Love Is In The Air

It's late but it's here! The L post-

L is for LOVE. And LOVE is in the air in Charleston this weekend.

The festivities began on Friday at the Bridal luncheon which was enjoyed at the Old Post House featuring--

Pretty flowers---

Lovely table settings---

 Beautiful young ladies---

 

 Loving family--(left to right: grandmother of the bride, aunt of the bride, aunt of the bride, cousin of the bride, mother of the bride, the bride)...

 A lovely bride---

 A delicious menu---

 Fruit starter--

I don't know exactly what this was but, if I was eating bread, I would have ordered it--

 Shrimp and grits---

French toast--- actually, I think they ought to offer a yes-please-I'll-take-one-of-each option--

 Such a sweet girl!

In the evening, it was the rehearsal dinner at Magnolia's in downtown Charleston, SC.

Since the real photographer was taking pictures, I just took a few. 

This is Deanie with her new BF, Sam. They were exhausted after driving through the night from DC to Charleston. Silly youth- they just HAD to see this comedian at a club before leaving...

We started with a choice of salad or crab bisque. Deanie ordered the bisque and I ordered the salad and we shared. Delish! We had this for the main course---

Here they are again---so sweet--

Tomorrow is 'M' day. And I won't be posting about Monday. Can y'all guess what's coming next? LOL

I'm linking this post to the twelfth post of the April, A-Z Challenge!

Just click the badge below to visit other participants. 

Ok, let's see what y'all came up with for the letter 'L'!

The Gift List

It's Monday and time to join Stasha over at The Good Life for Monday Listicles! Each week Stasha gives us a theme for our lists. This week, we our topic is 10 "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" Gifts. 

It's all about gifts one should NOT give you. If you read my post yesterday, you may have gathered that I have an opinion on this very subject. Ha! It's not that I'm unappreciative. I would just rather receive nothing as opposed to a gift that is last minute or not thought through. Most of us in this family do put time, thought and effort into the gifts we give. But there's this one family member....LOL

Next week, we'll be making a list of 10 little (or secret) things that bring you joy.

All you have to do to join in with this week's list is click on the button!

TEN GIFTS BETTER LEFT UNGIVEN:

1. A house plant. I really do NOT appreciate being given a houseplant. I much prefer outdoor plants. The husband has been bringing me plants since I finally got him to stop giving me candy. If he knew me, he never would have given me cut flowers or plants. Because I don't like them. I don't  like that people grow flowers just to kill them. I don't care for houseplants because it's one more thing  I have to deal with and I don't deal with them well. I'm pretty sure he  gives me plants because his mother loved them. Hello? I'm NOT your mother.
2. Outdoor plants. Enough is enough. I prefer to get my own. Mostly because I like a variety and I always receive rose bushes on Valentine's Day.  Mixing it up to the man around here means type of rose bush.
3. Candy. Not a great thing to give someone who is STILL trying to lose weight and who has also given up refined sugar and  working on giving up organic sugars for dextrose. Anyone who lives in the same house with me should know this, right?
4. A household appliance. Self-explanatory. Or, at least, one would THINK it's self-explanatory.
5. Perfume. Never wear it due to allergies. As soon as I smell it, I can taste it and then I get a major headache. Imagine how much fun it is to walk through the front doors of a department store. EEEK! Also included in this category are cosmetics, lotions...shoot- any beauty products.
6. A figurine of any type/style/etc. I have so many now that I don't appreciate them. And I used to love them!
7. A book. I'd rather have the gift card to the book store. My taste in books changes like the weather. You'll never be able to keep up.
8. Clothing. Again, I'm too picky about my clothes.
9. Liquor. I can't hold it. Plus, it tastes nasty.
10. Lingerie. I'm not a girly-girl. Never have been. I don't do lace. Or anything else itchy. And I don't want anything hanging around where it doesn't belong.

And I'll leave you with this:

Love Stuff

We're well into the love month. Though I've never understood why we need a month or a special day for love. Aren't we supposed to show love every day- regardless of the month or day? Right.

My whole take on the love thing varies from mood to mood. For instance, when I watch love themed movies I go between sobbing and going all sappy to being quite cynical. It all just depends. Of course, there are those movies that make me sob and get sappy regardless of my mood, like P.S. I Love You. Who doesn't cry during that movie?

But then there's Love Story which is the dumbest movie I've EVER seen in my life and contains the worse line EVER in a movie- "Love means never having to say you're sorry." BS Jennifer. It does NOT mean that and you are stupid for even saying it.

I'm the same way about pet names. I think they're cute or stupid- depending on my mood. There are, however, certain pet names that I find stupid regardless of my mood. Names like Sugar Lips. Poopsy Doodles. Lover Doll. What does that even mean? That she/he reminds someone of a blow-up doll? Ew.

I'm not much of a fan of love songs. Though I do really like At Last (Etta could sing a song, couldn't she?) and I enjoy Percy singing out When a Man Loves a Woman. I have no idea what the lyrics are in I Will Always Love You but Whitney could belt that one out like nobody else. Oh, and I secretly do like I Got You Babe.

What about love phrases? Like "I would die for you?" How utterly stupid. Unless, of course, it's spoken by Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Then it's perfectly wonderful. But "Love means never having to say you're sorry" is NEVER wonderful. It's never even ok. Or tolerable.

How about love poems? You know, the roses are red ones? I like the funny ones---

Roses are red
Violets are blue
My mama told me
To stay away from you.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Make mine a double
If I have to spend time with you.

I like a lot of love poems written by those who understood it deeply or were deeply cut by it- Plath, Neruda, Shelley, Tennyson, Poe, the Brownings and so many more. I can't even pick a favorite. There  are just too many. But I mostly appreciate these when someone reads them to me. There's a certain seductiveness in poetry reading. When the right person is doing the reading.

One of my favorite quotes about love is from one of  my favorite authors,Victor Hugo- "How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said."

And then there is THE day. THE love day. When  we're supposed to go out and buy cards and flowers and candy and whatever else we up with. I'm all set with Valentines for  my students. And I'm nearly finished with the homemade ones for the lovelies.

The husband and I don't  usually pay much attention to the day. He always brought home candy for the lovelies and me. I asked him  for YEARS to stop bringing me candy before he finally stopped. Then he started bringing me a house plant every year (because his mother loved plants- problem is, I don't). And it took me YEARS more to get him to stop doing that. Now he brings home outdoor plants.

Ha. And Sheldon thinks HE has issues with gifting. 

It's really quite simple.Just take the time to know those to whom you are giving a gift. Maybe that's why some people  fall short on gift-giving. For me, a huge part of loving someone is taking the time to know them.

Anyway, the LOVE month is here. Do you celebrate?