Oh, Geez

Second runner up in china--nixed. The whimsical Kate Spade pattern we liked with the honeycomb and bumblebee, while on the Macy's website two weeks ago, has been yanked, because they are not going to be carrying it any longer.

Do we dare attempt to register for a third runner up?

A Coleman Curse?

We got a call from Dillard's saying that there was a problem with the china we'd registered for; apparently, the factory that made it shut down and it wouldn't be available again until October or November...after the wedding. As I relayed this to Lynda, Troy's mom and my future mother-in-law, she revealed to me that the same thing happened to her and Don when they registered for china--and to Don's sister! I didn't realize there was a Coleman China Curse I was supposed to be aware of... ;) Just kidding.

Well, we're pulling our Dillard's registry, since aside from the china, we'd only registered for about three other items. Instead, we'll be registered at Macy's.

Cross your fingers.

Lauren by Ralph Lauren "Blue Ribbon Slate."

the unfortunate pattern.

Save the Date!

This is not the invitation

Um, we have to really get crackin' on the invites. I mean the physical making of them, since we decided to employ our creative selves and do just that. But he's all in Minneapolis, and I'm all trying to write a novel and be a single mom to the Westie, so you can see how it's really coming together quickly.

But we've nearly got the whole bridal party confirmed, which is exciting and makes me very happy!

Troy's Running Another Marathon!

This is actually a picture from another run he did, but whatever.

Troy just left for the airport to fly to Minneapolis to run the marathon on Sunday. That's 26.2 miles of running. And this is Troy's SECOND marathon!

Run like a Kenyan!

Update:

Troy finished the marathon in 4 hours and 6 minutes! That beats his time from Chicago, even though he said this marathon was harder. Thank you Nate & Karen for taking such good care of him.

What's a Kinsman & How Do I Get There?

Actual photo of actual site of impending nuptials

ABOUT

That's what someone said to me once when I told him where I was from. I usually say, "You know, like Shakespeare? 'This is my kinsman'?" My brother, my pal, my friend. That's what it means.

Having it in Kinsman does sort of make our wedding a "destination" wedding, even though you usually think "Hawaii" when you think destination, but I can promise those of you who have never been to northeastern Ohio that while we don't have white beaches and waterfalls, we do have the prettiest fall colors you've ever seen. I hope you can get some homemade apple cider and some real maple syrup while you visit us.

Kinsman is the childhood home of Clarence Darrow, has its own paranormal society, and parts of the Underground Railroad run through it. This is also Amish country, and you may see a horse & buggy on the way from the Cleveland John Hopkins Airport, especially if you take 322, or possibly even coming from Pittsburgh.

TRAVEL

We're just a scant distance from western Pennsylvania, and equidistance from 3 airports: Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Akron-Canton. I personally like Akron-Canton best because it's teeny tiny and sort of like the plane pulls right up to your car. This is a good airport if you're coming from CO.

How to get to the wedding from each airport:

Cleveland

Pittsburgh

Akron-Canton

LODGING

For out of town guests, I do not recommend getting hotels near these airports, because you'll have an hour and a half drive back from the wedding to the airport. There are two hotels only about a half hour away from the wedding here: Holiday Inn Express and Fairfeld Inn Marriott.

There will be updates to this post if we're able to secure a block of rooms for our guests. Um, we just haven't gotten that far yet...

Hiya

So most wedding websites only give you a teeny bit of room and then they charge you a monthly fee, which annoys me, because it's a wedding and you're already paying for everything from a gown to having someone unfold your folding chairs. So we decided to buck the system.

Besides, we already had one of those accounts and it took us so long to decide when and where to get married that our free time on it expired.

Hopefully, though, this will be an easy way for all of you to find everything from where we're going to register to how-the-hey to get to Kinsman, Ohio.