Okay, so I lied. I think the only way to truly understand what state I was in leading up to the wedding is to include this day. Because some wedding related stuff happen this day that really comes into play later on. This may be a bit of a disappointment as there are no pictures, but I promise Day 1 will have some!
Day 0, Part 1 - Thursday, January 31, 2008
If you’ve been through it, you already know. Something happens to a destination bride the week before she has to leave for her destination wedding. Sleep and appetite were elusive. I worked Monday through Wednesday and I still went to class Wednesday night. I had spent the previous weekend in the computer lab at school trying to "get [two and a half weeks] ahead” with my homework for my two classes. So, that time wasn’t spent prepping for the wedding. That time wasn’t spent doing laundry or cleaning up or organizing or packing or creating my master itinerary. You would think that with all that time in the lab, I would be set. But I wasn’t. I still had one more assignment to get done that was due while I was gone. Wednesday night after class I did the tutorial for the assignment, but I was so unfocused that I don’t think I absorbed one instructional task.
So Thursday. Thursday was going to be
MY day. The day it all comes together. I had high expectations. I had taken the day off work! I had no intention of actually going to class that night and I was going to efficiently get everything packed up for the trip. Had I mentioned that I still hadn’t finished an assignment? And the laundry wasn’t done? And I had scheduled my mani/pedi and chiropractor appt. in the middle of the day. And I had to hit the tanning salon one last time to cash in on my free upgrade to a high-pressure bed that I had been sitting on until right before the wedding??
Since sleep was not happening no matter how hard I tried, I was up and at the gym by the time it opened at 6am. I figured if I was going to lie in bed doing nothing, working out would be a positive way to start what was sure to be a stressful day. I just did cardio, but I did a full hour and I felt good about myself and the day. My future was bright.
I left the gym, swung thru the gas station (no reason to come home to an empty tank) and hit up the Starbucks. I got home, choked down some yogurt for breakfast (at this point any eating was to maintain functionality only) and jumped in the shower. After showering and getting ready, I was torn. I had about 45 minutes before I needed to leave my immediate geographic area to head towards the salon where I was having my mani/pedi. My choices were to either go tanning or go to school and finish that last assignment I still had left.
I choose school. Because I wanted it off my shoulders. I wanted to go with my day with that completely not an issue. I get to the lab. I start the assignment. I realize that I can’t recall ANYTHING from the tutorial I had done the night before. What should have taken me NO MORE THAN the 45 minutes that I had was taking waaaaay, way longer. My appointment was at 10:30am and it was going to take me a minimum 30 minutes to get from school out to where the appointment was. Every time I finished a step in the assignment I felt new hope. That it was going to be a snap to finish. That I was going to breeze through the assignment. I watched the clock creep toward 10am. I started to panic around ten after ten. I was almost done. One more step left and I made an error. I wanted to delete a worksheet from the excel workbook I was in. I was frantic and frenzied and not thinking. So, what do I do? I ex out the window and click okay when it asks me if I’m sure!
I lost the whole workbook! I lost the whole assignment! It was now 10:15am. I’m going to be late for my appointment. And the assignment is not done!!!. What can I do at this point? I close everything down and pack up. I leave after being there for over an hour and I have nothing to show for it. This is the beginning of the end for me. This was the point where I felt sure that I was going to be behind and late until after the wedding some 5 days later on Monday night.
I shove my crap into my car and speed off in the general direction of where this salon is supposed to be. A word about the salon and why I was going there for my mani/pedi when I have a perfectly wonderful place that is a lot closer, who does an amazing job that lasts FOREVER, all for only $35; one of my girlfriends gave me as my shower gift a gift certificate to the salon that she and my other friend/bm Jenna go to. I was actually meeting Jenna there, and I was late. So, I gave her a call to let her know I was on my way. Would the still take me? She said it shouldn’t be a problem as they take walk-ins too.
I hung up with Jenna and gave my friend Wendy (yes, we’re both Wendy’s) a call. I just vented to her about my frustration with my school episode and I foreshadowed an upcoming issue. Christie had left for Florida the night before and she told me to “keep my phone close” because she would be doing the rest of the shopping for the welcome bags and wanted to make sure she could get a hold of me. Something in me just knew that she would be calling when I couldn’t pick up...
Finally I arrive at the salon, it’s 11am, I’m a half hour late but it doesn’t seem to be a problem. Jenna’s already half way through her spa pedicure and I hop in the chair next to her. Now, Wendy (who had given me the certificate) had told me to request “Tom”, so I did, when I made the appointment. Sadly, that was not who actually did my work. I had an older gentleman by the name of Sean. The American names were really deceiving as they were still of an Asian decent and communication was limited! I have to admit the spa pedi was great. They used a yummy mango citrus scrub, it was quite nice. My tootsie turned out okay. I asked for French and the tips were a bit too thick for me (even if it is toes instead of fingers.) At this point Jenna’s done since she only got a pedi, so she’s leaving. We say our goodbyes until we meet again in Florida.
Sean and I move on to working on my nails and this is where I start to become concerned. For the most part my nails are already shaped the way I like. Pretty much flat on top, but with rounded sides. I don’t want a 90 degree point on either side of each nail. That’s a dangerous accident waiting to happen. Well, he flattens all my nails despite having a perfect example/guide right there in front of him. When I ask him to round the corners, he ends up rounding the whole nail!! Not overly round the way a mom (my mom, chuck’s mom) would do it. But round enough that I don’t like. I also don’t like that I’m running behind, I can’t communicate well with this guy, and that things are going the way they are. So I tell him that it’s fine. Because really, in the grand scheme of things, it was okay enough. So then he proceeds to do a crappy job at cleaning up my cuticles and painting my nails. There we whole sections on the sides of my nails that he completely missed! And he kept trying to make small talk with me... but it was odd. He asked where I was from!?! Now I live in Warren, which I think is still the 4th largest city in MI. It’s not the most upscale area, but I don’t present myself as trashy or ghetto! This salon was in Rochester, which is a bit ritzier of an area. But what difference does all this make?? I just felt like I received sub-par service.
I tried to throw it into the broken conversation a couple of times that I was getting married. It just didn’t seem to make a difference. My nails looked kinda crappy and I was bummed, but I certainly didn’t have the time that day to have the situation corrected. I sit at the drying station and after a short amount of time, Sean comes over and checks me and tells me that I’m good to go?!? I’ve never be excused from the drying station before. I usually sit until I’m confident that I don’t jack anything up. I guess I seemed dry. I wasn’t tacky. But there was no way I could have been even partially set... But, in my weakened pre-wedding state, I obediently put my socks and shoes back on (!) and squirmed into my coat and headed off to my next appointment for which I was already late.
Side Bar: While all this was going on at the salon, I had the added benefit of Christie calling while I was getting my nails done. Of course I didn’t answer the first time. And her voicemail: “I told you to keep your phone on and near you today [and some other stuff about how she can’t find anything I wanted for the welcome bags]” in the most annoyed voice ever. Now this is the only thing she really was responsible for. The only thing I delegated. The only thing I asked her to do. How big of an imposition can it really be?? So, I call her back to inform her that I was actually getting my manicure, thinking she would understand that I can’t be on the phone. She didn’t. She proceeds to call 4 more times!! Now I appreciate that she is basically saddled with her older parents as they will not just let her take the car to run errands and they have to go everywhere with her despite her turning 30 this year. And I know how frustrating it can be operating with that entourage. And I know she was frustrated that she couldn’t get a hold of me, but she had a pretty clearly defined list of what I wanted. She went to one (and then another) store; couldn’t find what I wanted, then basically panicked and gave up. At one point she even left me a voice mail to see if Shrek band-aids were an okay alternative! Shrek isn’t even Disney!!! Noooooooo.
Needless to say that nearly everything that was purchased in Florida for the welcome bags was NOT what I wanted.
I’m in the car, nursing my nails, smoking like a fiend, trying to dial the chiropractor’s office on my iPhone. My appointment was for 1pm. It’s already a quarter after. There’s no way I’m going to make it there until at least 1:45pm, probably closer to two. Now thank goodness they’re not appointment Nazi’s at my Dr.’s office. The receptionist is super-sweet. She tells me I’m welcome whenever I make it! At this point I realize I haven’t eaten since for nearly 6 hours and I’m shaky from the caffeine, nicotine and hypoglycemia! I roll thru the Mickey D’s (the worst choice, I know. But all I could even imagine getting down. I wasn’t eating at this point for pleasure. My motive was purely survival.) and scarf down half a double cheeseburger and a large coke. Usually I reserve a large McDonald’s coca-cola for test days only. I had to cut out coke after I realized how bad it is for me! But I absolutely love it. On my CP I would wake up and head directly to the balcony for my morning coke and a smoke. Alas, my days of decadence are mostly over.
I arrive at the chiropractors just after two. I’m Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I probably wait for 15 minutes. Which isn’t bad. Except when you’re running thru your to-do list in your head and you realize that you have more to do than there are hours left in this oh-so-important day. Keep in mind; I still haven’t done the laundry I need to do. There’s that evil assignment that I continually oscillated between going back and finishing and not. And the packing. Oh the packing.
I get called into a room and Dr. Rosie comes in. Everyone knows that we’re leaving for the wedding the next day. She asks how it’s going and I run through my day to that point. So then she hugs me... which starts me crying. I assure her I’m okay and she refuses to adjust me without therapy first. So I let them do ultrasound therapy on my neck and shoulders and then I get my adjustment! Way better than cracking your neck yourself! I tell ya what. Then they convince me to try the hydro-bed for free. It will calm me! Hmmmm... okay fine. Never mind that I’m so far behind that I may never make it to my own wedding. It was nice, but at that point, I don’t think anything was relaxing me. By the time I left there it was shortly after 3pm. On to the bank for cash and then to the tanning salon.
Now, the tanning salon is funny because I was using my free upgrade to the high-pressure bed, which I’ve never used before. I only bought a month package 3 weeks before we were supposed to leave and before that I never had tanned with the exception of once back in high school a gazillion years ago. So the tanning girl, Cheryl, shows me all the buttons on the machine and I prepare and hop in the bed. This is where I find out that my tootsies are jacked. It was a waste of a pedicure. I went to take my right sock off and it stuck to my toes. I guess this is partially my fault for not bringing some flip-flops, but I felt like I had been pressured out of the salon.
Back to tanning... when I had talked to Christie a few days eariler she had told me that going the full time in the high-pressure is okay, that I wouldn’t burn, but she also said that is wasn’t as warm as the other beds. So I left all the fans off. About 15 minutes in I’m sweating and I reach over and I hit the wrong button. Instead of turning on the fan, I turn off the bed! I don’t know what to do to make it start again. Finally, after trying to figure it out, I give up and start to get dressed. I’m 75% dressed and it comes back on!!! I don’t know how or why, but it is. So I strip back down and hop in and it shuts off after only a minute!! Grrrrr. I get out, get dressed, thank Cheryl and head out to my car. Now I have to make that decision. The one I had been flipping and flopping on all day. It’s a quarter after 4pm. Do I go home? Do the laundry? Start organizing and packing? Or do I go to school and redo the assignment that I lost? I choose school.
I think to myself, how hard could it be? I’ve already done it once. Sure I struggled the first time, but now I really know what I’m doing. Nope. My unfocused confusion from the night before had carried over to that morning and I didn’t really pay attention to anything I was doing. So I struggled with the assignment again. I got stuck in all the same spots. And normally this stuff is not a challenge for me at all. I can usually breeze right through it! I finally finished at ten after 6pm. Class had started at 6, but I wasn’t planning on going. I packed everything up except for the accrued assignments. I walked out of the computer lab, down the hall and into the classroom. The teacher was lecturing but I didn’t interrupt other than to hand him the assignments. I gave a small wave to my friend Mike (we’re school friends, we’ve been scheduling our classes together for the last three semesters) and then I finally headed home!!
Okie Dokie... I’m actually working at work and this was all I could muster today.
Up Next: Day 0, Part 2
!
enough she'll keep going.
I'm ready and waiting! 
) so you need to work really fast so I'm not too far behind!
