Photogs and Hunger, oh my!

Cara has set up a few appointments with a few select photographers for the coming weekend. Of course I'm not excited about it, but know that we have to do it. I mean, we do need someone to take pictures and to do it well. Oh, and the first appointment will run into the start of the Illinois-Gonzaga game. Not thrilled about missing that, but for her, I'll do it.

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With the wedding year now just a few days away (gulp) I know that I really have to start kicking it in gear with some of the things I want to do. One of which is my weight. In the past 10 years I've gone back and forth between 240 and 280. Oh what a long, strange trip it's been. Filled with days of eating nothing but chinese food, drinking beer and playing video games. Right now I'm at 270 and am completely set on losing 20 pounds before we get married. I've been going to the gym at least a few times a week and doing good while I am there. But it's the diet part that I fail at. But now I'm going to do both. And I've started a nifty little tally on the right side column, as you can see. Every Monday morning I will weigh in and share the results. This way I can't hide from it and if I start to slack off, hopefully I can get shamed enough publicly through this blog to kick it up a notch.

Today at work we recieved a huge holiday gift basket from one of the publishing companies we work with. Let the games begin.

Wedding Songs and a Christmas Donkey

The Christmas Donkey song
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Dominick+The+Donkey+The+Italian+Christmas+Donkey/171512

So, obvisouly Dominick the Christmas Donkey is not a great choice for first dance song. But it's the holidays and Cara and I find this song hilarious ever since we heard it while eating at tapas place in Geneva this past year.

Now let's talk wedding songs for the first dance. Sure we still need to book the photog, music and actually find a place to get married, but let's not worry about that for a few minutes. I've been casually wondering what song we should choose for our first dance. I feel like there are a ton of ways we could go on this. Traditional, funny, classic, loving, cute, cliche. It makes it really hard because you want this to be a such a great impression of you both as a couple.

A few years ago Cara and I went to the wedding of one of her friends from when we were in the Marching Illini. Her and her husband (a fellow bando) had their first dance to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAIKznMPXUk

I watched them dance as this song glided around them and I felt an overwhelming sensation. I could feel their love for each other. They stepped perfectly with other and their love. It was really incredible.

Ever since then I have thought that the first dance can really speak universally to everyone. But the challenge is not to find the perfect song, but to discover what is going to show the world exactly what you and your partner mean to each other and how you want to show it.

I keep coming back to "only fools rush in" as done by Elvis Presley. But I worry that it's too classic and slightly cliche. It has so much of what I consider "Cara and KJ" in chord progressions, rhythms, feel, flow and lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFSfdL5lPoY

I'll try to post some more song idea's as they come. But I also welcome any suggestions.

All I know is that "I can't help falling in love with Cara,"....each and every single day.

a record of the journey begins, 8 months later

so my fiance has taken to blogging the planning of our upcoming wedding. the trials, decisions, fights and love that all pour into the mix that I'm sure will turn out to be one tasty event and something that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

as she has taken to this, I decided to do so as well. But my side probably won't consist of a debate on a style of chair covers (though I made no certain promises on that). However, I see this as a look at what I consider to be the modern guy's role and care about wedding planning and the like.

Being a modern guy, to me, means that you care deeply for the one you will marry and also care about the details of the special day you two will share. While you may not search the vast regions of google for photographers in your area, you will be certain to carefully dissect the styles and personality each potential vendor can bring to this occasion.

Now, I am still what can be considered a typical guy in the planning. I do sometimes (more often then not) frustrate my beautiful bride-to-be with my lack of dedicated time to looking at potential vendor's that she lays out for us to browse. Most times it takes a few weeks and many, many inquiries from her before I make the time to get it done.

today's hot button issue is the honeymoon. it started out with a statement, got heated and then cooled down. And it came at the worst time. She was on her way out to the door to work for the afternoon. I have a big issue with people leaving or going to sleep upset with each other. You don't know what life brings, so to cherish every moment is a trait we all must come to realize.

So there I was blocking the door, her only reasonable exit. She was standing there in her red coat. The same coat she was wearing when I proposed last April. I wouldn't let her leave until we both moved past being angry. I think that's really important. And I feel really lucky to realize this and to be with someone who will do this with me.

We cooled down, kissed with a passion (guys, never kiss the woman you love without such devotion) and she was off. Hours later she returned and we sat down together after a great home-cooked dinner by yours truly and looked at some great places to honeymoon at. St. Lucia and Jamaica are the front runners so far.

We also watched the movie "Julie and Julia," which was good and made me want to cook a lot of things.

I will end this blog with the next thing my fiance says out of her mouth: i'm tired.