A Trip Up North

Right after the honeymoon, we flew to Ohio where Buzz grew up. We flew up to Ohio to spend time with Buzz's family and friends as husband and wife! And my Mom and Dad were able to join us.

My parents had flown up to Ohio early that week to visit family friends and enjoy their fall break. Friday, Buzz and I arrived. For dinner we joined my folks and Buzz's folks at a local BBQ restaurant. Buzz and I had shared pictures of our honeymoon and we all enjoyed celebrating the first week of our marriage.

Saturday morning, we gathered my folks, Buzz's sister, his two nephews, and his Mom and headed to Tall Stacks, A Celebration of the Steamboating Era. Every four years the river is filled with river boats, music, and arts and crafts. We started by walking over the Purple People Eater Bridge. As you walk over the bridge, you get a bird’s eye view of all of the steamboats. After our adventure on the purple bridge, we ate lunch at a local sea food restaurant (which was really good).

That evening was another reception to celebrate our marriage. Buzz's family has lived in Cincy since Buzz was a baby so the entire Township came (or at least it felt that way)...his youth leaders came, his college friends were there, and all of parent's friends showed up (which included some of his grade school teachers). It was a lot of fun!

This was a football themed reception. We had 2 cakes, one was decorated as the Bengal’s football field, and the second was a football. Everyone wore their favorite team jersey or t-shirt (Mom and Dad were the only ones not supporting the Bengals...Go Cowboys!!!).

The Honeymoon!

After breakfast at the B&B, Buzz and I drove to San Antonio for our honeymoon. We stayed right on the Riverwalk and it was really nice. My sister works for a four star hotel, so we got a great room at a great price! Thanks, sis!

So what did we do…not much! Two days before the wedding I came down with a bad cold! Each night of the honeymoon, I went to bed at 9 and slept until 8 or 9 in the morning (nothing like 12 hours of sleep!). Despite getting 12 hours of sleep each night, every afternoon I would go return to the hotel for a nap. Poor Buzz didn't know what to do with himself. Needless to say, he caught up on the local news, TV and got in a few extra workouts (I think he was in the gym twice a day).

When I wasn't sleeping, we went museums, the Alamo, the mall, an English pub and 2 Irish pubs, a few Mexican restaurants, a Dueling Piano Bar, and the Mercado (Mexican Market). My favorite outing was the Dueling Piano Bar… 2 guys playing the piano (or various instruments) to songs requested by the audience. And we had a good audience…everyone would sing the songs. It was a blast.

I'm married!

Well, it's going on four weeks of wedded bliss and I am finally getting around to posting wedding news!

So here's the wedding details...When Buzz and I began to plan the wedding, we wanted to do a destination wedding. We planned on having just immediate family there. That plan didn't work. My entire extended family wanted to come to the wedding and I have a big extended family (of which, Buzz finally got to meet at the wedding). The location we had picked for the destination wedding was not going to acomodate the wedding and all of its guests. We decided to move the wedding home. All of my extended family would be able to come. Plus Buzz's Mom had never been down here or seen his house.

Even though the wedding was moved home, I still wanted a small wedding. The day of the wedding was split into 2 events...the wedding and the reception, or better known as the after party. Since I still wanted a smallish wedding, we had the wedding at 4 with just family. The party afterwards was opened to all of our friends and to make it lots of fun we decided to do a theme reception.

But first the ceremony...We held the ceremony and reception at a B&B. The B&B had the main house and another small house in the back yard called the Carriage House. The original plan was to have the ceremony outdoors on the back porch of the main house. I would get ready upstairs in the Carriage House. When the ceremony began, I would come out of the Carriage House and walk down the stairs into the backyard. Buzz would meet me at the bottom of the steps and together we would walk to the back porch of the main house.

Well, that didn't exactly happen. It was hot on September 30! At the beginning of the week it was suppose to be in the low 80s, but by Saturday it was in the 90s. Once we arrived at the B&B, we decided to move the ceremony indoors. The back room of the B&B is a large sun room that overlooks the backyard. We were able to squeeze all of the wedding guests into the air conditioned sun room!

To begin the ceremony, I had a family friend sing "Have you ever been in love" by Celine Dion. When Mom and I sat down to pick out the music, I told her that I wanted to begin the ceremony with a popular love song. Since I didn't have one in mind, we gathered all of our CDs and started listening to each one. When we came to one of Celine Dion's CD's and this song played, we knew it was the right one. The song descibes love being heaven sent which exactly describes our relationship.

Once the Celion Dion song ended, the processional began. First, my sister and the best man (Dr. Rod Evil of course!) walked to the front of the room. As Buzz and I walked through the backyard instead of stopping at the porch, we walked into the house and to the front of the sunroom.

Dad and a dear family friend performed the ceremony. Dad began the ceremony (crying I might add!!! which, of course, made me cry). Dad was great...he did the intro and said something special about the 2 of us. Half way through the ceremony Ryan and a family friend sung "The Prayer." It was magnificent. And even though I am partial, I am not exaggerating when I say that Ryan sounded just like Josh Groban (he has a great voice; he just doesn't sing often). After the song, my dear family friend Dareld completed the ceremony. He has known my family since Dad was just a baby; he and his wife have been like grandparents to me. Needless to say with Dad and him speaking, the ceremony lasted 40 minutes!

After the ceremony was over and pictures taken, guests began to arrive for the themed reception. We wanted our wedding reception to feel like a party so we hosted a Masquerade Ball. The backdrop was the Victorian Style B&B. The caterer did a gorgeous spread in the formal dining room and decorated the entire table with Halloween decorations. Our cake (the moistest wedding cake I had ever tasted, plus death by chocolate experience) was decorated with Venician Masks in gold and purple. It was really neat!

So many of the guests really joined in the festivities and brought their own mask! It was fun!

Once the night came to an end, Buzz and I headed up to our room. That night we and several of our close friends stayed at the B&B. The next morning, the inn keeper made a wonderful sit down breakfast for all of us.

The day really turned out perfect!

My cat

I now am the proud owner of a cat. Her name is Pagan and she is 7 years old (a picture will follow...a girlfriend is currently borrowing my digital).

The same girlfriend is moving in December. Though she would love to take both of her cats with her, she felt better only taking one. Since Pagan and I have bonded, I decided to become her new momma.

I have to say that it is nice to have a pet again. Plus, it will very nice to have Pagan around when I move. Though I will have a husband for some company, during most of the day it will be me and Pagan at the apartment. Things won't seem as quite with a little furry hair ball for company. (And if you didn't know, I am currently quitting my job and moving to another state.)