Honeymoon day 7 (10/1/2006)

We were both getting tired of Disney. But luckily we had bought tickets earlier in the week to the House of Blues (Orlando) Gospel Brunch. Food, gospel music, good venue? How could it be bad? It wasn't, it was amazing. I was moved. I'm not really all that into the whole God thing, as most people know, but I was touched and I would have to say that if church was like this, I'd go once maybe twice a month. The food was good too...The cornbread muffins, which were laced with some peppers, were quite tasty. It was a mixture of Sunday Brunch type food, and southern comfort food (creole, bbq, etc). They had us get up, dance, clap our hands and do what the spirit moved us to do. It was something else.

Before and after, we went to the Disney arcade, called Disney Quest. They had classics there, and newer modern games, including some VR games...which...we tried...or at least tried to try. I don't know if it was the head gear or the vision or what, but most of the VR games made me feel like someone was stabbing me in the back of the head, so we avoided them. After we got tired of playing video games (and it got crowded, we called it an early day and went home to pack. We spent most of the rest of the day being lazy.

We did discover, however, that in all that we bought, we didn't have enough space in our luggage and carry ons to actually pack all of the things that we had. Even trimming the fat where we could, we still didn't have near enough room, so I wandered over to the gift shop and bought another suitcase...a nice disney one too *sigh* Oh well, we were able to bring back all the things, which is good.

We went to our final Dinner at the Maya Grill, and we were so full from brunch (even eating as late as we were), we didn't even make it through the main course before we had to throw in the towel.

We went back to the room and finished packing.

We took a paltry 18 photos on the 7th day.

Honeymoon day 6 (9/30/2006)

On Saturday September 30th, we took it easy, and woke up relatively late, compared to the rest of the week. We decided to cover the things that we had missed (cause of lines or time) and go back to the parks to do this.

First up, was the Animal Kingdom. We wandered around the Tree of Life, which had many shapes of animals blended into it, which was pretty cool looking. We went into the Bug's life 3D show, which was actually pretty neat. They also had smell, touch and water effects.

We headed to the Asia area to see if we could ride expedition everest again, but the line was just way to long, and we weren't planning to stay in the park, so we didn't get a fast pass.

We then headed to Dinoland...or whatever it was called, and we saw Pooh and Eyeore. We both love Pooh, so we had to stop to get our pictures taken with them. We got Eyeore first, and while we were doing that Pooh apparently was a bit of a randy bear and kept hitting on the group of young ladies and trying to sneak off with them. It was quite funny. After the disney photographer lured him back with the promise of honey, we were able to get our picture taken.

In Dinoland they had a silly ride or two about going back in the past and seeing dinosaurs, one indoors, one more like a carnival ride.

We headed to the Mickey and Minnie camp, which is apparently a great place to get your picture taken with disney characters. We got pictures with Goofy and Donald and then headed out of the park.

We then headed to Epcot to have some lunch. Epcot, due to the food and wine fest, I suppose, was quite busy. So we walked through a few places without stopping and one that we did, it took so long for them to even talk to us (which they actually never did, by the time we left), that we took off. We ended up in a sort of hidden restaurant called Marrakesh in the Morocco area of Epcot.

The building was done in a middle eastern style with many columns and arches and designs in the walls. It actually had the coolest bathroom door I have ever seen (I even took a picture). But we were favored a good meal (there is, as it has been proven to me, good food at Disney world, but there is also really crappy food too).

So we started off with a puff pastry with a chicken meat mixture on the inside. It was an interesting combination of powdered sugar, chicken and spices and pastry. Certainly worth having again. I seriously thought about getting the cookbook they had there. It crumbled in your mouth. I had lamb as my main course and Shannon had a chicken dish. Mine was fairly evenly spiced, but fairly lightly, but the lamb remained very good. Shannon's chicken was a bit thicker in the spice with a delightful mixture. But the highlight of the meal for me had to be the iced green tea with mint. It was fantastic. If it was sweetened, it was just barely. So the combination of bitter and mint was just wonderful. I'm gonna have to make that.

While we were eating, two people came out to play music, which was lively. In their second or third song, a belly dancer came out to entertain the crowd. It was actually pretty good.

After a bit more wandering, we headed out of Epcot, and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Shannon wanted to see the lighted parade, and we figured, since our local restaurant had a 45 minute wait, we thought we might have better luck at the Magic Kingdom. We went to the three sit down restaurants in the magic kingdom, and well, all of them said they had no space, they were only serving by reservations. This kinda pissed me off, considering the second restaurant that we came to was half empty. Yes yes, I know they say to make reservations, but I personally think you should always reserve a small portion for walk up clients, even if they have to wait for quite a while...but that's just me.

So we went to one of the quick service places, which smelled awful (it was a fried fish and chicken place), so we headed a bit further down the road to go to a burger and fries type of place. This is a prime example of their overpriced nasty food. If we would've paid for the meal it would've been probably some where between 30 or 40 dollars (we used our food plan). It was worse then food that I could get at a Wendy's or Burger King or the like. Apparently you can screw up burgers and fries.

After "dinner" we headed down to camp out for the parade. We hadn't done this yet, and previous nights had kinda gotten screwed on picture taking because of where we are. So we checked the parade route and sat and watched people for around an hour or so. We were joined on both sides by other people, and when it looked like people would take our places at the parade barrier, we got up and guarded our spots.

We had a couple of families on the left of us that seem pretty good natured (which is how most people are at the parks). They took a picture of us, and we took a picture of them, it was nice. There were actually lots of people willing to do that (and not actually run off with your camera).

Written at home (10/02/2006 at 9:26 PM or so).

So the lighted parade was actually pretty cool, I got some good pictures. And they way they setup for it is actually pretty neat too. They have places to setup poles to hold ropes, and devices to extend rope, so it takes 3-4 people to rope off a side of a street. They can do it pretty quickly too.

After the parade, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night (even though it was relatively early.

We took 259 photos on the 6th day.

Honeymoon day 5 (9/29/2006) Food Day

Friday, September 29th was more my day. We went to Epcot. We even dressed up a little (khaki shorts and a shirt I wear for work, and Shannon looking as pretty as ever). We had some time before the event that we paid for (The Cook, the Book and the Bottle (first one they've done for the festival and ever)). So we rode a few rides.

Mission Space, which is a simulator ride, was much better then the star wars ride, and was actually kind of fun. They have an ride called Inside Track, sponsored by GM. This ride was lame. LAME LAME LAME. Even though it goes the fastest of all the Disney rides, it doesn't do it in a fashion that makes it actually seem like more then it is. It goes 50 or 60 something miles an hour, but who cares, when it's just like riding in a car with the top down. I can do that, and I don't have to fly to florida to do so.

We were pretty close to our time when the TCTBTB started, so we headed over where it was to wait for it. Eventually they let us in, giving us a gift pack (each), which included the program, the recipies used for the day and a bottle of Etude Carneos Pinot Gris 2005 (the wine guy from there said it's from a very limited stock, where they only have 1500 cases worldwide for distribution).

Our Chef for the day was Francois Payard of the Payard Patisserie & Bistro in New York. Our wines for the food were from Etude Winery. So he was talking about his new book, which was coming out in two weeks (which means that these are of the very first first printing of it). The man had a thick French accent, but he said he'd speak slow so he'd be understandable.

The whole idea was to make food for parties. So you can always have a glass of wine in one hand and eat and get a wonderful taste experience with another hand just pop it right in your mouth. No utensils necessary. Certainly a good idea.

So first up, we had Crispy Polenta with Pistou Sauce and Parmesan Shavings and this was paired with the Etude Carneos Pinot Gris. So we watched the chef prepare the items and plate them as well. And how easy it looked to do such a thing. I suspect though, when I get around to actually trying this, it'll be a bit harder then it looked (considering he does this for a living). But the presentation was a little cylinder of the polenta toped with the pistou (thicker then normal pistou (pesto)), with a small triangle of parmesan on the top. Very pretty and very good. Which was one of the points that Payard made, was that it was extra disappointing to eat something that looks so good, and yet doesn't taste good. The taste was fantastic. A bit warm and soft, the combination of the polenta, basil and parmesan was the taste that really stood out.

Second up was the Lime Marinated Salmon on a Potato Crisp pared with Etude Carenos Rose of Pinot Noir. This, for me, was the winner of the evening. He talked about ways to crispen up the crisps (sometimes using the oven, if they don't come out right). And how you'll need to make a a few extra of the chips, because of the way they tend to fry and bake, they don't always come out in a fashion that will make for good presentation. He talked about using white pepper, since the french don't want little black flecks of pepper in their white sauces or whatever, so you cook with the white, and garnish with the black later. So the salmon he used, was raw....well it had been frozen, which kills bacteria too, but he froze it and let it thaw a bit, so that he could get thinner slices of salmon to make into rolls, and then topped with a piece of lime (between the segment markings) and dusted with a microplane zested lemon and chives and Fleur de Sel. So you can just pick up the crisp and pop it in your mouth. And let me tell you, the lime just bursts out along with the salt and chives and salmon...it was fantastic I think the only thing I've ever put in my mouth that has tasted better is the French Onion Soup at the French Cafe in Omaha.

Third was the Eggplant, Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart pared with Etude Carneros Pinot Noir. This was probably the prettiest of the 3, and was very good too. So it's basically puff pastry (which he says you can buy anywhere), Eggplant mixed with some olive oil, sherry vinegar and lavender honey, a tomato compote, and goat cheese mixed with parsley and basil. He also added a little sprig of a herb on the top of the tower of goodness, to add a bit of dressing to the top.

Afterwards, we got our books signed and our pictures taken with Payard. and left. I don't think I could've been happier. It was like watching a cooking show, but you are right there, so you get to look at what you want, taste it, and smell it. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

We went back to the hotel to changed, took a little nap (I had all of my wine and most of Shannon's too, so I was feeling pretty good) and headed back to Epcot. While we were the hotel, we made reservations at Bistro de Paris at Epcot.

Then we went on Spaceship earth, which broke down while we were on it. It took a while of them saying, please remain seated the cars will begin to move at anytime, before they actually did. It was pretty much a version of history from caveman times to present. Mmmm...educational.

Then we went to their aquarium (Fishes!) and looked at the various animals. Got some good shots of the manatees. We then trekked off to take the world showcase tour. There were a lot of extra people in for the Food and Wine fest, and extra booths for wines and beers and etc. So it was a bit crowded. We walked through a few countries and hung out in France for our early dinner reservations (which was good, cause even though we had some lunch, it wasn't much and during a party he says he makes about 10 of the finger foods per person there, and we had, maybe 5 and a really light breakfast). It was also the only time they had available for the evening. We went with the tour of French Foods, I had mine with the wine parings, and shannon had it without the wine. We started off with a little tart and bread with butter...real butter. It's crazy how much I missed the taste of butter. At the restaurants we've been to, they don't even have butter as an option, the disney places have this 70% vegetable oil mixture that's just no good. The bread was great and makes me want to buy a big loaf from La Mie when we get home. I miss their bread. The tart was very good. It reminded me of the Payard food that we had earlier.

First course:

Sam: Medley of snails and frog legs with garlic butter on a juice of Italian parsley, vegetable "tartare" and a watercress salad.
Shannon: Heirloom tomato and pesto soup with "Royan" Comte cheese ravioli, vine tomato confite and goat cheese mousse with crusty bread.

It does make me sad, cause the third choice for the first course was Foie Gras, which is something that I've wanted to try. My first course was pared with Rose, Cuvee du Golf de St. Tropez 2004. So this is the first time I have had snails. I gotta say they were pretty good. I liked the taste. Our wonderful server showed me how to use the snail shell holder and the snail fork. Shannon was a bit off put by the texture of the snail, which I will agree is odd and not something that I'm used to, but over all it was still quite enjoyable. My frog legs were really good. My only other experience with the frog legs had been at Sage in Windsor Heights, and they were a bit...well...gamey, I guess the word would be. These were much smaller but they were fantastic. I tried Shannon's tomato and pesto soup and that was amazing. I mean just fantastic. A wonderful balance of tomato and salt. The crispy bread and goat cheese was fantastic too.

Second course:

Sam: Seared Scallops with "fleur de sel" on spinach potato gnocchi and dry goat cheese Shavings and tomato Coulis with Espelette Pepper
Shannon: European Dover sole "meuniere" on fresh egg pasta, pan seared golden chantreelle and fava beans, bay leaves creamy sauce.

My course was paired with a Muscadet (not on the menu). My scallops were fantastic and the tomato coulis was great too, the wonderful heirloom tomato taste that just stood out. Shannon's sole was quite good as well, it was very good mixed with the pasta. And here's what I found that our server was quite amazing. Shannon didn't so much like the chantreelle mushrooms, and by did like, I mean she made quite the disgusted face when she put it in here mouth. This is where our server (who is from France) showed his skills. He was there in under a minute and was asking if there was a problem. And when we explained about the mushrooms, he also warned us that if we ever went to France they use chantreelle mushrooms as a basis for many sauces, so that we may want to be careful. The fava beans were very good along with the cream sauce. For me, I was ok with the chantreelle mushrooms, but wasn't a huge fan of the texture of them.

Trou Normand:
Wild berries sorbet and French Melon Granite, Chartreuse liquor

This was sort of a palette cleansing course. It was quite cool and delicious, replacing the tomato taste with a light fruit and cold mixture. It was delightful. We both really enjoyed it.

Written on the plane between Orlando and Atlanta (10/02/2006 at 10:30 AM or so).

Third Course:

Both: Roasted rack of lamb with parsley crust, risotto with sun dried tomato and eggplant caviar, juice with lemon thyme

My dinner was matched with Laforet, Joseph Drouhin 2004. I thought seriously about having the other choice for the main course, but I love lamb so much, that it was hard for me to turn down the opportunity to have it. the lamb was delicious...if I wouldn't have felt self conscious about chewing the rest of the meat off the bones, I probably would have. It had a nice little crust to it that was hiding the succulent meat below the surface. The risotto was really good too, thought I've had better, but it certainly went well with the food that we were having. Creamy and delicious. The eggplant cavier was very good (being that I've never been a huge fan of eggplant, this came as a bit of a surprise to me. In the background on all of it was the thyme which was there but not over powering.

Fourth Course:

French assortment of cows and goats cheese served with mix salad, toasted bread, pine nuts and chives.

Neither of us were very certain as to what the cheeses actually were, but Shannon liked two out of three and I was only uncertain about one of them. We were pretty sure that one of them was a brie, which I believe is the best brie that I've ever had. The other cheese was fragrant and had a nice flavor to it, and the third was very fragrant and very strong of character. Shannon didn't like it, the taste was a bit to much for her.. For me, it was challenging. It did go well with what was left of wine from the third course. A strong cheese with a strong wine.

Desserts:

Both (small servings): Creme Brulee, Rice Pudding, Fresh Fruits soup with mint syrup, green tea and rosemary sorbet, warm chocolate cake with 70% dark chocolate.

We all got small portions of each of the desserts. We thought we'd have to pick (which would've been tough, but we didn't, which was pretty nice. They paired the desserts with a Marquis de Perlade, Blanc de Blanc, which was a champagne that was sweet and went well. It was almost to Shannon's liking (Most of the other wines didn't even come close to the narrow range that she is a fan of). We'll just go in order of the list. The Creme Brulee was really good. Certainly one of the better ones that I have...it reminded me of the first time I had it and how fantastic it was. The rice pudding was sweet but not too sweet, with a delightful texture. The fresh fruits soup with mint syrup was a bit too tart for Shannon, but I found the frust fruits to be delightful and coloful on the tongue . The green tea and rosemary sorbet was very nice. I've had green tea ice cream before, with a much stronger green tea taste, but this was very light and mostly the rosemary. For the highlight of the desserts, for both of I think, was the warm chocolate cake. It had a melted chocolate core that oozed out when you put your fork into the cake. It was heaven. and a nice crown to the meal...which was wonderful.

I just wanted to mention the view, we were on the second floor and had a direct view out the window. I was able to see the crowd across the way, which was fun.

Written waiting for the plane at Atlanta (10/02/2006 at 12:35 PM or so).

Our server, who was very attentive the entire night, showed me how to use the snail fork and holder, explained what the things were and what the dressing was and added a bit of insight, but the big thing for me was when he rushed over when Shannon made the face and made sure that everything was still good. He got the biggest, money wise, tip I've ever left. It was about 45% of the total bill, which wasn't on the cheap side.

Written on the plane to Des Moines (10/02/2006 at 2:46 PM or so).

Afterwards we explored Epcot a bit more, went on Soarin, their new ride, which was basically in front of a big screen with fans and what not, but it did feel like flying. Their fireworks show at epcot was pretty cool and pretty easy to find a good place to see them, since the world part of epcot is around a big lake and the fireworks go off in the middle. We spent a large amount of time exploring the various worlds of Disney interpretations of epcot. And because they had extra "Magic Hours" we were able to get a wristband that allowed us to stay in the park after most people had to go. Although it lessened the crowds, apparently a lot of people stay at the disney resorts. We ended up buying us a good luck kitty in the Japanese area of Epcot.

We look at a lot of things in the Norway part, but nothing really struck our fancy, but I did get a mushed penny for my dad. Speaking of mushed coins, we probably spent 5 or 15 dollars squished up pennies, because they are all over the park. I started doing this a few years ago, when I went to california, it just seemed like an easy and cheap way to get a little souvenir of a trip. We got many from the park, and Disney actually sells little holders for the squished coins. Though since everything is overpriced there, I suspect that we can get one for cheaper elsewhere. Some people would go to the machines and get all 3 choices out of there, but we usually only got the ones we liked.

By the time we left the park, I was in a fairly lousy mood, my feet were killing me and I just wanted to get off them.

Just as a note, we spent around 600$ or so on food and wine on this day (excluding admission to the park).

We took 425 pictures on our fifth day.

Honeymoon day 4 (9/28/2006)

Written In hotel room (9/30/2006 at 4:30 PM or so)

(Took a short nap)

On Thursday September 28th, we headed to the Animal Kingdom. Because we had to be there extra early, they wanted us to be there by 8:15, we woke up extra early and scheduled the night before to have a cab come and get us. After eating breakfast, we headed out.

We checked with the information booth to make sure as to where we should be, and then went over there to wait. We were shortly joined by a guest relations person and our tour guide for our Behind the Scene's tour of the Animal Kingdom. They didn't allow us to take pictures, because they said they didn't want to "destroy the magic for other guests". I can understand that, to some extent I suppose, so I kept to their wishes.

We drove around the park, and our tour guide, who was a retired teacher from Michigan, told us interesting things about the Animal Kingdom. The other three Disney world parks (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, MGM) fit easily inside the animal kingdom. I want to say that it's 500 acres, but I'm not sure...but that's the number that comes up in my head. We got to see the Elephant and rhino barn. We got to even pet the male white rhino (very dry skin, one of our other tour members said it felt like her exema). They told us how they only use positive reenforcement to train the animals. So if they lift their legs then they get treats, if they don't, then no treats. If they allow them to draw blood samples, etc. If the animal doesn't want to cooperate, that's their prerogative. They just don't get the treats.

In the elephant barn, we got an birds eye view to the newest elephant at the park (born around last Christmas) and her mom. We got to see them both dance a little (they were excited to get out for the day to roam).

They also talked about the breeding program, where a board of scientists decides which animals it's good to breed. Unlike before where it was all random and you would have a lot of family inbreeding (which isn't a good thing).

We also got a close encounter with a lesser tamir (sp?), a relative to the hedgehog. And got to see it eat a treat (meal worm).

We saw the diet center for the animals, where they prepare the meals a day in advance. Each diet is setup for each particular animal. They only actually have a few live things in the building (insects), but for the most part, everything else is "pre-killed" at the source. So they had bags of frozen mice and rats and various stages of growth (from baby on). They also grow many things on the grounds to help supplement the diets of the animals and use some vitamin supplements where necessary. Apparently, freezing fish, for example, takes a lot of the nutrients out of them, so they have to enrich them.

Written In hotel room (10/01/2006 at 6:40 AM or so)

We also went to a special area of the vet clinic, where Shannon noticed a lot of differences between her Jordan Creek and their clinic. The anesthesia machine was much larger then Jordan Creek's. I suspect it's a bit harder to put a gorilla to sleep then it is to put a kitty to sleep. It was interesting to me, and kept Shannon enthralled.

We actually got to see the tail end of a tumor removal of a skunk. I actually saw them take out the tumor and fatty surrounding tissue.

We then we back into the public part of the park. We went to a special area and boarded a Safari truck without having to wait in line. They have their park setup in a very interesting fashion. For animals that could be problematic (big cats) they have islands for them setup in such a fashion that looks like they could leave, but because of the distance of the sort of moat and the depth of it, the animals couldn't get out. For other animals, they have 'em set up in areas using the cow keepers in the ground and fences (hidden by bushes and fake rock formations) to keep them in their part of the park, but as far as a line of fences between the truck and the animals, there isn't one. It does allow for nice pictures, except that the truck is bouncing all around (like a safari would). We had a giraffe really close to the tour. Instead of having the pre-canned tour information, our guide went off of the script and pointed out things that people wouldn't really notice (the rocks as barriers, where the animal barns are and etc.

After that we filled out a survey about the tour and headed off.

We went over to the Asia area of the park to ride the Expedition Everest ride. They had a lot of Himalayan things and religious icons on the way up. The wait time was short, so we went. This was probably my favorite ride of all the parks. The Yeti they have near the end of the ride was actually very well done and a bit frightening (even though you know it's coming). It takes you forward and back and is a bit quicker then most of the Disney rides.

We then headed back and did the safari ride again (we wanted to be on the right side of the car, because we weren't able to get some of the pictures we wanted. This time it was the more standard Disney story line (on the look out for poachers, helping catch them). I got some great pictures of a gazelle, an ostrich and a zebra. The ostrich was actually blocking the road at one point.

They also have walking paths, where you can walk through their setup to see things. We took a few of these, took a train to the back of the park to Rafiki's Planet watch, which is basically a conservation station where they teach you about creating animal and insect habitats in your backyard. They also had a view into the vet clinic (we were on the back side of the view before). They had a Vet Tech talking about the imaging that they use for the animals. I found it dreadfully boring, but Shannon was fascinated, so I headed down the way, and found a seat and started dosing in and out of sleep.

Shannon got a little frustrated, because people came up and started talking over the Vet Tech, so she came and woke me up and we headed back to the main area of the park. We did do the splash ride, which, for the most part, was pretty lame. One big splash and fall and that was about it. We did get very wet though, which made walking in wet shoes, kind of obnoxious.

We hung out for the Parade, which had a large influence from the lion king Broadway show. The Animal Kingdom closes a bit early (I think because the animals stop being playful, so we headed over to the MGM park again to hit a few things that we missed.

We did the back lot tour, saw the actual plane that Walt Disney used to fly in, the saucer from the Navigator. We redid the Tower of Terror and Aerosmith rides. Then headed to disney downtown.

We had coupons for Planet Hollywood (free gift an one free meal) but on further exception they wanted you to come early or limited what you could buy.

So what can I say about the restaurant? I'll admit that the items they had in there from many movies (Terminator to Toy Story to Pretty Woman) was interesting and I'd be willing to pay to go to a museum with these things in them (though not to much). The food...was...well, I'd expect a whole lot better for what they are charging for it. We had these chicken fingers that were covered in Captain Crunch instead of something like corn flakes. These were actually the highlight of the meal. And they weren't really done right, they ranged from being crispy to soggy on the same piece of chicken. The coverage of Captain Crunch on the chicken was incomplete, so in some places you could see right through it. The sauce they served with it, was actually quite good. Our server was very attentive as well and it wasn't his fault that he was serving crappy food. The main course...Shannon had a chicken alfredo pasta, which was...well very plane. The chicken ranged from being a bit on the over cooked side to a bit more on the over cooked side. I had a fried lasagna. It was recommended, however, it was very bland. The garlic cream sauce, didn't taste like garlic or cream. The marinara sauce they used was blander then sauces that come out of bottles that I've had. The combination of the two was not pleasant either. I couldn't finish it.

Afterwards we went to the Ghirardelli Ice cream shop. These were actually pretty good. Certainly a way to cleanse my pallet from the awfulness that was planet hollywood. We also ended up buying somewhere between 3 and 4 pounds of chocolate.

We then headed back to the hotel room and called it a night.

We took 379 Photos on our fourth day.

Honeymoon day 3 (9/27/2006)

Written In hotel room (9/27/2006 at 11:02 PM or so) (waiting for battery to charge on camera).

Again with the waking up bright and early (like I sleep long anyways) on Wednesday September 27th.

Wanting to use up our quick service meals on our dining plan, we went and ate breakfast at the pepper market. The quality of the food was meh, but they did have choices, which was nice. The one thing that I really didn't like was that when we were checking out. I handed the cashier the tickets, and my card and mentioned that I wanted to use the dining plan.

Apparently she didn't hear me. She charged the food to my room...which eventually will be fine, but being that we are trying to use up the dining plan items, it's not so good now.

I noticed as we were walking away, and I quickly turn around and tell her that that is what I intended. She told me that if I want to use the dining plan, then I need to tell them that I want to use the dining plan. One would think that since it says RIGHT ON THE CARD, that we are using disney dining, that maybe they should ASK to see if I want to use it and go off that answer. In fact, many of the other places that we've been to, ASKED right off the bat, "Will you be using Disney Dining tonight?" But to avoid conflict I said that I thought I had said that, when in all reality I knew that I did. So when the manager came over, and reinforced in a snarky sort of way, that I needed to tell them to use disney dining, I just accepted the snarky little lecture, because I was getting what I wanted. (credit back for the meal and a disney dining plan quick service meal taken off).

We headed back to our rooms, slathered ourselves in the wonderful sunscreen that Shannon had picked out (which isn't very greasy and neither of us got a burn from being out in the sun all day the previous day). And went out to wait for the bus stop. I was still a bit miffed over the disney dining thing, but was calming down rather quickly.

We had originally planned to go to the Animal Kingdom, since they had extended "Magic" hours for resort guests (which makes me curious as to how they keep/get the other guests out), but since we scheduled the behind the scenes tour for Shannon and they didn't have any open slots for Wednesday, but did for Thursday, we rearranged what we were doing.

So the Magic Kingdom it was.

In short order we were off on the short trip to the Magic Kingdom. When people talk about disney world, this is usually what they mean. It has tomorrow land, main street, etc. It has Cinderella's (or sleeping beauty's...one of the princesses) big castle at the center of the park, surrounded by the various other parks.

We headed to Tomorrow land first. On the way there was walking to the music in a fairly silly fashion, and was told by one of the "cast members" that I was officially a kid today. We then stopped by some roses and I took a picture of this beautiful light pink rose (almost white). The lady that had commented on my walk, came up and told us that since we had found youth and beauty in the park we were up for a prize. She gave us four tickets that were basically like super-fast pass tickets. Good for any ride that used fast pass, so we could hop in the fast pass lane, whenever. This was actually kind of cool...except the lines were short enough, except for one where they didn't have fast pass, that we didn't feel the need to ever use them, but it was cool anyways.

(Battery is done charging I can charge the other battery and go to sleep...yay! 11:35 PM).

Written In hotel room (9/28/2006 at 7:02 PM or so)

My feet hurt. That is all.

Written In hotel room (9/29/2006 at 10:56 PM or so)

My feet have been stabbed...I mean they hurt hurt. That is all.

Written In hotel room (9/30/2006 at 2:55 PM or so)

We headed over to Space Mountain first (being that we've been finding that it's best to hit the rides early in the day so that you don't have to wait in the lines. One of the things that I think that Disney has taken into account is that it is hot in Florida, so a lot of their rides the waiting area and/or the ride itself is air conditioned. It is kind of funny to walk through the maze of lines when there are really no other people waiting in line. Space Mountain was fun...I enjoyed it..thought with my tallness the carriage was a bit small, so I was a bit crunched in. It twists and turns and it's in the dark so you can't really see what's gonna happen next (they do this a lot).

Afterwards we did a few silly things (tram around Tomorrow Land, carousel of progress). We also got our picture taken with Stitch and then went on his ride. Obviously some of the things are targeted at a younger audience, but for the most part it is still enjoyable. We headed to another park, and hit the Pooh ride (used to be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, according to Shannon), IT's a small world after all...which then was stuck in my head the entire day (doh!).

We checked out the Heritage area (hall of presidents), hit the haunted mansion (definitely dated) and then headed back to the Adventure land area, and went on Pirates of the Caribbean (the ride broke on us). Then the Tiki room, which Shannon says has been drastically updated, since they don't much do the Tiki song anymore. We hit Splash Mountain and hit the Train ride (in the mountain, which I'm having trouble coming up with the name). Watched a parade and the fireworks too. We thought we were in a pretty good place for the fireworks, but due to a tree, our place was pretty lousy. We moved on to a bridge and had a better view. Magic Kingdom seemed to really be geared, for the most part, toward a younger audience then we are. It was fun, and it was, I hate to say, a little bit thrilling to get my picture taken with mickey mouse.

We wandered around a few shops on our way out and eventually made it back to the hotel. We also went swimming. We headed all the way over to the big pool, but the water slide was off, so it was kind of pointless. We swam around for a bit and went back to the room.

We took 533 Photos on the third day (I even had to turn the resolution down so we didn't run out of photo space, which we did on the bus trip on the way home).

Honeymoon day 2 (9/26/2006)

Written In hotel room (9/27/2006 at 6:39 AM or so).

So we woke up bright and early on Tuesday September 26th and went down to the Maya grill for a breakfast buffet.

Written In hotel room (9/27/2006 at 9:54 PM or so).

It was decent, but no real standouts. I remember thinking that the sausage gravy for the biscuits and gravy was pretty weak (not enough sausage and the gravy wasn't near thick enough). Also that It'd be really nice if I could get some butter, rather then spread (70% vegetable oil), but that's just me.

After breakfast, we walked back to our room, got slathered in sunscreen and headed towards our bus stop (#2 of 4 at our resort) and waited to be picked up fro going to the Disney MGM park.

The bus ride there was a short one, and soon we were waiting in line to get into the park. Being that I've never been to the park before, I was confused as to how we get our tickets. Apparently our tickets are the same as our room keys, which makes sense, considering on it it says that the card is your key to the world...

So after being let into the park, they then proceeded to make you wait on the first street until it was time to actually go. There was a big mass of people, and with a 3, 2, 1, Action! they let us into the rest of the park.

We headed to the Tower of Terror first. In hopes to either get right in, or get the first "fast pass" of the day. We ended up getting right in. Our wait was pretty short and unlike some places (ex. Adventureland in Des Moines) they sort of dress up their lines so you have something to look at, other then the back of the person in front of you. We were quickly setup for our ride, and went through the intro and then proceeded to drop twice and then be told that there was a problem with the ride and that we would be shortly exiting the ride. Certainly not a great start to the day.

They slowly drove the car (I guess it was a car?) back to an area and then walked on the insides, took an elevator and were immediately put on the front of the line and actually got to ride the ride.

It was fun. They said at the beginning of the ride line area that the climbs and drops of the Tower of Terror had been randomized, so that the ride would never be the same twice, which was kind of cool.

We headed right next door to the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster, which was...pretty fun. Also, short line, little wait. Fun ride, lots of Aerosmith (could do without that, even though it did go with the ride).

We made our way around the park, missing a few things (back lot tour), and enjoying a few others (car stunt show was pretty cool), and getting rained out on another one (Indiana Jones got about 60% done before the rain stopped 'em), and feeling that one was very dated (Star Tours).

We ate lunch at another dining meal on the Disney dining. This was in no way equivalent to the meal that we had at the Maya Grill. Not even by a long shot (even though it cost the same against our dining plan). I've had better turkey sandwiches at mediocre deli style places. The only highlight of the meal was the actually seeing of the preview for Plan 9 from Outer Space. It also again, pointed out the flaw in the Disney Dining plan. If you are not that hungry, you feel like you are wasting money...Seeing the bill before the Disney Dining, I couldn't believe how much they were charging for this mediocre meal....even if it was in a theme park.

We wandered around for a bit after the rain, but Shannon was getting tired, so we decided to head back to the resort, for a nap. I typed, Shannon napped. So it all worked out in the wash. We ate dinner at the Pepper Market...which was...well...lets just say that my fajitas were not even close to the best that I've had...or even what I'm used to having. I don't know...smaller cuts of meat, maybe steak instead of some random cut of beef, is that too much to ask? How about separating my tortillas from my mean so they're not all soggy by the time I want to use them...Maybe I'm just being picky though.

We headed back to the bus stop. And back to the MGM park. It was quite the wait before we got a ride. We had planned to ride the tower of terror again or maybe the rockin' roller coaster, but by the time we got there it was about time to go in for their show. It involves lasers, and lights and projectors and live action and water. It was neat to watch, I took many pictures of it.

Slowly, afterwards, we headed out of the park, stopping at the shops (to miss the first way to the busses) and then back to the resort.

We decided to head out to the main pool this evening, which is a much longer walk. We thought that maybe the water slide would be open, but since there were no life guards, there was no waterslide. After cooling off in the pool, we headed back to our room, showered and called it a night.

We took 326 photos on the second day.

Honeymoon day 1 (9/25/2006)

Written In Atlanta waiting for the plane (9/25/2006 at 11:AM or so).

Atlanta Airport is the suck.

Written In hotel room (9/26/2006 at 6:19AM or so).

So we ate some sandwiches at Atlanta...I had some chicken and pesto and Shannon had turkey something or another.

The flight from Atlanta to Orlando was actually only an hour. so it didn't take to long.

We had trouble finding the Disney welcome center, but I really liked how the Orlando air port is designed. But once we did, we were guided to the bus we were to take to our resort.

This is where the fun started.

Written In hotel room (9/26/2006 at 3:32 PM or so).

So check in was relatively painless. The computer crashed once while she was setting us up. No big deal. We had a water facing room, like we asked for and it was all good. We did notice that there was a conference on "Offender Management"

We take the hike out to the room, and by the time we get there, get in the room, we already have a message waiting on the room phone. I'm thinking, hey, maybe it's just a welcome message, since they are trying to be friendly, but no, it's a message from the front desk, telling us that they had forgotten to add our meal plan to our room and we should call and have them either run us out to it, or we should come back. So I call back, I get someone else, I tell them what was going on, and then tell them the second thing I noticed.

Our room had double beds. two. double. beds. Far be it from me to complain about having double beds, however it is our honeymoon and I do like to have Shannon near me when I sleep, so I mention that to them.

They say they don't have any water facing rooms with king sized beds left, but they will get us one with a king size bed.

We head back to the front desk.

We get our new room keys, and head off to our parking lot facing room, with a king sized bed. Of the two things, I'm much happier to have the king sized bed.

After we were settled into our new room, we explored the rest of the resort (couple of swimming pools, buildings, etc).

So we were getting hungry. And it was around 5:PM local time, so we headed down to our Resort's (Coronado) fancy restaurant (Maya Grill). I was expecting something a bit dressed up and fakey, but basically average fare with a bit added to it.

I was a bit surprised by what we got. Not only did they have nice sounding food, but it was actually good. Not great or fantastic, mind you, but I wouldn't complain about going there again. With the Disney dining plan that we had, we were able to basically just give 'em our card, and we're done. fairly easy. But still a little obnoxious. Because to get the full value of the sit down meal, you get a drink (non-alcoholic), appetizer, meal, and dessert. So if you don't get it all, you are losing your own value...which is where I suspect they make their money...considering even I have trouble finishing the whole thing. The presentation was very good, the secondary sauce that we got with the gulf shrimp cocktail was very yummy although the crab appetizer that shannon had (which was basically a crab cake) was ok, nothing worth writing home about. Shannon had chicken and I had filet mignon for dinner, along with fresh (not from a box) mashed potatoes and garnish. Again, very nice presentation.

The desserts were very good too. I had fried cheese cake, which was...well...interesting... I think I had gotten it because of my relatively recent experience with fried foods at the state fair, but all and all it was good. Shannon had this chocolate thing with layers of mouse with a very light and crisp cookie. Also very good.

Another issue with the disney dining, is that it assumes that your server lived up to a 18% gratuity. I am not saying that our server didn't, but if a large number of people have this, where is the incentive to give excellent service?

We decided to head down to Downtown Disney. This is basically an outdoor mall full of disney items (and others) ranging from the cheap to the very expensive. We looked, we bought a few things here and there...I found it kind of boring, since I don't much like shopping and when you see a few items in the same stores, it kinda makes you think that they don't have enough stuff to fit all of their category stores. There where a few other shops (Gherideli) that looked interesting, but were so packed, that we went in, looked, and left. Besides, with the heat, what would be the point of buying the chocolate if it will most likely melt before you get it back to your room.

We headed on to Pleasure Island (part of Downtown disney), and there were several dance clubs and restaurants, and that sort of thing, however, by the time we got there, we were pretty tired (being that it was nearing 10:PM central and we had been up since 2:AM Central, I was on maybe 3 hours of sleep, I think Shannon was on 5 or 6 hours).

So we headed back to the hotel (via disney bus).

We decided to do something that I haven't done in years (due to my fatness). We went swimming. Let me tell you, I love swimming. I've always loved swimming. I'm just a bit self conscious about my rolls of fat. But who cares? I'll never see these people again. It was a great end of the day...cool, the suns not out....oh so nice. We swam around for a little while and then headed back to the room, took showers, and called it a night.

We took 180 pictures the first day.

Wedding day and the day after (9/23-24/2006)

Written still waiting for the plane (9/25/2006 at 6:22 AM or so, the plane is running an hour late (or so they say)).

So we get up bright and early, Shannon got in the shower first, quickly followed by me. Shannon had to leave first for her and her sister's, mom's and niece's hair appointments (at Blondies). My parents came and we loaded up their car with the items for the reception. They ran off. I was to follow, after I picked up Nathan at the hotel.

Shannon's Mom and crew were running a little behind (but not to much), but I waited for them, just to make sure they got there. And after she was off, I headed over to pick up Nathan and we headed over to the reception.

My parents actually had a problem, but they fixed it before I even got there. For the big picture of us, they had accidently broken the glass of it, but they ran off to a hardware store and replaced the glass. So it wasn't even an issue.

We got the tables and chairs setup and started with the decorations that we could.

Around 10:AM (as promised) the caterer showed up, along with my siblings and siblings in law to help with the setup. It went pretty smoothly. The caterers had the wrong sized linens for the tables, but quickly replaced them with ones that worked and worked well. And then I showed Cara how we wanted the decorations setup (as far as Shannon told me and that I could remember) and then told her that she should use her best judgment with what was there. After a bit of help (hanging up the flower balls, etc), it was 11 and we needed to head over to Candle Lit Way to get ready for pictures. So Brandon, Nathan and I headed over there.

I got dressed up in my rented tuxedo, got the things tightened and loosened and tied and strapped in. I'm not a huge fan of monkey suits. So we got ready...The Photographer was quite pleasant and took the pictures that we wanted both in digital and film, which was kind of nice, but again what I love the most, is that we OWN the negatives, no asking for rights to print off pictures, no silliness with copyrights or anything.

We did the first look outside...with me standing next to the church's tool shed (Which looks like a mini-church). I gotta say that I was stunned. Shannon was gorgeous. The dress (made by Shannon's Mom) was awe inspiring too. It took a long time to get to that point where I saw her like that, but every moment was worth it.

She said I looked handsome too...but you know...

More pictures. Us, us with family, us with wedding party, etc.

Then we all hid, especially Shannon.

I saw a group of my friends outside, so I went out there to say hello. Jenny, Richard and Elena, Cameron, etc. It was nice to talk about. Richard and Cameron went on a very geeky rant about their cameras to each other, talking about the versions and the lenses.

After a while, Dan (from Candle Lit way) came in and got me, because he was gonna lock the back door, because people kept coming in there. So I headed in. I waved at a few people entering the doors. Co-workers, my cousin Mike and other people I recognized.

So the wedding was short and sweet, which is pretty much just how we wanted it. I had trouble keeping it together and Shannon told me that I couldn't cry because I'd make her cry, so I tried my best, but I don't think it worked very well.

We headed out the back to greet people, and the weather was still holding up. I met lots of Shannon's Family (for the first time) and I hope they will forgive me, but I forgot most of them :-( Oh well, I'm awful with names, so, what can you expect?

the line got down, people had their bubbles, and we were ready to go, except for pinning up Shannon's dress. Kim came over to try to help, but couldn't find the hooks, so we sent someone off to find Shannon's mom and then we got the dress all fixed up and good to go.

So we walked through the bubbles, and in trying to get to the Audi, we had to have Elana (Richard's wife) get our of our way so we could get out...but I guess I could've changed where we parked too (since Josh got the prime parking place). And then we headed off.

We drove over to Raccoon River. We went a little slow, and when we got there, a few people were there, so we we parked behind Drew's car and told him to turn on the iPod...we got a call from him later to confirm that he got the right play list with both Andrew Bird and the Gorrillaz on it. So we drove around for a bit more and came back to make our entrance.

So the Reception went pretty well. The cheese was amazing, the food was very good, We even got a comment from one of my friends to say that this was, by far and away, the best food he's ever had at a wedding, which made me feel good. But the props really go to Chef and Kristi Little at Chef's Kitchen/Winston for there wonderful catering ability. It was just fantastic. I told Kristi that I wanted a list of the cheeses that she had on the table, so we'll be getting that here in due time.

We went out and took more pictures around the area of the park.

Nathan gave a speech, much later my Dad did, both were very nice, both made me tear up a bit...

My sister Alissa got the bouquet, Shannon's Nephew got the garter.

The cakes!

The Cakes were freakin awesome! The orange cake was amazing! They looked great and tasted great too, I was very happy with how that turned out...it was great great great!

We stayed later then I think most people do...we even changed back into our regular clothes.

The car got decorated a bit...Nathan told me it was Proctor approved and it wasn't too bad...apparently they were having trouble keeping streamers off the back of the car, so they tied them to my tennis shoes...so when I put them on, I had streamers coming off of my feet.

By the time it came to it, everything was mostly cleaned up, we did have a bit of a problem getting rid of the cake, since we couldn't' take it (leaving on monday) and others didn't want that much cake..we ended up giving it to the caterers to do with as they will.

Then we went home.

(record skips a bit)

So we were sitting up talking and we had all these gifts downstairs, so we decided to open up the cards and keep them all together...so we did that...then opened up a couple presents.

Then we went to bed.

The next day was opening presents, recording who gave us what, getting things setup for the trip, buying a new carryon for Shannon (used most of the Target Gift Cards we had) and some other things. It was just a lot of prep...

Day before the Wedding (9/22/2006)

Written waiting for the plane (9/25/2006 at 5:AM or so).

So on Friday, September 22, 2006, We ran around like madmen. I got up a bit before 6:AM and basically went all day, with only a little break, until when the rehearsal dinner ended around 9:PM

The first thing of the day was taking the kitties to Jordan Creek Animal Hospital (Shannon's Work) to board. We were planning on doing it later then we did, but when Gracie came up to join us for breakfast, it seemed an opportune time (since she is generally the hardest to get). So we stuck Gracie in her new carrier (only used once before), and George in the carrier that Shannon's had for quite a while and took Shannon's car over to JCAH. Gracie hunkered down to "hide" as she normally does. Her carrier was sitting on Shannon's lap and she could see through the top at Shannon, so I think she was comforted by that. George was in the back, and had little mews every 5 or 10 seconds the entire drive.

It was uneventful enough.

Then we took 'em in. Gracie went in her place with little problem, again, hunkering down to "hide" like she does. But when George went in his cage, he freaked out. Now if you've ever taken a behavioral psychology class and have seen the films where they have the mice or rats or something in the electrified cages, and they play a sound before they electrify the floor, then you can understand how serious George reacted. This was quite the surprise, since George is generally the more friendly kitty. He was jumping all over the cage, off the walls and then he pissed over everything in there...it was Stunning to watch. I mean absolutely shocking.

He got out of his cage into the cat room (they had lots of toys there), and he went to hide behind one of the toys, near the door to where the dogs are kept. And sounded quite pissed. I went to pet him, but he was having none of that. His pupils were huge. We went out and picked out a toy for him and I tried to play with him...and he calmed down a little.

While they were cleaning out the cage, two students from the West Des Moines School District came in to pet him and we left him in their hands.

I have to say that it was harder to leave them then I thought, especially since George freaked out.

After we left, we headed down to the capitol building.

We traded Shannon's 2001 Toyota Corolla for my Boss's Audi A6...certainly a fair trade in my book. :-) We met Chad (Proctor's boyfriend) down there and gave him the keys to Shannon's car and we took the Audi.

Then Tuxedoes in West Des Moines. We picked up all the tuxedos for people...and I tried on me. Then we found out that they got my tuxedo right, and Shannon's Dad's, but no one else. All the ushers and Best Man's tuxes were supposed to have Silver vests, and they were black. The Ring bearer's was white (like mine), where it was supposed to be silver, and Shannon's dad's was silver...like it was supposed to be. Randall's told us that they could have the vests to us by noon on Saturday, but since we were to start taking pictures at noon, it didn't make much sense. It also didn't make much sense to get angry about what was going on, since there was nothing we could really do about it. I'm still deciding what we want to do...but this is the first part. If you rent tuxedos, don't go there. Not that a ton of people read this, but enough do that it'll be something I guess.

We loaded the tuxedos in the car, and I took Shannon to her nail appointment at Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines. I dropped off the tuxedos at home, and went out to Mr. Carwash to get Proctor's car washed, waxed and cleaned inside and out. I had brought along my book to read. Now they don't do an awesome job, but they do a good job, and you don't need to make an appointment. I got their top package, which includes conditioning the leather, cleaning the carpets and etc. Normally this takes a while, but since they weren't very busy, they had two and sometimes three people working on it. Nathan (best man) called and told me that they were near town and asked if we wanted to have lunch together, I said sure, but I wouldn't know for certain until they got into town, since they were working on the car.

Lucky for me, they finished up, just as the Mattas pulled into Mr Carwash. Shannon had called me and told me that she was done with her nails, so we headed out there to have lunch at Jordan Creek. Shannon and I had lunch at Chik-ful-Lay (sp?). So we had a nice lunch with Nathan, Jenny, Taylor, and Cali. The Mattas then headed off to get settled into their hotel and we headed over to pay for the PA (Brandon was picking it up, since it wouldn't' fit in our cars). We were running a bit late, so Brandon had to wait for us a bit (sorry :-/ ). There were just setting up in their new place, so they didn't even really have a card machine yet, so they wrote down my numbers, and we loaded the equipment in Brandon's Scion xB. We then Headed home.

We kept thinking that we had more things to do, but we read the list that I had posted, and we were pretty much done with the errands. Ben called, and he came over. Shannon's Parents came over too.

Ben and I took off in the Audi, so he could get a ride in it. We headed east on Hickman, and I saw a few things that I knew existed, but wasn't really sure where they were. We drove by a QuickTrip (probably the closest one to our house), then by Broadlawns Hospital (no clue that it was over there), and we decided to head back and got lost in a fake hood sort of Des Moines place. We were driving up a street, and saw a gaggle of kids, and then one ran off. As we passed the kids we both got a huge smell of weed smoke...Just traveled right through the car...it was quite funny. We decided that we were...not in the right place, so we quickly found out where we were and headed back to my house.

We had Ben help load the stuff going to the Chapel into Shannon's Parent's car, and then they headed off to the hotel.

A bit later, we all headed to Candle Lit way for the Rehearsal.

The Audi A6 is quite the car, and even though it's not sporty like my RSX Type S, it's still a lot of fun to drive and has a lot of get up and go (not that I can really test that, since I have been on my best behavior, since I've been pressing my luck on that third ticket this year). But the ride is smooth, the stereo is great...The only thing that took me a bit to figure out was how to set cruise control (I didn't figure out how to resume and accelerate on the cruise until shortly before I gave the car up on Sunday).

We went through the rehearsal pretty quickly and easily. There really isn't much to it. Sit some people down, get set yourself, follow the pastor's guides and that's about it. I told Dan of Candle Lit Way how the music would work. First CD for people sitting and bringing in the parents. Second CD for wedding parts (Wedding march, Always with You, Always with me for the lighting of the unity candle). Third CD for our exit and the exit of the people.

The church got all the decorations setup and we headed over to Raccoon River Brew Pub for the rehearsal dinner. We were tailed by my parents and Shannon's Parents and drove down towards downtown Des Moines. There were quite a few cars parked down there (being a Friday night, and also Oktoberfest weekend (the first time I've missed it since it began in Des Moines).

We ended up parking pretty close to RRBP, and the parents parked in the parking garage just down the street.

We grabbed the presents for people and waited for our parents.

We headed in and had appetizers and drinks. I had already set it up so that my dad would get the food and non-alcoholic beverages (as not to trample on their beliefs), and I would get all the alcoholic ones. They were very nice about setting that up.

So we had 3 choices for dinner, on the limited menu. Niman Ranch Pork Chops, Marinated Chicken, and Yankee Pot Roast. We had also selected to have the New York Style Cheese Cake and white chocolate brownies as the desserts. I think they went over really well. I was happy with how the food tasted. Josh told me that he liked it too.

Before dinner came, we passed out presents. Alcohol for my friends (except Ben, who's dry right now (giving the liver a break)). Rum for Josh (I bought a bottle of the same rum for myself), and then scotch for Brandon and Nathan. They discussed who should get what, and left me with the Oban 14 year old (which was probably the best reviewed, Nathan had heard good things about it too).

I actually tried the Oban last night. It was really good. It's not peaty like the Laphroig (which I love), but it was warm and comforting in an entirely different way. Starting of with flavor and slowly warming on the tongue. Not an instant blast of heat, like some alcohols. Quite something.

There weren't any real speeches cause I didn't really ask for them...I just wanted people to have a nice dinner.

So we went home.

We were both tired...so we headed home, washed up the pewter for the wedding and went to bed.

I had a bit of trouble falling asleep, but not too much, and we set the alarms to go off early.

gah

So it's been good so far...but today...I've been in this sort of general paranoia and anxiety that's just been silly.

I used Shannon's body wash this morning, since we ran out (along with a new face wash, cause I've had a dry spot between my eyebrows), and I just could not get over the fact that I thought the bathroom was on fire. No extra signs, but even after I figured out that it was the two scents mixing together in my nose. It's just crazy.

And it's getting worse too.

I'm not worried about getting married, it's all the other crap that may be coming together, the photographer, and music and PA and this and that and the other thing, it's just crazy.

Anyways, more work to do, and scotch seems to be helping a little.