a pre-wedding summary

i know, i know, i've been totally neglecting the blog.  first it was because of wedding madness but now it's mostly due to exhaustion.  ben & i returned home on monday afternoon, went to work on tuesday morning, and the rest has been a blur.  let's just say i'm real glad it's friday & we can rest during the weekend.

the other reason for the neglect is because it's hard to know where to begin to summarize the past few weeks.  there was so much packed in, it'll take a while to decompress.  so i figured i'd start with the beginning:  my first week, spent in nyc.

i think i've finally found the cure for jet-lag:  shopping.  after sarah & jeff picked me up from jfk, we headed directly to macy's to get our shop on.  i must point out that this was not my idea!  sarah needed to get a few things & asked if i'd mind.  would i mind going to macy's after being in turkey for 5 months where shopping is seriously limited (due mainly to cost)?  nope!  so off to macy's we went, where i found myself in summer sales heaven.

after macy's we stopped by their place to unload the luggage & freshen up.  they had a karaoke party to go to that night (sarah's friend colleen was moving to chicago).  i didn't think i was going to make it into the city with them, but after dinner i was feeling like karaoke might be just the thing i needed.  plus i really like colleen & didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see her & send her off.  sarah, jeff & i agreed we'd only stay for an hour & then head home in a cab...

then this happened:

unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of sarah & i rocking out to aretha franklin & patsy cline.  let's just say we didn't make it to bed until 2:30am (that would be 9:30am turkey-time, as in 28 hours since i'd woken up to catch my flight).  i have no idea how i survived that, but i do think this really helped me get on board with EST and will certainly consider making it my routine for every us-arrival.  

unfortunately when i'm state-side i rarely take pictures.  i'm not sure why, except that i'm so busy enjoying my time with everyone that i guess i can't be bothered.  but to summarize, the rest of my time in nyc was great, and included lots of rain, hence these two random pictures taken on sarah & jeff's rooftop, after jeff insisted we go up only to get caught in a serious downpour:

despite the rain, i had lots of fun shopping, lunching, and walking the city.  one afternoon was spent visiting with verna during her shift at barfly, where she is a bartender extraordinaire.  just look how she rocks the st.germain cocktails:

plus she's just super cute and fun to hang out with.  verna & i met at binghamton when we were transfer students housed on the same floor.  we realized while i was there that we've been friends for 12 years now.  wow.

and that's about it. this picture of the flatiron is the last one i took before the honeymoon, completely missing the beauty of my drive on back roads through pennsylvania heading upstate to jan & ritchie's house in andes, where i could have sworn i was in ireland due to the misty rolling green hills.  next time, i will do a photo shoot of their beautiful farm house, gardens, and vegetable stand.  next time.  

so that was the start of my trip.  i also missed the beauty of mom & dad's back yard, where i spent pretty much every evening i was home, enjoying the sound of the crickets and plenty of good talks with my folks by candlelight.  

sarah, ben's aunt aydan and cousin noy were with us from australia from tuesday on, and that was a huge treat for the entire lansford family.  we were so glad to have time to spend with them before the festivities, and aydan worked so hard to help make the wedding happen, it's safe to say we couldn't have done it without her!  

on wednesday we had a special lady's outing to syracuse, where we picked up my wedding gown (for the second & last time).  there mom, sarah & aydan got a lesson in how to tie me into the dress & do the elaborate bustle, which i'm sure none of us will ever forget.  we also had a great chat with nancy, my amazing seamstress who pretty much made the dress, and then had some delicious lobster rolls for lunch, courtesy of aunt aydan.

if i have one bit of advice for anyone getting married, it's to try & be in the same country for all of your wedding planning, so that you don't have to deal with most of it the week before the wedding.  i thought i had it all taken care of, and boy was i mistaken.  luckily i had plenty of help.  but, the wedding was so much fun, and so filled with great memories and people that ben and i love, we wouldn't change a thing.