Daddy Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Not to be out done by H, I have been scouring men's fashion magazines since Sunday to find my own wedding shoe. Personally, I think this is more daunting than H's journey. She saw an episode of "Sex and the City" and decided that she had to have a particular pair of shoes. I wasn't exactly watching "Oceans 11" and paying attention to footwear.

Like most stores in Chicago, I have walked past the Johnston & Murphy store on LaSalle between Madison and Washington for literally seven years. I have never stopped in. I finally did yesterday after Court. I immediately told the gentleman working that "I am not looking to buy anything today." He must have smelled the chum in the water. Within two minutes, I was sold. Simple. Black. Lace-ups. And up-sold. Simple. Brown. Lace-ups. 15% off. Plus a $50.00 gift certificate to JM (In my defense, I needed new brown shoes. My friend Todd once compared my last pair to the sort of shoe you'd see on a south beach opium dealer)(I thought that they screamed Italian Bougeois)(Todd was right).

I am not very good at making bigger ticket purchases, so I texted H and said - "Hey I am at shoe store. They have my shoes on sale, if I buy a second pair." I didn't hear from her for a few minutes, so I bought the shoes (prompted by the salesman to "sometimes just make a decision without her)(Note: he wasn't wearing a wedding ring). I texted H again and said "I am sure you can guess what happened at the shoe store."

A Woman's Right to Shoes...

OK - so, I blatantly stole the title of this post from H's favorite "Sex and the City" episode. Guilty. But, totally appropriate. H got her wedding shoes yesterday and is very, very excited. How excited? Its hard to say - I saw her open and close the box at least 5 times between 5:30 PM and 8:00 PM - she also texted her friends a picture of the shoes to get their feedback. She also wore them around the house, but made sure to wash her feet, because she didn't want to get any pug hair on the shoes...

I am assuming that it is going to kill her to wait until September to wear these. I will probably keep a running tally on how many times I catch her wearing them around the house or sitting on the couch in her PJ's with them on. The early Vegas line is +/- 40 (I would take the over).

Daddy get your Gun -

While we are handing out congratulations - my good friend OB and his wife - Mrs. OB had their second child on Friday, April 17, 2009 - a beautiful baby girl, Emersen Grace (OB has confirmed that his daughter was named after their freshman dorm where they met at Miami). Kidding. Kind of. Congratulations to all of you. Now get Lucan boxing lessons, so he can become 'that' scary big brother.

Nice.

I am not really prone to short posts (see below), but I would be remiss if I did not post that one of H's bridesmaids, Deb, and her husband, Robby, welcomed a new addition to their family yesterday afternoon. Jonah Benjamin was born at 12:17 PM yesterday afternoon. Congratulations! We're so happy for you and are looking forward to meeting the little guy.

Divas for the Day...

Yesterday we met with our photographer, Nate Rowe of Nathanial Edmunds Photography, for our engagement photos. Let me say this at the onset - Whitney Houston - the grandest of all divas - has nothing on either H or me. To prepare for our photo shoot, we took Friday to get ourselves in the right state of mind - this included tanning (yes, tanning) and fashion shows and the like. Before I fell asleep that night, I said to H - "Don't laugh at me, but I have been practicing my smile a lot today. H responded - "I won't laugh. I have too." I do love that girl.

We were scheduled to meet with Nate at 1 PM. Before that, however, we had some work to do. I had committed to drink beers and watch Arsenal storm to a 2-0 win over Man City. H had committed to attend the baby shower of our neighbor - Messy Mandy (this is how she is programmed in my cell phone as well as the way that H and I refer to her. Messy Mandy owns and operates her own business Messy Mandy - as a personal assistant to help get her clients organized, be it for tax season or Thanksgiving dinner - she does it all. For the male readers - she is kinds of like the "Wolf" in "Pulp Fiction.")(We think the world of Messy Mandy and highly recommend - we know her as our neighbor, but also know how committed she is to her client)(shameless plug is over).

Anyway - H - dressed for the photos and looking absolutely classic and stunning - went to the baby shower and had a few glasses of Riesling to ease her nerves about the picture taking (this is going to be a theme). I picked her up about twenty to one and we were off to the first location: Paramount Room.

For those who have read this blog with any sort of consistency, you'll know that Paramount Room is a very special place to H and I. Since we moved in together in May, 2007, we have been going to Paramount Room for Friday happy hour. We love it there. The night I proposed, I arranged a little engagement party at PR for some of our friends and family to surprise H (it worked). We cannot say enough good things about the people and the vibe this place has. It doesn't hurt that they have a great beer selection for me and a unique and well done cocktail list for H.

About two weeks ago, H and I decided that we'd like to have some of our engagement photos taken at PR. I immediately contacted Jacquie via Facebook to see if this was feasible. Not only was it feasible - she was as excited about it as we were. Jacquie started at Paramount Room shortly after H and I started going there. She has become a friend. She was our server for the engagement party and she has been there virtually every time we have. H loves her and constantly leaves notes on our bill telling her the same. When we got to Paramount, the front booth was reserved for us. Which was perfect. Its the best seat in the house, the first place that we sat when we went there, and a great little corner for pictures. I would be guilty of neglect if I did not take a moment to thank Jacquie for all she did for us Saturday afternoon. She really went out of her way to make sure that we had a great time and were taken care of. It meant a lot to H and I. Thank you so, so much.

Nate showed up to Paramount shortly after we did. We sat and talked a little bit about our respective lives and the like. I think I have written about this in the past, but it is imperative to me that Nate gets a feel for us as people. I think that it helps everybody and will definitely help the end product. The more Nate gets a feel for us, the more comfortable we are with one another and the better the pictures. We had a great time, shared a few drinks (can I write that?) and got a good feel for how this was going to go. Without cue Nate started taking pictures. First it was our glassware, then the "Evil b. gone" plaque behind me. It was kind of crazy to me. A few moments before we were talking about Chicago and then it was like Nate turned on his "professional" switch and immediately went to work. It was kind of cool, because you could see his mind working for cool shots and different angles. He seemed instantly aware of all his surroundings and worked quickly - it was really interesting for me to see.

A funny thing happened though - H got really camera shy. Nate would tell us (in his raspy voice)(he was in a bar that was too loud the night before) to "look natural" and "pretend [he's] not there" or to "just carry on a conversation." The only thing H would say while we were carrying on was "I hate this. I hate this. I hate this." Who knew? I for one, think she was just saying it. She looked beautiful. She is beautiful. The camera loves her.

I think the problem - for both of us - is that we have never just had our picture taken by a professional. We have thousands of pictures that we have taken. But nothing like this. It took a little bit to get used to. That, plus, after M, this is the one of the first things that actually signifies our wedding in action, if that makes sense. We have made plans and a hundred decisions. But this was the first one of those decisions in action, I guess. And, if we are thinking of reasons - we really like Nate - but for us, its difficult to separate that relationship from the existing working relationship. We want people to like us - which can be defied by the fact that he was there to do his job for us.

We left Paramount and went outside We stressed that we wanted our engagement shoot to be a little grittier than a normal photo shoot. We are not tandem bicycles on the lake front path. We are not in front of a tree with our names carved into it. I think Nate figured this out pretty quickly and after we had some pictures taken with the Pug (who had dutifully been waiting in the wheel well of the car) in front of the endangered species murals on Hubbard, Nate got us to climb up some rocks onto the Metra tracks that run just north behind Paramount Room. It was awesome. Some great city views and the gritty we were looking for. I don't know what possessed him to climb up there and decide that this was the spot for our next shots, but he did it and I cannot wait to see these photos. We finished on our roof with the entire city scape behind us - which was great too - since, early on we indicated to NEP that being on that roof is one of our three favorite things to do together.

I dropped Nate at the house he was staying at and picked up some burritos for H and I. I cannot stress enough how much fun we had on Saturday. It was great working with Nate and NEP. It is clear to us why he is as in demand as he is. He is up for anything and really works with the client. It meant a lot to H and I that he listened to our suggestions and was willing to roll with it. I think sometimes the art can cloud the artist's work. The goal here was to take good pictures that capture our personalities. We are not conventional and I think Nate really went above and beyond to capture that aspect of us. Obviously, as I wrote earlier, NEP has been recognized for excellence in its field. But, I believe Nate when he says that the awards, while nice, are not what he works for. He works for the pictures and the people he's shooting. I know he killed it Saturday and I know for a fact that there is a picture I am going to love from this set - and I hope its one where H is sitting in the booth at Paramount Room with her feet up and I am whispering something sweet in her ear.

UPDATE: The pictures turned out amazing. For a small taste - you should visit the NEP Photo Blog - we are so, so pleased with how these came out and cannot wait to see what they come up with at the wedding.

Glad you could make it...

Lately, I have been obsessed with the rise of the internet news medium at the expense of the newspaper (I think it all started when I listened to a 55 minute podcast argument between Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman) and while, this 'blog' falls into the realm of 'internet news medium' this fascination has manifested a fear that this blog simply does not have a readership. I blame work firewalls (and content)(naturally).

H and I stayed up late on Friday night drunk dialing our moms and brainstorming ways to increase readership of this blog - Aided by bottles of Chilean wine (hello Root:1) and Chimay - I think we nailed it and hope that by the middle of this week, we will gain at least 50 - 196 new readers. Obviously, we are extremely excited about the wedding and the increased traffic on this site, but thought that it would be appropriate to maybe let the new readers know what this is all about.

H and I were engaged on September 26, 2008 - immediately thereafter, H went to Trial on a $9mil wrongful death litigation. Needless to say, the wedding and the planning of the wedding was not at the forefront of H's "to-do" list.

In fact, it wasn't on the list at all.

For the first 30 days of the engagement, I was in charge (thats not entirely true - since we hired our planner about three weeks after the engagement). But, for all intents and purposes, I was thrown in the deep end with flowers, venues, invitations, photographers, mothers-in-laws and caterers. I realized quickly that I was in waaaay over my head, but also given a real opportunity to be part of the world that men/grooms are not normally allowed.

I decided to keep an online journal here - mainly for H (and my own sanity), but also for an information center for the guests and anyone else that is interested. So far, three people are interested.

I encourage all the readers to take a look around. Get comfortable with the content. Make comments. There is even some useful information about the wedding here - I intend to update things here (between work and the wedding diet and reality television - when I have the time) and talk in broader terms about the wedding and the grooms role in wedding planning.

More than anything, we really hope that you get a good feel for H and I as a couple. Many of you know me or you know H - but few of you know us. We look forward to seeing a lot of you in a few months, when, against her better judgment, H makes an honest man out of me.

No Kidding...

It has been eerily quiet the last two weeks in wedding central. We received D+D's "vision" of the wedding. Its going to look amazing. In fact, after reading Gene's description of the design of the wedding, my Mesnick-esque vernacular will not do any of his thoughts justice. (BTW - I totally intended to do a whole write-up on the Melissa-Molly-Mesnick Bachelor 3-part Finale - somehow, though, I was beaten to the punch by most of America. I have thoughts on it that I will spare you dear reader (short: he's a cad). I just hope that Jillian keeps her dignity when she becomes the Bachelorette here in May).

H and I have discussed this blog over the last few weeks and it occurs to us that we don't want to give away the farm here. We are coming up on a time where this little page will be become public knowledge to our guests (rather than a wine drunk admission or a link on H's facebook page) - so, I guess, I will begin discussing more "big picture" wedding stuff from my perspective, rather than detail oriented posts. Which is nice - since, I do not and cannot remember or spell the names of most of the flowers. We are less than 6 months away from the "i'll take 'ems" and I think we have everything in pretty good order.

That said, as most of you know H and I are a little older than most couples we know when they got married. We are both post-30 (barely). That said, most of our friends are of the same age and have been married for several years and have started little families. All of their children are adorable and we have both enjoyed watching all of their personalities develop and seeing all the pictures. I have remarked to H on several occasions that many of my friends are amazing parents, since their children are impeccably behaved. Unfortunately, there is only going to be one child at this wedding - and it snorts and sheds and licks every ankle in sight. Granted - there may be a slight exception for my cousin and their children - but overall, we are thinking that this is going to be a child free wedding.

Like Mesnick (who wouldn't be able to bring Ty, btw), we struggled with this decision. We do not want to and its certainly not our intention to ostracize any of our guests who have children. We are looking at our big picture here. This is not going to be the place for a child. Its going to (hopefully) be a late night, with drinking and dancing and the like and we want our guests, including the parents, to be able to have a great, kid-free, time. Plus, its our hope that many of those parents in attendance will look forward to a night (or two) sans kids. - so they can get what we like to term "the kids are staying with grandma tonight drunk." We toyed with the idea of hiring a sitter or doing some sort of day-care set up - the problem there, again, is that if the child is on site, our guests are bound to want to check in on them occasionally, if not stay with them all night.

I know that this decision is bound to ruffle some feathers. I also acknowledge that this bright-line "no kids" policy may affect turn-out. We just hope that everyone understands that this is our wedding, which, we hope, is a reflection of our life. We want everyone to have a great time, unwind and enjoy a well-deserved night out. So, while we love your kids - H has even held one or two of them - the Pug is going to be the only 'kid' at this wedding - and even she is staying with a sitter that night!