The Wedding Weekend

Hi everyone,

Well, it sure has been a very busy month! First and foremost, Michael and I are finally married! We had a wonderful (but busy!) weekend. But I'm not going to lie, we're both feeling a lot less stressed now that it's all over. The wedding photographer has given us a timeline of 2-3 weeks before we receive our wedding photos so we'll post them then. For now, we'll just post a bunch of pre- and post-wedding shots that we and our guests took throughout the weekend. The ceremony was beautiful and the dinner we had afterward was great. The only thing that rivaled the food was the good company!

As I said, it was pretty ridiculous around here for the couple weeks that lead up to the wedding but I think it was all worth it. We had a lot of help from Michael's parents who organized a big open house slash dinner for Friday evening, as most people were arriving in Cincinnati that afternoon and they also held a brunch for everyone on Sunday as well. Hmm... there's so much to write about... so I guess I'll just go through it chronologically for you.

Kiff/Maid of Honour

On Wednesday evening, Kiff (my best friend/maid of honour/chief cook and bottle washer for the weekend) arrived at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport. So rather than picking her up and driving right back home, we thought we would let her savour her first taste of Kentucky by making a stop at Newport on the Levee (basically directly across the Ohio River - which serves as the state litne - from downtown Cincinnati). We had dinner at Hofbrauhaus, a German/Bavarian restaurant and brewery. Kiff felt at home as she was just in Germany last year haha. Oh, andhe fried sauerkraut and wienerschnitzel were awesome. Eventually we got home and after making list 1.0 (this was the first of many versions of the list of things we had to do over the next couple days) we hit the sack.

Thursday was probably our most productive day. After dropping Michael off at work, Kiff and I first went to an immigration appointment downtown, where I got all the details for the next stage of getting my US residency. I found out that in three months, I should have temporary work papers AND temporary travel papers (awesome news considering the consulate and border told me I couldn't leave the country for a whole year!) After that, we scoured pretty much every grocery store in the Greater Cincinnati area (ok, not really - probably every one in the Hyde Park area though) and after about 6 stops, finally found a ton of white flowers at a decent price. I had already put together cute little tins for the flowers at the ceremony but had yet to fill them with anything. We figured it would be cute to have a bunch of different types of flowers filling them as long as they were all white. I must say, the carnations, mums and fuji mums looked great in them. We finally ended up at Fresh Market where we found everything we needed at a very good price.

Our car after the flower run to Fresh Market

Our floral arranging progress on Friday

After that, it was off to Michael's where we got all the other necessities like floral wire, ribbons, extra scissors, etc. Oh, and we also dropped into Busken's, a famous local bakery for a batch of their signature sugar cookies to finish filling the guests' gift baskets. On a side note, I loved doing the baskets, because it really gave me an opportunity to taste a lot of so-called 'local fare'. We included things like the Busken cookies, Buckeye chocolate candies (because Ohio is the buckeye state), a Graeter's chocolate bar, Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce, etc. Oh, and Michael decided that his groomsmen should also get beer from a Microbrewery in Kentucky called Kentucky Horse Piss (click on the name to see their website - the label on the beer is as funny as the name!)

Cookies from Busken's

By noon, Kiff and I were back at the apartment, arranging flowers and figuring out some last minute decorating details.

The only things missing were Brenda and Lorraine!

Eventually, Brian (Michael's best man) arrived from the London/Sarnia area and hung around just long enough to keep both Kiff and I in stitches before we all piled into the car and went to pick up Michael. We all went for dinner across the street from our place at the Hyde Park Tavern (I highly recommend it, by the way), where we roughly figured out what we would be up to for the rest of the night and the next few days. I must say, it was great to have both Brian and Kiff down a couple days before the craziness of all the festivities began. There's no way we could have gotten everything done without them - plus, it was a lot of fun to have some new people to play Guitar Hero with late into the night! :)

Friday was just as busy as Thursday. Kiff and I headed over to the Chapel in Glendale to decorate and the boys had a couple of errands to run (and also brought us whatever we needed or forgotten).

Brian/Best Man, 'helping' us decorate at the Chapel :)

What we thought would have taken two hours, soon became six and with the help of my sisters, mom and gramma, who had arrived at the Sheraton (close by the Chapel, where they were staying) in mid-afternoon, we finished everything as fast as possible, drove the half hour back to my apartment, got dressed and made ourselves as presentable as possible, and then headed back up to West Chester (about half an hour away), where Michael's parents were hosting their party. The party was great. There was a band (and even bagpipes, which I know Brian just loved!) and it was so nice to meet all of Michael's family that I hadn't yet met. The food was amazing (and of course, there was too much) and I think everyone had a really good time.

Me, on a ladder in the Chapel, tangled in lights, thule and ivy... Not feeling stressed at all!

By Friday night, we were all exhausted, however, there was still a TON left to do on Saturday. Brianna, Bridget, Kiff and I all stayed at our apartment while Michael and Brian and Adam (another groomsmen) had their party on Friday night. The next morning, we were all up early with our list of things to do and the girls spent the better part of the day getting our hair done, buying roses, tying bouquets, making programs and, finally, getting dressed for the ceremony.

Bridgy looking for a picture of a hairdo at the hairdresser's

The paparazzi (aka Kiff) takes pics of me leaving the hairdresser's and walking next door, back to my apartment to arrange flowers on Saturday morning.Rockin' my rollers

Thank goodness, we all made it to the Church on time, and, despite the slight confusion and changes our officiant made at the last second, everything went very well and smoothly. Our decorations were very simple with white lights behind white thule and greenery and candles everywhere but, being that the sun had just set, it looked gorgeous! It's amazing how good our friends and family look when they're all dressed up! haha..

After the ceremony and about a half hour of photos, we all drove up to Monroe (about twenty minutes north) and had the most wonderful dinner. We had 5 courses, which culminated in the best Filet Mignon I have ever had. If you're in the mood for an amazing meal in Cincinnati, you must go to the Brandywine Inn! We were all so stuffed after the meal that, despite it's beauty, no one was very hungry, so we decided to wait until brunch at Michael's parents' house to cut it.

Our beautiful (and yummy!) White Chocolate Romance cake with raspberry filling

The Groom's cake (carrot)

For those that don't know, in the South, it is traditional to have a smaller cake for the Groom - either decorated as a theme or in his favourite flavour.

Kiff saved the day (again!) when we forgot the cake topper, she sprung into action, taking apart my mom's little bouquet and decorating our cake top and table for us. What would we have done without her?.....

The next morning, everyone met up at the Lamontagnes for more food (as if we needed it after the marathon dinner we had the night before!) and the cutting of the cake. We said goodbye to most of the guests at that point and my sisters and Kiff and I did some shopping while Michael, Carolyn and Brian stayed and entertained the little cousins.

Kiff tried on this dress at Macy's (we found it in the changeroom in the clearance section) and gave me her fiercest model look. Enjoy this while you can. When she sees this, she'll probably make me remove it! haha...

We had dinner Sunday night with my gramma and parents at a 'real southern BBQ' spot and then headed back to the apartment to back and get ready for Brock's arrival. Yes, we got our new puppy on Monday! We have many pictures to share but this post is getting rather long so I'm going to finish off this post by saying that I, for one, had a wonderful time at our *second* wedding. haha..

Everyone looked wonderful, I think we all had a good time and it was easily one of the best days of my life.

Some more pictures of cute Labradoodles

Hi All,

It's been awhile since we last posted. We've been incredibly busy getting ready for our upcoming nuptials. In the meantime, we have officially decided that we will be bringing home Brock, our Labradoodle puppy from Buckeye Kennels shortly after our wedding on January 28th. We are eagerly anticipated his homecoming and have been really busy getting the house puppy-proofed. Here are some new pictures of the Labradoodle puppies, enjoy!

So many puppies to choose from....

Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Christmas.

We just wanted to pass along some good news. Our Labradoodle mom, Gloria gave birth to 9 pups, 4 male and 5 female on December 12th. Only 6 weeks until we get to pick our puppy. We've decided to name the puppy Brock, to symbolize where Mariah and I first met.

And here are the cute puppy pictures.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Hi everyone,

Just a short post today ad Michael and I have been busying ourselves doing some cleaning in the apartment... We're hosting a little Sunday-afternoon-football-get-together tomorrow and so I've decided it's high time we kicked it into high gear to get all the 'little things' done so our place is presentable.

This morning we woke up to a wonderfully familiar sight... well, familiar but a little strange given where we are living at the moment. :) Here's what the view was like from our bedroom at 9am:

So, clearly that put me in a good mood for the day. (Michael, not so much... haha)

We decided to take a walk up the street to the Coffee Roasters' where they apparently have a great waffle breakfast on weekends. The snow was perfect on the way there. Unfortunately for us though, when we got there, we found out that they only serve a hot breakfast on Sundays! *le sigh!* So we decided to turn around, picked up some eggs from the UDF on the way home and I took a couple pictures of the winter wonderland that was our neighbourhood (even if it did only last a couple of hours). We plan to try it tomorrow...

Michael with his "cold" face on:


Mariah being tickled by snowflakes:


After breakfast, Michael went out to do (pretty much all of) his Christmas shopping. He reported that the mall was surprisingly quiet; which we attributed to the fact that everyone in this city seems to freak out at the first snow flake. Ah, oh well. All the better for those of us who do decide to 'brave' the weather!

That's about all for now... I'm heading to store soon to grab some groceries for tomorrow's shindig. After dinner we're probably heading to the Cincinnati Zoo as they apparently have a big light show and Christmas displays. Perhaps there will be a post about that tonight or tomorrow...

Ciao!
Mariah

PS: I've also discovered - to Michael's dismay - a radio station that has 24-hour Christmas music! (Hense the title to this post) It's not WKRP, but close. It's WKRQ! :)

I've heard of a reindeer... but reinDOGS???

Hi everyone!

So it's been a couple days since my last post and this one is actually going to be fairly short but I've had an experience recently that I just HAVE to share! I've been constantly on the lookout for fun things that Michael and I can do in the city and so far we've been soaking up as much as possible. Between scouring online community calendars and just keeping an ear open for events (especially christmas events!) on the local news, we've come up with a few good ideas so far. In the evenings, we've been taking walks around our neighbourhood, I try to browse a couple new stores or shops every time I go out for groceries or an errand and Michael's always directing me to take a new route to get home. All in all, I'm feeling fairly comfortable here and feel like I'm at least getting to know my way around our neighbourhood.

Now, that being said, you're probably dying to know what this experience was that I just HAVE to share. Well, on Thursday night's local news, I heard about something called a "Reindog Parade" that would be happening on the weekend. I googled it and it turned out that the event was taking place almost right in front of Michael's office. (This was a little ego boost for me because that meant I was going someplace where I actually wouldn't have to use googlemaps for directions!)


Ok, so anways, it was a great event. It's something that takes place every year as a fundraiser for the local humane society. Essentially owners register their pets (that's where the money is raised) and then they dress up their dog(s) - and sometimes themselves too! - and show up on the afternoon of the event to parade through Mount Adams with their dogs.

Here are a few of my favourites:


So, now I think by now most of you know that Michael and I are expecting a new addition to our family...... of the four-legged variety of course. Did I get you there?? Did you think this was going to be a really impersonal way to announce that we were preggers?? haha... Oh, I know I had a couple of you going there... :)

But really. Our puppy is due to be born any day now (a chocolate labradoodle actually) and so I will now start fielding suggestions for NEXT year's Reindog Parade. I personally think that we should enter Michael and our doggy into the Look-Alike category. But there's plenty of time to decide. So, if you have any suggestions - especially if they involve dressing Michael up to match - please let me know! :)

Well, it's getting late so I'm going to end this now. More tomorrow.

Mariah

Timmins to Cincinnati in two days

Well, I've been Stateside for a little over a week now and Michael and I are just starting to settle into something of a routine. Our apartment is nearly in order I'm just about done my "cleaning spree" as Michael has been referring to my daily activities while he's been at work. Next week, once I'm all done organizing, I'll be sure to post a few pictures here for you.

The trip down was actually relatively uneventful. The weather was decent until we got to Toronto, where we ran into freezing rain. As we drove further West, the weather continued to deteriorate and drove our last two or so hours in heavy snow and freezing rain. Yuck!

After a looooong day of driving from Timmins to London, we went for dinner and met up with Brian and Brandy. Too bad we were too exhausted to be much in the way of good company though (sorry guys!)

The next day, we picked up our last Timmies' order (the true Canadian tradition) and then we drove to the US Border at Sarnia/Michigan, where we crossed around 9am. (See the amazingly ugly photo of the landscape on the left of the screen and you won't wonder why we didn't stay longer!)

The guard we got actually had a bit of a sense of humour so it went much better than it might have had we ended up with the guy Mike encountered last time... The guard actually informed me (at least three times) that Michael and I now had 90 days to get married and to make sure I was very careful to adhere to this stipulation to my Visa. He also reminded me that I HAVE to marry Michael - no changing my mind and marrying some other guy I meet in the next three months. haha... I think the most difficult part about crossing the border was the waiting while everything processed; which is, of course, a very good thing. Although I'll speak for both of us in saying that, as we left, we weren't sure which was more of a relief - getting in without too much questioning, or the fact that they didn't search our vehicle. Our poor Spectra5 was packed so tight, I'm not sure we could have fit in another pair of shoes (and we all know that if I could have, I would have!)

Once we crossed into Ohio, the sun seemed to come out again and we were off to Buckeye Kennels to visit the dog breeder from which we've chosen to get our Labradoodle-to-be. We had such a great experience visiting Sheryl and the dogs she has there. Since they breed Golden Retrievers, Labs, Labradoodles and Goldendoodles, they do have quite a few dogs but as we walked around the outdoor area where they are all kept, I can honestly say that there wasn't a single doggy there that I wouldn't want to have in my home. Our pup isn't born yet (the litter is due in about a week or so) so we won't get to take him home until February but we're both very confident that we'll end up with a great pooch. (Of course we'll post some pictures here of our family's new addition as soon as we can!)

Once we were back on the road and after a quick stop for lunch, Michael and I were home in about four hours. My first impressions of the neighbourhood were pretty good. Because we were clearly too tired to cook, we went for dinner at one of the little restaurants across the street. The fact that I can get amazing Pad Thai and scrumptious Spring Rolls from someplace literally 150 meters down the street from my doorstep is going to seriously challenge my willpower... :)

There are actually a few places on our block that seem to be very busy places to eat and/or hang out. We can get pretty much everything from gas to dry cleaning to beer on our block. I'll make a post devoted to "the neighbourhood" in a few days perhaps... There are a few things I think you all might get a kick out of so I'll save those details for later, when I have pictures to post with my antidotes.

That's all for this post... more tomorrow!

Mariah