love and marriage, and social media

Long before there were Facebook, Twitter or cell phones there were proposals, engagements and weddings.  But how on earth could you have heard about a friend of a friend of a friend getting married?  Or that girl you didn't particularly like in high school and swore if she got married before you you'd die?  Or your ninth grade boyfriend that broke up with you because you wouldn't let him feel you up?  I guess you had to live not knowing.


Well with life taking form on a Web page it's easy to reach your 950 closest friends with the news that you are engaged ... and you can do it just seconds after it's happened with the picture of your ring.  I've been shared the news in a text message before the newly engaged made the round of calls.  I've been asked to be a bridesmaid via text, since we'd been playing phone tag for weeks. I heard the good news that a former coworker had gotten engaged - but she hadn't changed her status on Facebook yet.  I must have been the first to her wall to you know, formally send my congrats.  No one had said anything.  I was nervous it was a secret (it could happen, right?) so after I wrote "Heard the great news - Congrats!" I got nervous and deleted it.  


I've also admittedly seen an engagement announcement on the 'book and taken comfort in knowing that if she could find someone to marry her, so could I.  Don't you judge me.


So do you need to bring documentation to City Hall when you apply for your marriage license to show that you have indeed changed your status on Facebook from "In a relationship with" to "Engaged to"?  As far as I'm concerned that makes it more legit than a piece of paper.


And then what happens when things don't go as planned?  Do we need Facebook to offer the following options:

• "Broke Off The Engagement To"
• "Working It Out With"
• "Gave The Wrong Finger To"
• "Got Pregnant First With"
• "No Longer Legally Married To"

Ugh, and since dating takes place via late night text messages, what would you do if you got proposed to on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed?  You let me know your thoughts.  Leave some HMOH comment love.


-HMOH

right back at ya

Not only is it Cinco de Mayo - but it's Maid/Matron of Honor Appreciation Day (at least for me)!  The bride-to-be sweetly sent flowers to our desks today as a thank you for pulling together the bachelorette weekend.  

It's great to feel the love in return ... and have to entertain questions at the office about who sent those flowers to you :)

-HMOH

happy cinco de mayo

SIDENOTE: turkey taco tuesday

When I'm President, I'm going to declare "Turkey Taco Tuesday" a national holiday and convince HR that it's cool to honor the vacation day each month.


"Turkey Taco Tuesday" (n.): a reoccurring occasion where my roommate and I decide to cook (I cook, she watches) turkey tacos on a chopped salad, complimented with a bottle of wine.  Affectionally known as TTT; not to be confused with "Turkey Taco Monday" and "Turkey Taco Thursday." Synonyms:  n/a, nothing compares to a TTT
Hey I'm skipping the gym, what do you need me to pick up for Turkey Taco Tuesday?


If I could further define the best TTT ever, it would be tonight:

• Biggest Loser Makeover Week - I've been waiting 6 weeks to shave Daris' head (and I'm currently balling my eyes out)
• GLEE
• 9 By Design
• The Hills, The Final Season

Nothing better than watching amazing transformations, followed by showtunes, followed by a family of designers you wish would adopt you so you could get a sweet ass apartment and cool nickname, followed by cokeheads taking on anorexic b*tches and fighting it out with disgusting celebrity wannabes (SIDENOTE: If I had a planet to banish the worst people ever to - Speidi and Tyra Banks would make the cut) ... all while chowing down on turkey tacos on a Tuesday.


-HMOH

a bachelorette partini

Apparently while I was out of office (OOO) yesterday my team met to discuss the weekly to-dos.  Why I wasn't in that day came into question - did it make sense to take an extra day off for a bachelorette weekend?  A supervisor commented that if everyone had seen the photos on Facebook they'd know it was for the best (whoops).  I - for one - haven't taken vacation in a while. I got up Monday am (bright and early) and caught up on four consecutive episodes of Mad Men.  I decided to go for a run and attempt to sweat off the excessive amounts of cheese I'd consumed (you'll see).  It never seizes to amaze me who roams the streets during the work week day - like, what do you do for a living and how come you're running at 2pm?  Were you in AC this weekend and needed the extra day too? I went for a run by the East River where I took in the local scenes of homeless bums, Upper East Side nannies with their bugaboos, and one peculiar man tweezing hair from his chin.  Love was in the air, the kind of love Justin Beiber sings about - 14-year-olds fiercely making out on the park bench and getting it all in before they have to head home for dinner.


If I'm going to be honest - they definitely didn't want me in the office yesterday.  The weekend was a blast, but I'm getting too old for all night  benders that result in me sending myself home because the twentieth person in heels (I left at midnight to don flats and then returned to the club to dance) stomped on my foot and brought me to tears.


Saturday - Let the Partini Begin
The theme - a bachelorette partini - taking the bride to her roots of the Jersey Shore.  GTL before the weekend (no seriously, it happened) and then prepare for when eighteen girls, a majority sorority sisters, make their way to the Borgata for the night.

We reserved a number of rooms plus the bachelorette suite (bless the cleaning lady who tried to steal my iPod, she probably deserved it).  While the groom's sister was off "babysitting" the bride, the rest of us got to work decorating, picking up the dinner, smuggling alcohol and cookie cakes into the room and trying to figure out how the penis confetti made its way into the dip ["That's what she said"].


Guests arrived relatively on time and the party started in the room (we turned the sinks into coolers, the bathtub into a balloon heaven and garbage pails into wine buckets). Since the bride was from out of town and couldn't take all the gifts back, we instructed guests to have the present sent to the couple and to bring a print out and bow to make the fun bouquet for rehearsal dinner.  This cut down on time spent opening presents [score]. This request also resulted in a party foul when a guest that couldn't make it ruined the aw factor via gift card saying "Have Fun in AC."


... fast forward a few hours of sweatbox dancing (the kind I promised the girl at the dress store I wouldn't do) ... and the evening culminated in a cheese eating binge fest in the after hours suite.  Some friends had broken into the suite with hot-pressed cheese sandwiches in tow.  While pocketing the various slabs of cheese from an appetizer platter and patting themselves on the back for being so secretive, they hazily left the room - and their hot sandwiches behind.


Imagine my surprise when I returned to the room crying and limping from a fatal foot injury to find a pepperoni and cheese sandwich waiting for me - still warm.  I was with Sarah, a doctor, who assured me that the sandwich was put there by an angel to help my foot feel better.  And it did.  I didn't feel so much better the next morning when my conscience kicked in  ... so it was probably better to have taken the next day off ... 


-HMOH

HMOH tip #502: lingerie and family matters

Just successfully washed the Jersey filth off my tired self.  With the amount of cheese and party snacks I've consumed in the past few days (including the fat-free Borgata Buffet we all ate before hitting the road this morning), I'm giving up food for the next few weeks to guarantee I fit into my bridesmaid dress. We'll see how successful I am at it, since every time I make this pledge I can pull off the anorexic thing from Monday morning until Monday's lunch.  If I do say so myself (and I do) - from planning to execution, this past bachelorette weekend was awesome and provided some content for the upcoming week at HMOH.


Friday Night - BMO ("Bridesmaids Only")
We planned an intimate dinner at hot spot Macondo and planned to surprise the bride-to-be with some lingerie.  Who else to get you some sexy apparel for the "big night" but your closest friends and family?

The guest of honor walked away with some respectable (and some not) pieces for a busy honeymoon, as well as some beer-flavored pasties.  Not to be outdone - and because the thought of her brother as the audience for these get-ups - bridesmaid (and little sister) Abbe specially ordered this chenille, cheetah print one piece:

Racey number - huh?  Sorta like the only piece of lingerie you'd allow your dad to get your mother.  Lucky for everyone these Jumpin Jammerz come in every size and print and are available as matching sets for the whole family.  If you ask me (and probably because I just spent a weekend making a million "That's what she said" references), the Web site looks like a low budget escort service and the logo resembles some of the baked goods I made as party favors.

So this here is a gift idea for all the sisters who may be a little squeamish thinking about their brother in the bedroom, and are looking to contribute to the bride's lingerie drawer without causing uncomfortable nightmares for themselves.  

Problem here is Kelsey is convinced her fiance (and Abbe's brother) is going to want to take this off her quickly ... so he can put it on himself.  

-HMOH

HMOH loves dalla nonna jewelry

I can finally share this incredible find that I've been keeping secret in order to surprise the bride-to-be this past weekend.  Dalla Nonna, which is Italian for "from the grandmother" (and reminds me of my Nonna), is a cool "modern vintage" jewelry line now catching mainstream attention for their signature calendar pieces.   The necklace caught my attention in a magazine while getting my nails done a few months back.  We ordered the calendar bracelet for Kelsey as a Maid/Matron of Honor gift, immortalizing her upcoming wedding date in a sterling silver calendar charm with sapphire stone (to match our dresses and the wedding colors).  

The jewelry is featured in recent US Weekly that Missy spotted at the nail salon on Friday (let me take this opportunity to brag that I'm clearly a trendsetter), and was a huge hit.  Each piece is handmade and customized (takes about 4-5 weeks for delivery), and PERFECT as an engagement, anniversary, new baby, or birthday gift. Cost: $150 and up.

Check it out here.

-HMOH

UPDATED 5/10:  Look what bracelet made its way to the pages of Real Simple.