Tables...full of splendor

Today was a great day. Pictures of tables! Yeah! Our tablecloths will be orange (OK, more like pumpkin, but who really cares), lime green and hot pink. I totally dig the square dishes and the round silverware. Hot!




We have decided to make our own napkins rather than use the solid colors offered by the rental house. On our last visit to Joann Fabrics we found these awesome little squares that just need a simple border hem to be magically transformed into napkins. Love the colors and patterns.





Journal of a 3-day weekender

Dreaming in Color

Love, love, love this tie. It's bright and striped and gorgeous and would fit right in with our wedding colors. But, what color shirt would look good with it? I refuse to have B wear a white shirt. I just don't like white shirts. But, I do understand that a light solid background would really enhance the colors in the tie. The search is on for a tie and a shirt for my beloved. My dream shirt, however, is still a bright orange or maybe even a green. Wowza!

In other news: we are going white water rafting this weekend! Ahhhh, yeah!!!

Journal of good swimmer (hopefully)

A Life Worth Celebrating

EQCA Mourns Loss of LGBT Civil Rights Leader Del Martin
By Executive Director Geoff Kors

It is with great sadness that I share with you that today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community lost an iconic leader and a beloved friend.

Del Martin, 87, passed away in San Francisco today. Martin was one of the nation’s first and most visible lesbian rights activists who dedicated her life to combating homophobia, sexism, violence and racism. Martin’s many contributions to the LGBT movement will resonate for decades to come.

We are saddened to lose such a wonderful friend to our community and our love goes out to her partner, Phyllis Lyon, and her family during this most difficult time. We would not be at this incredible moment in history, where all couples have equal rights under California law, if it had not been for Del’s lifetime of courage and leadership.

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in California on June 16, 2008 after 55 years together. EQCA honored Del and Phyllis with the Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Marriage Equality Award in 2003, an award the organization gives every year in their honor.



To read more about the amazing life of Del Martin, click here.

It is so inspiring to read about someone, a woman, in 1950, using her life and her talents to bring about hope and change for people. How incredible it is that she got to marry her female partner before her death. The gay community will miss her.

Journal of an inspired purpose seeker

Diggin' the Details

Yesterday signaled 2 months until the wedding! AAAHHH! I am so excited to be legally married to B; a little nervous about the big day, but mostly excited. I am also so happy to announce that 2 of B's sisters will be coming!! I haven't mentioned it here on the wedding blog because I like to keep things light and cheery, but I have had a really hard time dealing with the fact that none of B's family was going to make it to the wedding. Some by choice, but most by circumstance. Now, I can smile and toss off the huge weight that has been sitting on my shoulders. Guilt, anger, sadness, bye bye. Take a hike. I welcome the hopefulness and happiness that Sherry and Darcy bring. Thank you!

We haven't focused much on the details of the day, but it's about time to get started. First off, we have hired our former dance teacher to choreograph our first dance. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. We want something with pizazz and oomph! and so we chose Queen Latifah's remake of "I Love Being Here With You" from her Trav'lin' Light album. It's hot and jazzy and swingy and perfect for us. Our favorite dance is the swing and who better to swing to than the Queen!

Decorations haven't come very far for us. No flowers or centerpieces or ceremony chuppah/arch. I think my mom may have some of these solar glowing pool lights but I am not sure. If so, AWESOME!


I know FOR SURE that she did not purchase these huge jellyfish:


I still hope to find a bunch of these beautiful paper lanterns to hang from the trees - in lots of different colors, of course. These are solar powered - Da Bomb!


This gorgeous photograph taken by our photographer conveys the feeling I'd like to elicit from the lighting.



I will hopefully have some pictures of the table linens and place settings soon. My mom was sent on a mission and she has only half completed it thus far. Let's go mamma!

Journal of a grateful daughter/sister/lover

Gorgeous

Happy Wedding Day Ellen and Portia. The two of you and the State of California make me proud.

Ta Da!

Details, Details, Details...do they really make the party?

B and I knew we didn't want little people, or animals or even flowers at the top of our cake. We thought our cake would just go topless at the wedding until I discovered this awesome etsy seller and her magnificent designs. Now our cake will not be topless! I wouldn't mind having the initial of our last name (yes, I will be taking B's last name) but that didn't jive with B and so she suggested an L and a B, separated by an ampersand. I dig it.






If I had a daughter and she was turning two - this would be on the top of her cake, for my pure enjoyment:



I love all of the above designs but of course the artist customs makes these, so we have to decide what we like. Aaah! I sometimes have a hard time creating my own ideas. I operate better when I have 5 to choose from, and 5 only. I don't operate well in creative infinity. I may just say, "bright colors and polka dots, go!" and see what she creates.

These are the 2 cake designs we love. Our cake may be a combination of the two of them. Can you picture those cute toppers? BTW, there will be no flowers on the cake.




On another happy note, the invitations are out! Yee haw! They turned out beautifully and I am so proud of the work that went into them. Thank you to everyone who helped along the way. Now we sit and wait and hope that some people will want to attend this gay ol' shindig.

And on an equally awesome note - my dress finally came in!! It's gorgeous and perfect and I would post pictures here, but B is not allowed to see me in it and she faithfully reads this little journal so that she can know what the hell is going on with all this wedding planning.

Journal of a girl counting down the days

Being in Love is Spectacular

And what a Fabulous Weekend it was

Wedding thoughts and actions were put on hold this weekend while B and I entertained the family. My parents visited from California and picked up my aunt along the way in Pennsylvania. We had a gay old time - plenty of alcohol, conversation, touristy things and fun!

On Saturday, we indulged B's fascination with the Roosevelts (Eleanor, to be exact) and traveled to Hyde Park to visit the lifelong home of FDR.


The house was pretty nice, but the grounds and the library were my favorite. Franklin and Eleanor are both buried in the rose garden on the grounds (Roosevelt = 'field of roses' in Dutch). Here we are chatting away with them just outside the library:




Roses from the garden:



B and I planned a little shindig on Sunday for our 2 families to meet. We went to the horse races at Saratoga Racetrack for a little betting and eating. It rained, and poured, and then rained a little more. Then it attempted to dry up and we may have seen the sun for about 1.3 seconds - but it didn't rain again and that made us happy. B and I even won $22 on a single race. Yee Haw!

In other news: my dress is scheduled to arrive TODAY! And I bought some shoes. They are a little bright and may not look very good, but they were on clearance for $7 and I couldn't let them get away. They are red and metallic!



Journal of a blogger who is ready for some California weather

Price - the best part, and I left it out

One of the joys of shopping at outlet stores is that the prices are slashed. One can buy an awesome pair of jeans for half the designer price - or, in our case, a designer suit for half the price. If we walked into Sarar on Madison Avenue, we'd probably pay $2,000 and up for a suit. But, we walked into Woodbury Commons where the prices are generally half that. On top of that, Sarar was running a sale. Buy 1 suit, get 2 free, or 50% off of one suit. We went with the latter b/c I don't know how B would get use out of 3 suits. So, we got 50% off of the outlet price, and then I had a coupon for another 10% off. Add it all up (or subtract it, like I like to do) and we walked away with a suit for under $450. And, yes, one that fit!

Journal of a thrifty girl

Our nice little place is BIG when it has to be cleaned

My parents are making their debut at our place this Friday night. They visited me many times while I was in law school, but this will be their first visit to OUR place. I am excited to have them and to show them the nice little place B and I call home.

But, everyone knows what has to happen when the parents come visiting - yep, cleaning. And I don't mean just dusting a little here and there and picking up the clothes spread around the house, I mean CLEANING and SCRUBBING and MOPPING. Fortunately, B decided to stay home from work today and complete the cleaning that was started last Sunday.

Oh, and cleaning also means decorating. Last night we (OK, B) hung up a few odds and ends on the walls - things like mirrors and pictures. Some of our walls were kind of bare. It's looking pretty good now. The parents will be impressed, that is, if they can cut through the humidity long enough to drag themselves around the house for a tour. I am doubtful; they are from California, you know, where everyday is beautiful and kind of weather free. Speaking of CA, here are some awesome pictures B took of Lake Tahoe:




Journal of an excited daughter

The suit that suits

Temporarily recovering from my cold on Saturday, B and I took a trip to the incredibly awesome Woodbury Common Outlets in grand old Central Valley, NY. We were looking for one thing, and one thing only (although I did get two things not on the list) a suit for B for our wedding, which, is only 81 days away!

We've gone through many ideas about how and where we would get her a suit. Our first idea was to rent a tux, just as most grooms do. Easy, right? Lots of colors and styles to choose from and the cost is pretty reasonable. We decided on the Men's Wearhouse because their many locations would allow us to get measured here in NY and pick up the tux in CA. But, it wasn't pretty when we went to the store and actually tried the jackets on B. She was drowning. She looked like she has the littlest miniest head ever, and it was not attractive. The nice gentleman helping up told us that that was the smallest size they had that would accomodate her hips. B has the opposite shape of a man and it showed in that jacket. We were discouraged. She really wanted to wear a men's tux, or at least a men's suit.

We decided to try purchasing a suit instead. We could then alter it so that it wouldn't be so large in the shoulders. If this didn't work, B might have to wear a women's suit (blah) and she for sure didn't want to do that.

We started our day at the Outlets in a torrential downpour. It was raining and windy and our shared umbrella turned inside out. Not fun. But we made it to our first store, Armani. Nice stuff. Expensive stuff. Too big on B stuff. That theme continued for the next 10 stores or so. Nothing fit. Even though we planned to tailor the jacket, it's still so hard to picture it when it doesn't look good on. My imagination doesn't work that well.

BUT THEN, like the sun shining through a cloudy sky, we see SARAR. Sarar? What? Never heard of it. I've never done much Turkish suit shopping at prices above the $1,000 mark, so perhaps that is why I've never heard of Sarar. Maybe you have? They also like lesbians at Sarar, or are really good at pretending they do.

Voila! We bought a suit! We love it. Here it is on my gorgeous girl:





Journal of a girl marrying a hot butch