The Death Bridge...

... and other assorted goodies! My Alpha Chi little sister, Kristen, and my grandlittle, Alex came up to visit me recently and we had a delightful weekend. On Saturday, I took them up to Princeton for brunch. It was a typical cold, rainy, fall day, which made the trip to Princeton that much better because I believe Princeton is best enjoyed in that weather. The trees are amazing- black tree trunks and bright orange leaves. We enjoyed breakfast at PJs Pancake House, a Princeton staple. Unfortuantely, their machine that makes their unbelieveable orange freeze drinks (they taste like orange creamiscle posicles) was out of order!! I had to have a plain ol' root beer float instead :(

Both Alex and Kristen got mini makeovers at Blue Mercury. That's where we found the coolest candle. It was called "tree house". Although wise Kristen says, "You really shouldn't burn candles in a tree house, thats a fire hazard". Awesome.

After Princeton we wandered down to Washington Crossing but since it was raining, decided not to get out of the car and continued into Pennsylvania. We were forced to cross the death bridge (see above) in order to get there. One of the most horrific experiences of my life. :)

Once we made it to Philadelphia we stopped by City Tavern and enjoyed their beer sampler of receipes from Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Franklin. It was delish! We finished off the night with the Gator football game, another win of course! Go Gators!!

Bryan's visit

I am sorry, I have been slacking with blog updates. Things have been getting pretty crazy busy, but actually not with wedding stuff- just life stuff in general.

Bryan was here to visit for Columbus Day weekend. We were able to take care a lot of random wedding details. The big thing was that we finally registered! Check out our website for the details, but we have registered at Target (see picture above of Bryan's skills) and with a website called justgive.org that allows you to build a wedding registry for charity. Bryan and I picked a few charities that we support and are encouraging our guests to make donations!

We also discussed and worked out most of the ceremony and reception details including the timeline. Very exciting!

Lastly, we attended our second pre-marital counseling session. It went very well :) Basically, the priest went over the test that we took separately and discussed the items where we had differing answers. Funny enough Bryan and I had already gone through all of those answers, so we just got to talk about it all over again.

Happy Birthday to my Grandlittle!

Happy Birthday Tony!!!
Originally uploaded by ilovestrawberries (Carmi)

My grandlittle's (from Alpha Chi) birthday was on Thursday, so I went to DC for the weekend to celebrate. I joined four of my favorite Alpha Chis for a delish tapas dinner at La Tasca- they have the yummiest sangria! We had a wonderful time!

Last week i also took a new class at Lithe called "Cowgirl". The best part about this class is that we used a hula hoop! I don't know about the rest of you, but it has been quite a few years since I have tested my hula hooping skills, but no joke, it is just like riding a bike. It's got to be like muscle memory or something because I was having flashbacks of elementary school roller skating parties where there were also hula hooping competitions (which I believe I was the champion of) :) The class was an amazing full body workout and and I will definitely be taking that class again.

The only thing that really got me was in the last set of hula hooping the instructor asked us to try hooping in the opposite direction. I am not sure if you have ever tried this before, but I swear, the way direction you start your hula has got to have something to do with being right-handed or left-handed. I could not for the life of me keep the hoop up if i sent it to the left. My brain stopped working, it was really discouraging, so I stopped :)

Things coming up this week:
Lithing
Schoolwork
Trying out a new recipe
Second dress fitting :)
Bryan coming to visit for the long weekend!

Off to practice my counter-clockwise hula hoop!

Maryel

Planning Update

Bryan took this picture in Sausalito during our recent trip to California.

So, this week I had a chat with the caterer at Sweetwater Branch Inn and made our menu selections for the reception! We also sent out the save the dates and publish our wedding website- check it out here.

I also recently had my first dress fitting. The story of how I got my dress is so amazing. Thanks to this organization, I was able to get my wedding dress for free!! It's a sample Lazaro couture gown from 2004 and it is beautiful! Although it needed to be altered just a tad ;) Sylvia is the lady at the store where I am having my alterations done and ordered the bridesmaid dresses. In order to permit me breathing during the wedding, we have to have the back of the dress restructured (more details after the wedding because to be honest, Bryan reads this). I am very excited about it and about the work they are doing on the bustle. I go for my next fitting on October 8th!

Other notes include purchasing my shoes and working with a calligrapher in Gainesville to create the invitation suite (very, very excited about this) and figuring out how to get them printed.

Bryan and I are spending a spontaneous weekend together just relaxin' and watching the Gators beat Kentucky (although we are still trying to catch our breath after that whole Tim-Tebow-laying-on-the-ground-motionless-injury-ESPN2-cutting-to-commercial-thing).

More to come!

Maryel

Goin' back home to the west coast

Bryan and I recently returned from a trip to Northern California. The purpose of our trip was that Bryan was a groomsman in a wedding of our dear friend Matt and his lovely wife Emily. Bryan and I both love California. I swear I feel pure bliss when I am in California. The weather was beautiful, although it is crazy hot during the day and quite chilly at night in Davis, exactly what you would expect from north-central California.

We started the trip with lunch in Sausalito with Clarissa. She and I have been friends since the first grade and since she lives in San Francisco, I only get to see her every three years or so. It was so good to see her again! We had a wonderful lunch (and ice cream of course), and spent most of the time reminiscing about our times together.

Matt and Emily live in Davis. Matt was in ROTC with Bryan and me at Florida and Bryan and Matt were roommates when Bryan was stationed at Beale. The first night we were there, we had In n' Out Burger (a California highlight, trust me) followed by gelato in Davis. It was delightful.

On Saturday, the Gators gathered at The Graduate in Davis to watch the Florida/Tennessee game. It wasn't the prettiest win, but a win is a win. The top picture is at Matt and Emily's rehearsal dinner at Il Fornaio in downtown Sacramento. It was a delish italian restaurant with a patio with white twinkly lights.

Sunday was wedding day. Matt and Emily had an absolutely beautiful ceremony and reception at the Putah Creek Lodge in the UC Davis Arboretum. Their ceremony was underneath a huge tree that had two hearts carved into the trunk. The whole afternoon was filled with such joy and love and it was a blessing to be a part of it.

Tennis, Baseball, and Football, oh my!

Bryan came to visit for Labor Day and we had an amazing time. We spent Friday taking the 7 train from Manhattan to Queens for the day session at US Open Tennis and a Mets v. Cubs game at night. Both venues are at the same subway stop so it was quite convenient. I have never been to a tennis tournament before. It was awesome. We got to see Serena Williams and Andy Murray at Arthur Ashe Stadium. THe weather was beautiful!! The Mets game was pretty great and I love Citi Field, but the day was so long we ended up leaving the game early.

On Saturday we went to the Apple store and got Bryan a MacBook Pro!! Now we just wait for his cell phone contract to expire so we can get him an iPhone! After the Apple store we headed to the Philadelphia Gator Club to watch the Gators beat up on Charleston Southern. It was quite enjoyable. We Gators take our college football very seriously.

On Sunday, after church, we had our first pre-marital counseling session with the rector at my church here in NJ. Since we won't be able to get to Florida more than once between now and the wedding, we are able to meet with my church up here instead.

Monday, we went to Six Flags, but we both got sick on our third ride... so we went home early from that.

We had planned to get some wedding stuff done but we were exhausted from all of the sports... next visit for sure.

More to come!
Maryel

Random Acts of Homemaking

So each time Bryan comes to visit, I try out a new dessert recipe and let him try it. For his last trip I made a peach custard pie which he says he liked, but I am not sure I believed him :) For his Labor Day trip I made an Apple upside-down pie. You can find the recipe here. Of course what I made looks nothing like the picture, but Bryan ate it up. The recipe said to fold the crust over the sides, but as you can see in the picture that creates a crease all the way around, so I think next time I make it, i'll bring the bottom crust up over the top one (which ends up being the bottom once you flip it, does that make sense?).

I seem to practice homemaking in manic spurts. I'll pick a recipe, prepare it, and then while whatever's cooking is cooking, I do laundry, clean the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room- whatever else needs to be done. My back usually ends up killing me by the time everything is finished, but I feel accomplished! I am just trying now to learn and cultivate the skills i'll need for later ;)

More to come!
Maryel