Honeymoon Camping Trip

I’m so excited. Emily and I are about to take off on our Honeymoon camping trip. We’re going to drive from Northfield, MN into Massachusetts. I think we’re spending a week at Myles Standish and then another week at Nickerson State Park. Then we’ll head back to Northfield. I don’t think we have many plans. There are a few places we want to visit, a few places we want to eat at again. If anyone’s in the area, feel free to stop by and say hey. Maybe, with enough notice we can stop along the way.

We’re also a little nervous because we didn’t exactly plan this out or save up it for it the way we wanted. We got hit hard by some unexpected medical bills beforehand. I think we’ll be able to make the most of it though. It won’t be an extravagant outing, but then again most camping trips aren’t.

It doesn’t matter really. It’ll be our first vacation away with just each other. Plus, it’s 2 weeks away from work and house projects and school. A chance to relax, rest, and get an idea for where we’re at and where we want to go. I am so looking forward to this.

OMG It’s Back!

I had to go in to work this Saturday, which was crappy because 1) it’s work on Saturday and 2) I still need to work on this massive final project for my design class. I went in and brought up Winamp to listen to the mp3’s I have on my computer when I thought, for a lark, I’d try the internet radio stations again. IT WORKED.

EGG RADIO is back on the air. I can’t tell you how excited I was to find out that it was back and that I can still listen to it at work. It’s only up in a beta/test sense, so not all the cool features are back, but that’s fine. I’m just glad to have some nice tunes to listen to while in my cube again.

YEA!

What’s going on with me?

My first semester at the Art Institutes International in Minneapolis is almost finished. I’ve enjoyed my Design class, as challenging as it is, and my Drawing class has shown me that I can draw, even if it didn’t really teach me all that much. When I get pieces back I’ll try to scan them or photo them and post them up, for you amusement.

Work has been going much, much smoother than it did last year. Maybe it just seems more relaxed because of how hectic it was last year. Maybe the weather has been perfect and provided for an evened out year. Maybe everyone has a better understanding of what to do and how to do it and isn’t running around with their heads cut off. Or maybe it’s a long quiet before a big storm. God, I hope not.

Work on our house has started again. Hopefully we can finish it up before not too long and get the rest of that insurance money. David’s been re-doing the deck, which it sorely needed. After that all that’s left is the gutters, I think.

Emily’s been doing really well with her healing. She’s been able to more things and isn’t in constant pain anymore. She’s even lost some weight. She’s become more frustrated with her job though and we have plans to get her a car. She really wants a Fit, but she’s thinking it might take too long to save up for something like that (can’t really find used Fit’s yet), so she might go another route.

We’re both REALLY excited about our planned road/camping trip to Massachusetts at the end of June. We’ve already reserved camping sites and have some loose plans of what we want to do. We might stop and see some people along the way. It hasn’t really been fleshed out that much. This’ll be our first vacation together.

That’s a quick run through of what’s been going on with us, for those that are interested.

Better than Guitar Hero?

Have you heard about this? Harmonix is teaming up with MTV and EA to take the concept of Guitar Hero to the next level. The game is called Rock Band and you can team up with up to 4 friends to create a band: drums, bass guitar, lead guitar, and vocals. You all play simultaneously either on one system or online. That’s all I know about the game so far, but I have to say that I’m down right giddy whenever I think about it. Oh, did I happen to mention that the songs will be done by the actual bands, not just covers. On top of that, there are rumors that bands will release new songs through the game. How awesome is that?

You Tube recoginition

I came across this video one morning and thought nothing of it, until it hit me that this happened at the Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis. I've been there, so I know that the stupid guy must have been hammered.

It's just kinda crazy, you're watching a video and all of sudden it becomes connected to real life. Puts it all in perspective.

Hey, at least we’re moving, right?

Ever feel like things are moving too fast and, yet, not fast enough as well? Yeah, I’ve been feeling that way. There are all these things I’m doing and all these things I want to do and all these things that need to be done. It can get a little overwhelming.

Emily’s getting better, slowly. We recently started following the Schwarzbein diet(?). I wouldn’t really call it a diet, maybe guidelines for a healthy life. Basically it’s all about 1) eating less carbohydrates and balancing meals with fats, vegetables, protein and carbs, and 2) eating more natural foods, anything you can conceivably pull, pick, milk, or hunt out in nature. Honestly, it’s not that hard to follow, as far as rules and guidelines go, discipline’s another story. We actually did this a few years ago and Emily saw some good results out of it then. It sort of fell by the wayside in the passing years, but now she’s more determined to follow it. I think it’ll be good.

Of course, since we just started following it, Emily’s a little morose. Part of it has to do with the fact that she has more cravings that she needs to control than me (coffee and sugar). I’m not perfect either, but from what I’ve gathered she’s having a more difficult time at it so far than me. She’s still going to see the chiropractor and is making progress there. Oh, she’s also gone off of birth control (NO, we are not trying to have a baby) and painkillers because of Schwarzbein as well. All of this hasn’t helped with depression yet though (it will, after a few months or so). She keeps feeling like she isn’t making any progress or being helpful. I’ll admit, she hasn’t been as helpful as she used to be, and she only feels bad about her progress because I’m running around all over the place. I guess my point is that she’s making progress and that’s what counts. Oh, and if you get a chance, show her some love.

I am currently in a holding pattern, or so it seems. The new boss of Southgate feels that we don’t need 3 managers, but we’re good people so we’re not being fired. Vickie (the general manager) does have to work more, I mean a lot more. She’s now working 5 days or 6 shifts; leaving 3 shifts to split between me and David. Suffice it to say, I’m only working 1 shift now, Sundays 11:30 to 6. This just seemed easiest, plus it’s consistent so that will help with planning and budgeting. My schooling doesn’t start until April and the agricultural business doesn’t pick-up until March. I have this free time now, but I know that it won’t last too long. At least I can get a few more songs done in Guitar Hero, right?

I’ll sleep when I’m retired, maybe.

As some of you might know, I have a lot on my plate right now and just recently, I’ve had a few more helpings piled on.

In the short term, we’ve decided to throw another Anti-Super Bowl party. I guess that’ll make this our 2nd Annual Anti-Super Bowl Party. Last year’s was a fairly small affair, and there was one attendee who seemed to be unaware that we weren’t going to watch the Super Bowl, but it was fun. This year we seem to have a few more possible guests than last year and so far no one’s confused about whether the game will be on or not. Of course, this means we’ll have to clean the house, which we’ve been doing at a very slow pace. This is partly due to the fact that Emily’s been going to a chiropractor about her back, so she’s in that whole “new pain” stage of recovery. This leaves the cleaning up to me until she can start moving again. Hopefully that’ll be this weekend. I’m sure we’ll pull it off though.

I’ve also begun somewhat of a fitness regimen. At 5:30 in the morning, every day, I get up and go to the gym to workout for a half hour to an hour. It cuts out some of my sleeping time, but it’s the only time I’ve been able to workout. True, this past week I couldn’t get to the gym every day due to my having to start visiting a chiropractor at Emily’s request, but I’m still waking up around 5:30.

In the long term, I recently applied to the Art Institute in Minnesota for a degree in Interactive Media Design. I’m pretty excited about it. It’s all about the design of, well, anything technical, whether it’s websites, or video games, or business software, or even peripherals. The classes all seem interesting and about things I’ve wanted to learn more about. I think this will be a good move in the long run. Plus, IMD majors are in demand right now, ideally allowing me to get a job doing something I like, or at least don’t feel ashamed about.

Of course, this will just eat up the rest of the small amount of free time I have now. I haven’t gone over the numbers yet, but I should be able to quit my job at Southgate (at the very least cut my hours back dramatically). The other problem that needs addressing is transportation. With me taking classes in Minneapolis, it’s not really feasible for us to only have 1 car anymore. I mean, I’m not sure if it’ll actually happen, but I could conceive of a few nights in the future where it would be smarter and just safer for me to crash at Cherish’s instead of driving all the way home, leaving Emily stranded without the use of a car for 2 days. Luckily, we’ve been paying off a lot of our bills, which has freed up some money. I just hope it’s enough. Although, with a fixed back and a car all to herself, Emily at least would have the possibility of getting a job that paid a little better.

Thinking’s an Important Part of Reading

Everybody gets joke email at work (if you don’t then you must not have any friends). The other day at work I was sent this email:

Weather bulletin; Denver

Hear!...Hear!....Good reading....Are you listening.....NEW ORLEANS.?........Take a lesson from the good citizens of Colorado.

From one of my former comrads who lives in Denver. A great example of the lack of human whining by people who have learned how to handle the weather where they choose to live. WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here, in the "Mile-Hi City", we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands, cancelled over 2000 flights which stranded thousands of passengers in the airport.

FYI:

George Bush did not come.

FEMA did nothing.

No one howled for the government.

No one blamed the government.

No one even uttered an expletive on TV.

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.

Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.

Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.

CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.

No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.

No one looted.

Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.

Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.

No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.

No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.

Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.

The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.

Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it

to the snowbound families.

Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.

We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many t ravels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

It does seem that way, at least to me.

I hope this gets passed on.

Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

Emails like this just annoy me. Here are some issues I have with this email.

• The part where FEMA didn’t help, I don’t think that’s a good thing, especially if you’re going to compare it to Katrina. Shouldn’t the government help when a catastrophe happens?
• I’m pretty sure that the news did report on the blizzard. They might not have been as extensive as the Katrina reports, but that’s probably because it was as a big of a catastrophe. Also probably why there wasn’t a big celebrity outcry.
• So no one looted. How are they supposed to loot when the snow has effectively barricade everybody?
• Great, you melted the snow and drank it, not exactly the same as distilling raw sewage into drinking water though.
• Pulling people out of snowbanks and asking for no money, weren’t there people boating around New Orleans, pulling people off their roof for no money?
• Stuck in a house surround by snow is no picnic, but I’d prefer that over being surrounded by toxic water with no house or protection from the wind or sun. Must also be nice to have kitchens that don’t require scuba gear to use so that you can provide food for local families in need.
• Oh yeah, and people did know that a category 5 hurricane was coming, it was just decided to be too costly to prepare for such a thing.

Don’t get me wrong, the Denver Christmas Blizzard of 2006 was horrible and many people were put through hardships and some even died because of it. It just wasn’t as bad as Katrina. Hundreds of people lost their lives and thousands of people lost their homes, across numerous states. The lasting effects are still being felt. Denver, however, is up and running again, especially when you compare it to the condition New Orleans.

Just don’t compare the two, especially when you’re trying to push your anti-entitlement agenda off on people. Sometimes, through no fault of their own, people need help. They’re not lazy, or greedy, or spoiled, or anything like that. They’re just in need of help. Either give them a helping hand or don’t, but don’t try to act righteous for not helping them.

What happened?

It’s been a while, so let me get you up to date. Christmas was good. We spent a little more then we should have, but not more than we could afford, which is good for us. We like to get people gifts. For Christmas/Birthday I gave Emily 26 days of presents, a present for each letter of the alphabet.
Apple Wine
BT Macenworth chocolates
Chartreuse liquor
Dryer balls (she wanted them)
Eiffel Tower lamp
Fancy pen (quite the stretch I know)
Godiva 2007 tin
Hangers (of the wooden variety)
Iron skillet (and coincidentally Internet)
Jewelry case
Knife (a quality paring one)
Lane Bryant clothes
Massager (handheld kind)
Northfield Arts Guild ceramic studio card
Origins ginger relaxation kit
Pillow (a full body one)
Queen size quilt
Robe
Silicon Strainer (folds up for storage)
T-shirts (Mossimo from Target, her favorites)
Utne subscription
Vest (fleece)
Wall clock (a really big one at that)
X-Men graphic novels (the 2 by Joss Whedon)
Yellow Jar: A collection of Japanese folk tales
Zen (Creative Zen mp3 player)
I started on Dec.3 and ended on Dec. 28 (her birthday). I think it was big hit.

We rearranged the bedroom and organized our clothes, eliminating another couple of bags worth. Oh Emily got me this sweet flat screen TV that we put in the bedroom, we got cable install there and I can now convince Emily to go to bed around 9 (since she can watch TV down there). We had some friends over (Salwa, Erica, David, and Hannah) during the holidays. I broke a shelf on our book case while rocking out to Guitar Hero 2, superstar style. Oh, and New Years, which we were promptly in bed by 11. We watched the countdown on the new TV. We were a little sad that we didn’t get our Conan O’Brien Midwest Countdown though. Maybe next year.
Happy Holidays and all that jazz.

Chips Ahoy!

Our first Chip Party was a success last night. We ordered a party pack of Kettle Chips experimental flavors and invited people over to try them. There were little voting cards and every one tried the 5 different flavors and rated from a scale of 1 to 5. People brought over a few things as well. There was a 4-pack of Guinness, a bottle of wine, and some stir-fry, so we weren’t just pigging out on chips all night. Not that the chips weren’t enjoyed.

While everyone enjoyed the chips, there was no big favorite flavor standing out above them all. My favorites were the Royal Indian Curry and the Island Jerk, but I thought that the Twisted Chili Lime was one of the better chili lime chips I’ve had. It just wasn’t unique enough for me to appreciate it as much as the others. The Dragon 5 Spice had some potential, but didn’t quite meet it. It was like the flavors cancelled either out. The Aztec Chocolate scored the lowest out of all of them. I think it’s because it wasn’t really flavorful enough, it wasn’t a spicy mole chocolate but it wasn’t a sweet chocolate either.

If we do this again next year, which I think we might, we’ll have to start the festivities earlier than 9:00 I think. Hopefully this will help start up game night again.

Crunch. Crunch. Mmmmm, that was tasty.

Crazy Coincidence

Last night Emily and I were flipping through channels and came across NOVA. They had a special about a family that had four members that walked around on all fours. They didn’t crawl like babies do, but “walked” bent over, using the bottom of their feet and their palms to get around. The scientific interest in them is that some believe they can help lead to a discovery of the gene that enables us to walk upright, and possibly the gene that increases our intelligence and allows for language. It went on to explain that all animals have the same set of genes. It’s the difference between which ones are active and which ones are dormant that make up all of the differences seen in the animal kingdom.

What’s really interesting is I’m currently reading the Uplift series by David Brin. These books take place in the future when humans have made contact with other alien species, and apparently there’s been a multi-billion year practice of one highly advanced species “uplifting” a much less advanced species to the same level. Of course the newly advanced species will have to repay this honor through a few million years of indentured service. Anyways, humans had uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins by the time contact was made and saved us from being “uplifted” ourselves. The whole point of this, is that right now, we are at the beginning of the process. We’re taking the first tiny steps towards being able to genetically modify a species, enabling them to speak and have higher thought processes. I love it when science and science fiction begin to meet.

Talking animals?! But who will listen?

Oh Happy Days

Things have been looking up for me recently. On the home front, things are slowly being cleaned and organized. We finally got our settlement check from my grandfather’s inheritance. With it, we’re able to pay off the remaining balances on our credit card debts. That’s huge! You have no idea how relieved and excited we are about this. Well, maybe you do. We can finally start saving up for things and making plans. We’ve even started to loosen our belts a little (in a financially regards). It’s great!

In the country, Democrats take back not only the House of Representatives (229 to 196) but the Senate as well (49 to 48). As if that weren’t enough, we finally get our first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. How ridiculous is that? Other countries have had women Presidents by now, Presidents. All of this couldn’t have been done (or maybe more appropriate, wouldn’t have been done) if it weren’t for Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy. It consisted of fighting for every election in the US, not just the one’s that looked winnable. It’s reminiscent of Angel’s last season, but with a much happier outcome.

In the world, not sure if you heard about this, but it looks like Donald Rumsfeld (who was finally resigned, yea!) is being charged with war crimes by Germany. That’s right, Germany is charging him with war crimes.

To top it all off, I got my Guitar Hero 2 pre-order in with the red guitar controller and guitar carrying case.

Ah, life sure can be sweet.

Short stories done in six words

In the new issue of Wired, they did a small article on short stories, six words short. Apparently this was all spawned by something Ernest Hemingway wrote: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. They said he called this one of his best works. I’ll admit, it’s very good. Anyways, Wired then had some other notable creatives from TV, books, and such take a stab at 6 word stories. I thought it’d be to try my hand at it. Here’s a few that I came up with:

Oh God, I’m pregnant! By whom? (I modified the punch line to a joke I got at work).
Red rockets in flight, afternoon delight. (Ok, I didn’t come up with this one, but when it clicked in my head that this was 6 words I was very excited.)
Susan, look out behind you before . . .
Whispering willows wave to the wind.
I hope she hears me out.
Maybe the cannibals are just friendly.
Where’s Chris? Was he left behind?
Ka-boom! Then there was only silence.

Sure, it may not be Hemingway. But it sure can be fun.

Stupid Entropy

I’m not complaining, not in the least, but we got quite a bit of stuff from our wedding. There were the gifts, obviously, but also clothes for the ceremony and reception, as well as all the decorations and settings and platters and whatever else was bought for the reception. We’ve been spending most of our tie trying to clean and organize the house, with an emphasis on organizing. So far our efforts have been concentrated n the upstairs (the living room/dining room/kitchen space). I think we’re progressing fairly well.

We gave the fridge a much need cleaning out: tossing out old foods and items we’ve never touched and have no plans to ever do so. We even gave it a decent sponge bath. We’ve put away all of our gifts and taken away all the appliances they replaced to make room. Slowly but surely things are starting to come together. Unfortunately that’s the thing that’s driving Emily, my wife (it still seems a little weird saying that), crazy.
She wanted to take a week off right after the weeding so that we could spend some time together and get the house straightened out. I didn’t know all of this at the time and thought that it’d be better for me to safe my vacation time for when we had plans (I didn’t know f her plans at the time). In hindsight, I should’ve taken the week off, but by the time I realized this Emily’s schedule was already finished, which would make her trying to get the week off incredibly hard. I think we both still feel ragged and could really use a chance to just recuperate. We plan to take that week between Christmas and New Year’s off. But with those two holidays and Emily’s Birthday in between them, I don’t know how restful it’ll be. Maybe we’ll some how arrange to take a week off before then.

Wedded Bliss

The big day came and went. Man was it hectic, especially the day before and that day. That day before, there was so much running around, decorating, purchasing and setting-up. It was crazy. I just want to give a BIG thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to it all, especially Cherish, who planned and organized most of it.

The rehearsal dinner was fabulous. It was so good. Everybody was impressed with how delicious the food was. Coming from a family of foodies, that’s something. Unfortunately, Emily had a toothache earlier that day and had a quick dentist visit beforehand. She was able to join us in the dinner, but I think mixture of all the food, wine and novocaine didn’t agree with her and she got a little sick afterwards.

The ceremony was simple, short, and touching. The day couldn’t have been better. It was cool, sunny and the leaves were starting to change but hadn’t fallen yet. Emily was gorgeous and I’ve been told wasn’t too hard on the eyes as well. Pastor Judy’s ceremony was very in keeping with our values. It was very lovely.

The reception was a blast. We kept it very mellow and inviting. Dim lighting, candles everywhere. There was great food. The Golden Johnny Whiskey-seed seemed to be a big hit. The DJ kept the music playing all night and was tuned in pretty well to the dance floor. Of course it took a little time and a few drinks before people started dancing, but once it got going I think it went very well. It was great seeing so many friends and family.
I know that what you all really want to see are pictures of the whole thing. Well, here’s what I’ve collected so far. (Will be posting them onto flickr when I get a chance).

Crazy, Crazy

Holy cow, it’s almost time. A lot of what’s need is done (for example we both have clothes that fit). All that’s left are details really (for example we’re still ironing out the jewelry). Although I guess that depends on your concept of details.

We’ve got a photographer arranged now. Our neighbor Yumi is going to do it as a gift for us. She’s a professional and has done this before, so yea! We also worked out the ceremony plans. Pastor Judy is going to do it for us. Her beliefs coincide with ours so the ceremony works well for us. Plus she’s done a few these before, so no problem there. We still need to work-out our vows and write-up and print out programs. Like I said, details.

The food is being taken care of. We finalized the menu and worked out a cooking schedule. Luigi is looking for any volunteers to help with the preparation and cooking Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, if anyone’s interested. We’re also going to need some volunteers to help set-up decorations. I think we’re decorating the reception space on Friday and the Ceremony will be done Saturday morning. We do have decorating materials now, yards of fabric, neat little table decorations, candles and candle holders. I think its going to turn out great.
Other than that we’ve been trying to get the house clean. You think that since we’ve hardly been home that much that it would’ve stayed fairly clean. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We’re hoping to get all of that done before people start showing up wanting to look around the house. I think we can do it, it’ll be tough but it think we’ll get it done.

Things Are Starting to Come Together

As the time draws near, things seem to be falling into place. This past weekend we picked up Emily’s undergarments and another shawl. We also retrieved her new glasses. While we were out, we purchased her shoes as well. These shoes are awesome. We’re both very excited about them. Her family also took her to get alterations done on her dress (which’ll end up costing almost half of what her dress cost them). Then we got some wedding rings. Nothing fancy or expensive, but they’ll do what they need to do and if we lose them (which I hear happens quite often for those first rings), we won’t be so distraught over it. We also returned 2 shawls that didn’t work while we were out. Yes, Emily let go of some shawls, bringing the grand total to 2 with material to make a third.

I’m picking up chairs this week. We’re also meeting with our officiator this week as well. We’re going to go over the ceremony and work out what we’re going to do and how and all. We found out about this a rental place here in Northfield, where we might rent all of the glasses and silverware and such. Though, that’ll be a lot of cleaning afterwards. We’re not sure if that’s how we want to go yet. I dropped off a bag of CDs for our DJ, so he has some music that we like and can get a feel for our tastes (which ranges from Hip Hop to Caribbean to Classic Rock to Hard Rock to Crooner to Alternative). I haven’t actually gotten a chance to talk to him yet, though.

We still need to work on decorations for the 2 events. Plus, I’m still not sure about the cake issue, though I won’t be surprised if Emily’s mom shows up with one. She’s been somewhat obsessed about it. Oh and there’s the photography issue as well. It might be nice to have photos of the event.

Only 10 days left.

My God That Was Good

Thursday night, we went to Fermentations in Dundas to talk with the chef/owners of the restaurant about having a rehearsal dinner there. They brought out all kinds of samples. I think there were only 3 things from the menu that we didn’t sample. Their menu’s not huge, but it was still a lot of food. Plus, they served us 10 glasses of wine, each glass of wine from a different bottle. This place is fabulous. I don’t know why we waited so long to go. The food was just exquisite. None of the wines we had were bad. Some we preferred over others, but we would have gladly had any of them. We spent quite a bit of tie just talking to chefs about plans and our opinions on the food and wines. It was so fun sitting there discussing food with other foodies. We’re definitely going there again, even if it means we don’t eat anywhere else all month just to save up for it.
We were able to work out a menu for the evening. I should clarify; we were able to come up with some ideas for the menu. We still haven’t figured out the entrée (narrowed it down to 6 options) or the dessert situation. This weekend we plan to hash it all out. Oh, and the best part was that when asked if we owed them anything for all the samples, they told us no.

Wowza!

Been keeping busy as always. Melanie. Emily’s sister took us out to get Emily some new eyeglasses. Which is a big deal since she hasn’t gotten new glasses since she began college, some eight years ago. Then we looked for fabric for her shawl (in case the other 3 we have didn’t work). After that she ended up staying at her sister’s because I was late for a party.

Some (5) friends of mine threw me a Bachelor Party. It was pretty crazy. First off, these friends of mine are all women and not exactly the shyest people. We had some pizza before we headed off to the bar. They dressed me in a dare shirt (shirt had all kinds of dares for people to do) and they themselves wore black “clever” shirts (like Mountain Dew Me). They handed me my date, a tame blow-up doll (she wasn’t naked and had no holes, but was some what articulate) who we named Lola. We went to Bogart’s where we saw Paragon play. They’re a cover band who does 80’s, 90’s, and recent hits. The singer was sporting a Thundercats shirt, so I had a god feeling about them. They were a decent, fun band. They even played a Metallica song (!!!!), and fairly well (from what I could tell). I had had a few drinks by then. I believe that the final total was 5 shots of coconut run, 3 glasses of Honeyweis, 2 Car bombs, 1 Jager bomb, and a 3 wisemen. Oh, wait, I forgot the Screwdriver at the end of the night (with 2 Advils and an orange juice chaser). I didn’t puke once that night, and I felt fairly well that morning. I was a little tired and sore. That was due to most of the dancing I did. I can’t recall how many women I danced with, but it was damn fun. For one song I would be dancing with someone and soon after someone else would cut in and then someone else. It was awesome. One of the most fun nights of my life.

We’ve been getting RSVPs back from people. It’s getting very exciting as we’re finding out who’s going to be attending. Believe it or not, we’re still trying to get invitations out to other people. They all already know about the wedding and have been informally invited. Emily would just like to formally invite them. Problem is we ran out of the materials to make more cards and we don’t really have the time or money to get more, so we’ve resorted to getting decent copies made. Emily’s having issues with it all. She feels bad about handing a sub-par invitation to someone, so we went shopping Wednesday night to get some materials to make them acceptable. We’ll see how that goes.

Speaking of acceptable, Emily tried on her dress, to compare shawls, and found out it was the wrong size. Her dress was supposed to be a size 18 but they gave her a size 20. (Actually they gave her mom and sister the dress, which is why Emily didn’t try it on before it was bought.) They’re getting it altered this weekend. Not knowing much about dresses or sewing, I have no idea how hard or costly that’ll be.

A few things we have finished: We have chairs for the ceremony and reception reserved. We have the violinists set-up to play at the ceremony (provided the weather is nice enough). The rehearsal dinner is basically done, just a few details that need hammering out. A shawl was chosen, even though we bought some fabric online for a shawl. Either way, she’ll have a shawl she can wear.

A few things we’re still working on: Rings (looked at some, but haven’t decided or purchased yet), reception music (a friend is asking her brother if he can DJ or maybe provide speakers, then there’s picking out music), Ceremony and officiant (we’re talking to a friend’s mother about doing it), Photographer (we have someone volunteering, we just haven’t worked out details yet), Decorations (not really my department, Cherish is working on that), and Helpers (we need people to help set-up chairs, take down chairs, set-up decorations, etc.).

Oh, we’re still waiting to hear about the insurance claim on the house.

Yes, Another Update

My mom came down for Labor Day weekend. That went pretty well. We went to the State Fair, which was fun. Then on Sunday we did some wedding shopping. I now have a suit for the wedding, Emily has the bottom half to her reception outfit and a couple of possible shawls, I’m pretty sure my mom has a dress as well now. At the very least she has an idea for a dress. Oh, she also bought us some household items/wedding presents. That was enjoyable. Monday we spent at home. Mom helped clean the house up some, which drove Emily crazy. We also have a possible rehearsal dinner location. I’m looking into that.

We still need to get rings, I might need shoes (we haven’t checked to see if the ones I have are acceptable), Emily needs shoes, a brooch, and she’s still on the hunt for shawls. She also is looking for new glasses.

Last night we talked to our friend Luigi about food for the reception. We came up with a list/menu of foods and drinks to be served. We like it and have something of a plan for it now. We think that the food will cost about $500 and the drinks around $200. Where the money’ll come from, we’re still working on that.

We got the majority of invitations out now. We’re making the last few to give to local peeps here. There’s a handful that still need mailing, but we need addresses for those. I’d again like to reiterate that if you are able to make it, then please do.

Our original plan for the ceremony fell through, so we’re looking at other options. That’s not nerve wracking. We still are unsure of the Wedding Cake Situation. Emily’s mom really wants to make one for us, but we’re very nervous about it. One of Emily’s co-workers is making a Scandinavian ring cake, which’ll be nice. Emily really wants a fancy wedding cake. It’s like the only thing she cares about for the wedding. Unfortunately the wedding is in 22 days and we haven’t really done any shopping for one, plus, they’re expensive. I feel bad about it, but I don’t really know what do. The wedding’s taxing us financially, what with the eating out more because of all the shopping and running around. It’s very upsetting.

This thing seems to keep growing, especially when you consider that all we were really planning on doing was seeing a Justice of the Peace and maybe having a small dinner with our immediate family. If it wasn’t for the reaction from our friends and family (All of whom seem to be really excited about this. Hell, we’ve got some friends saying they’ll be here who we never expected to make it; we only sent an invitation in the hopes that they’d send a gift.) we’d have cancelled this thing. But, we feel obligated to carry through with this (somehow) now that some many people are involved.

Show must go on, or something like that, eh?