Signed, Sealed Delivered to Baltimore with 148 days to spare.

After two very long years of a long distance relationship, Jon and I FINALLY have the answer to the question "so, where are you guys going to live?"  I fortunately was offered a job with Under Armour and will be moving to Baltimore in 1 week.  In the next 4 months I will be leaving one job, starting another, moving twice, finishing wedding planning and getting married.  Every time I look at my calendar I start to hyper-ventilate a little, and unfortunately the weekend travel is not going to end until we get back from our honeymoon, but I could not be happier or more excited that Jon and I finally will be in one place!!

The Wedding Parties

I sort of have been putting registering for shower and wedding gifts off since Jon and I don't know where we are living yet.  I thought it would be difficult to pick things out if I didn't know what style of place we would be living in.  Well, once I got started, it was not hard at all, haha I don't know why I thought creating a wish list with basically endless possibilities would be difficult - I mean I have been shopping since I could walk, I rock at shopping, and when you get to scan a whole bunch of things and don't have to pay for anything at the end - what could be more fun?! 

I started at Macy's with my mom to pick out all of my "nice" things - like china, silverware, crystal, serving pieces - etc. I knew that I wanted to pick out china that had a neutral pattern on it so that no matter where our dining room is or what it looks like it would always match.  I took my mom with me to register for all this stuff because I consider her a seasoned-vet in china and serving pieces - you should see our basement and 3rd floor at the lake house - its honestly shocking that we need to rent anything for the wedding with all of the entertainment-ware that she has. If I didn't care about all 220 guests having matching plates, we wouldn't need to.  Once I picked out all this stuff, I started getting ideas of what other types of things I needed/wanted...and after that it was very easy to pick out the rest of the stuff on my registry.

Since I knew Jon trusted my judgement/could care less what our china looks like it was just easier for my mom and I to do that part together.  It was probably a good thing Jon wasn't there - because I could just hear the comments he would be making "what do you need 3 sets of wine glasses for?!"  However, I did want Jon to be a part of the registry process in some way, shape or form. 

Crate and Barrel does this really cool thing called "The Wedding Parties" - on the first Sunday of every month you can "RSVP" to attend a wedding party from 9-11 am in any store - the store is only open for couples who are registering and they serve breakfast.  I thought, OK - Jon can come with me and help and at least he will get breakfast out of it.  Here are some pics from our adventure this past Sunday.

I think his favorite part was testing out the couches - even though that was not our purpose for being there.  No, just kidding, he was actually very helpful - I picked out what we need/want and he got to use the scanner.... and if random things that seem a bit odd happen to have ended up on our registry....you now know why. 

A Family Tradition

This weekend Jon and I purchased our wedding bands.  We had been to look and try on twice before - once at the jeweler that Jon bought my engagement ring, which is a family owned and run jeweler who specialized in estate jewelry, custom creations and carries all the exclusive name brands you could think of and one time at Smyth - "Where Maryland Gets Engaged".  Even though Smyth is "preferred jeweler of the Baltimore Ravens" and is a HUGE warehouse, for some reason I didn't feel like we were in a giant warehouse. I was able to look beyond the fact that there was Raven's jewelry ALL over the store because it seemed like everyone in Jon's family had purchased something or another from Smyth.  I felt like I could trust them as a jeweler. 

We made our selections, one thing is for sure- I know what I like - I picked out the same ring 3 times. I guess I should feel confident that I will still like it when it actually arrives.  Jon picked his ring out and it is always an event when the jeweler measures his fingers - this time we got "Wait till I tell the girl in the back she needs to get me a quote for a size 13 ring - she is going to think its for a football player."  Sorry to disappoint you, girl in the back, its just my fiance with monster hands, which I happen to love because my hands, who aren't exactly dainty, feel so nice and petite in there. 

Once we got the quotes and decided to make them ours, we went to the computer and the salesman put Jon's information into the computer.  He typed in J. Roby and asked if his address was on Clearwater Lane - Jon said, "no, Sagewood court, but I think I know who is on Clearwater Lane."  The salesman turned the computer screen so that we could see and there were 2 pages of Robys in the computer system.  I was right! Almost everyone in his family has purchased something or another from Smyth - even his grandparents!  And now that we are in the system I hope our wedding bands are just the first of many gifts I will recieve from Smyth....eh hmm cough, diamond earrings, cough, cough ;)

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Every night for the past few weeks I have been looking at this stack of books that are on my night stand and I can't help but laugh to myself a little.  I spend a lot of time in the airport traveling - almost every other weekend- to see Jon and these books have been my reading material over the past few months. 

Some may find reading an etiquette book to be boring but I actually enjoy being educated on things like that...so I read Emily Post Wedding Etiquette from front to back except for the part about different cultures joining together in marriage because the only thing culturally different between me and Jon is that he is a Raven's fan and I am a Steelers fan.  

Colin Cowie Wedding Chic was a gift from my mom - she saw it in a store in California and brought it back to me...it has some nice pictures in it and its good for when I don't actually want to read.

A Brides Book is a wedding planning guide but I find very annoying so I am not using it....I am the queen of to-do lists and staying organized but I am also very OCD when it comes to how I do it...so I prefer my own excel spreadsheets and not to be confined to a pre-printed planning book.  Plus, I found that there is a lot of excess paper in there.....like I don't really need to know my bridesmaid's measurments...I trust them to pick out a dress that will actually fit them.  And it annoys me when I have to write N/A.... yeah, I know - O.C.D. 

But then there is the book by Tucker Maxx....I know, I know, not the most lady-like book but frankly, I find him to be a fantastic writer and hilarious.  (Although side note - I am not so sure that his life is all that much crazier or more fun than any normal college student, I just think he is a really good writer and can make it sound cooler).  I swear, Tucker decided to put almost all of the times that he used the "F" word in giant bold print in this book - which I didn't remember from his first book.  I was reading this book on an airplane ride back from Las Vegas in December while I was sitting in the middle seat....I was having a hard time containing my laughter but I was also a little bit self conscious of what the 2 people were thinking of me reading a book with such vulgar language.  I was a bit self conscious but I didn't think that anyone would actually say anything!  I was wrong.....the guy sitting next to me goes "I don't mean to be nosey but I can't help but notice how bad the language in that book is! You don't look like the type of girl that would be reading something like that." Didn't his mother ever teach him that its rude to stare?!  I am sure if he had read Emily Post's Etiquette book he would have known that..... 

Second Trys A Charm

So a few weekends ago Jon and I were supposed to meet with our priest and go cake tasting but both had to be rescheduled.  This past weekend we were able to get both appointments in and both went really well! 

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous to meet with the priest because I am not the best example of a good catholic right now. I consider myself a religous person and I was raised to go to church every Sunday but ever since I went to college I have turned into what my parents called "Italians" growing up - meaning that I only attend church on Christmas and Easter.  (side note, I have no idea why they called people who only attend church on holidays Italians but I am pretty sure it was not meant to be mean, it was always sorta a joke on Christmas and Easter that we had to get to church early to get a seat).  Jon and I were both afraid of 2 questions #1. How often do you attend church and #2. I won't be too specific but it has something to do with pre-marital relations.  We both knew we couldt lie to a priest and that both answers were not what he was going to want to hear.  We knew that meeting with the priest was something that we were going to have to do so we were just going to grin and bear it. Lucky for us, the meeting was very laid back and very straight to the point.  The only questions he asked us revolved around logistics of the wedding - like what time we wanted the rehearsal, what time the wedding was, how many attendants we were having, etc.  He explained to us all the certificates that we need and how many people we could choose to be involved in the ceremony to do readings, etc. And then we had to take a "test" called "Focus" or something like that....apparently its required in the Erie Catholic Diocese before you are married in the church.  It was a series of 156 statements and we each filled in a scantron sheet for "Agree" "Disagree" or "uncertain".  I am pretty sure Jon and I are on the same page on almost all of them...but the priest will graph out our responses and we will be able to see where we agree and where we disagree with eachothers responses.  All the statements were things that any couple should talk about, so I am sure it will be an interesting learning experience for us when we go back in May to find out our results :).   I had to chuckle at a this one statement statement though: "I am concerned about my future spouse's gambling habits" because on night this summer when Jon and I were in Las Vegas for vacation/a friends wedding he finished showering before me and told me that he was going down to the lobby to the ATM while I was showering and getting dressed for dinner.  I showered, dried my hair, did my make-up and got dressed and Jon still wasnt back.... I texted him to see where he was and his response was "at the Excalabur, meet you in the lobby at 7:30".  He was gambling, when he told me he was going to the ATM.  Jon doesnt have a gambling problem, he enjoys to play blackjack and make some sports bets, but he always knows what he is comfortable spending and what he isnt....and I have no room to judge him there because I enjoy shopping quite a bit - we each have our "things" we like to spend money on.  But needless to say I have never let him live it down that he told me he was "going to the ATM" when he really went to gamble. 

So, the meeting with the priest went better than expected - but cake tasting was just as much fun as I had hoped it would be.  It was an extra special day for me because I gave up sweets for Lent, but since the entire point of the meeting was to taste cake and this appointment was arranged before Lent started I made an exception.  I hope the big man understands.  This is what was waiting for us when we got to the appointment:

Yes, that is 8 cake flavors and fillings to choose from.  And this is what it looked like when we were done: 



We ate everything except for the carrot cake sample - and I tried it, just for kicks even though neither one of us is a huge carrot cake fan.  Jon and I both love chocolate but we agreed that a wedding cake should be white - so we chose to have 1 layer of  champagne white with fresh fruit and cream which not only was very tasty but sounds very "wedding-like" to me and then another layer of white cake with brownie sundae filling  so we have something for the fruit lover and something for the chocolate lover, and since its my wedding and I am the bride I am going to ask for a little of each :)  Since we have so many people that are going to need to be fed from our wedding cake, the caterer suggested that our anniversary cake topper be pre-boxed for us to save and the whole cake be cut and served.  That worked for us because we got to choose a 3rd flavor for that. We both love chocolate so much and no one will see it but us so we chose chocolate with oreo cream filling.  Yum, cant wait for our 1st anniversary :)  

Low fat chocolate mousse passes the fiance test

Valentine's weekend was supposed to be filled with 2 wedding appointments - cake tasting and meeting with our priest to start planning our ceremony.  Just as we were making our way out the door at 7:55 on Saturday morning for our cake tasting appointment, I got a phone call saying that the owner of the company who would be doing our tasting for us woke up in the middle of the night with the flu.  Jon and I were disappointed because we were both looking forward to cake tasting, but I had a hard time getting too disappointed, as I myself was sick with bronchitis the whole week before and I understood that its just that time of year when coming down with a cold or the flu seems to be running rampid.

We decided to get coffee and then get on the road to the lake so that we would have some time to stop by the house and go to the store before our meeting with the priest. The drive to the lake ended up being a "white knuckle" drive which was unexpected - it snowed the whole way and the roads were actually pretty bad.  We finally made it to the house as the snow stopped...figures.  We got out of the car and were greeted with great big wind gusts.  My parents have been spending some weekends at the lake and had been reporting back to Pittsburgh about how much snow Conneaut had and how the lake was completely covered but I was not prepared for such a huge climate shift - after all, it is only about 100 miles away from my house in Pittsburgh.    But it was full blown artic conditions out there! We only had about 30 minutes to kill before we had to get back in the car to go to the church but in that 30 minute time frame the wind blew a pile of snow on the driveway (which was plowed the night before) about a foot deep.  I sorta knew that it was going to be an issue when I looked at it but I tried to drive through it anyways.... welp, my car got stuck and after Jon trying to dig it out, basically in his socks (because I forgot to tell him to bring boots) we realized it was not going anywhere.  I called our priest and he suggested we just reschedule. 

Not being able to get anything on the "to-do list" done didn't turn out all bad - this day turned out to be one of the most relaxing days I have had in a really long time.  After we threw in the towel on trying to dig my car out, we built a fire and watched The Town (which I was little disappointed in...in case you want my opinion - I expected a little more from Ben Afflack).  It was so nice, there was no one around to bother us, no one to ask us to do anything and it was a gorgeous setting - something so different than what we are used to in the summer.  I took a few pictures - its hard to imagine that this yard is where our wedding reception will be in 6 months! 

So, as I write about everything except for the chocolate mousse.... I will get to my point.  I made dinner for Jon and I that night - a cooking light lemon chicken recipe followed by the low-fat chocolate mouse.  Yes, I am even forcing Jon to participate in the guilt-free pre-wedding dress meals.  He liked the chicken, but he LOVED the chocolate mouse.  I am pretty sure a bomb could have been going off and he was going to finish eating his chocolate mouse before he reacted to anything else.  So, nice work, weight watchers - your low-fat chocolate mouse passed the man-test with flying colors, its not just something that a chocoholic, like myself, would appreciate.

Chocolate for a Bride-to-be

If you ask anyone who knows me, they will tell you that I have never met a chocolate I didn't like.  Its a problem, and I partially blame my mom who ate big macs and chocolate while pregnant with me, but I fully admit that I am a chocolate addict.  Since the turn of 2011 I started a wedding dress count down to when my wedding dress will arrive in May.  3 and a half months seems SO close, so I have been trying to watch what I eat and step it up a bit at the gym so I can look nice and lean in my white dress.  I've been pretty good at sticking with my protein smoothies for breakfast, and high protein, low carb lunches and dinners but one thing I cannot and will not give up is chocolate.  The other day I came across this weight watchers recipe for low-fat chocolate mouse and I figured what the heck, I would try.  Well, it did not disappoint and it was all the chocolate-craving-fulfillment I needed all for about 150 calories!  I couldn't believe I could actually enjoy something so chocolately and not feel guilty... I am going to test the recipe out on Jon this weekend for our valentine's dinner and see if it passes the man-test but even if it doesn't, its a keeper in my book!

Recipe:

1 container of fat-free cool whip
1 package of fat-free, sugar free instant chocolate pudding mix
Hersey's dark chocolate syrup
Fresh Raspberries

Using an electric blender - mix the pudding mix with the cool whip until smooth (yep, its THAT easy!)

To serve - garnish a clear dish with Hershey's dark chocolate syrup (about a tablespoon), add the mousse mixture and then garnish with Red Raspberries on top.