Honeymoon

We had no real plan for our Honeymoon other than a direction (somewhat) and a few locations to stop at and anything else we happened to come across on the way. First stop, Zippo factory/museum combo Pennsylvania Welcome Center. Not much here in terms of visitor information. Oh well. Next, we drove to Freeland, PA. It was a small town and the people there kind of kept staring at us. Obviously we weren't locals. We ate at a cute pizza place and the food was good. It was getting to be around 7:00 so we headed towards our next destination and would stop somewhere in our Room Saver book on the way for the lodging. Although we weren't anywhere dangerous Luke told me "no running" in the morning since the only road was basically highway.
On the agenda for day two was the Yuengling Brewery and Hershey's Chocolate factory tour and of course, anything we happened to come across. The Brewery was very interesting. It is America's oldest brewery... and can be called that since during Prohibition they were still allowed to make Porter since it was deemed healthy for pregnant women to drink providing nutrients, etc. In order to obtain the drink though they needed a doctor's note. Yuengling also operated an ice cream place across the street (which is there but no longer in use).They have a stained glass window over the kettle since the workers complained about the glare off the copper and it allowed light in but filtered the blinding light. They also took us down into the cave (which is no longer in use) and let us all take a bung (the cork type thing that used to be used in kegs after they were filled). The strange part of our tour was the fact that the girl giving the tour was 20 so she couldn't even recommend a brew at the end for people to try. I tried their Yuengling Premium (it was good) and then had a root beer (I believe they called it birch bark). After we drove not too far to Hershey for some chocolate. Can we say yummy BOGO milkshake lunch thanks to my printing a coupon at home? It wasn't what we expected, but there was definitely a lot of goodies to buy if we wanted. We wanted too, but it was so darn hot that it would have melted horribly in the car.
After, we drove towards Philly in search of a hotel. Philly was one of the places we knew we wanted to visit on our multi-state adventure. Our hotel was phenomenal (a suite at more than half off thank you room saver). Once we checked in we went out to dinner at Maggiano's. Knowing we would be at our hotel for another night and their great left overs and our kitchenette it was fantastic.

Wedding Details

Well, here is a bunch of photos from the wedding of some of our details...

Wedding Party Time

After our very short ceremony it was time for some photos and then of course dinner, dancing and dessert. After taking some of the traditional photos that we wanted (bridal party, grandparents, parents...) we headed out onto the golf course for some just the two of us photos. We were only gone about 40 minutes during the cocktail hour and wanted to keep the reception moving by having dinner at 6:30. Dinner consisted of a buffet (which everyone says was delicious... I had chicken fingers from the snack shack). During dinner we opted for instrumental Disney songs to go with my love of Disney and help keep things tied together. After eating we went around and chatted with friends and family as they finished their meals. We cut the cake. We decided not to smush the cake since we didn't want to ruin the suit/dress. There weren't any napkins on the table so being the classy lady that I am I used the tablecloth to wipe my hands and face (hey, it worked). Next, we had our first dance to You and Me by Lifehouse. The song debuted shortly after we started dating (I believe) and I heard it performed on tv for a wedding. Then I danced with Papa Bear to When You Wish Upon a Star by Louis Armstrong. Jen danced with him to Gone Fishin' by Louis Armstrong so I thought that would be a nice thing to have the same singer but different song. We had Ben & Jerry's ice cream as well as fruit tarts that my sister Jen made plus Hostess cupcakes and cookies among the desserts. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening hanging around and chatting, using the photo booth and dancing. A gigantic thank you to my parents for hosting such a wonderful day/evening to celebrate the two of us getting married.
We had such a great time and did not want the evening to end. Our DJ was phenomenal. She let me pick the "last song." I chose I'm yours by Jason Mraz (she couldn't find Lucky in Love fast enough). My friends Dani and Kelly stayed out dancing with their fiances' and us til the end. Immediately after the song I picked she popped on I want to grow old with you by Adam Sandler. Not one person asked our DJ to do this, but having gotten to know us and seen some of our details the "real" last song was Mickey Mouse Alma Mater. Cue the waterworks from me (which lead to tears from mom, papa bear, Luke and Dani). I hear the song on every Magical Express bus trip home from Disney and it is the "it's really over," song. There could not have been a more perfect ending to a perfect day.

The Ceremony

Jen (our coordinator at Jack's) insisted on putting a table cloth on the table and bringing me a bottle of champagne saying that everyone deserves to be treated extra special at least one day. Dani and I hung out in the closet while Jen and Sydney went out to find the boys for their button-ears. I had to use the bathroom so Miss D went with me and would have crawled under the door if I couldn't handle holding the dress by myself. All that gear from coaching and using port-a-potties paid off cause I was able to keep the dress off the floor and out of the toilet without any help. She was saved from having to dive under the door. Meanwhile, the zipper on her dress was broken and kept splitting a little further. We just hoped she'd make it through the ceremony with the dress holding up. Brendan stopped by to make sure I had the marriage license. Here I am posing with the Disneyland pen that Luke and I used to apply for the license and that I insisted on all parties involved using to make it official that day. I'm just a little superstitious that way.I spied Luke through the blinds in the closet. He looked so calm, handsome and happy. Then aunt Lou called my mom to say they were in traffic and could we wait to start? My response to my mom, "I don't want to wait, I want to be the one person who starts their wedding on time." Mom replied that there might be others in traffic. Fortunately, our processional started at 5:03 verizon time, not bad at all considering.
Our harpist Donna was playing When You Wish Upon a Star. I definitely wove Disney throughout the day.

Luke caught a glimpse of me and I've heard from several people he said, "Wow." The plan was to stop and give Grandma Pearl a pin that matched the girls necklace/earrings. When I handed the bouquet to my dad he dropped it, quickly saying, "it's all right. I got it," while proudly hoisting it over his head like the girls that dive for it when they "win."
The ceremony went quickly with a little bit of pixie dust followed by the force being with us. Approximately 5 minutes later (if even that long) we were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. (let the party begin) and walked out together to Ever, Ever After by Carrie Underwood. Here is the Disneyland pen making it official:

Girls getting ready

So I need to make a post about the actual wedding, but that will come after we provide some of the details about the 15 minutes of makeup and getting dressed at the house. When I say 15 minutes, I mean 15 minutes and probably not a minute longer. Jen did our make-up and then we got dressed. Dani and my mom helped me into my dress. This is my "something old." It is a piece of lace from my Grandma Pearls neighbors dress from when she married Grandpa Zip. It is over 100 years old and all the girls on my dad's side of the family have worn it on their wedding day.Incase you are wondering, my something new were my white crocs shoes, something blue was a Dory charm on the shoes, something borrowed was a pin that belonged to my mom. My dad offered to let me borrow a dollar...he said he'd make sure he got it back.
Erica, our photographer took a few photos of us getting ready and around the house. Prior to heading over to Jack's Place Miss D and I had a little fun over at the track. Say what? That's right, what would a wedding day be without a few laps. Lucky for us the huge soccer tournament was in a time out or half time. We got quite a few interesting looks as we put on our running shoes and had a mini-relay handoff. This time though we didn't opt for the blind handoff that is now famous from our college relay 4x800 days.
Very fitting that I am handing off the baton to Dani who will be marrying Greg in February.
We then skeedaddled over to Jack's Place so I could "hide out" in a little closet until the ceremony.

Boys will be boys

Before I post about the girls getting ready I figured I'd post the few pics the boys took getting ready. I'm sure their morning was quite relaxing with the egg casserole I left them for breakfast along with cinnamon buns. According to Luke he didn't sleep very well and was up kind of early. They ate and chilled around the house. Then they went over to the hotel around 2:30 to get dressed for the wedding. Look at that tough guy ready to get married. Luke said he waited til about 1:30 before showering and shaving so he'd have a smooth face and smell good. In the background you see Greg on the phone. He's talking to Dani who is telling him to stall Luke from getting to Jack's Place so he doesn't see me (we're running about 15 minutes behind what we originally planned, but it doesn't affect any part of the wedding).The boys pose for a few pics outside the hotel. Here Luke is with "his boys" and his brother, grandpa and dad.
I like to think Luke is thinking, "do you smell me now?" I'm glad he was having some fun and was so relaxed.

Wedding Morning...

The day of the wedding I sort of woke up on my own around 7:30 and rolled over to find Dani on the floor with her phone out. She then cursed since my mom beat her to putting up a "happy wedding day" post on Facebook. My mom purposely sat at her computer and waited til midnight so she could be the first post. We went downstairs to have breakfast and then got dressed to drop off welcome baskets to the hotel, more decorations/food at Jack's Place. While eating breakfast my dad comes down and receives specific instructions from my sister on how to cut the fruit for the tarts and how to help with placing the cut fruit. We return from dropping things off and head back out to get our hair done. While getting our hair done we have a few margaritas, order a pizza for lunch and play name that Disney song trivia. Here is a picture of my hair while it is "setting," and then after:
While we took turns having our hair set and then styled Sydney painted our nails. Here she is getting her hair sprayed in place.We were a bit late arriving due to some construction/traffic so we were a bit later than we planned on leaving the hair place. I still think that I would have been able to make the 5k race that I wanted to with Dani and still get my hair done nice before the wedding. Dani is great, she brought her running shoes with her just incase we went and raced. Oh well, the running shoes still got used (more on that later).Group shot:

Before the Wedding...

A lot went on the night before the wedding. Dani and Greg arrived in town. When Dani called to see if she should go to my mom's to meet up with me or Manfriends house she was disappointed to hear I was still cooking up food and hadn't left for my mom's yet. This perked Greg up in the car and he started picking tunes on the ipod and getting excited. Until the phone call he'd been sleeping. Dani and Greg arrive at our house around 4:00, where Greg promptly decides that he will stay since we have a pool table, M & M's and beer. According to Dani he opened that beer so fast so he'd have no choice but to stay and finish it. The boys had a fun evening filled with eating the bbq pork tenderloin I'd cooked up and playing games in the basement. I left my camera with the boys... hence the lack of photo taking. Meanwhile, at my mom's Dani and I leave Jen in the kitchen making tarts and go to dinner at TC Hooligans East Side Grill. My mom calls from a bar with her friends and wants to know where we are so we can meet at her house and drop off things to the golf course. We leave and spend almost an hour at the house waiting for her. She was stuck in traffic, even her extreme knowledge of back roads couldn't help her if there wasn't a road to take.
After dropping off some of the goods at the golf course we need more sixlet things for the glass slippers. I still haven't found a necklace to wear and apparently I needed one. It's now almost 9pm so Miss D and I head over to Kohls to find... NOTHING. We even looked at little kid necklaces knowing I could put it on my own chain. As a last ditch effort we headed across the parking lot to Target where we found a necklace/earring set that wasn't there a few days ago that matches my engagement ring details perfectly. It is now 9:40 the night before the wedding and I finally have jewelry for the wedding.
Back at the house the boys are playing pool, throwing back a few beers and just relaxing.
Back at my mom's my sister is baking and my mom is working on the button-ears (pinwheels with mickey buttons) for the boys. She won't let me help cause I might burn myself on the hot glue gun. I avoid the kitchen cause we don't need burnt tarts or a cranky Jen with me in her kitchen space. Dani and I go to bed at about 10:30 and sleep through the night. We don't even hear my dad come home from work. My mom and sister go to bed sometime around 1am (or later and they just don't want to tell me).

Cinder's Big Adventure

After a busy weekend of Jen flying in from Colorado for Harborfest and us taking her back to the airport we arrived home around 2 pm to find... no cat. Cinder Ella was nowhere to be found and had not touched her food. I started to panic. She had escaped while packing up the car for the weekend, that little sneak. Tears and more panic from me. She is my baby and there are wild critters in the area that EAT cats. She had been outside since Friday afternoon and here it is Sunday afternoon.
Luke and I wandered around the house checking for her or a sign that she'd been there. We walked down the street sort of behind us that is yet to be built to find a coyote home (eeek!).
We put up Missing Cat signs with her name and picture. Lime green duct tape and a cute critter should get some attention.
We drove out to Lollypop farm to see if she was found and turned in there. Before leaving we left our external garage door open enough that she could push it open. At Lollypop there were a few that looked like her but weren't Cinders. Luke was great through all of it and really thought we should have taken a cute 1 year old cat Mia home so when we found our baby she'd have a friend. Mia was lounging and perked up when we walked by, all the other cats didn't even notice us, maybe that's why he thought Mia was Cinders.
We came home and found a toad in the garage. Continuing the search for Cinder Ella my folks came over and started helping to ask neighbors if they'd seen her. One neighbor was like, "oh, that cat she walks on a leash?" Yup, that's the cat. "Cinder Ella, Cinder Ella, mrroow, mrowww, mroww..." She comes running when I make that noise. After circling the neighborhood for what seemed like the millionth time Luke went back to filling out forms online for a missing pet in the area and searching the newspaper lost and found section. I sat out back calling towards the wooded area hoping she'd come bounding out. I put up an ad on Craigslist.
Mom and Dad went home. There wasn't much they could do that we weren't already doing. They still had trash in the back of the pick-up truck. My phone range with a number I didn't recognize at 10. "Are you the one who put put up fliers for a missing cat?" I tried to contain my excitement. "My daughter has a suggestion that you put out some food or a toy so she knows it's her house." I thanked him for the suggestion and for calling. I slumped onto the couch with more tears. There was a plate of food on the back steps and the open garage door. My poor baby.
Around 11pm (only the 9 horrible hours that I knew she was missing for) I called out the front window for her then on a whim opened the interior garage door. A scared Cinder Ella crept around the corner and walked slowly into the house. She was scared, hungry and thirsty. Other than some seeds stuck to her fur and quite a bit of dirt she was ok. A slight purr. She scarfed some food and then puked from eating too much, too soon.
We are happy to report that she is back to her cuddly, purring self and we are happy that she is home safe and sound.