it's a Weekend

So Friday, we stayed in and hung out around the house. It was fun.

Saturday, we went and got the oil Changed in Shannon's Car and then went to use the grocery bill from the previous shopping trip at Hy-Vee Gas to get a discount on her gas. Apprently their system was down, so we had to wait in line to fill up the tank and then wait in line to pay. Only one register was working. It was quite frustrating.

We headed over to Jordan Creek Mall. We figured going to a movie during the day would be cheaper then at night, so that's what we planned to do. We were gonna go see The Brothers Grimm, but that doesn't open until next week, apprently, so we went and saw The 40 Year-old Virgin, instead. It was actually very funny. Josh had given it a good review the night before. Shannon even laughed :) We headed down to coldstone and had some ice cream and afterwards we wandered around the mall for a little bit. Shannon bought herself a new dress and top for the weddings that we are going to over the next couple of months. Both were marked down quite a bit which is good. They looked good on her :) Of course I may be a little biased. Shannon said that she could probably wear a potato sack and I'd find it good looking... and in all honesty it's probably true. Afterwards we headed home.

Sunday we cleaned! We had planned to go to the fair, but whe decided that we couldn't afford it at this time (yay for paying for the wedding), so we cleaned instead. I got the kitchen and gave it a good cleaning and then we vacuumed and all that. It's quite nice.

Sunday night I talked to my parents, and my mom is now catering our reception! So that leaves:

Tuxes
photographer
wedding cake

So that's all good. Initially we were a bit concerned about staying within our budget, but I think we'll still be able to do it.

Oh and this coming Sunday is a Wedding Fair...so we'll be going to that (I don't know if I'm happy about that or not, but, you know, you do what you gotta).

Chef's Kitchen

So Chef's Kitchen is back. I'm a happy man. It's now located on the corner of Beaver and Franklin. In the same building as Flarah's. It's back with a bigger menu and much more space. The Corner Kitchen, now appears to be an unnamed bar that I will need to patronize.

So Today I went to Dahl's to pick up some distilled water from my CPAP machine and driving by the spot where they've been building the Chef's Kitchen for a while and it looked like there were cars and it was open. So I got the water and drove through the lot and sure enough they were open.

So I drove home, walked in, and told Shannon to get dressed. She did, we went over. We were over there at around 5:30, so a little early for the dinner rush, but it looks as though people figured out quick that they were open and by the time we left it was getting quite full.

So as an appitizer we ordered Beer Battered fried Pickle chips. I know this sounds a bit odd, but the pickle/dill taste was not that strong and dipping them in the ranch sauce was just good. There was a great big plate of them too. I think it was quite good. Certainly a little step outside the ordinary.

Shannon had a dinner salad, with a nice mix of greens and she said the ranch dressing was a little weak.

We got our food. I had the Mufelletta sandwich and Shannon had the Chicken Alfredo sandwich. Both were very good. I had so much of the pickles I couldn't really finish it (not that there wasn't a big serving). The food was good, the Chicken was very tender (Shannon was full and couldn't finish her sandwich) and the alfredo sauce was very good.

I'm looking forward to having the Jack Daniels steak again. That's just...mmmm....so good.

Afterwards we went home, looked at vacation stuff (for the honeymoon) and registered at Williams Sonoma (Not that we expect people to buy us stuff here, although it'd be nice, but they have a promotion to win a 2500$ gift certificate there).

Afterwards, Shannon headed to bed, and I headed to Connie's Lounge for what was supposed to be a Karaoke night but really turned out to be just think about singing and by the time I was leaving, they had sung two songs. I met up with Josh, Drew and eventually Jen. With Josh's mom bartending there (which is kinda cool). It was fun. Although I understand the bar is gonna get all crowded again, cause the fair is over soon...so...

Today I decided not to bring a lunch, and as luck would have it Klump, a long time Consultant, was here and I joined into the crowd that he bought lunch for (Brian, Charity, Matt, Brandon, and myself) and a small chineese place across the street. So lunch was free :)

Engagement Ring

So apprently I suck at taking ring pictures. I took 8 or 9 pictures and only two turned out. One Shannon didn't like....so here we go:

It's pretty...it sparkles.

things

So I got a call from Nathan last night, and apprently he's got some work stuff going on Sunday (which he gets payed double time for), so he'll not be coming up this weekend to see the house and go to the Fair. Ahh well.. They'll be up the next weekend though, so that'll be good.

Next weekend is IHS Adventureland weekend

We also got a call last night from Joesph's Jewelers and Shannon's ring is in today, so we'll be heading out to get it this afternoon to get it, on our way to officially reserve the wedding chapel. Hopefully she'll let me handle it long enough to take pictures ;)

Also this week we're gonna start registering places...one place, we're not really expecting people to buy from, but they are apprently having a contest there where you could win a $2500 gift certificate there. And hey, if someone wants to buy us stuff from there, it's not like I'm gonna complain about it.

Gas prices are really starting to annoy me. I suspect today will be the first time I pay 30$ for a tank of gas on a car that I own (I've paid that much, I think, on my my parents van that they had when I was younger, but...that had two gas tanks).

A little over 13 months remain between now and marriage. Maybe I should break out the flash count down timer that I wrote a while ago. I also plan to make a wedding site for us.

funny things and not so funny things, cont'd

So we continue...

Here are some pictures of the wedding chapel.

It's pretty :) I don't much like going to church, but I do like how they are put together.

I just watched episode 61 of Six Feet Under and it really made me think about how I would react if something so terrible as loosing a brother would happen. I don't know if I could handle that. That show is so good.

Last night was Adam and Tiff's engagement party. It was fun. It was out at the Normal's and I hadn't seen them in a while. It was a good time. Good food, good desserts, good conversation. Shannon and I spent a while out side chatting with Chris and Holly. It was a good night. I made nuclear brownies, they got good reviews.

Today I get to mow and weed and wash cars! That'll take a while.

I guess I should probably get started on the whole outside chores thing...which means I should eat breakfast.

funny things and not so funny things

So ocassionally George (kitty) will play catch with me. He has two little mice that he's usually willing to go get and bring back to me. It's quite cute.

Art, a co-worker, returned home after disappearing himself. I'm glad he's home safe.

I made nuclear brownies tonight, they smell really good. They are in the fridge now...mmm...brownies.

I got a statement today from my insurance comapany stating that I probably own Iowa Health Home Care around $400 for the rental of my CPAP machine and the supplies surrounding it. I guess the bills aren't done yet :(

Wednesday, Shannon and I have an appointment to meet and discuss our wedding to have it at Candle Lit Way Wedding Chapel.

Well I was gonna just hang out here, but Josh does wanna go out again, so I'll be heading out now. More later...with some pictures of the Chapel.

oh and the funny thing

So last night we talked about having a pot-luck for a reception...yeah...that'd be halarious. :)

I'm pretty sure we won't though.

ring gets more expensive and the no duh comment

So I got a call yesterday from Joseph's Jewelers and so I called them back, and apprently the estimated price for my white gold wedding band, due to gold prices, was way off. The 18k white gold wedding band I had ordered was originally estimated to be aroudn $375 (she said right up front that it would depend on gold prices), so after checking, Apprently the ring would go up to around 600 something. That's quite a diffrence. She also suggested the 14k white gold and that one would be around $400. So I checked out the diffrences, and 14k gold is a bit harder, so I figure, why not. So through all of that, I got the 14k white gold ring ordered.

So we were looking for photographers last night. Some of the websites, I couldn't believe that those were their best pictures. Off balence, bland, boring pictures dotted most of them. Apprently they're also freakin expensive. Most of the ones that I did actually like either didn't quote a price (expensive) or the price quoted was a little more then I thought it would be (for maybe 4 hours of work). Maybe I can get Adam to hook me up with one of his poor art college student friends that actually takes good pictures and then I can give them like a third or half of what some of these good photographers charge.

I am starting to understand how my co-worker Deb, says that she is trying hard, but having trouble keeping in her budget. Of course she is having quite a bit more extravegent wedding then we are...but still.

So here's the no duh comment. Weddings are expensive.

I'm not sure, but from my understanding of how the whole wedding thing works for my siblings, I get the impression that I'll be spending more on my wedding then all of their weddings combined. But that's probably the Mormon thing though.

This has also caused a bit of stress between Shannon and I, cause all I really want is that piece of paper and be married. So that we we are legally a unit and I can get her on my insurance and we can get on with the spending of the rest of our lives together. (I worry about her not having insurance.) We are going to try to cut a lot of corners and there are things that are already gonna handle that. No booze (sorry guys), wedding and reception in the same place (no limo), her mom's making her dress, the brides maid dress, and the flower girl dress, placing the wedding at such at time where we don't actually feed people meals but just snacks. Small wedding cake (two tier), sheet cake for the guests (maybe even I'll make the sheet cake).

Tonight, we're going to look at a retired church, converted into a wedding chapel. We'll see how that goes.

I am a bit miffed that I forgot about the DMMC meeting tonight...but...well...I did, so I guess that's that.

The date is pretty much set. and we bought rings

So we went out today, went shopping for rings and ended up going to Joseph's Jewelers. We first tried the one in West Glen, but it was closed, so we ended up going to Valley West Mall. I had had pretty solid recomendations from both my boss and an executive at Iowa Health System.

So we picked out rings. Shannon got a band where the band and the engagement ring are put together. It is made of white gold and and has diamonds in the setting. I got a simple white gold band. They look pretty good together. I put down a 20% down payment and now we get to wait 2-4 weeks.

Also due to the process of elimination, we have decided that the wedding will be the last weekend of September 2006 (30th). This may change, but for now that's what we're calling it. One weekend, 2nd weekend of the month, is usually the Iowa State - Iowa game. Another weekend is out cause it's near her sister's anniversery and another weekend is out cause it's her niece's birthday.

preping to go ring shopping

So last night Shannon and I were browsing the internet looking at information about diamonds and rings and things. Then Shannon took over and started looking at rings. The first part was ok...but then even though she was just looking, I admit that I did start to get a little nervous. That's a lot of money for something so small.