Good luck with the interview, Jilli.

And you know... if you let Buffistas cook for you, you can have an affair that's as yummy as any of the finest catered jobbers. IJS...

Oh, excellent! I shall "let" you all cook for me! (FWIW, I would totally forego the outfit of someone comes with Moet laced with X AND MAKES MY MOM DRINK IT. That would be...OMG. So worth it.)

Jilli, I spent a hellish afternoon 4 years ago helping a friend of mine make paper flowers for her wedding. There were 15 of us, many artists, and I think we managed 50. They were the Paper Flowers of Doom. I would snap and flip out like a mammal.

I have already decided that I am going to find a couple of local gardeners at a farmer's market in June and tell them "Ok, on the morning of 9/25, I'll show up with $100. What can you give me for that that will be blooming in your gardens?" Then I am going to stick them in green wine bottles and various vases hawked from friends and put them by a stack of hardcovers tied with ribbons and a simple pillar candle in a vase. I'll whack off a pretty arrangement a half hour before, wrap a damp hankie around the ends and wind it all up with wide ribbon.

Music is gonna be Ipod mixes made by music nerd friends.

I've told my maid-of-honor to buy a pretty sundress in one of my colors that she'll want to wear over and over again.

I am going to borrow tables, tablecloths, chairs and cakestands from friends.

The cake will be cupcakes supplied by a local bakery.

I have a friend who's a manager at a local liquor store, and I think we will get a keg of Boulevard Wheat (local beer), a case of house red and make iced tea and punch. I have a punchbowl and can borrow another.

My sister and I both inheireted our grandma and great-aunt's silver, so we can use that.

We won't have to worry about an officiant, as we are neither one religious, and will work something else out. (And we plan on being legally married in March for health insurance, but I really don't regard that as married; just paperwork -- please, please, DON'T take this as callousness on my part as far as legal marriage; it's just that the friends and family thing feels much more important emotionally to me, YMarriageViewsMV.)

I think we'll have a guest list of about 65.

Wow, just articulating some of these things made me feel so much better.

Jilli, I spent a hellish afternoon 4 years ago helping a friend of mine make paper flowers for her wedding. There were 15 of us, many artists, and I think we managed 50. They were the Paper Flowers of Doom. I would snap and flip out like a mammal.

Totally understandable. I am one of those crazy people who finds doing fiddly little handicrafts like that to be soothing.

It sounds like you've figured all of this stuff out, which is awesome!

My bride friend likes detail work. I do not, although the results were super damn cute.

She spent many, many, many evenings sweating the rest of those things out, though.

Paging hivemind parents, particularly Cashmere - Frisco just flushed a Sally (from Cars) matchbox car down the toilet. How do I know if I need a plumber?

(I was getting the tongs after he dropped it in - while Ellie was trying to poop - but he flushed it before I could get there. THey are now both pretty upset.)

I'm getting stressed out about finishing my dissertation. I was just stuck with writer's block today -- I kept sitting down, looking at my outline, looking up some sources for what I wanted to write about, and just freezing. I got out about a paragraph. None of the ways that I could think of to phrase anything sounded right. I know that part of the problem is that I need to fix my outline -- there are some parts that need way more details before I can start actually writing. I'll see how it goes once I've got my outline better.

I have already decided that I am going to find a couple of local gardeners at a farmer's market in June and tell them "Ok, on the morning of 9/25, I'll show up with $100. What can you give me for that that will be blooming in your gardens?" Then I am going to stick them in green wine bottles and various vases hawked from friends and put them by a stack of hardcovers tied with ribbons and a simple pillar candle in a vase. I'll whack off a pretty arrangement a half hour before, wrap a damp hankie around the ends and wind it all up with wide ribbon.

Those will be gorgeous flowers.

Erin, when my sister got married we bought flowers from a farmer's market (safflowers and something else) for her bouquet and they were beautiful. Just to reinforce that that plan absolutely works.

THey are now both pretty upset.

Why is Ellie upset? Was it her matchbox car?

I'm afraid I've got nothin' on the plumbing front. If things stop going away upon flushing I call the landlord. If everything keeps moving I don't. But I'm not the one who pays for pipe replacement, so I haven't pondered potential long-term problems extensively.

Ellie was upset because Frisco dropped the car in while she was pooping - she always leaves the door open, etc. but she was incensed that he dropped the car in while she was sitting on the toilet. Frisco was upset about the loss of his car, but I think he was also embarrassed.