Meet 'N' Greet

About 2 weeks ago, Nicole and I went to a tasting at the venue where we are getting hitched. If you follow
"... and the pickles" you might of read what she wrote on it. She had covered mostly what food was there and how it tasted, it definitely made me hungry and wanting to go back for more grub. I am not writing this post to repeat what Nicole had written about. I am here to cover something that she did not talk about.

We were seated with two other couples at our dinner table. Paul & Vanessa were a couple in their late 20's that are getting married this October. Peter & Donna were the parents of a bride that was getting married in September. They were awesome people. We definitely had the 'funnest' table at the tasting. There were about 80-100 people there total. We all just clicked and were laughing the whole time. The food was delicious and all but it was these two couples that made my night. I love meeting people that you can just connect with right away. It turns out that we were at the same Bridal Show in February that Paul & Vanessa attended. In fact Vanessa had said that she recognized Nicole and Nicole said she recognized Paul. I think his name was Paul, I can't remember, it doesn't really matter now.

So the night was fantastic, we were the last table to leave and we exchanged hugs and handshakes. What sucks is that we will probably never see them again. We didn't get their last names and we didn't exchange numbers. The only thing I do know is that they are getting married October 21st of this year at the same venue we are, I know what town they live in and I know the name of the band that Paul is in. I just tried searching for his band's website and I can't find it. The best shot we have to see them again is crashing their wedding. I've had this happen a few times were I have met people or a person that I've liked but never see them again.

Has anything like this ever happen to you?

A Post about Something

I normally don't talk about my real life on this blog because that is not what this blog is about. However I like to keep those who care updated on the good stuff. I also find random humor that I make up off the top of my head more humorous than my actual life.

Last semester was my first full time semester at school. I had little free time. I worked and did homework when I wasn't at at school. I also had to squeeze in some quality time with Nicole. Let's just say it was a busy four months. Well somehow I managed to pull out five A's. My grandma thinks I am a genius, she may be on to something. I am a bit of an over achiever now than compared to what I was like in high school. That can be summed up in one word; lazy. I had a month off before this current semester started. I have no idea where it went. First it was Christmas and then I was starting classes again. I have no idea what I did in the past 4-5 weeks. I plan to get straight A's again this semester. I'm pretty sure teachers accept bribes nowadays if I don't get the grades I want.

In other news there has been some progress on the wedding front. Last week on Wednesday the 19th between the hours of 5 pm and 6pm, Nicole and I booked our DJ, photographer and videographer. We have no money so we had to sign over our future 2nd born, my kidney, her engagement ring, and half of my DVD collection. It was either sign those things over or Nicole have sex with the guy. I had no problem going with option 'B' but Nicole apparently had the final say.
So far we have our wedding date (October 20, 2012), our venue and our entertainment/photography. I also have her wedding ring. It came with her engagement ring as a matching set. She still needs to get my ring. The one I want has a laser pointer on it. I know I'm fancy like that.
We are going to a bridal show at our venue on Super Bowl Sunday. Don't worry guys, it's from 12-5 so I won't miss any of the game. I'm not a complete fool. I'm going to support Nicole and for all the delicious food. Should be exciting.

In other news I love cheese.

Only 800 Days 'til the Big Day

It has come to my attention that I haven't written about Nicole in awhile. Actually, Nicole brought it to my attention (several times). To be honest, she doesn't like that I blog, she thinks it's a waste of time. I can understand that coming from an outsider that doesn't understand the great blogosphere and the people that inhabit it. Now don't judge her, she is just looking out for my best interest. To compensate for her basically hating blogging, I write nice things about her and us to make her happy. And that's all that really matters right, making the little lady happy? I don't force any posts, I write from the heart.

I haven't talked about wedding stuff in awhile since we booked our venue because there hasn't been much to update. Well there was one eventful thing that happened a little after we found our place to wed. Now what I am about to tell you is top secret (I understand posting something top secret on the Internet isn't a brilliant idea but who are you to judge?). Don't tell Nicole's grandma what I am about to tell you, she might get upset and she is Italian and has threatened me before.

Nicole values my opinion about her appearance so naturally she wanted me to go dress browsing with her. She wants to look her best for me (which should be no problem cuz she does it already) so she would like to know what designs I fancy. We took a trip to David's Bridal to try on some dresses. Let me rephrase that, we went to David's Bridal so Nicole could try on some dresses. I prefer to cross dress privately so no one judges me. I look best in a backless dress with a 3 inch heel, but that's a story for another post.

Nicole makes it easy for the lady working there by bringing in pictures of the dresses she wants to try on. At this point I am both excited and anxious. I want to see her all dressed up in a wedding dress but I also know that the groom isn't suppose to see the bride in her dress before the actual ceremony. The lady working there, let's call her Rita, told us that most brides-to-be try on many dresses and they never tell the grooms-to-be which one they would pick. So even though I will see Nicole in wedding dresses, chances are I won't know which one she picks (if any from the selection) or remember them in general.

The first dress she tried on looked absolutely stunning on her. It gave her a nice shape, accented her features and had what she was looking for in a dress. I remember her looking beautiful in it but I can't remember what the dress actually looked like. I guess Rita was right. I know it had a corset-looking back with crossing straps, it was strapless and had some bling to it. It also perked up her boobies. Yay for boobies!! Sorry I lost my concentration. Where was I?

I liked most of the dresses she tried on. Some weren't my cup of tea but she didn't really like those ones either so it was all good. I got really excited seeing her in wedding dresses. If she looked great in an untailored, unfitted dress I can just imagine what she will look like walking down the aisle. She is going to look fabulous. I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. I am going to need tissues in my pockets cuz my palms are going to be all sweaty. I want to see her in more dresses but it's probably better than I only go the one time, I don't want to spoil anything.

The new gardens at Anthony's Pier Nine (our wedding venue) are either finished or are almost finished. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I won't even notice them on the big day because my eyes will be locked on my gorgeous sweetheart.

Update on the Wedding Front

After looking at a total of 7 places, we finally found where we are getting married. Every time we found some place we liked we realized that we couldn't afford it and we got depressed. We finally found a place that is what we were looking for with a decent price tag attached. Our magical venue is called Anthony's Pier Nine in New Windsor, New York. This place is HUGE!! I got some exercise just taking a tour of the place.

Since we were having trouble finding an affordable place, Nicole asked a few of her friends that were getting married for some advice. One of them told her about Pier Nine. Nicole researched it, liked what she saw so we checked it out a week and a half ago.

The first thing we noticed when walking up to the door were the fountains and the Cinderella carriage.

This was taken from their website. I don't know who these people are.

As we were walking through the different rooms, the lady was telling us that a lot of stuff was about to be renovated. The cocktail room was totally getting changed, it is going to be extended and have more natural light come in to it. The outdoor gardens were being upgraded with an outdoor bar and gazebo. As she was explaining this to us I was thinking "ca-ching, ca-ching," the price was going up in my head. I was getting worried that this place was going to be too much too. The cheapest place we found close to home was $109 per person. With what she was telling us I was thinking somewhere between $125 & $150.

The smaller room holds a minimum of 125 people which is the one we chose. The bigger room requires a minimum of 200 (which we don't think we could do) but it has a glass elevator that comes out of a stage for the bride and groom to come up in. How awesome is that? There is also a hidden set of stairs that open up to walk down onto the dance floor for the first song. I wish we knew more people. You are all invited if you can cover your plate plus 25%. We would get married in the new outdoor garden or inside facing the outdoor garden. I hope October 20th 2012 is a nice night.

You are all probably wondering about the price, I will tell you at the end. Yup, I'm a tease. Did someone say they wanted to know what was on the menu? The menu is loaded with food. There is enough in the cocktail hour to be fully satisfied. After she mentioned what was came with the cocktail hour, she said and now I will show you the entrees, I was like there's more? I'm not going to go into detail with what's on the menu because I'm just going to get hungry. I'm not sure if the menu is on their website but you can go here to check. There are drinks passed out 30 minutes before cocktail hour in case anybody arrives early and gets antsy.

There are so many things I want to tell you about this place but I don't want this post to get to long. They have a trolley service for our guests from the hotel to the venue, included in the package. We get 5 rooms (one of them the honeymoon suite) included in our package. The cake is included. Did I mention all new renovations? Brand new rooms and gardens just for us :-)
The renovations are scheduled to be finished by March of 2011, plenty of time. She assured us of that finish date. They did renovations in some of the other rooms and her boss was a stickler for finishing on time, the construction crew finished exactly when they were suppose to.

We told Nicole's parents about the place. We all went back last week for another look see and to get their opinion on it. They liked it. The only negative comment was that it is far away. It is 45 minutes from where I currently live and it would be between an hour and a half to 2 hours for Nicole's family that lives in the city. They can stay at the hotel, no big deal. We put our John Hancock's on the contract and gave them our deposit. Most places required a 15-20% deposit. This place was only $1000 plus another $3000 spread over the next year and then the final payment a week before the wedding.

You wanna know the price per person? For what we get, only $75 per person. I thought that was a great deal and we just had to jump on it. We love this place. We can't wait to go for a tasting which is done on a day of somebody else's wedding so we can try what they actually serve. Also the gardens are suppose to be done in August so we can take a look at those.

I apologize for the long post. There was just too much to tell. I probably missed a few things but I can't think of them now so it doesn't matter. Yay, we booked our venue!!! Woo-hoo!!

Have we found the one?

This is Golden Girl (aka Nicole) coming to you live from Powdered Toast Headquarters with a wedding update for all those interested in the planning. However, before I get to the good details, I must say a few things. First off…for those of you who think I am a heartless person who doesn’t comment on the posts toast man writes about me, it's true I don’t comment, because I am not a fan of blogger. I tell him in person what I think of his posts. The only reason I am writing on this blog now and comment the rare times that I actually do is to make him happy. In a relationship, there must be some give and take…and this is apparently my give.

I guess I will get started now. I would love to tell you all about our latest adventure in wedding planning. We went out to visit this place called Green Tree Country Club in New Rochelle (New York). Actually, we went and saw this other catering place first, which I’m not even gonna talk about because its not worth mentioning. Anyways back to Green Apple…I mean Green Tree. This is the place I want to get married at. When we were in this place, I got butterflies in my stomach. This place is a historical landmark, a beautiful mansion over 100 years old. This very nice, charming old man and his wife bought this place and turned it into a magnificent wedding/event venue. This place has all original stuff…its HUGE! They have their own huge kitchen and bakery. They even have their own $400,000 back up generator that can probably light up the whole city in the event of a power outage….and the food possibilities are endless.

This is a family run place and the man who bought it is so cute. He is an older gentlemen (ask toast man, I love old men) and I think he took a liking to me, or at least did a very good job selling that feeling to me. What I liked about his style was that he took us on a tour first before going over prices and all that jazz. He is definitely a family man because he was showing us pictures of his grandchildren and telling us about his kids. It feels like our every whim would be met here.

We walked out to the ceremony site where we would actually get married, in the gardens, with a beach backdrop. At every other place we looked, I felt that the aisle was too short…I would like a decent walk…not a mile for god sakes, but I don’t wanna rush, take 3 steps and be at the altar either. This place was just right. The ballrooms where the party would be are huge and each are classic and I know we could really rock the house. I’m getting goose pimples thinking about it again.

The only downfall to this place would be the pricing. But compared to everywhere we have seen, this place takes the cake and has the best deals. No ceremony fee or extra gratuity, nor does he except kickbacks from other vendors. What we pay is just the price per plate plus tax and any extra food tables we want that are not included. Its $125 per plate…a lil more then I wanted…I just don’t know if I will find a place that will give me that feeling again. I DON’T WANT TO SETTLE!

Thinking about marrying toast man gives me the best feeling inside. I see myself walking down the aisle to him and becoming Mrs. Powdered Toast Man. I think about it everyday. I cant wait to be a wife and mother. I love you with all my heart and soul, especially when you hold me close like you did at Green Tree by the water. I know no matter what happens or where we end up, walking down the aisle to you will be the happiest moment of my life.

This is Golden Girl signing off from Powdered Toast Headquarters and remember, I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine.

It Might Be the One

Nicole and I took another trip to take a gander at a place to have our wedding. Nicole has been looking at a website called The Knot, finding banquet halls and hotels to look at. We went to a place called Arbor Ridge about 30 minutes North from where we live. It was very easy to get to, right off the highway.

It turns out the place is run by just one guy. He does everything, he is a one man show. He doesn't do the cooking but he used to cook. Kevin was a very down to earth kind of guy. He was very pleasant and seems like the sort of fellow that is very flexible with what you want.

The main ball room and bar had a nice flow to them. They were spacious and simple. There was a patio off the ball room with a fireplace. There is a hotel right next door in the same parking lot that is owned by the same guy. The best part is that he recently renovated the place. The honeymoon suite was gorgeous, it looks like a 5 star hotel room, giant bathroom and lots of space. I still can't believe how great the room looked.

The silver and gold packages were much lower than what we have seen at the other two places we saw. The price ranges from $89 to $113 per person, a lot better than the $140 from the first place. They also use a great bakery that we are familiar with for the wedding cake and pastries.

The only problems we found were that it didn't have a waterfront view like the last two places and the area where the ceremony would be looks a little small. Other than that we loved this place. I got a good feeling after seeing it. It is on the top of our list now. Everything we see now is going to be compared to Arbor Ridge.

Wedding stuff and kids

Last Thursday, Nicole and I visited another place to possibly have our wedding. It's a castle-like Hotel called Hotel Thayer or The Thayer Hotel (either one works I guess). If you live near the Hudson Valley in New York, you have probably heard of it. It's located in West Point, NY, right on the military base. There are some security check points to go through to enter the premises (ID checks and search of the car). The hotel was built on the side of a mountain so it has a great view. It is made of stone and looks like the Queen might live there. It has a great big lobby and definitely makes you feel insignificant. The ball rooms are big and elegant. Nicole took pictures of the inside with her camera. I wish I was smart enough to think to upload them but I wasn't. Maybe I will do a follow up post with just the pics.






This place also had an amazing view, right on the river. The only issue is only one of the banquet rooms is accessible to the outside lawn where the ceremony would be. The other room would require us to get married inside. I like the idea of getting married outside. The room connected to the outside has a low ceiling compared to the other one that has a nice high ceiling. Things to think about. The woman that was giving us the tour was much more enthusiastic than the woman from the last place. Also the woman from the other place had a cold and she was nasally and annoying. The price per plate was a little cheaper than Beckwithe Point, about $120 a plate. The problem is that Hotel Thayer just changed chefs and they don't know what their menu will look like in 2012, and also the pricing might change. It was a nice place but didn't give us the wow factor. We are still going to look at other venues.

Now a change of subject to something different. I have been thinking about kids more and more lately. I never really thought about having kids that much until I met Nicole and realized I wanted to be with her forever. When I was 20, I thought kids were cute but they didn't make me think about my own future rugrats. Nicole and I were at Mavis the other days getting tires for my tricycle..... I mean, our car. A father came in with his 3 little girls. Two of them were very young, just learning how to talk and making no sense. The other was a little older. These kids were so cute, just eating their Mickey Dees and being happy about nothing. I want some cute kids, dammit. I want to be a father, seems like fun. Can I get them already potty trained? Nicole will have to be on diaper control, I don't like doo-doo. She works in a hospital and cleans up old people so she is more experienced for the job and has better credentials.

I think I will make a great dad. I would tell my kids the truth. If they ask me a question like where do babies come from, I am going to tell them the truth. Where did the stork come from anyway? Has anybody ever actually seen a real stork? I would play with them all the time. I love kids' toys, blocks, cars, books, things with lights and sounds, I'm all over it. You know what I still love? The Highlights magazine that you find at the dentist or doctor's office. I used to read them when I was younger and I still enjoy them. I love to make kids laugh. That is one of the best feelings in the world and it's so easy. Just making a funny face or sound makes them giggle. I love sticking my tongue out at random kids to make them smile. Not in a creepy way. Like if I'm waiting in line and the person is front of me is holding their kid over their shoulder and the kid is looking at me. I'm obligated to entertain them and myself while we are in line. I wanted to play with the kids in Mavis but I thought it might have been creepy so I just asked the little girl if her cookie was tasty. She said something that I couldn't decipher but I understood the big smile. Kids are great and I can't wait to have a bunch with Nicole.

Thinking About Our Future

I recently watched Couples Retreat and it made me think about my relationship with Nicole. Seeing the married couples in the film got me pondering our future, only good things mind you, nothing bad. It got me all warm and fuzzy thinking about getting married and having kids. Because of the movie (which I finished at 5 am) a rush of feelings came over me and I texted Nicole 'I love you.' I wish I had watched it with her, it's one of those movies that makes you want to cuddle and be affectionate but it's not a chick flick.

Anytime I watch a movie or tv show with a family I start thinking about my future family. I really want to be a husband and a great dad. I love seeing adorable little kids in movies and shows, it makes me want to have one of my own right away. I have never thought about this stuff in prior relationships and that's one of the reasons I know that Nicole and I are meant to be together. I love these new feelings about marriage and kids. Of course Nicole wants like 16 and I want 3 so there is going to be much discussion on the subject when it comes time to start makin' the babies. I think that I will make a kick-ass dad, I'm still a big kid inside. Put some baby toys in front of me and I will gladly entertain myself. I think I might go play with some Legos after this post, I believe I still have mine from when I was a wee lad.

If you remember from last week's post, Nicole and I checked out our first wedding hall. This place was gorgeous. It was right on the Hudson River. The view is beautiful no matter where you are inside, there are windows surrounding the hall. There is a stone walkway in the water leading to a rock formation where pictures are taken for the wedding. I wish I had some pics to show you. The menu is to die for, so much food!! Anything you can think of, they have it. Their chef has been with them for 22 years and they are renowned for their food. We were so excited about this place until she told us the price per plate. Depending on what month and day the wedding is, the price ranges from $140-$180 a plate. This may be out of our price range. Nicole wasn't as shocked by the price like I was (mostly because I'm cheap). They have food tasting every 6-8 weeks so we are going to hit that up. We can bring 6 people total and the food is free and we get to meet the vendors. I love free food. This place might be too good to be true but it is only the first place we have looked at and we are in no rush to make any decisions. I bet house hunting is going to be similar to this.

I want to end on a good note. The other night we had another 'sleep kissing' episode. It was another deep and passionate kiss like the last time except for that it felt like a 'first kiss' kiss. In my half daze I mumbled something about a first kiss, I was probably still dreaming. It was definitely another memorable kiss and I hope this becomes a trend in our future slumber.