Whew. We made it to the end of May. This might not seem like a big deal to some, and I don't doubt that there are a lot of people who had a much busier month that we did, but it feels good to have made it to June.
The award for newsmaker in May goes to Jared, who finally shared with folks one of the big things he has been working on for the last 5 months, and it wasn't an iPhone app! He announced via the Thumb Labs website (and Facebook and Twitter) that his company was joining Adobe. This came about after Jared, Rich, and their team built an iPhone and iPad app for Behance, a company whose website and iOS platforms for creative individuals to share their work is an industry leader. Over the last couple of years Thumb Labs worked closely with the Behance team. In late 2012 Behance was purchased by Adobe and began its own expansion, and presented Jared and Rich the idea of joining the team. After a lot of soul searching, they accepted, and on the last day of May. Over the next few months Thumb Labs will satisfy their current client contracts, and then will work solely with Behance at Adobe. We'll be sure to share updates on this new chapter as they come.
The rest of May was pretty much wedding planning central. We had a failed attempt at securing a wedding favor (saving everyone from some pretty awful pie pops) but have portions of our bridesmaid gifts in hand (which I love). I did my first dress fitting in early May, and think the alterations will make my dress look even better. We also met with our florist again, and have FINALLY selected a container for our arrangements to be built out of. We took a meeting at St. Sylvester's as well, selecting our music for the ceremony, which will be a mix of traditional church hymns and some newer pieces. We also began the tedious task of following up with rogue responses from wedding invitees. I think we did more but I really can't remember what it was. :-/ I know, bad bride.
There were a few other highlights in May. One was celebrating Patrice's birthday on the 5th. Jared couldn't make it to LI that evening, so it was an extra quiet dinner at the house, where met her new beau, Brendan. The second highlight was a trip to Naples, Florida over the long weekend of 5/17 - 5/20, to celebrate my cousin Mariesa's wedding. It was really nice to get out of rainy New York for a little bit, and we had a wonderful time visiting with our Menghini family. A full blog post and pictures from the trip can be found here.
The third highlight was my bridal shower, on May 11th. Thrown by my parents, my sisters, and my bridesmaids, it was a wonderful day, despite some actual rain showers. Jared and I arrived late, compliments of traffic in Queens, but when we arrived at my house everyone was visiting, busy chatting and not really missing us. My parents served brunch as opposed to lunch, to do something a bit different, and they put out a great buffet of food including baked french toast, a spiral ham, a smoked-cinnamon sausage, crepes, some fruit, and a large salad. The buffet also included a number of quiches made by Katie, including roasted tomato and goat cheese, quiche lorraine, spinach and gruyere, crabmeat and shallot, and broccoli and cheddar. They were so so so good, and not a crumb was left over.
After we enjoyed brunch, Jared departed and I tackled a large stack of gifts with the help of the my bridesmaids. My and Jared's family members and friends were unbelievably generous and shared the nicest wedding and marriage wishes. While I unwrapped (and unwrapped and unwrapped and unwrapped) the ladies all played bridal bingo, set up by Brigid, and there were a bunch of winners. Jared and I received so many beautiful gifts, including pieces to our fine china, new everyday glasses, wine glasses, bar glasses and barware, pots and pans, towels, bedding, and much, much more. We could not be more thankful for everyone's outpouring of kindness. (One of our next steps will be to look for a bigger apartment so we can put all of these fabulous gifts to use.) By the time I finished opening my gifts, it was pretty late in the afternoon. My mom ordered a beautiful cake from Audrey's in Sayville, and guests enjoyed cake and coffee and mingled a bit more before departing for the day. I had a really great afternoon, but wished I could have visited with all of the ladies in attendance more. A huge thank you to my parents, sisters, and bridesmaids for everything they did to plan and host such a special day. Pictures can be found back on the main page under bridal shower or by clicking here.