She's your landlord (in which case she has no excuse for not understanding how big your living expenses are) and you see her every damn day anyhow? In lieu of the expensive spa, give her the present of a raincheck. Tell her that after she returns from the wedding and the honeymoon, you'll go with her to one of those little neighborhood nail salons for a $20 pedicure and massage, and the two of you can schlump down in your salon chairs and gossip about all the craxy shit that went down at the wedding.

I missed the whole "I must have this magical wedding" memo. I'm not sure what it is about getting married that causes some people's brains to leave their heads. (I got married in a very pretty meeting room on my college campus. It was decorated with magnolia leaves and holly that my friends "liberated" from campus. My sister-in-law made the cakes. My mother made the dress.)

That's great news about Em's job, David.

Oh my god, that is just fucking foul. I mean, I think I threw up in my mouth a little.

Let me know when you really need an emetic, because I could tell you that one of the reasons why they haven't paid it off is because she always has an excuse not to hold down a job. (They don't have kids.) One job she quit in mid-October after about 6 weeks because she told me she needed the time to prepare for xmas. Last time we were there she couldn't hold down a job because she was busy decorating her husband's office.

Okay, maybe I hate her a lot for this kind of crap.

HA! My ass in tag form!

Hell, both she and I still have our mutual birthday present Burke Williams gift certificates that we could use.

Ooh, hand and foot reflexology done in a pool for $55. I have no idea what it is, but it sounds good.

Dammit, I wish I could afford to come to LA and NOT get reflexology done so I could hang out with the Miracleborns.

I wish I could tell her

Is your floppy spine all that is stopping you? Should we just concentrate on the pep talk that would allow you to do this?

Okay, maybe I hate her a lot for this kind of crap.

t boggles

Sparky, I join you on the hate wagon.

So true.

One of my bridesmaids organized a day spa thing for the day before my wedding. I know that she enjoyed it, and probably some of my otehr guests, so that's a good thing, but for me it was just one more thing to do and seemed to have me always isolated from the people who had come to town to celebrate with me - getting a message in a backroom, getting a pedicure off by myself, somehow being in or near the communal seating only when no one else was. So I always want to tell brides to avoid the spa day like the plague, it's miserable!

Way more about me than Aimee or Aimee's friend. I was kinda hoping some sort of pithy advice would occur to me as I ranted, but no such luck.