up & up you go for to steal the secrets of the heavens...will you share them with me my bright and brilliant spy?

Spending weekends (mostly) alone can be a treat sometimes, although I miss you all. My school schedule this semester is slightly more exhausting since I am taking an extra class. If I continue at this rate, I will be done with my degree one semester early, which in dog years is like, 3.4 years or something like that.

In addition to constant schoolwork, I am also currently on a self-imposed “budget.” In my latest attempt to play grownup, I am trying to save my money so that I can someday own a home or whatever. When I announced my thrifty new budget plan, one of the actual grownups at work asked me what program I was using to help with my budgeting. This is a fair question, I suppose, since my raison d’etre at work involves meticulously accounting for changes in performance metrics (not unlike meticulous budgeting) so I suppose I have the aptitude for it. But the very idea that I would apply this sort of skill to my actual personal life was pretty laughable…truth be told, my idea of “budgeting” has thus far involved only purchasing clothing from Target or off sale racks, and frequenting the Subway $3.99 fresh value menu. I know it is a slow start, but I am feeling very thrifty and accomplished and am certain to have THOUSANDS of dollars saved in no time.

Studying for inane tests, eating off value menus, and watching 5.5 episodes of “My So-Called Life” on Saturday got me waxing nostalgic about my undergrad experience. This, on top of my lack of showering for 48 hours and re-wearing the same jeans for 3 days actually made me feel like it was 1999 again! I guess enough time has passed since college that I actually recall it with a mix of embarrassment (how could I have been so DUMB) and overwhelming affection. Saturday night, while taking a study break, I yearned for a trip to Will’s dorm room, where we would talk about the universe and its largeness and/or our smallness. And at lunchtime I wanted to call Amanda and make her go with me to ponder over why lord why we didn’t have boyfriends and eat mountains of thai noodles. Then we would feel super decadent and call Chad and make him go with us to buy second-hand treasures and collectibles to decorate our apartments. And I would force my poor roommate (and in her absence, her cat) to help me analyze in great detail every email and/or IM conversation with boys: a) I liked, b) I made out with but didn’t really like, c) I thought maybe liked me but couldn’t tell, d) who really just needed help with their thermodynamics homework, but maybe there was a subtext about loving me?

So yes, hearing Angela Chase muse over how she kept waiting for life to begin and for something to happen and for things to really kick start her life made me wistful for the time when I felt the same way…and when hanging out with friends was something I took for granted. But I guess we can’t be Angela forever. Decisions have been made, life has happened. Friends have gotten married and they’re having babies. Loved ones have been lost. Hearts have been broken and healed again. Is this what I was yearning for?

I feel so far removed from my angsty former self, but am desperately in love with her anyway.

Anywho, back to this week…I hate: stomach viruses, veggie booty for its questionable but totally possible involvement in the great stomach revolt 2007, the fact that during illness I watched a marathon of “Grease: you’re the one that I want” and now I actually sort of care about the outcome. This week I love: you (you know who you are), getting mountains of valentine cards from my favorite brown boy, Subway sandwiches, and Jordan Catalano.

cupid, draw back your bow

Last weekend was Neha's wedding extravaganza. She was unbelievably beautiful, as expected. What is it about brides? I just fall in loooove with them every time. Anywho, here she is getting ready:

The final product was really amazing. I started crying (ridiculous, I know) because she was so pretty! Also all of this stuff was sooooo heavy I have no idea how she could even walk.

The ceremony was surprisingly short at only about 1.5 hours. The priest was real funny and did (approximate) translations for everything. e.g. "So Neha's brother is like, hey, Julian, will you love Neha and make her happy? Then Julian is like, hey, of course. And they are like, hey, okay then." It was charming. He sort of sounded like Strongbad from homestarrunner. Ha. Also, there were mango smoothies and snacks (!) served during the ceremony. YUM. My camera is a lil wonky ever since festivus, so this one is a lil blurry, but it's the only shot I have of the ceremony and it includes Jules:

As promised, here is a photo of me in a sari. It is not really fair because I am standing next to Amee, who always looks amaaazing in Indian clothes, so I look sort of bleh, but I tried real hard. I only sort of felt like a taco, but it was still a relief to take that thing off at the end of the night.

So the ceremony was real nice, and the cocktail hour was fun (me and Aneil ate tons of samosas!). The reception room was gorgeous and so so so nice...I am realizing that my wedding will pale in comparison to my fancy friends. It's fine. There was tons and tons of dancing it sort of felt like one of those dance marathons, but I think we pulled it off well. At the end of the night, Aneil and I were super-sweaty, but still managed to snap one last pic:

We are adorable!

Hope everyone is having a good week. School sucks, but I'm doing okay otherwise. This week I love: weddings, Neha and Julian, songs by Sam Cooke, and Veggie Booty. And I love you!