52 Posts and Nothing’s On

Last year, I vowed to blog at least once a week in 2010.  EPIC FAIL.

After most of the other epic fails in my life – rollerblading, purple eyeliner, waterslides, making chocolate mousse and working at a publicly traded company just to name a few – I gave up.  Really, it was the right thing to do in those cases.  But this time, I am going to try again.  And WordPress has kindly offered to help me with encouragement, ideas and prompts via dailypost.wordpress.com.

As the WordPress sample post on this topic says, “I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful.” 

Hmm. Ya think? I’m suspicious. But let’s go with it.  

The sample post also says, “If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.”

I actually know I can count on you for that. And I hope I do the same for you.

I'm good enough, I'm smart enough ...

To motivate all of us, and following in the footsteps of the great Stuart Smalley, I have come up with my own blogging mantra. I expect to see it plastered on magnets, beer cozies and tote bags very soon.

The blog is the future. The blog is hope. The blog is the way.  Candy is good.

It’s got a nice ring to it, no? Happy 2011, happy blogging!

This Side of Paradise

I am married! Yes, mawwied! [insert voice of Long Duk Dong] [Side note: Sixteen Candles is on Lifetime tonight. Check your local listings.]

Thank you for all the WordPress love and support along the way.  Our week in St. Thomas was the happiest of my life (although admittedly, there wasn’t a lot of competition) and went off with only a few glitches.

Most really weren’t that bad:

• Alarming speed and grace with which I downed a complimentary pee cup’s worth of Cruzan coconut rum at Cyril E. King airport
• Ill-timed hair appointment that foiled Jan’s workout the day of the wedding
• Delayed serving of ice cream at reception, prompting Alex the Flower Girl to tell my sister, “Traci said I was getting ice cream,” prompting my sister to tell me, “Um, Alex was under the impression that she was getting ice cream … can you confirm or deny?”
• Complete omission of one fruit plate per table at reception
• Receipt of bill at end of week

One really stank on ice:

• At the last minute, Keith’s mom had to cancel her trip due to a nasty inner-ear problem that made flying a really bad idea.  Needless to say, this devastated Keith. Luckily, we were able to call Judy on speaker phone during the ceremony and she heard the whole thing.  

There were also countless highlights, but I’ll start with one of the biggest:

• The beachside, candlelit betrothal of my lil sis /Maid of Honor Jamie to her gentleman friend on our last night in St. Thomas! HUGE congrats to her and my future BIL, and to Jan and Lew, who got both their daughters off their hands in the span of a few days.  Note to Jan and Lew – can I borrow a $100?

Others, for your reading pleasure:

• The freakish deliciousness of the frosty adult beverage called “Lime in the Coconut” [insert funny 70s song lyrics]
• The resort’s general manager, whom I’ll refer to as “Jacques,” walking the grounds and chit-chatting with guests in an allegedly French accent. The morning of the wedding, he stopped by our al fresco breakfast table and I expressed some concern that the weather would not hold up. “Do not wair-ee,” he reassured me. “You must undair-stand zee diffair-onss buh-tween REN and LEE-KWEED ZUN-EH-ZHINE.” There is little doubt in my mind he is originally from Queens.
• Being able to ask, repeatedly, “What do you think this is, the RITZ?!”
• The remarkable straightness of my hair
• Experiencing a family vacation as a (quasi)grown-up
• Beautifying with Jan, Jamie, Joanna, my new SIL Christine, Loren and the littles
• Walking in the tropical rain at midnight to greet Dave and Rob with a welcome bottle of the aforementioned coconut rum
• The sight of Alex and my new niece Bella carrying their petal baskets and walking the wrong way on the beach in their matching purple sundresses
• The remarkable straightness of my hair
• Walking down the “aisle” with Jan and Lew
• The toasts given by Jamie, and my BILs Jeff and Craig, and the rhyming poetry of my besties Loren and Deena
• Standing up for a few seconds on the paddle board
• Happy, prego Kelly
• Not puking on the Lady Lynsey cruise to St.  John (shout out to Jeff and Christine for treating us!, and to both my SILs and that random girl from Westchester for being so nice to me during my near-barf crisis)
• Knowing that the people who matter to me the most  – my blood family, my new family, my may-as-well-be-family, my Philly family – traveled thousands of miles to be there for me

And, above all …

So I married the homecoming king ...

Hearing the barefoot, huge-toed Universal Life Minister – whose ceremony could not have been more beautiful – say, “From this day forward you will never walk alone” and knowing that it was true because of Keith.