Here's a better pic.

I hate that picture. I look huge.

Come on, honey-you know how vain I am. I look like a puffer fish.

Turning Corners

Yes, indeed, it's been a week of Big Stuff. Cindy got her well deserved promotion, and in doing so beat out a crop of very top flight candidates. There is just no stopping this woman when she decides to do something. I am learning so much from her about the power of determination. I'm so proud of ya honey!

I had a very good meeting this week with a book editor in my effort to publish my landscape photos. There is much yet to be done, and we are far from any decisions being made. But it's nice to know that the project is striking a chord with the right people.

Oh, and this wedding thing we've been talking about.......
We are zeroing in on a facility that so far seems like everything we've been looking for. We are going to tour the place on Monday and try to get all of our answers questioned. If we like it, we will then be able to set an OFFICIAL DATE. That will be the first major hurdle of many, I'm sure. So stay tuned for further announcements!

I got it!

Whew. I got the job as Executive Secretary. Now the fun really begins...

Life is kinda rough right now.

I am so lucky to have the love and support of C2. It would be so difficult to keep on every day without him. The love and constant, unwavering support I get from him is very precious to me.
Thanks, honey.
I love ya.

I should start posting pics of my family and friends since it seems they're all reading this now.

The Price to Be A Princess

I found the following on one of my favorite all time sites: Feministing.com
You should check it out.


The price to be a princess.
Oh, how I hate these.

The title deceived me into thinking this piece is going to be a critique of the wedding industry, yet ended up being anything but.

Apparently in our “post-feminist” world, women aren’t giving up their identity by having a traditional wedding, but are in fact demonstrating their wealth and independence.

While I obviously agree with the contention that wedding culture is obsessed with consumerism, the article is saying that this somehow negates the belief that it’s a sexist industry. Rebecca Mead’s argues this in her book One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding.

Getting married used to mark the bride's transition from the parental home to the marital home; from adolescence to adulthood. But today, brides are no longer demure virgins in white lace quivering at the altar; rather, they are professional, self-supporting 30-somethings - more often than not masterminding the operation.
...this fairytale fantasy doesn't make a wedding anti-feminist, says Mead. On the contrary: ‘This is the moment where women can enact this Cinderella fantasy - but it is a safe enactment,’ says Mead, ‘You can look like a virgin princess, but no one expects you to be a virgin, and the next day you can go back to being your strong, liberated self.’ She argues that the modern wedding is not a repudiation of feminism, but partly a result of it.

But why would you want to look like a virgin princess? Shouldn't we be talking about why that's still appealing to people rather than welcoming it with open arms?

I’m not trying to knock on people who want to have a traditional wedding, wear the white dress and even spend a lot of money on it, but to not only downplay the history of a sexist ritual (the bride’s “transition” should actually be "ownership") but say feminism is partly behind the consumerist-driven wedding industry because women are now capable of being self-sufficient?? Please.

Let's also not forget that not all women make enough money (or have the "right" partner, for that matter) to afford the fairy tale wedding. All this looks like to me is an extravagant way of telling women that the more they spend on their weddings, the more empowered they are. Blegh.


Amen, sista.

Here's what makes me happy. Besides C2.

And by the way,

I am really frustrated here at work. AAARRRRGGGGHHHH. Okay, that's better. Life goes on.

I'm so proud of my guy.

C2 is so cool. He is finally being recognized as an important artist. 2 different galleries are showing his work in NYC, he's getting book interest, and he is a finalist for a substantial grant. It seems that the happier we become with our lives, the more we are blessed with good things.
And this is why I haven't done any work getting ready for the wedding. I'm too busy plotting his takeover of the art world.

photos

I've added a link to the links bar for a few photos from our trip out East for JoAnn and Justin's wedding. The images are on Flikr, so I think you can download and print them.

The Ugliest Dress!

JoAnn said...
Now that I've recently taken the plunge and lived to talk about it, I have three pieces of advice for your wedding: 1) Wear the most comfortable shoes you can find. 2) Ignore wedding magazines. They are glorified catalogs and only serve to sell you things. 3) Try on the ugliest dress in the store. It's the one you will end up buying. And make sure that store is not David's Bridal - they smell. Oh, and a fourth piece of advice: Have lots and lots of fun!

This is some great advice from JoAnn. Very savvy insights and I'm truly impressed. I agree wholeheartedly that David's Bridal smells and that wedding magazines are crap.
I might need a couple pairs of shoes to get me through that day and, as far as the dress goes, I just don't want to talk about it. I just can't even see it in my brain yet.

Traveling partners

Having just spent five days on the road (under a variety of conditions) with Cindy, I'm happy to report that we travel well together. The major tension on the trip was from my inability to read road signs as they whizzed by. I was so glad that she was there to help and comfort me in my hours of need, as my body dealt with the effects of a contaminated swordfish. It was all the little things that she did that let her love shine through. I am one lucky guy.

The wedding itself was great! We both loved the ceremony, which kept a nice balance between the formality of the ceremony and the spontanaity and looseness you have when with family and friends. The rabbi is a very close family friend of the bride and groom and that made the ceremony much more personal and intimate. So, however Cindy and I are going to work it out, it is important that the person who will marry us will be more than a passing aquaintance. We toyed with the idea of my sister's boyfriend doing the ceremony for us. He is a captain of a Staten Island ferry. The deal killer with that was that he would have to take the ferry 12 miles out to sea to make it official. It was a nice idea at the start, at least....

We are taking a good look this month at locations for the wedding, with the intent of having something picked out by July (call us naive). Part of doing that is going to be getting a handle on how many guests there will be at the ceremony. So we will have our hands full this month in trying to meet that objective. Then comes figuring out the reception location...