Possibly Best Love Quote for Us

"When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness and call it love , true love." - Robert Fulghum

Why A Budget Is Good

There's something that everyone should know about me by now.  Well, if you're either (a) a regular reader, (b) know me IRL, or (c) both.  You should know that I can be completely random at times.  Which is why I'm trying to keep the wedding fairly minimalistic.  Because otherwise I would have no theme, nothing to tie anything together, and a random bunch of stuff that I thought would be awesome to have.

Like what, you ask?  An actual Tiki Bar, complete with stools.  Oh, and an 8' inflatable version of the game "Operation".  Not kidding, found a place I can rent it, and I'm reminding myself that I have a budget I have to stick with, so I don't get to rent it.  But how freaking cool would that be?!?

Anyway.  On to more wedding research.

Dove Saying

So, as much as I thought I lost my cynicism, it was apparently just waiting in the wings, ready to pounce as soon as the holidays hit.

One of the things I picked up for the holidays was those Dove chocolates.  The ones with the uplifting saying on the inside of the wrapper?  Not for those, but because they were in my budget and decent chocolate.

Now every time I eat one, I can't help my cynicism coming to the front when I read the saying.  Which makes me wonder, is there a chocolate out there that has demotivational sayings?  And if so, can I buy them immediately?

Seriously.  Chocolate #1 says, "What if the 'season to be jolly' lasted all year long?" and my immediate thought was "I would wind up screaming at my computer every day."  #2: "Joy to...you."  Me: "Well, joy to you too, you weirdo!"  #3: "Feel the promise of a warm day."  Me: Do they realize it's winter time?  And most places (on the northern hemisphere), it's not that warm?  #4: "Always give from the heart."  Me: Man, and I was planning on giving from the...armpit this year."

Not to mention I think they have a grand total of 5 sayings.  That just seems lazy.  They can't come up with 30 mini motivational moments so that a bag doesn't have repeats?  Not that hard, guys.  Go visit the internet.  Heck, I could come up with some of these.

"Friends are the family you choose."
"Airports are full of love, once you get over the grumpiness."
"Make every moment magical."

Okay, maybe not that second one, but you get my drift.

Wedding Madness

I feel like wedding madness may be an ongoing topic for the next few months.  I'm not sure if I should apologize or laugh.

I promised myself that I would not do a lot of wedding planning during the holidays.  I was way to busy with work and the insanity that went along with that.  But the holidays are over, and wedding planning is back in full force now. 

What to do?  Well, today I went out and bought some decorations.  Icicle lights to hang from the ceiling.  But then come the usual questions.  How many?  Where to buy them?  Oh my gosh, why is everyone sold out of Christmas lights already?!?

I definitely bought wedding decorations at Home Depot today.  Go me!  And I'm asking the sillitest questions about this.  I know it's silly, and I honestly only am going to care up to a point, but right now it's fun.  Of course, right now it's fun because I'm doing the fun things.  Like cake tasting.  And flower shopping.  I'm so excited!  About cake.  Man, cake.

Also, trying to decide how much of craft time I want to incorporate.  Pre-planning versus last minute, I guess.  Give it a few weeks and I'll be stressing about invite wording and if I should write out names or just print them off.  And trying to figure out how to format things.  Oh man, I am not looking forward to trying to figure out how to make it print right.

(I keep confusing my "right" and "wright".  Sorry if I missed one and left the wrong one...)

Must run.  I was just informed it was food time.

And my immediate not stellar thought?  I have to buy Devin a ring.  Aah!

Why I Don't Have Holiday Spirit- A Rant

I'm a nice person.  I get excited about really stupid things.  Ask Devin.  Little things can make me extremely happy.  So it would follow that Christmas is my favorite time of year.  It's not.  In fact, I really hate the holiday season.

They why is easy.  Too much customer service.  It's wasn't stellar at the bookstore, but it's worse now.  If I have one more person ask me why I can't do something especially during "this time of year", I may be forced to slap my co-worker with a pair of yoga pants.

I get that Christmas has become a massive consumer holiday where most money is spent.  I understand that, as a retail employee, I should be grateful.  But what I don't get is why every single person thinks that I should bend every rule we have to ensure that they get their holiday gifts when they think they should.  Especially when it's their own fault that it didn't get to them in the first place.

Amazon has you check your address and the shipping choices before you check out.  Multiple times.  So, if you're shipping something to the wrong address, you should notice.  You should not wait until it's been shipped (especially if that takes over a week), and is now coming back to us, and ask us to re-ship it to a different address, citing that you need it before Christmas.  It doesn't work that way.  There are rules in place for a reason, and you shouldn't think you're special just because you don't double check things.

I honestly think that retail workers, servers, and other "lowly" jobs deserve higher pay.  Because these people get treated like crap more often then not.  And half the time, it's not their fault.  Yeah, there's always going to be that idiot sales person who doesn't know what they're doing, but 3 out of 5 times, the customer is an idiot.

And who decided that the customer is always right?  They're not.  A lot of the time, they're wrong.  But they won't admit it.  Oh no, that would be silly.  And self-defeating.

Sorry.  I had a really stupidly bad customer service day yesterday, and then I had nightmares about it.  And now I'm going to have to continue this today, and man am I glad for the weekend.  Though, I have a lot to do and not enough time (my own fault), so this is going to be a "fun" weekend.

Really long rant.  Sorry.  I just...really don't like how people act around the holidays.  Peace on Earth, good will to men my left pinkie finger.

The Postal Disaster

So, the thing about my job is how often I see things that are mis-delivered, or never delivered at all.  It's a little disconcerting.  So when I ship a package, or an expecting a package, I tend to be a little paranoid about it.  What do I normally do?  Delivery Stalk it.  I actually heard a term once that described this little quirk, but now I can't remember it.  Of course.  Basically, I check the delivery status.  A lot.  Like, a few times a day a lot. 

For Christmas, I sent a box to my Grandmother, and once to SWMBO.  I've been delivery stalking them all week.  My Grandma's package didn't have any updates for 2 days.  I was severely worried.  I just wanted to make sure that she got it.  It had my presents to her, and the ones to my dad, as well as the thank you letter for her.  It's one of those things that isn't really good for anyone else but who it's meant for.

Speaking of, why do people steal packages from the mail?  You have no idea what you're going to get!  It could be anything from an ugly pair of sweatpants to a watch to...personal items.  If you want to gamble, play the lottery!  Don't steal mail!  You just irritate people!

Thus far, crisis adverted.  My Grandma's box is out for delivery, and SWMBO is...in California, at least.  That's all I know so far.

That is all for now.  Are you guys ready for the holidays?  Because it's 3 days away, and I'm not yet!  And I just realized I'll have to go into work on Saturday, at least for a minute.  Joy.

The Meaning of Words

Does anyone else feel like words are losing meaning?  Everything from using "Literally" when you mean "Figuratively", or an over use of words like "crazy", "insane", "wicked" and "evil". 

Perfect example?  The last few days at work, I've been conversing with a lady who has been telling me that charging $41 for 2nd day shipping is fraud.  Now, the definition of fraud is "deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage."  Which, in a loose interpretation, could work.  Maybe a breach of confidence.  Maybe.  But the only other way it would be fraud is if we shipped it and it took more than 2 days to get there.  In which case, absolutely.  But do you know how expensive it is to ship things via Express Mail?  It costs me almost that much.  And in some cases more.  So she can take her fraud and...stick it where the sun don't shine.

Have I mentioned how much I absolutely love Christmas shoppers?  They're my favorite. 

Mondays

Remember that one time I said I like Mondays?  I'd like to take it back now.  Seriously, NOW.

We had a record breaking day at work today.  More orders than I've ever seen.  Which means I was dealing with them, plus the back up of emails, means I didn't get much else done.

Oh, and I overheated the printer.  Multiple times.  Not my favorite activity.

So on my way home, I decided that I really wanted gummy bears.  The only problem?  I have yet to replenish my stash.  So no gummy bears.  I did have ice cream instead though...

Oh Monday, I wish I didn't spend so much of you answering the same 4 questions over and over again.

To make things better?  This library.  When I say that I want a library like Belle's, this is what I mean.

My Least Favorite Part

I think I just found my least favorite part of wedding planning.  While I don't particularly like dealing with a lot of the aspects of the wedding, and really loved some parts, I just found my least favorite.

Devin and I have both graduated college.  Which means, among other things, student loans.  Not to mention personal debt.  Which means, we don't have a ton of money to spend on the wedding.  And while our parents are being great and really helpful, we still have to pay for some of this wedding.  In an effort to help keep costs down, we decided that for invites, we only get 20 invites each.  That doesn't count immediate family and anyone who is in the wedding.  But when you think that even the most introverted people wind up influencing about 10,000 people in their lives, that's still a lot of people and not a lot of invites.

So we made lists.  And in some cases, had to remove people.  And it's not an easy decision.  There are a million factors that go into the process, but in the end, there is always someone that you can't invite.

And while many people aren't expecting an invite, many still are.  Today, I had to tell one of my friends that she wasn't invited.  And while I'm ecstatic that we are doing the live webcam during the wedding, I can only imagine how much it sucks to be told that you can watch that instead.

Not to mention how much I loathe confrontation in any form.  And this friend in particular is in no way adverse to it.

Yeah, not my favorite part.

I Could Have Done Without Today

Long title?  Yes.  Worth it?  Probably.

I seriously could have skipped today and not missed much.  Not at work, just life in general.

First of all, I almost poured straight sugar into my cereal bowl, instead of cereal.  This is why I need coffee.

Then, I go out to my car to find it unlocked and that someone has gone through my glove box.  Now, my thoughts go something like this: "Did I leave my car unlocked last night?  Well, at least it's still here."  I don't keep anything super important in my car.  I don't keep cast there, and no electronics.  But still.  Not a great way to start my morning.  Then, I wonder if I've locked my front door.  So I run back and check it, only to almost be late to work.

Get to work, and I can't get anything done because everyone keeps asking me questions, or the doorbell is ringing and I'm the only one who believes in answering it.  Stressful morning.  Then, I go run errands and the train comes.  I don't know what city planner decided it would be awesome to have a train go right through downtown, but I want to kill them.

The 10 minutes I spent waiting were actually good, because until that point I just wanted to punch strangers for the sole reason that they crossed my line of vision.  After the train passed, that urge was gone.  Alone time is good.

Then I got stuck in all kinds of traffic while shopping, ran late, and to top it all off, they're doing street cleaning tomorrow morning for the 4 blocks around my apartment.  And there was no where to park.  So, I'm going to get up early and do...something tomorrow morning so that I can move my car before it gets towed at 7:30 in the morning so that I could park ANYWHERE near my apartment.

The upside?  I came home and Devin was making mac & cheese.  Life is better.

Snob

I have to admit something.  I am not a snob.  Devin, on the other hand...

We got into a discussion on this tonight, mostly because I was trying to explain it to a friend.  Well, that and they guy we overheard at dinner who said that he didn't like "That 70's Show" because he's not from the 70s.  Because that makes perfect sense. 

Anyway, if a snob is "a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field" according to dictionary.com  Yep, I'll give him snobby.  

Caricature by Steve Nyman

Me?  I have no such feelings.  If anything, I am the opposite of a snob.  Or can you be a snob of terrible things?  I love terrible movies, terrible music.  I revel in the awful-ness.  Now, there are certain lines I won't cross, certain movies I can't enjoy no matter how bad they are ("Talladega Nights" and "Knocked Up" come immediately to mind), but some?  I love them because they're bad.  "Transformers"?  Completely useless.  But oh so fun.  Ke$ha?  Really?  Yeah, but because she's a train wreck.  After all, how many 20 year olds think that Mick Jagger is actually sexy?  Not many.  But the line, and everything it implies, is hilarious.


Maybe it's a meta thing?  I know how bad it is, and enjoy it for that reason?  Or maybe I just love all things terrible.  Either way, I really want to watch a campy Tim Curry movie right now...

So Sleepy....

I keep thinking about how I need to get on here and post and be a responsible blogger.  And then I'm so tired that I just want to sleep as soon as I get home.

Can I say, it's only December 1st and I'm already ready for the holidays to be over?  We normally get about 5-15 boxes in our delivery.  On Monday, we got 25-35.  Not little boxes, big boxes.  Sigh.

So, 10 hour days are going to be my life.  Oh, and Saturdays.  Not a terrible thing, but I'm ready for a nap most days by the time I get home.  Which means that I come home, eat, and then go to sleep.  Poor Devin says he feels like he doesn't see me anymore.

And I think that my upstairs neighbor has a pet elephant.  Good gracious, they stomp a lot!

Not the point.  The point is...I'm a terrible blogger.  Sorry about that.

Oh!  We ordered from this mac and cheese place today.  Fantastic.  Yes, we ordered fried macaroni balls, and yes I was a 12 year old boy about it for a minute.

Thanksgiving was good and wedding plans are coming along.  See, aren't you glad I don't blog my every wedding thought on here?  I want some things to be a surprise!

Anyway, must run.  My bed is calling my name...