Merry Christmas + One

Cody Claus says "Merry Christmas from the soon-to-be Snyders!"

I am celebrating my last few days of my last full year as a Prager. By next Christmas, I will officially be a Snyder (of Scheider, according to members of my family). We spent a wonderful week in South Carolina with our family.

We have our mini-engagement party tomorrow, and then we are heading back home just a FEW Legos heavier.

We would like to wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

STEVIE aka Cody Jr

Please welcome Stevie, or Cody Jr. to the family. I just saw this picture and realized I have not shown the world this amazingly cute puppy. My parents just got him a few months ago. He looks eerily similar to Cody, and is just as smart and outgoing. Stevie loves to play Catch Cody when Cody comes to visit.

A Paula Deen Catered Wedding

New Dream in Life: Paula Deen caters our wedding.

Reality: Not gonna happen. BUT, I will try and make my home the nearby Horseshoe Casino as much as possible to eat at the Paula Deen Buffet.

Don and I ate there last night when we were at the casino. The picture is of her bread pudding. Well actually it is the remnants of my plate of bread pudding that I attempted to shovel into my mouth at warp speed. SO AMAZING. If I had known how good the bread pudding and sauce were going to be, I would have literally just ate bread pudding. It was like a praline bread pudding extravaganza.

Everything else was awesome too, but they tried to trick you at the buffet. First of all, the plates were tinyyyy. I picked one up, and said to Don: "Okay, here's the salad plate. So where is the main plate?" But no, the tiny plate was the main plate. Well sorry Horseshoe, you can't dupe us, because Don just got two plates to start with. And I got 1.5 plates (aka small plate and smaller bread plate.) But that is not the end of the cunningness. So, most people do buffets right to left, as that is how people feel comfortable. Well, they put all the filling starches right at the beginning. Essentially my first plate was shrimp and grits, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese. Small plates combined with starches meant I basically filled up with three tiny scopes of food. AKA Horseshoe makes a lot of money since I basically ate nothing. Then the prime rib is all the way at the end, so you NEVER get there! The salads were over there also so you didn't get your salad plate first. You get the filling carbos first. Sneaky sneaky. Don won though. He was eating so fast I am pretty sure he never swallowed until all his plates were done.

Bottom line: Buffet = AWESOME. Horseshoe = SNEAKY. Don = HAPPPPPPY. Amanda = DREAMS OF BREAD PUDDING.

Well if you REALLY want to know, I didn't like it

My wedding Invitations day guests for Charlene & Kenny
Originally uploaded by Salicia

"If you guys have an ugly baby, and you ask me if you're baby is pretty, I'm not gonna tell you your baby is pretty. You guys better make sure you have a pretty baby." Linda Prager's baby policy from 5 seconds ago (this has nothing to do with this post, but she was saying it as I started posting so I thought it made a good addition)

So I went on a wedding rampage today. I FINALLY got some things done for the wedding.

1) I got the wedding guest list done. Somehow...since this occurred in the midst of another Amanda-Linda showdown and a Michael budget ultimatum.

2) I have ordered to invitation samples. Which my mom hates apparently. She said nothing at the time, then as I ordered them decided to let me know that she didn't like them. Queue the ugly baby rampage. Apparently if things are ugly she won't tell you until you ask...unless you have an ugly baby in which case she is perfectly happy telling you that you have an ugly baby. Which makes no sense, but that's my mom. But I like both the invitations. One is purple and following the wedding colors. The other is beige, more neutral, and falling more along the lines of our imagined oldies glamour theme.

3) I have started a wedding budget. My dad is expecting some sort of a professional powerpoint presentation extravaganza in order to convince him to increase my wedding budget. Yeah...I will get right on that! Seriously...I need a bigger budget so I will budget away until this is done. I wonder if $10,000 for flowers will slide by his eagle eyes...

Ahh, the joys of planning a wedding. Just shy of a year out and I already feel jaded. It will be lucky if I even show up for this in the end. ;)

Planning a Wedding + Law School = No Wedding

Happy Thanksgiving btw...I have been MIA on this blog for a while. Law school finally sucked me in for the semester in November. Once the smell of finals hits the hallways, its hard to find time for anything else besides wondering how many ways you can possibly fail each of your classes.

But the semester is finally over! Well, it was over a week and a half ago, but I am finally recuperated and ready to move on with life. AKA getting the wedding date finalized. Stacey (Disney wedding contract person extraordinaire) and I have been shooting emails back and forth. She is out of the office until Monday, but I am hoping that we may be able to sign the Letter of Agreement on Monday! Everything is a go as of now for 12/12/11, but it will be nice to know 100% that the date is ours.

Besides that, I officially have a Maid of Honor. I just asked her a few days ago, and she said yes! Like she said, it is basically the blind leading the blind since I have no idea what MOHs do...and neither does she. But she is great, so I know whatever it is she does will be perfect.

I am concentrating right now on the guest list. Yeah...That is not going so well, but I will get it done. My way. Sorry mom. People will be invited. There will be food. There will be wine (well maybe not wine...) BUT, all will have a great time.

I'll be back soon with more wedding details, as the wedding is officially less than a year away now. EEK! Better get to planning!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Just thought I would share an image of our little holiday set-up. No time for a long blog as I need to make some pumpkin cookies for my Donnie! And then I making Hallo-weenies for dinner and some pizza puff eyeballs! Followed up by some delicious apple cider.

It's Official! 12-12-11

Disney - Grand Floridian From High Above
Originally uploaded by Express Monorail

I have the email back from Disney, and we officially have our date next year.

Put this on your calendars everyone: 12-12-2011 in Orlando, Florida at the Grand Floridian Resort! (see picture to the right for a lovely look at the resort from the monorail stop near the Magic Kingdom. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, the small, low building to the left of the resort is the wedding chapel.)

Disney changed their booking procedures, and they can now hold dates up to 16 months in advance. So when I sent my "please keep us in mind" email about reserving our date this December, Stacey (our wonderful Disney contact) said that we were on the books already! She just needs the green light in terms of exact ballrooms, but we definitely have the chapel for the morning. I am sure everything else will fall into place perfectly.

Apparently the next steps start happening in November/December, which is exciting. Can't wait to pass on more news about the process.

All I know is that I better start working on that guest list so we can get the save the date cards out ASAP!

It's Official! 12-12-11

I have the email back from Disney, and we officially have our date next year.

Put this on your calendars everyone: 12-12-2011 in Orlando, Florida at the Grand Floridian Resort!

Disney changed their booking procedures, and they can now hold dates up to 16 months in advance. So when I sent my "please keep us in mind" email about reserving our date this December, Stacey (our wonderful Disney contact) said that we were on the books already! She just needs the green light in terms of exact ballrooms, but we definitely have the chapel for the morning. I am sure everything else will fall into place perfectly.

Apparently the next steps start happening in November/December, which is exciting. Can't wait to pass on more news about the process.

All I know is that I better start working on that guest list so we can get the save the date cards out ASAP!

Cody has a Hard Life

Hi, my name is Cody Snyder. My life is so hard. I get up in the mornings and take a nice walk with my daddy. He then feeds me a treat and gives me food and water. I spend all day playing and napping. Then my mommy comes home and rubs my belly and cuddles with me all night long. Then we take a long walk so I can sniff all around the neighborhood. I often curl up in a blanket at night and heave a large sigh because my life is so tough. It is hard to play, sleep, and eat all day. It's hard being a Cody.

100 Guests???

I have a secret to admit. I have been procrastinating a little bit in getting in touch with Disney to confirm the date. The main reason is that my parents and I have differing opinions on the amount of guests that should be attending my wedding. (And by my parents I mean cough cough Linda Prager cough cough). I envision a smaller wedding, while my mom thinks we need to invite everyone I have ever met and she has ever met in our entire lives. So I might be exaggerating a wee bit, but figuring out a guest total has stalled this process on my end.

You cannot reserve a Disney wedding before one year out. So since I want a December 12, 2011 wedding, I cannot put in my name for that date until December 12th of this year. But in order to reserve the chapel and ballrooms, I need a guest estimate so that we are booked into the appropriately sized room. If I had my vision, it would just be Don and I, our parents, and the small bridal party. Seriously, I actually would love a smaller, more intimate, more extravagant setting. More of a quality over quantity type of situation.

But alas, my mother is vicariously living through this wedding and insists we invite my grandma, aunts, and cousins. (kidding mom) In reality, we have had a few fights about the guest total, but we have come to a mutual understanding at this point.

So long story short, today I finally contacted Stacey at Disney Weddings to tell her that we are sure that we want the wedding in Disney next December. I told her to keep all of the other details the same from the original "faux" contract, and that our guest attendance would be 50-100. I cc-ed my dad on the email.

Here is his response:

100 guests?

My reply:

Blame your wife.

Disney Deprived/Fall Break in Chi-Town

Don and I have been in a Disney mood as of late. Essentially...we are Disney-deprived. It has been almost 8 months since we have set foot in the Magic Kingdom. If I could give up my dream of becoming a lawyer and having a family, I would be down in Florida within a week serving popcorn on Main Street or cleaning toilets next to Space Mountain. Seriously, I would happily be one of those people pushing the road cleaner machines around before and after the parades; I would happily make barely above minimum wage; I would happily take advantage of all the wonderful perks of working for Disney...if I did not have a family and future to think of.

Enough Disney lamenting. Don and I are going back to Disney in early January! Just the knowledge that we are going back is going to propel me through the rest of this year. I am seriously going to kiss the Disney-ground when I get there, I am so happy right now. The day Don and I decided to make another trip down there, and booked a cheap vacation thanks to Orbitz, we found these awesome pumpkins.

We were up in Chicago for fall break spending some time with his mom. We went to a pumpkin patch, and I saw this booth with awesome painted pumpkins. Que funny situation: We walk up to this booth to look at the pumpkins. The lady running the stand looks at my UofL law shirt, then looks at Don's Great American Insurance polo, pauses and says...could you guys look after the stand for a few minutes while I get this little girl a pony? Apparently if you wear shirts suggesting you are involved in a successful career it makes you more respectable. I wonder what happens if you wear a presidential seal polo around all day....

BTW...Don is the goofy pumpkin and I am the Snow White pumpkin....just in case anyone was wondering about whether he picked out the princess pumpkin...

Chicago was great. A lot of awesome Chicago food was consumed. Great restaurants like Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and McDonalds...we even ventured to the great Chicago culinary experience that is Popeyes. We did have Portillos once, and picked up some great local bagels so that might balance out the meals in Chicago's favor.

It was also fun to spend time with Stella. Note to her sisters: you won't be seeing her for a while because all her free time will be spent quilting me various quilts, table runners, aprons, snuggies for Cody...she has no time free time for anything other than making me beautiful quilts. ;) Sadly enough, Don and I have already purchased two Winnie the Pooh fabrics in anticipation of a Winnie the Pooh quilt for our first child...or one for me...I like Pooh too...

We can't wait to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with Stella. She is going to be a traveling lady this holiday season. First, she will be visiting us in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving so we can take her to the best ice cream store in the universe. (And also so I can make a lovely Thanksgiving dinner using only Stella's recipes so that Don doesn't complain that I made the food differently than his mommy.) Then she is flying down to South Carolina on her birthday to spend Christmas with us and meet my family! I don't know if I am more excited for the holidays or for Disney...probably Disney. Sorry turkey, mashed potatoes, and Christmas tree...maybe next year.

You Know You've Been Together TOO Long When...

...You're leaving a restaurant sans your fiancé after having dinner with your friends, and you proceed to unlock your car and get into the passenger seat...And sit there wondering why the car hasn't starting moving yet.

Sushi Wednesday

Sushi with Salmon Roe
Originally uploaded by Kirti Poddar

I would like to take this moment to thank whoever invented sushi. I don't know why, how, or when someone thought to wrap delicious fish and veggies in rice and dried seaweed...but I would like to thank him/her for thinking outside of the box. Sometimes the idea of going out to sushi is the only thing getting me through the day.

The only thing that would make sushi better would be if Don liked sushi. (And maybe if it were not so expensive, and maybe if I also had a bigger stomach that would enable me to eat more sushi...a fact Elisabeth and I were lamenting at our last sushi night.) Maybe I can convince the chef tonight to wrap a mozzarella stick or a rib in some rice and pawn it off as sushi to Don. If Denny's gets to put mozzarella sticks in a grilled cheese sandwich, I am sure it can be put into a sushi roll. All we would need would be a little Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce on the side, and maybe, just maybe, Don would like sushi.

Little does he know that all we are having at our wedding is sushi...

Shopping at Hobby Lobby is better than Homework

Don and I went to Red Lobster for lunch. Note to our future children or any family members ever in dire need of Don's help: you will not come before cheddar biscuits. If he had to choose between taking you to school (future Jacob Eli - and yes mom, we still like that name) and eating cheddar biscuits, cheddar biscuits will always win.

After 2 rounds of cheddar biscuits, I decide that we should go over to Hobby Lobby to get a fall wreath for out door. Apparently cheap plastic gourds/pumpkins and fake leaves on a round of twigs are very expensive. So we went to plan B. We decided to buy a wreath later, and find a nice Halloween/Thanksgiving centerpiece for the table. Yeah...cheap plastic pumpkins/gourds and fake leaves in a vase are just as expensive as when they are attached to a wreath.

I decide that this is a great time for a design project since all the individual fall items are on sale for all those crafty people out in the world. We found this really awesome metal wire cornucopia frame with a leaf design. Somehow all the random leaves and shiny ball twigs I picked out looked really good when I put them together!

And of course the moral of the story is that after we bought all the items to make the centerpiece, it ended up being almost as expensive as one of the pre-made centerpieces. But this one has the added benefit of stroking my ego every time I walk by the kitchen table. (And I think that it looks better than the ones they were selling...)

A Moment of Silence

One of the biggest struggles that Don and I have faced from the beginning of this planning process was how to accommodate his father. Don's father had been sick for a very long time. The whole time we have have been together, I have watched Don struggle with dealing with his father's pain. The logistics of getting his father to Florida were a big concern for us. Especially since his father was a huge Disney fan.

Don and his father used to drive down to Orlando every year. They would road trip together. They knew Valdosta, Georgia before it was the roaring town it has become today. Every time Don and I took a trip down to Disneyworld, we would be cautious about speaking to his father because we both knew he would have given up anything to be down there enjoying Space Mountain with us.

Don's father passed away three months ago today. He passed away the week before my parents were going up to Chicago to meet him. He had not been doing well, but that week before he passed away he was so happy. The last time we spoke he was over the moon excited to be able to meet my parents. He had been so down on his situation that I was hopeful to hear him so at peace. But they say that often a person gets better before they pass. It is my belief that this occurs because the person is getting ready to be at peace with God.

Donald is still with us. He will be with us at our wedding. He is with us in Stella's caring gestures. He is with us in Don's intense Modern Warfare sessions. He is with us in the Snyder's love of football. He is with us in every Bears victory and loss. He is with us in my mom's long disjointed stories. He is with us everyday in our thoughts and prayers and in countless other ways.

Donald -

You were loved, and you were lost. But you will never be forgotten as you will always live on in our memories and the lives of your loved ones.

10 Princess Dresses are better than 5

Alfred Angelo, in corroboration with Disney, just released a whole line of Disney princess gowns. (I found this on yahoo.com, btw.) I was basically in heaven. I even made Don watch the youtube video about the dresses. And the icing on the cake is that the dresses all run under $1,500. Yes, you heard me right...Disney produced princess dresses; high quality dresses; low-priced dresses; beautiful fairytale dresses.

PROBLEM: I cannot buy them at Kleinfelds. They are only offered through Alfred Angelo stores.

I guess it is not really a problem, since I am getting to go shopping at Kleinfelds in NYC. I am lucky enough to spend almost a week in NYC with my mom, my fiance, and my future mother-in-law. I do get to buy my wedding dress from the same store where my mom purchased hers. There is a whole line of Kristie Kelly Disney dresses at Kleinfelds...but 10 princess dresses are better than 5.

A link to the youtube video featuring the dresses out next year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzj94IoIAws

I Wish I Could Just Open a Fortune Cookie...

Fortune Cookie
Originally uploaded by C.P.Storm

...and it would tell me all the details of my wedding.

1) Good things come to those who wait. These things are purple and green.

2) Invite someone new over. Use an old-fashioned lace bordered invitation in green.

3) Your questions will be answered over a lunch buffet featuring chicken and two appetizers.

4) Give presents to those you love. People always enjoy a corkscrew or satchel of candy.

5) Stop to smell the roses. And the hydrangeas, sweet peas, and calla lilies.

When and Where

When: December 12, 2011 (fingers crossed on availability)

Where: Disney's Wedding Chapel at the Grand Floridian for the ceremony

Disney's Grand Floridian Ballroom for the reception; cocktail hour in an outdoor pavilion

Current thoughts:

I have been to a few larger weddings and never felt very comfortable. There is always a ton of people, and the bride and groom spend more time shaking hands and making small talk than enjoying what should be the best day of their lives. That is not what Don and I want. We want an early morning ceremony, followed by a brunch. A very casual and relaxed vibe so that people feel comfortable and we have time to enjoy ourselves. We are also in Disney...so why have an evening event where people waste a whole day in Florida. My hope is to have this earlier in the day so that people can still go and enjoy the parks and take in all the holiday decorations. Plus, Don and I actually get to spend the day together and let the fact that we are married sink in!

08-08 becomes 09-09

We're engaged!

I don't know if that sentence still deserves an exclamation point since it has been 21 days since the engagement...but it got one for this post.

I am starting this blog to keep everyone up to date about the wedding planning process...or lack thereof...We are in Louisville. My parents are in Cincinnati. Don's family is in Chicago. The rest of my family is in South Carolina. My friends are all over. His friends are all over. This seemed like the best idea. I have time in law school for a few update posts, but not for phone calls to fifteen people every time we make a decision!

So here are the details on the engagement:

We both already know we are getting engaged before the end of the year (I mean, we have been planning our wedding for a while...). So Don tells me he is going ring shopping up in Chicago. He doesn't tell me if he bought a ring, but he comes home the next day. I pester him as usual about just telling me if he has the ring while we are sitting on the coach. I am half-joking, but really not. We have a conversation about him not knowing how to propose and have me like it. I say, "just do what comes natural" or something like that. While Call of Duty is playing in the background (seriously, there was a video game in the background) Don takes the ring out of his pocket, gets on one knee and proposes.

Lame...but perfect. Even though I had all these fantastical ideas in my head, I think that the proposal was exactly right. And the ring is perfect.