Thoughts just rolling through.

1. I met Carrie for dinner and drinks last night, and we had a really nice time out; first at Meridian for half-price food night, where I deviated from my usual seared-tuna salad and tried the Guinness steak sandwich. It was not overly delicious, but since I'm not eating much meat anymore maybe I just was not used to it. But whatever; it was like, $4. Anyway, after chow we went down to Double Wide to have a drink with Davey - it was dead dead dead, which suited Carrie & I just fine as we were able to babble loudly and play whatever we liked on the jukebox. It was nice to have Carrie out and about, because it has been a while - actually, now that I think about it, we've NEVER really gone out for evening drinks and such just the two of us, I don't think, so it was a fun change. Neither of us has been drinking much/at all recently, so after a couple drinks we were a little loopy. Cheap dates, we.

2. All the RSVPs seem to be squared away now, and we have gone over our estimated number by about 30 people. Oops. Then again, everyone says that we can count on some of the people who have RSVP'd yes to still not show up, so maybe we'll only be over 15 or so, which seems ok. To be honest, in a lot of ways our numbers are not that big of a deal - there is plenty of space, we just want to be sure we have enough food and drink, you know?

3. And yet I still get irritated. Here is my new one - a person says "I'm going to try and make it". Uh, ok. Look, it isn't a kegger in our backyard and no big deal if you decide at the last minute to come - it is a wedding. We're renting chairs and hiring a caterer and there is an agenda and I have to buy stuff. It is YES or it is NO. Seriously, I don't care if I have a few people who are still hoping for cheap flights or whatever and I have them in a small but important MAYBE list, but this is someone who lives in the area. Just make a committment already.

4. David and I just had a really sexy morning. GRRR. MEOW. I want to go home. I LOVE THAT MAN.

5. I have accomplished almost nothing this week I wanted to do, with the exception of thank you notes, which are easy to do on the go. I was going to get all this stuff at Michaels, and go pick up the tile at Home Depot so I could tile the kitchen counter backsplash. Nope, nada. After seeing my cousin tonight and Zeebah on Friday and going to Carrie's shower on Saturday, I am not making ANY MORE social engagements. Unless they involve friends coming to my house and cutting and pasting stuff. So if any of you want to do that, come on over! I got lots of paper cranes to string, too.

6. OK, there are like two jobs I am going to apply for in Europe with my old employer. If I do not get these, I have decided to let the European dream die. It is just too hard, and it is time. I've been gone now four years and I need to just let it go as a happy and important time of my past. Instead, we'll move to either Hawaii or Alaska, because those are sort of foreign-like, but we don't need visas! And that's my bright idea of the week. And I'm sure it is yet another idea I'll forget about in a few weeks. I'm easily distractable like that.

7. Lillet - your comment on the post yesterday? Exactly what we were saying! So here's hoping I do get this job after all. That could work out pretty well.

8. Speaking of Lillet, my days are without joy now that I cannot chat with her on IM every day. My soul weeps with loneliness as I stare at this stupid screen every morning. I miss her here. Sigh.

Comments

[Jenny]

If Europe does not work out, go for Hawaii . . .

[Lillet]

Awww! I miss IM-ing with you too SOOOO MUCH!!

Re: #3 -- You have EVERY right to be irritated.

Here's a good one for you: My ex best friend and I had a big fight about six weeks before my wedding. So we weren't speaking except via occasional e-mails. I had gone out of my way to invite her, her boyfriend, her sister and her sister's boyfriend (which she knew, as she had RSVP'd for her and the boyfriend, and I had asked her for her sister's address multiple times.) Keep in mind we were on a serious budget for our wedding and I DID NOT invite other people in order to include these people. So, I get an email from J. saying that she would prefer to just go with her sister as her date. I said I had invited J and her man, and so I hope she didn't think he wasn't welcome, etc., but she said she just "preferred" going with her sister. Fine, whatever. I sent another email 2 weeks prior to the wedding saying I needed to confirm the final headcount with the caterer, so could she let me know if definitely she would be coming with her sister. CRICKETS. So I give a final headcount, etc., plan the seating, etc. And then the TUESDAY before my wedding I get an email from her saying "Hey, I didn't realize you invited my sister and her man, we'd all like to go." And I had the same reaction, like, this isn't my fucking birthday party at a bar, this is my goddamn wedding, and you are being totally rude. But I thought I would "rise above" and just say it was fine.

AND THEN I found out that even though we were not SPEAKING, and I had absolved her of any involvement in my wedding except to show up, that she was planning a BACHELORETTE PARTY/ gathering THE NIGHT BEFORE MY WEDDING. WITHOUT ASKING ME OR TELLING ME. Yeah, the night when I was having a rehersal dinner and Clay's and my families were meeting for the first time, and I would have to get up early and get ready the next day for one of the most significant events of my life. Oh and despite the fact that when we HAD been speaking, and she was sort of my maid of honor person, I had expressly said that I would not want to do anything the night before my wedding. The whole thing was completely just for her ego so she could feel like she had at the last minute been a decent and involved friend in this process. WHAT THE ???

So she showed up at my wedding, got trashed and had drama with her boyfriend. Whatever. And then despite having a sit-down about it after, I realized I was still really hurt by this whole thing, and tried to mention it to her over email, she attacked me and said basically she "couldn't get excited about anybody's wedding", and "in HER MIND", when Trey and I went to city hall to put him on my insurance, that was my "REAL WEDDING ANYWAY."

This is one of the many reasons why we no longer speak!!!! :-) Rant over!

[optimistic lyricist]

So random job thoughts...1) apply to INSEAD for business school. The program is only a year and is one of the best international MBA's. You get to live in France for a year and hang out with cool people from all over the world (everyone needs to be able to speak English and two other languages). Then you can get a cool job back in the Netherlands or anywhere else in Europe and you and David can travel all over Europe on holidays and weekends;

Option 2) think about working for the US government. The hours are fantastic (flex time lets you take a three day weekend every two weeks), the benefits are great, and it is family friendly. Finally some of jobs involve tons of foreign travel. My wife used to work for the commerce department and she regularly traveled to Europe (5 trips over 2.5 years - each trip was 3 weeks or so).

[lauren a.]

if you lived in alaska it could be like "northern exposure"! that would be awesome. it's probably also about 10 times cheaper to live there than hawaii.

grr re: wedding drama. that is silly. it's YOUR wedding. people should get over themselves. we had some silliness at our rehearsal dinner, with my generally spectacular mom-in-law over-inviting a mess of people at the last minute to this teensy ethiopian joint, and then un-inviting them, and we were like, whatever is cool, you're the one paying.

then some menfolk who will remain nameless got drunk in our church's parking lot at the reception. classy! but it was fine. it all comes out in the wash, generally, thankfully.

grad school is fun. but if i could figure out away to live not in the US, that would be even more fun.

re: staying in dallas. my parents are moving (this week!) and have a very nice 3 br home for sale in lake highlands, if you're interested, hah. also i keep feeling you should meet my extra family that live there, because they are awesome and also are a little "meh" re:dallas, and tend to run in a group of similarly awesome dallas-wary folks.

[haji o matic]

6> Peurto Rico!!