My Magical Auntie M or Hoopah for Chuppah

Momo, me and Auntie M when I came in an saw the chuppah

Love often comes with frustration.  But sometimes, there is a special person or two who you love and they love you and it is simple and lovely and perfect.  Usually because one side is working harder on the loving part.  I think that one of those people for me and a lot of my brothers and sisters is Auntie M.

Auntie M. was the first of three kids on my dad's side.  Uncle J and dad gave her quite a time growing up.  But she grew into one of those magical people who just makes others happy to be alive.  For each of our weddings, she has made the chuppah with love and care.

A few months back, she asked me what I wanted for mine.  I told her if Uncle J -- an amazing designer in his own right -- could cut down a few aspens from his beautiful, self-made home in Evergreen, Colorado and we could use that.

It seemed like a nice, simple idea.  The aspens would represent Dad.  But things are never as simple as they seem they will be.  The wedding wasn't in Colorado at all, so transportation of my aspens was going to be complicated.  But when Auntie M says she's going to do something, she makes magic happen.  It took a whole design team: Auntie M., Uncle J, Brothers C, L and Z, Grandma N, my mother in law and more.  From the fabric having my mother's name, to the trees my dad grew up running through and Mr. Two's grandfather's prayer shawl wrapped around us, I could not have imagined a more beautiful place than under that chuppah or a one that was filled with more love.

Dad's brother and sister, Uncle J and Auntie M

Trimming the trees

Putting the frame together

Brother C, getting his hands dirty

Inside

Squash from Brother L and lantern from my Mom In Law

The only thing as amazing as the chuppah were the flowers, ala Three, Four and Five.

So much love

This weekend was kind of a big deal...

GIVEAWAY!!!!! THERE IS ONE!!!!!!

Guess what, dearest internet friends (I didn't meet you in a chat-room, so it's not sketchy)? I have a giveaway for you! As promised, this is the first awesomesauce schwag-fest in a series of -- you guessed it -- 5. We're rolling like Shirley Temple in that one sad movie about small princesses, and giving you something for our birthday (it's cool if you want to send us something too though. . . you know, like a card with a duckling on it or something. . . just an idea). Here are the deets:


Mymemories.com has graciously offered a wicked rad digital scrapbooking suite to one lucky-ducky FIVE reader, gratis. I got to test it out, and it's pretty suite (PUN!). And that's coming from someone who has been taunted for not knowing what a 'brad' is; I know what they are now, and they have them in this software. The suite lets you channel all of your crafty self into an easy-to-use page proofing tool with tons of different design options. When you finish, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor in the digital world, print pages on your own, order a bound book from mymemories.com, or recreate the designs with actual brads.

To enter, do all of the following:

☞ Follow FIVE................................................................................................
☞ Check out mymemories.com (their pages are far superior to mine)........

☞ Share an innovative scrapbooking topic (i.e. microbes) in the comments.

I know that's a lot, but it's for the sake of awesome free stuff, right? We'll probably announce the winner ~next Friday.


(Also, if you're liking the words that I'm saying but (heaven-forbid) don't win the giveaway, you still get a prize for being peachy keen: a coupon for $10 off of a MyMemories Suite. Just use this code at the check out: STMMMS99342)

Hit the jump to leave a comment (plus I made a bonus scrapbook page for you, and it's there).

5 Fail-Safe Ways to Make Friends

Making friends at school can be overwhelming, but you know what's even more overwhelming? The tremendous amount of pain and distress that accompanies those of us who don't have any friends! That's where I come in. As a professional psychologist*, I have devoted hours to studying how people make friends. During the course of my research, I have developed a revolutionary and fail-safe algorithm for making friends. Simply follow these instructions and you'll never be friendless again!

1. Whenever you encounter someone wearing a t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweater, polo, sweatband, hat, pair of sweat pants, pair of pajamas, pair of socks, pair of underwear, shoulder bag or backpack with the name of your school on it, express surprise and delight! The conversation should go something like this:

YOU: OH MY GOSH! You go to (insert the name of school)?
OTHER PERSON: Yeah.
YOU: THAT'S SO COOL! You aren't going to believe this, but I go to (insert name of school) too!
OTHER PERSON: Cool.
YOU: Yeah! This is kind of CRAZY! Gosh, such a coincidence. Do you live in the area?
OTHER PERSON: Yeah
YOU: That's amazing! I live here too! Do you know any other students from (insert name of school) who live in the area? If so, we should definitely get together.

Voila! You have a new friend. You've developed some common ground, expressed interest in something they do (people love that emotional connection crap)--and made plans to get together in the future! Now, if you follow the script carefully, you really can't go wrong. Trust me. I don't just give you this advice without testing it! I use step 1. all the time! I use it when coming out of my dining hall, walking across campus, studying in the library, going to the bathroom! It's tremendously versatile! THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS! For more tips on getting to know people, read on to steps 2-5.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Step 1. only works for people living on college campuses.

2. Repeat step 1.
3."                     "
4. Poke people! This friendly act is no longer reserved solely for facebook!
5. Finally, if you're a naturally likable, good-looking and funny person, BE YOURSELF!

With this system, making friends doesn't have to be overwhelming! Let me reiterate something: THIS STUFF WORKS! It is FAIL-SAFE (a term which commonly refers to something that is guaranteed to work). Good luck! Though, in all honesty, you really don't need any. If you follow this plan you will have friends coming out of your ears!!!

This could be you! Via

* I can say this because I'm taking a psychology class.

Tonight. On the Colbert Reporrrrrt.

I don't know if y'all read the news, but New York was the place to be last week.  What between  my boss appearing on the Colbert Report to talk about the book he wrote with a lot of help from Brother L , and Two's performance at Lincoln Center, the streets were PACKED--in the spirit of full disclosure, I think I heard something about a convention of some sort going on too.  And while it seemed very specialized (UNGeneral = specific?), I supposed some people might have turned up for that thing too.  

We had almost a complete TD delegation in town, and while the timing of our events was conflicting, in spirit they were at peace. So while Two and her crew went one way, Brother L and I had a blast at Colbert.  We poked around back stage, took pictures we weren't supposed to, and chatted with a couple of Colbert's 11 siblings. 

 Also, I must thank all those who encouraged me to wear this dress, it was a big hit with the big man! ( I believe his exact words were "And you wore a red, white, and blue dress? Boy, that's just too cute.)

Do you think he commissioned this, or did someone just paint it for him?

Brother L in the hot-seat!

Me in the hot-seat!

And Bossman in the hot-seat!!  To learn more about The Quest, take an energy quiz written by yours truly, and hear audio excerpts from the book check out the website at www.danielyergin.com

On Other Anniversaries or The Sound of Music...

One week, five road trips, four cities, three performances, two hospital stays, one debut and one surgery later, I am celebrating the two year anniversary of my first lung transplant. And while I love the people at the Cleveland Clinic and my insurance company (I love you Kaiser Permanente) -- they are amazing and a gift and I am so blessed to have them -- spending your transplant anniversary in the hospital being reevaluated for transplant is a little like spending your second wedding anniversary in family court preparing for divorce.



Mom said it was like The Sound of Music -- near the end when they are making preparations to leave Austria in the midst of this major competition that they eventually win, only to escape into the uncertain necessity of the alps. And though I never wanted to be cast as the reverend mother, she was onto something.... or at least Roger and Hammerstein were. We don't have to climb one mountain. We have to climb every mountain. Whether it is a mountain of dirty diapers, a mountain of debt, a mountain of sorrow, a mountain of disappointment, or an endless, monotonous trudge through the mundundity* of life, sometimes the ranges seem to go on forever. And the truth is, they do.



The purpose of life isn't to coast. It's to grow -- to climb higher. And it isn't easy. It necessitates endless change and work and hardship and trial and pain and discovery. Ask anyone with kids, bringing them up is not an easy task. But the greatest things in our lives -- the things that make life worth living -- never are. This whole transplant thing is not easy. My life is not easy. I literally would not wish it on another living soul. But in the same breath, I have been afforded the most unbelievable, unexpected and miraculous opportunities for love. From my heavenly and earthly families, from TFMT, from my wonderful friends, from my doctors, from strangers. It's not like war where there are people who want you dead. On the contrary. Everyone is knocking themselves out to keep me alive and to make my dreams come true. And while some of this is far beyond any nightmare I could ever conjure, the mountains of my life have opened vistas to truths that I could have never seen and with each door God has closed, his windows have opened, heaping love down onto me.


Thank you for your continued prayers.

Also... If you want to do something nice for me ( a little presumptuous, I know) write to my little brother. I'm having a hard time getting to the mail box, but he loves letters, pictures, food, anything that your time and budget allow. He's in Japan and could use the pick me up! Here's his info:

Elder TD
3-1-5 Yagiyama-Minami
Taihaku-ku
Sendai-Shi, Miyagi


*not in the dictionary, but it should be

An open letter, a Niçoise salad, and some great press for Two

Dear Friends,

Please excuse One's terrible neglect of her much-beloved blog. She is experiencing technical difficulties. Probably of her own creation, but she humbly asks affected parties to consider her other redeeming qualities, (e.g., facility with obscure Hungarian idioms; ability to knot cherry stems using only her tongue; adorable children), before passing overly harsh judgement.

One sheepishly requests the indulgence of her sisters in life and blogging in granting the privilege to revise and extend this week's remarks at some point in the near future. In the meantime, she hopes the meager offering of a brunch menu from back in July that she never got around to sharing is a not-entirely-insulting consolation prize.

Sincerely,

One (who is inexplicably speaking of herself in the third person; deal with it)

P.S. Scroll to the bottom of this article, to where is says "wrapping up" for a lovely summary of Two's triumphant performance in New York last week!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When not in Colorado, we usually spend Sundays gathered with some portion of the D.C. clan at Mimo's house.  It's one of my favorite unofficial traditions.

Here's a quick and easy menu we threw together earlier this Summer:

Niçoise-ish Salad

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Roasted Potatoes

Yummy Olives

Orecchiette

Flat Parsley

Capers

Blanched Haricots Verts

Italian Tuna

Eggs

Vinaigrette (I use this when I'm too lazy to make it myself)

Black Pepper

Lazy Lemon Cake with Goaty Glaze

I was inspired by this confection, but in no mood to spend the time to duplicate it. Here is a quick cheater's version.  Please don't tell Four I've blasphemed her art in this manner....

Prepare one box white cake mix according to package directions, EXCEPT substitute fresh lemon juice for the water. Also, add whatever zest those several juiced lemons yield.

While it's baking, mix half a Costco-sized log (or one regular log) chèvre with a couple tablespoons each of milk and lemon juice and enough powdered sugar to be delicious. Mine ended up glazy, but I bet it would be equally delicious if you skipped the milk altogether and went for fluffy/creamy.

When the cake is more or less cool, pour the glaze over and top with fresh berries. Take a bubble bath (or fold two loads laundry) with all the time you saved not baking from scratch.

P.S.(again) - This article kind of blew my mind. I'm trying to reform and feel obliged to spread the word to other neurotically-committed double-spacers out there...