officially a working girl

Well...my days of leisure are over. I am now a working girl. Back to the real world. Today marked my 3rd day with Tidal and I must say it is so great to be among familiar faces and super smart people. I was dropped off at the Baltimore office on Monday morning (thanks to mom and Kevin who returned from their European honeymoon this past weekend and have now had to shuttle me back and forth). I sat at the "bar" while people came in and helped unload the dishwasher. My boss arrived from NYC and before I knew it I had a working laptop and fun email address: kelly@tidaltv.com - yay! I just love start ups. The mentality, the family feel, the absence of red tape and the friendless of everyone - yes, I must admit, I did miss this. The office lost power twice that day. I sat in on a call or two and was transported back a few years. All of the sudden it was as if nothing had changed...ahhhhh, work.

It was a great first day! I was dropped off at Penn Station with my bag packed for New York later that night and headed up on the train which was so very easy. Got to see Christina who happened to be in town - :)! Yesterday I took a cab to my new office. The cab driver was so nice and we talked the whole way. He asked if I was from Texas (must be my southern accent) - ha. I told him that NYC would soon be my home and that it was my second day of work. He dropped me smack dab in the middle of Times Square. Seriously?! This is where I will go to work everyday? It is the next building over from where the ball drops on New Years Eve. Right near the NYPD and all of the crazy lights and ads that light up the whole city and where people stop for the perfect photo of them in front of one of the busiest blocks in the world - which is now where I will be working. Oy! So I tried very hard to not be distracted by the lights and crowds and mob scene that I am hoping will soon just blend in. Work was...overwhelming. I realize that I am new and still getting ramped up (obvi) but I really don't like not knowing things and I want to be GREAT.

I took the subway down to happy hour with Maria, Jason, XT and crew - it was so good to see them! Made my way over to HB's part of town just before the storm set in. We waited it out a bit and then headed over to a little, neighborhood spanish restaurant where we shared a bottle of wine and everything we have been up to the past few months. It was a great night!

Somehow my time off already seems far away...how is the possible? I am feeling fairly confident with Amtrak after riding the rails a time or two. Day 3, Week 1 - check. T - four days until I fly across the pond. My list of stuff that I need to get done between now and then is crazy long - and growing. Yup, back in the swing of things - look out world!

the big day

July 9th started bright and early and almost felt like any other day - oh, expect for the fact that after 40 plus years, two people that are truly meant to be were finally married! Kendall and I headed for the club early afternoon. The sun was shining. Birds were probably chirping. We knew it was going to be quite a day. We arrived at Hayfield's where we met mom and were shown her bridal suite which was a great big room where we stored our stuff and after checking everything out, went down to the bar for a glass of wine. Kara and Makenna arrived soon after and then the afternoon just started flying by. Seeing mom's gorgeous, flowing dress and pretty shoes waiting to be worn made us all of the more excited. Lindsay started Val's make-up, Kendall perfected mine - the prep had officially started. We got to hear Lindsay practice singing "At Last" which was amazing. Makenna loved it as she does most musical things in life. Soon there were people coming into the room to see and hug mom and it was really almost time! We ushered people out to help mom into her dress. She looked breath-taking. Everything had come together perfectly. It was 5:20 before I knew it. I ran outside to make sure that the harpist was playing. Father Nick and Kevin were ready and that people were sitting. To say it was hot is an understatement - it was sweltering. Guys were in suits melting. I was a bit caught between daughter of the bride, photographer, coordinator and wedding guest but managed to get myself together and run inside to tell Val, Willie and mom - we are ready to get married! I know it seemed like a long walk for them. Everyone took a breath in when they saw how drop dead gorgeous mom looked. She was glowing and Kevin was beaming and every single person there could not help but feel their completeness and how ready they were to do this. They went around the long way through the crowd which really just gave everyone a better look at the bride. I totally got choked up during my reading. They said their vows and intentions with love and clarity and soon were declared husband and wife. Wow! The ceremony wrapped shortly and Dave, the Washington Post photographer and I took photos/video of the newlyweds et all. It was steamy and we were all pretty much ready to continue the celebration so we soon headed inside. Dante and Val were announced by the DJ and then Mom and Kevin looking spectacular. I think they literally took everyone's breath away. They started with their first dance and the rest of the next few hours flew by as speeches were made, songs were played, old friends were hugged and a new, long-overdue life together was started.

Everything was not necessarily perfect (the DJ totally ignored the playlist that we spent hours on, the event coordinator got a little snippy) but it was really the reason why we were all there and the love that you could just feel that made the day one for the record books.

waeber wedding festivities

Before I forgot details, I want to write about how awesome Mom's wedding weekend was. The festivities started on Thursday - deemed girls day - and that it was! We did a private yoga sesh at Chrissy's in the morning followed by lunch. Mary (one of my mom's dearest friends) arrived in the afternoon. It was wonderful to see her and their reunion and for me that is when the emotional piece of everything kicked in. Mom and all of her girls - Ken, Val, me and Kara - plus Mary headed over for manis and pedis before we hit up The Cork. It was the perfect place to celebrate. People started arriving around 5 pm and for the next few hours we cheersed and relished in the amazing-ness of everything. Kara and I decided to take advantage of the wine specials like we have been known to do a time or two and as a result were a tad slow moving on Friday. So many of mom's peeps were there - it was great! Special thanks to Lynn for coming and for my new bff Karen and Mary for picking up the tab - you ladies are the best! Apparently, I thought it was my party -oy..I woke up with Makenna between Kara and I and our party dresses still on :) You know its been a good night when... ha

Friday we ran errands and tried to take care of last minute stuff. Mom and I headed to Snickerdoodles to pick up a hundy cupcakes. I asked her who she was most looking forward to seeing at the wedding - and she said Kevin! True love fo sho. It started down pouring. We witnessed a car totally lose control and do several 360s just ahead of us on 83. We went to get her ring cleaned - of course right then was when I heard from my future boss and we spoke details - and then made a mad dash to Loehman's for shoes (on clearance in my size - woohoo!). 6 o'clock snuck up on us and we made the crawl up York Road to the club. The sun came out and the view was pretty spectacular. It was just a small group of us - but it was perfect. We met Shaye and Kali who were in from Alaska. Willie practiced walking mom down the isle and said thank god for Kevin. Father Nick was the master of ceremonies and did a great job - he was funny and just knows mom and Kevin so well that it was tailored to them. Tears were definitely shed. You can't look at them and not feel love radiating...Soon it was time to head up the road to the house where the celebration continued with bbq, family and friends. To be continued....

my big news

I have the bad habit of sometimes reaching for my phone when my eyes are barely open and its way too early for anything exciting to have happened. To my surprise, this was very much not the case last Thursday. In my inbox was my much anticipated offer letter! O...M....G....I had almost thought that it wasn't coming and yet there it was bright and early and ready to greet me before I even got out of bed. After a day and a half or so of phone tag, my future boss and I finally connected on the way to mom's rehearsal dinner Friday evening. And so I went into the blissful weekend having most of my questions answered about my package, the company, etc. Fast forward to tonight, dad and I had just pulled up to where we finally decided to eat and my phone rings. Hope you are sitting down for this one. It looks like I will be starting at my new job two weeks from today! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! So after just about a year and a half of being on my own time, traveling and soaking people up -before the end of this very month I will be a working woman. Thrilled that I had the time that I did. So excited to start the next adventure with a company that I am super excited about. In awe really of how everything is playing out!

my last name

Growing up, I never gave much thought to my name. I always had it. It followed me around and I was used to being "KellyChoy" in a world with other Kellys I never realized it was even the slightest bit different that anyone else's. There were many in my classes with names like Jones/Brown/Smith. Maybe even at times I wished that I was one of them...but nowadays, I wouldn't change it one bit. I have found that it is a conversation starter, a surprise. People will expect to see someone that doesn't look anything like me and get me instead. I like the fact that my grandparents' parents are from places far away. I like that although my dad is one of four boys and had four daughters, it is something of his that he gave us.