Thanks, guys, for your words of encouragement. I’m feeling better than I was this morning. It helps that I am currently pretending I have no such thing as a wedding to plan (sorry, beau). Also, I have listened to General Public’s “Tenderness” about 14 times today. I challenge you to put that song on and try not to dance around in the most ridiculously ’80s way possible.* This is my new go-to song for when the stress gets poured on like gravy. What’s that you say? Why yes! Yes, the world IS full of tenderness and synchronized hand claps and peaceful multiculturalism and smiling children and everything is just fine, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

IN OTHER NEWS. I’m wondering if Meg might be wrong about the save-the-date cards.** No, not “wrong” in the judgmental way. Just wrong for us and for our guests. Receiving save-the-date cards is common in our circles. Not to mention the fact that we are one of four couples in the same group of friends getting married inside a span of seven weeks this fall.*** And that is not counting the other various weddings our friends will have to attend in 2010. Over the holidays, many pals pulled me aside and said, so wait, what day are you getting married again? Things are getting hectic, and I’d like to give plenty of advance notice so that people can plan their travel accordingly. Provide a bit of clarity in an envelope, so to speak.

However. I’m not so sure about the older people, specifically my parents’ childhood friends. Would they be confused, as many of Meg’s guests were, by receiving a save-the-date card? I’ve casually mentioned save-the-dates around my family a few times, and nobody seemed to bat an eye, but then again maybe they just thought I was spewing crazy wedding-speak. I know my mother, personally, would love to get a save-the-date card, because she would scrapbook the shit out of that. So would some of my aunts, probably. They live for that kind of stuff. It’s like a family disease.****

Anyway. I’ve come up with some potential STD solutions:*****

1. Mail save-the-date to everyone.

2. Mail save-the-date to most people; leave off those who might be confused and just mail them invitations later.

3. Forget about mailing save-the-date entirely; send email version of save-the-date only to friends who need to plan around the hectic wedding schedule.

4. Save a tree, or some portion thereof: Email save-the-date to everyone.

Yeah. So there’s that to consider. Thoughts?

IN YET MORE OTHER NEWS. Today is the 5th anniversary of the day I boarded the plane with a one-way ticket to California. I didn’t know why I was going, really, except I was unhappy with my situation; or how I’d earn any money once I got there; or whether I’d fail completely and have to return to the private hell that was post-college life in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. And I sure as hell couldn’t have known that, five years from that day, I would find myself smarter from the additional education under my belt, happier in a different career, buoyed by an ever-widening group of friends, and engaged to a stellar person with whom I’m planning a wedding.

Oh, right. wedding planning. We need  to plan a wedding. And we need to resolve the STD question. And I need to look for a dress. And I need to figure out —

TENDERNESS
WHERE IS THE
TENDERNESS
WHERE IS IT?

— Oh. Yessssss.

WHER IZ TNDRNESS PLZ

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmoHQ2DC3zo]

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* Hint: lots of exaggerated arm movements. And bopping up and down.

** Namely, she thinks they’re unnecessary.

*** I’ve come to refer to this as the wedding clusterfuck.

**** Good news: you don’t die. Bad news: you spend an inordinate amount of time in hot pursuit of Michael’s coupons.

***** Prevention is key. Wear protection every time, or better yet, abstain entirely.