the rose of kiev

Right about this time last year, Dave and I were sitting at a card table in the second story of his house on 12th Avenue making an attempt to whittle down our guest list.  We crunched the numbers together on Excel, both per head, and how much each head would cost to be there (food, cake, favors, beer, tablecloths...).  It was one of the more stressful days of our engagement, so we took a break to sit on the roof and watch a distant set of belated fireworks.  While we were out there, my pragmatic Dave had an epiphany. "So...by the time we add up the cost of everything involved in the wedding, how much will that cost in comparison to the stuff that we get?" I scuffed the shingles with my sandal.  "If you add up the bridal showers, bachelorette party and wedding presents together, we'll probably break even." "How does that make any sense?  Why not just use the money we have to get the stuff that we need?  Why all the extra stress?" I smiled and looked tow...

There are many recipes of things that potentially lead to feelings of happiness. It is the most impossible thing to cook if everyone is right – it takes an enormous number of ingredients and an unbelievable amount of hours spent cooking and preparing, and in the end seems to boil down to sheer circumstantial luck in the end. Not to mention the people around you and their moods, too, complicating the whole process and offering no guarantee.             Happiness could theoretically be comprised of a healthy diet, a skinny body, the perfect dessert, several hours a week exercising, more sleep and longer naps, more money, better people, nicer in-laws, jobs with more fulfillment, families with less stress, increased leisure time, free concerts, 3 weeks every month away on vacation, wild romance, free beer (free of hangovers and stupidity), unbreakable beautiful cars, removal of health problems, no more fights or arguments, increase in education, a bigger house than the Joneses, and no ...