The Wedding Roast... err... toast

"I've got the microphone and you don't,
SO YOU WILL LISTEN TO EVERY DAMN WORD I HAVE TO SAY!"

- The Wedding Singer
My husband loves an audience. Loves. An. Audience. And he got one this past weekend when he gave the toast for his sister's wedding. Dan + microphone + captive yet drunk audience = his idea of the best day ever.
Oh yeah, and it was also nice for him to see his sister get married.

Emily and her hubby Dan looked so happy. Yep, her hubby has the same name as her brother. And, yep, my Dan worked that into his speech. He also worked in playful jibes about her being a vegetarian ("I wish you a long marriage filled with love and absolutely no... chicken, steak, or pork"). There was even a long-running joke about her obsession with the New Kids on the Block as a kid. He went so far as to read a fake congratulations e-mail from NKOTB's Jordan in a crazy Boston accent during his speech. Wicked funny. It brought down the house.

If Dan's the funny one in our relationship, I guess I'm more... detail oriented. I just have to share some of the sweet touches from this wedding.
First, the venue. They chose the Valentine Museum's courtyard. Here's where they said their vows. Dan and I got there an hour early, so I snapped a bunch of pictures before the guests arrived:




Emily had a welcome table with black and white wedding photos of all her family members.

Pretty shot of one of the tables and, of course, the cake:

I loved the wild flowers in the mason jars. Dan and I were the "take the gifts to the car people" and when we were packing, my MIL said I could keep a few of the jars. I'll be "pinteresting" mason jars soon to see what I can do with all of them.





Emily came up with her purple and green color scheme because most of the flowers growing in the garden were those colors. Practical and pretty, no?





Okay, enough details! Time to meet the happy couple:

Em didn't really like the idea of having a troupe of matching bridesmaids, so instead she let her two closest friends pick their own dresses. She's pretty much the opposite of a Bridezilla, and you know these girls love her for it. One of the bridesmaids even joked about her laidback attitude by making her a shirt for the bachelorette party that with these words on the front:

Please stop calling it "my special day".

The back of the shirt? It said, "No, I haven't been dreaming of this day all my life." It was freaking hilarious, given that we know Emily is pretty low key about this whole thing.

Dan walking his mom down the aisle. I love this picture of her so happy.


Not a dry eye in the house:

Afterwards, we had crabcakes, pecan chicken, and squash ravioli while sitting around the courtyard. The wedding planner packed a few boxes of leftovers in our car afterwards, and since the bride and groom left immediately on their honeymoon, we got to keep it. All of that food made for a rock ass lunch the next day :)

This is the last picture I took before it got too dark and we started drinking /dancing in a giant circle. (Sidenote: I think it's so fun and cheesy and great when people make a dance circle at weddings and then people jump in the center one at a time and cheer on each other like they're on Soul Train. It's awesome.)

Do they look happy or what?

Equally as happy as a certain other Dan I know, who retorically asked me after the wedding, "Everyone thought my speech was funny, huh??"

It was his special day, after all.

Just do it #15: Turn 30 in style!

So... I turned 30 this past Friday. And you know how I was kinda worried about this birthday? It ended up being fabulous! I spent the weekend...

* seeing a new city

* hanging out with senior citizens

* eating in a haunted house

* feeding alligators

* partying at a piano bar

* and puking

Woo hoo to my thirties!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

Anyway, Dan and I made the trek down to Savannah late Thursday because I had dentist and doctor appointments during the day. After an 8+ hour car ride and finally crashing in a Super 8, we were tired and cranky. I was feeling a little low about turning 30 the next day for a few reasons too long to go into now (though looking at myself in the flourescently lit mirror and feeling ugly and finding one strand of hair that had turned all wiry and gray probably didn't help.)

But then, the next day we awoke to perfect weather, drove to the beautiful B & B, and had the most fantastic day ever! We pulled up to this house:

I can't say enough about the Catherine Ward House. It had a stunning interior straight out of Southern Living magazine:

We dropped our stuff off in the top room of the guest house, which was the most chic, comfortable room we've ever stayed in. I mean, we're used to Super 8, people. A double shower? Robes? Working fireplace? Flatscreen behind two way mirror? I think we're officially spoiled for a lifetime.

Our room had a private balcony with a view of the courtyard: I just had to snap pictures of all the pretty touches, so forgive the constant flower pictures in this post.

Loved the little koi pool they had...

The B & B was located about a block and a half from Forsyth park, where I completely fell in love with Savannah:

How can you not love a city that is a postcard snapshot at every turn?

We grabbed lunch and walked through all the squares. And no, there is no end to Dan's penchant for cheesy photo ops...

The below picture is in front of the Mercer House, where the murder took place in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We listened to the book on tape on the way down to make the time go by faster, and it wasn't until we listened to the author's interview at the end that we realized it was a true story.

Don't worry, the over-the-top southern drawl on the book on tape caused Dan to use a car-razy Savannah accent the entire time we were here, a la Michael Scott during the episode of The Office where he hosts a murder mystery party in "Savannah". The joke wore thin after his hundredth, "I do declare..."

Anyway, after walking around for a while, we went on the Savannah Home Tour, an annual spring event. When we stood in line to check out the first house, Dan nudged me and whispered, "Look around! We're the youngest ones here!" Let's just the majority of people interested in architecture and home design would have received a senior citizen discount. But I didn't care. I relax after school by checking out every design blog out there, so touring extraordinary houses is my idea of a good time.

Unfortunately, there was a strict no camera policy, even on the exteriors, but trust me, the homes were gorgeous. My favorites were the ones that were classic brick and wrought iron details on the outside, but when you enter they were Domino modern. There was one kooky mansion that had bright lime green walls and a coffee table made out of books and the craziest artichoke light fixture I've ever seen.

After the home tour, Dan and I went to Leopold's classic parlor for banana fosters ice cream as this trip was one big eat-a-thon and toured around some more.

Later that night, Dan and I ate at the Old Pink House, a Savannah restaurant known for three things: being on the Food Network show The Best Thing I Ever Ate, the pepto bismal pink exterior, and having a 212 year old ghost who, according to legend, is still seen by the occasional cook. I'll go into the meal on my next post, but let me just say it was absolutely amazing. And fattening. Pure Savannah decadence.

And we finished my birthday by going to a piano bar where we sang along as the dueling pianists banged out "Sweet Home Alabama" and Sir Mixalot's "Baby got back". Classy.

I'm usually not much of a drinker, but Dan coaxed me (peer pressured me?) to try a few of the "Savannah shooters", which got me hammered. We walked the mile back to our B & B still singing and drinking from our "travelers", with us commenting how awesome it was to be in a city where you can actually finish your drink on the walk home.

Yeah... two hours later I regretted having that traveler. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, people. I got so sick. I was curled up in the fetal position. I wanted to die.

But then I was like, "WOO HOO! I THREW UP ON MY THIRTIETH! I'M STILL YOUNG AND IMMATURE!!"

Best. birthday. ever.

My favorite resolution ever!

Happy 2011! Hope everyone had a great NYE!

Our last days of freedom before returning for the longest Monday ever today was wonderful! Also, we came up with the best resolution for this year, so I just wanted to share.

The weekend started on Thursday when I celebrated my friend Kate's 30th on the 30th (notice the oh-so-classy tiara her hubby made her sport for the picture.) The next night, Dan and I used a gift card for a decadent meal out and stopped by one of his friend's NYE party.

Determined to follow through on new New Year's traditions, we made waffles, eggs, and sausage for brinner on New Year's Day. I freakin' love brinner. This idea developed from a wedding I went to once (holla, Laura!) where the bride and groom served brinner because "you have breakfast at the start of something new." Since they were starting their married life together, it fit perfectly. Such a sweet sentiment. And waffles. Love it. Thus, a new year's day tradition is born for this family of two.

We also started the new tradition of buying a scratcher lotto ticket since we were feeling lucky.

Before scratching:
The million dollar ticket:


After scratching:

Wah Wah Waaaahhh. Not sure if this tradition will stick.

Dan and I went to our neighborhood coffee shop on the 1st and got around to the subject of New Year's resolutions. As mentioned a year ago today, I'm wary about making them. You see, January is one of the longest months in middle school land, filled with cranky students, 18 week tests, and bleary-eyed teachers. It just goes on and on and on. And that resolution to, say, give up eating the occasional resource room doughnut goes to hell in the first week. I've learned from past experience that trying to overhaul my life in January would be a total fail.

Basically, I don't want to feel like this next January:

(Hmmm... Maybe my resolution should be to stop using Someecards as a lazy attempt to add wit to every blogpost. Just a thought.)

Instead, I usually come up with one small, fun resolution, like "take more photos" or "dress up more often". This year, I was out of ideas. Then, Dan told me about his two:

* Lose some weight.

and...

* Try a new Richmond restaurant each month

My first thought: Ummm... those two resolutions are completely contrary to one another.

My second thought: Sign me up for the second one!

Dan then casually mentioned, "You should turn this into a 'just do it' challenge for your blog. You know, we can gorge ourselves, and then you can write about it. " Love this man.

So, my Just do it challenge #14 is... Try 12 new restaurants in 12 months!

This challenge fits us for three reasons:

1. Dan and I can get into a rut when it comes to restaurants. Case in point: my favorite Vietnamese place actually knows me by name... even when I'm simply calling in my order. It goes like this:
Me: "Hi! I'd like to order the sesame chicken with brown rice and broccoli."
Restaurant owner: "Hi, Christen! How are you?"

2. I figure this will be a fun way to prove that Richmond can hold its own when it comes to restaurants. Take that, big cities. :)

3. I actually think this may help us save more money. On tighter months, we can be creative and do breakfast or tapas somewhere in lieu of dinner. Also, Dan and I want to cut back on picking up $20 take-out dinners constantly when we're too tired to cook, and instead save up our pennies for a nicer monthly meal.

We already have done our homework by buying a Richmond Magazine and checking out the new restaurants in town, like:

Fancy pants places, like Amuse:

Realllly low budget places, like Nate's Taco Truck (famous for his spicy hot chocolate):
Restaurants known for their masterpiece desserts, like The Empress:

This is one resolution I may actually keep.
I'll keep you posted!

Amuse picture from here, image of Nate from here, and dessert image from Empress website