Class. And Doilies.

[….and the Corascope Chronicles continue….]

Last Saturday (well, not last Saturday—but last last Saturday), when Scope was in town, he and I enjoyed a nice, quiet, lovely breakfast together in all our Miss Manners-approved, respectable, sophisticated, refined maturity.

*le classy sigh*

Or we noshed on left over pizza while laughing our faces off at dozens of those Bud Light: Real Men of Genius commercials. You decide.
.

.
(Mr. Silent Killer Gas Passer is my FAVORITE!!)

*snicker*

Anyway….

We eventually tore ourselves way from the commercials and ventured out into the world where we ate lunch off of hubcaps (the classiness just keeps on a-coming, don’t it?!?!) at Jimmy Mac’s Roadhouse; saw Iron Man 2 at the local theater; and met up with Callista and her hubby, Mad Dog, at Armondo’s for dinner and lots of glorious geekified conversation.

Not a bad day at all, if I do say so myself.

And I do say so. So there!

But, wait—there’s more!:

Sunday we took my mom and daughter out to breakfast for Mother’s Day at the doily-deluged Plum Delicious restaurant in Renton….


Seriously, there are doilies EVERYWHERE in that place! It’s like there was an explosion at Grandma’s house! And don’t those doily-drenched lampshades look like jellyfish swimming over our heads?….


Bizarre.

But anyway….

We met my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew there. The food was delicious and we all had a good time.

After breakfast, we went back to my house for a little while so my daughter could challenge Scope to a game of badminton while I took pictures of my niece running in circles around me in the grass….


But then, most sadly, it was time for me to take Scope to the airport and release him back into the wild. And we all know how much I HATE doing that!!

*sniffle*

*pout*

How many days until this wedding thingy again????….
.

© Love Letters By Cora

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, We’re Really, REALLY Doing This!!!!

Sorry it’s taken me soooooooo lonnnnggggggg to get around to telling the latest Corascope tale, but things have been busy and frustrating and sad and definitely crazy lately what with my daughter being sick, someone I'm not supposed to mention causing problems, another relative being hospitalized, and various issues with legal paperwork (more on that in a minute) all heaped on top of the wedding and moving tasks I’m trying to get done, that I just haven’t been able to focus on bloggidy stuff.

At.

All.

My focus, in fact, slipped right out of my grip and ran off down the damn street, yelling, “nanny nanny boo boo, stick your head in doo-doo,” and making obscene hand gestures at me. The mean meanie.

*sigh*

But I hunted that wayward focus down (it was hiding in the ice cream aisle in the grocery store, go figure) so, hey, let’s get this thing done!

Here’s what happened when Scope came to town:


Friday morning I awoke to find Scope in my house. Not surprising, really, since I’d picked him up from the airport just a mere 10 hours before, true. But still, the sight of that splendiferous man of mine, peacefully snoozing and all cuddled up next to me, gave me a jolt. Why? Because I knew what we were about to do: Make our way to the courthouse where we waited in line for (….drum roll please….) our marriage license.

(SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!)

Waiting in line for our license was quite an amazing, electrified feeling, like *~*ohmygodohmygodohmygod we’re really, REALLY doing this!!!!*~* I was a big, spazzy ball of giggliness, happiness, butterflies, and goose bumps all wrapped up in one gigantic Cheshire Cat grin. And, Scope? *le sigh* Scope was just as giggly and grin-prone as I—and he looked as though he was in danger of shouting “WOO-HOO!” and launching himself into a parade of cartwheels and handsprings across the lobby!

Awww….

While we waited, we smooched and smiled at each other and listened in on the couples in line ahead of us (one of whom had to return their license and get their money refunded because they had accidently applied for it too early—whoopsie!) And....

We did it. Scope and I got our marriage license!!!! And here’s the proof….




Matrimonial win!

:-)

After obtaining our license to wed, Scope and I went to Crate and Barrel and bought these quirky, adorable Verve flutes (which are SOOOOOOO us!) for our reception….


And then we had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, where we shared a slice of Wild Blueberry Cheesecake (mmmmmmmmmmm) for dessert, and where I got called “Mrs. Collins” for the first time ever—and, I swear, I was tingly from head to toe for about 20 minutes afterwards!

Then we picked Gwen up from school, got dolled up, and went to Gene Coulon Park with our Wedding Photographer, Rachel Rausch Johnson, to do our Engagement portraits. (If you missed it last week, you can see a sneak preview of our pictures HERE on Rachel’s blog.)

The weather was absolutely lovely….


….and we ran around the park for about two-and-a-half hours, watching Rachel pointing her camera at us and contorting herself into the most creative poses, like this….


….all in an effort to capture the moment just right for little ol’ us, and, dammit, we had FUN!!

After that, we passed Gwen off to her dad for his scheduled half-weekend with her, then Scope and I passed out in front of the TV like TV-watchin’ zombies or something. We must be gettin’ old(ish), apparently, because by 9 pm I was shaking a deep-sleeping Scope awake on my couch and dragging him off to bed.

[….to be continued….]
.

© Love Letters By Cora

Rachel ROCKS!!!!

I was planning to tell you all about Scope’s and my latest adventures in Weddingland today, but—eh—I just don’t have my bloggidy act together enough at the moment to articulate it and do it justice.

Blame it on my mom’s birthday.

Or the two pieces of birthday cake now sitting like cement blocks in my resentful belly.

(blah!)

So, instead I’m going send you over to PhotoMuse, which is the blog of our uberfabulous wedding photographer, Rachel Rausch Johnson. Scope, Gwen and I had our Engagement Photo Session with Rachel at Gene Coulon Park in Renton Friday afternoon. We had such a huge heaping TON of fun (!!!!) with Rachel and have been impatiently eagerly awaiting glimpses of our pictures ever since.

Well (….drum roll please….) Rachel just posted a sneak peek of our pictures on PhotoMuse yesterday and I love, love, LOVE them!!!! You can catch them HERE.

Check ‘em out and then please come back here and tell me what you think: which one(s) is your favorite and why?

And, to Rachel, thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!! The photos are simply SPECTACULAR and I absolutely ADORE them!!!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you, my dear, ROCK!!!!

:-)
.

© Love Letters By Cora

Target Practice

Memo to self: the next time you decide to go shopping at Target, darlin’, it might be a good idea NOT to wear your red sweatshirt with your tan shorts….



…. unless you actually like being asked where the infant formula and fitting rooms are.

Over.

And.

Over.

And.

Over.

Again.

Just FYI, ‘kay?


© Love Letters By Cora

Welcome Back. Your Dreams Were Your Ticket Out. Welcome Back To That Same Old Place That You Laughed About….

[….and the Corascope Chronicles continue….]

Sundays are always sad whenever Scope and I are together. Someone always ends up hopping on a plane and flying 2000 miles away.

Every. Stinkin’. Sunday.

This time it was my turn, of course, so Sunday morning found me rushing around, collecting Gwen’s and my scattered possessions and repacking our suitcases. But I didn’t pack everything. Noooooo, sir. Some of our stuff I left right there in Scope’s condo (henceforth to be known as OUR HOME.) (Squeeeeeeeeeee!!!!) Our winter coats are hanging in OUR hall closet. Gwen’s extensive stuffed animal collection is set up on display in HER new bedroom. And our beloved Harry Potter DVDs are in OUR living room.

Yeah, you read that right. I moved in my Harry Potter DVDs. (And 50 bucks says Callista just fainted!) People, for a devout HP fan such as I, it doesn’t get any more serious than THAT, okay?! ;-)

But as I was rushing around, gathering up my clothes, which had sneakily migrated all across the floor of OUR bedroom, an awful sight met my eyes: Scope was curled up like a sad puppy on the foot of OUR bed with huge tears swelling in his eyes.

“I’m going to miss my girls,” he sniffled.

And *CRACK* my heart broke right in two.

I curled up on the bed with him, hugged him and kissed his cheek. There was nothing I could say to erase the uber-ugly crappiness of the fact that I was about to let Southwest Airlines catapult me and Gwen across the country, far, far away…. except to point out that this was our last visit to Chicago. Mm-hmm. The next time Gwen and I set foot in Illinois, we will be coming HOME, not visiting.

Let’s just pause and let that gleeful, amazing thought sink in for a minute, shall we?………….

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

But wait—

After consoling Scope, I walked out to the living room to round up more wayward possessions, and yet another awful sight met my eyes: Gwen was curled up like a sad puppy on the end of OUR couch with tears swelling in her eyes!

“I don’t wanna go back,” she sniffled, “I’m gonna miss the three of us.”

(I have mentioned how much Scope and Gwen remind me of each other, right?)

So, I pulled her into a hug, kissed her cheek, and consoled her as well. And then, far too soon, it was time to go. After a quick three-way flying monkey stuffed animal fight (seriously, you guys, you’ve GOT TO get one of those things! They’re sooooooooooooooo much fun!), we loaded the bags in the car and headed out to meet Scope’s parents for lunch.

Scope’s mom was extremely excited to get to meet her future granddaughter. She came bearing gifts for her “bonus grandbaby” and everything! Soooooooooo cute!….


But, faster than blinking, it seemed, lunch was over and we’d said goodbye to Scope’s parents, and then Scope, Gwen and I were saying goodbye at the airport. Again.

And I hate that. Saying goodbye STINKS!!!!

*pout*

Once we got through security, Gwen and I drowned our sorrows at the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stand….


….and then soon we were onboard our plane, heading back to Seattle.

*sad sigh*

© Love Letters By Cora

One(derful)

[….and the Corascope Chronicles continue….]

One year. One whole wonderful, magical, action-packed, freakishly-fast, marvelous year. Saturday marked the one year anniversary of the day Scope and I first met face-to-face.

Uh-huh. And it truly has been the BEST year of my entire life!! By far!! Hands down!!

:-)

So, how does one ring in their first anniversary? Well, if you’re Scope, Cora and Gwen, you kick it off with crepes and Harry Potter! Mm-hmm. A super yummy banana and blueberry crepe brunch cooked up by Gwen and shoveled down while watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. (Yes, it was a very Harry Pottery weekend! Well spotted. Gwen and I brought the first four DVDs over to share with Scope who’d only ever seen HP6 all the way through before.)

After brunch, Scope and Gwen had a bloggidy powwow. Ohhhhh, yes. Scope taught Gwen how to compose a blog post, something she’s been quite curious about. Mm-hmm. Gwen got to be a guest blogger over on Scope-Tech and she did a faboo job of it too! *glowing with pride* Wanna see my baby’s bloggy debut?! Clicky HERE.

After blogging and noshing and Harry Pottering, the three of us hit the road for Scope’s friends’ house, where Gwen’s pen pal was eagerly awaiting her. (Yeah, Gwen already has a friend in Illinois, how cool is that, huh???? If you wanna catch up on how they first met, clicky HERE.)

We hung out for the evening, eating, talking, laughing, getting shot at with Nerf darts (where thar be kids, thar be Nerf!), and snuggling under blankets watching movies. Or parts of movies, I should say. All the BEST parts. Like *snicker* that diarrhea scene *chuckle* in Dumb and Dumber, which *hee hee hee* still slays me beyond all reason *ho ho ho* no matter how many times I see *ha ha ha ha ha* it--HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—*gasp*—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH—*wiping tears*—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Yeah. I’m a ten year old. And….?

{….to be continued….]

© Love Letters By Cora

What if….?

[….and the Corascope Chronicles continue….]

So, Friday, Scope, my daughter Gwen, and I went for a tour of the art school Gwen will be attending once we move to Chicago. Splendiferously, the school just so happens to be about a mere block and a half from Scope’s home, on a gorgeous, quaint, tree-lined road. The walk to school was simply lovely! Lovely, lovely, LOVELY!

Did I mention it was lovely?

And the school was even lovelier!

I can not stress enough how utterly impressed I am with the school and—even more importantly—Gwen adores it too. I mean, I figured she would; she was most thrilled with the school’s website, but…. well…. y’know…. what if?….

What if the school hadn’t lived up to our expectations?

What if Gwen found it intimidating or frightening?

What if she *gasp of horror* hated it?

What would we do then????

Stupid ‘what if’s. They’ll get the better of you if you let them. I’d been cracking the whip and telling those pesky ‘what if’s to shut up, trying to keep them at bay, for days, but in all honesty they succeeded in ambushing me Friday morning as we walked up to the school….

What if….?

What if….?

What if….?

*deep shuddering breath*

I kept my ‘what if’s to myself, of course, ‘cuz what’s more contagious than a case of the ‘what if’s? Nothin’, that’s what! And Gwen didn’t need to be infected with that. But about five minutes after entering the school, those horrid ‘what if’s vanished like socks in the dryer!

*POOF*

Gone.

The school was amazing, charming, and definitely had a family feel to it, and there Gwen will have the opportunity to take art and writing classes which she is sooooooooooo excited about and suited to. Gwen’s face was lit up like a Disneyland parade the entire time! She absolutely LOVED it!!!!

After enjoying the tour of Gwen’s future school, the three of us walked our way to Lincoln Square to visit Gwen’s favorite store, Quake, where she bought a set of Corpse Bride figures and a Jack Skellington toy which rises out of its coffin (VERY cool!!); then we walked to a drug store to buy some postcards for Gwen to send back to her dad and all his other kids; and then we stopped into Chicago Brauhaus for a deeeeeeeeeelicious lunch (mm-mmm-mmmm.)

After walking back home, we all snuggled back up on the couch and watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and (my ultimate favorite) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, while intermittently bursting out in irresistible talk about where Gwen’s and my furniture and various things will fit in Scope’s home once we move…. ‘cuz this thing is SO happening!! And sooOOooOOoon!!

No ‘what if’s about it.

:-)

[….to be continued….]

© Love Letters By Cora

I Take a Redonkulous Load of Pictures, Therefore I Am

Last Thursday, my daughter, Gwen, and I rolled our bleary-eyed, sorry selves out of our nice warm beds about three hours before the crack of dawn and trudged our way to the airport like zombies. I-pod-toting, Skechers-donning, gum-popping, tired, cranky, don’t-talk-to-me zombies. Why? ‘Cuz we had a date with Scope in Chicago, of course!

:-)

We grunted and plodded our way through airport security at 5 am and then had two hours to kill before our flight. Setting up camp on the airport floor was mighty tempting, but—eh—we figured we’d have breakfast first.

So, there we were a little restaurant in the ‘port, having found ourselves a nice, cozy window seat, watching the sky morphing from black to navy blue while we noshed and slowly de-zombified, when suddenly we saw something so shocking it sent me into a giggling fit of epic spazzy proportions which startled all the other sleepy zombies nursing cups of coffee at nearby tables and made me dive for my camera.

What did we see? This….


Uh-huh. The pilot of the plane right outside our window opened the plane’s windshield, hoisted himself out of it, and Windexed the thing before takeoff! Ummmmm….. call me naive, but I had no idea plane windshields could roll down like that, did you? I dunno, that’s just wrong somehow.

Wrong, but funny!

Anyway….

Soon we were boarding our plane (and suspiciously sniffing around for a whiff of Windex) and then *POOF* we were landing in Chicago!

(Well, okay, fine. Maybe, technically, it was a little more than a *POOF*, alright? But as I slept 3/4 of the flight, it definitely had a *POOF* quality; a *POOF* essence; and a *POOF*-iosity to me.)

Scope was waiting for us and towering impressively over the riffraff rest of the crowd just beyond security, and soon the three of us were locked in the first of the many, many, many group hugs of which our weekend was made.

(Awwwwwwww.)

We collected our bags and hit the road in Scope’s PT Cruiser and almost immediately found ourselves face-to-rear with this….


Yeah. That’s right. Cora’s Predator! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! But wait—let’s take a closer look, shall we?….


Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. ;-)

Of course, good bloggers that we are, we tailed Cora’s Predator for quite some time; me brandishing my camera so we could get a good picture of it just for YOU.

You’re welcome!

We went to Bennigan’s for lunch and then waltzed across the street to the museum at the Art Institute of Chicago….


….which Gwen (oh, alright, fine—maybe it was me, happy now?!) was super-excited about because Ferris, Cameron and Sloane had once set foot in there!

*maniacal giggle*

We got all artsy fartsy….




We snapped many a picture….


And we saw a vast array of amazing work, including the famous A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat….


(Yep, and that spectacular Scope of mine is holding my purse. Ain’t he a sweetie? *le sigh*)


And, looky here! Just in time for Mother’s Day, YOU can adopt a dot on the Seurat and show your mama that she’s “one in a million”! *snicker*


We posed like American Gothic….


….which, ever the giggletastic ball of dorkiness that I am, I just simply could NOT pull off with a straight face!

(Dammit.)

And, much to Gwen’s horror and disgust, we saw a plethora of naked butts everywhere we turned (!!!!)….






(Tee hee hee! That last one is my favorite!)

Seeing all those butts burned Gwen’s eyes. Clearly….


….or maybe she was just tired. ;-)

So Scope took us back home and the three of us cuddled up on the couch all family-like and we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone until it was time for bed.

And it was bliss.

:-)

[….to be continued….]

© Love Letters By Cora