Flower Girl

I got married in 2001. I had three flower girls, because three of Jeremy's cousins were the perfect age, and all equally adorable. Who could choose?

Earlier this year, Jeremy's aunt gave me back one of the flower girl dresses, because she thought it was just about the right size for Valerie, now. It still looked brand-new. I hung it in the closet, wondering what special occasion might merit such a special dress.

Then Jeremy's cousin's fiancée asked me if Valerie would be in their wedding. "She can wear whatever she wants, it's up to you." I ran home, and tried the flower girl dress on her. It fit! It was a teensy bit too big, but by the time the wedding day rolled around, she had grown just enough. You would have thought I had bought it for her!

Note to brides: If you want an unofficial second shooter for your wedding, let your flower girl wear her mother's flower girl's dress.

I was going to write a whole post about all of the emotions that I felt watching my daughter wear that dress. Watching her spin around so the dress would flare out. Watching her oh so carefully place the petals on the path for the bride. But I can't seem to get it right. So here are a bunch of pictures, instead.

June Road Trip Photo Post

There is quite a blog post backlog in my brain right now, and I think it's time I started just throwing stuff up here to make room for coherent thoughts in case they ever decide to make a reappearance. Until then, photos and half-formed sentences.

Ten years ago (June 9, 2001), Jeremy and I got married. We spent the first two nights of our married life at a lovely B&B with a king-sized bed. It seemed ridiculously large.

Ten years later, we stayed at a hotel in Buffalo for my cousin's wedding. It had a king-sized bed, which now seemed to be just the right size.



Classic family picture at the wedding reception - Half of us look okay.



We had some friends watch the girls at the hotel for the second half of the wedding reception so we could go back and enjoy some kid-free time. (Which, for Mama means dancing, and for Daddy means playing with the settings on the camera. Win-win, because he got some pretty good dancing pictures.)



On Sunday, we drove Jeremy to the train station so he could go back to work on Monday, then the girls and I bounced around Western New York for a few more days.

We spent the day in Niagara Falls with my friend Sarah. Both girls fell asleep. (Valerie slept in the stroller for FOUR HOURS!)





Then we went to visit my friend Nicki, who has five sons, a farm, and a baby girl 2 days younger than Dorothy.



I let the older boys play with my camera, and they took hundreds of pictures, some of which were pretty good.





And there is so much more I would like to say, but I need to finish this quickly or it will never get done (like the other version of it that has been sitting in my drafts folder for weeks). Here's to good times with the best kind of family and friends - the kind you can go months without seeing but pick up right where you left off without missing a beat. I love you guys!

P.S. There are way more pictures than this up on Flickr. Click on the black and white farm photo to see the slideshow.

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back

Well, I'm back at home after spending a week at my sister's house in Vermont and a weekend in Ottawa for my ten-year high school reunion. I have loads to say, and, for the moment, have no idea where to start saying them. Until then, here are two more pictures from the wedding I went to two weekends ago (sent to me by my sister-in-law, who felt sorry for me and my lack of photos of myself from the wedding).

Jeremy and I, being silly as usual:


The Davis clan, now with a third generation!
From left: Jeremy (my husband), Jule Ann (me), Jill (my mom), Eric (my sister's husband), Trish (my brother's wife), Benjie (my brother).
Front: Alana (my sister) holding Nicholas (my nephew/her son).

Weekend Redux (with pictures!)

Thanks to fortuitous timing (okay, fine, it was mostly deliberate), I find myself with nearly three weeks of "vacation" between the closing of one chapter in my work life and the opening of the next. I'm loving the break. And of course, in true Jule Ann form, I have packed the break so full of activity that I will probably be more tired when it is all over than I was to begin with. But that's just the way I am.

To be fair, several of my planned activities involve relaxation. I spent most of the afternoon last Wednesday at the pool with Ali to start things off, and it was blissful. Then, on Thursday, Ally and I went thrift store shopping, because I needed a dress to wear to a wedding this weekend. I found a great dress, and had a great time. I also found an awesome corset, which, of course, I purchased, because there is a moral imperative to buy a corset that actually fits you when you find it for $4.50.

As an aside, for the curious, and/or for those who think that I am simply an inconsistent speller: I do have two different friends whose names sound like a small street, and one spells her name Ali and the other spells her name Ally. Which either clears up or adds to the confusion, I'm not sure which, but I like to think it's the former. I was going to attempt to clear up / add to the confusion even more by posting some pictures of me with Ally and me with Ali, but I somehow can't seem to find a picture of me with Ali, so here is one I stole from Ali's Facebook:


And here is one of me with Ally:


And now, back to our story.

Jeremy took Friday and Monday off of work in order to make this weekend a nice, long one. Friday we drove up to my mom's cousin's cottage at Silver Lake, Western New York. We were hoping to get there in time for some lakeside relaxing / swimming, but we got a late start, took a long lunch break, and then arrived at the Lake at about the same time as a huge windstorm, which dropped the temperature to well below comfortable swimming temperatures. Fortunately, we also arrived at the cottage only a few minutes after my brother and his wife, so we had a nice visit with them before heading up to my uncle's house at about 7:30 for the after-rehearsal-dinner party.

It was nice seeing everyone at my uncle's house, even if everyone else was mostly pre-occupied with last-minute wedding preparations, which it was kindof nice to not be part of for once. I was mostly pre-occupied with meeting my nephew, Nicholas, for the first time. Such a cutie. Here, have a picture:


Actually, that picture was from Saturday, because I was too busy holding him and cuddling him and loving him to take any pictures on Friday. So, why don't we skip to Saturday in the narrative, so that I can post the rest of the pictures.

Saturday morning was nice and relaxing. We all fought over took turns holding Nicholas, until he and Jeremy fell peacefully asleep together on the couch, and no one had the nerve to disturb them.


The wedding on Saturday was beautiful, but my camera sucks, so none of my ceremony pictures turned out. We sat in the back row with Alana and Nicholas to keep them company while Eric was taking pictures, which meant that we were the last people to be released from the church. So, we did what bored people do, and took pictures. Here is one of Nicholas with Grandma Jill:


And here is one of me kissing Jeremy, which I am including in part because it is fun, and in part because it is the only one I have of myself from this weekend:


After the wedding, I accompanied my sister to the nursery while Eric was taking the wedding party photographs, which really doesn't add anything to this story other than context for this picture of Alana and Nicholas:


The reception was held on my uncle's property, in a pole barn that was constructed specifically for this occasion. In case you ever wondered about my tendency to take on enormous projects that sound like a great idea at the time, end up being more work than I thought they would be, nearly drive me crazy trying to get them done, and then end up being finished just barely in the nick of time, this is proof that I come by this trait honestly, through my father's DNA. The building was gorgeous, perfect, and completed mere days before the wedding:


And yes, for the more observant car enthusiasts among you, that is a 2007 Mustang convertible that Alistair and Heidi made their entrance in. With "Final Countdown" playing in the background. My family is awesome.

There was a lego competition, and our table's entry, an homage to the word "poop", earned honorable mention. There was a wedding cake on every table, which enabled my Aunt Ester (the one who brought the parachute to my wedding) to dig a little hole in our cake for Mr. Mouse to set up his home.


And, while we're on the topic of cake, here is the only picture I got of the bride and groom that is even remotely good enough to post (I really need a new camera):


What was that? You want another picture of Nicholas? Okay, here is one of him with his Auntie Trish:


Alright, this post is getting to be pretty long, so I will rush through the rest of the weekend. We got to spend some quality after-wedding time with the extended family, and said our goodbyes to everyone but my mom on Sunday morning. Then we headed to my mom's sister's house with her to have lunch and visit with my mom's side of the family. It was especially nice to see my cousin Sean and his wife Melody, along with their four boys, who are about twice as big as they were the last time I saw them.

And then, in case we hadn't packed enough into one long weekend, we stopped by Liverpool on the way home to see Dora and Scott and their boys, whom I also hadn't seen since they were about half the size they are now. It was a really nice visit, and it was really great seeing them all again. Hopefully, now that they are only four hours away, we will see more of them in the future.

Star-Studded Weekend

Friday night, I made star-shaped meatloaf. And star-shaped biscuits. And I attempted to make star-shaped cucumbers, but they fell apart.

Unfortunately, I was then too tired to go to a 10 pm showing of Stardust. So I went to bed.

And I cleaned the house for five hours on Saturday. Which sadly doesn't involve any stars. But Saturday falls in the middle of the rest of my weekend story, so there you go.

Church picnic on Saturday afternoon didn't involve any stars, either. But it did involve me going into my pastor's pool fully clothed.

Saturday night I made flan for Dan and Ally. And it wasn't star-shaped, either, unless stars are yellowish tasty blobs of goo and caramelized sugar. Which they might actually be. I don't know. I've never tasted a real star.

But I did go see Stardust on Sunday afternoon with Jeremy's family. And I loved it. It instantly went in my top ten favorite movies of all time. Right alongside the Princess Bride. There are now two amazingly awesome fairy tale movies out there to choose from.

And to round things off, we went to the secludedest field we could find with a bunch of friends and family on Sunday night to watch the Perseid meteor shower. And we saw one really good meteor, and a few little ones, but then the clouds moved in and kept us from seeing anything remotely close to the promised meteor-a-minute. But meteors or not, it was fun to spend an evening in a dark field with friends. Just don't trip over the hose.

Actually, that didn't even round things off completely. Monday night, I worked at Starbucks, which is starrish, too, and therefore may be tacked onto my starful weekend. It was an important shift, too, because it was the last time I will ever be working at Starbucks as a barista.

And today involved no stars, although I am wearing my star t-shirt, and I am sure I could come up with some sort of star metaphor for working my last day at the law office. But I won't. Feel free to make up your own metaphors: I am on vacation.

Stage one of my vacation: Laying by the pool with Ali tomorrow.

And then, this weekend, at my cousin's wedding in Rochester, I will finally get to meet my newest nephew, Nicholas. Yay!

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Long Overdue Update

You know how they say that it takes three weeks to form a habit? So, if you brush your teeth every morning for three weeks, it will become a habit, and you will brush your teeth every morning automatically? Or if you run for 25 miles every morning for three weeks, you will run for 25 miles every morning automatically? It's not true. At least not for me. When I started my job at the law office, I brewed a pot of coffee every morning for almost a month, then one day, I slept in, and the habit disappeared. Just like that. Now I get my coffee from a fast food restaurant. No, I won't tell you which one. But I have tasted around, and I like it the best from this place. Anyhow, I'm the same way with blogging. I get in a groove, blogging regularly, then something happens, I slip out of the habit, and it takes me ages to get back into the groove. I should take up smoking. I bet I would forget to smoke one day, then suddenly be completely unaddicted.

So, my job at the law office. It's going pretty well. I think I'm pretty good at it, I get along with the other people in my office, and it's interesting and challenging work. But I'm really not happy. There is a stereotype in the work-a-day world that somehow, in the progression of growing up and getting more respectable jobs, customer service is low on the totem pole, and eventually, you have to grow up and get an office job. It's a pretty widely accepted assumption, and if you're ever in thr position to review resumes to fill a soon-to-be vacant office staff position, you will notice that a large percentage of the applicants have job histories that start with things like restaurant or retail, work their way up through telemarketing, and eventually settle into office work. I guess part of the reason for that is that a lot of people don't really want to work in customer service positions, they just get stuck there because they have few other options entering the job market at 16 years old with no qualifications.

But you know what? I want to work in customer service. I like people. Being around people energizes me. When I stop to get my coffee in the morning, I pull past the drive-through and into a parking space, simply because going into the restaurant and speaking face-to-face with my cashier makes me feel more connected in the world. I know that probably makes me weird, but I feel like I could make a lifelong career of serving people. So, long story made slightly shorter: I actually never quit my job at Starbucks when I took the law office job. I've been working occasional shifts there, in part because I missed the awesome people I worked with, in part because I wanted to stay up-to-date on the new drinks and products (aside: the new oven-warmed sandwiches are awesome), and, in a big part because those shifts at Starbucks thoroughly brightened my week because they let me interact with people on a larger scale than what I encounter in a small law office. (Another part of keeping myself in the Starbucks loop is that I think Starbucks is a great company, and if I am going to make a career of serving people someday, I honestly can't think of any company I would rather do that with.)

And there I go breaking Dooce's First Rule of Blogging, talking about my job on my blog. But I don't think I have said anything here that I am (or should be) ashamed of, and I definitely am not sharing any secrets.

As for the non-job portions of my life, I may have to come back with a fuller update later, since I need to get to work soon. My beautifully pregnant sister is due in two weeks, but today is my day in the baby pool, so send labor vibes her way for me! My husband is loving his computer geek job, and seems to have really found his groove there. My housemates' wedding was last weekend, and after a very stressful rehearsal day wherein we kept losing essential people, the wedding went off beautifully. We really enjoyed our houseguests, and I was only a little bit sad but mostly relieved that we ended up with only three people staying with us instead of eight. I was especially sad to drive Brian's best men back to the airport, because Portland is a long way away, and I feel like they were totally the kind of guys we could be great friends with. Bitsy almost died on me, and I got scolded by the oil change guys for letting her transmission fluid go completely dry. I have realized that I have no place owning a car, and really don't know the first thing about regular car maintenance. Any advice on this front would be greatly appreciated. Like, for example, how often should I be checking my fluid levels? Someone asked me if a 20-year-old was my daughter, so apparently, the weight I have lost this summer was all in the parts of me that make me look young. I made a trip, by myself, up to Ottawa to see some old friends and Canada Day fireworks. It made me very sad to see how out of the Ottawa loop, well, out of almost every loop, I have been for the past year or so. It was nice to see Geoff and Marg and their adorable twins, though, and to spend some quality time with my brother and his wife. Perhaps, in another post, I can also attempt to explore my bizarre mental state, in which almost everything I do seems to be both sad and nice, like my trip to Ottawa. Until then, know that I miss you all, appreciate your love and support, and wish I was a better blogger.

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