The Wedding - Part VII

After a horrible couple of days, I’m finally back to normal. Being sick seriously sucks, let me tell you, and I would much rather work then stay home feeling the way I did.

Anyway, the wedding is less than 3 weeks away and the level of stress is now … how can I put it?... dangerous. On Saturday SIL was showing me some candles she had bought trying to decide which to use for the centrepieces. She was telling me that the ones she liked the most cost 1 euro a piece while the others, not quite so nice, were only 30 cents a piece. My husband, typical man that he is, ignorant of how hypersensitive all brides-to-be are, tells her not be petty and worry over a couple of cents, which caused an immediate flow of incontrollable tears, that lasted for far far longer than the comment warranted. Hubby was so disconcerted he even offered to pay for the candles.

The flower girls dresses are finally ready and turned out beautiful. There was some fabric left so I had shorts made for Manel. On Saturday I went to every kids stores I know looking for white socks for all the girls to wear, since the mother of one of the children told me she was planning on putting navy (!!!!!) socks on the poor girl. Navy. Socks. To go with a yellow and white dress. Whatever. So far I’m paying for the wedding dress, candles and flower girls socks. But who’s counting anyway.

My MIL is starting to go nuts and she starts and finishes every phone call with a complete check list of the things each member of the family still has to do. Since she calls me several times a day, I have the privilege of having a fully updated to-do list at all times. I was not as well informed about my own wedding preparations I tell you.

Tomorrow is the second, and hopefully final, wedding dress fitting. To be continued....

Sick as a dog

I'm sick. I have a fever that won't come down, I have pus in my throat and I feel like I'm dying. It's amazing how one day you can be feeling perfectly well and the next you feel like something is draining the life out of you. Ugh

Good things

Things are starting to look a little brighter at work. They have found a replacement for JP right here in our department. She’s a very nice girl I have worked with before, back when I started here 5 years ago. She’s not a genius, but she has lots of experience and I’m sure we can share the work load evenly. Oh, and she’s single and childless so that helps.
The project I’ve been working on will be over on Friday, which means no more business trips, at least for awhile. The fees we’ll get from it are also very nice and I can feel that promotion just a little bit closer.

As I said before, the trip to Israel is booked and paid for. We’ll leave for Tel Aviv on Sunday, July 30th, and we’ll be back a week later. We now have to take care of visas and stuff like that (not sure what we need to do). We’ll also try to make a detour into Jordan to visit some Lebanese and Syrian friends we met a couple of years ago. This is turning out to be more complicated than we first thought it would be, and we may not be able to go there at all. But what really matters is that we get to go on our dream trip to Israel… I still can’t believe we’re actually going!

The Wedding - Part VI

The wedding is a month from yesterday, which means the level of stress is increasing by the day.
Last week we went for the first dress fitting and I was so relieved to see that it looks great and needs only a couple of minor adjustments. She will certainly be a beautiful bride. She borrowed my sister’s shoes that were so dirty I honestly thought she would never be able to clean them up. However, she brought them to the fitting and they looked as good as new, which was a nice surprise.
Here is a picture of her dress:




















The menu has also been chosen, and unfortunately we didn’t go with the duck as I had suggested. I’m not even sure what they ended up choosing, but it was something simple, which always works best. The flowers are also decided and my SIL will make the centrepieces herself, all 18 of them (there will be 180 people, 18 tables of 10). My Mom took pictures of a centrepiece she used for one of her events last month (my Mom’s a PR) and my SIL will copy it. It’s simple but beautiful and I’ll try to get a picture of it to post here.

Yesterday my SIL picked R up from school and took her and the other flower girls to their dress fitting. R was so excited to try on her “princess dress” she didn’t even want to go to school in the morning.
In the evening, my BIL showed up at our house with a dress for me to see. Apparently my youngest SIL (the one whose dress was “stolen” by the older SIL) bought this dress but she wasn’t quite sure if it was appropriate for the occasion, so she had BIL bring it over so I could see it and give my opinion. She doesn’t seem to know the concept of digital cameras. Anyway, the dress was really nice, so it seems everyone now has appropriate outfits for the big day.

I finally tried on my dress and it looks so different now that I’m not breastfeeding (I bought it 2 months after M was born). I’m not so sure what to think of it now. Here’s a picture, what do you think, honestly?

Tough times lie ahead

Things have taken a turn for the worse at work. My team currently has 4 people: my boss, JP, me and Isabel. My boss doesn’t like to work too hard, and he thinks he’s worked hard enough in past, so he basically does client relationship and delegates on us. Isabel is a young kid, fresh out of college, who helps out but can’t be given too much responsibility yet. So that leaves me and JP. We share the load of projects between us and we’ve both been swamped lately, has I’ve documented profusely here.

JP is leaving. He got a very good job offer elsewhere and he’ll leave by the end of next week. Which means… well, it basically means I’m fucked.

When I decided to work in an Investment Bank I knew I would have to work hard, I knew I would have to work nights, weekends, whatever was necessary. And I did, until I had R. When I got pregnant with her I talked to my boss (the old one) and offered to go to another department where I didn’t have to work as hard. He said he wanted me in his team, and everyone would make an effort to cover for me. So I hired a housekeeper/nanny and we agreed I would work 5 days a week, from 9 to 7, and would ask hubby to cover for me at home in the sporadic event that I would have to work a night or weekend here or there.
But a few years went by and I’m no longer the kid with little responsibility. I’m responsible for my own projects now and there’s no one who can cover for me. For the past few months I’ve asked my mom to go to my house at 7 (the time the housekeeper leaves), give the kids dinner and wait for either me or ZM to get home more often than I can count. Sometimes I go home, give them dinner, put them to bed and then come back to the office. I hardly ever have lunch at home with M anymore and I’ve had to work several weekends.
I thought this was just a phase, and it would all go back to normal once this project was done. But the fact is, with JP leaving and all, this is normal, this is what it’s gonna be like from now on. And I just can’t do this.

So now I’m faced with a tough decision. First of all, I love my job and don’t really want to quit. Second, we really need my income. And last but not least, finding a new job, with two kids and all, will not be easy. So what do I do?


On a totally different note…. We’re leaving for Israel on the 30th of July. I’m so happy, so anxious, so grateful.

Dreaming about Brazil

I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last update but things got complicated at work. On Thursday I had a meeting at 10 am which wasn’t over until 9.30 pm, then Friday we drove to Porto at 7 am, came back to Lisbon at 8 pm and worked until 4 am. So you can imagine how I was feeling on Saturday morning. We went to the beach both Saturday and Sunday, I rested plenty and am now starting to feel human again. But meanwhile a new week has begun and it’s not gonna be an easy one. If we close this contract, I swear I’m going to take a day off and spend it at the spa.

At home things are going well. Manel is going through a complicated phase, and it’s a bit tiring for us. He doesn’t sit up unassisted for more than a few minutes yet, but he doesn’t want to stay in his chair or bouncer anymore. He likes to be on the floor, but he rolls over and tries to crawl but hasn’t quite learned how to yet. Which means someone has to be playing with him all the time. This morning I remembered we bought an exersaucer when R was going through this phase and I got it out of storing. I hope it gives him a little more independent time.

I’m starting to worry about the trip to Brazil (Lilian, we are going to Salvador. We’ve never been there but I hear it’s lovely). This week I’m going to try to give Manel jarred baby food. He’s only ever had homemade food and R hated anything that wasn’t homemade when she was a baby. Manel has been an easier eater so far so I’m really hoping he’ll like the jarred food. Otherwise I’m going to have to find a way to make his food at the hotel or he’ll go a whole week on fruit, yogurt and cereal alone. I’m also worried about packing. We have to take the stroller, the bumbo seat and probably the pack ‘n play, and of course diapers, formula, etc. The first time R travelled with us she was potty trained and eating regular food so this is really a first for us. I guess I’m probably making a big deal out of this and in the end it will all work out just fine. I’m so looking forward to this vacation!

Lifetime Oportunities

A group of friends of ours is planning a trip to Israel in August (I know, I know, August is probably not the best month). When I read the email they sent inviting us to go I was so excited I nearly cried. I want to go so bad. This has been my dream for so long and the group is just absolutely perfect. The timing is also perfect, because we can both take time off that week and the kids will be at the beach house with my inlaws. Everything is just perfect.

But then we started talking about the logistics (meaning money) and we realized we won’t be able to make it. We have the trip to Brazil with my parents which is all scheduled and paid for (and my parents helped us out financially) and then we are replacing the elevator in our building, which will cost each apartment almost 5,000 euros. So unless we win the lottery, there’s just not enough money. I was devastated and I’ve been thinking about it for the past three days. I would give up almost anything to go on this trip, with these people.

Then this morning Zé Maria asked me “Do you really wanna go?”
To which I said yes. And I know he’ll try everything to make it happen.

The Wedding - Part V

The invitations have been sent, the menu has been chosen (my choice was duck, but my SIL says many of her friends will not eat any bird meat because of the impending bird flu pandemia, even though they’re doctors and know they can’t get it from cooked meat, so we’re going with pork), the flowers are also decided. It’s getting close.

Last week my Mom took my SIL to the hairdresser to try the hairdo because with my recent work load she couldn’t keep waiting for me to go with her. They took pictures and she looked lovely, but then complained about how much the hairdo and make-up cost. Whatever.
Next Wednesday we have the first fitting on the wedding dress. They are a bit late but I think there’s enough time and no need to stress about it (the wedding is on June 17th, in case you don’t remember).

The problem now is what my other SILs will wear. And it’s about to become a soap opera.
My SIL who’s a nun (sorta) will wear a dress she borrowed from me. The dress is lovely (if I may say so myself) but it has no back so she’ll wear a blazer over it (also mine) the whole time. I tried to tell her it’s June and she’ll be too hot but she would rather die than show her back.
My SIL who’s a dentist (not that it has anything to do with what she’s wearing, just saying that to identify her) bought an ok-ish dress (which everyone tells her is lovely) but it has a pornographic cleavage. The only person who’s actually seen it on her was me and she says she won’t let the rest of the family see it on otherwise her father will forbid her to wear it (which is ridiculous, since she’s 28, but I can totally see him doing that). I think she’s making a huge mistake.
My youngest SIL (who’s a doctor, btw, just so you know what everyone does) had bought a dress (quite lovely) but then my older SIL ( a lawyer) tried it on and declared she was going to wear it so now we’re one dress short.
As for me, I bought one a while ago and will try it on again soon to see if it fits. My SIL, the dentist, hates it but I seriously doubt her taste so I don’t really care. I’ll take pictures of it and let you decide for yourself.

That’s it for now. To be continued…

Pictures

Before I leave for yet another business trip, I leave you with some pictures of our weekend.

Still alive

Work is absolutely crazy right now. Will be travelling again tomorrow. Weekend at the beach was fantastic. Pictures as soon as I can.