And Honeymoon Pictures

A short overview of our wedding and honeymoon: HERE.

Got a lot to backblog about too!

New Busch Stadium

We got four First Base Field Boxes, a Stadium West parking pass, and some cash as a very generous wedding gift. Becuase of Dennis's recent injury, he was not able to attend the game with me.

There was almost a fist fight at work for the tickets when I mentioned they were available. I remember a few years back when you couldn't give tickets away for a weekday game like this.

Chris and I went to the game alone (we weren't going to pass that up!) The new staduim feels a lot like the old one in a lot of ways. I don't dislike it, but I don't feel fanatical about it either. If anything, it feels like it is even more money directed than the old stadium.

Our field boxes seemed lower, like we were more on the field level than we would have been at the old park.

It was a good game, the Cardinals won, and we didn't have a horrible time with traffic on the way out either.

The only thing missing was Dennis!

Well, that's one way to extend your honeymoon...

Ouch!

Poor Dennis sprained his ankle last night while we were playing soccer with Chris. His foot is all blackish/purpleish, and he's in a lot of pain. Poor guy :(

I can't wait until he goes back to work and gets teased mercilessly for this one!

Wedding Pictures

I am blogging from the business center of my hotel. I have a few wedding pictures to share:

Photobucket Album

No Dennis

My dear Dennis left this morning for Kansas City. He is doing a three day training seminar that he is not excited about. He won't be back until Thursday. I can handle it, but it is actually going to be the longest we've been apart. We're such homebodies. :-D

Mmmmm BBQ

Partly because we are honeymooning in Memphis, and partly because it just sounded good, we "discovered" Lil’ Mickey’s Memphis Barbeque. I had read something about it on the Post's website and Dennis just happened to remember it when I was being ambivalent about dinner.

Mmmm. If my tongue could orgasm, it would. It's that good.

Just in case there is any confusion...

I suprised Dennis with a wedding gift last evening. It was supposed to wait until the wedding day, but since he had to call UPS to get the box off of the truck, and he drove to the UPS holding facility with me to pick the box up, (because our UPS driver is not leaving boxes at the apartment, and he's suspected of taking more than a few things by saying "left at office" and driving off with the boxes, which he did with one of my Christmas presents, but we called UPS and they made him drive back to the apartment with it after the rest of his shift was over, damn theif!) I let him in on it early.

I got us Bride:


and Groom T-shirts:


Dennis was really excited, and thinks the shirts are very cute. Hooray! I'm glad they went over so well. I knew he'd wear them, but I didn't know how excited he'd be about it. *sigh* I love him :-D

Tae-Kwon-Do

Chris has been taking Tae-Kwon-Do for about two months now. He got his uniform at this evening's class. He is scheduled to test for his yellow stripe soon, and he's practicing his first and second forms right now before he heads off to bed. How cute is that?

No more zoot suit!

Dennis bought a new suit for our wedding today. He looks really good in it, and I'm very glad to have that detail taken care of. The pants still need to have the hems finished, but other than that, he's good to go. Now I just need to find something for me to wear!!!

Unfortunately, I spent so much time in the Men's Departments today that I fear I've got "Zoot Suit Riot" permanently stuck in my head! ARGH! Make it stop!

Spring Break

Chris has been gone since last Friday. He is visiting his Dad's side of the family in Indiana. I talked to him this evening, and he's having a great time. He got to meet his new cousin and hold him for a while. He's been doing something outside with his Grandma every day. Man, what I wouldn't give for a little spring break myself!

We've had people out at work this week, and we're doing top capacity as it is. The last two days were really rough, and I put in over three hours of overtime. Of course I am only going to be paid straight time for it, because I have to leave early for a Doctor's appointment on Monday, which is really discouraging.

Except for the work stress, the rest of the week home alone with Dennis has been really nice. We don't get to spend as much time together as we'd like, and nothing has been easy lately. We haven't even done our regular housework this week. We've just been relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Still, I can't wait to be away from it all and on our honeymoon!

MySpace Alternate Universe

I don't visit MySpace all that often. I mostly started my profile to be able to see all of the MySpace links I was coming across. I bumped into a few people I know IRL, and I met a few people whom I almost know from RL activities I'm involved in. A friend of mine is married to a man in a local band, so I get regular updates about their goings on. Then I put up a crazy picture of me in hot pink pantyhose. Since then, my MySpace profile has taken on a life of its own, and apparently my alternate universe self is quite popular with men who like to wear hosiery! It has become some what of an experiment. I don't actively encourage anything, but I don't discourage it either. I just let my little MySpace self roam wild.

ZZZZZzzzzzzz z z z

I've been sleeping alllll weekend. I slept in yesterday morning while Dennis went out with a friend, then I convinced him to take an afternoon nap with me, then we slept all night, and this afternoon I fell asleep on the couch while Chris and I were watching March of the Penguins. I think I'm caught up!

In other news, I'm really making a concerted effort to diet and exercise before the wedding. I haven't gotten back in shape since I got laid off and sat around getting fluffy, and this is just the kick in the butt I need to really get going. It is not great for my diet that a tasty new Chinese place with some of the best crab rangoon around just opened - way too close to the apartment. Must resist rangoon! (Mmm, that made me drool a little bit...)

Whew, that wore me out, I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit :)

We have a Wedding Date

Dennis and I got engaged and purchased our rings in September. In January, we discovered that the St. Charles County Courthouse has a Shotgun Wedding Policy. Today, we learned that we can have our wedding when we had been hoping for!

In the spirit of my other Blog, I figured I'd just post the emails about it.

From: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:18 AM
To: Dennis Doza
Subject: Married?

Do you want to try calling the courthouse today to see if we can get married in April??!?!??

Fom: Dennis Doza
To: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:40 AM
Subject: RE: Married?

Do you still have the phone number?

From: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:44 AM
To: Dennis Doza
Subject: Re: Married?

I don't, but Google does :)

TO HAVE A JUDGE PERFORM A MARRIAGE
All four Associate Circuit Judges perform marriages at no cost to the public on Fridays in their courtrooms. Judge Dan Pelikan performs marriages at 9:00 a.m. in the division 7 courtroom on the third floor of the courthouse. Judges Jon Cunningham, Terry Cundiff and William Lohmar perform marriages at 2:00 p.m. Judge Cunningham performs marriages in the Division 5 courtroom on the third floor of the courthouse. Judge Cundiff performs marriages in the Division 6 courtroom on the fourth floor of the courthouse. Judge Lohmar performs marriages in the Division 8 courtroom on the fourth floor of the courthouse. Marriages are performed by appointment only. Parties need to bring their marriage license and two witnesses and check in at least one-half hour prior to the ceremony. A marriage license needs to be applied for in advance at the Recorder of Deeds Office at 201 N. Second, St. Charles, Missouri. To make an appointment for the various divisions please call one of these numbers: Judge Cunningham, Division 5, 949-7495, Judge Cundiff, Division 6, 949-7380, Judge Pelikan, Division 7, 949-7385 or Judge Lohmar, Division 8, 949-3043.

From: Dennis Doza
To: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:32 PM
Subject: RE: Married?

You wanted to try for the 28th, right?

From: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:39 PM
To: Dennis Doza
Subject: Re: Married?

Yeah, in the morning if they've got it. That's why we were waiting until March... and it is not quite March yet :)

From: Dennis Doza
To: Shannon
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 9:10 AM
Subject: RE: Married?

We are ready to go.

We need to “check-in” @ 8:30am on April 28th. We can bring a Camera. We need 2 witnesses and a marriage license.

Now I’m excited :-D


From: Shannon
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 9:07 AM
To: Dennis Doza
Subject: Re: Married?

REALLY?!?!??!?!??!??!?!???!?!??!?!?!?!?!?

?!?!????!?!?

From: Dennis Doza
To: Shannon
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 9:13 AM
Subject: RE: Married?

Yes.

I need to get that Friday off and the whole next week, right?


From: Shannon
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 9:14 AM
To: Dennis Doza
Subject: Re: Married?

Yes, I believe that is correct. I need to do the same.

Are you really excited? Did you tell anyone?

From: Dennis Doza
To: Shannon
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 9:43 AM
Subject: RE: Married?

Yes, I am excited. Yes I told everyone I’ve bumped into, and asked for those days off from Byron when I told him.

*big sigh of relief*

The maternity leave is over, I can go back to my ordinary daily routine. No more alternating jobs every day. *whew*

Rally. America. See the Irony?

Last year I complained about the 100 Acre Wood Rally a little. I snuck that "authority figures" part in at the end of my post. What I meant to say was that it was not nearly as much fun as it had been in years past, and I didn't enjoy myself nearly as much, and I wondered if I would go back this year.

I did.

I'm pretty sure I won't make the same mistake next year, unless the event changes hands again before then. I know "every rally is what you make of it," but it seems to me that Rally America is doing everything in their power to keep spectators from making anything of it. Maybe I expect too much, but I do know that the first year I went was incredible, and since then it has been a downhill slide. Last year ran on time, but the spectator points were more lame, and IMO there was entirely too much crowd control, and this year amounted to a long ass drive to BF-Arkansas, a two and a half hour wait to see the cars navigate a corner from a terrible angle, and listening to too much flack directed at the spectators from the muckiety-mucks in official vehicles. Whatever.

Furniture, the Sequel

We borrowed Dennis's Dad's truck and picked up our new furniture yesterday. We got the couch with no hassle at all, except that the couch and mattress set would not fit together with the truck cap on. It took us about twenty-five minutes to drive the couch home and unload it. When we returned to the store, we learned that American had "lost" our mattress and box spring.

I know a mattress and box spring are small items...

We were in the store for an hour and thirty-five minutes while they looked for our stuff. I gave up on standing in the warehouse, and went up to the front desk at the forty-five minute mark. I heard the girls at the front desk calling all of the managers, and I heard them calling back asking, "Is this about the missing mattress? Someone's looking."

Finally, after about twenty minutes of that, an actual manager came to the front desk. He made two phone calls, and within ten minutes, he had my mattress located, moved to the dock, and put on the truck. He did knock $100 off of my total bill, so now I know that Dennis and I are actually worth about $33 net per hour. Someone needs to tell my boss! Now if I could have just gotten the manager on the case an hour sooner, I wouldn't have anything to write here. I guess I paid for furniture, not service, and it is old fashioned and small-townish of me to expect to be treated well when I chose to spend my hard earned money at your store. Hrmph!

Anyway, despite all of that, I am in love with my new furniture. I slept very well on the new mattress. Mmmm, so comfy! I want to go back to it right now :)

New couch:

Welcome Ryan Matthew

Christopher's Aunt Mary and Uncle Nate had their first baby this afternoon. This is Chris's first cousin on either side of the family. He's gotten all of the nephew/grandchild attention to himself for the past nine years. I wonder how he'll react at Christmas? He's excited today though :)

Congratulations to the new parents!

Happy Valentine's Day

I got cookies and baby Kit Kats. I'm quite satisfied with that.

Furniture

After way too much looking around, we've finally decided on a new mattress set and a new couch! We won't get them until next weekend, and I am already stir crazy wanting to buy matching accessories for the living room.

Other than that, I have been extremely busy with work, and I have no desire to come home and look at a computer screen after the days we've been having. The blog is suffering, but I'm making it. I'm suprized at how much some of the people at work let it get to them though.

Sam Hill: Carpenter

What came through our ceiling? After several calls back and forth with the leasing office, we learned that it is leveling compound from the bathroom floor upstairs seeping through our bathroom fan.



Apparently our man Sam Hill "knew that it would happen" and will "be by Monday to clean it up." Ain't it loverly? That is certainly not the way I would have handled the situation, if I were being paid to remodel the bathroom. Also, we just have self-stick vinyl tiles in the bathrooms, so I don't know why a hard, level, poured substrate would be necessary anyway. I guess that's why our man Sam makes the big bucks.

Who the Hell is Sam Hill Anyway?

I walked into Chris's bathroom last evening to find this:


Of course my first thought was, "What in the Sam Hill did that kid do now?"

Followed by, "Look up."



The question has now become, "What in the Sam Hill happened upstairs?"

Cross Training

I've been covering for someone at work every other day. She is gone until the end of next month on maternity leave. My department is starting to get busy, and I feel very disloyal leaving them all day to do this simple work. However, I know that the other department I'm helping needs the extra person, and I know that we're all one big team.

I don't like the work. It is half phone work, but at least the people on the other end of the line are our customers who have active orders, and I am not selling anything. The other half is mind-numbingly boring and repetitive. I honestly don't know why it isn't automated. I'm sure Microsoft Access is smart enough to do it on its own.

Mantra for the week: I can do anything on a temporary basis.

While the cat's away...

Dennis and I got to have an adults only weekend out of town. (Yeah, a date, I think it is getting serious!) We went to Springfield Illinois to see the sights.

Saturday:

Lincoln's Home:


View of the Old State Capital from Lincoln's Law Office:


We also saw the new Lincoln Presidential Library / Museum. It was incredible! Standing in front of one of the copies of the Gettysburg Address brought me to tears. Very neat!

We had dinner at Jolly Tamale, which was a nice trip down memory lane for me. I am not sure how impressed Dennis was with it, but you know, it wasn't bad food. Then we caught up with my family at Springfield High School. My sister had a Highland Dance program. It was a little disorganized, but fun anyway. I didn't feel well overnight, but I was fine again in the morning. Go figure!

Sunday:

Lincoln's Tomb:


Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana-Thomas House:

Check. Check.

My neighbors are doing their weekly bass check. They have to pray at the church of annoyingly loud Sunday morning club jam. Every once in a while they'll spin the new NIN CD, but mostly it is "bom BOM BOM BOM do do BOM." Right now, it is "BOM BOM BOM. do do do dodo. BOM BOM BOM."

I think he likes rock, and she likes booty music. Oh hell, maybe I should give her a break. She could be practicing her new pole routine. It is, after all, all about the benjamins.

Besides, they've got to hear me singing in the shower :o

Who Are You, and What Have You Done with my Son?

Chris was good all week. He filled out his planner, he did his homework with a minimum amount of fuss, he cleaned up after himself, he passed out extra hugs, and he was even less sassy than usual. All of his grades were great, there weren't any notes from the teacher, he worked on extra projects for Cub Scouts.

Huh. I hope this means we've turned a corner. He seems to be maturing in "giant steps" now, instead of staying in one place or doing one step forward, two steps back. Unless, of course, this is just the giant step forward that preceeds the two giant steps back!!!

Little Me

I have been scanning some old pictures, and I just like this one.

Easter 1987

I Smell Bitchy People

Apparently I missed the memo that today is International Be a Great Big Bitchy Bitch Day. Everyone else at work got it. Possibly in triplicate.

Whoo-hoo, nothing beats a good old fashioned random bitching out over nothing in the middle of the morning for no apparent reason!

Crosseyed

Blech.

I spent almost all day messing around with the formatting and post order of my other Blog. I know, I know, this is "The Other Blog"... I'm confused too!

I love reading those old love letters. They make me sentimental. Unfortunately, reading them, and rearranging them, and fighting with Blogger for the past five and a half hours has A) wasted an entire Sunday, and B) given me an enormous headache. I'd forgotten how painful it is to stare at the internet all day. Thank goodness for gainful employment!

But what if it isn't a shotgun wedding?

This week we found out that you can't schedule a courthouse wedding in St. Charles county until you are within ninety days if you want an afternoon spot, or sixty days if you want an elusive morning one. Of course travel planning for something as important as a honeymoon needs more lead time than that, at least the way I prefer to do it.

I'm frustrated. I've already seen that getting certain hotels in Memphis might be difficult the weekend I'm looking at, and I really did want to get married at 9:00 A.M. and hit the road for the day earlier rather than later. I'm afraid it will be too late and we'll be too tired if we don't leave town until 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon. I have hit a snag, and I have stopped thinking about it again.

I realized that I really don't want a wedding. I want to be married. (I already knew this, since I already had my wedding, and now I want a marriage...) I want the actual "ceremony" to be as unfussy and quick as possible. I really do want a courthouse wedding for no other reason than it is done and over with in three to five minutes. I am very excited about going away on a trip with Dennis though. I wonder if that means I am focused on the wrong thing, or the right thing?

A Passing Fad

I feel much better this evening about all of my old flames and old feelings. I really needed to talk it all out with Dennis. He's right, without all of the combined experiences of my life, I would not have known what to do when I met him.

I printed out pictures of Kit and Jamie, and they're hanging up at work. I also forwarded the picture of my old crush to a friend at work, and she said, "Aw, what a cutie! I can totally see you two together..." Tee hee!

(Very Old) Friends and Lovers

One of my oldest and dearest friends is back in our hometown for the week. I spent the better part of the day with him and his wife yesterday. It was nice to see the old haunts. His parents' house is the same. We looked at yearbooks and spent a lot of time refreshing each others' memories. I guess it has been about twenty years or so that we've been friends. I haven't seen him for about seven or eight years, but we do manage to keep a rough idea of what is going on via email.



Yesterday was the first time it hit me that I had impacted other people in High School. I ran with a fairly tight group, and the few people I was close with were extremely important to me. I always felt that I was not a significant portion of the group, that I was struggling to fit in even among those closest friends. I guess we all felt that way sometimes. It makes me wonder if I cross their minds anymore, because I know how much I think about them.

I came away from the whole experience a bit confused and a bit tormented. I love Kit, and I was extremely happy to see him. I also hated that period in my life a lot, and I apparently still have a few demons to drive out. I was very glad to be back home with Dennis. I know I belong here. I am very glad to see Kit happier and more stable than he ever was, and he didn't seem to be struggling too much with the experience of coming home.



I also found that I have my very own real life trick candle of an old flame. Here's the back story, which I wrote to Dennis in 2002:

We've actually got quite a long history. He moved to Litchfield in 7th grade. I had a big huge Junior High crush on him - he probably owes me $50 worth of soda! He's one of the reasons I learned so much about punk rock - I wanted to impress him, and the punk attitude was working for me at the time. Haha, I don't know if he has a clue how much he's impacted my life over the years :) He was one of the first "real people" I though about waaay back when I was just starting to figure out how my parts all worked - but he certainly doesn't know that! LOL - so through the years we'd make out off and on - we always hung out here and there. He lived right down the street from Kit, and they were buddies, so I saw him a lot over the summers. I would never let him have me though, cause I knew his game - which pissed him off to no end - I loved it :) When I was sad about breaking up with Ray, he gave me the sweetest kiss of my life - that was the first time I actually felt anything but pure lust for him or from him. He just held me for a while - which I really did NOT expect from him - it opened my eyes to the fact that he was a real person, not just a hormone collection area :) After Jim, we hung a lot, worked out great as friends with benefits. I raped him a few times, once that he can't even remember :-D We never got attached - just had sex and hung and chilled and were just buddies - oh, and smoked huge quantities of weed... He's a great friend - I still love him like that. I'll always love him like that.

I still have dreams about that boy. The place where I got the best kiss of my life is Kit's driveway. I stood there yesterday. I stopped at the grain bin where he spray painted his name. I feel like I'm back in junior high over him all over again. I thought about him for most of the drive home last night. It's blowing my mind a little - ok, a LOT!

I just had to dig up old pictures, and here's one of him, the last day of our senior year of High School:

Christmas #4

We had our final installment of Christmas 2005 yesterday, at my parents' house.