I've heard of Baby Brain, but Bridal Brain too????

Oh my...things are getting busy at Chez Impending Nuptials, with less than a month to go.

JD and I just returned from a 10 day trip down to Texas, to pick up a used scientific instrument for my work. We also made a bit of a scenic roadtrip out of it - using the opportunity to visit/drive through Indianapolis, St. Louis, New Orleans, Galveston, Houston, Dallas, a bit of Oklahoma, Hot Springs and Little Rock - travelling throughout the hiways and scenic byways of the American South and MidWest. Saw bayous and mountains (Ozarks), the Gulf of Mexico, rivers and plains....and many many interesting vistas and people. More about that, and pictures, later on.

I'm glad we did it, though it was a LOTTA driving and felt mostly like one of those "see 10 countries in 7 days" type of tours (except we did all the work).

I'm very upset (since last night) at my brain. I am even more forgetful than usual these days, which means things are getting quite bad. I attribute this and my mental fogginess to "Bridal Brain". Not sure if anyone has come up with this term before, but let me tell you brothers and sisters, it is REAL, as real as Baby Brain.

Here's what happened. Way back...just before our trip, I made a trip to our jewellery store to finalize my wedding ring purchase (JD's was bought last year but we were hemming and hawing on what mine should look like), and I managed to do this without JD in tow, so a perfect opportunity (so I thought) to pick him up a little wedding day surprise from me to him. Said Surprise was tucked into the car in a big ol' Rubbermaid container we keep in the back of Edward the Sparkly Prius to house groceries and other items we want to hide from view. My plan was to drive to work and then remove Said Surprise to my office, to hand off to the Best Man at some future convenient juncture, to give to JD on the Day Of.

But of course, you must know what happened, right? Bridal Brain kicked in and I forgot about it. In my defence, I didn't have an opportunity to sneak it into my office before our big trip and then, well, the trip happened (Edward stayed home 'cos work rented a van for us) and we came back and had to resume our normal (??) lives again, in full-on overdrive and catch-up mode.

Then last night, we were packing Edward with groceries at the store and JD lifts the lid off of the container and says "There's a Birks bag in here?!?". He took one look at my stricken face and says "I didn't see anything", and promptly moves back to the task at hand. Gotta love the man for that, amongst other things! But I was quite crushed, at yet further evidence of my declining mental abilities. Sigh. I guess as long as I still recognize JD at the altar, it can't be that bad....yet.

The Said Surprise is now firmly ensconced in my office and I'm saying a little prayer to please help me remember to pass it on to Michael before September 3rd.

Oh dear, where has the time gone?

Eleven days since I posted last!

Well, since then I went away on business, got terribly sick, recovered slo-o-o-w-ly, tried to get back to normal, and tried also to get caught up.

I think I might have to make multiple postings to get all the daily pix in nicely, but let's see how we make out, shall we?

First up: January 11th photo. Trying out my new contraption for changing skeins of yarn into nice balls of yarn. Yarn is Dream in Colour Smooshy Sock Yarn with real silver shot through it. Since I don't have a yarn swift to coordinate with my ball winder, I have looped the skein around a kitchen chair. Tedious, but it works! This yarn is going to be knit into a cowl, eventually.

Jan 12th photo: my room at the Royal York, where I was staying while away on business. Ahhhhh, so calm, peaceful and tidy....like my house used to be (and will be again someday, probably when I am retired...LOL). The colour scheme at this (and many other hotels) is classic red, green and gold. This is along the lines of the colours I am thinking of, for when JD and I make over the apartment at our historic property into our marital home, instead of what it is now: a tired looking bachelor pad.

January 13th photo: After the business meeting was over, JD and I decided to take a mini-holiday and spend the rest of the day and the next in Niagara Falls.

Some of the holiday lighting displays were still operating and I tried capture them sans tripod. A little blurry, but hey... you get the idea. Little did I know that I would end up in the early morning hours of the next day sick as the proverbial dog, not sure which end to hang over the toilet. At first I thought it was food poisioning (from the Royal York, really???) but later I read in the local newspaper about a mysterious 24 hour stomach bug that is threatening to close down the hospital to visitors....I suspect that is what I got hit with.

Jan 14th photo: After some debate as to whether I was even well enough to handle the 2 hour car ride home to the Village, I decided I just had to get home. Did not want to pay to spend another night being sick in our hotel, however cheap and off-season it was. On the way home, we stopped at Dee's General Store in Valens so I could stagger in for her unbelievable butter tarts. Peanut butter butter tarts are my absolute favourite of hers. Still, it was 2 more days before I could do more than just look at one, and luckily there was still one left for me at that time! Stupidly, I went back to work on the 15th, instead of staying home for some badly needed recuperation time.

January 15th photo: Once I dragged my sorry butt back home from work, I flopped onto the couch and started watching the first season of Glee on dvd. What a cool show.

I think I'll stop here and continue updating the blog with another posting: Part Deux.

Too tired to post but will anyway...

And hopefully I won't regret this later.

Spent Fri/Sat/Sun a.m. in the big city with my female kidlet and someone I've been close friends with since grade 2 (we were besties in High School). For those of you who do math, that's about 40 some-odd years of friendship.

(Being the introvert I am, I don't have a lot of friends but those I have, I KEEP. So be warned, if I ever do call you a close friend, it's a life sentence.)

We shopped, we ate, we walked and walked and walked and walked. 15K on Saturday alone. I shudder to think of the kilometers we logged at the One of a Kind Show on Friday. I don't have the stats 'cos CJ wasn't wearing her pedometer then. Too bad. We saw a movie, The Blind Side. CJ and I let the Jemster pick it out. Good call. We all enjoyed it, even if it was formulaic. Then went back to CJ's condo after supper and continued the Sandra Bullock film festival (after decompressing in the hot tub) by watching The Proposal. Damn, that woman looks good! Sandra Bullock's trainer: CALL ME, OK?

I bought another book on Time Management (er...Action Management), Getting Things Done. Now to find time to read it. And apply it. So I don't spend any more glorious weekends like this wondering if I made a mistake by not cancelling and getting caught up at the office instead. I may have made a mistake but I won't regret it. Nope, not ever.