the story of my hat

About a week ago I was invited to a Bridal Shower for L. L is marrying A, the son of my parents' very, very good friends whom they've known since college.

A was Bar Mitzvah-ed but his family isn't very religious, and L isn't Jewish at all, so this will be my second non-Ortho bridal shower ever. That's significant not because I'm snobby about hanging out with gentiles or non-Ortho Jews, but in my experience, Ortho people in NY have a very specific Way of Doing Things which is sometimes loosely based on what the rest of the world is doing, but usually is quite different. I'm familiar with only the Ortho WoDT because that's what I've experienced to date, so I'm going to have to go over the etiquette with my coworkers before this shower. And the wedding.

Typical Bridal Shower I've been to: The invitation (or evite) invites everyone to Bridesmaid X's house at whatever time of day. We're asked to bring a recipe on a card. Sometimes we're asked to bring a photograph of ourselves with the bride or something. When I call to RSVP I offer to bring something, and usually end up bringing my favorite chocolate cake. Alcohol is unfortunately optional, but it's very low key and fun.

L's Bridal Shower invite: Very pretty printed invitations invite everyone to some nice-sounding place in Manhattan. The party begins at 2:30 and we are told to be on time (!) because L's arriving at 3. It's a surprise - my friends usually can't pull off a surprise. There are printed index cards for our recipes, and we are told to wear our favorite hats. (In July!)

Mom can't go because she'll be out of town that day, so I'm flying solo. I'll know L, A's mom and sister, and I may or may not recognize some of A's aunts and cousins from the Bar Mitzvah 13 years ago - but it's highly unlikely that they will remember me.

So of course I focus on the hats :) My favorite hat is probably the Divine Hats I've made 30 of, but that's hardly appropriate for a fancy affair in July. So I'm knitting Windansea, a free pattern from Berroco that uses 2 skeins of their Seduce yarn. The project calls for 50" of 18 gauge Milinery Wire, so yesterday I scouted the garment district and found some (6 yards for $6,which I think is a good deal). As of Monday I was up to the crown shaping, but the dpns I have are too grabby for the yarn, which is also super-grabby, so I'll have to hit Knit on my way to Softball tonight to get some Brittanys or Clovers.

*****

Last night Mom & I went to see Promises, Promises with Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenowith.

I like Neil Simon's Rumors a lot, and I also really liked this play. Sean Hayes is such a good actor!! I've seen Will & Grace but wasn't a fanatic or anything. I'm now a Sean Hayes fan :) There was a lot of witty and funny dialogue and he did such a great job with it.

Kristen Chenowith was pretty much as good as I expected her to be, and I had high expectations after seeing Wicked (without her :( ), Pushing Daisies, and Glee. She's so freaking talented! I hope she does more Broadway once she finishes this show.

As musicals go, this wasn't my favorite music-wise. All the actors did a terrific job singing, however I just didn't like many of the songs they were singing. Not my taste I guess. I didn't realize that Say a Little Prayer and A House is Not a Home were from Promises Promises. Both were on Glee this year, and I liked them in the show. There's a song sung by the 4 executives, and it was very well done - very witty and funny and they performed it very well too. My favorite song of the night though was I'll Never Fall in Love Again (and the reprise). The two main characters sing it as a duet, and they just did a GREAT job. It was beautiful.

I need to go see more Neil Simon plays, and I'd like to see more of K Chenowith & Sean Hayes's future projects.