Play that funky music...

Have you ever been to a wedding where everyone was up and dancing until the DJ changed to a song that was rather "undance-able"? Maybe the song was unfamiliar. Maybe it was a stark contrast to the song that was just previously played. Maybe you would call the song a "dud". Or is it the DJ that's a dud?! Either way the dance floor empties and kills the mood. The mark of a good DJ is one that can get the crowd up dancing and then STAY dancing.

We decided on our DJ long before any other wedding-related plan had been made; Keith Alan of Keith Alan Productions. The decision was easy because I have seen Keith in action and he comes highly recommended. Keith has become a tradition of sorts for Jeff's (Allison's husband) family. He entertained several of the family's weddings including Allison and Jeff's. For that wedding, things were seamless. It was a perfect reception and everyone had a blast. The reception was perfectly orchestrated. Everyone danced! In fact, there wasn't a person who didn't comment about how great the entertainment was.

At another one of Jeff's relative's weddings, things didn't go quite as well- to no fault of Keith Alan's. A kitchen fire led the reception hall to be evacuated and the party was stalled. Without adding any more stress on the bride and groom, Keith enlisted one of the young cousins to help him pack up direct him to an impromptu backyard reception. Once he arrived, he set up on a pile of wood/woodchips and the party went on. He also negotiated with the local police who were ready to pull the plug on the party. Keith Alan went above and beyond what was expected of him and made a potential disaster a reception everyone has remembered.

Not all of our songs have been selected, yet. We do have a plan for our first dance. We will be dancing to our song, "Cupid" by Jack Johnson.

Our song will melt into Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo`ole's "Wonderful World" for our wedding party to dance to. Yes, there will be the traditional wedding party dance.

We have a few other lovey songs picked like... Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait's "Lucky",

Ben Fold's "The Luckiest",


and Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am".

We also chose some favorite songs like John Denver's "Country Roads", The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)", Devo's "Whip It", and of course Rick James's "Super Freak". :-)

I will leave you with Chris's Weird Al song of choice, "White and Nerdy".

Kimmy is Crazy...

Kimberly is usually very shy and quiet. On Sunday, January 25th, she really stepped out of her comfort zone on. Literally! Kim raised money and participated in the Penguin Plunge for Special Olympics. In order to be on her team, she was only required to raise $50 . She raised $185! On top of her shyness, she only had a week to raise the money!





And was so cold... 16 degrees to be exact. Even the dogs were really cold! Who in their right mind would take their dog to the Penguin Plunge. No, this isn't Heidi... this is just a much thinner cousin. Chris was not loving the temperature, either.









Kim's teammates decided that the less clothing they wore the better off they would be. She sported her little bikini and a pair of gym shorts.



Yes, she is crazy. We are very proud.

Honorary Second Flower Girl: Kaitlyn

December 30, 2008

6:05 PM

Allison and Jeff have welcomed Kaitlyn Jeanne into the world! Kaitlyn was 19.5 inches long and 7 pounds 1 ounce. Allison was a rockstar! She had a very short labor and only pushed for an hour. (The evidence of this is Kaitlyn's perfectly round head! No cone-head for this little one!!) Maybe this is her payback for all of the morning sickness!! Both are doing very well... despite the lack of sleep! I think having this perfect little girl helped soften the blow of Allison's 30th birthday. Congratulations to both Allison and Jeff!

The very tired family... only Kaitlyn gets to sleep.

Kaitlyn with her honorary Auntie Rachel

Kaitlyn loves snuggling with Uncle Brian

Jeff's gorgeous women

Pretty little things

I am currently in the process of getting a custom-made comb for my hair on our wedding day. I have been a big fan of Etsy for a while now. If you are unfamiliar with the website, it is a site where artist of all sorts sell their wares. There a lot of really talented jewelry artists.  I stumbled upon Lulu Splendor and loved her designs. Her work is mostly in metal. To me her pieces have a 1940's flair. I started looking at her hair pieces and realized that they had a natural theme. JUST LIKE OUR WEDDING! 

There was one problem. The majority of her hair pieces are set on a clip or barrette. I also wanted the vine to be slightly different. I saw it climbing up my head instead of out.  I spoke with Carla, the designer and she was eager to adjust her design for a pittance ($3?!). She has kept me in the loop about the whole process and I have really enjoyed seeing how the piece has evolved. I would highly recommend her shop to anyone!! 

Check out Lulu Splendor's excellent work:

Before Plating

(shown with another design that I liked)

After Plating

So, after all that, I am sure you would assume that I spent upwards to $100-$150. For the amount of time put into a piece like this, it would be a justified expense. Instead, I spent less than $25. Seriously, you need to check out this shop!!

The Apparent Many Faces of Dear Little Darcy

As you may remember Rachel had set her heart on Darcy being a small little Yorkie. But yesterday on our way by the Puppy Center, we stopped in for a look and what to our amazing eyes should appear, a whole bunch of Miniature Aussies(Australian Shepherds). We had Rachel's sister with us and she wanted to look at one of them.

So we asked the owner to take one out, here are some pictures and a video of the cute little dog:







This little thing was cute. It was cuddly and had no intention of getting off of Rachel or Kim's lap. It had the prettiest blue eyes. It didn't make a peep at all, not a whimper, whine or bark, it just wanted to cuddle on a lap.

This little girl is on the small end, and the owner of the shop said that she would not get much over 17 pounds or so. So, Rachel is back to dog research mode. From the sounds of it one of these guys would definitely be a nice little pup.

What does this mean? The fate of Darcy is in limbo, a Yorkie, a Mini Aussie? Or perhaps the next cute little dog that just wants to be in Rachel's lap.

Stay tuned to find out!