Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs

We were so excited when our good friends Ben and Alli got engaged. Ben called us after he proposed while visiting Alli’s family in Coral Springs and from then on it was a whirlwind of excitement and wedding talk until the big day. On New Year’s Eve Ben and Alli had us over for a pre-party dinner and asked me if I would participate in their wedding by doing a reading. I was so happy to be involved and touched that they thought of me to share in their special day.

Me, Bri and Alli on the bachelorette cruise.

I looked forward to their wedding for months and was happy to participate in all the pre-wedding festivities including a bachelorette cruise, Alli’s bridal shower and the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. When I attended the rehearsal the night before the wedding I found out that I would be reading my favorite passage: 1 Corinthians 13.

I grew up in the Catholic church and as part of making my confirmation I became a lector, giving the readings during mass. One Sunday I came across the Corinthians reading at church and fell in love. When I got married the reading was very important to me and I chose to have the entire chapter read during our ceremony and am still moved when I read it today.

My gift from the bride and groom. Photo by Bri Photography

The day of Ben and Alli’s wedding I woke up early to run errands and get everything ready before my hair and makeup appointment at noon. Here’s where I don’t know what happened. Somewhere between curling my hair and applying the perfect shade of purple eyeshadow (to match my clutch and Brandon’s new tie) I ran late.

Brandon was asked to be an usher and was at the church early to help escort all the guests in. He called me as my sister Lina drove us through heavy rain and traffic to tell me that the ceremony had started. When he called me again to tell me that my reading was next it was with the heaviest heart that I told him there was no way I would be there on time and that he would have to do the reading in my place. My heart sank, I started to cry and hardly believed the words myself when I said out loud: “I missed it. I missed my reading.”

Alli and Ben at the alter.

Thank goodness Alli has a great family and her uncle slipped me a note during the ceremony offering me the opportunity to read the prayers of the faithful during the mass. Reading the prayers made me feel better, but I was still extremely upset with myself. And while I know Ben and Alli forgave me for my major mishap – it will be a while before I can forgive me. (I still get teary as I type this.)

While I wish the beginning of the ceremony had gone differently, I am so glad that it was Brandon who took my place and read my favorite reading to two of our favorite friends – the same reading that we shared on our own wedding day. And what speaks more to a great marriage than a husband stepping in for his wife?

All in all the ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a blast. It was the perfect wedding for two people who are perfect for each other and I was happy to be a part of it – even if my reading wasn’t as perfect as planned.

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Book Report: “Shanghai Girls” by Lisa See

This was the first book I read in my book club and it’s a really great read. More than anything the book is a story about two sisters. Being very close to my younger sister, Lina, was probably a big part of why I related to this novel so much. I could see us and our relationship to each other in Pearl and her younger sister May.

Another nice thing about the book was that it offered up a history lesson wrapped into a touching and poignant story. You’ll learn a lot about China and Chinese emigrants in the 1940s including a number of sad and scary stories that you hope aren’t true … but know deep down probably did happen far too often in those times.

The one complaint I have about the book is that the ending didn’t provide enough closure for me. I suppose that could mean a sequel is on it’s way, but I’m net getting my hopes up. I haven’t read any of See’s other novels but I hear they are similar in that they feature heavy Chinese influences (the author’s great-grandfather was from China) and that they provide strong stories with strong characters.

Birthdays & Brotherly Love

In honor of my 27th birthday (eeeek!) I decided to wait an extra day before adding a new post to my blog this week. 🙂

Brandon and I are both Tauruses – his birthday is May 13 and mine is May 19 – so we usually try to celebrate together. As Tauruses, we believe in the saying “opposites attract” but we think having something in common is what actually keeps couples together. In our case we are both determined, both stubborn, both bulls – but somehow we balance each other out.

This year, Brandon and I decided to treat ourselves to a trip to New Jersey in honor of our birthdays. We had a great time staying with Brandon’s grandmother, visiting with family and friends, and touring the nearby “City of Brotherly Love.” When you live in Orlando it’s nice to be a tourist for once, so we took advantage of our vacation and spent a little time seeing the sights in Philadelphia.

We stayed with Brandon’s grandmother, “Gram,” in Cherry Hill, N.J. in the house that my mother-in-law grew up in. Gram was a great host and even took us to the Cherry Hill Mall on our last day so I could pick up a Phillies T-shirt.

We spent Saturday in Philadelphia with our friends Sandra and Tom, who drove down from New York. We ate a nice greasy breakfast before walking around Independence Hall and visiting the Liberty Bell.

Brandon and I dedicated one of the last days of our trip to riding the train into Philadelphia and walking around the historic district. We made a pit stop for a few afternoon beers at Paddy’s Pub of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” fame.

While we wanted to visit family and see the city (this was my first trip to New Jersey/Philadelphia) the main reason for booking the trip was to catch a Phillies game at Citizen’s Bank Park – and luckily we saw the only winning game of the series.

Brandon was very excited when the Phillies beat the Braves and the iconic Citizens Bank Park bell started ringing. And yes, Brandon brought just about every Philadelphia sports T-shirt he owns …

All in all we had a great trip and we both agree that it was a joint birthday present for the books. Now we have next year and hopefully a trip to my hometown of Chicago to look forward to!

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Book Report: “Something Borrowed” by Emily Giffin

So, I totally forgot to include a book report in last week’s post. I had planned on talking about another newly released book-to-movie: “Something Borrowed.” This is another novel that I absolutely loved. The first chapter may be the best of the whole book, it grabs your attention and gets you excited about finding out what happens next.

It’s one of those stories where the “normal” girl gets her chance with the “unattainable” guy … and let’s be honest, what girl doesn’t love that story? I haven’t seen the movie yet and it’s been a while since I read the book so I fully plan on skimming my way through the pages again before heading to the theater.

There is a sequel, “Something Blue,” that tells the story (and a whole lot more) in a different character’s voice. It isn’t as good as its predecessor in my opinion, but it’s not terrible. If you’re like me you will read it anyway because you just can’t get enough of a good series by a great author. Happy reading!

Puppy Love

It’s official. I’m one of those people obsessed with their dog. I try to hide it; I limit the number of pictures I put up in my office, I try not to gush on Facebook when she does something cute and I pretend not to check my watch every few minutes whenever we are out and she is left home alone. But the truth is: I’m in puppy love.

Millie was my Christmas present this year, and I’m not just saying this because I’m obsessed – but she is the perfect dog. From the get-go she never had any problems when we weened her off her old puppy food and took her away from her brothers and sisters. She got the whole “potty training thing” down after the first couple of months, every check-up went flawlessly and  she gets along with just about every new friend she meets, four-legged and two-legged friends alike.

She was spayed at 5 months and of course everything went perfectly. Ten days later when we took her back to the vet for a follow-up exam, the doctor took one look at Millie’s scar on her belly and let out a worried “Oh my gosh!” Brandon and I both went white before the doctor started laughing and burst out with “I’m just kidding, she looks great. I just wanted to see your faces!” After relief finally set it we laughed along with the doctor and nurse. Later, Brandon and I worried that all the talk about our “perfect puppy” would eventually come back to bite us in the butts.

And it did. Two nights later at 4 in the morning, Millie woke us up in the middle of the night panting and drooling excessively. We thought she needed to go outside but as I started walking her to the door I noticed she wasn’t able to walk and kept falling over onto the ground. I panicked and made Brandon call a 24-hour emergency vet. She wasn’t responding to her name, couldn’t stand up and was leaving puddles of drool everywhere she laid her head.

After a trip to the emergency vet, blood work at her regular vet, a couple hundred dollars and plenty of worrying we found out she had low blood sugar and probably had a seizure. Millie’s eating schedule has since been improved and she is back to bones, barking and business as usual.

Here’s a few fun photos of Millie just being Millie, taken by the ah-mazing Bri Photography:

“Grease” Is the Word

“Grease” was my all-time favorite movie growing up. I didn’t understand what the movie was really about – all I knew was that I wanted to be a Pink Lady when I grew up. My parents could sit me in front of the TV every Saturday morning with “Grease” in the VCR player and know that they could get a couple extra hours of sleep while I sang along to all the songs.

A couple weeks ago Brandon and I went to see our nieces Noe and Maxi perform in their school’s production of “Grease.” The show was very cute and Noe and Maxi played a great Jan and Cha Cha respectively. But my favorite part about it was watching it with Brandon and reminiscing on our own “Grease” experience.

Most of our friends and family know that even though we didn’t start dating until the end of college, Brandon and I have known each other since third grade. When we were in seventh grade at Hunter’s Creek Middle School we were both in chorus and our spring concert was based on my favorite musical: “Grease.”

If you know Brandon, you know that he will do just about anything for attention and in seventh grade that meant going for a solo in the annual chorus concert. Somehow we got paired together as dance partners and when it came time for Brandon to sing his solo (“Those Magic Changes” by Sha Na Na) he was instructed to sing it to me. As a shy 13-year-old I was absolutely mortified, and I’ll admit probably a little bit mad at Brandon for subjecting me to such humiliation.

Twelve years later my mom called our chorus teacher Ms. Brown and asked for the tape from our seventh-grade concert so we could show it at our rehearsal dinner. If someone told me back then that the boy with a bowl cut who sang to me in middle school would end up being my husband I never would have believed it. I guess the moral of our story is: Don’t rule out your “Grease” dance partner. At least that’s what I tell my nieces.

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Book Report: “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

If you haven’t read it yet – you need to. This is probably my favorite read right now and by far one of the best books I have read in a while. Even though the movie already came out you still have time to peruse through the pages (I couldn’t put it down and ended up flying from cover to cover in two days) before you go out and see it.

Although the movie versions hardly ever live up to the books, I enjoy reading a novel before it hits the silver screen. My sister Lina and I both read the book a couple months back and went together to see the movie. We were really happy with the film version – it stayed true to the novel (except for a few small details) and really captured the overall feel of the times, the characters and the circus.

I’m a sucker for a good story no matter if it was written for teenagers or the movie turned out cheesy (“Twilight” anyone?) but I thought this book had it all – great writing, a great story and loads of twists and turns woven within it.