Welcome back, Reality

Today is the last day of my only week (well, really 10 days) off all summer. And I spent most of it either a.) running around Cary doing errands I didn't have time to do while I was working full-time or b.) in New Bern trying to juggle seeing both of my parents and Brian an equal amount of time. In other words, I don't think it should count as far as time off goes.

Now I'm back to reality, as school starts back tomorrow, and I am really dreading it. Not only do I not have a job yet (the school of social work is posting jobs on Wednesday, but as I'm sure most of my classmates are just as desperate as I am, I'm trying not to get my hopes up), but my classes this semester don't exactly tickle my fancy.

I'm taking:

• Marketing and Fundraising
• Nonprofit Law
• Community Theory & Practice

Wahoo.

I'm also not looking forward to going back to the generally one-sided liberal climate of the school, and social work in general. I don't consider myself to be an incredibly conservative person, or a Republican at all, but compared to most opinions over there, I might as well be Ronald Reagan. Or Ann Coulter, my new hero (she's conservative AND sarcastic.) It's not that I don't like the people there--they are all very nice--but I am tired of being the only conservative voice (and the one constantly going, WAIT, what about people with disabilities?? People are starting to get annoyed with me, I think, but what ABOUT people with disabilities??). In conclusion, it could be a trying (and exhausting) semester.

In wedding news, we got a photographer. Next up, finding a band for the reception.

Wedding movies and expo

This weekend was the Southern Bridal Expo (which was madness...more on that in a bit), so Lara and I decided to have a wedding movie marathon to psych ourselves up for it.

Here is the list of what we watched:

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Father of the Bride
• The Wedding Singer
• The Wedding Date
• Bride Wars
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Runaway Bride
• The Wedding Planner

Here is what I have determined about weddings based on these movies:

• If you are not engaged, you will be soon. If you are, you're probably engaged to the wrong person. But don't worry--you'll find the right person, no one will be upset, and you'll get married anyway.
• Canceling weddings at the VERY last minute is not hard. Also, no one bothers about all the money you just wasted.
• Weddings=awkward conversation and family members.
• No one bothers to make arrangements to live together after the wedding if they're not already. In fact, a good number of brides are living with their parents.
  
• Many wedding dresses are ugly, especially if they are from the 80s or early 90s.
  
• Grooms don't get much, if any, of a say.

What I learned from the bridal expo is this:

• Most people are WAY more serious about wedding planning than I am; they all had custom labels with their wedding dates printed up.
• Apparently you are supposed to lose weight to "look your best". It seems like not such a smart idea to lose weight after you buy your dress, but gyms think it is.
• Some bakeries can't make cake better than I can in my tiny apartment kitchen, and don't deserve to have me pay them for something I could do myself.
• Champagne and lemonade is good. Pink rose champagne is not.

In other words, it was 3 hours of having people throw themselves at me to get me to agree to use them. In most cases, I was not inclined (for example, registering at Macy's...who can afford to buy anything there??), wearing a sticker that said "June" on it like it was my name, and registering for a LOT of free stuff, none of which I will probably win. I was disturbed, really, by the gyms that were there advertising "bridal boot camps". Why would you want to look not like yourself on your wedding day? Thin does not equal "looking your best". Urgh.

I am trying to take it one step at a time as far as planning goes...currently I am looking for a photographer. Hopefully that will be soon.

Moved at last

Well, I'm in my new apartment at last, and mostly unpacked except for some odds and ends which are scattered about still. It does have its advantages over my old one, windows and a sink sprayer being the primary ones, plus a larger bedroom (not to mention the fact that it's $100 cheaper than my old one). I haven't figured out my way around Cary yet, which could be interesting/frustrating.

The week ahead, though, could be a grueling one--commuting to Chapel Hill every day for work, not to mention dealing with all the stuff the last week of camp involves (like having to clean out our room) and staff and kid burnout alike. Last week nearly every kid had a meltdown, even the ones that normally never do, and all the staff are starting to get on each other's nerves and be short with the kids, myself included.

If I get through this week, I get a week off before school starts, which is much needed; I'm already dreading school and having to do homework on top of working all the time. I still haven't found a part-time job for during the year, but I have a few ideas, so hopefully something will work out. If not, at least I'm living somewhere cheaper...

What a Week

I think this was one of the most stressful weeks I can remember.

A few highlights:

• One of my kid's basketballs got stolen out of the room we're using this summer
• Another one of my kids broke his foot coming off the bus and is now in a walking cast with a walker for 6-8 weeks.
• The evening cleaning people threw all our stuff out in the hallway Thursday night, leaving me to deal with it Friday morning.
• It started pouring rain halfway through our cookout on Friday.
• Whole Foods, where I've been working with my client, decided to "cease participation" in the summer program. Hence, I now loathe them, b/c they've treated us badly from the start and now they've "fired" us. Seriously, don't shop there. They are not nice to people with disabilities AND they're ridiculously overpriced.
• I move on Saturday, and have been scrambling to pack--and now I'm living in a 2/3 packed , depressing, echoing apartment for a week. Blah.

On the plus side, I DID find a place for the wedding reception, which at least takes away some of the stress. And thank goodness camp ends in 2 weeks--I may not make it at this rate.

Wedding Madness (and other assorted kinds)

So, now that Brian and I have moved the wedding to Raleigh, I'm scrambling to find a reception place before they all get booked. And I'm starting to realize what a truly huge job planning a wedding is.

This morning, we met with the wedding planner at the Sheraton--and it left me nervous (I basically shredded part of the folder she gave me, twisting it around while she talked), and when she said the price, I nearly burst into tears. I think at this point we've mostly decided on just having it at the Doggett Center, because it's someplace we're comfortable and it doesn't cost a ton to rent (at least, I'm assuming). But I still have to: find a caterer, a wedding cake baker, a dress, dresses/tuxes for the rest of the bridal party, flowers (for the church and the reception), figure out decorations (hopefully my stepmom will be helping me with this, but I still have to decide on a color scheme and generally what I want), invitations.....BLARGH!!! I've been pestering my family to put together a guest list for 2 months now and still haven't accomplished it, so God knows how I will get all this done.

Plus I'm moving in 2 weeks and haven't started packing, I'm starting my new internship at the end of August (not to mention 3 new classes), I have to decide whether I'm continuing with sign language on top of all this, and am worrying about being able to get a part time job.

In other words, I'm losing my mind. Help.

Movie Reviews: Take 2

I've now seen 3 more movies (bringing my summer total up to 6...and I'm sure it will shortly be 7, as I'm dying to see the new Harry Potter movie). As before, I'll review them in the order that I liked them, which this time happens also to be the order I saw them in.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
I actually thought this one was better than the first--it wasn't so much Ben Stiller-style awkward as just clever and funny. I especially liked it when the statues/paintings came to life--seeing giant sculpted balloon animals gallop about was just funny to me. I also really liked Amy Adams as Amelia Earheart; I thought she was more of a match for Larry than Carla Gugino's museum docent in the first one. Obviously, however, she goes back to being a wax figure at the end, but it was a fun, happy movie while it lasted.

Up
I went into this assuming it would be typical Pixar fare--happy, with good animation. WRONG.It was MUCH more serious this time, with heavy adult themes like infertility (which of course got me bawling), divorce (ditto), and death (I think you can probably detect a theme here). There were funny parts, of course, and the animation was great, but as I don't really like to mix tears and cartoons, it wasn't my favorite Pixar by far. Plus, the ending was only moderately happy. What gives?

Public Enemies
I went into this hoping it would be somewhat like The Untouchables. I have to say, they remain untouched. The plot was confusing and all over the place, the filming was odd (lots of face close-ups and quick swivels to other parts of the screen), I didn't get to see enough of the costumes and sets (the whole reason I go to see period films in the first place), and the characters were all very underdeveloped except for the three major ones, which really limited the storytelling capacity of the movie. In conclusion, I thought it was disappointing, but I was glad to see the return of LeeLee Sobieski at the end--even if it was as a clueless prostitute.


In non-movie news, I just realized I have a week off between work and school--hooray! I didn't think I did, so I'm very happy about this. I'm looking forward to some sleep...

Summer camp

Well, we're nearly 1/3 through with the summer camp I'm supervising...and while it's going fairly well, it's exhausting. Which is the reason I haven't posted as often as I should have...

Since I can't discuss specifics (due to HIPPA, mostly), i'll just say that supervising is WAY harder than I anticipated. I'm almost looking forward to going back to being an intern. Almost. But I have enjoyed hanging out with all the kids, reading to them (right now we're finishing up A Cricket in Times Square and are about to start Holes), and doing fun stuff like going to the pool every week and outings on Friday (next Friday is the IMAX).

A couple of major life changes (or at least potential ones) have also occurred in the past couple of weeks, namely:

• I decided to get my nonprofit certificate this year, so instead of taking a range of classes all of them will focus on some aspect of a nonprofit.
• Brian and I are (hopefully) moving the wedding both to Raleigh and to June 5. We're still working on figuring out a place for the reception.
  
• I'm contemplating going to law school. There happens to be one at Brian's top choice grad school, and the more I think about it, the more I think it would behoove me to know the law well, and also be able to defend people with disabilities on a higher level than I would be able to with just an MSW. Obviously I'm having to weigh this against being a student for 3 more years and all that entails...but I'm keeping my options open at this point.

Also, I can't believe i'm moving to Cary in 5 1/2 weeks! It's just insane. I'm sure I'll have plenty to talk about then...