PANIC

Months ago, I was asked if I would do a toast at the rehearsal dinner for my Cheryl and Ron. As the "matron" of honor, I gladly accepted. Of course I would do a toast, I would be honored.

However, what with caring for a newborn baby and tending to all my "other" matron-of-honor duties (reminder - almost EVERY aspect of this wedding has involved hand-made crafts), I haven't really thought about the toast too much.

Until today. And I will be giving that toast in about 8 hours.

In the back of my mind, I have had a rough idea of what I wanted the toast to be about, but I also knew I didn't want to write anything out - I didn't want to get up there and recite from notes. I want to speak candidly, from the heart.

Anthony keeps reminding me to keep it short and sweet, because I will lose people's attention if I go on and on for too long. So this morning, when I went to my final pre-wedding tanning session, I decided to practice. I was going in the booth for a seven minute session, so I decided to use those seven tanning minutes to pretend I was giving my toast. Whatever I had to say, I should be done saying it before the booth shut off.

Um, yeah. I wasn't even halfway through it when the lights went out.

So now I am panicking. Not to mention that I keep drawing blanks - I start talking, and all of a sudden I am thinking "what was I going to say next?" and I am lost.

Oh dear.

Please let me pull it together in time for the rehearsal dinner tonight.

And, as an extra added bonus, the best man is in the hospital and there is a chance he will not be at the wedding. This is very unfortunate, and I have been asked to give the toast at the wedding on the chance that the best man is not there tomorrow. Which I also gladly accepted. But I will NOT give the same toast at both events, so I need to come up with something else for the wedding day "just in case."

THAT, I will probably write down and read from notes. A toast in front of 20 or so people at dinner tonight I can get through. But a toast in front of 113 people? That I will need some help with.

Wish me luck.

Actually, no. Wish my sister and her fiancee luck that they get through their big day. They need the good wishes more than I do.

Because, using my own words, their wedding IS NOT ABOUT ME! It is about them and that is all that matters.

THREE MORE DAYS...

Oh my God I am giddy with anticipation.

All of MY projects are done for the wedding - the favors are done, the gift card box is done, the restroom amenities baskets are done.

Today is my last day to "relax" (ha - that's a joke) before the wedding festivities begin. Although, all the upcoming wedding festivities are fun. It is FINALLY time to party!

Tomorrow, Cheryl and I are going to get massages with hot stone therapy. I am REALLY looking forward to that! Then, the bridal party (including our mom) is going out to lunch. After that, we are going to get manicures and pedicures. On my way home, I will probably stop in for one final tanning visit.

Saturday, we have the rehearsal at 3, and the rehearsal dinner immediately following at a nice Italian restaurant (my favorite food)! Amanda will be coming with us to the rehearsal and the dinner.

And then comes Sunday. I have to be at the hotel by 10:30, because we are all meeting for brunch in the hotel's restaurant. Then, the women are coming to the hotel at 11:30 to do our hair and makeup.

Then, apparently, we have a lot of time to kill! We can check into our respective rooms in the hotel at 3, and probably get dressed around 4.

The ceremony begins at 5:30, and the wedding reception can go as late as midnight.

After the reception, my parents will be having a party in the suite they rented at the hotel.

Phew. I am exhausted just thinking about it, but psyched as well. It has been a lot of work for everyone (mostly the bride and groom) to get to this point, but it is all pulling together so nicely and looks like it is going to be one hell of a day.

And, in a year that Massachusetts set a record for THE MOST RAINFALL in the month of May, Sunday is actually looking like it is going to be PERFECT in the weather department: 78 degrees and sunny all day.

I can't wait!

BABY BRIDE?

How can I be stressed out when I have this adorable mug to look at?



(We were taking pictures yesterday of Amanda with my wedding veil).

THIS TIME, IT WAS ME

So I mentioned in one of my last posts that I prayed in church on Sunday for BAD STUFF* to stop happening to my sister Cheryl, leading up to her wedding.

Apparently the God I prayed to believes in the displacement theory. Instead of BAD STUFF happening to my sister, it is going to happen to the rest of us. (Or so far, me).

I am making 3 things for the wedding that have to be delivered to the reception site on Thursday: 2 amenities baskets for the men's and ladies' restrooms, and a box to hold the gift cards that people bring for the bride and the groom.

Side note: being daughters of a highly artistic and creative woman, none of us can do anything the "simple" way. Cheryl's wedding is going to be gorgeous, and a large part of that is due to the details - details which were hand-made. Most by Cheryl, a lot by my mother, and some by Eileen and I. Almost every single aspect of this wedding is hand-made, which in addition to being awesome has ADDED to the stress-factor. Nothing can EVER be simple in my family!

So needless to say I could have bought two baskets for the amenities, and filled them, and viola! Done! But no, instead I bought hat-boxes, on which I have decoupaged black and white photos of Cheryl and Ron, lined with black satin fabric and trimmed with black velvet ribbons and purple flowers (the color of Cheryl's bouquet). They are NOT finished yet, but will be very, very cute when they are done.

And these are for the BATHROOMS. Given this, you can imagine the level of detail that has gone into everything else hand-made for the wedding: the invitations, the programs, the placecards, the table numbers, the favors, etc. I will try to post pictures when the day is behind us.

Anyways, long story short (too late), last night I wanted to work on the gift-card box, and I needed to glue felt on it. I had purchased both felt glue, and krazy glue. You can see where this is going, right?

The felt glue WOULD NOT STICK THE FELT DOWN. Which really pisses me off. So I turned to the krazy glue, thinking that it might do the trick.

I followed the instructions to the letter on how to open the tube, and yet for some reason when I punctured a hole in the top of the tube to access the glue, the tube exploded. ALL OVER MY HANDS!

I spent no less that three hours trying to get my fingers un-stuck from one another, and trying mercilessly to get the glue off of my skin, to no avail. I tried every remedy that the box suggested, none of which worked. I even put cream all over my hands and slept with gloves on last night. It didn't work.

So, 5 days before my sister's wedding, in which I am the matron of honor, my hands are destroyed. They look like they were submerged in an acid-bath. They have gross, scaly, whitish-grey splotches all over them. And they HURT like hell!

So at this time, though I will gladly take on the black cloud if it means it will avoid my sister, I would like to REVISE my prayer.

God, PLEASE stop BAD STUFF from happening to my sister OR to any of us in her immediate family - just until the wedding is over. That is ALL I ASK - FIVE MORE DAYS, NO MORE MISHAPS.

Please?

*By BAD STUFF I am referring to the little annoyances that have been persistently happening. I realize that we could actually have REAL tragedies going on, and so far we don't, but I don't even want to go there because all I keep thinking is 'what next?' by this point. Five more days....

STRESSED OUT!

Picked up my maid of honor dress this afternoon....it is tight.

Ugh.

The past couple of weeks I have been a major stress case, what with Amanda's ear infection and virus, and the wedding fast approaching.

When I get stressed, I eat.

So needless to say I have barely been following Weight Watchers lately. And the week Amanda was sick I didn't make it to the gym once.

NOW I am paying for it.

I have put on a solid 5 pounds, and the difference was evident tonight when I could barely zip up my dress. Yikes. AND I am going to be PMS'ing in a few days which means I will bloat, and thus get bigger.

I guess I will be doing nothing over the next few days except drinking water and running.

Stress....stress...stress....

The wedding will be behind us in 7 days, that stress will be over soon. Then I've got to get my house ready for a Christening happening 7 days later.

THEN my stress will go away.

Yikes. I hate stress. I love big events, like weddings, but the stress that accompanies them is sometimes incredibly powerful.

All I want to do is snack right now. And I can't.

I'll go play with the baby - keep my hands occupied so they can't EAT!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

So the meeting with Cheryl's new wedding coordinator went fabulously. Better than we could have hoped for. And I think Cheryl was finally able to relax, to exhale for a minute...

Then, Saturday night, she was munching on (of all things) a rice-cake and broke a tooth!

Enough is enough, I mean REALLY!

I am NOT a religious person, not by any stretch, but Amanda and I went to church yesterday and I actually prayed to God to PLEASE not let any more stuff happen to Cheryl. To PLEASE let this week pass uneventfully and please let the wedding get here so that she can enjoy herself. I don't know how much more drama she (or any of the rest of us, for that matter) can take.

I said it before - there is ALWAYS last minute crap leading up to a wedding. But I think by now she's had her fair share, and I really hope it stops, NOW!