The Dress Has Landed

Though it was about 115 degrees and condensation was peeling off the walls, it felt wonderful to ride home on the subway with my wedding dress (in a garment bag, 's ok) on my lap. It's now safely tucked away, but I'm probably going to prance around the apartment in it when Nick is away.

Artifact #4

PHOTO TAKEN DURING A BEAUTIFUL STOP IN ALBUQUERQUE, NM

In the summer of 2001, I still had dwindling ambitions of becoming a writer, and so a reporting internship at Reuters* in LA became the impetus for our first roadtrip. We crammed a boatload of stuff (including one--naturally--leaky gas canister) into the pint-sized Ford Aspire and took of from Columbia, through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and into California.

Many mini adventures were had. A twilight-zone-esque stop in Shamrock, Texas, where the hundreds of dead crunchy beetles underfoot, hostile-looking locals in a grocery store devoid of groceries and the abandoned/vandalized motel we parked in front of creeped us out so much that we broke off our lunch halfway through** and hightailed it out of there. Being involved in a shoot with a famous photographer in Santa Fe. Visits to as many of the gorgeous Southwestern National Parks as we could afford. Delight in the discovery that the $3.99 Grand Slam from Denny's could sustain us for a good part of the day, virtually every day (and that it is sometimes a 'secret menu item;' ordering it made us feel very insidery). Driving through the Mojave Desert without air conditioning was also quite thrilling. About ten minutes into it I had to pull over, change into a pair of Nick's boxers (shorts were crammed into the bottom of some bag or other) and drive the rest of the way clad only in those and a sports bra. An outfit quite popular with truckers.

Nick says that it was during this roadtrip that he realized our relationship really works. If we can navigate halfway across this huge country in a tiny car without ripping each others' throats out, it means we've got a good thing going. The trip is still one of my fondest memories.


*Where I panned such masterpieces as "Crunch's L.A. Aerobics Class Strips Off Pounds, Inhibitions" (now only available on random websites that picked up said masterpieces)
**Interestingly enough we reached our inexplicable-discomfort saturation point at exactly the same time. A strange episode.

Checkitout!

In spite of my earlier (misplaced) misgivings and blather about also buying a memory when you're buying something this important, we decided to purchase our rings online. And when they arrived in the mail and we slipped them onto each other's fingers (dry run; have to make sure that part goes off without a glitch during the ceremony and all...) it felt wonderful and no less special than if we'd purchased them from a physical jewelry store. I didn't want to take it off. And now it's sitting there in its white box, and I really want to wear it some more. But there's only a little over a month to go. I guess I can wait.

Artifact #3

"Nick and Jana in 30 years." Laura always knew that Nick and I are destined to be together...(sketched on the back of a meager ATM receipt--mine, of course--a year after Nick and I met).

Artifact #2

On our first proper movie-and-dinner date Nick and I watched the very romantic "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" (which I highly recommend, by the way. Talking hand-puppets voiced by a six-foot-seven drag queen? Come on. Gotta love it). During dinner at Tellers I piqued Nick's interest even more by proclaiming that I can sometimes be very "erratic." He thought I'd said "erotic" and got pretty excited.

Artifact #1

Nick and I have a wedding-related-stuff-to-do list on our fridge. Most of the items on it are now crossed out. A few things still remain (writing the vows, getting a marriage license, picking out some more songs, etc), but pretty much of all the big parts are in place. We will be married in 54 days. Until then, we'll post a few artifacts of our relationship. Random things, notes, jokes, tickets; some signifying big moments in our relationship, some smaller, every day ones. There are enough to fill a large box in our apartment, so there's plenty to draw from.

Our Registry Info

Before we get all into this business: Your presence at the wedding alone is a gift to us. Many of you are shouldering expensive travel and hotel costs to be there, and we deeply appreciate that. However, there have been inquiries as to where we are registered so here are ze deets.

Faux-pas: noun, plural faux pas
a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion.
Like the time I slapped a complete stranger on the ass at the company Christmas party, thinking it was my dad. Being 13 and very susceptible to attacks of extreme embarrassment I feverishly prayed for spontaneous combustion and was—as you might be able to guess—denied.

Or the time Nick and I suggest money as a wedding gift.

We know that this isn’t really the thing to do at American weddings and of course understand if a check is not a gift that you are comfortable giving. Therefore we’ve also registered for desirable home goods at three places. And, let’s be honest, I love myself a salad bowl with a cute deer and a fox on it. I mean, who doesn’t?!

AMAZON:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wedding/284Z6UIRYLWWX
This should take you straight to the page we created.

(Ye olde) CRATE & BARREL:
crateandbarrel.com
Click on “Gift Registry” on the home page, then search under First Name: Jana, Last Name: Meier

VELOCITY ART & DESIGN:
http://www.velocityartanddesign.com/
Scroll all the way down and on the left side you will see “Gift Registry.” Again, sign in under my name (I am the “creator” [insert maniacal laughter here]) and also type in the date of our wedding, September 6, 2009.

Thank you.