That Time I Attended a Wedding in My Pajamas...

One of the things we had to come to terms about living abroad this year is knowing that we would have to miss a few of our good friends' weddings. This is actually our first big wedding season year (you know, the one that 20-and-30-somethings often complain about but secretly love… "I have TEN weddings to go to just this summer alone. I'm going to be so broke from buying so many gifts but look at how popular I am!") We don't have ten weddings. (We're not that cool.) Just four. But sadly we knew we had to miss them.

So, when my digitally savvy friend Christie emailed me to tell me that they were live-streaming their wedding for everyone who had to miss it, I jumped up and down (literally.) Since July, I've relied heavily on virtual participation to stay in touch with friends and family. Thanks to Skype and FaceTime, I can have a cup of coffee with them on their couch or be passed around during Sunday night dinners. But the idea of attending a wedding virtually? Absolutely brilliant and something I had never thought of!

Saturday rolled around, and I was so excited. I felt like I was part of Christie's big day, just like she and her groom were for ours. Christopher and I poured a glass of wine to toast to the happy couple and powered up the live stream (or "love stream" as my phone appropriately auto-corrected it to when I put it in the calendar.)

First we saw the groom walk in with his groomsmen. Then, the bridesmaids trotted down the aisle in their gorgeous sparkly gowns. My excitement was building so much that I almost couldn't take it--the doors opened, and I caught a glimpse of my dear friend in white. I couldn't wait for her to get closer to the camera so that we could see her dress… the dress… the one we talked about over lunch right after she had bought it. My heart was beating fast, and I was prepared to shed a tear. And then…!

Fun Reads: October 10, 2014

©Thomas Donley

This Sunday, Christopher and I will celebrating our six month wedding anniversary! I used to think it was silly to celebrate anything that wasn't a full year, but I'm excited to toast to this half milestone because these past six months have been anything but ordinary.

Tonight we're going to dinner at a cute little Oxford restaurant (I've learned you have to put the words "cute" and "little" in front of every Oxford establishment when you're talking about it). Our sweet friends Andy and Scarlett sent us a gift certificate to celebrate -- they've been married for seven years and have the most adorable little boy. I love that we have so many friends who have marriages we can look up to, and I hope that one day we can be the experienced couple that our future newlywed friends can do the same with.

Anyway, all that to say, I'm focusing on love and marriage for this week's link roundup. Enjoy!

I wrote this "Is He a Good Boyfriend?" quiz for Seventeen years ago when I was an editor there and took it the day before our wedding. I'm very happy to say Christopher passed the test (phew!)

Does the cost of your engagement ring or wedding determine if your marriage is going to last? One study says it might…

But nothing is as priceless as this story: A paralyzed woman made a goal for herself to walk down the aisle on her wedding day, and she did it! How amazing is that?

And when you're married, that automatically means you have to do a couples costume for Halloween, right? PopSugar has a 101 really cute ideas.

Finally, I laughed out loud at this Buzzfeed post "Marriage on Instagram vs. Marriage in Real Life." Too funny!

Hope you all have an amazing weekend! XOXO

Want to be notified each day a new post goes live? Click here to subscribe to Across The Ponderings!

The 5 Stages of Grief That Happen When You Lose Your iPhone

I just got back from Paris and sadly my iPhone did not return with me. She is now French, possibly dressed up in a little beret and surrounded by delicious bread and wine all the time -- at least that's what I hope.

We took the Eurostar train into Paris from London on Saturday, and since she is my sidekick, I kept her out sitting next to me for the trip so she could experience the beautiful scenery with me. She loved that kind of stuff.

I think I got so excited about getting to enjoy the City of Light that I rushed off the train without her. When I got back to the hotel I looked for her in every possible place in all my bags but unfortunately she didn't make it there with me. 

This isn't the first time I lost my phone. I once left my Blackberry in a cab in NYC and almost didn't get a third date with Christopher because I owed him a phone call and lost his number, but luckily my friend Laura had it (we wouldn't be married today if it weren't for her -- for a million different reasons!) But this is the first time I went through all the real stages of the actual grieving process. It went something like this:

1. Denial -- I have a lot of stuff in my purse so I often can't find my phone but then I always do. So, I thought this was the same kind of thing. I was actually pretty calm and said, "It's definitely somewhere in here." It took me about ten minutes of searching to admit it was actually gone.

2. Anger -- I suddenly became outraged with myself. How could I be so irresponsible? And I'm sure the statistics of actually finding your phone in the lost and found are probably like 0 percent -- especially in a place like Paris where thieves are everywhere (seriously, pickpockets are out in full force). So, either someone stole my phone from the train or they swiped it from my bag on the way to the hotel (and if that's the case, major props to them because I had no idea), and either way, that means my baby was in a thieve's hand and I wanted to hit something. She was a good phone and didn't deserve that. I was mad at myself and whoever had her.

Throwback Thursday: Birthdays Then Vs. Now

I came across this pic when I was making our rehearsal dinner slideshow earlier this year. This is a picture of a girl on a mission. I don't know how old I was (I'm really bad with figuring out kids' ages--my seven-year-old nephew could be five or fourteen, I'd have no idea), but judging by the double ponytails and OshKosh B'Gosh overalls, I'd say it was circa 1990, so I was probably six. (Editor's note: I realized after I wrote this that there are five candles on the cake so I'm pretty sure that represents my age. #fail)

To me, this is the quintessential birthday pic. I mean, look at that intense face--I wonder what I was wishing for. Whatever it was, I wanted it bad. I've got my friend behind me (I have no idea who that girl is, by the way), a delicious-looking cake, and presents! Life is good. 

Isn't it funny, though, how the older you get, the less exciting birthdays are? For the past five years I haven't really done anything to celebrate besides going out to dinner. And that's the plan for today, too. But this year is different--this is the first time in a long time that I'm actually excited about my bday. I think it has to do with the fact that it's a milestone year (yay 30!) and we're celebrating with a trip to Paris this weekend (my first time!) 

All of this reflection on birthdays past, though, has got me thinking about how your feelings about birthdays change through the years. So, I put together a little list to show how they really differ:

30 Reasons Why I'm Looking Forward to 30

The big week is here -- I'm going to be turning 30 on Thursday (eek!) For the past five years I've been kind of blah about my birthday. Once you've hit 25, what is there to look forward to really? When I was younger, I always envisioned myself hitting this milestone bday married with at least one kid, living in NYC and working as an editor-in-chief at some glossy magazine. And while I'm not writing this post from my corner office in Time Square with a picture of a newborn on my desk, I can honestly say I wouldn't want my life to be any other way right now.

I'm actually super pumped about entering this new decade in my life. I had planned to do a 30 Before 30 bucket list this year but I totally dropped the ball on that one (I blame the wedding, international move, and career change that happened all at once). So instead, I made a list of things I'm most looking forward to about turning the big 3-0. Here we go:

Weekend Adventures: Battle of the Top Chefs

The idea was to create a Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen type of cooking challenge where we'd give the boys certain ingredients and a time limit to cook a fun dish, but it ultimately just turned into an amazing double date with two main courses and a lot of wine…

On Saturday, Christopher and I had a dinner party with our next door neighbors Greg and Aleks. I've been hearing how Greg is a master in the kitchen, and I am obviously a pretty big fan of C's cooking, so Aleks and I thought it'd be fun to have the guys go head-to-head in a cook-off, but there's a reason we're not producers for the Food Network. It just turned into a make-what-you-want main with no time limit kind of night, and really, it was perfect!

Christopher made his signature dish gnocchi with sundried tomato pesto while Greg wowed us with a homemade Indian-style butter chicken. OMG. They were both so delicious. Although, the guys didn't really understand our instructions on making it a tasting-sized portion, so everyone was more than stuffed at the end of the night.

Making Friends Far Away From Home

One of the things I regretted not packing for this move abroad was my friends. I never took them for granted while I was in New York, but this past month has made me realize just how important it is to have people physically in your life. Facetime and What's App are great, but there's something so necessary about getting together with others--talking, laughing, and experiencing things together. And while they say a husband or wife is your best friend (yeah, yeah..), Christopher and I both agreed we needed to expand our circle this year. And because we know absolutely no one in this city, we knew we would actually have to make an effort.

Mrs. Stratton's Words of Wisdom

One year ago today, Christopher asked me to be his wife. I believe my exact response was "Of course of course yes I love you ahh!" I didn't envision we'd be celebrating that moment in England 365 days later.

Today is our third day in Oxford. We're still hunting for an apartment (don't worry, guys, if I can't be on House Hunters International, I've been taking notes on all the apartments myself and will share the narration on this blog soon enough). We've taken a walking tour of the city centre (we highly recommend Footprints tours, if you're coming to visit). And we've also met some interesting people along the way. 

Enter, Mrs. Stratton....