Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A Mountain Wedding

This Saturday I was privileged to witness the marriage of one of my dearest friends, KY and her new hubby, Nik.
The wedding took place at Fontaine Vineyards in Leicester, NC (pronounced "Lester" for you non-native Western NC peeps). This vineyard is obviously a well kept secret! It was stunning. Off in the distance you were able to (just barely!) see the Asheville skyline off in the distance. I spoke with Nik about it and he said that they just stumbled across it online. What a lucky stumble!
I was able to snap a few pictures with my phone, so I will supplement my story with a few pictures.

8:00am - Belle wakes up and tries to become coherent in the morning hours while attempting the whole makeup, blow-drying the hair thing. Normally, not a problem - but I went to bed late due to a marathon of The Nanny. Addicted!

9:15am - FINALLY done! Attempt to take a photo for Twitter and end up with this:

Just another photo to add to the collection of "I am incapable of taking a normal face so therefor I must make a funny zoolander smirk in every self portrait" pictures.

9:30 - Annie arrives with fresh Starbucks and we are on our way! It is a 2+ hour drive through the mountains to hit Asheville where we head to Hops and Vines to pick up some nifty gifties for the KY/NH nuptials.

12:00 - I purchase a bumper sticker that says, "Save the Ales"
I then continue to giggle about said bumper sticker for about 10 minutes.

12:15 - Annie and I eat a DELICIOUS lunch at the West A-ville market and begin the trek over to the Vineyards.

**Despite the fact that Annie and I have both lived in Asheville/Leicester for quite some time during our past, we had never been this far out. I may or may not have started a Captain's Log *stardate 3.14159* for our uncharted territory. **

12:45 - After coaxing my car up windy, gravel, treacherous roads... We are the first to arrive at the vineyard and just take in the scenery until others begin to arrive. Again... stunning. They could not have picked a more perfect place for their wedding. They also could not have planned a better day! No clouds, low 80s, sweet smelling air and NO HAZE!! so that the blue ridge could be seen in all it's glory.


1:00 - The rest of the helpers arrive and we start unloading cars and working our magic over the ceremony and reception site.
My pre-setup jobs included:
  • Unloading boxes
  • Placing tablecloths on tables
  • unpacking vases, votive holders and candles
  • placing said votives on tables
  • sprinkling flower petals anywhere I deemed worthy of sprinkling
  • lining the aisle with gorgeous yellow rose petals mixes with purple iris petals (you can see a tiny bit of this handiwork in the picture above!)
  • Tying purple ribbons around the not-so-beautiful white bows that came with the ceremony site.
Let me just say, by the end of the 2 hours, we were ALL soaked in sweat, dirt and looked gorgeous. Though, you could not find a happier group of people. We were all so happy to be there helping out our friends.
There was one bathroom with no lock. Annie and I took turns changing in said bathroom while standing guard for each other. I put on my makeup while sitting in the groom's car and looking in the rearview mirror. :)
My favorite part of the day - putting on my shimmer lotion. I felt like a Cullen stepping into the sunshine. I was glittering! Thank you, Clinique Happy Shimmer Lotion!

3:45p - Annie, Dominic, Clara, Adam and I venture out to the ceremony site where we all then break off to go hug and visit with old friends. It was SO nice to see everyone join together for Kristen and Nik! It is always a joy to see my opera friends! Made me miss it even more!

4:00p - Ceremony starts right on time - thanks to P.J. and her awesomeness! :) Nik looked handsome in his suit and Kristen was a vision! I mean, stunning... and absolutely glowing with happiness! :0) The connection between them was electric. I do not have pics from the ceremony, I decided that I would just enjoy and not worry about getting the perfect shot! The ceremony was gorgeous and ended with Adam singing the Irish Blessing... could not have been more perfect.

4:30p - Annie and I (and all other helpers) pretty much bolt from the ceremony site to our reception helper positions.
My duties included:
  • Manning the lemonade/mint water beverage bar
  • All things ice bowl related
  • Lighting votive candles on tables
  • making sure P.J. remembered where she hid the toasting flutes.
  • moving flower vases from ceremony site to reception site
The food was delicious! My favorite was the family bread and the grit cakes.
The beverage selection was great! They had a keg brought in from Craggy Brewing Co. which is so smooth, it goes down like water!
The cake was gluten-free and honestly, one of the best tasting cakes I have ever had the pleasure of eating.
The toasts were heartfelt, funny and touching.
The music was AWESOME! Plenty of old school Michael Jackson, 80's amazingness, Dixie Chicks and, my personal love, lounge lizard favorites.
I was up and out of my chair dancing as soon as Billy Jean came on and did not stop until there were only the helper crew left! So much fun! KY's mom, Pam, danced with me until the cows came home. Literally... there was a pasture across the way. :) We all broke down the ceremony site while Kristen and Nik sat down for the first time of the evening and just took it all in. :0)

Here are a few pictures I snapped during the reception - just a few but I like them. :)

Kristen taking in the scenery - looking gorgeous!




The first dance as husband and wife!
(just look at that connection! electric!)







We all say our goodbyes and wish Kristen and Nik a glorious honeymoon in Cancun and then start to head home. Which, I might add, was extremely scary as Garmin took us some backwoods way where we ended up off a mountain in TN. It was gorgeous until it turned dark and there were no street lights! ;)

My victory pose!




To Kristen and Nik - if you ever read this, it was such an honor to be a part of your wedding day! You are such an amazing couple and I am proud to know you! Lily has a new D.A.D. and all is well in the world. :) Lots of love to you both!

<3 <3<3

Friday, May 27, 2011

Confliction



Wow - two posts in one week. I am on a roll!

I feel as though I am at a crossroads. I have this great job at The University of Tennessee. I enjoy what I do, working with the students and helping out where I can. I love education so much, it is such a joy to be in an institution of learning.

We found out in March that Boss-man had taken another position at a different university. I am very happy for him and feel that it is a great move for him! He is taking his girlfriend/fiance with him - who also happens to work in our office. So, there is two gone.
Fashonista, who works at the front desk is leaving us to go to Law school in Washington, DC (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!). So, there is three gone.

NOW - and nothing is ever definite - one of our other employees who shall remain nicknameless may be leaving their post here at UGP for another job. That would be four. That is pretty much 1/3 of our office all gone in a 3 month span.

While I am SOSOSO happy for all of them and for moving up in the world towards their dream jobs, it really stinks. I am going to be purely selfish and whiny for a moment and say:

What the hell am I going to do?!?! I know, I know... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I honestly think that this might kill me. I am in no way qualified to take over either position OR train someone new in those positions. Ugh... I am very nervous. It is making my stomach churn. Which is not good... I have enough stomach churning issues going on as it is.

Is this the perfect time for me to cut my losses and leave? I have only been here a little over a year. As I was walking Sophie this morning, I couldn't help but think - wow! You have been in this apartment for a YEAR! That is the longest I have lived in any place for at least... *counting on fingers*... 6 years? I lived in an apt. in Houston, TX for 2 years. That is my record. Before that... my parent's house when I was in High School. Oy.
Am I that unsettled? Can't stay in any place too long? Maybe it was the inconsistencies of my last career - on the road 50/52 weeks of the year. Always in a new place. Living out of my car and in hotels.

I have options of places to go. I have friends all over the country. Yet, i can't decide. I would like to go back to school - in fact I just bought 2 huge and expensive books on the GRE and plan to take it in the fall. Working here at UT gives me the option of FREE tuition! I get 9 credit hours a semester of tuition coverage. That's 3 classes!

Am I being overdramatic? Probably.
Should I wait it out to see what happens? Probably.
Should I start applying for new jobs? Probably.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Well, hello there stranger...

I have spent my morning procrastinating my work (shhhh...) and stumbled across a co-workers blog. Besides being the most upbeat/positive person I have met in a long time, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her musings regarding life, love, pets and makeup. :)

It has given me a serious case of blog-envy and I have decided to give myself a dose of blog fiber to get things moving again. :) I used to write all the time on LiveJournal (you remember that, right?) and lo-and-behold - my journal was still there! I checked today and very much enjoyed reading about life according to my 23 year old self! Hilarious. I had a serious potty mouth! (Some things never change...)

I will not promise that I will write each week. I *will* promise that I will write as often as the mood strikes me. I am not even sure who still follows my babbling as it has been such a long time between posts, but I assure you. I am alive and well in TN!

Summer is coming.
Air is warming.
Flowers are blooming.
Pollen is falling.
I am sneezing.

This weather is delicious. There are certain times of the year where I love living in the South. Fall - right around mid-late October when the leaves change and that hint of crispness hits the air.
Spring - April-ish when the cold starts to leave and you can go out in the morning sans jacket. The sandals come out the air smells of fresh earth and flowers.
This feeling of love stops when the temperature hits 90 degrees. Usually around 1 week after the Spring feeling hits. :) Then I wish for Colorado.

The grass is always greener...

Anywho - leave me a comment, send me some love. Let me know you are still around!

--smile!