A Whole Lotta Stuff

Hey Y'all, it's been ages since I posted all over you (icky visual inserted here), and tonight I am shirking work, exercise, and the chance at an early night's sleep to blog about what has been happening. I am going to go in reverse order, telling you what happened today and going backwards from there. This is going to be so exciting! Oh, and I'm going to try to type it up in as short of a description as possible.

Today- Okay day, lots of talking and listening, late night at work.

Yesterday- The cats contemplated trying to get through the foot-wide opening left uncovered of our doorway at around seven feet off of the ground, at 10:30 at night. These cats are insane.

This past weekend- Andrew Bird, awesome, yet unfortunately sleepy (for me) show at The Pabst, professional massage, going to the gym and errands galore, including covering the windows with plastic, while the weather is still tolerable.

Last week- Still exhausted from the trip home, just tried to catch up at work, but was not as productive as I would have liked. Nothing really notable about the week, other than Arlo and I watched a buttload of tv because we had so much DVRed. Oh, and the battle between the cats and the humans in our house continued with the cats knocking over a pot of chili onto the kitchen floor. The next day, the humans responded by getting plywood and hardware. Ideally, I wouldn't have gone with three separate pieces, but with the wood coming only in __ x 2 dimensions, I did what I had to do.

Visit to Maryland- Prior to last week, Arlo and I visiting Maryland. After a harrowing flight... no really, it wasn't bad, we got right to sleep, b/c we got in so late. The next morning we were up with my mom to take her to work and do our first meeting with a caterer. That day we did three meetings, the next day one (should have been two, but we were all tasted out), and a visit to Fiore. We pretty much decided unanimously to go with Dean and Brown Catering, but have not signed a contract, why, because we haven't had time. The Baptism of Eleanor Blackford was lovely, and I got to stand up there with Bill and Amanda as they welcomed her into the Catholic church. All joking aside, it was very cool to be standing with them for such an important event, and to be in the same church as their wedding six years ago was pretty awesome. Other highlights of the trip included seeing my cousins, grandparents, brother and his family, sister-in-law, and the Holler family. I am bummed that I did not get to see friends and family that I missed, and, at present, I am not sure when I am going to be heading home for the next visit.

Visit with Wendy- The weekend before the Maryland visit was Wendy's visit to Milwaukee! She arrived on Friday (after I gave my notice of resignation at work, thank you very much!) and we headed up to Madison, where we stayed in a beautiful hotel overlooking Lake Monona. After a yummy Mexican meal, we went to a German bar, where we had drinks and danced the polka. The next day, the best thrifting ever, along with shopping on State St. and going to the farmer's market. We drove back to Milwaukee and crashed for the night. The next day, Wendy was off. It was a whirlwind trip, but definitely awesome and just what I needed after a stressful couple of weeks. It was quality lady-time, with lots of talking and bonding.

Gays Mills Apple Festival- The weekend before that, we headed up to Gays Mills for their annual Apple Festival. It was a fun-filled weekend with a Fun Walk, pancake breakfast, craft fair, flea market and, of course, apples! We spent the weekend with Arlo's family, and on Sunday, celebrated his niece's and Mary's birthday. It was a great time, although both of us were fighting off an icky sicknesss. After that weekend, I actually felt so bad I stayed home from work for a day.

I honestly can't remember before that, but I know we were busy then, too. The upcoming weeks are less packed with stuff. My mom is visiting in mid-November, so I am excited about that. Then, in December, we are visiting my dad in Florida. More about that later.

Alright, y'alls, I'm off to bed. New dad or Japan resident, or sneak-attack Mom of a toddler, who will it be?!?!?

I Have Been Cheating...

I am so sorry, dear blogger readers, for my lack of postings. I have to admit that I have been cheating on this blog with another one...The Knot. I have become somewhat obsessed with wedding planning of late, and a side effect of that is way too much time spent on sites like The Knot. Seeing as how I was spending a lot of time there, I decided to start a blog. Check it out if you have time, though it doesn't have too much information yet, and there's no opportunity for snarky or silly comments or beating people to the comment section, which is a drawback. Anyway, here's the address:

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/JenniferReiter&ArloHorton

Basically, it has that the wedding will be on June 12, 2010, at Fiore Winery, and the reception will be there as well. Nothing else has been planned and we are not even sure about a start time or anything like that. I have asked Wendy and Amanda to be my Maid of Honor and Matron of Honor, respectively. I believe each are equally important and therefore they are both of honor to me. Arlo has not yet chosen his wedding party, so I didn't fill out that section. Obviously we haven't registered yet, booked a hotel for out-of-towners, or really anything else other than book the site. I think we are doing pretty well though, considering the planning is happening from out-of-state. Ah, the wedding...I could go on, but will show constraint.

Let's see..other, non-wedding, but equally important, things going on right now...

Arlo and I went and visited his mother and Mary in Sparta, Wisconsin. We had a great time and even got a chance to see his niece and nephew. The first night there, we had a fish fry at The Oasis and celebrated our engagement with the family. The next day, we took Garrick and Lauren to Chucky Cheese, which Arlo deemed a casino for children. The kids played their tokens as quickly as humanly possible and there was fun for all with only one tantrum when Lauren wanted to put in the long strip of tickets into the ticket counter machine. That night we had dinner at Debbie and Mary's house and a campfire afterwards. Sunday we hung out and then had a yummy dinner at Sally and Jamie's house Sunday night. In between all of these eating events, we took the kids to the park, Arlo and Jamie played tennis, and we played a lot of Wii sports and Wii fit. I found out that I am terrible at baseball, but I'm a kickass ski jumper. It was difficult to go back to work after that, especially because I think I caught a little bug at the germ-factory that is Chucky Cheese.

This weekend Arlo and I had a yardsale to get rid of extra stuff that we schleped here and didn't want to schlep back. We actually did pretty well, mostly due to Arlo's and Arlo's dad's cds. Arlo was scheduled to work every night this weekend, so I went down to Racine to have dinner with him before work and then hang out at the bar and knit so that we could spent just a little more time together. Now it's Sunday night and I am not at all motivated to go to work tomorrow, but I guess I have to get motivated really quickly, since tomorrow's a pretty big day, with five clients, two of whom are new, and one of whom may possibly attack me violently. Yay social work!

As much as I am not looking forward to tomorrow, I am looking forward to the next several weekends. Check it out....this weekend we have Brew Fest in Racine, with over 250 beers, music, and food; the following weekend is Apple Festival in Gays Mills, WI, the weeken after that, Wendy is visiting and the weekend after that we are coming home for a visit!!! While in Baltimore, we will go to Eleanor Blackford's baptism, where I will promise, as Officially Awesome God Mother, to raise her in the Catholic faith should Amanda and Bill perish (God forbid). The rest of the time will be spent meeting with caterers, tasting food and cake, and going to Fiore to check out the site of our future wedding, which brings us full circle, back to The Knot and my obsession with the wedding.

Let the comments commence....

Arlo's Proposal Post, Punctuality a Plus!

It may have taken him a while, but he finished his post today! Check it out here at http://arlosbloggitybloggyblog-blog.blogspot.com/ I have to say, it's awesome! It goes into a fair amount more detail than mine, but it really is his story to tell, so this makes sense. I highly recommend checking it out for some he said/she said comparison, and a view into the incredible effort and thought Arlo put into creating a wonderful proposal (ooohh, and the pictures!). Not only that, but stick around for Arlo's reviews of movies, music, and all things pop culture. Take care, y'all and talk to you soon!

The End of Summer in Wisconsin

Hello, it's like, 50 degrees outside right now. It's August! This has supposedly been the coldest weather in Wisconsin in something like 10 years, and I am here for it. My tomatoes finally started growing, and because they are heirloom, they can take 90 days to mature, so that means, November? We'll have several feet of snow by then. Alas, it is still August, and I am really hoping that the warm(ish) weather sticks around for at least a bit longer. Arlo and I have some fun activities coming up, and after being alone pretty much the last three weeks, I could use some enjoyable times with him. We get engaged and I don't see him anymore! Wait, I hope that doesn't mean something...

Anyway, this next weekend we will be heading up to Spring Green to see an outdoor play at the American Players Theater. The play is on Sunday and so we are either going to be camping or checking out a local bed and breakfast to make a weekend of it. That decision will be made once we have a better idea of what is happening with our crazy weather, so that we are not camping in the 40's. The weekend after that is Labor Day weekend, and we are heading to his mom's and his sister's places in Lacrosse. Hmmm...what else are we looking forward to? Well, in September we have Brewfest in Racine with Arlo's dad, Jerry, where we will drink lots of beer and eat awesomely bad for you but delicious midwest food. Then, we have Apple Festival in Gaysmills, Wisconsin (Bill, insert jokes here). This is an annual Horton tradition, complete with flea market, loads of apples, and a pancake breakfast! I actually feel sorry for people on the East Coast who do not to get have Honeycrisp apples, which are so good that Arlo used to get them shipped to him when he lived in Maryland.

October has Wendy visiting for the first weekend, with a Ladies Weekend in Madison. It will be fun exploring an area I'm not really familiar with, with the lovely lady, Wendy. The next weekend is Andrew Bird in concert, and I think the third weekend may be a trip to the East Coast, though I haven't shared this possibility with Arlo yet. I really think we need to come back to Maryland before Thanksgiving, because I don't want to choose a caterer without trying their food, and I am thinking that we could come and check out caterers and other vendors who need to be booked SOON! Speaking of vendors, I think we may have a location. I still need to check out a few more places, but Fiore, which is definitely in the budget and way cool, is available on June 12, so that could be the place and the date. If this works out, then we can start planning around that, and send out Save the Date cards (STD cards if you're nasty). Anyway, as has been happening lately, I have completely digressed and started off on a tangent about the wedding. This has been happening A LOT. I have determined that all of the books, magazines, and websites have become wedding porn for me. I'm completely addicted.

Back to the immediate future plans! November, we are going to visit my dad in Florida, which will be awesome! Arlo's never met my dad, and I am super excited for the two of them to connect and get to know each other. No other plans for November at this point, but sometime in the October/November region my mom will be visiting. I keep telling her that sooner is better than later, as she has already experienced Wisconsin in the winter, but she maintains that this is when she wants to visit. She has been warned! December I will be home for Christmas, probably for an extended vacation.

So, that's the plan for the next few months. The summer has definitely been fun-filled and busy. I have not quite made the progress on Christmas gifts that I had wanted, but I am slowly knitting my way forward. I started to re-think things when Amanda suggested that perhaps I not do home-made Christmas gifts this year, and I think that perhaps not everyone will be getting something home-made (Kevin, of course will, as he demands it). I figure I will be making plenty for the wedding, so it may be better not to stress about Christmas.

This post has been way longer than I intended, and it's getting late, so I should be going. After all, I still need to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, and take M dawg out for a W-A-L-K. I hope you are all well, and talk to you soon!!!!! Oh, and for those of you who say, Jen, you have posted twice, and Arlo STILL hasn't posted about the engagement, what gives?...I rationalize this by saying that Arlo just got home from Spring Green with his dad yesterday, worked last night, tonight, and will work tomorrow, so he probably won't post until Monday. However, check back then!

The Proposal! (Not The Movie)

I was completely going to wait until Arlo could post his blog about the proposal first, but then I went and got really excited and am doing it now. After all, he's at Lollapalooza and I don't really feel well, so I don't feel like doing anything, and therefore it seems the perfect time to post. I highly recommend all of you read Arlo's post as well, when he writes it, so you can get the whole, his and hers perspectives of it all. Plus, he will definitely be able to describe more the premise behind it, planning, etc. I was just the lucky recipient. :)

As most of you know, he's had the ring for a while, which has caused some (mostly my mom) people consternation. Arlo kept telling me he needed a whole day, and I really didn't know why, but I figured that if he said that, it must be true. Looking at our upcoming few weeks, I realized that there was no way we were going to get a complete day to ourselves with nothing else, so I suggested that perhaps I take a day off, thinking he totally wouldn't go for it, because then it wouldn't be expected. He loved the idea! We decided on Wednesday, because Thursday he would be getting ready for Lollapalooza.

Tuesday night I was so excited it was hard to sleep. Wednesday morning, we woke up, had a quick breakfast and got ready for the day. Arlo wanted to dress up, so he donned a button-down and a tie. I decided on a dress, the same one I wore for the going-away party. Arlo had me sit on the couch so he could explain what was going to happen. I apologize if you were one of the people who heard this already and now must read it again, so, you can skip to the section starting with, "Lo and behold " for the amended version.

Arlo informed me that we would be going to a variety of places that day. He had created a list of 30 to be exact, 15 places, 15 bars/restaurants, all within the Milwaukee area, and all having to do with us in some way. Each place had 3 trivia questions and a challenge. There were point values, etc, and I will let you consult Arlo's blog for the details on that. I earned points for correct answers and achieving the challenge. The goal: To reach 135 points (the number of weeks we've been together). Wherever that happened, he would propose.

I'm guessing many of you are saying, "Well, that's interesting..." and some may even be saying, "That's mean..." to make me work so hard for the ring. Why not take me to some nice, expensive meal and let me get all dressed up, and then take a ride on a horse-drawn carriage? Because that's so not Arlo's style. Like pretty much everything else in our relationship, he wanted to make this fun, creative, and memorable. He did add a clause that if at any time I had ceased having fun, we would stop and I would be declared a victor and he would propose. Good idea, because I almost used it on the second challenge when I was sweaty, out of breath, and holding a broken kite, but I digress. Anyway, he achieved his purpose. It was creative, fun, and memorable. The event took about 5 hours, so basically we did need a whole day. And it was nice knowing that he didn't have to run off to work, so we could celebrate with margaritas and tacos. Alas, I have not spoken about the actual proposal!

Throughout the day, I changed my facebook status, found a cookie, flew a kite, beat him at pool, tried to find a beer he hadn't tried, tried to find out which artists are coming to Shank Hall in October (notice the two "tried"s, didn't accomplish those), and answered numerous trivia questions correctly. I nearly lost it (again) at the end, when I realized that unless I played it perfectly, I wouldn't get to 135 points at the location that I wanted, Bradford Beach. I am, after all, a stickler for rules, so if it was 134 points, despite Arlo already saying that it wouldn't matter, I was convinced I'd end up getting proposed to a the Downer Theater.

Lo and behold, we were a mere 8 points away (I think) from the 135, and we pulled up to the beach. It was packed! Not what I had been expecting when I pictured his romantic proposal. We parked and Arlo suggested we walk a bit away from the beach. We chose a spot on the rocks, sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan, and he asked the final three questions. Then, having gotten them all right, he asked one more- If I would marry him. He actually said more than that, but you get the picture. He got down on one knee and put the ring on my finger. I don't think he actually waited for an answer, but I said yes anyway, and then we kissed. It was perfect. We walked back to the car, hand-in-hand, officially engaged.

Driving home, we decided that we wanted to go out and celebrate some more. We decided against the fancy restaurant on the lake, choosing instead the more casual Mexican restaurant down the street from our place. We changed our clothes and then biked there, stopping (of course) to call my mom and grandparents.

Sadly, I couldn't tell anyone at work, because I thought it would look suspicious if I called in sick and came in the next day with a ring on. I felt naked already not being able to wear it to work for two days, and now it's on my hand all sparkly and shiny.

I am so happy to be engaged to Arlo. I look forward to our life together and all that is to come. I know that, like the proposal, our life will be anything but boring.

P.S. I am aware that all of these pictures are of the ring, my hand, and me, but the other pics are on Arlo's camera, and will be uploaded soon. We got some good, "just engaged" pics!

UPDATE!!! I've entered us in the Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding contest, and the way to become a finalist is to get as many votes as possible. Here's where you come in.

If you liked our proposal story and want to try to help us out, please vote for our entry in the "Ultimate Wedding Contest" by clicking here or copying the following link:

http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries/28351


Thank you so much for your help!

This Is What Happens When Arlo's Computer Dies

Hello, friends and family (mostly friends), I have missed you! I have been long away from blogger of late. This is mostly due to the fact that my only time spent on computers is at work (where this would so not be allowed), at the library and at Sven's Coffee House. I could not get the motivation to post when I have approximately 30 minutes to do all that I can, include pay bills, look at wedding venues, etc. That's right, despite the fact that I lack one very essential (at least to most people) part of being engaged, I have been starting to plan Arlo's and my wedding. Well, not so much as plan but more like day-dream and look up stuff online. I get the feeling that this will definitely increase in the upcoming months, but for right now, I'm not so bad, a website here, a t.v. show there. I completely did not plan on putting this in the blog quite yet, but it's what came out, so there you go. Let's see, what else has been in the works lately?

Well, for starters, I'm still at my job. I know I haven't posted much about that either, for practical and realistic reasons, but thought I should share this, as many of you are aware of my job saga. Anyway, it's official, I am continuing to work as a psychotherapist. It means some long days, but it's definitely a cool challenge, and I find lately I've been much more positive about this. Arlo has had a lot to do with this, as we have talked for hours hemming and hawing, and he helped me work through many of my concerns. I still have a lot to learn, but at least right now I feel pretty good about it.

Hmmm...what else? The cats have been, if possible, worse lately than before. This includes eating a oatmeal cream cookie, bag of Cheetos, bag of tortillas (el rey no less), bag of potato chips, 1/4 loaf of bread, a bag of snack mix, some of Arlo's mother's ginger snaps, and some mix for lemon scones. They are either really retarded or brilliant, haven't figured out which. Anyway, we have trialed several solutions and came up with one that, as of today, seems to be working. We relocated their food system to the living room and put two babygates in the doorway, one on top of the other, creating a 4 foot barrier. So far they have not figured out a way to scale it, but for now, we are still covering the cabinets in anticipation. Really, cats just shouldn't be this much work!

Arlo update- doing well, still working at the Yardarm and not able to substitute as school isn't in session. His lucky butt gets a luxurious August that is not too packed with bartending shifts and has some fun weekends in there, including Lollapalooza and Michigan races with his dad (okay, so maybe he's looking forward to Lolla a little bit more). He's definitely been making up for having more free-time though, as he's been making all sorts of good food and keeping the place clean. It's kind of like he's a house-husband right now. :) He's really missing his computer and hopefully he'll be getting it back soon. I think his friend Jamey is still trying to salvage what pics and tunes he can off of Arlo's computer, and then it should be back in his possession. Not much else going on, that I can think of at least, of note.

Me update- I just chopped off my hair, as I finally had a sufficient amount to donate to Locks of Love without having to end up bald to do it. It looks pretty good, just a stacked bob that is really stacked because it's so short in the back. I am probably going to do this hair donation one more time, starting now! Also, I am going to be starting a craft/knitting meet up on meet-up dot com, as I have started Christmas presents and need to get crafting. That's right, I am finally learning my lesson and starting in the summer so that I'm not a raving beotch by the holiday season. That, and I'm guessing that I will be in the throes of wedding planning by then , so it's better to start early. Having said all of this, two things...

1. Is this weird that I'm talking about wedding stuff without a formal engagement and does it make you uncomfortable that you're reading it here instead of hearing it from me? I figured that since most of the people who read this (or all) have pretty much been aware of everything with me and Arlo for quite some time now, and most want an update on how things are going, so, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I have decided to update here.

2. So, I know it's early to think about Christmas, but as most of you know, I do take requests...so now is your time. If you have seen something I've made for others that you covet, feel free to let me know that you love it and want one for yourself. (Tamira, I already know that you covet Phay's "harf".) I will try to tweak it to make it personally for you, not an exact replica. I am trying as much as possible to make my gifts out of supplies that are reused or repurposed, knowing that that will not be possible for everything. However, if you always wanted something made out of old records, vintage fabrics, old necklaces, etc, feel free to let me know. Also, keep in mind that I am going to be traveling home again for Christmas, so the smaller or more smooshable the better!

Sorry that there are no pics for this post. I promise they will all be coming soon!

I hope all of you are well and happy. Amanda and Bill, good luck in the last 3 weeks or so you have left! I cannot WAIT to see pics and I so wish I could be there. Tell my god-baby that I love him or her very much!

Talk to y'all soon and love you!

No Computer, What Am I To Do??!?!?!

So, Arlo's computer bit it the other day, and now we are left high and dry, relying on the goodness of our public library for posting, facebooking, and other very important -ings. No, not erotic literature reading.... geesh! Anyway, I felt a need to explain my recent slippage of my almost-as-recent improvement in posting. This is why. Also, while I'm here, I thought I would throw out there that I will be in Baltimore next week. I'm heading in late Wednesday and staying until Monday. I will be attending my Grandmother's funeral on Friday and probably doing a lot of family stuff, but if anyone has free-time that coordinates with my free-time, we should get together. Let me know!
Miss you all!