Bachelorette

Sara, Andromeda, Judy, Kirstin, & Summer - Bolinas, California

Good lord people, do I recommend bachelorette overnights with four friends you've known for 30 of your 35 years in beautiful California coastal towns. Especially of you love polaroid photo shoots and homemade Cosmopolitans with ruby red grapefruit vodka, and stinky cheese, and frosted circus cookies, and laughing until your sides hurt. I recommend it if you love watching moons rise and families of wild turkeys gathering under the trees. I recommend it if you like real talks and eggs in the morning. It was so good that I recommended we do it every year to the fellow participants--who needs an impending marriage to have all this?

I wish I could describe what the company of these women mean to me. I love living in New York, and I like the life I am carving out, but I forgot what it's like to be with people that you just feel inherently YOU around. We laughed and cried and got angry and laughed some more. We talked about class bullies and the things we want and all the other people that we grew up with, but never see. We talked about husbands and ex-boyfriends and children and make-out sessions and plans for the future and inside jokes. We talked about money and career choices. It was perfection.

My only complaint was that it was TOO SHORT. I just wanted MORE. I didn't want it to be over. Every single one of us is so very different--there isn't one of us that is more like the other--and yet, here we all are years and years later.

I didn't want to choose a maid of honor--so I chose FOUR of them. Wouldn't you want such gorgeous and strong women that make you feel gorgeous and strong standing beside you? It seemed like a no-brainer to me. After making the choice to marry Graham, it seems like the smartest--and best--choice I've made for this wedding.

This just in: First wedding present arrives

Okay, I don't consider myself a materialistic person. I was raised on garage sales, hand me downs, and special occasions. That said, I do love me some presents. I am not one of those people who say, "Oh, no, don't bother yourself with a gift." I LOVE getting presents. So, you know a way to make me feel better among this stress (besides offering Timberlake, Prince, and Brown--thanks for having my back, AMS & JLL!)? Send me one of the things I MOST WANTED on the wedding registry.

I made the registry somehow not really believing that we would get ANYTHING. If that doesn't spell out a hippie child from the 80's I don't know what does--dream it, but don't believe it. When I came home, Graham called from the living room: "Summer, there's a surprise for you..." I walked into the living room, and there was a giant box filled with GORGEOUS COOKWARE. Not to sound like a 1950's housewife, but it's MY DREAM COOKWARE. We took it out of the box, and it was so beautiful it made everything else in our home look instantly SHABBY. Now, THAT'S class. Suddenly, Graham and I started CLEANING like mad. We were like old tenants making way for the new ones--the cookware was moving in!

And what was the first thing we cooked in our Rolls Royce of cookware?

Hot dogs.

We're at the end of our refrigerator, being that we are leaving on Friday, and that's what we had. Dang if those hot dogs didn't GLEAM.

3 days before We leave to California

Well, they say that the closer you get to the wedding, the more CRAP comes up.

I had a dream this weekend that my friend Kathryn was sleeping in a motel that had NO WALLS. Good, huh?

My dear friend Meg wrote me yesterday to tell me that for some reason one of the companies that I'm registered with WON'T DELIVER TO MY APARTMENT. The fact that some of my FAVORITE ITEMS come from this company, lead me to palpitations.

I was walking to work today and I realized that I didn't have a copy of James Brown's "Sex Machine" for our dance mix. This happens to be my favorite song to dance to of all time. Along with this came the realization that I have NO PRINCE. I thought I'd PASS OUT, when I thought of this. I mean, what will BECOME OF ME?

Speaking of music, we just discovered that the place we are having the wedding DOES NOT have a sound system--and for a whole 7 months, we've been thinking it DID! Glad I had that "Confirmation Call" with the event space after all!

All this and rapidly draining funds too!

Well, not to sound TOO FRANTIC, but it's three days before we leave New York for what is now being called WEDDINGLAND. The good news is that we aren't stressed about getting married at all. So, I guess you could say this is all fluff. If it all falls down around our ears it won't matter if we are hitched by the end of it. PHEW! That makes me feel better. Well, that and watching THIS over and over again.

How To Make Birds Happy

Does anybody remember this book? It was one of my favorites as a kid (maybe you can tell by how well-loved it looks). I was looking for a book today and stumbled across this amazing book, and looked through it for a moment, reliving the wonderful feeling I got by even just looking at the illustrated instructions for such exciting crafts as "How to Make a Whirligig" (a pinwheel) or "How to Make a Stick-It Picture" (a collage) or this one, "How to make Birds Happy".
One of the reasons I loved this book so much was that I somehow could engage with the book--the illustrations showed me something in the book that I could make REAL in my world. Like many kids, I wanted to LIVE in the pictures I saw, so this was a way I could. I made many of the things suggested in here. As it happens, I think this book was WAY AHEAD of its time. There are many of us adults reliving many of these projects or creating our own versions of this book. Only, we don't have to ask our DADS to cut milk cartons. We can cut them ourselves, thank you.

Dispatches From the Mackville Day Pie Winner

Last weekend we escaped New York and our wedding planning (your officiant had the right idea, Lori!) and went to see our friends the Avery/Grenkow clan in Vermont. It was EXACTLY what the doctor ordered. Not only was it not humid, but it was in the 70's and it was well, VERMONT, which is green and glorious and community friendly. I had no idea how much I needed to hang out with good friends in a quiet and beautiful setting.

The day after we arrived, it was the hotly anticipated MACKVILLE DAY, which is our friends' community bbq, complete with puppet shows, watermelon, balloon toss, and a pie contest. Last year's Mackville day had steep pie competition, culminating in a CONTROVERSIAL win by one of the judge's spouses. It must have left a sour taste in everyone's mouth, because only ONE pie showed up--and it was from a PROFESSIONAL. My friend Diane, who was on the Mackville Day planning committee encouraged me to make a pie for the contest. I say ENCOURAGED, but what I really mean to say is COWED ME INTO SUBMISSION. So I made my first ever chocolate cream pie at the last minute.Here was the competition: a raspberry pie from Connie's Kitchen, and my little o' chocolate cream pie that could.
I was SHOCKED SHOCKED SHOCKED to be crowned the 2007 Mackville Day Pie Contest Winner. I can't put into words how good it felt to bring that title BACK to New York. It's totally going in my bio now. Summer Pierre is the winner of the Mackville Day pie contest. It has a certain RING to it. I was INTOXICATED all weekend by the victory.

Other things to do in Vermont besides win pie contests is to go swimming in glorious lakes.

Tame the wild Beatrix.
Tried our darndest to decipher what exactly was HAPPENING in a performance by Bread and Puppet Theater. We weren't able to crack the code.And, of course, eat the RARE and DELICIOUS Maple Creemee against wild skies of clouds and green mountains. I think this should be the new poster for Vermont tourism.

And then I ENCOURAGED my friends to participate in an art project.

They might call it, COWED INTO SUBMISSION, but as the 2007 WINNER of the Mackville Day pie contest, they couldn't RESIST my power.

Virgo plans wedding

Well, it finally happened, folks. Last night out of a deep sleep, I awoke to my first wedding related anxiety attack. I lay there with my mind churning out excel spreadsheets and things to be done, and images of certain parental units becoming ever more larger and taking over the whole event. New ideas for music for the ceremony scrolled before my eyes sending bolts of excited thoughts into teeth grinding tension. I saw great lines of my dearest friends walking around destitute without a single place to stay. The question of 'Did I type up the directions correctly?' came by just for kicks. This was followed by "Why haven't I gotten RSVPs from TEN members of my family?" It was QUITE A SHOW. I tried deep breaths, I tried relaxation techniques like tightening up my body and releasing it. I tried meditation, but I was more JACKED UP than if I had drank eight cups of French Roast.

Ho, boy. Graham said this morning, "You were up last night. You okay?" I said, "Can't talk, need to update Excel spreadsheet." I whipped up the lap top, with groggy sleep still clinging to me, and began updating the guest list and the to-do list. I have never in my life related to my astrological sign, VIRGO, as much as I have in this moment. Anal isn't a word for it, OBSESSED may be close.

Everything was groovy until the RSVPs started rolling in (or not rolling in) and until, (dare I say it?) a family member has started to show signs of wedding control freak disease, to which I say, STEP ASIDE. There's only room for ONE control freak in this parade, and it's the one with an excel spreadsheet illuminating her face at the crack of dawn.

Man, I need a honeymoon before the honeymoon. I need a lobotomy. I think I just might be getting married in just over 2 weeks. I think I am due.

I am Sending This Picture to the Dame Edna Look Alike Contest

This may be the new reason why I am marrying Graham: he not only lets his 2 year-old niece dress him up, and have his sister take a picture, but he sends it to me knowing full well it's going on the internet. You got to love a man who lets you do that. Also, you've got to love a man who looks good in viloet shades. I am just sayn'...

It's Always there For You

I have an incredible amount of change happening all at once, and I have been waking up everyday with this sense of onslaught. Onslaught of activity, onslaught of have-tos, onslaught of check lists. Last night I went to pick up my guitar for a little stress relief noodling and discovered that one of my cats in chase of a fly had knocked down a picture from the wall, and broken a key part of my guitar. This is a guitar that has belonged to my father since 1968, and is considered valuable, but is priceless to me. My blood went cold when I inspected it. A list of meanings went through me: costly repair when I am going through a very expensive period of my life, finding a good place for repairs when I don't know of any here in New York, the overwhelm of another thing that needs my IMMEDIATE attention.

But this is life. Immediately. Shit ALWAYS happens, doesn't it? You don't need it to be busy to have life galloping in and sending you dizzy.

This weekend I am going to Vermont and although the IDEA of it overwhelms me, the reality is, it won't hurt to have some quiet hours on a train and time with friends by a swimming hole. Maple flavored soft serve ice cream doesn't hurt either.

You'll have to forgive me people if I am going through long bouts of silences here. I always get worried about not writing in here, losing an audience, and being FORGOTTEN. But the truth is, when people say to me, "I haven't read your blog in awhile." I say to them (with tongue in cheek), "It's always there for you." Why can't it always be there for ME?

After I tend to my guitar, and get some other things done I plan to go outside and take my shoes off and feel the wind in my toes. I'll also continue to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird. Maybe drink ice water with a fresh sprig of mint. Maybe go for a walk in the evening and look in on all the golden windows of homes settling in for the night. Maybe send out a little prayer: help help help and thank you thank you thank you.

Indianapolis

Graham and I went to Indianapolis this weekend for 36 hours of Hotel TV and the wonderful wedding of my wonderful friends Nathan and Coppelia. I was so PSYCHED that they got married a month before us, so I could take plenty of mental notes for our wedding. They had a beautiful, simple ceremony and reception in a similar seeting to ours. It was so relaxed that Graham felt IMMEDIATELY better about our own party-where-we-get-married. Nathan & Coppelia put out my CD back in 2004 and I have to tell you that it was a GREAT pasport to a wedding. Nathan & Coppelia's families already knew me. I kept saying hello to people and they kept saying, "Oh, you are Summer PIERRE?" What a way to go to a wedding where you know only a handful of people!

The way back was totally awesome. Awesome if you like having a migraine and have to change planes and travel by train and bus home in amazing amount of pain and nausea. I threw up in four and a half states. I say 'half' because was in the air for one of them and have no idea where I was. But made it! I almost wept when I saw my bed. Oh, wait I DID weep. The great thing about migraines is that they end.