Bridesmaid Dresses and Other Wedding Updates

Okay, I'm done reading about phytoplankton for the evening. So naturally it's time to think about wedding things.

When I had gone with my mom and maids of honor to go wedding dress shopping, I had found my dress at the first salon we went to. I had made maybe 3 or 4 appointments for the day, the last being David's Bridal.

The thing about David's Bridal is that I didn't like their wedding dresses AT ALL, but their selection for bridesmaid dresses and accessories was pretty good actually. Our wedding color scheme is dark green, canary yellow, white and black. The bridesmaid dresses are black and we found the perfect bridesmaid dress at David's.

It's perfect because 3 out of the 5 bridesmaids are short, and it's the perfect length so they don't look stocky and I love the bubble hem. It goes really well with my dress, but at the same time different. And to distinguish the maids of honor, they're going to wear a thin canary yellow sash around the waist.

I honestly was looking for something that looked like my 'maids could wear again. I know sometimes it doesn't work out that way, and I know because it's my day, they'll probably wear anything I ask them to (within reason, of course). But I tried. And I think I was successful.

Now even though it seems like the perfect dress, I'm going to do some investigating when we check out the venue in a couple weeks. Because the dress is so short, and it is Northern California after all, it may be a bit more chilly than I'm used to, so naturally I'm thinking up options for different weather that we may run into on our test run.

Other Option #1: in case it's really chilly.

Other Option #2: for my taller 'maids

Other Option #3: more accented MOH dress

Other Option #4: Some sort of shawl or cardigan.

That's pretty much what's running through my head right now.

While we're visiting in California, we'll be looking for a cake baker and a photographer. Future sister in law is acquainted with a photographer who's looking to build up her portfolio so hopefully we can get her within (or less!) than our budget. One of the suggested vendors for cakes from our venue was Butterfly Cakes. They seem more our taste (pun not really intended). Not hugely elaborate but still fitting for the occasion. Whimsical without being overwhelming, which I think is what we're going for. Neither of us are big party people. We're more kick back, relax, enjoy food, a few drinks and lots of laughs.

Not gonna lie, I'm really looking forward to cake tasting. I don't see the point in having separate cakes for the bride and groom, because the bride's cake would be CHOCOLATE. Though I do like the idea of a small cake for the wedding party and cupcakes for everyone else. If we could come up with something nerdy like this, our wedding would be complete :)

That's all the wedding updates for now :) 424 days to go!

Gardening is hard work.

So today at A&M was The Big Event. Seven oceanography grad students (myself included) and G rounded up at 8 am to walk over to Reed Arena, check in, get our tools and head over to a lady's house in Bryan to do yard work.

We spent about an hour waiting to check in and get our tools because we couldn't actually get our tools until the "speeches" were done. There was a former student athlete doing the last speech and honestly, I wonder how he ever graduated. He spoke three words at a time, i.e. "word word wordSTOP. word word wordSTOP." repeat. It was very hard to follow and he just kept going on and on... to be honest I don't think he really knew what he was talking about.

Anyhow, we drove over to this lady's house in Bryan. She's probably in her late 50s-early 60s, had a nice southern drawl, and her husband works the event staff part time at A&M. Their house was pretty large for this area and was lined all the way around with garden. We spent 3 hours pulling up weeds and avoiding spiders. Very sweaty work, but she bought us all pizza for lunch and had a cooler of water ready. She was awesome. She knew exactly what she wanted done and had all the tools to do it. I never realized how cathartic pulling up weeds and chopping away at dead plants was. It's a great way to metabolize angry and frustrated chemicals in the brain.

We came back home and showered. I opened a beer and crashed on the couch. I didn't feel sleepy immediately after getting home, but man, I passed out for 2 hours.

Spring has sprung. There's a carpet of pollen outside our apartment and if I don't take something for my allergies in the morning, dear god I want to die. Just walking outside makes me feel all itchy. It's fortunate to be in a profession where the likelihood of me being allergic to something is very low.

Spring break was week before last. We went to DQ's house for a lab party with a white elephant gift exchange. It was very fun, and it was interesting to compare and contrast G's lab to mine. Obviously hard science majors = hard drinkers. We likes the alcohols. DQ stopped counting the bottles of wine to make sangria after about the 6th one. And there's this really awesome Australian beer that everyone brought one of. Cause you know, DQ and Mr. Quigg are Australian. Blonde Allison #1's hubby is Australian, gotta represent.

White elephant exchange was long lasting, but full of laughs. The gifts that were stolen the most often were the box containing coffee beans, a coffee mug and Ghiradelli chocolates,  and Moon Sand (my gift!).

After the party we drove back to CS, which was a lot easier to stay awake for because we left Galveston at 10 pm instead of 12 am. And then Sunday we went shopping for boat gear for me cause I was going to be collecting samples for the first time and needed stuff to wear that would dry quickly. Thankfully those items are tax deductible because they were pretty pricey.

Being on the boat was a lot of fun, and fortunately I don't get sea sick. It was pretty windy in the morning (thanks, meteorologists for being COMPLETELY WRONG about the forecast), so the water was really choppy getting out to the first station. But after that it was a piece of cake. Again, it's something that completely wipes you out once you're done. I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 6:30 the next morning. BEST SLEEP I had had in A LONG ASS TIME.

G came by on Wednesday and we stayed in a nice hotel. We walked along Sea Wall in the morning before heading out to Houston to go apartment hunting. I think we found a place, but we'll see how things go in the next month or so.

Quick Update.

We went to the Linkin Park concert in Houston last week before the craziness of studying for exams settled in for me. It was an awesome show, and we left feeling a bit deaf, but it was a price I was willing to pay. The Toyota Center in Houston is designed with special rafters that reflect sound back down on the audience so the bass was RIDICULOUS despite sitting as far away from the stage as one possibly can be.

Despite hearing the songs over and over again (thanks G) for weeks leading up to the concert, I still wasn't familiar with the new album, A Thousand Suns. It's a lot different from their previous albums, but it grows on you every time you listen to it. Seeing a majority of the album performed live, along with a bunch of oldies that I'm well acquainted with, was truly an amazing experience. I'm glad we went, and I'm happy that we can scratch them off our list of bands to see in concert.

Who we've seen so far:
- Linkin Park
- Green Day (also in the Toyota Center)
- Franz Ferdinand
- Puddle of Mudd
- Sevendust
- 10 Years
- Three Days Grace
- Buckcherry

Still need to see:
- My Chemical Romance
- Breaking Benjamin

Exam Stuff:

Geological oceanography exam was yesterday. Prof said to use the objectives heading each lecture as a guide for studying. So I did. For three days I did almost nothing else. Felt pretty confident that I understood the concepts outlined in the objectives. Get to the test. Stare at it.

I have never seen such a disjuncture between what we talked about in lecture and what was asked of us on the exam. I did my best, but honestly, I don't feel that I passed at all. The only other time I've felt an utter crippling of my self esteem because of a test was in Biochem II. This was torture. And what made it worse was all of the geo ocean majors were all "that was so fuckin easy, omg." STFU GEO OCEAN MAJORS. I HATE YOU ALL RIGHT NOW.

I talked to other students (who aren't geo majors or have geo backgrounds) and they reassured me that that's just how the class is. The prof rarely gives out less than a B unless you really just don't do anything in the class. So why am I still freaking out? Because you never know. I like to do well. I like to have solid ground when it comes to my grade. I don't like to count on a curve or generosity for trying.

I'm still angsting about it even after talking at length with Alicia, who had a similar encounter with her test yesterday. Drowning our sorrows in margaritas and mexican last night was wonderful.

I had even been up since 5 am because A) I couldn't sleep for worry that the test was going to be awful. I was right in thinking so. And B) G was talking and laughing in his sleep, and stealing the covers. I honestly don't remember what he said. I think it was combining with my half dreams about geology and resulted in my hearing complete nonsense.

Tomorrow's bio ocean exam (I will get my revenge, geo majors. I WILL GET MY REVENGE.) and then I plan to go home and crash on the couch with a glass of wine and my netflix queue.

I haven't been grading data forms lately because I've been busy doing homework and keeping up with my own classes. And today a student noticed and sent me an email asking me why I haven't graded her make up yet.

Students. I, like you, have other shit to do. The difference? I need to keep my GPR up for financial aid, and not fail out of grad school. On top of taking 3 graduate courses, two of which have exams this week and one of those assigns annoyingly tedious homework assignments that take up A LOT of time, I have to teach 3 classes. And grade. SIXTY DATA FORMS AND SIXTY QUIZZES EVERY WEEK.

Granted, that was my choice. However, sometimes, my own shit comes first. Deal with it.