An American in Cambridge

For almost as long as I can remember, I've been a total Anglophile. (There's a brief period of my life before I knew what England was, and I'm pretty sure I have memories from then.) Growing up, I remember reading loads of books featuring plucky English children (my favorite will always be Ballet Shoes, closely followed by A Little Princess and The Secret Garden). Between those books and the Paddington Bear my father brought me on one of his work trips to London, a lifelong obsession was born, one which only grew stronger when I discovered John Stuart Mill.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might already know that I finally got to live the dream a couple weeks back, when I tagged along with Jeff for a conference in Cambridge! I generally make a point of trying to control my expectations, so as to avoid disappointment, but I was too excited to expect anything less than the most awesome trip ever. Luckily, this is exactly what I got!

World's most excited, unabashed tourist. Thanks to Devinne from Mox and Socks for giving me the most perfect dress to fly halfway around the world in!

How to Make an Awesome Wedding Playlist

Wedding planning is a very unusual task. Hopefully, you're planning a once-in-a-lifetime event, and yet you somehow need to accomplish a ton of tasks (negotiating vendor contracts, renting a tent, finding an officiant) that normal life gives you zero experience with.

Photo credit: the fabulous Marble Rye Photography.

Green Kimono Lena

During Honeymoon Part 1: Staycation Edition, I finally got to go to the Shedd Aquarium, and of course, I dressed for a completely different occasion. I have to wonder if the part of my brain that recognizes (and more importantly, cares) that I'm not dressed appropriately for an occasion was irreparably damaged by my years in grad school. I certainly wouldn't be the only casualty!

Love and Poppies

I have a steel-trap memory for dates: I'm the Rain Man of remembering birthdays, anniversaries, and When Stuff Happened. I can tell you, for instance, that I met my friend Pari's newborn daughter for the very first time on April 18th, 2013, or the birthday and anniversary of every single person/couple on my mother's side of the family.

Luckily, Jeff has an equally good memory, which means that I can expect him to remember that we started dating six years ago today! He's made me promise not to put any photos of him on the blog, though I suspect a few shots of him might find their way onto my Instagram. (Hey, I'm living up to the letter of the promise, if not the spirit!) Our anniversary this year will be more low-key than in previous years, since Jeff is in the middle of grading papers and I have to be at work bright and early tomorrow. I'm planning to spend the evening cooking a giant meal, reminiscing about How It All Began, and lying on the couch groaning "I'm so FULLLLLL!"

Orange You Excited?

Fun fact: I am getting married in June! While I was in New York for my mother’s birthday/dress fitting, my friends organized a bachelorette party and my sister threw me a bridal luncheon, and I had a blast at both. My friends know me really well (slash I have a core group of activities and foods that I really love), so the bachelorette party was basically perfect.

All I knew when I woke up that morning was that we’d be leaving on a 10:55 train to Manhattan, and that I wouldn’t be doing too much walking, but this was the perfect level of information as I love surprise parties. A good friend of mine in LA threw me a surprise birthday party last summer (my first surprise party ever!) and I was so delighted by it! I’d recently gotten this Bernie Dexter dress, and decided to wear it even though (or perhaps because) it isn’t remotely bridal.

Don’t worry, my friends provided plenty of party swag for me to wear. I thought I was getting funny looks as I walked through Grand Central with them, but it turned out that we passed someone that knew one of my friends.