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Happy Easter Everyone!
Had lots of fun dyeing 7 eggs today, I used some pastel food coloring I had on hand, and I really like the colors they produced! The fun lasted for about an hour, then the colorful Easter Eggs turned into egg salad sandwhiches! ^___^
What a gorgeous day! This morning I awoke to the sights and sounds of spring, finally! Out my window the Robins were out early looking for food, while the resident birds in a tree nearby sang songs of the coming season. The weather was too perfect to stay inside, so I was finally able to take my new bike out for a spin! What a treat!
Ice Ice and more Ice!
Went outside in the icestrom today to snap some pictures, look at all that ice! This poor tree banch is trapped inside a thick layer of ice.
I must say I’m sorry for the sporadic post about my marriage, I wanted to let everyone know and at the same time I had a lot of ends to tie up after the event. Boy, weddings take a lot out of you, even small ones! So what happened to the big wedding? We were all in the middle of planning the event, looking at ceremony sites, cake bakers, dresses, and everything that comes with it. I really and truly thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I was putting so much pressure on myself and on the event that it was taking away from the true meaning of what a wedding should be. After endless phone calls and talks with Q, we decided that a big wedding just wasn’t for us. And it never was for us, we always talked about if we were to be married, it would be small and intimate. I guess like most girls, the wedding bug bit me and I ran with it. I couldn’t believe how I changed my ideas and views on the wedding so quickly, ad after ad suggesting I go with this or that… but thankfully I came back to my senses and we both agreed on the wedding.
The dress, as you have seen, was homemade. Finished Saturday night at the stroke of midnight, hemmed the next day. The cake was homemade and organic, made on Sunday, and packed up at night in a makeshift box.
We had a very intimate and small ceremony in the garden of a historic Tudor-style mansion. It was just the two of us. We invited no one, and had only a very close friend come to be our photographer, his wife (my quilting friend!) took video and helped with things (as well as giving us the sweetest gift ever, a picture of us with pressed flowers from her garden!), and his three little girls were our (extremely cute) impromptu flower girls. We escorted each other down the pathway, to meet our officiant, and there, amidst lilacs and azaleas, old trees and clover patches, we said our vows, and were married.
I couldn’t be happier, and it feels great to be married! Now most of the “Oh really? What? When? Huhs!?” have calmed down, suitcase unpacked, house cleaned, and now I am just taking a huge sigh of relief that everything went well, and am looking forward to going back to normal, everyday, non wedding related tasks. Well, except for attempting to scrapbook the whole thing, which I will openly admit, I am horrible at!
The beloved cherry blossoms have come and gone. For the two or so weeks they were here, they were fantastic! Thankfully they bloomed before this weeklong frost we are having, that is taking out flowers left and right. During the puffy blooming flower peak, Q and I got the urge to take pictures. Engagement pictures. Oh what an idea that was (In Q’s defense it was all my idea!), waking up super early to beat the crowds at the tidal basin (yes, that tidal basin, with the thousands and thousands of blossom watchers), manned with a camera, tripod, and change of outfit. We decided to take the pictures ourselves, because Q is excellent at snapping photos, and a professional is around a gazillion dollars. I have never been so embarrassed! In the morning the crowds were not horribly bad, but everyone had to stop and “ooohhh aaahhhh” as we set the timer and ran to a bench to kiss. -_-. It was a lot of fun though, setting up cheesy poses and finding spots that were free of people and heavy on trees! We saw a few other couples taking engagement pictures, and one photographer even took a few pictures of us after noticing what we were doing! It was a long, long day but we got some very cute pictures and ate some good food! I made reservations at Michel Richards’ Central, which I have been eyeing since it opened. I was not disappointed! We had a fantastic lunch, complete with Crème Brule and a “Kit Kat” bar. But the picture taking was not over, not yet! A trip down to Old Town finished the day with a few snapshots in alleyways, backyards, and by the waterfront. Finally the tripod fell with the camera on it, almost in slow motion as I yelled “ooooohhhhh nooooooooo” and just watched it fall. Photo-shoot over! (The camera is okay by the way!)
Okay, I am going to try and do this the best I can. I am horrible at writing stories, so lets call this a rough rough draft! ^_^ (also, Q made note that some of the times might be off, but we can't remember!)
February 13th, the day before Valentines Day. Q woke me up before he left, something like 6:00am, to tell me that we are going on a trip to Chicago! I was very excited, and things were running around in my head as he explained the details. We were set to leave the next day (Vday), at 10:00am and arrive in Chicago to our very French ‘Sofitel’ hotel. I went back to sleep, only to be awoken by my phone ringing. It was Q, telling me that our flight had been pushed back later in the afternoon, so he changed the take off date to today!! I ran out the bedroom in a shock, trying to see if I had laundry done, suitcases ready, and things planned. I didn’t, so I got started on a few things. One of them was Q’s Valentines Day present. He loves éclairs, so I was going to make him a batch on the day, but that got a little changed so I rushed into the kitchen to get started. 4 hours later I had (very odd looking) pink éclairs, and Q home to pack. We started to get worried with the weather. Ice, snow, and cold weather everywhere! I caught a glimpse on the TV of the Chicago O’Hare airport closed, but I figured it would reopen later after the runway was prepared.
We arrived at the airport a few hours early so we could settle in, and we noticed the panic already on people’s faces. Nothing was going anywhere. The Midwest was having the worst ice storm they have seen in some time, and it was heading into the Mid-Atlantic and northeast. I asked the flight staff about delays, and our flight was delayed until 8:00pm, and I was informed that our stopover in Knoxville might be an overnight stay. Being the optimists that we are, we grabbed a seat and waited it out, hoping that things would clear up. While waiting, we met many nice people who were stranded and being passed from airport to airport. Some people had spent the night in an airport in the southwest, only to be boarded onto a plane and taken to another airport to spend the night in. I started to get nervous, but Q was strong as a rock, already planning out our next moves. The announcement was broadcast that indeed the airport was closed, and there would be a ‘meeting’ to decide what would leave. An hour later, all flights cancelled. Q looked at me and told me that he just rented a car and we are driving to Chicago.
I didn’t think he was serious. We ran to the rental car office to pick up our car, while I started to get REALLY nervous. Roads are closed, states had declared emergencies, and it looked like the artic outside. Q was unstoppable. We got a Saturn SUV and off we went to what seemed like our certain death. It was now 5:30, and we thought it would take about 10-11 hours to reach our destination. Our GPS and friends said otherwise, but I was only concerned with arriving alive. The roads were horrible, nothing was cleaned or prepared, and it was snowing and sleeting faster than the windshield wiper could handle! A little bit north, into Maryland, the small roads were terrible, and we went about 25-30mph for a good hour or so. Time was passing, but it seemed that we were going nowhere. Darkness fell, as did the snow, and our GPS started to go bonkers. Our backup was Google searching the directions on our phone! I read out the directions as Q struggled with the roads. There was no giving up, he was a man determined. I kept telling him it was okay, we could go another time, we could wait it out, no, we were making it there no matter what! A few hours pass and we are still in Maryland.
The road signs were snowed and frozen over, no line in the road was visible, and some cars and trucks lined the road. Sometime between the scary icy hills and “Are we going the right way?” talks, I fell asleep. Q kept driving, and driving, and we finally hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This is where things went from bad to worse. The turnpike was terrible!! We were in the heart of the storm, and no one, not even emergency crews, would fight the storm. I tried to read off the directions the best we could, we could hardly see the signs, had to judge distance, etc, and another 2 hours later, we were certain we had taken a wrong turn somehow. I called my friend from Pennsylvania and she guided us through the signs, Google earth’d our route, to be sure we were on the right track. We were, and boy did we have a long, long way to go. I drifted back off to sleep and when I woke, I thought we were going to die. I can’t even describe the view I saw looking out the window. Trucks and cars were lined up on the side (or what seemed like the side) of the road. We were driving down the middle on the road, in between lanes, and there were big, open fields on either side of us. The wind was roaring, blowing snow over the car in spurts. We were all alone on the road, and literally hundreds of vehicles were pulled over or had jack knifed on the road. But we kept going. The car would start to shake and sway with every blow of wind. I have never seen anything like it. It must be what its like to drive at night in the windy artic tundra. I thought we were going to blow over, and it never seemed to end. Q did an amazing job, and I will never doubt his driving skills again! Finally we got out of the horrifying danger zone, and stopped to get some water. The truck stop was closed! No one was there, it was creepy!
We got back on the road, and again, I fell asleep. When I awoke, we were past Pittsburg, where we were going to stop for the night, but we were already in Ohio now. It was almost 2:00am, and again, I thought we were going to die. The windshield was completely frosted over!!! I couldn’t see a thing, and looking over at Q, he had his head down near the steering wheel trying to see out of a small patch of clear window. He stopped in the middle of the road; it didn’t matter, and cleaned the window of ice. It didn’t make much of difference, as we drove the window froze over and over again. On the radio we heard that there was a travel ban on I-80 and I-81, the roads we were just on!! That explained a lot. I should have learned to not fall asleep, since every time I woke up we were in peril! But, I did fall asleep, and Q was the one who woke up me. It was morning, about 5:00am, and Q looked bad. His eyes were red, body sore, and looked so tired. But he kept driving. I know why he wanted me awake; when I looked over he was nodding off! So I started doing what I do best, talking! Time started to pass a little faster, since the sun was out, people were out, and the roads were better the closer we got to Chicago. Finally, at 10:30am, we arrived in Chicago.
It took almost 17 hours nonstop, but we had finally made it. The hotel was beautiful, a sight for sore eyes. We checked in, stretched our legs, and checked out our room. Room 2001, with a view of the city. I was ecstatic. It was Valentines Day, we had traveled almost a full day to get here, and I was still in shock over what we have just done. The most impressive thing about the room was bathroom. A huuuuuuge marble shower that was calling my name. Bouncing around the room, I settled on the windowsill to look at the view and the snow just started to fall. At that moment, Q turned to me and purposed. I was in shock, and just hugged him and wouldn’t let go! Honestly I felt a little sick too, hah! I said yes yes yes! I was a perfect ending to our crazy road trip, and something I will always remember!
After a long long hot shower, we went down to the café to grab a quick breakfast, our first hot meal in what seemed like forever! I swear I had the best croissant I have ever had in my whole life. Maybe it was the ring, who knows, but it was so so good. I was still in shock, and looked at my ring every five seconds, just to make sure it was real. It really happened; I was engaged to the man that I love. After breakfast, we took a long nap, and awoke to the city as future husband and wife!
Phew! That was a workout! A few extra notes, we ate dinner at “Vermillion”, a Latin/Indian fusion restaurant, for their “Aphrodisiac Menu”. It was fantastic, very romantic! After dinner we went to see the Jeoffry Ballet perform “The Green Table” which was also fantastic! A nice touch by the hotel, the doorman asked why I was so happy, so I told him what happened, and he said we needed champagne! I agreed and asked the front desk where I could buy some. The concierge overheard and sent up a bottle of champagne, chocolate, and a beautiful flower! It was awesome!!!
One last crazy thing, we got a call that our flight out of DC to Chicago was cancelled indefinitely, so we would have been stuck for a long, long time! The TV showed coverage of the airports all over DC, people stranded, stuck, and no flight in sight for them. They also covered the major disaster on the Turnpike; they declared the travel ban and closed all exits. People were stranded in their cars for almost 3 days. We were just a few hours away from being one of them. Our trip was over, and we headed to the airport where we encountered delay after delay on our flight, plane and gate changes, and finally got on our plane! It was terrible though, when they changed planes, they were short about 20 seats, and people had to wait until the morning to fly out! They split up couples and it became a mad dash to get seats and fly out (They told us we had 5 minutes to take off or we had to wait until the morning!). I slept the whole way (I sleep a lot, hah!) and Q told me it was a good thing I did, as the runway was a snow covered ice fest, and it was a rough landing. We arrived home to roads not plowed, and a sheet of ice so thick atop the snow we couldn’t even make a dent into it with our car!
(The pic above is our celebratory champagne cupcake from a local cupcake shop in Chicago!)
I'm engaged!!!! I'll post the (crazy funny) story soon, but I had to share the happy news!!!
I snapped this picture last year, and thought it was just tooo cute to keep to myself! They are two baby Alpacas stealing a kiss! I love Alpacas, they are one of my favorite animals!!
Welcome visitors of CuteOverload.com !! Thank you for choosing my picture to be CUTE!! ^_^
