Boys Night Out

Dan’s heading out for a weekend of fun in Columbus....it’s his bachelor party! I know he’s excited to catch up with his old pals that we don’t get to see very often. But, if I may, I’d like to dissect the concept of the “bachelor” party a bit.

Now – Dan is probably the most well-behaved man I have ever known. Even when we were in college, he was always a little more mature than most guys his age. In fact, I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen Dan intoxicated since 2003. Now, he has two beers and calls it a night. But, I’ll give the bachelor party attendants a little more credit – I think they are going to show Dan a good time. Best man/brother Dave is planning this shin-dig. So, Dave, listen up!

By definition, “bachelor” party is a soon-to-be married man’s last hurrah as a single man. I’ve always felt that was a little archaic. For example, Dan is anything but a single man. He hasn’t been a single man in 5 ½ years. The fiancé thing doesn’t just fly out of the window for one night. And don’t get me started on strippers. They sort of gross me out. Is that what you really want to be doing at a bachelor party? And, I know all women probably say this about their man, but Dan’s not really into that. Seriously. He thinks they can be overly aggressive and doesn’t care for that raunchy behavior.

So here is my list of tips - for my "bachelor" and the participants:

1) Don't do anything your girlfriend, fiancé or wife wouldn't approve. This doesn't mean you can't go out, enjoy some drinks and goof off with the guys. It just means that you shouldn't do anything that would compromise the very reason you are out for the night: to celebrate your impending nuptials!

2) Keep it classy. This goes for the whole she-bang. Don't go out to trashy places, don't interact with trashy people, and don't act trashy. You can interpret that as you like!

3) Have fun. Just enjoy the time with your friends. That's all. And, then when you return home, tell me all about it. If you follow tip #1 and tip #2, that shouldn't be a problem.

And, there you have it. Laurie's tips for having some good, clean fun! Have a good time boys.

Are strippers necessary at a bachelor party?
	Yes, it's a long-standing tradition in the history of bachelor parties.
	No, it's more fun when there aren't any.
	I don't know - I've never seen a stripper.
pollcode.com free polls

Marriage Prep = Complete

That time has come. We finally finished our marriage preparation at the church. Last night, we had our last meeting with Deacon Donovan at St. Ann in Arlington. After six months, five one-on-one meetings, a weekend seminar and countless amounts of paperwork – Dan and I are officially ready to be married in a church. Our thick file of requirements is now making its way to St. Peter in Kenosha. It has to make a couple of pit stops at the Archdiocese on the way, but our part is done.

Whew.

Deacon pulled out all the stops though on this last visit. He reminded us of our test results that revealed we aren't “financially compatible” (I’m working on it!), that marriage is forever (yep, got that one down), and he again encouraged us to “not wait too long to have children.”

And, he even recruited Dan to the RCIA program that starts up in the Fall. Which, Dan was actually interested in doing anyway – but he was really put on the spot by Deacon! I didn’t get off so easy myself. Even though I’m already a card-carrying Catholic, he tried to recruit me to be more active in the church. Deacon should really be in sales – he has a great pitch!

And the fun didn’t stop there last night....

When we got home, we had a “stuffing” party – invitations! I’d addressed the invitations last week, but it took us a week to track down the right stamps. I won’t bore everyone with my frustrations with the U.S. Postal Service....but they don’t have their act together. But, the stamps are great. They actually have hearts on them, so they’re perfect in that sense. It was that or Star Wars....

It sort of felt like I was at work. Whenever one of our clients have a press conference or event, we assemble press kits. And we usually get together as a team to knock the task out quickly – assembly line style. I applied that same methodology here. Dan was on stamp duty. I did the stuffing and sealing.



Dan on stamp duty!



Me, carefully assembling


We had fun doing it, and I admired my handwriting along the way. It’s not very often that I write in cursive. Hopefully it's legible:) And now they're in the mail...in the hands of my friends, USPS!

4Real

Ok, so I have to blog about this – because it made my day. It really has nothing to do with our wedding – but three of our married friends are expecting their first born this year! So, Shawn and Lynn, Trevor and Kristen, Brian and Brittany...this is for you!

I imagine that when Dan and I have children, naming them will be fun and exciting – and extremely important. We want them to love their names and we don’t want them to get beat up because we named them something stupid....like this couple in New Zealand is fighting to do.

Apparently, this couple wants to name their son “4real.” What!!?? I guess after they had their first ultrasound, they were “struck by the reality of his impending arrival.” This poor child’s dad had this to say about the name:

"For most of us, when we try to figure out what our names mean, we have to look it up in a babies book and ... there's no direct link between the meaning and the name," Pat Wheaton told TV One on Wednesday. "With this name, everyone knows what it means."

New Zealand authorities are blocking the name, saying that numerals aren’t allowed. But, that means if the NZ government and the couple can’t come to an agreement by July 9, the baby’s name will officially be registered as “real.”

Yeah....that actually happened. "For real!"

WaPo Wedding Week

It’s Wedding Week – Washington Post style! A colleague alerted me this morning to the special feature, and I thought I’d take a look. All papers do this type of things, and typically they’re more ad/vendor-heavy than they are substance. And, seeing as I am not getting married in the District – I don’t really care who makes the best cake here! But...seeing as it’s the Post, I knew they would have something worthwhile to share.

I’m particularly enjoying the Travel Log blog. While I’m not having a destination wedding, I’m still planning a hometown wedding long-distance – which means a packing nightmare! I’m already nervous that I’ll forget something important. Although, I’m pretty much doing most things in Kenosha – dress and veil being the most important – it’s still a big job. We’ll have to pack for the wedding weekend and the honeymoon at the same time. And then there’s remembering the wedding bands, gifts, jewelry, etc. I think I need to get started on those lists I’ve promised myself I would make.

I’m not quite sure how people plan destination weddings – it seems like so much work. Sure, planning from long-distance is one thing. But, planning long-distance to an exotic location you’ve never been seems like even more work. Although I think couples who take that option are probably a little more laid-back than me, and may not sweat the details as much. Which is why, this story that was posted by one of the Travel Log’s editors confirmed these thoughts on the complications a destination wedding poses (or really, any outdoor wedding)....

The couple whose dream wedding in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., was ruined by rain. So in the spirit of Wedding Week, we offer this cautionary tale -- and a warning that if you're planning a ceremony at a beach resort, make sure you ask about the hotel's contingency plans in the event of inclement weather.

"It should have been a fantasy come true," our reader reported about her stepsister's wedding at a St. Thomas beach resort. Except it rained, and the hotel didn't have enough indoor spaces to accommodate the seven couples getting married there that day. "They offered her a hallway, which she declined, so we all stood around for a couple hours (no chairs or water even for the grandparents) along with the guests from the other weddings until her bridesmaids asked if they could use the restaurant (which didnt open til 6), then moved the tables and chairs (themselves) and had a quick ceremony with guests standing. But the icing on the cake (no pun intended): When we finally got to the reception, they had confused the hors d'oeuvres with a kids' party in another room, so instead of shrimp cocktail and beef wellington we were served chicken fingers and pizza bites! We had one unhappy bride, let me tell you..."

A hallway! Oh my gosh. That’s just insulting! I know rain can happen anywhere, anytime, but still, a hallway? Heck, it could rain September 8...but that would just spoil planned outdoor pictures. No sweat. (I hope I don’t regret that statement). The appetizer screw-up I could live with. In fact, I know of one particular groomsmen that might prefer that. He’s got a thing for appetizers. And, no, we won’t be serving buffalo wings during cocktail hour.

82 days

82 days.

One side of me is thinking very sweet thoughts, only 82 days until Dan and I get married in front of our dear family and friends and – oh my gosh, I wish it was tomorrow! The other side is thinking, holy s**t, I only have 82 days to finish planning. Now, I am in the “home stretch” of planning I suppose. We have had all of the vendors booked for months and we’ve booked everything else we’ve needed to – including the honeymoon. But, now we have to finalize everything – and that’s where the real work comes in. I know I sound like a broken record these days, but really – the devil is in the details!!

It’s thrilling and exciting, but all the more real. While I “technically” have 82 days, for my own peace of mind – I want to be done with everything on August 27! I know, it’s an ambitious goal – but I think we can do it. My last trip to Kenosha before the wedding is August 24-26. It will be crazed and hectic, but hopefully I can relax after that. (Am I living in lala land??!!!)

Anyway, we had an awesome weekend. We’ve been traveling quite a bit, and we don’t have many weekends free this summer – so it was great just to lay by the pool and catch up on things like laundry and cleaning:) We also ordered my wedding band on Saturday, which should be arriving via Fed-ex tomorrow. I can’t wait to see it on – I’ve gotten so used to the engagement ring, now I’ll have to adjust to the band. Well...in 82 days I will.

Here’s a glimpse of it:

I think we’re going to go looking for Dan’s next weekend. He has long, skinny, bony fingers – but his knuckles are bigger than they should be. (Recall the bad habits entry!!) For him, it will be more of an adjustment to wear a ring – which he has told me on several occasions. But, no sympathy here...suck it up Dan! You have 82 days to get over it!! I say this with love, of course!

Speaking of l-o-v-e....on the tube tonight is the Age of Love. It is the only reality tv show that I am giving in to this summer, because really, reality tv is on the decline. And, So You Think You Can Dance doesn’t count – that’s a talent show. But, I’ll give this one a try. The premise: a hacked up tennis player – I think he’s 30? – is setting out to meet a mate. And he has two camps of women competing for his love: Cougars and Kittens. Yup, 20-somethings and 40-somethings. Read the Washington Post’s write up – “Old Enough to Be His Sister.”

Shoes

Can you believe there's less than three months until the big day? That means that 2/3 of my planning time is gone. Lucky for me, I've been productive and I have help:) It seem like just last month that I ordered my wedding dress -- and now I have my first fitting coming up in July. I am so excited to see it on, now that it isn't four sizes too big and pulled together in the back with clamps! I finally get to see what it truly looks like. Hopefully it fits, or at least isn't too small, I've been having nightmares about that. (I hit the elliptical a little hard tonight because of that!)


While the fitting is very routine, a non-stressor for me, it means I have to get other things done first. Like shoes, veil, headpiece, jewelery...etc. And then the situation sort of moves into the stressor category. So to prevent a meltdown at the first fitting, I've made sure to have all of that stuff checked off the list. See...told you I was productive.


The shoes are a big deal. I humored Dan with the idea of getting two pairs, a daytime/ceremony shoe and an evening/cut loose on the dance floor shoe. He didn't go for it. And, I am respecting that decision. After all, I do indulge in shoes from time to time, and I'd rather get more "bang for my buck" if you will - I will only be wearing these shoes for a day! And if I had two pairs, I would wear each for about 6 hours. So, I'm going the practical route.



I wanted something with a heel, but not too high. I'm really not interested in tripping coming down that aisle:) I also wanted a traditional white satin shoe, which is hard to find. Dyeables are pretty much the only option unless you go very high-end. But seeing as I was limited to only one pair, Jimmy Choos were out of the question. I also wanted a pump - but it needed to be open-toed. So, what does this all add up to?






And, I must say. I'm very pleased. I brought them to work to break them in a bit and decide if they were the ones. And, I think they are very flattering to my feet. I will get some type of insert for comfort probably - although they are fairly comfortable, and I need to scuff up the bottoms. They are not dance floor ready, in fact they aren't really walking ready! The bottoms are so smooth - I'm not sure why companies sell shoes like that. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen if you ask me.


But, I'm happy with this choice and they'll be accompanying me that first fitting in July. Now onto the rest of the attire decisions to make...

Front Page News!

Our engagement announcement ran in last Sunday's Kenosha News. Here it is! Literally - front page news, it was the first engagement listed in the 'Celebrations' section. We like to think it that was done because our picture was the best:)

Photo Shoot

On Memorial Day, Dan and I had our engagement "photo shoot" with our wedding photographer. She hadn't met Dan yet and vice-versa, so this was a good time to meet up. Her name is Renata, she is originally from Czechoslovakia and lives in Silver Lake with her husband and their young son. They're both photographers - and they have a very unique style which we love.

So we met at Kemper Center at aroun 10:00am on Memorial Day - which turned out to be the perfect location. For those of you who don't know what Kemper Center is, it is very rich in local Kenosha history. The grounds are right on Lake Michigan and there is a ton of greenery and the buildings are a great backdrop. It's an old girl's school and is rumored to be haunted - ooh! - by nuns! It's a neat story/urban legend...check here for the scoop.

Anyway...onto our photo shoot. Now, I watch a lot of America's Next Top Model with Tyra Banks. I've seen every season - and thanks to VH1 marathons, probably two or three times. Tyra is a great coach to the model wannabes, and I think her advice can be carried over to just about anyone getting their picture taken.

Some of her main tips are:

1) Smile with your eyes: sometimes we don't want to show off a huge mouth of teeth, but we still want to appear as though we are smiling and happy....which leads me to her next tip...

2) Keep the face pretty: Tyra often has the contestants doing something in motion or some aerodynamic stunt, and if you're not careful, you can end up with a scowl or some other fierce expression (although fierce can work...if you're going for those edgy or editorial shots)

3) Find the light: This is very basic, we all need to work our angles and highlight our best features. What makes this so hard is that we don't always know what our best side is.

Now, I muttered a lot of this to Dan during the photo shoot - just to keep it fun. "Dan, find the light," and "Honey, smile with your eyes." I'm sure all of those shots were we are giggling are those moments. I didn't keep the face so pretty in all of those!

Allright...here's some of our best work!

We started out with a walk - and Dan did his best George W. Bush impression. Do you ever notice how GW points at everything - it must be a presidential thing?

Now, here are the true candidates. We're not sure which one we like the best - what do you think?