wedding schmedding

So, the big day is right around the corner...eek! There is much to be planned, and conveniently, "planner" might be the antithesis to my name. For real. But it is forcing me to be a planner, which is kind of good. I might grow from this.

Caution: the following is what could be considered as a rant.

The dress. Quite possibly the most exciting part of the whole wedding (you know, besides the whole spending-the-rest-of-your-life-with-someone thing). I envisioned laughter, tears (mom's), and good times all around with my sister and mother. One bridal store (I won't name any names, but you could possibly rhyme it with Cavid's Fridal), however, had other plans. If you could envision the worst possible nightmare experience EVER at a bridal store, that's basically what happened to me. Keep in mind this was also my very first time trying on any dresses. The store was, on a whole, a mess in terms of organization, checking people in for appointments, etc. My "consultant" was probably 65 years old, wearing a hideous sweater dress, smelled a little like cigarette smoke, and was so unfriendly and unhelpful it was unreal. My choice of words in assessing the situation to my mom, I believe, were: "this is a f$%#ing disaster." I really can't think of a time or place where I had customer service worse than what I experienced there. And today, up pops an email from none other than said bridal store! Among other things, they were asking me to take a survey. HAHA! I wrote a scathing email to their customer service when this first happened, but it's like really, what can they do? Because I'm for sure not going back. Unless maybe they offered me $1,000.00 but that is unlikely.

Moral of the story? I don't recommend them. I'm not much for google reviews, but if google reviews say the particular store in your area is bad, then for the love of God, trust them. Or just trust me.

But all is well that ends well, and I found the perfect dress at a fantastic store that I stopped at on a whim. So far, all other details seem to be working themselves out. My only other complaint would be that it is unnecessarily difficult to get prices/quotes from vendors via email. It's 2011, people! Get with it!

I apologize that this post was more of (ok, almost completely) a rant, but sometimes bad experiences at stores are worthy of a blog post. If only everything were as easy as shopping at Zappos.com.

comfortable...a valentine's day story

So, I've heard that things kind of go down hill after marriage. Haha. Not in a bad way, though. Actually, let me rephrase that -- marriage may be the ultimate level of comfort. I'm thinking we are well on our way, and engagement is certainly a step in that direction. Hence, this conversation:

Ross: What do you want to do for Valentine's Day?

Me: Eh, let's just do lunch on Sunday or something. (in an effort to avoid any large crowds)

...after said meal...

Ross: So, want to do anything else?
Me: Nah, I'm kind of tired. (note: it was 5:30pm at that point)

Ross: Yeah, me too.

And we proceed to hang out/watch an episode of The Office then call it a night.

Funny how things get real when you've been dating two and a half years and are engaged. Not to say that we still don't go out from time to time and do fun stuff, but it's a lot easier now to just be chill and not really care. I think that's good, as long as you can keep a good balance. And really, the larger part of this is that I'm slowly realizing how precious weekends are where you don't have anything to do. They are few and far between, it seems. And when I don't have much on the agenda for Saturday or Sunday, I like to maintain a high level of nothingness if at all possible. For the record, I had mentioned to Ross that on the way home from Sunday's early dinner that we may need to "stop by the Coach store" on the way home for a potential Valentine's Day gift/purchase, and he was willing. I was tired and had no intention of actually doing that, so it was more of a test. He passed.

In other news...didn't watch the Grammys. I did catch Gaga's performance, though (which was actually pretty lackluster compared to some other ones). I think, after the past couple years, nothing she does is really shocking anymore. We've seen the kermit outfit, the bubble one, the meat one, yada yada yada. So she shows up in an egg? *yawn* I also caught the last part of The Avett Brothers performance...LOVE them. (So I lied. I watched a tiny bit.)

I'm getting bored, and I need some new music. Tomorrow = new PJ Harvey. Can't wait!

PJ Harvey...and why I love her.

I am very much a newbie when it comes to PJ Harvey. As in, White Chalk (2007) is the chapter I started in. Probably the earliest song I have is "You Said Something" which was released in 2000, and she's been around since the early 90's. Based on that, I probably don't have strong grounds to say a whole lot...but I'm going to anyway.

It's safe to say that "You Said Something" and any songs off the White Chalk album are like night and day. The former at least has a little bit of mainstream potential, but I can assure you White Chalk does not. Whatever the difference is, I can appreciate it. The material isn't better, it hasn't gotten worse, but it's changed. There's something to be said for artists who can maintain quality while still exploring completely different sounds and going places they've never gone before. For me, three words sum up her sound: unpredictable, bizarre, and genius. I love it.

White Chalk is quite possibly one of the most haunting records I've ever heard (not sure I can even think of any others that would fit in the "haunting" category), and the overall tone of the album is dark and melancholy (my fave!). Timing was good considering it was released in the month of October...it was probably my favorite album for fall of '07. A lot of piano involved, too, which we all know I love, and there's kind of an old timey simplicity to it all. Seriously, if had to give a visual, it's of some 1800's era woman in a haunted cabin in the backwoods of some crazy mountain town (Boone, perhaps?) writing freaky ass songs on her piano. Some of that visual might stem from the album cover. A sidenote: Harvey taught herself how to play the piano, specifically for creativity purposes related to this album. From Wikipedia: "In an interview in The Wire she explained "the great thing about learning a new instrument from scratch is that it [...] liberates your imagination.""

So that was an interesting, but good, starting point for me. Now I'm looking forward to her upcoming album, Let England Shake. I've only heard "Written On The Forehead" so far, but it sure sounds like this album will be yet another venture into new sound for Harvey, and I can't wait. Bring on the weirdness! Saw a comparison somewhere between the sound for this new song and The Cocteau Twins who I LOVE. Either way, I'm anticipating greatness.