My Funny Valentine

Valentine is my favorite Holiday. My very favorite. I love Valentine’s Day for two reasons; I love love and Tony’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day.Our “first born” (as he likes to be called) wanted to buy his father dinner today for his birthday. Nothing was open because of the storm. His plan B was to have the Courier Carrier deliver something from one of the finer restaurants. To no avail. – what’s the deal with that anyway? You would think they’d really jump on that one since it was pretty evident that no one was going out to dinner this evening. At any rate, we had to settle for Columbia Pizza. Don’t get me wrong; Columbia Pizza’s pizza is probably one of the best pizzas in Lancaster County! But we didn’t want pizza… we wanted Mexican. So we call in our order and are informed that they are no longer delivering this evening. UGH. Who’s walking? I ask. We all just look at each other. The birthday boy certainly can't go... so the first born and me decide it's us. I go up and put my Wonder Woman boots on - truly, they ARE wonder woman's boots - and first born doesn't want to go out with me looking like that. After some convincing we decide to make the trek.I can't tell you how flippin' freezing it was out there. It was still snowing with intermittent sleet that was wind driven. Some businesses in the downtown district hadn't bothered to shovel. It was quite the process. We did, however, make it. But on the way up to the pizzaria I told the son the story of love sickness. It was the winter of 1983 during the blizzard on Feburary 14. It had snowed 6 feet of snow... remember that? Well, being the good girlfriend that I was, I ordered a bouquet of balloons to be delivered to Tony at his job at 7-11. The balloon company called me and said that they could not deliver the balloons - after all, it was a state of emergency. Well, that wasn't going to stop me. I called my girlfriend Wanda and said I had to pick some balloons up "just around the corner". I was 15, Wanda was 12 so she believed me. 5 miles later and having to say "just around the corner" some 20 times, we finally get the balloons and trek over to the 7-11 - another 6 miles. Picture that; two school girls walking in the snow but you can't see the girls all you see is balloons over the top of snow. What you won't do for love!! The first born thought that was pretty funny. So we get home and decide to watch "The March of the Penguins". How appropriate! As the son said "you couldn't pay me to be a penguin" - true. What penguins do for love is better than walking 11 miles for your love. If you've not watched it - rent it, it's pretty good. So that was my evening with my funny Valentines... the Son and the Love. Having pizza in front of a fireplace watching the March of the Penguins. The only other thing that would have completed me as a person was to have the daughter home. *sigh*

The cutest thing

Yesterday I cut out a picture, of my 10 y.o. neighbor boy, that was in the paper. He made it into the spelling bee. I added a note that told him I was proud of him. I put the article in his mail box. At about 8 pm while I'm setting up for the Sweetheart Banquet my door bell rings. It's him. God love him. He's real shy looking and he says: "thank you for the note that you wrote me." "Oh, you're welcome", I say. "that was very nice of you", he says. "you're welcome"... then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Valentine. "I have a Valentine for you" and he hands me a Sponge Bob Valentine. OMG... he lowered his eyes and got all shy.... how darn cute. "Thaaaannnk you" I say and he gets embarrassed and says "I have new sneakers" and shows me his new sneakers. The innocence.... I tell my hubby who says "it must have been your new haircut". Great, at my age I can't woo a little boy on my own - by the way, my hair is really very short for the wintertime. I feel like a fat little boy.

What did that Mayor say?

Among other things that Perfect Settings is the nicest place to book in Columbia. - well he really didn't say that but we are! Mayor Lutz is such a good guy. He really knows what's best for the community and isn't afraid of making enemies to prove it. I was given some time to speak and I got tunnel vision. (Give me a reception of 200 or more and I'm fine - a group of 40 and I feel like they're looking at my every zit.) I hammered the most important things like wedding coordinators aren't for the wealthy anymore, we give you options of being different, we provide a reasonable budget that everyone agrees on, we suggest items to change to save you money and of course booking at my site and hiring me will automatically save you money on the booking.

7/7/07

How cool is that? One of my dearly beloved was born on 8/8/88 so I'm thinking that 7/7/07 is almost as cool.Anyhooooo, I was contacted by AFWPI regarding availability on the venue and am most happy to post the link. http://afwpi.com/777/pennsylvania.html I have a ton of cool ideas for a wedding like this!

Ledger

This was in this week's Ledger. Tune in to see what the Mayor did say. It was a great breakfast and Mayor Lutz did a fantastic job of telling and informing everyone of the accomplishments and upcoming changes to the Borough. He was very energetic and contagious - not his cold, his attitude. He made most of us walk away from the breakfast feeling refreshed and encouraged that our attempts are going to be very fruitful.

Full moon

I debated about writing this one.... but there's certain things that you'd rather write about than talk about.I went to Dr. Hassel's viewing last night and woke up thinking of Jennifer Hassel. I went there to comfort her because I knew how much Mark loved Jennifer and how much Jennifer loved him.... and she ended up comforting me. I'm in the wedding industry. I love the feeling of love. I love that people look into each other's eyes and fall in love. I love that one look at a bride from her groom and she melts. I love dating and the anticipation that you'll spend the rest of your life with the one you love. ... all these things that I love, Jennifer and Dr. Hassel loved too. I knew I was in for tears and hurt. There was a montage of Dr. Hassel's life that easily brought me to tears. After speaking with Jennifer and looking into the faces of their children I had to sit and compose myself before leaving the sanctuary, knowing that the foyer was full of people waiting to come in. People that Dr. Hassel's life changed in one way or another. After leaving Dr. Hassel's viewing last night. I looked up and saw there was a full moon. - something he would have loved. It brought this deep howling sob from me and I sat in the car for more than 1/2 hour sobbing my eyes out because of the unfairness of it all. - that I won't go into. Let's just say Dr. Hassel was 47 .... nuff said. Once the tears started I couldn't contain them or control them. I sobbed for the whole ride home and often wondered what people thought of me when they either passed me or turned towards me and stared .... I just couldn't help it. The bottom line..... I still have my husband today because God has blessed me beyond measure. Jennifer's family is less one member today, tomorrow and forever.... and it's not because God hasn't chosen to bless them. This is what disturbs me most.

10 Ways

I just spent an hour on LancasterOnline.com trying to find the article that was in today's morning paper about saving money on your wedding.... to no avail. The search engine is horrible. I probably could have scanned it in much faster but whatever.... get it if you want to read it. For the most part it's a good article. I did want to mention that although I agreed with almost everything.... (especially the plug about my girlfriend from highschool (Claudia) who writes the craft corner) .... in the article, I'm not really feeling the ipod wedding. We recently had one of those - against my recommendation - and I can really tell you, there was a huge void in the reception. Spend the extra money on the DJ or band. You won't regret it.... it's money well spent into the temporary investment you've come to call your wedding. Your ipod isn't going to read the crowd when everyone is yelling "play it again!". Take the time to write down your fav hits and make sure you meet with the DJ. Last and surely not least... hire a wedding coordinator - if not for the whole job just for the day of coordination! Nothing looks worse than a bride approaching the DJ or running around looking for trash bags!

Sweetheart Banquet

Perfect Settings is hosting a Sweetheart Banquet in celebration of my most favorite holiday. Please let me know ASAP if you are interested since space is limited. The cost is $30 per person.

My Dr. Hassel

He's probably everyone's Dr. Hassel today. I felt like somehow I had to mark it in history somewhere that our precious Dr. Hassel went to meet the Lord this morning. My heart is saddened for Jennifer and their children.... but softened by the fact that he is no longer suffering.

Tax Season

I'm trying really, really hard not to be short since tax season is upon me once again. ... I think I'd rather deal with Christmas again than to tackle books that haven't been balanced for 4 months. ... along with a ton of construction receipts. *in through the nose... out through the mouth* .....

Marriage License Info

I get the question - a lot - of when a bride and groom should get their marriage license. I'm not sure where this source originally came from so I can't give it proper credit but as far as I know, it's correct info. Here's the skinny: Where to apply: Office of the Clerk or Orphans Court, second floor, Lancaster County Courthouse. Hours are: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm M-F. Phone number: 717.295.3522 The marriage may take place anywhere in PA. When you apply: The couple must appear in person to complete the marriage application. Social Security numbers are required. Remarriages: Applicants who have been previously married must provide additional information concerning the dissolution of the most recent marriage. Call for complete information. Medical Exams: The state of PA no longer requires a blood test or medical exams. Who may not marry: Blood relatives down to and including first cousins may not marry according to PA law. When to apply: In PA there is a three day waiting period before the license is available. Apply at least one week before the marriage date. The license is valid for 60 days after the license has been issued. Fee: The fee in Lancaster County is $40, cash only.

Invitations

The new Simple but Elegant invitation book has arrived. I decided to carry a different line of invites. There are very nice new additions and affordable. Think about ordering invites through Perfect Settings for personalized service. They are NOT the Carlson Crafts that you can order anywhere. You can look at some of the samples here:http://www.simplebutelegant.com/invitations.cfm But I warn you... the web does not do these beautiful invites any justice. Call me should you have questions or you want to see the book - you're going to love them! A lot of the invitations have embelishments and are very tastefully done.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, guys!I'm so happy that the Holidays are over. I was talking to a very dear friend today and she told me that I really didn't skip Christmas. She reminded me because all of my days are special, Christmas had to be special too. All of the other stuff is just foo-foo. I've gotta agree. My son announced that he never wanted to have another Christmas like this one - I guess because it wasn't extra special but I tell you what.... just living as an Ayala (my maiden name) makes it special. On Christmas day we decided to go see my mom's "companion" (God forbid you say boyfriend). He lives in one of the nursing homes. I'm no fan of nursing homes and for those of you that work in one - you have a treasure in heaven! Anyway, my mom, my sister, Whitney and me decide to trek over. When the elevator opens we were immediately smacked in the face by an awful stench. We all instinctively cover our noses with our hands. As we get off the elevator there were rows and rows of people sitting in wheelchairs. They all begin to chant "hello", "hi", "hello", "hi, there", "hello".... so of course we're all saying "hello", "hi", "hello", "hi, there", "hello". We're walking down the hall with Mom leading the pack and my sister says to my mom "my God, Mami, what the heck is that awful stink" "it's him" my mom says pointing to an innocent bystander who is coming out of a kitchen. He smiles at us and says "hello". We get to Hector's room and I say to him "I brought Mami here last week and we were told you were down at the canteen dancing and drinking" he says "who me? How can I dance with this stub of a foot" and he gets up and starts dancing salsa then merengue really fast. Never a dull minute. We stay for another minute with my mom warning Hector about his blood sugars because she smuggled a box of Whitman's chocolates into his room. We finally get down the hall and an old woman starts pedaling really fast in her wheelchair (Fred Flintstone style) towards my mom and she's yelling "hey, hey, hey, hey!!" My moms says "quick, get into the elevator" so we start running because she's running. No one knows why we're running. We get into the elevator and my mom says "that woman wanted to touch my purse last week so I let her hold it and then she started screaming at the top of her lungs that I was stealing her purse when I went to take it back"..... oh, talk about a good laugh. Well, the man in the elevator thinks we're laughing at him and he starts screaming obscenities (that I can't print here) at us. ..... we laughed the whole way home. Thankfully, all of the roads were empty on Christmas night or I would have been in more than one accident.

Blogging

I've been so bad about blogging. I often go through the day and say "I ought to blog that" and then totally forget about it. However, I spoke with a very funny bride today that gave me such a good belly laugh that I said to her "can I blog that?".... she said "I was going to work the other day and when I got there I said to them "you can't tell me they're flying all of the flags at half-mast for James Brown"... no, said someone, uh, President Ford just died" Gotta love her!! Thanks for the laugh. I finally got a minute to go through the new Knot magazine. I noticed that my Knot vendor party was featured in this month's issue. No, there's not a picture of me but there are amazing pictures of some of the highlights. There was not a picture of the cake or the favors - that were absolutely fabulous - and for that I'm sorry.

Us

One of Tony's coworkers sent this to Tony. Probably a good picture on a very bad day.... or if you're half blind. We had red eye so I fixed that and Tony looks really weird with black eye balls. His eyes are hazel so I'm not used to that. My smile is so strained b/c she was one of those people that tell you to hold still for 5 minutes before shooting the picture. Anyway, I thought the picture was funny....

Ledger article

The article was release last Thursday. Here she is in all of her glory. There was one typo (Jamie!!)... we all know the photo needs to be credited to my baby....it's ok, Whit.

Dom Perignon

Five years ago when we started this whole venture, we were gifted a bottle of Dom Perignon. We always said we would open it when construction was done and at the Grand Opening. We have moved 3 times since then... from State St. to Queen St. to Locust St. - is that 2 or 3?? It's actually 2 or 3 too many! Anyway, the bottle has never been packed up. Tony wanted to be sure it was always in sight.... kind of keeping his eyes on the prize. Well, October 15 came and went... we were spent after the construction was complete. We decided we'd open it during the Holiday Cocktail Party... never did. We decided, then, that we would open it for our 20th Anniversary. We went to dinner at the Railroad House and were stuffed so no champagne that night either. Ok, we have a trip scheduled to Atlantic City with Tony's company and we decide to pack up ol' Dom again. After a night of cocktails, dinner and appetizers - not in that order - we go to the after hours party in Tony's boss's suite... for more drinks. We finally get to our room at about 1 am. Tony takes the bottle out of the fridge and says "we're drinking this baby tonight!" Ok. I think. I need another drink like a hole in my head. - mind you I may have had 2 drinks all night... soooo not a drinker. So he's taking Dom out the box talking about how long we've had it. Puts the bottle on top of the table, I turn for one second and Tony is standing there with wine glasses. Ok, where'd they come from. I thought he just turned into Emeril and was about to shout "BAM" with those glasses. "Where'd they come from?" I say. "Oh, girl, I was ready... I packed these babies!"So after 5 long years of waiting, good ol' Dom Perignon was finally uncorked. (Tony even followed the instructions from one of our client's about opening the bottle at a 45 degree angle so as not to lose any champagne. Which worked. - thanks Mitch!) So there we were at 1 am drinking fine champagne, saluting to our health, happiness and business. We drank that bottle dry... good lawd. Since I'm not a drinker, I didn't have anything to compare it to but I can assure you I savored that drink and reflected on all the tears, hard work, tears, stress, tears, frustration, tears, planning, tears and our dreams coming to fruition. Thank you to all of you who helped with that - especially the tears part.

Raised by a woMAN

My mother has been living with my sister temporarily - she's brave. I'm told that this morning over coffee they heard a huge bang! upstairs. My mom said "what fell?" my sister says "no, I think someone broke into the attic window"... my mom in her infinite wisdom politley gets up and finds the biggest knife my sister owns out of the knife drawer. "Where are you going?" my sister asks. My mother says very indignant "Oh, upstairs to clip his nails, what do you mean where am I going, I'm going to find out who we need to hide from"My mom is telling me this on our way to the doctors today. She has me in tears - my mother is one of the most funniest people you'll ever meet - I say to her.... "Mom? what were you going to do if someone would have grabbed your bad arm and took the knife?" She says "oh, they weren't taking the knife from me... believe me. If I need to hide, I want to know how big they are and what I'm hiding from" I think my mom is still 30-something in her mind and still running a household of 6 children after her husband died. All the while, she is 67 years old, has rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and moves like a turtle with arthritis. It's got to be awful getting old. I talked to my sister later in the day and we laughed so hard I was the one who ended up with an asthma attack. She said my mom was walking toward the steps with this huge knife like if she were just going up to the bathroom. After the whole nail clipping thing she says to mom, "well, let me up first" they're going up the stairs and she feels a breeze on her neck. She turns around and sees my mom weilding the knife around and mom whispers "practicing" to my sister. Good Lawd....! In the end... they never did find out what the bang was. We sure got a good laugh from it though.