Friday, May 18, 2007

Stop, Drop, and Roll! You're on Fire!

Who doesn't love The Bravery? And Public Service Announcement is, like, one of their best songs. And it totally fits my mindset today. Can you say stressed?

First, I have to say that I was incredibly stoked this morning to see that Kelly Parra commented on my blog!! OMG! I love reading author and agent blogs, but very rarely do agents/authors return the comments. I feel so uber special, lol! Oh, and if you have a chance you should buy Kelly's new book Graffiti Girl . I've heard that it's fantastic and am just waiting for my first chance to run out to B&N to get it.

So yesterday was fun. We ran a lot of wedding errands including hunting down a stamp for the cake boxes, trying to find a bakery that sells Mexican wedding cookies, and getting our marriage license. The actual applying part was easy, but getting into the damn courthouse was a pain! All of downtown Bryan is under construction. And whoever designed the courthouse seems to have forgotten to include space for parking lots. Yeah. So not cool. We had to hike, like, a mile and a half over exposed manholes, around orange cones, under road barriers, and then, of course, through the security checkpoint. I was kind of hoping we'd get a pretty marriage license like my cousin Suzie (hers is from San Antoni) but ours is, well, sort of fugly. It doesn't help that the "deputy" who filled out the forms and the license was, like, twelve and had crap handwriting. But, oh well....

We also stopped by La Michoacana, the new "Latino" supermarket in Bryan just before the bend, and I love the place. I mean, how can you not love a market with a roasted corn stand out front??? Inside, they had the tastiest looking taco bar and toward the back was a full service deli with loads of chorizo, barbacoa, and even menudo! And did I mention their panaderia was phenomenal? I couldn't help myself! I had to buy three fresh pan dulce. They were orgasmic! Sure, their bakery didn't have wedding cookies but walking into that store was like going home. It's my new favorite place!

And now my phone is ringing. Brb.

OMG! OMG! That was Dave! Our builder just called to schedule our first and final walk-thrus and the closing! This is so exciting! We'll be the owners of the house before the wedding! Yay!

Of course, we'll be completely broke, but to hear Mom talk, that's just a fact of being married, lol. OK. So I'm exaggerating. We won't be broke broke. You know, not beans and rice broke, but more like no more splurging on organic fruit, milk, and beef broke. And we won't be moving into the house until July-ish when Dad and the rest of the family come down to help us move. That's one of my parents' other wedding gifts. We have plenty of time to save some extra cash for all of those last minute moving expenses like deposits, paint, and food for my moving crew, lol.

I've got to pack because I'm going home for a week with the family. We're celebrating Marcos' graduation and my cousins are hosting a bridal shower. My posh sis is going to walk me through a couple hair and makeup trials until we find the right wedding style, and Mom and I are going to knock out some last minute wedding crafty things like the swag for the gazebo, tying ribbons on fans, and stamping cake boxes. We've also got to go find a tiara, shoes, and OMG! I just realized I haven't even thought about my something old, new, borrowed, and blue! Let's see. Dress is new. Dave is old. So I need something blue and borrowed.....

Speaking of Dave, he's got me under strict no work/no stress watch today and next week. He's worried about me because I've had constant heartburn, nausea, insomnia and headaches for the last seven or eight days. And before anyone jumps on me for being a bridezilla, it's not that. Yes, I'm made most of the wedding decisions, but Dave has equally shared all of the implementation of those choices. I'm just suffering from a really horrid cosmic convergence of stress. In the next four weeks, I'm watching my younger brother graduate, attending my bridal shower, closing on the house, getting married, and of course, anxiously waiting to hear back from publishers about my book. And, oh yeah, I'm trying to work through the "sagging middle" of my current manuscript.

So rather than going against my "doctor's" orders, I'm signing off and heading off to the couch for a little lounging and some DVDs. Laters.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Happy Fat

I heard that term for the first time a few minutes ago, and it was like, "Ding! Ding! Ding!" I had a real light bulb moment. I am "Happy Fat."

Look. I've always been chubby. Through middle and high school, I fluctuated between a 14 and an 18. When I started college, I wore a loose 18, but because of my dorm diet (caffeine, carbs, and lots of alcohol) I climbed up to 20 by the end of that first semester and hovered near a 22 when I started my sophomore year. Over the past few years I've steadily packed on the pounds, but seem to have leveled off 18-24 months ago at my current size, a 24.

Yeah. I know. It's unhealthy, and with my family's medical history, I should get the weight off, but that's definitely easier said than done. More importantly, I've realized that I have, like, zero motivation to lose weight. I am deliriously happy. No really. I'm passionately in love with Dave. I love my crazy family. I have tons of amazing friends. I'm making strides in my writing career. I'm getting married. I'm moving into a new home. I'm getting a Great Dane in a few months. I have a smoking hot sex life. I mean, seriously, there's no reason for me to start depriving myself. I guess I've finally gotten to the point where I don't beat myself up about my weight. I'm happy. And that's good.

That said....well...I mean, come on. I'm an intelligent young woman who realizes that shaving off some extra pounds would be a really good idea. Plus, I saw Dr. Oz on Oprah yesterday, and he pulled out this fat person's omentum, and OMG! I almost yakked right there in the living room! I was, like, OMG! That's what my omentum looks like? Ew. Ew! EWWWW!

So Dave and I had a long talk about how I'm always doing for everyone else but neglect myself. As in, I spend hours every week planning, calculating, and cooking Dave's meals so he's getting just the right number of carbs, fiber, protein, etc. to keep his diabetes in check, but I don't do that for myself. Hmmm. Curious, no?

Now obviously I'm not going to try to diet right this week or the next. Hello! I'm getting married in one month! And our house is almost finished! And I've got to go home for my bridal shower! And I'm busy writing and crossing my fingers that someone will buy my damn book! Yeah. Way too much stress to start dieting now.

Once we've moved into the house, I'm going to start eating exactly what Dave eats. We're going to work out together and focus on solid nutritional intake. It's not going to be easy or fun, but that's OK. The sooner I get healthy, the sooner I can seriously consider the options for kicking those ovaries into working condition (if that's a possibility) and take that European vacation I've always wanted. And yeah, I realize that a vacay seems like a really weird motivator, but let's face it. At my current size, I would be forced to buy an extra seat to accomodate these chunky Latina hips of mine, and well, that would not only be embarrassing, but uber-expensive.

Anyways. I'm rambling now. The point is I'm "Happy Fat" and okay with that. So back to work....

Thursday, May 10, 2007

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....