Rant

Thank goodness I have my friend J to rant about the awful state of CT. We both work here and have some of the same thoughts about this pathetic excuse for a state. Let me give you a few reasons as to why I wouldn’t be unhappy if this state suddenly disappeared:

*One of the highest property tax rates in the country.
*Oldest population in the country outside AZ and FL
*It is a pile of nothingness between Boston and NYC
*There are no big cities in this state- the few “semi-cities” are run-down and depressing
*The population of CT? White, preppy and boring.
*Despite it being a small state, you have to drive a lot to get anywhere
*The population of CT is about 3.5 million people; yet the state makes you feel so isolated.
*The state has an uppity “I’m better than you” stance towards people that are not from CT.
*Joe Lieberman is a CT senator.

The one good thing about this state? ESPN.

I could make some disparaging comments about NJ too, but CT has taken its place as the #1 place I never want to go to. I mean at least NJ has given us the magic that is Jersey Shore. Sorry people of CT…but your state sucks donkey b*lls.

Inappropriate behavior

So yesterday was my second bridal shower….this time it was mostly CP’s family. Friends with kids in the New England area were invited, but all but one declined. Despite the fact my friend C just had a baby girl 12 days ago, J and C drove up from CT (2.5 hours!) with their two kids so that C could come to the shower. I guess when she RSVPed yes she said ‘as long as I am not giving birth in the hospital.’ Yesterday she was like, well, I’m not in the hospital so I should come! So ridiculous, but wow that was nice of them!

Because she drove all that way, I felt especially bad when she got bombarded by K. K isn’t technically part of Chris’s family, but gets invited to all of the family functions. She is a lactation specialist so she asked C about breast feeding. As soon as C starts talking about how she had trouble breast feeding her first child and is having the same problems with her new baby (so that she pumps and when needed supplements the breast milk with formula), K jumps in and asks if J and the babies will be coming back to the house. K tries to push C into teaching her a breast feeding technique that not all doctors know about but is supposed to lessen pain, blah blah blah.

Meanwhile, CP’s sister and I are horrified. Unfortunately C has to sit through 15 minutes of listening to this lady talk about her experience in Africa, how she can teach her new techniques, how important it is, etc. before we can butt in. Ugh. C handled it well and when I called her after leaving the shower to apologize, she told me that she has run into that before and is used to it. That many people have very firm beliefs on breast feeding and will try to push those beliefs on you. Still. Is it truly appropriate at a bridal shower to try to push your breast feeding ideas on someone you met FIVE MINUTES AGO? I think not.

And then when CP and I went to leave? K turned to me and said, “Promise me that you will call when you get pregnant so that you don’t have the same problems your friend has.” WTF lady? I have met you all of three times? Psycho!!!

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In other news, today I am still sore from the 6 mile hike CP’s sister and I did on Saturday.

Lonesome Lake

It was 3 miles up 2500’ of elevation which is quite the workout. Not to mention it wasn’t so much hiking with switchbacks, but more climbing over boulders.

Yes, this is the trail!

The view was pretty damn cool though- the mountain that we climbed overlooks our wedding location. :-)

View from Cannon Mountain (with a glider!)

Sorry for the Blackberry photos, but the two of us BOTH forgot our cameras! What a bummer.

It took us two hours to get to the top of the mountain and we were surprised to learn that the whole loop usually takes about 5 hours. How on earth was getting down going to take so long? Sure enough it took us just as long to get DOWN the mountain as it did to climb up! Most of the hike down was spent holding on to nearby tree branches while trying to shimmy down large faces of steep rocks. When we got home I looked up the trail and it was rated difficult. Well no sh*t Sherlock! Needless to say, my legs are extremely sore today.

Friends!

This weekend CP and I had another productive wedding weekend. We finished up most of the save the dates, so they are FINALLY out the door. Whew. Only a mere three months after we bought them! Ha ha.

We enjoyed registering at Macy’s over Christmas because for every dollar we spent with our Macy’s card, 10% went to a gift card sent to us after the wedding. We aren’t planning on doing any shopping at Macy’s but for every dollar our guests spend on our registry, we get 5% back in a gift card a month after our wedding too. Score!

We were hoping for the same kind of program at Bed, Bath & Beyond but there is no gift card waiting at the end. Nevertheless, we had to register for more gifts because some of my parent’s friends went crazy after the engagement party. CP and I do like the gifts (we DID pick them out), but feel bad because some of the gift givers will not be invited to the wedding so for them to spend a lot of money on us is ridiculous. My parents told everyone invited to the party NOT to get us gifts, but these people insisted anyway. *Sigh*

Last night CP and I helped friends of ours from law school J & C move into their new place. We are shocked that after moving so far away someone actually followed us- and not to Boston! Although their apartment is still an hour away (only 15 minutes away from work), it’s nice to have a friendly face in the area- and I have someone to go to lunch with as the husband will be working three blocks from me!

This couple got married less than three years ago so we can ask them for advice. Not only that, but they used our friend R as their officiant, which is how we got the idea to use him for our wedding. They recently had their first child this past summer (right after I left for NH to study for the bar so I have never met him) and I just found out that the wife is pregnant again! They are not messing around with popping out the babies! Needless to say, we won’t be going out boozing with them too much. :-)