busygirl

where the elephants roam...

We headed back to Kalahari's indoor waterpark this past weekend...you may remember our adventuresfrom last year.  It was a blast, just like last year.  But better, because the infamous zip coaster was open to ride.  It's apparently the only rollar coaster/water ride in one.  You sit in this rectangular tube and conveyor belts launch you up the hills.  Definitely lived up to all the hype.  Thank goodness, because they keep featuring the dang thing on the Travel Channel.

I am beyond THRILLED that it is a 3-day work week.  As in jumping up and down and out of my stilletos thrilled.  I desperately need to finish my Christmas shopping since we are completely booked for time the next two weeks.  I've been making my list excel spreadsheet and checking it twice.  Particularly the one mapping out my black friday plan of attack.  Yes, I'm one of those.  Only for the big ticket items though.  It's not worth braving the lines just to save $3 on a DVD.  I'll take my sleep over that.  Best Buy is first on my list...so it looks like 4am will be my start time.

And this week also marks the start of the it's-ok-to-put-your-tree-up-without-looking-crazy season.  I've been dying to get mine up, I love Christmas decorations.  And I've secretly been listening to Christmas music the past week.  But I adhere to Adam's strict post-thanksgiving rule.  And impatiently count the days till I can have twinkle lights all over the living room.

In an unrelated note, how are people feeling about this whole TSA scan thing?  I suppose we'll have to go through it when we jet off to Mexico next month, but I'm definitely not on board with this whole thing.  It just seems to cross that line of acceptable invasiveness.  And to be honest, if someone wants to attack a plane full of people that badly, there's not much that will stop them.  They'll find a way around any kind of security TSA throws at them.  Furthermore, why aren't we getting full-body-scanned everytime we go to a football game, or Walmart or drive in our cars on a busy freeway?  It's not like there haven't been threats in those places before.  Clearly there are better uses of government money that pouring it all into airport security. 

And if you live in Cleveland, don't even get me started on the OBAMA NEW HIGHWAY SIGN FUND.  Millions of dollars spent replacing signs with identical signs.  And putting up two LIVE ALERT signs that have been turned off for 8 months before they have 'nothing to report'.

Sigh.  If only I could run for president.  Ice cream for everyone!

weekend wrapup.

Busy weekend for us...although somewhat relaxing.  Except that I definitely have a pinched nerve in my back from sleeping funny.  So if you need to talk to me, please stand to the right.  Chances are I won't see you if you're on the left.  Sigh.

Friday we went out to dinner and then Saturday morning headed to Solon.  I had a quick photo session in the metroparks, gorgeous.  And Adam went to my mom's to tackle some home improvement projects with my brother.  Namely, operation GRANDMA IS COMING!  That's right, my 88 year old Grandma from California (remember this adventurous trip?) is flying all the way to Ohio for Christmas!  Which means a lot of prep work on our end.  Well, Chris/Adam's end since they're the ones with the tools.  [Note I did not say expertise, I just said tools]  Since Grandma can't handle stairs very well, the boys put up some doors to block off our dining room from the rest of the house so she can have a nice private bedroom.  They even wired up some cable tv for her!  Fancy.  Here they are, attempt to remove molding after politely asking my mom if they could perform some destruction on her doorways in order to make the doors fit better:

 
We jokingly call their home improvement efforts 'C-Plus Improvement' because 'good enough is good enough'. 

After their stunning HGTV efforts, we headed over to see Wren and Joe's new house which was just as gorgeous as their home tour video promised!  And played the new Black Ops game.  Well, played is a term I'd use loosely for Wren and I.  More like we followed each other around and provided a 2-for-1 deal for the enemy.

Sunday was spent cheering on the browns with some family and friends at a local dive bar.  Although I'm disappointed we weren't able to win or at least tie in overtime, as a Browns fan, you've just got to be happy that they gave us a good game to watch.

So there ya go, life's not that exciting around our house lately.  Ricki's been guarding the homestead from his bean bag chair, Adam's been working ridiculous hours and I've just been attempting to keep up with housework.

it's here, it's here!

For those of you not from Cleveland, you may not know the magnitude of this appearance.  All year long Ohio waits and waits until Great Lakes Brewery finally releases their annual batch of Christmas Ale.  Each year tastes slightly different but always delicious.  I finally found a stash today at a random store...that's how hard it is to track down.  People literally grab it as it's being stocked in the stores. 

Oh Christmas Ale, you make winter bearable.

just sayin'...

 
 GO BROWNS!!!!!!

 

***Can also be applied to the NBA, i.e. Cavs > Celtics, Celtics > Heat, therefore Cavs > LEBRON JAMES***

confession.

I didn't vote today.

It's not my fault.  Really.  Ohio messed up my voter registration three times...apparently executing a name change requires the work of a PhD.  But it's ok.  I probably wouldn't have voted any way.

Who could I have possibly voted for?  I don't know ANYTHING about these candidates.  I honestly couldn't even name half of them.  Or one thing that they stand for.  I just know that everyone has lost jobs, lied, has gray hair and hates Ohioians.  According to my TV.

To be honest, if I had been able to vote, I just would have voted for the people showcased in the negative ads, not the candidates putting them out there.  Why reward such terrible behavior?  What kind of example are politicians setting for future politicians?  No wonder the founding fathers had such a positive, productive presence, they didn't have to spend all their time dreaming up these ridiculous campaign ads.  Or blowing money on them.

Thank you November 2.  I'm glad you've come and will be gone soon.  I much prefer Christmas commercials over these.  At least they're joyful.  And don't feature up close shots of old men and their nose hairs.

wedding photos: let there be cake!

 Looking all nice and innocent...

Proof that you can snort cake.

S'ok, I still love him.

First dance - Wonderwall by Oasis

Dancing with my brother - It's 5 o'clock somewhere

And Adam dancing with his mom to Forever Young

Next up: more reception fun! (bad dance moves included)

vendor love.

Our day was perfect.  PERFECT.  As in, Adam and I both woke up the next day and said, there wasn't one thing we would have changed.

We had an absolute blast celebrating with all our friends and family.  And while I attribute most of that success to Adam and me being such awesomely fun people, well, I suppose our vendors who went above and beyond deserve some credit too.  Not to mention, I'm sure some of my fellow Clevelanders might benefit from our experiences with these vendors.

Our reception was at the Hilton Garden Inn in Twinsburg, OH.  Not only was our meager little 160-person party given the ENTIRE ballroom, foyer and garden to ourselves, but we also received a discount for being a Friday wedding!  The coordinator Kathy has been there for years and kept everything running smoothly.  She even gave Adam/me a free room for the night, sent up our dinners for later and gave us a wedding present!  The waitstaff was just as amazing, never batting an eye as I ran into the kitchen searching for safety pins to fix my broken dress strap.  The food was definitely 4-star quality and everything was well-presented.  If I could do it again, there'd be no doubt in my mind that this is where we would be.

Ryan and Jim of the Marino Brother's spun some tunes for us, keeping the dance floor going until the party was shut down.  They stuck true to the play/do-not-play lists, whipped out mullets for Bon Jovi and even taught some new dance moves.  They were patient with my schedule, always checking to make sure I was ready for a certain dance or the bouquet toss.  Both DJ's were so courteous and fun, I was thrilled with their work.  We hired them based on another person's recommendation and I would definitely agree that they are worth the chance!

Although wedding videography is not their main focus, LPV Productions pulled out the stops for our wedding video.  They got over 4 hours of footage - most of which has to be extremely hilarious.  I cannot wait to see our finished video!

As you will see during the rest of my 'wedding week' posts, our photographer was OUT OF THIS WORLD.  Amazing.  Stunning.  And so fun to work with!  Ken Cavanaugh of Cavanaugh photo snapped the shots that you will be seeing and Adam and I couldn't be happier.  Not only is he wonderful with kids (he had my nieces cracking up), but I never felt like I had to ask him to take certain shots.  He was extremely professional, knew what photos to take and put up with Adam/me's silly moments.  I would definitely recommend him, heck, he's even shooting my brother's wedding in March!

Our party bus was via Aqua Limo, a vendor we chose, merely because of price since we only needed the party bus for 2 hours.  Most companies have a minimum of 4 hours.  The inside of the bus was clean and modern with blue LED lights.  There were even fuchsia napkins to match our wedding colors!  The driver was a bit disheveled looking and got lost, but other than that, it was a grand old time.  They're an okay company if you're looking for a cheaper alternative or if you don't need them for very long.

Our favors were in the form of...a PHOTOBOOTH!  By far the best decision we made and it was definitely a hit.  We chose ShutterBooth to host this for us and not only did everything run smoothly, but they made Adam and me a scrapbook of all the photostrips!  So we spent the next morning going through the strips and giggling at some of the poses and expressions.  No worries, I'll be sure to post some at the end of the week.

Our beautiful red, orange and fuchsia gerbera daisies were from Floral Innovations.  Not only did the owner Chris completely understand what I wanted, she delivered on it as well!  The bouquets were perfect, exactly what I envisioned and the colors were spot on.

Oh, our cake?  That was from Giant Eagle.  Oh yes, they do wedding cakes.  And we LOVE their cake.  So why go to a fancy schmancy bakery when you can get delicious yellow and chocolate cake with buttercream frosting right at your grocery store.  Cheap and delicious!

As for clothing...

My dress was Emerald Bridal from Pat Catan's fashion.  Emerald Bridal is apparently shut down as of a few months ago :(  But Pat Catan's was reasonably priced and altered beautifully with my one complaint being that they hung up the dress with the straps rather than the side straps that are supposed to be for that purpose.  And so BOTH of my straps broke on my dress during the reception, while I was merely walking around!  I'd recommend buying a dress there, but alterations?  Maybe not so much.

My bridesmaids' dresses were from JCrew!  I let them pick whichever Cotton Cady dress they wanted, as long as it was black.

Our shoes were from David's Bridal, dyed watermelon.

My nieces' dresses and headbands were also from David's Bridal, in the color watermelon.

Adam and the boys' suits were from Macys.  We figured it was worth the extra $50 to just buy suits that they can wear again.  Their white shirts were also from Macy's and I found matching fuchsia neckties on solidcoloredties.net.

So there you have it, vendors in a nutshell.  If you're a bride-to-be in the Cleveland area, check them out!  Or for other areas, some of them are available nationally!  As always, check out reviews on google, weddingbee and the knot before going with a vendor, you just never know.

And now I'm done sounding like a 90 second ad for wedding vendors.

fashion friday: take me out to the ball game.

I'm uber excited that we're going to see the Cleveland Indians crush the Seattle Mariners tonight!  Not only because I love going to cheer on my favorite team with all my friends, but there's apparently some sort of rock'n'roll fireworks show after the game.  I'm intrigued.

But what to wear?  Sadly my Indians tee and I parted ways last year.  Seeing as it was from my childhood, too faded to read and definitely sporting holes.  So, I'm mentally going through my closet, taking inventory on all that is blue and red to see what I can sport for tonight.

Since it's probably going to be 100 degrees in the shade, I'm thinking that dark-washed cuff jean shorts would be a good start.  I love these from Urban!  I'm picky about shorts.  I hate wearing a tank top with them, I always sport a tee-shirt or layer with a cardi.  Something about balancing the amount of skin showing.  Anyone else have issues with this?  Any way, I'd pair my shorts with a simple nautical tee, red and white of course, or a basic baseball tee.  I love Old Navy's plain, color-block baseball tees, Target also has some baseball ones with your favorite sports team!  

If it were going to be cooler tonight, I'd probably wear my favorite skinny jeans, paired with a petal trimmed red tank.  I'd bring along a white henley pullover just in case the weathers turns a bit more chilly than expected.

As for shoes?  Well-loved-and-worn flip flops, or low cut converse sneakers will do the trick.

And as always, pair with a baseball cap from your favorite team!  And a bag of peanuts.  And a hot dog.  Oooh, did someone say nachos?

PLAY BALL!  And go TRIBE!!!!

wordless wednesday: legone.

 

miscellany monday: bring on the coffee.

 
1. I am tired.  As in so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.  I think I need the grande coffee today.

2. Adam and I celebrated our 1 week anniversary on Friday (mah, we're such softies) with a homemade dinner of BBQ pork chops and my personal favorite, roasted brussel sprouts.  And then promptly went to bed at 10pm.  What can I say, we're old married folk now.

3. That sleep was much needed since we went to Sawmill Creek Resort on Saturday night with my brother and his fiancee to redeem a free night.  It was, interesting.  Think wildernessresort circa 1971.  Our room was a combination of deer heaven and grandma's coverlet with a velour couch thrown in.  Davey Crockett would be proud.  We had a blast though hanging out at the pool, eating some fresh fish and mocking passerbyers.

4.  Ricki got to go to posh puppy hotelon Saturday night while we were out gallivanting around in Sandusky.  You want to know how posh?  All their 'residents' get fresh linens daily.  Oh boy, he didn't want to leave when we picked him up.

 
4. Espana won the World Cup!  Which means that Adam owes me ice cream.  And I have no idea what we are going to watch on tv until football season starts.

5. Lebron is a jerk.

6. I had a dream last night that I was elected president of the United States and my PR people were trying to put me in outfits that clearly only Blake Lively could pull off.  No wonder I got so many votes.