It's starting to come together...

We have a ceremony site, a reception site, and a photographer!

The ceremony site, the First Congregational Church of Gray, is where my parents and maternal grandparents (along with a slew of other relatives) were married. It really means a lot to me that Pat and I will be able to continue that tradition.

I'm excited about the reception venue. The Mariner's Church was declared a National Landmark by the Smithsonian Institute in 1973. I like the historical aspect and I love the location right in the heart of Portland's Old Port. I'm not a huge fan of their Web site, so here are some pictures my cousin Chelle took when she and my parents went to see it:

Chelle went to a reception at the site last summer, which is how Pat and I found out about it in the first place, so we've been able to see some photos of it all done up for an actual reception, too.

I can't believe it's more than a year away. It feels like forever!

lions and tigers and guests, oh my!

Guest list right now: 178 people, including the bride and groom.

Hot damn!

1st Official Wedding Task Completed

So, it's certainly isn't the most thrilling bridal task, but it is one of the most important. Today, I confirmed that my ring appraisal had been received and that my ring is now insured. Now, on to the fun planning stuff!

Houston, part two

I know this isn't as exciting, but here are the details on the rest of our trip to Houston. :)

After the proposal (hooray!), we went out to dinner at Flying Saucer. They have something like a gazillion beers on tap, but the food is way better than your average bar food. I had a really fantastic salad with spring mix, cranberries, walnuts, goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette and some other stuff. Delicious! But the best part, really, was the Rocket Tots. Essentially, they were gourmet tater tots with cheese and peppers in them. So freaking good! Man, now I'm thinking about them and I want them. The good news: there's a Flying Saucer here in Austin, too.
After dinner, we went to the Astros/Brewers game (our original purpose in going to Houston; Pat's excited we live closer to an NL team than we did in Boston so he can occasionally see the Brewers). It was a rough game for Brewers fans (6-2 Astros, and even that makes it sound better than it was), but the park is beautiful and we had a good time.After the game, we went to Shay McElroy's Irish Pub, had a few drinks, and watched a bit of the Hornets/Spurs game. (Go Hornets!)

Sunday morning, before getting in the car for the three-hour drive back to Austin, we went out to Birraporetti's for a jazz brunch. The "br" food was pretty damn good (as were the desserts), but the "unch" stuff was not fantastic (the vegetarian options, anyway).
The End.

Engaged!

I suppose this isn't exactly about my adventures as a Texas transplant, but since it happened during our first-ever trip to Houston, I'm gonna put it here anyway. :)

Pat and I got engaged! Finally! ;)

As some people already know, I had set a date and had dropped several other hints over the last few months *cough*years*cough* (hey, we first looked at rings in December of 2005; I was getting impatient, what can I say?!). So, last week I told Pat that a great anniversary gift would be to get me an attractive looking binder to use as my wedding planning binder (the hints just keep coming! Besides, at that point, I knew he had the ring, so I figured it was safe to assume that we were in fact on for June 13, 2009).

An aside: tomorrow is our 5 year/7.5 year anniversary. So you can see why I was getting impatient. Maybe?

When we got to our hotel in Houston on Saturday, Pat told me to close my eyes for anniversary gift time and I thought, "here it is, I'm getting engaged!" Instead, I opened my eyes to discover he'd really gotten me a pretty binder (2, actually, because he thinks I'll outgrow one pretty fast. He's probably right.), along with sheet protectors and dividers. There was a card that I assumed would probably be hysterical because we only do funny cards, never sentimental. And I though to myself, "okay, I guess it'll happen on our actual anniversary or maybe next month in Milwaukee. Fine." I opened the card and saw this:

Complete with reply card (in the background are my binders):

And of course, this:

Things you see in Austin, but not so much in Boston

1) Jacked-up Trucks.
I laugh almost every time. I love it. Since moving to Texas, I've often found myself thinking I'd like to drive a pickup. It's contagious.

2) Vultures.
Much less amusing than the trucks. They make my skin crawl. I will spare you all of the unsightly things I've seen vultures doing around here, but even the one just sitting on the sign to our apartment complex freaked me out. Disgusting.

Good news! and an update

I have a job! :) I'm going to be a Library Assistant at Pflugerville Community Library in Pflugerville, Texas, a small city northeast of downtown Austin. I interviewed on Tuesday and was offered/accepted the job on Wednesday. According to the job description, I'll be shelving books, checking materials in and out, issuing library cards, answering phones, and helping computer users. It seems like a great work environment and I'm looking forward to getting started.

Been busy since the last post, as always. Last week was the first kickball victory I was present for (the other one happened at the only game I've missed). We beat the team that beat us 7-0 in our first game. Very satisfying. We've got two more games to go, so we could plausibly end the season at .500. I have faith.

I've been going to quite a few library-related things lately: a couple of things hosted by our career services office, a Romance Readers' Social, and a screening of The Hollywood Librarian, after which the director spoke with the audience. The documentary isn't, at present, commercially available, but I wish everyone I know would watch it because it captures much more eloquently than I've been able to why I want to be a librarian. Even after watching the segments on the battle to keep open the public libraries in Salinas, California, I felt confirmed in the desire to be a public librarian. It was a good feeling and a powerful documentary. And Ann Seidl, the director, is something else. She's fearless. It's inspirational, even if you don't necessarily agree with her.

Jennie was here. We went to San Antonio for the day on Sunday and did the Alamo, Market Square and the River Walk. She bought me a beautiful pashmina as an early Christmas gift. I'm wearing it right now, actually, because it's finally cold in Texas--it feels like Thanksgiving! :) Monday, she toured the Capitol while I was in class and then that night we had drinks on Sixth Street and went to Artz Rib House. Oh, and we took her to the Dog and Duck and Woodrow's while she was here. Good times.

Now the houseguests are gone and there are three weeks (and lots of homework) left of the semester. But first, Thanksgiving. Pat and I are going down to San Antonio to have dinner with some friends of mine from high school and their families. If I can pry him away from the Packers game, that is.

Happy Thanksgiving! :)