Beautiful, Disposable Wedding Dresses

At the shower Saturday night, we split into two teams to make wedding "dresses" out of toilet paper. Aren't they gorgeous? The dress making was made easier by having two lovely and cooperative models - Rachel and Molly.

Crab Dip Recipe

Robyn made a very yummy crab dip for the shower on Saturday. I strategically sat in places where I was always in reach of it. Here's the recipe:

HOT CRAB DIP
2 (8oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 (8oz.) container sour cream
1/4 C. mayonnaise
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. garlic salt
3 (6 oz.) cans Lump (or med. grade) Crab meat, drained
1 C.(4oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese
crackers or toasted French bread rounds

Combine first 7 ingredients, stirring until blended. Add drained, canned crab meat and mix well. Spoon mixture into a 9 X 13 baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam; sprinkle evenly with Cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve immediately with crackers or French bread rounds.

Delicious!

Stevie Wonder Gets a Gift

Christina, Dawn, and Robyn hosted a wonderful shower for me tonight. I am often reminded how lucky I am to have such great friends and tonight was one of those times. When everyone laughed at the bright yellow wrapping paper stuck to my bum, you could actually feel the love. :) Since we have posted somewhat embarrassing pictures of others, I'll be a good sport and post a couple of pictures from tonight. I call these the "Stevie Wonder Gets a Gift" pictures.

Wrinkles Only Go Where the Smiles Have Been

Here's an engagement picture sample. There are 249 pictures!!! Amazingly enough, there are a few pictures where David and I both have our eyes open.

A Couple More Pictures

Phyllis just sent me a few more pictures from the bridesmaid luncheon. Look on our Flickr page for all of the pictures from Saturday - I'll even post the ones with my eyes closed. :)

Blushing Buffett Bridesmaid Luncheon

It was another fun and busy weekend of wedding activities! Saturday morning, we met our photographer at Fantastic Caverns for our engagement pictures. He kept us laughing, so may have even captured a few natural smiles. He took more pictures of the two of use today than have been taken in the last seven years! Pictures to come...

My friend and old neighbor (that's old as in former, not elderly!) Phyllis hosted a wonderful luncheon Saturday for the bridesmaids and other special guests. The luncheon was a great time - complete with a Margaritaville theme. My favorite thing was the pink flamingo straws. Eating lunch wearing leis is always a plus! I think others got some better pictures, so hopefully they will send them to me (hint hint) :). For now though, here are a couple.

From the left...Dawn, Christina, Jan, Mom, Mike, Phyllis, Grandmother, Aunt Connie, Kelly, and Robyn.

Same cast of characters as above, but with me in Dawn's place.

Saturday night we took a break from wedding fun to go to Bailey's to meet Kevin, Scotty, and Todd. Bailey's has a great patio from which you can watch the parade of humanity go by. Not a bad way to spend an evening!

We spent most of the afternoon assembling the invitations. They will hopefully be arriving in a mailbox near you some time next week!



***Update***

Dawn sent me a couple of pictures and I love this one! Thanks Dawn!

The Groomsmen In Bloom

Robert S. F*****

Glory…Glory… Kappa
Kappa-Alpha
Glory… Glory… Kappa
Kappa-Alpha
The South Shall Rise Again

This is the chorus from the only Blog-appropriate song I can come up with from my days at the Kappa Alpha Mansion on the Drury College (College then, University now) Campus.

Ah, the formidable years…

A good many of those nights were spent with Brother Rob doing what frat boys do best.
Nose to the grind stone, studying hard for the next big exam…
Holy Crap! I can’t even type that without snickering.

Rob and I were pledge brothers together in the fall of 1988. When we weren’t studying we could often be found at a smoke-filled, beer-stained bar called the Twilight. Many stories come to mind when thinking back thru the haze of the past - almost 20 years. When I go to type out those stories I feel I should protect myself from self incrimination. When you see Rob at the post wedding reception – ask him to share a story with you. By that time it will be to late – Erin will have already married me.

International Man of Mystery…

Always a hit with the ladies…

dd

The Groomsmen In Bloom

Kevin R. P*****

Kevin and I were introduced to one another in an all-male Turkish Bath House on the outskirts of Prague in the Czech Republic. Kevin and I were sitting around a herbal-fruit hookah discussing the finer points of local politics. We both reached for the same hookah hose and we have been best of friends ever sense.

-or-

Perhaps it wasn’t as exotic as I have described. Kevin and I met through mutual friends that worked in an import/export business. Kevin is an expert in all things that are poultry. He would often travel to far-off lands to help engineer, build and maintain chicken houses. This would mean that he would be gone for a week or two at a time. This made for a perfect roommate.

Ha – just kidding!

We lived together in the Lark Street house for seven or eight years. It was Kevin and I that hosted the first ever “Plains, Trains and Automobiles” party and the first “Christmas Vacation” party. If you are reading this you know what I’m talking about… if not, e-mail me and I will be sure you get an invitation to this year’s events.

Lately Kevin's work has him traveling more in the US and less internationally.

In my best Ed McMahon voice…
Here’s Kevin!

Never one to shy away from adventure Kevin is a charter member of YOSA.

That's all for now.
Don't touch that dial... we'll be right back with a few good pics of Rob.

dd

The Groomsmen in Bloom

It has occurred to me that the groomsmen for the big event have not been lampooned, uh – I mean “introduced” to those of you playing the home edition of “Road 2 Wedded Bliss” If, after all is said and done, they are still speaking to me you will see them in striking form on December 8th. Now for the less than striking form…

M. Todd H**** (last names will be disguised to protect the innocent) will be serving as the Best Man for the big fandango. Todd and I have known each other for 20-plus years and grew up a couple blocks from one another back in the old center-city hood. Although he may refute this, my first recollection of both Todd and his older brother Scott was shortly after Scott turned 16 and got his drivers license. Scott drove a blue full-size K5 blazer. One day while I was peacefully riding my schwinn I was damn near run over and killed by a couple of jerks in a blue blazer. Several years later I was introduced to the passenger in the blazer that day – Todd. Contrary to popular belief Todd and I did not attend high school together. Todd graduated from Parkview with an honorable mention diploma from Greenwood. Todd and I attended Drury together and he later went on to get his MBA from Missouri State University.

Much like Chandler Bing from the popular television show Friends, Todd does something with computer databases for St. John’s Hospital. What – I’m not exactly sure? It has something to do with building control parameters for infectious disease databases with longitudinal co-habitational matrix paradigms. Or some such nonsense…
Without further ado… Here’s Todd!

Oh, and one more… Here is Todd sipping on a martini just off Fremont Street in Las Vegas.

Coming soon to a theater near you…
Kevin “I’m A Favorite With All The Moms”
and
Rob “International Man Of Mystery”

PEACE OUT
dd

Why Can't the Weekend Last Forever?

It was a great weekend! Thursday night we went to Con and John's to see my grandparents from Amsterdam (Missouri, not Netherlands) and have a delicious dinner and good time. Friday I walked a couple of miles at the Nature Center and ran a few wedding errands in the morning. Our invitations are off to the printer! We almost had a "diner" reception rather than dinner when the proof of the invitation came back. Oops! Our friend Jim drew a beautiful picture for the invitation, but you'll have to start watching your mailbox to see it. Friday afternoon, Robyn and I went to Apple Butter Makin' Days in Mt. Vernon. There was some cute crafty stuff, and then there were the requisite wind catchers made from two-liter bottles and red-neck wind chimes made of beer cans. I'm all for recycling, but that might be taking it a little far! :) We also stopped at a couple of Wal-Marts for vases for the reception. Each time, we were interviewed about what we were doing with the vases. Suggestions included iridescent rocks, twinkle lights, and plants with roots dangling down. Ah...I think we'll stick with our original plan! Friday night Christina and I had dinner at a new place called The Grotto. It was absolutely delicious! We eyed every plate coming out of the kitchen and everything looked wonderful. Good thing they have a frequent flyer card - we'll be back! Saturday we took Tuley to Art in the Park at Sequiota Park. David gave him a bath Saturday morning, so he was clean, fluffy, and very handsome. He was a hit and made lots of friends. We forget that his stature is eye-catching, not to mention those blue eyes! I stopped at a couple of antique places in Galloway while Tuley and David waited outside. I hadn't been in either before, and they are definitely worth checking out! Sunday, we scouted another place for our engagement pictures and decided on Fantastic Caverns. There is a nice walking trail with several picturesque spots. David worked at Fantastic Caverns in college, so I not only got a nice walk, but a cave lesson as well! :) There is a picture of a very young David with a spelunking group in the lobby/gift shop. We ate lunch at a place that David and Todd went to Friday night. It was great. I had a burger with spinach dip on it. Now why has no one else come up with that idea? It was really tasty! It could only be better (maybe) with Hickok's crab dip on top. We napped the afternoon away with the door open to enjoy the gorgeous weather. It doesn't get any better than that!

(I was just rereading before I hit 'publish' - Can you tell that we really enjoy food?!)

Happy Halloween from Gracie!

Gracie loves halloween. She especially likes her witchy kitty costume - can't you tell?

Groom's View

After nine months of cussing and discussing with friends and neighbors, clean-up from last January’s Ice Storm is finally over. (You can’t over-plan for stump extrication) What I figured would take several attempts and copious amounts of hand-digging, actually went very smooth and easy. Had I known that the stump would give up so easily – I might have worked on it earlier in the summer. With the stump gone and the fence repaired the only sign of January’s Ice Storm are the broken limbs still visible in the tree tops. I was secretly hoping that a skid steer would be required for the stump removal. You may be wondering what this has to do with wedding planning as we get ever closer to the big-day. Well, it has little to nothing to do with wedding planning but a lot to do with keeping the fairer half of this operation happy. If the bride ain’t happy-ain’t nobody happy. The stump removal also falls into the “Towing” category of the groom’s duties, as does running of the chainsaw.

Erin mentioned my buddy Bill, his wife Wendy, and their daughter Shannon were in town from Calgary Alberta. It was great to catch up with them. Here is a picture of Bill posing with his Hummer. After this picture was taken the Hummer was painted yellow and Bill used it as a promotional vehicle for his sprayed-in bed liner business. Thanks for looking me up Bill - I promise to stay in touch.

It has come to my attention that I have neglected to introduce the Groomsmen. I will be doing that over the course of the next few days so stay tuned.

dd

Ice Storm Clean Up

The groom has been busy this weekend! A pine tree in our backyard fell victim to the January ice storm, but we'd been stumped (ha ha) about what to do with it. I'm not sure what got into David, but Saturday he chained it to the truck and pulled it out. I missed the whole thing because I was inside getting the camera.
Here's Clark Griswold hard at work with the chain saw. Fixed the newel post! It looks like Tuley is about to make a run for it, but not to worry. He was happily tied up while David was repairing the fence.

David got a surprise call from his Canadian friend Bill last week. Bill and family were in town this weekend and wanted to get together. We had a great time with them at Lambert's and Bass Pro. Two must-sees for out of town guests!

Today we went to Farm Fest at the fairgrounds. It was unbelievably hot for an October day. It was fun to walk around and see the sights - and do some people watching!

Greenwood Laboratory School is celebrating it's 100th year and this weekend was Homecoming. We missed most of the festivities, but did make it to the tour of the school this afternoon. It was great to see where David had gone to school from kindergarten through high school.

I go to the alterations lady on Tuesday. My brilliant plan to loose a couple more pounds before the appointment was sabotaged by Red Lobster, Lambert's, and my own lack of will power. Oh well!

There are still pictures to be added to Flickr, so keep checking back. :)

Fremont Fall

Happy Fall! The invitations are officially in progress, the rings ordered, and the alterations appointment is looming. On Monday, it will be officially 2 months until the big day!

I'm continuing to add pictures to Flickr, so check back soon.