Hoppy In Love...Living Hoppily Ever After

Get down with your bad self!

2012-02-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned, Bob and I had a beer themed wedding. We knew that we wanted to incorporate hops into the boutonnieres and bouquets so we pitched the idea to our florist and she was certain she could get them. Just in case, Bob made sure this year's crop of hops were growing nicely in our yard, in the event that we needed them.

Well, we needed them. The week before our wedding Bob placed a call to our florist before cutting down the hops to use in his beer. She completely forgot to call to tell us that she couldn't get them from her supplier for our wedding flowers....so two days before our wedding, Bob cut them down, boxed them up, and I drove them out to Allentown to be used like we wanted. It was neat to say that they were OUR hops fresh from our garden.

Bob brewed three different beers for our wedding: a stout, a honey-hibiscus wit, and his signature IPA. Because they're so delicious, we knew we had to remind the guests to only take one bottle. We brought extras but really wanted to keep it to one per guest (though I later found out my grandma took 3).

Putting the labels on the bottles was my job the day before the wedding...nothing like working until the last minute.

Keeping with the beer theme, we gave each table the name of one of our favorite microbreweries. Each escort card had the matching bottle cap.

Just so there was no confusion, we mapped out the room for our guests with the corresponding bottle cap on their table. This way you knew the general area of your table and could find your seat more easily.

We were originally going to make a coffee table book with write ups of our favorite beers/breweries but it became too much work. One day when I was perusing the usual wedding blogs I saw a coupon for 50% off a thumbprint guestbook. With this company, you send a picture of the two of you and choose your colors. They use your photo to create a caricature. We had the photo matted with the intent of signatures going there and thumbprints lining the tree...as you can see, that didn't happen. This picture is currently hanging in our dining room.

I knew I wanted to make something to decorate our cake table and found a wooden cutout of a man and a woman and the I Do letters. I made our characters like like us to the best of my ability, knowing how I would wear my hair and what color Bob's bow tie would be.

We wanted a simple design for our cake and knew we wanted fresh flowers on the top. Our baker used a coppery ribbon to help tie the colors all together. We went with a vanilla cake with mocha hazelnut ganache with little pieces of hazelnut in it and butter cream frosting. It was so delicious and I'm looking forward to our anniversary to eat the top.

Formal Pictures and The Big Send Off

2012-01-29T07:43:00.000-08:00

On the big day we only buffered in 20 minutes for formal pictures because we didn't want our guests waiting forever for us to exit the chapel. We had a strict list and a game plan to get everyone in and out.

We left Scotty and Bryda in charge of getting the grandma's pictures done first and scooting them out of the chapel because they required assistance.

Both families together because we really are one big happy family :)

The only thing that put a damper on our wedding parade was the heat. The chapel is not equipped with air conditioning and it turned out to be a pretty hot day. This was the main reason for making programs that also working as fans for our guests. Thankfully, there were fans up on the altar pointed at us so we stayed pretty cool for the ceremony...but here we look sweaty.

This progression is one of my favorite sets of pictures. We opted to do a bubble send-off and purchased our bubbles on sale from Michaels right after we got engaged. It was $10 for 100 bubbles and we had 116 guests at our wedding so it worked out nicely because some people weren't able to come to the chapel.

The Rites of Marriage

2012-01-28T11:36:00.000-08:00

We got a kick out of having our Jewish friend do a reading at our Catholic wedding, but Rissa did a fantastic job and no one would have even known. We had Marissa read Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8;6-7a.

Scotty did a reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. This is probably one of the most well known verses for weddings but that wasn't the part that spoke to us "Love is patient, Love is kind, etc" so we consulted with our priest and were given the ok to take that part out. We felt that so many people get caught up in that verse because it is commonly used for weddings but the rest of the reading rings just as true. Love never fails.

Bryda read our prayer of the faithful.

The mamas did the presentation of gifts....they were very nervous about tripping down the aisle.

What most people don't realize is that you are pronounced man and wife in the middle of the ceremony. This does not signify the ending of the service but you're still free to clap and get excited when that becomes official.

We read traditional vows in the repeat after me style. Father Mac started them off for Bob and when Bob didn't seem to be able to get it out, Father Mac repeated them again. Bob was just a little choked up and couldn't get the words out....I started balling like a baby.

We decided that only the two of us and our matron of honor/best man would receive both the host and wine. It was a little awkward when the rest of the chapel came up to receive. I wasn't sure if it was ok to watch or if I should continue to look forward.

Our final kiss before heading down the aisle :)

The Ceremony - Processional

2012-01-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

Bob and his best man Todd waiting for the procession to start.

Scotty Doo walking my grandma down the aisle.

Bryda walking Bob's grandma down the aisle.

Mama and Papa O

My brother-in-law Alec walking the m-dukes down the aisle.

Kevin and Kate

Dave and Lizzie

Heather, my matron of honor!

And the moment everyone was waiting for.....

I am my father's daughter -- we have the same look on our faces.

call the waaaaambulance

2011-12-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know I never finished posting our wedding photos and you all are crying your little eyes out over it but I had to share this absolute awesomeness that I made this morning.

I picked up two of these muffin top tins from home goods for $7 a pop with the idea that I can make our usual egg muffins that we cut in half and throw on a trader joe's wrap in these so that they're the perfect size for sandwich thins.

Tada! The finished product!

Sandwich Thin Eggies

1/2 cup fat free milk
10 large eggs
1/4 cup oregano
1 medium sized red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup Cheddar Jack cheese
3 links chorizo, out of casing

Preheat oven to 350. Grease pans to make clean up soooo easy.

In a skillet brown chorizo, making sure to break up with the back of a spoon. Pour into a bowl to cool. Using the grease from the chorizo, cook the onion until translucent. Add the red pepper and continue to cook.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, oregano, milk, cheese, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Combine egg mixture with chorizo, onion, and pepper mixture. Each muffin top should take approximately 1/3 cup of mixture. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool and freeze. When you're ready to use: pop in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and throw on a sandwich thin or in a Trader Joe's wrap.

Bring on the family!

2011-12-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

I wish I had the desire to write about all of this but I'm running on empty so I'm just going to entertain you with these pictures and the little diddy about how the clouds were rolling in and the thunder was booming in the distance as my father and I waited for the limo to come back around and pick us up. I was worried that the limo wouldn't make it back before the skies opened up and was prepping myself for walking in the middle of the street and stopping a random car to drive us to the church (which was 2 blocks from the rose garden).

The Big Reveal

2011-11-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

Bobby and I decided to do a reveal instead of waiting to take our pictures until after the chapel and I think it worked out quite nicely. He got in the first limo with one photographer and headed to the rose garden as I came down to the lobby. Then I got in the second limo with the other photographer to meet up with him for the big reveal.

My photographer took a bunch of pictures as I thought about what was to come for the day.

It was funny having my own little photo shoot and great to have some time to myself before the chaos.

Bobby also had some time to think about what was about to happen.

It was funny sneaking up on him at the park. What's even funnier is that there was a group of people taking their own wedding photos on the other side of this tree and our photographer yelled at them to get out of the shot but they didn't seem to understand....finally she's like "this is the first time they're seeing each other...MOVE!"

If you're toying with the idea of seeing each other before the wedding, I totally recommend it. It was great to have this time together before everything began and even though we were having our picture taken, it really felt like it was just the two of us.

The other wonderful advantage to us taking our pictures early was that we were able to finish before the rain began...but more on that later.

Putting on the most expensive dress I'll ever wear.

2011-11-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

As a bridesmaid gift I got each of the girls a custom hanger with their name in script made from the wire.

Bobby and I spent so much time on our welcome bags and were very disappointed to find out that the hotel didn't hand out half of them and their staff ate the homemade cookies out of the bags. BUT we did have these adorable game booklets in each bag with crossword puzzles about us, a word find, a word scramble and a maze. We gave each of the guests a little packet with our wedding color crayons so they could work out the puzzles.

Me and my bridesmaids (Heather - my sister and matron of honor, Kate - Bobby's youngest sister, and Lizzie - Bobby's younger sister).

I had seen pictures like this as inspiration and knew it had to be done!

The makeup artist did such a fantastic job. You can't even see my scar!

If I had to give any upcoming brides a tip it would be this: eat before you get dressed. Order room service to where you're getting ready and wrap yourself in a towel. It was worthwhile for us to have some chicken fingers and turkey clubs while we waited for the boys to be done with their pictures and it was a pleasant snack when Bobby and I went back to the suite after the day was over.

and the men have their fun

2011-11-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

While we were busy getting beautified, the menfolk went to the casino. Our priest won big at the tables and the guys came back to the hotel to get ready.

Our rings.

The p-dukes.

Bobby pinning my dad's boutonniere.

Bobby pinning his dad.

Bobby and his groomsmen (Kevin, Todd - the best man, and Dave).

While the girls got ready, the boys went over to the venue to take pictures with the tanks at the brewery.

Mary in the window.

Mama O pinning Bobby's boutonniere.

All week there were reports that it would rain all day on our wedding so Mama O whipped out the Mary statue. According to Mama O, putting Mary in the window will keep the rain away and it worked! Well...sort of...you'll get to hear more about that in the next post.

And so it begins

2011-11-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

We left the hotel early to get to the hair salon to get beautified. Bobby and I decided not to see each other until our big reveal so it was quite the game to make sure that we wouldn't run into each other in the hotel lobby. The girls piled into two cars and we headed out to Richard Kroll Salon. Because I had my test run earlier in the week, they knew that I was going to take the longest so I went in for a wash and they set me in curlers. As I was sitting under the dryer our photographers showed up so these are just a handful of the beautiful pictures from getting ready.

I felt like a Texas beauty queen but it was exactly what I wanted and I got so many compliments on my hair all night.

Mama O stopped to take some pictures while we were getting ready.

I got the girls these hangers as a bridesmaid gift.

My sister popped the champagne while we were getting ready at the salon...nothing wrong with a little booze before noon.

Kate and Elizabeth were busy being silly.

And there she hangs...waiting for us to get back from the salon.

Recap: Part 2

2011-11-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

We were running a little late getting to the chapel for the rehearsal, but it was all a-ok. Father Mac ran our rehearsal quite efficiently and we were in and out in 45 minutes. Actually going through the motions and hearing the music really got my heart racing. The entire night people kept asking me if I was nervous. It wasn't a matter of nerves so much as excitement. The day that we had spent so much time planning was finally within our reach and I just wanted to go go go.

It was so surreal walking down the aisle with my father and practicing when to sit and when to stand and when to change places...so hard to believe that we were getting married the next day.

Because Father Mac ran our rehearsal like a well oiled machine, we were finished with enough time to go back to the Olson's suite for some cocktails before dinner. Leave it to the Olsons to pack up an entire bar and bring it to the hotel, complete with appetizers and decorations. We were ready to sit down for dinner but still had no clue where we were going.

Recap: Part 1

2011-11-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well, last you all heard I had a nasty little bite under my left eye thanks to my parents' dog. It was the Wednesday before our wedding that I got my stitches out and the go-ahead to put makeup on the wound and man was I super excited by how beautiful the stitching was. I cannot thank Dr. Harris Sterman enough for the amazing job he did. Here we are 3 months later and you can barely tell that I have a scar across my cheek (also, big props to Maderma).

Thursday morning Bob and I woke up bright and early to finish packing for our honeymoon, load the car, and pick up my dress! We were both very excited for the big day to be so close but I feel like those two days went by so fast. As of 11am Thursday morning it was scheduled to rain all day on my wedding day....big time womp womp when we had planned to take our formal pictures in the rose garden near school. But have no fear, mama O packed her Mary statue because all you have to do is put Mary in the window and she'll keep that nasty storm away....find out if it worked, next time :)

We got to Allentown, PA a little after 1pm and dropped off all of our decorations for the reception to Jeff, our coordinator at Brew Works. It was so crazy to think that we were only 24 hours away from officially being a Mr. and Mrs. We looped back around to the hotel and checked in. For the night before the wedding, Bob would be staying in the room with his two sisters and I would be staying in our suite with my sister. We unpacked our stuff and headed back to Brew Works to pick up some lunch with some of Bob's college friends who had just landed in PA. They were all pleasantly surprised by how delicious Brew Works' menu was and that just made them even more excited for our reception.

After quickly changing for the rehearsal dinner, we headed to the chapel to practice for the real deal.

Don't worry, I didn't forget about you

2011-10-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

It came to my attention that some people check the blog daily and are disappointed I haven't posted anything new since I've become a married woman....and the reason being: I'm waiting for our professional pictures to come in to do a massive recap. So when those pictures roll in expect a new post every week for at least 4, if not 5 weeks in a row.

Thank you for your patience :) And I'll leave you with this.....

Three pictures are from our wedding! Yay!

well kiddos

2011-08-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

We're at the end of the road....in just 48 hours I will officially be Mrs. Melanie Olson. Then we're off to Aruba for our honeymoon. But don't go through withdrawal....there will be lots of picture posting once wedding chaos has come to an end and recaps galore.

To fan or not to fan...that is the question

2011-08-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

As beautiful and wonderful as the chapel is at Muhlenberg....there's a minor downfall....no AC. The chapel is all dark stone and stays relatively cool but can heat up if it's a particularly warm day and the chapel is packed. This presented a bit of a predicament for us. So we put on our thinking caps and I scoured the internet and decided to make fan programs. These are super common for outdoor weddings so why not benefit from them indoors?

Well....the next question becomes what type of fan....did you even know there were different kinds of fans? We thought, why not check out oriental trading

These seemed nice enough but when I read the reviews I learned that they're not all the same size. I thought that would be tacky so we threw that idea out the window.

Then we considered these types of fans in purple.

But, again, terrible reviews about how in a box of 12, only 1 would be usable....bleck!
We took a run at Amazon.com to see if they had anything workable. And HUZZAH! They did! These Wilton fans were DIY and printable so we could print our programs right on them...but, alas, they were out of stock and amazon didn't have an estimate of when they'd be back....With just over two weeks left, we weren't willing to take the risk. So it's back to scouring the net for something DIY.

And that's when I came across these DIY programs found here: Aylee Bits

They're big enough to hold all of our program information (something that we wouldn't have been able to do on the paddle fans) and relatively easy to assemble. We used my Staples gift card that I got from working the summer program last year to purchase the ivory cardstock and our Amazon Prime account got us the Crop-A-Dile all purpose eyelet setter and stamper for nearly half the price they charge at the craft stores (and free 2 day shipping) and I found purple grommets! I just need the ok from the dude on the design and from our priest that my information is all accurate and these should be done by the end of the week. I'm not looking forward to having to cut them all out but I think with a little help from friends, these can be beautiful and functional!

the picture

2011-08-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

every bride's nightmare

2011-08-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight I experienced a major trauma. Here we are, 16 days from the wedding, and I'm having my usual Wednesday night dinner at my parents and decided to lean over and pet the dog under the table. Well....he didn't like something I did or how I leaned down and bit me across my face. After 30 minutes of screaming and crying hysterically and asking God "why me?!? why now?!?" I was finally calm enough to go to the emergency room.

Thankfully Mama O is a nurse at the hospital and put in a couple of calls so they knew we were coming and had already paged the #1 plastic surgeon. Unfortunately, he was not the surgeon on call for the evening and had a family event to tend to. After finding out they were already paging other doctors, we asked if he'd be willing to come in after the party and he agreed. So I was admitted at 6pm and finally saw the surgeon at 11pm. The PA did some initial tests to make sure my vision wasn't messed up. She poured this stuff in and used a blacklite that made my eyeball light up like a highlighter....all while getting pumped with antibiotics through an IV.

I apparently got around 4 internal stitches and 6 external stitches in the area just under my eye and the top of my cheek. I'm very emotional right now because our big day is so close and I want to know what I did to deserve this. If you're lucky, I'll have Bob post the picture we sent his mom right after it happened.

Harlan Coben is STILL our hero....

2011-08-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

Even if he won't be at our wedding.

Today we got his response and while I was a little disappointed that he won't be there, he sent back a lovely response and it's completely understandable given his new book releases 2 weeks later.

Holy crap only 18 days left

2011-08-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

As our big day is fast approaching, I know I'm not going to get the chance to blog a lot but I promise to do TONS of recaps when we get back from the honeymoon so you can all see the finished product.

A toast!

2011-07-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night we had dinner with John Holl (http://beerbriefing.com/) and his wife April at their home in Jersey City. It was great to get to have a real conversation with John without having a bajillion beer people around. He broke out some really great beers for us to try including some from Chile (one of which I totally loved). For our special dinner I whipped up a batch of limoncello cupcakes and they were the perfect dessert.

John gave us a goodie bag of beers to bring home with us and our beverage for toasting at the wedding.

A 2011 bottle of Infinium...yes, you read that correctly...the bottle that hasn't been released just yet. Bob and I were saving a bottle of 2010 down in the basement for toasting at our wedding and when we mentioned that to John at the Epic takeover at Barcade a couple of weeks ago, he shared with us that he had a special present for the occasion. Thanks John!

for those keeping count....

2011-07-20T05:57:00.001-07:00

Less than one month to go! Eep!

Just RSVP already!!!

2011-07-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

So our RSVP date has come and gone and we have only 18 outstanding RSVPs....not bad, not bad. Bob and I decided to attack the seating arrangement because we know it's going to be the biggest headache and we already have some idea whats up with the missing RSVPs.

Our venue has 10 booths along the wall that each seat 4 people and we'll have 6 round 10 person tables and one long table as the head table (or two rounds in place of the one long). As you can see, the appetizer plates (thanks Dana and Jay!) are our booths and the placemats are our round tables.

Needless to say, some people are going to be at 4 person booths and they may not like it but they're just going to have to deal with it. You're only sitting to eat and we have some other cool stuff going on so it really shouldn't be that big of a deal.

On that note, do not be offended if you're in a booth vs. a round. We tried to make it work to the best of our ability.

Wedding Stress Meltdown

2011-06-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a meltdown. I know that we still have plenty of time but I had a freakout that we wouldn't be able to get everything done before the wedding.

I started the day off strong. After my failed attempt to make a stamp out of foam to use on our OOT bags last week, I was determined to make it happen during my time off this week and I did!

I watched a youtube tutorial for how to make stamps out of foam but the issue was that I was trying to make too small of an image....so I decided to focus on just the hops in our little logo and blew them up. Then I printed them on regular paper and glued the image to a piece of white craft foam. Using an exacto knife and really great scissors I was able to cut out all of the white parts of the image, leaving just the black outlines. Then I glued my finished cones and leaf together onto another piece of foam so I have a stamp with a back! It was a very exciting time.

After that small victory, I headed to Heights to pick up our wedding band appraisal, mail off some of Bob's shirts from Bolero Snort, and stopped at Staples to pick up white circular stickers to use for a project for our OOT bags.....and this is where the frustration picked up.

I spent about 2 hours trying to print our logo on these damn stickers and ended up getting so mad that I gave up....and then had a freakout...ate some Ben & Jerry's ice cream...got mad at myself for eating ice cream....and wound up in bed having a meltdown when Bob came home from work.

Phew...deep breaths.....almost there

Licensed to Wed!

2011-06-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's official! As of Monday June 27th, we can get married (yea it's post dated)!

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. We got up at 6:30am to head out to PA to be at the Lehigh County Court House around 8am when they opened. Well I was having a little difficulty getting started in the morning and forgot all of these things until the last minute (printing out the table layout for the florist, getting out my Social Security Card and Passport, filling up on gas).....anyhoo, we got to the courthouse a little after 8am and there was already a couple meeting with the marriage license person so we had to wait anyway.

Around 9am we were back on the road to head out to Wind Gap to meet with the DJ. After heading down some kinda creepy roads, we found his place and he was definitely the right choice. We're super excited to work with him and for a couple of surprises for our guests that you'll have to wait to see.

After a long and productive meeting with the DJ, we were back to Atown for a quick stop with the Limo company to give a deposit and sign our contract. The limo company is in an office in the Masonic Temple of Allentown. If you've never been in a Masonic Temple....they're a little scary and reminded me of Peggy Sue Got Married....HUGE building

Then it was a quick run to Egner Chapel to meet with the organist and go over church music. I must say, he was excited on our recessional selection and you all better sing! We will print all music in the program so that everyone can sing along but we're really counting on the whole place to sing as we leave the chapel.

By this point our bellies were super grumbly because it was already a little after 1 and we had about 50 minutes to spare before our meeting with the florist so we headed over to Brew Works to drop off another check and grab some grub....nothing like a pulled pork sandwich to get your through a hectic day.

Finally our day came to an end when after a stop at the florist to check out a mockup centerpiece and man am I glad we did that. The florist thought we were using small round tables versus 72 inch rounds and so our centerpieces were a little smaller than we anticipated so it was good to give her the diagram and explain the issues with size. Thankfully we had gone over expenses before heading out so we were able to maneuver some things with the florist and still fall in our budget.

Phew! 55 days and counting!

Wake up Dunkin Donuts and smell my RIPOFF :)

2011-06-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about doing this for a little while now.....Bobby and I LOVE Dunkin Donuts' egg white and turkey sausage wake up wrap comes in a little under 200 calories and 6 grams of fat. Now, it's not that I want to make that number smaller because it's perfectly fine for a breakfast on the go.....but I wanted to be able to make my own to pop in the microwave before heading to work so here's what I did:

12 medium eggs (4 whole eggs and 8 whites only)
I used 2 turkey zucchini burgers that I had in the freezer instead of turkey sausage
1 cup spinach
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

First, I cooked up the turkey burgers and broke them up into small crumbles. In the last couple of minutes in the pan, I added the frozen spinach.

One everything was cooked through, I mixed it into the egg white mixture and added the cheese. Then, I ladeled out 1/4 cup of the mixture into creme brulee dishes (this way it gets the perfect oval shape). Finally a popped them in the microwave, one at a time, for 2 minutes and slid each out of the dish to cool. Tested one myself and put the rest in a ziplock (once cooled) and into the freezer......my total: 74 calories, 3 grams of fat

Eat it bitches!

Oooo Shiny

2011-06-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

We've been busy little bees getting our table numbers done. I spent an afternoon spray painting all of the frames that I got at Michaels for a buck a piece and then headed down into the cool basement to cut the caddies and put them all together.

The copper frames drying outside. It's a good thing we didn't put the umbrella in until recently otherwise there wouldn't have been anywhere to put all of these.

I also picked these letters up at the craft store and spray painted them copper as well. I might put bottle caps on them to really tie it together.

Our pile of caddies. We happen to be pretty close with the local liquor store so we can swipe caddies whenever we need them without a problem.....though I'm still hunting down a Victory "Summer Love" caddy. If you have one that you're willing to part with, send it my way.

The caddies all cut out. We needed to make sure they were the right size and the logos were visible so you know exactly what table matches your bottle cap escort card.

You've got mail!

2011-06-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

My mother and I spent 3 hours a week ago putting together all of the invitations. Bobby and I were fortunate enough to have a connection with the printing equipment so we gave them the designs and specifics(wording/colors/etc) and they turned out a fantastic product. For a while we were mulling around the idea to put them in a pocket folio but I really think it just brings the whole thing together so I ordered those and bronze metallic cardstock from mygatsby.com. When the cardstock came in, we had our connection cut it down to size and I put my mother to work.

All of the stuff that needed to get put together.

The invitations without the actual invite put in yet (we were waiting on the bronze paper to get cut).

The three inserts in the pocket.

Our accommodations card

Our RSVP card that we then stamped with how many seats were reserved to try to prevent any drama.

Our reception card

The finished product

Going to the chapel and we're gonna get maaaarrrieeedd

2011-06-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

Back in April we took the parents out to Muhlenberg and Brew Works for our tasting and man oh man is our food going to be delicious!

We also had the opportunity to pop into the chapel to take some pictures and so everyone could see what it looked like inside, since I was the only one who had previously done that.

It's a mighty long aisle at the chapel that I will have to walk down...

The front altar.....hey, I've performed rituals here ;)

a glimpse from further back (with no lights on the pews)...it's a good thing I remember where the fuse box was

Can you spot the quatrefoil in the background?

The beautiful organ

View from behind the altar

It was great to get an idea of the length and where things will be/where we will sit during the ceremony. So crayz to think that this is finally happening.

HHW

2011-06-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the Honey Hibiscus Wit tester batch for the wedding...

The beer is fermenting along nicely and brew day went well. Mel and I tried a sip of the beer yesterday and it has some great fruity sweetness to it and an awesome color. I am torn right now between adding some additional hibiscus in the dry hoping phase to really deepen the color or just leave it be since it tastes so good right now...time will tell...

eep!

2011-06-01T13:27:00.001-07:00

The invites are here! Stay tuned for assembly line pictures.......

mmm...beer...

2011-05-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

So everyone bare with me as this schtick is generally my beloved's thing, but I figured a few followers may be interested in the chronicling of our reception take homes...some Bolero Snort (read: my brewery) beers!

In the next week or so I will brew up a tester batch of 1 of the 3 beers we will have at the wedding, a honey hibiscus wit beer "White Gown". I'll get picks and the recipe up shortly for those interested.

The 2nd beer will be a Sweet & Spicy Stout "Black Tux" and rounding out the group is "Hoppily Ever After" my staple IPA.

we've reached the double digits!

2011-05-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

Eep! There's 98 days until our wedding and most stuff is done. Our invitations are being printed as we speak and we should get them from the printer soon. We're shooting to send them out the first week in June. My dress will be in at the beginning of july. My mom got her dress and I'm starting to wrangle in my accessories. The bridesmaids have their dresses and shoes. Our limo is ordered. I still feel like there's so much more to do though lol.

Table numbers and escort cards

2011-04-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

Last week was my Spring Break and Bobby and I went down to Sarasota for a much needed vacation. This year I was fortunate enough to also have the day after Easter off...it was an added bonus. Claiming I was a busy bee for the day would be an understatement. I started the morning off with a trip to the gym, followed by a buttload of errands.....but the most important thing that I did was make a mock-up of our table numbers and escort cards. Let me know what ya think!

Don't mind the wet glue....once it dried, it turned clear. I went to Michaels and they had these frames for only $1. I picked up some copper spray paint and went to town. Each table will have a different brewery name and the escort card will have a matching bottle cap like so:

Ignore the ghetto-fabulousness of this one. I just wanted to get an idea of what they would look like and make sure that the cap wouldn't be too heavy.

The invitations saga

2011-04-25T06:09:00.000-07:00

Last week we decided to order our invitations. We received samples of the invitations and the paper and the folio but couldn't justify the money. Invitations are freaking expensive and that's not even including the postage!

This is the suite that we were looking into:

But not in those colors....obviously. The only thing is that I would prefer for our folio to open the other way. So now we're trying to figure out how to make this work. The other big issue is that going from a regular invitation/response card to a whole suite is an additional $400.....

So today I am meeting with the printers in Bobby's building. They're going to print our invitations in thermography in the colors that we want for a very very reasonable price and we're going to order the folios that we want and just assemble them ourselves. Easy peesy....well, we'll see after my meeting with them this afternoon.

Spring is in the air

2011-04-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was spent with a massive spring cleaning both inside and outside of the house. It took me three hours to clean our entire house and I didn't even hit the basement (we have a fully finished basement with a bar and bathroom and use it maybe once a month so it doesn't get gross really). I must say, it is nice having a clean house but man do I hate doing the work to get it there.

In addition to the inside cleaning, we had a little help with the outside cleaning/landscaping. Boo is finally getting her fence so we needed to make sure that the hedges were trimmed, leaves and dog poo were picked up, and garden was ready for planting. Last year we started the season off strong with a beautiful front lawn but were faced with a grub attack, destroying the lawn in a mere month and a half. As a result, we had landscapers come and dig up half our front lawn and replant grass to try to have a nice green lawn again.....this was the haul from the end of the day.

Even though yesterday was a super long day of cleaning and today would have made for a wonderful day of rest, it was still a super busy one. Because I'm going through the process of becoming Catholic, there are some Rites that I need to receive on specific days. Now, Bobby and I normally go to the 9am mass but today we had to go to the 10:30 mass with the 4 other candidates/catechumens to receive the rite of scrutiny. When we got home, we decided to hit up Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and so I bought supplies to make another double batch of chili and some yummy pasta salad.

you are not superwoman

2011-04-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

I decided that I don't want to deal with the stress of doing our own flowers so I broke down and set up a consultation with a florist in A-town for my spring break in 2 weeks. The funny thing is....my consultation is at 1....I have to be at the airport in Newark by 3:30 for our flight to Sarasota...can I make it?

I really like purple ranunculus and lisianthus so we'll see what we can have done with both :) but these are my inspiration.

I got $99 and this dress is one!

2011-04-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

So today we went to pick out the bridesmaids dresses. First we went to a store in Saddle Brook that was more of a boutique but they carried the Alfred Angelo dresses that I liked. Now, initially I had pictured the girls in a more flowy short dress possibly chiffon but after ordering my gown, I had a different vision. I wanted to see the girls in a more form fitting satin dress and that's precisely what they got.

It was funny because I had all three of them try on the dress to make sure that it was flattering on each...and it was...and it had to have a church appropriate neckline...which it does...and it was the fabric/look I was going for....but the color didn't seem right. I had the woman hunting down the store for the perfect shade of purple and they came up short. Then Lizzie tried on the dress in a marine blue and the lapis color looked more purple next to it. So Lizzie suggested we ask to see the dress in natural light so we set off the detector at the door and headed outside and it was the purple that I wanted! The horrible lighting of the dressing room and super dark carpet made it look more midnight blue than purple but it was the perfect color when brought outside :) And the plus was that it was only $99!!! huzzah!

Bouquets on a Budget

2011-04-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

So someone had suggested I recap/show pictures from my sister's wedding with the bouquets and boutonnieres that we had done so here's a little photo collage:

First, Heather convinced her bridesmaids to spend the Thursday before her wedding creating a sweatshop in our parents' basement

She purchased roses of varying colors, baby's breath, some filler, and these berry things (sorry, I can't remember their name) from a wholesaler online. They were shipped to the house Thursday morning in a million boxes and my dad filled wheel barrows up with water and put them in to stay fresh until we were ready to work.

She also purchased enough mason jars for each table, green ribbon, floral tape, and pins to keep everything together.

For the centerpieces, we started by putting some rocks in the bottom of the mason jar (the pretty kind from a craft store) and filled the jar halfway with hose water. Then we worked our way from the inside out. We gave each jar a certain number of roses (12-15 if my memory serves me right) and then filled the outside with berries and the leaf fillers. We completed the look by wrapping the green ribbon around the mason jar.

For the bouquets, Romina and I were in charge. We started by cutting the stems down to a manageable size and removing all thorns. We knew the bridesmaids bouquets would have red, yellow, and orange roses and wanted to display them in the center with the leaves on the outside. We started with a tight cluster of the roses (3 of each color) and wrapped the outside with a wire to keep them in place. Then we wrapped on top of the wire and floral tape with the pretty green ribbon and secured them with the white topped pins.

For the boutonnieres, we cut the rose down to about 2 inches before the flower, wrapped two leaves and some baby's breath around the outside, and shoved a pin in (it was much more elegant than that but it's tough for me to remember something from 3 years ago....where a lot of wine was involved).

And voila! We also made a tossing bouquet for later and Heather dried her roses and has them in a mason jar at her house.

I know this wasn't super duper helpful because I didn't really give step by step instructions but wanted to give a general gist of how you can make really pretty bouquets on a budget by yourself. The whole thing (20 centerpieces, 7 bouquets, 2 corsages, and 7 boutonnieres) took about 4 hours to do with 4 people working and a couple of bottles of wine to get us through the night.

So long so long

2011-03-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

since I've written anything......well here's a brief synopsis of the past 2 months

Bobby and I spent a relaxing weekend in Sarasota driving our hipster toyota matrix rental (I kinda loved it...not gonna lie)
I received another Rite at the cathedral in Newark and will get confirmed May 1st
we went to pre-cana at Saint E's and it wasn't too bad....but I was very disappointed in the mass at the end of the day. The service was fine....the issue was the 50 other couples who were at Pre-Cana who had not a clue what to say or when to stand/kneel and someone wore a hat!!! It gave me a greater appreciation for my decision to become catholic as an adult but it made me ashamed and embarrassed for the rest of my generation.
I GOT MY DRESS!!! oh my goodness how could I forget the most important thing that's happened since feb 1st!!!?!?!?!?! Unfortunately for all of you....you'll have to wait until the wedding to see :P
We went to Harlan Coben's book signing and toasted our engagement with him....it was a very exciting time
We booked our baker and our cake is designed and delicious :D
I'm going on Saturday with the girls to pick out the bridesmaid dresses and am very excited to cross that off the list

It seems like there's still so much that we have to get done before August 19th but it's nice to cross more stuff off the lists. Our next big decisions are invitations and flowers and I may be considering doing our own floral arrangements. We ordered flowers wholesale for Heather's wedding and did all of the centerpieces, bouquets, and boutonnieres so it wasn't that bad but part of me doesn't want to worry about the stress of that.

Vote for us!

2011-02-01T12:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entry/97360

We <3 Crate and Barrel and hope that they <3 us too so vote for us!

Dress Shopping Fail!

2011-01-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

I swear...the powers to be really do not want me to go dress shopping. I have made the attempt 3 times since the beginning of December and they've either been all booked up, closed without notice, or closing earlier than my appointment due to Snowmaggedon 2011 and now, Snowpocolypse 2011 might be stopping my next endeavor.

The problem is that I really want to go with my mom the first time around because I feel like that's something mamas and daughters get to cherish and I don't want to rob that experience from Mama V. The issue is that she is off from work on Tuesday and Thursdays but watches my nephew and doesn't want to bring the baby dress shopping. Understandable, in my opinion. So we try to schedule appointments for Wednesdays or Fridays because I can haul ass out of school and we can make a 3:30 appointment....but they've had to reschedule due to the weather :( Stupid snow!

As a result, I have just over 7 months to get my dress and I am freaking out a little. I kept telling myself that i wanted to lose a little more weight before taking the plunge and that caused the initial delay but now I've given up on that (sidenote: I've had the stomach bug for the past 24 hours and am hoping that helped with the weight loss lol sick, I know). We'll see what happens next week when I've rescheduled our appointment for.

You've Got Mail!

2011-01-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

The past month has proved to be a very hectic one. While the new year is very exciting and means plenty of new things in my life, it also brought a new schedule at the high school where I work. The other Special Ed Math teacher went on maternity leave the week before Christmas break and the school was unable to find a suitable replacement....so they completely rearranged my schedule making me the ONLY special ed math teacher for the remainder of the year. I went from teaching 2 resource math classes, 2 SAT prep classes, and 2 in class support classes to teaching 5 resource math classes (math concepts 1, algebra 1 x 2, geometry, algebra 2) and 1 in class support class....OOF! Needless to say, I've been super busy prepping for those classes and getting 80 pages of the 232 page yearbook submitted.

Fortunately, the school gave us a bit of a break with 2 closings due to snow and 3 delayed starts over the past 2 weeks. This happened to coincide nicely with the arrival of our Save The Dates. Bobby and I had ordered our STDs at the beginning of the month and decided we would DIY the envelopes.

We ordered 200 kraft paper envelopes at an amazingly awesome $32 and on my first snow day took a trip to Michaels to purchase paper to use for the liner, stamps, and ink pads. We found a stamp that slightly resembled hops on a branch and decided to do that in copper (one of our wedding colors). We put a little "Save the Date" stamp (in purple) on the bottom so people know damn well what's inside and finished off the color scheme with a cute little heart on the flap in green.

We're very fortunate to have friends with many talents and a dear friend of ours helped us with the domain and linked it to our knot page which has all information regarding our wedding (including hotel booking info). He also made it so that if you go to www.hoppyinlove.com/blog it brings you right here :)

Oh, and, in case you aren't quite sure what those cute circles are......THEY'RE COASTERS!!! We thought we'd keep with the beer theme and what better way to do it than with a coaster?!?

oh my goodness the neglect!

2010-12-31T10:59:00.000-08:00

So yes, I have certainly been neglecting this little blog but for good reason! Life has been super busy between school, advising the yearbook, the holidays, and pretending not to worry about our wedding....it's been exhausting!

To update you all on what's going on in our lives:

I started making my own cheese! So far we're just dealing with mozzarella because it's the easiest and has the quickest turnaround (cheese is ready to eat in 30 minutes) but Bobby got me a whole slew of cheesemaking gadgets for christmas (including a wine fridge that he will convert into my cheese cave so I can begin making cheeses that require aging). Oh man though, it is super exciting.
We got into the swing of things with the holidays. We had our annual tree decorating party and our house won the townwide holiday decorating contest.

Music Make You Lose Control

2010-11-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

A little Missy in the house (which, fun fact, she lives in the town I teach in....oh wait, that's Queen Latifah, nevermind). Anyhoo, recently one of my sorority sisters got married at the chapel at Muhlenberg. She had her reception at a different venue but sent me an email regarding our own wedding and offered up any help possible. Considering we are traveling a little over an hour to our destination and she lives in the area, I jumped on her offer.

Jess gave me a rundown of local vendors including bakers, djs, and florists and her take on the experience with all of them and why she chose certain ones over others. The first suggestion that I followed was for the DJ. While she went with a different person, the DJ she recommended was her first choice but had already booked an event for the night of her wedding....so I figured I should jump on that ship immediately...and I did. I sent an inquiry email to Kevin Ramaley of Rockin Ramaley Productions. Within 10 minutes I had received a voicemail and an email from him regarding prices...and, he was totally in our budget!

But here's my gripe with potential vendors....they don't leave you alone! If you're not in constant contact, it's like they have a mini-meltdown. This leads to the reason why I love Christine, our photographer. I guess it's helpful that we know her personally, but she checks in every once in a while to see if anything has changed or what new details have come up but she's not constantly nagging us.

Maybe this is why Bobby should be the one in charge of communicating with our vendors....I have no patience for that lol

November?!?! Already?!?!

2010-11-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

It seems like the month of October has just flown on by. Several weeks ago we took Bobby's parents out to the venue to scope out the area. I gave them a tour of Berg, which they thought was beautiful, and we drove around in search of a spot for the rehearsal dinner. Uncertain of what type of feel they were looking for, I took them to 3 very different spots.

Bellissimo's

Bellissimo's is a traditional Italian restaurant. Because our wedding is in August, we'd be able to use the outdoor patio for our entire party.

Pistachio's

Pistachio's is more of a fun and laidback atmosphere. We'd have the entire back section of the restaurant but no private room. Because it's a Thursday night, the owner told us it shouldn't be too crowded so it'll feel like we're there alone anyway. They also let us sample some appetizers on the house.

Grill 3501

Grill 3501 was a hotspot for people do bring their parents during family weekend. It's a nice restaurant with a martini bar and an area sectioned off for small private parties. It just so happened that while we were there they were setting up for a rehearsal dinner in their private area.

So, as you can see, three very different options and I'm not sure which one the Olson's will pick so you'll have to wait and see :)

Losing my religion...part 2

2010-10-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

It wasn't until mid-September that RCIA began again. Over the course of the summer, Bobby and I had big plans to make it to church every Sunday (ok, more like I had big plans to drag him with me...but still). Sadly, we always found something else to do and, though we started off strong going every week, by July it had dwindled down and we skipped the entire month of August so my quest for faith hadn't gotten very far when I was back in the saddle to decide if Catholicism was really it for me.

Now, one thing I forgot to mention in my last post was that at our first meeting back in May, they asked us to think about someone that we would want to be our sponsor through our religious journey. Heather picked her husband and Lizzie was thinking about her mom, but I wasn't sure who I wanted to share that with. I didn't feel like Bobby would take it seriously if I asked him to come with me to the meetings because I still don't feel comfortable talking about that stuff with him (and please don't take offense to that, if you're reading this). I need someone who will take it seriously and understand why I have so many questions...so I haven't figured that part out yet.

Anyway, back to where this is all going...We had our first meeting back in mid-September and there were 3 new people going through the process with us. It made me feel a little better and less like we were the center of attention, but I still wasn't in it for me. It wasn't until this past week, when I picked my sister up to head to the church that it really hit me. On our way up, Heather and I talked about why we were still skeptical of the whole thing. It's great to know that I have her to go through the whole process with because there's no one who could understand my feelings about it better than my sister, who is starting at the exact same level as me. We talked about how it's hard to follow something that doesn't have concrete evidence and we talked about how we're constantly looking for signs from something to let us know that there really is something for us to believe in...and then we got to class.

This week's class was about the different terms that we'd encounter and what everything meant. We discussed the 4 stages of RCIA (pre-catechumenate, catechumenate, purification and enlightenment, mystagogy) and the different rites that we'll go through in each stage. We discussed different common terms (Advent, Liturgical year, and triduum) and learned a little bit more about the process as a whole. By the end of the night, I was feeling a little more connected and felt better on our drive home....and then the shocker of all shockers (and you'll probably find this incredibly cheesy but...) the signs began flying in.

Every day this week, since Heather and I had that conversation, I have encountered some type of sign...maybe they're just coincidences, but they're pretty freaky if you think about it.

Tuesday morning: Rachel's challenge assembly - Rachel Scott was the first person shot at Columbine in 1999. The speaker talked about how Rachel knew that she was going to die young and had written an essay six weeks prior to the shootings about her codes of life and how she thought that if we could be compassionate and kind to just one person every day, that we'd start a chain reaction. Two weeks after her death, a man from the other side of the country called up her father and explained how he was having reoccurring dreams of Rachel's eyes crying onto hollow ground and flowers sprouting up. A week later, Mr. Scott was able to pick up Rachel's backpack from police evidence and found her last journal....on the very last page was a drawing that one of Rachel's teachers says she made a mere 20 minutes before the shootings of her eyes crying onto ground with a single rose sprouting up...it appeared that her teardrops were turning into blood drops as they reached the flower....there were 13 of them, the number of people killed that day.
Tuesday after RCIA: I got home around 9:30 and Bobby and I watched the episode of Glee that had aired at 8 but we dvr-ed....this week's episode was all about religion and faith. I immediately text messaged my sister and got a chill.
Wednesday night: Bobby and I hung out on the couch watching Modern Family. In this week's episode, Manny and Gloria want to go to church but Jay would rather go play golf....as they're arguing about it and Jay says that God doesn't matter, an earthquake hits....now yes, it's a little bizarre that 2 tv shows talked about religion this week....but more bizarre that neither are on the same network
Thursday morning: As I'm driving up 23, I notice a rainbow in the distance....as I get closer to Kinnelon, the rainbow gets brighter and I notice that it's a full and complete arch right over the town....and there's another one next to it.

Now, these things might not seem like much...but I definitely see these as signs.

That's me in the corner...losing my religion

2010-10-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Religion isn't something that I really talk about much and it's not something that I've really opened up about with Bobby, but lately it's been on my mind a lot. In addition to our experience at God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage, RCIA has begun. For those of you who don't know, RCIA stands for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Basically, because I was not raised with a religion, I'm going through the process of becoming Catholic so that we can get married in the church.....at least, that was the initial reason.

Bobby's family is pretty religious, not super jesus freaks, but they attend church regularly and take pride in their faith and when we first started dating I was fascinated by it. All three children went to catholic school their whole lives (minus a brief stint in public middle school for Lizzie) and Mama O was almost a nun, so you could imagine how radically different this was for me to come into....having only gone to church a handful of times and never really learned anything about any religion (aside from my Mystical Encounters class at 'Berg where I learned a brief snippet of several).

A year ago, when my sister started her second trimester of pregnancy, she explained to me how she wanted to find God...and I made fun of her for it. She wanted to have the same feelings of faith and spirituality that her husband had but didn't know where to start. She began reading up on different religions and wanted to attend services at different churches to get a feel for things, but I think she was too afraid to go it alone. It wasn't until I really knew that marriage was on the horizon and I had spent more time with the Olson's that I felt comfortable enough to consider my own faith and spirituality. I knew that I believed in some higher being, I just didn't know what or who and I knew that organized religion in general angered me because I wanted hard evidence to form my beliefs so I decided to look into Catholicism and take the leap with my sister.

I had attended Easter mass with the Olsons and Kate had just made confirmation and I felt very comfortable in their church. I can remember when I was in middle school and all of my friends were going to church, I wanted to know what it was all about so I would go too and I felt so uncomfortable at mass, like I was being judged by everyone around because I wasn't getting up to receive the eucharist and because I didn't recite the Lord's prayer....I didn't get that feeling at St. E's so that was the first place I turned to on my quest to find faith.

I called up the Director of Faith Formation and explained my situation. He suggested Heather and I go to a get-to-know-you meeting for RCIA, so we did and, to be perfectly honest, I still wasn't signing on for myself, but because I knew the Olsons wanted us to get married by a priest and I wanted to please them. When we went to the get-together it was just Heather, Lizzie (for whatever reason she never got confirmed even though she had received all of the other sacraments so she's technical not official), and Me in a room full of Catholics ranging from those who had just become to those who were born into it. Needless to say, it was a little overwhelming and I still wasn't in it for me, but I had the entire summer to get into it.

Contraception was created to damn women even more

2010-10-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday we spent our day in the cafeteria of Corpus Christi for God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage. I'm not going to lie, I was dreading Saturday like you would not believe. In addition to having to spend my day off in a basement cafeteria, I had to sit in a crowd of soon-to-be's and listen to a bunch of jesus freaks.

Man was I wrong.

We got to the school and I was surprised to see at least 35 other couples, 2 of which I knew from high school. We grabbed a workbook and another book and had a seat near the front. I was shocked to see a pretty average looking middle-aged couple rocking out to a little Jack Johnson running the show. They began the whole shpeal and I was relieved because it was actually interesting and I wasn't terribly offended or bored out of my mind. They gave us the history of marriage in the catholic church, told stories about their own marriage and where things went wrong, and approached the whole day in a pretty relaxed manner. The whole thing was supposed to last until 4pm and then planned on getting us out at 1:30...score! We flew through the workbook and had several opportunities to ask our future spouses questions and reflect on our own answers.

The part I found most interesting was the brief tidbit about natural family planning. I was actually intrigued about the whole process and the science behind it (although our speaker was the mother of 7, through NFP, I was more interested in the process than why she would choose to have that many kids in a time like this). One of the things she said that really struck me was about birth control and how it's just another thing to put women down. Here I was thinking that birth control was another way to make women free and give us control and the point she made was so true.....it takes the onus off the man, objectifying the woman even more. Now, I don't want to get into an argument or great debate with anyone over this but it was the first time I'd have heard a statement like that and I actually found some validity in it. How true is it that by taking birth control, we're giving the guy more opportunities to ask for/want sex because the possibility of getting pregnant is no longer there? It's actually taking the control away from us (although, let's not kid ourselves here, who has the ultimate say in what goes down?).

This was something that really got me thinking....and when I got home, I looked up the science behind NFP. It requires you to take your temperature every day for a month and track changes in your mood, discharge, and blood flow and from that, you can have a better understanding of when you're ovulating and when you have less of a chance of getting pregnant. So if you know you're ovulating, you know that sex is off the table, in the event that you don't want to have a child. I think it's really interesting, but don't think I could stick by something like that....so I'll continue to use the patch until we're emotionally and financially ready to deal with a little bundle of joy.

Am I doing this all wrong?

2010-09-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Lately I've had a couple of minor freak outs in relation to our wedding (and, Bobby, it is in no way related to our relationship!). It's just that I constantly have this feeling that I'm doing something wrong or not following the right path or doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

One of my coworkers got engaged the night before the first day of school. She and I have had several discussions about her wedding hopes prior to the end of the last school year (we shared the same off block) and so when she started pumping me for information. Well, here we are three weeks later and the essentials are booked for her and now we're discussing dresses. She's getting married two weeks before us and already has an eye on a dress. I planned on waiting til January to start dress shopping (mainly because I don't want to go in feeling super fat because I don't fit into a sample size dress) but now I'm feeling like I've got it all wrong and should be on the prowl right now.

The other thing that has had me freaking out is saving for the wedding. When we first got engaged, I jumped right into the wedding blogs and forums searching for money saving tips. We used The Knot's budget calculator to get a better idea of what type of savings we're going to have to stash away and I felt like the number was feasible, but now I feel like there's no way I'm going to be able to put enough away to take care of our expenses. My sister continues to reassure me that I'm just crazy and am in a much better financial situation at this time than she was a year out from her wedding but part of me can't help but think that I'm going to fall short.

After putting more thought into it, I decided I'll probably start looking for "the one" (well, the second "the one" because I've already found my man) when I'm off for teacher's convention in November....so that gives me a little over a month to shed another 15 lbs...can she do it?

we'll see......

Busy Busy Bumblebee

2010-09-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm sorry for neglecting you blogosphere, but school has once again begun and I am once again running around like a chicken without a head. But, alas, had the chance to host some wonderful people from HomeBrewYork at our house Saturday night. Now, Bobby is really the one who's super into beer...but I put my own spin on things to stay involved. As I'm sure you all could tell, I've gotten really into trying beer related recipes with different styles of beer. So for our beer lovers party, I tried out 4 beer lovers recipes.

Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Pilsner
Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with porter carmelized onions
Pepperoni Pizza Beer Dip
Pulled Pork marinated in Pilsner

Of the dishes, the mac and cheese was absolutely disgusting. It was way too heavy in the beer department and had no real cheesy flavor. I would absolutely make the mushrooms again because they were delicious but probably add gorgonzola cheese to the caps. The pepperoni pizza dip was hands down my favorite, but one of those dishes that the beer didn't add any flavor to and the same thing goes for the pulled pork. I've made the same pulled pork using water instead of beer and it was equally as delicious. I think next time I'm going to try to make it using a more flavorful beer. I used Victory's Prima Pils....but I think next time I'm going to use Rogue's Chipotle Ale.

My life is officially OVER

2010-08-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ok not really...I'm just being dramatic but still! You may expect this to be the wonderful update of our recent road trip where I fill you in on our trip to America's only tea plantation or getting smashed at the Firefly distillery (ok I didn't get smashed but I did take home a bottle of lemonade vodka) or the buttload of traffic that we sat in thanks to a tractor trailer accident......sorry to disappoint, none of the above will be elaborated on.

Instead, I fill you in on my new allergy. On Saturday, August 21, Bobby and I headed from Charleston to Asheville to take a tour of the Biltmore Estate and check out Wedge Brewery. Finding Wedge was worse than searching for a needle in a hay stack and after several turn arounds we found the dirt road leading up to the back of a building where Wedge is located (in their defense, I would get lost trying to find NJBeerCo if I didn't already know where it was). And of course as we're driving through the mud, it starts raining even harder.

Anyhoo, we made it in to Wedge and had a beer each. I decided on the Belgian Witbier and made it about two sips before I was in complete pain and could no longer swallow...well friends, it seems I am allergic to something in Belgian beers. Bobby finished his beer and we left immediately. Although I felt bad for leaving almost a full beer at the bar, I knew this was a bad reaction.

Turns out, after consulting our family nurse (Mama Olson), I have been making my reactions worse and worse by drinking through them. About 3 years ago, I started to notice that some beers would have this affect on me. My throat would swell and hurt and sometimes it was hard to breathe and I would have this strange anxiety kick in. Well, because I have spent three years ignoring the reactions, I have made them worse and worse. This last reaction took over an hour to go away so I am taking a hiatus from Belgian style ales until we can determine what exactly I am allergic to in them.

Come on sweet catastrophe

2010-08-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

So I've been slacking off when it comes to the blog world. In my defense, Bobby and I went on a roadtrip down to South Carolina (which I will blog about later) from Wednesday to Sunday and I just haven't had the energy to blog about it. But for this post I must go back, way back, to Friday, August 13th.

This year Bobby and I got each other some pretty fantastic anniversary gifts. For him, two tickets to NYCBrewfest.....for me, tickets to Something Corporate's 10 year reunion tour. OMG squeal like a little girl! To start this off, I should fill you in on my history with Something Corporate. I was introduced to them back in 2001/2002 with the Ready...Break album followed by Leaving Through the Window.

Anyhoo.....in 2003 I was so super obsessed that I followed them over the course of a week and a half. I saw them in Boston, DC, Philly, NJ, and NYC. I have several signed ticket stubs and for a while Andrew (the lead singer) was my voicemail message so you can imagine my delight when Bobby surprised me with these tickets. Around 2005, SoCo dropped off the planet....actually, Andrew was diagnosed with Leukemia and Will decided to start his own side project. During Andrew's treatment and recovery he started writing again and formed Jack's Mannequin. Last fall, SoCo released a YouTube video explaining that they were coming back and playing at the Left Coast Bamboozle....sadface for living on the East Coast....so again, this was pretty monumental to get these tickets.

The show was being held at Roseland Ballroom, a total throwback to the end of high school/start of college. Bobby and I drove into the city and decided to use up our last $25 gift card to Heartland Brewery (thanks to them messing up at Brewfest and us not being able to redeem our free hamburger). It was clear that he had never done this before as I suggested getting on line around 5 for the 7:30 doors. As we walked to the venue (around 6pm, mind you) I reminisced about other concerts I'd been to at Roseland, the time I stood on line in the pouring rain to see Brand New there, my first encounter with Romy at the New Found Glory concert, and the friends I made travelling with SoCo (I met a girl who was always first on line because she got there at 11am).

We got to the start of the line and I felt old. Most of the people standing on line were just starting their rebellious years of sneaking out to shows and riding the bus into the city when you told your parents you were staying with a friend. I was a bit shocked by the crowd and it wasn't until we were standing just outside the stage door and Andrew walked right in front of us and no one around seemed to realize it was him, that I felt it was time to officially hang up my Cons and star studded belt for life as a grown-up.

Don't get me wrong...the concert was amazing and I totally geeked out but I think those days are over. I'll just rock out to my iPod when I want to re-live those years again.

Hazelnut Brown Ale Beeramisu

2010-08-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

It seems that every time we go down to NJBeerCo to help out, I always have the desire to make some beer related treat to bring with us. The last time we were down there I made chocolate stout cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decided to look up other beer related recipes to see what we've got. For tonight, Beeramisu.

Beeramisu

1 pound mascarpone cheese (I used Roma Cello's Rich & Creamy)
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped
48 ladyfinger cookies (used 36 for an 8x8 dish)
6 ounces (3/4 cup) Porter beer
1/2 cup brewed coffee, the stronger the better
1/2 cup cocoa

In a large bowl mix together the mascarpone, sugar, beaten eggs and vanilla. Fold in the whipped cream. Set this mixture aside.

In a shallow dish stir together the Porter beer and the brewed coffee, Dip the ladyfingers cookies into the coffee mixture. Don't let the ladyfingers get soggy. Arrange them in a single layer in a glass casserole dish. Spread 1/2-inch layer of mascarpone mixture on top of the ladyfingers. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup cocoa. Repeat this for the second layer. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.

Serves 12

This is the recipe as written.....I left out the raw eggs because I have no desire to get sick and used an 8x8 pan. The other difference is that I used Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar instead of the Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter that we had. This decision came down to taste...I know that the recipe calls for a porter and I was torn between the two beers so I did a side by side comparison. The Stovepipe was smoother but had a much more alcohol-y nose whereas the Hazelnut Brown Ale had a little bit of a bite but such a great finish and a delightful hazelnut taste. Other things I might change, using almond extract instead of vanilla and these other Italian cookies that I picked up at Shop Rite when I was looking for the lady fingers (Scarpini, Scarpiani...something like that...they're harder than lady fingers so I think they won't soak up as much). I think I would also use less cocoa powder...I'm not so much a fan so I might skip it on top.

Favorite Beer Labels

2010-08-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks....I need your help. I'm working on a project that I can't yet disclose and would like to know what your favorite beer labels are. For inspiration, here's one of mine:

If you don't have a favorite beer label, what's your favorite beer?

On and off the weight loss wagon

2010-08-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Back in January, Bobby and I decided to stop eating crap all of the time and try to lose weight. We knew we were getting married in August of 2011 (yes, I know this is before the ring, but when you know, you know) and so we had a little over a year and a half to get down to our ideal weights. Now, back in August of 2009 I had to go for a physical for work. I was required to get it done at a doctor up by the high school and this man decided it was perfectly acceptable to tell me that I was 30 lbs overweight. I knew I was overweight but I didn't realize it was that big of a deal or that much. The medical recommendation for my height is between 130 and 160lbs. At the time of my physical, I clocked in at 195lbs...almost the highest I've ever been. I knew I wanted to slim down but didn't try very hard at the time.

Bobby and I at Clemson November 2009

Anyway, back to more recent times. In January, Bobby and I bought a Wii Fit and several of the Biggest Loser cookbooks. We planned out all of our meals and were very particular about what went into our bodies. In the first week I lost 8 lbs and Bobby lost 9.5 lbs. We were on a roll and felt awesome (even though we tried some really gross diet food). This is when I decided to do the couch25k program. Now, I've tried to complete this thing at least 4 different times and never make it past the first week because I want to run longer....and then I push myself too hard and end up needing my inhaler so it's a lose-lose situation.

Bobby and I at the end of May for YCS Prom

So it is now almost a year until our wedding and Bobby is down 45lbs and I am down 20. He would like to lose another 20-30 lbs and I'd like to lose another 10-20. Can we make it?

Me at my lightest (February 2006)

Me at my heaviest (my sister's wedding Nov 1st, 2008)

Bobby at his heaviest (September 2005)

Bobby at his lightest (March 2007)

yay new hobbies

2010-08-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

So teaching ESY means getting home by 12:30 every day. ESY is over after this week which means I'll have a couple of weeks before the school year starts up again so plenty of time off. Don't get me wrong, I love time off but I also know that time off means lazy time means binge eating means mad Melanie so I've decided to keep myself busy with some other stuff. Bobby and I started doing puzzles at night instead of the usual "what do you want to do tonight?" Friday night we headed to Toys R Us and bought Blokus Duo (If you've never played, you really need to because it's a good strategy game but not super intense) and a 1,000 piece puzzle. We spent a good amount of time Friday night working on the puzzle and left it on the coffee table to complete over the weekend.

It was a pretty intense puzzle because there were so many of virtually the same piece going in lots of different places. You can't tell, but we're missing 3 pieces. Why, you may ask?

Bailey decided to eat a couple of them :( womp womp. I've also been spending my time trying to figure out the millions of different DIY projects that I see on the wedding blogs. I learned how to make fabric garland but decided to turn them into headbands/pins instead.

And then there's my other downfall of being home....online shopping. In my defense, I bought this dress from JCrew for only $54 down from $110...How could I pass that up? Plus it's my favorite color. After seeing it in person, it's making me love this color even more and consider JCrew for our bridesmaids dresses.

Saturdays are drinking days

2010-08-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bobby and I decided to put our new key to the city to use (for those of you who don't know about the Key to the City project, you should check it out....and read LA's blog about finding love through the project ---> ). We decided to spend the day in Brooklyn so we checked out two key sites and then headed over to the Brooklyn Brewery and met up with some other beer nerds :P

The first key site is down a little alley next to Cabinet Magazine. The key unlocks this little box attached to the side of the building. Having read the comments other key holders have left about this site, I prepared for the worst (it not working). Inside the box are two simple words "Look Up". Unfortunately, the bubble blower couldn't seem to catch the wind. Bobby and I stood there for a good 5 minutes, cheering on the little bubbles to make their way into the air of the alley but none seemed to make it. We climbed back into the car and headed to the second key site of the day, the Brooklyn Museum.

The Brooklyn Museum has a suggested $10 donation but Bobby lucked out with his student id...hazzah! We wandered through the Warhol exhibit first before making our way up to the fifth floor where the mystery lock was waiting. When we got out of the elevator we realized we weren't the only people with a key so we took a loop of the floor and headed into the storage area that smells like the cleanest room I've ever been in. Once we finished perusing the old exhibits that were now housed in storage, we headed back to the mystery door to unlock our secret.

After checking out some other exhibits in the museum, we headed to Brooklyn Brewery for a tour and to meet up with Stevie and Lee. The original game plan was for Erin and Bradford to meet up with us as well but our paths kept crossing without bumping into each other. About 20 minutes after we left the museum, I found out that's where Erin and Bradford were. Womp womp.

We got to the brewery around 1:15 and decided to grab a bite to eat before drinking at a little restaurant around the corner. The thing that sucks about where Brooklyn Brewery is located is...hipster city and as a result you spend $12 on a grilled cheese sandwich that doesn't come with french fries or chips....womp womp. We entered the brewery for a tour and this is what we were greeted with:

I was immediately turned off. How disappointing?! I had no clue that the brewery would be equivalent to the beer garden. There were people playing drinking games and stacking up their empty cups like some sort of monument to their frat days. It was just really disappointing having been to tours with people who weren't there just to get shwasted. Bobby and I bought our beer tokens (also a new concept...every other brewery we've visited gave free tastings....but then again, we were paying for an entire cup vs. a 3 oz pour) and waited for the next tour to start. When the tour began we knew we were among a handful of people who actually gave a shit and a majority who wanted to go back to the tasting room to cash in their other 5 chips.

After several drinks at the brewery with Stevie and Lee, we got a quick tour of their neighborhood. They introduced us to d.b.a. - Brooklyn. If you're ever in the Williamsburg area you should totally check this place out. Before we knew it it was 7:30pm and we were starving. We decided to head back to Stevie and Lee's for some more good beer and yummy topping pizza. By the time we left Brooklyn it was 11pm, about twelve hours after we first began our adventure. Needless to say, Bobby and I have spent pretty much the entire day on the couch watching train wreck tv and completing our puzzle. Keep your eyes peeled for a post about our newest hobby.

God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage

2010-07-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Last night Bobby and I drove down to Bayonne to meet with our priest. We had to fill out a survey separately and get interviewed by the priest, basically so that he can get to know us better and have a better understanding of our relationship. I was up first for the interview and it was your basic, you aren't already married, you're not being forced into this, you understand what a good catholic marriage means, yadda yadda yadda. Then Deacon Bob asked about how Bobby and I met, how he proposed, why I want to marry him....easy peasy.

Then it was my turn to take the test. It was about 120 questions....mainly about our finances once we are officially married, how our families feel about our marriage, and how we feel about each other. Some of the questions were no brainers and others required a little more thinking...not because I was uncertain of how I felt, but because they were worded in such a way that you had to read the question multiple times before you knew what it was actually asking. The test is pretty much an "agree", "disagree", or "uncertain". Questions like "Pregnancy is currently affecting our marriage" and "Sometimes I am fearful of my future spouse" were easy DISAGREEs, but questions like "My future spouse and I expect little to no discontent in our marriage" made me go "hmm...." If I answer AGREE then I'm saying that we think marriage is all fun and games which is not true but if I answer DISAGREE then it makes it sound like we are already unhappy most of the time....neither of which are true.

The kicker to the whole little survey/interview process is the fact that Bobby and I had to fill out the section about cohabitation. We're planning on a Catholic ceremony and for those of you who are familiar with the Bible....we're breaking one of those Biblical laws by living together before marriage. So Deacon Bob threw an idea out there....only for us to discuss and think about but no decision HAD to be made....to live apart for 6 months before our wedding. Bobby and I have been living together for almost a year now and in the time we haven't spent a single night apart. I don't think either of us would be able to get a decent night of sleep without the other laying there too. So this is what we have to think about...can we manage being apart for that long or should we cut a deal of renewed chastity until the big day?

First Annual Grown Up Brunch

2010-07-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday we had our first ever grown up brunch and everything was fantastic. Unfortunately, I only took pictures at the very beginning....and by "I" I mean my friend Marissa because I was busy making a bajillion pancakes. So without further ado.....

I'd say it was quite the success though it was incredibly hot out...I'm thinking next time we'll have a brunch in May/September when it isn't balls hot out. We managed to get everything inside before the rain hit later on in the day and everyone made their way down to the basement bar to hang out for a bit more. I made 2 different breakfast stratas which I had 1) never eaten before and 2) never made. They were both delicious but the Italian Sausage and Bell Pepper one was my favorite. Thanks to all who came out and those who brought stuff. Our next big party is our Halloween party October 22nd so mark your calendars! I spent a while scouring the internet yesterday for half price decorations and was pretty successful....get excited!

Beer for dinner?

2010-07-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to spice things up with a different marinade for our London Broil. After scouring the internet for a new recipe I decided to incorporate the one ingredient that we love most (ok, next to garlic)...BEER! I found a recipe for a beer marinade and read most of the reviews before making the trek downstairs to the beer fridge.

The recipe called for a stout so I looked around and saw one that Bobby had multiple bottles of....so I figured it was a safe place. After trimming the little bit of fat and cutting the 2+lb of london broil in half I started to make the marinade.

12 oz. Stout
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 clove minced garlic

Once the meat was secure in the ziplock bag in the refrigerator, I went to see what Bobby was up to online at work. I informed him of my delicious idea and he began to get wary....which bottle of stout did I pick?

Oh that would be the kind that cost $40ish for a 4-pack. Needless to say, the steak came out terrific and I reduced the leftover marinade and we poured it over the top to make for an extra delicious meal. Oops!

Registry etiquette

2010-07-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

I was having lunch with friends recently with the subject of registries came up (wedding, house warming, baby, etc). They asked me how Bobby and I decided what went on our registry....well after reading plenty of magazines and blogs and checking out the forums it seemed like the way to go was to have 3 price points....this way everyone can contribute. We also decided that if it was something we weren't willing to spend the money on, then it wouldn't go on (ok there is a $90 bowl that I put on our registry because it was really pretty though I would never spend that kind of money on a bowl).

Ok, so this picture doesn't make it look all that fantastic but it's beautiful with purples and grays. I love it.

Anyway....it got me thinking about the type of people who put outlandish things on their registries and how I'm very happy that the man I'm going to marry has a good head on his shoulders and doesn't want to buy $80 shower curtains.

Slacker McSlackyson

2010-07-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I realized that I never actually write about all of the super fun beer related things that we do. What's living hoppily ever after without the hops?!?!

A couple of months ago Bobby convinced me to check out the Copper Mine Pub in North Arlington for a beer release party. Having never been to a beer release party, I was pretty excited to check it out. It was the launch for NJ Beer Co and they had a very tasty Pale Ale in a cask! Oooo a cask! While we were there, Bobby met the owners and chatted them up about how they got started (running/owning a brewery is his life goal). From this, he developed a friendship with the guys and spent a couple of Fridays helping them out at the brewery.

Well, they recently got their bottling machine and decided to have a bunch of people over to the brewery for some free labor with the promise of all the beer you could drink...why not? We met some great people from the metro area who are just as into beer as we are and were put to work.

Bobby and I ended up spending the entire day there and went home dirty and exhausted. We assembled 150 boxes and 600 six pack holders, cleaned kegs and refilled them with yummy stout, and played a couple of rounds of beer pong. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty great time and we're looking forward to other fun stuff at the brewery.

Ahhh the beauty of homeownership

2010-07-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

While, yes, Bobby and I are technically living in sin.....moving in together was one of the best ideas we've had. Almost a year ago, Bobby bought the house we currently live in and after spending every night of the first two weeks here helping out (we had to tear down wallpaper and move in furniture and lots of other projects), we decided it made more sense for this to be my permanent address. Sure we get into little tiffs about stupid house things (I'm notorious for leaving a glass of water on the coffee table and then going upstairs to bed and he has a bad habit of leaving dishes in the sink when the dishwasher is empty) but we dished out the duties to make living together work and it does :)

One of the things that I've come to learn is that it's extremely helpful to go through home crisis together. Only a month after living together, we took a trip to Governors Island for my birthday. Right before we hit the road, I went to the bathroom in the upstairs hallway....apparently the tank to the toilet had cracked and never refilled properly once I flushed. Bobby and I got home several hours later and discovered a new waterfall in our living room.

Naturally this leak had to occur on the day of my birthday party....we had a lot of cleaning up to do before people came over....we've had several other problems turn up but another major one hit this morning. During the school year Bobby has another hour after I leave the house before he has to be at work but because it's summer...it's the other way around. He leaves for work at 8am and I start my trek at 9. This morning I decided to make myself a cup of tea using the insta-hot (a knob on our sink that's attached to a water tank underneath that boils small amounts of water quickly). Unfortunately the insta-hot hasn't been working properly so I gave up and popped the mug in the microwave while I sat in the living room eating a bowl of cereal and reading the paper. When I went to put my dish in the dishwasher,I was greeted by large puddles of water on the kitchen floor....i had 15 minutes until I needed to leave for school. Thankfully Bobby was able to come up from work and help me clean/fix the insta-hot before I needed to leave but it seems that just when everything is working properly and it's smooth sailing, something else has to break and cause a headache.

Ah the beauty of homeownership.

Being all grown up means......

2010-06-29T05:25:00.000-07:00

Throwing fabulous summer brunches in your backyard! Oh I am so excited for this. As I'm sure everyone in the blogosphere realizes, I heavily peruse the wedding blogs and am always inspired by the things that they do. Well my inspiration for our grown up summer brunch came from a shoot done on Green Wedding Shoes inspired by the movie "(500) Days of Summer." The thing that really pushed me over the edge to make it happen was receiving a beautiful platter and appetizer plates from my Aunt Betsy. It made me think, "Hmmm....time to get this grown up party started." So without further ado, my inspiration for brunch.

All photos courtesy of Green Wedding Shoes

I hope those attending are super excited because it is going to be pretty freaking awesome.

Love at first sight

2010-06-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know what has come over me but I've definitely been bitten by the wedding bug. I am itching to try on wedding dresses but so nervous about the process. We have 421 days until our wedding so trying on a dress now just seems silly but I can't wait to do it!

When we first got engaged this was the dress that I saw myself in. OK, who am I kidding......I found this dress before we got engaged but didn't want to be that weirdo who started looking before she had a ring.

I also really liked these.

But the more I watch shows like "Say Yes To the Dress" and "Girl Meets Gown" the more I change my mind about what kind of dress I want. This is such a hard decision and now is certainly not the time to be trying on wedding dresses with so much time to go before the big day.

Back in January Bobby and I decided to get healthier and drop some pounds. After 6 months I am down 17 lbs and he's down about 30. I continued to eat healthy but gave up on my rigorous exercise routine....oh....4 months ago. I'm not sure what spurted it but Bobby's back on the exercise kick and wants to lose another 25 lbs before the summer's over and I'd like to lose the remaining 15 I need to be skinnier than I was in high school (and my ideal weight for the big day). This is why now REALLY isn't the time for me to try on dresses. In addition to hating my body (which I'm sure will happen because wedding dresses run small and I have ginormous boobs), buying one now means letting it sit around once alterations are done, waiting for me to really wear it.

Well...we'll see in a couple of months when I finally bite the bullet and try stuff on what I decide on.

365 down.......a lifetime to go

2010-06-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

A year ago today I went on my last first date and couldn't be any happier. It's crazy to think about all of the milestones we've hit in this past year. Bobby bought a house, we moved in together, I started teaching up at Kinnelon, we had our first Christmas with a ginormous Christmas tree, we went on our first vacation together, my nephew was born, we got engaged, and here we are planning our wedding for next year

Oh what a wonderful year :)

So many presents....so many thank you notes

2010-06-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our engagement party at Bobby's parents' house. Thankfully the weather held out for us and everyone had a great time. We ended up spending the night up there because we had quite a few cocktails along with many of our guests and had to load up the car and clean up a bit hungover this morning. Bobby and I are very proud of ourselves however. We were able to unpack everything and write all of our thank you notes in less than 24 hours.

It's amazing how much stuff you get and it's so exciting opening everything and finding a place for it in the house (most of the stuff went up to the attic until after the wedding....or it's currently in our dishwasher getting ready to be used). We've also found a new love for crate and barrel. In addition to being the place where most of our registry stuff is from, we've also now accumulated quite the box collection and in every shape you can imagine.

This is how we do it.....

2010-06-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

We took our engagement photos down in Asbury Park and Christine Merson, the photographer, did such an outstanding job. We look forward to working with her in the future :) She really is fantastic and was able to get our engagement photos edited in 24 hours.....but I suck in blog world and am only posting them now...so enjoy :)

STD's -- the non sexual kind

2010-06-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

As I was perusing my usual wedding related blogs today I came across a little gem that got me SOOOOO incredibly excited for sending out our Save-The-Dates. We have officially come up with a most incredible idea that ties into our theme so well it's disgusting.......

but you'll have to wait to see what they are :P

Drum Roll Please.....

2010-05-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

We have found our venue! Yesterday we took a trip out to Allentown, Pa to tour a place that I have come to love, Brew Works.

All throughout college we used to go to their restaurant in Bethlehem. It wasn't until after college that they opened one up in Allentown, a mere 5 minute drive from campus.....which brings me to the ceremony....dun dun dun dun -- Egner Memorial Chapel at Muhlenberg College.

Just a quick sample of how awesome brew works is as a venue....

So our cocktail hour would take place on the bottom floor in the Silk lounge and extend out to the Beer Garden, then guests will be escorted to the second floor for our reception :)

Getting the Fellas Involved (My DIY Groomsmen Invites)

2010-05-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

So I’ve never been the competitive type…

Yea right! When Melanie first came up with the idea of a “beer themed” wedding she stumbled across a number of blogs, one of which highlighted how the groom-to-be asked his Best Man/Groomsman to be a part of the big day (Here).

I was pretty impressed but quickly decided I needed to one-up this guy on my own level is how I ask the guys to help us celebrate living hoppily ever after.

The other guy may have me beat with his brown paper packaging and fancy stuffing, but what good is a pint glass with nothing to drink out of it?!? As an avid home brewer I whipped up a batch of beer and made custom labels for each of the guys on my side of the wedding party.

In addition to the bottle of home brew I picked up pint glasses for the wedding venue that we just settled upon today. The boxes are all packed up and ready to go out tomorrow. I’ll keep the blogosphere posted with their answers but how could you say no to an invite like this?

Engagement Pictures...or, how not to look awkward

2010-05-04T13:35:00.001-07:00

Bobby and I have scheduled our engagement pictures for the end of this month. We're back and forth about whether to take the pictures down in Asbury Park or up in Fort Tryon (where he proposed). This past weekend we drove down to AP just to get an idea of the different places where we'd like to take pictures and that got me thinking about all of the different engagement pictures that I've seen and really liked.....so here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Why couldn't I be more like my college roommate?

2010-04-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

And preplan my entire wedding?

I can honestly say that I was never the girl who dreamed of her big day. I have no idea what the different diamond cuts are (still, to this day, am clueless on this one), couldn't care less about which dress designer I wear, and never put everything together in a neat little book outlining what the big day should look like. This is precisely what my college roommate did. She had a scrapbook filled with different wedding ideas and when push came to shove, she got married in Disneyworld which probably made most of the decisions for her.

Why couldn't that be me? Why couldn't I have had a vision that would make all of this planning so much easier?

Bobby and I are having difficulty deciding what exactly it is we want. Do we hop a plane to Jamaica and only those who can make it share in our day? Or do we plan out a wedding that breaks the bank at a place that has the look that we want but can't really accommodate our guest list? Or, perhaps, we say F*CK it and get married in his parents backyard.

This is where we stand right now. What do I really want?

...to marry the man I love and live happily ever after.

Harlan Coben is my hero

2010-04-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

As if he hasn't played enough of a part in our relationship....Harlan Coben strikes again!

On Friday, Bobby had decided to finally send Harlan an email letting him know that outcome of the wonderfully devised proposal (per his request). Bobby was a little disappointed to get a bounce back saying that Harlan Coben's inbox was full. Much to our surprise, 5 minutes later he received an email back from Harlan asking if he could post our blog on his twitter and facebook.

And there ya have it folks! Once again Harlan Coben proves that he truly is my hero (If you remember back to the post about how Bobby and I met....this has significance).

I decided to leave you all with a passage from the book of Coben, Chapter 28, verse 284:
"The most important decision you'll ever make is who you marry...You have to love her more than anything in the world. But she has to love you just as much. Your priority should be her happiness, and her priority should be yours...Picture every day with the person. Picture paying bills with that person, raising children with that person, being stuck in a hot room with no air-conditioning and a screaming baby with that person...

And this is why Bobby's my person :)

The biggest secret of 2010....so far

2010-04-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

Sometime towards the end of February we booked our trip down to Sarasota for my Spring Break. Bobby's Aunt Kathy has a condo down there and he had accumulated enough points through Continental so we barely paid anything to fly down. The game plan was for AK to pick us up from the airport late Friday night and we'd stay down there until Wednesday night. We'd drive AK to the airport on Tuesday and take the rental car back with us when our flight left on Wednesday. Seemed like a solid plan and I was more than excited to spend 5 days relaxing on the beach and coming back to school with a lovely tan.

Friday night my parents dropped us off at the airport and we were ready to spend a week relaxing....but of course our plane had to sit on the tarmac for an extra hour first, just for reality to get one more swift kick in. We got down to Sarasota a little after 10pm and began our drive back to AK's condo. At this point all I really wanted to do was crawl into bed and pass out.

And that's when we were greeted in the hallway by our friends with champagne glasses. AK had arranged for 3 of my friends from college, Bobby's soon to be best man and his gf, and the Liz's (Bobby's sister and sister's bff who is practically a part of the Olson family) to fly down for the weekend to surprise us and surprise us they did!

After the initial shock and excitement wore off, we headed into downtown to hit up a bar and get in a little dancing. Seeing everyone down there with us was like a shot of Red Bull and our initial groggyness had dissipated. The next day we all headed out to spend the day on the beach. It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time chatting it up while getting some sun. The water was warm, the beach wasn't too crowded, and the beverages were flowing.

Once everyone reached their optimal tomato-y color, we headed back to wash up and get ready for dinner. AK had booked a reservation at a great little Italian place right around the corner. It was a beautiful night and we sat outside to share in conversation and delicious food. The initial plan was to head to Siesta Key to go to some bars down there but we were enjoying the more mellow atmosphere and decided to head back to AK's for some more wine and good conversation.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend having everyone down there to celebrate with us and a great surprise. AK did a fabulous job orchestrating an engagement weekend for us and I can't thank her enough for inviting our friends to share in the celebration. When the excitement died down, I realized we still had three more days on the beach :)

Aruba, Jamaica, oooo I wanna take ya

2010-04-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

The past couple of nights have left my mind whirling with ideas. As much as we absolutely LOVE reBar and the hospitality that they've shown us....it's a logistical nightmare. People would be seated in all different rooms, it's in Brooklyn and our wedding would be at peak rush hour time in the city, and they don't have the kitchen to do a plated sit down dinner. Regardless of the fact that the food is amazing and the people are so wonderful, I'm having my doubts.

Monday was Bobby's birthday. We drove up to his parents for the traditional birthday dinner and Bobby shared a little quip about one of his clients that he had met with that day. This fellow is about 8 weeks from tying the knot...in Aruba. The whole shindig plus a 12 day honeymoon and a wedding planner is costing them about $13,000. $13000?!?!?! That's like....a third of our wedding budget. This got the wheels turning.

How realistic is it to have a destination wedding? So that got me thinking...this calls for a pro/con list.

Pros: Wedding on the beach, less expensive, intimate ceremony (the people we care about the most), complete package (flowers, cake, ceremony, reception, photographer, planner all included)

Cons: Not everyone can make it due to the added expense, legal red tape for marrying out of the country, planning a long distance wedding = little control

After surveying family members, it seems like they're all for it, but part of me is thinking....is it fair to ask them to dish out the money to join us for a tropical wedding?

Bobby and I leave for Florida Friday evening and I'm hoping that this doesn't eat up my mind while we're relaxing on the beach for the week.

It Better Be Good...

2010-04-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

First, you find the girl. Check. Then you fall in love. Check again. Then you pick a ring…easy…another check. Then you ask the most important question you will ever ask in your life…

When trying to figure out how to pop the big Q I knew I needed to do two things – figure out a creative way of doing it as I was instructed “it better be good” – and the even harder part with my soon to be better half – making it a surprise.

The one thing that I knew for sure was that I wanted Melanie to be able to tell her friends the story of how I asked her to marry me, the appropriate “ooooos” and “awwws” would always follow. It was also important to me that the locations and such were all significant to us. After toying between the promenade in Edgewater and Fort Tryon I settled on the latter.

The next big question was when. Melanie’s sister, Heather, was pregnant and I wanted to ensure that they each had their time in the spotlight. Heather having her first child and Melanie getting engaged – so when CJ was supposed to be out by the end of the first weekend in March I narrowed it down to two days – March 27^th with a rain date of April 3^rd.

It was about two weeks before hand and I was still trying to figure out the perfect way to ask when Melanie informed me she was going to have a “girls night” on March 24^th – the same day Harlan Coben was doing a book signing in Ridgewood. I look back on this idea hitting me like a cartoon where a light bulb goes on above the character’s head. A few months before while lying in bed Melanie had been joking around about how it would be nice if Harlan Coben had a good love story as he was the reason we had met. Two years before even meeting, while reading the book “The Final Detail” there was a section where the main character was talking with his dad about relationships and how choosing the woman you are going to marry is the most important decision of your life. It goes on for about two pages, and being the hopeless romantic I am, I dog-eared the page. So it hit me…why not see if I could somehow incorporate this book and our favorite author into the proposal. So Mel went out for girls night and I “went to Rotary” and secretly got the book signed.

I am fortunate enough to have most Fridays off from work and spent the day before the big one running around and getting things set. I bought six dozen roses and painstakingly pulled the petals off of each one. I premade our lunch and hid it in the vegetable drawer of the fridge and got Ralph to be my partner in crime.

The day had finally arrived, and though a bit chillier than I would have liked, the wheels were in motion. If I waited until the following week and it wound up raining, the proposal would have been pushed off until mid-May as the weekends get crazy from here on out. While Melanie got dressed I snuck the picnic blanket downstairs, packed the lunch and put everything in the back of the Jeep. We hit the road. My palms were sweaty but I managed to play it off. Melanie quickly figured out where we were heading and there was an unspoken sense of excitement in the air.

Sometimes Melanie is too smart for her own good so I had planned on making the day seem as much of a fake out as possible. We pulled into Fort Tryon and I grabbed the backpack…she knew I was up to something so as we strolled around the park I kept mentioning how we would probably be back a few times in the coming weeks and she should get use to it. We eventually settled under our tree and enjoyed our wraps and chocolate covered strawberries. After what seemed like an eternity to me, Melanie tired of waiting for me to just up and pull out the ring…or did she say it was too cold…we headed back to the car. Halfway back I realized I had “lost” my cell phone (which I had cleverly turned off right before we packed up). She immediately said lets call it – she was making this harder than it needed to be – but I convinced her we should retrace our steps. When we got back to our tree I got down on my knee and rummaged through the bag.

“I can’t find my phone but I found this book in here”…she opened it up…read the inscription and looked up in disbelief as I pulled out the ring. It took a few minutes of hugging and crying before I got enough of a head nod to know she was mine for life but it all went just as planned.

We drove home and while she went and got a spa manicure I had set up, I staged the champagne, candles and rose petals in the linen closet and went over the details one last time with Ralph. We had a great dinner at the Melting Pot in Westwood – our first date spot – and between dinner and desert I “went to the bathroom” to give Ralph the go ahead to set everything up. We arrived home to rose petals from the door to the bedroom and candles lighting the whole room.

I think its safe to say that it was better than good…it was perfect.

..and since all about the Final Detail…tonight we will be heading into dinner at rebar with both sets of parents and siblings to “officially” announce our engagement!

The non-fakeout fakeout

2010-03-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up yesterday morning thinking that it would be like every other Saturday we've had. We stayed in bed until 9, made breakfast, and sat down on the couch flipping through the newspaper while sipping our coffee and tea. Nothing out of the ordinary here. I asked Bobby how we should spend our Saturday and he said, "Don't worry. I've got it all figured out already." So he went upstairs to shower while I putzed around on the internet for a little bit. When he returned I asked him what I should wear since he didn't seem to be willing to give up any details. "Wear something warm. We're going to be outside for a while." Hmm....could today be the day? Nah!

I decided to prepare as if that were the case anyway. I did my hair and makeup and put on something cute, in the event that there would be some photo ops later...if this was indeed the day.

We hopped in the car and I had a million different ideas running through my head. Were we going to Fort Tryon Park (one of our first date spots and really the time when we both realized this was it for us) or down to the promenade in Edgewater (the place where we should have had our first kiss but Bobby chickened out)? Was this really the day or was this just one of his many fakeouts he had planned?

The car headed over the GWB and onto the Henry Hudson North....ok, so we're heading to Fort Tryon. Is he really going to do this today or is he just messing with me?

We got up to Fort Tryon and Bobby opened the trunk to reveal that he had packed us a picnic lunch, just like the date that we had here in the summer....only about 40 degrees colder. We decided to explore the park a little more before sitting down under our tree (above, left). While taking in the rather chilly, but beautiful scenery, I explained to him how I thought today might be the day so I wore something cute just in case. He said that I should get used to this happening every weekend and that next weekend we might head up to Edgewater. I playfully hit him and called him a terd....How unfair! Toying with a girl's mind is just cruel!

After strolling through the gardens and taking a moment to look out over the Hudson at the GWB we finally headed back to our spot. Thankfully this time around there was no one there. Bobby pulled out a blanket and we sat down to enjoy yummy wraps, pickles, and my favorite, chocolate covered strawberries. I explained to him how I figured it was a fakeout and that he wasn't very nice for doing so. We stayed in the sun for about an hour before getting trampled by high school kids who didn't speak English. No, literally they were playing tag around us and one of the kids ran into us....even though they had the whole rest of the grassy area, they chose to play right on top of us.

I decided not to get bummed out, that it was kind of fun being kept on my toes with the whole ring thing and we packed up the picnic and started walking back to the car. We made it about 50 feet when Bobby realized he must have dropped his cell phone so we turned around and headed back (after I called him a dope, of course). I took out my phone to call his and told him to double check the backpack since I didn't see it on the ground. And that's when Bobby remembered he had a book in his backpack to give me. Apparently the little sneak had skipped out on his Wednesday night meeting while I was out of the area having dinner with my girlfriends and happened to go see our favorite author at his book signing.

Bobby handed me the book and I was eager to see what Harlan wrote....but, wait, this wasn't Harlan's newest book....I opened it up to read, "Melanie, Will you marry Bob?" and looked down to see Bobby on his knee with the ring in his hand. I dropped everything and hugged him while I began balling my eyes out which, ps: I never thought I'd cry at that.

Obviously, I said yes! But our day wasn't over yet.

We hopped back in the car and headed home. I was told that I could call and let people know it happened but couldn't give any details until the night was over because there was even more planned....crazyness. We got back to the house and I noticed Bailey, our rottie, was missing.....his dad came to pick her up so that we wouldn't have to worry about her all day. After a little cuddle time, we went to show my parents and sister and get the ring appraised. Everyone was ecstatic! And such a beautiful ring!

Bobby called up his parents and sisters to let them know the good news and we headed back to our house so that I could make my 4:00 nail appointment. That's right. Bobby had scheduled me to get my nails done so that they would look pretty in pictures with the ring and when I show the ring off to people...is he not the greatest ever or what?!?

I got back from my nail appointment at 5:15 and we got dressed to go out to dinner. We had a 6:30 reservation at The Melting Pot, the place where we had our very first date. The hostess seated us in a private booth for two in the back and even brought us champagne on the house in honor of our celebration. After a wonderfully stuffing meal, we headed home and I couldn't imagine the night being any better...

Until I opened the door to find the above. There was a trail of red, white, and yellow roses leading from the front door up to our bedroom with candles lit everywhere. We had a bottle of champagne waiting for us on the dresser. When the heck did this all happen? It wasn't there when we left for dinner. Apparently Bobby had one of his friends come over to the house and set everything up while we were on our way home from dinner. Ralph had literally just finished lighting the candles when we headed up the hill to our street.

And to top everything off, my fiancee is downstairs making me strawberry covered pancakes for breakfast. I am the luckiest :)

The GREATEST idea EVER!

2010-03-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Because it was gorgeous this weekend, we decided to finally sweep off the veranda off the spare bedroom and put some patio furniture up there...granted, we had to go and purchase the new patio furniture, but it was still a worthwhile investment. After a long day of cleaning up the garden and backyard (haha who am I kidding? We hired people to do it for us while we got other things done around the house) we decided to have a couple of cocktails up in the sunshine. I had spent some time up there reading the new issue of Real Simple Weddings and whenever something interesting came up I'd be sure to read it to Bobby.

I reached the page about setting the scene at your reception. The magazine talks about lighting, decor, escort cards, and favors. These are things we've put some thought into (ok, not all of them but we've put a lot of thought into the favors...the homebrew!) Bobby had an excellent suggestion. We could use the cardboard beer caddies we've been saving from our favorite microbrews to put the homebrews in on the tables. Well, I feel like some people might think they could take all 6 beers home which is simply unacceptable. This got the creative juices flowing. We discussed using the beer bottles AS escort cards but Bobby brought up the point that guests, if we use reBar, would be climbing the stairs carrying the bottles and worried about people dropping them. Ok, guess the bottles are back on the table...so what could we use as escort cards? And that's when it hit me...

We've been collecting beer bottle caps pretty much since we moved in. In our kitchen we have two beer glasses filled with metal caps and we have a cap cup underneath the wall mounted bottle opener in the basement bar. I decided to spread them out and take inventory.

Because we'd like to use the names of microbreweries as our table numbers, we could match their bottle caps for the escort cards. To incorporate the beer caddies, we could use the cardboard caddy faces as our table signs.

BRILLIANT!

Hilarious....

2010-03-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.halpertbeesly.com/

To reBar or not to reBar....that is the question

2010-03-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I decided to check out a couple of venues online. Because we're pre-engagement, I didn't want to go too crazy as I'm sure most people already think I am for planning this stuff out without a ring. When I first stumbled across the Foundry, it was during my sister's wedding planning 2 years ago. I knew in the back of my mind that this was the type of place I wanted to get married in. It wasn't until recently that I realized the cost and effort associated with having our affair there.

Don't get me wrong, this place is absolutely gorgeous...but it comes with a hefty price tag AND you have to bring in EVERYTHING! When I learned that a wedding there during the month I'd like costs $7,000 just to walk in the door, that quickly moved from the "this could possibly happen" category to the "only if we hit the lottery" category (along with Governor's Island). I took to the blogs and the forums to find a suitable alternative. Once we had decided on incorporating beer into our wedding, I knew that we needed a unique venue with exposed brick and that industrial feel to tie everything in.

And that's when we discovered reBar. The following is the way Jason, the owner, describes reBar:

What happens when you combine a reclaimed factory loft space with 15 taps, beautiful bottled Belgian beers, and an extensive by the glass wine list? The answer is clearly rebar. Situated on the second floor of Retreat, at 147 Front Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, rebar is the surprise you've been waiting for Dumbo to produce.
Rebar must be seen first hand. We designed it to be a warm cove, an inviting living room. If we could build a fireplace in there we would, but let the candles and warm orange glow from the tulip chandeliers suffice for now. Barrel-vaulted terra-cotta ceilings and terra-cotta columns create an earthy, Spanish vibe for your gatherings and secret meetings.

How fantastic is that?!?! After reading about it and checking out pictures, I decided to send Jason an email just to see if it could potentially land in our budget. After getting the green light on price, we decided to take a trip in....if not for anything else, just to check out their extensive beer list. We gave Jason a ring just to see if he'd be around to chat, but what we got in return was so much more.

When we got there he gave us a tour of the whole place and put in for a tasting! We were like whoa this is not at all what we had anticipated doing but explained to the guy that the ring is on the way (apparently it'll be ready this month but because my sister is due, he doesn't want to take away from the baby celebration). It was crazy that they were willing to do all of that for us when there's not even a ring on my finger and it was not at all what our intentions were. We just wanted to get a beer and check out their pub food but it was an amazing experience. We were there for 4 hours and sampled so many of their beers in addition to 2 appetizers, 3 hors devours, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts. We met the chef and both of the owners and just the fact that we were excited and they were excited was amazing. After looking on other bride sites that are more catered to our area, I discovered that some brides booked that venue without ever tasting anything from there so the fact that we got all of that (and it was Comp-ed!) was incredible.....and very scary.

After our incredible experience, the dude sent Jason a wonderful email about our night there and the hospitality they showed us. He and Jason exchanged several more emails regarding beers and having a beer appreciation club there and just general friendly chit-chat. About 3 weeks passed and we decided to check it out again. The dude was so excited that he brought two of his home brews with us to share with Jason and Co (though Jason wasn't around that evening). Bernard, the maître d’, was very happy to see us back and even sat us at the table we had our tasting at. Luke, the co-owner and beer connoisseur, stopped at our table so the dude could give him the home brews. Luke could not believe that Bobby had remembered and our first round of drinks were on him.

Before we walked into reBar for the second amazing time, we decided to walk over to Brooklyn Bridge Park, the place where most couples get married who have their reception in the DUMBO area. The downside to having it at reBar is that they don't have the kitchen or staff to do plated dinners, which is fine by me because their food is AMAZING (seriously, if you ever get the chance, try the polenta! It is to die for!). It is also several blocks from the park, down cobblestone streets, and there isn't much street parking in the area. The other downside is that Brooklyn Bridge Park is a public space so there could be complete strangers watching our ceremony.......but how can we NOT incorporate reBar after the amazing experiences we've had there?

You'll have to wait and see what we decide on :P

How to Grow Hoppy Hops...Part 1

2010-03-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

Fortunately Spring is almost upon us...a great thing as I don't think I could handle anymore snow. We moved into the house the middle of last August so no thought had to go into the yard…until now. My father loves to spend his weekends playing in the mulch and dirt and feels that I should “take pride in my home” and do the same. If there were the extra money in the budget right now, I’d pay the gardener and sip some Summer Ale as I directed the work to be done. Alas, this is not the case, so unless I hit the lotto in the next week or two having a nice yard to have some good summer bashes in is all on us.

The easiest way for me to take ownership in something is to find a way to make a least a little part of it interesting for me, and then the rest will fall in place. So since I brew my own beer and don’t want the lawn to be brown all summer…I have opted to dedicate two of the six garden bays in the back of the property to growing hops.

Hops will grow like weeds once they are about three years old, but the first year or two you have to nurture them like a newborn – so having to water the hops daily, will mean the lawn and flowers will get tended to as well. It also means that I can take brewing to a whole new level with using homegrown ingredients. Most importantly, come harvest time next August, we will have plenty of for decorating/centerpieces/boutonnieres (and hopefully still a batch or two of brew)!

Since this is my first go at this I figured it would be fun to incorporate this new adventure into the blog. I just ordered a book to fill in the gaps of what I’ve learned online and the hop rhizomes should be shipping about mid-April. I selected Cascade and Centennial – as Cascade is one of the most versatile and I had an awesome IPA made with Centennial (that I want to replicate) when Mel and I went down to check out Triumph Brewpub in Princeton as a potential venue.

The plants should go from 6” roots to 5’ to 8’ tall this first year…so stay tuned to hear how we grow our hoppy hops!

8 maids-a-milking

2010-03-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

Every Tuesday night we take dance class with one of Bobby's friends and his fiancee. We had originally all hung out while watching a Giants game back in October, right after Dave proposed. They were telling us about what they had planned already for the wedding and the topic of the bridal party came up. Eight bridesmaids and eight groomsmen. Now I understand wanting to include everyone in your special day, but it's such a hard decision to make. Who stays and who goes?

This is something that I've put some thought into. I have a lot of girlfriends. I was in a sorority in college and had an additional, closer group of girls outside of my sorority who I've been friends with for the past 6 years. So when I thought about who I'd want in the bridal party, it was very difficult to figure out who stays and who goes. Thankfully I don't have to worry about the friendship ending decision of who becomes the Maid of Honor (MOH). In my case, my sister is the automatic MOH (well, matron of honor). Strike that one off of the list! And Bobby has two younger sisters that I want to be a part of our special day in addition to my friends. Thinking about everyone I'd want involved, the bridesmaids side seemed to become a ridiculously large number. It became a game of balance (I, personally, prefer an even number of bridesmaids and groomsmen). That's when I decided to limit it to my sister and his two sisters (although I had considered just having a MOH and BM).

As much as I would love to include my friends in my special day....I will....in some other way....that I haven't fully thought out yet. Until then, this is my bridal party and I'm sticking to it :P

Be Gentle…It’s My 1st Time… (How It Began According to Him)

2010-03-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

…blogging that is. Melanie enjoys chronicling life's little events online, hence the birth of this blog, and as with all things, she asks and I do my best to oblige. So join me if you will through this first venture of our meeting…

Some background. Between college and spending a year working on a startup company I spent almost 6 years below the Mason Dixon. I was back living at home in NJ, working for a family business with my aunt (boss) and one other woman comprising the entire firm. I had grown apart from my high school friends with my close friends now spread across the country. With the typical options of meeting someone at work or through friends all but non-existent, and never being the type to try and pick up a future girlfriend in the bar, I turned to online dating. I gave eHarmony and Match a try over the course of 6 months…there were a lot of first dates…and not much more than that…was I the only normal person in the online dating world?

Fortunately for me, Match reverts you back to a free account after you decide to stop footing the bill. I was down in Florida on business, got back to the hotel room around 8pm or so, and with nothing to do, figured I’d peruse the site. I did a basic search and sent some winks, the limit of a free account, to a few ladies based on profiles that actually had some appeal. Generally you wink…the person either winks back or you get a kind email back saying sorry (you’re ugly) if not simply being ignored. Enter Melanie…

Rather than the typical wink back…the next day I get an email saying that I had a message….what?!? A simple wink had elicited an email…my curiosity was officially peaked. I spent 5 days hemming and hawing over whether or not to sink any more cash into the site. One night I decided to bite the bullet, plugged in my credit card and anxiously opened my message…a whole 2 lines. I quickly questioned whether it was worth it…and just weeks later I’d be telling Melanie it was the best money I ever spent.

After long nights emailing and chatting back and forth I knew I needed to (attempt) to bring my “A” game for this one and figured I needed something a little different than just dinner so I opted for the Melting Pot. I got ready, got my sister’s stamp of approval on the outfit choice for the evening, and headed out on what would be the last first date of my life.

I pull up and see a “Beware of Dog” sign on the door...better than a father with a shotgun right? I ring the bell, Melanie opens the door and the ferocious beast plops at my feet for a belly rub. She opts for flip flops over heels (had Kate steered me wrong that’s shes going casual or is there already some comfort – I need to get out of my own head)…and we were off.

Though it was an early night due to the food coma that might as well be a money back guarantee at the Melting Pot, it was a great one – the conversation never ceased nor was it dull and I knew that there was something different about this girl. I dropped her off and was barely to the end of the block when my phone binged - she had texted me to thank me for the date and give a slight dig to both of us for being in before her mother. I was always the one to send the first communication after a date…the fact that this one came so shortly after (to me) was huge.

The next morning we were chatting as I puttered around the house. After a few too many episodes of How I Met Your Mother, I put up an away message saying I was between “heading to Atlantic City to gamble or Philly to lick the Liberty Bell.” Melanie, as I have since learned, always being up for an adventure said she’d take the ride to Philly but made no promises about licking any century old metals…the compromise…popping my real Philly cheesesteak virginity. Less than 24 hours after our first date we were embarking on our second. The 2+ hour ride down and back flew by and even in the lulls in conversation it didn’t feel awkward at all…in fact, it felt like I was taking a road trip with someone I had been seeing for months.

Right before dropping Melanie off I remembered my “homework” from my mother. To find out her mother’s maiden name as my parents are from the same hometown. Homework done (along with a kiss on the cheek) I was on my way home. I reported back to ma dukes to find out that my grandmother and her’s were best friends. My grandfather had sublet a room in her grandparents home when he first moved to the area 60 years ago. Date number three was three days later, at which point it all came together…and we haven’t looked back since.

It was truly meant to be.

"Hoppy in Love" -- What the heck does that mean?

2010-03-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

It all began back when we first started dating. Somewhere in time the conversation of beer came up. I, for one, am a beer enthusiast and was very happy to discover that Bobby shared the same sentiment. Actually, scratch that, he more than shared my sentiment, he surpassed it. Whereas the common person with a love for beer goes out and savors each flavor, Bobby decided to begin brewing his own batch. One of our earlier dates consisted of bottling his first brew in the kitchen and me winning him over with my willingness to participate and super human strength when it comes to capping (I may have exhibited too much super human strength and broke the damn thing but that's a whole other story).

From early on, beer became a common theme in our relationship and so we decided to mix it in with our wedding...more about that later. In August, Bobby bought a house. Aside from it's beautiful exterior and crazy amounts of character, it had another main selling point....a bar. Over time, the dude decided to spiff up the bar. I can now proudly say that if you want it, we'll put it on tap for ya! That's right folks. We have a fully functioning bar complete with two different taps and none of this kegerator bullshit.

When Spring officially arrives, the dude intends on planting hops in our garden to make brewing more organic and to help quell the cost of it for our centerpieces/boutonnieres.

So where does hoppy in love come into play? Well, it's a play on words (if you can't see that already) about our love and beer.

Where It All Began (According to Her)

2010-03-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

Have you ever fallen into that rut where you find yourself at a bar on a Friday night wondering which lucky guy is going to take you home only to spend a lonely ferry ride back to your cold apartment? Ah, yes, that would be me circa January 2009. I was finishing up my masters program, student teaching, and it seemed that all of my friends were falling in love and I was left to fend for myself. After several failed attempts at a relationship I decided to focus on finishing my degree and learning to love myself. I was exploring NYC, cooking up a storm, and excited for my annual Memorial Day Weekend camping trip.

Now, when I say camping trip, I don't mean any of this RV, bring your plasma tv to hook up to the digital cable and sit your ass on a couch all weekend in nature, kind of camping. I'm talking legitimate no electricity, no running water, no cell phone service camping. This particular year one of my good friends decided to join and brought along the guy she was seeing. Katie and Ed had met on Match.com and had been seeing each other for about a month by the time we took the 6 hour drive up to the Finger Lakes. Normally, it's a "the more the merrier" type of atmosphere but this year I happened to notice that I was surrounded by couples. I was the only single person over the age of 21 and not liking it. Shortly after returning home I decided to bite the bullet and join Match. Everyone was doing it, right?

Two weeks into my online dating endeavor and it was Miserable Dates: 3, Happy Relationship: 0. I understand that these things take time, but I'm terribly impatient. Here's the thing about Match: in order to reap the benefits, you need a paid account. After several days of winking back and forth with guys and getting nowhere, I decided to make this a criteria. If you couldn't read my email and reply, then obviously you weren't a serious taker. Simple idea, right? Well, that's what I originally thought. I suppose I overestimated how many people had paid accounts. A guy would wink, I'd send an email, and then I'd wait....and wait...and wait...and never get a response. I decided to shorten my emails. Why should I waste my time, carefully planning out how to give the best first impression when 9 times out of 10 the person didn't have access to it?

Enter Bobby.

I had logged in just like any other day. I checked my messages and then moved on to the winks. I always had the courtesy of reading the other person's profile and picking out something I liked to write about. Bobby happened to write that he was a fan of Harlan Coben. Bingo! He's one of my favorite authors. I sent him a quick message of "Harlan Coben is my hero" and that's when it all began. Throughout my miserable dates, I would come home and tell Bobby about all of the pathetic things guys did. He would politely listen and humor me with a response putting down the knuckleheads I chose. After two weeks of emailing back and forth, our schedules finally matched up and we went out to dinner.

This first date was different than all of the others. Bobby picked me up at my house, normally something I would NEVER do. He came to the door and escorted me to his car. He even opened the door for me, something I was not at all used to. The only thing that would have made the initial impression better was if he brought flowers...though that may have creeped me out. We had a great first date at The Melting Pot. We both were too full to move and decided to call it an early night. I gave him a hug and scurried up the stairs to my house. Within minutes I sent him a text thanking him for the evening and joking about how my mother was still out.

The next morning we decided to make plans for another date. Bobby had never had a Philly cheesesteak and I was feeling adventurous so that's what we did. We went on a long adventure down to Philly. The two hour car ride flew by and the conversation never ended. We talked about our childhood, college, family, everything. I learned that his parents grew up in my hometown and went to the same high school as my mother. He learned that I can't pass up the opportunity to sing along to the radio. Together we learned that 4 hours in a car with someone can make a pretty great second date.

"But Melanie, this story sounds pretty lame....get to the good stuff."

Ok, Ok here's the best part. After discovering our parents grew up in the same town, Bobby asked his parents if they knew my mother. The conversation went a little something like this:

The Dude: "Hey ma, I met this kickass girl who claims her mom went to HHHS around the same time as you."
Mama O: "Oh yea? What's her mom's maiden name?"
The Dude: "Lenox.....sound familiar?"
Mama O: "Um...you know Millie?"
The Dude: "You mean Gran's Bff?"
Mama O: "That's the one.....You must have gone on a date with her granddaughter"

Yes, that's right folks. Bobby and I have known each other since before we were both born. His grandmother is my grandmother's bff. His gma used to come see my plays in high school and my gma used to tell me all about what's going on in Grace's life. I used to get yelled at by my gma because "Grace's grandson calls her from college".

And so it was meant to be.

So This Is Love....

2010-03-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

After spending many an hour on the various wedding time wasting websites, I've decided to begin our journey through a wonderful blog. My goodness! So many ideas, so little time.....that's a lie. According to theknot.com, we have 529 days until our wedding. "529 Days?!?! But Melanie, you're still ring-less" Pshaw! It's coming. I know it. He knows it. The parentals know it. And now all of you wonderful people in blog world know it.