Cakes

Totally Brendan and I, especially at the end.

Where oh where will my little wedding be?

I like the idea of having the wedding and reception all in one place, and since we will have many out-of-town guests, it seems reasonable to have it at a hotel downtown. So this leads to:

The Omni Hotel?

Monaco Hotel?

Hotel Allegro?

I have recieved proposals from all of these, and they are a bit pricey.

Some offer perks like a free honeymoon suite, or a signature cocktail during the reception.

What I want is an open bar for 6 hours and a pretty cake.

And….I don’t even know if we’ll end up at a hotel at all.

Thoughts?

Already, I know

Right now I am trying to look at places for a reception (I know, I have become Bridezilla)

Here are my favorite reception ideas.

Pretty Cake

 

Via Martha

Pretty Table toppers

Candy Bar

Via theknot.com

On a Rainy Day in Dublin…………

Excuse my posting about this so late. I wanted most people to hear the story in person.

The first day in Dublin was one of the rainiest days I have ever encountered (this is a rare moment when it wasn’t raining)

We decided to try to walk to a deli that we had found in the guidebook.

It was a long walk.

And a rainy walk.

And our hotel (the Quality Inn) didn’t end up being very close to the Dublin nightlife.

So, naturally we decided to stop and have a pint at the pub.

I told Brendan I wanted a light colored beer, and he brought me this delicious cider by mistake.

Then we made our way through the University, Saint Stevens Green, which was surprisingly romantic in the pouring rain, and by the time we got to the deli we were soaking wet. And the deli was a “take-away”, unbeknown to us, so, of-course we decided to go have another pint before we got our lunch for the long trek back to the hotel.

So we stopped here, at Cassidy’s, for a pint. And I kept drinking that delicious, delicious Bulmers.

And it was a crowded pub, because right after we got there, a very important rugby game between Ireland and England was on. So we were lucky enough to get a booth, but there were people standing, so we invited these blokes, George and John to sit with us.

They started asking us about our lives, how long we’ve been together, and were mocking Brendan for not having proposed to me yet. Such as:

“Five years, what’s wrong with you?”

“She’s beautiful, I would marry her right now?”

“I’m going to propose before you do!”

Brendan, always defiant (and a few sheets to the wind), said something to the gist of “I’ll show you”, and pulled out a ring. Then he totally clammed up. I can not describe to you the level of shock on my face at this moment. My mouth was hanging open like a garage door. I really thought he was joking.

Brendan:

Me: Yes, Yes Yes!

I then grabbed the ring and tried to shove it on to my finger, got berated by all (by now most of the bar was involved in our engagement), and Brendan tried again.

Brendan: Will you marry me?

Me: Yes!

And my new best friend, John. He is going to be my maid of honor.

Not every girl can say she got engaged at a pub!

And the ring is beautiful and fits perfectly. I knew I could trust him to do it all by himself. I just never thought I would be so surprised!

Don’t go to Richardson’s Pub

Early in the morning on St. Patty’s day, we went for a walk in Salthill, outside of Galway. Ain’t we cute?

Here is the pay toilet I used when I had to pee by the seashore. It cost .20 euro, worth every cent. (Editor’s note: I was INSIDE the pay toilet as Brendan took this photo)

The people of Galway drink all day on St. Patrick’s day, starting in the early morning, to watch the parade, then all afternoon and into the evening. It is much like Rick’s at MSU, but without the green beer. Here’s the lovely parade.

I only got hit on three times on our trip, and all three occurred St. Patty’s day evening at a pub in Galway called Richardson’s. So the men I met at Richardson’s had been drinking for a full 10 hours or so, which really tells you how incredibly attractive I was, after 10 hours of beer goggles. I was pretty sober because we had taken a break in the afternoon and napped.

The first man was dancing Elaine Benes style to “Born in the USA” when we walked in. Brendan walked up to the bar and he zeroed in on me. Still dancing.

Him: I love this song!

Me: Uh huh.

Him: I want to buy you a drink.

Me: My boyfriend is already buying me one.

Him: I’ll buy you BOTH one!

He stumbled over to the bar, where he got us two drinks. Now we each have two drinks, because Brendan had just gotten some. This man could not sip correctly anymore, and 2 minutes later ran (ran, really) out of the bar, never to be heard from again.

The second man was so drunk that I thought he was learning disabled. He sat down and immediately tried to put his arm around me, with Brendan sitting across the table.

Him: Darling, where are your shamrocks?

Me: I didn’t get any shamrocks.

Him: Darling, where are your shamrocks?

Me: I told you I didn’t get any. I guess I wall have back luck this year.

Him: Darling, you are going to have terrible luck this year (puts hand on my thigh)

Me: Oh, no no no!

Him: Darling, I want to take off your knickers!

Me:

Him:  Darling, I want you to take off your knickers!

Brendan then tried to get him to pay us $1000 euro for me to take off my knickers. He got kicked out of the bar soon after.

The last man came over to us playing what I can only describe as “air piano”. When Brendan tried to join him with air guitar, the man chastised him and pushed his hands down. He then grabbed my hand across the table.

Man: I want you to come to England with me.

Me: What?

Man: I can take you places.

Me: What?

We left soon after.

Galway on St. Patty’s night.

Jet Lag

I just got up at 5am because it’s 11am in Europe.

We had 7 flights in 7 days:

Chicago to London

London to Dublin

Dublin to Galway

Galway to Dublin

Dublin to Rome

Rome to Frankfurt

Frankfurt to Chicago

I am exhausted.  But we are home safe and well.  Abby said Stanley was so happy to see her when she came over to feed him that he threw up.  He is very happy to have us home.

Here is a teaser for you.

I’m going out to brunch with Clay and Abby today to celebrate my 27th, so I better try to go back to bed.

Vacay Tres

We will be off to Europe for spring break.  If you think I’m a terrible person for going on two vacations in two months, just know I will be charging this one on my credit card, and have a laugh at my expense.  And take note that I haven’t been anywhere but Michigan and Tennessee to visit family since we bought the house.

We start in Dublin for the first two days, I have no particular plans for Dublin other than eat, eat, eat.  And have a Guinness at the Guinness brewery.

Then off to Galway (where we will be for St. Patty’s day).  In Galway I plan on wearing my St. Patrick’s day tee shirt from Old Navy.  ALL DAY EVERY DAY.

 

Then off to Rome, where I am going to eat 5 lbs of Gelato every day.  And then some pasta for dinner.  Oh, and there is going to be a wine and cheese festival while we are there.  And I have been told to buy a leather purse, because the leather is luxurious.

My birthday will be the day after we get back (Easter Sunday), so don’t you worry your pretty little head, if you have an expensive gift for me I will be home to receive it.

Wish us luck!  Promise to post all about it when I return.

Self-Cleaning

To me, self-cleaning oven doesn’t really scream “will set off fire alarm”.

Guess I have to be wrong sometimes.  And watching Girlicious with the windows open is always a pleasant experience.

Proj Run continued

I love project runway, and because of my love of Christian, placed a bet online that he would win when there were still 8 contestants in the running.  However, I don’t have cable, and I didn’t get to see the finale on Wednesday (I had top model and girlicious to deal with anyway).  This caused me to do a  lot of yelling and plugging of the ears at work so that my friends wouldn’t tell me who won.  This also stemmed from the fact that I prematurely saw on Bravotv.com Chris March was getting kicked off the week before.  I didn’t want to find out before I actually watched the show.  Thank God.

I somehow managed not to find out, and I just watched the finale in a somewhat hungover state, while eating peanut butter and drinking diet coke.  Christian Rocks.  And I won me some money!

Landing Strip (get your mind out of the gutter)

Love them all, leaning toward the second one. I like that it has it all: magnetic, key holder, and a letter holder.

The mirror isn’t really my cup of tea.

Right now we have a letter holder on the entry table, and a bulletin board up where this would go. But I want to steal the bulletin board to use in the office as my “inspiration board”, so here we are.

Available on Chiasso.com.