My Mom, the Panamanians & the City.

Courtesy of Jesse

On Wednesday morning, Jesse and I woke up and headed to Grand Central Station to pick up my mother who was arriving to visit with some of our Panamanian family - my Tia Belinda, cousin Cheli, her daughter Sofia, their friend Milly, and my mother's friend Judy. Most of them had never been to New York, so my mom thought a two day trip would be fun while they were visiting from their paradise-like country.

Unfortunately, they picked the two coldest days of the year so far. When I woke up on Wednesday it was 12 degrees, but supposedly felt like -1 degrees. Hooray!

Jesse being the good guy watching the bags at Grand Central

My Tia Belinda and Mom, so sassy. 

Bundled Mom & Jesse

They came fully prepared and bundled up, and after dropping off their things at the hotel I brought them to Brooklyn in order to enjoy some of my favorite Venezuelan food at Caracas. Venezuelan food is similar to Panamanian cuisine - plantains, white cheese, arepas, etc. We had a fun time catching up, and as usual with me, my Spanish started off slow and as the day progressed so did the velocity of my conversation.

I was born in Panama and my first language was Spanish. Since my father was in the U.S. military and we moved from base to base growing up, I also learned English almost simultaneously. I consider myself lucky to have visited Panama almost every other year of my life -- all of my mother's side of the family resides there. I don't use Spanish nearly as much as I do when I'm at home or in Panama, of course, but it always comes back. Especially with such a fun group like these ladies. Sometimes Jesse was a little lost, but he's learning!

The ladies and Brooklyn graffiti

After showing them Brooklyn and our apartment, we trekked back to Times Square, which everyone wanted to see. Too bad the wind was cutting everybody's cheeks! We walked briskly to the TKTS booth and picked up evening tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. Rather than shop at the souvenir stores as they are wont to do, they wanted to take a break and go back to the hotel. I had no objection, as my cheeks were bright red without wearing any blush.

We rested while everyone readied themselves for dinner and the show, and then we headed out bundled up as much as possible. After a delicious dinner in the theater district and a few glasses of wine, we were ready for PHANTOM! Before, though, I explained the plot of Phantom for the Spanish-only folk, and I felt pretty, pretty proud of myself (this was after the wine, of course, who knows how it all came out).

My mom and I before the show

Phantom of the Opera was the first Broadway show I ever saw (but, you know, "Broadway" in Kansas City with my family and grandmother when I was 10). I still love it. I unashamedly love the Joel Schumacher movie starring Emmy Rossum as Christine and a surprisingly good Gerard Butler as the Phantom (he should have played Javert in Les Mis, just sayin'). It was great seeing it live again, and I tell you, those songs still give me goosebumps! "The Phantom of the Opera," "Music of the Night," and "All I Ask of You" are tremendous songs.

Afterwards, Jesse met up with us at a bar near their hotel and we warmed ourselves from the four-block walk with - what else?? - wine! It was a great close to a long and awesome day with family. They weren't able to see much of the beauty of the city from Central Park to the Highline to the Statue of Liberty to exploring the different neighborhood, but it was great to spend time with family I hadn't seen in a long time.

My mom and I ending the night with one more glass of wine!

The Rehearsal Dinner.

On Friday, August 7th, Jesse and I prepared for festivities. He was hanging out with his mother and father, and I was bustling around my parent's house waiting for my lovely bridesmaids to arrive at midday. Most of them were coming from New York or Connecticut, but Christy flew in from Austin, Texas, and Amber from Lansing, Michigan. I'm sure it was a task to coordinate the arrivals, but coordinate they did and arrived by the wheel of Jiscilla. (For those interested, no, she does not ride a unicorn everywhere.)

We had a nail salon appoint for mani/pedis for all - lika ya dooo - and we went in and relaxed and chatted. We might have relaxed a bit more if the overhead televisions weren't playing that show where the host goes around eating the nads of every animal on earth - because we definitely saw some vom-inducing bull-penis chomping. ((Shudder))

Afterwards, we had to get ready for the ceremony rehearsal. I was wearing a fabulous dress I had found in LA in May; it was marked down hundreds of dollars to $60. See what I mean about fabulous? And you haven't even seen it yet - but you know it is. I wore my heels I had dyed purple for both the rehearsal and wedding, and donned a purple feather hair get-up that I had also bought for all my bridesmaids as part of their bridesmaids gifts. Then, I hightailed it to the hotel because my lovely, amazing, superb make-up artist Kristy Konopka was going to do a make-up trial.

You may remember Kristy as the woman I wrote about when I went to LA, where she gave me a facial and threw a pool party. Yeah, she's pretty great. The make-up turned out great as well, and I went off to find my bridesmaids and head to the church!

Before the process began! Sans make-up!

After!

I felt fab!
(Pictures courtesy of Kristy & her husband Dan!)

At 6pm, our parents and wedding party converged on St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Father Bob had us all get lined up and practice how to enter and exit the ceremony. It was a little nerve-wracking, but we got the hang of it.

Me and my bridesmaids - Christy, Kelly, me, Erica, Jiscilla, and Amber!

The rehearsal dinner was at my parent's home, nearby the church, and was provided by Jesse's mom, Sandi, who hired caterers. The italian cuisine was delicious and all of the wedding party, relatives, and my nine visiting Panamanians devoured it.

Christy, me, my brother Travis.

(All rehearsal dinner pictures provided by Jiscilla!)

During dinner, one of Jesse's Best Men (we had two BMs and Maids of Honor!), Jason, gave a speech, as well as one of my Maids of Honor, Kelly. Jason told the sweet tale of first becoming Jesse's friend - which he details on his blog here - and as he got to the end of his speech, he started welling up with tears and I think everyone in the house did, too.

Kelly brought the house down in a more humorous way - by telling everyone she was also marrying into the Parker family, by announcing a "surprise engagement" to my brother Travis. Travis looked directly at me with a confused look on his face, and then started high-fiving everyone at his table. They were known as The Fiancees the rest of the weekend, and some people actually thought they were engaged. (For the record, I would be totally okay with my best friend marrying my brother. I mean...Kells & Trav - I'm just saying.)

After dinner, my mother and the Panamanians got everyone on their feet to dance! Even Jesse, who was reluctant to dance, grabbed me and started swinging me around. Diaz jumped right in. My mom got Jason to dance, and I pulled in Brendan and Tony, while Kristen took care of Matt. These are dudes who usually refuse to dance! That's the way y family does it. Eventually, nearly everyone was on the dance floor, having a great time.

I think you can surmise how much fun we had by looking at these pictures!

Jesse and I went back with the wedding party to the reception hotel a few minutes away; I wanted to say hi to everyone who had already come in the for the next day. We hung out in the bar and I got to say hi to a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. Then Jesse walked me to the car, and we had our last hug and kiss as single people. I wouldn't see him again until I walked down the aisle the next day!

We have ze vinners...

I AM HERE TO ANNOUNCE THE GAP BORN TO FIT HAIKU CONTEST WINNERS!!!

It was pretty exciting to get all those comments, I'm not going to lie. And all the entries were SO rad, it was incredibly hard to pick the winners! Thank you to everyone for entering, and if you didn't win, just know I still loved every haiku and there will be more contests in the future so check back!

Our runner-ups!

Christianna Taylor, a college friend whom I haven't spoken to in YEARS, entered the contest and had this following award-winning haiku:

My jeans conceal two
strong legs; sexy with grace and
pose; beckoning you.

WINNER!

Alissa Wigdor's haiku had some great rhythm, I liked reading it out loud:

Straight leg skinny jean,
Attitude and confidence,
Dark wash only, please.

WINNER!

I chose Kaleigh's haiku for incorporating the slogan, and also to answer her question that yes, she will try on these jeans and love them:

Because I am short,
All my jeans are much too long.
Was I born to fit?

WINNER!

And Matt wins for having three hilarious haikus, and this one for clinching a free pair of jeans:

denim on denim
canadian tuxedo
nineteen eighty five

WINNER!

And dum dum dum, here's our GRAND PRIZE WINNER - a certain Sonya, whose blog I've been reading for quite some time since she first left a comment here over a year ago -

Jeans, they never lie
On your couch Indigo dye.
On low, tumble dry.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

Woo hoo!! I'm so glad everyone entered and I already can't wait for a chance to hold my next contest. And to the winners: you don't HAVE to, but if you want, get you thems Gap Born to Fit jeans and e-mail me (or blog) about them!! I will share your own thoughts on the jeans - and pics are always fun, too!!

By the way, the rest of the jeans I had left over from the party lasted me enough for ANOTHER party - this time at my parent's house this past weekend and with all my Panamanian relatives. The age range is from 19-70+ and they all loved them! I think that is a true testament to the wearability of the jeans, if I do say so myself. Check them out:

Mi abuela (grandmother)!

Amariles!

My cousin Andrea!

Tia Ana!

Tia Belinda! She fit in the size 0!

The whole gang is BORN TO FIT!