Cheers

Stealing from today’s Daily Candy, “According to psychologists in the UK, levels of misery officially peak this week.” Well, it’s a good thing I’m going on vacation tomorrow and escaping the dreary Chicago weather. Off to London with my mom for a girls weekend. Stay tuned for pictures.

p.s. I learned last night that it will be virtually impossible for the Bears to score 26 points. It would require some weird combination of a touchdown and a safety…or something. Therefore, I change my Superbowl prediction: Bears 28, Colts 21.

The Year of Magical Thinking

I was amused to see an article in the New York Times today on a topic that’s been on my mind: magical thinking. The article, Do You Believe in Magic?, tells the story of a girl from Texas who wanted nothing more than to get into The University of Michigan. While having lunch with a friend one rainy day she noticed someone stroll by with a Michigan umbrella. Given the rarity of seeing anything Michigan in Texas, the girl took it as a sign. She knew right then and there that she’d get into the school.

With the Bears heading to the Superbowl, Chicago is experiencing a wave of magical thinking. Normally un-superstitious people are turning into superstitious fanatics. For example, my normally hygienic friends won’t wash their lucky Bears socks, shirts, boxers, etc. They’d rather stink then curse their team. My co-worker has made lasagna for her family every single time the Bears won a game this season. And she’s not stopping now. She’s planning a huge lasagna Superbowl meal for all her family and friends. My future brother-in-law has watched the past few Bears games at my apartment and every time he’s in the bathroom the Bears do well. Therefore, whenever Matt is feeling insecure about the Bears' level of play, he sends his brother to bathroom. The strange karma stories go on and on.

Since I’ve moved to Chicago the White Sox have been in the World Series and the Bears are headed to the Superbowl. It was my future b-i-l who actually pointed that out to me. (Too bad my luck doesn’t work the same for the Yanks and the Jets.) Just like the Michigan umbrella, I see the Bears' success as a sign of good things to come in 2007. Bears 26, Colts 21.

Wedding objects of desire Part I

Brian Atwood Jeweled D'Orsay Peep-Toes. Even though you won't be able to see my feet, these would make me feel sooo lovely. Let's pray to shoe gods that they majorly go on sale.

Too much information

For as often as I talk about wedding planning, lately I also find myself spending a whole lot of time talking about babies. Other people’s babies that is. A bunch of my friends are pregnant, or are in that family planning stage of life. So as Matt and I prepare to be newlyweds, we have a number of friends are who are new parents. Lately my inbox has been flooded with ofoto pictures of my friend’s babies, their friend’s babies and so on.

One of the members of my work lunch posse is pregnant. Thus, I often spend my lunch time hearing about the latest bugaboo styles and all the contraptions that new parents need. Today I learned that you can rent a breast pump if you really want to (don’t know why you’d want to). It costs $60 per month. I also learned of a technique called “pump and dump” which makes it ok for a breast feeding mom to have a glass of wine or four (all you need is a pump and a freezer). She talks about her baby shower; I talk about my wedding shower. She registers for blankets and bottles; I register for blankets and serving pieces…

The other night at book club a few girls got into a heated discussion about baby food. The host had considered making her own baby food for her newborn son. Apparently this activity is quite common among the super-moms. In the end she decided that it would require too much time and instead sticks to feeding her son organic everything. For now, I’m happy to focus on wedding food—steak, sushi, cake, etc. Things that don’t come in mush form.

Adding to the madness, a few days ago while in the recovery room after a minor procedure (and high on pain killers) my fiancé told the nurse he was having a baby. Where did that come from?! I’m going to guess it was because we spent part of our Saturday night visiting friends and playing with their new baby girl. Still, that’s weird.

I love babies. Don’t get me wrong. And I’m sure one day I’ll find pleasure in discussing baby formula and early child development classes. It’s just that my interest right now is in cute clothes for me, not cute clothes for an infant.

So how are the wedding plans?

The most frequently asked question I receive these days is “how are the wedding plans?” Short answer: They’re going. In terms of major planning there’s been a bit of lull (as evidenced by my infrequent entries).

In reality, there are a lot of little things going on that I can’t imagine most people would care to hear about. But I’m gonna tell ya anyway. For example, I began my search for a ketubah. Woohoo! Thanks to ketubah.com I can spend hours searching for an art-deco marriage contract from the comfort of my own couch. Modern luxury at its best. While I (sort of) watched the Fiesta bowl with Matt the other night, I also spent time surfing between ketubah.com, shopbop.com and cnn.com. Now that’s what I call a good football game.

I was at friend’s apartment the other night and commented on the lovely ketubah hanging in her bedroom. How silly of me to ask where she got it. Ketubah.com, of course. It’s the place to be. Now we just need to agree on someone to sign the thing…

Switching gears to my Chicago shower which is set for April, my future mil (mother in law) told me that instead of putting party favors on each table, her friends who are throwing my shower want to make a donation to a charity. Best idea I’ve heard in weeks. Who really needs another pink pad of paper anyway? My first thought was to have the money donated to JDRF, but then again, enough about me already! I’ve decided that the donation should go to the Jack Paige scholarship foundation (that was my grandpa). The foundation was started by my cousin Lauren and helps send inner-city kids to college. Nice, right? My f-mil also told me her friends are having a “shower meeting” this week (4 months in advance) to discuss the details of my shower. How funny! I feel like I should provide the coffee and doughnuts…

Happy New Year

After a nice, long stretch of vacation I’m back at work, refreshed and ready for 2007. One of my resolutions was to be more focused at my job, but being that I’m already writing away on my blog, at work, there goes that. I’ve never been one to make real resolutions. Every year I just hope for a healthy, prosperous year and let life carry on as it should.

Matthew and I rang in the New Year with my loyal readers Dr. and Mrs. Pepper and a few other couples at a Chinese restaurant in Chicago. Even though I promised myself I would start the year off on a healthy note, the sesame chicken and Mongolian beef were hard to turn down after a few Asian pear martinis. Being mildly superstitious, I couldn’t hide my delight in my New Years Eve fortune: Others look upon you with great admiration. How nice and refrigerator-worthy.


jess, me and forgot her name...

This was the fifth NYE that Matthew and I spent together and unlike the very first one, this one did not require him to nurse me back to sobriety. It was a low key, enjoyable evening spent with good friends, a sign of good things to come. We spent New Years day in the best way we know how—brunch and an afternoon of sitting on the couch and watching movies.

When I think about 2007, I need to take a deep breath. It’s going to exciting, crazy, busy, fun. My showers, my wedding, my honeymoon, my friends’ weddings…It’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking about everything to come. I just want to be able to remember and cherish every minute of it.

Some sad news brought me back to reality when I found out on Jan. 1 that a family friend had past away. This woman was in her early fifties, a mother of two daughters. She was the sister of one my mother’s dearest friends. She died of cancer. Another life lost to such a cruel disease. Why is it that I have witnessed so many wonderful human beings die of cancer? This news made me feel so far away from my family and made me wish I could be in New York to comfort my mother’s friend.

At the same time I learned that another friend’s sister gave birth to the first baby born in the city of Chicago in 2007. A healthy boy named Jack. For every tear of sadness there’s a tear of joy I guess…