My Sister's Coming!!!!

First off I love my sister.  She taught me how to read.  She's funny.  She's smart.  She adventurous. She's gorgeous.  Topmost, she's reliable, by far the most reliable member of my family.  I trust her beyond words. So even if she occasionally rolls her eyes and sighs at me with her older sister "okay I'm gonna be real patient 'cause I love you, but why are you not getting this" sigh, I totally love her and love when she comes to visit.   Last August, visiting with my sister got even better because my nephew entered the picture.  My nephew is just about the best-natured child I have ever met (and I teach young children - so I've met a lot of them).

Also, since brunch was a bit of a bust as far as crowds go, I'm looking forward to showing off the ring and checking out dresses and all that girly fussy stuff.  SO I get a week of playing with my nephew, king of the adorable, and a little newly-engaged wedding planning frenzy with my sister.  Does it get better?

When she arrived, I've had to remind myself to slow down because I wanted to pull all my ideas out of the closet (I did have an inkling this was coming, so I have a few plans...) and just give her stuff to look at, and more stuff, and more stuff, and let's be serious the woman just got off a plane, she's holding a baby, and she is visiting on her way to a summer abroad in preparation for a potential move abroad.  To wit, she's spent the better part of the month, when not caring for her toddler, packing up everything she owns.

She still flashes me a great smile, wants to see the ring, is amazed and gives both me and my love big hugs. 

Tomorrow we can check out pictures of dresses....

Brunch!

We are home!  A group of friends I refer to as the Thursday Club because we generally meet on Thursdays for drinks arranged a welcome home Sunday brunch.  We were excited to see everyone and looking forward to the congratulatory gaggle.  I cannot wait to see everyone and show off my ring to friends for the first time.  My friend R who is the papa bear of the bunch has been nudging my love to ask me for the past six months.  I swear he's got the whole thing planned.  D has actually offered us the use of her house and magnificent garden in the country for the ceremony.  (We're not sure she's serious but if she is,  wooo daddy, yippie!)  M is just happy that people have things going right.  She's one of the more intelligent women I know. She's loving and good-hearted, and as jaded as the day is long.  J  is one of my most loyal friends and thankfully he and my love get on like a house afire.  E is a newer addition to the group, wonderfully curious, and extremely kind.

Saturday night we get an email from D she's got to leave town for a job and cannot meet us.  Sunday morning on the way to brunch M announces via text that her back is giving her problems.  E  has an emergency involving her mother.  R  as we had found out right after we got back is in the hospital dealing with issues related to carbon monoxide poisoning he experienced in January.

So we met J for an amazing brunch and he could not have been better or more happy company.  Champagne toasts and yummy food.  The bistro is a charming rustic place and in the outdoor sun my eggs in toast with asparagus, mushroom, roasted tomatoes and truffle essence is just about the best savory brunch food on the planet.  Crispy, buttery, thick slices of grilled artisanal bread with eggs fried inside them.  roasted vegetables surrounding the bread tower, and a sprinkling of truffle oil on the lot.  It's heavenly.

I've gotta figure out how to make this stuff.
So while I figure that out I'll leave you with this brunch cocktail recipe, an updated take on the classic Kir.

Pomegranate Kir
Pama Pomegranate liquor
Cold dry champagne or other sparkling wine

pour one ounce of Pama in a champagne flute, tilt the glass and fill with champagne.  Stir with a long handled spoon or chop stick.  Enjoy!  You can also garnish this with pomegranate seeds or a sprig of mint.


If you cannot find Pama, you can also use homemade grenadine syrup.  (Grenadine is the french word for pomegranate.)

Boil 2 cups of pomegranate juice with one cup of organic sugar until it reduces to to a syrupy consistency.  Lower heat to simmer after it gets really boiling and stir to keep the sugar from burning. This sticky lovely substance will have you wondering how you ever tolerated  the colored corn syrup that is often sold as grenadine.

If you use syrup in the kir, reduce the amount to 1 tablespoon.

For an alcohol free drink, mix 1/4 c. syrup with 1 quart ginger ale and 1/2 c. raspberries. 

Showing off the ring - keeping up with manicures

When we got home I needed a manicure.  I knew everyone would want to see the ring.  I wanted to make sure the hand it was on did not look like it had been digging up potatoes in a field all day.  I teach music and theatre to school kids and they couldn't wait to see it.  I got some good hand cream, solid dish washing gloves and planned for regular manicures.  I prefer clear polish which dries quickly and wears well, but I've been known to sport an array of colors.  Part of the joy of DIY is making it your own.  So cut down a polish brush to half size and paint dots and stripes or you fiance's initials on your nails if that's what makes you happy.   At home manicures are really very simple. 

You'll need :
polish remover
a nail file
scrub brush
cuticle remover
an orange stick
cotton
hand cream
nail polish
base/top coat

Lay a towel down on the counter and lay out all your supplies.  Remove any trace of old polish.  File your nails to their desired shape, if they are especially brittle or at odd lengths you may wish to cut them first.  Wash you hands and scrub underneath your nails and across the top of your nail bed to release any dirt or oil that may be there.  Using the orange stick, spread a small amount of cuticle remover around the u-shaped edge of your nail.  Allow the cuticle remover to sit for a minute or two and then use the flat side of the orange stick to push back your cuticles.  Wash you hands and use the pointy side of the orange stick to clean any debris from under your nails.  Apply cream to your hands.  Using cotton and the orange stick wipe each nail with polish remover to remove any trace of polish.  This helps the polish adhere and the manicure last longer.  Apply a thin layer of base coat to each nail.  Start with a brush stroke up the center of the nail and then go along either side without redipping your brush.  By the time you have finished all ten nails the first should be dry enough for polish.  Add two thin coats of polish using the same brush stroke technique.  Thin coats will dry faster and clump less.  Paint on a top coat and relax for ten minutes while your nails dry.  You can buy the supplies for the cost of a single manicure and they'll probably last you through several months of weekly care.

Tell Everybody!

The first person we told was the waitress who served us champagne at our hotel bar.  Then the concierge whom we asked for a dinner recommendation.  We had an amazing seafood dinner at his sister's place.  When the check came, she asked us how we were.  "Fabulous!" I answered "We just got engaged."  Audible joy came from her lips and she asked if she should go get the priest right then and there.  They'd be happy to host the wedding supper she cheered sincerely.  Tell everybody, but by all means, if you find yourself engaged in Greece, tell the waiter before dinner.  Our check arrived with a litre of lovely Greek wine gratis.  Lovely, but after a bottle of champagne before and the bottle of wine with dinner, we couldn't imagine downing the whole thing.  Luckily for us we were able to cajole the wait staff into drinking toasts with us.  Everyone celebrated, we only got slightly drunker, and we didn't look like ungrateful buffoons.   Problem solved.  Managing the old steps to the hotel room, all 107 of them, took considerably more aplomb.

The next day we found an internet cafe and told our parents and sisters.  I also sent a group email subject line "I said Yes" content "xoxo" to a dear group of friends that is like a second family to me.  My favorite response came from the paternal head of the group, R, a man who is so excited about us getting married I swear if he could arrange it all to happen tomorrow he would.  He simply wrote back "as well you should."  I couldn't wait to get back to NYC to tell him in person.  We'd already arranged a welcome home brunch for just such an occasion.

On the plane home I searched through all our pictures to find the perfect engagement photo.  My DIY, budget conscious self couldn't imagine sending out prim engagement announcements from a printer. So I photoshopped the best picture to look like a picture postcard and loaded it as a PDF into an HTML template in my outlook.  I send out a flurry of e-mail to all my friends and family subject line "Happy News!" and saved a bundle on printing costs and postage.

No one complained or thought we were being cheap. No one had trouble opening it.  We did send hard copies to our mothers, because they are both the sort of woman who will like the memento and will hold on to it.  Easy enough to print them on quality card stock from our inkjet color printer and still far less expensive than printed announcements.  Taking the time to make a pretty announcement, even if it is in an email, pays off here.  Plus it's the kind of email you want to put some attention and care into crafting.

The payoff was the slew of congratulatory responses.  It was instantly gratifying and flooded us with an added glow of good wishes.  Email is definitely the way to go if you want to up the instant gratification level.   

You only think you know

We got engaged on a trip.  I kinda expected it.  A lot of my friends expected it, and somehow it still came as a total surprise.  I should have guessed when he spent the whole day evaluating the sunset view of each cliff and bar we hiked by on Santorini.  I should have guessed the day before when after we took an afternoon nap, he tried to rouse me with a sweet "It's sunset baby - you wanna get a drink and maybe some dinner?" I answered with drool and a slur of vowels.  I should have guessed when, as we got ready to go find a place to eat dinner, drink wine and watch the sunset, he kept checking his hair in the mirror and fussing with it.  My love never never does his hair.  He combs it back wet and lets it dry into a soft slightly curly blond fluff a top his head.  I should have known when the man who could talk about nothing but watching the sunset for three days straight let me leave our hotel room and go to the balcony and watch the sunset a full ten minutes before he did, even though he had been dressed and shod for 20 minutes.

I should've known.

But, I didn't and so I got a lovely surprise. I cried.  I loved the antique ring (which he did not present until after I said "yes." Pure class.  The man is the prize after all, the ring is merely the token of sincerity which seals the deal.) I didn't know, and so I got to be amazed.

Ladies, while you may think you want to know exactly how and when this is going to go down, you don't.  Leave a little bit to surprise you'll enjoy it and have a much better story to tell your grandchildren.