A Cake Confession

I don't like cake.

There, I said it.

I honestly don't know why. I have a HUGE sweet tooth, but sometimes the sponginess of the cake and dense icing is too much for my mouth. I'd take pie or cookies over cake ANY day.

Regardless, we're having a traditional wedding cake at our wedding. Groom3000 LOVES cake, so how could we not?

We had our first tasting today (of two) at a local bakery. Going in, we had a few ideas: square, off-set tiers, not a ton of decoration, and within $400. And we want chocolate icing. Yes, the traditional wedding cake is white. But for these chocoholics, a chocolate iced cake is a MUST! Besides, it's different, and we like that, too.

Mmmm, chocolate...drool.

Photo courtesy of www.annsbakery.ied 

So, today's tasting went...quick? We only sampled two flavors (chocolate and yellow) and two icings (Italian buttercream and regular buttercream). Although I wish we'd tasted some of the more specialized flavors (strawberry, lemon, butternut, etc.) the yellow and chocolate cakes were REALLY good! Moist and yummy--and I don't really like cake, remember? I preferred the Italian buttercream: less sweet so I could probably eat more of it :)

So the cake was good! But, the prices were a little surprising. A square cake costs much more than a circular cake. (Apparently, corners are costly!) In order to be in our budget, we'd have to go with a circular-tiered cake. I don't care either way, but Groom3K seemed a little sad about it ("Square cakes are more geometrically pleasing to the eyes"--I just love my math nerd). BUT, unlike most bakeries, we can pick from any cake flavor or filling for the same price. A definite plus since most bakeries charge more for special flavors.

We'll have another tasting in July with a pastry chef friend of Groom's sister. I look forward to comparing the pricing (and taste!)

Speaking of taste, we're having our reception menu tasting on Wednesday--steak, chicken, shrimp--now that's more like it! More to come!

Pack, pack, pack---ackkk!

It seems like forever since I moved home from college, but still all I've been doing is pack. Unpack. Repack. Box. Bag. This post is not about the wedding (non-wedding related a.k.a. NWR) because packing has become so time consuming.

We're moving in a month and a half to Seattle but already the movers are coming to look at all our stuff. As of right now, my stuff is kinda all over my house. Momma3000 is just a little stressed about it to say the least. 

With my parents looking to move as well, I'm not only having to go through my typical belongings, but all my childhood possessions. Going through this stuff proves difficult when you're as sentimental as I am. For example: I went through all my old Barbies and found my favorite one--Wet n' Wild Christie. She had THE best hair (I've always been jealous of those with luscious locks), but one day, while dressing her, her head popped off. Yikes! 

A real Wet n' Wild Christie on eBay--too cool! I almost thought about buying a replacement!

What did I decide to do with my broken doll? I kept the head with her still-beautiful hair, of course! What am I going to do with it? I dunno. I just couldn't part with it!

This is probably how I've come to accumulate so much stuff in my short life. Groom3000 and I encounter a similar problem when going through our childhood things: we know we want to save some of the more precious possessions to share with our future children, but how do you decide what is precious enough to keep? Groom couldn't stand the thought of giving away his marble collection (do kids today even know how to play marbles). I feel guilty about giving some things away. But let's be serious: when we finally do have children, I know we're going to want to buy a whole slew of new stuff! I mean, have you seen the cool toys around today? A traditional Barbie just might not cut it.  

Although going through all my childhood stuff is not so fun, the good thing about our moving and my parents moving at the same time is they want to get rid of a lot of their furniture! You don't need that way-too-1980s-style couch that was hardly ever sat on because it was in the "formal" living room? A new brown slipcover and wow, we have a brand new couch! Groom's mom is looking for an excuse to upgrade her bedroom set and PRESTO! We're lucky our parents are so generous and we don't have to buy a ton of furniture once we get out West since I'll probably need to invest in a solid pair of rainboots (or a couple pairs).

You can't even tell this couch is 20+ years old!

On top of packing, we're in full wedding-planning mode. After vacation, we have a cake tasting, a meeting with our DJ, our reception menu tasting (surprise!), AND the movers are coming to survey our stuff. Gah!

Anyone else have a hard time letting go when going through their childhood possessions? What got to stay and what (unfortunately) had to go?

The Twelve Weeks That Were

This summer, Groom3000 and I are having a blast. We've been kayaking, picnicking, outlet shopping, wine festival-ing, porch swing swinging, ice cream-ing, movie-ing (ugh, Prince of Persia was sooooo not worth it), and of course our favorite, eating. On top of all that, we're packing for our late July move to Seattle! And soon, we'll be beaching! Pretty busy for a "lazy" summer of unemployment, eh?

We also attended a wedding--my first!

I can't help but pack our schedules with trips and activities. That's because this is our first summer together! We spent 12 weeks of last summer apart when Groom interned at a large tech company in Seattle and I worked at a weekly newspaper in Maryland. Although those weeks were tough on me emotionally, they were what truly solidified our relationship into something Groom3000 and I knew could last. 

We'd only been together seven months when Groom3K left for Seattle. We'd become inseparable in the months prior and I'd never been in a real long distance relationship. Honestly, I was nervous, but I trusted my Groom and I started counting down the weeks until I visited him "out West" in August. 

So, how did we do it? 

• Most importantly, we stayed busy. Groom3K and I both worked hard at our internships. I had my family, friends and on-campus RA job to take up my spare time, and Groom had his new roommate and techie friends. 
• We took advantage of technology. How did people stay in long distance relationships back in the day without video chat and e-mail??? Every morning, one of us would usually wake up with an e-mail from the other. Every evening after Groom got home from work, we would chat using video Gchat for 2-3 hours. EVERY day. What the hell did we talk about? I don't know, but for me, this was the key to staying strong. 
• I wrote old-fashioned love letters. I don't know what it is about blank note cards, but I love them! Every Sunday night for 12 weeks, I wrote Groom a card, sometimes silly and something mushy. Every Monday I popped it in the mail and like clockwork, he received it on Thursday after work. He still has them all :)
• We formed our own mini book club. Groom3000 and I both expressed interest in catching up on some reading over the summer, so I thought hey, if we read the same books, at least we'll have something to talk about. Groom and I read very different books (I'm more of a bestseller girl, while Groom is a big Stephen King fan.) He chose the first, then I the second, and so on. Although I'm a faster reader than my Groom (he used to hate to admit that), we always enjoyed the conversation that arose from our reading. 
• We had something to look forward to!  The first week in August, I flew out to Seattle to reunite with Groom3K. Before my trip, we talked about it constantly, and I researched and researched (as is my way) for restaurants and things to do.The escalator up to where Groom was supposed to meet me in the Seattle airport seemed to be the longest I'd ever ridden! Our reunion in the airport was like something from a movie. You know when the dramatic music starts, the man and woman run to each other, and everything around them goes blurry? Yea, it was like that.

Last summer seems like so long ago, but I'll always remember it as the summer I realized I wanted to spend my life with the man on my computer screen.  

**Coming soon: More on packing, and we have a cake tasting in a few weeks!**