Let’s start by saying that this year was a lot better than last year.  I (Daniel) admit I didn’t do a great job at all last year, I flat out sucked at the whole day. I didn’t have a gift or a card, and I almost took her to a bar (because she loves the atmosphere). We went to Nakato and I was in a bad mood that night. I did get her flowers, but it was after we got home and I realized how i ruined the night for her. Yep, I was horrible. But that was all last year, in the past, not the point of this post.

This year was better.  Heck, I didn’t have to try hard to top last year.  We went to Ikea for free breakfast (I’m cheap so what, it was quality time we were spending together), then Lenox Mall where I was finally able to get Lori Silent Hill 4 which she really really really really wanted.  And for dinner we went back to Nakato, I had a happy face on the whole time.  Lori got a Japanese Margarita that was the prettiest blue she had ever seen in a drink and wanted to swim in it.  The food was great!  We don’t know why people get meat there because the vegetables are the best!  We both went to bed early that night, not in a good or bad way, Lori had to get up for work on Sunday.

This is a picture of the line going out the front door and into the parking lot at Ikea to get a wristband to get a set of 400 ct. sheets, regularly $40 for $10.

Ringo is almost a year old, and he’s beginning to mature.  He used to like to cuddle, and absolutely hated being locked anywhere alone.  It was horrible the first few weeks we had him, he screamed as loud as he could because we locked him in the bathroom.  He probably thought we were abandoning him.

But now that he’s older he’s changed.  He’d rather nap on the sofa alone, and if you touch him he gives you the evil eye.   He meows when we leave the room, because he can’t find us.  We have to yell his name so he knows where we are and he comes in and wants face rubs.  Instead of us locking him in the bathroom, he shuts himself in there now.  It’s like he fells the need to get away from us and be in his comfy place.  Maybe.

He also has a new game, tag.  Except he doesn’t play it whole heartedly like we used to when we were kids.   He’ll run up behind you and jump on your leg then run away.  If you chase him he’ll stop running and look at you weird.  And then when you tag him, he doesn’t seem to want to play anymore.  Like the kid that gets mad when he loses and storms away with his ball so nobody can play anymore.

Last week we packed up and moved out of North, and headed down the road to our new apartment. Turns out we have a lot more stuff than we ever imagined. But we had lots of friends and family and two big trucks and a van  so it went rather quick.

Now the real fun, unpacking. Not. They just found out the furnace is broken, so it’s super cold in here. Daniel’s grandparents let us borrow a space heater which helps in whatever room you put it in. They also gave us an antique (retro red 50’s era) dinning room table they had in their basement.

Pretty soon it’ll all be packed away and you can all come over and see it. It’ll be great!

Last night we ended ’08 in a garage full of friends in masks, and we started ’09 with sore legs and aching heads.  There was lots of loud music and dancing and laughing about how we can’t dance or hear each other.  We took Adam with us, he out danced us big time.  At one point he had people chanting his name while he was booty dancing with Catherine, “Go new guy, go new guy”.

Lori’s new year’s resolutions are to cook better and to get paid for her photography.  Daniel’s new year’s resolution is to not worry about money.  So if anyone needs some, or knows someone who needs some really awesome pictures taken, you should let Lori take them.  That would help us both with our resolutions.

To everyone, Happy New Year!

We put up our tree last week, but have been procrastinating about posting a picture.  Why, though, it’s so awesome!  This is the same tree we had last year, but this time we put it on a box to add some height since it’s short like us.  On top is MC Hammer, keeping the tree legit.  (Here’s another picture)

And . . . we ordered Christmas postcards to send out to everyone we can think of.  It’s our first mass mailing as a family!  Very exciting stuff.  We’re putting addresses on them this week, and can hopefully get them to the post office by Friday.  Expect to see our cheesy faces sometime next week.

We have our wedding pictures in the can and on the web.  You can view some of them in the pictures section here.

The photographer has all of the pictures available to view/purchase at her site, http://mylifephoto.com.  Click Client Login, find our name in the list, the password is manis.

We wrote our own vows for our wedding.   It was easy, but not too easy.  There was a lot of debate about what should or could or shouldn’t be put in them.  Lori thought some of my ideas wouldn’t go over too well.  So we wrote and re-wrote them several times to get them to be the greatness you heard at the wedding.  Well, maybe you heard them with the wind.  So if you couldn’t hear them, or you were not there, or you just want to revisit them, here they are.

The wedding is over, my feet have somewhat recovered from the dancing, and me and Daniel make our way to Savannah for a scenic pit stop. We grab lunch and walk through a couple stores and we leave for Charleston. Our plan was to find the crappiest, cheapest motel we could, just for fun and to help the budget. We totally find the cheapest place ever, $35 with tax.  We walk in and get the creeps, it looks like an 1800’s widow’s room that she died in. No art on the walls, no blow dryer, just a tiny tv, bed, and small wooden dresser. I feared for my life, but Daniel reassured me that we were safe and right by the busy highway.  We must have hit up the local KMart 3 times in that one day, because we kept realizing that we had forgotten crazy things like sunscreen and a hair brush.

So we wake up the next morning and drive to the historic part of charleston, much nicer than Savannah, and before you know it we were boarding the boat.  So who had the awesome idea of going on a cruise? Oh wait, that was me. Really it wasn’t bad and we had a great time in the Bahamas, but the boat rocked a little more than expected, leading me to sleepless nights and Daniel to the info desk for dramamine twice a day. But besides the  swaying from side to side and being queasy numerous times, we had a lot of good times. Bingo, dancing to James Brown on the top deck, getting ice cream and pizza anytime we wanted, playing mini golf, seeing the late night comedians and magic shows…we spent about 7 dollars total in the casinos on the boat and various islands and I think we only won $1, but it was spent trying to win more money!

Our first stop was in Freeport, Bahamas. The water was SO blue and gorgeous. There were actually coconuts in the trees…I have never seen that! Daniel and I tried our hand at snorkeling but saw no fish. It was very wavy and I felt I would drown soon, so we just floated around. The woman near us did find a huge starfish though and she held it up for everyone to see. We must have been asked 400 times if we wanted our hair braided. I’m pretty sure if we were bald, we still would have been haggled to get a braid or two.

From there it was Heaven, I mean Nassau. When we hit the Atlantis resort I almost peed in my pants. It was SO amazing! We swam in the giant pools, walked around the aquariums and saw giant manta rays, and Daniel EVEN got me on a WATER SLIDE! Now granted, it was super tiny and it just spiraled down a few times and then slowed to almost a lazy river because it took you through a shark cave…but I was still clenching my eyes closed and screaming I HATE YOU…so I didn’t notice the sharks. It was all laughs when I got out of the tube, but now Daniel has seen first hand how terrified I am of anything that is fast or goes down a hill. We took a bus back to the boat area and shopped around where the locals hang. Pretty interesting to see the clash. This part was a little dirtier and definitely had more culture. We were haggled by children, one even put bracelets on our wrists and then asked for a $5 tip. The other was the cutest little girl ever trying to sell us a $1 wooden flute. Of course, since I was in band, I HAD to buy the flute and she even played one for us! Another man was yelling that it wasn’t fair that his wife got to look at men, but he couldn’t look at women. So they divorced. We kinda ran to the boat afterwards…

The trip home was rough. The rain and wind made the boat sway horribly (at least to me) and all we wanted to do was sleep. We did however make it to dinner for the bread, starter, entree, coffee, and dessert. This never got old. Bring it on…and the couples we sat with were also young and in relationships, so we had a lot in common and the conversations were great! I swear the first formal night we must have heard 100 Happy Honeymoons and Happy Birthdays sung by the waiters. We somehow managed to be skipped, but it was our honeymoon and very close to my birthday, so I was sure we would be victoms.

Every single person on the boat was extremely nice and seemed elated to be there. Like Disney World, it felt surreal. We even got cute little towel animals from our room service! It was very refreshing and we will never forget it. Especially the man who left a trail of $100 bills and the barf bags at lunch. :) We laughed so much and ran into so many walls without being drunk! Here’s to a great honeymoon!

We had a great time! Thanks to everyone who wished us well!  Click here for more pictures.

October 18th, you’ve heard that date a lot and so have we, but now it’s gone.  The wedding was great.  All that planning and stressing and list making before hand, it was all worth it.  There was hardly anything to worry about that Saturday.  We setup quick and every question had an answer.  The biggest unknowns were the weather and the gnats, but both of them cleared up in the late afternoon.  Hallelujah!

We had the ceremony facing the beach, with a column archway wrapped in garland and red roses.  Daniel rode a bike into the ceremony and Lori was chauffeured to the lawn by her Uncle Ray in his nice black car.  It was great and came together flawlessly!

Hopefully there were constant surprises for everyone that attended, we didn’t want people to go to a wedding they’ve been to already.  The favors were personalized fortune cookies wrapped in favor boxes by weaving wrapping paper.  The cake was layered with ocean waves and stars and topped with a skeleton bride and groom to show our eternal commitment to each other.  The centerpieces were silver sticks (hand spray painted) in fish bowls filled with glass rocks with blue lights illuminating them from underneath.

And let’s not forget the dancing.  Holy wow!  We never thought we would have EVERYONE on the dance floor, but we did and it was amazing!  Thank you to everyone for celebrating with us like that.   Thank you to everyone that wasn’t able to come but wished us well.  Thank you to the random people we’ve met that wish us a happy marriage.  Thank you all!

The photographer has been swamped with weddings recently, but she says since we are awesome and she loves us and the pictures she took of the wedding, they’ll be up and ready for viewing/purchase within 2-3 weeks.   We’ll let you know how to view them when she lets us know.  For now you can check out her blog to see a few teaser pictures.

[update – picture added] 

We got back from our honeymoon cruise on Saturday, went to dinner with Adam, and just tried to calm down.  Lori worked yesterday and I was busy trying to get the house clean (didn’t happen), and then we got tattoos.  No pictures yet, but here’s a description.  Mine (Daniel) is our wedding cake topper, bride and groom skeletons, and Lori’s is two tree trunks that intertwine to become one blooming tree.

Since it’s Lori’s birthday today we probably won’t have any photos up tonight, but we’ll definitely have some pictures and commentary about our boat experiences tomorrow.  Since we haven’t updated here in a month, we just wanted everyone to know we’re not dead, the boat did not (but felt like it would) tip over, and we weren’t kidnapped and forced to braid hair in the Bahamas.

We also proved that this marriage will last forever.  Being trapped in a small room, on a boat in the great wide ocean, spending every waking and sleeping moment together (except for bathroom breaks), with nowhere to run to or escape, neither of us jumped off to get away from the other.  It was great.  We are awesome and in love!  Forever!