Intrepid Honeymooners - Day One: Rehoboth Beach, DE. . .

We said goodbye to our Bonnie and Clyde before packing up the car to drive to Rehoboth Beach, DE. 

Starting our drive to Rehoboth Beach, DE

Our trip drove us over the Bay Bridge and through the farmland in Eastern Maryland and ultimately in Delaware.  Sam and I, being the nerds that we are, listened to last weeks 60 Minutes Podcast on the drive.  We arrived at the Delaware Inn at 3 pm, where Sharon, the house manager met us to give us our keys and told us about the area.  After dropping off our stuff and layering on some sunscreen, we walked three blocks down to the boardwalk to take in the beach and the boardwalk.  It was sunny, gorgeous and, thanks to the September off-season, relatively un-crowded.  We purchased some peanut butter fudge and saltwater taffy before walking up to Dogfish Head Brewpub, which was less than a quarter of a mile from the B&B.  

The B&B we stayed in

We arrived and put our name on the list for a table and ordered up two 2 oz tasters of 120 IPA, a beer we both tried for the first time in April, and at 19-20 percent ALC., 2 oz is all you need.  We were seated in a booth and ordered our next round – Punkin Ale and 75 Minute IPA (a mix of 60 Minute and 90 Minute).  We ordered fried pickles for an appetizer.  I had a crab cake on a Caesar salad and Sam had a tuna steak sandwich with fresh cut fries paired with a Palo Santo Maron.  We took our time finishing our beers and watching the Jets v. Pats game.  A little girl came over to our table to ask if she could take our picture, which made me want to laugh at the randomness of it all. 

Intrepid honeymooners

We grabbed some beer and gin from the Dogfish Head Shop before heading back to our room for a nap.  Then commenced inevitable the post-wedding crash.  We slept for an hour in what I will dub a very serious nap before getting dressed to go see the ocean at night.  We had walked on the cold sand for a few minutes when I decided to record the sound of the ocean’s waves and Sam decided that I needed to dip my toes in the ocean.  Unfortunately, in one of those “of course” moments, a larger than normal wave took us by surprise and soaked us. (Thanks, Hurricane Igor.) Check out the video below. Don't think your computer is screwed up.  It was night time and we weren't carrying a light.  So the screen is black.  I was trying to capture the sounds of the waves and then. . . 

Sopping wet and sandy, we walked back to the B&B to clean up and sleep until just before sunrise.  Neither of us had ever seen the sun rise over the ocean before, so we got of at 6:15 and walked down to the beach to catch the show.  It was breezy and cool, but beautiful and I am so glad we were able to take it all in.  We went back to the B&B and slept for another hour and a half before going down to Chef Angie’s breakfast of organic yogurt, fresh fruit, homemade granola, steel cut oats, banana and black walnut muffins, sweet potato biscuits, veggie sausage, and scrambled eggs.  I wanted to bring Chef Angie back to DC with me.  She is amazing. 

We needed to get on the road around 10:30 am to get to NYC on time, so we showered, packed up our stuff, and hit the road for the three and a half hour drive to Riverside Drive.

More pictures of Delaware!

Deleware!

The host of the post-wedding crash

Salt Water Taffy!

The beach - I like the submarine-like sandcastle

Dogfish Head 120 on tap! - 2 oz is about all you need

Fried pickles, Punkin Ale for Rach, and 75 Minute IPA for Sam

Dogfish Head Brewpub in B&W

A little girl asked if she could take our picture - adorable!

The start to our walk on the beach

1 Days - Waiting for the Team

Wedding adrenaline is slightly annoying.  Mostly at 5:30 am when you can't fall back asleep.  So today, I walked around the dog park in front of our building from 6 am to 7 am.  Now 45 minutes later and everyone is still asleep, which is good because it gives me time to clear my head and make a to do list for the day.  Also, the bridal team will start arriving this morning and we will be running around picking them up and getting all of our wedding business up to the hotel.

Last night, we had our rehearsal with our priest at Our Lady of Lourdes, which went pretty well, but I was definitely nervous that I would forget something Fr. Avella told us that we would need to relay to the bridal party.  Thankfully, our friends, Andrew, Marisa, and Mia, came by to help us and to go through the process, too.  It also gave Mia the opportunity to practice walk/running down the aisle.  She did a very good job!

I'm still a little nervous about relaying all of the wedding to-do's during our rehearsal in the park today because its going to be such a big crowd (35 people).  I don't know if I can keep the attention of 35 people, but I sure as hell am going to try.  I typed up everything that Fr. Avella relayed to us last night and said it out loud to Sam and my parents to make sure I didn't miss anything.  In an ideal world, we can just do a quick run-through in the park with minimal questions and then take some nice group shots with our photographer before heading to dinner.  Dinner will go til around 8 or 9 pm.  I hope to have the most delicious crab cake ever.  :-)  We plan on going out for drinks after the rehearsal dinner, but I may call it an early night. The 4-5 hours of sleep a night for the past week have made me a tired bride and I was informed I need to sparkle tomorrow. ;-)

3 Days - OK, I'm excited!

It's official.  I'm excited for the wedding now.  I turned in my draft this afternoon and my supervisor said I could go home. I wish I could describe it, but as soon as she said those words, a serious wave of adrenaline came over me and I could not wait to get the show on the road.

This past week, I lacked a lot of the enthusiasm that hit me this afternoon.  I had gotten phone call after phone call asking me how excited I am about this Friday.  I felt like I needed to keep feigning excitement, like Miranda on S&TC when she found out she was having a baby boy - "A BOY!"  Don't get me wrong.  I can't wait to be married.  This day has been a long time coming, but the work that has needed to be done at work and at home has sapped a lot of my energy and enthusiasm.  I hope people weren't concerned with my lack of "I CAN'T WAIT!" but I was more concerned at the time in making sure I had enough chocolate truffles for our wedding guests and ensuring that my objective drafts at work were in the best condition they could be in before I leave for our honeymoon for two weeks.  But today the work ended and the truffles are made.  There are a few small things that still need to be done, but they are little and will be finished.  I can finally sit back and bask in marrying Sam.  

3 Days - The Non-Wedding Dream - The Road Back to Normalcy

I have been waking up a lot recently with dreams about the wedding and what can go wrong and it puts me in a weird, somewhat anxious, wedding planning-focused place. I wouldn't recommend starting your day with those kinds of feeling.

Today was a different story, though! Today, I woke up to a dream about going to dinner with a friend and then going to Ithaca to speak to one of my professors about statistical analysis. I felt refreshed and a little nerdy, and I loved every moment of it!  I think this means my sub-conscious is making the shift away from the wedding and back to my normal, nerdy life and that is awesome!

I am working hard to be in the moment for the wedding and to relish the coming together of our family and friends and making the ultimate commitment to Sam.  I'd be sad if I got so caught up in the stress of the day that before I knew it, our wedding would be over and I wouldn't remember a thing. So my focus the next three days is to take each moment in and focus on why we're all coming together.  Then I get to look forward to the future. There are so many good things that will happen after the wedding that we get to look forward to. On Sunday we leave for our honeymoon, a break we have been craving for over a year, but more importantly, I am excited for the day that Sam and I get home from work and we make a delicious dinner (something I haven't done in ages), go for a long walk, and watch a movie or a football game before going to bed. . .you know, normal things.  Soon, my friends, we'll be there!

4 Days - Something Old, Something New

My sister asked me what my something blue was the other day and it got me thinking that I should probably go through the rhyme.

Ok so here it goes.

Something old - my grandmother's bracelet
Something new - my wedding dress
Something borrowed - my sister's clutch
Something blue - my bridesmaids :-)

I just finished the truffles about an hour ago.  They look pretty good, but if I have to smell chocolate again before the wedding, I may be sick.  That is the one thing about making truffles; as soon as the chocolate hits my hands I no longer have an appetite for it.  I should probably make truffles more often.  My bum would thank me for it.

Sam and I finally did the laundry.  There were five loads which will take the rest of the evening to fold, which means we might get it folded tonight but it will sit in the basket for days after.  Despite the reality of our laundry habits, my goal is to get it folded and put away before my parents arrive on Wednesday.  One can dream right :-)

Tomorrow is my last day of work before the wedding!  I'm getting excited for the big day, but I also have this anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach about getting all of the details right and remembering everything that I am supposed to do.  Yesterday, Sam told me before bed not to worry that there is no such thing as perfect.  I know that.  I have repeated it to myself during the past year and a half of planning, but I have poured a lot of my time and energy into the details and it would be nice if they all worked out, right?  A newlywed friend at work told me today that he and his wife had similar anxieties before their wedding, but he assured me that the feeling will go away soon.  I'm looking forward to it!

All right, its on to the laundry.  The sooner our clothes are folded, the sooner I can cuddle up with my soon to be husband. Bon soir!

5 Days - "Is there a clean comforter we can just put down?!"

In response to the question in the post title, the answer is, no.  We don't have a clean comforter to put down. Ugh.

In our efforts to tidy up the apartment before my parents get into town on Wednesday and the wedding festivities begin, today we folded laundry, stripped the bed, and sorted the dirty stuff to be washed.  Well its 11:30 pm and I just realized we don't have any clean sheets because they are all in the dirty laundry bin that we were going to wash tonight but things got in the way and now it won't be done until tomorrow evening.  Fantastic.  So now we are scrambling for a solution so we can get to bed on time.

Goodnight, all!

5 Days - Elephants and the iPod

 I had my latest wedding dream/nightmare that I thought I would share with you.

In my dream, I was getting ready to walk down to the ceremony and it was pouring rain.  Fantastic.  I have been mentally preparing myself for rain because Weather.com says there is a 30 percent chance of rain and Accuweather.com says that there is a 35 percent chance of thunderstorms.  Now the low percentages and the fact that we are still five days away from the wedding should calm my anxiety about the weather because I know deep down that this is a low risk, but the little rain icons that are on the websites are driving me nuts.  Anyways, back to the REM cycle. Bill Owens, the catering manager, informs me about the rain and tells me he is going to move everything inside for the dinner, which I am ok with because it is "Plan B" and something I always anticipated could happen.

The time comes to go to the ceremony and I can't find my veil.  I am running up and down the stairs to find it and then decide I am not going to wear it if I can't find it.  So I turn around and walk back downstairs only to learn that the iPod isn't charged or isn't working and my father is dressed for the rehearsal and not the wedding.  I tell dad to change and we switch out the iPod.

Then all of a sudden the sun comes back out and the reception dinner goes back outside. Wonderful.  This dream took a turn for the better.  Next, I am getting ready to walk down the aisle and, all of a sudden, the elephants for the Barnum & Bailey Circus start parading through the Arts Club courtyard.  Seriously?!  Elephants? I didn't seem upset though, which is not how I expected I would react. When I woke up, I googled elephants and dreams and the search results said that elephants can symbolize inner strength and wisdom. Western cultures believe elephants in dreams represent good luck, whereas Hindus believe that elephants represent God's power to remove obstacles.

The beginning of my dream didn't start out so great, but the appearance of the elephants at the end did make me feel better.  I don't really care whether they represent good luck or just free entertainment!  :-)

6 Days - Gettin' Crafty

My sister came down today to help me finish up the different odds and ends for the wedding.  We finished putting the ribbon on the cupcake tower.  I am really proud of the end result.  I only burned myself on the glue gun once, too!  The blister on the tip of my middle finger is awesome. . .

Elise indulged me in my latest craft hobby of stamping and embossing by helping me make some more thank you cards.  I plan on bringing them with us on our honeymoon road trip so we can work on them when we get some downtime.  My goal is to get them done and out the door before the holidays.  Here's hoping!

I put together all the gift bags for our groomsmen and bridesmaids.  I personalized each bag by stamping names on the front of the bag.  Elise said it looks very "anthro".  I hope that our team really likes what we put together for them.  Our goal was that our gift be something they can use over and over again.

Check out my hanger!

I've been packing and organizing.  I love packing and organizing.  LOVE IT!  Packing means this stuff will stop cluttering our apartment soon!  De-cluttering the apartment is a close second to the excitement of getting married.  Less awesome than marriage, but the chance to see the top of our dining room table again will feel pretty f-ing fantastic. Things are organized in boxes by destination - ceremony, hotel, rehearsal dinner, and reception. 

11 days - She's a helper

I received some help on our wedding programs and itinerary from Bonnie.  She's a good little wedding planner.

11 Days - Feeling like crap but there is still work to do

Holy nauseous, Batman.  


Unfortunately, programs don't wait for migraines to end when you're working under a tight timeline.  Tonight, we are printing our wedding programs.  I wrote them a few weeks ago and the paper came in soon thereafter.  I was thinking they looked a little plain, but on a recent trip to Michael's with Marisa and Mia, I found a cool stamp (I have a slight craft obsession) that will add a little flourish to them.  I have been a little concerned that my new crafty hobbies might come across as kitschy instead of cute, but I have to trust my instinct that I am editing my homemade touches the right amount.   


Eleven days!

12 Days - Another craft, Rach?!

I'm glutton for punishment.

So I was looking at Paloma's Nest - home of the adorable ring bearer bowl that I covet. (No ring bearer = no ring bearer bowl.  It's a sad truth.)  I also spotted this little number:

I saw it, and maybe I got a little caught up, but I immediately thought, "I could totally do that! I have stamps and wooden hangers!" So, I went to work. 

Please note that I realize that Batkins is missing an "s".  I only have one "s" stamp. 

Same with "A".  

I've seen the options.  Now I just need to decide what to stamp on the hanger. . . 

13 Days - "13 days!"

Ok, I'm stressed, but not in an unproductive way.  This is productive stress.  The stress that makes you call your vendors and put ribbon on your cupcake tower.

Earlier this week, I ordered the cupcakes and started calling my vendors to make sure we are all on the same page.  Today, my friend, Gina, and I brought all of the recycled glass carafes and bud vases to the florist. Now that is a wedding task to check off the list!  The fact that there are two less bins of wedding stuff in my living room makes me feel infinitely more capable of keeping my apartment clean and therefore, much more happy.

There are still some other key tasks that I need to do in the next 13 days:

• Finish decorating the cupcake tower - I spray painted the cupcake tower a few weeks ago with chalkboard paint and then planned to later glue ribbon along the edges.  I had a plan in place; there was a hot glue gun in a box somewhere and there was no way I could be out of the glue sticks. (I wasn't quite so crafty in the past.)  So the night my friend, Betsy, came down to help me out, I dug  my craft box out of the closet to retrieve my glue gun.  I should have questioned my past craftiness before because the only glue stick I had was in the glue gun and there was no way it would be enough for the entire tower.  So the hunt begins for more glue sticks and then decorating the cupcake tower - part deux can be finished.
• Programs - They are written.  They are saved on my computer.  They are not printed, yet. 
• Send the itinerary to the bridal party - I will do this very, very soon!  I promise. (Thank you three day weekend.)
• Truffles - Next weekend, I plan to be elbow deep in chocolate, making some of the most delicious truffles ever. . . which also means I will be folding and decorating favor boxes.  I have about 1/4 of the boxes finished.  (See the picture and think craft genius while looking at it.)
• There are other things. . . Decorating at the church, getting the readings to our priest, putting together the "Welcome to DC" letters for our guests, finalizing the menu of the rehearsal dinner, yada yada yada. . .

Don't think that I am not planning on relaxing at all in the next two weeks.  Sam's dad got me a gift certificate to a spa and I plan on getting a manicure and pedicure the Wednesday before the wedding.  It is going to be wonderful!


Check out the finished $10 Challenge - Cake Topper Edition via the lovely Laufa!  Thank you, love!  I may or may not have played wedding with them right after I took this picture. . .