Sushi and Ice Cream

Last night I got a surprise from Danny telling me that he was off and wanted sushi. You don't have to mention sushi twice to get me craving some! He also said he didn't want to go far so I suggested Akira which is like 15 minutes away.

I love their 80's logo on their mugs!

This is us trying to cut back! My roll was the bottom left. It was called Cloud 9 and had mango, sour cream and shrimp! Yum!

The server at Akira gave us a "secret gift" card where we would have to bring back unopened and could be worth $10, $15, $20, $50 or $75. Danny and I thought that was a nice touch even though the suspense is killing Danny as to what amount it is. We said even if it is the lowest amount, $10, that's still not a bad deal. That covers two small rolls!

I also have been reading quite a bit about a new ice cream at Mitchell's Ice Cream. It's an ice cream made with the popular Great Lakes Brewery Christmas Ale, called Christmas Ale Ginger Snap. I guess the ice cream is made from residual from the end of bottling runs of Christmas Ale. Since that was across the street we headed there as well. The first two bites tasted like beer and then the rest tasted like gingerbread. Which isn't a bad thing!

Danny got Key Lime pie flavored ice cream which he had before and remembered it being good.

Then we had to crank the heat up because we were cold from the ice cream but it was worth it! I love impromptu nights like that! How did Christmas come up so fast this weekend? So crazy!

New ornaments for tree

I think this is the earliest we've put up a tree! I've been using the same ornaments for the past 5 years and was not looking forward to putting them on the tree so I went to my favorite store, Target, to buy some new ornaments to inspire me. I knew I wanted a Hello Kitty ornament and I used target.com's "find in store" feature to see if I should bother at the Target that is right up the street from me. And I was right, they were out of stock. But the Target two cities over was in stock so I decided to take a trip out there. Once I got to the Christmas section, I found the Hello Kitty ornament and it was THE LAST ONE! Hooray! Here is the cutie

Then I got a duck to represent the carnival ducks we had at our wedding (and keeping with the red and pink theme)

Whenever I see this ornament, I think of Lil Wayne's Lollipop song, totally inappropriate!

Whole tree and Meatball

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving was great this year! Danny and I hosted for the first time and he did all the cooking. We did two turkeys - one roasted in the oven (with lots of butter)

And one in a smoker

The reason the only two pictures I have of the turkeys is when they are raw is because hosting is exhausting and I was running around non-stop the rest of the day.

Then I decided that I wanted to try Black Friday shopping for three items - two ipods and a Mr. Coffee Keurig maker. If we bought all those items, we would get $85 back in Target gift cards and I go to Target all the time, especially for groceries, so it was worth it to me. After passing out at 8 pm after our hosting duties, Danny and I headed to Target at 12:15 am and saw the craziness that is Black Friday for the first time. We waited outside the doors for only 15 minutes, but once inside the line for the electronics section was about an hour. I got to see the people pushing carts with the huge flat screen TVs and discovered that the hot ticket item that many people were there for was the Dr. Dre's Beats headphones! Who knew? Those sold out while we were waiting in line. We managed to get the two ipods at the counter and pay for the coffeemaker and get outta there so it was a successful trip. I rewarded Danny and our other friend who met up with us with slushies on our way out. I don't think the slushie machine was meant to be on at 1 am at Target because Danny managed to overflow his like a geyser, probably because it was too soft!

Saturday night my friends invited me over for game night. I jokingly asked if we were going to play her original 1990s game of Mall Madness because I know my friend M has it and when I got there, look what was set up waiting for me

I didn't think they would take me seriously! Yeah I realized I'm not so good at Mall Madness. I kept running out of money!

Then to add more to the weekend, I promised my friend who is a comedian we would see him perform at Hilarities in downtown Cleveland. I was wanting Chipolte earlier but Danny and I wanted to go somewhere downtown so we settled on Zocolo, a Mexican grill with the menu designed by food network chef Aaron Sanchez.

I've been wanting to try it and I liked the little fundido appetizer we shared and the mango avocado margarita I got.

I would love to go back get the goat cheese quesadilla, that sounded amazing! The comedy show was just what Danny and I needed. It felt good to laugh. We also drove past some Christmas lights in downtown Cleveland.

I love action packed weekends like that! Makes the days off stretch so much longer!

Free movies part 4, Hugo

If you love free movies like me, the best thing is to do is get an account at gofobo and you will get surprise emails from time to time offering you movie passes. I usually get all excited and request every single movie offer I get and then get too tired or lazy to go. Last night I forced myself to go and I'm so glad I did. The movie was Hugo and just reading that it was directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Johnny Depp told me it would be great. Also, this was my first experience with 3D glasses! The movie split itself between showcasing the cool 3D effects and paying homage to the origin and history of cinema. It was also interesting to see how they depicted the 1930s train station in Paris. I'm rooting for this movie to do well during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

Thirsty Dog and Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Bet

I'm lucky I have a friend who's husband goes out of town probably the same amount of time that Danny works. Last night she promised her coworkers she would go to somebody's birthday party at the Thirsty Dog Brewery in Akron and she needed me to take her husband's spot who was in Chicago. I was by myself with no plans so I was excited to go. We pull up and wonder if we're in the right spot because it looks very industrial but then we realize that her coworker rented out a room in the brewery not open to the public. I just started to tolerate beer within the past few years so I was ok with trying some. I tried the Pumpkin Ale and the Raspberry Ale which were both very good. I'm lame and have no pictures.

This year we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house! Danny and I have a bet going on right now regarding dessert! I found a pumpkin pie cheesecake recipe with a pretzel crust on the Whole Foods website that I was going to make. My mom asked me what to bring and I forwarded the recipe to her and she said she would make it. Well Danny has never seen my mom make a home made dessert in the 8 years we've been together because she likes to buy stuff from the bakery. So we bet $5 - I win if she makes the pumpkin cheesecake recipe and he wins if she brings store bought bakery. I'm putting my faith in her, I hope she comes through and I can prove Danny wrong! Just for fun, even though my mom doesn't have a facebook, I posted this:

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

Editor's Note: I have a niece to buy for this Christmas and I've read so many good things about Melissa & Doug! I like so many toys that I can't make a decision!

Sweatin to the Homies

I like Zumba but latin music is not my favorite. I have the best time when the instructor plays Britney or another non-latin song. There's also a joke within my group of friends that I'm the only one out of the group that likes hip hop and I get made fun of constantly. When I found out there was a hip class near me, I was really interested in going, but scared at the same time. For two weeks I had something going on on Wednesday nights (see last post), but last night I finally trekked up there in the dark and went to see what this was all about. I felt bad that there were only two other people besides me. The instructor was really energetic and did the steps slow, which was great for me. At first I was thinking, this isn't doing anything...but by the time we were done, I was soaking in sweat! Even more than after Zumba! I'm going to try to get the word out and get some more people to go with me because I'm addicted now and I'll be sad if the class gets canceled due to no interest.

In other random news, I bought the dunkin donuts strawberry shortcake coffee that the Healthy Diva posted about:

Since I only have a Keurig and not a regular coffee maker, I had to bust out the Keurig reusable coffee filter that we got at our shower. Wow what a hassle! You have to take the little filter, scoop little teaspoons of coffee in it, and then wash the whole thing! I just started on the coffee train a year ago so I'm not used to cleaning grounds, but I felt like I was doing a lot of work for 8 oz of coffee, haha! No, I take that back, I was messing with coffee grounds at age 15 when I worked at McDonalds. The strawberry flavor was really good :)

Trying to be healthy

The wedding was wonderful but the stress surrounding it was overwhelming. I was really surprised how some family members acted. I guess a wedding brings people's true colors out. Everyone loved the carnival theme though and danced the night away. I'm so grateful to have been given a nice wedding by my in-laws, but I'm happy it's over and life is back to normal.

My new obsession is what I call "healthy living blogs". I've been introduced to the world of Whole Foods, protein powder, overnight oats, chia seeds, almond butter and a lot of other things that excite me. I've been trying to incorporate some of these ideas into my diet in these past few months. Another one of these cool blogger buzz words is kale. On hungry hungry hippie, I read how she tried this kale from the Pasadena Whole Foods made by a chef AJ. That rung a bell in my head and I searched my deleted emails from Whole Foods and saw that chef AJ was coming to my Whole Foods the following week for a demo and book signing. What are the odds that she would be in Cleveland?

The demo was very informative and explained why we shouldn't eat processed foods. Chef AJ used to be a comedienne and that really showed because she was very energetic. She said Cleveland is the farthest she's travelled so far. She also made fun of my Cleveland accent when I told her I visited Santa Monica and Hollywood on my honeymoon. I hate when I get nervous and that comes out!

Here she is in action:

Anyway she demoed a Nutrient Rich Chocolate Smoothie. The main ingredient is spinach but she used cacao powder and dates to sweeten it up.

Next was the famous Hail to the Kale salad that the hippie talked about. She used a whole jar of raw almond butter to make that dressing! So cool to actually be able to taste it!

Next was a black bean based soup.

And for dessert an amazing raw chocolate truffle (and a nice shot of my black work pants!).

I'm going to try to attend more demos like this in the future to keep learning about "healthy living" topics!

The asking my maids fiasco

I went back and forth with Danny whether we wanted a bridal party or not. In the end, we decided that we would regret if we didn't ask our family and friends to be in a bridal party and to go all or nothing. So all or nothing meant I had 5 girls to ask (plus my sister who I had already asked). I wanted to do something special like a card and a gift but couldn't decide on anything. Then I went to the weddingbee boards and saw that a post on how a girl asked her maids by sending them all flowers to their jobs. I loved that idea, knew it would be expensive but figured this is the only time I would ever get to do this.

I decided to use teleflora because the website let me send the flowers to multiple addresses and put it on one invoice. It let me pick each local florist based on the location I was sending it to. So here's how it went:

Bridesmaid D: She's a stay-at-home mom so I had to send the flowers to her house. The florist sent them a day early!!!! Then she starts writing on facebook that she has a secret admirer! I had to email her and tell her to keep it on the down low because everyone else would be getting the flowers the next day.

Bridesmaid G: I'll just let her email tell this story: OMG! I just got a special delivery at work; Flowers : )

My answer is ABSOLUTELY YES!! I am sooo excited and nervous. I have never been an official bridesmaid.

I do have to tell you when I first opened the little card I had a mini panic attack because I thought is was someone sending cards to their wife or something and they gave them to the wrong person because the card is signed Deanne. Then when I calmed down and actually read it again, I figured it must really be Deanna, and then I was giggling with excitement.

So they spelled my flippin name wrong!

Bridesmaid A: I find out that her work sent her to Columbus at last minute and she would be out of her office for 3 days! In a panic, I called the florist who was no help. I ended up calling her work and asked if they could just put the flowers on her desk for her to get when she gets back. They ended up putting them in the fridge so they were perfect when Bridesmaid A got them.

Bridesmaids M and B got theirs at their respective places of employment no problem.

Whew, right? I have to say it was fun getting the emails and phone calls from everyone saying yes and telling me they were excited. Oh and I asked them to send me a picture of these flowers so I could at least see them! Here they are. I picked two different designs and alternated between the girls:

Photographs - Check!

Since I had such a problem booking halls, I realized that I had to get on the search for a photographer too. I emailed a bunch of local photographers and got a few emails that were set up like this:

Hello Deanna - thanks for contacting me. Unfortunately, I'm booked on xx. However, I would like to suggest the following photographers. They do amazing work.

The photographer suggested 7 photographers' names. What was really weird was that I emailed one of the suggestions and I got another booked letter with the original photographer on the list! They must have a little club or something.

One of my favorites, Hunter Photographic, emailed me back almost instantly and was open on my date! I loved that he had an updated blog and was so fast to respond. He even wanted to meet with Danny and I right away! We met at a Caribou Coffee at my suggestion and I was sold on the fact that he brought an ipad (I'm a mac nerd) a cool portfolio. Included in the package were the engagement photos and I said I wanted to wait until spring because I hate winter and snow and don't want to see it in my photos. So we're looking forward to that in a couple months!

Hotel vs. Banquet Hall

My next natural inclination was to get a guest list number to see what we were dealing with. I knew it would be a big number. After going back and forth between both sets of families, the estimate was 378! This new information knocked out about 70% of the venues that I had bookmarked or liked.

Since my future in laws were helping to pay for the reception, we devised a system of booking appointments to look at venues on Saturday mornings. The first venue we visited lied on their website on how many people it could hold. Or you could probably hold 400 with tables set up in a completely different room. Fail. After about 5 visits, we narrowed it down to two choices - the hotel vs. the banquet hall.

I honestly fell in love with the hotel. It was built in 2009. Everything was sparkling new. The bar had a flat screen tv. But it was at the tip top of our budget. Also, Danny loves Jim Beam and their house brand of bourbon was Jack Daniels. We would have to pay extra for a longer bar time. We knew we wanted our carnival theme for appetizers and it just seemed like we would have to work so hard to fit our theme in these food and drink packages.

Enter the banquet hall. I wanted so much to hate it but each feature was better than the next! We could bring in our own alcohol! The dance floor was huge! They were flexible with food options! What really sold me was that the dj that we had excitedly booked too early had played there before and was familiar with how to set up their equipment there. The one catch was that we had to change our date to the weekend before. At this point, I was fine with the date change. I had a heart to heart with my future FIL and decided on the banquet hall! Yay! Now we can move forward!

Our first vendor!

Is probably not the first vendor you should book, haha. It was our dj! Danny had heard about Rock the House Entertainment by word of mouth and booked an appointment. We went to their studio and waited an obscene amount of time past our appointment because of the couple that was scheduled before us going overtime. When that couple finally left, the marketing manager came to get us and apologized. He brought us in an office and didn't say a word about the dj company. He asked us to tell him our engagement story. We were a little taken aback! He listened patiently while Danny told our engagement story and then asked a few more questions about how we envision our wedding. It was such a great meeting and I was convinced that we needed to book them that night! So I signed our first contract and deposit. I do not recommend booking the dj before your venue because we ended up changing our date and had to resign a dj contract, but the excitement of meeting with our first vendor was definitely fun!

Why are you so dressed up?

So a little background on Danny and I...Danny is a chef. I met him while taking on a waitressing job right out of college and ended up asking HIM out. We lived about 20 minutes apart in two different suburbs so I planned our first date in my neighborhood and chose a gelato place that had a private upstairs which I thought was really cool. We hit it off right away and have been together ever since, 7 years later!

Yeah 7 years later. I was getting kind of anxious (and so were our families) whether we would get married or not so I was not completely suprised by the events are are to follow.

Mondays are Danny's only day off in the week so we try to do something fun like go out to a restaurant (our fave) or movie or whatever. Danny does not dress up on his day off and definitely doesn't shave so when I saw him doing both I got a little suspicious. He suggested that we go back to the gelato place for our day off activity. Mind you, we haven't been there since our first date. We arrive at La Gelateria, get our gelato, and go upstairs to the seating area. We were the only ones there. I scarf down my gelato as I always do with frozen treats, and Danny started fumbling around in his pockets. He asked me if I had his keys and I said no. Then he pulls the ring out and says something like, "I had to bring it back to where we started" and asked to marry me. All I could say was "I knew it!, I knew it!". Very romantic, haha. But it was perfect for us because luckily no one was there so it was a completely private moment.

personal photo

I wasn't completely shocked by the proposal, but the after party is where Danny got me. He suggested we go to one of my favorite restaurants, Melt Bar and Grilled. I was so out of it, I said I just wanted to go home. We went anyway and I walk in and the whole restaurant starts clapping! Then I see a table of our closest friends....then my aunt, mom, sister, etc. etc. He invited 30 of our family and friends! That's when the tears started falling for me. People were giving me cards, gifts, flowers. It was a night I'll truly remember. Melt was especially great at dealing with such a large party since they are known for having long wait times and being crowded due to it's popularity.

personal photo....I think I broke every Anne Ruthmann rule with this shot!

Did you have an after party after your proposal?

Triumphant Return!

source

I'm making my triumphant return to blogging because of this post by Mrs. Penguin on Weddingbee. After a horrible and depressing 2009, Danny proposed to me in August 2010 and we are getting married in September 2011! And we plan on incorporating carnival food and elements in our wedding! It was meant to be!

I've been reading weddingbee since 2006. I stumbled upon it in the craziest way. I was searching for ideas for a wedding shower for my (now) FSIL. I found this thing called a blog that described a bridal shower they threw and was fascinated by it. Back in the day almost all blogs used to link to their other favorite blogs on the sidebar. I clicked on a blog and this person kept referring to herself as Mrs. Lime and wouldn't show her face. I then discovered these were monikers for brides-to-be on weddingbee. I added it to my google reader and have been reading non-stop for the past 4 years.

I will have to say, reading about other people's weddings and actually planning your own wedding is totally different! Nobody talks about how frustrating it is when your date is booked everywhere! There have been some angry tears shed on my part already regarding difficult wedding decisions. But at the same time I am incredibly happy to have all this support from friends and family!