Geekin It Up

Let me start this post by saying that I'm immensely grateful to be marrying a woman who openly makes both Star Wars and Simpsons references in everyday conversation (even if my Indiana Jones and Back to the Future references are consistently lost on her).

This weekend Erin and I went up to Schenectady to, among other things, pick out wedding bands and meet with one of the owners at the Stockade Inn to discuss some of the logistics of our wedding. We've considered many ways in which to incorporate our collective geek obsessions into our wedding, but have generally decided in the interest of good taste and not freaking our respective families out to keep the nerd allusions to a minimum (though rest assured we haven't eliminated them entirely). So with that in mind, I would like to pay tribute to our geek brethren who boldly (and often sadly) used their weddings to play out their fantasies.

Nick sent Erin, Jon, Evan, and me this link the other day. . .

Though I was curious what Nick was doing cruising bridepop.com, it is undeniably awesome. The best part is obviously the Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma figures to the side (despite the fact that neither character was at the battle of Hoth - duh).

Naturally, Erin's first response was that it should instead be a Tauntaun cake (sort of like a cake version of this sleeping bag) so you could cut out the guts and warm a person inside (did I mention I love that Erin knows Star Wars). Sadly our wedding package already includes a cake from Villa Italia that probably doesn't include free animal intestine sculpting. Plus we learned that somebody else has already beaten us to the punch. . .

The folks at Gizmodo also graciously directed us to these amazing confections.

Alright, so pretty much I'm just into Star Wars-themed wedding paraphernalia. Though we did find a page for a Firefly-themed wedding that we felt was pretty sweet. . .

Probably Erin just wants a situation where she gets to pretend that she's getting married to Nathan Fillion. I only object to their suggestion that it's okay for guests to come as Star Trek or Battlestar Gallactica character (c'mon, what kind of loser would want that crap in their wedding).

I also commend the folks behind this wedding for their shockingly tasteful use of classic Nintendo iconography. . .

So I'll leave you to guess at what fun pop culture referencing we'll be including in our ceremony and reception, but just so you don't get your hopes up too much, we're nowhere near as dedicated as these folks. And though their conservative aunts and uncles have probably disowned them, we still salute them.

You Know the Drill...5 Months to Go!

It seems Jimmy and I can only get our act together once a month to actually post on this thing. As usual, it does not mean that we aren't doing anything wedding-related. It usually just means we aren't doing wedding-related things that we want to announce to the world yet. And by "world" I mean "handful of people who read this blog." :)

So what has happened in the past month? The biggest change is that I am back to work (only for 2 weeks so far, but still). It's been harder to keep up with my wifery while working but I have managed to maintain my "exercise" routine which I am pleased about. Jimmy has been working a lot lately (in fact, he is at work right now as I type this) so we haven't seen each other that much lately. We also traveled to Pittsburgh at the end of April for Lauren and Mike's lovely wedding and got to visit Fallingwater in the process.
We had a great time at the wedding and just a great weekend in general. I especially enjoyed hanging out with the rest of the Schenectady contingent and discussing my hometown. Perfect way to spend the weekend before I returned to the working world.

We've got a lot of stuff in the works right now for the wedding and are really excited about all of it but the majority of "planning" is done, thankfully.

I know I like looking at other people's gift registries, so if you're into that kind of thing you can find links to those on the side of the blog or via this link: Gift Registries. I'm trying to find shoes for the wedding, we're going to look at wedding bands later this month and then we've got to figure out invites. It should be a fun, tho hectic, summer and then the wedding is right around the corner.

Eeek!

(Almost) 6 Months!

I seriously cannot believe that it is almost 6 months away! Everything has gone by so quickly and the summer usually flies by in a normal year so at this pace, it will be September by the time I realize any time has elapsed.

I know we have not updated in a while. I apologize. We will be better about it. Soon enough there will be exciting pictures to post, events to discuss, people to give shout-outs to...it'll be great. The bridesmaids are starting to order their dresses, Jimmy is starting to work on his clothes and I'm trying to track down a perfect pair of shoes. (Comfort is as important to me as having heels and being cute, so it's generally a little difficult for me to find shoes. Probably heels + cute will win out, but still).

My newest wedding/marriage-related obsession is husband/wife teams. It's not that I have become obsessed with Johnny Cash/June Carter Cash necessarily, or even Sonny/Cher but just the idea of it in general. I've always had this idea that owning a small business or being part of a family business of some kind would be, basically, amazing. (Maybe it was from my summer at Perreca's, who knows). But I figure being a husband/wife team of something is just the beginning of realizing that dream. So I have lots of suggestions for Jimmy of teams we can be and will list a few here with their pros and cons.

1. Crafty Husband/Wife Team
Since I already run a shop with Anna on Etsy, I figure a normal progression could be opening a shop with Jimmy as well. We could work from home plus

Pros: I'm already pretty crafty and I know of lots of husband/wife teams on Etsy so we'd be in good company. Also, Jimmy does help me occasionally with design/cutting of owls out of felt for some of my projects already.

Cons: $, plus Jimmy has a year-round job that he really likes. (Psh, who works ALL year? Am I right?)

2. Webby Husband/Wife Team
I sort of am enamored with the idea of webisodes or being an "internet sensation," if you will. I figure Jimmy can edit them and we can both work on production of them and write them together.

Pros: When Jessie, Christina and I put together Georgia Peach, Jimmy was right there with us. Basically, we've done it once, we can do it 100 more times.

Cons: $, pressure to become an internet sensation might get the best of us/me.

3.Wordy Husband/Wife Team
Okay, hear me out. So we really enjoy doing crossword puzzles together & tho we aren't THE BEST at it, I think we could get better. So then I think we go on the road doing crossword puzzles and generally being amusing.

Pros: I certainly like talking to groups of people so maybe that can be incorporated as well.

Cons: $, this isn't a real job.

4. Normal-y Husband/Wife Team
Keeping things the way they are, except maybe I find a job that is year-round. Jimmy edits, I organize things, hopefully get to speak to large groups of people and do my crafting in my spare time.

Pros: We've been doing it this way for 4 years and it's been working out nicely. We get to create our own identities and do what we really enjoy and still get to be a team.

Cons: None, really. It's working out already.

Did I Really Need a "Pitch"?

A few months before we were engaged, I was told that I would be a good wife because I am extremely organized. (Which is definitely true). I was told that my organizational skills should be the basis of my "pitch" for wifehood. Obviously I don't think I needed to pitch my "qualifications" to Jimmy or anything, but I do (for better or worse) pride myself in my ability to organize (and possibly obsess over) lots of things.

This weekend we contacted a bunch of Etsy sellers for various secret elements of the wedding (maybe monkey butlers, who knows) but also for boutonnieres for the guys.

I don't want cut flowers for the wedding so the boutonnieres are all either dried things and different textures of fabric, etc which is perfect. I'm then going to try to make coordinating fabric bouquets (with Anna's assistance, of course) which I'm pretty excited about. And then everyone gets a keepsake! Everybody wins. Here's what ours will be based off but with our specific color choices:

Brown and Green Rustic Boutonniere
by
PixelandHank

So cute! (yes, Jimmy was involved in the selections of these. Don't worry.)

I also, (perhaps obsessively) made an Excel grid of the other elements of the wedding that we need to make arrangements for or make ourselves, etc. It's very color-coded and it's full of formulas and I'm definitely more excited about in than Jimmy is but I think he still appreciates the work that went into it.

Jimmy's working on the music almost exclusively which is good for me because it seems so daunting at this point. I mostly search for things we've decided we want and present Jimmy with the ones I like best. Then we pick from there. It's a very involved process and I'm sort of grateful for the huge rain storm this weekend so we could stay in and figure everything out.

Soon I'm making Jimmy talk about our honeymoon plans on here (hint: It's not as icy as its name suggests and it's greener than its neighbor's name suggests the neighbor is...wait. I think I lost it somewhere. Anyway, it's Iceland).

Strike A Pose

I know, I know. That title is totally lame but it's the first thing that popped into my mind so now we're all stuck with it.

We have an exciting announcement to make on this here wedding blog which is: We. Will. Have. A. Photobooth. At. The. Wedding.

(photobooth? photo booth?)

Sorry for the drama but we are very very excited about this development. If you remember the Save-the-dates, you saw that Jimmy and I have actually used photobooths in the past. We're not obsessives about it (well, maybe I am) but we are extremely excited to have one at our wedding.

We're renting it from Saratoga Photobooth Company. Check them out. All the photobooths are vintage and cute and yet, fully digital. Perfect.

We'll also be using the photos as our guest book so everyone better get in there at some point. This means you, Mom. I want to end up with a giant framed picture of photobooth strips of everyone who attended. Now if only I had enough wall space for such a thing... Ah, one day.

We just passed the "7 months to go" mark and I think we're doing pretty well. Can't wait to get those photobooth props together tho. So much hilarity.

Meet the Wedding Party: Anna and Jon

Name: Anna Hendrick (Anna Ban, Bannz)
Job: Maid of Honor
Relationship: BFF to Erin (Rinnzy/Rinnz, ee)
How We Met: Anna and Erin officially met one fateful afternoon in 1999 when Anna when a freshman at SHS and Erin was a sophomore. The girls were thrown together by chance (and, probably a little, on purpose) and were virtually inseparable after that day. They navigated high school together and kept each other going by always gossiping, always watching TV, always laughing and usually talking about Destiny's Child/Beyonce (some things never change). They were separated for a few years because of college but that didn't stop them (thank goodness for the internet) and now both girls live in NYC and even run a Twin Peaks-themed Etsy shop together. They're still trying to figure out a way to put "Anna Ban & Rinnzy" in lights. It'll happen. Erin doesn't know what she would do without Anna to talk to, do crafts with, come up with book ideas with, obsess over TV shows with and just generally have hilarious times with.

Since we're both such hams...here are some photos of us throughout the years. Don't even pretend like you're not amused by them.



Let's get serious, Anna is my best friend in the world and I don't say it enough but I love her dearly and am so glad that she is willing to participate in our wedding in such a big way. I seriously can't wait to see what hilarity ensues at the reception (perhaps an "Empire State of Mind" rap-off...P.S. she would win).




Name: Jon Lewis
Job: Best Man
Relationship: Hetero Life Partner to Jimmy
How We Met: Jimmy met Jon on the first day of fifth grade, when, according to legend (which Jon can explain in elaborate detail if you get enough drinks in him), Jon complimented Jimmy on the obnoxiously colored Woodstock '94 t-shirt he was wearing at the time. When Jon asked Jimmy if he went to the concert, he simply responded, "No way. I got it at the mall." The rest is history. And though their lives have gone through countless permutations and they now find themselves on opposite sides of the country, they're no less close today than when they were still playing marathon games of Goldeneye in Jimmy's mom's living room. Jimmy is glad that Jon could take a break from his Salingeresque state of reclusivity in the Land of Enchantment to lead this rag-tag group of misfits know as Jimmy's wedding party, and he hopes that Jon takes his title as literally as possible.

Keeping the House

Since 2008, I've been in a situation of unemployment for the beginning of the year (always looking for work, mind you) so over that time I end up taking over the majority of the household chores like laundry and doing the dishes. I always do some normal household things too, like go through all my clothes or clean out and organize the linen closet. But I also do weird things like become obsessive about how the remotes are stored on the coffee table or find something stuck next to the fridge so end up pulling the fridge from the wall, vacuuming behind it and then rearranging all of the magnets and other things on it (which I may or may not have done tonight).

The rest of today was pretty standard, tho.

I spent today doing the laundry in a completely empty laundry room (which was amazing) while watching TV with Jordan (she's from Millionaire for people who don't know her) and seeing huge chunks of snow fall from the sky. It was a very nice, relaxing day but definitely puts my unemployment in the spotlight.

I'm glad to be able to do all these things and definitely glad to have something to focus all my organizational energy on while without a job. Even not thinking about the wedding planning (which would definitely be harder to do if we were both working), it's been useful for me to be home because Jimmy just had surgery on his shoulder (don't worry, he is fine) and is in a sling for a month.

Here he is enjoying his hospital attire pre-surgery:
So I'm doing the dishes and laundry all by myself and keeping the apartment clean while home alone all day, no biggie. What pushed me over-the-top into serious "wifery" is my newest obsession with sewing. Right now, only aprons, but I hope to have other projects soon.

I've had a sewing machine for over a year (thanks Grammy & Grampy!) and hadn't gotten up the courage to actually try something until recently. I've since sewn 3 aprons (only 1 to keep) and just cannot get enough of it. Now, I usually spend my days knitting or cross-stitching, so sewing is probably a natural third activity to take on, but it's still fun and new to me.

It makes sense to me. I'm always doing craft projects and I'm always doing household chores so why not do a craft project I can use while doing household chores? I even wore my apron (which is black gingham and red trim) while cooking banana pancakes on Valentine's Day. Perfect.

We're coming up on 7 months away and it already seems like everything is going by so quickly! But it's definitely coming together and we're getting really excited. So all is good.

Just gotta get Jimmy out of his sling so he can help carry groceries again.