FINALLY!

We finally got the invitations. It's been a long time coming. We've been looking at invitations since December! And our invitation company was a little bit of a nightmare. They're located in Bombay. Everything is slower over there. And then they had to send them here. They were supposed to get here last weekend. But, whatever, they are here and that's all the matters.

There is one other thing: They don't really look anything like what I thought they were going to look like!
The company sent us a photograph about three weeks ago (now displayed on the right side of this blog entry). I loved the invitation in the photograph. The invitations we got don't look like that. They're nice, don't get me wrong, but I was really surprise to get 150 invitations that I'd never seen before! It was pretty hilarious.

I feel pretty...oh so pretty!

Well, not yet, but soon! Ladies and gentlemen I have finally booked a hair and makeup person. Well, I'm going to try her out in a couple weeks, but I've heard very good things about her. My wedding planner used her for her wedding! I think that's a good sign.
So Walker and I are heading to DC for a marathon wedding weekend soon. We're doing cake, caterer, alcohol, makeup you name it. And then when we get back the invitations will have arrived (FINALLY! Do yourself a favor, when you get married, don't have your invitations made in India. Yes, the pricing is very reasonable, but it's just not worth it. Because instead of taking two days to do something, it takes two WEEKS! And that ain't cool. Thank goodness for Gobind Nankani! Without his persistence, at this point, I'd probably be frantically scribbling invitations on construction paper with a crayon)
And then we're going to labeling invitations like its our job. And then he's off to Martha's Vineyard for a show! And I will already be in rehearsal for my show so it only gets more complicated from here!
By the way, I'm signing up volunteers if anyone is interested.
At least the bachelorette party is soon. Less than a month away!
And I think for our honeymoon we are going to Athens and some Greek Islands so I have that to look forward to too!
Ahhhhhh!

Getting going

So, we haven't really done ANYTHING in the last few weeks. I don't know why. Burnout maybe?
But we're trying to get back on the bandwagon.
We registered!
At Macy's and Crate and Barrel.
It's so funny. I was agonizing about where to register - can't be too expensive, must have stuff we like, etc. And then I realized that all the stores have more or less the same stuff! And all the stores charge more or less the same price (well, except for Bloomingdale's. That place is expensive.)
So next thing I know I'm picking china. CHINA. That was weird. And who knew there were so many different patterns? And who knew that Vera Wang and Kate Spade china patterns. Oh the things you learn when you get married!
So the only thing we can't decide on is whether to register for a Kindle. I want to do it it! Walker does not. Because he thinks we can't register for two and if we only have one I'll hog it all the time. Which is absolutely true. :)
We're also getting close to signing a contract with the caterer (gulp!) and I'm finally going to DC to figure out who on earth is going to do my hair and makeup.
And then, of course, we are now talking about the honeymoon!
And I am talking comments, suggestions and the like on this particular topic.
We're currently talking about Greece, Cyprus or Santorini.
We want a beach and some culture. And preferably we'd like to go to a place that neither of us have been to before - which is actually the hardest condition to satisfy since Walker and I have both traveled so much!
I think the sooner we get the honeymoon planned the better. That way when we get stressed out, which WILL happen, we can resort to a honeymoon mantra: "the beach in Greece, the beach in Greece, the beach in Greece!" for example. Ahhhh! I can feel myself relaxing already!

No Pictures...PLEASE!

Oh, dear reader, there are so many things I long to show you.
Like, for instance, what my invitations, which are being made in Bombay, will most probably look like.
But then would I be spoiling the surprise? Probably.
So, dear reader, you will just have to wait.

That is also why I refrained from writing when I was in India. I can't very well tell you about my dress(s). Let alone show them to you! And I probably shouldn't even tell you about the bangles (oh the bangles! definitely my favorite accessories. all the colors that match your dress perfectly and raise them to the next level of trendiness. ahhh!) or the jewelry for that matter. Or the shoes. You see how difficult this is?!?

Anyway, it's been pretty quiet on the wedding front since we got back from India. Because we were a) jetlagged like crazy and b) completely wedding-ed out. Why, you might ask?
Because we spent pretty much each and every day shopping our little butts off. Yes, the morning were relatively lackadaisical, but once late morning hit we were off and running: malls, boutiques, shoe stores, you get the idea.
Lunches consisted of a spicy chicken frankie (yum!!) grabbed from a sidewalk stall (thank the LORD we didn't get sick!). We even went to McDonalds one day. Mostly because I wanted to see what McDonald's in India is like. Needless to say it is VERY DIFFERENT!
First of all there is no beef. Cows are sacred, don't ya know? So if you want meat, I would recommend a lamb burger or perhaps the chicken masala burger. For those of you who are vegetarian, there is a veggie burger (which is nothing like veggie burgers in the states! They are fried!) But my personal favorite was actually the fish sandwich. (I know, gross, right? Not really. It's also fried. But what isn't in India?)

And our dinners were always amazing! Bombay is on the water, so there is a lot of wonderful, fresh seafood to be had. And we did. Every night. I kid you not.
The best places were the places that served seafood in a hydrabadi style. Fresh crab meat and prawns in spicy sauces. (Now when I say spicy I don't mean it in the lame American sense of the word. I mean it in the Indian sense, which means after the meal you have little to no feeling in your tongue. Yeaaaaaah!)
I was really bored with the food here when I got back.

Anyway, we're getting back in the swing of things now. Finalizing the dinner menu, working on music (I'm still waiting for requests). And does anyone know a good hair and makeup place in DC or MD?
I actually had this awful dream the other day that it was my wedding day and I was all dressed up to the nines with the shoes and jewelry and everything. Only I had forgotten to book someone for hair and makeup so I had no makeup on and my hair was an absolutely mess. So I threw my hair in a bun (there were flyaways everywhere) and pinched my cheeks for some color (unfortunately that doesn't really work for people with darker complexions) and went and got married. And I was so embarrassed! And they took like a million pictures of my hair looking like a bird nest.
And the dream was so vivid that when I woke up it took me a second to realize that I wasn't married and that my wedding had not taken place yet.
So, anyway, yeah, if you know of a good place for hair and makeup, I would seriously appreciate the info.

Three years

My goodness. Has it really been that long?! Yes, indeed. On April 2nd Walker and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary!!

Well, strictly speaking that's not entirely true. It went more like this:

On April 2nd we both FORGOT our anniversary.

On April 5th Walker remembered that our anniversary had been 3 days before and reminded me, to which I respnded, 'REALLY?! Oh yeah!'

On April 7th we decided we should actually celebrate it somehow.

And finally, this morning, we looked out at the pouring rain ands decided that today was the day. So we're off the ny aquarium and then to Prairie Home Companion and maybe some live music at BAM afterwards. Who knows...

India again, for the first time

So, I'm back in India!
And this time Walker's with me. His first time in India. Too bad we're going to be shopping most of the time. And jetlagged the rest of the time.

We took a flight through the United Arab Emirates on the way here. And I realized that all the traveling, I've ever done, I have never had a layover in the Middle East. Ok, that's not entirely true. I did stop in Dubai once, but it was the middle of the night, the airport was empty and I was there for like 2 seconds, so that doesn't count.
Anyway, when we were landing, it was incredible. You see pictures and you read about it, but it's different from actually seeing it: desert. As far as the eye can see. (In one direction, anyway.)
UAE is really trying to boost their tourism trade. There were countless ads for UAE tourism on the plane. There was one magazine that was devoted to just that in its entirety! And they're opening a Guggenheim and a Louvre there too. Each gets it's own separate island. In case you don't find the rest of it enticing enough.

We were at the airport in Abu Dhabi for about 3 hours. It's a gorgeous airport. But it's a little bit like a giant shopping mall from which you just happen to be able to catch a plane.
Walker and I sat down at a coffee shop to kill the time. We got a couple of cups of coffee and some water. Which we later found out came to about $18.
Say what?!
My honeymoon with the UAE was over right then and there.

On to Delhi.

Last time I was here it was so cold. I had to walk around my parents apartment bundled up. We would huddle around the space heater every morning and every night. Not now! It's like 90 degrees. The minute I got off the plane I started sweating. Ahh! That's the India I know and love. All this was made all the more humorous because it was SNOWING when we took off from NYC.

Walker and I were remarkably well rested seeing as we had not slept that much. (I watched 5 movies on the plane. One of the movies I watched, The Sentinel, I didn't realize until about 2/3 of the way through the movie that I had seen it before. Not very memorable, that one. I do, however, highly recommend Madagascar 2. So funny!!) So my parents picked us up and took us home to freshen up. And then we went to this restaurant that they had promised to take me to during my last trip, but we hadn't been able to go - a place famous for their southern seafood dishes.
Next thing I know the waiters are tying bibs on us and we're elbow deep in lovely, spicy crab. Crunching it, cracking it, chewing it. It was cooked in a cocomut curry sauce. Yummy! And these crabs were HUGE. They brought a live one to the table before we ordered (which almost made my mom order vegetarian instead, but she resisted). That thing was bigger than a football (for lack of a better analogy...I guess it was close in size to a large dictionary, but I don't see how that makes things any clearer, so I'm ready to move on.) Move over Maryland! Mmm, I'm getting hungry now just thinking about it! Luckily there are leftover in the fridge and I am not above eating them at 7:07 in the morning (mostly because it's like 5pm on the east coast right now). I got crab all over the wall and the table and Walker got crab all over his face, but my parents were pretty much pros.
The perfect meal to end the day.
We all went home and Walker and I passed out.
And the next day...we went to McDonald's. Lol!

Yummy in my Tummy!

We had our big tasting with our caterer in DC last Friday. It was mmm mmm good!!
I'm so excited about that food. Which is funny, because historically (including in this very blog) I have railed against wedding caterers. Who remembers the food at weddings anyway?!?, I have been known to shout from the rooftops.
Who'll remember the food? I'LL REMEMBER THE FOOD!!
It's going to be very light and summery, which I think will be really nice. I don't want to give too much away, but one of the hors d'oeuvres we are most probably going to serve is a watermelon gazpacho (in a shot glass). How can you NOT get excited about that?! Not to mention, it was utterly delectable!
YAY!

We also met with a videographer when we were in dc. I have to say, I'm not convinced. I mean, yeah, it'll be nice to have the ceremony on dvd for prosperity, etc. but I have yet to see a video that actually looks good. I mean, why do all wedding videos look like they were taken on a handheld camcorder by your 15 year old cousin?! I ask you!!
Not to mention, do you know how much a videographer COSTS? I just don't see how it is worth it. I mean, I'm gonna keep looking for the meantime - I'm sure in 40 years when I can't remember Michael's sermon I'll be kicking myself - but for right now, if anyone has anything overwhelmingly positive to say about wedding videography I'd really like to hear it!