Vacation Report

Alas, the vacation is over. We put over a thousand miles on the trusty Civic and got to see many sights and many friends.

This is Jake breaking one of the commandments of water skiing (don't bend your arms) and suffering the consequences. Others include "keep your tips up," "stay in a ball," and the number-one cited piece of advice: "let the boat pull you up."

I was skeptical that Jake would be able to ski, but he surprised us all when he popped right out of the water. Then he made all my dreams come true by double skiing with me. As I've always said, a couple that skis together, stays together.

The next leg of our journey was Chicago for some big-city food and fun. We saw the incredible Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry (unfortunately, no photos were allowed), and then headed to Wrigley Field. The Cubs lost and it rained the whole time, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

For the third leg of our journey, we met with the wedding officiants in Danville, stayed in Roy Lee's new palace and investigated a few reception venues. Then it was off to Lexington to see college friends and go to Megan and Patrick's wedding. Those photos are trapped in Jake's camera, so you'll just have to imagine how beautiful it was.

Yay for vacation!

Happy Summer!

I just battled the DMV to get an official Tennessee driver's license (it took them three tries to print out the right address), Jake's on a plane from McAllen, and we're ready for summer vacation! We're headed to Kentucky Lake for Independence Day festivities, Chicago for some big city living, and Lexington for a wedding and pre-marital counseling. Let the adventure begin!

New Shoes

As part of the wedding planning process, we're keeping an online "inspiration board" with photos of things we'd like to see or moods we'd like reflected at our wedding. The entire time, we've both wanted to keep things light and fun--we don't take ourselves too seriously and we don't want our wedding to be too stuffy.

Anyway, based on what we put on the board, we decided that I'd be better off in a suit than in a tuxedo. For those of you who don't know me, I'm kind of a lanky guy and I don't generally fit into rented clothes too well and a suit fits into the un-stuffy feel we were looking for.

Deciding not to wear a tux means I won't be wearing black patent leather shoes to the wedding either. We decided for a gray suit and brown shoes and this weekend I made my first official wedding purchase--the shoes. For those of you who are interested, here they are:


Strangely enough, McAllen, TX is commercial mecca of sorts. Although the students that I teach are nearly all low-income, there is a lot of money floating around. Some of the money comes from legitimate sources, like trade and manufacturing, while some comes from less savory sources, like human trafficking and drugs. Additionally, there's a ton of money being spent in American stores from wealthy Mexicans who come across the border on the weekends to shop in the U.S. In addition to having what I've heard are the highest grossing Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy in the country, we also have a really nice mall and a super-fancy outlet mall. Taking advantage of this, I got my new kicks at the Cole Haan outlet for half-off.

So, there you have it. One more wedding decision taken care of. It may be minor, but our list of things to do is getting shorter by the day.

T Minus One Year

Exactly one year from today Leslie and I will be married in Danville. There's not much to say about it, except that it's a long time coming. This summer marks the ten year anniversary of our friendship and we're both really excited about this day next year. We have the venue, dress, photographer, and a hot lead on a reception venue. There's sure to be lots to keep us busy over the coming year, but we both think we're handling the stress of planning a wedding pretty well and it'll definitely be a good time.

Here we are at Drew's wedding. Delightfully traditional photo, eh?

Hope you're as excited about June 19, 2010 as we are. See you in Danville!

Dress? Check!

I'm keeping the dress details to myself, but you can bet it doesn't look like any of these. (Thanks Christanna!)

Cake Wrecks

Cake is my absolute favorite food, and one of my favorite blogs is the hilarious Cake Wrecks. Each day, Jen finds professional cakes that go "horribly, hilariously wrong." Here's the cake that started it all:

She also has hilarious posts about wedding cakes, showing the difference between what the couple asks for and what they receive. My favorite:

See more wedding cakes gone wrong here:

Inspiration vs Perspiration

Wedding Wrecks

Big Day Wrecks

Weird Wedding Cakes

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.