The Wedding Saga Part 4

So, now we're into Tuesday. By this time, I'm also starting to get irritated that I'm not getting to see much of my hubby, who had to beg, borrow & cheat to get the time off to travel to NC with me for this thing. I don't think he was even part of the wedding when he initially asked about it (he had to talk to someone w/more seniority but luckily, she's one of those cool people who still travels & has a youthful mindset); I'd wanted him to go in case Psycho Boy was invited and showed up--he's related to my brother in law but thankfully, his family rarely interacts with them. Starts to get clearer why I got the hell out of that town, eh? My family's STILL sympathetic to that guy, though they know better than to be his buddy. I'd disown them if they did.

Seriously, even though I'm quite happy being female, all this wedding stuff & agita from it was making me wish I was a guy. While my sister & I were fighting after the bridal shower, he got to hang out and play video games with the groom + my nephews. He also got to go to a comic book store he wanted to go to & we'd made plans to go to Charlotte that day after all the Tuesday work was done.

See why I'm more laid back? I also had to deal with the other matron of honor, who ended up once again eating lunch with us along with her daughter. I felt like I was seeing her more on this trip than my own husband & I'd told her beforehand I was not going to hang out with her without my spouse present. I'd thought we were just meeting her for the beautification stuff; I started to feel like we were adopting her or something. No problems w/her daughter: again, that kid's going to have a LOT to deal with.

We went to a pizza place that proclaimed to serve "authentic NY style pizza." Now in my experience as well as that of my spouse's, when anyone claims to have "authentic" anything & they aren't located in an area known for the item, you're generally going to be disappointed. I also can't put much stock into what a Southerner says about NY style pizza. Nor would I trust a New Yorker to know squat about hush puppies. However, thinking of the possible review I could write, I decide to go.

I'm not the pizza expert & the true test would be if my husband ate it but I did find the cannoli I got to be consistent with what I'd see in NYC or Long Island. Also found out that the flower girl just eats the cheese off her pizza and not the crust. I said she'd need to find someone like my husband to eat pizza with (who takes off the cheese & only eats the crust). That person would get the crust and she'd get the cheese.

Next is a trip to the bridal shop to pick up the other matron of honor's dress after the alternations lady mangled it the first time. She goes in to try on the dress with my sister watching while her daughter & I leaf through their dress catalog.

Warning: you don't want me looking through catalogs of evening gowns or even to go bridal gown shopping with me. I will end up wanting everything in sight. That catalog was no exception. I saw some gorgeous dresses and if I had the money and occasion for them, you bet I'd get some stuff and look fabulous in it.

They weren't 100% satisfied with the dress but she chose to pay for the full amount anyway. I would have put up a lot more resistance since, even if you are polite to me, I still have a "business is business" mentality and care very deeply about not wasting my hard earned money. More of that Southern tendency to complain about things but never to the person who needs to hear it; I take great pains to avoid that.

So then we head out for nail & foot work. This was the very first time I'd ever gotten a pedicure so I was a total novice on that. I also ended up getting gel nails with a design on my ring fingers and my big toes on top of the color I selected. Since my sister was not a Nazi about matching everything to the dress, I picked a color I liked that would go with my clothing as the colors she picked for the dress wouldn't have matched my wardrobe. I'm still shocked that dress came out looking okay on me, even without a Mystic Tan.

I got the basic pedicure while my sister & co-matron of honor got the second package. One thing to note: when they say "hot towel", they are not kidding around. I had to get used to the shock of my feet being worked on and the hot stones used later.

While we're sitting, an employee asks about eyebrow waxing. Another thing I'd never done and honestly lived in abject fear of. I've tried home waxing & I ended up bleeding. My sister said she was worried she'd scream and cry if she got one so she was nervous about but. However, she said if I would, then she would. Being someone who does try to branch out and have new experiences, I went ahead with it.

Shockingly, the waxing itself didn't hurt so much. It was the after effects that were a bigger problem (including the stinging). This is what the area looked like the next day:

If you looked me in the face:

My right eyebrow:

The left eyebrow:

You might notice some redness, especially at the middle. It was there. I still felt a little sensitivity from that after coming back. If you want me to wax anything, you'd better have about a week for recovery time for my horribly sensitive skin. Boy, do I hate having it. I was worried this wouldn't clear up before the wedding but luckily, it did.

Took a fair amount of time there but I also got my first gel nails. This was due to my rather weak, though longer nails. I got mine painted in light purple. My mother also pointed out that no one was going to see our nails anyway so why not pick exactly what we wanted. They still look good over a week later, which is a great thing.

Since it was after 5 or so when we got done, I knew my time was ticking to hang out w/hubby. The minute I got to my parents, I went to get him and get going.

Oh, and I should mention that this matron of honor also asked us to keep both her dress and her daughters because of smoking in the place she stays at. This was also the day she decided to muscle into our Saturday morning hair appointment, despite having a relative who does hair and likely closer options than the location we were at. My sister looked at the bright side, though: at least this matron of honor would be accounted for and not screwing around. She also plainly told her about the need to be out of there by 11 a.m. regardless of what else happened.

Finally being free from all this wedding planning, we go to Charlotte.

One thing I'm still really upset about is not getting to go to "The Breakfast Club." My husband is very picky about music and I know he'll go to an '80s club. I also like getting to dress up and prefer not going someplace where cover is obscene, at it tends to be in NYC (I remember a now closed '80s club charging $50 per person). One gentleman I knew from a karaoke place in Atlanta once told me that with my looks, I should never have to pay cover anywhere. He had eyes for somebody else (told us this before) so I knew it wasn't a cheap come-on but a fact.

Generally, I don't pay cover (and I'm speaking of your basic club vs. special events like live performances) but it's partly because I think it's a waste of money. There should be some kind of guarantee that you have fun or the cover is refundable. I'd get behind that policy in a second.

Going to Charlotte ended up being a wash. We couldn't find an open Jack in the Box, the outlet mall was closing up as we got there and the comic book shop that was so hyped up turned into a waste of time. Did go to Chick-Fil-A, though & then found a Jack in the Box AND the Steak and Shake. Annoying! Finally got to try the Banana Pudding milkshake and the yogurt parfait they have, though. Both were pretty good, especially the shake. I had the shake on Monday & the parfait on Wednesday.

Oh, don't worry. The saga ends pretty soon. It just gets better and better, though I discovered that if you take out the history and family dynamics I associate with North Carolina, I could tolerate some parts of it more. I'm fine with other areas of the state, though the main cultural differences still drive me nuts and would be intolerable for me to live in.