Open Letter to 2009

Dear 2009,

I am sorry to see you go, since it was a pretty decent year for me. Sure, the country continues to be a mess and I have more than one unemployed friend these days, but selfishly speaking you were good to me, if comparatively uneventful. Maybe even a little boring, but really I can live without any drama for a little while.

We started the year off great with a beautiful trip to the Mayan Riviera. I loved the place we stayed so much I am considering a return visit for our 2010 honeymoon. But we'll see about that. It was warm, the food was good, and the beach was nothing short of spectacular. Man, I could use a little sun right about now.

In March, Damir and I finally found the place to host our wedding. Woo-hoo! We successfully narrowed a list of over 300 places down to 1. The trip down to FL was short, but successful. In just a week I am heading back down for my 2nd visit, this time with my Mom for some on-site planning. Hopefully I will get a lot done! I learned this year that wedding planning more or less sucks in general. I will be glad to be done with all the details and look forward to an imperfect but wonderful destination wedding.

Work was good. Busy. I got some new projects I am looking forward to taking on.

The highlight for 2009 comes down to a tie: First, becoming an East Coast Auntie to Erin and Tom's twins has been so amazing! I was lucky to get up to Boston almost every month to see those two cuties. I wish I was just around the corner in my old apartment in Back Bay, but then again, they'd probably pester me to babysit all the time, so it's just as well (j/k). I can't wait to see them grow and grow, but love this baby stage a lot! The other highlight has been solidifying friendships with Michelle and Paulina. Having 2 local girlfriends has been a big boost to my LI quality of life. I am starting to feel like LI is more than just a temporary rest-stop and maybe an actual, gasp, home. Life on the home front still isn't all I want it to be, but I am adapting.

2009, you've got a lot of competition in 2010 in terms of being memorable year, but I thank you for being so good to me. Cheers!

XOXO
Interravision.

Pretzels are the New Bagels? Yes, Please!

Check out the above sandwich is Bresaola, Arugula, Mustard and Mayonnaise on a sesame pretzel. How yummy does that look? It comes from the brand new Sigmund Pretzel Shop on the Lower East Side. Ingenious! I never thought about making a pretzel into sandwich bread before. I will have to somehow try that at home-- I just have to figure out how to make pretzels first. No sweat, right?

Another Shocking Admission.

I am starting to actually like Long Island.

WHHHATTT? I never thought it would happen, but it is slowly growing on me. Here's why:

1) The commute to the city everyday still sucks, but it is a much happier commute now that I have my train friends, Paulina and Michelle. We love to annoy the rest of sedate train folk with our lively chatter in the mornings. And when the girls aren't with me, I am finding new ways to make that time well spent (thanks mostly to NPR podcasts).

2) Speaking of Paulina and Michelle, it's great to have finally built up some solid friendships. The three of us never run out of things to talk about! Having someone to run errands with, meet for brunch or drinks, or just a quiet dinner is really life-changing for me here. REALLY. LIFE. CHANGING.


3) There is so much to explore on Long Island! The plethora of state and local parks, cute towns, surprisingly tasty wineries, great beaches... I feel like I could be here a while and still not get bored with the variety of day trips that await me. Looks at all the parks and recreation! I still have a long list of places I want to see.

4) Rockville Centre itself really isn't that bad. I can walk to the gym, the grocery store, restaurants of various cuisines, the post-office, nail & hair salons, the train station and numerous fun bars and pubs. I love that we have cars that get us further afield, but having the option to walk to local watering holes is excellent. PLUS, it really is a town where people can get to know you. I like that I am greeted by name at many of the places where I run errands. Its still an adjustments after living center-city in Boston and Amsterdam, but being away from the hustle and bustle has a few advantages.

5)I wanted to have a 5th element here, since a list of 4 things really isn't that impressive. But seriously, it's all working out just fine over here, despite all the wedding/family stress of late. I don't know that I will ever feel like NY is my "home", since in a lot of ways I feel more like an outsider here than I did living abroad. Maybe that just takes a little more time. And since there's no plan to move anywhere else in the short term, I guess we'll find out if that's true or not!

On a happier note...

I lost 20 pounds! YAYYYYY!

Sure, there's more to be done in that regard, but I am feeling better than I have in a long time about my appearance.

PLUS, ladies with thick unruly hair, you MUST get this product called Moroccan Hair Oil. It has changed my life. Seriously. It's not cheap, but you can find it cheaper than what's listed on Amazon. A little goes a long way, so it will last a long time.

What's Up with My Wedding?

I had promised that I wouldn't bore you with wedding planning crap, but I have to get this out there: Lately I am kind of dreading my own wedding.

There, I said it. The ugly truth is out there.

Being kind of an event/travel planning control freak has not aided me in this process. I want a hand in everything, but from far away this is proving difficult. And annoying. And painstaking. And expensive. And so overwhelming to the point where I just want to bury my head in the sand.

But what's really doing me is are my anxieties and my expect-the-worst-scenario-nature that are really getting the best of me.

A summary of my worries:

I am worried that no one will dance.

I am worried I am picking the wrong vendors (DJ, photographer, flowers, etc.)

I am worried that everything will fall apart and everyone will point fingers at me and call me a bad person/wedding planner.

I am worried that my family and Damir's family won't find the middle ground to come together and have a good time.

I am worried that I will trip and fall while walking down the grassy aisle.

I am worried that I am making people travel a long distance for something they don't really want to go to.

I am worried that it will suck.

I am worried no one will like to food (and not having a chance to do a pre-tasting doesn't help that worry)

I am worried I won't look my best (humidity + Terra's Hair = NOOOO!)

I am worried we won't get the wording of the ceremony right, or people will think it's cheesy.

I am worried Damir will regret that I talked him into this type of wedding.

I am worried that we will be so busy feeling the need to host all our guests and meeting their needs that we will not be able to focus on the importance of what we are doing for each other, you know, getting married.

I am worried that I will be worried.

And finally, I am worried that my friends are pissed that we are keeping the guest list to just the family. It was a really hard compromise/concession we had to make, but ultimately unavoidable for us. I hope they know that I love them deeply and this shouldn't be a reflection of the value of our friendship. Hopefully they're delighted it's one less wedding to have to go to.

Should I just cancel the whole thing and call it a day? I don't think that's the answer, because I do believe in my heart that I can make this work. I am just in the weeds right now and at some point the puzzle pieces will join and the day will be beautiful and exactly what I wanted, or at least mostly so.

Facebook Killed the Radio Blog.

Ever since Facebook came along and provided a faster vehicle to share bits of information, the blog here has fallen to the wayside. It's harder and harder to sit down and formulate, you know, complete sentences and full paragraphs, when a one-liner more or less sums it all up.

Status Update: Terra is too busy to find the time to Blog.

It makes me sad in some ways, though, since I really really like the process of writing out stories and updates. I should get back to it. So, why wait? RIGHT NOW, I am going to bust out a few entries. Or at least one.

August already?

Sad. I can't believe it is already August 1st. I don't feel like the summer has even begun yet since the weather has been consistantly so terrible. Rain rain rain. Even now as I type this (from my dad's boat docked in Huntington), I can hear the rain outside. It is really pissing me off. I keep wanting to yell in the mode of Samuel Jackson on Snakes on a Plane: "I've had it with this motherfucking rain this motherfucking summer!" (sorry for the profanity, kids).

I have not even accomplished half of my list of things to accomplish this summer.

But tomorrow, while taking advantage of the parental units in town, we are going wedding dress shopping. YAY! Ok, I admit, that YAY is somewhat forced since I am sort of dreading this process. Why, you ask?

1) Wedding dresses are supremely overpriced.
2) I don't want to deal with any bullshit games where they rip out the tags showing the designer, play silly negotiation games, or over promise and under deliver. Why are alterations so costly if you are having just minor changes made? I don't get it.
3) I am worried that I will either hate every style, or just hate how every style looks on me in particular.

We'll see how it goes. I am expecting the worst and praying for the best, so I figure I really can't lose here. Just hoping for a sunny day tomorrow so I don't look like a wet cat trying on those dresses.