Life, Kids, Technology & that move to another continent
Today M and I got a zipcar and drove to Jayson & Gretchen’s for Seth’s 2nd birthday BBQ. We went up early so we could have Jayson take some Engagement photo’s of us at nearby Vasser College. We had fun for the photo shoot but it was really hot out to be in pants!
The BBQ was fun. Lots of little kids, but we did get to meet little Eli for the first time. He and I bonded pretty well!
M and I had a fun time!
Tonight M and I went out to Jersey to visit with 2 photographers we really like. We have looked at a few but they stood out. We liked their photo’s and also liked that they were a team so we would get 2 different angles on the wedding. After meeting with Shelley and Keith we are pretty sold on them. Being the wafflers that we are we are still going to look a little bit further but we seem pretty confident they will be the ones we pick.
We have set the date for the wedding. It will be January 8th, 2012. M and I went with her parents to the View on the Hudson today to show them. They were last people we wanted to see it before signing contracts. With their positive comments along with our own and my mom’s we signed and put in a deposit. We are very excited.
After visiting the venue we went to visit a florist. From there we went to the Hilton nearby that we want to use to get a block of rooms the night before. We had lunch with M’s parents, got some dining room chairs that M’s parents had been holding after being worked and and we headed back home. It was a very productive day.
Today M and I went out to Long Island for a party celebrating her Aunt’s 60th year as a nun. We meet up with her Parents, one of her brothers, her sister in law and 2 nephews. It was an interesting party. It was the first time we saw everyone since we got engaged so that was different.
Being in family photos was a bit different for me since it is a new family for me.
Besides the party I was just happy that a major work release went over well and didn’t cause a distraction durring the day.
Today M and I went back to visit the View on the Hudson with my mom to show her the venue. We still think that venue is the front runner for us. We also had an appointment to another venue that my mom originally recommended that is out on Long Island.
My mom loved the View. After talking it over M and I agreed the View on the Hudson was the place for us. We canceled the last appointment we scheduled later in the day.
We went back to Bayside and had lunch with my mom. After that we got my dad and went to my friend Amy’s BBQ. It was fun. There were lots of people there I hand’t seen in ages. It was also good to introduce M to everyone.
We had a ton of fun. After the BBQ we took the LIRR back to Woodside.
After some research we just launched our wedding website. I settled on a site hosted by WeddingWindow.com. We have tons of information we want to post, but right now it is just a shell. I bought www.mcandscott.com for us to use. No date has been set for the wedding yet but we are aiming for Winter 2011/12. Once we have more information I am sure I will be blogging about it.
Today after work M and I took a ride to brooklyn to check out another venue for the wedding. We looked at Giando’s on the water. Overall it was a great place. The view was fantastic of the bridge and the Manhattan skyline. We weren’t super sold on the ballroom layout and some other details. At first I thought that the View on the Hudson and Giando’s were contenders but after talking with M we both agreed Giando’s was not the place for us even if it was really cool.
Walking back to the subway we decided to goto Dressler for dinner. It was a fantastic meal. Then we headed home.
Today was a very busy day. It was our first day of research for wedding venues. M had done a ton of research and we narrowed down our list to 3 places north of Manhattan. M’s parents were meeting up with us to visit 2 of the 3 locations so we were really excited.
The first place was the FEAST at Round Hill. We both liked it, and we left the venue having generally good thoughts about it.
The second venue was the Clubhouse at Patriot Hills. The ballroom was really nice, and the view was great but otherwise we weren’t that sold on the location so we passed on it.
We ate lunch with M’s folks at the clubhouse and then we headed off to our 3rd venue. At first we weren’t going to even go, because I was fighting a migraine and already took meds for it. After lunch i was feeling a bit better and the venue was on the way home so we figured it was worth it to swing by and check it out. We were both glad we did.
The last location was the View on the Hudson. M and I both liked it. it had a great ball room that the first location was missing, it had a spectacular view of the hudson river and overall it was a good venue. We both left knowing that was the place to beat in our search for a venue.
Today was a huge day for me. It was the day I moved into M’s apartment. We had been planning to move in together since mid April but with our planned vacations in May it really wasn’t feasible to plan a move until June. i had been packing for weeks. I was very excited for the move but also a bit nervous since it was my first time moving in with someone since college. That wasn’t the only reason for being nervous. With all the moving craziness aside (and there was a decent amount of it) I also proposed to M.
She knew I was thinking about it. We had talked about it. We went to do some research at a jeweler while we were in DC. She also knew i went with my mom to the jeweler last weekend to look for a ring. I dropped a little mis-direction earlier in the week when I told M that i didn’t find anything I liked when in fact I found the perfect ring. I was originally going to propose one weekend in July if we went away. My sister gave me the idea of doing it when we moved in, since she wouldn’t be expecting it. i thought about it a lot and had a great idea on how to do it, so all I needed was the ring.
My mom brought that to me yesterday since I couldn’t get back to the jeweler before the weekend.
The proposal was very simple. I was only really nervous when i tried to run through what i wanted to say in my head before hand. Otherwise i was surprised that i wasn’t totally going crazy.
Once the apartment was in decent shape we got dressed to go out to dinner and celebrate our finishing the move. Before we went I gave her a huge hug and said there was only one way for this day to be any better. At that point I went to go down on one knee. What was funny was M wouldn’t let me go from the hug so I brought her down halfway to the ground before i got her to let go and then I pulled out the ring to propose. She said yes obviously or else I wouldn’t be writing about it now. My mission was a success and she was totally caught by surprise.
We then went out to celebrate our moving in and the engagement at the great sushi place by the apartment.
Even though it was only a few days after we got back from our European vacation Friday we were off to DC for the weekend. M had a baby shower for her cousin and I thought it would be a good weekend getaway even if I was just going to hang out somewhere during the shower.
Friday night we took the train down and went to a nice Italian restaurant near the hotel we were staying at.
Saturday we meet up with M’s friends Katie and Kevin for brunch. It was only the second time I had met them we had a great time. After brunch walking back to the hotel we ran into M’s friend Mary Beth. What was so funny was we were having dinner with her that night but stumbling upon her was unexpected. We talked a bit and then hung out at the hotel. it was a fantastic day and we found some couches out in the shade on the Hotel property. We just read, and did some research on my iPad. I am thinking M may need her own iPad after seeing how much she wanted to use mine for browsing. We then meet up with Mary Beth again for dinner. We had a fun time at dinner.
This morning M went to the shower after we had breakfast at the hotel. I hung out at the hotel a bit before heading to Union Station to kill time till our train home. I sat at Starbucks using the free wifi a bit then walked around, then had lunch at Uno’s in Union Station.
The return trip since the price wasn’t much more we opted for the Acela Express vs the regular Amtrak. It saved some time and I always like the Acela. I am a fan of cool trains.
It was a short trip but we had a good time. We both really enjoy DC and it is also really nice that M has tons of friends who live there.