Bridal Party 101: Nolen Deibert, Brides-Man Extrodinaire

Three for Three people...this may just last :-)
So I don't know about you, but whenever I go to a wedding I tend to wonder about the bridal party. Who are they? Where did they come from? Why in the world would they agree to wear matching outfits all day? I intend to shed some light on these important questions by profiling all of our attendants over the coming months.

He's quite excited...about everything!

The inaugural profile is of the most unique member of our bridal party, the Brides-Man. I'm generally not one to buck tradition, but the entire wedding situation didn't feel right without one of my best friends and biggest supporters standing up there with me. While JP is also good friends with Nolen, over the years he has become one of my nearest and dearest, despite the fact that he's been living half a world away in Asia for the past two and a half years. Will some people be like WTH is a dude doing on the brides side...possibly. Do we care...not in the slightest.

A Shot from the Early Years demonstrates we don't care about appearing normal at all

Nolen and I met in the infamous Regan Hall in August of 2004 when we both started college at CUA. We bonded one weekend when we were among the few students who chose not to go on the Freshman Retreat. History was made that weekend and we were pretty much inseparable for the next four years or so (minus summer and when Nolen studied abroad in Belgium). We braved USG, the Honors Environmental Science track, Pryz food, and finally entering the real world together during our time at CUA. Nolen was one of the brave souls that made a go of it in DC for the first year after college, but in order to gain valuable international experience so he can be an important diplomat someday, he moved to Korea and then China in early 2010. LUCKY FOR ME, he's headed back to the good old US of A for a couple of years to go to grad school...and help me pull this wedding off!

All three of us are INAPPROPRIATELY VERY close

So for your enjoyment...here are Nolen's answers to the best probing questions I could muster:

Interests: Filling out surveys about myself, Moving around Asia, Speaking Chinese at inappropriate moments to people who don't understand me

Favorite color: Light Urple (JW: It is very possible he meant purple...I chose to keep it like this for artistic reasons)

Note: This is definitely NOT warm milk with a little honey in Nolen's cup

When did you first know you'd have to show up at our wedding: Wait, I actually have to show up? This is going to be problematic...

Favorite Cocktail to get you in the Party Mood: A nice glass of warm milk with a little honey in it. (JW: This is absolute crap and he will pay for the answer he gave here...)

This sums up JP and Nolen's relationship fairly well

What is your favorite wedding movie/pop culture wedding moment: The marriage of the Sea Captain to his wooden mermaid on The Simpsons. (Or if we're getting sentimental, when gay marriage was legalized in DC)

Is there a song you can't wait to shake your grove thang to at the reception: Well, it's not MY grove thang that will be shaking (JW: doubtful...), but I am SERIOUSLY excited for Baby Got Back. Jill knows why...

This has got to be the only normal, attractive shot of us taken...EVER

If you could skip any normal wedding tradition...what would it be: Ugh the dollar shot dance or whatever. And the chicken dance. Oh and if you write your own vows I WILL LEAVE SO HELP ME

Chicken or Fish: Chicken, but only if it has been killed by being drowned in the ocean. SEA DEATHS FOR ALL THE CHICKEN.

The Dynamic Duo is more awkward awesome than pretty much anyone else

Any last thoughts you'd like the public to know: So since the rest of this has been fairly ridiculous, let's get real for a minute here. Jill and JP have been like mom and dad to me for the last couple of years. I've been traipsing all over the world, but it's been pretty excellent to know that Jill would be there for my 3am/3pm drunk chats, or that JP would be there for my "OH CRAP WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE" crises. So when they asked me to be in their wedding, it was a no-brainer. I'm so happy that they are making this commitment to each other, and so proud to be part of it. Congrats, Jill and JP!

From Hot Mess to Just Hot...

WHAT UP SECOND REGULAR BLOG POST!!!!!!!! WARNING: This post is very, VERY, EXTREMELY, self-indulgent! Either get over it...or wait until my next post!

Always nice to revisit old memes right?

So this is a new segment I'd like to introduce to my blog to chronicle the evolution of "Jill Warne, 20 Something Mess" into "Jillian L.W. Walsh, Successful, Winning, Adult". This is a project I've started and totally disregarded about seven billion times before, but its one that frankly cannot wait any longer. My transformation must begin righhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht NOW.

A close friend and I (you know who you are beezy) decided one sad day when we both seemed to be failing at pretty much every aspect of our lives that we should become and then write a book about becoming modern day trophy wives. It seemed like a GREAT IDEA at first...then it seemed like women everywhere would swoop in and take our Free & Independent Woman cards for even suggesting an idea of this nature. Soon after that, a matronly and sassy woman who resembles Oprah or Hillary Clinton would slap us in the face and say "YOU DON'T NEED TO BE WIVES TO BE TROPHIES YOU CRAZY BITCHES," then z-snap and fly off in a hover car or some other awesome technologically fancy vehicle us normal humans wouldn't have access to.

QEII would also work in this scenario...look at this expression of disdain!

So because I'd lose what little credibility I have with the ladies everywhere, I've decided to entitle this personal self-improvement project "From Hot Mess to Just Hot" wherein I will seek to metamorphosize myself into a capable adult who could plan awesome parties, raise a child, manage a team of people, maintain a healthy lifestyle, wear make-up regularly, correct someone wittily, keep a plant alive for more than 2 weeks and/or get out of bed in the morning and exude excellence.

Like this dude...Except Female!

All self-deprecating humor aside, when I turned 20 I felt like I could conquer the world with a smile and a college degree. The past six years of this decade of my life have left me feeling somewhat beaten down and discouraged. I've changed a lot (sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse) but I really need to a) believe that a self-assured and confident Jill is buried underneath the wear and tear and b) that I can resurrect her like a phoenix from the ashes. Frankly, if I'm about to add a permanent partner to my life I feel like I should at least have all of my life-components working smoothly! In the end, its not about changing myself but about getting rid of all the clutter and exposing the awesome person I am to the world again (cheesy I know...I don't know why you're complaining though. YOU chose to read this drivel!).

So here are the goals...its always good to have goals right? They will change...and you will get to watch them change assuming I keep updating this blog!

• For the Body: drop more weight, cook more food, visit the gym more often
• For the Habitat: clean regularly, decorate/add personal touches, get a plant
• For the Mind: find a new job, finish grad school, set actual career goals, READ
• For the Youthful Glow: remember how to use make-up, actually take care of my hair, skin care, wardrobe
• For the Soul: volunteer or just use spare time doing other things than watching Netflix

Will I actually follow through with any of these? You'll just have to tune in next week...same bat time...same bat channel.

We're going to pretend I was hibernating...

Happy New Years Internets!! (Yeah thats right...I started this entry two months ago and decided to just copy and paste...wanna fight about it?)

*Typical excuses and apologies for not updating this blog more frequently* Can we skip this? Aren't we good enough friends by now to just pick up where we left off? Yes? Awesome...onwards we go.

So I'll just do a brief update of the last two months of 2010 (and first two months of 2011) and then my completely overambitious plan is to update every twice a week. I think thats probably acceptable until I get back in the hang of writing/become awkwardly funny again. If not...go surf Facebook for a few more hours...see if I care!!!! (I do care!!! COME BACK TO ME! YOUR ATTENTION IS MY SUSTENANCE!!!)

Part of the reason why I stopped writing is that well...the blog is supposed to be about living with a boy and I wasn't really doing that any longer! JP came back from his Floridian electoral adventures on November the 4th which was nice. Things were going smoothly and he'd convinced me that it was a good idea to let him return to Florida until our planned Christmas trip to California (which in a stroke of SHEER BRILLIANCE I made him book airfare for BEFORE election night...smartest action ever).

Unfortunately, near the end of his week-after-the-election vacation we had a big scare when my future Mother-in-Law had a heart attack. I want to just thank ALL of you guys out there who prayed, helped, supported, and calmed us (me because JP deals with serious medical issues better than I do) down during these events. It means more than you know to have the support of the family/friends network during times like that. I can say now Mrs. Walsh is doing EXCELLENTLY. Except for slight lack of energy (which is coming back quite quickly now), you wouldn't even know this woman was sick. She's a champion and we're so thankful for the successful procedures and her rapid recovery.

Despite much drama, yelling, tears and finally "giving it up to Jesus" JP was finally offered a position in the Rick Scott administration. THANKFULLY, it is a position in his DC offices and I am once again living with a boy!!!! This was my favorite Christmas gift of all this holiday season and JP is absolutely thrilled to not only be gainfully employed again, but to be employed doing something he loves. Well, we're assuming it will be something he loves...they haven't exactly given him a solid job description yet (its been two months). NOW QUIT ASKING FOR DETAILS BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ANY MORE!!!!!! I'll keep everyone posted on further updates on his ever changing career path.

I started grad school at GW in January and managed to register for classes, fill out loan paperwork, set up school IDs and go to orientation in the course of a week. Because this is the world's craziest MBA program, I have also totally finished my first 3 classes over the past 8 weeks (last week I took my first round of finals...dear sweet baby Jesus I forgot how much finals suck!). It's been pretty cool though so far...I'm excited about all the skillz I'm learning. I FINALLY have a third person on my billing team at work though, so that should reduce my stress levels significantly. He's the bomb.com and I've been elevated to "homie" status with him and work is significantly less sucky now. fall

Many hilarious stories will continue be related on this website as JP and I attempt to do things together like live on a budget, get in shape, take a cruise, plan a wedding, host parties, visit family, prepare for marriage, meet the gaggle of new babies that are being born this spring, and generally not kill each other fall in love with each other all over again.

Lets hope I can keep this up...

Jill-Ron