I have been trying so hard to adjust to my new work hours (3pm-12am) that I feel like I have not had much time to write, breath, eat, or much of anything else for that matter.
I have spent the last few three or four weeks adjusting and I am just now feeling somewhat normal.
I still am having some problems with sleeping though. Either I sleep to much or not enough. I just cannot seem to find the required balance. Someday, perhaps I will.
Besides adjusting to my new work hours I have been so busy with other projects that they ate up all my time to write. The biggest thing was my best friend's wedding which was on May 29th.
The wedding preparations were long and took lots of consideration. Why? She decided to have a Steam punk wedding. Steam punk is a mix of a few different things.
1) Victorian vintage dress
2) modern symbols and titles. Such as: aviator, chemist, and engineer
3) the use of antique items like old typewriter keys, old skeleton keys, and old watches.
4) Inventive creations that look like really old Rube Goldberg machines
and ...
5) Make believe you are a fictional character.
I started preparing about a year and half ago. First I had to find all the pieces I needed to make
my random jewelery, pins, and adornments.
That was the hardest part. Do you have any idea how much it can cost to buy anything old and antique like especially when this fad just keeps growing. Well let me tell you. HARD. VERY FREAKING HARD!
Around Christmas time I finally had everything I needed for that category. I spent the first part of April getting my necklace assembled and creating my pins.
Around November I felt I had enough trinkets that it was time to look for clothing. This is usually very difficult to do and most people spend a ton of money or make their own. Well I am neither rich nor a sewer so I did the next best thing I could think of.... thrift shopping.
I spend quite a few days looking around until I finally found a perfect skirt to use and a jacket to wear if with the outfit if I get cold. I was very lucky to find them both at the Goodwill store.
During the first part of the New Year I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what title I would have and what kind of character I would be. I could not think of anything that seemed to be in budget.
Eventually my best friend suggested and aviator. She said she thought it would be the most cost effective thing to do.
I then had to start over with some of my pins and had to turn them into rank pins that could be attached either to the jacket or my blouse. Then Crap!!!! I realized I didn't have a blouse. In April it was back to thrift shopping again. I found a kind of antique yellow looking western blouse that was short sleeved and and it looked perfect. Finally the blouse was out of the way.
Around the same time as the pin crisis and blouse hunt I then discovered from the other bridesmaids and my best friend that I also needed spats. For those who don't know what spats are.. They are fabric decorative covers that go over a person's boots or shoes.
I couldn't find spats in my budget and one of the bridesmaids was kind enough to give me a pattern to use.
I asked my mom if she could make them. I even offered her money and she declined. I was without choice but to sew them myself.
Finally after about 14 hours or more of trial and error attempting to stitch, by hand, I successfully made my own. The stitches thank goodness are something you have to put your nose up to in order to see. No one would be able to tell how sloppy the stitches are.
I finally got to the point where it was time to through everything together and see what I had. This was around the middle of April. I noticed then that I needed gloves for my hands, some aviator style Goggles, and some sort of flight patches for my blouse sleeves.
Thank goodness for ETSY! I was able to get my gloves at a reasonable price and same with the goggles.
Then... I discovered that with my boots the hem of my skirt was riding to high so I had to buy a bunch of lace and sew it around the bottom. That didn't take as long as the spats since there was not a pattern to follow, but it took long enough to make it look decent.
May finally came and I was in crunch time. I was busy working my new job, trying to adjust to the hours, and still have time to finish my outfit as well as trying to get everything cleaned up that I no longer wanted for a rummage sale my boyfriend's mom was planning on having towards the end of the month.
I thought I was going to yank my hair out. Nothing seemed to be going as planned.
My outfit was complete. I thought. I realized I was missing a bustle of some kind and couldn't find one in my budget. Also the Bride (my best friend) decided the whole bridal party needed to wear waist cinchers or partial corsets. UGH! NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I thought.
After talking with the maid of honor (not me since my work hours didn't mesh with the bride's) we finally figured out what to do. Luckily she CAN sew! So we measured me up for a waist cincher and for a slip with the bustle on it. I went and bought the required materials and met her for tea to give her the materials needed for the bustle. She had everything she needed for the cincher.
Disaster struck. Somehow the cincher was missing. She had no idea what happened to it. She had to re-measure me for a new one!
It got worse. She couldn't find a pattern to use for the cincher and ended up having to make me a corset. It took her so long to assemble that the slip with bustle didn't get finished.
WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO????
Luckily the maid of honor is very sly and creative.
She found an olive green ruffle skirt that would work in it's place.
In the midst of all of this my boyfriend needed to be suited up in costume as well. We struck it lucky and found him a newsy hat and suspenders he could use and his shoes already were perfect. We found a pair of slacks and a shirt in his closet that also worked. We got lucky.
Meanwhile it had been raining so much that the boyfriend was unable to get an of his stuff moved around and sorted out for the rummage sale to go on as planned and the date of the rummage sale was moved up to the end of June. I felt like I had been crunching for no reason. Go figure.
Finally the day before the weeding I had to wake up at 8am after getting off of a midnight shift to go help decorate the reception hall and to squeeze in a rehearsal all before being to work by 3pm. It was pure havoc and worry. My best friend looked like she was about to loose her mind and
I felt quite certain that I was already out of mine.
around 1:40 pm the decorations were mostly up and to the safe point where we could leave everyone else decorating without having to worry about disaster.
The maid of honor measured me for the final adjustments to the corset she had to finish before tomorrow and gave me her ruffle skirt to use.
Then the person who would be performing the ceremony called. HE WAS LOST!
He missed the turn off into Black Hawk where the rehearsal and wedding were and ended up in Piedmont, SD with any empty gas tank.
NOOOOO!!!!! I thought. This cannot be happening. How am I going to make it to work on time and not get in trouble for being late?
Well luckily the Best Man has a foot of iron.
Around 2:00pm everyone was ready and at the proper location for rehearsal.
By 2:40 pm everything was pretty much settled. I sped off to work and made it there with barely enough time to pull up my programs I needed and to clock in.
I was safe.
Wedding day
I got up at 8am again and did one of the wedding guests hair, got myself dressed (which was kinda tricky), got everything organized and in the car. I maid it out to the site 1 hour before the wedding was set to start.
Then I realized my army bag of important party essentials was no where to be found. It contained things I needed for both the wedding and the reception.
I had to send my boyfriend all the way back into Rapid City to get it.
The bride began to freak out because my poor friend couldn't find her foundation or face powder anywhere.
I told her not to worry, because I had some in the bag that my boyfriend went to get. Slowly the rest of the bridal party began to show up and the basement of my best friends parents house filled up with women trying to help dress each other with the garments they were unable to get on by themselves.The other two bridesmaids and myself helped get each others corsets on. I helped pin on their bustles.
The maid of honor didn't realize how tight her bustle and skirt were and almost fell over trying to put on her own shoes and spats so I had to do it for her.
Finally everyone was dressed but the bride and the bag of necessities was finally delivered by my boyfriend.
My best friend got her makeup on and we helped her into her wedding dress, which by comparison was 10x easier than everyone else's outfits.
At that point my knees and feet were killing me and I realized that I was not going to survive the wedding in my boots. I had to run to my car and crab my chucks and throw them on. To the best of my ability I put my spats on over my sneakers.
It was pouring rain! We had to rip out the umbrellas. Not good for an outdoor wedding.
BE FOREWARNED... I DON'T HAVE ANY GOOD PICTURES OF ME AND MY BOYFRIEND TO ADD IN THIS BLOG AS OF YET.
I stood stupidly off to the side and waited for the next bridesmaid and had her guide me into place.
After a few moments the maid of honor took her place and the bride came up the isle.
The ceremony started and I thought I was going to sneeze. I grabbed a handkerchief out of my corset and held it to my nose. Sike! no sense. Instead my left eye that had been acting up off and on from my allergies began to water.
The groom's mom looked at me and grabbed her handkerchief and began to cry. Partially because her son was getting married, but also because she thought I was crying. *great*
The ceremony was about 10-15 minutes long and very beautiful and also themed with Steam punk type poetry. The rings were exchanged, A hand binding ceremony was followed and the bride was kissed.
I was escorted out by the third best man,who just so happens to be a police officer and the groom's father. He 6 foot 5 inch height compared to my 5' 1" caused a few problems. I almost poked his eye out with my umbrella. That is probably the closest to assaulting an officer I will ever get and be able to get away with it. Oh... Come on! it's funny and you know it!
THAT'S RIGHT THE BRIDE HAS HER VERY OWN TARDIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We packed up our belongings from the basement and separated into two parties. The groomsmen and groom party took the Bride to The Brass Rail for a drink and me and the rest of the bridal party took the groom to Patty O'Neil's which is inside the historic Alex Johnson Hotel in downtown Rapid City, SD.
I had been in the outfit for over 3 hours and needed to pee and knew I was not equipped to hold my skirt up on my own. One of the other bridesmaids went with me to the restroom in the hotel lobby. I opened the door and walked in on some poor tourist taking a squat. Oops......
We closed the door and waited in the hallway for her to finish. Another tourist was standing there waiting for her. Her husband or boyfriend I assumed.
He looked at us strangely and became rather excited. Apparently he had been trying to explain what Steam punk is to the women in squatter for quite some time and she just couldn't understand what he was saying. He begged us to stand still when she came out so that he could have her look over our outfits.
It definitely made an awkward situation even more awkward. There really is no way else to describe it.
Finally after being relieved I realized everyone else had their drinks except for us. Me and the other drink less bridesmaid made our way back into the lobby to the ATM and got me some money to use.
Walking back towards the bar we came across some more tourists at the front door coming in. German tourists who were laughing at our outfits and commented about the beautiful rain. At least that's what we "think" they said.
Finally we got our lemon drop shots and clinked glasses with everyone and drank.
Before I knew it; it was time to leave and head up to the reception hall off of Catron Blvd.
I called my boyfriend and told him to make sure everyone at The Brass Rail knew it was time to go and to come pick me up so we could ride together. While I was waiting for him we had one of the front desk ladies take our picture in the Alex Johnson lobby in front of the mini grand piano.
While sitting on the bench I fought the urge to jump out of my skirt. The Alex Johnson has a reputation for being haunted. The 8th floor specifically and I had not been in the main part of the hotel since before I quit working there after having to clean rooms on the 8th floor for a week by myself.
I made it through the pictures and got out of the building as quickly as I could. I shook the tingly sensation off.
On the ride up to the reception hall I discovered from my boyfriend that my best friend (the bride) was given 4 very nasty shots, but that he thought she was fine.
OH NOOO!!!!!!!! I thought. I explained to my boyfriend that she is not okay and that she's gotta be trashed out of her mind.
Sure enough.v We barely got inside and the rest of the grooms party hauled her in. She was seven sheets from the wind. The groom's mom was in a rage and so was the groom.
One of the groom's aunts helped the drunk bride to a bench to sit down while another made her a sandwich and brought her coffee to help bring her down. The groom stood by carefully not to get in his aunts' way.
The groom's mother had the groomsmen in the corner and was giving them a royal ass chewing.
I eventually made my way over to the bride and was beckoned to sit down. I sat with her and listened to her ramble happily for awhile and finally helped her up and sat her elsewhere.
The first guests to arrive got to see her completely hammered. Finally about and hour later she was fine. Instead of drinking wine for the toasts she filled her glass with
Mountain Dew.
Everyone ate and speeches were made. I excused myself from the bridesmaid table and went out for a cigarette. I smoked as quick as I could and made my way back inside only to be caught up in the middle of the largest Nerf gun fight ever! I quickly put my goggles on and searched for a weapon.
I found one, but it didn't want to launch correctly.
I finally gave up and let everyone fire upon me with out shooting back.
Eventually the fight ended. *phew* I was safe.
The rest of the night was pretty standard. The bouquet was tossed. The guarder was flung. Dollar dancing pursued.
Around 7pm I was so burnt out and couldn't handle anymore.
I helped back up the wedding gifts into the brides car. Wished everyone well and me and the boyfriend went home.
......About an hour later......
My cell phone went off. The maid of honor was calling. I answered.
Apparently the brides cellphone and wallet which she had given me was missing.
*great*
I explained that the wallet was sitting next to my purse on the bridesmaid table. She looked and didn't find it.
I told her to check with the groom and everyone else in case the bride in her drunken state had given it to someone else to hold or to put in her backpack.
........10 minutes later.........
My purse begins to vibrate. At first I thought it was my phone. Then I realized it was sitting next to me.
*CRAP*
I opened my purse and found the brides wallet and phone.
Someone must have thought it had fallen out of my purse and crammed it in there. *lovely*
So I called the maid of honor back to let her know that I have it.
"It was on the table not in your purse. I saw it sitting there. Someone must have thought it was yours and shoved it in there." She said.
I agreed. She said she would contact the groom and let him know where it is. I turned the ringer on and set the phone down just in case someone would call it.
Next morning the bride called it with her husband's phone.
I answered and explained what I could to her. Her only gripe was that
the maid of honor didn't call telling them where it was and she thought someone had stolen he phone and
wallet.
WHAT AM I DOING NOW ?????
I am still trying to adjust to nighttime work hours while fighting off some pretty wicked seasonal allergies.
The other day I had to stay home from work because my fibromyalgia flared up so back that I couldn't walk.
The boyfriend and I are trying to sort through his stuff as much as possible for the rummage sale and are trying to find a storage unit to but his things in since he is no longer able to keep his belongings in his friend's shed.
Instead of writing or playing Halo at night I have been getting caught up on TRUE BLOOD season 3.
I finally finished just the other night and have started watching season 1 again.
I am also trying to get things done around the house so that my television can be moved into a different location so that I can get my satellite TV vendor account through my work set up in time to catch the first episode of season 4, which airs June 26th.
Busy, Busy like a Bee.....
My name means Honey Bee.
and...That's all she wrote :)
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