We're Famous!

We're famous! (kind of...). See, what I really mean is, our cupcakes are famous! I met with Paul Weinstein of Simply Special Catering tonight, and she showed me that our cupcakes are featured on their Facebook page! Yay! For all of you on facebook, search Simply Special Catering, and you will see our beautiful tower of palette pleasing cupcakes! Yum!
Simply Special is in the midst of revamping their website also. If you get a chance, check it out: www.simplyspecial.biz.
You'll find pictures of tons of delicious mouth-watering delicacies. We continue to get asked about them......where did we go?..... who did we use?......which caterer could possibly birth such confection perfection?...........Simply Special Catering! We are so glad we found them, and would use them again tomorrow if we had the chance!
(just looking at the pictures of them made me hungry...................the above is a picture of them that my sister-in-law took at the wedding!......)

We're back!

Hello everyone! Can you believe it is over? All of those months of planning, and the big day has come and gone. It felt like it happened in the blink of an eye.
I just want to thank each and every one of you that could make it to help us celebrate! We also wanted to thank those of you who couldn't make it in, you were still on our minds and your presence was greatly missed!
With the whole night feeling like a total blur, I just wanted to thank everyone who took pictures along side the photographer. We had a chance to see them the other day, and couldn't love them more. What a fantastic gesture from Taby, who is already circulating her Picasa album, and also to Adam's dad for making a beautiful keepsake for Adam and I to have with us forever. We love looking at our wedding from your eyes, and get a chance to see it in a different light.
As soon as we get the pictures from the photographer, we'll let everyone know!

As you all know we left the next day for a small get away to the hills. No, not L.A.! Hocking Hills! No swimming pools, no movie stars. (sorry, just made sense in my head!) It was just what the doctor ordered. Peace and quiet, partially due to no cell phone reception. Although Adam loves to hike and rock climb, this was a different type of time for him. Even though there were a few opportunities to explore, we actually stayed close to the inn, and did some driving and sight seeing. We stopped when and where we wanted to, and moved on when we were ready. Originally Adam had planned to go swimming while we were there, so I booked a half-spa day for myself. Instead, while I was getting a massage, facial, and ionic foot cleanse, Adam took a nap in a hammock behind the spa and the inn. There was no tv in the cottage, and to be honest, we really didn't miss it. We watched movies at night on his portable Play Station, and that was good enough for us.
The cottage we stayed at is at a place called The Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls. This place is wonderful! It is charming and quaint, and we really couldn't have asked for better accommodations. You check in by the gift shop (yay!) and the restaurant is right next door. The inn itself is in a building directly behind the office, and they also offer cottage and cabin rentals. We opted for a cottage for two reasons. First, we really didn't need that much space, and second, we thought there was a chance the Beagle would be coming with us and the cottage we stayed in was pet friendly. The name of the cottage is Yarrow, and it suited us just fine. We had a nice large back porch that looked out to the forest behind us. It was pretty much trees as far as you could see. We spent some time on the back porch in between activities, and once Adam pulled out his guitar and played a few songs. The only other sounds you could hear were the birds chirping over head, and every once in a while you could hear tires going up and down the winding gravel road in front of the cottage. We had a wonderful dinner at the inn's restaurant. The chef there is known throughout most of Central Ohio, and the restaurant is a favorite among locals and travelers alike. They use fresh local produce, and you can really tell when you take the first bite into your dish. Adam had breakfast there every morning, and we had dinner there on the second night into our stay.
We went "mining" or "sluicing", depending on which term you're more familiar with, on the day before we left. Basically, we went to a campground that sold piles of pre-packed dirt in three sizes: small bag, large bag, or bucket. We opted for the bucket, and are so glad we did! They jam-packed it full of different goodies. Adam hit pay dirt when he found a nice-sized piece of rough amethyst, two arrowheads, and some other large sized stones and crystals. They even throw in two tiny little plastic bags with pre-cut "gems" that you can have faceted into a setting for a necklace. We had a pink one, and a pale purple one in our lot. We made the pink one into a necklace for me, and so far Adam's Aunt Bev complimented me on it when we got back home.
We had a great time while we were away, and were both a little sorry to leave. We're already trying to figure out a way to get back there soon! The people at the inn, and in Hocking Hills in general, made us feel so welcome during our stay. We can't wait to go back and visit everyone there again! Yarrow cottage: we'll be back!

As nice as the trip was, there really isn't anything like falling asleep in your own house and your own bed. We walked through the door, and found the four fuzzballs waiting there for us, and knew it was good to be home. We unpacked and reminisced at the same time, and still had traces of regret that we didn't stay at least one more night. We did get a lot accomplished once we settled in for the day. I got our thank-you cards written, and did quite a few loads of laundry, while Adam got a chance to hang up our beautiful wind chime outside, and then snuggle in with the Beagle to watch some tv. The next day he had to go to work, and then we were invited to Bubi's for Friday night dinner. His aunts and uncle were there, along with his sister, and his nieces and nephew. It was the perfect ending to our weekend, having begun it with family and then ending it with family. Dinner was perfect, and the dvd's we watched of the wedding and Adam's cousin's Bar Mitzvah were a nice way to reflect and laugh, and really spend time with those we cherish.

We really couldn't have asked for a better time. This whole experience, along side the love and support of our families and friends, made this whole experience so memorable. Thank you all so much, for caring enough about us to be such an integral part of our wedding. What a week it has been!

We love you all, and are so grateful you all are in our lives.
Thank you everyone, thank you!

Away we go!

Well everyone, here we are! Can you believe we have less than 48 hours to go? So much is going on, so many finite details! It's been a wild ride, and the end result is near!
Thank each and every one of you for being a part of this, and for helping us make this such a special day!
See you all on Sunday!

Love this!

I found this article on the intranet at work, and really couldn't agree more. I think the technological advancement we have the capabilities to make is amazing, but at what cost? Read below for someone else's opinion.

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Is the internet making us quick but shallow? By Nicholas Carr, Special to CNN

During a recent commencement address at Hampton University in Virginia, Barack Obama described the way today's internet-powered media environment "bombards us with all kinds of content." He warned students that iPads, Xboxes, and other popular digital gadgets can turn information into "a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment" rather than a means "of empowerment." As soon as the president's remarks were made public, knees began jerking throughout the blogosphere. One online pundit said that Obama sounded "like a grumpy old man." Another suggested that in criticizing technology he was acting like an "old fogy." Even the normally restrained Economist magazine rushed out an editorial accusing Obama of "technophobia" and "Luddism." By the reaction, you would have thought our BlackBerry-toting president had called for a return to horse-drawn carriages, outhouses, and whalebone corsets. Instead of drawing ridicule, Obama's words should have drawn our attention -- and our concern. Over the past decade, most of us have been dramatically ratcheting up the time we spend surfing the web, exchanging electronic messages, and hanging out in social networks like Facebook and MySpace. At the same time, we've been showering our kids with laptops, iPods, PlayStations and smartphones. The average American today spends more than eight hours a day peering into a screen -- TV, computer, or cell phone -- and the average teen sends or receives well over 2,000 text messages a month. But even as we've been enjoying the seemingly endless bounties of the net, neurobiologists and psychologists have been carrying out studies which suggest that the way we gather information online impedes comprehension, weakens understanding, and in general hinders learning. Worse yet, the ill effects of heavy web use appear to continue to afflict us even when we turn our computers off. The cognitive penalties can be particularly severe for students. In one revealing experiment, researchers at Cornell University divided a class into two groups. One group was allowed to use their laptop computers to surf the web during a lecture. The other group attended the same lecture but had to keep their computers closed. Immediately afterward, the students took a test measuring how well they remembered the lecture's content. The students who used their laptops performed significantly worse on the exam. It didn't matter, moreover, whether they surfed sites related to the subject of the lecture or unrelated sites. All the surfers performed relatively poorly. Other researchers have found that students who read text with hyperlinks, as you routinely find online, end up with a weaker understanding of the material than students who read the same text in a traditional, linear format, as you'd find in a printed book. Each link appears to act as a little distraction, breaking the reader's concentration. As the number of links mounts, comprehension diminishes further. The multitude of messages and other bits of information that the Web fires at us, from emails to tweets to Facebook updates, have also been found to interrupt our thoughts in a way that impedes the formation of memories and the building of knowledge. The more information we juggle, the less able we are to make sense of it all. Last year, a team of Stanford researchers reported that heavy media multitaskers have trouble concentrating even when they're not online. They're considerably less able, for example, to distinguish important information from trivial information than are people who engage in multitasking less frequently. "Everything distracts them," one of the researchers said of the heavy multitaskers. Patricia Greenfield, a leading developmental psychologist who teaches at UCLA, warned in a 2009 Science article that a growing body of scientific evidence indicates that spending a lot of time with computers, smartphones, and other such devices weakens people's ability to think deeply, critically, and creatively. As we rush around the web gathering little pieces of information, we seem to be training our brains to be quick but superficial. Only a curmudgeon would deny the many benefits that our computers and electronic networks have brought us. The internet and related technologies have made it much easier to stay in touch with friends and family members, to discover interesting and useful information, to express ourselves, and to collaborate with others. Since the World Wide Web was invented two decades ago, we have been celebrating these benefits -- and rightly so. But we've been paying much less attention to the negative consequences of our online lives. The time has come for us to take a more balanced view of the net, looking at its costs as well as its benefits. That's particularly true when it comes to educating our children. Sticking a kid in front of a computer screen is probably not the best way encourage the development of a strong, creative, and supple mind. As President Obama implied, information should be a source not of distraction but of enlightenment. As important as it is to be able to find lots of information quickly, what's even more important is to be able to think deeply about the information once we've found it. We need to slow down."

Two Weeks!!!

Well everyone, we only have two weeks until the big day! Where has the time gone? There are so many little things to do! My weekends are jam packed full of details!

We met with the venue and caterer, and also I had a final meeting with the DJ. (this one was a meeting i was looking forward to the most!) I'd say it went really well! I already had a play list written out the day after I talked to the DJ and they came aboard. It had been patiently sitting in my notebook of all things wedding for many, many months. When I had the chance to show the DJ's, they loved it! And I really hope you all do as well! There are songs that I absolutely love, and songs that play in my head throughout the day. I couldn't wait to share them all with you, and in a matter of days, you'll be able to hear them for yourselves!

We had a lot of fun going through their laptop and looking into their music collection. We played some songs, sang some songs, and even did a little head bopping. It made my afternoon! The DJ's are a husband and wife team, and a ton of fun. I think they are the perfect fit for Adam and I, and for all of you too!

This coming week a few of the girls and I are meeting with Monsi, our hair and make-up coordinator. That is on Wednesday, and immediately to follow is going to be a visit to Bubi, and then off to go jewelry shopping at my cousin's jewelry store. I have the bracelet and necklace, but now I need the earrings too! Taby is going to be with me the whole day, and I am really looking forward to it!

The other night we had dinner at our friend's Jimmy & Jodi's house. We picked up Aladdin's, and it was such a nice night we ate outside in their backyard. They have a great picnic table we all sat at, and then Jodi and I took off and left the boys so she and I could get Jeni's. Have you ever been there? I have gone many times, but still feel it is my duty to keep going back, again and again, trying ice cream, just to make sure that no one gets sick. It's a tough job, but I do this because I care!

When we first go to their house, Jodi came in to the kitchen with a wriggling Violet in her arms. I can not believe how big Violet has gotten! Her features morph themselves between mommy and daddy, but her features are now becoming more pronounced, and will soon indicate who she will take after more. Very interesting to see!

There are so many family cook outs tomorrow, and unlike the rest of the world, I'll be spending my time indoors at work. It isn't my first choice, but at least we got a chance to see everyone over the past few days! Dad's birthday is tomorrow also (a memorial day baby!), and unfortunately I can't see him tomorrow night, but will hopefully be able to meet for breakfast instead. Happy Early Birthday dad!

Well everyone, I hope you all have a safe holiday weekend, whatever you decide to do.

See you all in two weeks!

O. M. G.

Sooo, I was editing one of the registries today and realized there are 21 days left until the wedding! Wow! Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday I was complaining about how cold the weather is in Ohio, and then BAM! It hit me like a ton of bricks......it's almost June. Can you believe it everyone? I know I can't.
We are so excited as the day draws near, and we can not wait to see all of you. We thought 11 months was plenty of time to get everything tackled, and for the most part we were right. Lately we have been hard at work with all of the little details that we have to get in order.
The bridesmaid's dresses are pretty much altered, the flower girl's dresses are coming along (they are going to be so fantastic!), my dress and veil are almost complete........the proud moms are eagerly assembling their ensemble for the big day.......the pieces all seem to be coming together quite nicely.

Here are a few things to get everyone on the same page from over the past few months. My sister-in-law is recovering from a procedure she recently underwent, and her spirits seem to get better every time we talk. She and my mom are both teachers, and they are really looking forward to their summer break. It will be here before they both know it! They both have graciously offered their time to me to help me get things done before the 13th, and I will gladly accept their offer!

My jewelry is finished, and I have been eagerly breaking it in piece by piece. Wednesdays are bracelet days, and sometimes on Sundays before work. Thursdays are run-around-the-house-in-my-necklace days. Honestly, you want to make sure they hold up.......ya know? Even with a little jesting from mom's boyfriend......I believe his exact words were.....'Who doesn't wear diamonds and pearls to do laundry?'..............Exactly! Glad you see things from my point of view.

My shoes are breaking in quite nicely, though I do have to admit they don't look as nice with flannel pants as they do with my dress..........aaahhhhh, a mere technicality.

What else? Hmmmmm.........honestly most everything else is taken care of. We're really just tying up loose ends now. A final meeting with the caterer this coming Wednesday, followed by a meeting with the Rabbi on Thursday. A final go over with the photographer and DJ. Oh! We got the marriage license last week! We went downtown last Wednesday and picked that up first thing in the morning.

As far as the new place is concerned, almost everything is put away. We did locate the camera, it is at Adam's shop. When we bring it home, I'll post some pictures. Or, stop by and let's have some coffee! Yummy!

I know there are so many things I am forgetting to include in this post, but my brain is swimming right now with lists and itineraries. Sheesh!

Well everyone, have a great night! I am going to try to get some sleep, and will have more to post in the next few days!
Sweet dreams!

Food for Thought

When I read this article, the introduction caught me off guard. It was almost like someone had written down the thoughts I have in my head, only in a much more organized manner. Read on for some great info that everyone should know and think about when making decisions on what to put in your bodies. Enjoy! 9 Ingredients to avoid in processed foods by Brett Blumenthal

If you know me at all, you know that I’m an advocate for whole, unprocessed foods. However, many of us inevitably turn to packaged or processed foods when we are short on time. Maybe we grab a frozen dinner or pizza for a quick dinner for our family. Maybe we grab a quick nutrition bar to satiate our hunger until we can sit down for a real meal. Or maybe, we just don’t like to cook. Whether we like it or not, packaged and processed food has become a huge part of our food industry and, as a result, a part of many of our diets. Although there are some brands that I hugely advocate for, there are many more that border on outright unhealthy and “scary.” Many packaged foods that seem healthy often contain fillers, preservatives and other ingredients you don’t want in your diet. It is always preferable to choose products that have only a handful of ingredients, all of which should be recognizable. One test to know whether an ingredient is healthy is to ask yourself whether your grandmother would recognize it. If not, there is a good chance the ingredient is less natural food and more man-made chemical. Another good test is whether or not you can easily pronounce the ingredient. If you feel like you need a science degree to pronounce it properly, chances are the ingredient is worth avoiding. If you do have to resort to a processed food for a snack or dinner (anything canned, packaged, etc.), try to avoid those that contain the ingredients listed in the following chart. Although this isn’t an exhaustive list, these ingredients are some of the most highly processed and least healthy of all: Ingredient Why it is Used Why it is Bad Artificial Colors Chemical compounds made from coal-tar derivatives to enhance color. Linked to allergic reactions, fatigue, asthma, skin rashes, hyperactivity and headaches. Artificial Flavorings Cheap chemical mixtures that mimic natural flavors. Linked to allergic reactions, dermatitis, eczema, hyperactivity and asthma. Can affect enzymes, RNA and thyroid. Artificial Sweeteners such as Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Equal®, NutraSweet®, Saccharin, Sweet’n Low®, Sucralose, Splenda® & Sorbitol Highly-processed, chemically-derived, zero-calorie sweeteners found in diet foods and diet products to reduce calories per serving. Can negatively impact metabolism. Some have been linked to cancer, dizziness hallucinations and headaches. Benzoate Preservatives known as BHT, BHA, and TBHQ Compounds that preserve fats and prevent them from becoming rancid. May result in hyperactivity, angiodema, asthma, rhinitis, dermatitis, tumors and urticaria. Can affect estrogen balance and levels. Brominated Vegetable Oil aka BVO Chemical that boosts flavor in many citric-based fruit and soft drinks. Increases triglycerides and cholesterol - Can damage liver, testicles, thyroid, heart and kidneys. High Fructose Corn Syrup aka HFCS Cheap alternative to cane and beet sugar - Sustains freshness in baked goods - Blends easily in beverages to maintain sweetness. May predispose the body to turn fructose into fat. Increases risk for Type-2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer. Isn’t easily metabolized by the liver. MSG aka Monosodium Glutamate Flavor enhancer in restaurant food, salad dressing, chips, frozen entrees, soups and other foods. May stimulate appetite and cause headaches, nausea, weakness, wheezing, edema, change in heart rate, burning sensations and difficulty in breathing. Olestra An indigestible fat substitute used primarily in foods that are fried and baked. Inhibits absorption of some nutrients. Linked to gastrointestinal disease, diarrhea, gas, cramps, bleeding and incontinence. Shortening, Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils such as Palm and Soybean Industrially created fats used in more than 40,000 food products in the U.S. - Cheaper than most other oils. Contain high levels of trans fats, which raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, contributing to risk of heart disease.