It is hers and really comfy. You will also realize that I am wearing the same shirt from the night before. I know! I packed like 500 things and did what I always do – Ended up wearing the comfortable tee. It’s my signature look.

After lunch, Mom and Lisa headed home to nap (?!!) and I found a bar with as many tvs as possible so as to assure that I saw at least the first half of the Georgia/Kentucky game. I sat with some lovely Ohio State fans, and some not-so-lovely Gators and Vols. Most people were watching Ohio State/ Michigan. I had to leave at halftime to go get dressed for a 4PM wedding. Evidently, people from the Carolinas and Texas did not get the memo about NO WEDDINGS IN THE FALL IN THE SOUTH. It was explained to me later by the Texan groom that they just don’t do weddings on Sundays, because of the Cowboys. Whatevers. UGA won, and I was spared the heart-attack and heartbreak-inducing Tenn/Vandy game. Arrrrgggggh.

Found the lovely wedding location, Lowndes Grove, with time to spare. I always wonder what Yankees think of the south when they see a place like Lowndes Grove. Do they think that Southerners are immune to the beauty of such a place? Do they think regular folks live in places like this? Not so. I am in awe whenever I am in a place like this. The weather was beautiful and the ceremony was timed perfectly to coincide with a lovely sunset over the Ashley River. Wedding went off without a hitch, even with that tricky “speak now or forever hold your peace” part. (Oh, the thoughts that went through my head just then, little Marky! Exploding hotdogs! Underage preteens passed out on my parents parquet floor! The never ending retaliatory prank calls the bride will endure!

Okay, here are the rest of the pics, taken before the reception was over and we got to the too-drunk-to-operate-camera, much-less-my-own-two-mysteriously-skinned-up-legs portion of the evening. Twas not pretty, but was better than my horribly-hung-over Sunday. Note to self: When drinking copious amounts at open bar, also partake of dinner buffet.

Me and Marc’s college roomie, Mitchell, who lives in Midtown.

Lisa, Fowler, and my Mom.

Two not-so-sober old acquaintances. I hadn’t seen John in almost 20 years. I think the last time I saw him I was cleaning up puke at Aunt Dot’s house. He was probably 15. Got to meet his wife, Ashley, a sassy and cute Aussie.

The reasons we were there – My mom and the Groom’s mom, Judy, who were childhood friends in Chattanooga.


Dear Readers

November 16th, 2007

And I thought a trip with my kids was bad. I had forgotten the joy of being in a car with my sister and Mama for a day. Bitch-O-Rama pregzilla and my in-denial-about-her-loss-of-hearing Mother for 4 hours, telling me how to drive. Lisa said something “sicks me out,” and my mom said, “Six meows? What?”

Times four hours.

Did I mention my sister was pregnant? She got all over me because I divulged the pregnancy here on Dogwood Girl. Not because I had let the cat out of the bag. Because I hadn’t given it’s own individual post.

So, there will be a very heartfelt post about my excitement over my sister’s impending child in your near future. Very heartfelt. Not at all contrived or guilt-induced. Not at all.

I love the fetus, Jacquez. Yes, I said Jacquez. It’s a fucking Gator-fetus.

Off to Charleston

November 15th, 2007

Tomorrow morning, I leave for Charleston. My childhood friend Marc is getting married. I cannot wait to meet the victim, er. . . bride. Marc and his brother, Pierce, and my sister and I go way back; Our moms were best friends growing up in Chattanooga. We vacationed in Destin with them for years, visited them at their home and on their Grandfather’s ranch near Dallas, and when Pierce went to school in Chattanooga, I used to see him and his roommate when I was in town visiting my Grandma. We all exchanged emails recently, and Pierce’s roommate was saying how nice it would be to see me again. The last time he remembers seeing me, I “drove a convertible and had bought the Drivin’ and Cryin’ album that day.” We figured out that was about 1988. Yeah, nineteen years. Wow.

Marc is the last of us to get married. Pierce and I both have kids now, and Lisa is expecting. None of this adulthood crap matters much, because these are people who have known me long enough to remember me before I became the woman of grace and loveliness that I am today; They saw the gangly, pimpled girl with the sausage-rolled hair. They knew me when I had no boobs. They knew me when I liked Whitesnake.

It is going to be fun to have all four of us back together again this weekend, even though I won’t have them to myself. There will be merciless ribbing, and much, much laughter. And a whole lotta drinking. Look out, Charleston.

Exercise Your Mind, Feed People

November 14th, 2007

Okay, I am so addicted to this thing. And not because it is helping feed the hungry, but because I love vocabulary tests. Anyway, thought I would pass it along and do a good deed at the same time.

I average about 43, but have gotten up to 47. I just can’t break that 47 barrier! How did you do?

Thanks to Tori for the link.

Pictures of Temporary Annulment Day

November 13th, 2007

For my Auburn friends who want to relive the day as much as I do, my Georgia/Auburn set on Flickr.

Bitsy Bitsy Fighter

November 12th, 2007

Tiller thinks the words to “Itsy Bitsy Spider” are “Bitsy Bitsy Fighter.” Cute as all get-out. When we put her to bed, she likes to be held and sung to for a minute. When she was tiny, I started singing “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” to her. We still do that one, but she has started requesting other songs, and now we have three regular ones. I hold her in the dark of her room, and whisper, “You want a a song?” She says, “Bitsy,” which is what she calls “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” When I finish it, she says, “Sunshine.” (“You Are My Sunshine.”) Finally, we do “Twinkle.”

I love all three of the songs so very much now. They are the soundtrack to a little girl laying her head on my shoulder, her heart beating fast next to my own, totally at peace with her world, and secure in my love for her.

The Afterglow

November 11th, 2007


. . . Of victory is a beautiful thing. The fun part is that I don’t even have to be an asshole, or an obnoxious winner. I just sit and smile at my husband the Auburn fan, and he knows exactly what I’m thinking. I haven’t been able to get this smile off my face all morning.

What 1 A.M. Looks Like

November 10th, 2007

I had forgotten. This is what it looks like when Todd and I plan to go directly home after his Loud Music and Beers Book Club at the Flatiron, but then we decide to have one more beer at the Glenwood while waiting for our cab. We run into friends from college and old coworkers. Suicidal Tendencies on the jukebox. It gets a little messy. Good times had by all.

Of course, I am not feeling so awesome right now, and Todd is already War Eagling me, and I am choking down my first cup of coffee and we have to drive to Athens. There are big things on the line here, folks, both in the big football picture for the Dawgs, but also on the home front. We’re talking bragging rights for a year, which is a very long time when you are on the losing team. And there’s a little punishment in the works for the loser this year, but more on that after we see the outcome this evening.

Go Dawgs!!!

Institutionalized.

November 10th, 2007

I’m not crazy. Institutionalized. You’re the one that’s crazy. Institutionalized. You’re drivin me crazy. Institutionalized.

Typical Tiller

November 8th, 2007

Tiller is the kind of kid that yells out, “Mama, I’m stuck!”

I walk around the corner to the entryway and see that she has put her head through the balustrade. She is on the first step, and crying her eyes out, and saying over and over, “Mama, I’m stuck.”

My first instinct is panic. That is a lie. Panic is my second instinct. First instinct was to stare at her and then laugh. I yell up the stairs, “Todd? Can you come down here, please?” in the same faux-calm voice my father used one summer day in the 80s, when we were supposed to leave in a couple of hours for a week’s vacation at the lakehouse. I believe his exact words from the parquet hallway at the bottom of the stairs, up to my Mom, were: “Honey, can you come down here? I had a little accident with the lawn mower.”

He had, in fact, cut his toe off with the lawnmower.

We walked downstairs to find him standing in a pool of his own blood. He then yelled at me to go out in the yard and look for his toe. I never did find that thing.

Okay, so Tiller was not bleeding, but she was screaming, and crying, and trying to pull her head out of the balustrade, and getting a little panicky when it wouldn’t come out. I was on the floor of the entry, talking to her, and trying to feel around her head to see just how tight it was, and as Todd came down the stairs, he probably heard me mutter, in true Mother-of-the-Year fashion, “Baby, how the fuck did you manage to do this?”

I told Todd to go get dish liquid from the sink, thinking we could slick her head up with soap and push it back through. He ignored me, walked between Tiller and me, and then gently pushed her head right back through. Much crying ensued, but we think little to no brain damage.

Then we rocked her and held her and looked at each other over her head, shaking our heads and both thinking to ourselves, Typical Tiller. This will not be the last.