Granny

Ida Coppola


Ida had two special children

And many more that called her mom,

She had loving grandsons and daughters,

And us lucky ones who put a ‘Great’ in front of Grandmom.


She was blessed with many brothers

Sisters, family and friends,

And no matter how you loved her

Those feelings will not end.


In the long and lovely time

That God put her on this earth,

She made a bring impression

And surely proved her worth.


She was a wise teacher to some

And others just a listener,

Able to take a joke or a teasing poke

And fire back even quicker.


Ida was a woman with strong convictions

And loyal in her Faith,

She was honest, kind and caring …

Just look at the family she’s made.


She loved to go to the casino

And never missed her number,

There wasn’t anyone who could keep you warmer

While freezing through the Mummers.


She could make you laugh and kick your ass

In a friendly game of cards,

She’d knit you slippers and fix your zipper …

Making gravy wasn’t hard.


But out of all the things about you, Grandmom,

And the lessons that just stuck,

We learned how deep you loved your husband

And how happy you must be that Carlo’s came to pick you up.


We love you,
Your Family

(Written by Cindy Coppola Lopez 4.24.2010)

January 14, 2010 – A Turning Point in My Personal Pop-Culture Prowess

I am a girl who would tell you that she loves gossip magazines, celebrity blogs, red carpet glam shows, L.A. star sightings and the general mental escape that comes with dreaming about a lavish life in Hollywood.

I’m not an actress or a singer. I’m not going to produce a movie or a win a million dollar game show. I’m not going to run away with an heir or inherit a fortune. What I’m saying is that basically there’s zero chance this will ever actually be my real life. It’s just fun way to fantasize and shut your brain off during the day. Getting engulfed in who’s dating who and which train wreck checked themselves into rehab this week is a nice way to pass the time.

Even in my career, I’d like to think of myself as somewhat of a pop-culture know-it-all . In fact, many of my most exciting media wins have been on Perez Hilton, TMZ, Access Hollywood, Extra and the like.

However, I’d just like to point out, that I am still in touch with reality. I understand that Hollywood A, B, C or even D-Listers who throw themselves in ‘the scene’ are generally fake, superficial, unhappy people who don’t have the great life they would like you to think they do. So, I get it, it’s fun to imagine – but not a life I’d want.

Cut to this week’s issue of People Magazine (a publication, by the way, that I like and respect) – Heidi Montag is on the cover talking about how she’s obsessed with plastic surgery and looking like a completely different (deformed) person than when she first appeared on TV. In fact, throughout the entire day today, I’ve seen this story mentioned everywhere from the taxi cab to CNN. But it wasn’t until I bought the magazine and read the article that I truly realized – this girl is sick.

I mean really sick. Ill. In the head. She’s gone off her rocker. And not just her, because like she said herself, there are a million other girls in Hollywood and elsewhere just like her and that do the same thing - they just don’t talk about it. That ‘same thing’ she’s referring to is having ten – yes, ten – plastic surgery procedures in one day. (Did I mention she’s 23 years old?)

This girl is from a small town in Colorado and was seemingly normal when the world first met her. She came to L.A. and starred in a reality show. From there, she clearly developed what can only be clinically diagnosed as body dismorphia via watching herself on TV and listening to negative media feedback about her looks. She said that bloggers would literally circle her face and claim she had a ‘Jay Leno chin.’ So she stopped smiling.

But the REALLY scary thing is she doesn’t see anything wrong with that. In fact, now, she sees herself as a newer, better, more ‘upgraded’ version of herself and is on a mission to look ‘perfect.’

I’m not going to repeat everything this girl said from her hospital bed and in her out-patient recovery headquarters, but I swear, that article changed me. It seriously changed me.

It made me sad for what this world is like and scared to have a daughter living in it one day. It made me overwhelmed because if God does bless me with a daughter, how can I even explain this repulsive cultural attitude to her when I barely understand it myself. It made me feel sorry for her parents who are reading about their daughter in People Magazine (after all, she told them she was ill for seven weeks but not that she was recovering from an Extreme Clone Makeover.)

But most of all, it made me feel like complete shit for perpetuating the problem (no need to say I told you so, Cisco). I read Perez Hilton every day – and guaranteed that’s the guy who circled her chin. I wanted to move out to Hollywood because it was shiny and flawless. I TiVo Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Girls Next Door and The Millionaire Matchmaker. I used to lose my shit when I saw a celebrity on the street (on the inside of course). I followed Britney Spears’s meltdown and hoped she got better, while watching her E! True Hollywood story . And guess what? I’ve even looked at Heidi Montag before and thought ‘she’s not even pretty.’

I’m being completely honest here and it’s making me sick – but it’s true. Now, not only do I feel nothing but pity for people like Heidi, but I also feel it’s people like me who encourage her behavior. I can’t stand that at all.

To that end, I hope Heidi Montag doesn’t sell one album, get one more contract extension on The Hills or make another paid personal appearance that adds to her bank account. Not just because she has absolutely no talent - but because no young girl deserves to be her fan.

So I’m going to make a promise to myself today. I won’t be unrealistic and say I’ll never read a gossip blog again, but I will say they are not my bible. I’m cleaning out my DVR and most importantly, I’m focusing on things in life that I think are beautiful because they’re real – not because they’re ‘perfect.’

Lastly, I know what you’re thinking: Will I still read People Magazine? Of course I will. Because in reality, that story needed to be told.

Shout Out to the Out of Towners

We are well aware that it is a big undertaking for anyone from out of town, let alone out of state to come to this wedding – but out of the country? Well that’s a big deal. (So thank you, Swedish buddy, for making this extra special journey back to the U.S. to see us on our big day.)

For all the people who could not make it, we totally understand. But for those that are taking time out of their work, life and every day schedule to travel to the greater Philadelphia region just for lil ol us, we appreciate you! It’s not effortless to make these plans or to find the money to fund them, and we couldn’t love you more for it.

We feel lucky – even blessed - to have a network of friends across the nation and internationally. And we feel most fortunate that they are willing to put their lives on hold for the weekend, to see us begin our new life together.
Thank you friends. It wouldn’t be the same without you!

Seating Charts Bring Out the Best in Everyone.

Can you sense my sarcasm? This weekend, my family and I did the seating chart for the wedding. We toiled through four hours of excruciating pain (while Cisco had a nice boys weekend with Eddie – thank you fellas) and finally came up with the perfect road map of reception bliss.

Then on Sunday, we went to see Dee our Lucien’s Manor event flow mastermind and she let us know that we had put the wrong number of people at each table and would need to rearrange the whole thing. Ouch.

So, we went back to the drawing board and this time, the task was filled with a little bit more tension and somewhat of a “why are you moving my guests?” attitude from all involved. (You know who you are.)

Isn’t it funny how where people sit at a wedding and who they sit with carries so much weight? And the person who invited them is left feeling defensive and protective over their positioning in the room?

In the end, we powered through the drama and have created a BIGGER, BADDER and more fun floor plan than ever before! In fact, I’m quite confident that these very crucial placements will be responsible for the most glorious of friendships and bonds that extend beyond time. And if they’re not, well then our guests can just get up after dinner and move about the cabin. No biggie.

If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say...

I was commuting into the city today when a beautiful young woman from Kenya sat down next to me. You should know that I am the kind of person who likes to mind my own business on the train. I’m sure it’s nice to strike up conversations and make new friends, but that pleasure is not for me on a typical weekday morning. However this morning, the girl who sat next to me wanted to talk. And talk she did.

She struck up a conversation about whatever. Nothing important really, until she looked down at my ring and said, “Are you married?” (Now she had my attention!)
I said with excitement, “No, I’m not married. But I will be in 17 days!”

Well, that’s all she needed - For the next 20 minutes, this woman who I have never met before in my life went on and on and on about how much marriage sucks.

“Marriage is different than dating,” she said. “There is no way out. Even if you want to leave, you can’t. You have to do everything your husband tells you to do even if you don’t want to. Make dinner, fold laundry, clean the house, work and take care of the kids when you have ‘em. And the romance is gone. When you have a relationship before a wedding, you will be courted – not during marriage. In marriage you have nothing romantic happen to you. And if you get mad at him? Or the two of you get into an argument? There’s no escape. You can’t leave or walk away – not even for a second - he’s always there. And so are you. If you do take a moment to yourself, during that time of anger, even just to breathe, that’s when he’ll start cheating on you!”

Now, as a woman of the 21st century – and someone who is SUPER pumped to walk down the aisle, I resent that.

I resent that she doesn’t know me and would take the liberty to unload on me like that.

I resent the fact that she thinks my relationship is just like hers and all marriages are alike.

I resent that she’s talking about Cisco like that and yet not talking about him at all.

I resent that she didn’t consider the positivity and optimism that a bride-to-be feels going into her wedding day, and yet the stress and nerves that no doubt come along with it.

I take issue with the fact that she didn’t back the hell off!

I learned that this woman was 28 – one year older than me – and has been married for four years. I didn’t even want to know her name, let alone her philosophy on marriage and why hers was so obviously miserable.

Suddenly I found myself defending Cisco and myself. “Um, I’m pretty sure that I could leave the room or the house whenever I wanted to during an argument or a very happy day for that matter. We’ll always come back to each other, and to walk away does not give the license to cheat. Certainly we are allowed to be mad at times without throwing in the towel and losing all respect for each other. Also, we are an equal partnership. Neither one of us HAS to do anything we don’t want to do. The reason we’re entering into this union is because we complement each other. We’re good for each other. We do have lasting romance and we make each other better people.”

I don’t know why I fed into her, or why I felt the need to even respond. But I was angry. And protective. Because she didn’t even know us. And damn it, I’m looking forward to marrying him! Who is she?

So I asked her, “Do you have any positive things to say about marriage? In fact, name one good thing that’s happened to you since you’ve been married!’

She couldn’t.

And then I realized, who cares what she thinks? I am not her and she is not me.

Opinion or fact, right or wrong, it’s just plain rude to throw your own baggage on someone else. Whether it’s politics, family values, religion or thoughts on life and love, my mother always said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Especially about marriage to a woman who is getting married in 17 freakin’ days! Damn it.



(*** And to change the mood, here's a pretty picture taken by my photographer, Jason Messer, in the church we're getting married in just about two weeks from now.)

No Concept of Time

Talking to my good friends in California has been different. Good, but different. After all, we are no longer on the same time zone! And that is not as basic as it sounds.

As I hung up the phone with Sarah tonight, I just about wished her sweet dreams before I realized that it's 6:45 pm over here and getting darker by the second - yet it's only 3:45 pm over there and she was just about to head out to do laundry. I think this is partly a result of me feeling tired all the time and ready to fall asleep at the drop of a dime, combined with the fact that I have no concept of Eastern Standard Time versus Pacific Standard Time - something I always swore I would be keenly aware of. After getting one too many calls at 7 am from my beloved friends in Jersey, I knew I'd always know better. And now I don't. For shame!

So Sarah, Judi, Maytal, Brittany and all my other West Coast girls, in seven to eight hours when you settle down for the night and wind down before bed, feel free to call me at 2:00 am to say goodnight! :)

Bad Blogger, Bad Dreams

I’m a bad blogger. The worst, actually. I haven’t written in so long and that’s solely because I don’t seem to have the time or patience to sit down and post something. And I don’t know why I feel the need to write some big story when a blog is simply a train of thought. An observation. A matter of fact. None of those things need to be drawn out!

So from here until my wedding day (27 days to be exact), I am making a commitment to blog on a consistent basis – even if I end up with three unrelated sentences slapped up on the computer screen. Because there’s a LOT on my mind at the moment and I used to find this therapeutic. It just might be exactly what I need right now.

Let me start this entry by filling in the blanks: In the months that have gone by, Cisco has moved home and we have gotten ourselves an AWESOME apartment that we are happy as clams in, I have gone away for my very fabulous bachelorette party (thank you ladies!), work is still rockin and rollin, money’s still tight and I am starting to FEEL the stress of all of that’s happening around me.

This time is filled with the most heightened sense of excitement we’ve ever had in our lives, but now we’re getting down to the wire and quite honestly, things that I did not think would worry me are bothering the shit out of me.

Seriously, you would not believe the stuff I’m worried about. The normal but tedious things? Hotel reservations, flights from Cali, hair trials, RSVP cards, rain or shine forecasts, groomsman tuxedo fittings (please go get them if you haven’t!), final payments, head counts, the way my dress fits and seating assignments to name a few.

But the things that snuck up on me – the things that I didn’t think a girl like me would even think of – oh, they’re even better! I actually had a dream that a good number of people forgot to show up on the day of the wedding. Yep, like RSVP’d yes, filed the invitation away and forgot to come! I’m also concerned about the smoothness, or lack smoothness, of my up-do, Deacon Joe’s vow-style and the drug wars in Mexico.

When it comes down to it, I am well aware that the heart of the matter is that Cisco and I are getting married and committing ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives. And that’s the beautiful thing. That’s the one that can’t get messed up if it rains, or if something doesn’t fit right. It’s something that will still happen if one of our guests reserves their hotel room too late to get the group rate or someone else doesn’t bring a guest who said they were going to (or the other way around).

However, in the craziness that is life lately, it sometimes becomes necessary to slow down and think of that beauty at the core of it all – and it’s hard. But I have to do it. Because it’s the only thing that settles my nerves and the only thing that levels me out. And if all else fails, and Cisco and I just can’t calm each other down, we’ll do the thing that hasn’t failed us yet: Play a little game called “What are you going to drink on the honeymoon?” … that ALWAYS works.