Archive for August, 2013

Day 360 and Counting… One Year After “The Phone Call”

Posted: August 28, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 31, 2011

One year since “the phone call!”

One year ago today, after completing the mock triathlon with my training group prior to my first triathlon, Ceecee called me and asked me to move back in with her.  Why I had it so firmly in my mind that when I completed the triathlon, somehow we would be reconciled, I don’t know.  I just had an incredible amount of faith for that.  Of course, I thought it would be when I completed the actual triathlon; I never imagined the mock tri having any significance.

Anyway, that was exactly a year ago and two days later, I moved into the loft with my wonderful wife and a week later, the restoration tour began.  Now it’s nearly finished and it seems that it’s only been a few days and that it’s been forever, both at the same time.

Two days from now, one year to the day that I moved back in, we leave on our second honeymoon!  We’re going to Big Cedar Lodge, a world class resort south of Branson.  My wife used to work there and we have quite a history with the place.

Just go to the search bar on this blog and search “Big Cedar” and you’ll find numerous posts related to it.  From the tornado, to the ice storm, to shortly before we split up, Big Cedar Lodge has been a part of our lives.  Now, we will restore that beautiful place in a way that I’m sure neither of us will ever forget!

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Day 357 and Counting… An Extra Night On The Airline’s Tab

Posted: August 27, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, July 28, 2011

One more little adventure cropped up before we could we could get back home.  We flew from San Francisco to Denver, where we were supposed to connect with our flight to Springfield, but there had been a delay and we couldn’t make our connecting flight.

While this was causing quite a bit of grumbling from people on schedules, we were quite happy to accept the vouchers for a free meal and a free night at a nice hotel in Denver.  It just extended our vacation by another day, and we didn’t mind in the least.

This morning, we flew back home, and the restoration tour is nearly complete.  We have a few loose ends to tie up, but nothing stressful.  All the work has pretty much been done and we are ready for our honeymoon, the Tour De Cox and our vow ceremony!

Day 353 and counting… Last Day in California

Posted: August 26, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

We made a quick stop into Quady winery, which happened to be on the way to San Francisco.  We really love their sweet wines and we got to actually meet and talk to Andrew Quady, the owner, while we were there.

We also had our first ever In-N-Out Burger, which turned out not to be a significant event in our lives.  It just seemed the thing to do, so we could at least say that we did.

Tonight we’re staying with Ceecee’s aunt and uncle just outside San Francisco and they are taking us to the airport in the morning.  We’ll be back home for just a few days before we head out on our second honeymoon!

Day 352 and Counting… Fun in the California sun

Posted: August 25, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, July 25, 2011

There’s so much we’ve seen and done in so little time.  This trip has been a bit of a blur.

When we got finished in wine country, we drove down to San Francisco, where we met my brother and his family.  He had gotten us great tickets to a giants game, and after that, we headed to Morro Bay, where they have a vacation home that is shared among various relatives.

We spent a day there, then over the next two days, we visited San Luis Obispo and stayed at my brother’s home just outside of Fresno.  Yesterday, we spent the day exploring Yosemite National Park, which was incredibly beautiful.  We’ve had so much fun, laughed so much, and truly enjoyed each other’s company and the wonderful love we now share.

Day 348 and Counting… Living the Dream In Wine Country!

Posted: August 18, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Wow!  Our first two days in California have been a blast!

Well, almost.  Our first day was nearly a disaster, thanks to a problem with our bank.

We landed in San Francisco, took a shuttle to the rental car location, and had our bank card declined for no apparent reason.  Turns out, there was “fraud activity in the area” where we were and they had put a temporary stop on all transactions being conducted there on their cards.

We were to meet our PR connections at MacMurray Ranch for lunch and a tour of the vineyards and we couldn’t figure out how to pay for our rental car to be able to get there.  After a number of increasingly unpleasant telephone conversations with our bank, we finally got something worked out and were nearly on time to our first appointment.

Lunch was family style and Kate MacMurray was the perfect host.  The property was magnificent and the highlight was when they drove us to a point high on a ridge, where we drank Pinot Noir overlooking the entire estate.

Our hotel has a nice pool that we enjoyed in the afternoon and we ate at a really cool place in downtown Healdsburg called Spoon Bar where the outside walls are actually accordion doors that they had opened all the way up, giving us the feeling of dining outdoors.  Healdsburg is a great little town with all kinds of great places to eat and drink, especially down around the square.

Today was super busy and fun.  We started off by taking a run down and through Healdsburg.  The early morning temperature in the mid fifties was a very welcome change!

We had lunch at Louis Martini Winery, then visited the CIA – that’s the Culinary Institute of America – in St. Helena.  That and driving past Alcatraz have been the highlights for Ceecee, so far.

After that, it was back to Healdsburg for a tasting at J. Vineyards and winery, and we actually reached the wine saturation point, so we went to a little Brat place called The Wurst and tried a local brew with our dinner.  It all ended with a drive to Sonoma for dessert at a place on their square that I really love called El Dorado Kitchen.  Whew!

Day 346 and Counting… The “Poofiest” Dress

Posted: August 14, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Well, my wife bought her dress for the ceremony.  It’s bright orange (yes, I know Alice wore a blue dress in the movie), and I don’t know any other way to describe it except, “poofy.”  We also went around and found a variety of accessories to go with it and it should be a dress that no one will forget!

We ordered the cake pops and I think the preparations are pretty much good at this point.  They kind of have to be, since we leave for California tomorrow!  Then we come back for 2 days, head to Big Cedar Lodge for our second honeymoon, come back home and the next day is our ceremony.

Hard to believe it’s been almost exactly a year.  On the one hand, it’s been the longest year imaginable.  On the other, it’s gone by so fast it seems like last week that we were getting back together.

 

Day 342 and Counting… Restoring the “Girls Just Wanna Run 5K

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today was the annual “Girls Just Wanna Run” 5K, the largest women’s only 5K in the state of Missouri.  Since I’m obviously not running, but Ceecee is, I volunteer to be one of the traffic control people out on the course.

This year, there were expected to be close to 1000 participants.  I didn’t count them as they came by, of course, but it was pretty impressive to watch that sea of women flooding out of the park and onto the streets.

Last year, we were separated during the race, but Ceecee still gave me a high five as she came by, although it was very awkward after the race.  This year is as different as night is from day and we were extremely glad to be a couple throughout the entire event.

For me, there was no hoping that she would spend any time with me afterward, or having to say goodbye again when it was over.  I didn’t have to worry about our future because we are as committed to each other as any two newlyweds.

Tonight is date night and then we only have a few days to make preparations before flying out to California!

Day 340 and Counting… A Dog Bite Cuts Our Ride Short

Posted: August 7, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Awfully unexpected turn of events during our training ride this morning.  We were intending to try to ride the entire route of 62 miles, a metric century for those of you who are familiar with the term.

Around 20 miles out, we turned down a farm road with a few houses on one side and a Bassett Hound came running out into the street.  There’s always a worry of dogs getting tangled up with your bike and causing a crash, so that was where my focus was, on avoiding hitting the dog.

It had other ideas.  It bit me as I came up alongside it.

I kind of kicked it off and kept riding to put a little distance between us before I stopped to take a look.  It was bleeding, but not badly.  We usually carry some minor first aid items with us, so I cleaned it up and put on some neosporin.  It was pretty sore, so we decided to just head back toward the house.

Later, I went back in the car and tried to find the house it had come from by asking some neighbors.  I wasn’t sure what my plan was, but I definitely wanted to at least confront the owners if I could find them.

A neighbor knew of the dog and said it had been known to bite before.  I kept thinking it was a good thing it was me that it bit and not my wife, because I wouldn’t have handled that well.  As it was, i made a police report, but declined to take any action against the family.

Day 336 and Counting… Invitations Done, Getting Close

Posted: August 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Things are definitely coming together.  Today, we got the invitations all done.  We’re doing a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party theme loosely based on the recent version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.

Ceecee created them herself on the computer and they turned out really neat.  There are several outdoor patios and pavilions at the park and we just decided that we will have our ceremony outdoors and the weather will just have to cooperate.

I’ve picked up most of the stuff for my costume at thrift stores and we ordered a Mad Hatter’s hat on Amazon.  Ceecee found a dress at a store downtown.  It’s going to be really silly and that’s the way we want it.

We’re planning two training rides this week and we leave for California in a week and a half.  When we get back, it will only be a few days until we leave for our second honeymoon! Hard to believe everything is this close.

Day 334 and Counting… More Ceremony Plans

Posted: August 2, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, July 8, 2011

Planning continues for our ceremony.  We’ve picked out some songs we want played and worked on a few of the other details.  I asked my friend Joe if he would play and sing “Marry Me,’ by Train, but he said the guy’s range was way too high and he could never pull it off.

We decided we can just play recordings and picked up a few cd’s.  One of them is by Brandi Carlile, who we had only heard of because of church.

Around Easter, they did the song “The Story,” which was played at the end of the movie, “The Lucky One.”  When they sang it in church, we were amazed by the lyrics and my wife immediately leaned over to me and said, “I want this song for our ceremony.”

We found out that a bridezilla has booked the entire building at Nathaniel Greene Park on the day of our ceremony for her own wedding, so we’re looking for plan B.  I’ve always only envisioned having it there, but we’ll figure something out.

My friends Joe and Kevin are both going to speak, as is our daughter, Angie. We’re not going to have a preacher because we’re already legally married and we don’t know anyone in that capacity who knows us well enough to really be part of this.  We’re also going to write our own vows and say them to each other.  I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to say, but I’m not worried about it.  It’s not a matter of not being able to think of anything.  It’s a matter of wanting to say way too much and needing to get it down to what’s really important.

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