The Stars and the Cookie Jar

Today, we unfortunately cannot be in Cambridge for the wedding of gaudior and rushthatspeaks, although perhaps that's best, as we were planning to drop down from the ceiling like ninjas dressed in fuschia, and then steal the restaurant reservation. But that didn't stop us from being alarmingly productive in a random way for our own wedding. We found a wholesale jeweler that's apparently always been there, in the middle of the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. So, we were both more comfortable doing business with a mom & pop shop than a chain jeweler, and it turns out it was the best thing we could've done. We got our white gold wedding bands - a 3mm for N and a 4mm for me - and then we got matched quarter carat solitaires, VS1 stones, G colour - translation: oh my goodness, so much more diamond than we could afford. All of it, bands and solitaires, for very cheap. So, we paid for the bands outright as a deposit for the rest, and they'll be done in September. They could be done sooner, but what would we do with them but lose them? And the jeweler and his wife were so nice. They cleaned N's engagement ring for free, and the jeweler let me inspect the stones up VERY close with a jeweler's loupe. And then we went home and looked on Mondera.com and the comparable diamonds cost more than the rings. So, basically, we got the gold for free. Which is very nice, because it takes a lot of gold to get around my finger.

Then we had to go get party frocks, only morbid party frocks. And on the way back from a thoroughly disheartening shopping expedition, we got freshly made frozen bananas. Chocolate-covered, of course.

And we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That was probably the best movie I've seen all year*. I thought it was fabulous, and Helena Bonham Carter didn't trip over her own teeth. Freddie Highmore is the cutest thing ever, but in a way that's not cute. You get the feeling he could kick your moral ass. And the visuals were just- well, they were a little Tim Burton-like, and there were lots of skulls, and melting bakelite doll heads, but I hardly think it's a spoiler to say there's going to be freaky-ass skulls in a Tim Burton movie. Also, I think this is one of the few times I've seen a movie adapted from a novel, even a children's novel, where the stuff added in actually benefited the movie. Because, I don't know, it seems like Raold Dahl's books don't translate well to film because they depend on your childishly vindictive sense of right and wrong, so that every time you read his books, you're making satisfying little moral judgments that need to happen in your head and not in front of your eyes. Which is why the Matilda movie was kind of a clunker. Anyway, I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I laughed uproariously. The Oompa Loompas freaked me out. And then it was midnight, and we came home.

I would like to state that my fiancee and I are okay now, because we discussed the fact that her family members were acting in a manor inexplicable to me, which she just... didn't notice, because they're her family, and apparently they do that. So, everything is good now. And I love my love.

Today, we are going to assuage my love's purchasing guilt, by going to look at alternate wedding dresses. We're not going to buy them, we're just going to look at them, so that she can feel better about buying the dress that she wants. I don't know why this makes sense, boys and girls. Also, the evil cat that nobody likes and who likes nobody, seems to like me.

*Well, it's the best movie of the year, because technically Serenity isn't out yet. It'll definitely be in the top three. Right now it all depends on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.