Why Danville?

So Leslie and I decided to have our wedding in Danville, KY. Neither of us are from Danville and it's not exactly a hub of cosmopolitan activity, which begs the question: Why Danville?

1. Centre College. I moved around a lot as a youngster and although Owensboro is certainly my home more than most places, I feel much more of a connection to the people of Owensboro than I do the city itself. Danville is where Leslie and I spent our college years (it's kinda strange to speak of them in the past tense like some long lost era of history) and during that time we came to truly love Danville. It's small, the people are kind, and the college holds an irreplacable place in our hearts. Along with the college come other things that are really important to us on our wedding day. For instance, one of our college professors, Dr. Rick Axtell, will be marrying us.

2. The Presbyterian Church of Danville. Throughout our time at Centre we attended a couple different churches, but none that we connected with like the Presbyterian church right off of campus. In addition to attending Sunday morning services senior year, we were also regulars at the Get Centred service that they hosted on Sunday nights (where Leslie played the cello) and the church is also home to Centre's annual Christmas service, Lessons and Carols. In addition to all of these things, the church is beautiful. Here are a couple of photos, but they don't really do it justice.


3. It's relatively convenient. Although Leslie and I both grew up in Owensboro, my family has since moved to West Virginia, making Danville a happy medium for both families.

Well, hope that gives you a little insight into our wedding planning process.

Can't wait to see you in Danville.

The date is set!

It's June 19, 2010. And I gotta say, a lot of great things have happened on June 19:

• 1846 - the first baseball game under recognizable rules is played in Hoboken, New Jersey.
• 1910 - the first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
• 1914 - a radiotelegraphic link is established between Germany and the United States. German Emperor Wilhelm II and President Woodrow Wilson exchange telegrams.
• 1978 - The Garfield comic strip debuts.

It's also the birthday of Lou Gehrig, Lester Flatt and Paula Abdul.

A good day indeed!

Non-Kodak Moments

Jake objected to me calling the first photo on the last post "awkward." He actually thinks we look pretty cute, and that made us realize that all the photos we tend to love aren't your typical "couple photos." Case in point is the photo on the right - it was taken after we climbed Arthur's Seat in a wonderful Scottish drizzle.

There's also this gem:

Having a giggle on Roy Lee's hideous pink couch:

Belting out some Wii karaoke (I wish I could remember the song!):

So the next time Jake and I are in the same zip code I'm hoping someone will take some decent photos of us together. Any volunteers?

Awkward Family Photos

I discovered a hilarious new blog today called Awkward Family Photos (please be sure to see 'Tis the Season), and it got me thinking about some of my favorite photos of Jake and I. Last year, my roommates and I decided to have a prom party so we could wear our hideous high school prom dresses again. We even constructed a photo backdrop for those perfectly awkward couple photos:

About Leslie

Jake covered my high school and college years, so I'll just fill you in on what I've been up to since graduation last year. I'm working in the Office of News and Public Affairs at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. The office handles all the media requests at the medical center and puts out press releases, a weekly newspaper and six different magazines. I spend most of my days doing interviews and writing articles for those publications. I also write a lot for the Children's Hospital website, including patient profiles and health tips. I've even produced a video or two.

I never imagined that I would like writing so much, but there is never a lack of interesting stories coming out of Vanderbilt. Here are a few of my favorites:

Man of Many Facets (be sure to watch his music video!)

The Ultimate Examination

Patient's success story continues with CMN honor

And for my other stab at blogging, check out Joseline from Guatemala.

When I'm not working, I like to read, bake and water ski. I've played cello since age 4, and I still pick it up about once a month. I played golf in high school, and I'm hoping to get good again once the weather clears up. 

Tag-Team Blogging

As you can see from the title, this is a two-person blog. Yet, up to now you have only heard from half of the Leslie-Jake team. Well, I'm the other, if secondary, half.

The way it generally works when a couple gets married is that about half of the wedding guests know the groom and the other half know the bride. After almost five years of dating, I've met most of Leslie's friends and family, but hopefully this blog will reach beyond those borders to people who have never met us before as a pair. As such, it seems only appropriate for me to introduce myself.

Leslie and I met the summer before our freshman year of high school and were almost immediately friends. Our friendship remained strong through four years at Daviess County High School and upon graduating decided (independently mind you) to attend Centre College. During our first semester at Centre we realized that our feelings were beyond friendship and here we are, engaged as of April 2009.

I left Centre with a double major in history and religion and decided to devote the next two years to teaching in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a member of Teach for Ameirca. Today, I'm a high school social studies teacher living in South Texas. I teach world history to 10th graders and government and economics to 12th graders.

I love my job and the place I live, but it's definitely hard. Work never ends at 3:40 p.m. when the bell rings--it seems like there's always something more I could be doing. Nevertheless, my students are generally great, the weather is unparalleled (above 90 and sunny for the forseeable future), the food is delicious, and the friends I've made since moving down here truly make the experience.

Anyway, hope you enjoy our musings along the path to matrimony. From time to time, look for a post from me on the male side of planning a wedding (whatever that is).

To infinity and beyond.

Paper Trail

There are some really ugly wedding invitations out there. I have always loved stationary, so I'm especially excited about picking out wedding invitations. But I've been a bit horrified by what I've seen so far. 

I'll be the first to admit that my style is not typical of most brides-to-be. I don't want ribbons, I don't want monograms, I don't want anything embossed or engraved. I basically don't want anything that screams "wedding!" Yet, practically every invitation has ribbons or monograms or - worse yet - hearts, doves, intertwined rings and cartoon brides and grooms.

And then there are the invitations only a very certain bride could love:

"Buck and Doe"

"Riding High on Love"

"Wanted!"

The Saga of the Ring

All weddings start with an engagement, and most engagements start with a sparkly diamond, and ours was no exception. Jake did a great job picking the perfect ring and planning the proposal, but the best part of the story is what happened next: the United States Postal Service lost the ring.

Jake went to great lengths to figure out my ring size (he actually went to my parent's house in Owensboro, examined rings I used to wear in high school and went through old photos to figure out which finger I wore them on), but it was still too big. The company Jake ordered it from in Seattle offered free resizing, so I took one last look, we packaged it up carefully and dropped it off at the post office, registered and insured.

The next day, we tracked the package online and saw that it had made it from the Acklen station to the main Nashville distribution center. When I checked again on Monday it was still in Nashville, and when it had not budged by Thursday, I got worried. I called the postal service, and they informed me that the package was indeed in Nashville. The person took my name and number and said someone would get back to within two business days. Just under that deadline, I got a call from Richard at the Acklen station. When I got the message and called back, Richard had already left for the day, but another worker boosted my confidence: "It's not lost, ma'am," he said. "Somebody would lose their job for that." 

Then I started having daily phone conversations with Susie. She first informed me that there was nothing to worry about, they knew my package was somewhere between Nashville and Los Angeles. Yep, nothing to worry about. "Registered mail is handed on personally at each exchange, so there is no reason it would be lost," Susie said. It wasn't lost, they just didn't know there it was.

Then miracles of miracles, Jake gets an e-mail from the ring company saying they received the package. Within a week (and more than three weeks after the proposal) the ring is on my finger, and it fits. According to the tracking however, package RA368669US is still at the Nashville distribution center.