Meg can be quite dangerous when threatened:

Apparently, this was my trip to bond with Meg

What did we do in Vegas? Stay in our hotel playing the Magic card game:

Erin– like a spider:

Strolling down Miracle Mile:

duv and Meg Dance-Dancing away:

Quark’s Bar:

Don’t We Look Happy? And check all the Star-trekkie shirts:

The Las Vegas Airport has cool art:

So, what do we know about our wedding?

• We’re aiming for late May, 2009 (our “sure, why not?” date we’ve set for ourselves is Saturday, May 23rd, 2009– but that’s nowhere near official yet).
• We want it to be outside, somewhere beautiful.
• We want what I’d call a medium sized wedding and reception– more than 50 but less than 100 people.
• The wedding will be in Colorado, preferably near the Denver/Boulder area, with a local reception.
• We want a minimal “staff”–probably nothing more than an officiant, a DJ/MC, a photographer, and food staff.

While that’s a start, there’s a lot of planning, both fun and tedious, to be done.

For me, the fun starts with choosing a location. Both of our parents have started sending out location ideas (Meg sent this nice compilation of Front Range wedding sites, and James sent me the historic Crags Lodge). Teisha may weigh in with different concerns, but I really want a place that’s at least a little formal– you only get married once, and I want to do it in style! Plus, there’s the fun of the reception– I look forward to choosing fun and touching songs (any suggestions, peanut gallery?), and being able to relax during it– our hard work will be over.

A quick list of places that, at a glance, have intrigued me or that I’ve heard good things about:

• The Flagstaff House
• Mary’s Lake Lodge
• The Crags lodge, mentioned above
• The Butterfly Pavilion (it just seems to fit Teisha and I so much)

So, with all that fun, what am I concerned about? One, finding a snazzy tuxedo. Oh yeah. But mostly the logistics of making it painless– both for us, and for our parents (our friends and families can suffer instead ). Things like: finding a good photographer who won’t try anything shady like retaining the rights to our photos; finding a DJ/MC that won’t do something crazy like start playing rap; and a reception location that’s not incredibly expensive, but knows their stuff. All that stuff needs searching (and those of you who have been to weddings in Colorado, start telling me all you know!).

Also, what cool wedding reception themes/gadgets/whatever have you seen? We like the idea of a “scavenger hunt” list of photos, along with disposable cameras on the tables. I also like the idea of little souvenirs for all the guests to remember the occasion by, and of having a “theme”. It’s especially fitting since our first date and our engagement date are both Halloween. … Maybe I could convince Teisha to let us have the best men and women be a gang of ninjas and pirates, whom Teisha has to defeat to rescue me, the charming Prince.

Then I remembered that after the oozing, comes the annoying voices and equally annoying little friends. And then they get a little older and make you cry a lot. I may as well pack up my husband and cats, move to Seattle, and get a few dogs . . . looks like that’s where I can live out my days until all balance is lost.

What do you guys think? What worries me is the potential for a serious loss of balance, although I’m not sure I buy the author’s notion that all of the conservative’s children will remain conservative. Just like not all the liberal’s children grow up liberal . . . (I’m really not aiming for a politically charged debate, as I know not all of us are liberal. I still think this is interesting).

I guess I can now longer consider my apartment a bachelor-pad anymore, which means, looking over the piles of filth to see my monitor, I need to make *ahem* a few changes. Beyond cleaning, though, I feel that it’s important to make the place “open” enough that Teisha can really leave her mark on it and feel like it’s her home, too. So I’ve already cleared an entire bookcase for her books and trinkets. But I need to do more still. I’m thinking of re-arranging to make more open wall-space for her posters and such, and I’m working on clearing out a lot of the closet (girls have lots of clothes, right? ). Teisha, bless her soul, seems entirely unworried about being able to make her mark. But I know first-hand how important a place that feels like home can be, especially when moving far from everything you know. So I’m working on the little touches.

Does anyone have any suggestions for living together and/or decorating that I may be forgetting? I’m not scared about personality conflicts– we’ve already lived together, last summer. But permanent is very different from temporary, and I’m a planner, so I like to think ahead.

Also, feel free to congratulate Teisha and I. Hehe.

Finding enough space will be a problem, I’m sure. Here’s a rough sketch of the apartment:

My father was an egregious criminal drinking his Mountain Dew as he drove on roadtrips… Laika and I were very ashamed seeing our father drink and drive.

It was, of course, helpful:
- Breaking staples apart (less work for the stapler)
- Chaining paperclips together (you could pick up one and get as many as you like)
- Breaking apart twisty ties (so you wouldn’t have to break them apart later)
(Oh, what helpful children Laika and I were!)

And my latest remembrance: There was an experiment on some highway that asked people to turn on their lights to see if it reduced accidents. I thought it was a good idea, but there would surely be a large spike in accidents at the beginning of the study area because people would be fumbling around for their lights and crash.

Do you recall any childhood perceptions you’ve since seen differently?