Monday, January 30, 2012

Let Them Eat Cake (Pops)

Non-traditional.  That is the best word (albeit hyphenated) that I can use to describe the wedding that Danny and I are planning.  Creating an event that suits us has been more important than letting tradition or "shoulds" dictate what will happen that day.  I got a very supportive email from a family friend telling me to do what we want that I reference regularly when I start questioning our direction (thanks, Priscilla!).

Ironically one of the first traditions we threw out was the massive wedding cake concept.  I say ironically because I am a big fan of anything chocolate and/or sugary, but I am not such a fan of wedding cake.  Solution: cake pops (cake on a stick)!  I was quite relieved when Danny agreed to that idea without a fight.  We saved our fighting for other decisions, apparently.  Perhaps I will talk about that later on, but anyway for now I am talking about cake!  My exposure to cake pops has come through Starbucks.  Yes, Starbucks the land of many decisions provided me the inspiration for our wedding dessert.  I am a big fan of the birthday cake flavored cake pop and the peppermint brownie cake pop!

So I went on the search for a maker of cake pops.  Through a friend I found a very talented baker in Chicago, but she proved to be out of our price range.  After all, I am a girl on a budget here.  Rather disappointed, I turned to my wedding planning savior - GOOGLE!  I actually discovered that there are not very many places in Denver that advertise making cake pops - in fact, I found two.  I am not used to being ahead of the curve, but on this front we just may be.  Danny and I decided that we liked the look of one over the other.  This led to a tasting yesterday for us and two very nice volunteers (hey, free cake) at Lil' Bite Kakes by KimThe business is run by a husband and wife duo who are doing this as a side business.  It was so wonderful to stumble upon people who are willing to work with us to create the dessert we want.  Plus they taste so good - bonus!  I am absolutely over the moon that the idea I had can actually come to fruition!



Saturday, January 21, 2012

The NFL Season from My Perspective

I want to work for ESPN.  This is not a secret; even my current employer knows it on some level.  Since that is highly unlikely, I may need to sprinkle (even shower) this blog with sports related musings.  I will try to clearly identify them up front so that my non-sports loving followers, or casual readers can skip over as needed.

The 2011 NFL Season was almost the season that did not happen.  An eleventh hour compromise allowed the season to take place.  On the eve of the conference championship games I would like to talk about four teams.  Three of my four are not playing tomorrow (but probably should have been), and the team that is playing is one that I could do without.

New England Patriots.  The New England Patriots went a very quiet 13-3 this season playing with one of the worst defenses I have ever seen.  Still when you have a future Hall of Famer in Tom Brady and surround him with weapons such as Rob Gronkowski, you can make up for it.  Last week they ended Tebow Time with a vengeance much to the dismay of the city of Denver, which will be a separate post at a later date.  Tomorrow they will play the Baltimore Ravens.  The team I thought at the beginning of the season would represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.  Now I must admit that I had them playing the Green Bay Packers.  So let’s see if I can go .500.  This leads me to the shock of the season…

Green Bay Packers.  The reigning Super Bowl Champions went a very impressive 15-1 throughout the 2011 regular season.  In their pursuit of a perfect season they overshadowed everyone.  Of course Aaron Rodgers and his annoying State Farm commercials helped with that cause.  But I digress.  The team seemed pretty invincible up until Kansas City, and their anemic team, put a whooping on them in Week 15.  Yeah Chiefs!  In Week 16, the Packers decided to rest Rodgers giving their number two QB, Matt Flynn an opportunity.  Well he sure proved that he could play; let’s suffice it to say he will not be a number two for long.  The Quarterback succession in Green Bay is really quite irritating for a non-fan, such as me.  In my years of football fandom it started with the worst of them all, #4 aka Brett Favre aka Danny’s Man-Crush, which led to Aaron Rodgers who won a Super Bowl, and a solid back-up waiting quietly in the wings in Matt Flynn.  The two weeks of rest may have been the demise of Mr. Rodgers, or perhaps he was spending too much time perfecting his annoying touchdown dance (the championship belt across his waist) since the Packers lost last week at home to the red-hot New York Giants led by Eli Manning…

Indianapolis Colts.  Speaking of the Manning Family, let’s talk about Peyton.  Now I am not a Peyton Manning Hater.  I don’t even hate the Indianapolis Colts.  I just think it is a team that lacks foresight in their front office.  Since drafting Manning the team appears to be operating under the delusion that he would neither get injured nor would he ever age.  Well this was the year that both those things happened.  The result?  A dismal 2-14 season that saw at least three different quarterbacks come in and try to lead the team with little to no success.  I just do not understand how you do not have a clear line of succession in place?  The team has also fired much of their front office, as well as their head coach.  The timing of the coach’s firing is a bit suspect since many of the high profile coaches have already accepted positions with other teams.  The Colts franchise literally rests on the neck of Peyton Manning.  Well, that and a little luck; Andrew Luck that is, who should be the Colts choice with first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Chicago Bears.  When you talk about luck, you can certainly say it was not on the side of the Bears this season.  My beloved Bears looked at the onset like this could be their year.  While the defense has always been their staple, the offense looked like it had something going for itself.  Jay Cutler would be leading a Mike Martz designed offense, the offensive line seemed to be semi-competent even formidable at times, and a solid run game in Matt Forte.  Well then it all just fell apart.  Jay Cutler went down with a thumb injury, which would have been bad enough since the Bears considered themselves grateful to have one solid quarterback, more than one was just too much to hope for.  Then Matt Forte goes down too.  No team, I don’t care who you are, can be asked to make up that much offensive production with back-ups.  So the Bears season came to an end without a trip to the play-offs.  Mike Martz decided to take his “Greatest Show on Turf” offense elsewhere, but there is always a silver lining.  Jerry Angelo, the Bears General Manager or as he was known to me – the bane of my existence, was fired.  I came up with a song the day that he was fired that is sung to the tune of the “Wicked Witch is Dead” from the Wizard of Oz.   It went something like this, Ding Dong Angelo’s Gone; the Wicked Jerry Angelo is Gone.  I love that movie.

Here’s hoping the four remaining teams (Baltimore – New England and New York – San Francisco) give us some enjoyable football tomorrow!  For those of without a team to root for, it’s all we can hope for at the end of the season.


Sunday, January 15, 2012

Too Many Decisions

I love movies.  My taste runs the gamut, but one of my all-time favorites is You've Got Mail.  I am not great at quoting movie lines, yet there is a line from that movie that has stuck with me over the years.  Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) is corresponding with Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) over the internet in the days before dating sites were really popular.  He shares his belief on Starbucks: "the whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino."
 
I am also a planner.  For better or worse, that is what I do.  Danny and I got engaged over Labor Day weekend, and he loved to tell people that I was going to have this wedding planned by Christmas.  I am embarrassed to say that he was not too far off.  For the record, I am not sure you are ever really done planning a wedding.  Rather I think you make a conscious decision to stop; or the wedding day arrives, and so you have no choice but to be done.  The hardest part of this planning process for me is all the decisions that have to be made.  Weddings seem to dictate that this day is all about the bride; it's "her" day, and so she should have everything that she wants.  While I understand the sentiment, that approach does not work for me. 
 
As a former history teacher, I have been taught that it is okay to air my grievances as needed. So here are my grievances with that approach to the planning process.  First, it is not my day; it is our day.  While it should be known that I am cautious of over-using the word "we" for fear of losing my individual identity, I don't mind saying our day.  Danny and I are both getting married, not just me.   Next, I do not have the budget nor the energy to care about every single detail of the wedding.  While I am a perfectionist, I don't want that much responsibility or control.  Plus I have a real fear of becoming a "bridezilla".  I would like our bridal party to want to be friends with me after the wedding!
 
This planning process has also brought about some interesting dreams (or nightmares).  One of which is that no one is going to show up.  I shared this with a friend last week, to which he explained that people will be coming for the venue; not me or Danny.  While he may have been joking, I was perfectly fine with the underlying sentiment.  I don't want it to be about me!  I want it to be about the union that Danny and I will be forming on that day.  I will be marrying one of the greatest people I know - how wonderful is that?  I want it to be about the family and friends who will be there to celebrate with us.   

This leads me back to my Starbucks quote.  I actually kind of freak out going into Starbucks because I don't want to have to make that many decisions in order to get a drink or a pastry.  Although I do make an exception for their cake pops - have you tried them yet?  I recommend the birthday cake or the peppermint brownie.  I digress.  I have realized that this wedding planning has given me some confidence that I can in fact make some decisions - unfortunately, it is going to cost more than $2.95.  I just hope everything comes together on that special day.  Regardless of how everything goes though, I will be happy and blessed.

Inaugural Post

2012.  For many this is the year of the Mayans, but for me this year is going to be the start of a new chapter in my life.  For me, 2012 brings me to my 30th birthday, which in my head makes me an official adult.  I don't have a word to describe what I have been up until this point, but once March 31 arrives there will be no denying I am an adult.  Then in September I will further perpetuate my official adulthood status by becoming someone's wife.  So all of a sudden by the end of 2012 I will be the 30 year old Mrs. Pechie.  Good gracious, please don't call me that too soon.  I will still be Laurie.  Think of it like Madonna or Prince or your own favorite one named person - I will just be Laurie for at least the balance of 2012.  Maybe 2013 will bring about comfort with being called Mrs. Anything. 


With all this change comes serious responsibility and real craziness.  Or as I like to say more than the average person, sheer ridiculousness.  Thus I decided that I should start this blog, which has really about five years in the making.  No pressure or anything because something that has been in the works for that long should be pretty darn good.  You see, each milestone of my post-college life up until this point has been chronicled through a series of long email updates to people who love me enough to read them (or at least let me send it to their email accounts).  In my head the upcoming events of this year warranted more than that, and so I am going to give this blog my level best.

I will try not to inundate the web with the tales of wedding planning, although some of the high points may need to be posted.  I will, however, be using this as a forum for my love of sports, my pug, Spike; as well as general life speculations.  Enjoy!
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