Ketchup

Can't sleep again so I've been up since just after 0300. Sigh. I thought I'd take a break from working on my latest chapter to update the blog. So let's see....

Went home for Tricia's Quince and it was fantastic!!! We were surrounded by tons of family (some feuding, some not) and friends. Tricia looked absolutely gorgeous in her pink gown, and Mom's planning was perfect. For the meal, Mom decorated the room with lots of spring flowers and pink and green tablecloths. Dad hired a fabulous caterer, and then, at the very last second, decided he was way too nervous to give the toast so it got kicked over to yours truly. So I thought about it for about five minutes and just whipped a few quick lines. Here it is so you can bask in my glorious wordiness: Tricia, this is the first of many steps along the path to womanhood, and we are so proud of the gracious, intelligent, beautiful young woman you have become. We hope you have many more wonderful days just like this..."

After the dinner, we had a quick break and then it was dance time. The dance hall was decorated in an enchanted garden theme with a bridge (that Joey built!), water feature, brick wall and starry night paper covering the walls, thousands of twinkling lights, and even live trees! It started off a little slow, but an hour into it, the place was crawling with Eldorado's best dancing fools. I danced, drank, danced, drank, drank, drank, danced, drank, drank, and yeah, drank some more. In my defense, it's been a long, long time since I've had anything more than a glass of wine so I decided to saturate myself in as much tasty beer and rum as I could find.

We stayed a few more days, long enough to help clean up the civic center, and of course, to gorge ourselves on delicious leftovers and cake. Mmmm. Cake. Then it was back to CS to deal with wedding and house jazz. The wedding is coming along well. Today we make our final payment to the Kyle House--all $3600 bucks of it. Yikes! We've paid off our photography and had our engagement portraits taken. And, I must say that our photog is, like, the best! She's so efficient and friendly. She recommended the TAMU Horticulture Gardens which were in full bloom and so beautiful. She knew all of the best places to stand, gave us pointers on our stances, and is just so much fun to talk to. Seriously, anyone who needs a photog, hit me up! Dave and I have decided that she'll be the only formal photog we'll ever use again.

As for the house, construction is barreling along. By last Sunday, they had installed everything up to cabinets which left only countertops, sinks, bathroom fixtures and toilets, paint, lights and random hardware, carpeting, and landscaping. Fingers crossed they'll be finished by the end of May so we can close and be done with it. Our builder and mortgage people sent Dave an email the other day asking if they could schedule our closing for June 15th. Yeah. That's right. I was like, um, let's see. Maybe we can squeeze it in between me picking up my gown from its final pressing, picking up wedding cookies, clipping and stripping flowers, and holding our rehearsal. Sure. Why not?

On the writing front, well, I got another rejection, this one from St. Martins. We're still waiting to hear from HarperCollins, but Irene and I discussed other places we might submit in this nailbiting quest to find a home for my book. I try not to think about it very much, though. Sure, I send out the good vibes, but overall, I just can't worry about it. Not with everything else going on. I've been steadily chipping away at finishing the rough draft for D2L and hope to have it finished by the end of May because, let's face it, June is going to be a complete loss as far as writing goes.

So anywho. That's what's going on here. I should definitely get back to work now....