Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Could you pass the U.S. citizenship test?

Could you pass the U.S. citizenship test? Try it here for free!

I got an 80% on it, missed 4 of the 20 questions. Three of the four I just flat out didn't know, and the fourth I didn't read close enough.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Friendship

So I joined myspace last week. For those of you who don't know, it's a website where you can connect with past and present friends and post pictures, blog entries (that only those on your myspace friend list can read), leave comments, and meet new people. I joined mostly because several of my friends and co-workers were on it and wouldn't stop talking about it.

I am up to 24 friends on my myspace friend list now. All of which are people I know. The interesting thing is that I found my best friend from 2nd grade on myspace. I was excited and immediately sent her an add friend request. She accepted, and then sent me a message asking who I was. I was taken back, I just assumed that she'd remember my name even tho we haven't talked since that time and I had no idea where she ended up (she moved away from Columbia). Through a couple more messages I learned that she aparently had a very tramatic childhood and since has blocked memories of her past.

Just so that you know, if you are reading this and aren't friends with me anymore that I haven't forgotten you. Whether we had a fight, you moved away, I moved away, or something else came between us, I still remember you. I often think of friends that I've lost and wonder what I could have done to prevent our friendship from being broken off. I wonder if I'd worked harder if we'd still be friends, and if we were still friends would I still be in the same place in my life.

To all my friends, I hope that we'll always be friends, I hope that nothing comes between us that we can't work out, that no matter where you or I are living, that we stay in touch. I love and care about each of my friends dearly, and I hope that you guys love and care about me just as much.

Monday, June 26, 2006

You should have seen me at the toga party...

The second installment of the Tidy Cats Crumble-free Journey is up! This time they have travelled to Greece. Check it out!

Friday, June 23, 2006

Wedding Wrap-up

It's the blog post you've all been waiting for, ranting, raving and complaining about various wedding vendors that we worked with for our wedding. Each place we worked with has the name, website and a star rating (one is worst, five is best).

Bridal Connections *****
I can't say enough good things about Bridal Connections. I went there on a whim because the shop I was going to go to was already closed when we got there. They had the perfect dress, and their staff is excellent. The manager knew my name by the time the wedding came around. I bought my dress there, had the alterations there (the alterations were expensive but looked great). We also rented the tuxes for the guys from Bridal Connections (Jim's Formalwear). I strongly recommend Bridal Connections!

David's Bridal *
We got the bridesmaid dresses from David's Bridal. They were a pain in the ass from the beginning, but I thought that it would be ok because each girl could try on their actual sized dress instead of going by measurements for sizing, and some of the girls could get their dresses from ebay since David's Bridal is a national chain. They were a pain from the beginning to the end. We could never get a sales person's attention when we were there, they didn't have all the sizes in stock (even when we called ahead to make sure that they did), they misplaced dresses that were ordered, messed up alterations on all 3 of the girls who went in to have their dresses altered, the list goes on and on. Bottom line is, don't buy from David's Bridal.

Complete Music *****
We hired Complete Music to do the DJ service at the reception. The DJ we got played exactly want I wanted and had just the right amount of involvement in the event. They were priced below some of the independent DJs and we were guaranteed someone for the night even if our scheduled DJ had gotten sick. I would recommend Complete Music to anyone.

Champagne Limousines *****
Champagne Limousines was wonderful to us. We booked just a month before the ceremony and they were able to get us in. The driver was very friendly and courtious, and knew his way around the city. However, we visited 2 other limo rental places that we were not pleased with at all. Affordable Limousine Service brought a beat up old limo to show us and quoted us a price of much higher than Champagne ended up being. Gem Transportation wouldn't take appointments to see their limos, and even when Tom told them we'd be at their place by 6, they left at least 5 minutes early because the place was all locked up when we got there at 5:55.

Favazza Florist *****
The flowers were wonderful, reasonably priced, and the store owner came to the church to get the coursages and boutineers pined on correctly and see that we got the ceremony off without a hitch! She even stayed late one night to meet with us and go over our flower selections.

Brent Kuhlmann Photography *****
This rating is pending recieving our final photographs, but I have no doubt that they will be wonderful. Brent was great to work with from our first meeting to the wedding day. He went over everything in detail to make sure he knew what was going to go on throughout the day. He started at our house taking shots of us getting dressed. Then off to the church for the ceremony, forest park for more pictures and he stayed the entire time at the reception.

Four Points Sheraton/Holiday Inn ***
This is a hard rating for me, as I really liked the facilities and the food, but there were a couple things that happened during the reception that upset me. First, they changed the name of the hotel 2 days before our reception and didn't call us to let us know. All our guests were going to be looking for the Four Points Sheration, but the building now said Holiday Inn. Tom found out when he went to go drop off the favors and pay the final amount at the hotel two days before. Also, during the ceremony there were children running around the hotel, in and out of our room, dropping gum and candy into our card box on the gift table. We also had 2 strange men come into the reception for who knows what reason other than they were acting very strange and shouldn't have been there.

Majestic Travel **
The travel agents at Majestic Travel were very nice, however our honeymoon was not as nice as we expected. They did not prepare us well for going to another country (i.e. it's all inclusive except bring ones to tip the guys loading your luggage onto the bus at the airport). We probably could have booked the trip online just as well.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Name Change Game

I just want to let everyone know...when giving a check as a wedding gift...make the check out to either one or the other of the two getting married, or to the bride and groom using the brides maiden name. It is a pain in the butt to get your name changed, meanwhile, you have a pile of checks that you cannot cash because they are made out to the new name which doesn't legally exist yet.

Friday, June 16, 2006

A St. Louis Survey

An StL survey (it's just like those email surveys that come around every once in a while only specifically for St. Louisans) .

1.) What is your favorite Ice Cream Place? We go to Fritz's a lot, everyone loves Ted Drews but I've only been there once.

2.) Favorite concert seen at UMB Bank Pavillion ( Riverport) -- I've only seen 2 concerts there...Summer Jam 2002 (headliner P. Diddy) and the Goo Goo Dolls. Both were good.

3.)Would you rather go to the Dome, Savvis Center, or Busch Stadium? Busch Stadium...mostly because I can stand baseball more than hockey or football

4.)Favorite Bar? The Venice Cafe is cool, but I'd have to go for any bar that my friends are at with me.

5.)Favorite Place to eat in the Loop? Blueberry Hill

6.) Favorite Fast food? I don't really eat fast food...but occationally I get a craving for McDonalds fries.

7.)Would you rather go to the Zoo, Science Center, or the City Museum? Holy cow...I can't make a choice here! I love them all! If I have to choose one I guess the zoo.

8.) Have you ever been to the balloon races in Forest Park? Seen the balloons...but at the balloon glow the night before. I've seen the races over Gimlet's grandma's house tho!

9.) Would you rather go to the Muny or the Fox? Well the fox, but the free seats at the muny are quite tempting for some shows.

10.) Favorite Mall in STL? Galleria, then West County

11.) Have you ever been to Grants Farm? Yes...I love to feed the goats there!

12.)Favorite time of year to go to Six Flags? I usually end up going there during Fright Fest, which is pretty cool, but I'll take any time.

13.) Favorite casino to go to? Never been.

14.)Did you ever go to Incahoots or Liquid? nope....

15.) Did you ever see Sesame Street on Ice at the old Kiel Center? that would be a NO

16.) Ballwin Days or Manchester Days? Never been to either...but since I live in Ballwin I'll go with the Ballwin Days.

17.) Favorite Pizza Place? Papa John's, by the way...I HATE Imos!

18.)Favorite Place to watch fireworks? Downtown over the river!!!

19.) Best part of the VP Fair? Hello! Fireworks

20.)What High school did you go to? Hickman High School in Columbia, MO

21.) Favorite place to see a movie? I hardly ever see movies...so...any place without annoying teenagers and decent seating

22.) Best Sub place? Quiznos or Penn Station

23.) Would rather eat on the Hill or the Old Spaghetti Factory? The Hill because it's personal

24.) Chilli Cook off in West Port Plaza or The Taste of Clayton? Never been to either

25.) Mickey's Car Wash or Waterway? I wash my car at home (or sometimes Gimlet washes it)

26.) Would you rather go Ice skating in Forest Park or go look at Christmas Lights at Jellystone Park? Ice skating...but I've never been to see the Christmas Lights at Jellystone...

27.) What hospital were you born in? Boone Hospital in Columbia, MO

28.) Have you ever been inside the Arch? of course...hello...what else do you do when you visit St. Louis as a tourist. The last time was spring break my sophomore year...1999

29.) What radio stations are programed in your car? Y98, The River, The Arch, Z107

30.) If you could bring back one thing to STL what would it be? UM......geez I don't know...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Wedding Guestbook Highlights!

For those of you who attended our wedding reception, you know that each guest found a guestbook page to fill out at their seat. Many of our guests did indeed fill these out, and here are the highlights on the prediction part:

Number of kids we will have (65 responses):















Years until we have our first kid (within 1 year, within 2 yrs...):






Monday, June 12, 2006