Angelique & Mike - The Wedding Blog

Still recovering ... back to normal soon

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:35:00 -0400

Sorry to anyone who might still be checking this page, but "real" posts will be rare for another week or so. Mike and I are almost caught up with getting back to work and integrating all our new fantastic gifts (WOW! We have been bowled over by the generosity of our friends.) into our lives. After we -do- recover, you can expect to see something done about the many photos we have. No one has quite figured out the logistics, but we want to make sure that if you're in a photo, you get a copy of it. Eventually. Maybe next year. :p Also, yes, it feels different. Nice. And yes, Mazziepie (Camila) has fully recovered. She asks you all to keep away in future, too, no matter what Mike and I say. And finally, no, we have not lost either of our rings. Thanks.

Unwedding-related cuteness

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:46:00 -0400

Even though Mrs. Bridey picked on me for my long previous posting, I figured I would add one more thing. At the Galleria and at dim sum Cuteoverload.com was mentioned. This is the link to the absolutely adorable, rolly-polly pug puppy tummy - http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/11/mila-r.html

Post-Wedding Post

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:20:00 -0400

Well, it's my lunch break during my first real day back at work following the festivities, and I figured I'd go ahead and do a post while the happy couple alternates sleeping and spending time with the out-of-towners, with whom I'm hoping to get to spend some time tonight before they all leave. Last night I had to stay home because (a) I was freaking exhausted and (b) my older pug Sam had no qualms about showing me in a variety of ways how disapproved of I was and how, if I left again, he would find a way to kill me in my sleep. He may be little, but he's pretty darned stubborn, so I did what I was told. I had an amazing time this weekend. Friday's Girl's Night Out went really well, if I do say so myself. Everyone was ready to leave Volcano by the time we left (music was crazy-loud and bouncers were crazy-strict about IDs), and both the food and conversation at El Pueblito was plentiful and good. The Sky Bar had a great view - I strongly recommend it for anyone in town who hasn't yet been. Saturday was hectic but again lots of fun. Manicures and pedicures in the morning (Lourdes, Conchita, and Cheryl we LOVE YOU for bringing coffee and bagels!!) were followed by the rehearsal. It was at this time that I discovered Mr. Mike likes to get people's attention by asking really, really quietly for them to listen, so everyone else discovered that I can talk REALLY loud when necessary :) All went well, and then it was back to errands and/or naps before the BBQ dinner, hosted by the parents (thank you!). I am considering starting a religion on the tenet that Mary's curried shrimp are actually a gift from God. More great conversation and lots of mingling was had by all. Sunday was the big day! Mike had been kicked out of Bissy the night before, so I have no idea what exactly the boys all did. While Angelique and Lourdes were getting their hair done, I started to get myself ready and did a little room decorating for the to-be-married ones. Angelique, Janette, and I then got our makeup done professionally at the mall, and we looked mah-velous (yay, makeup!). Then it was off to Rockefeller, where we all got dressed and I ran around stressed out while Angelique remained as calm as ever. The ceremony was beautiful, but I have one suggestion - bridal party dress designers, please include small, hidden pockets for tissues! As I had admitted to all I would do, I cried. So sappy! Then the party went in full swing and everyone had good food, good conversation, and engaged in crazy dancing. Then back to Bissy. Monday was the dim sum brunch. Lourdes and Joe were our kind hosts and had ordered enough food for several small countries' worth of people. We all did our best to eat as much as we could, but we had to surrender. I want to take this opportunity (so formal I sound!) to thank the families, particularly Tom, Mary, Lourdes, and Joe. Without you four, not only would there be no Mike or Angelique, but there would not have been such a wonderful weekend. You all provided emotional, mental, and financial support to make this the best wedding weekend every. We love you!! Sadly, I must now get back to reality. Sigh . . . It was really wonderful to get to meet you all and spend time with you. I hope it happens again soon!

Playlist for the reception

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:08:00 -0400

Mister Mike already consulted with the DJ, so whatever songs were graciously suggested have been incorporated already. Please feel free to suggest more, but just know that those will have a much smaller chance of being actually played at the wedding than any songs that were entered before yesterday.

It has begun, the invasion

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:25:00 -0400

Wednesday, BoB, Bridesmaid, and Groomblefam members arrived. Today, several ushers arrived. One guest's work has taken her away from us (apparently, the company was so desperate to get her to India NOW, in the middle of Diwali, that it was worth a $12,000 plane ticket). Thank goodness the weather is cool, if not unhumid. We don't like our foreigners and out-of-towners to melt. Not a pretty sight. Mike and his uncles went golfing at Memorial today, and BoB and the women spent time in the Galleria, managing to meet for a lunch at the food court's Ninfa's. A little more running around later, and parents' gifts are all taken care of. Now, on to a steak dinner!

Shower at MD Anderson...

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:25:00 -0400

Angel's department was kind enough to throw us a little bridal shower thingy last week. Instead of their usual weekly team meeting they sacrificed their time to shower us! They pooled together and bought us a gift (Slow cooker... my guess is that it is to cook things slowly... looks cool though!) and had a feast of food there for us, including a Strawberry cake, that we (mainly I) have been snacking on ever since. It was very nice and low key, kinda what you expect of a department of editors. Certainly I doubt I will be getting the same from HP given that the closest team member in my team is based in Dallas, but is currently in Mexico... and the rest are spread across the US and Canada.

It was very nice and certainly put a smile on both of our faces.

"This time next week..."

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:43:00 -0400

MoG prompted from the top of the stairs after Sunday dinner (instead of the usual "See you next week!"). At the bottom of the stairs, Mister Mike and I stopped putting on our shoes. "Yeeks!" I said. "This time next week, I'll be related to you!" "Yeah," Mike said. "And we'll all still be partying!" (inhale, exhale. repeat.)

First Dance?

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:31:00 -0400

Who'd a thought the first dance would be the thing that ended up causing me more stress than pretty much everything else relating to the wedding, potentially more than everything else combined! Months ago we agreed to take some dance lessons, partly for the wedding, but more so that I can actually do more than fumble through any dance, especially seeing how much we both enjoy it. Unfortunately, Angel has had a head start and knows a lot of the dances that we would look at. The first stab was taking salsa lessons. We went to a dance studio where we took a group lesson every Saturday for a month. Angel took the intermediate class and I was relegated to 'Salsa for dummies'. The classes were fun, and I did manage to pick up at least the basics, but did I then put it to use? Nope, never initiated an evening out to go dancing, so forgot a lot of it. About 2 or 3 months ago we go an offer for a free private lesson at a local dance studio, so we took them up on the offer. We had one hour with Luis, who is a sweet old man with tattoed eyebrows (I kid you not). We did the basics of the Waltz, the Foxtrot, East Coast Swing and maybe something else, can't remember. Anyway, was a lot to take in for one hour. We then signed up for a set of three lessons a couple of weeks ago at the same place, with the same teacher. We decided to focus on Waltz and Swing, with more of a focus on Waltz as that was what we figured to do for the first dance. The lessons were fun (we just had the last one last night) but the teaching style was maybe not the best for me. Everytime I screwed up he would shout at me, causing me to stress out more, losing my step more and I would have to stop and regroup. Angel would get more and more annoyed because I kept stopping instead of just keep on going, trying to regain the step. It all culminated last night. We had selected a potential list of 5 songs, and they were all a much faster Waltz than the ones we had done before. Result was I was having a hard time getting the steps, and combinations. Luis shouting that I was doing it wrong, as well as trying to give me the tempo of '1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3...' except he routinely did it off beat resulting in me getting confused and he would then shout that I got it wrong. Well needless to say I just got more and more stressed out and Angel got more and more annoyed. Finally we got to the point were we just ignored him, and I tried to just listen to the music and work with Angel, which worked a lot better. WOW... this has been a little rant right? Well, not over yet... I need to practice, and will be doing so with Angel, but last night I nearly just crumbled and walked out, but managed to make it through... Now if I screw up on the day of the wedding, I ask only one thing.... Have a laugh at my expense and let me fumble my way through it, cause there is a distinct possibility that if you don't, I could end up in a crumpled ball under a table in the corner rocking myself (off beat of course) with a drink in hand repeating my mantra of '1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3.. MUST BREATHE... 1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3...'

By the Power of Wazzkull!

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:32:00 -0400

Though not half as exciting as the kittycat, the vows, (as Mister Mike would say) they do be written. It was rough going at first, and I had to stop and feed us some ribs I cooked up today. (We started sniping at each other and being unproductive, and Mike was wreaking more havoc than usual fiddling with the nerf bat.) After that, all was good. Now, he is all happy, sitting playing fake golf on our big TV with surround sound (new/yay!).

Wedding Favo[u]rs have arrived...

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:09:00 -0400

Just picked them up this afternoon. We like them, and hope y'all will too! Not telling what they are, just that they came in the boxes pictured above!

Honnymooo, parts won and too.

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:14:00 -0400

You want the whole story? Let's see how to 'splain this. Mister Mike and I like the idea of a honeymoon, so we wanted to have a nice one. But now, we may have two nice ones. 1) We originally thought we'd have one honeymoon. We thought it best to separate the honeymoon from the wedding week so that we could enjoy hanging out with all you out-of-towners who are coming in (so lovely!) and all the in-towners who are taking a day or so off (so sweet!). A spacing-out would also give our vacation time reserves at our jobs, our energy, and our wallets some time to recover from all the excitement. 2) The Geehans of Crooms have been planning to organize a ski trip to Switzerland for 2008, because they used to enjoy going when they lived in France. All concerned thought it would be fabulous to let that trip and our honeymoon coincide. And while we were over there, we thought it would also be nice to visit Mister Mike's grandparents and other family in Ireland who wouldn't be coming to the wedding. To allow skiing (sweet!) and yet not visit Ireland in the middle of winter (lovely!), we thought March would be a good month. However, this trip has not yet been planned, and I think skiing is on hold indefinitely. 3) Ireland alone will probably become honeymoon two, and Mister Mike should have enough Continental miles to take us both there without spending piles of cash. Without having to worry about snow, we have much more flexible dates to choose from. 4) Hachey-Pachey makes all its employees deplete their vacation allowances while they are closed between Christmas and New Year. I successfully requested to take off on those days as well, because it was a very good deal: take 3 days of PTO, and get 11 consecutive days off. (My work was giving us Xmas MonWed [3 days] and New Year Day off [1 day], plus the weekend before xmas [2 days], the days I requested [3 days] and the weekend between xmas and new year's [2 days].) Mister Mike and I began to imagine how we could enjoy that time: a road trip? skiing in Durango while spending some time with the Durango Geehans? Or... 5) Friends of my family have been inviting them to spend some time with them in Mexico City, where they have a second home. My parents planned to accept that invitation this year, between Christmas and New Year. They invited BoB, who also accepted. 6) Mister Mike and I check his Mariott points and my frequent flyer miles in soon-to-expire accounts. We cash in what we can of mine for hotel credits, redeem his, and buy tickets to Mexico City. We will be there, staying at the JW Marriott, from Dec 12-31! Y aqui tenemos honeymoon uno! (Yes, yes, I know 'luna de miel' whatever.) The parents will be going from Dec 26-29 and staying with their friends. BoB will stay with them but come camp out with Mike and me for the last two days/one night. Fun! And we get to come back in time to drink champagne for a cheery 2008 while cuddling with our fuzzbag, currently being called Wackamoo. BTW: Hello lurkers! (wave) I've been speaking to some of you by phone, and it's okay if you don't post. We are glad to have you. See you soon, too!

Seating...

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:06:00 -0400

Yes, there will be seats at the dinner/reception, and even tables, which certainly will make it easier to eat! We completed the first draft of the seating plan on Saturday evening. It took a couple of hours, but we think we did a good job of mixing y'all up into interesting, and hopefully fun groups. No you will not be surrounded by people you necessairly know, but hopefully by people you will enjoy the company of. And worst come to the worst, just remember that it is really only for dinner that the seating chart is important. Chart has also been reviewed and received the thumbs up from both sets of parents, so hopefully we are pretty much good to go!

Rehearsal barbecue / BBQ // Day-after dim sum

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:04:00 -0400

The wedding party and the out-of-towners are in for two special meals that the and MoG-FoG and MoB-FoB are hosting. Saturday night, the rehearsal dinner will actually be a super-cazh barbecue at Bissy, catered from Goode Company, a huge local favorite. We hope the weather will hold up so that the gathering can spill into the garden. Monday, the day after the wedding, we will trek (yes, by car) down to Houston's real (but not official) Chinatown for dim sum at Golden Palace, which is the same restaurant where I practiced using chopsticks by picking up ice cubes from my water to cool my tea. BoB was so little then that he used to nap while the adults yabbered away. He'd be curled up in his chair, pushed under the table so the tablecloths--one cloth, one vinyl, of course--would keep him in relative darkness and peace. Anyway, that's my news for now!

So I call BoB, he no answer, but he is active on IM...

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:56:00 -0400

Thursday, October 18, 2007, 8:53:54 PM
alia
: why you no answerphone?!?

Sherwin
: ddddddddddddddddddddddd
: dammit, that just knocked me out of my game.
dddddddd means I was trying to run to the right

alia
: sorry!!

Hair let-down

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:27:00 -0400

Well, I tried Riaro, another local salon, and the guy who came in is actually the husband/boyfriend of the assistant to the guy who did the updo at Azur. She had mentioned me to him the day I came in, along with one of the nifty tricks he'd used. I felt so bad for this guy today, because he favors a soft, natural look (as opposed to the slick, pulled-back look of the other guy or what I manage to do on my own). He trimmed some of my hair, which was just fine, but in the end, I just had too much of the wrong kind of hair for him to do something he and I were both truly happy with. It was teased and curling-ironed, with a retro shape, and put up with bobby pins. It looked okay, but it definitely didn't translate into a good set of photos. He recommended I consult with one of his coworkers, so I made an appointment for this Saturday. I was also really let down at the optometrist's in the village, because even after I'd made the appointment with their staff for a glasses exam, the doc "assumed" I'd want a contact lens fitting, too. So once I clarified the discussion, they "only" charged me the lesser of their two options. The clerk tried to comfort me by saying that my plan had given me 20% off...so my bill only had an extra $30 on it. I had to explain that despite the discount off $38 or whatever, it was money I never wanted to pay in the first place, for services I (1) didn't ask for and (2) clarified that I didn't want as soon as I realized it. (Which was after I'd opened the first contact lens packet but hadn't put it in my eye: "Doctor, is this really part of a glasses exam?") Nuts.