God Bless!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas!!
God Bless!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Almost Christmas
[singsong] It's a week before Christmas and we are full of anxiety! [/singsong]
So we finish the honeymoon and bolt right into the holiday season. With Christmas less than a week away, Kate and I are in crunch time to get gift-treats baked, cards sent out, and presents bought. Kate and I were getting a bit stressed with how much we still wanted to do...and how little time we had to do it in.
But I think we're doing okay now. Our Christmas cards and presents may not get out as early as we'd hoped, but I don't think our friends and family will fault us too badly for that. I least I think they won't. ;-)
Due to lack of vacation time, neither of us can take time off to visit family for Christmas. I think this will be the first Christmas that Kate doesn't spend with her family. She seems relaxed about that for the moment. We'll probably go visit my folks and sister sometime in January if we can (which may be tricky given my coming school schedule).
So since we're "stuck" in Fort Collins for the holidays, we're trying to see if we can gather together a group of local folks for dinner on Christmas. Bill and Tammy have already said they'd join us. Kate's sister Emily MIGHT come up from Denver. And we think we might pull in Beth and Jeff as well. Since we only have two confirmations, we decided that we would not pull out the 22lb turkey that my parents gave us over Thanksgiving. Instead, we'll make up some game hens for everyone and save the turkey for a big weekend dinner when we have PLENTY of friends to help us eat all that poultry. :-)
We'll also be having our traditional New Year's Eve party at our place this year. That shindig looks like it'll have plenty of attendees so it should be loads of fun. Maybe we can get rid of some of the sparkling cider we've been sitting on since the wedding. :-)
Interesting tidbit from church yesterday. Have you heard this slogan for the Christmas holiday?
Good reminder, right? Well, during his sermon on Sunday, one of our deacons had another take on it. In his opinion, Jesus isn't the reason, WE are. Christ is the Gift. God wanted all of us to be saved so He sent his Son to Earth. Jesus is the ultimate present, our Father's gift to his children. And with the usual hustle and bustle of holiday expectations, a lot of us tend to forget that.
So let's not forget to be thankful for the really important Gifts we receive this Christmas season.
Thanks for reading! And here's hoping you have a Christmas season free of stress and anxiety!
So we finish the honeymoon and bolt right into the holiday season. With Christmas less than a week away, Kate and I are in crunch time to get gift-treats baked, cards sent out, and presents bought. Kate and I were getting a bit stressed with how much we still wanted to do...and how little time we had to do it in.
But I think we're doing okay now. Our Christmas cards and presents may not get out as early as we'd hoped, but I don't think our friends and family will fault us too badly for that. I least I think they won't. ;-)
Due to lack of vacation time, neither of us can take time off to visit family for Christmas. I think this will be the first Christmas that Kate doesn't spend with her family. She seems relaxed about that for the moment. We'll probably go visit my folks and sister sometime in January if we can (which may be tricky given my coming school schedule).
So since we're "stuck" in Fort Collins for the holidays, we're trying to see if we can gather together a group of local folks for dinner on Christmas. Bill and Tammy have already said they'd join us. Kate's sister Emily MIGHT come up from Denver. And we think we might pull in Beth and Jeff as well. Since we only have two confirmations, we decided that we would not pull out the 22lb turkey that my parents gave us over Thanksgiving. Instead, we'll make up some game hens for everyone and save the turkey for a big weekend dinner when we have PLENTY of friends to help us eat all that poultry. :-)
We'll also be having our traditional New Year's Eve party at our place this year. That shindig looks like it'll have plenty of attendees so it should be loads of fun. Maybe we can get rid of some of the sparkling cider we've been sitting on since the wedding. :-)
Interesting tidbit from church yesterday. Have you heard this slogan for the Christmas holiday?
Good reminder, right? Well, during his sermon on Sunday, one of our deacons had another take on it. In his opinion, Jesus isn't the reason, WE are. Christ is the Gift. God wanted all of us to be saved so He sent his Son to Earth. Jesus is the ultimate present, our Father's gift to his children. And with the usual hustle and bustle of holiday expectations, a lot of us tend to forget that.
So let's not forget to be thankful for the really important Gifts we receive this Christmas season.
Thanks for reading! And here's hoping you have a Christmas season free of stress and anxiety!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Where Have We Been?
Wow.
So...would anyone believe that Kate and I have just been too swamped to even so much as THINK about updating the blog?
Didn't think so. :-)
Let's see, where to start? I guess the honeymoon would be the big one. The trip to the East Coast was incredibly fun and very relaxing. Even with me catching a bit of a bug while in DC, it was still a blast. Here's the quick breakdown:
Train to Chicago: I was really nervous about leaving my Explorer alone in downtown Denver for two and half weeks. It wasn't until I was on the train that I stopped wigging out. Kate was probably ready to smack me. The train ride was pretty cool. It was kind of zen to just sit and watch Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois roll on by.
Stop in Chicago: We stopped for the night to spend some time with a couple old friends of mine, Rob and Chantel (plus their 1 1/2 year old Robin). Kate and I were a bit wobbly from being in motion (on the train) for a day and a half. We crashed early and the next day the five of us went to the Chicago Field Museum, which was very cool. We saw all kinds of dinosaur bones and some beautiful works of jade. We then took a walk along the edge of Lake Michigan to Navy Pier for lunch. We caught the train to Washington DC that evening.
Train to DC: Pretty uneventful. Kate got several crosswords done and I got more caught up in my reading. We played a few games of Boggle and Quiddler for fun. We got into Union Station late into the evening (though we could see the light atop the Washington Monument) and went straight to the Adam's Inn where we'd be staying. We're pretty sure we got overcharged by the cabbie, considering he didn't even know where he was going...but oh, well.
DC Day One: We took a short walk around the Mall of DC where all the museum and monuments are within throwing distance from one another. We walked by the Washington Monument but didn't get too close. (It was impressive just to see!) We decided to stop by the National Aquarium on a lark and had a good time there. Next we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where we saw an amazing collection of bones from ancient times. For dinner we stopped at a Mexican restaurant called MixTec. The food was very tasty but a different taste of Mexican than we're used to back home.
DC Day Two: A light day. We stopped at the Cathedral of St. Matthew for church that morning and took part in a Latin Mass in an absolutely beautiful church. We didn't know it at the time but we were actually walking up Embassy Row. We then hopped down to visit with Kate's friend Christine from college and had brunch with her. We hung out for a few hours and decided to call it an early night, stopping by Chipolte's for dinner.
DC Day Three: We walked down to the National Zoo and what a blast that was! It was just cool and cloudy enough that most of the animals were out and about. We got to see a training demo with seals (rather than sea lions). We stood no more than a meter away from a group of beavers. We saw a red panda out and about. Best of all, we watched a couple of giant tigers act like playful kittens with each other! Afterwards, we walked down to a bar and grill place called The Diner. Very tasty.
DC Day Four: The weather was starting to ease up but we decided to keep to the museums. We first popped back into the Museum of Natural History to get a good look at the Hope Diamond and the minerals display. Then it was across the Mall to the Air and Space Museum. More planes and rockets and satellites than you could shake a stick at. Plus, there was this interactive "discovery" area with a device called a Bernoulli Tube, which was fun even for this thirty-something to play with. :-) That night we didn't feel like going out to eat so we stopped by a nearby Safeway and picked up some munchables.
DC Day Five: I half-jokingly call this "the Monument Deathmarch." :-) We decided that since most of the national monuments were within walking distance of one another, we would try to tag as many of them as possible in a day. We wanted to begin at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving before hitting the monuments but they were starting tours a bit late that day. So we began with the Washington Monument. Kate got a little vertigo standing at the base of the obelisk. We then walked down to the World War II Memorial, which was relatively new. Then we made our way along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial (which was undergoing renovations). We hopped down to the Vietnam Memorial, which was very sobering. To brighten ourselves up, we found our way to the Albert Einstein statue in front of the National Academy of Sciences. We then scurried hastily back to the Bureau to catch the tour of the place, which was extremely cool! Too bad pictures were forbidden. We left the Bureau and made our way around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial (which was also having renovations done). We walked down through the park that led to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, which was surprisingly neat and enjoyable to wander through. We ended the whirlwind run with a easy stroll through the Hirshhorn Scupture Garden. We ended the day with some take out from Julie's Empanadas. Yum! Man, were we bushed after that run!
DC Day Six: But did we rest the next day? Oh, no!! We started by walking past the White House and the government buildings nearby and stopping at the Visitor Center which had an interesting video playing about the history of the President's home. We then walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, intending to take the tour of the FBI Building. Unfortunately, they won't be giving tours until 2007 or so. :-( We continued on and stopped by the US Navy Memorial on a whim. We then continued all the way down to the US Capitol. Let me tell you - there's something really amazing about seeing such a famous building right in front of you. We rested there for a short bit then walked around the Capitol to the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. That was a beautiful library! We visited a historical documents and artifacts room that was showing and then headed back to the Mall. We had a little time so we went back to the Air and Space Museum to see the couple exhibits we had to rush through two days ago. That night we met with Kate's cousin Ben and his wife Dawn for dinner at Capitol City Brewery.
DC Day Seven: Our last day in DC, I sort of overslept since I wasn't feeling so great. Since we didn't get to go to the FBI Building, we settled on the International Spy Museum, which was cooler than we expected. We did get mildly disoriented by the labyrinthine corridors of displays that seemed bigger than the outside building would indicate. Must be secret spy technology. ;-) We then stopped in for a quick walk through the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We saw the largely restored Star-Spangled Banner (the original!) and wandered through a few exhibits. Since it was our last day in DC, we decided to be a little daring and try something different for dinner. Our first choice, a Brazilian place called Grill from Ipanema (recommended by Christine) was too busy for my tastes so we instead tried an Ethiopian restaurant called Meskerem. Not knowing what to expect, we were delighted to find the food was magnificent, especially the sambussa we had as an appetizer! And thus ended our time in our nation's capital.
Train to Boston: The train up to Boston was uneventful. It was just an eight or nine hour ride. Kate slept most of the way and I got some more reading done. I still wasn't feeling too hot so I tried for a nap or two along the way as well. Brandt, a family friend of the O'Connell who was also at our wedding, met us at the train stop, and he and his wife Marie took us in for the night.
Boston Day One: Brandt and Marie took us to the Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church that morning for Mass. Kate and I then made our way into Boston to the hotel. Our first stop after checking in would be the New England Aquarium, which boasts a three-story aquarium with a multitude of critters inside it! That evening, we met up with another couple of old friends of mine, Heidi and Kelly, for dinner. Kelly fried up some buffalo burgers and sweet potato crisps for us. It was great seeing them again.
Boston Day Two: On Heidi's advice, Kate and I met up with Heidi's husband Kim for the Freedom Trail. Kim had tons of quirky trivia about our founding fathers, who were not the pristine men of honor some history books would have us think. Basically? Politicians haven't changed much in two hundred years. :-) We started at the Boston Commons and worked our way down to the Faneuil Hall. Kate and I stopped there to have lunch with Kelly and his ladyfriend Steph. Then Kate and I decided to continue following the Freedom Trail all the way to the USS Constitution. Sadly, the Constitution had just changed its tour hours and we had missed the last tour for a couple days. Instead, we visited the USS Cassin Young across the dock, which was also pretty cool. We also stopped in at the USS Constitution Museum, which was equally cool. I tried my hand at an interactive video game which had me at the helm of the Constitution during a famous battle in the War of 1812. Suffice it to say that it's a good thing I wasn't the captain of the ship during the real fight. ;-) We stopped at Chili's for dinner.
Boston Day Three: Another long walk day! Kate and I visited M.I.T. campus and Kate showed me some of the sights that she remembered. Next we took the train and a long walk down to Landmark School where Kate taught dyslexic kids for three years. Kate got downright nostalgic as we walked her old stomping grounds. Kelly called me unexpectedly and invited us back over to their place for dinner. They ordered a massive dinner of take-out barbeque. I can't recall the name of the place but it sure was yummy!
Boston Day Four: For our last day in Boston, we had to go to the Museum of Science where Kate had worked for a while. This was very cool, with tons of interactive and hands-on displays. There was also a special Star Wars exhibit on display. Originally, I figured it wasn't that big a deal so we didn't have to go. BUT when we arrived and I actually saw some of the stuff they were showing, I couldn't resist. Kate was so very patient with my fanboy self that day. :-) We walked into Boston's North End of dinner and found a nice family Italian place called La Famiglia Giorgio's. Tasty and lots of food!
Train back to Denver: Hop to Albany. Transfer to Chicago. Transfer again to Denver. Kate lost her wallet in the Albany train and we spent the first hour of the trip to Chicago calling around to all our credit cards and bank accounts to freeze them. Thankfully, Kate's mom got a call from Rose, a secretary working the Albany route. Kate's wallet had been turned in to her by one of the cleaning crew and she was sending it to us at her own expense. Wow! Sometimes people just surprise you! Anyway, we got into Denver early in the day and, boy, were we glad to be home! :-)
After spending some time reminding our cats who we were, Kate and I opened all the presents we'd received for the wedding. We decided before the wedding that we would wait and open our gifts AFTER the honeymoon...sort of a bonus "welcome home" activity. We were stunned at the generosity and thoughtfulness of our friends and family. Hopefully, we didn't miss anyone in the thank-you's. And if one of you is reading this, THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!!
Anyhow, let's fill you in on some quick bulleted news from November:
Kate is now officially Kate Elisabeth Merrell on all legal documentation. It was a hassle in some areas but not in others. All our bills and accounts are now joint save just a couple checking or saving accounts. We also moved Kate onto my insurance with the city of Fort Collins, which ended up saving us a bit of money.
Recently, Kate and I went down to Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving. My uncles and aunt from Thailand were visiting and I hadn't seen them for over thirty years. (Mind you, I'm thirty-two as of this post...) ;-)
Last bit of cool news...my mother bought Kate and me a website. You can reach it at the following address:
http://www.acrossthemiles.us
Feel free to visit the site periodically. I don't have much there except for the pages my mom put together for me, but as soon as I have the free time, I'll be doing some serious overhauling. Take a look and enjoy.
Oh, and since it's the question I'm getting a lot these days, I'll go ahead and answer it here:
Q: "So, Mike, how's the married life?"
A: "It's just like the single life, except I have someone to share everything with. It's not as lonely. It's like suddenly having a tomorrow instead of just a today. It's the incredible thought that this beautiful woman has chosen to be my partner and companion for as long as she lives. It's feeling the love in my heart grow each and every time I kiss her good-night or good-morning. It's quite honestly the most wonderful thing in the world."
Thanks for reading. Good night.
So...would anyone believe that Kate and I have just been too swamped to even so much as THINK about updating the blog?
Didn't think so. :-)
Let's see, where to start? I guess the honeymoon would be the big one. The trip to the East Coast was incredibly fun and very relaxing. Even with me catching a bit of a bug while in DC, it was still a blast. Here's the quick breakdown:
Train to Chicago: I was really nervous about leaving my Explorer alone in downtown Denver for two and half weeks. It wasn't until I was on the train that I stopped wigging out. Kate was probably ready to smack me. The train ride was pretty cool. It was kind of zen to just sit and watch Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois roll on by.
Stop in Chicago: We stopped for the night to spend some time with a couple old friends of mine, Rob and Chantel (plus their 1 1/2 year old Robin). Kate and I were a bit wobbly from being in motion (on the train) for a day and a half. We crashed early and the next day the five of us went to the Chicago Field Museum, which was very cool. We saw all kinds of dinosaur bones and some beautiful works of jade. We then took a walk along the edge of Lake Michigan to Navy Pier for lunch. We caught the train to Washington DC that evening.
Train to DC: Pretty uneventful. Kate got several crosswords done and I got more caught up in my reading. We played a few games of Boggle and Quiddler for fun. We got into Union Station late into the evening (though we could see the light atop the Washington Monument) and went straight to the Adam's Inn where we'd be staying. We're pretty sure we got overcharged by the cabbie, considering he didn't even know where he was going...but oh, well.
DC Day One: We took a short walk around the Mall of DC where all the museum and monuments are within throwing distance from one another. We walked by the Washington Monument but didn't get too close. (It was impressive just to see!) We decided to stop by the National Aquarium on a lark and had a good time there. Next we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where we saw an amazing collection of bones from ancient times. For dinner we stopped at a Mexican restaurant called MixTec. The food was very tasty but a different taste of Mexican than we're used to back home.
DC Day Two: A light day. We stopped at the Cathedral of St. Matthew for church that morning and took part in a Latin Mass in an absolutely beautiful church. We didn't know it at the time but we were actually walking up Embassy Row. We then hopped down to visit with Kate's friend Christine from college and had brunch with her. We hung out for a few hours and decided to call it an early night, stopping by Chipolte's for dinner.
DC Day Three: We walked down to the National Zoo and what a blast that was! It was just cool and cloudy enough that most of the animals were out and about. We got to see a training demo with seals (rather than sea lions). We stood no more than a meter away from a group of beavers. We saw a red panda out and about. Best of all, we watched a couple of giant tigers act like playful kittens with each other! Afterwards, we walked down to a bar and grill place called The Diner. Very tasty.
DC Day Four: The weather was starting to ease up but we decided to keep to the museums. We first popped back into the Museum of Natural History to get a good look at the Hope Diamond and the minerals display. Then it was across the Mall to the Air and Space Museum. More planes and rockets and satellites than you could shake a stick at. Plus, there was this interactive "discovery" area with a device called a Bernoulli Tube, which was fun even for this thirty-something to play with. :-) That night we didn't feel like going out to eat so we stopped by a nearby Safeway and picked up some munchables.
DC Day Five: I half-jokingly call this "the Monument Deathmarch." :-) We decided that since most of the national monuments were within walking distance of one another, we would try to tag as many of them as possible in a day. We wanted to begin at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving before hitting the monuments but they were starting tours a bit late that day. So we began with the Washington Monument. Kate got a little vertigo standing at the base of the obelisk. We then walked down to the World War II Memorial, which was relatively new. Then we made our way along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial (which was undergoing renovations). We hopped down to the Vietnam Memorial, which was very sobering. To brighten ourselves up, we found our way to the Albert Einstein statue in front of the National Academy of Sciences. We then scurried hastily back to the Bureau to catch the tour of the place, which was extremely cool! Too bad pictures were forbidden. We left the Bureau and made our way around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial (which was also having renovations done). We walked down through the park that led to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, which was surprisingly neat and enjoyable to wander through. We ended the whirlwind run with a easy stroll through the Hirshhorn Scupture Garden. We ended the day with some take out from Julie's Empanadas. Yum! Man, were we bushed after that run!
DC Day Six: But did we rest the next day? Oh, no!! We started by walking past the White House and the government buildings nearby and stopping at the Visitor Center which had an interesting video playing about the history of the President's home. We then walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, intending to take the tour of the FBI Building. Unfortunately, they won't be giving tours until 2007 or so. :-( We continued on and stopped by the US Navy Memorial on a whim. We then continued all the way down to the US Capitol. Let me tell you - there's something really amazing about seeing such a famous building right in front of you. We rested there for a short bit then walked around the Capitol to the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. That was a beautiful library! We visited a historical documents and artifacts room that was showing and then headed back to the Mall. We had a little time so we went back to the Air and Space Museum to see the couple exhibits we had to rush through two days ago. That night we met with Kate's cousin Ben and his wife Dawn for dinner at Capitol City Brewery.
DC Day Seven: Our last day in DC, I sort of overslept since I wasn't feeling so great. Since we didn't get to go to the FBI Building, we settled on the International Spy Museum, which was cooler than we expected. We did get mildly disoriented by the labyrinthine corridors of displays that seemed bigger than the outside building would indicate. Must be secret spy technology. ;-) We then stopped in for a quick walk through the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We saw the largely restored Star-Spangled Banner (the original!) and wandered through a few exhibits. Since it was our last day in DC, we decided to be a little daring and try something different for dinner. Our first choice, a Brazilian place called Grill from Ipanema (recommended by Christine) was too busy for my tastes so we instead tried an Ethiopian restaurant called Meskerem. Not knowing what to expect, we were delighted to find the food was magnificent, especially the sambussa we had as an appetizer! And thus ended our time in our nation's capital.
Train to Boston: The train up to Boston was uneventful. It was just an eight or nine hour ride. Kate slept most of the way and I got some more reading done. I still wasn't feeling too hot so I tried for a nap or two along the way as well. Brandt, a family friend of the O'Connell who was also at our wedding, met us at the train stop, and he and his wife Marie took us in for the night.
Boston Day One: Brandt and Marie took us to the Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church that morning for Mass. Kate and I then made our way into Boston to the hotel. Our first stop after checking in would be the New England Aquarium, which boasts a three-story aquarium with a multitude of critters inside it! That evening, we met up with another couple of old friends of mine, Heidi and Kelly, for dinner. Kelly fried up some buffalo burgers and sweet potato crisps for us. It was great seeing them again.
Boston Day Two: On Heidi's advice, Kate and I met up with Heidi's husband Kim for the Freedom Trail. Kim had tons of quirky trivia about our founding fathers, who were not the pristine men of honor some history books would have us think. Basically? Politicians haven't changed much in two hundred years. :-) We started at the Boston Commons and worked our way down to the Faneuil Hall. Kate and I stopped there to have lunch with Kelly and his ladyfriend Steph. Then Kate and I decided to continue following the Freedom Trail all the way to the USS Constitution. Sadly, the Constitution had just changed its tour hours and we had missed the last tour for a couple days. Instead, we visited the USS Cassin Young across the dock, which was also pretty cool. We also stopped in at the USS Constitution Museum, which was equally cool. I tried my hand at an interactive video game which had me at the helm of the Constitution during a famous battle in the War of 1812. Suffice it to say that it's a good thing I wasn't the captain of the ship during the real fight. ;-) We stopped at Chili's for dinner.
Boston Day Three: Another long walk day! Kate and I visited M.I.T. campus and Kate showed me some of the sights that she remembered. Next we took the train and a long walk down to Landmark School where Kate taught dyslexic kids for three years. Kate got downright nostalgic as we walked her old stomping grounds. Kelly called me unexpectedly and invited us back over to their place for dinner. They ordered a massive dinner of take-out barbeque. I can't recall the name of the place but it sure was yummy!
Boston Day Four: For our last day in Boston, we had to go to the Museum of Science where Kate had worked for a while. This was very cool, with tons of interactive and hands-on displays. There was also a special Star Wars exhibit on display. Originally, I figured it wasn't that big a deal so we didn't have to go. BUT when we arrived and I actually saw some of the stuff they were showing, I couldn't resist. Kate was so very patient with my fanboy self that day. :-) We walked into Boston's North End of dinner and found a nice family Italian place called La Famiglia Giorgio's. Tasty and lots of food!
Train back to Denver: Hop to Albany. Transfer to Chicago. Transfer again to Denver. Kate lost her wallet in the Albany train and we spent the first hour of the trip to Chicago calling around to all our credit cards and bank accounts to freeze them. Thankfully, Kate's mom got a call from Rose, a secretary working the Albany route. Kate's wallet had been turned in to her by one of the cleaning crew and she was sending it to us at her own expense. Wow! Sometimes people just surprise you! Anyway, we got into Denver early in the day and, boy, were we glad to be home! :-)
After spending some time reminding our cats who we were, Kate and I opened all the presents we'd received for the wedding. We decided before the wedding that we would wait and open our gifts AFTER the honeymoon...sort of a bonus "welcome home" activity. We were stunned at the generosity and thoughtfulness of our friends and family. Hopefully, we didn't miss anyone in the thank-you's. And if one of you is reading this, THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!!
Anyhow, let's fill you in on some quick bulleted news from November:
Kate is now officially Kate Elisabeth Merrell on all legal documentation. It was a hassle in some areas but not in others. All our bills and accounts are now joint save just a couple checking or saving accounts. We also moved Kate onto my insurance with the city of Fort Collins, which ended up saving us a bit of money.
Recently, Kate and I went down to Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving. My uncles and aunt from Thailand were visiting and I hadn't seen them for over thirty years. (Mind you, I'm thirty-two as of this post...) ;-)
Last bit of cool news...my mother bought Kate and me a website. You can reach it at the following address:
http://www.acrossthemiles.us
Feel free to visit the site periodically. I don't have much there except for the pages my mom put together for me, but as soon as I have the free time, I'll be doing some serious overhauling. Take a look and enjoy.
Oh, and since it's the question I'm getting a lot these days, I'll go ahead and answer it here:
Q: "So, Mike, how's the married life?"
A: "It's just like the single life, except I have someone to share everything with. It's not as lonely. It's like suddenly having a tomorrow instead of just a today. It's the incredible thought that this beautiful woman has chosen to be my partner and companion for as long as she lives. It's feeling the love in my heart grow each and every time I kiss her good-night or good-morning. It's quite honestly the most wonderful thing in the world."
Thanks for reading. Good night.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Mission Accomplished!
Well, Kate and I have been married for roughly 48 hours now. I'm pleased to say that marriage doesn't seem to have killed us yet so I think we might be ready for the long haul. :-)
The wedding weekend went over PERFECTLY!! The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was pretty smooth on Friday and the gathering of guests on Saturday was a lot of fun. But, of course, the best of all was the wedding itself. :-)
Things couldn't have turned out better. The weather was nice (though we were indoors almost the whole time) and several people turned up early in the afternoon to help set up. I almost made Bill and me late because of my obsessive-compulsive need to check in with EVERYONE involved. But the reception area was set up in just over an hour with all the help I had.
The main event was the best. Father Larry was very helpful and kept the tension down with his good humor. Our mothers did the candle lighting just as they should. No one tripped or stumbled down the aisle. Bill and I looked darn good in our tuxedos. ;-)
But, of course, Kate was a vision. I'd seen some of the unfinished dress already but I hadn't seen it on her until the moment she walked out on her father's arm. I was struck. I stood up a little taller and straighter. I think I tuned out everyone else in the church except Kate. I didn't even register Brendan until he handed Kate off to me. I'd just never seen my love look so beautiful.
It was the only moment during the ceremony where I almost lost my composure. I could feel the tears of joy welling up in my eyes. I fought them back with an effort, knowing that if I lost it, poor Kate wouldn't be far behind. So we both kept our cool during the ceremony but the waves of emotions playing over us were intense and I think we both could feel it in one another through our touch.
After the ceremony, the reception was just plain fun. We tried to make the rounds and talk with everyone (didn't do too well with my local crew but managed everybody else). Several of the board games we offered actually got played (I think Kate's college crew got a kick out of Imaginiff). The kiss questions were a nice icebreaker, forcing folks to come up and declare out loud some bit of trivia about me and Kate. Bill made a great speech on our behalf, including several jokes at my expense (thanks, bro!). The food was absolutely superb and, yes, we actually got to sit down and enjoy it.
Moment of the night: My niece Julie (2 1/2 years old) told me that someone had to come up and talk so that she could see Uncle Mike and Aunt Kate kiss. :-)
All in all, everything was perfect.
My advice to any potential grooms out there is to be involved in the details of the wedding from day one. Then pay attention to those details! That way, on the big day, you know what's going on and can just sit back and enjoy the fun!
I don't have pictures of the wedding up and ready yet (still waiting for cameras to be developed). But my mother (bless her) got pictures of just about every aspect of the wedding ceremony and reception and posted them online. Just follow this link to view some great images!
I can't possibly thank everyone who helped out in the wedding but here's my feeble attempt:
Thanks to Brendan and MaryAnn (Kate's parents and my new in-laws) for organizing the get-together, for helping pick up the drinks, for helping with the reception room setup, and for welcoming me so warmly into the family.
Thanks to my Mom and Dad for giving me emotional support when I was stressing, for the engraved goblets and cake set, for helping with the running around town shopping work, for taking such great pictures of the ceremony and reception, and for welcoming Kate so earnestly into the family.
Thanks to Dianna and Heath for conspiring with me to prospose to Kate, for helping me with my butonnierre (did I spell that right?), and for performing one of the readings during the ceremony.
Thanks to Aileen for performing the first reading during the ceremony and for capturing many moments on film. We can't wait to see how your shots turn out!
Thanks to Kat for performing another reading during the ceremony, for picking up the veggie snack trays, and for being so enthusiastic about everything.
Thanks to Glynnis and Dan for acting as greeters during the ceremony and for entertaining my niece (mostly Dan). Sorry about that whole programs thing!
Thanks to Bill for being my best man, for keeping me focused when I tried to do too much, for helping out during the setup, for taking charge of the cleanup, and for being the brother I never had.
Thanks to Dana for being Kate's maid of honor, for running errands in a strange town, for putting up with Bill as an escort, and for guarding the door to the bride's room from all intruders.
Thanks to Tammy for helping pick Kate's dress, for designing and constructing Kate's veil, for creating our scrapbook, for acting as a third greeter, for being the militant master of the guestbook, and for the hundred other little things you did to smooth our way.
Thanks to Betsy for sheltering Kate yet again before the wedding, for picking up the flowers on the wedding day, for helping assemble said flowers where needed, for acting as a witness on our church license, and just for being a saint in general.
Thanks to Karen for also acting as a witness for our church license and for your energy and good humor through it all.
Thanks to Emily for acting as our gopher for all the small details that kept cropping up.
Thanks to Ron for manning the video camera on such short notice.
Thanks to Lynda, Crystal, and Chris (especially Chris who did all the legwork) for putting the idea in our heads that maybe Kate and I should hook up. Witness the result of your meddling!
Thanks to our co-workers who will be covering for us while Kate and I enjoy our three week honeymoon.
Thanks to Sandy and the Lopiano's staff for creating a magnificant feast for us and for seeing to our every need. You guys were great!
Thanks to Barbara and Patricia for helping with the coordination of both the ceremony and the reception, for setting up the reception hall, and for your patience as we asked over and over again how the ceremony would play out.
Thanks to Father Larry for officiating our wedding, for your patience and sense of humor, and for putting up with the confusion between you and Deacon Jim. God bless you!
Thanks to Charles of Rimrock Photography for your special short-term deal you made for us, for your creative ideas for photographs, for your openness to the pictures we wanted, and for your patience as our family came dodging around you for their own pictures.
Thanks to the SEAS staff (both hall and office) for your help with all our paperwork, for your ideas for the reception setup, for the great sound system, and for your assistance in all the prep work.
Thanks to Sister Dominica of the Abbey of St. Walburga for the absolutely beautiful unity candle set and for your prayers and kindness.
Thanks to everyone who showed up to share our special day of happiness.
Thanks to everyone who couldn't be with us in person but still sent your well wishes and thoughts.
And most of all, thanks to God for giving us the gift of one another.
The wedding weekend went over PERFECTLY!! The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was pretty smooth on Friday and the gathering of guests on Saturday was a lot of fun. But, of course, the best of all was the wedding itself. :-)
Things couldn't have turned out better. The weather was nice (though we were indoors almost the whole time) and several people turned up early in the afternoon to help set up. I almost made Bill and me late because of my obsessive-compulsive need to check in with EVERYONE involved. But the reception area was set up in just over an hour with all the help I had.
The main event was the best. Father Larry was very helpful and kept the tension down with his good humor. Our mothers did the candle lighting just as they should. No one tripped or stumbled down the aisle. Bill and I looked darn good in our tuxedos. ;-)
But, of course, Kate was a vision. I'd seen some of the unfinished dress already but I hadn't seen it on her until the moment she walked out on her father's arm. I was struck. I stood up a little taller and straighter. I think I tuned out everyone else in the church except Kate. I didn't even register Brendan until he handed Kate off to me. I'd just never seen my love look so beautiful.
It was the only moment during the ceremony where I almost lost my composure. I could feel the tears of joy welling up in my eyes. I fought them back with an effort, knowing that if I lost it, poor Kate wouldn't be far behind. So we both kept our cool during the ceremony but the waves of emotions playing over us were intense and I think we both could feel it in one another through our touch.
After the ceremony, the reception was just plain fun. We tried to make the rounds and talk with everyone (didn't do too well with my local crew but managed everybody else). Several of the board games we offered actually got played (I think Kate's college crew got a kick out of Imaginiff). The kiss questions were a nice icebreaker, forcing folks to come up and declare out loud some bit of trivia about me and Kate. Bill made a great speech on our behalf, including several jokes at my expense (thanks, bro!). The food was absolutely superb and, yes, we actually got to sit down and enjoy it.
Moment of the night: My niece Julie (2 1/2 years old) told me that someone had to come up and talk so that she could see Uncle Mike and Aunt Kate kiss. :-)
All in all, everything was perfect.
My advice to any potential grooms out there is to be involved in the details of the wedding from day one. Then pay attention to those details! That way, on the big day, you know what's going on and can just sit back and enjoy the fun!
I don't have pictures of the wedding up and ready yet (still waiting for cameras to be developed). But my mother (bless her) got pictures of just about every aspect of the wedding ceremony and reception and posted them online. Just follow this link to view some great images!
I can't possibly thank everyone who helped out in the wedding but here's my feeble attempt:
Thanks to Brendan and MaryAnn (Kate's parents and my new in-laws) for organizing the get-together, for helping pick up the drinks, for helping with the reception room setup, and for welcoming me so warmly into the family.
Thanks to my Mom and Dad for giving me emotional support when I was stressing, for the engraved goblets and cake set, for helping with the running around town shopping work, for taking such great pictures of the ceremony and reception, and for welcoming Kate so earnestly into the family.
Thanks to Dianna and Heath for conspiring with me to prospose to Kate, for helping me with my butonnierre (did I spell that right?), and for performing one of the readings during the ceremony.
Thanks to Aileen for performing the first reading during the ceremony and for capturing many moments on film. We can't wait to see how your shots turn out!
Thanks to Kat for performing another reading during the ceremony, for picking up the veggie snack trays, and for being so enthusiastic about everything.
Thanks to Glynnis and Dan for acting as greeters during the ceremony and for entertaining my niece (mostly Dan). Sorry about that whole programs thing!
Thanks to Bill for being my best man, for keeping me focused when I tried to do too much, for helping out during the setup, for taking charge of the cleanup, and for being the brother I never had.
Thanks to Dana for being Kate's maid of honor, for running errands in a strange town, for putting up with Bill as an escort, and for guarding the door to the bride's room from all intruders.
Thanks to Tammy for helping pick Kate's dress, for designing and constructing Kate's veil, for creating our scrapbook, for acting as a third greeter, for being the militant master of the guestbook, and for the hundred other little things you did to smooth our way.
Thanks to Betsy for sheltering Kate yet again before the wedding, for picking up the flowers on the wedding day, for helping assemble said flowers where needed, for acting as a witness on our church license, and just for being a saint in general.
Thanks to Karen for also acting as a witness for our church license and for your energy and good humor through it all.
Thanks to Emily for acting as our gopher for all the small details that kept cropping up.
Thanks to Ron for manning the video camera on such short notice.
Thanks to Lynda, Crystal, and Chris (especially Chris who did all the legwork) for putting the idea in our heads that maybe Kate and I should hook up. Witness the result of your meddling!
Thanks to our co-workers who will be covering for us while Kate and I enjoy our three week honeymoon.
Thanks to Sandy and the Lopiano's staff for creating a magnificant feast for us and for seeing to our every need. You guys were great!
Thanks to Barbara and Patricia for helping with the coordination of both the ceremony and the reception, for setting up the reception hall, and for your patience as we asked over and over again how the ceremony would play out.
Thanks to Father Larry for officiating our wedding, for your patience and sense of humor, and for putting up with the confusion between you and Deacon Jim. God bless you!
Thanks to Charles of Rimrock Photography for your special short-term deal you made for us, for your creative ideas for photographs, for your openness to the pictures we wanted, and for your patience as our family came dodging around you for their own pictures.
Thanks to the SEAS staff (both hall and office) for your help with all our paperwork, for your ideas for the reception setup, for the great sound system, and for your assistance in all the prep work.
Thanks to Sister Dominica of the Abbey of St. Walburga for the absolutely beautiful unity candle set and for your prayers and kindness.
Thanks to everyone who showed up to share our special day of happiness.
Thanks to everyone who couldn't be with us in person but still sent your well wishes and thoughts.
And most of all, thanks to God for giving us the gift of one another.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
The Night Before
So here it is...the night before my wedding.
As evidenced by this post, I'm feeling a little wired and that's keeping me from sleep just yet. I AM tired since it's been a long week and a busy couple of days but I just can't get myself to relax right now. My eyelids are barely able to stay open but my brain won't stop. Hopefully this blog update will help burn off the excess energy.
In a little more than 12 hours I'll be standing before the altar with Kate to be married.
.....
Sorry, I got sort of lost there for a moment as that thought REALLY weighed in on me. :-)
I'm not nervous, at least I don't really feel like I am. I'm not stressed; I'd be in a far less charitable mood if I were. I honestly think that I'm just really, really excited that I can hardly stand it!
Here's how I'm trying to channel that excitement right now:
1. I'm complying a list of everything I need to bring to the church in the afternoon tomorrow.
2. I'm writing up a list of any tasks that I can assign to folks when they show up asking for something to do. (And I've had a LOT of folks ask if there's something they can do to help!)
3. I'm jotting down some things that will need to be done after the reception is over to clean up the hall.
4. I'm tweaking the seating plan to account for the placing of the tables.
5. I'm putting together the "kiss questions" that'll be at each table. (These are questions about me and Kate that guests need to answer if they want to see us kiss - no clinking glasses!)
6. I'm printing out our custom written Prayer of the Faithful for the ceremony.
7. I'm boxing up the things I'll need to take with me in the afternoon so it's all in one spot.
8. I'm remaking my bed and clearing the excess stuff out of my bedroom.
9. I'm apologizing to Rune for locking her in the walk-in closet all day. (Ooops!)
10. I'm typing this post for this blog. :-)
Everything's been working out really well. Kate and I are meeting for the early church service in the morning. Afterwards, we're going out for breakfast just the two of us. We'll hash out a few more details for the wedding but mostly we just want to relax with each other beforehand.
Kate and Dana then head off for Kate's hair appointment and I'll gather stuff to head out to the church. I get to be the man of the hour up until the ceremony, directing traffic and making sure everything is set up properly. At some point, I'll leave things up to our Greeters (Tammy, Glynnis, and Dan) and duck away to get changed into my tux.
Then the fun starts! ;-)
Well, I'm still feeling sleepy. I'd better finish up and make a concentrated effort at getting some rest before tomorrow.
I'm realizing how much I've been looking forward to this day. I love Kate so much.
Everything will be wonderful. Heck, as long as we're married by the end of it, the rest is just icing on the cake.
Thanks to everyone for their help, support, presence, or just well wishes.
I look at the clock and watch the seconds tick by, drawing me ever closer to marital bliss. I really can't wait.
This is rapidly turning into a stream of consciousness thread so I'll be going now. Thanks for reading.
G'night!
As evidenced by this post, I'm feeling a little wired and that's keeping me from sleep just yet. I AM tired since it's been a long week and a busy couple of days but I just can't get myself to relax right now. My eyelids are barely able to stay open but my brain won't stop. Hopefully this blog update will help burn off the excess energy.
In a little more than 12 hours I'll be standing before the altar with Kate to be married.
.....
Sorry, I got sort of lost there for a moment as that thought REALLY weighed in on me. :-)
I'm not nervous, at least I don't really feel like I am. I'm not stressed; I'd be in a far less charitable mood if I were. I honestly think that I'm just really, really excited that I can hardly stand it!
Here's how I'm trying to channel that excitement right now:
1. I'm complying a list of everything I need to bring to the church in the afternoon tomorrow.
2. I'm writing up a list of any tasks that I can assign to folks when they show up asking for something to do. (And I've had a LOT of folks ask if there's something they can do to help!)
3. I'm jotting down some things that will need to be done after the reception is over to clean up the hall.
4. I'm tweaking the seating plan to account for the placing of the tables.
5. I'm putting together the "kiss questions" that'll be at each table. (These are questions about me and Kate that guests need to answer if they want to see us kiss - no clinking glasses!)
6. I'm printing out our custom written Prayer of the Faithful for the ceremony.
7. I'm boxing up the things I'll need to take with me in the afternoon so it's all in one spot.
8. I'm remaking my bed and clearing the excess stuff out of my bedroom.
9. I'm apologizing to Rune for locking her in the walk-in closet all day. (Ooops!)
10. I'm typing this post for this blog. :-)
Everything's been working out really well. Kate and I are meeting for the early church service in the morning. Afterwards, we're going out for breakfast just the two of us. We'll hash out a few more details for the wedding but mostly we just want to relax with each other beforehand.
Kate and Dana then head off for Kate's hair appointment and I'll gather stuff to head out to the church. I get to be the man of the hour up until the ceremony, directing traffic and making sure everything is set up properly. At some point, I'll leave things up to our Greeters (Tammy, Glynnis, and Dan) and duck away to get changed into my tux.
Then the fun starts! ;-)
Well, I'm still feeling sleepy. I'd better finish up and make a concentrated effort at getting some rest before tomorrow.
I'm realizing how much I've been looking forward to this day. I love Kate so much.
Everything will be wonderful. Heck, as long as we're married by the end of it, the rest is just icing on the cake.
Thanks to everyone for their help, support, presence, or just well wishes.
I look at the clock and watch the seconds tick by, drawing me ever closer to marital bliss. I really can't wait.
This is rapidly turning into a stream of consciousness thread so I'll be going now. Thanks for reading.
G'night!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
The Home Stretch
So here I am in the home stretch, only a week to go in my single life.
A lot of people seem to find it very hard to believe that we've actually got most of the wedding details under control. But we do! Most of the major things are taken care of. The photographer is confirmed. The catering is ready (just need to contact Lopiano's with a head count). We have a marriage license. We've met with the church coordinators who will be on hand to help us out next Sunday. We've reserved a section at Beujo's for the rehearsal dinner. We've ordered the reception cakes. All in all, we're doing pretty well.
I think the thing that makes me most nervous is the total paradigm shift that I'll be taking on. It sounds kind of silly to say out loud, but I've never been married before. There are expectations of how my job, my home, my finances, my future plans, and so forth are supposed to work. That's going to be completely different once Kate is my wife and living with me.
Don't get me wrong! I love Kate and want desparately to marry her. Nothing is ever going to change that. It'll just be so different with her as a constant part of my life. I have no doubt that it will be wonderful, but it will also be very different.
It's hard to put into words precisely. Kate and I have talked about our anxiety about marriage. (Note: I said anxiety for MARRIAGE, not the WEDDING. That'll be a snap!) We continue to realize how aspects of our lives will change once we're married. For example, I can no longer spend money like I used to. It's not my money anymore...it's OUR money. We'll have to learn to talk with each other any time we think we need to make a serious purchase. (No more frivilous spending on XBox games for me!) Heck, even the idea of privacy will be radically changed! There will no longer be aspects of my life that are known only to me. From here on out, there will be a sharing between Kate and myself that I don't think I've experienced since I was a child.
There's an excitement too though, one that overwhelms the fear. I want Kate with me all the rest of my days and I can't imagine how I ever could have gotten along without her. She is my new purpose in life. She is my drive and my will to live and succeed. I want to make myself an even better man than I am because I believe she deserves the best. I look forward to spending the rest of my life learning how to make her happy.
For me now, there is no greater purpose in life. It all revolves around her and the fact that she is mine.
A lot of people seem to find it very hard to believe that we've actually got most of the wedding details under control. But we do! Most of the major things are taken care of. The photographer is confirmed. The catering is ready (just need to contact Lopiano's with a head count). We have a marriage license. We've met with the church coordinators who will be on hand to help us out next Sunday. We've reserved a section at Beujo's for the rehearsal dinner. We've ordered the reception cakes. All in all, we're doing pretty well.
I think the thing that makes me most nervous is the total paradigm shift that I'll be taking on. It sounds kind of silly to say out loud, but I've never been married before. There are expectations of how my job, my home, my finances, my future plans, and so forth are supposed to work. That's going to be completely different once Kate is my wife and living with me.
Don't get me wrong! I love Kate and want desparately to marry her. Nothing is ever going to change that. It'll just be so different with her as a constant part of my life. I have no doubt that it will be wonderful, but it will also be very different.
It's hard to put into words precisely. Kate and I have talked about our anxiety about marriage. (Note: I said anxiety for MARRIAGE, not the WEDDING. That'll be a snap!) We continue to realize how aspects of our lives will change once we're married. For example, I can no longer spend money like I used to. It's not my money anymore...it's OUR money. We'll have to learn to talk with each other any time we think we need to make a serious purchase. (No more frivilous spending on XBox games for me!) Heck, even the idea of privacy will be radically changed! There will no longer be aspects of my life that are known only to me. From here on out, there will be a sharing between Kate and myself that I don't think I've experienced since I was a child.
There's an excitement too though, one that overwhelms the fear. I want Kate with me all the rest of my days and I can't imagine how I ever could have gotten along without her. She is my new purpose in life. She is my drive and my will to live and succeed. I want to make myself an even better man than I am because I believe she deserves the best. I look forward to spending the rest of my life learning how to make her happy.
For me now, there is no greater purpose in life. It all revolves around her and the fact that she is mine.
Friday, September 30, 2005
In Theaters Now
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Less Than Three Weeks
The reality of what we're getting into is starting to weigh on me and Kate. We do still very much want to get married, but it's jarring to realize how much our life is about to change in just a couple of weeks.
I think I'm holding up pretty well...just a spot of anxiety that crops up now and again. Kate's keeping things together fairly well too. She mentioned to me that the hardest part of this time period is having to listen to everyone (family and friends) telling her, "Oh, you HAVE to do it this way!" or "You CAN'T do it that way!" or so forth. I want to tell her to just yell at everybody to shut up and let her enjoy HER wedding....but that's not an attitude either of us really want to have set in so for now we just keep muddling through.
If anyone pushes her too far though...I swear I'll lose it. Gotta defend the sanity and happiness of my girl, y'know. :-)
On to happier subjects!!!!
The bridal shower that Betsy organized for Kate last Sunday went off without a hitch. It sounds like Kate actually enjoyed being the center of attention this time, which was nice. We also realized that we have quite a few seriously generous friends! Our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the fiesta!
In case you're interseted, you can click here for some pictures that my mother took at the shindig. (Please forgive Kate; she has a tendency to blink when a camera is pointed at her.) ;-)
As far as other preparation details are concerned, we're actually in good shape. I've had more than a few folks ask me if we're feeling overwhelmed by all the details. To which I cheerfully respond, "No, most things are just falling into place." And get this: Most people don't actually believe me!
Let's see...we're meeting with Father Larry on Friday to discuss the final details of the ceremony. We FINALLY got around to picked out the readings that we liked so we're ready for that. Once we hammer out the procession of the ceremony, we can e-mail our sister (Aileen and Dianna) and give them the readings that they'll be doing for us. We may need to track down a couple more volunteers for additional readings but we'll see about that on Friday.
We picked up the wedding favors that we're going to put together. Now all we need to do is bake up a big batch of fudge! That's planned for this Saturday.
Kate made amazing progress on the centerpiece candles and finished them all! We still need to stop at Michael's and pick up mirrors and rose petals and we should be in good shape there.
I talked to the manager at Walrus Ice Cream and it sounds like a large order of ice cream cakes shouldn't be a problem. Kate and I need to figure out what flavors we want and put the order in at the end of the week. I'm leaning toward cake batter flavor plus some kind of berry...but Kate would prefer some chocolate thrown in somewhere. Also, my folks gave us a cake server and cutter for the wedding that we can use. Yay! No need to borrow anything from the church or the caterer!
Kate and Tammy are making good progress on Kate's veil. Monday night they finished the trim (whatever that implies), which was apparently a time-consuming job. Kate also recently picked up the ballet slippers that she wanted to wear for the ceremony so shoes are done. She also just dropped off her wedding gown for a professional cleaning.
Kate got the musicians for the ceremony handled. She went with the string group that was organized by Carla, her former landlord. Since I was fairly indifferent as to the musical pieces playing during the ceremony, Kate went ahead and picked out the three major pieces that she liked. She played a CD for me tonight so I could hear them and I do like them. We won't need the musicians for the reception since I'm putting together some CDs for the incidental music there (which I really ought to get going on).
Bill and I went into Mister Neats Formalwear last Saturday to get our final fittings for our tuxedos. With any luck, we should be a couple of stylin' fellas. :-)
Here's what we still need to get done:
1. Bake fudge (lots of fudge).
2. Order ice cream cakes.
3. Make appointment for rehearsal dinner at Beaujo's Pizza.
4. Burn music CDs for reception.
5. Design programs for ceremony and reception.
6. Finish wedding favors.
7. Buy gifts for wedding party and parents.
8. Pick up marriage license.
9. Design guestbook.
10. Place final order for flowers from Palmer House.
11. Write toasts for rehearsal dinner and reception.
12. Organize seating chart for reception.
13. Get final guest count to Lopiano's.
14. Confirm wedding day appointments (photographer, hairstylist, etc).
15. Confirm travel details (train, hotels, etc).
16. Confirm sandwich catering for Saturday get-together.
17. Pick up unity candle from St Walburga Abbey.
There may be other details that I've forgotten but these are the major events. Most of the running-around-town details we're going to try to do this Friday before our work shifts. The stay-at-home stuff we're going to do on Saturday and Sunday. I guess there goes our weekend. :-)
So, we're doing pretty well, all things considered. I think we're just really, really ready to take that three-week vacation to the East Coast! :-)
I think I'm holding up pretty well...just a spot of anxiety that crops up now and again. Kate's keeping things together fairly well too. She mentioned to me that the hardest part of this time period is having to listen to everyone (family and friends) telling her, "Oh, you HAVE to do it this way!" or "You CAN'T do it that way!" or so forth. I want to tell her to just yell at everybody to shut up and let her enjoy HER wedding....but that's not an attitude either of us really want to have set in so for now we just keep muddling through.
If anyone pushes her too far though...I swear I'll lose it. Gotta defend the sanity and happiness of my girl, y'know. :-)
On to happier subjects!!!!
The bridal shower that Betsy organized for Kate last Sunday went off without a hitch. It sounds like Kate actually enjoyed being the center of attention this time, which was nice. We also realized that we have quite a few seriously generous friends! Our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the fiesta!
In case you're interseted, you can click here for some pictures that my mother took at the shindig. (Please forgive Kate; she has a tendency to blink when a camera is pointed at her.) ;-)
As far as other preparation details are concerned, we're actually in good shape.
Let's see...we're meeting with Father Larry on Friday to discuss the final details of the ceremony. We FINALLY got around to picked out the readings that we liked so we're ready for that. Once we hammer out the procession of the ceremony, we can e-mail our sister (Aileen and Dianna) and give them the readings that they'll be doing for us. We may need to track down a couple more volunteers for additional readings but we'll see about that on Friday.
We picked up the wedding favors that we're going to put together. Now all we need to do is bake up a big batch of fudge! That's planned for this Saturday.
Kate made amazing progress on the centerpiece candles and finished them all! We still need to stop at Michael's and pick up mirrors and rose petals and we should be in good shape there.
I talked to the manager at Walrus Ice Cream and it sounds like a large order of ice cream cakes shouldn't be a problem. Kate and I need to figure out what flavors we want and put the order in at the end of the week. I'm leaning toward cake batter flavor plus some kind of berry...but Kate would prefer some chocolate thrown in somewhere. Also, my folks gave us a cake server and cutter for the wedding that we can use. Yay! No need to borrow anything from the church or the caterer!
Kate and Tammy are making good progress on Kate's veil. Monday night they finished the trim (whatever that implies), which was apparently a time-consuming job. Kate also recently picked up the ballet slippers that she wanted to wear for the ceremony so shoes are done. She also just dropped off her wedding gown for a professional cleaning.
Kate got the musicians for the ceremony handled. She went with the string group that was organized by Carla, her former landlord. Since I was fairly indifferent as to the musical pieces playing during the ceremony, Kate went ahead and picked out the three major pieces that she liked. She played a CD for me tonight so I could hear them and I do like them. We won't need the musicians for the reception since I'm putting together some CDs for the incidental music there (which I really ought to get going on).
Bill and I went into Mister Neats Formalwear last Saturday to get our final fittings for our tuxedos. With any luck, we should be a couple of stylin' fellas. :-)
Here's what we still need to get done:
1. Bake fudge (lots of fudge).
2. Order ice cream cakes.
3. Make appointment for rehearsal dinner at Beaujo's Pizza.
4. Burn music CDs for reception.
5. Design programs for ceremony and reception.
6. Finish wedding favors.
7. Buy gifts for wedding party and parents.
8. Pick up marriage license.
9. Design guestbook.
10. Place final order for flowers from Palmer House.
11. Write toasts for rehearsal dinner and reception.
12. Organize seating chart for reception.
13. Get final guest count to Lopiano's.
14. Confirm wedding day appointments (photographer, hairstylist, etc).
15. Confirm travel details (train, hotels, etc).
16. Confirm sandwich catering for Saturday get-together.
17. Pick up unity candle from St Walburga Abbey.
There may be other details that I've forgotten but these are the major events. Most of the running-around-town details we're going to try to do this Friday before our work shifts. The stay-at-home stuff we're going to do on Saturday and Sunday. I guess there goes our weekend. :-)
So, we're doing pretty well, all things considered. I think we're just really, really ready to take that three-week vacation to the East Coast! :-)
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Thirty-Two Days and Counting
It recently dawned on me and Kate that we could pick up our marriage license anytime after tomorrow (Friday)! They say the license is only good for about 30 days and we're coming up on thirty days before the wedding! Yeek!
We had also sat down to plan our menu for the next few weeks and realized that the week before the wedding actually fell into our meal plans. Wow, it's almost time!
We haven't started panicking yet but we are starting to feel the "crunch" as we calculate how much we still need to get done versus how much free time it looks like we're going to have. I expect some bouts of insanity ANY time now. ;-)
Updates:
On Friday August 26th, my boss in Circulation organized a get-together and pot-luck called NewWedFest for me and Kate as well as two other couples who were married earlier in the summer. It was a relaxed and enjoyable evening with lots of yummy food. Some folks even got us presents!! It was nice to just sit and chat with our co-workers without having to worry about actually getting some work done. :-)
I took a few random pictures of the event, which you can look at my clicking here.
Kate has a shower planned for Sunday the 25th. It wasn't her idea, of course; if she had her way, she wouldn't have any bridal parties at all! ;-) But Betsy insisted and went ahead and invited a number of lady-friends around town. Betsy even sent invites to my sister and my mother. My mom and dad are definitely coming up. Since it's a "girls-only" shindig, I guess I'll have to keep my dad occupied. Maybe I can con him into helping me with some minor house repairs I've been putting off around the place... ;-)
Kate was also informed that she's to attend a lunch with her co-workers in Loveland in celebration of her upcoming marriage. She complained to me that she going to be over-socialized well before the wedding!
Let's see, how about some rapid-fire updates as to what we've been doing:
1. We talked with Lopiano's regarding the final details with the reception catering. It sounds like they'll handle most of the setup and cleanup. They'll serve the food and pack it away when we're done. They'll even bring out the ice cream cakes and do the cutting and serving for us. They'll even take care of dishes. Yay! We need to check in with them in early October with the final head count.
2. Response cards have already started coming in. Not as many family and friends will be attending as we originally thought but everyone's sending their well wishes. We ought to still have a nice turnout.
3. We started looking through the Bible readings for the ceremony. Hopefully, we'll get a few picked out in the next few days. Then we can talk with Father Larry at SEAS Parish for the final details.
4. We ordered a unity candle set from the Abbey of St. Walburga, though I haven't heard back from them yet. Might have to give them a call here soon.
5. Our wedding rings are engraved and ready!
6. We've started hitting up our friends and family for party games that we can borrow for the reception. Kate's folks already handed off two boxes of games for us. I'll need to check with my family too.
7. My aunt Karen sent me a copy of my grandmother's fudge recipe. Kate and I are going to use to make wedding favors for the wedding.
8. Tammy and Kate got together to do work on Kate's wedding veil. This was an unknown and mysterious event since I wasn't there, but I assume things went well.
9. We bought a number of disposible cameras from ShopKo (which was having a going-out-of-business sale).
10. We posted a general invitation and announcement to the staff at the Fort Collins library. I've only gotten two responses so far so I might send out a reminder in case folks just haven't noticed the posting. Surely there's nothing they'd rather do on a Sunday night than watch me and Kate get hitched! ;-)
So here we are in the home stretch (so to speak) but not quite to crunch time. Stay tuned, true believers...
We had also sat down to plan our menu for the next few weeks and realized that the week before the wedding actually fell into our meal plans. Wow, it's almost time!
We haven't started panicking yet but we are starting to feel the "crunch" as we calculate how much we still need to get done versus how much free time it looks like we're going to have. I expect some bouts of insanity ANY time now. ;-)
Updates:
On Friday August 26th, my boss in Circulation organized a get-together and pot-luck called NewWedFest for me and Kate as well as two other couples who were married earlier in the summer. It was a relaxed and enjoyable evening with lots of yummy food. Some folks even got us presents!! It was nice to just sit and chat with our co-workers without having to worry about actually getting some work done. :-)
I took a few random pictures of the event, which you can look at my clicking here.
Kate has a shower planned for Sunday the 25th. It wasn't her idea, of course; if she had her way, she wouldn't have any bridal parties at all! ;-) But Betsy insisted and went ahead and invited a number of lady-friends around town. Betsy even sent invites to my sister and my mother. My mom and dad are definitely coming up. Since it's a "girls-only" shindig, I guess I'll have to keep my dad occupied. Maybe I can con him into helping me with some minor house repairs I've been putting off around the place... ;-)
Kate was also informed that she's to attend a lunch with her co-workers in Loveland in celebration of her upcoming marriage. She complained to me that she going to be over-socialized well before the wedding!
Let's see, how about some rapid-fire updates as to what we've been doing:
1. We talked with Lopiano's regarding the final details with the reception catering. It sounds like they'll handle most of the setup and cleanup. They'll serve the food and pack it away when we're done. They'll even bring out the ice cream cakes and do the cutting and serving for us. They'll even take care of dishes. Yay! We need to check in with them in early October with the final head count.
2. Response cards have already started coming in. Not as many family and friends will be attending as we originally thought but everyone's sending their well wishes. We ought to still have a nice turnout.
3. We started looking through the Bible readings for the ceremony. Hopefully, we'll get a few picked out in the next few days. Then we can talk with Father Larry at SEAS Parish for the final details.
4. We ordered a unity candle set from the Abbey of St. Walburga, though I haven't heard back from them yet. Might have to give them a call here soon.
5. Our wedding rings are engraved and ready!
6. We've started hitting up our friends and family for party games that we can borrow for the reception. Kate's folks already handed off two boxes of games for us. I'll need to check with my family too.
7. My aunt Karen sent me a copy of my grandmother's fudge recipe. Kate and I are going to use to make wedding favors for the wedding.
8. Tammy and Kate got together to do work on Kate's wedding veil. This was an unknown and mysterious event since I wasn't there, but I assume things went well.
9. We bought a number of disposible cameras from ShopKo (which was having a going-out-of-business sale).
10. We posted a general invitation and announcement to the staff at the Fort Collins library. I've only gotten two responses so far so I might send out a reminder in case folks just haven't noticed the posting. Surely there's nothing they'd rather do on a Sunday night than watch me and Kate get hitched! ;-)
So here we are in the home stretch (so to speak) but not quite to crunch time. Stay tuned, true believers...
Thursday, August 25, 2005
New Roommate & Sent Invitations
Meet my newest roommate: Chiral the Cat! Kate moved in with Betsy, a long-time family friend, on Sunday (and has been spending most of the last couple of weeks cleaning out her apartment). Thus, Chiral has moved in with me on a permanent basis now. Fortunately, we often bring her over so she's pretty comfortable here...and she and Rune only fight every now and then. :-)Big news: Invitations have been sent out!! We met with our co-workers Lynda, Crystal, and Eileen last week to do the final assembly. (And they look great! We are so grateful to the trio for their help!) Then Kate and I stuffed and sealed all the envelopes last Friday. And I dropped them off on Tuesday! I have to say there is something final about sending out the invites.
Now there's no turning back..... ;-)
Here's a list of what Kate and I think we've still got to get done:
1. Meet with Lopiano's for the final plans for the reception (planned for tomorrow actually).
2. Pick Bible readings and verses to be recited during the wedding ceremony and get them to Father Larry and to Dianna and Aileen (our sisters who were graciously willing to be readers).
3. Buy a unity candle from the Abbey of St. Walburga.
4. Get our wedding bands engraved (just our initials and the wedding date on the inside).
5. Make a final count of flowers needed and place the order with Palmer House.
6. Buy a few good party games or check with friends and family to see if we can borrow some.
7. Assemble reception table centerpieces (this is Kate's gig all the way - she's had a bout of creativity and I don't want to interfere!).
8. Design a program for the wedding ceremony and reception.
9. Make wedding favors for the reception tables. (I need to call my Aunt Karen about this)
10. Create wedding guestbook complete with special stamp. (We're going to see if the guestbook my mother sent me will work out but I think we might need something a bit different.)
11. Write and post a general announcement and invitation to the wedding for the FCPL staff.
12. Add any last minute ideas to the gift registries at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Sears.
13. Find and buy gifts for our attendents (Bill and Dana).
14. Arrange for fittings for tuxedos (for me and Bill naturally) from Mr Neats.
15. Get wedding dress cleaned.
16. Buy shoes to match dress. (Poor Kate is still trying to decide what she'd like.)
17. Assemble the wedding veil. (Tammy is helping Kate with this.)
18. Buy disposible cameras (for the reception).
19. Make music CDs for the reception.
20. Meet and discuss logistics with the musicians.
21. Marriage license (probably won't bother until late September).
22. Order ice cream cakes from Walrus.
Whew! That's the major stuff, I think. There's probably a bunch of little things yet to do but I can't think of them now.
Hmm, 52 days and counting............... ;-)
Monday, August 15, 2005
New BBQ Grill Assembly
I finally got around to assembling the new barbeque grill that my parents gave me for my birthday. Rather than tell you about it, I decided to play pseudo-creative and weave the tale in photostory format....
First things first, I had to get the cats off their new favorite resting spot...
This is the promise... :-)
Rune helps me verify all the pieces are here.
Chiral gets into the checking process as well.
Chiral is actually more interested in the trash than the parts.
Ready to start!
Frame assembled.
At this point, Rune decides that all this is too scary and retreats to the stairs to watch the proceedings in safety.
Got the side trays started.
A momentary delay as Chiral decides to "help" with the instruction sheet.
The side burner (kinda tricky) from below...
...and above.
Install the grill racks and we're almost done!
Chiral inspects the final product...
...and watches as I manuever the grill outside.
My new grill in its new home!
Thanks again to Mom and Dad for the awesome birthday present. Kate and I look forward to breaking it in. :-)
First things first, I had to get the cats off their new favorite resting spot...
This is the promise... :-)
Rune helps me verify all the pieces are here.
Chiral gets into the checking process as well.
Chiral is actually more interested in the trash than the parts.
Ready to start!
Frame assembled.
At this point, Rune decides that all this is too scary and retreats to the stairs to watch the proceedings in safety.
Got the side trays started.
A momentary delay as Chiral decides to "help" with the instruction sheet.
The side burner (kinda tricky) from below...
...and above.
Install the grill racks and we're almost done!
Chiral inspects the final product...
...and watches as I manuever the grill outside.
My new grill in its new home!Thanks again to Mom and Dad for the awesome birthday present. Kate and I look forward to breaking it in. :-)
Monday, August 08, 2005
Happy Birthday to Me!
I guess technically my birthday was yesterday but, eh, who cares? :-)
The weekend before last (a week before my birthday), Kate and I went down to the Springs to celebrate my birthday and my sister Dianna's birthday with my folks. It was pretty fun but I think I ate too much. :-) My folks ordered a big meal from Chili's and my Mom did quite a bit of cooking on the side. We had a nice ice cream cake with an old pic of me and Dianna copied onto it.
Biggest present I got? A new barbeque grill!! I still need to put the thing together and fire 'er up but I intend to very soon! I also got a new digital camera (well, one of my mother's hand-me-downs but I'm not complaining) and a half dozen new shorts. Oh, and Kate got me a copy of Donita Paul's Dragonquest. She, my sister, and Donita went out to a scrapbooking shindig on the Saturday of the weekend and Kate took the chance to get the book autographed by Donita! Yay!
Well, the week after that crawled by (not counting a visit to the Union Colony Theater in Greeley to see a performance of the Sound of Music) and then my actual birthday appeared! Kate had to work part of the weekend and I grand plans to get a bunch of cleaning and organizing down on Saturday (in preparation for when she moves her stuff in later this month). Unfortunately I got tagged with the "I-Don't-Wanna's" and ended up vegging out instead.
But that was okay! Then on my actual day of birth, Kate and I got together with our local friends for a light party. The theme was Make-Your-Own-Pizza, although technically Kate made all the pizza dough and the sauce. :-) Everyone brought their own toppings, though, and it was generally a lot of fun. I also had an ice cream cake (picture to the left) that was quite tasty.
Kate surprised me with a second present, namely the DVD collection for the Firefly series! Woo-hoo! Just in time to refresh my memory of my favorite episodes before the movie comes out next month.
And so I'm bushed. :-)
Kate and I are planning a "date-night" for Thursday. We're going to hit Souper Salad for dinner and see the new Sky High movie. On Friday night, we're joining Bill and Tammy in a showing of Othello down at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder.
Whew! Another busy week. In my next post, I'll have to show readers the list of minor items Kate and I decided we still need to do for the wedding. Nothing big, thank goodness, but still a handful of stuff.
More later! Thanks to everyone to did anything for my birthday! You're the best!
The weekend before last (a week before my birthday), Kate and I went down to the Springs to celebrate my birthday and my sister Dianna's birthday with my folks. It was pretty fun but I think I ate too much. :-) My folks ordered a big meal from Chili's and my Mom did quite a bit of cooking on the side. We had a nice ice cream cake with an old pic of me and Dianna copied onto it.
Biggest present I got? A new barbeque grill!! I still need to put the thing together and fire 'er up but I intend to very soon! I also got a new digital camera (well, one of my mother's hand-me-downs but I'm not complaining) and a half dozen new shorts. Oh, and Kate got me a copy of Donita Paul's Dragonquest. She, my sister, and Donita went out to a scrapbooking shindig on the Saturday of the weekend and Kate took the chance to get the book autographed by Donita! Yay!
Well, the week after that crawled by (not counting a visit to the Union Colony Theater in Greeley to see a performance of the Sound of Music) and then my actual birthday appeared! Kate had to work part of the weekend and I grand plans to get a bunch of cleaning and organizing down on Saturday (in preparation for when she moves her stuff in later this month). Unfortunately I got tagged with the "I-Don't-Wanna's" and ended up vegging out instead.
But that was okay! Then on my actual day of birth, Kate and I got together with our local friends for a light party. The theme was Make-Your-Own-Pizza, although technically Kate made all the pizza dough and the sauce. :-) Everyone brought their own toppings, though, and it was generally a lot of fun. I also had an ice cream cake (picture to the left) that was quite tasty. Kate surprised me with a second present, namely the DVD collection for the Firefly series! Woo-hoo! Just in time to refresh my memory of my favorite episodes before the movie comes out next month.
And so I'm bushed. :-)
Kate and I are planning a "date-night" for Thursday. We're going to hit Souper Salad for dinner and see the new Sky High movie. On Friday night, we're joining Bill and Tammy in a showing of Othello down at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder.
Whew! Another busy week. In my next post, I'll have to show readers the list of minor items Kate and I decided we still need to do for the wedding. Nothing big, thank goodness, but still a handful of stuff.
More later! Thanks to everyone to did anything for my birthday! You're the best!
Friday, July 22, 2005
Still Plodding Along
Man, the Fort Collins weather this summer has been a killer! This whole week has pushed toward a hundred degrees and sometimes beyond. It almost makes me want to stay extra hours at work just so I can have some air conditioned comfort.
Not that my place is all that bad; it has some cover from trees and other buildings to block the direct sunlight. But it does get stuffy in there unless I get a little airflow. I think I'll need to invest in some new standing fans and maybe eventually some AC.
I really feel sorry for my poor cat. She's stuck in the house all day with a fur coat she can't take off. She's taken to sleeping or napping in the upstairs hallway or on the bricks in front of the fireplace. :-)
Kate's making amazing progress on the invitation envelopes! She even thinks that they look pretty good (they actually look great). I think she's about up to 30-40 for them. We'll be assembling the invitations sometime in August and sending them out once we're done. Shouldn't take us too long.
Kate also found some folks to play music at the wedding. Her former landlord (who's name escapes me right now) teaches music professionally...and while she herself can't make it, she said she could put together a group of string musicians that she knows...all for a good price. Thanks to Betsy for this idea! Now Kate doesn't have to go cold-calling folks at CSU like she thought she would.
Our supervisor Lynda at the library is putting together a big potluck "shower" for us in late August (affectionately referred to as "NewWed Fest"). It's an informal thing where our co-workers can get together with us and we can have some fun. I've told folks that we don't need gifts, but I don't know how many of them are listening to us. The "shower" is also to belatedly celebrate the marriage of our library director as well as a couple of our hourly library aides (all of whom got married in June). That might pull the attention away from me and Kate for a bit, which is good 'cause Kate hates the spotlight.
I don't know what she's going to do during the actual wedding. ;-)
Next weekend we'll be heading down to Colorado Springs to visit with my family. My mother wants to throw together a joint early birthday party for me and my sister, which should be a good time.
Less than three months of single life left and counting...
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. ;-)
Not that my place is all that bad; it has some cover from trees and other buildings to block the direct sunlight. But it does get stuffy in there unless I get a little airflow. I think I'll need to invest in some new standing fans and maybe eventually some AC.
I really feel sorry for my poor cat. She's stuck in the house all day with a fur coat she can't take off. She's taken to sleeping or napping in the upstairs hallway or on the bricks in front of the fireplace. :-)Kate's making amazing progress on the invitation envelopes! She even thinks that they look pretty good (they actually look great). I think she's about up to 30-40 for them. We'll be assembling the invitations sometime in August and sending them out once we're done. Shouldn't take us too long.
Kate also found some folks to play music at the wedding. Her former landlord (who's name escapes me right now) teaches music professionally...and while she herself can't make it, she said she could put together a group of string musicians that she knows...all for a good price. Thanks to Betsy for this idea! Now Kate doesn't have to go cold-calling folks at CSU like she thought she would.
Our supervisor Lynda at the library is putting together a big potluck "shower" for us in late August (affectionately referred to as "NewWed Fest"). It's an informal thing where our co-workers can get together with us and we can have some fun. I've told folks that we don't need gifts, but I don't know how many of them are listening to us. The "shower" is also to belatedly celebrate the marriage of our library director as well as a couple of our hourly library aides (all of whom got married in June). That might pull the attention away from me and Kate for a bit, which is good 'cause Kate hates the spotlight.
I don't know what she's going to do during the actual wedding. ;-)
Next weekend we'll be heading down to Colorado Springs to visit with my family. My mother wants to throw together a joint early birthday party for me and my sister, which should be a good time.
Less than three months of single life left and counting...
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. ;-)
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Three Months to Go
No excuses this time. I've just been extremely busy. The last couple of months were a whirlwind of projects at work, wedding preparation, and the occasional fun excursion. Kate and I managed to get out of our "funk" that kept us from getting anything done before. We had decided that we would concentrate all our efforts on getting a single aspect of the wedding ready and maybe we could ride the momentum of that accomplishment on to other tasks. Well, guess what...it worked! I think this update will have to be a rapid-fire list of things Kate and I have accomplished in the last couple months:
1. For any gent getting married, I recommend the book The Clueless Groom's Guide. It's a book my mother sent me to help me figure out what I needed to worry about with the wedding. It's hilarious! And between the jokes is some really helpful advice. Thanks, Mom!
2. Photographer: We've decided on Rimrock Photography. This was a recommendation by our supervisor at FCPL. A photographer was worrysome for us because we didn't really need one for very long...an hour or so tops. Most studios had packages that started at 4 hours of time! But Mr Lynch impressed with his balance of professionalism and relaxed attitude. Also, he'll give us a reduced package of roughly 1 1/2 hours of time. We figure we'd sneak in the professional and formal shots after the ceremony but before the reception...give everyone a chance the mingle and chat. We shouldn't need anything formal for the reception; EVERYBODY will have a camera there! We were so glad when this was arranged.
3. Catering: We went with our first choice, Lopiano's. We kept bouncing back and forth about other places we should at least check into...but truth be told, we were dead-set on Lopiano's from the very beginning. We had a little bit of adventure because I misunderstood the directions from the fellow I talked to on the phone. We ended up going to the wrong meeting location...but the staff reworked their schedules and one of the owners ending up meeting with us instead. Gotta love that flexibility! Dinner will be a buffet style affair so folks should bring their appetites!
4. Rings: We have our wedding bands! Kate chose a locally owned and operated jeweler called Golden Images. These guys did work for Kate's family several times in the past. The guy that we talked to (Joseph) was extremely helpful and friendly. Good price on the rings too. He even gave us the name of an engraver in town that can do the initials and date work that we want on the insides of our bands. Now I just need to get used to wearing the ring. :-)
5. Tuxedos: I actually just took care of this today. Bill and I went down to Mr Neat's Formalwear in the mall and selected our ensembles. We'll be going back in sometime in September for the actual fittings (just in case our sizes and shapes change in the next couple months). It was quick and painless; I took notes of what I liked from their website and came in knowing what I wanted. :-)
6. Honeymoon: Kate ordered tickets through Amtrak and they've already arrived. It turned out that just ordering everything online ourselves was easier and cheaper than trying to find a travel agent to do it for us. Kate's already arranged for our hotel in Boston and we looking at a place called Adam's Inn for our week in Washington, DC. On our way out, we get to stop in Chicago for a night (hopefully we'll get to see my old friend Rob and Chantel). While in Boston, we'll look up another couple of friends, Heidi (and her husband Kim) and Kelly. Originally, we were going to leave the day after the wedding...but it turned out that if we left on Tuesday instead of Monday, our tickets would be a couple hundred bucks cheaper. Eh, why the heck not? This gives us a chance to return tuxedos and check in with folks as they leave town.
7. Flowers: Kate has ordered flowers through the Palmer House. She's always loved their arrangements. Since the church would rather not have us put plants and flowers all over the chapel, we're restricted to flowers for people involved instead. We don't really need them for table settings at the reception because Kate has another notion. So we need bouquets for Kate and Dana, boutonnieres for me, Bill, my dad, and Kate's dad, and corsages for Kate's mom and sisters, my mom and sister, and Tammy (who's helping out with guest book and dress fitting). All in all, it comes out pretty reasonable.
8. Hair: Kate tried out here planned hairstyle for the wedding recently and loved it. It's basically a weave thing like a net up on top with the rest of her hair hanging loose but curly. I love it and she got lots of compliments on it. I have a couple of pictures she took herself but I'd better ask permission before posting them. ;-)
9. Gift Registry: Pretty much done! We put in our registry at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Sears. We couldn't find everything we wanted or needed at just one store so we figured we divvy it up. We just put the last of our things on the Sears list last night. We also have a "backup" list in case (Heaven forbid!) everything gets bought before everyone has gotten us gifts! :-)
10. Hotels: Kate reserved a block of rooms at the local Comfort Suites. Now, if folks call directly to the hotel and say they're with the O'Connell-Merrell wedding, they'll get in with the discounted rate. That info we'll send with the invitations.
11. Invitations: Getting started! We just printed out the invites on vellum yesterday at Office Max. Kate's started calligraphing the envelopes and making good time (when she has a chance to sit down with them). Our co-workers still plan on helping us out with the invites as their wedding gift to us and we're going to take them up on it. Hopefully, we'll be able to work on them and send them out by late August or early September.
Whew! We're making all kinds of happy progress...and all without more than a little bit of stress. We have occasionally had to chant our mantra: "The wedding is just a day. It's the marriage that's for life." Hey, it helps.
All right, time to continue to make this Fourth of July weekend a productive one. I still need to post an entry talking about the things that Kate and I learned in our marriage prep classes but I guess that'll have to wait until the next update. I'll try to be good and not wait another 2-3 months before posting! :-)
Just over three months left in my single life. How about that? :-)
1. For any gent getting married, I recommend the book The Clueless Groom's Guide. It's a book my mother sent me to help me figure out what I needed to worry about with the wedding. It's hilarious! And between the jokes is some really helpful advice. Thanks, Mom!
2. Photographer: We've decided on Rimrock Photography. This was a recommendation by our supervisor at FCPL. A photographer was worrysome for us because we didn't really need one for very long...an hour or so tops. Most studios had packages that started at 4 hours of time! But Mr Lynch impressed with his balance of professionalism and relaxed attitude. Also, he'll give us a reduced package of roughly 1 1/2 hours of time. We figure we'd sneak in the professional and formal shots after the ceremony but before the reception...give everyone a chance the mingle and chat. We shouldn't need anything formal for the reception; EVERYBODY will have a camera there! We were so glad when this was arranged.
3. Catering: We went with our first choice, Lopiano's. We kept bouncing back and forth about other places we should at least check into...but truth be told, we were dead-set on Lopiano's from the very beginning. We had a little bit of adventure because I misunderstood the directions from the fellow I talked to on the phone. We ended up going to the wrong meeting location...but the staff reworked their schedules and one of the owners ending up meeting with us instead. Gotta love that flexibility! Dinner will be a buffet style affair so folks should bring their appetites!
4. Rings: We have our wedding bands! Kate chose a locally owned and operated jeweler called Golden Images. These guys did work for Kate's family several times in the past. The guy that we talked to (Joseph) was extremely helpful and friendly. Good price on the rings too. He even gave us the name of an engraver in town that can do the initials and date work that we want on the insides of our bands. Now I just need to get used to wearing the ring. :-)
5. Tuxedos: I actually just took care of this today. Bill and I went down to Mr Neat's Formalwear in the mall and selected our ensembles. We'll be going back in sometime in September for the actual fittings (just in case our sizes and shapes change in the next couple months). It was quick and painless; I took notes of what I liked from their website and came in knowing what I wanted. :-)
6. Honeymoon: Kate ordered tickets through Amtrak and they've already arrived. It turned out that just ordering everything online ourselves was easier and cheaper than trying to find a travel agent to do it for us. Kate's already arranged for our hotel in Boston and we looking at a place called Adam's Inn for our week in Washington, DC. On our way out, we get to stop in Chicago for a night (hopefully we'll get to see my old friend Rob and Chantel). While in Boston, we'll look up another couple of friends, Heidi (and her husband Kim) and Kelly. Originally, we were going to leave the day after the wedding...but it turned out that if we left on Tuesday instead of Monday, our tickets would be a couple hundred bucks cheaper. Eh, why the heck not? This gives us a chance to return tuxedos and check in with folks as they leave town.
7. Flowers: Kate has ordered flowers through the Palmer House. She's always loved their arrangements. Since the church would rather not have us put plants and flowers all over the chapel, we're restricted to flowers for people involved instead. We don't really need them for table settings at the reception because Kate has another notion. So we need bouquets for Kate and Dana, boutonnieres for me, Bill, my dad, and Kate's dad, and corsages for Kate's mom and sisters, my mom and sister, and Tammy (who's helping out with guest book and dress fitting). All in all, it comes out pretty reasonable.
8. Hair: Kate tried out here planned hairstyle for the wedding recently and loved it. It's basically a weave thing like a net up on top with the rest of her hair hanging loose but curly. I love it and she got lots of compliments on it. I have a couple of pictures she took herself but I'd better ask permission before posting them. ;-)
9. Gift Registry: Pretty much done! We put in our registry at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Sears. We couldn't find everything we wanted or needed at just one store so we figured we divvy it up. We just put the last of our things on the Sears list last night. We also have a "backup" list in case (Heaven forbid!) everything gets bought before everyone has gotten us gifts! :-)
10. Hotels: Kate reserved a block of rooms at the local Comfort Suites. Now, if folks call directly to the hotel and say they're with the O'Connell-Merrell wedding, they'll get in with the discounted rate. That info we'll send with the invitations.
11. Invitations: Getting started! We just printed out the invites on vellum yesterday at Office Max. Kate's started calligraphing the envelopes and making good time (when she has a chance to sit down with them). Our co-workers still plan on helping us out with the invites as their wedding gift to us and we're going to take them up on it. Hopefully, we'll be able to work on them and send them out by late August or early September.
Whew! We're making all kinds of happy progress...and all without more than a little bit of stress. We have occasionally had to chant our mantra: "The wedding is just a day. It's the marriage that's for life." Hey, it helps.
All right, time to continue to make this Fourth of July weekend a productive one. I still need to post an entry talking about the things that Kate and I learned in our marriage prep classes but I guess that'll have to wait until the next update. I'll try to be good and not wait another 2-3 months before posting! :-)
Just over three months left in my single life. How about that? :-)
Monday, April 04, 2005
Long Silences
Wow, it's been way too long since I last updated this thing. Even now this probably won't be much of an update...more of an excuse, I'd say. :-)
I can't believe how fast this year is going! Here it is the beginning of April and, I'm sorry to admit, Kate and I still haven't gotten much done with the wedding plans. We finished our marriage prep classes in February (and enjoyed them - more on that when I can) and we're about halfway through our Natural Family Planning course (which meets once a month). But beyond that, we're just dragging our feet.
There just doesn't seem to be enough time (where the both of us are off of work or other obligations) to get anything done. Kate's handling the photographers and the flowers and I'm supposed to be in charge of the catering...but in most cases, we'd need time for the both of to visit said provider for questions or sampling. And that just hasn't happened.
We did a little brainstorming about the honeymoon plans, but we'd still like to talk with a travel agent to see if there are some package deals we could put together to save money. Of course, it's hard to coordinate time for both of us to visit an agent.
I'd say that on and off for the past month and a half, I've just felt like I was running behind...like the world is rushing off ahead of me and not looking back. And I want to catch up but I can't figure out what I did with my running shoes. :-)
I'm sure it'll pass. Maybe Kate and I should focus on ONE specific detail about the wedding and hammer it down. Then maybe we could turn the sense of accomplishment into some momentum that'll take us through the rest of the tasks. I don't know. It just feels like sometimes I can't stop to breathe.
Don't get me wrong. I have every intention of going through with the wedding. Kate and I aren't going to be defeated that easily! It's just that at this exact point, I'm feeling kind of run down. And maybe a little stressed or anxious.
It'll pass, I'm sure. I just concentrate on the gift God gave me in the form of Kate and muddle through each day best I can. :-)
(And I'll try to post details about the marriage prep classes as soon as I can!)
I can't believe how fast this year is going! Here it is the beginning of April and, I'm sorry to admit, Kate and I still haven't gotten much done with the wedding plans. We finished our marriage prep classes in February (and enjoyed them - more on that when I can) and we're about halfway through our Natural Family Planning course (which meets once a month). But beyond that, we're just dragging our feet.
There just doesn't seem to be enough time (where the both of us are off of work or other obligations) to get anything done. Kate's handling the photographers and the flowers and I'm supposed to be in charge of the catering...but in most cases, we'd need time for the both of to visit said provider for questions or sampling. And that just hasn't happened.
We did a little brainstorming about the honeymoon plans, but we'd still like to talk with a travel agent to see if there are some package deals we could put together to save money. Of course, it's hard to coordinate time for both of us to visit an agent.
I'd say that on and off for the past month and a half, I've just felt like I was running behind...like the world is rushing off ahead of me and not looking back. And I want to catch up but I can't figure out what I did with my running shoes. :-)
I'm sure it'll pass. Maybe Kate and I should focus on ONE specific detail about the wedding and hammer it down. Then maybe we could turn the sense of accomplishment into some momentum that'll take us through the rest of the tasks. I don't know. It just feels like sometimes I can't stop to breathe.
Don't get me wrong. I have every intention of going through with the wedding. Kate and I aren't going to be defeated that easily! It's just that at this exact point, I'm feeling kind of run down. And maybe a little stressed or anxious.
It'll pass, I'm sure. I just concentrate on the gift God gave me in the form of Kate and muddle through each day best I can. :-)
(And I'll try to post details about the marriage prep classes as soon as I can!)
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
More Wedding Details
While Kate and I don't have anything solid that I can report on, we've really been trying to get organized about the wedding since we know there are going to be some cut-off points coming up soon.
Last Thursday, Kate and I took the FOCCUS test at our church. "FOCCUS" stands for "Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study." It's basically an "Agree-Disagree" series of questions regarding our thoughts about various aspects of marriage. Our answers will be tallied up and used to start up discussions during our marriage prep classes. In addition, the goal is to encourage the couple to talk with each other, maybe about things involved in the marriage that they didn't think of before. I was pleased to see that most of the things on the FOCCUS test were concerns that Kate and I have already talked about.
We both acknowledge that honest communication is incredibly important in a relationship. Not only to you have to be willing to talk to your partner but your partner has to be willing to hear you. And vice versa. After being together for two years, Kate and I have agreed that we can be frank and straight-forward with each other at all times. Even if one of us doesn't really like what the other has to say, we agreed that we would listen anyway. That's so important! Now we feel comfortable talking about anything. Don't get me wrong; there are days when one or the other of us is too grumpy to what not to talk like a civil human being. But for the most part, we can talk. And I think it's helped avoid a lot of major arguments that we might have had otherwise.
We start our first marriage prep class this Sunday. It'll run every Sunday of February from 1pm to 4pm. I honestly don't know what to expect from it. More on that after the first class.
Kate finally got in touch with the local instructors for Natural Family Planning. This was tricky because the phone number that we had for these folks came from an outdated form we got from the parish. That number was wrong. Kate tracked down a newer form online but the phone was still incorrect. She dug up an information number and called that. There was a quick mention of an error on the phone listing and a correction. Kate snagged that and finally got in touch with the folks who run the NFP class. Whew! We'll have our first session on Friday the 11th.
We're currently researching caterers and photographers for the wedding. This is somewhat distressing to me because of the cost. The catering I was sort of prepared for; I knew that would be expensive with all the people we're inviting. But the photographers...wow! I think the least expensive package runs around $600. Ouch! We're going to continue with the research on this one.
As far as catering is concerned, we're leaning toward a Greeley-based company called Lopiano's. We've actually sampled their menu during a dinner theater production we saw last summer. Very tasty! Plus, they sound pretty flexible and willilng to work with what we'd like to do so that's also a bonus. More on that as we make our decisions.
We're also waffling back and forth as to whether or not to have dancing. Neither of us knows how to dance but there's a traditionalist side of me that thinks there should be a first dance. Who knows? We have time to figure that one out. Incidently, we'll also be burning some CDs with music mixes that we'll play during the reception. My sister pulled that off and it worked out really well.
Kate had a neat idea for the centerpieces at the reception. I won't go into too many details because she'll probably want it to be a surprise for folks but it'll probably involve candles and mirrors. More on that hopefully later.
Invitations are also being discussed. We're really worked up over the wording. We want it to be just right. We want to mention both sets of parents because both sides have contributed so much to help us pay for the wedding. It's just a matter of how we want to word the invites. Thankfully, our co-workers Lynda and Crystal have volunteered to help make the invitations. That'll help us out a lot!
Hm. I think that's all I can think of right now. More details as they come up!
Last Thursday, Kate and I took the FOCCUS test at our church. "FOCCUS" stands for "Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study." It's basically an "Agree-Disagree" series of questions regarding our thoughts about various aspects of marriage. Our answers will be tallied up and used to start up discussions during our marriage prep classes. In addition, the goal is to encourage the couple to talk with each other, maybe about things involved in the marriage that they didn't think of before. I was pleased to see that most of the things on the FOCCUS test were concerns that Kate and I have already talked about.
We both acknowledge that honest communication is incredibly important in a relationship. Not only to you have to be willing to talk to your partner but your partner has to be willing to hear you. And vice versa. After being together for two years, Kate and I have agreed that we can be frank and straight-forward with each other at all times. Even if one of us doesn't really like what the other has to say, we agreed that we would listen anyway. That's so important! Now we feel comfortable talking about anything. Don't get me wrong; there are days when one or the other of us is too grumpy to what not to talk like a civil human being. But for the most part, we can talk. And I think it's helped avoid a lot of major arguments that we might have had otherwise.
We start our first marriage prep class this Sunday. It'll run every Sunday of February from 1pm to 4pm. I honestly don't know what to expect from it. More on that after the first class.
Kate finally got in touch with the local instructors for Natural Family Planning. This was tricky because the phone number that we had for these folks came from an outdated form we got from the parish. That number was wrong. Kate tracked down a newer form online but the phone was still incorrect. She dug up an information number and called that. There was a quick mention of an error on the phone listing and a correction. Kate snagged that and finally got in touch with the folks who run the NFP class. Whew! We'll have our first session on Friday the 11th.
We're currently researching caterers and photographers for the wedding. This is somewhat distressing to me because of the cost. The catering I was sort of prepared for; I knew that would be expensive with all the people we're inviting. But the photographers...wow! I think the least expensive package runs around $600. Ouch! We're going to continue with the research on this one.
As far as catering is concerned, we're leaning toward a Greeley-based company called Lopiano's. We've actually sampled their menu during a dinner theater production we saw last summer. Very tasty! Plus, they sound pretty flexible and willilng to work with what we'd like to do so that's also a bonus. More on that as we make our decisions.
We're also waffling back and forth as to whether or not to have dancing. Neither of us knows how to dance but there's a traditionalist side of me that thinks there should be a first dance. Who knows? We have time to figure that one out. Incidently, we'll also be burning some CDs with music mixes that we'll play during the reception. My sister pulled that off and it worked out really well.
Kate had a neat idea for the centerpieces at the reception. I won't go into too many details because she'll probably want it to be a surprise for folks but it'll probably involve candles and mirrors. More on that hopefully later.
Invitations are also being discussed. We're really worked up over the wording. We want it to be just right. We want to mention both sets of parents because both sides have contributed so much to help us pay for the wedding. It's just a matter of how we want to word the invites. Thankfully, our co-workers Lynda and Crystal have volunteered to help make the invitations. That'll help us out a lot!
Hm. I think that's all I can think of right now. More details as they come up!
Monday, January 24, 2005
Good Visit
Dianna, Heath, and Julie all came up for a visit this last weekend. It's been quite a while since they came up to Fort Collins to see me and Kate...at least since last spring! We had to do some shuffling since last time they were here Kate was still living in her rented house with plenty of room for guests. I let them have the real bed in my bedroom and slept on the futon in the office. It all ended up working out.
They got in late on Friday. I made some of my tortila soup for them but it was mostly Kate and myself that ate it. In truth, they were all pretty tired and Heath and Julie went almost straight to bed. Dianna stayed up a bit to play games and chat with me and Kate.
On Saturday, we rather bustled about. We had a light breakfast (though Julie didn't eat much the whole day) and went out for some shopping. Kate and I wanted to show them some of our favorite kid's stores around Fort Collins so we stopped at Children's Mercantile Company in Old Town, Once Upon a Child, and a locally owned shop called Harmony Kids. In the end, Julie ended up with more stuff, including some dinosaur socks and new jammies. Heath and Dianna bought us lunch at Arby's and we headed home to put Julie down for her nap.
We passed the afternoon playing games, including Quiddler (Dianna won one game and Kate the other), Boggle (Kate cleaned house, as usual), and Scene It (Dianna left us in the dust). As you can see, the womenfolk dominated. Heath put in a good showing for us men but I was a disgrace. ;-)
Kate baked a ham with pineapples, some potatoes au gratin (from a box!), and steamed some frozen veggies for dinner. It was kind of tricky getting Julie to eat - probably the strange surroundings were distracting. We put Julie to bed and were getting started on another game when the poor thing woke up crying - sounded like a nightmare or something. Heath and Dianna called the night short to take care of the little one and Kate and I soon retired as well.
Sunday was a little slow to start - we all overslept. We ended up making a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, omelets, and cinnamon rolls. After breakfast, Dianna, Heath, and Julie headed back down to the Springs and Kate and I left for church. That left us plenty of time to relax a bit before our local friends showed up that evening for seafood pasta and ice cream cake - in celebration of our friend Dawn's 29th birthday.
Fun weekend, but now I don't really want to go to work. I need a day to recover from my time off! ;-)
They got in late on Friday. I made some of my tortila soup for them but it was mostly Kate and myself that ate it. In truth, they were all pretty tired and Heath and Julie went almost straight to bed. Dianna stayed up a bit to play games and chat with me and Kate.
On Saturday, we rather bustled about. We had a light breakfast (though Julie didn't eat much the whole day) and went out for some shopping. Kate and I wanted to show them some of our favorite kid's stores around Fort Collins so we stopped at Children's Mercantile Company in Old Town, Once Upon a Child, and a locally owned shop called Harmony Kids. In the end, Julie ended up with more stuff, including some dinosaur socks and new jammies. Heath and Dianna bought us lunch at Arby's and we headed home to put Julie down for her nap.
We passed the afternoon playing games, including Quiddler (Dianna won one game and Kate the other), Boggle (Kate cleaned house, as usual), and Scene It (Dianna left us in the dust). As you can see, the womenfolk dominated. Heath put in a good showing for us men but I was a disgrace. ;-)
Kate baked a ham with pineapples, some potatoes au gratin (from a box!), and steamed some frozen veggies for dinner. It was kind of tricky getting Julie to eat - probably the strange surroundings were distracting. We put Julie to bed and were getting started on another game when the poor thing woke up crying - sounded like a nightmare or something. Heath and Dianna called the night short to take care of the little one and Kate and I soon retired as well.
Sunday was a little slow to start - we all overslept. We ended up making a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, omelets, and cinnamon rolls. After breakfast, Dianna, Heath, and Julie headed back down to the Springs and Kate and I left for church. That left us plenty of time to relax a bit before our local friends showed up that evening for seafood pasta and ice cream cake - in celebration of our friend Dawn's 29th birthday.
Fun weekend, but now I don't really want to go to work. I need a day to recover from my time off! ;-)
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Kate Has a Gown
Big news on the wedding plans front! Kate found and bought a wedding gown for herself yesterday!
Our supervisor at the Fort Collins Library Lynda had clued Kate in to a shop at the Loveland Factory Outlet mall that was clearing out their supply of wedding dresses for 50%-75% off. Kate skipped going out on Saturday, figuring it would be a zoo on the weekend, but stopped by yesterday morning to have a look.
She wasn't expecting much. She tried on several dresses, including one that matched a design that she had already envisioned. She didn't like any of those. Instead, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. Now, I haven't actually seen the dress yet but Kate gave a few descriptions. It has just enough "poof" for her and she told me that now she understands when women say a bride's gown makes them feel like a princess. :-)
Our friend Tammy took off early from work yesterday to go back down to the outlet mall with Kate before Kate had to scuttle off to work. Kate really wanted a second opinion on the dress before she bought it and Tammy has done a little seamstress work on her own so she'd know if alterations would be complicated. It turns out that Tammy approved of the choice so Kate bought the dress then and there. Tammy and Bill are holding on to the gown for now at their place but supposedly I'll get a chance to see it this weekend.
However, I'm not allowed to see my future bride in the dress...not until the wedding day. :-)
Kate is very happy. And I mean really happy! This was a big decision that she knew she'd have to make and she was imagining a long and tedious process before she found a dress that she'd like. But no! On her first excursion, she finds exactly what she wants.
And I couldn't be happier for her. I can't wait to see her in the gown...because it means that she's about to become my wife. ;-)
Our supervisor at the Fort Collins Library Lynda had clued Kate in to a shop at the Loveland Factory Outlet mall that was clearing out their supply of wedding dresses for 50%-75% off. Kate skipped going out on Saturday, figuring it would be a zoo on the weekend, but stopped by yesterday morning to have a look.
She wasn't expecting much. She tried on several dresses, including one that matched a design that she had already envisioned. She didn't like any of those. Instead, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. Now, I haven't actually seen the dress yet but Kate gave a few descriptions. It has just enough "poof" for her and she told me that now she understands when women say a bride's gown makes them feel like a princess. :-)
Our friend Tammy took off early from work yesterday to go back down to the outlet mall with Kate before Kate had to scuttle off to work. Kate really wanted a second opinion on the dress before she bought it and Tammy has done a little seamstress work on her own so she'd know if alterations would be complicated. It turns out that Tammy approved of the choice so Kate bought the dress then and there. Tammy and Bill are holding on to the gown for now at their place but supposedly I'll get a chance to see it this weekend.
However, I'm not allowed to see my future bride in the dress...not until the wedding day. :-)
Kate is very happy. And I mean really happy! This was a big decision that she knew she'd have to make and she was imagining a long and tedious process before she found a dress that she'd like. But no! On her first excursion, she finds exactly what she wants.
And I couldn't be happier for her. I can't wait to see her in the gown...because it means that she's about to become my wife. ;-)
Monday, January 10, 2005
It's a New Year
Welcome to 2005! The last year was pretty good for me, especially because it closed with Kate agreeing to marry me! ;-) Here's hoping that 2005 has it's fair share of good times as well.
Interesting that I've already managed to forget to post on my blog after only having it for a month or so. Pff. Oh, well.
The holidays were great...very relaxing. The day of our flight to Washington was a little off. Kate and I were running late heading down from Fort Collins and the cold and ice on I-25 wasn't helping matters much. On the north side of Denver, I hit a patch of "black ice" and slid off the road! Our angels were working overtime thankfully, and I managed to keep the Explorer under control enough that we only steered into the ditch between lanes. I didn't hit anyone and the car was still upright. A little work while in 4WD and we made it out of the slippery slope.
Next we braved thoroughly indecent lines at DIA and ended up missing our flight. They had started calling forward folks that hadn't missed the 45-minute cut-off for checking bagagge; if they had started doing that maybe fifteen minutes earlier, we might have made the flight. Oh, well, I couldn't hardly blame the DIA employees; they were really looking frazzled and were obviously trying to do their best to get as many people to their flights as possible. I was rather disturbed at how many of my fellow travelers were downright hostile to this poor airport workers. It made me thankful for the job that I have; after all, I could be working the airport!
We managed to get transferred to a connecting flight on Delta (rather than United) that evening at 8pm (since we missed our 11:45am flight). Kate, Emily, and I spent long hours in lines and just sitting...so much so that by the time we boarded the plane, I was too tired to be anxious about flying! ;-) Oh, on that note, I'd like to say that the flight from Denver to Salt Lake City and connecting flight to Pasco, WA, was the smoothest I'd ever had! Thanks to the nice people from Delta!
Did I mention the three of us also got tagged for "special" screening while going through security at DIA? That was interesting. I guess I must've looked pretty shady to them with my darkish skin tone and two attractive women at my elbows. ;-) Curious thing: the x-ray and hand inspection of Kate's luggage didn't turn up the full-size scissors and nail clippers that she forgot were still in her carry-on. Oops!
I spent my time in Selah, WA, either reading, sleeping in, or watching Kate's brother Daniel play video games. I'm afraid to admit it, but I have been beaten at Soul Caliber II by a 12 year old. Oh, the shame! Otherwise, the whole trip was quick but very relaxing. I finished three of the books I was trying to finish and got caught up on my sleep. Many thanks to the O'Connells for being so welcoming.
We flew back to Denver, said goodbye to Emily (and her fiance Jason), and drove down to Colorado Springs. We had a little bit of a concern because Kate and I forgot to note down where the Explorer was parked in the paid-parking lot. But angels were with us again and we stumbled into it within five minutes. We got in late to my sister's place and chatted for just a little while before crashing. We spent the next day just hanging out and headed back up to Fort Collins late that night.
Originally, we were going to stay through the morning of New Year's Eve...but since I had a party to prep for, we decided to head back a little earlier. The party was a smashing success, of course. Bill, Tammy, Ron, Dawn, Kate, and myself managed to stay up past midnight and ring in the New Year. We did miss seeing good old Dick Clark on the TV but hopefully we'll see in for 2006. Arne, Jennie, and Liam stopped by for a little while. We played a number of board and card games and drank WAY too much soda and cider. Bill and I stayed up an extra two hours to play Halo 2...and we're pretty sure we're done with XBox games for a little while. ;-)
Kate and I spent the next couple days doing absolutely nothing and then it was back to work!
And that's how I spent my Christmas holiday! :-)
Interesting that I've already managed to forget to post on my blog after only having it for a month or so. Pff. Oh, well.
The holidays were great...very relaxing. The day of our flight to Washington was a little off. Kate and I were running late heading down from Fort Collins and the cold and ice on I-25 wasn't helping matters much. On the north side of Denver, I hit a patch of "black ice" and slid off the road! Our angels were working overtime thankfully, and I managed to keep the Explorer under control enough that we only steered into the ditch between lanes. I didn't hit anyone and the car was still upright. A little work while in 4WD and we made it out of the slippery slope.
Next we braved thoroughly indecent lines at DIA and ended up missing our flight. They had started calling forward folks that hadn't missed the 45-minute cut-off for checking bagagge; if they had started doing that maybe fifteen minutes earlier, we might have made the flight. Oh, well, I couldn't hardly blame the DIA employees; they were really looking frazzled and were obviously trying to do their best to get as many people to their flights as possible. I was rather disturbed at how many of my fellow travelers were downright hostile to this poor airport workers. It made me thankful for the job that I have; after all, I could be working the airport!
We managed to get transferred to a connecting flight on Delta (rather than United) that evening at 8pm (since we missed our 11:45am flight). Kate, Emily, and I spent long hours in lines and just sitting...so much so that by the time we boarded the plane, I was too tired to be anxious about flying! ;-) Oh, on that note, I'd like to say that the flight from Denver to Salt Lake City and connecting flight to Pasco, WA, was the smoothest I'd ever had! Thanks to the nice people from Delta!
Did I mention the three of us also got tagged for "special" screening while going through security at DIA? That was interesting. I guess I must've looked pretty shady to them with my darkish skin tone and two attractive women at my elbows. ;-) Curious thing: the x-ray and hand inspection of Kate's luggage didn't turn up the full-size scissors and nail clippers that she forgot were still in her carry-on. Oops!
I spent my time in Selah, WA, either reading, sleeping in, or watching Kate's brother Daniel play video games. I'm afraid to admit it, but I have been beaten at Soul Caliber II by a 12 year old. Oh, the shame! Otherwise, the whole trip was quick but very relaxing. I finished three of the books I was trying to finish and got caught up on my sleep. Many thanks to the O'Connells for being so welcoming.
We flew back to Denver, said goodbye to Emily (and her fiance Jason), and drove down to Colorado Springs. We had a little bit of a concern because Kate and I forgot to note down where the Explorer was parked in the paid-parking lot. But angels were with us again and we stumbled into it within five minutes. We got in late to my sister's place and chatted for just a little while before crashing. We spent the next day just hanging out and headed back up to Fort Collins late that night.
Originally, we were going to stay through the morning of New Year's Eve...but since I had a party to prep for, we decided to head back a little earlier. The party was a smashing success, of course. Bill, Tammy, Ron, Dawn, Kate, and myself managed to stay up past midnight and ring in the New Year. We did miss seeing good old Dick Clark on the TV but hopefully we'll see in for 2006. Arne, Jennie, and Liam stopped by for a little while. We played a number of board and card games and drank WAY too much soda and cider. Bill and I stayed up an extra two hours to play Halo 2...and we're pretty sure we're done with XBox games for a little while. ;-)
Kate and I spent the next couple days doing absolutely nothing and then it was back to work!
And that's how I spent my Christmas holiday! :-)
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