On the literal Golden Gate bridge.  

the mighty hilly scape of San Fran and mighty Mark 

San Fan Fisherman's Wharf... mighty crabs 

2 celeb sightings

in NYC
- English rocker Paul Weller
- Sopranos star 'Christafa', Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli)

honeymoon observations

• San Francisco is really pretty and unique but hard to define. (Tom you were right)
• Both Mark & I have discovered we can drink (and like!) vodka martinis
• New Zealand Sauvignon Blancis still the best, despite Sonoma's best efforts
• Santa Cruz is adorable and has too many cute shops (Sinead -- I bought green Danskos and pink Keens!)
• Carmel is not as snobby as the books say.
• Monterey is not as cute as the books say
• Driving an SUV is more fun than I feel comfortable admitting. (we got a rental Exterra in CA)
• 1 hour of cliff/mountain driving is enough. 4 is way too many
• People really do give you a better hotel room when you say it is your honeymoon
• Airlines do not
• You can watch Liverpool play at a south side bar in Milwaukee. Just eat first. Or the 6 Guinness will hit you. As will your new wife
• Cheap beef is the real taste of home
• I have lots of really nice relatives
• Mark keeps referring to me his girlfriend. I remind him that I am his ex-girlfriend.
• NY pizza is still the best
• Being married is just like not being married, but better
• And, sometimes you get to have a second wedding!

wedding coverage

FULL photo reporting from MK, our beloved photog...

We are having a blast in San Fran!!

JUST MARRIED!!!

Babs U, visiting professor K Quinn and moi, escaping the crush of international beauties as Aroma filled itself to the brim and we took to home at the reasonable hour of midnight. 

me n tum with kid radar at the proper place  

my bachelorette scotch 

my girlie girls and my fantastic shower 

Barb U and her secret talent of making a fake bouquet out of basically nothing 

bridal shower cupcakes with Mary J 

Ok,NOW I am (counting down that is)

Because Mark is HERE!

Hurrah- my sweet groom, with freshly cut hair and new clown Camper shoes has arrived to make this thing happen! He is tucked in nicely after a welcome home cheeseburger and 3 Chimays at neighborhood Open City.

2 weeks is a long time to be apart pre getting hitched.

Last (hopefully) dress fitting tomorrow and starting to do things like pick up cases of water, beer and wine and plan our hurrahs out with our respective gangs.

Feeling normal. The best version of normal that is. The kind when everything is really fantastic and you love your life. And you are about to announce to the world and god how much you love someone. It doesn't suck.

not even counting down

Been in DC one thin week. Saw gray haired guy, waved to Krishna through the window at Aroma, have eaten at Spices 3 time so far and California Tortilla once. Had my FANTASTIC bridal shower last night (wait for the photos) and been ticking things off the list. Even pulled a Star Jones and bought shoes at Payless.

People have been mentioning this "2 weeks" business. Why am I still calm? And wanting to see movies? It isn't like I have forgotten... I carry around my to-do list. I just don't feel compelled to jump on 'em. Maybe just that I am (could it be?) actually calm?

Watch this space for the change. Or see a calm bride on April 29. TBD.

in da house

Thanks to Tom, Tdawg.
My blog is WAY better this way...


http://sites.gizoogle.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcfaculjak.blogspot.com%2F

The final nightcap in Mark's favourite Hotel Russel Square. Leather chairs, muted tones, lovely service, very civilized. Champagne felt right.  

Not bad for a self portrait. The dangerous trio on the loose in London on Mum's Day Sunday. 

It had to happen. The red phone booths, the post drinks, the silliness. It beckoned. 

Guess who came to town... Mary Mar stopped in London on her Midlands work week in the UK 

"Alison Lapper Pregnant" at Trafalgar Square A statue of a naked, pregnant woman with no arms has been unveiled on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth.
 

so many things I could be writing about, confessions of a distracted bride

But I am not.

Mark & I walked to the bank this morning, where I was depositing a coaching check... into our JOINT account. This in itself is enough to write about (isn't it cool?) but that is not where I am going in this entry. We were walking and chatting about how flipping SOON all the craziness will begin and could we believe that we are getting MARRIED next month? Mark admitted he was a bit nervous and asked if I was. I think it is the first time it has occurred to me to be nervous. I think it is like when a woman is pregnant, she has 9 months to prepare mentally and get ready and be scared and by the end of 9 months she just wants that thing out of her. The fear is gone. Same with brides -- distract them with minutia and planning and photographers and flowers and dresses and schedules and seating charts so she can't actually remember that at the end of it all she will be in the big dress making serious promises in front of a load of people.

So if I was a better person, I'd be writing about that cool joint bank account and the plans for our future -- moving to a new city, jobs, babies, cars, jobs, and businesses. Or at the very least, I’d be waxing poetic about my last days as a Miss. I'd examine the journey Mark & I have been on to get here. The excitement and the thrill the shock of actually really marrying Mark after all this time. What this stands for, what we are about, how proud I am of us and of him, what it says about us as individuals or as a couple.

But no, I need to finish the DJ song list, decide of we are going to have a 'first dance', sort out the visa appointment with the British Consulate in NY, book the honeymoon car, look into travel insurance, chase up the UK flower lady, buy wedding shoes, not eat, consider pros and cons of a fake tan, look for my wedding glasses (my wedding gift from Mark to me), obsess about my dress fitting, have dress fitting, select the catering for the before and after parties, consider those gift bags for people who are travelling to each of the weddings from out of town (don't hold your breath), not be crazy person, sort the UK ceremony, finalize the US ceremony, get programs printed for both of them, meet in person with both UK and US photographers, exercise compulsively, make a master list of all the deposits we have made and who gets owed what and when in which country, choose a DC cake, get wedding party gifts, buy booze for parties, be nice to Mark, worry about my exercise schedule before the wedding while in DC. And those are just some of the things I have written down.

See why it is easier to focus on the immediate -- the growing baby as it were, rather then what is really happening? A new life. I am certain it will all come together in the end. I am totally committed to the process. The result will be something new and nothing shy of a miracle. It'll be ours and we shall call it Marriage. So if you see the bride coming your way with a glazed, faintly insane look, just assume she is clinging dearly to the notion that it will all work out in the end. Agree with her. It is for the best.

sundry miscellany

• the weddingchannel.com says 57 days to go before our DC wedding. Hello.
• I have one of the worst colds in recent history. Zero breathing. I am very very over it.
• I have (re) discovered the power of honey ... In tea, on toast, with natural yogurt and the newly discovered kiwi. I am in love.
• The veil I ordered looks like the underside of a prom dress. Big, white and itchy. Not good.
• Due to England's cruelty, I once again miss tomorrow's Oscars. AND John Stewart. Insult to injury. Damn time zones and TV coverage.
• A food intolerance test at the gym claims I have a wheat intolerance. In hopes to aid my Fitness Program 2006, I have been 'off' wheat for 2 weeks. When is the size 6 supposed to happen?
• Spare hours find us with 3 laptops, the couch, and deep dive Month of Marriage minutiae. Plus we have a white board with running tab of US, UK and Mark's School deadlines.
• We went for a walk to get OUT of the house and our laptops and talked about the things we are most looking forward to -- Mark, wearing his ring, wedding cake in the UK, the fun events leading up to the weddings and honeymoon in the wine country. Me, my pampering wedding shower, drinking copious amounts of champagne throughout the all events and the professional full body sprucing for the wedding day. Plus the ceremony itself. And calling him my husband.
• I am excited and afraid of how fast this next 57 days will zoom by.

Went to visit Lex while Mark was with the dogs. And she not only tried ON wigs, she bought one. Proving that she indeed is a rock star.





Ready for her White Snake video.












The winner! Supermodel status.

Us with regular god given hairs. . 

What we did today. For 8 1/2 hours. Averaging 0.3 miles hour.

An ill-fated trip south on the M11 early this morning to go pick up Mark's wedding suit in London. We went approx 1/2 a mile an hour. Seriously. My purse is totally organized. Suit retrieval abandoned. Afternoon training and coaching sessions cancelled. Bladder very tested. And came Very Close to joining the throngs of other male (including Mark) and brave female motorists who climbed the fence to take care of business behind the bushes. We went 37 miles. In 8 hours. I may never get in a car again. Too bad we rescheduled to be there tomorrow morning at 9:30.

forging ahead into the vast white 

digging for cooking, washing, drinking water on frozen lake Maza 

sunset in Finmark, Norway, 3:30 p.m. 

chilling at lunchtime 

the long and endless white 

Mark's fellow mushers at literal hotel igloo. -6 C inside. 

let sleeping dawgs lie 

Mark's home! WIth lead dogs Levis and Gill.  

first solo trip

Wanted to report on my FIRST driving trip on my own!

• Saturday morning 8:45
• To the Gym
• AND back
• One roundabout
• Zero cars on the road
• Hardest thing was scraping the windscreen (I wasn't wearing gloves)

AND, just in! First solo trip AT NIGHT

• Just dropped Mark off at the train station and drove home ALONE
• IN THE DARK
• On squishy roads where bikers in dark clothes and no lights leap out at you and pedestrians dare to step into the already squishy road
• No roundabouts
• No windshield wiper juice either, so like driving wearing really dirty glasses. I told Mark it did not help my fighting chances and he needs to keep my odds high by giving me good equipment to use.
• I literally held my breath as I narrowly escaped hitting a nice biker on the hill on Mill Road. No margin for error and I already don't know my left curb side's location yet. Plus cars coming the other way.
• Mark's car is WIDE
• Now I just have to hope he will walk back when his train gets in. That was enough.