#16

Sixteen years ago, this is where I was.



Most of the day is a blur now, but I remember laughter. My husband made me laugh the whole day. When I got up to the altar, both of us were shaking a little. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little change purse, decorated in fake tiger fur. "Rawr", he whispered, an inside joke that made laugh and instantly relax. Then, after, he showed me his socks. Look at his socks! He's a funny guy.

That's why this was our wedding song. Because we both have wicked senses of humor, and so does Lyle Lovett.



Beautiful, sweet melody, winding all around these lyrics.

She hates my mama
She hates my daddy too
She loves to tell me
She hates the things I do
She loves to lie beside me
Almost every night
She's no lady she's my wife

The preacher asked her
And she said I do
The preacher asked me
And she said yes he does too
And the preacher said
I pronounce you 99 to life
Son she's no lady she's your wife

And I can't remember
How I met her
Seems like she's always just been hanging here off my right arm
And I can't remember
How I ever
Thought that I just couldn't live without a woman's charm

And even though
She loves the smell of French perfume
And even though
She walks around in high-heel shoes
All I know
Is I'm the one who pays her price
Man she's no lady she's my wife

And I can't remember
How I met her
Seems like she's always just been hanging here off my right arm
And I can't remember
How I ever
Thought that I just couldn't live without a woman's charm

Yea she hates my mama
She hates my daddy too
She loves to tell me
She hates the things I do
She loves to lie beside me
Almost every night
She's no lady she's my wife


Heehee. Funny Lyle, funny Husband.

Still my favorite series of photos from that day.








Happy Anniversary, honey. Again. Now let's go eat some grilled meatloaf. Again.

Sugar High

This is the "candy bowl" at work. It's a freaking table of junk food, people. And I often spend an hour or two in meetings sitting in the tiny open space in front.

So you can imagine how well I am eating, right? I can't even eat the one healthy thing on the table, as I am allergic to raw apples.

Anyway, I am swooping in to answer some questions that came up in comments, and to generally kvetch about things. That's why you guys are here, right? Not for the fashion? :)

1. San asked about my wedding dress: it was a vintage dress from the late 50s/early 60s. I know now it's all the rage to wear vintage, but back in 1996, it was pretty rare. Truth be told, we went vintage because it was all we could afford at the time. When we renew our vows (an idle threat I hang over Hubby's head every couple of years) I'm going for broke in a new, modern, expensive dress. :)

The funniest part about the dress I wore is that there was a tear in the sleeve when I bought it, so my soon-to-be-mother-in-law offered to redo the sleeves for me. We brought it to Detroit for her to repair, and as soon as she saw it, she went running into her bedroom. She came out with HER wedding picture...in pretty much the same dress! LOL!!

It was made out of, um, I don't know, pretty thick and sturdy material, and it did have embroidered flowers on the front skirt. The front was also embroidered and had scalloped edging right at my neck. My mother-in-law did an amazing job finding fabric that matched the color and weight of the dress exactly for the sleeves, and she replaced the originals with something a little wider on the upper arms that came down to a point in the middle of my hand. I kvetch about the dress sometimes because it wasn't my dream dress, it just fit into our slim budget, but it was really pretty and it's stood up in the test of time. 

I had it preserved and boxed up, so if anyone wants a dress from 50 years ago, I got one for ya!

2. Anne asked if we were married at St. Ben's. Nope, it was Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Belmont. We lived in Lakeview back then.

3. Several people commented from my weekend posts that they would love to visit Chicago. I would love to show you around...but you better get here within a couple of weeks. As soon as it hits winter, it's a whole other ballgame, and winter here lasts until almost May. But our summers and falls make up for it.

4. Speaking of fall, I think the Indian summer is over, but we still have our windows open. Open! I am guessing we will start closing them this weekend. But the cool breeze and fresh air in the house is kind of nice for now.

5. I gave myself the week off from taking blog photos, but you haven't missed much. Remixes of dress combos you've seen, and me lamenting that all my pants are in the laundry. I am definitely heading into a pants revival this fall. A few more are on order from Gap; they had a big sale last week.

6. I have been vocal about my disdain for the furry vest trend, but the fur may have the last laugh in the end. I have also become completely obsessed about getting a faux-fur jacket this winter! I have a zillion tabs open that I need to pin up on Pinterest, but I am torn between getting something with a fur collar versus going all-fur. I really don't spend a ton of time outside in the winter, since I am a suburban commuter, so technically I could get a trendy type jacket like that and be a-okay.

Crazy, right? Someone talk me out of this!

My Wedding Retrospective

Fifteen years ago today, I married my best friend.





Most brides have dreams about their weddings; for us, it was the groom who did. He organized the whole thing. Keep in mind, 15 years ago was before the internet. We had to go to each hotel to get their catering package, had to book everything via phone and got our recommendation word of mouth. Heck, our pictures are from before the digital era; we thought we were getting such a deal when the photographer gave us the negatives along with the prints. Negatives!

My husband designed and created the lovely invitations; it opened like a book, and the invitation was sitting inside.





Getting ready for the wedding was a blast; two of my best college girlfriends flew out to help me, my parents, and my sisters at the house. My hairdresser Chuck came and did my hair and makeup. Man, I miss Chuck.





Me and my sister K. She was my matron of honor. Isn't her hair so pretty? And BIG. Boy, 1996 was still an era of Very Big Hair.






Getting me into my dress was a multi-person affair.







Me and my Dad. Sniffle.




Then it was time to leave for the wedding. We rented a trolley to bring us everywhere all day. It was pretty cool seeing passersby's amazed looks of me in my dress in the back.







Hubby and his best friend, our Best Man, anxiously awaited my arrival.





I remember when my dad and I were waiting in the foyer, some random visitor started to open the giant door behind us so they could come into the church. I spun on them and gritted through my teeth, "Not now." My dad could not stop laughing as they slunk back out the door. FEAR THE BRIDE.

Then we were off!





Then we got married.







Then there were lots of pictures in the church. It was a lovely church. Hubby and I goofed around a bit on the altar, waiting between pictures. We didn't know until the photographer gave us the shots that she had captured this moment. It's sort of still the way we are.







The reception was a blur. I think everyone had fun. I do remember dancing (and crying) with my dad...



...and throwing the bouquet. The only little girl at the wedding caught it. (She is in her mid-twenties now. OMG.)







Fifteen years. It's just amazing to me. I can't imagine my life with anyone else.

And he's still my best friend.

Anniversary weekend: Saturday

After our lovely evening downtown on Friday, we kept to our regular schedule and woke up insanely early (6:30, whoo we slept in) on Saturday. Good thing too, because we jammed a lot of stuff into the day! I had 3 outfit changes! (Not entirely my fault; the weather shot up and was in the 80s most of day. Of course, I didn't exactly pack for that warm a day, so I did some frantic last-minute shopping. Gee, what a hardship, being forced to shop on Michigan Avenue! I soldiered through.)

The view from our hotel window, early morning. That sliver of beach is Oak Street Beach. The greatest part of downtown Chicago is the proximity to the lake, and the miles of parks and beaches all along that lakefront. There is only one residential building on the east side of Lake Shore Drive, everything else is free and open to everyone.




First we went walking around the area, looking for a breakfast place. We didn't find anything we liked, but we did have fun poking fun at the Currency Exchange and riding the elevators in the hotel. Currency Exchanges are places where you can cash your paycheck (for a fee), or pay your electric bill (for a fee), or get a money order (for a fee). They're complete ripoffs, but many people use them instead of banks. They're definitely something unique to the inner city; the first time my dad saw one on a visit, he asked me if there were a lot of people exchanging foreign money around. But the best part is, I don't think they offer that service! I went in once with some Canadian money, and they looked at me, baffled. My parents had sent my husband a check for his birthday, and he hadn't cashed it yet. So we texted them this photo, of him trying to cash a personal check (which they won't honor) at the currency exchange. LOL!



Our hotel. Fancy!




The Drake has couches in several of its elevators; my husband was so excited every time we got one that had it installed.




Finally we found the restaurant in the hotel, which had an outstanding breakfast buffet. Fluffiest silver-dollar pancakes I have had in my life! I had some of those, and a couple of bowls of super-fresh fruit with fatfree yogurt and granola. I knew it would be slim pickin's on veggies and fruit the rest of the day, so I ate as much as I could in the morning.

We headed back out for a walk along the lake after breakfast. Hubby had attempted in the room to take a couple of outfit photos for me, but apparently he doesn't have much experience holding the camera as they were some of the blurriest photos I have ever seen.



Haha! This one turned out much better.



This is in a small park across the street from the hotel. We could see it from our table at breakfast; it was so cute and inviting we couldn't wait to check it out!








At the end of the park was the pedway under Lake Shore Drive to the beach. As we came out to the bike path, there were some murals on the wall. A la Tabitha, I had Hubby take a few more shots for the blog.



A rare dupa shot.





Hee!

The bike path was gorgeous, with lots of views of the lake and everyone. We sat and enjoyed the sights for a bit.







Hubby had a pipe while we sat. I took a self-portrait of us. Someday I will figure out how to take one of these that does not emphasize all my chins.



By then it was 10am and the stores were open. Hurray! We hit Nordstrom Rack, and H&M, and all the stores in the Water Tower Mall. There was a fabulous Lego Store. LEGOS!!!!!!








I love huge displays like this. The background was all Legos too!





They had a full-size- Lego minifig.



And Woody!



Had to head back to the room and change after that, since the temperatures had zoomed up. I changed into a new tank top I had just bought at Macys. Wish I had thought to pack my shorts and walking sandals too!




Back out on the street, there were several different art pieces as tributes. Not sure what the purple ribbons in the tree were...




...but the t-shirts on the poles were in honor of the 77 children killed during last year's school year.



It was a really gorgeous day. People were so happy to be out enjoying the weather.




But soon it was time to get ready for dinner. We changed, again, finally getting dressed up. We had reservations at the Cape Cod Room in the hotel, so we went for drinks first at the Coq d'Or bar in the hotel first. Hubby did get a nice picture at last of me in my dress.



Dinner was delicious. I started with their famous Bookbinder soup (red tomato based with red snapper fish pieces), then had the Drake Crab Cakes with shaved asparagus and purple potatoes. No photos, but when the maitre d' brought out a special anniversary dessert, I had to take one of that. We also ordered cheesecake which was one of the most delicious I have ever had. I am so used to every place in Chicago serving those bricks from Eli's, to have a fluffy homemade cheesecake was a revelation.




We wandered back out to Michigan Avenue for a walk again after dinner, but mostly just sat in the little park by the Water Tower and did some people-watching and enjoying the still-warm weather.







Tomorrow: the Chicago Marathon!