Mission Accomplished?

Oh man! Things are finally settling down a bit. The apartment is moderately unpacked. I’m not scheduled to travel anywhere until Christmas, or host any visitors. Research is finally starting to take direction—I spent some of this week learning how to label DNA with radioactivity so I can monitor uptake into my bacteria. It is both cool AND promising. My goal here is to get at least one arm churning out data, and then I can get back to making mutants in the meantime.

Madison is all crazy again since the new school year has started. It always makes me a little sad, since the campus is so quiet during the summer. And the undergrads look younger and younger every year. And with the full moon yesterday, everyone was driving in lunatic fashion. The one bonus of it being the school year is that there are a lot of group fitness classes—like step classes and pilates and such, which are a bit more mentally stimulating than running. I’m no uberjock, but man I feel happier when I’ve been exercising regularly. It’s great stress relief, but it also lets me feel more in control of my body and my life.

On the wedding front: Mom and Dad and Liz came up to visit this weekend, which was awesome but CRAZY CRAZY. Five people in a two bedroom apartment. Mom wanting to talk weddings and Dad wanting to talk science. One of my main goals for this visit was to give Dad the chance to get to know Andy better, and I feel that was accomplished. It sounds like, well, everyone likes everyone! The other potential goal was wedding dress shopping. . . .

The dress is one of my “I DO care about this” wedding things. At this stage in my life, I don’t have the money to buy nice outfits, and working in a lab means nice outfits would get stained or trashed anyway. But I love clothes, and I love fancy dresses, and therefore having a fabulous dress was important to me. I’d been clipping dresses out of magazines for a couple weeks, however I had no idea what would actually look good on my short-waist-large-bust body.

As we drove to the bridal salon, I was having mini panic attacks. I didn’t know EXACTLY where the place was. I didn’t know really what I wanted. I didn’t know if I was wearing the right underwear. But hey, we found the place, I admitted I was open to about anything (within the A-line & sheath variety). And as for underwear, well they almost immediately ask your bra size and bring you some strapless thing and a petticoat. It was a little weird getting undressed in front of Mom, sis, and Sarah, but I forgot about it pretty quickly. Yeah, trying on wedding dresses was a strange process, especially since all the dresses are around size 8 and they basically “clip” you into them. But our consultant (a microbiologist working at the salon part-time!!!) was swift to figure out what dresses looked good and within our budget. Lots of drop-waisted dresses, since they elongate a short torso and give me a waist again! I tried on one dress that was over $6000 dollars—hand embroidery all over—but thankfully it didn’t look that grand on me. Still, it was marvelous to try.

The dress I ended up picking was actually in the second/third round of dresses she brought in. All folded up on the hanger, we all instantly ooohed and aahhhed over it—which to me was an excellent sign. Mom did begin to get teary-eyed when I tried it on. Yeah, this dress covered the bases for me. I loved it, but the consultant gave me a run for my money and had me try on a lot of other dresses that were also beautiful. She put me in a dress more my size and showed me how the waist would look once the dress I loved was fitted. I was sold.

So yeah! I have a dress. I believe it’s douponi silk, so it glows without being shiny. And it doesn’t look like any dress I’ve seen on anyone—and mom also commented she had never seen a dress like it in the Ohio Valley. And baby, that’s what I wanted. It goes perfectly with my mom’s veil. It’s fabulous and unique. Beautiful and a bit quirky.

I spent the rest of the day exhausted and in shock. In some ways, it was a little sad to have that part over with, but mainly I was glad I got the chance to pick out a dress that mom and I both love. And it’s not actually OVER, since I’ll go back for fittings and lessons on how to operate the train and what not.

So the next big thing will be guest lists and invitations, followed swiftly by registering. I’m so glad that I have the mom I have (and the family I have). This stuff is all crazy, but it’s a fun crazy.