Mine at Last: The Cakes (plural)

We didn't just have a wedding cake.  We had wedding cakes.  And we put them in the middle of every table so that our guests could feast with their eyes first.

I wish I could give you each tastes of this cake . . . if you're ever in Norfolk or Virginia Beach, go to No Frill Bar and Grill and order a piece of the 4 Layer Coconut Creme cake.  Moist, flavorful, perfect - these are all understatements.  Just eat the cake and become a believer like me.  I made one call about the cakes.  No Frills put me in touch with their baker, I gave the name and number to my wedding planner, and 12 beautiful cakes met me when I saw our reception set up.

I just loved my little vintage find of a cake topper and it was a great size for the small cake. We used the same knife my parents used 30+ years ago.

The cakes were smaller 8 inch double layer versions of the cake served at No Frills.  They fit perfectly on my handmade cake stands (which worked out awesome, until they were washed and the epoxy on two of them wore off). 

Three different guests, who we knew disliked coconut, went out of their way to tell us that they not only loved our cake, but they had two pieces.  Like I told you before, this cake will make you a believer.

I'm not a cake smasher at heart - why waste perfectly good cake??? So we fed each other with forks.  We're civilized like that.

Our amazing caterer (who didn't charge any cake cutting fees!), sent a lovely picnic basket with all sorts of goodies as well as a whole cake that was leftover.  Since we sneaked off to our hotel room, the hotel staff delivered the basket to my in-laws suite. 

The morning after the wedding, we were visiting with my in-laws and they brought out the basket.  We oohed and ahhed.  Then my mother-in-law asked if I was planning on freezing a cake.  I wasn't sure what to say because we didn't really have the means to freeze it (we were driving directly to our mini-moon) and I wasn't planning to, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings if she had been kind enough to arrange for it.  I told her it was a lovely idea!  Funnily enough, she was asking because one of the cousins had discovered the cake after the wedding and she had to hunt it down a few floors down!  She put it safely back in the fridge, only to discover my father-in-law eating a huge piece a few minutes later!  She had frantically tried to put the half eaten piece back, but there was already too much of it eaten.

My father-in-law really enjoyed himself at our reception, so we didn't blame him for looking for a midnight snack.  I feigned anger for a little bit to tease him, before I burst out laughing and ate a big slice for breakfast.  It was delicious with some coffee to wash it down!

*all photographs by Sam Hughes Photography

Mine at Last: 15 Minutes of Fame

If our wedding had been two weeks later, I might have been singing the new breakout "Pants on the Ground."  Instead, I sang an old standby.  A song I've sung in the shower after a break-up.  A song that draws women all over the world to the dance floor (I know, it happened in a German disco at least once).  A song that certainly is in the Top Ten most kareoked songs of all time.

Our band (more on them later!) noticed I have a little bit of a flair for the dramatic (also, more on that later!) and as momentum built over the course of the night, they pulled me onstage to bring the energy levels to a crescendo.  The crowd pulsed with anticipation.  The opening bars pounded through the speakers.  Oh, I WILL survive!

I took my role seriously.  I brought it (just doesn't have the same emphasis in the past tense), then I gave a little more!  I grabbed hold of the mic like the rock star I know I am.  I channeled every bit of soul in my body.  I lived my American Dream fantasies.

Me and my "back-up" singer

The band went nuts during the instrumental interlude, allowing me to interact uninhibitedly with my fans

and for them, in turn, to appreciate my talents.

In the end, I was exposed as a lip syncing fraud when my "back-up" singer ended her note a few bars ahead of my emphatic attempts at simulated vibrato. 

No skin off my back though, I was a star.  Move over, Ryan Seacrest.  Eat your heart out Kelly Clarkson. I am an American Idol!  At least as long as the song lasted.

*All photos by Sam Hughes Photography, collages by me

I was so excited, I almost died

I say the title of this post a lot.  I don't think it's ever been literally true.  For the woman below, it almost was:


My home town news brought me this story of a woman who excitedly accepted a proposal and then promptly fell into a gorge.  You can't make this stuff up.

I sent it to my mom to see if we knew the couple and she emailed me back:

I saw footage of this on Fox News. Very glad that Jason proposed on the ski slopes and not beside the rapids. :)


Mom

I love her response for two reasons.  1. She saw it on Fox News, not our local station.  She probably caught it right before the Sean Hannity show.  2. I think she might have thought the ski slopes were safer than the rapids, but I had the exact opposite thought:  "Holy Moly!  I could have fallen down the mountain and had this woman's story!"  Well, maybe not on the bunny slope.  But still.
 
Anybody else have a dangerous or potentially dangerous proposal?  Were you so excited you almost died????

I wanna bite of those Hotcakes

Our great caterer, Kathy over at East Beach Catering, was chatting us up while I was devouring yeast rolls like it was my job. She found out that we were looking for a band and highly suggested a local band called Hotcakes. She was so impressed with them at a wedding she catered a few months ago that she booked them for her daughter's wedding this fall.

The future Mr. Palindrome and I have been haphazardly trying to audition bands when we're in town together. Hotcakes happened to be playing at the Chesapeake Seafood Festival at the Shedive Temple.

Hahahahaha - It's like a joke that just writes itself. A Hotcake, a shrimp and a Jew walk into a bar . . .

The crowd was a healthy mix of elderly temple goers and Harley Davidson riders that had driven straight from the tattoo parlor. We fit right in.

With plates full of every seafood imaginable fried to heartclogging perfection, the mister and I settled in to see the band in action.

For whatever reason, every wedding band in a 500 mile radius touts Brick House as a part of their repetoir. Enjoy their rendition below (and note the "guest" singer that jumps on stage about half way through):

In the mood for a ballad?

I was excited for this one! A little country!

Now, the price of the Seafood Festival included free *beverages.* I imbibed in a little Yeungling to wash my fried treats of the sea down. Some of these ladies . . . let's just say them and their mom jeans probably don't get out too much. Note the future Mr. Palindrome asking "Are you getting this?" around 36 seconds in:

I think Hotcakes may have dug their wedding grave with this one. I don't think you can hear the future Mr. Palindrome, but as soon as the lead female vocalist started singing "Hoo" and raising her hands in the air, he turned to me and said, "They're butchering my favorite Michael Jackson song."

I'm just happy to have a band, but the future Mr. Palindrome has discriminating music taste and I don't know if he got over the liberty they took with Billie Jean. I think Hotcakes was fun and had the perfect name for a wedding - hehehehe, Hotcakes - but maybe for a less formal event than at the opera house. So our search goes on . . .

My groom

The Future Mr. Palindrome, whom I also call my lovie, stinker, Jason bear, grumpy bear, and subbie (which isn’t as applicable since he got of the Navy), has done three amazing things for me recently.

1. Since I’m working from Norfolk while he attends his first semester of an MBA program in North Carolina, he’s been holding down the fort at our fixer upper (which you saw progress being made to back here). He surprised me by having wood flooring installed in our family room! Check out our before and afters!

2. That lil stinker also had a wedding dream before me! Well, categorically it was a pair of wedding nightmares, but since I haven’t dreamt or had nightmares about the wedding yet, he wins for the first in the relationship to have subconscious thoughts arise during sleep about the wedding. His first nightmare was that he was on the way to the rehearsal dinner but had no idea where it was and couldn’t reach anyone to find out. Panic inducing for sure. The second nightmare is that one of the palindromesmen, who frequently does business travel to Japan, got stuck in a Japanese airport and couldn’t make the wedding. Again, panic inducing. I assured him that I would make sure he got to the rehearsal dinner and that even if a palindromesman couldn’t make it, we’d be able to hold it over his head for years.


3. The final surprise is that my lovie recently read all of my blog – all the way through the archives. If that wasn’t touching enough, how ‘bout this? He turned off all of the pictures so that he wouldn’t accidentally see my dress. In unison now, “Awwwwwww.” If you didn’t know, the future Mr. Palindrome was the editor-in-chief of our school newspaper when I met him. He brought me on as an Arts & Entertainment editor. He paid me a huge compliment on the blog saying it was well written and funny. It made me a cheery bear.

Funny how I know since he recently read the whole blog, he probably won't read it again (and if he does, he won't turn on the pictures), so I now I feel the complete freedom to post silly pics of him in reindeer gear.  I guess I deserve when he calls me a Sneaky Bear.

Anygroom, I haven’t mentioned him a lot on the blog because he’s a private person in general – but here’s to you future Mr. Palindrome man (sing it with me, you know you love those commercials).

The Earrings are Here!

So, I took your all's advice into consideration and bought myself a pair of vintage earrings from an Etsy seller.  They came in the mail yesterday and I had a little photo shoot with them!

First off, these bad boys are a lot bigger than I thought they would be.  To refresh your memory, here's the pic from Etsy over at Fincara:

Now, here's a pic of them at my house next to a quarter.

Holy vintage rhinestones batman!  Those are enourmous!  So they're a little on the big side . . . Ha!  And of course I love them!  I'm going to be rocking the bling like it ain't no thang.  Just like this:

Look at those dangles!  Can't get enough? Neither could I.  I worked it for the camera some more.

Right . . . I think I thought this hair/arm thing would look model-ly.  Instead it's my ghost arm and fake smile/snarl that's taking the cake here.  But it gives you a good idea of what they look like from the front.

One last one of the earrings with a special appearance of my furry goatee culprit from the earlier pic:

I know you're asking yourself, "What is that marvel of beautifully crafted fabric flowers, sillk flowers and dreamy feathers?"  Why that's just be my lil ole bouquet!  It's not quite done yet, but more pics are forthcoming!

While you wait for them, don't forget to enter the free notecard giveaway!

Why I Scheduled a Jan. Wedding

. . . it's long after softball season!

Check out my shiner:

This is after 5 days too. There's nothing more to the story than I foul-tipped into my own face. Awesome. Last at bat, last game of the season. Can I repeat, Awesome?

This pic was the one I took the day after it happened. It didn't really seem to be showing up very well though - for whatever reason it looked much worse under the flourescent lighting at work. After I took the pic and began to crop it in photoshop, I figure I'd just give you the unedited version so that you can see just how far I have to go in my wedding day beauty regimen.



After tangoing with nearly every skin care system in the world (including a few rounds of Accutane back in college), I've found the best upkeep system to be Proactiv. I'm conflicted about buying more though.

My Pros:
I know it works for me.
It makes my skin look healthy.
I love how smooth and soft my skin feels.

My Cons:
It's expensive.
It's time consuming.

Are my cons just the price I have to pay for decent skin?

Also, do you think I should wax the brow bushes about 1 week before the wedding? My math was based on that I want the red def. to be gone and then still have some pluck free wiggle room for the honeymoon. The only problem is that I may not be in Norfolk the week before the wedding which would leave my brows up to chance as I sought a new person in the DC area during Christmas week. Hmmmmmm. . .

I didn’t play varsity softball for nothin’!

The years I spent riding the bench and shagging balls during batting practice finally came in handy this past October. I was rearing to go to my friend Catie’s wedding. She and I had bonded over our long distance submariner boyfriends long before we were engaged. I was really looking forward to her wedding at the Naval Academy and I had my eyes set on a certain prize.

The future Mr. Palindrome and I had been dating for 4 years. For about the past 2, I had been actively pursuing the coveted bouquet at every wedding we attended. In 2008, we were invited to 8 weddings and attended 6 (3 were on the same day!). Catie’s wedding was the last wedding of the year and my last chance to score the lucky blooms. I had been so close on previous occasions and I had been testing the right distance to stand behind the bride based on her height and my perception of her arm strength.

Finally, the wedding day had come. The Future Mr. Palindrome was part of the sword arch and was dressed in his formal whites. Those whites just make me weak in the knees. Seriously – look at this blind look of adoration!

When we arrived at the reception, I quickly sized up the dance floor and began some pre-toss stretching. I monitored the DJ to get a feel for his style and pace. Since I’m a lot more agile prior to a belly full of chicken and steak, I was hoping for a pre-dinner start time for the toss. No such luck. Dinner arrived and I had to exercise self-control so that my food baby wouldn’t hold me back.

The announcement for the toss found me clammy and pale. This was my big moment. It was like pinch hitting at the bottom of the 9th in the division championships after the star shortstop breaks her ankle. The DJ called us to the floor. I strode onto the floor as though I were walking to the plate. The music started and I saw Catie wind up for the first and only pitch. This was do or die, right here, RIGHT NOW.

I crouched in the ready position. She released! I followed the bouquet on its long arch above the dance floor. I took a step back hands up and ready. I could see it all in slow motion, the other pawing hands trying to swipe near my open palms and the hydrangeas and roses tumbling from the sky. Then I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes half expecting to see the bouquet in my hands – like a snow cone catch where you never really felt the impact but you were able to save the catch by squeezing the glove shut.

But it wasn’t there. Another girl scooped the bouquet off the floor.

Then you know what that little stinker who caught the bouquet did? She turned and gave it to me. She had heard me talking over dinner about how I was really hoping to catch it this time. Some would call it a pity bouquet, but I was so touched by the gesture that I strutted it around just like I had caught it myself.

Turns out, the joke was on me because this DJ was the kind of DJ who made the groomsman who caught the garter place the garter on the leg of the girl who caught the bouquet. Poor groomsman, he was sooooooo red with embarrassment! I hammed it up and enjoyed every minute of my bouquet catching glory.

To prove it, here’s an animated picture of me telling the bride how it all went down:


10 weeks later, the Future Mr. Palindrome proposed. Coincidence? I think not!

Have any of you ever caught the bouquet?

The last two pictures are courtesy of Catie's wonderful photographers: Egomedia