Happy Birthday to Me

Slowly but surely I'm catching up to the rest of my friends...I'm finally 27. The big day was last Friday, September 7th. I think the most enjoyable part was that I had the day off and I was in OMAHA. So often I feel like days off are spent traveling back from vacation or doing laundry because you just got back, or you took the day off for a specific reason (i.e. to recuperate from the JT concert). It was fun to have the day off work and just enjoy it. And that's exactly what I did. After first waking up at 6:45 am, Macy must have remembered it was my birthday and willingly napped with me. Until 10. It was awesome. However, that did mean we didn't get to the dog park like I had planned (but we went Sunday - no worries). I had a delish sushi lunch with my mom and then she and I headed to Golf Galaxy to pick out the putter she and my dad got me. Then, I hit the links with my mom and dad. However, might be the last time that happens. My dad got a little irritated when 1. my mom stopped by their house (we played at the course they live on) to go to the bathroom after the third hole, 2. when he had to go back two holes because my mom left her pitching wedge on the green and 3. when she didn't think she could play the last hole because she had to pee so bad. For the record, we didn't even drink beer! Anyway, it was fun. We ended up the big 2-7 with dinner at Bonefish Grill and beers at Clancy's. Mike, Denise, Josh and Shannon - thanks for meeting up with us at Clancy's. Like I said, have to take advantage of those Friday night birthdays! And to the Hites - you stayed out way too late to drive us home. Thank you. Yellow cab is pissed we never called to cancel.



Thanks to ALL of my friends who called, sent cards or text messages. The best part about burfdays is the reconnecting with all of your friends. Because when everyone has so much going on, it's great to know they'll always remember you on your day - and vice versa.

No Subject

From: Fitch, Trevor
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:11 AM
To: Wendy Fitch
Subject:

when you're out of town, all hell breaks loose (dog-wise). she spends all of her time looking for you, then ignores me, then barks her ears off, then runs off and almost gets hit by a car, then gets yelled at and shoved back into her kennel, then makes me feel bad, then gets to sleep in our bed, then gets rolled over on in the middle of the night, then gets elbowed at 3:00 in the morning because she will NOT stop licking my elbow armpit.

Cue Pomp and Circumstance

And another good Macy story

Man I love this dog. She's hilarious. And gross too, as suggested by the below email. There's also the time she stumbled upon a Wheat Thin covered in ants and put her face right into it. Brushing off large, black ants from a white, furry face is something I never thought I'd do. Oh but I did. Or how about the time I thought she had an ear infection (per the groomer) so when she was rubbing her ears in the rocks at my parents' house I thought nothing of it. But when she didn't stop I pulled her away only to realize she had been rubbing her face in a dead, decaying frog carcass.
Sidenote: after a 40 minute and $40 vet appointment, no ear infection.


From: Fitch, Trevor
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 8:15 AM
To: Rachel McKenney; Wendy Fitch
Subject: RE:

Gross email time! This morning the dog barked me awake, I just assumed it was time to get ready for work. So after standing in the yard for 5 minutes, I realized it was 3:30, not 4:30. So I put the dog in bed, where she took up her favorite game, licking herself in her special area. Do you know what's more gross than watching her do that? Listening to her do it right next to you while you're trying to sleep. I even elbowed her to get her to stop and she just flopped on her back and continued. ..........Then she licked me in the face, therefore, shower time.

Enjoy your coffee. Happy Friday.

Since you've met Miss Macy (via photos), you'll get a kick out of this email I received from TFitch a few weeks ago:

From: Fitch, Trevor
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 9:35 AM
To: Wendy Fitch
Subject:

synopsis of this morning's encounter with the dog:

4:48:00 - wake up, walk into laundry room, hear quiet jingling, let hound out.
4:48:10 - let dog out onto porch, carry down stairs
4:48:30 - hound pees, yawns, looks around
4:48:55 - hound lazily walks over to steps, sits down, yawns
4:49:00 - hound lazily follows me up stairs, into house, sits down, yawns
4:50:00 - hound lazily eats treat, nearly falls asleep, yawns
4:50:10 - i say "lets go see wendy" and walk towards bedroom door
4:50:12 - hound stares at me from dining room table as i stand in bedroom doorway
4:50:13 - hound's eyes almost bug completely out of her head, hound runs into master bathroom faster than i've ever seen her move
4:50:13.5 - hound makes the turn at the shower and heads back out into the living room. trevor in pursuit
4:50:13.7 - hound races into guest bedroom, begins to defecate. turtle head is popping out
4:50:14 - i apprehend hound, pick up around lower waist, hold upside down like a doggie poop bouquet
4:50:16 - hound is transplanted in front yard, takes MASSIVE poop. is nice enough to leave bits and pieces around yard
4:51:00 - dog is asleep on wendy's face

The Blog is Resurrected

Hi everyone! I've decided it's time to bring back the blog. I miss not sharing life updates with you. Whether or not you miss receiving them...we'll that's up to you. Actually I just realized everyone is so busy the blog is an easy way to keep everyone looped in to what's going on with the Fitches. So if you have a blog or a Web site, please send me the link. Of course, there are times when phone calls will be made. Like when I win the lottery. But I have a feeling you all will be calling me first when that happens!

The biggest update sine my last post in December of 2006 would be the new addition to our family - Macy!
Macy was born April 1 and joined our family June 5. She's a female Maltese, currently weighing in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces. She's actually grown a lot in the two months we've had her. In the above photo, she only weighed 2 pounds!



In May, right before we got Miss Macy, we went to New York with eight very close friends. We had a great time; nothing like five couples in two NYC hotel rooms! We crammed a lot into three days, including a double decker bus tour of the city, tasty meals at The Eatery, Mesa Grill and Dos Caminos, Wicked, a Yankees game, the top of the Empire State Building (buzzkill) and shopping. It definitely was a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. We're so fortunate we have such great friends to do things like that with.

Just last week I cut 12 inches off my hair to donate to Locks of Love. I'm still getting used to the new 'do (moreso getting used to having to do it every day!) but I like it. And I probably shed less which has to make TFitch happy. Macy doesn't care about length; it all tastes the same to her.

Our jobs are still going well. I'm still with Barkley working on Blue Bunny and the Breast Cancer 3-Day and Trevor's still with Kiewit working at the Mid-America Power Plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

That's it for now. Talk to you later!

Merry Christmas from the Fitches!

Where was this article last year?

Brides may need help with post-wedding blues

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Everything about Brian and Christina Behrend's late summer wedding was picture perfect - from the bright Texas sun to the emotional vows that symbolized a storybook romance.
The Dallas couple - she's an account manager for an e-mail provider, he's a professional Web developer - met six years ago and, as their online diaries say, it was truly love at first sight.
So when the Sept. 2 wedding was over and the honeymoon bags unpacked, Christina headed back to work and was a bit unnerved when her life as a new bride was marked by a case of the blues.
"Our apartment was a mess - there was no motivation to clean. Our bank accounts were empty. The high from the adrenaline of planning a wedding for over a year was completely down. So moving into this new low was quite depressing, particularly when you return home with nothing to do except continue on with work and everyday activities," she said.
The Behrends are not alone. Wedding planners, psychologists and other experts say a post-wedding letdown is perfectly normal, even common.
Carley Roney, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online wedding site theknot.com, said weddings are often the high point in someone's life, particularly young brides.
"There's a certain high to having such an increased sense of purpose," Roney said. The wedding "is filled with all the things that are sort of so celebrity: my guest list, what dress should I wear, how can I spend this $10,000 budget? It's very glamorous.
"You build and, all of a sudden, it is over. Period. Full stop," she said. "The glamour is over. You become another person - sort of on the normal list."
Marg Stark, a San Diego author whose book "What No One Tells the Bride" offers women a realistic guide to the sometimes rough waters of walking down the aisle, said newlyweds often find themselves isolated.
Single girlfriends may not understand, and no new bride wants to sound like something is wrong with her marriage, she said.
"So you're cut off from the friends who used to keep you sane. And your anxiety is doubled, thinking that you're the only bride out there who isn't basking in bliss," Stark said.
Susan Padrino, a psychiatry instructor at University Hospitals of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said there aren't many scholarly studies on the topic but psychiatrists and psychologists are seeing more patients with emotional wedding hangovers.
In many cases, the stress of marriage and wedding planning sparks underlying depression, which should be treated right away, she said.
"You could speculate that today's emphasis on the wedding as the 'best and most expensive day of your life' would put even more stress onto the bride and groom," she said. "Unreasonable expectations about what the wedding day will mean could also contribute to a significant letdown feeling."
The Internet, where wedding postpartum discussions abound, and more realistic portrayals of marriage in the media have helped. But Roney and Stark say the idea of being depressed just after getting married is still somewhat taboo, mostly because people are afraid to talk honestly about the sometimes bad feelings associated with getting married.
"As long as there are women fogged over by tulle in their wedding fantasies, there will be newlyweds who have turbulent adjustments after the perfect wedding is over," Stark said. "I do think society sets women up with a lot of impossible, overblown expectations."
Many wedding planners say they have begun counseling clients about the possible post-wedding blues from the minute they start putting together the ceremony. They recommend a budget the couple can truly afford without dipping into credit cards; enough time to plan without rushing, which could add stress; and postponing the honeymoon to allow time to recover financially and emotionally from the wedding.
Loree Tillman, a wedding designer from Escondido, Calif., said newlyweds often end up missing the fellowship of family and friends that a wedding brings.
"I have had brides say, 'OK, now what? What do I do now?'" Tillman said. "What I tell every bride after their wedding day is, plan another party! Large and/or small - family reunion, barbecue, holiday party. This helps carry those wonderful feelings that brides and grooms had on their wedding day."
As for the Behrends, they have started a weekly date night and work out together at the gym as a way to focus on their marriage now that the wedding is over.
Christina said she hopes their Web log, which details their experience, will help other newlyweds.
"Hopefully, once we've settled into this new phase we can finally start building our relationship and lives together," she said.

366 Days Down

And I can't believe it!

Trevor and I celebrated our one-year anniversary on Saturday. We decided to go to dinner at V. Mertz stay at Embassy Suites on the Old Market. When we checked into the hotel and found our room, we realized we were upgraded to the Presidential Suite. Presidential Suite as in my dad really wanted that room for the wedding last year and they wouldn't give it to him. We opened the door and were in awe, and did what we had to do: call our friends to have them come down to the hotel and party with us. Like Trevor said, "we could not have had that room and not called anyone." It was a super fun night! The only problem is we were planning on staying at an Embassy Suites every year on our anniversary...but Saturday night might have set our expectations a little too high :-).

Hola

Hey everyone! Since I haven't blogged in nearly five months, I'm sure you all thought I fell off the face of the earth or was eaten by the mouse in our house. You'll be happy to know I'm alive and well and our house is mouse-free (so I've been told). Most importantly, I'm getting back into the blog groove. Nothing much to know at this time, other than a little life lesson I've learned while being a wife:

When you are baking and wearing an apron, remove it before you to the bathroom. Aprons tie in the back and it's easy to forget about those ties. Sadly, I realized this the hard way.

There's a Mouse in our House

' nuff said.

Garage Sale

This fall I am walking in the 2006 Chicago Breast Cancer 3-Day. The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a three day, 60-miles walk benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. Each walker is required to raise $2,200 to participate.

I’m walking with three friends: Shannon, Lizzie and Michelle. As part of our fundraising efforts we are holding a garage sale. The sale started yesterday and ends tomorrow. Profits at this point are minimal, but hopefully tomorrow’s “Everything Must Go” sale will help.

I have to just take this opportunity to thank Trevor and the other girls’ husbands, Josh and Brian, for everything they have done for this garage sale. I’ll be candid. Garage sales are pains in the asses. We stored crap in our garage and storage room for five months, waiting for this weekend. Shannon and Lizzie dedicated all day yesterday, I took today off from work and Michelle’s dedicating her entire Saturday to man the Sale. But the best part is how supportive the boys have been. We spent five hours Tuesday hauling, pricing and merchandising the items, and the fellas were with us the entire time. They’ve came over before to help us prepare for the day, and after work to move the unsold items from the driveway back to the garage.

This is one of those crazy ideas we had and our hubbys have been so encouraging and helpful. We’re very fortunate to have such great support during our Breast Cancer 3-Day journey. Thank you.

Quirks

I had to create a bio for work today. Part of it included listing “Fun Facts” about ourselves. I was in a hurry and quickly sent an email to Trevor to help me out.

From: Wendy Fitch
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 3:09 PM
To: Trevor.Fitch
Subject: Help

So I have to put together a bio like the attached. I need you to help me be funny.

- What are fun things about me?
- What should I call the fun section? What about Wendy? WTF? (Better not).


Trevor’s reply was the best.

From: Trevor.Fitch
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 3:26 PM
To: Wendy Fitch
Subject: RE: Help

Lets see…..
Your love of puns is bewildering. That’s right, bewildering.
You got your picture taken in front of a donkey wearing a shirt and hat.
You’ve been in a French Canadian wedding and done the 2 kiss cheek thing. With a man and a woman.
Your mom has a cremated dog in an urn which is currently sporting a two piece swimsuit.
You make fantastic chicken parmesan
You make horrible pasta salad
You’ve been on the today show
You somehow got over a slightly uncomfortable (for the rest of us) obsession with Jessica Simpson. We’re still waiting on Nick Lashay (sp?)
You are a horrible singer but you never give up.
If a bird walked up to you carrying the bottom of someone’s shoes, your ass would be grass.
In the last 30 days you have lied on the floor in the garage and cried.
Your mom has worn your wedding dress more recently than you have.
You routinely wake up your husband by talking in your sleep. Sometimes you wake him up by laughing hysterically. In your sleep.

And then he sent a second email.

You really don’t (even though you swear you do) understand the concept of sea level.
Math makes you nauseous. (and I quote)
One time you threw a temper tantrum in the Target toy aisle. You were 24 years old, I believe.
You have good taste in paint colors.
You have more clothes than anyone I have ever seen.
Your love of the color pink, no matter how much I ridicule you for it, actually impresses me.
You never whine. Happy Opposite Day.
You keep our house clean. No matter how much I try to stop you.

That’s all I got. I’m going to try to leave soon. Bill has a table we can borrow, but I think it’s covered in beer. I told him it would be a last resort

Trevor loves my quirks and I love his. I do whine. I do pick my nose. I do shout at the top of my lungs when my favorite song is on. When you find someone that you can do these things with, and that they for the most part, enjoy, consider yourself very lucky.

Happy (Early) May Day

We regressed back about 18 years today and surprised our friends and family with May Day baskets. We had an absolute blast delivering the goodies. I don’t think Trevor ever did May Day baskets as a kid or something; when I told him you get to ring the doorbell and run away he giggled like a little boy. Seeing him sneak up to the front porches, push the bell and sprint back to the car was hilarious. I wish I had had my video camera. It sounds silly that we spent our Sunday driving all over Omaha, but it was worth it. So much, in fact, someone institutionalizes a June Day soon. I can’t wait to do that again.

Omaha in the News

We won't have kids for a long time, let alone school-aged kids. However, this recent bill passed by the legislature doesn't just impact students, their parents, teachers, faculty, etc. It affects everyone in Omaha. We are now living in a city that has forgotten all the civil rights this country fought for many years ago; a city that has decided to separate school children by their race. What lesson is that teaching?

I was very proud to move back to Omaha a few months ago, and now I'm just shaking my head.

Omaha school district to split along racial lines
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- In a move decried by some as state-sponsored segregation, the Legislature voted Thursday to divide the Omaha school system into three districts -- one mostly black, one predominantly white and one largely Hispanic.

Supporters said the plan would give minorities control over their own school board and ensure that their children are not shortchanged in favor of white youngsters.

Republican Gov. Dave Heineman signed the measure into law.

Omaha Sen. Pat Bourne decried the bill, saying, "We will go down in history as one of the first states in 20 years to set race relations back."

"History will not, and should not, judge us kindly," said Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha.

Attorney General Jon Bruning sent a letter to one of the measure's opponents saying that the bill could be in violation of the Constitution's equal-protection clause and that lawsuits almost certainly will be filed.

But its backers said that at the very least, its passage will force policymakers to negotiate seriously about the future of schools in the Omaha area.

The breakup would not occur until July 2008, leaving time for lawmakers to come up with another idea.

"There is no intent to create segregation," said Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, the Legislature's only black senator and a longtime critic of the school system.

He argued that the district is already segregated, because it no longer buses students for integration and instead requires them to attend their neighborhood school.

Chambers said the schools attended largely by minorities lack the resources and quality teachers provided others in the district. He said the black students he represents in north Omaha would receive a better education if they had more control over their district.

Coming from Chambers, the argument was especially persuasive to the rest of the Legislature, which voted three times this week in favor of the bill before it won final passage on the last day of the session.

Omaha Public Schools Superintendent John Mackiel said the law is unconstitutional and will not stand.

"There simply has never been an anti-city school victory anywhere in this nation," Mackiel said. "This law will be no exception."

The 45,000-student Omaha school system is 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian.

Boundaries for the newly created districts would be drawn using current high school attendance areas. That would result in four possible scenarios; in every scenario, two districts would end up with a majority of students who are racial minorities.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

A Paint in the Ass

I cried tonight. Not because I got bad news. Not because I stubbed my toe very hard. Because I have been painting our freaking laundry room for a week now and it still looks like shit.

Seriously. It all started last Friday (March 31) when I was driving to Kansas City at 0-six-hundred. Those drives are dangerous. During those drives I’ll do anything to stay awake and that normally means lots of brainstorming. “What new hobby should I pick up this week?” “What other fundraisers can I do to raise money for the 3-Day?” “What should we name our kids?” (I do this drive a lot. I get desperate). That said, March 31 I decided we were repainting our laundry room. The color swatch had been taped to the wall for months; it’s not like it was completely out of the Ruby Red.

Sunday, April 2 Michelle and I ventured to the Home Depot. (Don’t ask where Trevor was. I’ll just say he was home and it involved a mixer, vanilla, chocolate chips and a 350-degree oven.) I purchased the paint and shelves to replace the existing ones. By the time I got home, it was pretty late in the day and all I had time to do is tape.

Painting started this week. Saturday was step one. Primer. I should mention I got the primer for free from our friends, Josh and Shannon. I took the primer and probably should have made sure it matched our paint, worked with our paint, etc. But they offered a gift and I accepted. Thank you, Hites. Yesterday was coat 1. Turned out blotchy. I’m thinking it will look fab after coat two. That came tonight. If you want to know the outcome, you should have seen the tears streaming down my face while I was lying in the garage. Yes. My home improvement project made me cry. I just don’t understand how I can suck so bad! It’s PAINT! You learn how to paint with your fingers when you are one. It’s not supposed to be that hard.

Moral is: I’m no Picasso or Van Gough or kindergartener apparently, although I do have a mess on my hands but it’s called the laundry room. Pretty soon the red paint is going to be black from so many coats. But I’m going to give it one more whirl. If any of you are more painting-inclined than I am, I’d love thoughts/feedback on how to get an even red paint.

120 days of marital bliss...

...and no wedding video.

Today Trevor and I celebrate our four-month anniversary. We have big plans – he’s at the bar and I’m about to put another coat of paint on our laundry room :-).

I’ll tell you a little something we won’t be doing to celebrate our 120 day anniversary: watch our wedding video! Can you believe we STILL have not received it? Today, friend and co-worker April called them. She, my “personal attendant,” called for me because I am busy (maybe out of town? Not 100% sure what she said) and need the video by this weekend when my family is in town for Easter. Basically Don told April they covered a Bar Mitzvah sometime between now and our wedding, and the boy committed suicide after his event. He said, “it makes it hard to be creative.” April told him everything I want to and would have. Thanks again for calling, April!

Now, I am not being insensitive at all. I’m just being realistic from a business perspective. Omaha Wedding Video cashed a check worth a lot of money. They signed a contract that said they would deliver the final video within two months of the event. As they left our wedding (early) they said we’d have it in January.

At this point, I just want our the memories we paid them to capture and the pictures they still have from our photo montage. Once I do, I’ll offer brides-to-be and anyone looking for a videographer my opinions.

I’m curious…what would you all do if you were in our shoes?

This May be Weird

But sometimes my wedding ring smells. Anyone else's? Like it's been washed and air-dried (i.e. mildew). Or maybe dirt. Not sure. Regardless, I think it's from washing my hands a lot. I guess that's not a bad thing.

One more thing...

I forgot to mention when I was looking at the wedding pictures and writing that last post the song "My Friend" by Crystal Lewis was playing on my iPod. (Don't diss my iLibrary - it was downloaded as a possibility for the wedding video.) Here are the lyrics - check out a soundbite on iTunes. Now, you tell me this won't make you want to run out right now and hug your friends.

thank you
for being my friend
for being the one on whom i depend

we’ve been a team
come rain or shine
come win or lose
what’s yours has been mine

i love you my friend
for giving to me
for being my confidant
for letting me be me
for sharing your heart
for taking a stand
i want to be like you
i love you - my friend

i’ll never forget
the secrets we kept
the stories we told
the nights we never slept

the tears that we cried
the heartaches we shared
somehow gave me hope
when it seemed no one cared

there’ve been times
i felt my life
was coming to an end
you stood by me, my friend

i thank God
for sending someone
like you to me
i’m glad we’ve got eachother

the years will pass
and times will change
but one thing will always
stay the same- we’ll always be friends

I Take That Back

Since December I’ve told several people how I do not miss wedding planning. In part – that’s true. I do not miss spending my evenings tracking down people’s new addresses, stressing about whether to have white or ivory linens or if we should name our signature cocktail the Marrytini or the Merrytini.

However, as I look at our wedding photos again this evening I take that back. But I don’t miss those tangible elements. What I miss is the emotion, excitement, nerves (well, to a point) and anticipation the engagement and wedding brought – and all of the people we shared those feelings with. As much as a wedding is about the couple, it is also about their friends and family that wholly support their relationship. Neither Trevor nor I are who we are without the influence of many people, the closest of which we celebrated our engagement with on September 7, our future with at numerous showers, our friendships with at our bachelor/bachelorette parties and the day of our lives with on December 10.

Looking at this picture (and many others of us with our friends and family) makes me want to offer this one word of advice to anyone planning a wedding or who will plan a wedding future:



don’t get caught up in the nitty gritty details. The Knot.com and Martha Stewart’s Wedding Magazines will help you with those. Celebrating your wedding and the events leading to it with close family and best friends is the most important element.

In our wedding programs we thanked our guests for spending December 10 with us and said we were "fortunate to celebrate this wonderful occasion with such special people." We meant it. And that's something we'll never take back.

Photo Montage

We've officially been married for three months and six days, and still haven't received our wedding video. Some might call that a lengthy process. In the spirit of optimism, we're calling it giving the video the attention and dedication it deserves.

However, while looking at the videographer's Web site today (to see if they list their turnaround time) we noticed a portion of our photo montage is available to view. Here's the link for anyone that might not have been able to make it to the reception, or for those of you who just want to see our baby faces again.

http://www.omahaweddingvideo.com/20475_4221.asp

Grammar Geek

I have to put this out there.

I like to write and I like punctuation. This blog does not reflect that.

I write everyday for work. Whenever something is going to my client, the media or anyone else I’m working with, it’s (hopefully) flawless. I review it ten times and then I usually send it to co-workers for review.

When I post to the blog, all punctuation, grammar and rules go by the wayside. It’s a journal. I don’t care that I maybe get an its and it’s messed up because I am so excited to get my thoughts down. This is a personal blog and my number one objective is to tell you what I’m (or we’re) thinking or doing. If I start going back and editing posts, the original meaning’s altered – even if it is inserting a comma there or taking out a semi-colon. There will be dangling prepositions and “We”s and “I”s because I can’t remember if I’m writing from my point of view or on behalf of both of us. The tenses will be off because I might be writing about something as if it happened today but really it was two weeks ago.

What you’re reading is real. I just wanted to put it out their.

So We’ve Been MIA From the Blogosphere. Sorry.

We realize it’s been nearly two months since I’ve written. Not because there hasn’t been anything exciting to write about since our honeymoon. That’s not the case at all. Since January 23rd:

We've Written Thank Yous
Well, some anyway. We’re about halfway done. We’re making them on our own printer and we’ve ran out of ink. Those of you who are still waiting, we apologize for the delay. We loved all of our gifts. Those of you who have received your thank yous, thank you for the comments about them. We thought they were cute – glad you did too.

We Still Have Not Received Our Wedding Video
And we’re dying to see everyone cutting rug on the dance floor. Looks like I’m going to have to shoot old Omaha Wedding Video an e-mail.

We Celebrated Our First Newlywed Valentine’s Day
It was spectacular. We went to dinner with my mom and dad and their friends, Woody and Rhonda. Actually, we had a great time and took them up on the offer. They had extra reservations at Mahogany, and, well, that sounded better than the casserole we were going to make in a heart shaped dish.

Trevor got me a wallet. I knew at 8 a.m. that morning. Not because we exchanged gifts early, but because he left the receipt on the counter before he left for work. Whoops J. Yes, I did pout for a while but I learned to love the wallet and have a good Valentine’s Day (wine helped). Disclaimer: not entirely a bad day because of the receipt incident. Work sucked and I ran out of toilet paper at a very inconvenient time while home alone, if you must know. I also thought I was getting flowers when the doorbell rang, but really it was my mail from work. The FedEx arrived on Tuesday that week instead of Monday. Rotten trick.

Wendy Spent Her First Night Alone in the New House
And man did I hate it. I was supposed to be in Le Mars for work, but the trip was cancelled at the last minute. Trevor was in Kansas City (we plan our trips well) so it was Wendy flying solo. At first, I liked it. I could pick up the joint, go shopping without having to disclaim prices (just kidding, Trev) and come home from an eyebrow wax without being made fun of. But I tell you what. Our house is loud and I am convinced someone lives in the attic. And they tap dance up there. It was to the point I slept with the bedroom door locked both nights and prayed. The fact a house just down the street from where my parents used to live was robbed earlier in the week might have had something to do with these fears.

We Almost Got a Dog
We toyed with the idea. We tried to look at PetCo just to see if we were going to fall in love with one, but they didn’t have any. PetCo: where the pets apparently don’t go.

After much consideration and hours on www.puppyfind.com we decided we don’t need a lil’ one right now. Too hard with my work from home/Kansas City schedule, plus I took a quiz on the Humane Society’s Web site and turns out after moving, moving in with a significant other, marriage and recent loss of pet, they don’t recommend getting a doggie at this time. Someday we’ll get that little Stevie Hicks. Someday.

We Had Come Good Clean Fun
Turns out we’re both getting used to each others’ tidiness. I do not like stuff sitting out. Hate it. I bought bins from Pottery Barn to eliminate the problem. In the laundry room we have a “Trevor” bin, a “Wendy” bin, and “Cleaning Supplies” bin, a “Bills” bin, a “Miscellaneous” bin and two TBD bins. So, last nig Trevor couldn’t find a few checks he needed to cash. I could hear him upstairs stomping all over the place and slamming drawers and I could feel him giving me crusties through the walls. Where were the checks? In the Trevor bin. He hates the bins. He hid his bin from me. It was a little tense last night, in a good way. By the end of the night we compromised on some organizational systems and we’re devoting this weekend to cleaning and organizing. Look out label maker. Here we come.

So, that’s it. I tried to keep the post short. I failed. Hows about I just write more often so each entry isn’t a novel. All in all, married life is fantabulous. Like I’ve been telling everyone, I don’t know why we waited for so long. I highly recommend it.

Until next time,

Mrs. Fitch

Honeymoon 2K6

Michelle Seger put it best. “the first day back from paradise is the hardest!!” We’ve always known she was a smart cookie, but she proved it once again in her e-mail this morning. We returned home to cold (although not as cold as we expected) Omaha last night after a wonderful seven day cruise to the Mexican Riveria. Each day offered something fun and memorable:

Sunday, Jan. 15
After standing in many embarkation lines and the thrilling lifeboat drill, the Carnival Pride departed the Port of Long Beach for a two-day journey to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We suddenly found ourselves surrounded by waiters carrying festive glasses adorned with cherries, oranges and umbrellas. Of course we had to sample the goodness and thus started our passion for the “Drink of the Day.” Our first evening aboard we dined in the Normandie dining room and enjoyed the band The Bestsellers in Butterflies Lounge. They were a great band and they even played “Unchained Melody” – of course we had to dance to it.

Monday, Jan. 16
We hit the pool and bar bright and early. The “Drink of the Day” was the Yellow Bird and it was good! Too bad we can’t remember what was in it. After too many hours in the sun and probably too many Yellow Birds, we decided to participate in the game of Bingo taking place in the Taj Mahal. Good thing we did – Wendy won $300! Monday night was the Captain’s Gala, which was a formal event. We got all duded up and attended the party, and made sure to get our money out of the free appetizers and cocktails. Too many Fuzzy Navels and Crab Rangoons later, we were too full for dinner. Well, really we went to the dining room and noticed another couple was seated at our table and we didn’t feel like dining with others so we bailed. We never did meet them! It’s probably a good thing we skipped dinner, though, otherwise we would have never found “our bar” or the Perfect Game Sports Bar as it’s affectionately known. Once we saw the “buy four Bud Lights, get one free” sign on the bar, it was like the mother ship calling us home.

Tuesday, Jan. 17
See Monday, January 16th. Add whale/dolphin sightings near the coast of Cabo.

Wednesday, Jan 18
Hellllooooo stable ground! After 48-hours of being on a ship, standing on unmoving land feels nice. Upon arrival at Puerto Vallarta (PV), we were asked by 1,233 Mexicans if we wanted a necklace, 576 if we wanted sunglasses and only 57 if Wendy wanted her hair braided. Don’t worry – the offers for dreads increased while we were on the beach in Mazatlan. And don’t worry. What’s one of the first things we see when we venture from the marina? Wal-Mart. And we sure did go in and check it out.

We did one of the coolest things in PV – a canopy tour. Raise your hand if you’ve ever done a canopy tour. We highly recommend it, and if you do it in PV, do it with Vallarta Adventures. Granted the hour long back-of-the-truck ride was a near-death experience, but the guides responsible for our lives when we were dangling by wires 90-feet above the ground were top-notch. One’s name was even Geronimo. How could you not trust a canopy tour guide named Geronimo? For those of you who don’t know what a canopy tour is, basically you go from tree platform to tree platform via a zip lines. You’re hooked by big carabineers (you know, those things we used for key chains in college). There were also two hanging bridges built into treetops, a “Tarzan Swing,” and a 50-foot vertical rappel. It was the only way down! We wish we had pictures from the excursion but because you’re on 3x3 platforms high in the air with tons of gear and gloves on, cameras weren’t allowed and we didn’t feel like buying their video for 58,000 pesos.

That evening we downed two Strawberry Margarita yards and dined on not-very-authentic Mexican food at Carlos O’Brians in downtown PV. The location was actually wonderful. We had a table that overlooked the beach and we were there just in time for sunset.

Thursday, Jan 19
Hola Mazatlan! Not going to lie – we were scared of Mazatlan at first. Maybe it’s the guys with huge machine guns there to greet you. Maybe it’s the signs on the stores that say “Sale Today. Amoxicillin. No prescription needed.” We’re not sure. But Mazatlan did end up being wonderful. After another horrific ride (we’ve come to the conclusion there’s no driver’s ed in Mexico), we arrived at the El Cid resort to redeem a free beach/pool pass we received at the port. We started off at the beach, but were offered too many necklaces, henna tattoos and other illegal substances, so we wandered to the pool. It was a gorgeous day and we were able to get a lot of sun. After a disgusting $40 lunch at the resort (kind of took away the glamour of the FREE beach/pool pass) we walked along the beach for hours. Before retuning to the ship, we indulged in a few Coronas to the sound of a Mariachi band, sitting next to whom we believe to be the Mexican Mafia.

Friday, Jan. 20
We were a little disappointed because the booze cruise we signed up for was cancelled. Maybe the 9 a.m. start time didn’t appeal to others. Who knows? We tried to sign up for a Whale Watching excursion but it was sold out by the time we registered. Therefore, we decided to make our own adventure in Cabo. We arrived in the harbor via tender around 8:15 a.m. and walked around, looking at all of the yachts and dodging the natives holding enormous Iguanas. We started our day in Cabo shopping. Wendy was looking for cowboy boots. We never found then, but what we did find was Cabo Wabo. Cabo Wabo is a bar/restaurant/club owned by Sammy Hagar. They had good food (highly recommend the Lobster tacos) and even better Waboritas. One of those and you’re good to go! We relaxed at Cabo Wabo for a bit and then ventured to The Nowhere Bar. Wendy was VERY adamant about going to The Nowhere Bar. In the Us Weekly issue the week before we left for the cruise, Wendy read that Lance Armstrong was spotted at The Nowhere Bar in Cabo. “Every celebrity must go to The Nowhere Bar,” Wendy thought. Wendy thought wrong. We didn’t find a single celeb there (or anywhere else on our trip) but what we did find was our waiter, David. For some reason, he and Trevor really hit it off. After ordering a few rounds of Coronas and margs, David whispered in Trevor’s ear, “for you only…” (dramatic pause – we were a little nervous what was for Trevor only), “two-for-one happy hour.” No joke: next time we ordered a round he brought two Coronas and two margs. Wendy speculates David was attracted to Trevor’s Spanish. About round three, Trevor yells, “Senior, Senior. Uno Mas, Por Favor.” It was hilarious. The Nowhere Bar rocked and we bough t-shirts. The only souvenirs we bought. We left The Nowhere Bar around 2 – the last tender left at 3:30 p.m. and we wanted to allow plenty of time to stumble back. When we realized we had plenty of time, we stopped in one last Cabo-an bar – Captain Tony’s. What seemed like one Dos Equis later, it was 3:30 and we were headed back to the Carnival Pride. Needless to say, we took a nap when we got back on board, slept through our 8:15 p.m. dinner time, woke up to fight through a piece of pizza and went back to sleep. Cabo kicked our Wabo, but it was our favorite stop.



Wendy and Trevor in Cabo San Lucas

Saturday, Jan. 21
Too cold to lay out atop the ship, although we tried. We weren’t getting tans through the beach towels though, so we decided to attend the debarkation talk they highly recommended we sit-in on. An informative and “uplifting” hour later, we were wandering around wondering what to do. We did what seemed natural: we bought stogies. Yep, we bonded over a cigar. We had a really fun time (Note: we do not condone tobacco use but as you do not inhale cigars, partook in this activity just this once). Our last evening we bought a few buckets of beer and listened in on the horrible karaoke in the Starry Nights lounge.

Sunday, Jan. 22
We arrived in Home-aha late Sunday evening and thank Trevor’s parents for picking us up. When we finally made it to our home we were greeted by flowers and a stocked fridge, freezer and cupboards courtesy of Wendy’s mom and dad. Omaha might be colder than Mexico, but you all made the welcome home very warm.

Quote of the Trip:
"I’m never drinking a beer again.”
- Trevor Fitch while holding a frozen fruity drink

Hilariously Gross Story of the Trip:
In PV, Carlos & Charlie’s had a booth set-up right by the security point to get back on the boat. The booth had a donkey wearing a sombrero and serape and you could get your picture taken with it for a tip. When we first got off the boat we noticed the man working the booth was feeding the donkey something by mouth with a syringe/baby medicine dispenser thing. When we walked by again they were adamant about us getting our picture with the donkey. We sat down, they threw sombreros on our heads and as the guy started taking our picture, when we noticed a bottle of Kaopectate sitting by us. Then we noticed the donkey pooping and pooping and the other guy starting to wipe the poop up with a paper towel. It was all making sense. Trevor’s face in the picture is priceless!

We had so much fun and have so many fun pictures to share. Let us know if you are interested in seeing more photos – we tried to documents the highlights of the trip with either the digital camera or movie camera.

From the Fitch's Kitchen

There I was, standing over a lump of frozen ground turkey simmering in a Pam-covered skillet on the stove. “I am a disgrace to my mother,” was all I could say while my husband kept looking at me saying “I’mmmm soooooo huuuuunnngggry.” He could have, and would have, cooked, but I really wanted to. I found a Turkey Burrito recipe in a low-fat Betty Crocker cookbook that I really wanted to try. I’m glad I tried it – it was good and Trevor liked it. Plus it was fast. Prep time, Betty estimated, was about 10 minutes and cook time, about seven. The recipe probably took me about 30 minutes total. Not bad for a first timer.

Tonight’s Turkey Burritos taught me a lot. First, I realized I am not a graceful cook quite yet. When I discovered the turkey was frozen (not my fault by the way – I put it in the fridge to thaw before I went to work this morning) I chopped at it with a spatula for minutes. When that didn’t work, I got out the largest knife we had and chopped it into turkey chunks. It eventually thawed, but it took some time.

I also remembered I am a panicky cook. Once that timer starts buzzing at me, I start get overwhelmed. If the oven timer and microwave timer go off at the same time, I go bonkers. If it's an evening we have company over and two timers are beeping at me and everyone's hungry, I freak. Tonight I stood at the stove for about two minutes with the microwave timer going off and didn’t do anything about it. The timer was probably four inches from my head. I never did anything about the microwave timer. Trevor did. I was busy (chopping up the frozen turkey).

I also realized you have to have confidence in what you cook. That sounds really stupid, but I kind of mean it. Maybe daring is more like it. Trevor’s said before he doesn’t really like ground turkey in tacos and stuff. But I moved forward with the recipe anyway. When he said he was STARVING and I told him I was making turkey burritos, I was seriously thinking, “thank goodness there’s a CPK pizza in the freezer.” He didn’t say anything about it bring ground turkey and really enjoyed it. Things might have turned out differently, but that’s okay. You have to try a recipe to know whether or not it’ll be on the kitchen table again, right?

There’s two things I think of when I cook. The first: my mom makes this broccoli cheese stuffing casserole (I think that’s what’s in it) that’s just awesome. When I was in college a few years ago I called my mom for the recipe. I remember her telling me that was one of the first things she made after she and my dad got married and my dad HATED it! The random ingredient goodness ended up being at our house several times a month because we all fell in love with it when she experimented with the recipe years later. The second funny story was very recent. I have no idea what we were talking about or where we were, but before the wedding my mom, dad and I were chatting. All of a sudden my dad said, “you know, when we were first married your mom couldn’t cook either.” My mom and I were both insulted.

Thanks for indulging me in this very long post!

~Wendy


Picture from our first dinner party: December 17, 2005

Happy Newlywed Year

Sorry it’s been so long since we have written. The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy! We had full intentions of recapping every single detail about the wedding on the blog and it hasn't yet happened. We apologize and anticipate more posts as we remember details and fun stories we want to share.


Trevor and Wendy Fitch's first dance to "Unchained Melody"

Basically the day can be summed up in one word: magnificent. There were definitely some nerves about an hour before the ceremony. Wendy was so nervous right before she had to sit down in front of a fan, take her gloves off and play Taboo to get her mind off of the processional. The nerves subsided as the doors to the sanctuary opened and everything went very well (meaning no passing out or puking by either the bride or groom). When we walked into the reception, the Embassy Suites ballroom looked the way we thought it would. Everyone seemed to have a great time and we definitely consider it the best day of our lives. As you can imagine, everything about the day was perfect but there are SO many little details from the day we want to document so they are never forgotten. Hopefully our Top Ten Unforgettable Things About Our Wedding list will help:

10. Flower Girl Mackenzie told her mom, “today is the best day of her life,” and when Mackenzie’s brother and Ring Bearer, Jack, replied with “it’s the worst of mine.” Hilarious.

9. The personal attendants had to cut Wendy’s petticoat because it was too long and Wendy said, “make sure my mom does not see this.”

8. At the rehearsal the bridesmaids all showed up in red stretch gloves. Wendy’s nightmare came true! (Read the “They’re Baaaack” post). Then, Mackenzie showed up to the salon Saturday morning in red stretch gloves because she wanted to be like the big girls.

7. Piano Man. Twice.

6. Wendy’s mom is really anal about stickers. Hates them. She soaked the 40 red champagne flutes purchased for the head table for hours to get the stickers off. When we cut the cake and did our champagne toast there were stickers left on our flutes. I knew my mom would have passed out if she knew she forgot them!

5. About 10 minutes before it was time for Wendy to walk down the aisle, Ronnie pulled her aside and presented her with a Borsheim’s box. Inside was a beautiful diamond bracelet. She cried, he cried and behind them stood personal attendants Shannon, Lizzie and Denise, also crying.

4. We had a little hiccup with the music a few weeks before the wedding in that the church said they would not be able to have a piano and the singers would have to sing to an organ. We dealt with that for weeks and assumed Sun Dee and April would be singing to an organ. When we were standing at the altar, Sun Dee starts to sing to a piano and Trevor leans over and says, “where the hell did the piano come from?”

3. Standing at the altar was awesome. It was so surreal and a feeling we hope we never forget.

2. Trevor was mic’d for the video during the ceremony. While the bridesmaids were walking down the aisle, his heart was beating harder than it ever had been before, to the point that Trevor started to wonder if something was wrong with him. We are hopeful that the sound of his heart beating full throttle is on the video. The “WHAM-WHAM-WHAM” sound should provide a great soundtrack to the wedding.

1. The way we felt the entire day was absolutely amazing.

Since the wedding, we’ve been busy moving into our new home and getting it ready for the New Years party we hosted. Last week we painted three rooms and did many other projects around the house. We also celebrated Christmas as Newlyweds with each other and our families, and unfortunately we had a tragedy a few days before Christmas when the Hicks’ dog of 15 years, Lindsey, was put to sleep. It kind of put a damper on the excitement of the wedding and the holiday festivities but know it was a good decision. Now we’re starting to think about our honeymoon. We’re heading to LA on January 15th and are going on a 7-day cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta. Hopefully you’ll hear from us again before our departure, but otherwise look for a post when we return. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all and those of you who celebrated our wedding weekend with us, thank you so much for everything. We were glad so many wonderful people could make it (not including the wedding crashers we had) and are fortunate to have such great friend and family.

Practice Makes Perfect

And a picture from the rehearsal. Everything ran smoothly except when Trevor was hiding out in the photocopy room and missed his cue to be at the altar. At least he was right on Saturday, though. A dinner was held at the Joslyn Castle immediately following the ceremony rehearsal. More details to come on the fun night later!


Meghan, Dr. Bowers, Wendy, Trevor and Kory at the altar

Sometimes You Just Have to Jam

Thanks to everyone who kicked off the wedding weekend at the Bridal Lunch and thanks to Wendy's mom for hosting such a nice lunch and for the cute PJ pants.

While the girls were dining at Jams American Grill, the boys were enjoying themselves at Old Chicago. The lunches were the beginning of a wonderful weekend.

Be sure to keep visiting the blog to read more about the wedding and for more pictures. And speaking of pics, we'd LOVE to see any pictures you all took over the weekend. If you wouldn't mind sharing, please send them to wfitch@beap.com. We'd love to add them to our album.



The girls at the Bridal Lunch at Jams American Grill

Happy Five Year and Four Day Anniversary

December 1 was our five-year anniversary. For those of you who don't know the story, we met our first day of college, back in 1998, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Wendy was moving into Sandoz Residence Hall with her roommate, Michelle Larkin (now Seger). Michelle ran into a fellow soccer teammate of hers, Jaclyn DiGiacomo, in the lobby of the dorm. Two of Jaclyn's friend were helping move her in, and one of them was Trevor. We met then and realized Trevor was a Lambda Chi with all of Wendy's guy friends from high school.

We went to nearly every date party together as friends freshman year. May we reiterate as friends. We began dating two years later during Junior year after we realized maybe we liked each other a little more than friends, and the rest is history...

Happy (Hour) Shower

Tonight some of Wendy’s mom’s friends threw a shower for the bride-to-be at Clancy’s. Whoah are those some fuuuun ladies! We had a great time socializing and the ladies were very generous. We received several China settings and serving pieces from Borsheim’s. It was a great way to unwind from some of the last-minute wedding planning stresses. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed!

Almost Official

We’ve heard lots of horror stories about getting your marriage licenses. Not sure where we heard them, but for some reason we anticipated this being a time-consuming task. We decided to go today because we had a meeting at Church this evening and thought bringing the license to the meeting would save us a trip. We were going to go over lunch but the timing did not work out. Instead we decided to head out around 4 p.m.

Turns out we left Wendy’s parent’s house at 4:29 p.m. Anyone familiar with Omaha knows getting from 168th and Fort to 18th and Farnam at rush hour takes some time- a lot of time- especially when it’s snowing out. Pretty sure Trevor counted down every minute that ticked by. We ended up pulling into the courthouse (or whatever building it was) at 4:58 p.m. Office closed at 5. Trevor threw the car in park and didn’t even blink an eye at the parking meter (sorry police friends). We RAN in and made it on time. I’m sure the people working didn’t appreciate us too much, but hey, at least a time consuming wedding fiasco was averted.

Happy Honeymoon

We're thrilled to be going on a cruise for our honeymoon. We're going on the Carnival Pride. We cruise in and out of Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera, stopping in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. We leave January 15th. We didn't want to leave immediately after the wedding because we didn't want to miss all of the holiday festivities. Now we'll have the wedding, move into our home, celebrate Christmas and New Year's and then go on the honeymoon. Most fun month ever!

We're super excited about the trip. And, check this out. Our ship was in the news today.

Family Sues Carnival Cruise Line After Wisconsin Woman Disappears
POSTED: 10:28 am CST November 22, 2005
The family of a Wisconsin woman who disappeared from a cruise ship last year is suing Carnival Corp.
Annette Mizener disappeared from the Carnival Pride Dec. 4.
The Waukesha woman's purse was found not far from where a covered surveillance camera was located.
Mizener's family said the crew's failure to monitor the camera delayed the search efforts.
The 37-year-old's body was never found.
She is presumed dead.


ZOINKS-A-RAMA!

Pictures Are In

We got our engagement pictures back. They're swell. Here's one of many poses...

The Pig Says 20 Days Til Wedded Bliss

Wendy’s currently living with her aunt and uncle in Kansas City. They have a ceramic pig holding a chalkboard on their kitchen table and each day Aunt Bev writes down the number of days until wedded bliss. It’s very cute. Come to think of it, we need a picture of it. Anywho, the pig says it’s 20 days away. Yes, we’re three weeks out, which of course comes with tons of things to do.

This weekend was a productive one. Friday night, Joyce, Roger, Wendy and Trevor figured out details on the rehearsal dinner. Saturday started off with a great shower at the Upstream. Wendy’s aunt Mary hosted the event. Several of Wendy’s great aunts and friends of the family came, as well as Mary & Joyce who have made it to every shower thus far. We had a great time and munched on yummy appetizers. Thanks again Aunt Mary!

After the shower, Wendy and mom went to Nobbie’s, The Engravery and Wal-Mart to pick up some essentials. That evening we had a meeting with the videographer to go over the wedding day’s order of events. Lizzie was a rockstar and came with us so the videographers knew who they would work with the day of the event. Thanks again for coming over and for your help, Lizzie. After the appointment, Michelle, Brian, Denise and Mike came over help out as well. The boys assisted Ronnie in getting down all of the wedding decorations that have been stored in the attic, and the girls helped assemble bells that will be at each table. We knocked it all out that night! It was a big help—thanks, friends!

Sunday morning was fantastic. We vistied our new home and realized our house is nearly finished! We’re closing December 12. And, to keep you up to speed, we’re no longer renting Wendy’s cousin’s home. If Wendy had to move one more time, she would have poked her eyeballs out. Anywho, our new home is coming along great and we’re very excited about it.


Almost done!

More errands were completed Sunday afternoon and the day wrapped at 11 p.m. by going through the RSVPs once again :-).

Stay tuned. That pig’s still counting down and there’s a lot of exciting things happening!

The Road to Love

We thought many of you would appreciate some directions for the wedding weekend, especially those of you from out of town.

From Kansas City to Embassy Suites:
Take I-29 North. Veer to the left at the Omaha, Sioux City split in Council Bluffs (just past the Bass Pro Shop, baby). After crossing over the bridge into Omaha, get in the right lane and take the 480 exit toward downtown. Take the Dodge/Harney Street exit. Exit on Harney. Take Harney to 10th Street. Take a right on 10th. The hotel will be on the left hand side.

From Eppley Airfield to Embassy Suites:
Exit Airport, turning left on Abbott Drive. Continue Abbott Drive approximately 2 miles to 10th Street and turn left. Follow 10th Street for 6 blocks to the hotel which is located on the left (east) side of the street at 10th and Howard.

From Embassy Suites to Dundee Presbyterian:
Leaving the hotel main entrance take a right onto 10th Street so you are heading North. Turn left onto Dodge Street. Turn right onto N 52nd Street and then left onto Underwood Avenue. Total drive time is approximately 15 minutes.

From West Omaha to Dundee Presbyterian:
Take Dodge Street East, taking a slight right onto Farnam Street. Turn slighty left onto Happy Hollow Boulevard. Turn left on Underwood Avenue. Church is on the right (north) side of the street.

Hopefully that will get you where you need to go. We’ll have directions from Dundee Presbyterian to Embassy Suites in the wedding program. If you need other directions, let us know or use MapQuest.

Parking:
Parking for the ceremony is available on the street and in the Brownell-Talbot parking lot across the street. Handicap parking and entrance is on the West side of the church.

At the hotel, overnight guests receive complimentary self-parking in hotel lot- 10th and Jackson. Valet parking is also available ofr overnight guests for $12 per day. Non-overnight guests can use the valet parking option for $10 per visit, self-parking at city lots within one block of hotel (11th and Jackson & 10th and Harney), or use any available street-side parking meters.

Stay tuned. The next post will be about all of the fun things to do in Omaha if you're planning on coming to town early or staying a few extra days.

Oh What a Night

That Fankie Valli put it best when he said, “Oh what a night.” Although, he was referring to late December back in ’63. We’re talkin’ bout November 5, 2005, also known as the evening of our bachelor and bachelorette parties.

What the girls did:
The girlies took a trip down memory lane by reliving college life in Lincoln. A group of about 16 ventured to Nebraska’s state capitol for an evening of fun. The gang started out at the Holiday Inn downtown for drinks, appetizers and a game featuring old pictures of Wendy. They all had to guess the age at the time in the pictures. Special thanks to Meghan for requesting Mary and Ron dig out the mullet pictures. We then opened gifts. The final gift of the night was an awesome scrapbook. Each invitee made their own page with pictures and stories about Wendy. There were tears and laughs involved while reading them aloud. Thanks everyone for the time and effort. It’s a wonderful keepsake. The chicas then ventured to the Downtown where we had cake and a few (several) drinks before heading to The Bar where even more fun was to be had. This is getting to be a very long entry, and could be even longer, but let’s just say the rest of the evening involved a rickshaw, lots of Lazzaris pizza (thanks, Vrzal!), jumping on the beds and the worm. It was absolutely fabulous. Pictures will be posted upon receipt.

What the dudes did:
Not many details here. We remember it involved football, beer, a school bus, more beer and ham sandwiches. Trevor did not get a cute scrapbook.

Best weekend ever:
The weekend was even more spectacular for a few reasons:
1. Megan (McGargill) Miller surprised everyone by flying in from San Diego for the weekend!
2. Great friends Mike Shearer and Denise Passmore got engaged Friday night, the evening we were also surprised with Megan’s presence. The night kind of turned into a pre-bach/bachelorette party celebration. It was awesome.
3. Dear friend Kristi Hawkins from Denver took the time to drive in. It’s been forever since we’ve seen her and it was awesome to hang out.

Thanks everyone who joined us Saturday night. For those of you who weren’t able to be there, we missed you. And special thanks to Wendy’s bridesmaids and the fellas that planned both extravaganzas. Thanks for organizing such a memorable night.

We’ll remember what a night…

Fun Game, Fun Game!

We had another wonderful shower today, this one hosted by Trevor’s Aunt Ann and cousin Deana. The brunch started off with a very fun game…one so fun we want all of you to play. Rules are simple. We’re going to list off the last names of famous television couples and you have to guess the husband and wife’s first names. Answers will be at the bottom this post. Good luck!

1. Simpson
2. Jetson
3. Brady
4. Bing
5. Taylor
6. Petrie
7. Huxtable
8. Constanza
9. Jefferson
10. Bunker
11. Munster
12. Bundy

The rest of the shower was awesome. We had a tasty meal, yummy desserts and we got some great gifts, including our duvet cover, bed skirt, shams and pillows. Thanks everyone for taking the time and skipping the Husker game to attend. We’re glad you could be there!

And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for: The Answers

1. Marge and Homer (The Simpsons)
2. George and Judy (The Jetsons)
3. Mike and Carol (The Brady Bunch)
4. Chandler and Monica (Friends)
5. Tim and Jill (Home Improvement)
6. Rob and Laura (The Dick Van Dyke Show)
7. Clair and Cliff (The Cosby Show)
8. Frank and Estelle (Seinfeld)
9. George and Louise (The Jeffersons)
10. Archie and Edith (All in the Family)
11. Herman and Lily (The Munsters)
12. Al and Peg (Married…with Children)

From the Musical Soundtrack Rent

So really this posting has nothing to do with Broadway plays.

Remember that blog posting a few months ago when we were excited about our moving into our new home? Well, we’re still excited to move in. And that excitement gets to linger for two additional months. See, our original closing date was October 15. Now we’ll be closing December 12. Hooray!?!? In the meantime, we are going to rent the home Wendy’s cousins are selling. They’ve already moved into their new pad, and their old place is vacant while on the market (insert subliminal sales pitch: if anyone's looking to buy a spuer cute house, let us know. We have the perfect one).

Now here’s where the irony sets in. If any of you have met the Hicks’, you’ll know they are synonymous with “rentals.” Ron and Mary have a house-building fetish and Wendy, Kalin and Lindsey have lived in two rental homes, two apartments and two hotels in their short lives while waiting for houses to be finished. When Emilie found out we were renting Karli and Greg’s house for a bit, her comment was priceless. We just have to share:

“…Good deal about the rental though. It is in TRUE Hicks' fashion that youwould start your married life in a rental. I almost think of it as agood omen.”

Rent on.

Celebrating Marriage all Year Long

Today we were thrilled to have a “Month of the Year” shower, hosted by Wendy’s Aunt Deanna, Aunt Bev and cousin Karli. It was a marvelous event, and the hostesses definitely went all out. Each area of the house was themed for a season: gifts were opened in the autumnal living room, the kitchen, housing the yummy food and hot coffee, was a winter wonderland, the hallway brought back the warmth of summer with hanging sunshines, margaritas and umbrellas with fruit and the dining room offered a touch of spring with a cake that read, “Love is in Bloom.” And of course, as you can see by the picture, the shower would not have been complete without the bride and groom cardboard cutouts with our faces in it.

Our guests did an excellent job of giving gifts for their given months. They’re so creative, we just have to share:

January: Down comforter
February: Heart-shaped Le Creuset pan, “It Starts at the Heart” Peggy Karr plate, rosebud Bundt pan, SMITTENS and more
March: Hand painted margarita glasses and matching chip & salsa serving piece
April: Gardening tools, including hose, gloves, nozzles and rain gauge
May: A May Day basket with a “Red plate” (The Hicks family had one of these and it was used on special occasions. It will become a fun tradition for our family as well)
June: The summer necessities-a cooler and lawnchairs
July: Picnic basket & Lemonade pitcher
August: BBQ tools
September: Chip and dip set with some of Rita’s fave recipes—perfect for tailgating parties
October: Halloween decorations and cookies cutters
November: Leaf plates and one-of-a-kind pilgrim candles
December: Cookie decorating kit

Thanks everyone for taking the time to attend the shower and again to Karli, Bev and Deanna. It means a lot!



Mackenzie and Jack practicing for thier upcoming roles and Flower Girl and Ring Bearer

Need a Room?

We’ve reserved a group of rooms at the Old Market Embassy Suites at a discounted rate of $119 per night. The block’s filling up fast, so if you are interested, call 402.346.9000 and reference the Hicks/Fitch wedding to reserve a room at this rate.

Keep checking www.decembertenth2005.blogspot.com for more wedding weekend details, such as directions and fun things to do in Omaha for those of you visiting for the first time. We're looking forward to celebrating with all of you!

Six Helping Hands

Earlier this week, Emilie, Melissa and Meghan helped get our invitations ready to go. We had an assembly line which included cutting RSVP cards and placing stamps on them, and then stuffing, sealing and stamping the invitation envelopes. It was a fun get together and helped tremendously to get the invitations out on time. Thanks again for being wonderful friends and bridesmaids.

Fa la la la la la

We have Wedding Singers! Today we asked two of Wendy’s colleagues, Mrs. Sun Dee Larson (newly married so it's really fun to call her Mrs. Larson) and April Reins to sing during our ceremony. We’re thrilled to have familiar faces up there with us. They are picking the song; however, Sun Dee’s already eagerly suggested one of her originals:

(sing to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat:)
Trevor, Trevor, Trevor and Wendy
Together forever today
Marrying, marrying, marrying, marrying
Please don't snow us in

What do you all think?

Anyway, thanks again Sun Dee and April for sharing your talent with us. We’re very excited!

Our Write Hand Woman

Many, many, many, many thanks to Rachel Bullock for enduring hours of hand cramping to address all 250+ of our invitations. Rachel has the best penmanship around and graciously agreed to the favor. The invites look awesome and we cannot thank her enough! RB rocks!

Say Cheese

Something to cross off the list: engagement pictures. Last week we smiled and posed for two hours during our engagement picture session. We took a few pictures inside and then a majority of them at Elmwood Park. Trevor finally warmed up to the idea 120 minutes into it. He didn't realize the fun that was to be had. Like when we had to touch foreheads and we thought each other looked like a Cyclops because we were so close. Then there was the time Trevor had to give Wendy a piggyback ride. We kind of thought it was a joke. It wasn't. Trevor may deny it, but we had fun.

The proofs are back already and they're great. Surely you'll all be seeing them at some point. In the meantime, check out our photographer. He does a wonderful job.

Tuxes are from Mars, Wedding Dresses are from Venus

Trevor picked out the guys’ tuxes today. It was unbelievable. Seriously! How does it take women 10 months to find a dress and while guys can pick out wedding attire in 10 minutes? Not once did Trevor worry if it was pulling too much here or if it was gapping there. He didn’t think twice about which style flattered his body type or if he wanted pearls, crystals or both.

But some stunning tuxes were picked out at Men’s Wearhouse. And the fellas scored a heck of a deal because Joyce went to a bridal fair and locked in a great rate. They’re sure to look just dapper.

We Remember

In the year we’ve been planning our wedding, several friends and family members have passed away. We’d like to remember those who have went before us, both recently and in years past. You are all in our thoughts.

Grazie!

Lidia’s Italy in Kansas City was the venue for a “Marital Mayhem” get together last night. The celebration was in honor of us, as well as Wendy’s co-worker, Sun Dee, and her fiancé, Matt, who are tying the knot on Saturday.

Most of Barkley Evergreen & Partners Public Relations’ finest were able to make it to the extravaganza, despite an hour start time delay due to a little car trouble (that being Trevor driving through an enormous pothole on I-29 near St. Joe and completely ruining two tires). We were surrounded by great company, tasty appetizers and received fabulous gifts including barware from Pottery Barn and a keepsake featuring each of Wendy’s co-workers’ own recipe for a successful marriage.

Thanks to Lindsey, April and Rachel for planning the event, and for everyone who was able to come to Lidia’s. Those of you who weren’t able to make it, you were missed. And for the record, Trevor made it back to Omaha with all four tires in tact, but he did have another incident with the Missouri Highway Patrol for speeding. Luckily, he only received a warning.


Matt, Sun Dee, Wendy and Trevor

Home Sweet Home

As many of you know, we are new homeowners. What a scary thought. Just kidding…we are very excited!

Anyway, it’s just a little guy but is a perfect first home. It’s located at 156th and Fort in Omaha…really close to our friends’ and even closer to Tanner’s.

Here’s a picture of the house in it’s current stage. The finished product is expected to be ours in mid-October just in time for the trick-or-treaters.


15255 Armstong Street

One Year Ago Today

It’s hard to believe we’ve been planning a wedding for 365 days already. How the time has flown by. Today was spent celebrating Wendy’s car insurance rates dropping (Happy Birthday, Wendy) and was also spent driving around the Old Market looking for a bridal luncheon venue. The fact we were in the Old Market was awfully ironic because just one year from today, almost to the hour, the two of us were at Ted & Wally’s, walking around the Heartland of America Park, just getting engaged.

This weekend was more wedding-productive than just the bridal luncheon. We met with Embassy Suites and figured out a lot of details for the reception. Invitations were ordered, the rehearsal dinner guest list was nearly finalized and we also started working on the flower girl dress which Trevor’s mom, Joyce, is making. All in all it was a great Labor Day weekend and One Year of Engagement Anniversary.

A Little Anecdote From the Father of the Bride

From: Ron Hicks [mailto:ronnieh@cmaomaha.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 4:26 PM
To: wendy hicks
Subject: FW:


All eyes were on the radiant bride as her father escorted her down the aisle. They reached the altar and the waiting groom: the bride kissed her father and placed something in his hand. The guests in the front pews responded with ripples of laughter. Even the priest smiled broadly. As her father gave her away in marriage, the bride gave him back his credit card.

Funny Ha Ha

Do you know about the two TV antennas that got married? The wedding was terrible but the reception was terrific.

So Many Thanks

Thanks to everyone who attended the "Every Room of the House" Shower on Saturday. We appreciate everyone taking the time to be there, and we missed those of you who were unable to attend. Many, many thanks also for the wonderful gifts. You all went above and beyond.

Special thanks to Michelle Seger, Kathy Larkin, Meghan Slattery, Debbie Slattery, Emilie Shannon and Lisa Shannon for hosting such a fantastic shower. It was wonderful!


Some of the girls (and Berkley the dog) after the shower

Wedding Talk

If anyone doesn't receive Daily Candy e-mails, you should. They are daily newsletters announcing fun new products, services and ideas. Wendy's "I Love Nick and Jessica" tote bag would not have been found without this genius of a Web site. Anywho, today's newsletter was so good and so appropriate, it must be shared. Wedding lingo...

altarcation n. A heated, angry dispute between the couple regarding the details of the ceremony. (Honey, no, we did not discuss letting your Uncle Larry, a.k.a. "The Stuttering Wonder," do a reading.)

bridesmaid, revisited n. A woman who's been a bridesmaid so often she refers to the month of June as "the wedding circuit."

brilton n. A 3 a.m. Vegas wedding. (Thank you, Britney and Nicky.)

ca-toast-trophic adj. Used to describe a completely horrifying toast.

child bride n. The flower girl forced to wear a miniature version of the bridal gown, complete with veil and train.

debauchelor n. A groom whose bachelor party is particularly bacchanalian.

dowdification n. The process by which brides ensure they aren't upstaged by their bridesmaids. (Damn, if that maid of honor wasn't dowdified!)

groompaloompa n. Bridezilla's counterpart.

maid of dishonor n. The wedding attendant who alters her dress to show lots o' cleavage, then sleeps with the best man.

nuptualpalooza n. A wedding weekend that's as action-packed as a three-ring circus.

OVD n. Obsessive Vicarious Disorder. A condition that afflicts mothers of the bride.

rockafella n. A groom who picks a ring for its size and ostentation. (Sure, she's marrying for love. But it doesn't hurt that Joe's a rockafella.)

Vera-cious adj. Used to describe the bird-like appetite of a bride hoping to fit into a Vera Wang sample-size dress.

Bored at Home Depot

Wendy? Often. Trevor? Never. Never until the weekend of July 4th when we registered. Home Depot was the last stop of a three-store registering spree and it was the only time Trevor has ever proactively wanted to leave his DeWalt and Klein toys. Registering at Home Depot was a little tedious because we had to write down the SKUs for each item we wanted; they don’t have the fun guns Pottery Barn and Bed, Bath & Beyond had. All in all, the registries are started and nearly complete, except for Borsheim’s where we are registering for China. And by we, we mean Wendy and her mom. Trevor’s passed the joy of registering on.


Trevor testing out brooms

They’re Baaaaaccckkkk

The wedding nightmares, that is.

Back in September after the engagement, a good night’s sleep was rare. I tossed and turned about everything. Where should we have the wedding? How can we make this guest list smaller? Would the smokers hate me if they went outside to puff and it was snowing? And the reasons for no sleep didn’t stop there, as the dreams piled on. There was one when the bridesmaids, who were to be wearing gloves with their dresses, showed up in red, stretchy gloves. You know, the $.99 Target special. The mismatched gloves you wear two pair of because they are so thin they really don’t keep your hands warm. Yeah—not really what I envisioned in my wedding. And there was the one when my dad went to pick-up my dress from being steamed but it came back wrinklier than before but pictures were starting and there was nothing I could do about it (note: I really like my clothes to be pressed. One time Melissa busted me for ironing my pajamas. Hence, you can see how this dream really disturbed me).

There were more and I finally decided I needed to quit reading wedding magazines before I went to bed. And so I did. But for some reason last night, the wedding nightmares reoccurred. This time, none of my wedding party showed up except Shannon Hite (thanks, Shan). I was a little upset, but no biggie. I was a lot upset when I put my dress on (by myself because no one was there to help me) and it was a navy blue velvet bottom and maroonish, chiffonishy long-sleeved top with a large bow tied around the waist. Downright hideous. Gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. Luckily I was saved by the alarm clock and the ugliest wedding dress of all time vanished into dreamland.

I'm thinking, and hoping, they'll stop. Yeah, in my dreams.

** This posting is from Wendy only. Trevor has normal, un-wedding related dreams. Wendy is jealous.

Eye Do

Typically when one thinks of his or her wedding, they think of whether or not they’ll be bawling all the way down the aisle, not whether or not they’ll be squinting all the way down the aisle. Well for Wendy, she was nervous about both, but has solved dilemma number two.

For anyone that knows Wendy, you might have noticed when she’s trying to read or see something far away her eyes get tiny, her nose krinkles and she says “it’s blurry.” Most of the time it’s harmless (unless you’re in the passenger seat and she’s behind the wheel). However, she was really nervous that, although uninvited to the wedding, the blurriness would decide to show up as the doors of Dundee Presbyterian Church open on December 10 and that she wouldn’t be able to see her groom standing at the end of the aisle. So, after a lovely optometrist appointment earlier in the week, Wendy is now a proud contact wearer. It’s been rather painless, thanks to Melissa and Rachel’s moral support and Contact 101 lessons. Seems odd to figure optical expenses into a wedding budget but it’s all a part of saying the “Eye dos.”

Pencil It In

It’s such a relief our Save the Dates are out! Hopefully by now most of you have received them in the mail. If you didn’t:

1. You stumbled upon our blog accidentally and aren’t invited to the wedding. Admit it…you have no idea who we are.

2. The envelope was destroyed in the mail. You may be thinking “lame excuse” but it’s the truth. Hand canceling or not, those pencils do not ship well and we have three damaged envelopes, Save the Dates and apology letters from the United States Postal Service to prove it. Hopefully the indestructible envelopes we resorted to held strong.

3. You moved and forgot to change your address. Click here and we’ll help you out.

4. Save the Dates were not sent to everyone. If we've provided you with this blog address, consider yourself invited.

Special thanks to Lizzie Fraser for staying in on a Friday night to help cut, tie and assemble many Save the Dates. And thanks to Mama Hicks for checking and double checking the finished pile so that no one received two or was overlooked, and thanks to Papa Hicks for hand delivering the pile to the post office.

Long Time, No Post

Sorry we haven’t written in a while--we’ve been away at an awards ceremony. Yep, we won the “Worst Bloggers of the Year Award” for our consistent lack of posts.

Actually, while there has been a lot going on in wedding planning world, there isn’t anything too exciting to report. After countless nights of handwriting Save the Date envelopes, Wendy’s right hand fell off. Other than that, the girls got their bridesmaid dresses ordered and Wendy’s dress came in! Hope everyone is doing well—can’t wait to see you all in seven months and two days!