Wedding Day!!! Part One: Pre-Wedding

After months and months of planning and stress for everyone involved, the wedding finally happened. E and N walked down that aisle, tied that knot, tossed those crowns, exchanged those rings (not without swelling and a scar or two), and danced that dance weird dance that they might've invented together (something between a Cupid Shuffle and Harlem Shake). Overall, it was quite swerve. 

Now I'm sure you're wondering what happens on a wedding weekend. Behind the scenes, in the upper room, on the drive there, and in the car home. Well here you go, direct from the bridesmaids. Perhaps you'll think we all seem a bit silly, slap happy, giddy on nerves, etc. But I assure you this: we were much worse in person.

Step One:

 Drive three hours down beautiful roads and take many stupid pictures. Caution: you might lose control of the car if you laugh too hard.

And do not be ashamed to change in a Giant bathroom if you must...

Step Two:

Dig the bride-to-be out from under her wedding programs and pugs. Help with final preps, which include, but are not limited to:

Loading the Open Bar into the truck for transport

Vacuuming the bed...?

Teaching the Maid of Honor to tie a bow

Policing the War of the Pugs

Step Three:

Rehearse things, like....

Your bridesmaids pictures

Your tango

Your toasts and photobombs

And make sure the groom's good at photobombs, too.

Think you're ready for the real wedding yet? Think again. Because no amount of preparation can prepare you for a wedding, all it's wonderfulness, happiness, sadness, silliness, and memoriness. 

Because remember, all of these events are only the Pre-Wedding. 

Stay tuned!

Irish Arts Week in the Catskills

Long ago, toward the beginning of the summer, B and I trekked all the way to Upstate New York for the Catskills Irish Arts Festival. My legions of loyal fans already knew this, but I never gave the festival enough cover space on the blog. Between everything going on (or not going on) in recent weeks and waiting for pictures (all photo credits in this post go to B herself!), I only passingly posted about the Festival. So here's the lowdown, everyone!

Some of you may remember the Tumblr blog that SEDiva started as exactly one year ago. Last summer, as a partial graduation gift, I organized a huge trek across Ireland, mostly to attend a couple of infamous Irish music festivals: the Willie Clancy and Joe Mooney weeks. You can visit the old blog to remind yourself about all of those musical venturings.

B and I had so much fun at Willie Clancy last year that we decided to try the American version of the same events this year. In true Irish fashion, the music festival is in a random, middle-of-nowhere town that's hard to get to. We drove, and having a car for the week turned out to be immensely helpful. We offered rides more than once, and it was all around handy. The Festival was structured similarly to ones in Ireland. Festival-goers could attend classes and pay a registration fee that allowed them access to all the concerts and extra events. However, many musicians could elect to not attend courses at all, simply enjoying the environment of the week. In true American fashion, these sorts of people were labelled "moochers" a lot up in the Catskills. In Ireland, I have to say people didn't care as much.

B and I both took classes. I took singing in the morning with Seamus Begley and whistle in the afternoon with Mary Bergin. Both classes were a lot of fun, but pretty large. Seamus couldn't stand air-conditioning, so we got to sit outside every morning singing with the lawn mowers. It was epic. I managed to pick up the courage to joke with Mary about how she kicked me out of her Intermediate class last summer, and she remembered me almost immediately. Don't worry: she had only kicked me out to say I should be in the Advanced class upstairs. This year, I didn't make that mistake. I signed up for her Advanced class. Every whistler has to take a class from Mary Bergin at least once (hopefully a hundred times) in their lifetime!

It was an adventuresome week, as any week will tend to be with little to no sleep and lots of music and pints. And B and I had lots of fun. However, Catskills is no Willie Clancy or even Joe Mooney. The American festival had an environment that the Irish ones did not, and I can't say that I liked it. It was very tightly scheduled, less spontaneous, and a little more pretentious. I made more friends but met less people than I did at either Irish festival.

Overall, however, it was great fun. If you'd like a little more Irish music in your summer, check it out!

Goodbye Party with the DMV

HELLO AGAIN!!! Hope everyone is doing well. It's been a crazy week, and I can't wait to update you all on the deets. But let's have a little throwback because there are some things that I STILL haven't shared with you.

As you are probably well aware, this past week one of my best friends got married and I went to the beach with another group of lovely ladies. So two weekends ago was sort of like my last weekend in the DMV. So I called these two lovely ladies for a goodbye night of dancing and... well actually we just danced all night really. I don't know how many people have ever been to Clarendon, but there's one place that's particularly dear to my heart for only one reason. Clarendon Ballroom plays good music all night long. No where else can you consistently find weird, awkward crowds and awesome dance music. Just watch out, it's not always open for the public. Check their Twitter and Facebook feeds for info the day of. Saturday is usually your best bet.

The Killing-It-GNO-Angus-Loving Ladies

We had a great night; my legs were killing me by the end of the night. I made a friend outside by being a man and taking my shoes off on the sidewalk. But it was a great ending to a great year in the DMV. Can't wait to see these girls again!