THE BIG GIG!!!!!

The day of the "Big Gig" proved to be like all others that week. After a brief nap in the middle of the night, everyone got into motion to "get 'er done". All the girls headed to the salon. There was hair to be done and makeup to be applied. Dad and JM ran errands between dry cleaners and dress makers. Then, they were off to the salon, too. Not for mani-pedi's (though we suggested), but for more important things, like dropping off my veil. While having a brief respite from the chaos that was Carter Barnes, I managed to slip into Nordstrom to buy a new bathing suit and cover up for our honeymoon. It is amazing how flexing the VISA makes just about everything better. Before I knew it, everyone was transformed and more beautiful than I could have imagined.

We had a little time before the ceremony, so Mom, Karen and I decided that we would check me into the Ritz Carlton Buckhead (where Tad and I spent the first night as husband and wife). We had the MOST AMAZING suite you could imagine. We then summoned the boys. Well, not Tad because I didn't want to see him until the church. Dad and JM came up, we rocked out to The Beatles. Danced. Laughed. Tried not to cry (on account of my false eye-lashes). Took pictures. Had a glass of champagne to celebrate. Played pool. Took more pictures and laughed a lot more.

Karen, myself and Mumsie

Mumsie, The Bride (the sash says it all but the tiara gives it away) and Dad.

Just like 1975. Only taller.

Mom and Dad used to force us into a Christmas picture like this every year as kids. I forced him into this by playing the bride card. My big brother rules.

Karen, JM and I.

Time to head to the church.

Exhaustion Leads to Excitement

Pre-Rehearsal champagne with Dad.

Wow. That was fast. And exhausting. Everyone warned me. I was certain I had it under control. I was proved wrong. Fortunately, I had LOTS of help the week before the wedding. Had it not been for my parents, Tad's mother and at the last minute, my brother and sister-in-law, we might not have had lots of little cool things like programs or favors for our guests. We stayed up LATE every night. I learned that I could function on about 4 hours of sleep. Not very well, but at least stay vertical. My mom operated on far less sleep each night. We had everything pulled together by Thursday night - mostly. By Friday, I was EXHAUSTED. Then, it happened. While pulling into the valet station at the Ritz Carlton downtown, I saw Travis Wood and Tom Nordgren checking in as well. Game on. Exhausted no more. The party was about to start. As I entered the hotel, my eyes quickly came to rest on my college roommate, Jen Marshall. Tad's sister, Lane and her family were there as well. WOOOOOHOOOO! I am not even sure I put my car in Park. No matter. It was time to GO! All plans for an afternoon nap were out the window. It truly is amazing what happens when the adrenaline kicks in. The rehearsal was a blast. After the churchin' part was over, we headed to Paschal's for a fine Southern meal of fried chicken and collard greens. My parents then treated us to more cocktails at the Ritz Carlton (thanks, Mumsie and Big John!!!). The "Big Gig" officially had begun.

With my God Parents, Su and Tad Hemp. Or Tad #1 and Tad #2 as they have self dubbed.

Janin and Tami Wellhausen

Janin with Mom and Dad. Yes, it is a spray tan.

Time to switch to water.

Janin and Valeri Yee! All the way from SAN JOSE!!!

The Petrick's as 5.

Get 'Er Done!!!

Everyone warned me. I paid attention, mostly. They said that the week before our wedding, there would be piles of stuff for me to do. I would be busy, morning, noon and night. I acted like I believed them. In the back of my mind, I thought everything would be peaceful. I could spend the week at the spa. I would get a massage every day. I would hang out with friends. My parents could come and relax. Then, 7 days before the "big gig", it happened. I got slapped in the face with a whole lot of "must do's". Wow. I am not treading new water. I feel large waves from those who have been here before.

Fortunately, my parents showed up just in time. The night they arrived, they suggested getting a head start on one of the projects. I obliged. We hunkered down and made progress. We had tickets to the Falcons/Bears game. Great seats. We had planned to go to the game. Then, we decided to stay in, watch it on tv and tackle the mounting lists. Ugh.

Judy arrived Monday night to provide an extra set of hands.

Tad squished his cigar to pitch in.

We have tackled A LOT. Welcome bags. seating chart (I am proud to say that I had NOTHING to do with this, as it upset me too much), favors, other favors, welcome bags, hair cut and color (if I couldn't lose 30lbs before this thing, I am going super blonde to look like I did). All complete. Everyone has had a vital role. Truly a team effort. It will be a beautiful event.

The bride may look tired. She is running on empty. Up late (because she has to do important stuff like blog) awake early.

She is now going to hit the sack, because she is the bride. At the same time, she can't thank her parents and future mother in law for being instrumental in getting everything done that we have this week.

3 days and counting.

Why I Love My Job

I get to fly big jets. That is pretty cool. But nothing is as cool as catching up with old girlfriends from high school over burgers in cities far, far away from San Jose. I haven't been working much lately so I can prepare for the "big gig" but this week I was able to score a rare 20 hour layover. What does a girl do with all that time? Obsess over seating charts? Playlists for the DJ? Program verbiage? Nah, with 20 hours you call a girlfriend who you haven't seen in years and catch up over a much needed (because I am wearing white in 9 days) bacon cheese burger and fries.

Enter Tiffany Kurtz (Foulk). She is a dear friend from San Jose who now lives in Texas! We have stayed in touch loosely all these years and she came to entertain me with her son, DJ. - Don Junior, who is Donald Lester, so I am still trying to wrap my noggin over the "J" in D.J. It was SO great to see her and I had a ball playing with her 15 month old son who has just discovered the pure joy of putting his entire hand in your glass of water.

D.J. and Tiffy

After some power shopping where DJ demonstrated his love for fine fabric, the little guy was a bit worn out. Not generally a baby who sleeps in the car I am told, he is pretty close to "resting his eyes" here. Sure enough, a quick power nap in the car and he bounced back and was ready to go.

DJ contemplates - "Nap or No?"

DJ, Tiffy and Me

I had an amazing time with Tiffy and family and hope that we can do it again soon. Maybe next time they can come to Atlanta! We live right next to the best place for DJ to dunk his hand in some serious water, the Georgia Aquarium!

Thank you, TIFF! xoxoxo

Licensed To Wed

Just like it began - we got caught in the rain!

I have had a LOT of time off of work lately, which has left me plenty of time to obsess over (I mean get ready for) "The Big Gig". Tad has entertained most ideas and thoughts with full sentence responses which I greatly appreciate. We realized that we needed a Marriage License, so I penciled myself in on his calendar and off we went to the Fulton County Court House. It turned out to be a rather comical morning as we first delivered a load of my belongings to Tad's home then went over in one car, his. As we were leaving his garage it started to rain heavily and we then realized that there was not a single umbrella to be found in his car -- but there were plenty in mine. Oh well, there was no turning back. We parked in a garage and took off on foot in torrential down pour into the court house. As soon as we got through security, we were turned away because we were in the wrong building. The building that we needed to be in was 2 blocks away. Not to be deterred, we took off on foot again. As we were sprinting, I got a vivid image of about 18 months ago, when we got caught in the rain at the Inman Park Festival and we hid under a tree until it passed. At that point, I didn't realize we were even dating but standing under the tree I realized that I REALLY enjoyed being around Tad and was having a blast. It also gave me a moment to pause over the last year and a half or so and the lives of Tad and me as we become one. A few highlights have included:

- 2 Beastly Feasts

- Eagles Concert

- Finding out Tad had Mono (great story behind this one)

- Neil Diamond Concert

- Introducing Tad to Double Double, Animal Style

- New Years under a falling peach

- A Valentine's Day that puts all others to shame

- Christmas in California and Christmas in Georgia

- The Big Yellow SLIDE!

- Tad meeting "Jenin" and of course, grandma

- Super Bowl

- fishing with new equipment off the 21st floor

- hiking to see fall colors after a big rain

- a VERY special 1st anniversary

- an amazing trip to Saint Martin and locking ourselves out on our balcony

-U2

- 6 months that has gone by so quickly we are about to count down in single digits...

So, once we finally found the correct office we stood in line and contemplated which license to apply for. The options wereFIREARMS or MARRIAGE. We chose the latter and tomorrow we go into single digit countdown mode......

Does This Make My Finger Look Fat?

This weekend is the last weekend Tad and I have together before all the wedding festivities begin. We had lengthy discussions about what we should do to occupy our time. Candler Park Fest? Get the rest of the move done? How about have NO plans. Just hang out. That is something we haven't been able to do since this whole mess - I mean wedding - came about. Friday night, I made a nice dinner and we sat outside and played Scrabble. Saturday morning, I walked a 5K with a couple of girlfriends. No plans. Then we got the call we had been waiting for: Our wedding bands had arrived.

While contemplating when to go get them, we decided this was worthy of putting on our agenda so off we went to see Nuni. When we got engaged, Tad's mother, Judy gave us diamonds to use for my wedding bands. We took them to Tiffany to have them set and chose Tad's wedding band at the same time. His is truly beautiful. It is thick platinum with an etched band at the top and bottom. Mine were to be two bands with diamonds just along the top (not all the way around because of weight gaining and losing issues and re-sizing). They were finally here. We walked in and were greeted with hugs from Nuni, which has become customary and invited to sit in the private viewing room while we waited for her to finish with another customer. When she was done, she emerged with Tad's wedding band and both of mine. I cried (shocker). Tad slipped his on and we put our hands together. I don't think either one of us had grasped the fact that "the big gig" is just 14 days away until we saw our hands marked as the others. I cried some more. As if I didn't realize the 1000 reasons I was ready to spend the rest of my life with Tad, he asked me one of the most wonderful questions ever "does it look like my finger is poured into this ring?". What does a girl say to this?! The only appropriate thing that can be said "no, just your wallet"........14 days and counting.

So That Is Where The Bug Spray Lives!!

Combining two households is a challenge at best. Adding wonderful gifts sent from our registry's has complicated things further. We have been through several rounds of purging. We had a yard sale and made $154! We have piles of boxes and loot in various locations.

Tad has been out of town for the last couple of days and since I have the week off, I thought I would start organizing. I have often marveled at the SPEED in which Tad puts things away - walks in house, starts putting things away in a fury and heads off to do something much more interesting. I found evidence of this last night. While deciding where to place our fondue pots (thank you Ann, Teresita and Randi!) I started to clear the cabinets above the refrigerator to make way for our new small appliances. It was FULL of light bulbs. And empty light bulb boxes. And bug spray. Off. Cutter. Skintastic. THAT'S WHERE THE BUG SPRAY LIVES! Not any more. The bug spray has been moved to a more logical (for me anyway) and reachable location (again for me). We still have lots of light bulbs which now share their home with our fondue pots. Come on over, we will fondue it up under really bright light!

Just When I Didn't Think It Could Get Any Better......

Last weekend proved to be busy as ever in preparation for the "big gig". My Mom came into town again to help organize and spoil me along the way, too! We had such a great visit and though I *promised* not to "run her as hard" as I typically have in past visits, I found that I was simply exhausted at the end of each day. We had LOTS on the agenda. First and foremost, her MOB (Mother of the Bride) dress had arrived after much, much, much involvement with the designer, a boutique in Connecticut and a very kind woman we have never met. She tried it on and it was PERFECT. Beautiful. Great. Now, on to more important things, like shopping. We covered Atlanta like a cheap suit on her first day. After all, the next day we had my bridal shower to attend! Mom decided that we needed to do a dry run of our make up for the wedding day, so we were up bright and early to go see if Kiev at Carter Barnes could work a little magic. Lo and Behold - she even gave me false eyelashes as I discovered that along with not having inherited my mother's alabaster skin, dark hair or strong nails, I also did not get her insanely long eyelashes.

Mom and I before the magic is worked

After !

We then stopped for a few errands before heading to my dear friend Laura's home where she was hosting my bridal shower. It was an amazing afternoon and I was blown away by how much work Laura put into the day. Not only did she open her home to my friends and family, she cooked all the food for an incredible luncheon, and decorated with attention paid to every detail! She had decided on an airplane theme and had all kinds of cute airplanes as decoration all around, which she had hand painted in our wedding colors - lapis and apple - or, in Tad speak "purple and red". She ordered ribbon with our names on it and had an airplane shaped cake that was titled "TaJan Air". The "N Number" was N10/24 - our wedding date! She also had favors for everyone - a cookbook which she had compiled of everyone's favorite recipes, which is something I know I will get great use of and I hope everyone else will, too.

Janin and Laura, the host who wears Lapis!

TAJAN AIR! Edible Airline!

I was so fortunate that so many people were able to come to my shower. As I already mentioned, my Mom came into town as did Tad's Mother, Judy. Tad's sister, Lane (who is a brides maid) and her daughter, Emma (also a bridesmaid) came in from Knoxville. Emma is just the sweetest girl and was kind enough to sit with me and keep notes on all the gifts. I would have been lost without her keeping tabs! She is invaluable and I look forward to being her aunt.

It was a wonderful visit with Mom, including the moment that I had forgotten to pick up my dry cleaning. Small problem. Fortunately, Macy's had navy pants that were a suitable substitute and I had a couple of spare shirts in my closet. I may end up eating these words, but I am hoping that after the "big gig" I will be back to my normal, organized Type A self who has everything together long before I have to be anywhere.

Emma and I

I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all. I am forever grateful to Laura for not making anyone play shower games and for all the work that she put into the shower. I sure am glad that this only happens once because nothing could top all that I have been experienced to date.

Here, Fishy Fishy Is NOT a Song

What a weekend! Amanda, my maid of honor had been VERY busy planning "the most important part of my wedding" - THE BATCHELORETTE PARTY! She rented a house on Lake Hartwell, gathered the girls and had huge plans for us all to have a wonderful time. I am very lucky to have such an amazing friend in her and the others who were able to make the weekend such an incredible one. We loaded up 2 SUV's and headed north for a weekend of boating, fishing, swimming, karaoke and a little bit of wine.

After collecting the boat on Saturday morning, Amanda and I spent more than 2 hours LOST on the lake looking for our rental home. No GPS, no cell signal and no food. We were rationing a tin of small Altoids Amanda had stashed in per purse figuring that if worse came to worse, we were going to have to wait for the other to perish and take matters into our own hands. We DID have a fish finder but did NOT have gear. After playing Gillian for what seemed like an eternity, Holly and Laura got on the peddle boat, came to the middle of the lake and found us. We were pontooning our hearts out but eventually gathered them into the boat and headed for our dock.

Myself, Karen, Holly, Amanda and Stephanie

Laura, Amanda and Holly - Lake Hartwell Mermaids

Ebony, have you met Ivory? She's the one in the pink boa....

Laura and Holly flex the muscle that got them to the middle of the lake to save us.

Rule #1 -No Boys. Well, except BUB (Blow Up Boyfriend)

We didn't catch any fish, we didn't have a lot of sleep, we didn't have gluten free beer, salsa, bottled water or diet coke after the cooler mishap but we DID have a great time. My cheeks are still sore from laughing so hard for 3 days. I can't thank Amanda enough for putting together such an incredible weekend and Karen, Laura, Stephanie and Holly for coming and making it so special. I am one lucky girl to have such amazing friends.

We Need To Have A Yard Sale. And Have No Yard.

Tad and I got engaged. We discussed where we would live. We decided on his house, a beautiful condo in downtown Atlanta that is close to work for both of us, has easy access to the interstate and overlooks Centennial Olympic Park. It has twice the space of my condo, which is in a fabulous neighborhood with all amenities within walking distance. Some of which include fantastic restaurants, bars, boutiques, coffee shops and grocery stores. I would move. One of my least favorite activities. But hey, this is love, right? There are certain things I MUST bring with me and see with my bright greens every day. They include a beautiful cedar chest my grandfather made me when I was a baby and an antique porcelain elephant that I have been infatuated with since I can remember. My parents finally gave it to me when I left their home for my first airline gig. Now, we have his, hers, ours and NEW! WOOT! JACKPOT! Registering was SO much fun. We chose beautiful things that we both liked. Then they started showing up. Not being one to wait, we opened immediately. Then we realized everything need a home. A LOT of stuff was simply going to have to go. Not to be wasteful we (okay, I) started to empty cupboards and closets. Everything that we decided we simply didn't have room for will go. LOTS of dishes. Glasses. Mugs. Serving pieces. A blender. Waffle Maker. Canisters. A new idea sprang to help pay for the "big gig" --- YARD SALE! Everything is boxed! It is easy. SELL, SELL, SELL!!!! Wait. We don't have a yard at either property. So for now, anyone venturing to see us at the Museum Tower should see if there is anything that they would like. Donations welcome.