Hava Nagilah Redux

last weekend was very special. . .in a sister's doin' it for themselves kind of way.

it was koogs' chuppah party!

friday after work, the indian princess, ceo, and myself loaded up in koogs' car and hot the road to fairfax, va. . .and her parents house.

snacks and my overnight bag:



look at how cute the bride is:


look at how beautiful the sunset is:


look at how unsafe the bride is being while she tries to use her ipod while driving:


when we finally got to koogs' parent's house we were very tired but very ready for a tour...i had never been there before but had heard tell of her mom's leanings in cultural decorating. i was very excited to see this with my own two eyes:



and the requisite southern jewish plaque which made me feel right at home:



the one my parents had was "cha'i y'all." oh the hilarity. . .

nothing could have prepared me for what i saw in koogs' very own room though. not just one of these:



oh, no. . . a whole set from baby to lady:



yessssss. here's what momma koogs had to say about these delightful porcelain figurines:

"And Sara's dolls... Did she tell you how Larry's Mom (aka Grandma) used to buy her one every year. Then one time Sara knocked them over and there were body parts all about. Looked like a bus accident (gruesome, but true). My mother meticulously glued little pieces back together. But #10 never quite recovered..."

the next morning ms. n arrived very sleepy from the wedding she had attended the night before and her 4am wake-up call to get on the plane to come meet us. we put our faces on and hung out a bit before we had to leave to go to the main event. hang out in koogs family speak is a bit different from most because it means harmonizing sing-along:



oh yes. they are singing. . .wait for it. . .the crosby, stills & nash masterpiece "teach your children." look at the joy on their faces!

once they wrapped that up we finished getting ready and snapped pictures of us being pretty:




we got to koogs' aunt's house and were greeted by all the ladies of her life. aunts, family friends, cousins, future in-laws and the one man allowed: her soon-to-be nephew:



after a short round of eating we got down to the business of presenting our chuppah squares. inevitably the second someone sat down next to koogs they started crying as they shared what had inspired them to make what they did and that lead to koogs crying which led to ms. n sobbing -- weddings make her cry. a lot.

it was a pretty amazing day. . .and not just because of the ice cream cupcakes her cousin made:


here are a few of the many chuppah squares that were made lovingly for koogs and the hulk.

the cutie's:


momma koogs':


the future niece's:


the ceo's:

please notice the indigo girls' lyric. . .

the indian princess':

erykah badu lyrics to honor the mutual love of hip-hop.

koogs' family friend. . .we hate/love her for this because it's so amazing:


mine!

it's like a family tree but with my idea of a cherry blossom. i wrote the names of koogs' and the hulk's grandparents, parents and siblings with an extra un-named one. . .for the baby.

the crafty bitches (i say that with love and envy) both sent in cryptic ones that we all had to figure out together. all we knew was that the first two letters stood for "that's your."


That's Your Chuppah Square Wishing You A Happy Marriage.


That's Your Marriage That Will Last A Lifetime.

ms. n's:

an ode to brooklyn and koogs and the hulk's love of hip-hop -- their names written in graffitti style script. whatever. i could of done that too if i felt like it.

we ended the day by taking pictures of the young'uns:


and the legends:


and all of us together:


needless to say we had a lot to re-hash in the car on the drive home. it was one of those days where you realize how lucky you are. as koogs put it "everyone should have a day where they here how much they are loved."

and she's right.

next post about koogs' wedding? the bachelorette party.