Dear August 2012,
You have been a crazy one! First of all, (and don't take this the wrong way, August), you've never been my favorite month. Not even close, in fact. When I was a kid, you meant that summer vacation was almost over. But you also promised a week on 4th Lake, so you weren't all bad. But this year, August, you really pulled out all the stops. You win hands down for best summer month.
Shall we take a look at why you were so great this year?
We found a new place to live! HOORAY! We'll be vacating the ole 1 bedroom apartment for greener pastures in Swarthmore, PA. Our new abode is a little old cottage with a front AND back yard! It also has 2 bedrooms, more than 2 feet of counter space in the kitchen, storage space in the basement and they allow dogs! (Look out, Foo kitty. You will probably be getting a four-legged sibling next year…) We're pretty much in heaven and can't wait to move in. I’m just kind of wishing we could fast forward through the whole purging, packing, moving, unpacking fiasco and head straight to the DIY Projects! part of the moving game. It’s hard to believe that Pete and I will be celebrating our 6 year anniversary in the first place we’ve moved into TOGETHER. We’re looking forward to having more space and actually inviting people over for a change. How novel.
Betsy’s Bachelorette Weekend on Cape Cod. What a god damn success this weekend was. What happens when you combine one unconventional, relaxed and happy bride with 4 very different and equally relaxed and happy bridesmaids? Fun times ensue, to the max. I Amtraked to RI disgustingly early on Friday morning (note to self, 69th St station is not a cool place to hang out at 3:30am) and Betsy and I drove up to Heidi’s house on the Cape. Heidi had graciously offered to host the party for the weekend, before she learned that she would be moving out at the end of August. Surprise! She was still game for house guests (somehow??) and was a perfect host. Betsy’s big request for the weekend was that we do some crafting, so we glittered and painted the hell out of some metallic Oriental Trading Company masks. I cannot wait to see these monstrosities, er, works of art on people’s heads at the wedding. Hilariously awesome. Add in a late night skinny dip in the ocean, some serious living room singing and dancing, plus a limo ride to Provincetown for a drag show, a gay club and a live band in a lesbian bar, and our little Sparkleina was over the moon in love with her bachelorette party. What a blast.
Charlie's 30th Birthday party - this was such a fun night. Jackie threw Charlie an epic birthday bash, complete with frozen margarita machines, a teepee, adorable puppies and a kitty and a professional photo booth in their dining room. I have 2 strips of photos from that night, happy faces of Pete, Christina and me, that attest to the fun that was had.
Playa Del Fuego Ticket success! Pete and I, along with the Upstate NY contingent of awesomeness, were able to get everyone in our two camps tickets without breaking a sweat. Both Pete and Damian made it through the queue with super low numbers and we scored an extra ticket for Chris. High time for her to experience the magic of a Fall PDF.
We celebrated our Engage-a-versary. Pete and I have officially been engaged for 1 year. Only 14 months to go before our wedding! We busted out the first and only gift we have received since making our impending nuptials known – a pair of Waterford crystal toasting flutes. We’re super classy. A bottle of Asti, strawberries and some take out burritos (classy, remember?) added the finishing touches to our romatic engage-a-versary evening. We had a nice night of dreaming about our future and clinking our glasses. Somehow we finished the bottle, which is surprising since Pete only had 2 glasses of champagne…
In keeping with the engage-a-versary celebration, we decided it was high time we took an official tour of Arden and locked our date in with the powers that be down there. Pete was off on a bachelor party weekend in the Poconos, so I put Christina to work in her first official obligation as bridesmaid – she joined me to visit the Arden Guild Hall. Steve, our very friendly and knowledgeable tour guide, showed us around the space and answered all my questions to my liking. (Yes, we can setup the day before and come back to get stuff the next day. Yes, we can use candles and hang stuff from the ceiling. Yes, there will be 2 toilets in the ladies room!) While we were there the Hall was being prepped for the Arden Fair, which happens annually on Labor Day weekend. Things were looking a bit crazy inside, so I was glad I’d seen it earlier on the clandestine self-lead tour that Pete and I had taken MONTHS back. Steve showed us into the tiny and awesome library that is part of the Guild Hall, and we got a tour of backstage, the basement “where the cows used to be kept” and the newly renovated beer room. It was a strange tour. From the Guild Hall we proceeded through Arden on a short walk to the Field Theater, where we will be getting hitched. We got a good dose of Arden history along the way and Christina was happy to see lots of similarities between Arden and Rose Valley. Steve, who happens to be legally blind and seemed very lackadaisical with his blind-man cane, was making me very nervous as we continued to tramp along roads, fields and a cemetery. I was convinced that he’d tumble head first into a gravestone if I took my eyes off him for one minute, but I guess “legally blind” is a pretty wide spectrum and he managed himself quite well. When all was said and done we were confident that this is just the spot for us to have our wedding. Thank god, it would have been a real pain in the ass to have to start the search over! October 12, 2013 – here we come!
Lastly, August gave me another good turn. I got cast in a
play! At the Swarthmore Players Club – A FOUR MINTUE DRIVE FROM OUR COTTAGE.
Yet another plus of the cottage. The play is Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit. It’s
an absurdist one-act set in an insane asylum in 1938. Yep. I’m playing another
crazy lady! My character thinks she’s Queen Isabella of Spain, which is damn
impressive.
So, as you see August, you have been a very very good month
for me this year. Thanks for that.
Love, Megan
P.S. Tell September 2012 I have high hopes for her, too. Starting
off the month with a trip home to see my folks and rounding it off with another
trip home for Kevin and Ashleigh’s wedding promises September to give you a
run for your money, August.
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