I Still Do

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary!  Right at this moment 5 years ago, we were standing up at the alter saying our vows.  I still get butterflies in my stomach thinking about it and still laugh when I think about our priest blowing up balloon animals! 

Okay, they were hearts and other symbols but same thing.  The best part about it was that we knew he used to be a stand-up comedian in NYC and magician prior to becoming a priest (big leap if you ask me) and we always joked with my parents that wouldn't it be funny if he broke out into routine during the ceremony.  You can imagine my shock when he pulled out the balloons but really I was giddy.  You can see my reaction on the video - I had been sitting straight as a rod, couldn't mess up my dress you know, but those balloons came out and I fall back into the chair and my mouth drops.  I wanted nothing more than to call out to my parents in the first row and say - Oh my God, we SAID this would happen!!!  I smile just thinking about it.  The other funny incident that no one really knew about was that my dad walked my mom down the aisle at the beginning of the ceremony and forgot about me!  He sat down to wait for everything to start.  It wasn't until my neice, Mallory, tapped him on the shoulder and said, aren't you supposed to get Laura?  He jumped up and scrambled back to get me.  You can also see this on the video.  I love it! 

Overall, it was a wonderful and really HOT day.  The humidity was ridiculous and it didn't help that it rained a little (with the sun still shining so it was okay!).  The rain did force us to change our plans on where we were going to get our pictures taken in between the ceremony and reception.  We were planning on going to a beautiful botanical garden but we were afraid the grass would be too soaked to walk through so at the last minute, we changed to the Toledo Museum of Art. 

The pictures were nice but not what we really wanted.  The only other big bummer of the day was that the florist really did not follow through on anything we had discussed.  My bouquet was supposed to be all dark purple roses - it was pink.  Our cake was multi-tiered and was to have a layer of rose petals in between each tier (picture a LOT of petals).  She scattered a few here and there but definitely not how the photo I gave her looked.  And finally, she swapped out our centerpiece vases  - which were supposed to only be medium height so diners could see across the tables with an unobstructed view - with super tall vases that looked ridiculous.  She thought they would look better.  She thought wrong.  BUT....I shouldn't even think about that because the day couldn't have been better. 

The wedding cake may not have looked like much since it was missing the petal tiers but was to die for taste wise. 

I had gone to cake tastings where they were so frou froued up, they tasted like garbage.  Some even told me point blank - this frosting isn't edible!  Really?  Then why do I want it on my cake.  Give me good old fashioned crunchy buttercream, I say!  And good old fashioned crunchy buttercream is what I got from Wixey's Bakery in Toledo.  They too screwed up our order but it wasn't that big of a deal.  One inner frosting layer was supposed to be cream cheese and the other raspberry but I think one of the layers had an inner layer of something citrus.  I can handle that.  My brother even told me it was the best wedding cake he'd ever had.  I don't take compliments from my brother lightly.  Dinner was even good too for a hotel.  In fact, most of the filet mignons served were steakhouse quality. 

The dance floor was PACKED all night.  In a stroke of genius on my part, Bill and I were introduced in the ballroom after cocktail hour (we were so busy talking to everyone that we didn't even get to try any of the hors d'oeuvres!) to Jermaine Dupri's "Let's Get Married."  For those of you who don't know it, it's basically a dance mix about getting married.  Bill and I came out dancing which I think set the tone for the entire night.  Our DJ told us afterwards that he had never done a wedding that had that many people dancing all night.  I think it was because we had 100 or so younger people who to this day still like to go out dancing.  Even my dad got out on the dance floor and that never happens.  Bill's mom taught me this Filipino line dance that women do so I surprised his family with playing the song for that and asked that they all come up on the dance floor.  I thought this would be the only time I danced it but his mom played the song again at a second reception she threw for us in St. Louis a few months later.  I was just thankful I still remembered it.

The one other thing I really liked about our wedding were the favors we gave to everyone.  It was a little box that held a Filipino rice cookie - they came from an Asian bakery in California - and an Ohio State buckeye - a peanut butter ball dipped in chocolate that I made with the help of a small army.  I thought this was a perfect representation of us.

The day after our wedding we left for St. Lucia for our honeymoon.  

AMAZING.  We called it Heaven on Earth.  We went to Ti Kaye resort and stayed in our own private cottage, with our own private pool, overlooking the Caribbean Ocean.  This is our cottage right in the center and another shot of our front porch with the pool in the background.

Other perks were snokling right off the private beach, hour long massages in our room, a picnic basket full of goodies and wine while watching the sun set, sailing at sunset on a 40' sailboat with hors d'oeuvres and champagne, a trip into town to see a live volcano and swim in hot springs and a 3 course dinner by candlelight each night.  We always said we'd go back for our 5 year anniversary but obviously plans change and that's okay with me. 

We're celebrating by going out to dinner tonight AND tomorrow night - babysitters two nights in a row!  At the end of the month we're going to Chicago for a night (my parents are coming in to babysit Audrey ~ our first overnight away from her!) to eat at Alinea.  Click here to read about our night.  Granted it's only been 5 years but Bill and I are still madly in love, have a wonderful little girl in our lives and are happier now than we've ever been.  Life is good.

How Does Your Garden Grow

We finally did it - we have an herb garden.  Okay fine, not so much a GARDEN in the traditional sense but a nice row of plants.  Same diff and I'm still proud of ourselves.....okay again, not so proud of US exactly but happy that my parents brought these to us the last time they visited (save the NEW mint plant that Bill's dad brought us.  We managed to quickly kill the last one).  In any event, we have the herbs and they are so much more convenient than buying them each week at the store.  We are now the owners of mint, rosemary, basil, thyme, Italian parsley, oregano, sage, dill and chives.  We stayed away from cilantro because I have yet to meet anyone who can actually keep it alive.  If you have been successful, please tell us how.  I'm a little worried about our plants because they bake in the sun all day.  I know the little info card that came with them says "Full Sun" but the basil and parsley aren't looking good.  I also water them everyday and I'm not sure I'm supposed to.  Maybe I'm drowning them??  For something that's basically a weed, these things frustrate me.  We don't have a good track record with keeping foliage alive (see above mint plant comment) so wish us luck!