Announcement

(Photo from Roadsidepicture's Flickr Stream)

Guests do not have to feel required to come to Las Vegas. We are having reception in Minnesota on August 29th in order to enjoy this occasion with those people who do not have the time, money or desire to fly out to Las Vegas. We understand that people have other commitments and that a trip in this economy is a burden. I just wanted to say this so that no one feels badly if they can’t make it.

Honeymoon Booked!

We finally booked our honeymoon. We are very excited about it. We debated our options for a long time and finally settled on a sort of compromise.

I wanted a road trip. I love road trips. In the past I have driven to Seattle, New Orleans and to New York twice with Brian. While this seems like a lot of fun, Brian convinced me that it was a poor idea for our honeymoon. It would be very hot in a car, gas is expensive and we would be racing to get from hotel to hotel. Plus, we would have to pay for every little thing along the way. This does not sound very romantic.

Brian wanted a cruise. He loves the idea of an all inclusive, trip with swimming pools, bars and a casino all in one place. He has great memories of going on a cruise in high school and has always wanted to share the experience with me.

So, we chose a cruise. To make me happy, the cruise leaves from New Orleans, so that I get to share a bit of my road trip memories with Brian (most of which involve cajun food and various hot sauces). The cruise is through Carnival and it goes to Cozumel and Progresso in Mexico.

We are already having fun dreaming about our day excursions and the fun things to do aboard the ship!

Any advice for things to do in Mexico or in New Orleans?

(p.s. sorry about the blurry photo)

My Registry Research

I am a bit obsessive. I have a fear of getting discombobulated at the store when I register. So, I treated the registry like any other project I take on: I did my research.

I read, cover to cover, Alton Brown’s Gear for your Kitchen and took copious notes about the products he uses and recommends. Brian and I adore Alton Brown and basically follow his advice in the kitchen as often as possible. So, I now have an 8 page registry list that is annotated with all of Alton Brown’s advice. For example, when Brian and I pick a cooling rack we want to make sure that it has the following:

• That it will fit on my cookie sheet so that I can use it in the oven (to cook meat over a pan and catch drippings)
• It must be woven and not parallel bars
• It should be made of chromed steel

When we choose a stock pot we want it to have:

• Heavy gauge metal that is anodized aluminum, stainless steel with aluminum or copper-cored disk or cladded stainless steel)
• Comfortable sturdy loop handles
• Be able to hold about 8-12 quarts

I think my hard work will pay off. I hope that my detailed list will help keep the whole experience under control and simple.

I was wondering, is there anything that you would recommend that I definitely have on the registry? Please comment!

Save the Dates!

Now that most of our Save the Dates have been mailed and received I feel that I can blog about them! Brian and I designed and made them ourselves.

We printed on white cardstock which we trimmed. Then we mounted it onto precut chartreuse color, #10 size cards from Paper Source, an online paper seller. Finally, we finished off with a hole punch and a bit of black ribbon. They all went into orange colored, #10 sized envelopes from Paper Source.

It was much more time consuming then I expected. We had started looking at possible designs a long time ago! First we thought about doing a boarding pass design. I tried making that look right for months, to no avail. I got frustrated one day and decided to look at a boarding pass that I did like and try to copy it. I realized that no boarding passes actually look cute. I just thought that the "idea" was cute. Some ideas do not work in reality.

So, then we went through other choices: magnets, passports, and simple cards. Finally, our favorite comic newspaper, The Onion, released this issue:



We loved this issue (click here for online version). We read it from cover to cover.

We were inspired and decided to design something like this. We wanted the same superfluous words and fonts. We had a lot of fun creating our own version. Here it is:

Wedding Registry Planning!

Brian and I (Alicia) are gearing up to register this weekend. We are starting off at Bed, Bath & Beyond tomorrow morning. Bed, Bath & Beyond seems like a good choice because they have many branches and a wide variety of products (no I am not being paid by them to say that). Plus, it is the basic home store that Brian and I use the most in New York.

Next, we plan on doing a Target registry online from home. We are doing it from home because the Target in Brooklyn is horrible (see The Consumerist’s article calling the Brooklyn Target an “Abortion of Retail”). That store is so awful that I have actually written complaint letters to Target Corporate about it. None the less, Brian and I enjoy every other Target we have been to and want to register there.

Finally, I reserved a couple of spots for us to attend the Crate and Barrel Wedding Event on February 22nd. It is on a Sunday morning before the store opens, so all the engaged couples can have the store to themselves before they open for the day. There is supposed to be free food and we get a heart shaped bowl for registering. It sounds like fun and we are excited to go.

Is there anywhere else that I should register? If you have a suggestion, please comment!

When we met...

Alicia and I (Brian) met over a year before we began dating.

I had just started my first year at the University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD) and Alicia was pounding out her last. We technically met at a Mock Trial informational meeting. Alicia was interested in pursuing a legal career, so she attended. I'd been watching a ton of Law & Order and I really enjoyed Mock Trial in high school, so I tried to make it. But alas, I was new at UMD and couldn't find the room. I made it, but was so late that there was standing room only. My face was just one in a sea of students. We didn't talk, so technically we weren't introduced, but we were certainly at that meeting. Since I'm writing this, I'm going to claim that I fell in love with Alicia right then and there, and that she thought I smelled funny.

The first time we actually acknowledged each other's existence was in Cina 102, the room Mock Trial meetings occurred. Every Monday and Thursday, the team would meet to work on that year's case. Unfortunately, I was on the Prosecution side, Alicia on the Defense, so we talked very little. (To be honest, I didn't really learn Alicia's name until January, when I had to write her name on the team rosters before every round. I'm really bad with names.)

Cina 102

When the season ended, we went our separate ways. Alicia graduated UMD in the spring of 2004, so she was no longer eligible to be on the team. But the stars aligned for me, as she returned to the team as an assistant coach. I was only one of two returning team members, which greased the wheels for us to become better acquainted (Talking to people you've already met is an awesome way to avoid meeting new people. What can I say, I'm lazy.).

The 2003-2004 Mock Trial Team, with Alicia and Brian!

We really, truly got to know each other by coming to Mock Trial meetings early. I was in class until 5:40 (Mock Trial started at 7:00), so it was easier if I didn't go home before meetings. Alicia worked until 5ish, so it was easier for her to simply go to UMD. Thus, we came early and talked! We usually fought playfully over whether Target or Walmart was better. Walmart is better, so I always won.

A big turning point occurred when the big regional tournament for Mock Trial came in February. The tournament took place in St. Paul, MN. Thus, the team would split up and carpool down from Duluth, MN. Alicia had to take the LSAT, thus she drove down in her own car. I rode in Prof. Grau's van. Prof. Grau sucked all the fun out of the car trip by grilling me on the case to help prepare. So when the tournament was over and I found out Alicia lived in the same apartment complex as I, I insisted it'd be easier on Prof. Grau to not drive me home. We chatted about movies, games, etc., all the way home. We were some chatty Cathys. My heart goes out to Liz, the poor third student who rode along with us.

Alicia as Assistant Coach

It was awesome knowing someone living basically next door and I'm rather shy, so I knew that if I didn't call Alicia the next day, I'd rarely hang out with her. Luckily, Alicia was thinking the same thing. I called Alicia the next day. On February 14^th, 2005 (Valentine's Day, no less), we had our first date.