L. and I recently discovered that one of the fun parts of wedding planning is figuring out the alcohol to serve at the reception. Our facility is restricted to wine, beer, and champagne only, so no yummy hard liquor concoctions, but we've had a good time with the other tastings.
After our research, we've decided on the following selections:
Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay, Columbia Valley 2006
Columbia Winery 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale
Redhook's Blonde Ale and Black Hook Porter
The cool thing is that Columbia Crest, Columbia Winery, and Redhook are all local here in Washington. Buffalo Bill's Brewery is in California, so it's the only one from out of state, but it's so good that we just couldn't pass it up for a fall wedding!
We got the Chardonnay and Pumpkin Ale today. We ran out of room in the car, so we'll have to get the Cab Sauv tomorrow. We'll also get the Redhook tomorrow, when they have their Micro Monday special, where you buy one case and get the second case at 1/2 off. Every little bit of money saved helps. L. about died when he figured out how much we were spending on alcohol alone, but it will be worth it. Plus, any leftovers will come back to our house, so we can use the rest at another time.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Mad Men illustrations
If you're a fan of the show Mad Men, check out some illustrations of the show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nobodyssweetheart/sets/72157606178887453/detail/.
Very cool. Love the idea of having some of the scenes as illustrated wallpaper and such. What a great show. It's one of the few things I actually watch that has substance to it.
Very cool. Love the idea of having some of the scenes as illustrated wallpaper and such. What a great show. It's one of the few things I actually watch that has substance to it.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Good quote
Read on my friend, A.'s status line in Gmail:
"53% of white women are now for McCain. 47% of white women are embarrassed."
"53% of white women are now for McCain. 47% of white women are embarrassed."
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Slip, sliding away
So, I'm done with the 20/20 program now and I need to schedule my last appointment for lab work and final meeting with my 20/20 doctor. Overall, it was a great success. I lost 46 pounds, 40 of which I've maintained.
However, now that the program is over, I am struggling a bit to keep up with everything. I think part of it is due to the fact that the wedding is a month away, so everything seems to be going faster and faster. But part of it is because I'm not really following the lifestyle, so a lot of my cravings and such are back. It's very frustrating. And now my workouts with my trainer are down to once per week, since I decided to hire J. to keep pushing me with the weight training and keep me accountable. But maintaining the other two to three days of working out on my own is difficult.
I felt pretty desperate tonight when I broke into both the popcorn and hot chocolate. We've been eating out a lot, and I'm not making great choices. I really need to get myself back on track. When I make smarter choices, the cravings do start going away and I of course feel better about everything all around. So, I just need to remember that. Tonight, I made a healthy lunch and packed everything up neatly in the fridge. I'm going to try and get up early enough to make some eggs, and toast with peanut butter so that I at least have a healthy breakfast and lunch squared away. And I've got to get the carbs back down to 200 calories a day or less so that I get rid of some of this water weight.
So, tomorrow is a new day and I know that the next few days are going to be a bit miserable again while I work back off of the carbs, treats, and such and I'll need to devote more time to cooking and planning my eating again so that I don't get off track. Here we go again...
However, now that the program is over, I am struggling a bit to keep up with everything. I think part of it is due to the fact that the wedding is a month away, so everything seems to be going faster and faster. But part of it is because I'm not really following the lifestyle, so a lot of my cravings and such are back. It's very frustrating. And now my workouts with my trainer are down to once per week, since I decided to hire J. to keep pushing me with the weight training and keep me accountable. But maintaining the other two to three days of working out on my own is difficult.
I felt pretty desperate tonight when I broke into both the popcorn and hot chocolate. We've been eating out a lot, and I'm not making great choices. I really need to get myself back on track. When I make smarter choices, the cravings do start going away and I of course feel better about everything all around. So, I just need to remember that. Tonight, I made a healthy lunch and packed everything up neatly in the fridge. I'm going to try and get up early enough to make some eggs, and toast with peanut butter so that I at least have a healthy breakfast and lunch squared away. And I've got to get the carbs back down to 200 calories a day or less so that I get rid of some of this water weight.
So, tomorrow is a new day and I know that the next few days are going to be a bit miserable again while I work back off of the carbs, treats, and such and I'll need to devote more time to cooking and planning my eating again so that I don't get off track. Here we go again...
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Mmmm, cake
If you've never heard of the Cake Wrecks blog, you should definitely check it out. It had L. and I laughing until we were crying. There are just too many to list here, but I think my favorite (to this point, anyway), is this one: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/05/this-made-me-laugh-til-i-cried.html. And this one is a close second: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-brides-have-no-budget-or-taste.html.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Friday, August 29, 2008
GOP desperation
Wow, what a desperate move. McCain chose a lesser-known woman, Sarah Palin, as his VP running mate. And she hails from oil-rich Alaska...such a departure for the GOP (not!). Details at McCain praises VP choice Palin's 'tenacity'.
I was especially charmed with what Mike Huckabee had to say of the choice, "Governor Palin ... will remind women that if they are not welcome on the Democrat's ticket, they have a place with Republicans." Seriously? Is Huckabee that stupid, or rather does he think that women are that stupid? Like I would say, "hmmm...this Palin woman has a vagina...and I have a vagina...so, I guess we must want the same things." It's insulting.
From what I've learned about her (recently), I definitely don't want the same things. She's "pro-life", which is such a stupid term. Like those of us who are "pro-choice" aren't in support of life. Like we support abortion rights because we hope women will terminate their pregnancies instead of supporting abortion rights because we believe that every woman has a right to choose what to do with her own body.
I also found it interesting that Palin has recently been under investigation for a situation where her ex brother-in-law was fired from his job as a state trooper. And her assessment of the indictment of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was, ""very dismaying." She added, "Hopefully though, this won’t be a distraction and get people’s minds off what has to be done in the grand scheme of things."" So you know, just sweep it under the rug and don't worry about possible corruption. To her, it's clearly not important "in the grand scheme of things." Although they are touting her as a change to the status quo, I don't really see how that position is any different than what we've seen from the Bush administration. In fact, that's one of the biggest reasons our country is going down the tubes.
So, so far, I'm not at all impressed with Palin. And on a personal note, she has several kids with weird names. One named Track and another named Trig. What the hell? I wonder what the other three are named. Paw, Branch, and Calc? I could probably search for the answer, but it's just not that important. My estimation is that those kids would probably teased mercilessly with those names, except for the fact that their mom is a governor and as discussed above, probably wouldn't be above having the issue taken care of, if you get my drift. Although, as they discuss in the article, she's "in favor of capital punishment in especially heinous cases such as the murder of a child. ""My goodness, hang 'em up, yeah,"" she said." So maybe she'd let the playground bullies off the hook. There is something so weird about people who are "pro life", yet support capital punishment.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
I was especially charmed with what Mike Huckabee had to say of the choice, "Governor Palin ... will remind women that if they are not welcome on the Democrat's ticket, they have a place with Republicans." Seriously? Is Huckabee that stupid, or rather does he think that women are that stupid? Like I would say, "hmmm...this Palin woman has a vagina...and I have a vagina...so, I guess we must want the same things." It's insulting.
From what I've learned about her (recently), I definitely don't want the same things. She's "pro-life", which is such a stupid term. Like those of us who are "pro-choice" aren't in support of life. Like we support abortion rights because we hope women will terminate their pregnancies instead of supporting abortion rights because we believe that every woman has a right to choose what to do with her own body.
I also found it interesting that Palin has recently been under investigation for a situation where her ex brother-in-law was fired from his job as a state trooper. And her assessment of the indictment of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was, ""very dismaying." She added, "Hopefully though, this won’t be a distraction and get people’s minds off what has to be done in the grand scheme of things."" So you know, just sweep it under the rug and don't worry about possible corruption. To her, it's clearly not important "in the grand scheme of things." Although they are touting her as a change to the status quo, I don't really see how that position is any different than what we've seen from the Bush administration. In fact, that's one of the biggest reasons our country is going down the tubes.
So, so far, I'm not at all impressed with Palin. And on a personal note, she has several kids with weird names. One named Track and another named Trig. What the hell? I wonder what the other three are named. Paw, Branch, and Calc? I could probably search for the answer, but it's just not that important. My estimation is that those kids would probably teased mercilessly with those names, except for the fact that their mom is a governor and as discussed above, probably wouldn't be above having the issue taken care of, if you get my drift. Although, as they discuss in the article, she's "in favor of capital punishment in especially heinous cases such as the murder of a child. ""My goodness, hang 'em up, yeah,"" she said." So maybe she'd let the playground bullies off the hook. There is something so weird about people who are "pro life", yet support capital punishment.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wedding stuff
L. and I are really making some progress on the details of our wedding. I had last week off as a reward for shipping our product, so I used the time to attend various appointments and do research for the last few things we need to take care of.
First up, L. and I met with our friend, A., the jewelry designer and figured out the design for our wedding rings. The wedding bands will be similar in style, even though L.'s will feature some green stones and mine will feature some purple stones (our favorite colors). I'm excited to see how they turn out. A. has done some really amazing work for both of us, so I know that his expertise will produce lovely wedding bands.
Next, we got our engagement photos taken. We chose to take them at the house, since we have a nice yard and it provided a nice backdrop for the pictures. We wore some of our swing-dance attire, so I think they will look great and will be very much "us."
My wedding dress arrived and I went to the bridal shop to try it on. I ordered it in a size down from what I was at when I ordered, and was sweating bullets that it wasn't going to fit since I didn't lose the last several pounds I originally wanted to lose. But, thankfully it did fit, and it fit like a glove. There are only a few alterations to make, and then it will be perfect. I took the opportunity to try on the bridal jewelry I'd been accumulating so that I could make a final decision about what looked best and take the rest back. I even did full wedding makeup that day - well, as close to wedding makeup as I can get by doing it myself. I will be getting a professional to do it the day of the wedding.
I met up with my mom and my wedding coordinator to get all of the decorations for the wedding and reception. We went out to the ceremony/reception location to meet with the facility assistant and do a check-in on the last things we needed to attend to in order to fulfull their requirements. We brought some of the decorations out, and did some planning about how we're going do everything. I'm quite pleased with the result. I really think people will enjoy it, because it's definitely not going to be a typical wedding. The main pieces will be there, but I think we're doing some really cool things and I can say that this place just has an incredible atmosphere.
We also met and booked our cake maker. She's a pastry chef who specializes in French cakes and pastries that she makes from scratch with as many organic and fair-trade ingredients as possible. She came highly recommended and was even featured in bridal magazines, but when we drove up to her house we wondered whether we'd found the right place. Let's just say that her house doesn't really scream well-organized, tidy, and professional food-handler. So, I was coming up with a Plan B in my head as we got out of the car. But, she proved me wrong. We rounded the corner and entered her kitchen, which was stacked with all kinds of professional equipment and was definitely clean. In the center of the kitchen, there was a table set with three place settings of china and crystal where we sat to taste all of her mousses, ganaches, compotes, cakes, and so on. She had containers of fruity items, nutty items, and chocolatey items, and she filled plates with various combinations of flavors to try. We spent over two hours with her, tasting all of her wonderful concoctions. At the end, I really couldn't decide what to pick. We're going to do a very small wedding cake for cutting, but a dessert buffet with various different cakes for people to try. So, she urged me to take several days to let everything settle, then look back at my list of favorite flavor combinations and let her know which ones we decide to go with. This appointment was like nothing else I've experienced. I'm so excited that we were able to get her for our wedding.
I also took care of the packaging for our favors and the paper for our programs. I'm still working out the final design for the programs, and it's proving more difficult than I originally thought. I really want to make sure that we include the words of our songs and readings somewhere in the program, but I don't want it to be cluttered, either. So, I'm trying to figure out a good solution to that.
L. and I took care of the banquet permit so that we can serve alcohol at the reception, and we went to the Snohomish County Courthouse to get our wedding license, which we took with us to our appointment with the pastor who is marrying us. The appointment went really well, and we were both set at ease by Pastor J.'s approach to religion and tolerance. Although he is a Lutheran pastor, he teaches graduate courses in comparative religion and is very accepting and inclusive of other faiths. This is very important to us, since we have a really mixed bag of religious beliefs in our families, and L. and I get really irritated with an overabundance of "God-talk." So, we worked out the flow of the ceremony and got an idea of how he'll approach everything.
Afterward, we started working on ideas for vows and readings. I'm really excited because a good friend agreed to do a reading for us. I just had to figure out what she was going to read. I knew we didn't want any bible passages or traditional readings. So, I started combing the Internet for some more unique ideas. I think we've found the perfect solution with some passages from a couple of books that really struck a chord with us.
We've also figured out the ceremony music, and I think we've got someone who will start and stop the CD at the right places during the ceremony. Overall, we've got a lot of help from family and a few close friends, so I'm really happy about that. Since we aren't having a wedding party, I wanted to include special people to us in the ceremony and reception.
And finally, L. got a suit. I think this was probably the most dreaded part of the whole process for L. - well that, and the expense of everything - but he really likes the one he got. When he put it on, it was like he was suddenly transformed into a "groom." And not only does he look amazing, but he also feels comfortable.
So, that's where we're at. I'm so thankful for that week off from work. It really enabled me to take care of a lot of things. Now we just have to get the beer, wine, and champagne for the reception, finish up paying balances on various services, and then get hitched! That last bit is the most important part, of course. All the rest is just going to be a kick-ass celebration!
First up, L. and I met with our friend, A., the jewelry designer and figured out the design for our wedding rings. The wedding bands will be similar in style, even though L.'s will feature some green stones and mine will feature some purple stones (our favorite colors). I'm excited to see how they turn out. A. has done some really amazing work for both of us, so I know that his expertise will produce lovely wedding bands.
Next, we got our engagement photos taken. We chose to take them at the house, since we have a nice yard and it provided a nice backdrop for the pictures. We wore some of our swing-dance attire, so I think they will look great and will be very much "us."
My wedding dress arrived and I went to the bridal shop to try it on. I ordered it in a size down from what I was at when I ordered, and was sweating bullets that it wasn't going to fit since I didn't lose the last several pounds I originally wanted to lose. But, thankfully it did fit, and it fit like a glove. There are only a few alterations to make, and then it will be perfect. I took the opportunity to try on the bridal jewelry I'd been accumulating so that I could make a final decision about what looked best and take the rest back. I even did full wedding makeup that day - well, as close to wedding makeup as I can get by doing it myself. I will be getting a professional to do it the day of the wedding.
I met up with my mom and my wedding coordinator to get all of the decorations for the wedding and reception. We went out to the ceremony/reception location to meet with the facility assistant and do a check-in on the last things we needed to attend to in order to fulfull their requirements. We brought some of the decorations out, and did some planning about how we're going do everything. I'm quite pleased with the result. I really think people will enjoy it, because it's definitely not going to be a typical wedding. The main pieces will be there, but I think we're doing some really cool things and I can say that this place just has an incredible atmosphere.
We also met and booked our cake maker. She's a pastry chef who specializes in French cakes and pastries that she makes from scratch with as many organic and fair-trade ingredients as possible. She came highly recommended and was even featured in bridal magazines, but when we drove up to her house we wondered whether we'd found the right place. Let's just say that her house doesn't really scream well-organized, tidy, and professional food-handler. So, I was coming up with a Plan B in my head as we got out of the car. But, she proved me wrong. We rounded the corner and entered her kitchen, which was stacked with all kinds of professional equipment and was definitely clean. In the center of the kitchen, there was a table set with three place settings of china and crystal where we sat to taste all of her mousses, ganaches, compotes, cakes, and so on. She had containers of fruity items, nutty items, and chocolatey items, and she filled plates with various combinations of flavors to try. We spent over two hours with her, tasting all of her wonderful concoctions. At the end, I really couldn't decide what to pick. We're going to do a very small wedding cake for cutting, but a dessert buffet with various different cakes for people to try. So, she urged me to take several days to let everything settle, then look back at my list of favorite flavor combinations and let her know which ones we decide to go with. This appointment was like nothing else I've experienced. I'm so excited that we were able to get her for our wedding.
I also took care of the packaging for our favors and the paper for our programs. I'm still working out the final design for the programs, and it's proving more difficult than I originally thought. I really want to make sure that we include the words of our songs and readings somewhere in the program, but I don't want it to be cluttered, either. So, I'm trying to figure out a good solution to that.
L. and I took care of the banquet permit so that we can serve alcohol at the reception, and we went to the Snohomish County Courthouse to get our wedding license, which we took with us to our appointment with the pastor who is marrying us. The appointment went really well, and we were both set at ease by Pastor J.'s approach to religion and tolerance. Although he is a Lutheran pastor, he teaches graduate courses in comparative religion and is very accepting and inclusive of other faiths. This is very important to us, since we have a really mixed bag of religious beliefs in our families, and L. and I get really irritated with an overabundance of "God-talk." So, we worked out the flow of the ceremony and got an idea of how he'll approach everything.
Afterward, we started working on ideas for vows and readings. I'm really excited because a good friend agreed to do a reading for us. I just had to figure out what she was going to read. I knew we didn't want any bible passages or traditional readings. So, I started combing the Internet for some more unique ideas. I think we've found the perfect solution with some passages from a couple of books that really struck a chord with us.
We've also figured out the ceremony music, and I think we've got someone who will start and stop the CD at the right places during the ceremony. Overall, we've got a lot of help from family and a few close friends, so I'm really happy about that. Since we aren't having a wedding party, I wanted to include special people to us in the ceremony and reception.
And finally, L. got a suit. I think this was probably the most dreaded part of the whole process for L. - well that, and the expense of everything - but he really likes the one he got. When he put it on, it was like he was suddenly transformed into a "groom." And not only does he look amazing, but he also feels comfortable.
So, that's where we're at. I'm so thankful for that week off from work. It really enabled me to take care of a lot of things. Now we just have to get the beer, wine, and champagne for the reception, finish up paying balances on various services, and then get hitched! That last bit is the most important part, of course. All the rest is just going to be a kick-ass celebration!
Friday, August 22, 2008
For I.D. Freely and CGB
I thought I.D Freely of perpetual self-check and CGB of CGB Shoots His Mouth Off would find this tidbit mildly interesting, because it has to do with weight lifting...
This morning at the gym I did good mornings, and my trainer has been throwing squats in quite a bit. So far, so good. The hardest part thus far is keeping the form correct, especially on the good mornings. My trainer has also increased my weight routines from two sets to three sets, which is surprisingly difficult. You get used to a certain number of sets, and can even increase the amount of reps per set without as much effort as it takes to throw in a third set. I found this very interesting. I'm sure that this is not really new information for either of you, but I am in a state of discovery when it comes to weight training.
That is all...
This morning at the gym I did good mornings, and my trainer has been throwing squats in quite a bit. So far, so good. The hardest part thus far is keeping the form correct, especially on the good mornings. My trainer has also increased my weight routines from two sets to three sets, which is surprisingly difficult. You get used to a certain number of sets, and can even increase the amount of reps per set without as much effort as it takes to throw in a third set. I found this very interesting. I'm sure that this is not really new information for either of you, but I am in a state of discovery when it comes to weight training.
That is all...
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