Goleta Lemon Festival 2013

Tomorrow after work we're heading up to Santa Barbara to see some old friends and finally check out Kevin and Dylan's new house... we're only about a year late to the show on that one.  C'est la vie!

It will be fun to not have to worry about booking a DJ or officiant or ordering invitations for a weekend.  Wow, it's funny how much time and energy wedding planning takes.

While we're in town, Cortney got us passes into the Goleta Lemon Festival.  It should be interesting to check out the madness that I am sure will ensue with lemon-flavored beer and lemon-flavored foods.  I am looking forward to some lemon pie, myself.

We're also going to get to meet Conan, Kevin's puppy.  We're hoping that he and Hunter become BFFs so that all our future camping trips can include some doggy fun.  Conan will be a bigger guy than Hunter so it will be interesting to see how they get along - Hunter mostly gets to interact with dogs who are around the same size as he is.

My grandparents will be in town for Ali's home opener volleyball game this weekend, too.  So Sam and I are going to meet them for breakfast on Sunday morning and then drive back to Orange County in time for Sam's soccer game.  Nonna and Papa haven't gotten to see us since we got engaged, so I'm very excited to show off my beautiful ring (and give Sam lots of credit for designing it) and celebrate with them.

Ahhhhh I wish it were Friday afternoon already!

Decisions, Decisions

There are probably going to be many moments over the course of the rest of my life that I think to myself, "wow, I can't believe this is the guy I got to marry."  Luckily, those moments are already happening.

This past weekend, we spent Saturday doing a bunch of wedding stuff that needed to get taken care of sooner rather than later.  We scouted two very different, but very nice officiants and prepped our invitations at Papyrus.

Wow, was I blown away by Sam's involvement in all the planning.  Not that Sam hasn't been involved, but mostly he has been so focused on work and relaxing in his free time that I seem to be doing a lot of the recon for our wedding and he's been picking from the options I bring to him.  (Honestly, I thought that's how most grooms are, but maybe I was wrong!)

Anyway, Sam was so talkative with the officiants I was almost looking at him like, "Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?"  At one point, Stephanie looked at me and said, "So, what about you, Gianna?"  It was one of the first times that someone has had to shut Sam up so I can get a work in edgewise.

And then we went to Papyrus to check out invitations.  That blew me away even more.  I was surprised that Sam was so involved and wanted to customize the invitations completely - pick his own paper, fonts, colors etc.  So much for going with something they had stock!  And as annoyed as I was at first, probably because I hadn't eaten yet, I was also very aware that I am incredibly lucky to have someone who cares so much about this moment in our lives that he wants to be involved and make everything as perfect as he possibly can.

Which became even more apparent when we met with the second officiant who is a Reverend and brings a lot of spirituality and experience to officiating weddings.  I have to say, it was Sam who first broke the silence in the car and said that he thought we should really consider having the Rev. perform our wedding.  There were a few too many "God" mentions for my taste, but I know what Sam was getting at.  There was a certain heaviness sitting there with that man.  As he spoke I felt my spine tingling and it kind of hit me all of the sudden that we are getting married... as in this isn't just a big party, there is a serious commitment going on.

Of course I know we're making a commitment, but we've been together so long that it sometimes doesn't feel like we need to go through the pomp and circumstance that is a ceremony to make our love official.  That said, in that room, it did hit me suddenly that this is going to be our one wedding day for the rest of our lives and we owe it to ourselves to take it seriously.

Even if we don't go with the Reverend, I am glad we met with him.  If we go with Stephanie, Sam and I will be better prepared to make this a serious (and lighthearted) ceremony that carries the appropriate weight for the moment while celebrating the unconditional love we share and our love story - the journey that got us here.

Birthday Week 2013

We kicked off my birthday week with a lot of drinking over the weekend.  In fact, I was actually hung over on Sunday.

A few things I am eagerly awaiting:

1. Dinner at Gabbi's on Wednesday night
2. My birthday cake from French's
3. Opening all my birthday cards

French's is apparently a great bakery and we've got friends who are going to use them for a wedding cake so I thought I'd give them a shot and order myself my first birthday cake since high school.  I mean honestly, I think my last store-bought, ordered birthday cake was in high school from either Mom or Papa Santi.  Very cool.  This is just one of the designs I really liked, but I went with something else... I will definitely post a photo after the big day.

Sam and I went to the gym tonight, and then he drove me down to the Kaiser hospital so I could pick up a prescription from the pharmacy.  He's got a sty and has been sitting here with a hot compress on his eye all night, and I'm on antibiotics.  Let's just say that we've got the whole "in sickness and in health" thing down tonight.  No worries about the rest of our lives!  

The only downside of my birthday weekend kick off was the atrocious Sunday Night Football performance of the 49ers.  I wanted to throw up after the game last night.  Ugh. 

The First Time (Again)

I hope after years of marriage Sam still feels this way about me:

 

Awwwww.  :-)

Dr. and Mrs. Wolson

Our last wedding of the 2013 wedding season was this past weekend.  To sum it up, Elton John may have said it best: "Can you feel the love tonight?  It is where we are."  This weekend was so full of love that it was palpable.  

The weekend started off with a little time at the pool with Sam's family.  It was nice because I had the opportunity to tell Lisa and George how much it means to me and how honored I am to wear their mother's diamond in my engagement ring.  

Sam and I were also able to show his parents some of the wedding planning we've been doing over the last several months.  It was neat too because our tastes are similar to Pete and Margaux's and we were able to see some of the same themes from our plans at their wedding on Sunday.  Rich and Sue helped us pick out our Save the Dates too!  I made a bunch of mockups for Sam to check out last week and he picked the two he liked the best for them to decide between.  

We met up with all of the out of town guests and local friends who were staying at the hotel for drinks at the hotel bar on Saturday night.  While everyone was mingling it gave me a chance to talk to Leo about it and thank him for picking out such a beautiful diamond.  I told him that I love him and I will always think of him when I look down, and he told me that he loves me too.  It was a really bittersweet moment because it's so evident how much he's aged in the 10 years Sam and I have been together, and he's really starting to show his mortality.  I guess that it reminds me a lot of Papa Hunter and Papa Santi too, which can be a little hard to think about.

The Celniker/Marcus family kept the party going with dinner at Red O.  Here's my Instagram pic from dinner, we were sitting on the patio watching the sunset and enjoying some yummy food and delicious beverages but most importantly fabulous company.  It was nice finally meeting Pete's relatives (who are also related to Sue, Lisa and George) from the East Coast.  We also had a great time catching up with Sam's cousins.  We don't get to see Dan, Sean and Mikaela often enough and rarely all together.  I get to chat with Mikaela on the phone every so often, and I keep up with Dan a little bit online when he posts interesting articles, but I really only get to catch up with Sean when we're in person and we don't get to see him very often.  

On Sunday, I spent a few hours with Miss Margaux in her suite with the ladies from her bachelorette party and we had a great time watching her get her hair and makeup done.  It was really, really fun to see all the girls again and the vibe in the room was awesome.  Margaux seemed totally calm and relaxed, all the girls were so happy to be there with her and it was just the nicest afternoon.  

Plus, the Niners won!

At about 3pm I headed down to Sue's hotel room where she and Mikaela were getting ready with Lisa. Mikaela did a great job on Sue's hair and makeup and it complimented her dress fabulously.  Lisa wore a gorgeous dress (perhaps from Sean's wedding) and looked really beautiful as well.  The boys all looked very dapper in their tuxes, and for the first time, I really felt like I was part of the family when we grabbed a drink in the hotel bar before we headed down to the wedding. 

The best part was that Sam made it to the wedding!!!  He was waiting for us when we arrived at Cafe la Boheme and looked so handsome in his black tux with his red tie and red pocket square.  We were all looking so good the photographers took a bunch of photos of the whole family while we were standing in the courtyard.  In fact, we were the subject of a BUNCH of photos in the courtyard.  :-)  Then it was time to head on in and take our seats.  It was really interesting, we all were seated at our tables and then Margaux came in from outside, walked across the dance floor and up to the beautiful giant fireplace to meet Pete.  They were married right there, with all of us sitting at our tables, and it totally worked.  Margaux had been saying she wanted a non-wedding feel and without an aisle and the rows of seats it definitely seemed a little more intimate and personal and fitting for their personalities.  The vows were just amazing!  They memorized their own vows and they weren't short little things!  They were just so heartfelt! 

After dinner, Sam and I did a little bit of dancing, but the DJ portion of the night seemed SO short!  It was fun though, and Sam and I got to dance a bit.  It's funny to think the next time we're all together at a wedding it will (probably) be ours unless one of the other cousins has a REALLY short engagement.  

Sam and I had to drive in tandem home after the wedding was over since he had to come up after being on call.  Because it was late and  we talked on the phone the whole way back and then fell into bed and passed out!

All in all, this was a WONDERFUL wedding weekend and I am so happy for Dr. and Mrs. Wolson!

A Second Full-Time Job

Woah, wedding planning is slowly taking over my life.  Not that I'm complaining, and I'm not overwhelmed (yet), but it's definitely taking up the majority of my free-time.

Even little things, like getting the room block together for the resort we're getting married at, have become bigger projects than I anticipated.  Thankfully, Sam's been wonderful so far and only chimes in when I have some options for him to choose from or when he feels really strongly about something - which is rarely the case.

The one recurring point of contention is the officiant for our ceremony.  The rabbi that married Sam's parents is still alive, and Sue has been pressuring me to have him marry us for what seems like the last six years.  To my credit, I have firmly stood my ground that I feel uncomfortable having the rabbi who married her perform our ceremony because the priest who married my parents is also also still alive.  Beyond the officiant, I don't think it would be fair to either side of the family to choose to be married in a religious ceremony when there are such varying degrees of religious commitment in our families.  Sam's dad is agnostic, his mom was raised by a Jewish father and Irish Catholic mother, my father grew up Catholic, my mother converted to Catholicism to get married in the Catholic church and both my parents attended Catholic high schools and a Catholic college.  Because of this, choosing an officiant is was one of the main things I have been dreading about wedding planning since long before we were engaged.

I have done more than my part to learn and celebrate the Jewish holidays and customs, but, despite pressure from Sam's mom,  I have been adamantly opposed to converting to Judaism.  I would never dream of asking Sam to give up his family customs in favor of mine, and I think it's insensitive that I would be put in the position where I would feel pressured to do so.  

Luckily, Sam is not pressuring me about having a Jewish wedding or asking the rabbi to perform our wedding (yet).  The rabbi will be performing the ceremony at the wedding we attend on Sunday, so it will give Sam and I an opportunity to see him in action.  Sam has promised his mom that we'll meet the rabbi before we make any decisions, but he has been very careful not to commit us to anything or make any comments for or against the rabbi.

To help us make our decision, we have appointments later this month with two well respected officiants who are local to the area and very comfortable performing interfaith marriages.  It's my hope that we will click with one of them and this will save me from having to compromise on something as big as who will preside over Sam and I committing ourselves to one another for the rest of our lives.  Obviously there will be compromises I have to make over the next couple of months, but this isn't one that I'm comfortable with and I don't feel like this is something I can brush off without having serious regret later.

Celniker Family Time

Sam's family is coming into town this weekend for Pete & Margaux's wedding.  Everyone will be in LA - George from Texas, Dan from Washington DC, and the rest of the family from NorCal.  It's going to be really fun!

It's also our first time seeing the whole family since we got engaged, so that's going to be really fun too!  Actually, it's going to be the fist time I've seen Sam's parents since he proposed too.  I'm definitely excited to see everyone!

Actually, we'll get to meet the New York cousins for the first time too.  We're going to dinner at Red O with them on Saturday night while Pete has his bachelor party and Margaux relaxes with Ingrid and her girlfriends.  

I think after dinner, the plan is for the cousins to go out for a drink to celebrate Sam and my engagement.  We'll see how that goes... it will probably depend on what time we all get to leave dinner.  But regardless, it will be really good to see the cousins.  Dan is coming into town on Friday and the word on the street is that he'll be staying with us Friday night before heading up to LA to stay in the hotel with the rest of the family.

Unfortunately, Sam and I aren't staying up in LA... he is on call on Sunday so he has to be in Orange County so there's no benefit to us staying up there.  Also, we won't have to pay for Hunter to be here with our dog sitter if we're home with him.  We will still have her come and walk him about midway through the time we'll be gone on Saturday and Sunday, but that's significantly cheaper than having her stay overnight.  

Anyway, it will be really good to spend time with the whole Celniker side of the family... the Galles, Burkharts and Celnikers!

Doing the Right Thing

Today I was faced with doing the right thing and doing the easy thing a la Professor Dumbledore.  I want to believe I did the right thing, but it certainly wasn't easy.

Some people might go so far as to say that I stuck my nose in business that I had no business getting involved with.  And those people might be right about that.  I am certainly one to stick my nose where it doesn't belong for the good of a friend...  even if it isn't going to make me any friends.

The reality is I am a direct, confrontational person by nature and I am willing to make things a little awkward upfront to make sure that everything is okay later on.  My philosophy is the worst case scenario would be that I was in an uncomfortable position that could have been avoided!

And I think that we accomplished what we sent out to accomplish!