The Bastard Stole My Yurman

As I cut a $6,000 check to take care of breaking my lease on my downtown loft, I am still pissed off from the break in that caused the whole series of events of moving and buying a new place.

It happened on a Sunday afternoon when I was out at a friends house for a brunch party. We came home and noticed several things out of place. First of all and most devastatingly, my lap top was missing. Now having crashed many computers in my time, one would think I had backed up at least my billing and my work, but, that wasn't the case. Also missing were my camera, video recorder and my favorite David Yurman ring. Not my three diamond engagement ring sitting right next to it, but, the citrine Yurman. Why not the engagement ring, who knows. Robber with a conscious? I should be thankful (s)he picked that one, but, uggg I loved that ring!
Now, I am left missing thousands of dollars of things and I have to write the assholes at my building a check for six thousand dollars. I couldn't even get them to review the surveillance video looking for someone leaving the building with my backpack - I assume they took that too to put everything in. Oh and did MPD care? No, they didn't even show up. I even went to the local district that night saying no one showed up, could they send someone out and they told me to go home and call 911 again. Well, forget them.

I just waited at home, and every night since, I heard every bump outside. It sucked. There was also the night I forgot to lock my door from the inside and two drunk, Armenian 40 year old men, came into my house and up the stairs after security let them up unescorted. They were looking for their cousin who lived down the hall and forgot what apartment she was in. Are you kidding me? What's the point of living in a secure building if security lets people who they don't know up the elevators. But, at the end of the day I owe them 6k to get out of there. Sweet.

I don't buy Yurmans anymore, I buy strollers and cribs. My days of disposable income, cute designer bags and fun cocktail rings may be over. That robber took a piece of my single days. It sucks.

After you know someone has been in your house, riffled through your things and took away your sense of security, you just can't go home the same way anymore. So we took our little newborn and left the world of renting. I now live in a brownstone we bought in a crappy market. Woo-hoo. So, thanks to the asshole who stole my Yurman ~ wherever you are.

After 32 years in D.C.....Handguns Can Be Registered

And, Just Like that, Your Whole World Changes

You can hear your pregnant, you can feel your body making a million changes and even feel a flutter in your tummy, but, after seeing a picture like this, it just seems to feel VERY REAL all of a sudden.


Yep, here's my baby girl (in a bumpy, 4D ultrasound pic). For those people in my life who think I have disappeared (or my bartenders consensus, that I have gone to rehab) ... now you know I have just been a bit busy making a cute little girl!


Quite the ride this has been so far and I really should have been documenting / lamenting on my life with an expanding waistline here on my blog. I first dropped off when I was wedding planning; vowing to not bore with bridezilla details. And, now, I don't want to be ga-ga over the new addition. But, some if this stuff has been quite comical. I will be catching up on events soon with new posts.

Well, the Honeymoon is Over

And, things couldn't be better. I have to admit, I wasn't crazy about this whole marriage thing. I am one of those people who say, who needs a piece of paper to make official what we already know and feel. But, it was important to my guy and I know my Irish Catholic family was wondering if I would always live in sin.

The wedding went better than I could have ever planned. The decorator was over the top as was the entertainment and caterer. And, most importantly, our families really rallied and came from all over the world to be there. We were married about 1000 miles from DC, yet, all of DC seemed to be there - Barak, Hillary and Edwards were all coincidentally staying at the same hotel along with their staff and sec. serv. You know it is time to get married when you can run into four different guys you dated in the span of 15 minutes seven states away from home! Yikes, my hubbie had to wonder who the hell he was marrying as my exes circled. It was scary. But, at the same time, fun to run into so many D.C. folks while we were out.

I am still waiting to see the pictures since they went to my moms house and she promptly went on a two week vacation herself after planning this huge soiree.

I am starting to not cringe as much when I am introduced as "my wife", but, the hardest change seems to be my name. I didn't realize how hard it is to give up your last name - it's a real identity crisis thing I am adjusting to. The funniest moment came when we were signing the wedding certificate mid reception (we forgot to do it before we left the ceremony). As the last of the five people to sign, I could be heard in the back saying, "god, they give the bride the most time to reconsider signing this thing, don't they". Then, when the priest said to me, now remember to sign your new name... I blanked. I couldn't even remember how to spell his last name. It was seriously embarrassing, I have never frozen like that before. I finally scribbled something and tried to break a smile for the photos after. uggg.

Don't get me wrong, I'll be ok, I have a great new last name (I keep telling myself that). The one thing I know is... I love my guy and I am the luckiest girl ever to have such a sweet, perfect man in my life!

Répondez s'il-vous-plaît (ugg.. another wedding rant)

We see this French term in its abbreviated form, RSVP, all of the time. It means simply, "Please Respond." I never realized what a complete ass you are being if you don't.

We are now in the painstaking process of trying to contact everyone who hasn't rsvp'd for my wedding. I am down to about 30 people to call. Some are telling me they are still trying to figure out travel plans, babysitters etc and if they can make it work. Well, that's great, but let me know that's whats happening so I don't have to chase you down to find out when I am a little busy with some other things right now. Besides following up on calling you people who can't return a stamped envelope, I am also ordering an indeterminate number of favors, programs and trying to do seating charts - hard to do when I don't know how many people are coming. The centerpieces alone are hundreds of dollars each. Do I need 15 or 18? Come on people, work with me!

Honestly, as a guest to previous events, I had no clue how rude it was not to send back this little card to my host/hostess. My advice to you, if you want to stay in someone's good graces~ take care of this little card in a timely fashion or at least let the host know whats up. It is soooo helpful! s'il-vous-plaît

and, yes, if you are reading my blog and are currently holding an invitation to my wedding and haven't replied... this is directed to you!!! ;-)

* And, the #1 worst excuse for not sending back the RSVP, "Your invitation was so beautiful, I wanted to keep it all for as a souvenir." pfft! are you kidding me??

These Wedding Things Sure are a Lot of Work

I haven't blogged in awhile because I didn't want this to become my personal wedding planning rant forum. Even with a wedding planner and "set designer" I have still had to do something somewhat big every day. But, all and all, I really can't complain this thing has really come together thanks to the wonderful people helping me and making things happen. Thank god I moved it from being in D.C. no way people here would have been as nice as the mid-west folks I have been working with. I am dealing with a space similar to the Building Museum, just a little smaller and more historical. This is where the "set designer" comes in (he calls himself that, I don't know). He is doing all of the fabric from the rafters, lighting and decorations.

The only hitch I have run into was I rented the wrong piano - they gave me a stand-up. Now why the hell would I rent one little, crappy, stand-up piano for that large of a space when I am flying in a professional player from out of state to play a baby grand?? This is the only thing that took days and about 20 calls to fix. Let's hope the delivery guy comes through, he makes me nervous and never returns our calls.

We have actually doubled the budget we started with. But, considering my mom is paying and she is the one who ok'd most of these things, I don't feel too bad about it. The first figure we had was too optimistic. Did I mention I have the greatest mother ever?!?

There are only a few things I have been adamant about being nice, starting with the invitations, because those are the first impression your guests will get. Those actually cost about as much as the site rental. Then I really wanted an awesome cake, by this one baker, who was busy on my day, but, still agreed to do it (would you believe some bakeries told me they were booked to 2009? what are you supposed to do, order a cake before you even get engaged?) and... I wanted good the entertainment, which is why we are flying this guy in to play. I said it would only be those three things I insisted on, that was until I saw some 7 foot tall candelabra centerpieces and then those had to come too. They look like silver trees with flowers in the middle and orchids cascading down towards the tables. They seriously rock.

So, there's the summary. It's not tooo out of control. And, I actually, haven't been stressed about it at all. I am really looking forward to it. I almost feel like I am just a guest to this thing. I just keep telling myself.. 3 more weeks.. This is crazy, I never thought I would be getting married anytime soon. In fact, until I met this man, I really didn't want to get married. But, with him, it's just perfect. He's still a little worried I may pull a disappearing bride act.

I forgot to mention how amazing my guy has been through all this. He has taken lead on most every detail, it's amazing. Every place we go the women helping us are in love saying how sweet he is and how great he is to help unlike other men they have seen. I'm a lucky girl! ;-)

Mr. Fenty, you are a man after my heart

Zone make me crazy and I hate cabs in D.C. I am actually surprised I haven't been in a serious altercation with a taxi driver. Just in the last 2 weeks I have taken 4 trips to National Airport - same pick-up, same drop-off, same number of bags, and 4 different fares. The lowest was $12 and the highest $18.50. I have only lived in cities with metered cabs and have been dealing with these idiots for too many years here in D.C. But reading THIS really put a smile on my face... could it be true, we are finally getting meters and I won't have to get pissed off to the point of fighting every time I get out of a cab?? yeah!

"D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said today he will sign a mayoral order mandating that taxis switch from a zone system to time-and-distance meters."