Wedding in New York

On November 15, as you all know, Marco asked me to marry him and I ecstatically said yes. Since that day, it seemed like every day we were talking about the wedding. Right from the beginning, both of us had declared that we didn't want the planning and execution to be a lot of work. We wanted to do something small and simple. After tossing around a few ideas and dates, we got to thinking about locations. I wanted to get married somewhere warm, on a beach, in flip flops. Marco agreed (what a good man). Jamaica was my choice. And after a lot of thought about the logistics, planning, and potential cost to guests we started to think more and more about having a ceremony with just the two of us. We also wanted to get married soon, excited to start our lives together. [No, not pregnant - got asked that about 100 times!] So, we spoke to our parents and got the green light to go it alone. And then we booked our trip to Jamaica - about a week before we planned on going.

We knew there were documentation requirements to get married in Jamaica, but didn't realize that we couldn't just bring the docs with us...they had to be sent to Jamaica two weeks in advance. We found this out a few days before we were scheduled to fly out. Hey, I never claimed to be a great planner!

So, we had to rush to get married legally first in NY.

Our Courthouse Wedding
First, we had to get a license. Here we are, in line at city hall for about 2hours. The couple in front of us apparently had just met. They were learning all kinds of things about each other in line. What kinds of tattoos she has, what kind of phone he has, what classes she is taking in school. It was all very surreal and interesting. We got our form and left..had to now wait 24 hours before we were allowed to marry.

On December 23, I left work at lunch to go get married. We met at the courthouse but were a little early, so we went to lunch. A pannini. The bride wore a black pant suit with brown winter boots. The groom wore a nice suit and tie. He looked nicer than I did.

We then went to get in line. We found out then that we needed a witness. Neither one of us planned for that - and the people at the courthouse didn't tell us when we got our license. So, we went on a telethon. Marco started calling his pals and I called mine. I had one friend that I knew I could count on. She's the friend who is always up to something and has the best stories. This was a job for Marsha.
True to form, Marsh grabbed a cab and rushed over to help. Voila, we had a witness. She was great ..even took photos for us during and after, much to the dismay of our matter of fact Judge. I honestly think the judge has married too many people in her life. I almost felt like she was reading us our rights or sentencing us rather than marrying us.
The ceremony was super fast .. It probably took about three minutes, and then it was done!
After the ceremony, we headed over to Wolfgang's to celebrate - not for a savory Wolfgang Puck steak, but instead for the best appetizer in the world. They have the most amazing "real" Canadian bacon strips. And a glass of wine. Strange, but oh so satisfying. Then we went home and jumped right in to married life: we did the laundry.

I know it sounds like a strange wedding day, but it was so very "Marbecca", in our own special way. And we loved it. r

Christmas 2009

This year for Christmas, I had someone to decorate and bake with ... MARCO! First, we drug home a nice tree, and then I tried to decorate it. After putting the lights and garland on, I asked Marco to help me light it. Probably should have involved him sooner. Apparently I strung up the lights in such a way that the outlet connector was in the middle of the tree. But, he is a resourceful man and fixed it up perfectly without having to undo all of my work. Genius.

Then we made sugar cookies and ginger bread men to help along the festive mood. And to what did our wondering eyes did appear? We discovered that, while we are good at cutting and baking sugar cookies - we are NOT good at decorating them. We could never own a bakery. The were VERY tasty, but very ugly cookies. The worst were the angels. I made fun of Marco when he decorated his first one and told him they looked more like halloween ghosts, but then when it was my turn I could do no better. So, instead of angels, here they are: The ghosts of christmas past, present and future.

Side note, we did NOT eat all of these cookies. Instead, I hatched an evil plan to bring a tupperware full of them every day to work until they were gone. Everyone in my department is now on a new year's diet.

Long Island Wine Tour

Our sort of semi-annual girl outing was to do a wine tour in Long Island. I say sort of semi-annual because we try to do something that often, but sometimes it gets delayed a month or two. So, after two Atlantic City tripes and one trip to Ocean City, Maryland, we decided to do something different. We rented a stretch SUV limo for the day and toured four wineries. The highlight or most funny part fo the day had to be Juan from Chile. He was the owner of one of the wineries and gave us a personal barrell tasting in the cellar. We had several girls that were just over 21, and he wanted to give us an official introduction to tasting wine. However, his dramatazation of tasting wine seemed to sound a little more like something taboo and the girls had already tasted several wines. Needless to say him telling them in his nice South American accent to put it in, swish it around, move their heads back and forth, and then swallow left them all giggling.

Black Tie Birthday

One of Marco's long time friends had an AMAZING black tie birthday party. In true class, Marbecca rolled up in our supped up black 2000 Honda Accord and tossed the keys to the valet in front of the house - exiting in our nicey nice outfits. He in his tux and me in my fancy little red dress.

So, here is the scene - we walk in and there was a mini orchestra in a cleared out room playing some very nice mingling music. There was a heated, tented dance floor set up on the back lawn, a DJ, a bar with bartenders and hors d'ourves and waitresses. And the cake... woah, it looked like a wedding cake. Three tiered and gorgeous. If you have the funds to ever throw a birthday party like this - do it. And invite me.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was spent at Marco's Mom's house (Blog Name: Bella Chemie) in Long Island. My dad flew in from Utah for the weekend and we did fun things like go to see Young Frankenstein on Broadway and also went to the Ranger's game. Marco is not a hockey fan but he endured it well, up until they started singing some special "goal" song. He sat in his seat while the rest of us stood up and sang - he looked like he wanted to be shot as evidenced by this video.

Hockey fans in New York are a special breed - very similar to Mets fans. They tend to have a seedy and crude quality. Lots of yelling and beer - more so than for other sports or teams. It was an experience - my first Ranger game. I can cross that one off my bucket list now.

The actual turkey day was nice - we stuffed ourselves as usual and Marco's mom made a fantastic dinner. I'm not just writing that because I know she is going to read this (woo hoo, brownie points baby!).

This year I have more to be thankful for: I had made it through a round of layoffs at work. As we all know how things are right now with the economic situation across the globe we share in the fear and sadness of those who were not as lucky to be able to keep working. I was also thankful for my father being able to come to Thanksgiving and meet some of my future in-laws and that both mine and Marco's families are healthy and doing well. And, lastly, still high off engagement, I am very thankful to have a great man in my life who wants to marry me. Go figure.

And, how I escaped an entire holiday with no Turkey day pictures is beyond me. So, here's to hockey pics.

The Engagement - Rebecca's Version

Setting: Richmond Virginia, Suntrust Marathon
Date: November 15, 2008

I had no idea what was going on. Here, I thought I was just running an 8k in the morning to proove I am not completely lazy and out of shape and then cheering on my man later as he ran his first marathon.

At the finish line, I was the last to reach him to congratulate him. I ran up and gave a big hug and kiss and told him how proud I was of him. He whispered some sweet nothings into my ear, then knelt down and asked me to marry him. I was shocked - completely not expecting this. I mean, I knew we would eventually get to this point, but didn't expect it until 2009 or so. I really would prefer to be engaged to him sooner rather than later! So, it was good. I bent down to kiss and hug him, knocking him over. The crowd of marathoners standing near by clapped for us. His muscles were like jello from the run and I knocked him over onto the ground, still kissing him. It was then that I realized how this must look - me, on top of him, kissing him, in front of lots of people.

We sat up and took in our congratulations. People wanted to know what he had said to me. It all went so fast and was such a blur. I know it was sweet and wonderful, but can't remember a damn word. So, I began to tell people that he said, "you had me at bacon". Mostly for the comedic quality. I know he really didn't whisper that, but I also know that I did, actually, have him at Bacon. On our first date we sat down at a table in a restaurant and I opened the menu and declared, "I Love Bacon". I was told later that when I excused myself to use the restroom he texted friends to tell them that I love bacon and he was oddly excited about it. Go figure.

And in case you haven't seen the video of the actual engagement....Click Here

Marco's Suprise 40th Birthday

I forgot to blog about this one on the "Old" blog. Marco turned 40 this year. OLD MAN! His mom and I planned a special surprise party for him at an Italian restaurant. He was surprised and many of his friends and family were able to come and celebrate. So, a big shout out to my man - Happy 40th. You look fantastic. I love you.

As a side note to this whole post (because I just can't write something simple like that normally), I have an issue with the word "Surprise". I am not sure if I am just some strange person who has a major brain block with one word - Surprise- but I CAN NEVER SPELL IT CORRECTLY! I always think I have outsmarted it and spelled it right this time, but alas, the stupid spell check just has it jump up all over the page, blinking at me in its bright red letters that might as well spell out idiot instead of surprise. Tell me this is not just me? Do other people in the world have difficulty with just one seemingly simple word that they have written out hundreds of times but can never seem to get right? If so, would love for you to leave them as a comment on my blog to make me feel less stupid and also show the rest of the world that I am not the only one. Thanks for your prompt attention to this matter.

xoxo
Rebecca