Eataly in NYC and other adventures

Yesterday I went into the city for a fun filled day. First we saw The Screwtape Letters, which was a two man plan but only one man talked... for an hour and a half. It was quite good. We went in with G's mom, her friend, and his sister. Then we headed to lunch and split up afterward. G and I went to Midtown Comics, where he gets comics shipped to him from every 2 weeks. (We all knew my husband was a nerd.) Then went to Stout, a bar by Penn station with Ludi, where we played darts. And I kid you not (see picture), on the first dart I threw, I got it in the bullseye. It was insane.

After this impressive feat, Dom met up with us and we went to see The Tree in Rockerfeller Center, then off to Eataly.

Here we indulged in tapas and gelato in true Italian style. It was pretty cool. Then we headed back to the train and got home around 1:30am. It's a good thing I have been preparing for staying up late by playing Sims 3 into the wee hours of the morning.

Yesterday I went into the city for a fun filled day. First we saw The Screwtape Letters, which was a two man plan but only one man talked... for an hour and a half. It was quite good. We went in with G's mom, her friend, and his sister. Then we headed to lunch and split up afterward. G and I went to Midtown Comics, where he gets comics shipped to him from every 2 weeks. (We all knew my husband was a nerd.) Then went to Stout, a bar by Penn station with Ludi, where we played darts. And I kid you not (see picture), on the first dart I threw, I got it in the bullseye. It was insane.

So this is Christmas...

And Benny is rocking his Santa costume at our First (Annual?) "A Very Rowe Christmas Party". It was a good time. I may have been a little crazy with the Christmas themes. I made appletinis and red wine sangria in color appropriate punch bowls. And put the dip for the veggies in red and green little bowls. And I put candy canes in all the chip bowls.

I have just about all my Christmas shopping done. Right now it's just too windy to leave the house. I printed some of my wedding pictures at Walgreens and I need to pick them up, so eventually I will leave the house but right now I am going to work on my grad school application.

Simply havin' a wonderful Christmastime...

I have been horribly slacking on my posts. Gordon got my into this video game and he plays it with me. It's cool because, like right now, he is playing the game, but I can feel like I have been getting farther. And I don't have to fight the bosses, which is something I never liked about most video games. I asked for the Sims and Mario Kart for the Wii for Christmas so I can play video games and not fight things. I plan on spending my winter under a fleece blanket with some hot cocoa and video games. I think the antisocial aspect was part of why I never got into them in the first place... now however... I am married and as an old married lady, I don't plan on ever leaving the house again, so video games will suck all my time and make me feel accomplished.

In other news, this holiday season is a very very good one so far. I have been in pretty high holiday spirits since about Thanksgiving and Christmas music fuels it. I have most of my Christmas shopping done and this weekend I plan on eating and drinking merrily with some friends. I have been talking about apple martinis and red wine sangria as the drinks of choice. Festive, right? Eh? Eh?? I also hope to make some gingerbread...... bread. Not cookies. Straight up bread. Maybe a little icing action? It's good, it's going to be good.

Here is a preview of our Christmas tree. It already has presents underneath. The stocking to the right is the stocking I have had since I was a kid. I think this is the replacement from when I was about 8 after the previous one was either destroyed or burst at the seems one year. I remember it though; it was green.

It's the day after Thanksgiving...

so naturally, I'm ready for Christmas! The husband and I went out and chopped down our Christmas tree.... fake, prelit, and on sale from Target. Then we got some other gifts for people and ornaments for the tree. Black Friday is really not that scary if you do it right. Look, even the husband got into the Holiday Spirit!

I was so excited I put up the rest of the decorations I have saved from previous years and put up the tree, all while listening to Pandora's Rocking Christmas station. It would be the perfect Christmas season scene if it wasn't about 50 degrees out and raining. But we enjoyed it none the less. I sprayed my Williams Sonoma Winter Forrest spray around and breathed in deep. Mmmm smells like a real holiday home. Soon I will be baking gingerbread and pumpkin ice cream. And you will all be jealous... or over here enjoying it. Depending how much I like you.

In case you were wondering, Benny spent the majority of the day staring at the tree and tilting his head in confusion. But he has not attacked it... yet.

Thanksgiving Fun

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Tomorrow the husband and I go to his sister's house where his family will gather around a rather large table for Thanksgiving dinner. I am excited but there will be something missing that I will never have with dinner unless I do something about it myself... stuffing. Not just any stuffing. My family's stuffing. Made from crackers, mozzarella, celery, and cooked in a turkey or alone. I never tried making it myself and so last year I resorted to stopping by my aunt's house after dinner to get "dessert" and left over stuff. With my mom's family, it's always a wonder if there is any stuffing left over. We WILL claw your eyes out over this stuff. Especially if it was made in the turkey. Oh man...

Ah hem... anyway, G and I are bringing canned cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie to his sister's. I wish we could bring Benny. He will be so lonely at home without us. But we also plan on giving him a Thanksgiving treat. A nice piece of turkey with his kibble... maaaybe a little gravy. He's a spoiled pup, but we're pretty rigid about the no people food unless it's an egg on Sunday or something special, but it is always in his bowl.

Right now I can hear the heartwarming sounds of Fall... the leaves rustling, Benny playing with an empty can on the bricks, a lawnmower? maybe? or a garbage truck? Who knows, but doesn't it just make you feel all cozy inside?

In other holiday news, I may have started decorating for Christmas. It's the first time I've lived in a house for this time of year in 3 years. Filling a house with decorations I used to fill an apartment did not come out as in-your-face Christmas as I would have liked. We are hopefully getting tree this weekend. I also don't have a lot of ornaments, but those come over time. I think I want to take a picture of the tree and this way every year I can see how it has progressed decorations-wise.

I bought gingerbread bread mix and pumpkin ice cream mix to make some delicious seasonal treats. I also got brownie mix with mint and chocolate chips. I really hope I actually make this stuff instead of letting it sit around. I tend to do things like that. Especially with holiday desserts. I want to make them because I know they would be delicious, then I hesitate because I want to share them, yet I also want to eat the entire creation myself. So I go back and forth on whether or not I should make it for event A because then everyone will eat it and I will have none or should I make it another day for myself and share as I like. OK FINE, I am crazy dessert hoarding lady.. deal with it!

And on that magical note, I am off....

So hoooooow's married life?

If you are not married yet, but think you will ever be married or plan on getting married in the future, prepare to hear that question... a lot. And have a good answer. "Good" does not satisfy the masses.

Today I had my first guest blogger from Lynne "The Lower Free Bridge" Calamiapants. And it's true... I have been slacking on my updates.

Today I bought a spray from Williams Sonoma called Winter Forrest that smells like Christmas. Not like gingerbread or snow (whatever snow smells like), but like a combination of pine and cinnamon. It reminds me of when we used to have a real tree when I was a kid... or when my mom would get pine spray for the prelit fake tree. And I want the second memory. A sprayed prelit tree. I am excited to make this happen. I have some Target gift cards and I know just what they're going towards. Wow, Thanksgiving is next week, Christmas is in a month an 10 days. Happy Holidays!! Here's to making my first one as a wife a memorable one!

Guest Blogger

Sometimes I get angry when Jackie doesn't update her blog. I visited the Patchwork Life to get an update on her life yesterday but do you know what I saw when I got there? No update. If you haven't guessed by now I, Lynne Pistachio Calamia, have commandeered her mini red computer and am forcefully guest blogging because I have a lot of important things to say about dogs.

I recently watched a NOVA documentary about dog-human communication. It was amazing and I can't stop talking about it and thinking about it. It is called Dogs Decoded and is available for your viewing pleasure at pbs.org. I graciously included the link so its easier to find and someone out there will actually watch it. As we all know dogs evolved from the Gray Wolf, but the Gray Wolf only has one bark. It makes one noise. Domesticated dogs have many different barks and scientists hypothesize that dogs developed these other barks to communicate with human beings! This scientist guy recorded different styles of barks and played them for human test subjects in his lab and an overwhelming amount of the humans figured out what the dogs were trying to communicate. That doesn't make sense and I don't know exactly how to explain it but for example he recorded a dog being approached by a stranger at the front gate of a house and the specific bark sound was recognized by people as a defense or a warning type bark. JUST WATCH THE SHOW its much better than how I'm explaining it here.

I'm feeling pressure to rush this guest blog post because Jackie and I are going to run some errands and I apologize for the content. I do not, however, apologize for the photo of me slow dancing with the dog. Notice how Benedict's hands are on my shoulders and my paws are on his waist which is clear reversal of normative slow dancing gender roles AND socially accepted species roles. TAKE THAT AMERICA!

Guest Blogger: The Lower Free Bridge/

Picture Perfection

So our photographer Alex has finally completed the pictures and wow, how I love them. Today we are meeting up with him to get the disk, look through them, and get coffee. I want to look through them on flickr again but I also want to be excited to see them at 3:30 today, so I'm going to wait.

Things I learned about my wedding from my wedding pictures:

My hair is insanely long.

The camera is not my chin's friend.

My tattoo looks nifty in black and white.... so does kelly's.

Gordon is a handsome man (ok I knew this before, but it needed to be said).

We were sucking face duing a lot of the wedding.

Even by the end of the summer, I'm a pale pale lady. But so is my husband.

Our food looked delicious and possibly even better on camera.

My friends are awesome dancers.

Gordon and I should never be photographed dancing.

Our nieces and nephews are freaking adorable.

Gordon's friends can make picking me up look easy (I am not so sure it was, I was in a 25+ lb dress).

I have a gorgeous wedding party.

I want to get about 90% of the 667 pictures printed. This is going to be tough.

Which one am I going to pick for my thank you card????

Cohabitation and Dogs

Today we brought Benny to the vet and he did very well but might have mange, so he has to get medicine everyday for the next month. But he got his lyme's disease shot and some preventative stuff for heart worm. The thing I like about the vet we took him to is that it is within walking distance of the house. Other than that, there's nothing great or bad about it. But not having to force Benny into the car is good enough for me. He is about half housebroken. Yesterday he peed on the couch Gordon was sitting on, so that wasn't great, but today he sat by the back door until we let him out and then peed out there. So yay! These are things that a married person finds joy in: Not having animals pee on you! And pizza.

So speaking of pizza, today Gordon are attempting one from scratch... kind of. We are using our bread maker to make the pizza dough. We have sauce (not from scratch. I am not Italian and I don't pretend to be.), mozzarella, we're making breaded chicken (yes, we breaded it ourself... not to make it better, but because the chicken we usually get at CostCo, which is prebreaded, we used the last of last night.) and broccoli. That's right people. I'm talking chicken and broccoli pizza here! And we have the airbake pizza pan to cook it on. I have two actually because I put it on my wedding registry and got 2 instead of the 1 I asked for. Whatever. I just use both now. It's really awesome. Seriously, you need one. Or you need to ask for one and get two.

In other news, G and I have been cohabitating for 8 months now and I look forward to cohabitating for a long long time. I feel this article by Michael Ian Black really drives home the best way to make it all work. Here is excellent point Mr. Black makes about expressing one's emotions so they don't get bottled up:

4. If you don’t like what the other person is wearing, cuss them out. That means when you’re about to leave the house and you totally hate the outfit they have on, the right thing to do is say (in a quiet, soothing voice), "What the f*** are you wearing?” Then just stare at them until they change.

I really hope this helps you in your current or future or failed relationships. I know it has helped us.

Now I am going to go get medicine for the dog from the vet then make pizza and watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind with my husband, my dog, and my Beanie who we occasionally feed, entertain, and play with like a dog, but much more housebroken.

Benedict Magnus

This is Benedict Magnus aka Benedict aka Benny Mag aka Benny aka Puppy Lou. He's 5 months old, playful, snuggley, and been so good. Though it's only been a day, he seems to be adjusting quite well.

He is a welcome addition to our family. He loves the big backyard and the bone and rope we got him.

He has been a great companion for naps on the couch.

So let's give Benny a big welcome home!

The Name Game

So over the past week I have been on a change my name on everything possible rampage. First I did it at work as soon as I came back from my honeymoon (though I already had the business cards made up as well as the name plate on my desk). Tuesday I went to the Social Security Administration and waited patiently while the guy next to me kept screaming "B!" since they were mostly focusing on the A's. I was right there along with him, though it was in my head, because I had B316 and they had been on B309 for a good 15 minutes. But once I got up there, because of my anal nature, I had more that enough proof of my name change and I should be receiving a new card in the mail in about 2 weeks. Then it was off to the DMV, which was quicker than I anticipated and cheaper. 30 minutes and $12.50 later, I should be expecting my new license with a new name, photo, address, and signature in the mail in about 2 weeks as well. I was not prepared for the new picture part, but grateful that I took a shower that morning. Though I only had enough energy to blow dry my bangs and put the rest of my hair in a pony tail. It will be an interesting and most certainly embarrassing ID photo, but I guess it looks more like me that my last license where I looked like I was wearing a black wig.

After attaining the important name change documents so that my taxes and my name will all line up in perfect harmony, I went home and instead of making apple pie like I wanted to (which I ended up doing last night), I went to all the websites for companies that have my name and emailed them to tell them to change it. Everything from car insurance and cell phone to electricity and gas. Then yesterday I went to my bank to change my name and order checks, which I haven't had new ones since I was 18. To date, I still use my babies in gardens checks. It will be nice to have ones that have the right name, address, and bank, and look like adult checks. It's a big step in my life.

Another big step in my life as a married lady was making dinner and pie for my husband last night. Maybe this would seem unfeminist of me, but he usually makes dinner and is very good to me and I cook this meal well and that's about all I have going for me food wise. I made turkey meatloaf, cheddar and broccoli rice (from a bag) and extra broccoli mixed in (because the "broccoli" in the cheddar and broccoli rice seems like it's there more for flavor than nutritional value. Then, while the meatloaf was cooking, which takes days (ok, more like an hour, but you get the point), I got the apples, sugar, and graham crackers ready for my first attempt at apple pie. Finally, my husband came home, and helped peel and slice the apples for the pie. The part I was more than excited to avoid. Then while we ate dinner, the pie cooked. It was nice and Gordon was very pleased with the outcome of both the dinner and dessert, but it was a 3 hour process that I don't plan on revisiting everyday.

I would like to add other meals to my cooking repertoire, which pretty much just includes the aforementioned meal, burrito/taco night, bbq chicken, chicken parm, and paninis. All pretty much comfort food. Occasionally G and I make chicken or shrimp in garlic sauce with veggies over jasmine rice. I guess that's healthier. More veggies?

Tonight is date night! This means the Rowes are going out on the town! Dinner! Movie! Sleep! We really live it up.

Tomorrow we might be adding to the family... if it happens I will post so many pictures.

Relaxing Thoughts

I don't write enough, but I don't have a whole lot going on besides work. I think the rain followed us back from Aruba, we have barely had any nice weather. But I have been working so much, I haven't had time to notice. I did get to go to Carnegie Hall for my first opera(s). It was 10 opera shorts including one by the wonderful Marie Incontrera. Her and Roxie wed in June 2011. I am very much looking forward to it.

This week is a bunch of college fairs around Nassau county, which is called a consortium. Saturday I am nerding it up nerd style with my husband at Comic Con in NYC. After which we hope to get drinks and dinner before returning to our suburban life. I miss the city simply because of the time it took me to get home from things like this. Sunday is apple and pumpkin picking with my girls. This will be fun as long as I don't have to wake up too early. Then I have two glorious days off. After going nonstop since this past Saturday, I plan to sleep and watch tv those two days. Maaaaaybe clean (beyond overneeded at this point), but we'll see.

I am still waiting on my pictures from the photographer. I found out that the video that was taken of the wedding has no sound since right before the ceremony the camera fell off the mixing board (still trying not to get upset about it). Once I get the pictures, we can pick one to make our thank you cards from. I say now that I am excited to make my photo albums from the wedding pictures, but once it starts taking a long time, we'll reevaluate.

As you probably know (since I'm pretty sure the only people that read this also have access to my facebook, I cut off all my hair the day after the wedding to a graduated bob with bangs. Well I still like the bangs, but I go back and forth about the cut of my hair. I am never happy with short hair very long, which sucks since it takes so long to grow back out. But I do like how easy it is to style. I should look into that more. Right now it's mostly headbands (see previous post).

Anyway, I am off to start my long day/week (which is really a continuation since I have been working sine Saturday.

What is marriage all about?

Today I bought headbands. I'm more excited than I should be about this. Is this what married life is about? I also picked up milk. I think that's more the married life. I have the wife hair, the wife ring, the marital house, the marital bed, but most of all, I have the comfort, connection, passion, support, a home, and a family.

So here's to the married life. *cheers*

Honeymoon

Monday we jetted off on JetBlue to Aruba to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf. Well we got the sand and kind of surf (the water was quite calm. Sun? Not so much. We got sun the day we got there and the day we left, but it was pretty much overcast or raining during the week. The hotel was quite nice, the food was great, the drinks we're delicious. We definitely enjoyed ourselves. The sand was super soft and the water was beautiful. It was turquoise and a great temperature. Tuesday however, I decided to try pineapple and yogurt and I can only assume that this was culprit in what made me throw up the rest of the day. Not exactly what I was thinking was going to happen on my fantasy honeymoon, but my HUSBAND held my hair back (what little I had, I cut it off the day after the wedding. New lady, new look.) and he bought me saltines and ginger ale. We slept in the afternoon and watched HGTV and Food Network. Yes, we were on our honeymoon but we're still us. And we love tv and sleep.

We also spent a lot time on the beach and in the pool. There weren't a lot of people there so nothing was super crowded, which was right up my alley. We went into town but it was mostly a tourist trap full of jewelry stores and then we got stuck in a downpour and had to walk through roads that were flooded, so that wasn't a ton of fun, but taking a bath in the hotel was nice. But no matter what, when I was with my new husband I just smiled and relaxed.

Right now I am happy to be home. Our home. Full of love.

Married Life

So it's official. I am a married lady. The wedding day was a dream come true. Everyone worked so hard to make it go well. Of course, the day before the wedding we get to the site where the tent the reception was to be under was and it was crushed under basically a tree. When would a tornado touch down in NYC/LI? Two nights before my wedding. Well at least it wasn't the night before. The tent guy sent out his crew and they worked all day to fix the tent. Then when they put down white table clothes instead of burgundy, they came back in the night to change them out after having to find another company who had them. But the day of the wedding could not have been more perfect. Were there hiccups? Of course. Did I let them bother me? Not in the least.

Wedding highlights:

Hair salon was fun and I sang oldies.

We were so efficient in getting ready everything felt relaxed.

The babies all walked down the aisle the way they were supposed to (under the promise of Uncle Gordon holding pennies for them)

The weather was OUTSTANDING, so perfect.

The sun came out at the end of the ceremony and shined on us (Thanks Dads!)

The cable connecting the mixing board to the speakers went missing for about and hour plus but my new BroInLaw came to the rescue and found it (though he may have been the one who lost it the first time). This meant no cocktail hour music and we couldn't walk into the ceremony til it was found

Our first dance went well and I smiled like a loon

The cake started sinking so we had to cut it early

The dancing didn't really start until Britney's Gimme More came on.

The food went over great.

Candied bacon

My sisters and I recreated a pictures where they all held me up from like 8 years ago

We never stopped smiling

After everyone left and we were almost about to leave, I called Gordon my husband and then burst into tears. It was the first time I let tears really fall that day.

It was a perfect. It was smooth. Every little thing that Gordon and I (and definitely Beanie) worked so hard to make sure was right, was. It was my dream come true and I think we looked great making it happen.

Dum dumm du-dummmmm

2 days to go and I am not nervous or having second thoughts or getting cold feet. I am sneezy, stuffy, and coughing. I hate allergies, or whatever this is, but I will not let it detract from the fact that I am marrying the love of my life in 2 days!! Lots of running around to do til then, but right now the weather is looking great. All the vendors deliveries have been confirmed. My dress and his suit are sitting at home next to each other. All I can do now is hope it all goes smooth... and get my nails done tonight.

I think I've been focusing so much on the planning and the house that I haven't allowed myself to relish in the bliss of it all. The getting married part. One of the biggest moments in my life. I have to remember to enjoy it and STOP WORRYING. If one more person tells me to relax, I might just shut down. However, for me, I could be a lot worse. Seriously folks, this is me being really freaking tame.

Anywho.... I love Gordon. I am going to marry Gordon. I am going to cry. I am going to mess up my vows or first dance or fall down the aisle... and it's all going to be ok, because I am going to marry Gordon. I think when I see how the whole day comes together I will finally relax and enjoy the moment. For now, I will work on making sure all those things actually happen.

10 Days

Tomorrow is my final dress fitting. I have been working on the last minute things. This weekend we worked on the tv table numbers. This one is my table. I thought it was quirky. The flowers are paid for, the delivery times are confirmed... mostly. My bachelorette party is this weekend! Then Monday and Tuesday of next week my mom, sisters, niece and nephew come to the island.

I still have some things to get done but I could be much more stressed than I am. I promise.

I'M GETTING MARRIED NEXT WEEK!!!!

Last Minute

It's 17 days to the wedding and this weekend is going to be filled with last minute wedding stuff. Making the seating chart, table numbers, buying stuff, working on the playlist, and paying people. But right now, I am getting back to work. I also need to gets paid. And get the house ready. 2 weeks is not enough time.

So close I can taste it...

So the wedding is down to 28 days away and yesterday I had the wonderful Ali help me make the wedding entrance sign. She made us something so pretty and unique, and we love it. I also got the seating chart ready by buying a cork board and covering it with red fabric and I'm going to use the same paper flowers to accent the seating list. Yay arts and crafts wedding!

Hair Trial (formerly Hair Trail)

I had my hair trial today in Locust Valley and while the drive sucked because it was rush hour, I think it went amazingly. The salon is right by the house where we're getting married and there is a deli across the street.

The hair came out exactly how I wanted. A perfect cascade of curls. It was weird when she started tying some of my hair up, but in the end I was very pleased. Elegant and young and yes that is all my hair. No extensions for this lady.

Walked to Work

Today I walked to work and pass this lake on my way. There were a whole mess of swans and ducks and geese. I had to walk to work because I gave Gordon my car since his is in the shop. It turned out to be a nice walk. Took about 18 minutes. It wasn't too hot, which I was grateful for and Gordon's picking me up when I get out tonight.

When I got to work I found out I'm the only counselor out of 4 here today. So far it hasn't been unmanageable. Right now I'm hungry though... Mmmm lunch.

My House Has a Library!

This week I took vacation and spent Tuesday and Wednesday creating my dream library. Tuesday I painted the entire room with a paint brush. I started by just painting the edges and then ended up just continuing and doing the whole wall and then the other wall. I love love love the color. It's called Deep Ocean and I have to say I do feel like I am deep in the vast ocean when I'm in the room. Wednesday Gordon also had off so instead of going to the beach (it was cloudy) we went to ikea and bought 4 Billy Bookcases. We set them up that evening then went to dinner. I am very excited to have them up and be able to put our books in them and once we get the desk from my Mom our library will be complete!

Upstate!

This weekend, Gordon and I went upstate to visit my Moms. She lives in the Northwest area of the Catskills Mountains. It was a great weekend. We made great time up there on Thursday, Friday we went for a hike around the property, she gave us some stuff from her attic to take home such as bathroom fixtures and wireless speakers, went to a fantastic dinner a few towns over, and napped. Saturday we went into a town and went to an antique shop where Gordon bought me a ring and my mom bought me some things she will give me for Christmas. Then we went to a little festival (and I mean little), but they had a zip line over a river, so Gordon and I decided to do it. Well we ended up being the first people and amusement ensued. Gordon ended up walking back part of the way because the zip line basically landed him in the river. (There are some more pictures on my picasa.) Then we got a small lunch and drove to find a waterfall (see picture). After much more driving than we anticipated, we found it and walked up to it. It was really cool and there ended up being butterflies everywhere (it's there migrating season). I decided to bring out my inner billy goat and climb the rocks to the top of the waterfall... and I did. Gordon said he took pictures, and posted them on Facebook. When we got home, mom grilled up dinner and afterward we went outside to talk until the stars came out. Then we saw these weird flashing lights over the trees in front of the house so we watched that for a while. It seemed to be coming too much to be lightening, but it was. We watched it for hours because it was sloooowly creeping towards us. It started around 9 but the storm didn't hit us until 11. It was just like watching lightening for a couple of hours. We really had no idea what it was for the longest time.

Sunday we drove back home after having breakfast and stopped to see Inception when we got almost home. It was fantastic. Really a very cool movie. Then we went home and watched True Blood. Netflix is our new addiction. Tonight I hope to start season 2 of the Tudors. Yay Netflix Instant Queue!

In wedding news, I bought this dress for the rehearsal dinner. It fits great, so I am excited. I am a bit disappointed I couldn't get the other dress (they sold out of my size when I finally was about to buy it), but this dress was more affordable. Otherwise, in my wedding world, everything is going ok. The next big thing is getting a hair trial, which I hope to do Friday at a salon right near Jeff's house in Locust Valley. After I get it, I will probably put on my rehearsal dinner dress and have Gordon take me out. Friday, Kristine and I will also break down what is next on the getting things done list for the wedding. Gordon bought my wedding ring which is beautiful and now we just need to get one for him.

2 MONTHS!!

There is only two months left!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rehearsal Dinner dress

I think I want to buy this dress for the rehearsal dinner. Gordon actually looked through about 15 dresses with me on modcloth.com. I mean the name alone is very fitting. It's called the "Meeting the In-Laws Dress". This "Cookie and Cream" dress is our second choice. Over $30 less expensive and quite cute, but we like the back of this dress more.

They have an easy return policy... so what do you think? Should I get it? (PS even if you say no, I still might.)

UPDATE: The dress was sold out in my size, so I bought a different dress.

Bridal Shower and Pizza

Yesterday was my surprise bridal shower! And talk about a surprise. Everyone worked hard to come up with every possible way to throw me off. I was told it was Gordon's niece's birthday party and I only had to stop by. Well I completely thought my bridal shower was going to be in August and one of my MOH's, KellyAnn, couldn't afford to come here from San Francisco for the bridal shower and could only make the rehearsal dinner and wedding. Well that just confirmed to me that the shower couldn't possibly be this early.

Well they fooled me. I walked into the backyard of my soon to be SIL's house and everyone yelled "surprise!" and I freaked. I have never had people fool me so well. I was greeted by Miss Kelly Ann who hid her LI presence from me very very well. I was shaking for about 45 minutes and walking around and babbling to people and saying hi. I got some amazing gifts from the friends and family. And they played bridal shower bingo with what gifts I got. Then we all went inside because it was insanely hot out. Inside we played how well does the bride know the groom. I think I did pretty well. Then all of a sudden it was it was over. It went so fast! But it really reminded me that I am getting married soon and it is such a happy occasion! I love him so much and I am so happy. And I am definitely looking forward to the happiest day of my life!

The night before the bridal shower, Lynne stayed at my house and we ordered a giant pizza from Satellite in Bayport. I think it might have been the best pizza I ever had. We had 4 people eating a pizza meant for about 25. Needless to say we have left overs.... or maybe it is not so needless to say.

I will post soon!

Posts about pizza and surprise bridal showers will be posted soon.

Invitations are ready to g...ZzZzzzzzz

So with the help of KB, we got the invitations all set up together and stuff and stamped and ready to go out this week. They took forever, but I think they look great. AND EVERYONE BETTER APPRECIATE THEM!!! Gordon fell asleep almost as soon as we started. I think it was his secret plan all along to get out of stuffing.

I have also been widdling away at my wedding to do list. Calling salons, looking into dance lessons, getting in touch with my vendors and making sure I'm on top of everything, and making time to talk with my friends and family that are part of the wedding such as the ceremony musician, videographer, cake lady, and MC... to name a few.

The workouts this week have felt really good and successful. My eating habits are still on the fence. I try to make good decisions but I get so excited when we go out to eat and have to have something tasty... like beer battered shrimp and fries like I had for lunch today. Oh well... I might forgo dinner and walk to town with Gordon to get an italian ice for myself. We'll see where the night takes me.

Complete non sequitur: There is an article with an interview with Jason Segul in this month's GQ magazine that is quite funny... so is the article on the page after it about terms like homo, gayward, nancy pants, and other heterosexual insinuating words. Go to your local bookstore and pick it up and read it in the cafe and then leave it there, because seriously, why would you buy it, you're never going to re-read the magazine.

It's almost summer!

Today is 3 months until the wedding. The invitations were supposed go out this weekend, but I didn't get the stamps, so it looks like they will go out some time during the week. I did get them all folded and I just have a few more to tie ribbons on.

It looks like my dress will be coming in mid-July. Which I wish it was sooner but at least it will give me time to lose weight and find underwear.

I have been doing Zumba on Mondays and going to the gym Wednesdays and Saturdays. I like it because it's something different each workout. Zumba is a dance workout, Wednesday I go to the gym at SJC, and Saturday I go with Gordon to open the gym in Huntington and work out. Right now my thighs and abs are still sore from Wednesday. I like it!

Tomorrow KB and I are going to try to contact and visit some salons in the Locust Valley area so I can get a place to get my hair and make up done for an affordable price. We'll see how well it goes. Sunday I am going to the beach and then lunch with Alison.

99 Balloons... I means days!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! There are only 99 days left until my wedding! We're down to double digits people!

The invitations are taking longer than I would have liked to fold them and add the ribbon. I am really happy I am using labels for the invites instead of hand writing them. They have to go out by next weekend.

This weekend the boys are getting their tux measurements (most of the boys). Moving along! I hope to go with them so I can ask when my dress and my bridesmaid's dresses will be in.

Wedding and House Updates

Gordon informed me last night that I haven't updated enough. So basically... here's an update.

We are working on getting our invitations ready to send (they go out in a week and a half). I made a customized Google map to show where the property is, where to park, and where to enter for the wedding. Kristine showed me how to do it a few months ago and I have to say, if people view it, it will be a big help for them. Folding the invitations is taking quite a while. We are 1/3 of the way through but only worked on them one day before it got too tedious. Gordon also bought the groomsmen gifts and we are on our way to getting things done.

In house news, G's friend Ed has been the hero this week. He showed up on Monday to push our shed back to where it should be (if you don't know why it was in the wrong place, let's just say strange things come up when you want to buy a house.... like how far the shed is from the fence). He also filled in our sink holes where the old cesspool was. He said he did this so he wouldn't get drunk and trip in them. And the yesterday he took out our old side fence and replaced it with a huge white one and a fenced in place for the garbage. It's made our backyard even bigger and given us more privacy. I can't wait to get rid of the beach pebbles and put down grass to make it all look even nicer. This weekend G and I have many little things to do like buy grass seed for the newly filled in holes and wall paper adhesive for the new wall paper... and some other things I can't think of.

It is only a 1 day weekend for me since this Saturday is my last working Saturday of the summer. That means I start working Monday through Friday til September except for 7 weeks in July and August in which I only have to work Monday through Thursday. The awesomeness of this is not lost on me. But for now I have to head over to work!

Date Night

Tonight is date night! After work, Gordon and I are going up to Port Jefferson for dinner (we have a coupon gift certificate thing) at the Village Way. Then we're going to Stony Brook Lowe's to see Get Him to the Greek.

I think this weekend I hope to find time for us to work on the invitations. Lots of folding and bow tying and stuffing.

On a completely unrelated note, I really love the show So You Think You Can Dance. Seriously, it's a fun addiction.

Nails

I got my nails done yesterday at the place my future MIL goes and they came out nice, but it was waaaaaay too painful and expensive (which I didn't know the price until she finished) and it took waaaay too long (she helped about 4 other people during my appt). They aren't acryllic tips... I'm not quite sure how they did what they did. I have to go back next week and then every 2-3 weeks, so I guess I'll keep them for the wedding and get them removed after.

Arbor Pt. II

This is the arbor in our backyard that we are going to get married under.

In other news, today we got fabric wallpaper for the family room, chrome molding, a brass chandelier for the dining room, plants for the front and backyard, and curtains for the library all for free from a friend of Gordon's mom's. Woo! I love free awesome stuff!

Arbor

Our arbor that we are going to get married under is up at out house with the mandevilla flowering vines growing up it in pots on either side (this makes it easy to transport to Jeff's but enables us to take care of it). Here is a picture of it that I found online (ours is new and hasn't bloomed yet):

I will take pictures of the arbor tomorrow when we have our memorial day bbq. Yay Ludwig's in town!

Yay affordable cute wedding shoes!

I found the perfect shoes for me for the wedding a few weeks back but they didn't have my size. So I found them online but they didn't have my size there either. So I checked google shopping, amazon, and a whole bunch of other places, but to no avail. Until yesterday. Alison came over and I showed her the shoes I wanted and we decided to call DSW and see if they got my size in, which they did! And the fit perfectly. They're flat and adorable and look like they will go great with my dress. Plus I can totally wear them after the wedding! Yay practical and affordable!

Next, I really need to figure out my bra situation for my dress...

LOST!!!

Gordon said we could pre-order LOST the complete series on blu-ray in 3 weeks (we need more paychecks)!!!!

I personally liked the finale a lot, even though we didn't get a lot of answers, it tied up the series nicely.

Plants

Today we (and by we, I mean Gordon, Kate, John, Beryl, and Jeff and briefly Ed) planted the plants around the area of Jeff's property where we're going to have the ceremony. Kate got some beautiful plants from Daisy Gardens in Bayport. I got there just as they were about to put the mulch down. Then we went out to eat where we always go to eat when we go to Locust Valley, The American Cafe in Glen Cove. The have the best comfort/soul food and dessert.

I had to drive home alone since I went there after work, but I enjoyed it by listening to Laura Marling, Josh Ritter, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, and ended it with listening to my future wedding song, The Gambler by fun. It actually made me tear up. Sometimes I get frustrated, overwhelmed, and anxious with life, but I have an amazingly blessed life and love.

Right now Gordon and I are going to Hungtington to a friend's sibling's grad party. We went to the same type of event last year. Ah how much has changed in a year.

Cake Tasting in the New Millenium!

Picture explanation: Bags A, B, and C are coconut frosting. The bags below are chocolate frosting. The little bag in the middle is coconut shaving. The bag under the yellow letter is the cake bits.

So as you probably know, my sister Meghan (savingintherain.com) is baking our cake. It's going to be a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting on the inner layers and coconut frosting on the outside with coconut shavings. Since she lives in Washington and won't be here before the wedding, she sent us "cake tasting in a bag". Can I just say, it looks delicious. The cake is soft and there are three different coconut frostings for us to try and three different chocolate frostings to try (ranging from milk chocolate to dark chocolate). This may be the best part of the wedding planning.

In other wedding planning news, the future MIL ordered some vines for the arbor we're getting married under and flowers and plants to put in this weekend at Jeff's house. I put down a deposit for the food and will be getting a rental memo about the dinnerware via email soon (I hope). This weekend or next we will hopefully put down our deposit for the tents and tables and chairs.

Also in planinning news (wow, a lot has been going on this week), I found out that the place I was look to get my hair and makeup done is faaaar too expensive. So my trusty and amazing wedding coordinator, code name Beanie, has been calling salons closer to the wedding site for prices and locations, so we can check them out in a few weeks. I'm hoping by making it more affordable, that more of my bridal party will go with me.

I am getting very excited about everything. I really hope it turns out to be the beautiful garden wedding it seems to be coming along as. And I am so grateful to the people who have been so helpful with money, time, and patience.

BMW

Here is the car we are looking into getting. I think Gordon falls in love with it the more he thinks about it. Plus I would get to learn to drive stick in a BMW

Mowing the lawn like Grandpa used to

Gordon is putting his manual mower to work today on the front lawn. It likes to bend the big pieces, but it works pretty well. And it cuts it short, which I like. Plus, it was only $100 and I most likely will never have to mow the lawn (though it would be a good workout). I'm enjoying sitting outside on my laptop watching him mow the lawn.

Today we looked at used cars for him. We went to see a 2005 Hyundai Sonata (manual, of course) and he ended up picking a 1999 BMW 3 series. We haven't bought it yet, but did put down a $100 deposit. It's got 150K miles, but it looked like it was in really good condition. Plus it's a very pretty blue. We're going to continue to look though and see if we find something better by next week.

Money Honey

So it doesn't look like we will be able to afford a second photographer, so I guess that's out. This weekend I think Gordon and I are going to look into getting him a new (used) car. His car is definitely on its way out. It's not the most ideal time, money wise, but when is it ever? However, this will mean I get to learn stick on a car that works!

Basically all our purchases are on hold except little things until after the wedding because our money is tied up. I wish deposits didn't exist and I could just pay for the wedding stuff now. We are inviting more people that I thought we would. I wish I could not think about my wedding in terms of money and think about it as the happiest day ever, which it will be.

We will have the rehearsal dinner the night before (9/17) and the bachelorette party the night before that (9/16)., this way Kelly can attend both.

We did clean and refill the hot tub so we can use it tonight. It's really nice out, I wish I was out there enjoying, but I will after 3pm.

I'm thinking about taking a week off this summer and doing something. I can't fly anywhere like I was considering, because I can't really spend money because we still have to pay off our honeymoon. I have 3 weeks vacation time (15 days) that I can start using after July 4. 6 days of it is going to the wedding and honeymoon. We get vacation time for Christmas and Thanksgiving, so I don't need to use it for that. Maybe I'll use some days in the summer and just extend my Christmas vacation. I don't know why I'm rambling about vacation time.

I hear a noise that sounds like my dryer at home, which I had one when I was leaving and so I just assumed that's what it was. Except, I'm not at home. I'm at work. It's still making the noise. Why is my dryer haunting me?

Tuxes... kind of.

So this is the morning suit that Gordon will be wearing. Except the shirt and tie will be more like the next one down. The next one down is what his groomsmen will be wearing. We put in the order yesterday, we just need to get the measurements done over the next month. They are both dark grey with the grey/blue stripped pants. Gordon will wear a silver tie and vest, the boys will wear purple or red vests and ties depending on whether they're a best man or groomsman.

Shoes!

This flower wedge and this flat are the shoes I think I want to buy for the wedding. The flower wedge would be used for the ceremony and the flat would be used for the reception. They are both very cute (and if they perform well, I will definitely wear them again!). I should order my shoes soonish, because I believe next month my wedding dress will come in and I need the shoes I'm going to wear with me so I can we the fittings perfect.

Now after speaking to a few people, I am going to look into other options. I am still considering the flower shoe but we're afraid that they might be too white for the dress. Ugh! It's just shoes, why can't this be easier. Everyone has opinions and they get in my head.

And speaking of fittings, I also need to get on getting my wedding underwear. I dont think underwear will be a problem so much as the bra area. That I need to purchase in person. But where do I go? I want something that is comfortable and doesn't make any unsightly bulges.

Update: My mom is a genius and thought about getting clear halter strap for the bra or corset I wear for the wedding! Go Mom!

Finally using my HGTV knowledge to work

I bought something to hide our modem and wireless router and put our phone on (since it has to attach to the modem, it's all in our dining room). I got it with gift cards from pier 1 and it was scratched all over the top (which is now the part on the floor) so I got 20% off and all I did was flip it over to the side where there was only 1 tiny scratch. Pretty genius, I thought.

Photography

I read an article on the knot today about wedding photography. Alex is our photographer. After reading more articles about photography for the wedding day, I wonder if we should splurge on an engagement session or a second photographer or both or none. I think because of how much I love photographs, we should go with a second photographer. It would provide two different view points. The engagement session is $350 and the second photographer is $600. $600 is a lot I feel like but I don't know. We are already probably spending some of our own money, but we are saving some money on other things. I don't know. It's a lot to think about. For now I'm going to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Pier 1 to down my anxiety in furniture shopping.

Never stopping

Getting stuff done!

Today I ordered the invitations (much more a process than originally anticipated), but I think we're going to be really happy with them. I talked to the future mother-in-law about the rehearsal dinner and it looks like we're going to Jeff's to drop off dresses and then to the Sayville Inn or something closer to Locust Valley for dinner. It's all getting pretty real. I really need to pay more deposits... stupid money

Life (and by life, I mean wedding) Updates

So I am really getting on top of things. I now have a guy who should have no problem providing portable restroom (some of you may know them as port-a-potties). Next on the menu is getting Gordon to rent a tux and getting his men to get there asses there too. We also have to consort with Elegant Eating to talk about what we need to rent from them dinnerware wise, since the tent rental company is providing the tables and chairs and table clothes. And now that we have our invitation sample, we need to work on the wording and ordering of the invitations.

133 days until the wedding. This is when it starts to fly by and I feel like I am always trying to get something done.

It would be worse if this was my 12th blog post

It's like the universe knows Lynne is freaked out by her connection to the number 12, and yet it makes not only her aware of it, but those around her as well. This is my mafia from Mafia Wars on Facebook (Thank you very much, Gordon, for making me addicting to this ridiculous and pointless game). I made Lynne sign up for it so I could access the Paris section and told her she would never have to play. And so where does she fall in my mafia? Well of course she is number 12.

I am planning on visiting the daring 12, I mean Lynne, in July. I look forward to delicious cheap food and driving randomly and sleeping on her floor.

Mother's Day

Mother's day is just around the corner and I am always wishing my mom lived closer. Kate is great (ha), but she's never going to be my mom. Sunday we're doing breakfast at Kateri's (soon to be sister-in-law's). I am reminded often that I am lucky to have a good relationship with my mom, and really lucky about how well Kate and I get along. She is very cool and I have to see her often for work and I enjoy every time.

In other news, tomorrow Gordon, Kristine, and I are going to see Iron Man 2. I think it's like Christmas to him.

Cock Valentine

Lynne took this picture at Jeff's house (where we are getting married). This is the name of his house... I guess. I never knew until now. I think that is hysterically awesome. We keep it classy.

It's really a beautiful place.

M&M craziness!

M&Ms!!!!

City Day

Spent the day in the city. Shopping, eating, being silly, and taking pictures in the m+m store. Lesson of the day: you cannot take a photobooth picture with 5 people and fit more than one face in the picture.

Reducing our carbon footprint!

Today we filled out the paperwork to apply for the Green Homes and Go Solar programs. The Green Homes program would use $7,000 in federal grants to help us make our home more Green with things like insulation and we would pay the remaining $3,000 over 5 years. It's a first come, first serve basis. The Go Solar program would install solar panels on our roof to reduce our energy bill and electricity consumption. It is a lottery, so we won't know til June. I think Gordon is more interested in the solar panels, and I think I am too. We'll see what happens. Either would be great.

Tomorrow I am going into the city with Kristine and Kristen so Kristine can interview at NBC (good luck, Kristine!) and Kristen and I can catch up with friends and shopping. I am excited to see my former coworkers and hopefully get some lunch at The Frying Pan. Then we will catch up with Roxie and Maria.

Summer for a day.

I love my tent guy! I think it's going to look really great. We have a plan for all the tables around the dance floor in the center under a tent with the buffet under the tent off the end of the main tent. I think Jeff's property is going to be beautiful for the wedding. Today we are going to stop by to pick up some plants he has for us and I will show Lynne the property. (She will be the first one to see it outside of me, Gordon, and his mom.

Last night our smoke alarm went off twice. Once at 4am and once at 5am. It goes off at every alarm in the house because they're all connected to the electricity. It is insanely loud and we have no idea what set it off. We know it was the one in our entry way because it was blinking red, but that's about all we know. Needless to say, we're all very tired.

Legs

Who brought these boys legs to my kitchen floor?

Blog Shout Out!

Shout out to my sister's blog, Saving in the Rain! If you ever thought you were good at saving money or couponing, she will show you how wrong you are.

The sectional couch I want to make a life with

This is a blurry picture of my dream sectional. It's about $1600 or $1800 at Ashley Furniture. Sigh... One day...

Hair piece?

My friend Casey just showed me a very cute blog, http://www.lovelybride.com/blog/, and now I am considering something I never thought about before. Do I want a hair piece? I will have a veil but it isn't too ornate, so I think have something in my hair wouldn't be too much. The blog mentioned that Anthropologie included some great hair pieces.

This one is cute and could go with my dress. (First picture) But do I want a headband or just something that sits in my hair?

I was also looking for some kind of white flower that could go in the curls I want to have cascading down the back of my head. The one shown here is something I like.

Or maybe I'll be really original and go with something like this! I think this would really stand out, though the wedding is during teh day and the light might not come through the way it's meant to.

What do I want to be when I grow up?

I am looking into Master's programs, because if I want to do it, I would need to stay probably Spring 2011.

Options:

One: A masters in library science with a school media specialist concentration I would get this to be a school librarian. It's close to home at St. John's University in Oakdale, a few towns away, but requires me to get my teaching certification and complete the masters and a certification.

Two: A masters in speech communication Much farther away. It's about 45 minutes without traffic, and slightly less tuition than St. John's. I would complete this to be a Speech Communication professor (though a full time position would require me to get my PhD.)

Three: A masters in Adolescent Education At Dowling, after Gordon and I are married, I could attend school for free and get my Masters in Adolescent Education for English. It's not my ideal career choice, which is why I'm not jumping at the opportunity.

Four: A masters of liberal studies Also at Dowling, this masters would possible allow me to adjunct teach on the college level either at 4 year or 2 year institutions... I think?

I was drawn toward the program at St. John's but finding classes that fit around my work schedule might be an issues. Plus, I don't know how long it would take and if after all this, will I really be happy as a librarian and will there be any jobs?

THE ring(s)

These are the rings I was checking out. They're affordable (if platinum and diamonds can be considered affordable). And they look like they would all compliment my engagement ring (seen first). There is one ring I like also that is not on here but is sinilar to the last ring but has bagettes and round cut diamonds instead of just round cuts. Opinions?