3 years, almost to the day

So, it was 3 years ago today, and ironically enough during a snowstorm that Matt and I realized our undying love for each other. Ok, maybe not, but we sure we did make out a lot that night and decided it was enough to mark the beginning of the end and made it our anniversary. Our original plan was to go to our favorite burger place but it's across town so we decided it wouldn't be a good idea with the weather. Instead we are going to a fancy schmancy Indian restaurant down the street. We've been looking for an opportunity to go, so it works out nicely. We can also get a little schnockered on vino without having to worry about driving home.
In other news, I've been checking the weather for Portland, Chicago and Philly like once an hour, making myself even more paranoid that one of our flights will be delayed or cancelled and I will spend the holidays depressed and in a gross airport. Matt is being very pragmatic about whole thing and keeps saying, "If that happens, there's nothing we can do about it. Don't worry so much." Bastard. How can he be so calm when the higher powers of the universe are shitting ice, snow and rain all over the places I'm supposed to be traveling??!?!?

It's gonna be an arctic blast, man!

So, yeah. We've been hearing it...Portland is full of a bunch of pussies that can't handle 2" of snow. Normally, I'd agree but in this case let me tell you something, world. (1)I saw a kid (a neighbor) take a spill yesterday that landed him on his head, knocked him out cold and essentially stopped traffic for about 5 minutes. Then, just today, I found out that this guy I work with also fell and broke his goddamn neck. He's alive but having surgery as I write this. Because it doesn't happen very often, Portland isn't equipped to handle all the mess/cleanup, hence the city "shutting down."
It all started on Sunday. The weather was in the 20s and it was snowing when we arose around 9:30. We thought it'd be fun to go for a walk to the grocery store, approximately 1 mile from our apartment. The best intentions, eh? It was messy outside but we got the stuff we needed including the rather large bottle of wine that I knew would carry be through the night as well the now Sci-fi classic, Sharks in Venice. Matt made a delicious butternut squash soup for dinner. When the movie was over and the wine gone, I somehow agreed with Matt when he suggested that a walk around the block was a good idea. Have I mentioned it was midnight? The snow had stopped but the temperature had dropped into the teens and the ice was gleaming at us in such a way, that we were all but promised a stumble or 2. The 2 stumbles came easily, though we managed to avoid any downfalls. And I was really counting on a Darwin award too:( Once we finished the beer we brought along for the walk, we were back at the apartment. A gentle slumber awaited me then...
Monday was a snow day for me and by the grace of God herself, did not see fit to bestow a hangover on me. Matt was not so lucky and by noon and 2 bus rides later did he make it to his vile place of employment to sit on his ass all day, for all other reasonable minded businesses were closed. Fuckers. We both made it in today albeit a little late. Waiting for the bus was pretty cold but the lovely sun so rarely seen during Portland winters was out in full force and kept the fierce chill at bay.
My boss decided to have a little party at her house today for our "Policy Team" and it included pizza, salad, soup and a variety of desserts I was sure were made by Satan himself (seriously...Andes candies chocolate cookies?!??!?!). So, an easy workday to be sure and I'm watching the news right now to see if I will have off tomorrow as they are calling for another storm.
Tonight we're off to a Christmas party and I'm a little anxious. We haven't tried to get out of the driveway yet so wish us luck. The main roads don't seem bad the side streets are in bad shape.
I can't believe that I'm leaving sunny, freezing Portland for rainy, warmer Philadelphia. There's something strange about that. Hopefully, all will go well with our travels on Saturday. We'll be flying between storms. It's pretty cold in Chicago right now, but for them I think it's mild. It'll be interesting hanging with Matt's family. I'm sure you've noticed he'd not the chattiest of fellas and I'm counting on his sisters to stave off the awkward silences that came so easily with his dad and stepmom.
I guess that's it. I love you all and can't wait to see 2 of the 3 of you next week and Chrissy, I'll be seeing you and Little Mattie soon enough.
Here it is...your moment of Zen.
Big Matt said something funny last night. Since we call Pat's dad Big Pat, does that mean Terry's Pat is little Pat? And if so, had you had a boy, would he have been Tiny Pat?

Cheers

Matt and I googled mucus plugs this morning

And we saw pictures. Matt ran out of the room screaming something about nightmares for the rest of his life. Anyway, I'm blogging. Yay!!!! I thought it was time and I've just had 2 cups of coffee so get ready for an explosion of random thought fragments from my brain. So, first things first. The house is pretty much ours for the taking. Matt and I are going to take a look at it maybe today. One small hiccup is that it's a little further than I originally thought. About 25 minutes. So, some pros and cons are: (Pros)Cheap, beautiful, big enough for all to sleep comfortably (including me). (Cons)Distance. So, here's how I'm thinking about it. I could keep looking to see if I can find something closer OR we can look at the distance issue as something we're not going to have to worry about too much since we probably won't be driving a lot except the day of the wedding and occasional trips to town. I'm sure I can find some bars in that area for the bachelorette party, as well as a grocery store close by. So, i guess, let me know what you think. I'll look at it, regardless, but want to know how you gays feel about the distance.
Ok, on to less boring topics. We got our officiant. She's an actual minister(not like Pat or me) and she's been doing weddings long enough to have a portfolio and seems very knowledgable. Her name is Rev. Leah Light (not kidding but it's "pen" name). Daddy's first words were, "A woman? Really?" It's why I love him. So, she's going to send us a script based on what we told her we wanted. Also, we're not doing a rehearsal. What'll happen is that we'll all get there (I'm thinking the guys can drive seperately with the babies(?)) and someone will escort Mom down the aisle, then the 3 of you will walk down and then Daddy and I after that. Not really to warrant a rehearsal. No partners for you or anything, either. In fact, Matt and I will be the only ones recessing at the end of the ceremony. You all can just find your beaus and kids and we'll do pictures, immediately aftewards. We'll meet and greet people at the reception. Also, Sandra offered to put together the bouquets. I know that probably sounds weird to you guys but I'd rather spend a lot of money on food and booze than flowers. I'll have a florist do my bouquet (but only because i need the professional flower for my hairdo) but otherwise, I'll leave the arranging of the flowers to Sandra and Carrie and we'll get them when we show up at the Gardens. Don't worry, I'll have the whole itinerary down :) So, I was thinking about something for wedding that's a little out of the ordinary (ordinary for the Falls family, not for other weddings I've been to). I was thinking about asking each of you do give a speech. Obviously, this is all optional, but I wanted to throw it out there. I was also going to see if mommy wanted to (probably not but just an idea). I'd like to have a larger portion of the reception devoted to the people closest to us, giving toasts. Again, don't feel obligated but I wanted to throw it out there. Ok, there's more but my coffee just kicked in so I gotta go. Look forward to the litany of comments to come.

Music

Hi ladies - Wow - I feel like it's been awhile since I talked to you. Hope you're all doin well...recovering from vacations and glucose tests and whatnot :) Things here are going well. I'm so into this election right now - watching CNN more than I ever have. A big part of me wants it all to be over but I'm loving the drama. There's always something outrageous to talk about. Anyone watch SNL?
Anywho - so, Matt and I bought an IPOD this past weekend. Can you believe it?!?! I'm so excited. I have no idea how to use it or how to download music but it'll fun to learn (yes, I am way behind the times). I think you all know by now that the whole reason behind buying the IPOD is to use it at the wedding in lieu of a DJ. So, I'm writing to ask your help in putting together our wedding soundtrack. It'll be broken up into segments, i.e. cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing (including my dance with Matt and with Dad). I need your help mostly with the dancing segment. Gimme some songs.
Other things we're figuring out is booking an officiant and figuring out if we want to write our own vows. I want to but I think Matt would crap his pants...so I might not make him. His job right now is to find us some music for the ceremony. We have some ideas but I hesitate in telling you, for fear of incessant mockery.
I'm also putting together my Halloween costume which is Ripley from Aliens. I'm basically imitiating her in the scene at the end when she goes after Newt and she's all badass. I've been looking into renting a flame thrower and pulse gun but the salespeople always give me weird looks when I ask. Stupid liberal pansies. Matt wanted to do something easy this year, so he's going to go as someone with an alien busting out of his chest. I'll send pictures.
Ok - I guess that's it. Love you all.
PS - So, Beth, you're going to Chincoteague this weekend? Have fun. Oh wait - that post is dated August 8th. Huh.

Question for y'all...

I'm running into some issues looking for a house. So, my question is: Would you all be willing to stay in a place that sleeps 6? I can get you all at least 2 air matresses if need be. What do you think? Too squished...
Feeling a little overwhelmed right now...money, timing, blech. Gotta get off the computer now before i go nuts. I have a few inquiries into a few places so I'll keep you posted but let me know about the preferences. 'Night 'night.

Anybody busy on August 8, 2009?

I sure hope not because I think that's when Matt and I are going to tie the knot. We've picked our two places. Ceremony at 4pm at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens and a 5pm reception at Bridgeport Brewpub. We went to look at the Rhodo Gardens tonight and it really is beautiful. A little more expensive than we wanted but I think it'll be worth it. I'm feeling sleepy now but will update you all more this week. I think it's safe to say that 8-08-09 will be the day and I'll start working on getting that house for you all asap. Can't wait!

We're getting close...

Hey y'all. I know most of you are aware by now but we may be closing in on a date. We looked at the Bridgeport Brewery last night and really liked it. There's not too much to see on the website but you can look at the details here: http://www.bridgeportbrew.com/#/brewpub/ and check out our options. We balked a little at first at the price but after thinking about it we realized it really wasn't too unreasonable. They also don't usually start their evening events until 6 but we thought that was too late so we negotiated a 5pm start time and we'll just end earlier. We still need a ceremony spot but there are so many beautiful spots in Portland that it shouldn't be very difficult. I'm still holding out for my #1 choice of the Rhododendron Gardens but haven't been able to get a hold of any yet. I'm hoping that's not a bad sign. We're also going to look at this place tonight but there's a chance we'd have to book it for 4 hours and it would be $1100 which I think is really ridiculous when we'd only need it for 2 hours. We'll see if we can negotiate but if not we might just have to rule it out. Which would suck because Matt is all about that huge organ (stop snickering). Well that's enough for now I suppose...there will be more to come though, don't you worry. Love you guys.

Wish us luck this weekend...

I'm blogging at work. Bad Mary. Oh well. I'm just excited. We're looking at 4 different places this weekend. Yippee! One of them is a brewery. Hahaha. And I just went to Borders and got like 4 wedding books. This is how it starts, isn't it? Just wish us luck with getting a place and a date as soon as possible. I really feel like most other things will be more manageable with that taken care of and I know you all will be more at ease. Matt's been really great with helping to figure out where we want to get married. I feel so lucky...espeically after watching Tim and Sandra prepare for their wedding.
Anyway, I think my boss just looked at me funny so I will go for now but hopefully you'll hear from me soon about how the weekend went. Love you guys!

Vacation houses

Hi all - I've just started looking at some vacation houses in Portland (close to Matt and I) and am having lotsa luck - more than I thought I would. I think this is a brilliant idea. We're going to be looking at some venues next weekend and once we get the date nailed down I'll send you the links to some cute and close places.
I want to take this moment (I'm premenstrual) to let you all know how much it means to me that you're going to come out here for my wedding. I know it's going to be hard and Matt and I are going to do everything we can to make it as stress free as possible. Planning that big work event may have taught me some pointers. But seriously, thank you. We're working really hard to get a date nailed down ASAP and I'll let you know. I've talked to most of you and if we like one of the places next weekend, they have July 4th weekend available. Fingers crossed.
And now that all the work stuff is behind me I am relatively stress free. Thank the lord. I'm on my way to a BBQ at Tim and Sandra's.
Until next post...

And it begins...

Ok - so, I need to bounce something off you guys because I'm wondering if I'm being too sensitive. But before i begin...did I mention that I'm getting married? Wasn't sure if you knew that or not:) Anyway - I talked to Dad today and briefly mentioned our skeleton plan for the wedding...mainly that it's going to be here, and it's going to be small...like 40-50 people. So then he asked me if that included his brothers and sisters to which i responded "no." And I asked if he was ok with that, he said yes but when i asked if his family would be ok with that, he said "I don't know." So, now I'm paranoid. I've been engaged a day and am already wondering who I might be offending. I mean there are so many reasons we want a small wedding. We don't have a lot of money, Matt has a hard enough time in groups and the most important - it's what we both want. I'm really going to need some advice on the best way to go about doing this. I want to send out engagement announcements but don't want to give people the impression that they're invited. So, do I wait until we get married and then send out announcements. Are there certain family members I should call? Help.
Ok - on to happier subjects - I'm freaking engaged. Matt and I are on cloud nine - walking around, kissing, calling each other "fiance" and generally making other people nauseous. It's fantastic. We're trying not to talk about planning the wedding yet (we're waiting until Tim and Sandra's wedding and the Forum at work are over) but we can't NOT talk about it. We've come up with a few potential places already...one is the Rhodedendron garden in town. So beautiful. I'll be keeping you posted throughout this entire process - eagerly anticipating your comments. Chrissy was right - this blogging thing ain't so bad. OK, i guess this post is long enough by now and I'm beat. We were up until 1 last night, drinking and talking. We even danced to what i think our wedding song will be. Check it out. Just try not to cry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc
Love you guys!!!

It's not easy being a minister...

I got myself in over my head here, ladies. I'm starting to feel the pressure. Bridezilla is being pushed to the brink and I'm feeling the heat. I forwarded you all my "homily" so if you have a second, I'd appreciate you offering some suggestions. Work is so busy right now - I'm just exhausted when I get home that I don't feel like doing anything. Then I end up sitting on the couch all night watching the boob tube. Thank god, I ride my bike to work. I had to force myself to make BLT's tonight - and that's pretty much the easiest thing to make EVER. Matt and I are going to IKEA tomorrow night - I'm feeling the need to redecorate the bathroom. I thinking greens and oranges. Yes? And some kind of big fluffy rug. I haven't been to IKEA since it opened in town - that place, for all its wonder and glory, stresses me out. Ok - well, i always sit down to write this blog with tons to say and then it all goes away. I have a feeling that pretty soon there will be much to write about. That's all I'll say about that :)

It's Shark Week!!!!

Best week ever, isn't it? Actually, i must express my disappointment in the line up this year. One Mythbusters and one Dirty jobs - they already did that! Also, there are 2 encore nights during the week and a 'best of' episode. What the shit is that? I'll tell you what the shit that is...it's lazy, people.
Ok, I'm stopping the Shark Week rant to rant about something else. Sandra just called in the middle of my blogging and this girl is gettin outta hand. Her family is outrageous. I shit you not, they are spending about $60,000 on this wedding - she's getting fake eyelashes and a weird collagen lip gloss thing to puff up her lips. It's not even going to look like her! And now, out of the blue, her very interfering mother wants a copy of the ceremony as soon as possible so she can make it all pretty and put it in a pretty book with lots of pretty wedding decorations and the whole thing'll cost $100. I thought I'd have complete control of the one thing that I, and only I need. NO ONE ELSE GOD DAMN NEEDS IT. I guess the "book" or whatever it is I choose would be something I pull from a goddamn dumpster, right? And Sandra kept asking me - "Is the ceremony going to be done this weekend?" Last night was the first friggin night she sat down with me to go over exactly what she wants in about 3 months. All she had to do was pick a bunch of readings from a book...the part I have to do this weekend is WRITE the friggin homily AND the introduction since she can't write. You know whatIi said to Matt earlier? If my family was shelling out $60,000 you can better believe I'm getting married in Ireland or something - not a friggin country club. What a waste of money!! At least have some over-the-top theme wedding - like a Renaissance wedding or a shark theme wedding. But a country club???? No!
Ok - well now, I'm in a foul mood and the blog is much too long already. I'll write more this week about the wedding we went to last weekend (beautiful - outdoors - picnic). Love you guys.

Busy as a bee...

Hi all. Been awhile. Sorry. Things have been pretty busy at work and at home. I organized, planned and faciliated a meeting on Friday by myself for the first time and did a great job (at least that's what my boss said). It's part of the program that I'm mostly in charge of now. It felt pretty good. But because i had been so apprehensive about it, when i got home i was exhausted and in bed around 9:30. Geez. Lame, huh? But, I got up at 9 today, had a cup of coffee and am now on a cleaning spree. Or at least I will be once Matt leaves to play disc-golf. We have a tendency to get in each other's way when i start freaking out about cleaning. I blame him completely. It's better that i do it when he's out of the house. This is pretty much our last free weekend for awhile. Next weekend we're flying to Sacramento to see his dad and stepmom...oh boy. We originally had these plans to drive but decided that and 1 1/2 flight is a better use of our time. Oh well. Wish me luck.
Then the next weekend we have a wedding that we're not part of but sort of helping out. And then it'll be crunch time to figure out all the details for Tim and Sandra's wedding. I've been totally slacking and am starting to get nervous. Strawberry Shortcake, did your hubby have to do some kind of address when he did this?? Any input would be great.
So i think that's it...sorry i don't write as often...I'm on a computer all day and i hate having to get back on when i get home but i read all your blogs and am glad to know what's going on with all of you.
And because I know you're all wondering, no, no engagement yet. I know he has to do it on his own time but i wish he'd get a move on...we've had talks about so i still thinking we're on the same page but who knows...sometimes i can't read him. His best friend was down last weekend with his new fiance and i found out some stuff that he had to deal with when he was growing up. It makes me feel so very blessed about the family I have and even more convinced that moving back is the right thing to do.
I love you all very much...

Travel and whatnot...

So, i can't believe I'm looking at plane tickets again...yikes. So much for saving money. So, here is the tentative plan. Matt and I are thinking about flying to Chicago on 12/20, flying to Philadelphia on 12/23 or 12/24 and head back to Portland on the 28th.
I can't even begin to imagine how much fun it's going to be flying into Chicago in the middle of winter right at Xmas time. I'm sure nothing will go wrong.
So, let me know your thoughts. Chrissy, I'll still plan to come out to Houston in February to meet little Vendo. So, please feel free to comment. Does the plan sound ok to all of you.

Bikes...and beauty

Hi ladies...so I noticed that the rest of you seem to have given up blogging already. After all that prodding, I'M the only one blogging on a Friday night. Wait...nevermind.
So, tomorrow night at midnight Portland will be host to its annual NAKED bike ride. Yes, you heard me correctly...a NAKED bike ride. And no, i will not be particpating. They don't let anyone particpate that still showers and shaves their legs and armpits. Bet that painted a hot picture in your head, didn't it? I may go, though, just to check it out. I'll make sure to take pictures and send them to you.
Last night, I worked on the ceremony with Sandra...for those of you who've forgotten I'm an official minister saying my first wedding on August 31st. Apparently, there's a portion of the wedding where i have to give an "address." This is what us Catholics call the sermon/homily. I have to come up with it on my own. I KNOW! I totally did not sign on for that. Now, i know it's clearly documented that my speeches in the past have been, for lack of a better word, fucking fantastic, but i'm still nervous. Their goddamn guest list is up to 278. I think I'm more nervous now than when i got up on stage and talked about my vagina for 2 hours. This is like, real. I have to sign a friggin marriage license. Who the hell made me a minister? The should be shot.
Anyway, some advice would be good about now, ladies. I don't want this to be like a maid of honor speech...i feel like it should be spiritual or some shit.
So, I'll leave you all with this...when I was walking back to work today after running an errand, some random dude on the street told me I was 'very beautiful.' I don't care who it is, when some random dude, that has never seen you before tells you your beautiful, that feels fucking wonderful!

Yipee!

I, too, am super excited about the shore. I feel like it took so long to get here and by the time next Saturday comes along, it's going to go by so fast. We'll just need to make the most of our time. I was having a conversation with Matt about there being 11 people in 1 house and asking him if he thought he'd be able to handle it...his response, "Mary, you know I like your family, right?" Awwwwwww...
So, work sucked today...not really for me, but that evil bitch monster of death is still terrorizing the office. Two people ended up in tears and one actually quit on the spot. Lucky (or unlucky) for her, Craig, big pooper head boss man stopped her before she could resign. She left for the day and plans to be back tomorrow. This is the first time at this place where things are going well for me but shitty for others. I guess I'm grateful???
Came home, though and Matt offered to cook. Chicken curry with green beans and potatoes. Yummy!
DeeDee, I'm going to remind you to bring the air mattress from this day forward, ok? Everyday until we leave, I will remind you :)

Brrrrrrrr...

After hearing all this talk about the weather, I feel as though i would be remiss if i didn't paint this little picture for you about what it's like in Oregon right now. When riding my bike to work this morning I needed a scarf and gloves because when riding downhill it gets quite chilly. Plus the fact that it was about 58 degrees and a little overcast. Right now, our living room door is open but I'm thinking of closing it because that big, bright ball of fire in the sky is glaring on the computer and the cool, crisp wind is picking up. Better put on another layer...don't want to catch cold. I'm so jealous of all the humidity and heat index talk...I feel so left out...what with, the cool evening air and beautiful sunset. Hmmm...i guess it's just my burden to bear.
On another note i didn't have much for dinner. I ate some Happy Hour fare with a work friend who is traveling back to Austin to work on the Barack Obama campaign doing media materials and such. She has to travel there in a mini RV with no air conditioning. Maybe i should tell her to call you guys.
Well, on that note i should go. Have to shut the door. It's starting to get really chilly.
And you guys were right...this blogging thing is fun!

Content Warning

When i was figuring out my blog settings, it asked if I wanted to allow "Adult Content" on this page. I checked yes, just to be on safe side.

S'up girls.

So, you guys like the name of the my blog? I wish I could claim it as my own genius but sadly, Matt is the brilliant one. I spent the day out and about, grateful that I'm not nauseous or without air conditioning. No offense or anything but damn, Chrissy, i read your posts and they scare the f*#@ out of me! If I was ever on the fence about having kids you're certainly making a case not to.
Anywho, it was 70 and beautiful today (mom actually told me to shut up). I was able to walk down to the waterfront and experience the last day of Portland's Rose Festival. There are a bunch of Navy ships in the Willamette, which is cool, but the guys with M80s(yes?) guarding the ships gave me the willies. I just hope I'm not around when one of those guys has a bad day.
The rain cloud that was on my heels throughout the day despite the sun and my general upbeat nature was the fact that i had to buy a bathing suit. Christ, was that fun. And by fun, I mean i would have rather been sticking a red hot...no make that blue hot...needle through my eye.
My walk ended at Tim and Sandra's place for dinner. She claimed to be making a meat sauce but what I ended up eating was meat and rotini, mixed with a tomato stew/sauce type thing. Yuck. I walk all day, burn tons of calories, earn a delicious meal and that's what I get? No fair.
So, on a scale of 1-10 was this post interesting? I'm hoping to get into the swing of things so give me some time. This week, I'm working on the ceremony with Sandra. Wish me luck.
Love you guys. And remember, careful who you share this with...I'm totally paranoid.