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Getting Myself to the Project Priceless Wedding

So yes, I did get invited to a virtual stranger’s wedding, as I shared in yesterday’s post. (Although, theoretically, she’s not a “virtual” stranger because we chit-chat virtually, I just don’t know her in real life.)

When Jordan sent me the details about the Project Priceless wedding, the only thing that registered in my head was the date: August 22nd. I couldn’t recall anything already scheduled for that date, so I just replied “yes” right away to her email. And then I told Hubby that he was coming to a wedding with me sometime at the end of August.

Weeks pass and I realize that the wedding is fast approaching. My way of coping with the multi-taking world of working motherhood is to function on a “need to know basis.” This system helps keep the clutter out of my brain. What this means is that I didn’t figure I needed to know all the details about the wedding locale and time before accepting. I only needed to know that information the day before, or maybe even on the day of, to get myself there on time and to the right location.

This “need to know basis” of filing info in my brain works 9 out of 10 times. Unfortunately, this was going to be one of those times when the system failed me.

I dug through my emails and pulled out the invitation. Oh. Oh dear.

I had assumed that the wedding would take place on a Saturday and the reception would be in the evening. But that is a traditional wedding. Not a project priceless wedding! Of course, with everything for the wedding being a donation from the community, the day of the week and the time weren’t going to be when all the other paying customers have their weddings booked. I hadn’t thought of that at all. The wedding was scheduled for a Monday night. Oops, Hubby wasn’t going to be able to be my date after all. I quickly shot off an email to Jordan begging her not to scream or cry, but that I was going to have to muck with her table settings. She took it well. Or at least she took it with a shot of vodka (who’s to know really, since I don’t actually know her that well, remember?).

Okay, next challenge was that the ceremony was scheduled for 5 pm. Oh, 5 pm. Hmm … I guess I could get to work at 8 and leave at 4 and still manage to pull it off.

Nope. One more detail that I hadn’t noted in my lovely “need to know” system — the location was in Edwards. More than a full hour’s drive from my office in Kanata.

Alrighty, then. I’ll need to do a quick change at work and leave at 3:30 pm. Not ideal, because the deliverables at the office will still need to be delivered, which means extra hours for me in the evening.

All in all, I was getting pretty irked at my “need to know” system. But I’d already committed to attend, so I was just going to have to make this work.

So as 3:30 pm on Monday hit, I slipped out of the office and to the women’s washrooms. Here is the before:

I have thrown a striped jersey jacket over a little black dress. Normally, I would never show the knees in the office, but what the heck, I needed a quick change! To make up for the skin show, I had slipped on some cute, but conservative, shoes and hoped no one would notice the difference.

All I had to do was take off the jersey, throw on a silky shawl (which has great karma since it was from my BFF’s wedding when I was one of her bridesmaids ten years ago) over top of the dress and then change shoes (more great karma since I bought these three months after my son was born to wear to another excellent couple’s wedding in Australia).

All in all, the quick change worked out just fine. Unfortunately, there is nothing “quick” I can do about those bags under my eyes though!

With the quick change complete, I rushed back out to my car only to realize that I’d left the driving directions up at my office. I was not going to go back to the office all decked out — especially at 3:30 pm! So, I made an emergency call to Hubby to google-up some directions for me.

I finally took off on my way, but as the minutes in the drive passed, I was started to sweat thinking I was going to arrive late — right in the middle of the ceremony … you know, “Does anyone have any objections?” and out comes Julie stumbling in her heels from the parking lot. Not a good vision, let me tell you!

As I was starting getting close, the road turned into a dirt road. Oh oh, I hope I didn’t take a wrong turn! Eventually I saw with relief the sign to Stanley’s Old Maple Lane Farm, where the wedding was going to be held. I turn the wheel into the drive only to realize that the gate is closed. Gah! A panicked swinging of the head suggested that the next lane up was the one for me. As I start to back up, a blonde woman in grey Prius starts turning into the same laneway right behind me. I start laughing like a crazy lady …

The cute blonde in the Prius is my co-tweeter for this event: Andrea from a peek inside the fishbowl. And she looks like she’s just as anxious as me that she’s going to arrive in the middle of the ceremony too!

But alas, we arrive, and the whole scene is a picture of calm on the farm. It seems the ceremony isn’t starting until 5:30 pm! We take a few deep breaths, and get ourselves ready for our roles as live-tweeters.

photo credit: Andrea Tomkins

To be continued …. (in the meantime, you can check out Andrea’s post on the Project Priceless wedding) …..

Comments

  1. Those are some really nice shoes, I  noticed them yesterday in the tweet pic…Glad you guys had fun.

  2. I use the same need to know system, but it seems to be working less well as the kids get older and busier. I am trying out some apps to help.
    Plus, you look AWESOME and not flustered at all :)

    • Coffee with Julie says:

      Let me know when you find the solution for successful multi-tasking! And thanks for your sweet words ….

  3. Love the dress you wore…….it was perfect.

    • Coffee with Julie says:

      Thanks! I lucked out one day and picked it up for $30 at Banana Republic! :) I love a great deal. 

  4. shoes + outfit = perfect.

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