Where Have You Been?

      Just when you think things might calm down . . .  Ha.  Actually, things have calmed down, and that's part of the problem.  At least, it's a problem for this here blog.  I'm getting boatloads of stuff done at work and am much less frusterated than I have been for a while, so I'm all tied up in my real life and it's completely distracting me from my online meddlings.  ;-)

      But I do so miss you all!

      Our anniversary weekend was awesome.  We did some touristy stuff with Boo Satruday.  Flintstone had a blast playing in this fountain.

Up water, Up!

     Have I mentioned yet that Flintstone is walking?  I think I have, but it continues to amaze me.  During his 8th month he was able to take a few steps at a time, but he didn't really care to.  Then, on our Michigan trip when he was 10 1/2 months he walked accross the room one of the first days we were there, and he hasn't stopped walking since.  It is amazing and freaking adorable.  Especially when you say "I'm gonna get you!"  And he takes off running.

      The kid is into everything these days.  And he's climbing.  And he makes an angry face now when we tell him he can't have something.  It's the cutest angry face ever, and I have trouble not laughing when he does it.

      Anyway, we had a fun day out Saturday, then Saturday night, MacGyver and I went to an amazing wine tasting.  I can't even count how many different wines we tried.  The selection was huge.  And some of the cheese pairings were amazing.  We also got a big tappas plate that included the best bruchetta I think I've ever had.  I had the owner hide MacGyver's gift in among the tappas:

      MacGyver has wanted this ring for a long time.  It is so perfectly him.  He hasn't stopped playing with it since the moment he found it under the crackers.

      It was so nice to be out and just talk about random fun things.  For instance MacGyver's new fanasy of opening up an ethical winery/bakery and calling it Cheap Wine and Cookies.  How cute is that?

      We followed up our hours at the winery with an amazing Thai dinner.

      And I almost forgot to mention walking the Labrinth!  In the morning, we went to our UU church to walk the meditation labyrinth put together by the Pagans and the Buddhists in our congregation.  It was a beautiful and meditative experience.  Flintstone slept in my arms the whole time.  There's an adorable picture of it, but of course I can't find it right now!

      There was so much more that went on this weekend.  MacGyver and I played games, hiding little gifts for each other all over the house and whatnot.  I can't remember it all.  We'll just say it was a really good weekend.  And now, I'm back and work and on duty again (read: 33 hour shift AND I have court tomorrow).  Erg.  But things are great, and I really have nothing to complain about.  Hope you're all having a lovely week.

      Also, I just found out that today is Snarky Paralegal's birthday!  That little sneak.  She tried to get away with not telling anybody.  Well!  I'll show her.  ;-)

      Finally, I'll leave you with a couple of new videos I just recently found from our wedding day:

The whole day before our wedding it was bright, sunny, and downright PERFECT out.  Then, right as I was getting ready to walk out for the ceremony, it started to rain.  Hard:



That comment from Boo at the end is "The beer's ok, right?!?"

This isn't exactly what I had pictured as my grand entrance as the bride at my wedding, nor is it what we had rehearsed the day before:



Two of my mom's best friends are teachers.  It is one of them who made me spit out my gum at the end of this one.  :-D

Happy Wednesday All!

On Top

      MacGyver and I have been planning our next wedding since we started planning our first.  The summer we got married I had just graduated Law School and taken the Bar exam, and we were getting ready to move from NYC to Virginia because I was coming on Active Duty.  We were pretty frigging broke.  We should have eloped or done a real small court house thing, probably.  But I wanted a wedding, damn it.  You only get married once (theoretically, whatever - you know what I mean - I will only get married once), and I wanted to share the occasion with family and friends.  And I wanted the Party.  And, to be perfectly honest, I wanted the dress.  I'm not a particularly girly-girl, but I love really dressy dresses.  And what is more dressy than a wedding dress?  I wasn't about to be gracing the red carpet any time soon.

      So we had a wedding, and it was AMAZING.  It goes down in the anals of history as one of the most fun weddings ever.  Certainly in my town (not to mention by far the most diverse event ever to take place in my town - the wedding party alone was composed of more races, ethnicities, and orientations than can be found in a 50 mile radius of my town).  No exaggeration at all, people STILL mention how awesome our wedding was to me, in all its torential monsoon glory.  Check it out.

      But we had to do it on the cheap.  We scratched together ever cent we had, every ounce of credit, every favor we could scrounge, and we did the whole thing - dress, rings, ceremony, reception AND the Honeymoon - for under 10k.  Sure, it made things tight for months after that.  But it was soooo very worth it.  And we didn't skimp on the dress, rings, and honeymoon, let me tell you.

      MacGyver and I made the cake ourselves himself.  It was a 6 tiered, 6 flavored cheesecake.  We decorated the fondant with an amazing baroque vine pattern - green and brown (the wedding colors).  In the end, the bottom layer didn't set up, which was really sad, and really bothered MacGyver (he's looking forward to the opportunity to correct that at the next wedding), but the day after the wedding the bride'smaids dug into it (it was amaretto cherry flavored), and I'm told it was spectacular.

      The one thing that really sucks about the cake?  That really saddens me and makes me that much more determined to have the next wedding in a couple years?  We don't have a single picture of the cake.  Not one.  A friend has two pictures that have the disassembled cake in the background, but there isn't a one of the cake put together.  Not a one of the cake with the hilarious cake toppers we got. 

      Yes, we got two different cake toppers.  We couldn't choose.  So we put one on the very top, and the other two on lower levels.  Tell me these aren't the best cake toppers you've ever seen:

Top of the cake.

Lower levels.

(I took these pictures in the morning before work, forgive the cruddy quality)

      At the next wedding (we're thinking 2013 - but I don't want to wait that long!), I will be sure to get tons of pictures of them.  That is, if we go with them.  I'm also toying with the idea of using action figures - Xena and MacGyver.  What do you think?  In the meantime, these toppers are on display in our kitchen next to the etched champagne flutes.  Can you find them in this post?

      What do you all think of Re-Weddings/Vow renewals/whatever?  Do you think all 6 layers of the cake should be cheesecake next time?  I was thinking 3 layers of cheesecake, and three layers of other stuff, but MacGyver wants all cheesecake.  Xena and MacGyver or the cake toppers pictured above?  Anything else you want to weigh in on for the [re]wedding?