Owen-Harmon Life

One Year

2010-06-13T11:07:00.003-04:00

I've come back to this neglected little blog to say, wow, it's been a whole year.

The first year of marriage has been pretty great! Not without frustrations and challenges, but all in all, pretty darn awesome. As for the future of this blog, I clearly don't feel very inspired to post here any more so it just might be time to wrap it up. Thanks to all our family and friends for their love and support as we planned a wedding, celebrated the day, and navigated through newlywed life.

The last big news: we're expecting a baby in November. Who knows, maybe I'll start a baby blog. If I do, you'll hear about it here.

Hang Me Out To Dry

2010-02-11T19:36:00.002-05:00

Lately we've been making a few household investments. I'm working on a slipcover for our (horrendously cat-scratched) couch, DH finally fixed the ceiling fan light in the living room, and we bought a portable clothes line.

We're always looking for ways to be more "green", and, hey, we're cheap frugal, so the idea of not paying to run the dryer is very appealing. However, we're also renters and sort of lazy, so digging holes, mixing concrete, and installing big poles when we'll eventually move away anyway was probably out. Then one day I stumbled up these umbrella-style drying racks. Our dilemma is solved.

For the time being we've set it up in the laundry room. I gave it a trial run over the weekend and it holds a full load of laundry quite well. Once it's a little less snowy outside we'll put it to the test outdoors. I think one of these would work great for apartment and condo dwellers with a patio!

Ringing in the New Year

2010-01-01T11:50:00.003-05:00

I will confess, New Year's Eve has long been my favorite holiday. Many people find this odd, preferring Christmas, or Thanksgiving. New Year's is just a party, fun but not special. Or perhaps people become disillusioned with New Year's, having year after year made grand resolutions that ended up out of their reach. To me, though, New Year's is a wonderful opportunity to look back at the past, thankful for your experiences, and look forward to the future, contemplating with hope your goals. I love the energy of New Year's Eve, the twinkle in people's eyes.

2009 wasn't the easiest year for DH and me, but it was incredibly rewarding. It was our first full year in Indianapolis, a place where we are forced to admit we still don't feel at home. DH spent much of the year looking for employment, which took a toll on us both, but is now very happy in his new job. We watched the economy with baited breath, wondering if things were going to keep getting harder before they got easier. We got married! And spent 5 fabulous days with our wonderful family and friends. I am still a little awestruck when I think of all the support, love, and excitement with which we were showered by so many people. Coming 'round the bend into 2010 things are looking good. Our partnership is strong and we are hopeful about our goals as a couple, both small and large. We are satisfied.

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping you've had a chance to pause and enjoy the holiday in whatever way you choose.

Secret Santa

2009-12-14T15:56:00.003-05:00

Well, today is the annual IRT holiday party and I'm all set for the big Secret Santa gift exchange reveal. I decided to put my creativity to work and made this holiday flower arrangement and kusudama ball ornament (you may remember the giant kusudama pomanders from the wedding ceremony!) I hope the recipient will enjoy these!

Go Ahead, Have a Cow, Man!

2009-12-05T17:22:00.002-05:00

During this holiday season I wanted to take a moment to say a few words about an organization that DH and I support: Heifer International. This organization provides livestock and training to families in need around the world, offering them a sustainable source of food and income. You can browse their catalog of charitable gifts here. Heifer's work helps ensure the health and education of children, empowers women, and builds communities.

You might recall that our wedding registry included Heifer, and I am proud to say that DH and I also donated 5% of all monetary gifts received to Heifer. The next time you wonder what to get that person in your life who has everything, consider a flock of ducks, some rabbits, or even a cow!

Adventures in Home Brewing

2009-11-21T14:42:00.011-05:00

The big project in the Owen-Harmon household lately has been our first attempt at home brewing. The beer won't be ready for another week but I thought I'd post some photos of the brewing process.

Our adventure began with a visit to Great Fermentations, our local brewing supply shop. We'd purchased some equipment on Craigslist for quite a bargain and needed ingredients. For our first brew we selected an Oatmeal Stout, because, well, we like oatmeal stout and darker beers are more forgiving of minor mistakes!

This first beer is brewed from extract (as opposed to all grain brewing) which means that the kit we purchased contained several bags of pre-processed malt. Because it's an oatmeal stout the kit also contained a bag of specialty grains (the oatmeal, some coarsely ground, dark roasted barley).

Here are the grains in 2 cheesecloth sacks, kinda like big tea bags.

Here's Bill tossing them in to 3 gallons of 160 degree water.

We left the grains to steep for 45 minutes or so and got on with the business of sanitizing the equipment. The majority of home brewing failures are the result of improper cleaning and sanitation.

Here's the fermenting bucket, filled with sanitizer and some of the other brewing tools.

Frothy, grainy goodness. This steeping process creates fermentable sugars for the yeast to eat, which is what makes the beer!

Stirring. And stirring. And stirring some more.

The grain bags have been removed, extract powder added, and once all the extract (like, 5 pounds of it) is dissovled the mixture is brought to a boil. Which took an hour. Then hops are added and it boils for an hour.

Chilling the wort.

After the hour of boiling the wort must be chilled quicky to prevent contamination and oxidation. We put the covered pot in a sink full of ice. Chilling takes about 30 minutes.

Once the beer is below 80 degrees it's time to aerate it (stir and splash it so oxygen gets in it for the yeast.) We swished and poured it into the fermenting bucket and once it was under 70 degrees we pitched the yeast.

These special brewing yeast packs are specially selected for the type of beer you're brewing and come with an activating solution in the pouch. This gets the yeast multiplying before it's tossed in to the wort.

Finally, it was time to cover the bucket and let it sit. It stays in the bucket for 2 weeks prior to bottling, plenty of time for the yeast to work its magic.

See the bubbles? The yeast is in action!

We bottled the beer last weekend, at which point a small amount of additional sugar was added to spur on a little more fermentation in the sealed bottles. This is what creates carbonation. We did taste the beer before bottling and, while it was totally flat (it should have been at that point), the flavor was very nice. So long as we got our bottles clean enough and the priming sugar mixed well I think our beer should be pretty darn good! We're so optimistic, in fact, that Bill is all set to brew another batch this weekend, a Chocolate Porter. mmm ... with any luck we'll have 2 batches ready before Christmas.

Holiday Craftiness

2009-11-16T16:08:00.004-05:00

With Halloween over, Thanksgiving bearing down, and a weekend of watching tech rehearsal for A Christmas Carol, I finally got inspired to get our Christmas Cards going.

Being the ~~cheap~~ frugal and creative person that I am, I decided to make cards again this year. I started out with the same stack of holiday scrapbook paper and plain white envelopes as last year (with a box of 250 it will take a while for us to run out). Once again I made cards by spray adhering the holiday paper to some cardstock remnants found in the recycling bin of the printing company located in our props storage warehouse (free and up-cycled! beat that!). However, this year I improved on the design by making coordinating envelope liners and mailing labels. A sign of my incredible creativity or a huge, pathetic red flag that I need to make some friends here in Indy? I'll let you decide.

Now I just have to write in and address them all ... and manage to get them to the post office. Eeeep.

2009-10-17T12:06:00.005-04:00

Probably the last backyard bouquet of the season: snapdragons, zinnas, goldenrod, and some greens from the shrubs in our front yard.

Another class project: a fall basket of carnations, various mums, and spray roses with leather leaf and variegated pittosporum.

Our final class project: a topiary style arrangement of alstromeria with a base of carnations and solodaigo in a painted terra cotta pot.

Floral Design Update

2009-09-21T20:55:00.004-04:00

So I've had a couple more sessions of my floral design course and thought I'd share some photos! The picture above is from last week's class, a hand-tied bouquet. It's called "hand-tied" because you hold it in your hand while you "tie" the flowers together by lacing the stems together, starting with the outer foliage. (Note: I'd been calling the bouquets I did for the wedding "hand-tied" bouquets ... I was wrong!) This creates a very stable arrangement that holds it's form when you plop it in the vase.

Tonight we did a very fundamental arrangement of long-stem carnations in laced with greens. This is the same technique one would use to vase a dozen long-stem roses, along with a variety of other flowers (like irises, tulips, daffodils, gladiolas, and gerbera daisies.) It starts similarly to a hand-tied bouquet but once the big-leafed foliage is laced together you put it in the vase. The rest of the flowers are laced directly in the vase. The challenge of this arrangement for me was keeping the carnations long enough and leaving some air in it all. I have tendency to make dense arrangements. (Looking at the picture I still go, are the stems too long ?? But the teacher said no so I'm trying to believe her.) The reason for all the height: long-stem roses are more expensive because of their long stems! The last thing you want to do is cut them all short, right?

Last, there were some extra flowers left after demo of a pave bouquet (this is the kind of bouquet I made for the wedding) and a pave arrangement. The picture above is the pave arrangement I made when I got home. Pretty!

Things to love about summer: the backyard

2009-09-05T11:25:00.004-04:00

Life is like a bunch of flowers ...

2009-08-31T21:31:00.004-04:00

Tonight was my first floral design class and it was lots of fun. We made a basic round centerpiece. I learned not to be the last person in line to get my flowers 'cause you end up with the stems that have lots of un-opened buds and the broken ones! :) However, I think mine still turned out just fine. And hey, when the buds open in 3 days it'll be like a whole new arrangement, right?

I have to say, getting out of the house and taking this class, I felt more like myself than I have in a long time. It was nice to be around new people, and I get completely lost in arranging flowers. So zen. Driving home (with my arrangement in tow), accelerating down the highway with the setting sun in the rear view mirror, blasting Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" on the stereo, I could at least recall the memory of a time when I knew everything would turn out alright. And that's not darn bad for today.

Craft Store Withdrawal

2009-08-28T21:33:00.003-04:00

A little-known side effect of marriage is apparently craft store withdrawal ...

Most people probably don't have a job where they frequent places such as JoAnn Crafts, Michaels, and the wholesale floral supplier, but I do. (Also, how many of you have a "favorite fabric" you visit once a week but never buy because you can't imagine what you'd do with it that would make it worth spending the money? Guilty!) And now, every time I go in I find myself wandering through the aisles, thinking of all the lovely invitations and decorations and bouquets I would make with such beautiful materials. Sigh. I really am pathetic.

But, I guess before I feel too sorry for myself I should remember the 4 bins of yarn under the bed, the storage rack full of fabric, and the various other art supplies scattered throughout the house that I could do something with if I weren't so lazy! Vive la weekend!

What to do with the dress?

2009-08-27T08:06:00.001-04:00

As the wedding began to fade into memory I had to decide what to do with my wedding dress. Now, I loved my dress. It was comfortable, fun, and just perfect for me. I loved shopping for it with my mom, sister, and grandmother. But I didn't love the idea of letting it hang in our (non-existent) closet for the next 500 years. Because I loved my dress I wanted it to be worn again. So, I decided to sell it.

First came the task of getting the dress clean. Now, dry cleaning for a wedding dress can cost $100-$200 easily, which would pretty much negate the profits of selling the dress. I did some research online and turns out you CAN hand-wash a wedding dress, IF it's made of synthetic fibers (not silk). So, I scrubbed the bathtub really, really well, rolled up my sleeves, and dove in. It probably took 3-4 hours of soaking, gently scrubbing the hem with a soft toothbrush and detergent, more soaking, copious rinsing, and rinsing some more to get the dress sparkling ivory again but it worked! The dress looked great and ready to go. Granted, I was getting it clean for the purpose of re-wearing in the very near future. If you're trying to preserve your dress so your granddaughter can wear it maybe hand-washing isn't the way to go.

Finally, I put the dress up for sale on BravoBride. A couple weeks later I had an interested buyer. We exchanged a few emails, she sent a payment using Paypal, and I put the dress in the mail! Sometime in the next year a Minneapolis bride will have a fabulous wedding wearing my dress and I couldn't be happier. She gets to save a little money, I get to make a little money, and we both conserve the resources that would have gone into making another identical wedding dress.

With the money from the dress I signed up for a floral design class at a local university. I had so much fun doing the wedding flowers that I decided to learn how to do it for real! It starts Monday and I can't wait.

"So How's Married Life?"

2009-08-15T10:32:00.004-04:00

Married life is good. Fine. Not all that different from shacking up life, I like to say! I think that running a household together for almost two years made for a pretty simple transition. Now that the wedding is well in the past it's just back to the day-to-day grind.

Which leaves us with a question: what is the future of this blog? Not much else to be said about the wedding, really, unless anyone has a few more burning questions. The blog turned out to be more of a personal planning journal and a way to share information with family and friends, so I can't imagine I have any sort of "public" audience using this as a wedding planning resource. I suppose I could re-name it "Owen-Harmon Life" and regale you all with tales of our adventures ... unfortunately our life is pretty boring right now. I work. Bill looks for work. We cooks, we clean (though never enough), we laugh at our ridiculous and adorable cats. Together we ponder our next move, more often than not we feel discouraged. (Welcome to the real world, right? Yeah, I get it, life can be discouraging at times ... but who, during such times, doesn't hope/wish/long for slightly less discouraging days?)

So, I guess the answer is "stay tuned, maybe I'll come up with a good reason to keep posting here!" And, you can always stop by my other blog, Knitjenious, to see what craftiness I'm up to. Now that I've said that, I better go update it! Eeep!

Pro Pics!

2009-07-28T20:14:00.006-04:00

The disc of pro photos arrived today! Hooray! I'll be putting them in a Flickr folder if you want to order prints that way, or you can also order archival quality prints from Scott C Photography. Also, remember that the highlight gallery photos can only be ordered through the photographer's website.

Updated to add: It appears as though you must be signed in to the owen_harmonwedding flickr account to order prints, though you do not have to be signed in to view or download the photo files. Email me or leave a comment if you lost the password!

Kusudama Ball Tutorial, or, What Were Those Things Hanging Overhead During the Ceremony?

2009-07-27T12:30:00.003-04:00

I've been asked several times about the hanging paper flower balls that we used as ceremony decorations, and the link to the tutorial is here and here on Folding Trees.com.

The directions tell you to you 3"x3" squares of paper but you can use other sizes, as long as the pieces are square. For the wedding kusudama balls I used 6"x6" squares, and I've also used squares as small as 2"x2" to make Christmas ornaments. Also, I just glued the ribbon to the inside of the ball, instead of running it all the way through and securing the end with beads/buttons. The other sneaky trick I employ when making these is to use paperclips as clamps. That way you're not stuck holding the paper petal together, waiting for it to dry. Once you have the basic idea down I would estimate making one ball takes about 3-4 hours. (Fortunately I had help from my mom in making the wedding balls! Extra hands make the process go a lot faster!)

Honeymoon Pics 4

2009-07-23T17:34:00.006-04:00

More hiking pics ... this time in the other half of Lake of the Ozarks State Park. The big feature here is this castle! Or what's left of it ...

Honeymoon Pics 3

2009-07-20T10:29:00.007-04:00

One great way to cool off in Central Missouri is to explore one of the many area caves. We chose a particularly hot afternoon to visit the Ozark Caverns in Lake of the Ozarks State Park. We arrived early for the tour so we took a little hike first.

This is the most striking feature of Ozark Caverns, an area where the water that forms stalactites and stalagmites rains down like a shower into a geologically formed basin.

Us in the cave. In spite of the 100+ degree heat index it was about 60 degrees inside the cave. Chilly!!

One the drive back to the resort we drove down some winding dirt roads in search of the Swinging Bridges. While driving we saw this turtle in the middle of the road! And if you know DH you know he loves turtles ... we had to get out of the car and take this picture.

Speaking of wildlife, we saw deer in people's front yards nearly every time we drove back to our condo.

Puttering Around the House

2009-07-19T11:18:00.002-04:00

Now that all this wedding hoopla has passed DH and I find ourselves with a lot of time on our hands. We try not to drive each other crazy being home together every day (I start back to work for the season on August 10th) and one of the things we've been doing to pass the time is make lots of meals from scratch. We recently started planning our dinner menu for the week in advance (an idea we totally stole from Janelle and Drew) and that's working out great. Even DH is enjoying it, and he's always been the "go to the grocery store every day and get what you feel like having at that moment" kind of guy. It also really reduces the chances we'll waste food because we've focused on buying only what we need to make the specific meals we've chosen. All this home cooking has also given us the chance to play with our new toys (aka wedding gifts)! We've used our KitchenAid mixer, waffle iron, baking stone, cookbooks and recipes, and lots of other stuff at least a few times already

In the past few weeks we've made homemade chickpea burgers, red beans and rice with chicken, pizza (with dough from scratch), sushi, carrot-peanut summer soup (surprisingly good), jicama slaw, fish tacos, and lots of other things I can't remember right now. The farmer's market is in full swing these days and our intake of fresh produce has picked up significantly, a much-needed change after a month of celebrations, vacations, and generally eating terribly.

So, one of the bright sides of dual unemployment is getting in to some good habits that will hopefully stick with us when we go back to working full-time.

Honeymoon Pics 2

2009-07-17T20:41:00.008-04:00

One of our honeymoon activities was going horseback riding. Here we are are at Lake of the Ozarks State Park, getting ready to ride!

After the ride we went for a little hike. I was very glad to have my Camelbak water reservoir in my backpack ... the heat index was over 100 the entire week!

Honeymoon Pics 1

2009-07-16T14:27:00.009-04:00

So, I finally downloaded the honeymoon pics from the camera and thought I'd start sharing a few. Here are some shots from around the condo where we stayed. As you can see, we were right on the lake with a wonderful view!

View from the condo balcony

Another balcony view

Bill admires the view

Meat!

Lounging on the couch

Mmmm ... coffee.

Same view during the single, 45-minute thunderstorm of the week. Eeep!

Taking Care of Business

2009-07-11T11:39:00.004-04:00

After 4 weeks of marriage we decided it was time to get around to some of those pesky business details involved with entering a legally binding contract, such as combining our auto insurance and getting renter's insurance to cover our possessions (I know, I know, we've been adults for how long and haven't had renter's insurance? I suck at being a grown up, what can I say?) At least I'm not changing my name, and we've had a joint checking account for the last 2 years so the effort involved in taking care of business is minimal.

There are some perks to this process, like the fact that even with adding renter's insurance we're saving over $100 compared to what we were paying for our individual car insurance policies. How is that even possible? Those Progressive commercials may be annoying but man, they are saving us a lot of money. I guess now that we're married we're theoretically more responsible drivers?

Next big thing to look in to: life insurance. I've got a small, term policy through my employer (which I need to update the beneficiary on) but am at a total loss about where to go from there. Recommendations are welcome!

Like Music to Our Ears

2009-07-10T09:28:00.005-04:00

I've had a few people ask about or comment on our music choices for the ceremony and thought I'd post a little about it.

The playlists for all parts of the day were DH's big wedding task and I think he did an amazing job! (Including a great job of deflecting my control-freak tendencies ... "this is your task ... but I want it this way! when will it be done? ... but it's your task, really ...")

For the processional of the grandparents, parents, and bridesmaids we used the song Little Martha by the Allman Brothers Band. We liked that it was a slightly upbeat instrumental piece as we didn't want the processional to get bogged down. It also set a nice tone for the ceremony and the day as a whole. Plus it was easy to loop so we could let it play as long as necessary.

The second processional piece for my dad's and my entrance was Johnny Cash's version of the David Allan Coe song Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone). The words of this song are a request for a solemn vow and it really spoke to what DH and I feel a wedding is all about. (After all, I've already asked him to "go away to a far off land" with me and he accepted.)

We wanted the recessional to set the tone for the recession to follow so we went with Joey Ramone's version of Wonderful World. It's a song everyone knows in a style that really kicks off the party! This choice was also a little homage to Dorothy and her husband John (who introduced me to this song many years ago in Texas) who were unable to attend our nuptuals due to the imminent birth of their first child, Jackson, who arrived on June 22. Congrats!!

Stay tuned for more recaps and updates on married life!

Photos

2009-07-01T17:26:00.003-04:00

If you haven't had the chance to look through them already, here's a direct link to the professional photo galleries. I recommend checking out the Highlights gallery first, it is pared down to some of the best images of the day. The full gallery is there as well (all 432 photos of it!) if the highlights leave you hungry for more!

The galleries

We should be getting a disc soon of all the photos in the full gallery, though the additional effects included in the Hightlights will not be on the disc.

Back by Popular Demand

2009-06-28T20:14:00.004-04:00

We have returned from our honeymoon vacation, relaxed, rested, and having had lots of fun! I can't wait to tell you all about it but thought I should resume our recaps where we left off: the ceremony.

The final "reading" of our ceremony was the closing message, read by Drew. This message was something Bill found while looking through a box of sermons by his late grandfather, the Reverend Albert G. Schofer. The text, hand-written on the back of a church program, goes as follows:

Nothing is easier than to say words.

Nothing is harder than to live them, day after day.

What you promise today must be renewed and redecided tomorrow- and each day that stretches out before you.

At the end of this ceremony, you will legally be man and wife but still you must decide each day that you want to be married.

All of us know that you are in love. But beyond the excitement and romance, what is love really? - caring about the welfare of your partner- not possessive- makes burdens lighter- joys stronger because you share them. It makes you stronger because you can reach out and be involved in life in ways you dared not risk alone. May you meet the day by day living as married people gladly. May God go with you.

This Just In ...

2009-06-23T21:41:00.002-04:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog-cast to announce that pro photos are up on Scott Cleveland's site!

Since I am blogging on an iPod from our honeymoon you are just going to have to get to his site through the vendor link in the left-hand column and I will post a pretty link here when we get back.

Xoxo!
Jen (and Bill)

Wedding Ceremony: Second Reading

2009-06-18T16:20:00.003-04:00

Wedding Day; by Anonymous

Now comes the knitting, the tying, the entwining into one,
Mysterious involvement of two, whole separate people
Into something altogether strange and changing and lovely.
Nothing can ever be, we will never be the same again;
Not merged into each other irrevocably but rather
From now on we go the same way; in the same direction;
Agreeing not to leave each other lonely, or discouraged or behind,
I will do my best to keep my promises to you and keep you warm;
And we will make our wide bed beneath the bright and ragged quilt
Of all the yesterdays that make us who we are,
The strengths and frailties we bring to this marriage,
And we will be rich indeed.

Wedding Ceremony: First Reading

2009-06-17T15:23:00.002-04:00

The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are square in your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed down from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving, to hide it, fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true yourself;
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the moon in God’s presence.
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know, or how you came here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in empty moments.

We want your photos!

2009-06-16T09:08:00.006-04:00

The lovely wedding photos you've seen on the blog so far are courtesy of some of our guests who have uploaded their photos to the wedding Flickr account. If you have photos you'd like to submit, here's a little reminder of the instructions.

Download the pictures from your camera to your computer.

Go to www.flickr.com.

Sign in using the username and password on the reception card (if you didn't take/misplaced the card, please email me or leave a comment here and I'll get you that info ... I'd rather not publish it on the internet for all to see.)

Click on "upload photos".

Select the files from your computer and hit go!

The final step is to move your uploaded photos to the "Guests' Wedding Photos" set. (However, I can do that part too. The biggest thing is just getting them uploaded.)

Thanks to those who have uploaded their pics already, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for photos as Bill and I obviously didn't take any ourselves!

We did it!

2009-06-14T16:07:00.004-04:00

Congrats to MIL for being the first to upload her photos to the flickr site! More photos, links, and re-caps to follow ... after a few nights of sleep!

Thank you so much to everyone for your kindness, generosity, and outpouring of love. We will treasure the last 4 days for the rest of our lives together.

Traffic Alert

2009-06-10T12:31:00.004-04:00

Just got this in my email inbox and thought I'd share it with all of you who are traveling to Indianapolis this weekend:

Traffic Alert

On Saturday, June 13, Indiana Pride 2009 Parade and Festival will be held along Mass Ave and in University Park. Event hours are 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Expect heavy pedestrian activity in the area during this time. The following street closures will be in effect for this event:

Vermont Street between Meridian and Pennsylvania streets will be closed from 5 p.m. June 12 through 11:59 p.m. June 13.
New York Street between Meridian and Pennsylvania streets will be closed from 6 a.m. - 11:59 p.m. June 13.

During this event, please plan your travel through Downtown accordingly. There will be traffic and parking restrictions near the event sites. Log onto www.indydt.com for additional information.

This area of downtown is several blocks northeast of the theatre and a few blocks from the Hilton Garden Inn so it's not likely you will be directly affected by the street closures, however it may reduce the amount of available street parking and cause general traffic slow-downs due to extra pedestrians in the area. Just something to keep in mind as you plan your trip.

Honeymoon!

2009-06-09T10:04:00.003-04:00

Several people have inquired about our honeymoon plans so I thought I post some info!
We are going to the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri, specifically the Osage Beach area. My Grandma Owen generously offered us her timeshare week for our honeymoon so we chose The Worldmark Lake of the Ozarks. It's right on the lake and very close to the Lake of the Ozarks State Park, where we plan to enjoy some light hiking and horseback riding. Other must-dos include getting massages, eating steak, and possibly renting a jet-ski. We also plan to stop for a night in St. Louis on our way back so we can have an evening out on the town. I can't remember the last time I took a week long vacation, or a vacation that wasn't to visit family and friends, and I can't wait to have some time to just relax!

On the eve of one week

2009-06-05T21:54:00.002-04:00

One week from now our families and friends will be here, we will have finished our rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner, I will be in the company of 10-15 of my closest girlfriends from the last 15 years of my life ... But for tonight FH and I are chillin on the patio, just enjoying each other's company. We have had a very nice week together, preparing for the wedding and getting excited about it all. We are so grateful for the support of our family and friends and can't wait to see most of you very soon!

The Ten Day Forecast

2009-06-05T09:40:00.005-04:00

The bad news: this is the little symbol currently appearing next to our wedding date in the 10-day forecast, along with a 60% chance of rain. The good news: the 10-day forecast is almost always wildly wrong! :)

Actually, I am much more worried about it raining on Thursday night or Sunday morning (the bbq at our house with the parents and the brunch at our house). We did get a canopy-type tent for the backyard that will keep off a light-medium rain (or shelter guests from the mid-day sun) but our house will definitely be crowded if it pours!

But, in general, if you are getting ready to travel to Indy for the wedding next week, expect highs of around 80 and lows of around 60. And bring your raincoat just in case ... this is early summer in the Mid-west and thunderstorms tend to spring up suddenly around 4 pm at least 3-4 days a week.

Downtown Dining: Dinner Edition

2009-06-04T09:01:00.004-04:00

For those of you who will be in town Friday night and looking for a place to chow down, here are some ideas!

There are several restaurants in the blocks surrounding the Indiana Repertory Theatre, including most of the standard chain restaurants one finds attached to shopping malls these days. PF Chang's, Champps, Weber Grill, and Buca di Beppo can all be seen from the corner of Illinois and Washington streets. There are also 3 brew pubs in a 2 block radius: Rock Bottom at 10 W. Washington, Alcatraz at 49 W Maryland, and Ram at 140 S. Illinois.

If you're looking to escape the world of national chain restaurants, here are a few more excellent options:

Yats is a local restaurant with several locations around town, and man, do they have a great thing going! If you're looking for cheap, hot, and amazingly tasty cajun food you have to check this place out. They have only 5 options of entree each day, all served up in huge portions over rice. You can get one choice of entree for around $6 or a split plate of 2 entrees for around $7. Watch out though, it can be pretty spicy. The closest Yats is located at 659 Massachusetts Ave (which would also give you the chance to check out the Mass Ave neighborhood, a great part of downtown with little shops, bars, and tons of other restaurants.) Ooh, looking at the website, it would appear Yats has recently expanded to the Chicago market. Yats is probably a good 20-25 minute walk from the theatre but there is fairly ample parking in the Mass Ave area should you choose to drive.

Looking for a little adventure? Check out Sushi on the Rocks at 235 S Meridian. FH and I had lunch there the other day to celebrate picking up our marriage license and it was so delicious. Be sure to sit at the sushi bar and watch the sushi chef in action!

Finally, a favorite of the IRT production department is Loughmiller's Pub. It's located about 1 block west of the theatre on the south side of Washington street and serves up great burgers, sandwichs, big salads, and all the other standard pub fair.

Also, with all this talk of food, I should remind everyone staying at Candlewood Suites that your rooms will have kitchens in them so if you'd rather not attempt to find a restaurant you'll have all the resources you need to refrigerate food and cook for yourself. Candlewood has a small shop in the lobby that sells snacks, convenience foods, and other essentials, though there are really no restaurants within walking distance from the Candlewood so you'll need to drive (albeit less than 1 or 2 miles) to get to dining options.

Licensed to Wed

2009-06-02T16:26:00.004-04:00

FH and I went down to the City-County building this morning, did the paperwork, and now have our marriage license! Hooray! Bet you're all relieved to know you'll be attending a legally binding ceremony in just 11 days. Unfortunately we did not take the ubiquitous "holding up our license with a cheezy smile" photo to post for you.

More soon!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

2009-05-31T10:29:00.002-04:00

Regarding name changes, FH and I have reached our final conclusion: for the time being we will both keep our current legal names. We've discussed me hyphenating, we've discussed both of us hyphenating, (one thing we did not discuss was me changing my name completely, I've worked long enough in my profession that I'm not willing to totally give up my name) and have decided that keeping the names we have now will work just great for us.

Why? Perhaps it's laziness. I mean, who really wants to get a new driver's license, social security card, credit/debit cards, checks, change all your tax and insurance forms, etc? Especially when you're keeping the name you have as part of your new name. I may eventually choose to hyphenate socially without legally changing my name but I just don't see it being worth the effort to make the legal change.

(me, filling out name change paperwork? I'll skip it.)

Most importantly, our names have served us quite well for nearly ... well, for some years now. If people have a hard time wrapping their heads around the idea that we're married but have different names, we'll just write it off as part of our "mystique".

(And if you're thinking of asking, "but what about when you have kids?" let me say, IF we have kids we'll probably hyphenate their names, but don't go counting any chickens before they're hatched folks! :P)

Shower recap!

2009-05-30T11:36:00.013-04:00

Last weekend I attended my bridal shower, hosted by my aunts at the home of my Aunt Ruth. It was great to spend the afternoon with my grandmothers, many of my aunts and cousins, my step-mom and my mom. I've really never been to any other showers (other than one I helped host for a friend) so I wasn't sure what to expect!

We started off with a few games (none of them embarrassing, thank you!!) First we whet our appetites with a game where participants had to fill in the names of 20 different types of cake based on provided clues. mmm, cake...

Next, the guests filled in Bingo cards with their predictions about what gifts would be received that day. On my mom's side of the family no celebration is complete without Bingo (it's an important part of our extended family Christmas tradition, invented as a means to keep 17 grandchildren occupied for several hours once dinner was over and presents had been opened.)

My favorite game was trying to match songs from a list to the guests whose wedding the song was from. My initial strategy was effective, basing my guesses on the era that each song was popular, but after the first few I was stumped ... everyone seemed surprised at the effort I put into getting the right answers, I guess I strive to be an over-achiever even at bridal shower games! lol

We spent some time opening gifts and I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my family and friends. More even than the gifts I appreciate the thoughtfulness of everyone's kind wishes, the support and excitement offered to me and to Bill as we get ready to take the leap into marriage.

Then we dug in to the cake and punch! My aunt and grandmother had collected a stack of antique cake plates, including a special bride plate, which was such a fun and lovely touch. I took the plates home at the end of the day and plan to save them for our next family bridal shower. Sounds like a new tradition in the making!

And finally, a few more family photos.

Me with my grandmothers
(Left is my maternal grandmother, Dorothy;
Right is my paternal grandmother, Mildred)

Me with my step-mom, Deb (on the left) and my mom, Amy (on the right).

Okay, off to finish my thank-you notes! We can't wait to see you all in just 2 weeks.

Downtown Dining: Breakfast Edition

2009-05-29T18:29:00.005-04:00

It's Saturday morning, June 13, 9 am. You awake in Indy, hungry, and venture out into the city in search of sustainance. Where to go?

My very first recommendation is Patachou on the Park. Located on the SW corner of Capitol and Washington, this member of the Cafe Patachou family serves up amazing omelets, groovy granola, and cup after cup of delightful coffee. They use a lot of locally grown ingredients and everything is always so simply fresh. Patachou is open from 7 am-3pm weekdays, and 8am-2pm weekends.

If a bagel is more your style, try Einstein Brothers at 47 South Illinois Street, between Washington and Maryland on the east side of the street. Open weekdays from 5:30am-4pm, Saturdays 6am-4pm, Sundays 6am-3pm. But if you want a bagel on Sunday morning just come to our house!

For those who can't resist the 'buck, the closest downtown Starbucks is located on the east side of Monument Circle (the intersection of Market and Meridian streets, 2 blocks east and 1 block north of the theatre.)

Have a donut craving? There's a Dunkin Donuts on the corner of Washington and Pennsylvania, about 3 blocks from the theatre. Convenience a concern? The Circle Center Mall, connected to the Embassy Suites/Indiana Repertory Theatre has the standard food court fare. Breakfast-y offerings include Cinnabon, and who knows what else ... does Chick-fil-a have breakfast?

Hopefully this post gave you a few ideas of where to forrage for food during your stay. And, as always, you can find more choices of restaurants at http://www.indydt.com.

Wedding Weekend Events: After-party and Sunday Brunch Open-House

2009-05-26T10:36:00.004-04:00

With under 3 weeks to go I think it is about time I post a little information about wedding weekend events (other than the ceremony and reception.) We don't plan to issue formal invites for these events so feel free to spread the word to other non-blog-reading attendees.

As you know the ceremony will be held at noon. The reception will immediately follow and run until about 4:30 pm. For those who are staying overnight in Indianapolis we plan to gather around 7 pm for an informal after-party at Scotty's Brewhouse, located at 1 Virginia Avenue in downtown Indy. It's a leisurely 10-minute walk from the theatre/Embassy Suites/Hilton Garden Inn. Scotty's is smoke-free (not a law in Indiana/Indianapolis) and family friendly, complete with a great soda fountain drink menu.

Sunday morning-afternoon we will also host an open-house brunch at our home in Fletcher Place. We'll be there by about 10am and would love to offer you a bagel, cinnamon rolls, some coffee, and one last hug before you hit the road to head home. (And for those NOT heading home right away, perhaps a mimosa or bloody mary?) I won't post our address here but will say it's only a mile from the center of downtown. You can google map the return address from your invite or just email me for directions. Plentiful street parking is available near our house.

We look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Gardening: The Race Is On

2009-05-22T10:38:00.007-04:00

Well, today is three weeks from flower arranging day so I thought I'd post a little update.

I'm sad to say that I'm 99% certain the annuals I started from seed are just not going to be blooming in time to participate in the wedding bouquets. They're surviving reasonably well in my little garden plot but given that we had a pretty cool April and beginning of May, coupled with the questionable soil quality, and the fact that I was rushing the little suckers anyway, I'm just going to have to be satisfied with enjoying my bachelor buttons, zinnias, and calendulas later in the summer. Here's a shot of the garden:
(The grass is clippings from mowing the lawn, it's really not over-run with weeds.)

There are glimmers of hope for wedding flowers, however. Yesterday, on my daily check, I spotted this!
That's right, it's a bud. One of my ranunculus has a bud! Inspiring, no? I have no idea how long it takes to go from bud to bloom but with 3 more weeks of sunshine and warmth I'm thinking there's a chance these guys will be flowering on June 12. And, now I know what the buds look like so it will be easy to spot more.
Here we've got my brand-new Asiatic lilies, transplanted this week from FSMIL's yard, along with some sweet peas. The lilies have formed buds but they're still tightly packed down in the leaves. Anyone know how long they take to flower from that point? I have a feeling they might be spent by the wedding but maybe they'll around for the party. The sweet peas are growing like crazy, I swear they're 3 inches taller from when I check them in the morning to when I check them in the evening. I am a little concerned that the rapid onset of heat will take them down before they have a chance to bloom. Sweet peas really don't like weather over 85 degrees and we've been pushing right up against that temp the last couple days. We'll see what they do, perhaps they'll grace our lovely reception tables in a few weeks.

The calla lily on the left illustrates why you should not impatiently mess with the bulb by poking your fingers down in the dirt to look at it as it's trying to start to grow ... the calla on the right is rockin though! This photo is from yesterday and already this morning the spikes are starting to unfurl into leaves. Cross your fingers folks, perhaps the men will end up with lovely flame calla lily boutonnieres.

Last we have the anemones. I have not seen a bud yet but they're quite leafy and lush so I expect one any day. Somehow I thought these were early blooming (like, right after tulips) but apparently they are later than I thought. Google tells me anemones bloom anywhere from spring to fall, depending on the variety, but of course I tossed the packaging so I have no frame of reference.

There you have it. Okay, off to check the plants again!

Ready ... Set ... Traffic!

2009-05-20T00:49:00.003-04:00

As FH and I were driving back from Buffalo tonight in a 16' box truck I started pondering this post about Indianapolis drivers. Let's just say, Indy drivers can be a wee bit aggressive. They have a tendency to weave in and out of lanes, cut off anyone leaving a full car length between themselves and the next car, and travel at speeds somewhat greater than the speed limit. I blame this phenomenon on the popularity of car racing here. I mean, when you grow up with all the Indy 500 hype how can you avoid trying to imitate it on the highways, right? I've lived in at least one larger city and driven in several other larger cities but still can't help but remark upon the rude habits of drivers here ...

Just don't say I didn't warn you! See you all in 3.5 weeks!

Due Dates

2009-05-14T20:08:00.003-04:00

This post has nothing to do with the impending birth of a child, and everything to do with rsvps! :P Today is the official rsvp due date. Chances are if you bother reading this blog you've sent in your rsvp, but if you haven't mailed your little card back yet you'd better get on it! Or just expect a phone call/email/facebook message inquiring whether you plan to attend our nuptials.

Block reminder

2009-05-11T20:29:00.001-04:00

Just a friendly reminder, if you plan to book a room in one of our hotel blocks now is the time to act! The block rate expires this wednesday (one month from the wedding, yikes!)

Thinking outside the block ...

2009-05-03T10:58:00.004-04:00

Most of you are aware of our hotel block options (if not, look to your left, they're right there!), and there are plenty of rooms left in all the blocks at the moment, but for those of you who might be looking for other lodging options let me suggest Hotwire.

Now, Hotwire is a bit of a travel gamble because you don't get to see the actual name of the hotel you've booked until you've already paid for it. This, however, is why you can get such a great deal on a really nice room. For example, a quick search this morning for rooms in downtown Indy for June 12-13 brought up a 4-star hotel for $75/night. There are only four 4-star hotels in downtown (the Canterbury, the Conrad, the Marriott, and the Omni) so you can be certain it's one of those. I'm sure the regular room rate for these hotels is more like $175-$200 a night so talk about a steal!

If you decide to use Hotwire I would suggest limiting your search area to Downtown Indianapolis and also employing the "3-star and up" filter (so you don't end up in the totally sketchy Days Inn downtown, it's pretty bad.) I have personally used Hotwire for hotel rooms in the past and it's always worked out great!

Indianapolis Downtown Parking Part Two

2009-05-02T17:04:00.005-04:00

This post contains information about overnight parking in downtown Indianapolis. For day-only parking see Part One.

If you are staying at the Embassy Suites overnight self-parking in the attached parking garage for $20/day with unlimited in/out privileges. The entrance for this garage is on the north side of Washington street, between Illinois and Capitol.

If you are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn, overnight self-parking is available in the Express Park Garage at 20 N. Pennsylvania, 1/2 block south of the hotel. This is a different garage than what is currently listed on the Hilton Garden Inn website. The hotel will be changing to the Express Park garage as of June 1. Self-parking rates for this garage are $14/day with unlimited in/out privileges. Valet parking is also available for $22/day.

Other parking garage options can be found on the Indianapolis Downtown website. In general, overnight garage parking in downtown Indy runs about $15-$20.

Tulips Three Ways

2009-04-26T19:03:00.010-04:00

Several of my tulips bloomed today and I thought I'd take the opportunity to practice my flower arrangements. Hooray for spring!

Indianapolis Downtown Parking Part One

2009-04-25T17:44:00.007-04:00

This post will cover some day-only parking options in Downtown Indianapolis. Overnight parking will be covered in part two.

Option 1: Street parking.
There is a limited amount of street parking available in Downtown Indianapolis on a first-come/first-serve basis. Parking at meters is free on the weekend but, depending on what else is going on downtown, it can be difficult to find a spot. If you are going to try for street parking I recommend checking out Illinois and Capitol streets between Maryland and Ohio. Market street between Illinois and Capitol may also be a good bet, and some angled parking spots are available in front of the State Capitol building, immediately west of the theatre on Washington Street.

Option 2: Garage parking.
There are many parking garages downtown. One of the more economical garages for short-term parking is the Sun Garage at the Circle Center Mall. Enter this garage from Washington or Maryland streets, between Illinois and Meridian. Rates start at $1.50 for up to 3 hours, $3 for 3-5 hours, and $6 for 5-6 hours. The Sun garage closes at 2 am.

Option 3: Surface lot parking.
There are a number of surface lots in downtown Indy, some attended, some with honor parking. Most generally charge $5-$7, cash only. One such lot is located at 15 East Washington street, between Meridian and Pennsylvania, about 3 blocks from the theatre. Overnight parking is typically not allowed in these surface lots.

A garage to avoid: The Capitol Commons garage at 10 S. Capitol (entrance on Washington, just across from the State Capitol building) is one of the most expensive garages downtown, charging $5 for the first 20 MINUTES, and $15 for the first hour. Don't park here, unless you want to get gouged! :)

For an interactive map of parking and other downtown attractions click here.

Coming soon- overnight parking!

7 weeks to go

2009-04-25T12:27:00.002-04:00

My first tulip bloomed the other day and today 4 more followed suit. I've had an incredibly crazy couple of weeks at work lately but have this weekend off and plan to enjoy it.

Last night FH and I went out to dinner at a new-ish local restaurant/bar where we'd like to have the after-party, Scotty's Brewhouse. Great selection of beers, good food, and a huge outdoor patio. It's within walking distance of the two downtown hotels and family friendly as well for the folks who might be traveling with kids.

We've gotten several more RSVPs and really appreciate the nice notes some people have added on their cards. We can't wait to see everyone and are looking forward to sharing our city with you all.

Statistics

2009-04-16T21:59:00.004-04:00

It's been 13 days since we mailed the invitations and we've received 31.25% of them back. Or, if you prefer numbers to percentages, 30 postcards have arrived in our mailbox. So far we have 35 confirmed guests attending the wedding (and 124 unknowns). There's still time to get in on the ground floor of responding. Don't wait, send back your RSVP today!

If you have travel related questions please feel free to leave a comment in the blog and I'll respond in a post!

Who are you? (who, who? who, who?)

2009-04-10T18:44:00.004-04:00

The RSVPs started arriving yesterday and we have 14 out of 100 back. Yea! It's so fun to see them in the mailbox and read the nice little notes people have written on them.

A few of the cards have arrived a bit, um, incomplete, so I thought I'd post a little tutorial:

Lol! Luckily I was sneaky and numbered all the cards and the guest list, just in case anyone forgot to write their name. Okay, keep the rsvps comin! And check back on the blog for updates on parking, Indianapolis area attractions, and other important information.

Mr. Postman

2009-04-06T18:52:00.001-04:00

Wow! We mailed the invites on Saturday just before noon and they've starting arriving to folks as far away as Buffalo today. Impressive, Mr. Postman!

Invitation Eve

2009-04-03T22:04:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow we send out the invitations! While we decided long ago on sending them out 10 weeks before the wedding (to allow plenty of time for all the oot guests to make arrangements), all week long I've been bugging FH about them.

Monday: Can't we just send them out tomorrow??
Tuesday: But I'll have time to go to the post office on lunch Wednesday! What about Wednesday?
Wednesday: Oh, come on, it's been a long week, sending them on Thursday would just make my day!! Besides, then people will get them at ten weeks.
Thursday: Fine! I can wait until Saturday.

Okay people, keep an eye on your mailboxes. I promise from this point on the blog will contain more actual information, like details on parking, hotels, and all that jazz. And please, please prevent my head from exploding by sending your rsvp postcards back in an expedient manner! :P

Dig this!

2009-03-29T14:35:00.001-04:00

I had been debating putting in a garden in our backyard and last weekend I decided to go for it. Our landlord asked that we put the garden outside the fence so when I noticed the remnants of a parking spot (two cement strips with 3' of ground between them) I decided it provided the perfect outline for a flower bed. Initially I started my digging with a hand trowel, since it's the only shovel we own ... I did not get very far that way! The next day I borrowed an actual shovel from props storage at work which was much more effective.
Over the course of a few days I peeled off the top layer of grass and set it aside on a tarp, then continued digging down to about 8"-12". Then I broke up the grass clumps, collected some leaves and a few bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks (they'll give you big bags of grounds for free if you ask! Many have a little basket marked "grounds for your garden" near the counter, you don't even have to buy a cup of coffee to get them.) and started layers. Grass/leaves/coffee, dirt, grass/leaves/coffee, dirt ... I tried to shred the grass up well but I'm sure I'll have to weed out a few errant patches along the way. At this point I have not added any extra fertilizer, the goal is cheap and natural, but I may change my mind once I see how things grow.
Here's the patch!! We got some heavy rain last night so I'm glad I got it done yesterday. The rain really helped soak it back down. I lined the edged with some leftover campfire wood, rocks, and chunks of pots that didn't make it through the winter.

Due to the experimental nature of my project and the questionable soil quality I decided planting seedlings, rather than seeds, is probably the best bet. I plotted out my little cutting garden last night and set to starting some seeds indoors!
Some of these were started a couple weeks ago, some earlier this week, and a bunch today. I'd been setting them in various windows of the house but then read an article online saying that a standard fluorescent light works almost as well as a grow light and provides a lot more for a plant than a window. Curious, I put a few seeds on the kitchen counter and left the light on overnight ... it was like magic!! I purposely chose seeds that sprout quickly but still, to see my bachelor buttons and zinnas break the surface after 2 days was thrilling!

Half of our kitchen counter is now taken over by bachelor buttons, zinnias, snapdragons, calendula, stasis, bells of Ireland, and some veggie starts that will live in pots. (After all the random junk I found in the soil while digging the plot I sure don't want to eat anything that grows there, at least not until we've conditioned it for a few years.) These are mostly cooler weather plants so they'll be ready to go outside in just a few weeks. Next weekend I'll probably plant the remainder of the rannunculus bulbs on the border of the plot before it gets too warm for them to start.

Stay tuned for more gardening adventures!

Checking off the list

2009-03-25T19:19:00.003-04:00

Today FH and I met with our caterer to finalize the menu and talk a little about set-up. Really, it was more of a "yeah, we still want what we said we want 4 months ago" meeting, but at least I can check it off my Knot checklist. (It's okay, I only like the Knot ironically. But they do have one of the most all-inclusive planning checklists so that is helpful.)

I also called the cupcake place to find out how much notice they need for an order of 12-13 dozen cupcakes and they said, I kid you not, 1 or 2 days. I love these people! Then I said, well, it's for a Saturday and for a wedding but we don't want any special colors or anything, just your normal flavors. To which they responded, oh, well, then maybe call like 2 weeks in advance. Ha ha! Screw you knot checklist who said I needed to order a cake 2 months ago! I do think we'll place the cupcake order in the next month or so, just to have it done with, but it made my day that they were so laid back. One of the big reasons we went with cupcakes!

Invites will go out at the end of next week, which is causing me no end of distraction. They're all addressed, stamped, and inserted in their envelopes. Paranoia keeps me from sealing them yet, just in case, but aaaahhh! It will be hard, I think, to shove 50 hours of my life into a mailbox and let it go into the world. Sigh.

It's Greek to Me!

2009-03-19T11:56:00.002-04:00

I think we've settled on a rehearsal dinner venue, the Greek Islands Restaurant in Downtown Indianapolis. It's one of the few resaurants we've actually been to since moving the Indy and man, was it good! We've got a meeting set up for early April to talk about menus and such, but it seems like they're able to work in our price range and are accustomed to groups of this size (around 30-35 people.)

For those of your whose tastes run on the conservative side, don't worry, I think you'll find Greek food very accessible. It's kind of like Italian but without the tomato sauce, rice instead of pasta, and feta cheese instead of mozzarella. But the flavors are generally mild (not spicy) and the food is light and fresh. Ideal for a summer evening.

Good thing it's lunch time because now I'm hungry!

Cake by the Cup

2009-03-15T16:59:00.004-04:00

Well, after much debate, I think we've decided on wedding cupcakes from the delightful, local cupcake bakery, The Flying Cupcake.

We're thinking of doing 2 dozen each of 6 flavors, every one of them delicious and decadent! Check out the site today and vote for your favorite flavor in our comments. Time for me to get cracking on some cupcake stands!

Operation Green Thumb Begins

2009-03-14T23:34:00.006-04:00

Well, spring is nearly sprung here in the mid-west and I took advantage of the sunshine and moderate temps today to do a little gardening. FH and I hit the nearest Lowe's earlier in the week to pick up some seed starting mix, potting soil and calla lily bulbs ... and since we were there anyway I also grabbed some anemones, sweet peas, and snapdragons. Oh, and a packet of "Cutting Mix" seeds. I'd ordered some ranunculus bulbs earlier in the year as well.

While I will be happy if these flowers simply grow at all, I harbor secret hopes that I will be able to use them for the wedding. This being a grand experiment of sorts, I've started two of the callas indoors and have one more to start in a few week; I potted up 4 of the 20 ranunculus outdoors since they like cool weather to start, and will probably start a few more every two weeks for the next 6-8 weeks; I started half the sweet peas and snapdragons indoors and sowed the other half outside; the anemones should be good to go outside so I threw a few in a pot and used the rest to make borders around a few little beds that are already in the yard. Chances are the anemones will bloom too early but they should be pretty and I could use more practice arranging anyway, right?

Don't worry, I know that it's a gamble to count on using flowers I've grown for the wedding and I won't be devastated if it doesn't work out, however, it would be so delightful if all I had to do was pick up a few dozen white roses to fill out lovely backyard bouquets!

A Day Off

2009-03-09T15:01:00.004-04:00

Since I had a couple personal days to use I decided to play hooky from work today!

I spent a good chunk of time this weekend working on invitations and earlier this afternoon I headed over to the good ole post office to have one of them weighed. Fortunately they do, indeed, come in under one ounce, which means they only need one first-class stamp. Hooray!

Also, I had the nice postal man check out one of the RSVP postcards, just to be sure it will go through on it's own (instead of needing an envelope) and he declared it A-okay. I wanted to play it safe, however, so I put one in the mail to see if it arrives.

While I was at the post office I picked up stamps for the invitation envelopes. FH and I pondered our stamp possibilities over the weekend. We considered the ubiquitous "wedding hearts" or the other heart stamp but hearts just aren't our thing. We also thought about "Celebrate", which seemed quite appropriate. In the end we settled on Sunflowers, which look great with the chocolate brown envelopes. You know your wedding is eating your brain when things like "which stamp should we use?" become the subject of deep thought and conversation...

Less than 100 days ...

2009-03-07T15:46:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I realized that it was 99 days until the wedding. That's right, we're in the double-digit countdown. More frighteningly, invitations are scheduled to go out at the end of March ... and it's now March! Holy Moley! I guess it really is time to get on the ball about the final details, like booking a rehearsal dinner, figuring out cake (we're back to the cupcake plan), developing a music playlist, and choosing something for FH to wear.

It helps that it's 70 degrees and sunny here today and that it's my first day off in a couple weeks. My winter wedding malaise is fading away and I'm finally excited about polishing off the to-do list. My real-life malaise (aka, the flu that hit me last weekend) is also fading and, while I'm not up for a brisk jog anytime soon, I did manage to do some puttering around the backyard, preparing our pots for this year's gardening. Okay, enough of this sitting in front of the computer, I'm heading back outside to get me some more spring air!!

The Problem With Good Ideas ...

2009-03-02T15:54:00.002-05:00

... is that other people come up with them first!

I emailed the nice folks at the Duckpin Bowling place and it turns out that both sets of lanes have already been completely booked for private parties on June 12. Apparently people book the place up to one year in advance. Since the Fountain Square Theatre right next door hosts a lot of weddings I wouldn't doubt that some other lucky folks came up with the duckpin rehearsal dinner idea long before us. D'oh!

In other unpleasantness, I have some sort of horrible cold/flu/infection that has had me on the couch with a 102+ fever the last two days. Which is really unfortunate since it's tech for the biggest show of the year (so work is very, very busy.) Sigh. Sometimes life just tells you to sit down and take a break, whether or not you want to!

So it's back to the rehearsal dinner drawing board. I think it's likely we'll still look down in Fountain Square. It's such a fun, funky neighborhood with lots of little, local restaurants. Plus, I think we can get a lot more for our money by moving out of downtown.

Practice Makes Perfect

2009-02-27T18:40:00.004-05:00

We've been doing some thinking about the rehearsal dinner lately. At one point we'd considered having it catered at our house, with a tent in the backyard. After some thought, however, that idea became somewhat overwhelming. So, we went back to our very first idea: Duckpin Bowling!

There's this great little place in our neighborhood (yea for supporting local business!) that has duckpin bowling. They offer some party packages and catering and we think this could be the perfect, relaxing, fun event we'd love to kick off the wedding weekend. Plus it gives me an excellent excuse to wear a cute little rockabilly dress! More to come on the rehearsal dinner later.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T19:13:00.002-05:00

We decided to celebrate our engaged Valentine's by making homemade sushi and watching a couple of movies. The meal was quite a success and not all that difficult to prepare. We picked up the supplies at our local grocery store: avocado, carrot, cucumber, green onions, imitation crab, Nori (the seaweed wrapper), rice vinegar, and wasabi (powdered, dried horseradish). We already had rice, soy sauce, and the bamboo rolling mat at home. I can't believe how yummy it was and can't wait to try it again sometime soon. Maybe next time we'll even spring for some smoked salmon since we now have several of the basic ingredients on-hand.

Wishing you all a day well-spent with those you care for most!

T-minus 4 months

2009-02-13T19:47:00.003-05:00

Wow. 4 months to go. Seems like no time at all, really. For the first time I'm starting to look forward to the wedding being over. Still looking forward to the day itself, but it's amazing how wedding stuff fills up all the little corners in one's mind and of one's time.

I had the funniest wedding dream the other night: it was the wedding day, I was walking in to the venue with my mom (though it wasn't our real venue, just some place I thought was the venue in my dream), it was almost time to walk down the aisle, and I thought, oh wait, I'm going to run to the restroom real quick before it starts. So, I walk in to the restroom, silently patting myself on the back for choosing a dress I can hold up to pee in by myself (that detail is true to life!! very important to me), and stop to look in the mirror, where I see that my hairdo is falling down all over the place. I lean in for a closer look but, lo and behold, someone has left a lidless cup of Coca-cola on the counter. In a public restroom. Indeed. I don't see it in time and it spills all over the front of my dress. All these women who I don't even know are flocking around me and freaking out but I'm totally calm, saying "oh, just blot it with some toilet paper" because I don't want to seem like a Bridezilla. I ask one of them for some lipstick, because, in addition to my hair being a mess I have apparently forgotten to put on any make-up at all. A kind soul hands me her make-up bag and I proceed to do the worst job ever of applying eyeliner so I end up looking like I have a black eye. I persuade 2 other women to try to fix my hair and they bobbypin it into some sort of semblance of style. Then I rush out of the bathroom to make my entrance, only to discover we never made a music playlist so I make my entrace to a completely random song.

The amazing thing: the whole time these "crises" are happening my single concern, the absolute one and only thing I am upset about, is that, because I am running so late, FH thinks I'm having second thoughts. I am disraught at the idea of him being sad or anxious and just want to get to him so we can start our life together.

This is the most reassuring nightmare I've ever had.

Just a little taste

2009-02-08T11:43:00.002-05:00

Yesterday FH and I went to a tasting at the caterer's ... an "Open Kitchen" if you like. There we sampled a wide variety of items offered by MBP, including several items on our current proposed menu. I am so excited to say that everything was absolutely delicious. Everything was so fresh and high quality. The sliced beef was great and the mashtini bar is sure to be a hit! (Unfortunatly the photo I took of FH eating the aforementioned mashtini didn't save to my phone so you will have to use your imagination.) I think we left feeling reassured that we'd made a good choice of caterer. Also, we won a door prize of chocolate covered strawberries to be served with our wedding cake. Mmmm, chocolate covered strawberries.

Speaking of cake, we had another tasting last weekend at Rene's Bakery in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indy. We sampled three different kinds of cake: vanilla, chocolate, and lemon. I am not usually a lemon person but this cake was to die for. They use real lemon instead of artificial flavoring and it make all the difference in the world. I'm not sure that we're going to use Rene's for the wedding cake but I certainly look forward to eating more of their delicious baked goods in the future. (They make these incredible ginger molasass cookies, the thought of which makes me drool!)

This is entertaining...

2009-02-02T18:45:00.004-05:00

I hope the Dessy wedding police don't come after me for having mis-matched attendants! And the part about "every little girls dreams of growing up to be a bride" kinda makes me want to puke. But I do like the idea that the bridesmaids guard the door the day of the wedding and don't let the groom see the bride until he passes their test by answering questions ... hmm ...

Like a Bird in a Cage

2009-01-19T19:39:00.002-05:00

So, at the beginning of my wedding attire search I was adamantly opposed to wearing a veil. Veils seemed so fussy and "bride-y" and, besides, I wanted my veil-less state to show that FH and I are entering into this union with eyes wide open, without illusions or secrets.

However, I am slowly being sucked in by the allure of the birdcage veil. Just look at these lovely examples:

I just love the Vintage Hollywood feel ... sure, they're still a little bride-y, but I will be a bride ... and since I've already got the rest of the costume why not be a movie-star bride!?

Things are starting to happen!

2009-01-18T12:26:00.002-05:00

Well, the wedding is less than 5 months away and things are really coming together. Some of our far-flung guests have made travel arrangements, hotel rooms are being booked, attendants are choosing attire, and bit-by-bit the invitations are getting printed!

The checklist/to-do list:

Done:

Date
Venue
Catering
Bar
Photographer
Officiant
Dress
Rings
Florist (DIY ... so, me!)
Hotel Blocks
Registry
Save-the-Dates (email/Christmas Card inserts)
Supplies purchased for ceremony and reception decor
Hair stylist booked

In progress:

Rehearsal Dinner
Cake
Invitation printing and assembly
Honeymoon
Attendant attire (ladies are choosing their own, guys wearing their own suits)

To Do:

FH's attire
Music Playlist for ceremony and reception (planning to iPod it)
Invitation Mailing (first few weeks of April)
Make/shop accessories (sash for dress, brooch, decorative hairpins or comb, amazing space-age undergarments, maybe shoes?)
Attendant gifts
Programs
Escort cards
Favors (we may just skip this ... we'll see)
Seating chart
probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting right now...

So, as you can see lots of these things can't even be done until much closer to the actual wedding date. Time to kick off our shoes and relax a little!!

Ringing in the New Year!

2009-01-08T19:07:00.003-05:00

So, the aforementioned wedding rings have arrived and we are very pleased. We tried them on and they fit perfectly and look fabulous. Hooray!

Speaking of rings, I've been meaning to post a photo of my engagement ring. FH and I aren't terribly traditional people and when we started talking about rings I let him know I would really prefer a sapphire. Beyond that he wanted to figure it out on his own.

My ring! It's a star sapphire in a vintage 1950s, white gold setting. Each petal of the flower has a cut sapphire as well. Very us. Good job FH!

Imprinted!

2009-01-02T20:05:00.003-05:00

After a few frustrating rounds with our poor, old, cheap little HP printer FH and I realized we would need to invest in a new printing device if we intended to print our own invitations on the great recycled cardstock we purchased. Determined to get a bargain, I've been scouring Craigslist for the last few days and today came upon a fabulous deal!
We are now the proud owners of a Epson CX7450 mulit-function device. It has a scanner, card-reader, and most importantly a printer that feeds paper from back to front (so it doesn't have to wind around inside and get stuck every frickin' time you try to print on cardstock!! $@%#@%!!!!!!) While it's still a little fussy with the paper (okay, it is very heavy paper), with a little prompting it prints great, lines up the double-sided printing perfectly, and is my new favorite electronic device. Sorry mp3 player, you're second for the day ...

Building blocks for 2009

2009-01-01T00:29:00.006-05:00

FH and I are very excited to have recently ordered our wedding bands. They should arrive next week and we can't wait to try them on! We are really happy with what we've chosen as our everyday reminder of our commitment and both look forward to wearing them in less than 6 months.

Also, lest you think we only ponder our wedding day and not our marriage, I have more to share. In this time of resolutions and such I recently search out a new website, www.chorebuster.net. Ever since FH and I moved in together I've wanted to spend some time making a list of chore "assignments" and this program fits the bill perfectly. You sign up for an account, enter your household chores, along with an agreed upon point "value" (based on difficultly/undesireability) and a frequency, and the program assigns chores fairly and evenly between all available participants. You can set certain chores to be assigned only to certain people (hence I get out of cleaning the cat boxes and Bill gets out of cleaning the bathroom, our two most hated chores, respectively.) You can also set it so one person gets a higher or lower percentage of chores and schedule days with no chores (for those who enjoy a true Sunday day of rest.) Once set up the program will generate a printable weekly chart with chore assignments.

I have to say, it's only been a couple of days but it's already made a difference in the overall neatness of our household (let me confess, I am NO master housekeeper and a total clutterer by nature.) The key, I think, is that instead of having an overwhelming mountain of chores in front of me I now have 2 or 3 tasks that are simply.enough.for.today. And once I do them I'm done. Tomorrow I'll do a few more. And eventually things will be generally clean on a regular basis. Also, I now have a non-biased third party divying things up in a fair way and a nice little piece of paper on the fridge to reference if things are not done (easing my fears that I'm going to become some sterotypical harpie wife type.)

I try to avoid feeling that just because I'm going to be married I suddenly have to become this perfect homemaker, however, I am often frustrated by my own lack of motivation to keep my household organized. I now have hope that we've found a system that just might work!

Another check off the list

2008-12-27T11:34:00.002-05:00

I went this morning to get a much-needed haircut at the Aveda salon in my neighborhood, Biz on Fletcher and had an all around fabulous experience. This visit was also a little reconnaissance mission to see if I'd want to have my hair styled here for the wedding day. By half way through my cut I was sold!

I love that this salon is located in the currently-revitalizing historic neighborhood where we live and that the owners are active in the neighborhood association. When I told her I was new to the area my stylist, Miranda, and I had great conversation about the restaurants, nightlight, and other community activities Fletcher Place and Fountain Square have to offer. I am also a total sucker for Aveda products (which could be worse, Aveda is pretty natural and environmentally sound compared to a lot of beauty products) and love the little perks an Aveda salon offers (like a complimentary stress-relieving back/neck/scalp massage before your haircut).

Also, my final concern about scheduling was assuaged when I learned they open at 8 am on Saturdays! Many places don't open until 9, which was stressing me out because we're planning to start photos at 10. Before leaving today I booked my appointment for 8 am, June 13, 2009 (along with another haircut in March, at which point I'll bring a few photos of what I want and set up a hair-trial appointment.) Woo hoo! For some reason this particular issue had been causeing me anxiety so it feels great to have reached a decision.

Power couple, UNITE!

2008-12-21T21:58:00.002-05:00

How fun is this picture?
I totally want a "power ring" photo. I should really start making a list of these things!

Welcome and Happy Holidays!

2008-12-20T22:24:00.002-05:00

I'm guessing our Christmas cards (with save-the-dates inside) must have started arriving today because I noticed a big spike in the page hit counter and some new dots on the map from cities where we know people! If this is your first visit, welcome! Take some time to look around. Bookmark the page for future reference as we plan to us this page to distribute useful information. Leave us a comment or two. (Comments really make my day!)

Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas and and Happy New Year. I'm looking forward to my first Christmas at "home" in 8 years and the chance to introduce FH to the remainder of my family (there're a lot of them!) It is also bittersweet to be away from so many of the people we hold dear this holiday season, but we look forward all the more to seeing you next summer!

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

2008-12-19T19:36:00.003-05:00

Or, the Early Bird Gets the Worm ...

Or, the forethinking, decisive bride saves $150 on photography, which is exactly what we did by booking our photographer in August! I was looking over his site again today (because I now enjoy stalking all the other weddings he shoots and at least once every week or two peruse the proof gallery ...) and saw that his new 2009 rates are posted. Score one for us!

Just goes to show that while my desire to plan ahead may sometimes seem a little neurotic I may just be on to something ... now if I could get FH to stop rolling his eyes at me when I pull out the invitation envelopes to start hand-writing all the return addresses (because, seriously, I do not want to do all 90 of them in one day in March.)

Let's Do the Time Warp Again

2008-12-14T17:26:00.005-05:00

Wow. Today we made what we thought would be a quick trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to add items to the registry we set up online ... 3 hours later we emerged, dazed, hungry, and exhausted. Holding that scanner in my hand made me drunk with power! (Though I was a little disappointed that it didn't look like a gun ... I thought it would be a gun.) Completely overwhelming. The whole "this ____ is for the rest of your life!!!" is a lot of pressure to put on a towel/pillowcase/coffee mug/trashcan!

At least our sales associate left us relatively alone ... as we were finishing up we returned to the registry desk and I overheard another clerk lecturing a registering couple. She was talking up the KitchenAid mixer and said "Now, I know you can't imagine using a big mixer for anything now but before you know it you're going to be baking a double batch of cookies for a 3rd grade class and you'll want it!" Um, excuse me? First of all, I can think of plenty of things to use a mixer for now (like baking bread, which I very much enjoy), and second of all, when did our bedroom life become your business? Because that's what someone is really asking when they ask whether or not you're going to have kids ... I'm just sayin.

In any case, we put a lot of thought into our choices and managed to communicate our reasoning to one another fairly well. I'm pretty sure successfully registering together qualifies as some sort of pre-marital counseling so I can check that off the list too! :P

T-minus 6 months

2008-12-13T09:30:00.002-05:00

So, FH and I woke up this morning and realized it's our negative-6-month anniversary! Wow, can it really be only 6 more months until we are married? We can't wait to see our family and friends and, with your love and support to guide us, complete this rite of passage that will enrich our life together.

Sidebar

2008-12-04T13:12:00.004-05:00

Hello to any family and friends who might be visiting the blog for the first time after receiving our Save-the-Date notecards or emails! You will find links to the hotel blocks in the left sidebar, along with other important information that will help you navigate the site. For example, the tags section will allow you to read all the posts about any one topic (like DIY projects or the wedding party, etc). Check back for more exiciting planning posts and useful information. Thanks for stopping by!

Edited to add: The Hilton Garden Inn can also be booked online using the same group code as the Embassy Suites, OHW. (This is a change from the Save-the-Date information. You can, of course, still call the hotel directly for reservations in our hotel block.)

Vacation Dreamin!

2008-12-02T23:16:00.004-05:00

With all this excitement and planning the only thing I'm looking forward to as much as the wedding is the honeymoon (not more than the wedding, but close to equal!) Barring any dramatic events we have decided on Door County, Wisconsin as our destination.

In considering where we might like to go for our trip we came up with some excellent criteria:

-warm during the day but cool at night
(so, the Caribbean was out)
-slow-paced
(ie. NOT a major urban center)
-accessibility to light outdoor activities, such as hiking and
kayaking on a lake
-good food
-good wine
-somewhere to get a massage
-less than an 8 hour drive from Indy

Door County seems to fit the bill wonderfully!

Hair part 2

2008-11-29T13:00:00.002-05:00

I've done some more thinking about hairstyles and have to agree with FSSIL's comment that styling my hair up will probably ensure it keeps looking good all day. So, I bring you the revised hair inspiration board.

This time I've made a point to include a few views of what the front might look like too. I really love that shot of Julianne Moore (center right), sleek but not severe. I'm not planning to wear a veil so I'm thinking of some little accents, maybe like the ones here. As much and I love the look of the bottom two they're probably not realistic for my straight, fine hair ... but I girl can dream, right?

Fragrant Florals

2008-11-23T20:40:00.003-05:00

What what? A two post weekend? Well, I had so much fun with yesterday's attendants' dress post that I put together a little floral inspiration board to go with it!

Since I'm doing the floral arrangements myself our actual flowers will depend somewhat on what is in season here and readily available. I'm planning to do a combo of flowers from a farmer's market vendor and Trader Joes/Costco (because really, who can refuse 2 dozen roses for $15??)

Also, I have the crazy thought that I will try to grow some of the flowers I will use ... yeah, it's a crapshoot, but I figure if they grow, great, we'll have pretty flowers; if they grow at the right time, even better! I already planted some tulip bulbs, which will likely bloom way too early (but if it's a very cold spring I'm all set) and hope to start some rannunculus in the spring (that would be those purple flowers on the far left, middle row of the board.) And maybe, just maybe, I'll attempt to grow some calla lillies. I mean, one bulb is like $6-$8 but it grows a plant of 30 stems (which would run over $100 to buy). I like them odds!

On the bottom row of the board you can see some pomanders. I think they'd make an excellent decoration and provide a way to define the ceremony space on the rather vast IRT stage. While I'm planning fresh flowers for all the other arrangements the pomanders will definitely be silk ... see, I do have boundaries and occasionally know when to say no.

Lovely Ladies

2008-11-22T10:55:00.005-05:00

I was tinkering around online this morning and decided to make a little bridesmaids' inspiration board. Now, my three attendants are all very different from one another in body type, skin tone, and personality. I love them all dearly and have no wish to see them suffer so, after talking with each of them about their likes and dislikes, we selected a color for each of them and each one will choose their own dress in that color.

Since there's no need to match one another exactly they have a lot of options for choosing a dress. And, since we're going with knee length-tea length there's not even a real need to shop for a traditional "bridesmaid" dress. For example, most of the photos on the board above came from Nordstroms or J. Crew. I know it is so cliche to say but I really do hope they will each choose something they will enjoy wearing again. (And if they choose something they won't wear again it won't be my fault! tee hee)

Ah, Saturday morning vicarious shopping ... good times.

Happy Birthday!!

2008-11-17T12:10:00.002-05:00

Just a little birthday shout-out to (soon-to-be) nephew Sawyer, the cutest 2 year old Florida has ever seen!!

A new name?

2008-11-15T11:02:00.004-05:00

No, this won't be a blog post debating the merits of changing my name when FH and I are married. Rather, it's about our wedding blog name.

I've been reading many, many, many other wedding blogs these days and have developed an inferiority complex. Our blog name is just totally lame! I am determined to come up with something cooler (because we are just such cool people, you know ... ha ha ha.)

What will to be? Some sort of word play on our names? Something that ties in to the DIY heavy content? If you've got a suggestion leave a comment!

Edited to add: Ooh, ooh ... how about "Bill and Jen's Excellent Wedding Adventure"! Anyone? anyone?

Cover me in jewels!

2008-11-12T20:09:00.007-05:00

Since my computer was broken last weekend I had to do something to fill my time so I started working on my latest DIY: jewelry!

Now, I won't show you everything (because some of it might just be gifts) but I will show you the necklace and earrings I made for myself.

Now, once again, my amateur close-up photography skills leave much to be desired but I'm pretty darn happy with the jewelry. It looks a little pink here but they are actually a combination of ivory freshwater pearls and light gold swarovski crystals on sterling silver findings (the metal parts of jewelry). I had planned to look for a vintage brooch for my wedding dress sash (I know, I'm mean and haven't shown you the dress here) but now I think I'll make something to match the earrings and necklace.

For those other DIYers out there, JoAnn happens to have their sterling silver and gold plate findings for 50% off and their swarovski crystals for 40% off right now. Top that off with my 10% off your total purchase coupon and I got quite a deal!!

I could just SPIT!

2008-11-08T13:38:00.004-05:00

Apparently my hard drive has crashed. After a couple of hours on the phone with some very nice young Indian men from Dell (like, in India, not Native Amerians) they are sending me a new hard drive. My laptop is still under warranty so there's no charge.

BUT

It is highly likely that everything saved on my hard drive is gone (or at least permanently inaccessible). My guest list with addresses- GONE. My wedding budget spreadsheet- GONE. The invitations I painstakingly spent hours designing- GONE. All our Microsoft Money records and household budget info- GONE. Years worth of photos of family and friends- GONE GONE GONE!

Might it have been a good idea to back up even one small bit of this data somewhere? Since you asked, yes. Why didn't I ever do this? Because I AM AN IDIOT!!!! ARRRRGH!

Okay, I'm better now. Cheery wedding posts will resume post-haste.

I fought the hair and the hair won ...

2008-11-06T18:02:00.004-05:00

I've started doing a little research about hair and make-up for the wedding. It's a long way off but hey, I know that a Saturday in June is probably going to be a busy day for weddings and I want to be prepared.

I think getting my hair done was one of the things I was really sort of excited about when we started planning a wedding. Then I started realizing how much getting one's hair done costs and I freaked out a little. I considered trying to do my hair myself and attempted a little trial run yesterday ... yeah, not so much. FH came home to me standing in the middle of the bathroom with my curling iron swearing I was going to shave my head. Also, I have very fine hair and worry that even a simple style will not last if I try to do it myself.

Anyway, I have come to terms with the idea of paying a professional to make me look fabulous (probably a good idea since we're paying another professional to take hundreds of photos of us all day.) I will likely go with someone who will come to the hotel where we get ready that day since we plan to start photos at 10 am and none of the salons downtown even open until 9.

A few styles I like (all photos courtesy of Project Wedding):

Status: Complete

2008-10-26T14:26:00.001-04:00

I am pleased to announce that the Great Vase Race of 2008 has reached its end!

We are now the proud owners of many cylinder vases, enough for centerpieces in the main lobby dining area (depending on RSVP numbers I expect 16-19 tables), the 8 cocktail tables on the mezzanine where the cocktail hour will be held, and a few others for the guest book table, bar, etc. I got at least 40% off each vase, dutifully visiting Michael's with my coupons, and my efforts were capped off with an unexpected windfall: last weekend we visited Buffalo for a friend's wedding and it turns out that FSMIL (that's future step-mother-in-law) had 8 or so cylinder vases left from FSSIL's wedding a few years ago. (future step-sister-in-law ... omg, I <3 acronyms, hahaha.)

Two of the vases were the same size as the rest we'd bought, six are about 2 inches taller but the same diameter. I figure 2/3 one size and 1/3 the other is an aesthetically pleasing proportion so I declare vases checked off the list. Yea!

Getting back to the Who

2008-10-21T21:05:00.001-04:00

And now, the return of our spotlight interview posts!! For a look back at the previous spotlight posts click on the "Who" tag in the right column.

Name: Bob

Role/Relationship: Best Man/ Brother

Location: Nashville,TN

Profession: Musician; Residential Lighting and Fine Hardware Sales

What Bob has to say:I'm constantly amazed at the visual and auditory wonderments of this world. I absolutely love the IC's, eg. music, mathematics, physics, electrics...U C? Moved to Nashville in Oct. 1999 and now consider it home. I've had the opportunity to perform and work with a long list of incredible, sometimes legendary artists from around the globe for which I will be forever thankful. I very much look forward to meeting all of you who will share this occasion with Bill and Jen.

What Bill has to say: One of my favorite memories of my kid brother has to be traveling to see his band, Ceili Rain, play the World Peace Festival in Amenia, New York and then following them to the Hunter Mountain International Celtic Festival. I'm really proud of Bob's musical accomplishments and am happy to hear he's keeping at it!

A Warm Bed and a Roof Over Your Heads

2008-10-16T19:40:00.002-04:00

2 of 3 hotel blocks are now reserved. After talking with various family and wedding party members we decided to go ahead with all 3 hotels mentioned earlier. The theatre's company manager is working on the 3rd block since I think it has to go through her to get the theatre's rate. In any case, we are all set for both the Embassy Suites and the Hilton Garden Inn.

Rate-wise, the Embassy Suites rate of $149/$159 is about the same as you could get on your own, however, it is right next to the theatre and I feel better knowing we have the block set aside as there are so many events that come to town and hotels can fill up well in advance. It's a nice hotel with complimentary full breakfast and a daily manager's reception from 5:30-7 and the convenience just can't be beat for our event.

The Hilton Garden Inn rate of $129/night is about $50/night less than the standard room rate, which is great! The hotel has wonderful historic architecture and is right on Monument Circle, one of Indy's best downtown landmarks. (I'm actually hoping to do a few photos on the circle the morning of the wedding ...)

More on room blocks soon!

Blech!

2008-10-13T18:09:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not, I think for the moment I may actually be ... wait for it ... wedding-ed out! I have finally ODed on wedding planning and DIY projects. It's a feeling similar eating too many cookies at once ... big sugar rush at first, tummyache next, then you swear off cookies for a while but a week later you can't wait to have another cookie.

So the lesson here is, moderation in cookies and weddings. Maybe tonight I'll ... bake some cookies?? Or just enjoy a quiet evening with FH.

One more photo

2008-10-11T08:57:00.004-04:00

Couldn't resist just one more shot. The submerged flowers seem to have held up just fine overnight. I am curious to see how long they will last that way.

Friday Flower Fun

2008-10-10T18:55:00.010-04:00

Today, through a random series of events, I ended up with 7 free sweetheart roses from JP Parker Flowers. I have already decided to do my own wedding flowers but if I weren't I would hire JP Parker in a heartbeat. They do all the event floral arrangements for theatre sponsored events (ie. Opening Night, Donor Dinners, etc) and they were also kind enough to trade us for tickets when it was decided we needed a fresh sweetheart rose for every performance of the first show of the season. They're the best!

My latest floral love and inspiration is submerged flower arrangements. Since I had some free flowers I thought I'd give it a shot!

Here on the left is my first attempt. 5 submerged roses, stepping up in height around the side of the glass (I paid attention the day in design class where we learned odd numbers = balanced!) It was okay but seemed a little crowded.

I removed a couple of the flowers and was much happier.

I wish I could get a good shot without the flash to show you how nice and glow-y it looks with the candle ... Alas, I think I am a better amateur florist than amateur photographer.

Lessons learned today: flowers float! It was a little tricky getting them to stay put. Also, don't splash water on the candle wick, it makes the candle very hard to light. oops.

Since I had a few more flowers I also did another trial run of corsages and boutonnieres, including the little beaded accents I made a few weeks back.

Just another fun-filled Friday!

Friends and family, if you haven't had a chance to look over my previous hotel option post give it a read ... I would love a little feedback about the price-ranges, locations, etc before setting up room blocks.

Thanks!

Hotels

2008-10-07T19:58:00.005-04:00

Seeing as all our guests (other than, say, 10 or so people who we might meet over the course of the next year) will be traveling from out of town I decided it was about time I started looking in to lodging. Here's what I've come up with ... I'd love a little feedback from the family and friends who might be reading this.

1) The Embassy Suites - This hotel is literally right next door to the theatre. (Nice because if for some reason it rains on the wedding day I could get to the theatre without ever going outside ... and if I get a run in my pantyhose it's also attached to the mall!) They have offered a group rate of $149 per night for single suites and $159 per night for double suites. All of their rooms are suites so a single holds up to 4 people and a double up to 6. Parking in the attached garage is $20/night (steep, I know ... it is downtown though). Convenient location, very condusive to sharing rooms. We'll likely block 10 rooms here to start (the most we could block without a financial guarantee). This is likely where I will stay the night before the wedding and where we'll stay the night after. (Edited to add: this hotel does include breakfast.)

2) The Hilton Garden Inn - Just a few block away from the theatre on Monument Circle. Definitely walkable. They've offered a group rate of $129 for singles and doubles (so, up to 4 guests per room). Parking here is $14 for self-parking, $22 for valet per night. Still a nice hotel, still downtown, a little less expensive. There's no financial obligation on our part to block rooms here, still undecided whether we need this option.

3) The Candlewood Suites- This hotels is about 2 1/2 miles from the theatre. It's where our out-of-town actors and designers stay for the theatre so we should be able to get the super-awesome rate of $79 per night. Parking here is free. Also, the theatre's company manager tells Candlewood has negotiated a flat rate for taxi's from the hotel to downtown of $5. The return trip will run you $12 (but it's still less than overnight parking.) Rooms here are also all suites and include kitchenettes, which could be great for any family who might come in a few days early. I actually stayed here when I came to Indianapolis last spring for my interview, it's clean and comfortable, though there's not really anything else nearby. I think it's pretty certain we'll offer this option, though arrangements may be a little more complicated because I'll probably need to book each room through the company manager who happens to be having a baby in April.

We are, of course, total urban-ites and would love it if everyone chose to stay downtown ... however, we realize that offering a more economical option will make it a lot easier for folks to share in our celebration. Any thoughts? Please comment with your responses.

(Also, if people are interested in room sharing we're happy to help facilitate. Get in touch with us once the email Save-the-Dates go out ... hopefully soon!)

Hard Choices and Important Issues

2008-10-02T18:19:00.003-04:00

There are a few wedding sites I've read regularly, including a site called WeddingBee. This site is a group blog by selected engaged and recently married women, detailing their planning process, DIY projects, and grand tales of their actual wedding days. I've frequented their message boards, exchanged several messages with other brides there, and was counting down the days until I was eligible to apply to be a Bee ...

until yesterday ...

It turns out that the creator of WeddingBee (known to readers as Mrs. Bee) has sold the site to E-Harmony. She will continue to operate the site and claims the content and format will not change.

I don't begrudge Mrs. Bee for selling the site ... I mean, it has turned into an all-consuming task and the competition for wedding websites like this one has grown incredibly in past years (or so she describes, and I find it quite believable.) And, dear readers, before I continue, let me make it clear that if you met your partner through E-Harmony I in no way begrudge you your own happiness.

However, I have some problems with E-Harmony's policies against same-sex marriage that I just can't look past. They currently do not offer same-sex matches and, while they may claim it is simply a business decision, they have a history of supporting Focus on the Family, an incredibly right wing organization that actually preaches that homosexuality is a mental illness. Wedding Bee, on the other hand, has a history of supporting same-sex marriage/commitment ceremonies, including one of the recent Bees, Mrs. Gingerbread, who recently married her wife in Canada. (Since the announcement Mrs. GB has withdrawn from Wedding Bee.)

While the content of the site may not change in any way whatsoever, every time someone visits this site or links to a vendor advertised there the proceeds will be going towards a causes I oppose. While some Bees have said they feel that continuing to blog on the site and support LGBT rights will help promote change from the inside, the truth is the money generated by interest in their blog posts is still going into the coffers of a discriminatory organization.

I know this may seem like a small thing but I've been looking forward to my Bee application ever since I found the site just weeks after we became engaged. And making the decision to stop visiting the site has stirred up some strong feelings. I know not everyone will agree with me but I feel a responsibility to use this public forum to share my thoughts about this particular subject.

Some of the most positive and influential relationships I have witnessed in my life have been same-sex couples. In college, my scene design professor/mentor and his partner had been together for over twenty years, since the age of 19. They owned a home together, worked hard at their relationship, weathered good times and bad, and were wonderful, supportive partners to one another. My former boss in Houston and his partner actually have a civil union in the state of Vermont (and may be married in Canada, though I'm not sure), have made a public and sacred commitment to one another, but still are not allowed the same legal protections as a married couple in most states. These two examples of stable, healthy, loving relationships have taught me a great deal about what it is to be a good partner to another person and I want so much for these people to have the same recognition by the United States Government that I will have when I marry my husband.

One could split hairs all day about calling such a union a "civil union" vs a "marriage". I don't want or need to change how a church defines marriage. I'm talking about the U.S. Government. And if they call what I will have marriage then I want them to call same-sex legal unions marriage too. If they want to call what I will have a civil union then call them all civil unions. That's really not the point to me. The point is equal recognition. Because haven't we all learned from the civil rights movement that "separate but equal" is a load of b.s.?

That's my soapbox for the day. It is a little disheartening to realize that, ultimately, no one will notice if I don't read WeddingBee anymore. E-Harmony will still get plenty of money, site traffic will probably even increase. And, I'm sure I unknowingly support companies whose practices I disagree with on a daily basis. But we decided that in planning this wedding we wanted to try to make "better" choices, choices that reflect our world view and values ... and I am making the choice to leave WeddingBee.

Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs, and Thou ...

2008-09-27T08:50:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about cake. Mmmm ... I love cake. Or, more accurately, I love icing, for which cake is an excellent vehicle. However, traditional wedding cakes start at around $2.50 a person for a basic cake (meaning at least $350 for a cake) and I just think that's a lot! I know many people these days have just a tiny "wedding" cake and supplement with a sheet cake, but I really don't want to do that either ... enter ideas!!

One thought we had from early on is to do wedding cupcakes! Last weekend we visited a local bakery that specialized in cupcakes, The Flying Cupcake. They have amazing cupcakes in a wide variety of flavors. We bought four to sample: the Here Comes the Bride (almond flavoring in the cake and almond buttercream icing), the Chocolate Ganache (omg, fudgy and rich), a Key Lime (apparently an experiment, new to the menu, with mereinge icing), and the Razzmatazz (raspberry filled chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream icing.) All of these were AWESOME and we love that we could have multiple flavors to offer, however this option is not really all that much cheaper than a regular wedding cake. Cupcakes are $2 each when ordered in dozen increments, plus an additional $.50 per filled cupcake and lots of other tacked on fees if one wants them decorated in any particular way other than standard. And while we were there we mentioned the wedding idea and the clerk told us that they do lots of weddings, in fact they had done 5 that weekend ... I started to wonder if cupcakes were too trendy these days ...

The other idea we have is that instead of getting a "wedding" cake in all its tiered glory we will simply get several, lovely, tasty, round cakes and set them up on stands of varying heights. We could still offer several flavors of cake (maybe even a red cake, I know a certain mom who loves it ...) and there's somewhere to put a topper. Based on my calculations we will need one 12" cake, two 10" cakes, two 8" cakes and, one 6" cake ... a lot of cake, about half the cost of a wedding cake! I really think this is an elegant idea.

Which cake style will claim victory over our hearts? You'll just have to wait a few months to find out. As for the debate between fondant and buttercream, there is simply no contest in my book. Buttercream wins the day!!

Have you been to any weddings where the cake was non-traditional? (And are you craving cake as much as I am now?)

Choices

2008-09-21T00:04:00.008-04:00

One of our goals in planning our wedding is to make better choices when it comes to the environment and our community. This is not always easy because it sometimes means choosing to spend more money. For example, we plan to use recycled and/or tree-free paper for all the wedding paper-goods.

Now, we have been planning to DIY all this stuff but even so it still costs more to use recycled and tree-free products than to use standard products. And sometimes it is hard to resist a "bargain" ... just a few days ago we were at Michaels (buying more vases with our 50% off coupons! take that W.I.C.!) and I saw these really great invitation kits on clearance for, like, $17 for 30 invites. I am almost ashamed to admit that I loved any kit that is endorsed and produced by "Brides" magazine (oh, I am such a DIY snob) but they were super cute! Luckily I had FH along to persuade me that perhaps 9 months out was a little early to make an instant decision and hadn't we decided to use earth-friendly papers anyway?

Fast forward to this morning when I start thinking about what we've budgeted for paper-products vs the actual cost of recycled paper and ink cartridges and you'll find a brief moment of panic in which I start to think our pre-planned numbers may be unrealistic. (It's just amazing what little details can seem overwhelming, really.) Not incredibly unrealistic, just a little bit.

In the end, FH and I decided that postcard Save-The-Date cards are something we could do without and that e-STDs (sounds like a new computer virus, right?) will do just fine. And for the less e-friendly, shouldn't we just call or include a nice note in their Christmas card anyway? This decision will free up the additional $50 or so we want to put towards earth-friendly materials (plus the e-cards mean that many less pieces of paper and gallons of gas to deliver printed Save the Date cards.)

A little invite preview ... yes, I have already started ... geez, I thought we were going to do STD postcards, alright?? :P

Anyway, a few weeks ago I went around our venue (also my workplace) and took some close-up photos of art-deco decorative details (think tiles, capitols, corner details, etc.) I put the photos into photoshop and experimented with various filters. Hopefully I'll be able to use the images to create some interesting and unique invitations, programs, and place cards that really tie in to our venue!

Have you ever felt torn about making environmentally friendly choices? What did you choose?

Latest DIY

2008-09-13T13:09:00.009-04:00

Another Friday night at home has come and gone and, as we all know I can't seem to sit still without making something, I have new DIY's to show you all!

Last weekend I was browsing JoAnn, shopping for stuff for work, and decided to use one of my 40% off coupons to pick up some wire. I had a big box of beads at home from, like, 7 years ago when I was really into making hemp necklaces for a summer.

Here's what I came up with!!

Beaded accents to go in the corsages. I took the idea from a book I checked out at the library, Beaded Weddings by Jean Campbell. I have to admit, I found most of the projects in the book to be very cheezy, but the techniques were great and gave me some good ideas.

Here are the boutonniere accents:

Very quick and easy, I am pretty happy with the results. I think the twists on the wires would be more even if I'd bothered to dig out the right tool for the job (needle-nose pliers!) but most of that gets covered by the stem wrapping on the corsages/bouts anyway.

Now I just have to make some similar little accents to go in the bouquets!

Food, glorious food!

2008-09-08T21:05:00.004-04:00

So, we got our catering quote a week or two ago and much to our relief it was pretty much exactly in line with what we'd budgeted. Call it luck or call it good planning but we were happy indeed. Except ... there was one small hurdle that just HAD to be cleared: Bill desperately wants, no, requires, for there to be kummelweck rolls to go with the beef carving station. Yes, the infamous beef-on-weck.

So, our rockstar caterers (whom we haven't even officially hired at this point) did a trial run of rolls for us! Anne from MBP catering dropped them off to me at work at the end of the day Friday, I quickly called Bill who picked up some beef and horseradish on his way home from work, and we had beef on weck for dinner.

Luckily they passed the test (though Bill did say the salt granules should be bigger ... I'm guessing they'll be more receptive to that note once we give them the deposit ...) Yea!! There will be food at our reception! And for those members of my family who read this and went "Ew! Horseradish? And caraway seeds? On a roast beef sandwich?" don't be alarmed, there will be regular rolls too. And turkey. And lots of other yummy good things that I'll tell you all about another time, like after we actually sign and return the contract.

Weekend Update

2008-09-06T12:59:00.003-04:00

Hi all! Things are starting to calm down a little with the planning (okay, perhaps a more accurate statement would be I am starting to calm down a little bit with the planning.) We've got most of the major things checked off our list for the moment: venue, date and time, officiant (more on that another day), flowers (definitely DIY), photographer, and veeeery close to having the caterer signed (by the end of the week I'd say). Oh, I've also got a prelim design for the Save-the-Date cards and have started compiling the all-important wedding guest database! (well, actually it's just a spreadsheet, but database sounds more impressive, no?)

My amusing wedding planning neurosis story of the week: so, as I told you about last weekend Bill and I came up with a centerpiece design that we really like. I had a coupon for 50% off one item at Michaels from the paper so we bought a vase to test the idea. It was a success, yea for checking another thing off the list! Now, we're going to need at least 20 of these vases, and I loooove a bargain so I've hatched a plan to obtain them all by buying ONE every time I have a coupon. I've even enlisted the aid of my boss at work whereby I will trade him diaper coupons (his wife just had a baby) for Michaels coupons! It seems like a new coupon comes out just about every week so we should be set. The hard part, of course is resisting the urge to buy lots of other unnecessary things each time I go in. But, my will is strong and my desire to one-up "the establishment" will prevail!

Luckily I very frequently need to shop either AT Michaels or at stores near Michaels for my job so I'm not making lots of extra trips just to get these vases one at a time. I think they have the same vases at JoAnn too, I could be doubling my coupon power by hitting up both stores! Sigh, I think I'm going to need a whole extra room for all the supplies I'll accumulate over the next year. :P