Thursday, July 22, 2010
More evening amusement...
So Eric and I are on a quest for a first dance this evening. Unfortunately (or perhaps not?) the most amusing thing we've found so far has been this link. I cannot believe I haven't seen this before! It's awesome!
Clean Sweep
Tonight Eric and I both took the Clean Sweep Test, which I needed to take for my life coaching course. It's a 100 question examination for four aspects of your life: physical environment, well-being, money, and relationships. Each section is worth 25 points and at the end, you add up your points and stack them beside one another to see which areas of your life you need to improve.
As you can imagine, as a student my money situation was pretty dismal. In fact, the only thing Eric and I shared in common were the following:
1. I have excellent medical insurance which covers prevention and emergency;
2. I have no current or impending legal/tax infringements.
Sigh. Smile. Sigh again.
As you can imagine, as a student my money situation was pretty dismal. In fact, the only thing Eric and I shared in common were the following:
1. I have excellent medical insurance which covers prevention and emergency;
2. I have no current or impending legal/tax infringements.
Sigh. Smile. Sigh again.
Harry Potter Day 1
The long-awaited blog post! Even we're super excited about it! :)
So. We leave the super awesome, amazing, and basically free Hampton Inn and armed with Paris Hilton sunglasses, Clif bars, and SPF 85 sunblock to prevent tan lines on the wedding day, we depart. We program the GPS to take only the streets. No more tolls for us! 20 minutes later, we arrive glitch free--the magic has begun!
Our hotel was AMAZING! So beautiful! It was Italian-themed and modeled after a little village, with winding streets and courtyards and everything--even really good cannoli cream! But we'll come to that. For now, I'll just say that they upgraded us to a junior suite with a view of the reconstructed Portofino Bay! Here's the view from our room!
As soon as we were done checking in, we wanted to zoom over to the park, but since there were only about 3 hours until my talk and the talk was supposedly an hour away (at the other end of the park from the one we were staying in), I figured it would be best if we didn't go back to the room for me to change from theme park casual to clergy professional. Hence, the following:
Who ever would have thought--a clergy person at Universal Studios? Ha ha ha!
Luckily, I didn't get much attention because folks were zooming around dressed as Rita Skeeter and Delores Umbridge, and I didn't stand a chance against their elaborate garb!
We lunched at Mythos, reputed to be the best theme park restaurant in the country, and it certainly was! The meals were really reasonably priced for a theme park (around 9 dollars--which is great, considering it was sit down), and it was a bargain compared to Disney World, where a lunch like this would have been 15 dollars at least! We ordered tempura shrimp sushi as an appetizer and then for a main meal, we split pad thai and a chicken wrap that was amazing! It was like one of those Vietnamese summer rolls but with chicken in it. The best part: three dollar dessert sushi with fruit rollup and sushi rice made of...you guessed it....rice krispie treats! I loved it. Eric described it as, "Sugar embedded in sugar, wrapped in sugar, sprinkled with sugar and covered with....powdered sugar."
Did I mention the dentist told me I had my first cavity two days ago?
Following lunch (which took a little longer than expected because we had three yummy courses instead of one), we headed to the talk. Eric loved the convention--he got such a kick out of seeing everyone all dressed up! His excitement was probably the best part, as the talk was pretty uneventful and then we headed back to the park! We decided to circle around the different Islands of Adventure leaving the Harry Potter area for last, as a kind of reward. Our first stop: the comic-themed Island.
Now, for those of you who don't know, Eric loves comics! He knows the location of just about every comic shop in Boston (even though he's only lived here four months) and can give you an evaluation of each. He reads at least three comics a week and participates in a comic book podcast with his fellow Iowan enthusiasts. So visiting this part of Universal made Eric like, well, a kid in a comic shop! He was talking so quickly and excited, trying to educate my ignorant mind about the difference between Batman and Spiderman and how the Fantastic Four have skills that are supposed to mirror the four elements. In fact, here he is in the Fantastic 4 car!
This was another point at which our amazing hotel became even more amazing! Our hotel room keys doubled as a kind of fastpass for every ride, so that we covered virtually everything in the park in about two hours, which meant....we had time for Harry Potter before dinner! The lines for rides were too long, so we decided to come back another day, but we did manage to make it into Hogsmeade, and it was amazing!
The whole area is very small, packed with people in gear from the conference, and since it only opened a month ago, the lines were insane. Here we are snagging a pumpkin juice and butterbeer (I preferred the former, Eric the latter) before we stood on line to get into Zonkos and Honeydukes, which was all we could manage before dinner.
The line for Honeydukes was well worth the wait! We bought candied pineapple and cauldron cakes and all sorts of other delicacies, like blood lollipops! Zonkos was a little less exciting but still atmospheric to walk around.
Chocolate covered frog at Honeydukes!
Oh, and the taste of the pumpkin juice and butterbeer! I really loved the pumpkin juice--it almost tasted like liquid pumpkin pie. Yum! The butterbeer, sadly, was not what I thought it should taste like (like those buttery coverings on pretzels). Eric surmised it was cream soda topped with a butterscotch cream foam, which was the highlight of the drink!
The best part about the world for us that night was how immersive it was. Our friend Monica, who went a few weeks prior, told us to go in the evening because it was more believably England than at 2pm on a hot Florida afternoon. This was definitely true. There was something wonderfully magical about sipping our drinks and watching Draco Malfoy slither into the Hog's Head while the sun set over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
From Hogsmeade, we walked to Louisiana for dinner! Okay, that was me totally channeling my inner Samantha Brown Travel Channel cheesiness--basically, we walked out of the Islands of Adventure to Emeril's, where our friend Monica had given us a giftcard for our shower, complete with reservation! The dinner was amazing, so elegant and chic! We ordered this andouille sausage with carmelized onions as an appetizer that left us dipping bread into whatever remaining sauce was on our empty plates! For dinner, Eric had a ribeye with lobster mashed potatoes and I had duck that came with this soy butter sauce which tasted like caramel (I asked for extra it was so good).
We walked back to our room that night (or, if I'm honest, we took a rickshaw because Eric had gotten some bad blisters) feeling so blessed for all the people who'd made our trip possible--for Air Tran for botching up Eric's flight 6 months ago and giving him two free round trip vouchers, for the support I got from BU to give the talk, and for Monica's amazing dinner arrangements!
Stay tuned for another day of adventures! Up next: a visit to Hogwarts Castle and a roller coaster where you could choose your own background music!
So. We leave the super awesome, amazing, and basically free Hampton Inn and armed with Paris Hilton sunglasses, Clif bars, and SPF 85 sunblock to prevent tan lines on the wedding day, we depart. We program the GPS to take only the streets. No more tolls for us! 20 minutes later, we arrive glitch free--the magic has begun!
Our hotel was AMAZING! So beautiful! It was Italian-themed and modeled after a little village, with winding streets and courtyards and everything--even really good cannoli cream! But we'll come to that. For now, I'll just say that they upgraded us to a junior suite with a view of the reconstructed Portofino Bay! Here's the view from our room!
As soon as we were done checking in, we wanted to zoom over to the park, but since there were only about 3 hours until my talk and the talk was supposedly an hour away (at the other end of the park from the one we were staying in), I figured it would be best if we didn't go back to the room for me to change from theme park casual to clergy professional. Hence, the following:
Who ever would have thought--a clergy person at Universal Studios? Ha ha ha!
Luckily, I didn't get much attention because folks were zooming around dressed as Rita Skeeter and Delores Umbridge, and I didn't stand a chance against their elaborate garb!
We lunched at Mythos, reputed to be the best theme park restaurant in the country, and it certainly was! The meals were really reasonably priced for a theme park (around 9 dollars--which is great, considering it was sit down), and it was a bargain compared to Disney World, where a lunch like this would have been 15 dollars at least! We ordered tempura shrimp sushi as an appetizer and then for a main meal, we split pad thai and a chicken wrap that was amazing! It was like one of those Vietnamese summer rolls but with chicken in it. The best part: three dollar dessert sushi with fruit rollup and sushi rice made of...you guessed it....rice krispie treats! I loved it. Eric described it as, "Sugar embedded in sugar, wrapped in sugar, sprinkled with sugar and covered with....powdered sugar."
Did I mention the dentist told me I had my first cavity two days ago?
Following lunch (which took a little longer than expected because we had three yummy courses instead of one), we headed to the talk. Eric loved the convention--he got such a kick out of seeing everyone all dressed up! His excitement was probably the best part, as the talk was pretty uneventful and then we headed back to the park! We decided to circle around the different Islands of Adventure leaving the Harry Potter area for last, as a kind of reward. Our first stop: the comic-themed Island.
Now, for those of you who don't know, Eric loves comics! He knows the location of just about every comic shop in Boston (even though he's only lived here four months) and can give you an evaluation of each. He reads at least three comics a week and participates in a comic book podcast with his fellow Iowan enthusiasts. So visiting this part of Universal made Eric like, well, a kid in a comic shop! He was talking so quickly and excited, trying to educate my ignorant mind about the difference between Batman and Spiderman and how the Fantastic Four have skills that are supposed to mirror the four elements. In fact, here he is in the Fantastic 4 car!
This was another point at which our amazing hotel became even more amazing! Our hotel room keys doubled as a kind of fastpass for every ride, so that we covered virtually everything in the park in about two hours, which meant....we had time for Harry Potter before dinner! The lines for rides were too long, so we decided to come back another day, but we did manage to make it into Hogsmeade, and it was amazing!
The whole area is very small, packed with people in gear from the conference, and since it only opened a month ago, the lines were insane. Here we are snagging a pumpkin juice and butterbeer (I preferred the former, Eric the latter) before we stood on line to get into Zonkos and Honeydukes, which was all we could manage before dinner.
The line for Honeydukes was well worth the wait! We bought candied pineapple and cauldron cakes and all sorts of other delicacies, like blood lollipops! Zonkos was a little less exciting but still atmospheric to walk around.
Chocolate covered frog at Honeydukes!
Oh, and the taste of the pumpkin juice and butterbeer! I really loved the pumpkin juice--it almost tasted like liquid pumpkin pie. Yum! The butterbeer, sadly, was not what I thought it should taste like (like those buttery coverings on pretzels). Eric surmised it was cream soda topped with a butterscotch cream foam, which was the highlight of the drink!
The best part about the world for us that night was how immersive it was. Our friend Monica, who went a few weeks prior, told us to go in the evening because it was more believably England than at 2pm on a hot Florida afternoon. This was definitely true. There was something wonderfully magical about sipping our drinks and watching Draco Malfoy slither into the Hog's Head while the sun set over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
From Hogsmeade, we walked to Louisiana for dinner! Okay, that was me totally channeling my inner Samantha Brown Travel Channel cheesiness--basically, we walked out of the Islands of Adventure to Emeril's, where our friend Monica had given us a giftcard for our shower, complete with reservation! The dinner was amazing, so elegant and chic! We ordered this andouille sausage with carmelized onions as an appetizer that left us dipping bread into whatever remaining sauce was on our empty plates! For dinner, Eric had a ribeye with lobster mashed potatoes and I had duck that came with this soy butter sauce which tasted like caramel (I asked for extra it was so good).
We walked back to our room that night (or, if I'm honest, we took a rickshaw because Eric had gotten some bad blisters) feeling so blessed for all the people who'd made our trip possible--for Air Tran for botching up Eric's flight 6 months ago and giving him two free round trip vouchers, for the support I got from BU to give the talk, and for Monica's amazing dinner arrangements!
Stay tuned for another day of adventures! Up next: a visit to Hogwarts Castle and a roller coaster where you could choose your own background music!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Yale Club Dress Code
Not the most exciting post in the world (we'll go back to Harry Potter soon, I promise!), but I thought it would be useful to post the Yale Club Dress Code here. Please bear in mind that this code does NOT apply when walking in and out of the club (i.e. to go sightseeing from your room) but it does apply if you want to go into a lounge or restaurant at the club. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them (I didn't know about the dress code until recently, so I'm learning along with you)!
Yale Club Dress Code
Traditional business attire (jackets and neckties for men, equally appropriate attire for women) is always welcome in all public rooms.
Business casual dress is required in all public rooms at all times except the athletic facilities.
Business casual dress for men includes: collared shirts or sweaters, turtlenecks, dress slacks, khakis or corduroy trousers and socks.
Business casual dress for women includes: collared shirts, blouses, turtlenecks or sweaters and skirts or tailored pants. (I assume khakis are fine for women as well).
Not permitted are: denim, tee shirts, casual sandals, athletic wear of any kind (including footwear and caps) and torn, provocative or revealing clothing.
At all times, a reasonable standard of neatness should be observed.
If you google the Yale Club in New York and look for reviews, it's pretty interesting what people say about the dress code. Some folks find it annoying and others see it as a slice of propriety in an otherwise unproprietous world! I'll be curious to hear what you think too!
Yale Club Dress Code
Traditional business attire (jackets and neckties for men, equally appropriate attire for women) is always welcome in all public rooms.
Business casual dress is required in all public rooms at all times except the athletic facilities.
Business casual dress for men includes: collared shirts or sweaters, turtlenecks, dress slacks, khakis or corduroy trousers and socks.
Business casual dress for women includes: collared shirts, blouses, turtlenecks or sweaters and skirts or tailored pants. (I assume khakis are fine for women as well).
Not permitted are: denim, tee shirts, casual sandals, athletic wear of any kind (including footwear and caps) and torn, provocative or revealing clothing.
At all times, a reasonable standard of neatness should be observed.
If you google the Yale Club in New York and look for reviews, it's pretty interesting what people say about the dress code. Some folks find it annoying and others see it as a slice of propriety in an otherwise unproprietous world! I'll be curious to hear what you think too!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Bleach and Peach
Some snapshots of our lives from today:
1. Today I planned on folding laundry that had been in the dryer over a day and to prevent wrinkles, I ran it again for about twenty minutes, only to later discover I washed, dried and redried one of my favorite black dresses (albeit a seven year old one—see the Iowa wedding blog post for a representation) which needed to go to the dry cleaners. The result: the unshrinkable lining was about 4 inches longer than the outer layer of the dress, which had lost its gauziness and felt vaguely like a rubber band. It went in the trash.
2. The white pants that I was going to take to Florida also wound up in the wash, in the dryer that dried twice. I discovered a yellow curry stain on the upper right thigh. Determined not to be defeated by heat’s effects on stains, I turned to bleach, reaching it on the top of my stackable washer/dryer with the help of my desk chair. I opened the top, had a vague memory of using a Q-Tip to apply bleach to whatever the last stain was that crossed my white clothing’s path, but I bypassed that brief flash and gently poured the bleach onto the stain. And the dress I was currently wearing. Oops.
3. At the airport in Baltimore, I pulled out peaches I’d wrapped in a plastic bag for our breakfast only to find that they were smushed. The following conversation took place:
D: Oh no, I smushed our breakfast!
E: Don’t worry about it. It’s just our peaches, and we have protein bars, so we’re fine.
D: I know, but I feel like the peaches didn’t fulfill their purpose in life because they weren’t eaten, and we’re not getting nutrition from the peaches, so we’re going to wind up being really unhealthy and then we’re going to die.
E: Oh dear! That’s a lot of stress to carry all about six peaches (hug). But look, it’s not you’re fault.
D: Yes it is.
E: No it’s not. There was nothing on top of the peaches in your bookbag except the box of Annie’s white cheddar bunnies [picture Goldfish gone organic].
D: Yes there was. There were two books, and then I turned my book bag over on the floor on the plane and was using it for a footrest on the first flight.
E: Okay, well, you murdered the peaches.
4. We arrive in Orlando and need to rent a car. (Why is it that the actual price of a renting a car for the day is always three times less than what you wind up paying?) So we approach the Thrifty desk and the rate was 60 dollars a day. Too high. We go to Alamo. Same thing. We know it was only 45 online, so we go on the free internet (which we were familiar with from the last time we were stuck in the Orlando airport—must blog on that) and try to get the better rate. But the internet decided to be slow. Very slow. Called Matt, who we knew would be up at 11 o’clock. He wasn’t near his computer. Called Erica who lives in Seattle; she didn’t pick up. 45 minutes later, we gave up on Priceline and tried Expedia which loaded in about two seconds and we booked the car. I ate a lot of fair trade chocolate in the interim.
5. Do not drive in Florida. All roads lead to a toll and all tolls lead to another toll, and eventually you find yourself back at the very first toll with the nice Arab guy who sings to himself while calculating your change. Then the exit you need is closed down. Result: 20 minute drive takes an hour.
6. My GPS, Samantha, tells us to turn around at the Holy Land Theme Park. Eric announces that she brought us this way to receive much needed divine intervention.
7. I start to wonder whether it was a good idea to stay in this particularly hotel. Because our flight was coming in so late, we didn’t want to pay for the room at the Universal Hotel and got a 40 dollar room at a Hampton Inn about half an hour from the conference site. The next day, we were going to switch to the nicer hotel. Penny wise and pound foolish perhaps?
8. It’s nearly 1am. We try the self-toll booth. We found the country music station on Sirius. There seems to be no civilization in sight. The self-toll takes a credit card, but it doesn’t like any of ours. The car behind us honks and we look through our wallets for change:
E: I have 75 cents and a penny.
D: I have 25 cents.
E: Great!
[beep]
D: Oh no! Actually, I have 24 cents! I need your penny!
[beep]
9. We drive past a Chick-Fil-A. The last time we encountered a Chick-Fil-A was when we searched for one during the move from Wisconsin to Boston and our GPS took us off the parkway and onto a long and scenic tour of Indiana that ended with Karen (E’s Australian GPS personality) announcing to us, “You have reached your destination” in front of a cornfield. We decide to blame the Chick-Fil-A for our travel woes.
9. We arrive at our hotel and calculate it will be approximately $2.50 per person per hour for us to stay here. Practically free. We decide this is the best buy we’ve had yet in Florida, although we did drive around in circles on the tollways so much that we did get more miles per dollar than most folks do! And then it turns out: this is the best hotel EVER! It’s super quiet, has a mini-fridge, microwave, leather laptop desk, flat-screen television, chair with moveable footstool, super comfy bed, soft sheets and duvet cover, clean bathroom, free internet, free parking, free breakfast, pool, fitness area….all for 40 dollars a night! Oh, and best part: it doesn’t smell like Florida! Totally worth it! Now we’re wondering whether the Universal Hotel will be worth the splurge!
I’ll let you know. If Florida’s tolls and Samantha ever let us ever arrive, that is.
1. Today I planned on folding laundry that had been in the dryer over a day and to prevent wrinkles, I ran it again for about twenty minutes, only to later discover I washed, dried and redried one of my favorite black dresses (albeit a seven year old one—see the Iowa wedding blog post for a representation) which needed to go to the dry cleaners. The result: the unshrinkable lining was about 4 inches longer than the outer layer of the dress, which had lost its gauziness and felt vaguely like a rubber band. It went in the trash.
2. The white pants that I was going to take to Florida also wound up in the wash, in the dryer that dried twice. I discovered a yellow curry stain on the upper right thigh. Determined not to be defeated by heat’s effects on stains, I turned to bleach, reaching it on the top of my stackable washer/dryer with the help of my desk chair. I opened the top, had a vague memory of using a Q-Tip to apply bleach to whatever the last stain was that crossed my white clothing’s path, but I bypassed that brief flash and gently poured the bleach onto the stain. And the dress I was currently wearing. Oops.
3. At the airport in Baltimore, I pulled out peaches I’d wrapped in a plastic bag for our breakfast only to find that they were smushed. The following conversation took place:
D: Oh no, I smushed our breakfast!
E: Don’t worry about it. It’s just our peaches, and we have protein bars, so we’re fine.
D: I know, but I feel like the peaches didn’t fulfill their purpose in life because they weren’t eaten, and we’re not getting nutrition from the peaches, so we’re going to wind up being really unhealthy and then we’re going to die.
E: Oh dear! That’s a lot of stress to carry all about six peaches (hug). But look, it’s not you’re fault.
D: Yes it is.
E: No it’s not. There was nothing on top of the peaches in your bookbag except the box of Annie’s white cheddar bunnies [picture Goldfish gone organic].
D: Yes there was. There were two books, and then I turned my book bag over on the floor on the plane and was using it for a footrest on the first flight.
E: Okay, well, you murdered the peaches.
4. We arrive in Orlando and need to rent a car. (Why is it that the actual price of a renting a car for the day is always three times less than what you wind up paying?) So we approach the Thrifty desk and the rate was 60 dollars a day. Too high. We go to Alamo. Same thing. We know it was only 45 online, so we go on the free internet (which we were familiar with from the last time we were stuck in the Orlando airport—must blog on that) and try to get the better rate. But the internet decided to be slow. Very slow. Called Matt, who we knew would be up at 11 o’clock. He wasn’t near his computer. Called Erica who lives in Seattle; she didn’t pick up. 45 minutes later, we gave up on Priceline and tried Expedia which loaded in about two seconds and we booked the car. I ate a lot of fair trade chocolate in the interim.
5. Do not drive in Florida. All roads lead to a toll and all tolls lead to another toll, and eventually you find yourself back at the very first toll with the nice Arab guy who sings to himself while calculating your change. Then the exit you need is closed down. Result: 20 minute drive takes an hour.
6. My GPS, Samantha, tells us to turn around at the Holy Land Theme Park. Eric announces that she brought us this way to receive much needed divine intervention.
7. I start to wonder whether it was a good idea to stay in this particularly hotel. Because our flight was coming in so late, we didn’t want to pay for the room at the Universal Hotel and got a 40 dollar room at a Hampton Inn about half an hour from the conference site. The next day, we were going to switch to the nicer hotel. Penny wise and pound foolish perhaps?
8. It’s nearly 1am. We try the self-toll booth. We found the country music station on Sirius. There seems to be no civilization in sight. The self-toll takes a credit card, but it doesn’t like any of ours. The car behind us honks and we look through our wallets for change:
E: I have 75 cents and a penny.
D: I have 25 cents.
E: Great!
[beep]
D: Oh no! Actually, I have 24 cents! I need your penny!
[beep]
9. We drive past a Chick-Fil-A. The last time we encountered a Chick-Fil-A was when we searched for one during the move from Wisconsin to Boston and our GPS took us off the parkway and onto a long and scenic tour of Indiana that ended with Karen (E’s Australian GPS personality) announcing to us, “You have reached your destination” in front of a cornfield. We decide to blame the Chick-Fil-A for our travel woes.
9. We arrive at our hotel and calculate it will be approximately $2.50 per person per hour for us to stay here. Practically free. We decide this is the best buy we’ve had yet in Florida, although we did drive around in circles on the tollways so much that we did get more miles per dollar than most folks do! And then it turns out: this is the best hotel EVER! It’s super quiet, has a mini-fridge, microwave, leather laptop desk, flat-screen television, chair with moveable footstool, super comfy bed, soft sheets and duvet cover, clean bathroom, free internet, free parking, free breakfast, pool, fitness area….all for 40 dollars a night! Oh, and best part: it doesn’t smell like Florida! Totally worth it! Now we’re wondering whether the Universal Hotel will be worth the splurge!
I’ll let you know. If Florida’s tolls and Samantha ever let us ever arrive, that is.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Dance Lessons!
No pics of this one, but last night, E and I went for a ballroom dance lesson at Arthur Murray. Before the lesson, we went to Finale--my new favorite place to eat in Boston--where we shared a Caesar salad and white pizza with rustic chicken. Finale is known for its desserts, so we got creme brulee, which was topped with lots of yummy fruit, and a fair trade chocolate/whipped cream parfait that came with raspberries and cookies! Mmmm..... It was a really fun, reasonably priced romantic and classy way to start our evening.
The first thing we did at Arthur Murray was a private lesson with our teacher Lauren, who looks like an adult Peppermint Patty. She worked on the foxtrot (we learned how to walk around a corner--a useful skill so as to avoid walls) and the swing (she taught us how to do a simple turn both for me and Eric). At one point, I was supposed to reach my hand over Eric's head, and he would walk under it....that didn't work so well because my arm didn't make it that high! Ha ha ha!
After our lesson, we went to the group class with the other beginners; the leaders got in one line and the followers in the other, and then we rotated every minute or so for the hour. I found it was a really illuminating way to get 30 second soundbites of someone's life: when I was partnered with the balding older gentleman, we talked about how he planned on coming for one lesson and now has been at Arthur Murray five years; when with the man in the striped shirt, we talked about his upcoming wedding and how he feels like he's not getting any better at dancing; when accompanied by the fella in the wine-colored shirt, we discussed his engineering internship.
In the last hour, we went to the center's dance party, where we got to try out our moves. We switched partners here too, and they taught us how to correctly approach and leave a dance. So here are some tips for our wedding:
1. The leader (usually a guy) approaches the follower (usually a girl) and asks him/her to dance. They go onto the dance floor and foxtrot, cha-cha, or bolero it up!
2. At the end of the dance, the leader raises his left hand and the follower twirls under it, releasing herself from dance hold. Then they clap, each saluting the other, and the leader escorts the follower back to where he left her, thereby not leaving her stranded on the dance floor!
Can't wait for you all to practice your moves on the big day!
P.S. Did I mention that we went to our dance lesson 12 hours after the early morning bootcamp at our gym?
The first thing we did at Arthur Murray was a private lesson with our teacher Lauren, who looks like an adult Peppermint Patty. She worked on the foxtrot (we learned how to walk around a corner--a useful skill so as to avoid walls) and the swing (she taught us how to do a simple turn both for me and Eric). At one point, I was supposed to reach my hand over Eric's head, and he would walk under it....that didn't work so well because my arm didn't make it that high! Ha ha ha!
After our lesson, we went to the group class with the other beginners; the leaders got in one line and the followers in the other, and then we rotated every minute or so for the hour. I found it was a really illuminating way to get 30 second soundbites of someone's life: when I was partnered with the balding older gentleman, we talked about how he planned on coming for one lesson and now has been at Arthur Murray five years; when with the man in the striped shirt, we talked about his upcoming wedding and how he feels like he's not getting any better at dancing; when accompanied by the fella in the wine-colored shirt, we discussed his engineering internship.
In the last hour, we went to the center's dance party, where we got to try out our moves. We switched partners here too, and they taught us how to correctly approach and leave a dance. So here are some tips for our wedding:
1. The leader (usually a guy) approaches the follower (usually a girl) and asks him/her to dance. They go onto the dance floor and foxtrot, cha-cha, or bolero it up!
2. At the end of the dance, the leader raises his left hand and the follower twirls under it, releasing herself from dance hold. Then they clap, each saluting the other, and the leader escorts the follower back to where he left her, thereby not leaving her stranded on the dance floor!
Can't wait for you all to practice your moves on the big day!
P.S. Did I mention that we went to our dance lesson 12 hours after the early morning bootcamp at our gym?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Iowa Wedding Festivities
The same weekend that we were in Iowa checking out tuxedos for our wedding, we also got to see tuxedos at another wedding, this one for Eric's friends Eric and Michelle. Aside from being in the unique position of having our names differ by only four letters, we share another bond: The two Erics are united by their ushing duties! Eric (not mine, Michelle's) will be one of the ushers at our wedding, so you will all be able to congratulate him on his recent nuptials. Eric (not Michelle's, mine) was an usher at Eric and Michelle's wedding, where he very responsibly seated everyone according to the etiquette book we read on the plane (hold the eldest woman's arm; turn around to face the back while people file into the pews; let women sit nearest the aisle, etc.). I was really proud of him!
Michelle looked beautiful in her lacy dress and her bridesmaids looked terrific in red; the groom and his groomsmen also looked really suave! After the ceremony, we feasted on delicious Iowa pork and homemade cake (there was a layer of pink lemonade cake that was really yummy) and tested out our dancing skills from our recent Arthur Murray lessons!
Michelle and her Eric at the altar.
Danielle and her Eric at the reception
The next day, Eric's parents threw us a beautiful shower. His parents, family, and friends had been preparing non-stop to make sure we had a wonderful time, and the day felt abundantly filled with their love and care. They decorated the party space, displayed pictures of us as children, and invited all the people who are close to Eric in Iowa. I got to meet many of Eric's friends and relatives who I've heard him talk about in the past, and I was particularly excited to meet Corey, Gina, and their triplets--three darling girls who were almost intimidating in their beautiful tripletness!
Although people are always the most important gift at any party, one of the best gifts we received was our cake, which was the cake from Eric's sister's wedding. We had all fallen in love with the raspberry swirl and the yummy white frosting last summer, and I ate more than I should have on both occasions!
Us with the coveted cake in our Bride and Groom caps that Eric's mom gave us!
Michelle looked beautiful in her lacy dress and her bridesmaids looked terrific in red; the groom and his groomsmen also looked really suave! After the ceremony, we feasted on delicious Iowa pork and homemade cake (there was a layer of pink lemonade cake that was really yummy) and tested out our dancing skills from our recent Arthur Murray lessons!
Michelle and her Eric at the altar.
Danielle and her Eric at the reception
The next day, Eric's parents threw us a beautiful shower. His parents, family, and friends had been preparing non-stop to make sure we had a wonderful time, and the day felt abundantly filled with their love and care. They decorated the party space, displayed pictures of us as children, and invited all the people who are close to Eric in Iowa. I got to meet many of Eric's friends and relatives who I've heard him talk about in the past, and I was particularly excited to meet Corey, Gina, and their triplets--three darling girls who were almost intimidating in their beautiful tripletness!
Although people are always the most important gift at any party, one of the best gifts we received was our cake, which was the cake from Eric's sister's wedding. We had all fallen in love with the raspberry swirl and the yummy white frosting last summer, and I ate more than I should have on both occasions!
Us with the coveted cake in our Bride and Groom caps that Eric's mom gave us!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)