Mike and Music

In the early days of our relationship, we referred to our honeymoon as our “high fructose corn syrup asteroid.”  This is because at the time, it was waaaaaay to early to talk about honeymooning– we didn’t even know how long we’d date, let alone if we’d end up getting married and need to plan a big, fun, celebratory trip together!  But we couldn’t help ourselves, lovebirds that we were, and we’d sometimes talk hypothetically about where we could/should go.  Calling it by a silly alternate name (get it, instead of “honey,” we used another sweetener, and instead of “moon,” we used another astral body) made it more relaxed, less pressure.
Well, fast forward a few years, and here we are.  After a lot of debate and discussion and hand wringing (darn you, U.S. dollar, for being so weak right now!  darn you, oil, for being so expensive and leading to ever-increasing fuel surcharges!), Mike and I FINALLY managed to book a honeymoon trip.

The Monday after the wedding, we’ll fly up to Vancouver, British Columbia, and stay a couple of nights before heading off on an 11-night Mexican Riviera cruise.  We’ll stop in Victoria, British Columbia and then head down to sunny, beautiful, exotic… San Diego?  Yup, that’s right, folks, we’re stopping in our home city on the cruise.  It turns out the Vancouver to San Diego part is a repositioning cruise.  It came out about the same price as taking the seven night from SD to the Mexican Riviera, and Mike wanted to do the Pacific Northwest, so it works out great!  We’ve been joking that we’ll stop at home and grab suitcases we’ve packed for the warm part of our vacation, visit the dog, check the internet, maybe get some Sushi Deli, and then head off for the second portion of the trip.

After leaving San Diego (I wonder if I could smuggle Rey on with me…  hmm…), we’re at sea until we get to Puerto Vallarta, then Mazatlan, then out at sea on our way to Cabo San Lucas.  Finally, we’ll return to San Diego, probably a few pounds heavier and hopefully more relaxed than we were when we left.

This trip seems like it will be the best of both worlds.  Mike wanted to do a Pacific Northwest trip, and I was interested in going to Mexico, and this way, we’ll each get what we want.  I actually haven’t ever been to any of those Mexican cities, so it won’t be a re-hash of my semester in that country, either.  And I’m even trying to psyche myself up to try something new and crazy, like horseback riding on the beach.  Ole!

I totally forgot that the lovely ladies from Bridals by Susanti called me yesterday (or was it Wednesday) to let me know that the lace and bead work I ordered to customize my wedding dress has come in.  Very exciting, and yet somehow, I managed to forget until today.  WTF?!?  Things have been a little crazy, between the kitchen remodel and work and the NBA Western Conference Finals (Lakers v. Spurs) and my recent wedding planning panic attack (we get married in 118 days!)… But I am trying to remind myself that everything will come together– in all of those situations– so there’s no reason to flip out.  Right?

Today Mike and I took the plunge and ordered the cabinets for the new kitchen. Because we decided to buy them from Ikea, there are a ton of pieces and parts– doors and drawer fronts and shelves and legs and cabinet boxes and all sorts of other things that I didn’t really understand. I did gather, though, that the 11 base cabinets we need each has 4 legs, meaning our kitchen will have– as the title of this entry says– 44 legs, but no arms. Ha ha.

The kitchen renovation is Mike’s baby, and he’s done a wonderful job picking everything out and coming up with layout designs (and tweaking those designs over and over); my role has been mostly to stay out of the way and to bring him beers as he’s working. That said, he was VERY excited to purchase the biggest, most visible piece of the new cocina. We were at the store for hours working with a nice kitchen consultant who took Mike’s kitchen layout (conveniently designed on using an online planner through Ikea’s website) and translated it into an invoice for several thousand dollars. In a couple of days, we’ll get a call to schedule delivery, and once they’re here, the fun of assembling the cabinets (and then installing them) will begin.

I’m getting really anxious for everything to be done. The kitchen’s coming along, but I wish it were already done so we could enjoy it already! For those readers who are interested and who haven’t been getting my email updates, you can view pictures of the kitchen remodeling process at
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=v29ldft.9wbjne39&x=0&y=-q5gzz4&localeid=en_US.

When my brother and I were little kids, we both loved music (we both still do), so there was always a lot of singing in our household.  I have fond memories of my brother and I rounding up other friends and cleaning the carport, singing a song we made up about teamwork.  The gist of the song was, when you work together, things get done more quickly and it’s more fun.

Now that Michael is staying with us for a while, and given that we’re in the middle of our massive kitchen renovation, there’s been a lot of Music-Michael (brother)-Mike (fiance) teamwork going on.

This weekend, Michael has helped Mike with the demo of the kitchen and the beginning of the rebuilding process, and he helped me quite a bit with a gardening project I took on while Mike was working on plumbing in the kitchen.  I decided to plant a veggie garden (not much this year, just two types of tomatoes, cucumbers, and cantaloupe) near the back of the property, and to plant some bougainvillea out by the garage.  Michael was nice enough to do the shoveling, which was no small task since our soil is very rocky and has a lot of clay.  He also helped clean up the branches from the tree out in front that we cut but never quite put away, and attacked the very unglamorous task of pulling weeds out from in between our fence and the neighbor’s house.

As it turns out, Michael and I were smart, insightful children.  Spending all that time with my brother this weekend reminded me that we were right– when you work together, things get done more quickly and it’s more fun.  And your house looks nicer, too!

Last night, Mike and I went to the special broadcast of “This American Life.”  The radio (and now television) show chronicles slices of life in a thoughtful way, and we both really enjoy it.  When Mike found out they were showing a special 2-hour “This American Life” movie featuring outtakes from the radio and tv shows, a Q&A with host Ira Glass, and more, he was all over it.  After a delicious dinner at Sushi Deli, Mike and I headed over to the movie theater, where we got settled in our seats.  Just as the show was starting, a local television personality named Ken Cramer– and his date (wife?  girlfriend?  friend?)– sat down next to us.

Ken is known for his homey, history-oriented stories on the local NBC affiliate.  I worked with him on a story when I was at the school district about a famous local Jewish woman, once a trustee of the Board of Education, whose grave was rediscovered in an old public cemetery.  That’s a very typical Ken Cramer story.

It turns out that his female companion is a chatty lady.  She talked throughout the broadcast, adding her own commentary, telling Ken (and those of us sitting near her) about how she’d seen or heard a given segment,  asking questions of Ira Glass, laughing uproariously, etc.  It was so obnoxious!  I’m not the most patient person anyway, and it took a lot of control to not turn around and tell her to shut the you-know-what up.  Even Mike, who is much more forgiving than I am, turned around and gave her a very obvious dirty look.

There’s no real point to this story except to warn my San Diego-area readers– if you want to be able to enjoy and pay attention to a movie, avoid theaters where Ken Cramer is.