Blogging is Calming...hmmm

So as I go to read my weddingbee.com blogs for today, this is my relaxation period of the day, Terence tells me that he finds blogging relaxing. I don't know about this, but thought I would give it a shot! (maybe its calming to him because he gets to write about cruising and baseball...ha)

This morning woke up early in a panic to quickly get the table and place cards printed and ready to drop off at the reception location this afternoon. Well CRAP, I have been procrastinating on this project, mostly because I didn't want to think about table arrangements and here I went and waited till the morning before to work on this project. In enters Terence to the rescue!!! He went and bought more cardstock (which I miscalculated for like the tenth time throughout the wedding planning process), he dealt with the devil printer that for some reason liked to eat my miscalculated cardstock, and even cut and scored all the cards!

I think they turned out pretty cute for a 1-day project...pics to come!

We also got to drop all the out of town bags off at the Embassy Suites and Fairfield Inn. I always liked this idea of getting a gift when checking in for your room. So we decided to pull a little something together, mostly St. Charles/St. Louis visitor guides, some more wedding information, snacks, and a homemade surprise...to be shared later after everyone has seen theirs!

We are so excited to see all of out friends and family that have traveled so far!!

2 days and counting...

Wedding Week Continues...and Ice Cream today!!

Well Monday was a full day. We got our marriage license (see the pic below), met with our DJ, Debbie had another hair trial, as well as her final dress fitting. Plus there was prepping for the out-of-town guests, arranging seating, going shopping...it was a loooooooooooong day!

Today started off just like Monday...with a trip to the gym. See Monday's visit was necessary after all the food we ate "on the road" on Sunday. We haven't been eating out much, so the extra sodium left us feeling...well, like we needed to work out! This morning I was less than amused. We woke up early to the sound of Midnight running at full speed into the bedroom. Just before we heard cat cries from her and Phoebe, Debbie's cat here in St Louis. They are in the "transitional" phase of becoming either a) friends, b) acquaintances, or c) frenemies (where they get along when we are all watching them!). We got to the gym eventually and started our day just like Monday.

Today we met with the videographer over lunch at St Louis Bread Company (aka Panera Bread outside of St Louis...). Then we headed over to Mens Wearhouse to drop off my tux and shirt for pressing/cleaning (oddly enough all the groomsmen, fathers, and ushers' tux rentals were ready. I only need to rent the accessories (i.e. vest, tie, etc) and they were NOT there yet...hmmmmm... We then headed to South City to Serendipity...for some awesome ice cream. They are providing the ice cream at our reception...finally got a chance to try the pumpkin pie flavor, awesome! It'll be there on Saturday! I went with my favorite, Swiss Chip...it'll also be there. Following the loooong stay there, we headed to dinner with our photographer at Three Monkeys (near Tower Grove Park)...had a unique appetizer, Lobster Rangoon...another great find!

Here I am with the ice cream...not the most flattering of shots, but you get the idea. Deb and I really, really have missed the awesome-ness of ice cream! (The sugar crash came later!)

Now it's night...and we are still busy away. As Debbie is on her computer and I'm on another, I'm procrastinating slightly in posting this blog. Hahaha...as I don't have time to email EVERYONE, a blog post is so much easier to update the masses!

Tomorrow...oye, avoiding the schedule for now! :-)

Arrived in St Louis! Wedding Week Begins!

Well after a long 14-hour drive, Debbie and I arrived in St Louis late last night. We planned on leaving at 7am, but it was just after 8am when we departed Pearland. There were things we had to finish up first thing in the morning, including the drugging of Midnight. She had been stressed all week, we noticed, and when I picked her up and held her on the counter, I don't think it helped. Debbie proceeded to push the little pill into her mouth followed by the syringe full of water! She was pissed from that moment...till...well, she's still pissed! She woke up this morning probably groggy from the meds going..."where the hell am I?"

Anyways, as I backed the Xterra out of the garage, full beyond belief of wedding supplies and four weeks of clothes, travel essentials, etc etc etc...the rain drops began falling on the car. It wasn't until we were 2 hours outside of St Louis when the skies cleared and I could finally bring the car up to a satisfactory velocity!

It was a stressful drive all the way through. We opted for Highway 59 again for leaving Texas...with the GPS taking us off onto Highway 43 upwards of Marshall or so. Yeah, never again. See in dry conditions these roads are plenty safe and we cruise right on through. Not yesterday. The rain was bad, the roads were wet, the wind was blowing, and the stresses and anxieties never left! It was on 43 where the truck in front of us, towing a 20-ft boat, went into a 360 degree spin in front of us going 65-70 mph. We then hit the same slick spot but were lucky and held the road and our lane...he wasn't so lucky. He flew across the road and ended up on the other side of the road...we stopped and he was okay, but the stress in that moment carried on until the rains stopped. (I probably doubled my gray hair quota in 14 hours!)

Anyways, we arrived safe and sound and are ready for a busy few days of "wedding week!" Any moment we'll be headed out for our marriage license, followed by a full day of vendor meetings and such. It's going to be awesome...or tiring.

Weather is 59 degrees right now and gorgeous. Considerably better than what we left behind in Texas. Wedding day forecast is a high of 55 and a low of 37...I am so excited! Coupled with the leaves starting to turn (some, not quite there yet), it's going to be a beautiful weekend!!!

See some of you in St Louis!

Stupid Parades

OK, so everyone says that something will go wrong with the wedding, well I already know what it is! There is a parade blocking all access roads to the church just in time for our ceremony to begin!

Yep, it is St. Charles' Bicentennial Celebration that weekend which is great because our out of town guests will have plenty to do (hay rides, movies under the stars, historic tours...), everything but making it to the church!

You can see the Parade route below, St. Charles Borromeo is 1 block North of Clark Street. SO you can see that to get from the highway/hotel to the church you would typically head down 5th Street. This intersection may or may not still be closed when guests should be arriving.

I spoke with the parade coordinator for the city today, she didn't sound hopeful, but told me the parade starts at 12pm and 'should' be over by 2pm. And she promised to talk with the police and get some suggested routes for our guests. So please stay tuned for updates!

Terence and I did a walking estimate on Google Maps tonight and it will take 16 minutes to get to Blanchette Park (C) from 5th and Clark (B). Which means the last float should pass through the intersection that we need by about 1:45pm.

Any suggestions?
View Larger Map

My Shower!

A few weeks ago I went to STL for another wedding planning trip, except this one was a bit more fun! Well nothing is as fun as trying cake and ice cream all day, but....I had my bridal shower! My sister, mom, and aunt all planned an awesome party for me with so much of my wedding ideas thrown in. They bought flowers from my florist, cake from my bakery, and ice cream from Serendipity, it was like a wedding preview! So many friends and family were there as well and "showered" me with some totally awesome bridal gifts. Thanks again to everyone!

Here is a pic of all the family ladies...

50th Birthday, Wedding Stuff, & All Star Fanfest

Last weekend we headed up to St Louis to celebrate Debbie's mom and aunt's 50th birthday! Debbie and her sister did an amazing job planning, decorating, and more for the event! I'll leave the details and photos for Debbie to blog...

We also took care of wedding stuff, including doing our menu tasting for our reception. I think we were impressed by nearly all our preliminary selections...and narrowed it down to some great dishes. One more thing we took care of was our wedding cake fillings, icings, etc. I can't say I'll ever get to eat enough wedding cake!

Then on Sunday it seemingly was for me. We headed to the America's Center in downtown St Louis for the All Star Fanfest, part of the MLB All Star Game celebrations. There was so much there from Hall of Famer's signing autographs (like Harmon Killebrew and Tony Perez, for instance), a travelling HOF exhibit, interactive baseball games, and more. It was pretty sweet. We didn't have all day to spend there as we all head home that evening, but we got a few hours of fun in. We did the speed pitch (including Debbie, her cousins Robbie and Bryan, her aunt Pat, and myself). Debbie and Pat threw in the 30s and 40s, Bryan in the 50s, and Robbie and I in the 70s. I don't know where it came from, but somehow I still have 78 mph in my arm! That is off my once 89 mph throw from my high school days, but wasn't all that bad for my 27 year old arm.

Ditto to the wedding photos, the party photos, and now the Fanfest photos...Deb has them! She is off in Denver this weekend (remember this is our busy busy month!)... I did find one photo taken at the State Farm Homerun Derby exhibit, check it out: