Do you watch this popular show? I am addicted, I must admit. I find the variety and styles of wedding gowns available now to be very interesting. Back when I got married (the first time) there wasn’t that much choice. Most of the gowns had sleeves and hardly any of them were strapless. Today they all seem to be strapless and hardly any of them have sleeves. You can choose between traditional ball gown, fit & flare, mermaid, A-line, or trumpet. Did I leave anything out?

I still have the photo album of my first wedding. I’m not quite sure why I never tossed it but I didn’t and still haven’t. I guess even though it didn’t end well it was part of my life. I was married to the boy/man for almost seven years.

I even saved the clipping from the Bridal magazine of my dress. In 1973 I said YES to this dress: (the one on the left)

Yikes. What was I thinking? I guess at the time I liked it but it sure wouldn’t be my choice now. All that heavy lace!

I’ve added two more photos of the dress (with me wearing it) so you can see it better.

Here is my dad walking me down the aisle. I look scared, don’t I? I should have been, after all I was getting married at 18! But I must admit, my dad looks dashingly handsome!

And in this closer view you can see the lace. While pretty (I guess) it’s too heavy for the chiffon (or whatever the material was) on the bottom. At least I think so. And that overpowering veil! Ugh! And to think it was the only dress I tried on! I don’t remember how much the dress cost back in 1973, but probably not more than $300? A far cry from the brides today that go in with a $2,000 budget, and that’s the low end.

But back then there wasn’t so much emphasis on getting the right dress. You bought a gown and got married. No big sit-down dinner at the reception: just nibbles, cake, and champagne to toast with. You had to have the special knife to cut the cake with and maybe a cake topper. Most receptions took place in the church hall. Mine did.

Now I’ve heard that in addition to a sit-down-multi-course dinner (which of course is not taking place in the church hall) you’re expected to provide cocktails and snacks before the dinner. Then after the dinner there is something called an “afterglow.” (To me, “afterglow” was what the party after prom was called that my mom did not want to allow me to go to). The “afterglow” is more food. And more drinks. Usually at a different spot than the reception. Some couples even provide breakfast for those out of town guests that are staying in a hotel plus a goodie bag for their room. Enough already!

Your bridal shower was usually held in your home by your mom and not in a “venue.” Bachelor and Bachelorette parties might have been just the guys getting together for a beer——and the girls? Well, I wouldn’t know since I never had a Bachelorette party. Now it’s common to have “destination” Bachelor/Bachelorette parties. You have to go somewhere.

Then you have the popular “destination” weddings. I have a friend who has been invited to a destination wedding. The bride and groom are not even sticking around for a honeymoon! What’s up with that? At least my friends are making a vacation out of it! It’s kind of selfish really to expect guests to fly all the way to an exotic island locale for a wedding unless it’s restricted to immediate family members and everybody can afford the cost. That gets expensive!

So, my first marriage was a largish church wedding with three bridesmaids, a flower girl and ring bearer, with said aforementioned church ex-communicating me seven years later upon my divorce.

Rick and I got married in 1981 in the downstairs of our home in front of a crackling fire in the fireplace. A minister that he grew up with married us with simple vows. I chose a simple ivory dress. Very 80’s, don’t you agree?

Jeez, my hair was so Princess Di! (or is that Farrah Fawcett I am trying to emulate?)

Rick’s parents, my parents, and two good friends who stood up for us were the only guests. My mom baked a cake and my dad decorated it. He even painted the hair on the bride and groom on the cake topper from black to blonde. I think mom made potato salad too or maybe it was macaroni salad?

31 years later and we’re still going strong.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have a special kind of day on your wedding day. It’s just my personal opinion that the whole thing has gotten way out of hand as far as how elaborate and expensive they are. Weddings have become an industry instead of a ceremony.

Still, it might have been fun to have such a great choice of gown styles. And guess what? When I Googled the designer of my dress I was pretty surprised to see that they are still in business. Here is the link to Mori Lee Bridal. I didn’t see any dresses that looked like mine though ...

P.S. After doing this blog post I now know why I kept my old wedding album. Just the photos of my dear sweet parents is worth keeping it for.

My Big Event is indeed the Oscars! But not the Red Carpet star-studded version you are all thinking of. It’s the Scientific & Technical Oscar Awards that we are attending on February 11 at the Beverly Hills Wilshire.

As most of you know, the company that Rick works for makes cameras. Remember they were awarded Ms. Emmy last year? Husband Rick worked very hard (it’s his job, after all) to get them nominated for the Emmy and finally the award itself. His next goal was an Oscar which everyone told him it would take at least three years of hard work to even get recognized. He managed the nominations and the award in just one. I’m very proud of his achievements.

So, four people in his company are receiving the Scientific and Engineering Award, and we are going because of all his hard work. It’s a shame that the Oscar statuette is only given out to the stars and starlets, but they will all be receiving a beautiful plaque with a tiny replica of the Oscar statue. You can read about the press release from the Academy here.

The cameras that Rick works with are called “high-speed” cameras, meaning they take images at high rates. When you play them back at normal film or TV rates, the result is in slow motion. They are called “Phantom” cameras and come in many varieties. If you’ve watched TV lately you’ve seen them used on TV commercials to create dramatic effect. If you’ve watched any sports, you’ve seen the cameras at work on ultra-slow motion replays. (That was what the Emmy was for.) And, if you’ve watched movies like Sherlock Holmes (I & II), Inception, Secretariat, The Green Hornet, Tron Legacy, or many others, you’ve seen slow motion footage taken with the cameras.

I know you are all anxious to see the dress, the shoes and the jewelry but you are just going to have to wait another day! I thought I had my jewelry all figured out and was going out today to finally make a decision, but then I watched the Golden Globes last night and completely changed my mind! So you see, I’m not ready for the big reveal ... yet.

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The week in-between Christmas and New Year’s is always an odd one. Rick used to get the whole week off back when he worked for HP/Agilent but it was mostly because they were trying to be cheap and it was without pay. I always loved having him home, watching movies and playing video games that we’d gotten for Christmas. This week he is working but shorter days.

This week also, without fail, includes my birthday which was yesterday. Having a birthday at this time of year is not always easy or fun. Everything comes at once. But, after all these years I am used to it. I never get stinted for gifts on my birthday. My Mom made sure of that, and my dear husband is the same way. I got an iPad 2! I’ve had an iPad for about a year and a half now and just love it. I’ve been drooling over the “2” since they came out. It has features that the first one didn’t have. And just look at it’s super cute folding cover!

Also for my birthday my two neighbors pretty much kidnapped me and took me out to lunch. I didn’t even know where we were going! The restaurant was great and one I had never been to before. We sat and shared a glass of wine and all our food choices were excellent. On top of buying my lunch they also gave me gifts! What a treat! Part of my gift from neighbor Aileen was this sweet package of fresh eggs from her chickens. The blue-green ones are from her new araucana chickens that just started laying. Almost too pretty to eat!

It hardly seems possible that just one week ago I picked my sister and her hubby up at the train station. Time flies by, doesn’t it? We had a good Christmas. We ate and tried out some new and quite delicious recipes. We drank (but not too much). We played video games and my sister beat us all at bowling with a grand score of 195. We all enjoyed each other’s company.

Also in-between is our weather. Winter has yet to arrive in our part of the country. Just the other day we had nearly two inches of rain. Again. Enough with the rain! It hasn’t really been cold enough to freeze the ground either so everything comes up muddy. Today I think it’s supposed to struggle to get above freezing which will be a welcome change to our 40’s and 50’s. C’mon Mother Nature! I have a new coat that I’m dying to wear and it needs to be cold!

By the way, remember this fox? Neighbor Kim pointed out to me yesterday at lunch that she thinks it was not in fact a fox but a coyote. She said there was an article in the paper about how many coyotes were around now and how to identify them. The more I thought about it and the more I looked at the photos again, I realized she was right. It just might be a coyote. I’m just not used to seeing them around here although we did have one a a few years ago. To see it, follow this link.  Tell me what you think!

Anyway, no real news to impart here, just wanted to catch up.

Our sky this morning.

Presents wrapped? Check.
House clean? Check.
Grocery shopping completed? Almost: picking up prime rib today.
Company arrived? On the way!
Snow falling softly outside? Nope.

Really, if you look back at my posts this time of year they all say the same thing. Rain instead of snow. Temperatures in the 40’s. No snow. Bah Humbug. Etc. Every year it’s the same old song, and this year is no different. It can snow back in Colorado, it can snow in Las Cruces, NM where my in-laws live, and it can even snow in Texas. But New Jersey? Nope. Isn’t snow supposed to fall in the North and not the South?

We’ve had about an inch of rain over the past three days. As if we needed anymore of that! The ground is already so saturated that you sink into our yard when you walk on it. Mud is rampant and brought in on the bottom of dogs’ paws. On my freshly scrubbed floor.

But enough of our un-wished for weather! Be gone I say! On with Christmas!

As I type my sister and her hubby are trundling on a train towards us. They will arrive this afternoon and we will pick them up at the local train station after they make their connection at Penn Station in New York City. It will be nice to have them here for the holiday.  We have plenty of good meals planned for their stay and a visit to the Oakland Diner (better known as the O.D.) so her hubby can see the diner where they filmed Danielle always eating in The Real Housewives of New Jersey. (They even have a salad named after her.)

So, I’ll be busy for the next few days with company. If I don’t post anything beforehand or during their stay, have a safe and happy holiday wherever you are, no matter what weather you have!

Puddled reflections from last night’s rain:

... but close! Mine look more like chile relleno popsicles because the chilies were small and the cheese sticks stuck out quite a bit on their own. But at least everything was encased in batter and they were delicious! The batter needed to be a teensy bit thicker, but all in all we were pretty pleased.