stuff is cool

Danny has been in Indiana for work all week so I have been staying with my parents and my brother at the house I lived in since I was 12. Prior to this one we had 3 others, and those I actually remember more fondly than this one, but this is the home I have known for most of my life.

Since moving to Post Midtown with Danny I have spent much less time here. I used to spend several nights a week at home, but now “home” means my apartment with Danny. This week of being with my family has been a wonderful treat.

My room is mostly unchanged since I was 16. I have a wonderful tall bed and all of my furniture pieces are beautiful wooden antiques from my great-grandmother. I have an awesome old tv cabinet that is actually going to waste sitting in the corner of my bedroom. When Danny and I have a house I will rescue it.

When I come home I always spend hours and hours in my mom and dad’s bed, watching tv and playing on the computer. This week, with my pained spine, I have spent days here. At night I watch tv with my mom and we talk and my dad sleeps in my bed until I tell him he can have his own bed back.

I wonder, when I am a married woman will I still be able to come home and eat candy and drink Dr. Pepper with my mom while we watch Still Standing and laugh even though we know it’s silly?

I think so.

I love coming to my other home. Home home. It’s nice to have two places where you feel safe and loved. And I have even more at the homes of my extended family. I am a very lucky girl.

The wedding planning has begun. My mom and I spent the evening talking about the wedding. I just don’t know what I want! I looked at bridesmaids dresses for two minutes and got bored. I wish it all just “happened”.

Our wedding is going to be very simple. For example, a reception at a Katy-area country club with a band and “heavy hors d’oeurves” for 250 people is costing my mom’s friend $35,000. We have less than a third of that. I don’t know what sort of wedding to dream of because I don’t want to be dissapointed. All that really matters is that I am getting married. But I am a girly girl and I have always dreamed of being a princess on my wedding day.

I want this:

But there are two obstacles to that: money and the Pope.

So, what about a destination wedding? Breckenridge, Colorado is quite beautiful and is special to my family. Just a thought.

But then there’s always the fact that many people won’t be able to come and that’s no fun. Sigh and hmm.

I kinda wanna elope.

So, seeing that my friend Brett is doing so well with his “other” (non-personal) blog, The Cranking Widgets Blog (a Getting Things Done/productivity-centric blog), I thought I’d try one out as well and see how I fared. Much like he’s filling a niche that he saw, I’m going to try and do the same.

Oddly enough up until about 8 or 9 years ago I was really not much of a sports fan at all, yet here I am introducing Bayou City Sports Blog (BCSB), a blog I’m going to maintain which will report on news items regarding Houston-area sports and also have opinion pieces strewn about. Really right now I haven’t seen anything that fits that niche. There are some of the Chronicle columnists’ blogs, but those are pretty poorly structured and often only focused on one or two teams.

For now the layout is only so-so, as I just threw a theme on WordPress that seemed halfway-decent and made some very minor tweaks. I’ll work on making a logo and fixing up the layout a bit more, though mainly I’m going to focus on getting a good stream of content going and getting the word out. So, tell any Houston sports nut fans you know about it, and if they want to help write for it, have them drop me a line (there’s an email address on the “About” page on the site).

I’ve spent my first week as an engaged woman suffering from searing back pain. After 3 doctors appointments and 2 series of x-rays, today I saw the rheumatolologist. I got an IV of steroids, so I am feeling somewhat better, though not good enough to do the Dance of Joy, a la Perfect Strangers, which is what I want to do. When the nurse was putting in the IV I finally lost it and started sobbing that I was in so much pain and all I wanted to do was be happy about marrying Danny and the nurse was so sweet and put her arm around my shoulder and let me cry. I felt SO MUCH better after it was all done.

So it seems I probably have arthritis in my spine now, which is totally new for me. I’ll have to get an MRI to make sure, but if so, I’ll have to change my treatment. Not a huge deal, but I can’t really be having this week-long, debilitating pain willy-nilly for the rest of my life. In my SPINE? Danny has got his hands full with me, man. I am soooooo lucky he puts up with this!

I’ll do that Dance of Joy as soon as I can Thank you for all your warm wishes. We already have our Flower Girl. JoJoBean, of course! And we have a Maid of Honor, my best friend Carrie Holtzman of Atlanta, GA. AND we also have a Junior Bridesmaid (I made it up): Maddie, my 9 year old cousin. She’ll be partnered with Junior Groomsman cousin Sammy, 10. Cousin Christopher, 7, is the Ring Bearer. The kids are ECSTATIC. There was screaming on the phone from more than one.

A few weeks ago at Easter, Christopher was bugging Danny to propose to me, so apparently Danny told him the secret plan to propose on the 16th, which happens to be Christopher’s birthday. Buddy Boo-BooHead kept a good secret! He’s adorable.

I am all sentimental and full of love, so here are some photos to enjoy:

Boo-Boo and his Noonie

Maddie and Sammy, unfortunately looking away but very sweet together

Joelle and her Noonie

Noonie and Elise

This is MA GRRRL, Kegs Holtzwoman!

And finally, the future Mr. and Mrs. DiPaolo, appropriately, at a wedding:

One more, at another wedding:

Danny proposed to me on Monday, April 16 and of course, I said yes!

We have no idea when the wedding will be, but not for at least a year. I have to figure out Catholic stuff. But I am absolutely giddy. Danny and I have always known we would spend our lives together, but now it’s official. I am going to be Mrs. Danny DiPaolo!

The civil cermony of Gabe and Melissa (Sanchez) Garcia! Melissa has been one of my best friends since freshman year when we were suitemates.

This is “The Girls”: Sara, Mel, Meg, Emilie, and Kim. That dress has this billowy effect that makes me look fat, dammit. Never wearing it again!