Weddingness

So it is official, Travis and I are engaged!.

So begins the wedding planning. I am already stressed about it. We are planning on 10/29/11, Halloween weekend. It will have some Halloween aspects but won't be all gothy. Have to keep it classy.

It's hard because we don't have a set budget right now. My parents are paying for the reception, my older sister is paying for the photographer and Travis's mom will be taking care of the bar tab. We want this to be a sweet wedding but don't want to go broke either.

The biggest issue we are facing right now is guest list. Travis and I want to keep it to 150 people. This is near impossible with how large my family is. I mentioned to my mom cutting family members that are not involved in my life (I haven't seen some of my aunts and uncles in 15+ years) and she got all defensive. I can already tell this is going to be a sticking point. I just want her to keep in mind this is MY wedding (Bridezilla here we come) and not a family reunion.

My best friend Erin is going to help me with finding a place, since she just got married this past June. I have a couple other friends as well getting married here soon and I am going to pick their brain on what they think of different venues. I really wanted the art museum, but after doing some research found out the most they can accommodate is 75 people. There is no way we would be able to pull off that small of a guest list.

The top contender right now, after just perusing the internet, is BoMA (bomaevents.com)
It's an old church they converted in to a huge bar, after it didn't do so well, they closed it down and turned it into an event venue. This place is beautiful and has art everywhere! Not to mention they have an option for an omelet action station and a waffle action station, which is exactly what I wanted!

So some of my ideas to keep it classy Halloween and within a budget are

1. No flowers: For center pieces I want carved pumpkins (with stars, the date, our initials,or symbols) For the bouquet I might do origami flowers or just none at all
2. Favors: Masquerade masks! and a photobooth for people to take pictures!
3. Cake:I love love love how fondant cake looks. I hate hate hate how it taste. Not to mention BoMA charges 300 for cake cutting service. So instead cupcakes!
4. DJ: Travis and I are audiophiles, big time. A traditional DJ will probably not have the bands we want or like. So instead I am asking my friend Nick to DJ and give him a general playlist to work from.

More details to come as we work them all out!

The Dividing Line

http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/HEY-US-GOVERN-Keep-OUR-in-the-US-America-is-in-a-crisis-too/265351844335?ref=nf

The above posts makes me very sad and angry for more than several reason. I feel like the people who repost that kind of isolationist rhetoric are probably also the same people who were for the Iraq war and even if you pointed out the hypocrisy of their statements still wouldn't understand it. I am frustrated with the war because we have spent billions upon billions of money for a war that has no end in sight. The things that could have been achieved in our country with that amount of money makes my head hurt. So how is that different than giving money to Haiti? We (well the US Government) chose to go to war with Iraq, Haiti did not choose (unless you think like Pat Robertson) to have a massive debilitating earthquake. It's important that our country helps out those countries that need our help because we are a global power player and we need to show the world that we are not as ethnocentric as many in our global community think we are.

As a human being I think every human being should be offered help in situations like this. I Don't think that it's fair that we have some people in our own country that are living in similar conditions to those in Haiti, but that means we need to take more initiative to volunteer more in our own communities and raise awareness about problems facing our country as well.

Halloween

Halloween 2009

I was super excited this year about Halloween. I knew way in advanced what I wanted to be and started working on my costume in August. I wanted to be Lady Gaga. I think I did a pretty good job if I say so my self. I created the outfit and sewed it together/ bedazzled it.

Anne did my makeup , which took longer than you think

Close up of the finished product

The whole Outfit.

Travis went as a Golden Shower due to the fact that he wanted til Friday around 6 to make a costume

I had a lot of fun with the costume, but we had parties to go to both Friday and Saturday and come saturday I was a little over it. I have decided that next year I am not wearing a wig. They are such a pain and itchy as all get out. Not to mention something with easier makeup, and pants. This also make two year in a row I haven't wore pants. I was excited to have a costume change for Saturday night. After my work party we were going to go to Por Vida (see below) a Mexican Dios de los Meurtos (Day of the Dead). I spent Saturday making masks for the boys and I and thinking of an outfit.

Unfortunately I never made it to Por Vida, due to an awful migraine. I was so upset I didn't get to go. I sent the boys with out me and laid in bed. I didn't even drink Saturday night. I am not sure if it was from a hangover, though I didn't really have one or I have not had a migraine in a while so I was just due for one.

So Lessons Learned for Halloween 2010
-No wigs
-Wear Pants
-If there are two days of festivities, make drunk night, the SECOND night
-Don't let your boyfriend wait til last minute to make his costume

In 1796, Congress appropriated the Refugee Lands for individuals who had supported the Colonial cause in the American Revolution. By 1802, an American Revolution veteran named John McGowan claimed 328 acres, most of what would become the German Village. As German immigrants arrived, McGowan sold tracts of land to them. By 1814, the German Village found its roots, originally called "die alte sud ende" (the old south end), and German immigrants contributed to building the first statehouse.

By 1865, one-third of Columbus's population was German and the community was flourishing. They built up the local neighborhood, including many businesses, schools, and churches.

The area was in serious decline throughout the first half of the 20th century, however, due to anti-German sentiment during World War I. Schiller Park was renamed Washington Park. The anti-German sentiment fueled by the media was so bad that in 1918 German books were burned on Broad St., and at the foot of the Schiller statue. Despite the hatred, the German-American community would produce Columbus's finest war hero, and one of America's, from World War 1, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, for whom Rickenbacker International Airport in southern Columbus is named for.

Further decline occurred later due to the closing of the local breweries during Prohibition, another response to the anti-German sentiment. After the war, the south end was zoned for manufacturing, leading to the erosion of the area's residential feel. In World War Two, the street car tracks and wrought iron fences were confiscated for the war effort. By the 1950s, the area had become a slum. The city then demolished one-third of the neighborhood.

Nearing complete destruction, Frank Fetch defied the common wisdom and purchased a house on Wall St., determined to rebuild the neighborhood. Fetch would create the German Village Society. In June of 1960, the society hosted the first Haus und Garten Tour, which attracted visitors and the local media to eight restored homes, and two gardens. Today the tour is one of the city's most popular events.

Concerned citizens managed to save its historic architecture from demolition in the 1960s by successfully lobbying for a local commission, the German Village Commission, to have power over external changes made to buildings, and by getting the area listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.^[7] The German Village Society presently has over 1,000 preservationists dedicated to maintaining the historic quality of the buildings and neighborhood, and German Village is currently considered one of the most desirable areas to live in the city, if not the premiere place in Columbus to live.^[8]

More than 1600 buildings have been restored since 1960, and it is credited as one of the most premiere restoration districts in the world.^[9] By the 1980s, the restoration was near complete. Today it is the largest privately funded historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.^[10]

The average home price in the neighborhood is $377,450.^[11] Several homes in the neighborhood price at over $1 million, including a 5200 square foot home that sold in August 2007 for $1.5 million.^[12] Another home, which was purchased for $1.4 million in 2006, boasts an underground tunnel linking the garage with the main house, which also serves as an art and wine cellar.^[13]

-Wiki

This is my neighborhood. When Anne and I moved here four years ago I was kind of unsure about it. We had originally wanted to live in Victorian Village, but Theresa talked us into moving to German Village. It was one of the best decisions we have made. It's fall in German Village which is so pretty. The orange and reds of the leaves juxtaposed against the brick and black buildings is something I could sit and stare at for hour. Anne and I took a walk around our neighborhood since pretty soon it will be too cold too, here is our photo tour

Our Street

The View down our street

Brickville

Schiller Park

Statue of Schiller himself

The view when walking up to the Book Loft which boasts 32 rooms of books. You need a map to get around and find the different sections and I have gotten lost at least twice