Officially Technological

Monday, May 29, 2006

Take My Word For It

  1. Don't mow the lawn in 95 degree weather with 85% humidity.
  2. One of the most fun things about weddings is getting to see what everyone picked from your registry (seriously. Way fun).
  3. Superman ice-cream makes little boys blue from head to toe.
  4. Houses are super cool when they're done but not so much fun when you're ripping painted-over plaid wallpaper off the walls of the bathroom on the hottest day of the year (w/o A/C).
  5. When a guy buys you a pair of sunglasses even though he has declared them "hideous" he's either up to something or is in love with you (or possibly both).
  6. When you recieve a present from your future in-laws of one gallon (yes - you read that correctly - one gallon) of gummy bears, you know you have made it into the fam.
  7. Warm summer nights are pretty much the best thing imaginable.
  8. TCBY + Chips + Salsa + Microwave Popcorn + Squirt does not equal dinner.
  9. The movie Ice Age is funnier the second time (especially if the second time you're watching it with Mick and Lisa and their kids).
posted by Julie at 11:13 PM 1 comments

Thursday, May 25, 2006

I Have Nothing New Really

I don't really have anything new to say, but that has never deterred me from writing before so, I why should it now, right? So, here are the details of my not unusual days since I have last posted.
So, there are the mindless details of life. :) Maybe next time I'll have something more profoud to say.
posted by Julie at 8:56 PM 5 comments

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I Suppose I'm Stressed

I'm not really sure what my deal is. I've been have stress dreams. You know the kind, the kind that are urgent and/or frightening and you wake up feeling like you could use a good nap. Not that anxiety dreams are the end of the world, because they're not. It's just that I've been noticing the tell-tale signs of being stressed out without really being aware that I was stressing myself out. Here's some of the signs (at least for me).
Seriously, the other day, Brian went to the bathroom, and I kinda sat in the corner of the couch and was dreaming (an anxiety dream - mind you) by the time he came back into the room. I think I'm tired, but I don't know why. I mean, I know I have a lot going on in my life, but let's face it - who doesn't have a lot going on? Maybe I have a bug, or am fighting alergies. Tis the season for alergies - and they can totally screw me up.

I'm feeling a little wimpy right now because there's a couple that goes to our church whose baby just died of SIDS. These people are social workers, and work with troubled teenagers, so it's not like they have an easy 9 to 5 to go to and sleep in their cubes until they get over it. Anyway, they have so much going on in their lives right now. They still have two little boys, and they have an extremely stressful job, and they have to mourn the loss of their baby. And what do I have really? Comparitively speaking? I have happy stress. I have stress where you get something happy at the end. Yeah, wedding woes.... blah, blah, blah. But I'm getting married. And I get to go to Maine for a week and eat lobster. Yeah, I'm techinically living in three different spots (in two states) right now.... blah, blah, blah. But I get to live in one spot with someone I like for the next 75 years. Yeah, I just started a new job.... blah, blah, blah. But it's the first job I've actually enjoyed and could see myself doing for a while. So, I'm whining about being stressed out and overwhelmed, and it's true, I am overwhelmed and stressed out, but while I'm overwhelmed and stressed out with planning the details of a life I can't wait to live, some people are overwhelmed and stressed out planning the details of a life they would have never chosen.

I know what that feels like, I've been there. I've been in the spot where you plan around something that you dread but can't avoid, and it's not any fun (though nothing even half as sad as lossing a child). So, I guess what I'm saying, in my self-directed lecture (better known as a rant) is that I should probably just get over it. I should probably just plan an extra hour to sleep, and keep moving and just enjoy it, because even though it sucks (I'm so tired of worrying about how the lemonade is going to get mixed at the reception I could puke) right now, I know that it is all just stuff that's going to get done so that I can enjoy being married. So, that's that, and with that being said, if I'm going to be getting an extra hour of sleep tonight, I really need to get started on that.
posted by Julie at 10:42 PM 2 comments

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Things That Feel Good

  1. Getting our invitations out in the mail yesterday and it already being on the table when I got home (to Jeff and Margo's) tonight.
  2. Seeing the sun for more than 2 hours at a time (it has been raining here for literally the last 7 days).
  3. Getting a back scratch.
  4. Sleeping so hard you don't move at all and you wake up with a big crease down the side of your face.
  5. Getting an unexpected gift in the mail (of course I couldn't open it because it's addressed to Brian, but it's from Bed Bath and Beyond, it's definiately for both of us..... right?).
  6. Eating apple sauce with cheese tortillini for dinner.
  7. Getting tanner (as opposed to pinker).
  8. Eating chocolate cake (no, I haven't had any chocolate cake recently, but I can day-dream can't I?).
posted by Julie at 9:55 PM 5 comments

Sunday, May 14, 2006

I Think I'm Feeling Healthy

Have you ever remembered something that you did or a way that you behaved when you were younger (even if it's only 5 minutes younger), and you still blush just thinking about it? I know I have. My whole life, I've been in a constant state of blushing over times that I've embarrassed myself. Like the time that my wrap skirt fell off in kindergarten (which - incidentally - is to date my most embarrassing moment). Let me tell you about it. I was in the morning kindergarten class (back in the days before all-day kindergarten). And I hated (I mean HATED) to wear skirts. I had an aversion to skirts (which, frankly, hasn't waned much over the years). But I especially hated wrap skirts. Mostly because when you're a little kid it's tricky enough figuring out which shoe goes on which foot, much less trying to figure out the intricacies of a wrap skirt after going to the bathroom at school. Well, one fateful morning, my mom won the epic battle of Julie vs. The Wrap Skirt, and off to school I went with the dreaded article. Once I got to school, somewhere between shrugging off my coat, and standing on the "story-book" rug in front of my very first serious crush, Eric P. (not to be confused with Eric Y. whom I didn't like much at all), the worst possible thing happened. The tie that held up my skirt had come untied, and there I stood in my little girl flowered underwear with Eric P. (and probably Eric Y. and all my other classmates) looking right at me. I was devastated, and I learned an important lesson that day. Never, never, never lose the battle of Julie vs. The Wrap Skirt again. I don't think I wore another wrap skirt until I was in high school.

Anyway, that's not the point of this story really. It's just an example of how things that happen when you're young (or youngER) can still cause embarrassment. You'd think after Eric P. never mentioned it or teased me, or after I'm all grown up and owning several non-offending wrap skirts that I wouldn't be embarrassed by such an innocent mistake. But nope, every time I thought of it - up until now - I would blush and shake my head and kinda shudder a little.

This is mostly how I feel about my childhood. I was kinda awkward. A little gangly. You know the type.... the kind that is old enough to wear make-up but not old enough to know how to use it. The type that's old enough to want to go out and do the things that her older brothers and sisters did, but not old enough to get permission. That was me. My whole life. And when I looked back at myself, I was almost perpetually embarrassed with how dorky I acted, how sensitive I was, etc. etc. etc.

But this weekend, I kinda had an epiphany. There's a little girl at church who is about the age I was when I was my most geekiest, and my most gangliest. and my most annoyingest (if that's a word), and she reminds me so much of me when I was her age. Not the geekiness or the annoyingness, or ganglyness, but just her. Just her basic personality reminds me so much of how I was. Kinda in limbo. Kinda younger than she wants to be, but older than her body is. And you know what? For the first time, I've been able to look back at myself and not be embarrassed. Why? Because she's so cute. She's sweet. and warm. and chatty. and girly. and prissy. and tender. and sensitive. and shy. and affectionate. She's just so doggone cute. And yeah, she's still a pre-teen, and we all know those are awkward years. But in the event that she will grow up and be tempted to be embarrassed by herself, I want to tell her not to waste her time, because she's good. Yeah, she's great. And no amount of embarrassing moments make her any less. And it was while I was chatting with her mom about her and how much she reminds me of me, I thought, "I'm not embarrassed at all anymore. I'm just me. That was me. This is me. And me is me." So, in case you didn't catch it from my title, I think I've come to a healthier place. And that's.... very good. :)
posted by Julie at 11:16 PM 2 comments

Thursday, May 11, 2006

I Got A Paper Cut On My Tongue....

... from licking the envelopes for our invitations. For some reason the Seinfield episode where George's fiance is posioned from licking envelopes for their wedding invitations is flashing through my mind....
posted by Julie at 11:55 PM 2 comments

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Words of Wedding Wisdom

  1. Get a planner. If you can't afford a planner, get your mom to do everything.
  2. Elope.
  3. Pretend like you're helpless and can't make any decisions. With any luck they'll stop asking for your opinions.
  4. Elope.
  5. When you're mailing out invitations, make sure to get them weighed first (that was a tip I picked up from Michelle).
  6. Elope.
  7. Whatever you engagement length there will be trauma at the end when you realize you've only got eight weeks left.
  8. Elope.
  9. Don't freak out when your best man informs you that the only free weekend between now and your wedding is now being taken by your fiance's bachelor party (mind you, it's the week before the actual event).
  10. Elope. For the love of sanity, trust me on this one. Elope.
posted by Julie at 10:47 AM 5 comments