Sweet Midgets!

What's Playing Now:

Artist: The Blood Brothers
Song: Every Breath is a Bomb
Album: Burn Piano Island, Burn


I'm going to start posting what I'm listening to at the beginning and the end of each post, as it usually takes me more than the length of a song to post. Since I usually keep iTunes on shuffle, I'll get to display two of my 2300+ songs at a time for folks to check out.

Well, to answer Andy's question, I will probably not be posting more about the wedding invite fiasco. At least, not right now. If it becomes an issue again in the future, I probably will post then. I have had a substantial amount of time to cool down since last week's post, and have also had plenty of things going on to keep my mind busy, so I'll go ahead and talk about that. Here's what I remember from last week (there were so many things going on that it's a bit of a blur!)...

Saturday, the 18th: Janae flew in from Hartford - hooray! It was the first time I got to see her since August 19th (practically 3 months!). After I picked her up at the airport, we went to eat lunch at one of our favorite places, The Garden Cafe (wonderful!). Once lunch was done, we drove by Great Southern Travel to get some ideas for our honeymoon (we're thinking about a week in England, based out of London; and a week in Scotland, based out of Edinburgh). We spent a good portion of the rest of our day looking at the books we got from the travel agency.

Sunday, the 19th: We went to Glendale and afterwards, had lunch and great fellowship at the Davis' place. After lunch, we swung by the Mall and I showed Janae my tuxedo suggestions, which she excitedly agreed upon. Then we headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get some ideas for what we might want to register for. That store is friggin' awesome, so many cool things! We ended the night by hanging out at Monique's place (who gratefully boarded Janae for the week, thanks Mo!)

Monday, the 20th: I worked a full day while Janae went dress shopping. After work, she, Steve, Monique, and "Coak" came to my place for a "Spaced" extravaganza, along with a few episodes of "Frisky Dingo" thrown in.

Tuesday, the 21st: I took the day off work so Janae and I could get some more stuff done. We swung by the Vandivort in the morning, so Janae could see the ballroom for herself (we'd already booked it back in September while she was in CT). After lunch at Casper's with Mo and Kim, it was off to meet with the baker (I like to call her the 'caker'). Janae and I shared our idea for a kick-arse wedding cake, and the 'caker' really liked what we asked her to do. So much so, in fact, that she offered to do a couple of things she doesn't normally do for her cakes. She gave us a very reasonable price (I thought, anyway) for the amount of work that will have to go into our cake. I was quite pleased with that meeting. After it was over, we met with the florist (who shares a retail space with the 'caker', very convenient). She was just as helpful as the 'caker' in providing suggestions while considering Janae and I's thoughts and ideas. After our meeting with those two folks, I was very reassured about the uniqueness of our wedding and I'm as excited as ever to see that day arrive! After running to Wal-Mart for last minute Bible Study snack necessities, it was off to Gaylon's. My cider recipe is growing ever closer to completion, I think a couple more adjustments and respective 'taste tests', I should be able to call it my 'official' recipe :)

Wednesday, the 22nd: A half day of work, that was supposed to end at noon, lasted until 2:00 and forced us to postpone plans for meeting with Gilardi's until when Janae's back for Christmas break. We were even a bit late for our first coaching session with the inimitable Dave Embree. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we first sat down with him at Planet Sub, but I soon discovered Dave was even more comfortable to be around than I had remembered. I am looking forward to our remaining sessions. Once we were finished with our scheduled sessions, we headed down the road to Holiday Island, Arkansas (where Janae's parents live now). We ended the night with a game of Balderdash with her parents, her older brother Denny, and his girlfriend Morgan.

Thursday, the 23rd: Thanksgiving day... and it's freakin' 75 degrees - that's just not right! I was bitter about the weather most of the week. It's toward the end of November - it should be cold, dang it! Okay, enough ranting about the weather. A fantastic feast of turkey, green beans, homemade rolls, and sweet potato caserole entered our stomachs for lunch. Walking around the neighborhood helped us feel like we hadn't completely gorged ourselves. Then came nap time, followed by a viewing of 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' and we finished out the night with a ridiculously long game of Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary.

Friday, the 24th: We headed into Eureka Springs (about 10-15 minutes away from Holiday Island) and had lunch at one of our favorite places "The Oasis" (it's kinda like the Casper's of Ark-Mex hippy food, and it's wonderful). Then we did a bit of shopping, Janae and I found a cool rice paper print of the Japanese character for "Love" (which is going to be used throughout our wedding) and bought it since we're planning on decorating our first place with a bit of an Asian theme. Janae's oldest brother, Ryan, came in that afternoon and we all chatted for a while before heading to the grocery store to get a few things for a campfire we had planned to build that night. An amazing fireside dinner of Nathan's hot dogs (the best hot dogs EVER), s'mores, and wine coolers brought the evening to a close.

Saturday, the 25th: After a couple of fantastic breakfast burritos, we set off for nearby Lake Leatherwood to do some hiking for a couple of hours. Janae got worn out before I did, so I carried her on my back up a long, steep hill. That put an end to my endurance real quick :) We painfully trekked back to her dad's car and practically collapsed once we got inside. After getting back to her parents' place, we took a short nap before driving back to Springfield. We met up with Kim at Bandana's (or as Janae, Mo, and Kim call it, "Doo Rag's") and then we all headed over to Campbell 16 for a viewing of 'For Your Consideration', the latest work from director Christopher Guest (Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind). All in all, it was enjoyable, but definately my least favorite of those films. I'd wait for it to go to the Palace, if you're not a diehard fan of his.

Sunday, the 26th: Janae and I drove over to Springfield/Branson Regional Airport for a quick breafast at Cafe SGF before she boarded her flight back to Hartford. After our hugs and kisses goodbye, I realized I had forgotten the start time for Glendale's sound system work day scheduled for that afternoon. So, despite my body telling me to go home and sleep, I ended up going to church to find out what time the work day was to begin. I found out it wasn't until 3:00, but by the time I had gotten to church, I wasn't tired anymore so I decided to stay. Chinese Chef was the lunch destination of choice for myself, Kim, Adam Beck, the Davis', and the Tarbet's. The sound system needed more overhauling than Alan and I had previously planned, so we didn't get everything done that we wanted to, but did get a lot accomplished. After we called it quits for the night, we headed to Fazzoli's for dinner and then I came home and crashed.

Wow - what a busy week, I'm still not fully recovered! Monday nights are usually spent hanging out with Steve, but I didn't call him today and, despite wanting some company, I'll probably appreciate the early night I will have as a result. Now that I've bored everyone to tears (yeah right, like anyone has bothered to read this far!), I'll go ahead and end this post. I am looking forward to helping Andy celebrate his 3rd decade of life on Saturday, and hope to see a super turnout at Gaylon's tomorrow night. Cheers.

P.S. - If you are curious about the post title, ask me about it the next time you see me, and I'll show you the picture :)


What's Playing Now:

Artist: Jeff Buckley
Song: Lilac Wine
Album: Grace

Arrgggh.

What I'm listening to:

Artist: The Cure
Song: Out of This World
Album: Bloodflowers

I had always heard weddings were typically stressful and never thought it would happen to me... well, this morning I had my first taste of what I think people might have been talking about. I'll get into it more soon, when I have more time to post (hopefully today sometime). All I will say for now, is that I'm about to scream and thankfully I didn't while on the phone with my mother. Cheers.

P.S. - If you haven't noticed already, I put a link to my Myspace page over there on the right side of this here bliggity blog. It's full of magic, wonder, and a few clips of tv shows I enjoy. It might also give you a bit more information about my personality than can be determined by reading this blog and/or being around me in person every so often. Hopefully it won't cause you to waste too much of your time :)

What's he playing?

What I'm listening to:

Artist: Elbow
Song: Puncture Repair
Album: Leaders of the Free World


My friend Sarah made me aware of this sweet ol' program that takes a picture of your iTunes library so you can post it online somewhere. In case either of the two folks who read these posts ever wondered, "So, what kind of music does a guy like Moose have in his iTunes library, anyway?" Well, this should answer your question.

Unfortunately my time to post is short, as I will need to be awake in 6 hours. Ta-tah for now, and hopefully I will see some of you at Gaylon's on Tuesday. Cheers.