Six Month Anniversary

Six months ago today (exactly - it was also a Saturday), we got married.

We've been asked, "So how is married life?"
EJ says: "'Well, I guess it would be weird if I'd married someone I didn't know, but I married my girlfriend, so it's pretty good."
I say, "It's great! Much more than I could have expected!"

Flashback Friday #2: The Digs and Environs

We booked a room at the Queen Anne Hotel for the week of our 'moon. It's right on the corner of Sutter and Octavia; our room faced Octavia which is apparently a slightly less-used street, so we had very little street noise, but a nice view.

Our room was on the second floor, all the way at the end of the hall.

The bed. Took up 90% of the room.

We had a mini fridge, fireplace, and TV (we watched a bit of cable here&there, nothing major.)

A new fireplace log was delivered every morning; we used the fireplace five times over our six nights; it was very cozy and relaxing.

We also had a bidet (which EJ had never seen before, I had to explain it but didn't demonstrate LOL) and a phone in our bathroom. I didn't think to use the phone in the loo, woulda made a great photo.


The hotel itself was very nice; three stories, with a reportedly haunted room (you can't book it specifically, they tell you when you check in if you get it; we didn't get it), and the SF Ghost Walk starts in the lobby every evening. I got to see the Walkers in the evenings when I was hogging the free desktop to upload all of our pictures (which is how I managed to use just one memory chip for the camera and also keep my flickr pretty well updated while on vacation). There was also a fairly nice free continental breakfast every morning; we tried to sit with different people each morning, which is how we found out about the albino alligator at the Science Museum.


Every evening the hotel also hosts a Tea, Sherry, and Cookie happy hour; EJ *really* enjoyed this. I ended up picking up some NSA cookies for myself so I could join in.

The hotel is full of Victorian antiques, and the main rooms were very nice to sit around in, chat with other visitors, and enjoy their fireplaces (as well as use the computer LOL). All the staff were very friendly, and since we stayed for a week they got to know us very well; EJ even shared some of our wedding cake we had brought along with one of the guys from the kitchen.


Once we got settled in (and slept), we headed out to start exploring. We were literally two blocks away from Japantown (and the local Vons, where I had to buy new camera batteries, boo).


We actually visited twice, our first full day and last evening in town; we did some shopping at the dollar store, the bookstore, and knife store (windowshopping there)

as well as getting some good eats (lunch, dessert, and grabbed bentos for our train ride back home). We got frozen yogurt both days we visited; on our second trip the owner remembered us (we had gotten in the habit of telling people we were on our honeymoon, got lots of "congrats!") and gave us a "special 20% newlywed discount" which was super awesome, and totally not expected!

Flashback Friday (#1)

Now that everything has pretty much settled around the homefront (although, we did welcome a new cousin this morning - happy birth day, Elwood!), how about an overview of our honeymoon? I'm going to stretch this over a few Fridays, which will give me time to figure out which of the 800 photos we took to post...!

We honeymooned in San Francisco. After cleaning up from Wedding Weekend, we left from LA Union Station on Monday morning. Almost missed our train, but quick feet (and stress-induced hero-like strength!) got us on board just in time.


our tired feets


leaving Los Angeles

We took the Amtrak Starlight, which runs up the west coast from LA to the tippy-top of Washington state. The train is double-decker, and some of the cars' top levels are "viewing cars", with clear walls and roofs for some great viewing.


the viewing car

We had a packed cooler for the ride up; 12 hours of travel (straight through to Oakland, then a bus across the bay to San Francisco) and we didn't want to waste our food monies on train food.


snacks





 
some of the sights

It was rainy a bit in the morning; we saw a lot of farmland, then the coast (up around Santa Barbara), then more farmland and what I call "middle America nothingness". It was beautiful, and by the time it got dark there wasn't much to see anyway.

We transferred from the train to a big bus that dropped us off in the center of San Francisco (landmark for me to remember our bus stop: the GAP store), where we sprung for a taxi to get to our hotel, since we had no idea where we were headed. Our taxi driver was the first to wish us a happy honeymoon!

Next installment: the hotel and local neighborhood.

A Brief Glimpse - Clothes

I made my dress and Eric's vest. I also wore a pair of hand-knit socks (made a couple years ago) and ended up *not* using the cowl/veil I knit over the summer.

A Brief Glimpse - the Food

Everything was self-made except the fruit salad (which was from Mother's Market, and all organic) and the nut clusters (from Fresh&Easy); and everything except the obvious meat (tri tip and pork) was vegetarian!

 Appetizers: Salsa-cream cheese pinwheels, caprese on sticks, nut cluster things (not pictured: olive-pesto puffs)

The main meal: fruit salad, pasta salad, sundried tomato sausage (not pictured: Jen's green bean potato salad)

Slicing up the tri tip (strangely, no pictures of the pork)

The Cake! Baked and decorated by Mom, designed and taste-tested by EJ. He made the cake stand, too.

A Brief Glimpse - Crafts

Some (professional!) shots of the wedding-day crafts taken by Mod Photography (who I ::cannot:: say enough good things about...will get their own post later!)

 My bouquet

Centerpiece

 Centerpiece

 Favors masquerading as logs

 Favors masquerading as CD's

 Guest Book

 Wedding pennants

 Wedding quilt!

 Felt decorations

Brief Update

We are still enjoying our last two days of honeymoon-ing in San Francisco, but ModPhoto has updated their blog with some pictures from our wedding!

Eric and Vanessa's Viking Wedding

On the First Day of Married Life...

I woke up. Then I packed up an immense amount of "stuff" from the wedding ceremony, helped pack three cars, and drove back down the mountain with my Husband.

Yesterday was a beautiful, hectic, suprising day that I shared with people that I love and respect. It could not have been better.

Updates and pictures when we return from our honeymoon in San Francisco.

Crunch Time

It feels like there is a LOT left to do, and only 3 days to do it in. Well,  2 days, if you discount driving time.

In reality, there is a very limited number of projects left to complete, and most of those are in the final stages. Thanks to all the hands we have had helping out for the past couple of weeks.

Next post will either be via BlackBerry, a quick "OMG!" update; or after the Big Day. Wedded bliss, here we come!

Showerlette Review

The showerlette (part shower, part bachelorette) on Saturday was great. Very low-key and laid back, which is pretty much what I was hoping for.

Jen made some fantastic food (fresh gaspacho, a simple salad with vinagrette, 2 kinds of stuffed mushrooms) as well as a cheese + cracker plate and dips with dippers; and mimosas (aaand, pretty much whatever I wanted to drink).

She also decorated (she made the door deco in my last post), and Karen went all-out (as expected/suspected) and had simple framed photos of EJ + myself throughout the house.
We played a few games (the word search became amazingly competitive!) And spent a lot of time socializing.

fMIL made a gorgeously simple cake (carrot cake, one of my faves); Karen + Jen put together a great "well wishes" type of book from all the attendees; and later on Sam and Wolfe spent some time with us before they all left.

At the end (we were all kinda tired), the 3 of us womenfolk watched "Never Been Kissed" (Jen hadn't seen it, and its one of a very short list of romantic comedies I enjoy).

Like I said, very laid back and relaxing sort of day. Just what I wanted!

Another cake in the bank.

So with a little tweaking, mom turned her carrot cake into a low sugar cake and took it to the showerlette for testing. It was approved by all. The carrot cake will be one of the two low sugar cakes that will be part of the tower-o-cakes. So that gets all of the experimental bits out of the way. No more testing. Now we have a collection of proven recipes to work with. So all that is left now is to make them and freeze them.
And then we eat them.

Another (mini) Milestone

Today when I arrived at work, I was handed a box containing my new batch of business cards. With my married name. I squee'd a bit - and the rest of my team came by to squee with me!

Can't hand them out for another 12 days...!

My friends are slackers.

So the day started off with me trying to wrangle up the cats before heading out to the car (and driver) waiting for me by the curb. Needless to say they had to wait longer than they wanted to. Then on the way out to the street my large gunny sack that I had stuffed with all my gun stuff that wasn't specifically a gun (ammo, cleaning gear, more ammo, ear muffs, even more ammo) started ripping apart as I was walking. Thankfully it was just the strap, but it did make carrying it a bit more of a trick. I made it to the street and with help from Brian, to the car. To Johns we go!
After a brief bit of glad handing and bull $#!?ing, we started making the calls to everyone that wasn't there. After 15 min of this it became clear that nobody else was coming. Dan & Azim had rock solid legitimate excuses for not being there. Everyone else I'm going to give a hard time for years to come. Thomas and his bro Richard were meeting us at the range, so off we went.
To the shooting range!
Trap shooting is great way to start any party. I don't care that I missed almost every damned clay pigeon that flew across the sky. I had fun. We all did. All five of us shot the hell out of our shotguns. John managed to bruise up his shoulder by letting the butt of the gun slip away from his shoulder just before pulling the trigger. This causes the gun to punch you square in the shoulder real hard. It hurts a lot. I laughed at him for this. He would've done the same for me. That's what good friends do. And John is the best kind of friend. He takes a joke almost as well as he takes a shotgun to the shoulder.
Prado shooting range is great for skeet and trap shooting. They have a good pistol range as well, witch was good since Thomas, Richard, & my self brought a few hand guns to play with. Sadly though Prado is not set up for riffle shooting, so almost every long arm we had had to spend the day in the trunk of the cars. : (
So after filling our noses and lungs with the scent of burnt nitrogen and hot brass we packed up our toys and headed to the next stop.
To Dave & Buster's!
This place is great. I love the bartender we had. She is one of the few drink slingers that didn't turn me down when I asked for the spill matt shot. She cringed at the notion, but went around the whole bar and poured all the spill matts into a Collins glass for me. I love asking for this drink. I love it even more when someone will actually pour it for me. Believe it or not, its usually a tasty drink. Most of the time its more mixer than booze. This time it tasted like a lot of sweet&sour and a little bit of rum. Not bad for a free drink.
After much play time in the arcade it was decided that it was time to start winding down. So Thomas&Richard headed home while Brian, John, and my self headed back towards HB to have a bit of dessert before dropping off Brian before he passed out. Then it was just me, my self, and my best friend. So we headed out to Stubrik's in Fullerton to shoot some pool. This brings us to the afore mentioned hitch of 2am close down. We didn't even get to finish our first game when the place started closing down.
To Denney's!
Like all good parties it ended at Denny's. I tell ya, there is no better place to people watch than a Denny's near 3 bars at 2am. Oh my gosh drunk people are fun to watch. So that's what John and I did till about 4:30am.
All said and done, it was a good day. I had fun with my friends. I did get to pull off 1 of 2 bachelor party traditions I have. The first is the spill matt shot. Did that. The second is a bit more risky. I've been known to streak an In&Out once or twice. Alas this did not happen last night.
I know, I'm disappointed in me too.
So the bachelor party went off without a hitch.
Well, that is unless you count all the people that were invited that didn't show up. Then you could say that there were a few hitches. But aside from that it went well.
Well, unless you count the shooting range not allowing the use of almost all the rifles that we brought.You could sat that all the ammo we bought for them was a waste. That might count as a hitch. But aside from that it went well.
Well, there was also that pesky 2am closing of all the bars that kept my best man & I from spending any great amount of time in the bar. Or the pool table that we were playing on for that matter.
So that was my big party. It was good. Had some laughs. Had some good beer. And got to hang with some good friends. What more could I ask for?

09.18.10

Let the Showerlette begin!

Basic Info: #1

We have had a few "basic" questions asked as our invitations have been received and RSVPs mailed back. Here's some basic info about our Big Day (or, Big Party, depending on how you look at it!)

1) We are renting a lodge for the ceremony and reception; the ceremony will be out-of-doors, and so will the reception (for the most part).
2) The area around the lodge is woodsy and filled with small boulders. Since we will be outside, you may come in contact with bugs, small animals, and other forms of "nature".

3) Because of the above points (as well as the focus on Big Party and the 30-minute drive up the mountain) we are really stressing comfortable, casual clothing. And sunscreen ;)

4) There will be food. (Yes, we have been asked this, and yes, I giggled a bit)

5) Many of our invitees have told us they will be staying 'up the mountain' for the weekend. There are many B&Bs and rental properties in the area. If you are considering this option, I recommend you check out http://idyllwild.com

5a) Parking will be at a premium because of the location. We are working out the logistics on our end; it would really help if people who know one another could carpool. I'll give you all an update (here, as well as individually) when we have this figured out.

If there are any more questions out there feel free to comment and we will answer them!

The Sword Comes Together!!!

So we now have, though not in our possession at this time, our wedding sword.
Yay!
There were lots of renditions and revisions and total backtracking, but it is finally done. Went to a great blade smith in Norwalk Ca. by the name of Bill Stroman. He is good at what he does, and a real nice guy.
So I ended up deciding to give him a Irish style sword, as Nessa is my lil Pict. Then gave him the designs I wanted engraved onto the pommel and guard, and had him blue it to boot. I'd give you all a pic, but as of yet there are none to post.
But even though the type of work to be done on it was simple enough, compared to casting solid bronze pommel and guard, there were hidden troubles that neither he or I had expected. When he took the sword apart, it seems that the blade was epoxied into the handle and it actually broke at the tang. But again, Bill is good at what he does and a good guy, so he welded it all back together and gave it a proper polish. No extra charge. I like him.
So the ceremony will go off on a sword, without a hitch.
Or so I'm lead to believe.

The Seven Year Sitch

So, seven years ago, on August 24, Eric and I met at a BBQ thrown by his supervisor/my 'little sister''s foster mother. We like to say that "a 16-year-old with ADHD" introduced us, because his supervisor's adopted daughter (who was 16 at the time) knew him, knew me, and made the following observations:
He says "right on!"
I say "right on!"
He has a weird sense of humor.
I have a weird sense of humor.
They would make a great couple!

::then we met at the BBQ, stayed in Teri's backyard til 1am with three teenage girls *hanging* out of their bedroom window demanding to know if we were going to kiss, or if we were in love "yet"::
::so we moved out onto the curb in front of the house, and talked until the sun came up::
((I called in sick to work that day - it was a Monday morning))

::EJ called me that afternoon and arranged our first "date" (I guess - we went out for coffee) - we spent Every Single evening together for the next three weeks::

Aaand, now it's seven years later. And we're getting married.

Us at Stubricks, where we met for coffee seven years ago.

All thanks to a 16-year-old girl with ADHD! (Thanks, Theresa!)

::Massive Update::

Hello there! I know there have not been a lot of updates on what we have been doing - lack of time to upload photos from the past 30 days onto our flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/monstergirl00 ) ... and who wants to read a long blog post without pictures? No one! Ha!

Soooo, what have we been up to lately?

First of all, me & the womenfolk went up to Santa Barbara for some wine tasting/buying for the wedding. We got two great wines (in great quantities!) - a merlot from Gainey and a reisling from Kalyra.

It was a turn-around trip, but we did stop in Solvang for some goodies, and I got our cake topper (it's a salt&pepper set from Pea Soup Andersons - I'd seen it when FMIL and I were there in May, EJ didn't get to see it when we were there in June [sold out], but I managed to nab the only set on this trip!)

It is totally cute, and totally us! (Also, it's magnetic, so I am faintly terrified that I will separate them and they will ::stick:: back together then shatter upon impact)

Moving right along, EJ and I also went up to Idyllwild *TWICE*, and finally found a place. It is beautiful, and it is all ours! (I'm not posting specific because the entire internetz is NOT invited to the wedding. Sorry, folks)

That's us at The Fort (where the shops are), with Lily Rock in the background.

We have registered at three places: Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, and Target. I will tell you, it was exhausting! After the first go-round (two-plus hours running around a store scanning things and trying to 'think') we realized we would have to break our trips up - and we're adding some online, just because I honestly can't face going back into a store with a scanner *yet *again. I also feel like a slight tool for expecting people to buy us stuff, but that's just me. FYI, Williams Sonoma treated us the best, with coffee and treats (scones and fresh fruit!), and also seemed pretty excited for us (of course!)

We have done some crafting, but I don't have any pictures of that to put up right now. Stuff is slowly but surely getting done. I will emphasize slowly.

Oh! And something realtively exciting:

We got our marriage license two weeks ago! If I had planned it better I would have waited for Friday (the Thirteenth), but I did not. Of course, waaay back in 2006 I was pushing for a 06/06/06 date "just because", but that was waaaay back when I was still in grad school and any type of martial-discussion was TOTALLY not on the table. And I'm much more happy with 10/2/10 anyway!

Total cell phone pic, which does not really hide the nervousness I felt while we were in the Clerk Recorder's office. I almost couldn't sign my name because I was shaking so much. Why? I do not know; like buying the fabric for my dress, this part just seemed so **final**.

That's pretty much the update to this point. Today's our 7 year anniversary, I'm planning to take some pics and give a brief post later on about "How We Met". Real exciting stuff, that - it involves lots of teenage girls, BBQ, a wingman, and an Irish Pub!

Quick Sidebar Update

Well! There will be a more full accounting of the past four weeks shortly (once I am away from work and can upload ALL the photos!), but two minor things:
1) LOCATION has been updated! Because we finally found a place!
2) Karen's title has finally changed on the blog. She came up with it a while ago. And yes, she has the longest title of anyone, any time, ever.

Oh those days...

Yesterday: exactly 8 weeks to the Wedding Day.

Two days ago: exactly 51 weeks since EJ proposed.