My Favorite Birthday Gift (Other Than Marilyn's Undying Love)

Well, another year has come and gone, and thirty is just around the corner. I celebrated my birthday last month with my lovely Marilyn and members of my family. Well, I was fortunate enough to receive a few gifts, the best of which was Frank the Gnome. That's right, I said Frank the Gnome. Frank, named in honor of my brother Frank who gave me said gnome, is not just your garden variety gnome, he is also a Cubs fan. Frank the Gnome is wearing a Cubs hat and holding a baseball and bat. I know that most of you will ask why the hell I need a gnome, but I say why not. Frank the Gnome has been a trust worthy companion and now watches every game with me. Without further ado, I introduce everyone to Frank the Gnome:

Wonderful WALL-E

Our pals at Pixar have done it again. Of course I am speaking about WALL-E. Mar and I saw it a couple of weeks back and both totally loved it. Not only was the animation beautiful, but the story is captivating and hits very close to home. It would take a while to explain the whole plot, so I will refrain. If anyone wants to have a very enjoyable movie experience, I suggest seeing WALL-E, it was truly great. Four stars.

No Frakkin' Way

Well folks, it has been a solid month and I am still speechless of the Battlestar Galactica mid-season finale. When I say my mind was blown, I mean my mind was blown. The season as a whole has been up and down so far. (Don't read anymore if you don't want to have the finale ruined) After the Baltar trial, it would be hard to maintain the suspense, so I understand why some episodes felt like filler. Another issue I had was the whiny nature of Starbuck after her apparent return from the dead. While there was a nice conclusion to this plot line, it took a little long to get there.

Well, back to the finale. President Roslin continued to battle her problem while the Final Four kept their identities hidden. I loved the drama of knowing who the Final Four were, even though the crew did not. And man, the big reveal with Tigh and Adama was a total hit to the gut. But, not as big a hit as the final scene. I won't reveal the final scene, but it was unbelievable. After all this time, it was so satisfying. I still can't quite believe how it ended. It was a very stirring moment that left me totally speechless. I just hope that everyone was able to enjoy it as much as I did.

How Sweet It Is

So, one of the minor issues that we have had during the wedding planning centers around the grand idea of a sweet table. For those that cannot read into it yet, I am being very sarcastic. Personally, I do not care for the idea of a sweet table. For those of us that don't know, a sweet table is a table full of sweets that is brought out after the cake. The key for me in this equation is after the cake. For the life of me, I cannot justify the idea of having a sweet table when a cake is a sweet! Mar's mother is insistent about this detail for the sake of tradition. Her mother is Italian, which is where this tradition comes from. Anyways, it has been a bone of contention.

Maybe I am crazy, but as far as I am concerned, a sweet table is not very high on the list of necessities. As we have been planning this little party, tradition is something that has been constantly pushed to the forefront by our parents. In my opinion, we should be able to make up our own minds for our wedding. This is not to say that we will buck all tradition, but sometimes I think that our parents forget that we are two consenting adults capable of making responsible decisions. I am sure that things will get worked out, but in the meantime, don't be surprised if you hear me airing my grievances.

Location, Location, Location

So, I do not know about the rest of you folks that have planned a wedding, but this business is very stressful. Well, the first big step after the engagement was for us to pick a location. One thing that is very lucky for us is the fact that we have summers off from school, so we have a lot of free time, even though we still work at the restaurant. The first two weeks after I proposed we did nothing but look at potential wedding sites.

We went to around ten different places in the Naperville area, and I have to say that all of them were nice. After visiting each place, we always asked each other what our top three choices were. We always seemed to have the same top three, but our number one was always different. Well, that all changed after we made one fateful stop: Walter Payton's Roundhouse.

We just totally fell in love with this place. The building is dripping with character and has a ton of history. We will have the ceremony in the courtyard, followed by a reception in their grand ballroom. On top of all of this, who wouldn't want to get married at a place that was run by the greatest of all the Bears. Our date is August 1, 2009, so make sure to mark your calendars. More details will follow as they become available.

At Long Last

Drum roll please... Marilyn and I got engaged! Yes, after six and a half years, we are proud to announce our engagement. The magical date was May 31st, 2008 and the location was the Riverwalk in Downtown Naperville. I had been planning the event since my sprig break and had to go into total stealth mode to prevent Mar from knowing my intentions. Anyways, after finagling some time to myself to go shopping, I ended up finding the ring of our dreams at the Diamond Gallery in Naperville. Shopping for the ring was quite the ordeal, I went to several places before I found the right fit, more on that later.

Now that the ring was picked, I had to set up a time and place. Since we live in Naperville and have spent so much of our time here, I decided the Riverwalk would be the perfect place. Well, I went down and scoped out the scene and picked one of the covered bridges to serve as the location. With the place and date picked, I let a couple of people in on the secret so I could have someone in place to take a couple of pictures.

Considering the fact that our schedules are so similar and always seem to be jammed packed, I did not want to make the day appear to be out of the ordinary. Marilyn was under the impression that we would be going out to dinner with some of our friends and I did my best to make it appear like a normal day. After working the morning shift, we came home and got ready for to go out.

We parked a good distance away from the restaurant and she looked at me like I was crazy. I just told her it was a nice day, so lets walk. Well, she started walking towards the restaurant and I started walking away from it. Again, she looked at me like I was nuts and I just said that it was nice so we should enjoy the river. We came to the covered bridge and started to cross it while making small talk. She was wearing sunglasses, so when we reached he end of the bridge I asked her to take them off. Once again, I got crazy looks from her. Initially she said no, so I said, "Mar, can you please take off your sunglasses." By the time she had them off, I had dropped a couple of steps behind her and was on one knee.

She looked at me with total shock and said, "Really?!"

I said,"Yes, will you?"

She said, "Really?!"

I said, "Yes, really."

She said, "Really?!"

I said, "Yes, really. Will you?"

She said, "Of course."

She accepted the ring, which was unfortunately to small due to an error by the jeweler, and I got off my knee. As I mentioned, Marilyn was totally shocked, but in a good way. After we exchanged pleasantries with our friends, we headed back to my car, which had a suitcase in it. Mar was surprised to see it and commented that I must have been planning this for awhile. I explained to her how I got everything ready and we had reservations at the new Westin in Yorktown. We then went to our room to drop our stuff off. The room had a cold bottle of champagne and rose petals spread across the floor. After dropping off our stuff, we had dinner at Harry Caray's.

Well, that's the story. Sorry it took so long to get post up, but we have been very busy. (More details on the things that have been keeping us busy will be coming in the next few days) I could not have imagined a better day. Although there was some drama, it was everything that I wanted it to be. We have a lot of planning to do, but cannot wait for the big day.