The Kitty Question

Hello readers. First, some housekeeping. Hehe, Houskeeping, knock, knock, knock. If you've ever seen this episode of the Family Guy, you'll get it.

Anyway, um, so. I'll send out an email every time there is a new post. There have been a few requests to do this, so not a problem, will do. It will actually come from Tim's email, maybe we'll have to double up on the new post! Gogyohka and wedding posts together.

Some new news, I'm going to get fitted for my dress on Thursday and I'm unbelievably excited about it. If you know me, I'm not terribly girly, but it's a soft flouncy dress! Even the Tomboyest of Tomboys would get excited over a new (free) dress right? I'm just hoping that this will again, seem a bit more real once I see myself in this virginal white dress. ugh. Anyway, we'll be working on our vows this week, so many more updates there.

This post, however, is about Oscar. I've had several questions about how we could incorporate Oscar into our ceremony. Ok, maybe two questions and the rest of the thoughts and questions I've had on my own. Kitty has been such a big part of our lives - how can we not include him?

Oscar came into my life in July 2000. He was about 2 weeks old and he was found in a garbage can with his sister. He was so tiny and his eyes had not yet turned the brilliant green that they are today - they were gray - the same color as his fur. I fell in love with him almost instantly. I didn't want to have another cat - I was planning on bringing my cat Zeus to Chestertown for the year. But sadly we found out he had FIV and it wouldn't be fair to move him to another home - he needed to stay on one place until he left this world. Sadly, he died in April of 2001. I think I made the right choice by leaving him with my parents.

Anyway, Oscar needed a home badly. So, soft hearted me, I walked home with this tiny cat, really no bigger than a hamster. His heart was beating fast, he was mewing, and he stole MY heart. We bonded instantly and he has been with me for nearly 10 years now. And really in Tim's life for 10 years, but they connected later. I cannot begin to explain the place that Oscar has in my heart. It pains me to think about the time when he will not be in my life.

So, how can we bring him into the wedding? Well, at our brunch kitty will be there. Probably a little afraid and hiding in the bedroom. But, how and should I mention kitty at the ceremony? I know that he'll be on my mind. How would he not - he's been with me for a third of my life. I've raised him from kittenhood, he's always been there for me, he bonded with Tim when Tim was sick (it is quite heartwarming - Kitty and Tim's bonding - not Tim being sick. Kitty stayed on the bed with Tim and placed his paw on Tim's hand. Kitty loves Tim.) Ok, I'm starting to scare myself.

Perhaps I can include him in the vows somewhere, we'll see.

So, enjoy the kitty photos, I'm kind of in shock that I do not have any pictures of the three of us together. Perhaps, when we get home from the wedding and dinner and bar we can take a picture of tim and me and kitty together. A family!

Re-Sizing things

Hello lovely readers! Quite an exciting few days - so this may be a long, but full of fun post.

First of all, apparently I do not have the gigantic man hands that I always thought I had. Does anyone remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry dates the lady with man hands? Well, I do. So, there are basically two things that I've had to admit about myself - I have big hands and I'm a hairy p-rican. And two shows have helped me (yes, tv shows) get over my fears or worries or shame of these two things. Liz Lemon talks about her friend Tom Selleck, and Jerry dates a woman with man hands. I love moustaches, but not on me. And man hands, well, I don't want them. Anyway, not the point of this post. I found out today that my ring size is actually 5 3/4 not 7 like I originally thought! Hurrah! But, it's weird, my size 7 rings fit me. But, these guys have the instruments to measure the finger.

Wait. I need to step back. Today Tim and I went to get our rings re-sized. We put it off earlier this week - there was a down pour on M0nday, we called a few places and the turn around time for one place in Manhattan was 2-3 days. No big deal. We could wait a few days, we have just about everything else planned. So, we ventured into Manhattan in lovely 25 degree weather - probably around 8 degrees above zero with the wind chill, stopped at the farmers market and headed up to the diamond district. This place is practically hell for me since I really think that diamonds should be banned from being bought or sold - read any book on the diamond trade or watch the documentary Cry Freetown. I think that there is a more recent movie that documents the atrocities of the diamond trade called Blood Diamond, but I'm not one for Hollywoodizing tragedy, although, Hotel Rwanda was pretty brutal, it still whitewashed quite a bit of the destruction that happened to the nation. Wow, I'm feeling political tonight.

Diamond district. I should step back again - on Tuesday when we went to get the marriage license, we stopped by a jewelry store on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. A great man in a fedora, ribbed mustard yellow turtle neck sweater, and a tweed blazer looked at our rings, appreciated their quality and told us that we should take our rings to get re=sized in the diamond district. So, we found ourselves wandering down West 47th Street this afternoon. Now, many of the jewelry stores in the we cut peoples hands off so the rest of the world can have sparkly diamonds district are owned by orthodox Jews. So many weren't open today because of the Sabbath. Whoops. Forgot that. So, the store we were planning on visiting was closed. We got a bit flustered and ended up going into a store that read "wedding bands" on their sign. I've mentioned before in a previous post that most places will only re-size gold. And this place was one of those place. Very kindly, they pointed us to another place, in the back of this hallway? alley? a tiny shop that had no jewelry and there was barely enough room for Tim and me to stand side by side together.

We met a young guy, can't remember his name. Asked him whether they re-sized sterling silver. He was very enthusiastic and said "yes!". He had a bit of a hard time sizing our fingers, I began to get a bit nervous, and could feel it radiating off of Tim behind me. Then this short bearded older man shuffled through the door behind us, grabbed the measuring instruments, and promptly measured us, looked at the rings with the magnifying glass eyepiece, talked about the metal, gave us a price, and told us they would be ready while we waited and we could watch the whole process if we wished!! It was awesome. We went through another hallway, up an elevator, and found where jewelry was re-sized, polished, made. A tiny room with three men and tons of tiny tools and FIRE! Lots of blow torches. The fire turned blue or green or stayed orange depending on the the metal or solvents that were applied to the ring. What a fantastic afternoon. Our rings fit us, they are incredibly shiny - I'm actually wearing my ring right now while I'm typing! Shh!

Now readers, I am looking for shoes. Help! I think that I would like red shoes, now that I cannot wear the fun Marie Antoinette shoes with the dress (although, I get fitted on Thursday YAY! and I am going to bring along my Marie Antoinette shoes just in case.) So, I would love to find some red shoes (or burgundy or some other variation of red) that are similar in style to the Marie Antoinette shoes. I know, I live in NYC where I should be able to find any type of shoe I wish. And I'm looking. But as the subway ads with oodles of pairs of eyes says, or something along these lines, if you see something say something - sorry, not the right spirit - but if you see any red pumps that are styled like the marie Antoinette shoes, let me know asap!

We are down to two weeks!! Didn't cover everything I wanted to in this post, but hooray, more to write tomorrow!

And, I slept until 7:30 today!

A modification and a cake

A very good early morning to you readers. I've just finished washing the dishes, and am waiting for my water to boil for delicious morning coffee. The sun is just starting to turn the sky a beautiful deep lavender and kitty is perfectly silhouetted against the window. He looks like a perfect EA Poe cat. What a good kitty!

Anyway, wasn't Tim's post great??!! I'm grateful that he posted and that it was quite amusing. I'm nothing if not entertaining and full of adventure. I've had a couple tough nights - nothing wedding related thankfully. Just some not so fun things to deal with. So, I hope to be more upbeat than I am feeling and remember that things will pass and to focus on the fact that Saturday starts the t-two week date!

So, this post it called 'a modification'. I found out yesterday that my dress will be white, not the lovely coffee cream color. I could be super bitchy about this, but I really see not point to be. It's the same style, just white. I'm pretty sure that I can pull this off because I already have a natural tan and dark hair and glasses. In a moment, my brain turned from my marie antoinette shoes, to maybe some kick ass red shoes. And maybe some red flowers in my hair. It's Valentines Day after all! Or, possibly snowflakes?! In a moment, my brain turned a tiny twinge of sadness into possibility. I wish it could do that all the time. (BTW, doesn't this model look intense? She is staring into your soul - mwahahahaha!)

Readers, now we have a mission (since I think just about every other area of planning is complete). Red shoes! Hopefully, we'll head to Brooklyn Flea or Beacon's Closet this weekend and look for some awesome shoes. If you have suggestions - send them this way. If red seems silly, let me know that too.

So, part two. The cake. Initially, I had no idea how much we won when we won this contest. After we got the congrats email, I began looking at dresses and cakes. It's like when someone goes into labor - we need towels and hot water!! I thought dresses and cakes. Didn't really find out about the cake until maybe last week? I think? Anyway, I was planning on making our cake, since I took a super awesome cake decorating class at the Brooklyn Kitchen last May. Um, will upload photos of my decorated cake later... cannot find them, too early, not enough coffee... I'm a zombie! (Let's hope the Bennett sisters don't accidentally mistake me for a real zombie and form the pentagram of death!)

Turns out, I don't have to do that because we get a cake made by the Cake Boss, who is apparently a guy on a show on TLC (we don't have cable and I'm looking at the website for the cake boss for the first time right now to get an image). We have to sign releases tonight and will out another questionnaire about colors and flavors. Life should be all about questionnaires about colors and flavors. I know my favorite color changes often and I usually have several favorite colors at one time. And flavors, fugeddaboudit. Delicious food can make me cry it's so good. My inner fat girl gets sad, no that's too mild a work, clinically depressed when I've finished the last bit of something truly tasty. Oh boy, I should not write this when I'm tired.

Anyway readers, as always, thanks for reading. The sun is just about to turn the sky a blue gray and I believe that I seem some tiny snowflakes pepper my back garden.

This is not Olivia

So there probably won't be any photos. And I'm not going to refer to you all as "readers," though many of you are, indeed, my friends.

Wow, it kinda sounds like Sgt. Slaughter just took over. But I assure you--a ticket on the timmy train is fully fun.

Today was pretty funny, and in a let's giggle at Olivia but in a good-natured way way. We went to the Municipal Building, across from Brooklyn's Borough Hall, to get the marriage license. I thought this would make me nervous, but it didn't. Turns out they string you along, making you fill out the actual thing you mail in on the day of the ceremony. I'm convinced my hand will be shaking and my mascara will be running when I do so. Heh--it'd be pretty funny if I were wearing mascara for the wedding. I actually had on mascara, I think, the first time Olivia met me, but that's a whole other story.

Let's start at the end, because the beginning is the funny part. Ok, so here's what I thought going through the line of the marriage bureau would be like: lots of pastels, people smiling, free jolly ranchers. Basically a life sized version of candy land. Well, not quite, but I didn't know what to expect from the equation of celebration of love + bureaucrats. Turns out, it is kinda weird. The security guard lady was friendly, greeting us with, "hello, new couples!" So that was promising. But let me tell you--when it's a guy's responsibility to "process" marriage licenses all day every day, the "congratulations" he says at the end sounds a hell of a lot more like, "move along folks."

But, you know, it was fine. Reminds me that this is a LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENT. And VERY SERIOUS. Even more so because you have to pass through a metal detector and an x-ray machine for your stuff as part of a long ass line a la airports these days to get into the municipal building. So we shuffled along, being patient because the line was moving steadily, and I wrote this gogyohka:

bureaucracy--
moving through
a line
that moves
to another line

We get to the metal detector, and I actually remember to take off my giant belt buckle this time, and Olivia puts her bag through the x-ray thing. And it's cool, nothing goes off. I'm putting my giant belt buckle on while being jostled by an elderly hasidic jew with bad breath, such that I almost buckle my belt to one of his tzitzits, when I hear one of the security ladies address Olivia:

"Ma'am, do you have a knife and fork in your bag?"

Olivia looks a little distressed, but nothing like the time they told her she couldn't bring her hamster on the plane, and she says yes. I, at this point, have walked over. But I have no. frigging. clue. where this one's heading. I'm thinking, Olivia's got a leftover plastic cutlery set from a salad from Wendy's or something? Who cares?

But then I hear the security woman asking a security guy for a paper towel, which he duly retrieves. And Olivia has produced a potentially used knife and fork pair that look like they were swiped from our college dining hall 10 years ago. Next thing the security woman is wrapping the knife and fork, very professionally, totally straightfaced, in the paper towel and putting a little green dot on the little parcel. She directs Olivia to sign a form, and that's where her expressionless security lady face broke. I look down at the form:

"Weapon retention form? For a knife and fork?!"

Olivia is staring at me. I realize I must be kind of staring at her, too.

"They're for my lunch. My lunch!"

By now we've realized how loudly I've said these things by the radius of growth of the security woman's eyeballs. The security lady just laughed.

And that's the story of how Olivia unsuccessfully attempted stage a massive coup of the Brooklyn marriage bureau, all with a metal fork and butter knife.

Later, across the street in the courtyard in front of Borough Hall, we were walking and talking. Olivia wasn't too flustered but she did point out that

"A pen could be a weapon!"

To which I responded something about how, yeah, sure, but it's not very likely someone can use a pen to do serious damage. Olivia did not miss one second--

"And it's not like you can't reach behind someone's eyeball and pull it out."

TSA, are you listening?

The reception

Hello readers. Today was a day full of lots of rain and wind. We had much to do today - just a few things on the list - get the rings re-sized, get the marriage license, finalize the plan for the restaurant where the 'reception' is being held, get fantastic shoes (see previous post) cleaned, and, maybe that's it.

I'm just going to pause, and address the fact that Tim is watching Ellen right now. He loves women's talk shows. I think I'll have to address this in another post.

Anyway, I woke up at 8am!! woohoo! today and saw the deluge. It was raining super hard today. And I watched the wind blow garbage cans around. Normally, I love rainy days - I love you Karen Carpenter, but rainy days and Mondays do not get me down. In fact, as my grumpy husband-to-be stomped into the kitchen to make his coffee, I sang this very song to him. But with all we had to do today, not so happy.

We looked at our list of things to do and looked outside and furrowed our brows. What did we really need to do today? Miriam was necessary (I had the day off today) because we had to look at how we are going to set up the tables and chairs and see if it was even feasible to fit 24 people in this tiny restaurant. And Tim made an appointment with the owner Rafi. So, that had to be on the list.

Ring re-sizing. After searching for a place to get our rings re-sized, the only hopeful place was near Rockefeller Center. Boo! One place on Montague street might do them (Montague Street is very close to the Municipal Building where we get the marriage license), but they really only re-size gold rings. Tim said that they do that so they can keep the gold. Anyway, the place in Manhattan has a 2-3 day turn around, so we crossed that off the list for today.

Next, the marriage license. Since we absolutely had to go to the restaurant which is not near the Municipal Building, we made a deal that we would get the Marriage license tomorrow.

So, the restaurant. We love it. Tim and I have gone to this place for the last 2 1/2 years or so. Funny enough, we actually had a pretty bad fight here one night. But, that's long behind us. We've had successful trips there in the recent past. My library ladies and I go to this restaurant whenever we have a night out together. It's the best. It's called Miriam Restaurant. A lovely Israeli restaurant in Park Slope Brooklyn. The owner, Rafi, spent an hour with us, going over our selected menu, setting up the tables, and I would say, 3/4 of our time was spent tasting wine. I was quite tipsy when we left. We picked out 4 great wines, two Israeli. He was so wonderful to us and I am so excited to have the 'reception' there.

I put the word reception in quotes because, this really isn't a wedding reception in the traditional sense. Yes, there will be eating and drinking. But, and maybe the only thing that I am sad about in this whole wedding extravaganza, is no dancing. No, the reception is not taking place in the small rural town in Footloose where dancing and rock and roll are banned. But there is no room and no music (although Miriam plays great music). So, we'll have to figure things out. Maybe Tim and I will have to dance to Prince in the apartment. Or perhaps we'll dance on the subway on the way to Miriam. We'll see. But a great day overall! Things are getting done!

Dress and shoes

Hello readers. It's early in the morning - I've got a purring kitty on my lap and I'm listening to Will Shorts (z) Leann Hansen do the crossword challenge on Weekend Edition Sunday. My coffee is getting just a little to cold to drink, but I think I can finish it.

So a brief explanation of the photo here. This is the first time Tim and I dressed up super fancy like together. This was taken before Washington College's Birthday Ball. The college was named for George Washington who donated money to start the first college in the new nation in 1782. So we named the college after him and every year, we celebrate his birthday. BTW, George Washington has a really cool story about his birthday because calendars changed and such. But, not the time for a history lesson.

Timmy returned yesterday from a week long trip to the lovely state of Ohio! He returned to a lady with a new sassy hairstyle! Yes, I changed my hair three weeks before the ceremony! Again, not the most traditional of people. But it's super fun and I love it. Hooray for Kay at Ringo's Salon! But I didn't post last night and I want to make sure that I do at least two posts today. So look for one later in the evening too.

Anyway, I realized that I have not posted pics of the dress. Here it is:
Hooray. It's tea length and really pretty. Click on the photo and you can look at additional photos.

Hurrah. Another thingie out of the way! Just have to get measured - this should be an adventure - Tim will be using the measuring tape today - and Sienna asked about the Marie Antoinette shoes. Well, this isn't a great photo - it was taken with my phone - but you'll get the idea.

I have to take them to the cleaners and I might swap out the current lace for ribbons to make them extra fancy. They have blue, green, and orange stripes and are really, really comfy! I think they will work right? I certainly don't need an excuse to go shoe shopping - but my closet will be really unhappy with me if I do. Although, I did see some killer shoes at Beacon's Closet the other day... I smashed all these photos together so you could get the idea. It's a bit wonky to look at, and in the future, photos will be a little farther away from each other.

So good news all around. Pretty not white dress, 1950s style to go with my 1950s style hair, I won't fall (or at least, I won't be able to blame it on the dress) when I walk around in the dress, it won't get dirty scraping the floors of the NYC subway, AND I get to wear a favorite pair of shoes. Everything's coming up Morales! (soon to be Geaghan)!

Dress, vows, and rings oh my!

Hello friends. It's been a few days. I've been making tissue paper flowers, filling out forms, and thinking about wedding vows. Lots on the mind. Not to mention going to the post office - if you know me, you know my horror stories with the post office in my neighborhood. I have a rage stroke every time I have the unfortunate need to visit. Anyway, that is not what this post is about.

Dress: I was sent a list of dress choices today. I knew the maker of the dress a few days ago and visited several websites that had their dresses. And I haven't really given too much thought to the dress. I almost said to hell with the free dress and bought a beautiful one at Brooklyn Flea over the weekend. But luckily, I didn't. I knew that I wanted a tea length 1950s style dress, and I wasn't sure if that would be one of the choices. The dress maker had exactly one tea length non-white wedding dress. But it is in the spring 2010 line. Why would anyone give away these brand new dresses - especially that just went off the runway (am I using all of these fashion-y terms right Cosmopolitan magazine?) So, lo and behold - it was one of the choices. I'm super excited! And, my super awesome stripey marie antoinette shoes will go perfectly with it. I think. Now I have to get measured. Things are coming together. I'll post a picture of the dress soon - I'm waiting to see if my husband to be and my dandy of honor like the dress. They are both in Cleveland right now, I'm sure, eating pretzels and drinking beer and eating snausages somewhere. Lucky.

But that leaves me plenty of time to think about what I get to vow on February 13. I have some ideas, and they are working together pretty well. But, do I mention things like my wizard star? This is our ceremony and so far, it has been very fun and silly and very us. So, why not mention that right? I'm not a terribly serious person (ok, so right now, I've been writing this whole post using the voice of the British reader who read Wuthering Heights on books on cd. Yay, I'm an adult!). So, I suppose most of it will be serious. I'm just trying to get through the vows without bursting into giggles, tears, sobs (of joy of course) or having a panic attack (because I have to be in front of people and talk about personal things). But I must say, I am quite happy with how the vows are coming together. No samples there!

And finally, rings. Who would have ever thought that photographing a ring would be so hard. Poor Tim tried to send to me several pictures of the rings that he liked but they were blurred or the flash or light just took over. I told him to go with what made him happy. I knew the ring that I wanted to get for him the moment I saw it. I concentrated so hard on finding a ring for him that when he asked me what kind I wanted, I didn't even know. So, surprises abound!


That's all for tonight. I'm quite tired and there has been a lot to think about and do today. More to come tomorrow night.

You Are Invited!

Well readers, the invitations will be in the mail tomorrow. How fun this was - I wonder why I was so afraid of planning this before. I guess, again, that we have such a close deadline to actually get this wedding on the ground, that it is just something we have to do. Thirteen invitations have been addressed tonight - each with a special Fun Fact! about the Empire State Building. I figure people can get facts about me and Tim's relationship here. Or they can ask us.

I remember visiting a stationary store one time, listening to a bride to be pick out colors, paper, font, words, graphics, envelopes, tissue paper. I'm giving myself a panic attack thinking back to this moment. Why do women feel the need to make things so fancy? And so complicated and pay so much for something that can be done so simply? I'm not knocking them (oh, knock knock joke coming up) but, I really don't understand it. I spent two lunch hours photoshopping Tim and me onto the Empire State Building. Yeah, it's ridiculous. But it was fun! I stamped a bunch of snowflakes around us in the hope that it snows on our wedding day! I love snow. In fact, going a bit of topic here, but stay with me, I found a really beautiful band today with snowflakes on it! Imagine a wedding band with snowflakes!!! It's great - Tim is the desert, I am the tundra. we are both the same landscape in our own way.

Anyway, um, back to invitations. I wrote the necessary info on the back, used a nice font and color and voila! We have an invitation. They are postcards. We have a local copy shop where two very helpful gentlemen helped me. No waiting, good cardstock, great work. Thank you Park Slope Copy Center! And, I didn't use any excess paper nor did I pay a fortune for the cards. Simple. Stress free.

So, if you are coming to the wedding, your invitation is in the mail. For the rest of you, we'll be in touch... again, I'm sorry that we can't invite everyone that we want to. We really wish we could because we do want to infect you with our happiness. Ha! That sounded silly.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Butter.
Butter who?
Butter invite me to the wedding.

And, that's it for tonight.

Rings! Or, just one. So far.

Hello readers. I haven't posted in a few days. But for very good reasons. First - we brought dinner to some very dear friends - the two in the photo. These people are Amy Fix and Tim Dubnau. I lived in the apartment above theirs when I first moved to Brooklyn. I love them. We've been friends for the last 4 years and they just added a wee little baby to their family - Roxy is going to be 3. Anyway, we wanted to see them and to tell them that they were invited to the wedding and we brought them tasty treats - they have taught Tim and I a lot about living in New York City and to remember that you do need to get out once in a while. They are awesome.

Anyway, that is why I didn't post on Friday. Last night, well, really no excuses. I guess I was just super tired. I've watched the sun rise everyday since oh, I guess last Saturday or Sunday. So, I went to bed a little early last night and woke up after the sun rose today! Hooray sleep.

So, now I sit back with a delicious Brooklyn Lager, yum, and have exciting news to tell you. I went ring shopping today at the Brooklyn Flea Market! What a fantastic place! It's in the old Williamsburg Savings Bank building at Hanson Place and Atlantic Avenue. Some of the shops are in the vault of the old bank! Really fun.

So, my mission was to find our wedding bands. I'm waiting for Tim to get his ring sized, but I thought this would be a good place to go to begin my search. Boy, am I glad that I did. I thought that it would be really difficult to find a ring for Tim. He doesn't wear jewelry and frankly, he has petit hands (sorry Tim, everyone knows). And I had really high expectations for something unique and special. Like Tim! I am also looking for my ring/s/. Haven't really decided if I should get a band and pretty sparkly type ring or just a band. I guess we'll see what I find. Anyway, I'm so excited because I found the perfect ring for Tim!! Success. I love this ring. I think it might be a little too big for his finger, but we can resize that right? It won't ruin anything with the design. The design. So, it is sterling silver and I guess the best way to describe it would be to say that Georgia O'Keeffe designed it in New Mexico. It has swirls like her flowers and a longhorn head, like her cattle skull paintings. And, considering we found out that we won the contest on a day that we saw a great O'Keeffe exhibit at the Whitney Museum. If I had to give you the essence of this ring, well, take a look at this beautiful O'Keeffe painting. I know, this isn't a longhorn. But, just pretend.

So, now I must go and find my ring/rings. Adventure in Soho tomorrow - some pretty fun vintage shops that I have in mind. Not, I'm going to begin making paper flowers for the brunch party.

Nature vs. Man Made wedding

Hello readers! Well, no new news today - well, two pieces I guess. One, we've finalized the invitation/announcement post cards, so yay! They'll be printed tomorrow and will hopefully be sent out this weekend. Or next week sometime. We'll see. Once everyone gets their invitation I will post a copy for all to see here. But I don't want to ruin the surprise!!

Second, I was contacted by the Empire State Building publicity people today. Tim and I have to tell our story and other details about our life to them so that they can send it out to different news outlets. Will definitely keep you posted on that! Ha! This is so funny.

Speaking of funny:
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Carmen.
Carmen who?
She'll be Carmen round the mountain when she comes.

There you go Reader who loves knock-knock jokes.

So, the thoughts of this blogger tonight. The opening to the email that I received from the ESB publicity person congratulated me for winning my dream wedding. I thought, is this my dream wedding? In so many ways it is - it's mostly paid for by someone other than me and my parents. It's almost totally planned for me. It's happening in a month, so I can't get too crazy or scared or anxiety ridden. But the cons, Mr. Kitty can't be in attendance (there will be a post completely dedicated to that insanity later). It's indoors. It's February. And we can only have a limited number of people, which sadly, excludes some people that I really love, including some of you readers. If I really thought about a dream wedding - it would have been dwarf/fairy themed outdoors. Now readers, Tim would have gone for the outdoors aspect - the dwarf/fair theme- I know he loves me, but I think his eyebrows may have retreated into his hair at that idea. And seriously, I wouldn't put him through that - can you see Tim in a pointy red cap? Or perhaps dressed as Mr. Tumnus? Me neither. But dappled sunlight and pine and mossy smells? Or leaves rustling in fall brisk breezes? Or the springtime in the botanic garden, with bees (and me) drunk on the dew and pollen of lilac branches - that readers, is what I would miss. But, when it comes down to it, it's not the scenery that I would pay attention to. That is all for the guests I feel. I promise you readers - the only thing that matters is the smiling happy faces of my friends and family and especially seeing Tim.

So, the pros (other than the mostly paid for wedding) is that this is such a truly unique experience. The ESB has an amazing history - which, will be posted at a later date and those of you getting invitations and announcement cards will be getting a pretty cool treat on your postcards. A (an) historic building in a (an) historic city, of course we would want to be a part of it. Who wouldn't? So, this is where we are. We are living in a city, not in the woods or by the ocean (well, kind of by the ocean, but not the craggy ocean like in Maine, or the blue of the Pacific) but in a concrete man made city. And we should be in this time, in this moment, and that is why it makes sense for us to have our wedding in a building of steel and concrete. Maybe we can think of that structure, and how it endured fires and attacks and movies, and King Kong and learn from it. It is still there in spite of King Kong.

Ok. Like I said, not too much to write about that is new tonight but some things on my mind. Tomorrow night, we get to invite two of our lovely friends to the wedding. Here is a picture of Tim with Tim and Amy. They just had their second baby. Tim and I have held both of their children within 24 hours of their birth. That is kind of unbelievable. I'll have to upload the photo tomorrow. Until tomorrow readers. Where maybe we'll have some more news for you all.

'What's in a name?' or 'To hyphenate or not to hyphenate'

So, no useful information tonight. Just some thoughts that I never thought of. Well, I've thought of them, but I guess not with such urgency.

As for the title, oh, where is my wordsmith man? Well, he is being a wordsmith. He is at a poetry reading/workshop at the Princeton Club. And me, well, Mr. Kitty decided that he wanted to watch one of his favorite movies. While he is watching the frivolities of 18th century France, I'm hauling down Tim's copy of The Riverside Shakespeare - the complete works to make sure I had the right quote (the former, not the latter). Oh, and the photo - I was a Renaissance dancer in college - here I am with my beautiful friend, Ashley. So if you didn't put two and two together -

Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of Hell Gate,
he should have old turning the key. [Knock] Knock, knock,
knock! Who's there, i' th' name of Belzebub? . . . [Knock] Knock,
knock! Who's there, in th' other devil's name?

One of our readers wanted knock knock jokes... there you go! The first one courtesy of Macbeth! (well, the porter) (and not really a knock knock joke, just me being a smart arse).

Yesterday, I was told by our contact at the Knot, that my priority was to get the marriage license. That means, I have to think about what my name will be. Initially, I knew that I wanted to change my name and be a Geaghan. Then I thought, what are the pieces of I.D. that I would need to change and then, I had a moment of what the heck would my name be. Not that I would lose my identity or anything. But, I've been Olivia Morales for 30+ years now. It would be a bit weird to just drop it. But, on the other hand, I would move up in the alphabet scale - from M to G. So, I sent out an SOS to three ladies whom have or will be in this dilemma: Sister-in-law Shanna Farmer Morales, her sister Brenna Farmer (soon to be married to a Chu) and my future sister-in-law (although, I have thought of her as a sister for the last 12 years) Traci Snider.

My questions to these lovely ladies?

Me: I'm having a hard time deciding between becoming a Morales-Geaghan or just a Geaghan. Shanna, you are a Morales - are you completely Morales or are you hyphenated at all? Do you keep Farmer for work or anything? Traci, you are a Snider - no more Geaghan? And Brenna, are you going to be Brenna Farmer-Chu or Brenna Chu or Brenna Farmer? Who knew this was such a hard decision!

Shanna filled me in on what pieces of official documentation I would need to change.
Shanna: is now Shanna Farmer Morales. She dropped her middle name and turned it into Farmer. Now her daughter, and my absolutely adorable niece Sophia has her former middle name - Rachelle.

Brenna: Brenna has very good reasons to stay Brenna Farmer - professional licenses, articles, and professional diplomas all say Brenna Farmer...but she will be Brenna Chu in social life. I like this idea - but I only have one article published as Olivia Morales, and again I like the idea of moving up in the alphabet ladder. And since I know Brenna in social life - she will be Brenna Chu to me...

Then, here comes Traci!
Traci: Traci dropped Geaghan and became Traci Snider - but she did consider changing the middle name. She became Snider for the future kids - but worry not readers, kids are quite far away for this one - one thing at a time! It took 12 years to get married. Maybe another 12 for kids! HA! Anyway, back to Traci's advice. I'm just going to copy from the email - Traci if you are reading this, I hope you don't mind.

2. No matter which way you go, hyphen or not, if you modify your name you'll have to change all the documents like Shanna mentioned below. That said, why not consider having fun and plopping in a total surprise? Olivia Michael Jackson Geaghan, for example.
3. On the "legal name" versus "social" name, if you decide to have Geaghan be on your official documents but keep Morales as what you call yourself just be prepared for all kinds of mistakes and confusion when dealing with insurance, businesses, mortgage, etc. Again, lots of people do it, but it can get messy if people don't pay attention to what you are telling them.
4. Final interesting issue that I never realized until working at the hospital: many, many insurance companies will deny medical claims if the names do not match EXACTLY what they have in their database. Hyphenated names are a nightmare most of the time; now this is a very small thing to consider, but I'm just putting it out there!

So here is the freaky part - I woke up this morning thinking about the name change. So, I asked for help on the matter. But what really woke me up was that I thought of what my initials would be if I changed my name to Olivia Morales Geaghan...and here is what Traci said:

Traci: Ok, I'm done with the official listy part. The real answer is this: change your name to Olivia Morales Geaghan because your initials will be OMG. OMG! Think about how often your intials will be texted, spoken, and mentioned in documents across the globe.

And my response? I kid you not readers at 600 this morning:
I was thinking the exact same thing - my initials would be OMG!!!!!!! I think I snickered a little too loudly because Tim opened some angry sleepy eyes at my silliness....

So, we have some time. Any suggestions Readers?? Maybe I should change it to my future roller derby girl name - Dewey Decimator or La Lupe or Rosie Switchblade or something.

Tomorrow, maybe we'll have more news. For now, Mr. Kitty and I will be lost in 18th century France.

Some updates and helpful info.

Hello readers. Looks like we have some information for you.

Our story is now located in the winners circle:

http://global.theknot.com/contests/empire-state-building-wedding/TopStory.aspx

Hooray! It feels official now!!

I will be getting some emails in the next few days re: our life for the next month. The ceremony will be at 2pm on Saturday February 13 at, where else? The Empire State Building!!

Invitations are just about done and we'll send them out early next week. Here's a hint - they are postcards, there is a familiar couple pictured on the front, and there is the Empire State Building...oh, and SNOW!

Timu was super helpful (as always) and together, we came up with hotel/car service/airport info. I know many of you got the email, but I'll copy it here for future reference:

There are two hotels in Brooklyn that do not cost a million dollars. They are both within 5 blocks of each other, and they are both Holiday Inn Expresses: http://www.expressbrooklyn.com/ There is also a Marriott in downtown Brooklyn, right near the bridge, if you’re looking for something a little schmanzier (and pricier—rooms run about 250 a night).
Unfortunately, we are not eligible for group rates anywhere because we do not have ten rooms’ worth of people. The more expensive of the two Holiday Inn Expresses is the Union Street one, with rooms running about 150 a night. The less expensive one is on Butler Street, which is closer to 100 a night. Olivia looked at the Marriott in Jersey City, and found their room prices to be comparable to the Butler St. Holiday Inn Express.

If you do stay in Brooklyn, your best airports to fly into are LGA or JFK. Newark is doable but it takes a long time and you have to ride the air train plus two other public transit systems. JFK will get you into Brooklyn the easiest on public transit, whereas if you do LGA you pretty much have to call a car service. Rates for car services are 30 from LGA and 35 from JFK. It’s a flat rate (plus gratuity) and the service we use is called Eastern: http://www.easterncarservice.com/. Their reservation number is 1.866.499.7177, and you can either arrange to have them pick you up ahead of time or just call once you land. Generally it takes 10 minutes or so for them to come, and they are reliable. I’ve found it doesn’t take much longer for them to show up if I call when I’m there than if I call ahead.

So it begins.

From the title, I'm sure that you readers will see, that the theme of this blog has changed. Last Friday night, Tim and I learned that we were the winners of a contest that I entered. We will be getting married this February 13th at the Empire State Building. 12+ years of life together and less than a month to prepare for a wedding (we've definitely prepared for a marriage). Hooray!

Our family members have been called and for the most part, offer their sincere congratulations and are quite over-the-top excited. I know that this is going to be a memorable day for our families. And as Tim said, this is really the only way that we would get married - totally inconvenient for everyone else and completely unique. Here we go!

Family and friends, keep checking this blog for updates and Tim will be sending out email blasts. I will try to update everyday - partially to keep you all in the loop, but also, to chronicle the fun for you all since you are so far away. Some days may be two posts, like today, when I find out more information for you all. In the mean time, you can go to theknot.com and see our story. Well, the story that won. You have all been part of our lives for so long, so you've shared more than 2000 character max version of our life together.

Ok. To be continued...