What do you do when you've been a bridesmaid 4 times?

After getting mad for the umpteenth time that The Knot's bridesmaid page is focused on making bridesmaids feel inadequate for not taking a month's vacation to help brides (I exaggerate, but seriously, I don't think they realize that bridesmaids don't always live in the same town as the bride), I decided to write a bridesmaid blog. I figured I had enough experience to share my opinions.
In similar news, using my bridesmaid experience, I've been helping my college roommate plan her wedding. It's sad that I know how long it takes to get bridesmaid dresses in, and how long it takes for bridal gown alterations, and so on and so forth, but I'm glad that it's helping someone!!

Family letters and a proposal to an "Unknown Friend"

I love reading old family letters. I even wrote two theses using family letters from WWII. But back to the subject at hand...
My great-great-aunt (possibly great-great-great?) Annie (Anna) received a letter in 1930 that my grandmother just showed me today. Aunt Annie never married, but apparently that didn't stop strangers from proposing to her. This man was looking for a "good wife" and Aunt Annie apparently came "highly recommended." As far as his qualities, he's home four nights a week, and can provide a 10-room house with gas and electric. Given that Aunt Annie never married, it makes me wonder if she laughed while reading this proposition as much as I did?

Click on the letters to make them larger.

Some thoughts on 2010, 2011

I had a fun New Year's Eve with 2 of my oldest friends (with whom I have celebrated many recent NYEs) at First Night. We started the evening with dinner and toasting (since I wanted to be safe to drive after the ball dropped, we did our champagne toasts at about 7pm). Want to know what we toasted to? A happy new year, good riddance, our new year's resolutions (yeah, I'll spare myself the embarrassment of posting what my resolutions are), and so forth. So basically, lots of things to look forward too for 2011.

But speaking of "good riddance"... I've been attempting to fill collage picture frames all day. I found my high school and college graduation albums and started looking through them. Apparently I didn't get many pictures at HS graduation except with family and a few other people. College on the other hand... lots of pictures with friends (and again, family). I was a little shocked to realize how few of the people I was so close with in college I haven't spoken to in awhile. That place was home for four years, and those people were almost family... and yet we're coming up on 4 years since graduation (oh wow do I feel old) and I can safely say that at least half of those people I haven't spoken to since shortly after that date. Now, I am fully willing to take the blame for some. I haven't kept in contact the way I should have (and if you're reading this, I'm sorry). But then there's those other people... the ones that there are reasons why I haven't stayed in contact. Finding their pictures in that album wasn't so fun. I'm sure everyone has those... the ones that you seriously question whether you should toss them out of the album all together (and with technology the way it is, delete them from your computer memory too).

And yet, I can't bring myself to do it. I mean, several of those people are still in my phone memory. Friends with several on Facebook... though I don't know how much longer that will last. After all... if our friendship meant that little in real life, why pretend on the internet? But I'm just bringing up bad memories at this point.

For 2011, I'm hoping for a fresh start. As Jane Austen points out in Pride and Prejudice, "Think only of the past as its remembrance brings you pleasure." Easier said than done, but it's worth a shot. Good riddance to the bad, bring back the happy past!

And a happy new year to all!