Weekend Update

A weekend update actually on a Monday?  I'm just as shocked as you are, really.  I've been slacking on the blog front, but it's one of my May goals to start posting more regularly.  You all trust me on that, right?

Anyway, this weekend was pretty busy.  Busy in mostly a good way, fortunately.  Can I first give a shout-out to my Indiana Pacers for advancing to the next round of the Playoffs?  Holla!

This weekend, my cat was in rare form.  He was super clingy (which happens often to Joel, but not me) and was laying in all sorts of contorted positions.  Case in point?  How in the world can he be comfortable?!  I can't even make out what body part is where here!!

We had our first showing of our house, and our first rejection.  Nothing we could change (they said the bedrooms were too small), but still a let down.  The weekend was gorgeous, though, so we took advantage of the free time and took the dogs to our local dog park.  Can you tell someone was excited??  I mean, look at that tongue!

Sunday was Joel and I's fourth wedding anniversary.  Normally I'd get pretty sappy, and I was pretty nostalgic yesterday, but it was pretty low-key, so it didn't really seem like a big deal.  I am so in love with Joel, and he was so sweet, but I don't think we'll go all out unless it's a big anniversary.  And, surprisingly, I'm kind of ok with that.

We always do the traditional/modern gifts for each year, and this year was no exception.  Sometimes we're pretty creative, but I think with how busy we've been, we both went easy.  Joel got fruit, I got flowers, and Joel also got a waffle maker (appliance) that he's been talking about.

Yes, those are cinnamon rolls in the waffle maker.  And, yes...they are as delicious as they look/sounds.  And, if you hadn't realized yet, Joel and I got married on the nerdiest day of the year.  Make the connection yet?  Joel swears he didn't know, but I'm calling shenanigans on that one.

For dinner, we had a Groupon for a steakhouse called The Tenderloin Room, which is a beautiful little place in the Chase Park Plaza hotel.  The hotel itself is pretty swanky, and is in the Central West End, my favorite part of town.  The also have a cute little movie theater in the hotel, so we caught the move The Other Woman.  It was good.  Predictable, but very funny.

It was such a beautiful day, we decided to stop and have a drink on the sidewalk before dinner.  We stopped at the Drunken Fish, where I had a martini and Joel had the house Saki.  It was lovely, and I really wish that we had picked to eat outside somewhere, too.  The weather was just perfect.

Once at the Steakhouse, we ordered wine and an entree, which came with the Groupon.  We also got a salad, which we thought came with the entree, and were unpleasantly surprised to find out that they didn't.  No Caesar Salad is worth $11, I'm sorry.  I ordered the Riesling, which was pretty unexpectedly citrus-y.  I am not a fan om lemon-y wines, and was pretty disappointed.  I ordered the filet, which was cooked to perfection on the inside, but had an almost burnt taste on the outside.  Joel liked his steak that way, but I didn't.  I ordered it medium for a reason.  I was glad we tried the place on a Groupon, because I would definitely not be back.

We were in too good of a mood to let our sub-par dining experience get us down, and were acting like newlyweds on the drive home.  We ended the night with some Boston Cream Pie we got at our local grocery store, and an episode of Game of Thrones.  Low key and fabulous.

Anniversary re-wind.

Joel and I were married three years ago on Star Wars Day (I was not informed beforehand that our special day was Star Wars Day until afterwards...bad Joel!) in New Albany, IN, just over the river from Louisville. It was a small ceremony, with an attendance of just 16 people.  It was perfect, and everything went mostly smoothly, even though we planned it from Germany. 

We spent our first Anniversary on a Mediterranean cruise, and on our second Anniversary Joel was deployed.  This year, we decided to keep it low key since we had traveled so much, but still wanted to do something new.  We had never been to The Melting Pot before, and that it might be fun to try out. 

Now, we don't frequent the chain places so much, but I must say we had a fun time eating here.  The waitress was super friendly and very informative, and cooking our own food was pretty fun!

I was really glad we decided to give it a try, but it was quite the dining experience.  It took us about two and a half hours to get through the cheese, salad, meat, and dessert courses.  While this food wasn't exactly on the diet, it was a fun experience.  The dogs, however, couldn't even be bothered to wish us a Happy Anniversary.  Jerks...
 

Engage-aversary!

So, the hubster isn't around right now and I'm feeling rather nostalgic.  Four years ago today, Joel asked me to be his wife.  It is kind of a funny story.  It wasn't at the time, but it is now.  Basically, we decided to go to Rome for the weekend (oh, how I miss living abroad).  I had been before and loved it, but Joel had yet to go.  I went a few Februaries before, and it was cool, but not cold, and fairly sunny.

Well, the February that we decided to go, Rome decided it would be fun to snow.  So after numerous flight delays, landing in the wrong airport, arriving to our hotel after a horrendous faux cab ride that I almost killed Joel for putting me in, and scary killer clowns I had to avoid, Joel decided to get down on one knee in front of the Trevi fountain and ask me to be his wife.  I still smile when thinking of that moment.  Without sounding too cliche (epic fail), it was like time stood still.  I just knew I would say yes, even though I had thought about breaking things off after I almost died in the cab Joel put me in (seriously).

There was a lot of faith and circumstances that led to us meeting, let alone coming this far.  I have no doubt that God had His hand in all of this.  Even though I get frustrated with the military and the separations and the nonsense, I would make the same decision all over again.  If you're reading this, Joel, you are one amazing man.  Thank you for choosing to spend your life with me.

Me and my new bling, and our post-engagement celebratory gelato.

Joel at the scene of the crime, just minutes before he popped the big question.

It's our anniversary!

May 4th was our one year wedding anniversary!  We flew back from England that day, so we are holding off on the celebrations until this weekend, but to commemorate the big day I am doing an A-Z that I found on someone's blog.  Let's just say that it has been an amazing year, and I fall more and more in love with my husband every day.  If he's reading this, happy anniversary honey bunny!


Attending: It was a whopping 14 people!  All of our family came, minus Joel's brother who was going through cancer treatments at the time, all of our immediate family came.  My best friend from high school showed up with her husband, and Joel's best friend from forever ago showed up with her husband as well.

Bridesmaids: None.  The wedding was so small and intimate, and I really just wanted it to be us up there.

  

Catering: We ate at this wonderful seafood place on the river. 

Dress: I had a cute little tea length dress that was perfect for our little garden wedding.  It had a sweetheart neckline and was candlelight ivory.  I loved it.  Sure, I wish I had a big princessy type dress, but t just wouldn't have fit in.

Engagement: Joel proposed to me in Rome under the Trevi Fountain, which is my favorite European "thing."  It was perfect, minus the snow Rome was oddly having and the delayed flight that got us there four hours late.

Flowers: I carried a bouquet of hot pink cala lilies, and Joel had a boutonniere of a single ivory one.

Groomsmen: None.  See "B."

Honeymoon: We went on the most fabulous honeymoon ever to the island of the Maldives!  Perfect getaway!

  
Invitations: Umm...do phone calls and e-mails count?  We weren't very proper in this sense.

Justice of the Peace: We had an elderly pastor preside over the ceremony.  We had never met him, but we exchanged e-mails to prepare for the vows, and the service was lovely.  We wanted to have a Catholic wedding, it we lived overseas in Germany, so the wedding was hard enough.  We are going to have our marriage blessed by the church when we return stateside, however.

Keepsakes: We had everyone sign a frame that we put one of our wedding pictures in.  We also kept our unity candle and cake topper.

Ladies Night: None here.  I am really disappointed about that, but all any of my friends wanted to do is go to a strip club, and I didn't really want to do that.  So instead, I got nothing.

Music: The guy that ran the B&B we got married at played our processional music, which was typical but still lovely, and we had a waterfall for ambiance.

Newlyweds: How long are you considered "newlyweds?" I hope always!  But, now that we have been married for a year, we are probably done with the official title.

Old, new, borrowed, blue: My mother-in-law gave me her mother's handkerchief, my fabulous shoes were new, I borrowed a tiara, and my garter had blue in it.

Photography: Unfortunately, we had no photographers.  Friends and family took photos, thankfully, but people wanted to charge a fortune for just coming out for the small ceremony.

Question popping: See "E!"

Reception: On the beautiful Ohio river across from Louisville.

Shoe game: Huh?

Trash the Dress: Coming up!

Unique: Well, I think our wedding was pretty unique because it was so small and personal.  It was very much "us."  But, it was all done online!  We didn't see the garden until just a few hours before the wedding, nor taste the cake or the food at the restaurant, but it all turned out great.

Vows: We picked them out with the minister via e-mail.  We added a personal touch, but recited traditional vows.

Wedding Woes: I was kind of nervous about everything going as planned, because we coordinated everything a continent away with no visuals, but it all worked out!  Oh, but we didn't have a photographer.  I am bummed about that, but when we get to the states Joel and I will have pictures taken in his uniform and my dress.

X-rated: None of that here!  Let's just say it was a really relaxing night.

Young Kids:  My Goddaughter was there, but that was it!

Zzzzzz: We slept in the next day and had some delicious breakfast at the B&B.  Perfect start to the marriage.