Friday, January 19, 2007

Don't Tell Me Congratulations

I called one of my mom's good friends the other day to share with her the big news and instead of saying "congratulations" she said "best wishes and blessings." She said she heard somewhere that it was bad luck to say "congratulations" to a newly engaged woman. I had a hard time finding an explanation for this anywhere but I did find one reference. "When speaking to a woman who has gotten engaged one does not say congratulations. It is considered an insult, equivalent to an insult as if she could not get a man. Go figure! It seems like it would be perfectly fine, but instead say something like 'that’s wonderful,' 'my blessings,' and 'what wonderful news.'"

Our First Gift

Two of Jon's aunts, Neuza and Lidia, sent us our very first gift. They are on the ball! We were at their house last weekend and they had the most current Vosges catalog. Many of you know this is my favorite place for truffles and if we've ever been downtown in Chicago together I've probably dragged you into the shop. Anyway, the aunts let Rachel and me sample some of the Aztec Elixir Cocoa - what a treat! It is thick and rich and, yes, downright spicy. It was wonderful. So Wednesday night when we walked into Jon's house after work there was a box waiting for us from Vosges with a box of the cocoa and a frothing stick (which I haven't figured out how to use yet, but even if I don't it will make a very handsome decoration). It was also the first time I had seen my name-to-be on anything. I kind of wish I had kept the shipping label from the box.


Here's a picture from Mike & Melissa's wedding last Saturday. One of Jon's uncles kept asking when they were going to get to have a party like that for us and I would just kind of laugh it off. Jon was laughing too, but on the inside, because he knew what he was going to ask me the next day. I never picked up on it. He's a sneaky one.


All of you must try www.librarything.com. You will love it. All you do to create an account is enter a screen name and password on the main page and as long as no one else has the same name, you're golden. Then, just start adding books. You can add by title, author, keyword, ISBN, etc., and LibraryThing searches Amazon, the Library of Congress, and other databases for a match. You can add 200 books for free, an unlimited number for one year for $10, or an unlimited number for life for $25. It's cool because you can see how many other users have the same books, you can sort lots of different ways, you can add tags, you can organize by Dewey, and you can even get it to recommend new books to you based on your library. As you can imagine, this has been quite the time-waster for me over the last couple of weeks.

St. Louis is hosting the MLB All-Star game in 2009.

Embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit? Try a burkini.

Harper Lee made a rare appearance at an Alabama high school last week.

Tonight should be fun. It's the meeting of the parents...

6 comments:

kel said...

I shudder to think of all my many faux pas(es?). I think it's just automatic, like how I always say good morning as I shake people's hands at church, even though now I attend Saturday evening services. But I will try to rid myself of congratulations, although best wishes doesn't really sound like me either. I'll have to work on it.

Jo said...

No, no. Don't stop saying it. You can't start following a rule like this when only, like, 7 people in the entire country know about it. I just thought it was interesting, and I still plan on saying "congratulations" to other future brides I meet.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Congratulations!
You must congratulate only the men on an engagement or marriage. Never a woman, the reason is, that the man is considered lucky to have this wonderful, beautiful, acomplished woman saying yes to his proposal. So you are congratulating HIM on his good fortune, to the bride to be you wish good luck, happiness and blessings. He is lucky to have her, we will pray that he will be good enough for this wonderful treasure. You wish her Good Luck and God Bless, to him we say Congratulations you are a very lucky man!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
mice said...

I too have heard of this tradition of saying congratulations to the guy and good luck to the gal. I follow it. I have no idea why or where this comes from.