Hey APW,
If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that Meg has been quieter in the comments than usual this week. That’s because she’s on a much-deserved vacation! In her absence, the inmates have been running the asylum (head inmate here, pleased to know you). It was a quiet week here, and I spent most of it catching my breath before heading into part two of wedding season. (It’s heeeerrreee!)
Now, as I make the long trek from San Francisco to Bend, Oregon today, I have the pleasure of kicking off Happy Hour. It’s yours for the taking, so hop on it! I’ll be clinking my glass with every rest stop.
Cheers!
Maddie
Highlights of APW This Week
Newlywed Julia responds to getting fired by planning a five-month trip around the world…without her new husband.
Moe eloped unexpectedly in Vegas because “it was more important that I didn’t spend another day waiting for my new life to begin.” Meanwhile, APW’s resident stylist, Yesenia, shared the lovely communal effort that was her Cigar Bar wedding and it made Meg cry.
In practical wedding news, Emily puts her degree to good use with round two of wedding poems (this time on Bounty and Permanence) and Maddie taught us how to make a corsage that won’t remind you of prom.
Cheese-free father-daughter dance songs might not be possible, but (almost) cheese-free father-daughter dance songs is a close second!
Liz’s post about when the five-year plan misses the point inspired an awesome conversation about planning for the future that has me simultaneously convinced this is the most ambitious and well-adjusted corner of the internet. Surprisingly (or maybe not?) in a related story, Rachel realized this week that…she does not have a five-year plan. But she does have a house so I guess that means she has a thirty-year plan. Brave lady, that one.
Link Roundup
Zooey Deschanel knocked it out of the fucking park with her thoughts on why smart women doing things dubbed to be traditionally feminine (say, running wedding websites) are so readily dismissed, and why she thinks that’s a mistake. (Plus, Meg reports that she literally brushed shoulders with Deschanel on vacation in LA this week. Small world, eh?)
“Trauma is not just the result of major disasters. It does not happen to only some people. An undercurrent of trauma runs through ordinary life, shot through as it is with the poignancy of impermanence.” Whew. From this powerful article on grieving.
Offbeat Bride asked why the internet loves snarking on weddings so much…while Jezebel snarked on weddings some more. (Actually, I’ve read every snarking wedding piece Jez has written over the past year and I actually found this one mostly funny. And establishing people as “wedding” or “not wedding” is damn good advice.)
Both Time’s child-free cover story and The New York Times Magazine’s follow-up on “the opt-out generation,” fail to get at the complexity of their respective cultural phenomena (that may be putting it nicely). But that’s why you’re here right? Let’s talk it out.
Mr. Beyonce Knowles gave us some epic performance art while a bunch of awesome people gave us this sweet Tumblr on getting through your awkward years.
