Our trip to Chi-town....

So, right now I am recovering from our trip to Chicago to visit with Mr. Rocks family.  We had a great trip, worked a lot, and maybe even learned a little about ourselves.....

Some of the things we learned on this trip.......

We can definitely tell Mr. Rocks was not adopted.....(ok, maybe we already knew this - I just wanted an excuse to post this photo!)

(This is Mr. Rocks, his dad, and "GM Auto")

(Photo by me)

We also learned that there are NO picture of Mr. Rocks and myself in nice clothing......what can I say - clearly we are not "dress up" people!

(Case in point - we are sweaty from walking around Lincoln Park Zoo!)

(Photo by me)

I even learned how to make the bestest taco meat in the world, thanks to Mr. Rock's Ecuadorian Aunt (thank you!!).

(Mmmm....Taco....photo by holytaco.com)

And we learned that when you take Mr. Rock's family, add in my family, then add in booze and music, ridiculous fun will ensue!  (Sadly, I have not photos of this - I was having too much fun myself!)

What was the setting for all of this new (or not so new) self-knoweldge?  Graduation!!!!! (no, not ours)  Mr. Rock's little brother (and one of his GM) graduated from college this year, so we made the trek up to Chicago to celebrate.  And celebrate we did!  We are all proud of "GM Auto" (he works in automotive engineering) for doing so well in school (seriously - he had something like 15 awards when he graduated!), AND he is gainfully employed (hoorray for gainful employment!).

So, I will leave you with an actual photo of Mr. Rocks (rockin' the "ring of fire"), Mr. Rock's dad (also rockin' the ring of fire) and GM Auto......the newest graduated member of the Chicago Rock Clan!

(Photo by me)

Iiiiiii want Caaaaandy!!!!

So, is that song stuck in your head now?  Tee-hee!

I was also thinking about titling this post "If you give a mouse a crumb."  Do you remember the saying? ...If you give a mouse a crumb, he will ask for a cookie.  If you give the mouse the cookie, he will ask for a glass of milk, etc, etc.  

(Mr. Rocks with our mouse catchers!)

Well, the cake/cookie/candy table idea started because I gave a "mouse" (my mind) a crumb....and it just got worse from there.  And by "worse,"  I mean it got freakin' awesome!  Especially for the wedding guests!  

See, it all started with the cake/cupcake tower idea.  Well, the cupcake tower recently got scratched, so now we are going with a cake.  Except our cake will be a bit on the small side (more on the cake after we sign the contract!).  And I like sweets!  We must have more chocolate!!!!  So, I decided early on that we will also have italian wedding cookies.

(Photo from Jerlinewilson.com)

But we won't have just one type of cookie....Nope! (Here is where that pesky mouse starts to rear its tiny little head......) We will have SEVERAL types of cookies.  Like 4 different types.  Because I like cookies.  We will have the traditional "butterball" cookie.  I also want some sort of flourless chocolate chip cookie.  And maybe a shortbread-type cookie.  And who knows for the fourth type....have any suggestions?

(Photo from Modernbridewithabudget.com)

BUT, cookies are NOT enough!  (And here is where the mouse asks for a glass of milk.  Or maybe the whole cow.)  We have to have candy too!  I mean, it just makes sense!  BM Lil' Dudette works for a chocolate company.  And better yet, she can get *free* candy!  So, in addition to the cake and the four different types of cookies, we will also have Wilbur Buds, Malted Milk Balls, Cocoa Almonds, Jordan Almonds, Chocolate Covered Raisons, and anything else BM Lil' Dudette can get her grubby little paws on.  

(Photo from Caseofcandy.com)

So, now all I need to do if figure out how to display everything...I'm guess just throwing everything on the table in one big pile o' cookie and candy is not the best plan!

(Photo from Springsoralhealth.com)

Getting......sucked....back....in.....to...wedding.....stuff.....

So, it seems that simply writing that last post about not wanting to deal with wedding stuff got me back on track.  I have been making my brooch bouquet......it was a good way to keep my hands too busy to notice the lack of cigarettes in them......

First, I gathered all of my supplies...brooches, rusty needle-nose pliers, wire-cutters, super glue, and water (hydration is essential!).

I started out by supergluing all of the pins together (cuz no one likes to get pricked!).  Then, I wrapped a thin wire around both ends of the brooch pin.  This wire-wrapping was VERY time consuming - so it was a good way for me to catch up on several seasons of SG-1!  For the SG-1 fans out there, I was re-watching seasons 1 and 2 (the ones before Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks started fighting).

In some cases, I ended up yanking the pin off the brooch as I was wrapping it with wire....FUN!!  In these cases, I had to re-superglue the pin to the brooch.....

After adding a thicker-wire "stem" to each brooch, I created a bunch of "brooch flowers"....

(All the above photos are from me)

But I need ~20 more "stems" to finish all the brooches I have.  After I get those flower stems, I can put it all together.  Or should I say someone else with more artistic talent than me (anyone?  anyone?) can put it all together......But so far, I am impressed!

So impressed that I am re-thinking about having some brooches in my bridesmaids bouquets!  What do you think?

(Something like this, but the flowers would all be one color (orange), and probably some sort of daisy.  So, really, nothing like this.  But you get the general idea!)

(Photo from Weddingbycolor.com)

By the way, if you are interested in making your own brooch bouquet, I followed the instructions from this website - I found her instructions very helpful!

Getting sick of wedding planning

So, Mr. Rocks and I just got back from the Keys.  After a 24-hour drive.  Well, actually, we dove on Saturday morning,

(The Rocks Huggers underwater!)

(Photo by me)

then rinsed the saltwater off, drove up to Orlando to have dinner with some friends who were doing Disney and Universal that weekend

(Haha- we did not tell them that they would get wet on this ride!)

(Photo by Starline Tours)

then drove up to Columbia to visit yet another friend for breakfast

(Mmmmm....best meal of the day!)

(Photo by prog.org)

and finally arrived home 24 hours after starting the drive.  And since then, I have no motivation to do wedding stuff.  And I need to do wedding stuff.  Deposits to be paid to the Key Colony Inn, the DJ, the cake baker.  Emails to be sent to various individuals. My brooch bouquet to start.  BM gifts to finish.  And I have no motivation.  Seriously..... I have been cleaning the house like a madwoman to avoid doing wedding stuff.  So, the kitchen floor is scrubbed, the fridge is clean, the rugs vacuumed, the car cleaned out, and the laundry done.  Seems like I need another wedding nightmare to jump-start the wedding stuff again!

There is no reason to hurricane season....

So, we are in the Keys (yay!) this week, but we ran into something unexpected...something weird......something that is feared by every bride-to-be who is getting married outside......RAIN.

(Photo by me)

We are getting married on the pedestrian bridge.  No tent, just the wide-open blue sky above us.  Now, if it rains, the nice folks at the Key Colony Inn have said that we can our ceremony there (they can do a quick switch-a-roo with the tables and chairs in the big hall) as "Plan B."  And I am hoping that, even if it does rain, it will be a "typical" Florida rain and only last 5 minutes....

BUT, in keeping with the "Zen Bride" motif, I have to accept that it might pour down all day long.  Hell, there could even be a tropical storm or weak hurricane that weekend.  BUT it won't matter and no one will hate me if it rains (I hope!)

Here is to hoping this is NOT what the Keys look like on June 1!!

(Picture from Weather.com)

PS - Mr. Rocks is dragging me around looking at boats...I may have had a few drinks last night and said we could take our honeymoon money and instead buy a boat and sail the Caribbean for our honeymoon.    So now we are looking at boats.  If you are reading this and actually know Mr. Rocks IRL, you might want to text him and remind him that we live in the mountains - and not near any large body of water!!

Being a Zen Bride-to-be

Ok, so you have to know that the first time I wrote this post, the title of the post was Effing Reserve America but I figured it would be more appropriate to turn this into a positive, rather than negative experience.

So, it all started last night around 11:30PM - exactly 11 months and 30 min before we wanted to rent a cabin at Bahia Honda State park.  See - we were told (repeatedly) that we could not reserve a cabin more than 11 months in advance, so imagine our surprise at 11:30PM when we logged onto the Reserve America site only to find ALL of the cabins already reserved.

(Image from flickr.com)

We were pissed.  There were shouts of dismay.  An angry cigarette.  An angry phone call.  An angry email sent off.  But in the end, there was nothing we could do.  There was no way we would get a cabin at Bahia Honda for Mr. Rocks and his dudes to sleep in the night before the wedding.  Bummer.  And I was pissed.  Ohhh, was I pissed!  So pissed, in fact, that I wrote a really pissy blog last night - if you were online between 4:30 - 5AM earlier today, you could have read it.

But then I thought about it, and realized that I was looking at the situation the wrong way.  See, in 11 months, it will be the day before our wedding.  And in 11 months and 1 day, I will be marrying the man of my dreams.  And really, that is all that matters.  Everything else is just fluff.  We'll figure it out - the guys certainly won't be sleeping on the street the night before (although I bet some of them would like to spend the entire night down on Duval Street!).

(Image from webwarriortools.com)

So here's hoping I can keep that attitude for the next few months!  Oh, and PS - tomorrow is the last day I am going to smoke, so I will be quitting soon.  Please pray for Mr. Rocks!  

One Ring to Rule Them All....

OK....maybe not this ring.....

(Source: Wikipedia)

...but we have selected and put down a deposit for a wedding ring!  Finding a wedding ring has been an...interesting....process for us...and I can honestly say it is all Mr. Rocks fault :).  When Mr. Rocks decided to buy me an engagement ring, he wanted my ring to be unique.  So, he waited till that special time of year (I think it was in November) and went to Kay Jewelers to design a ring for me.  And, in all honestly, he designed the perfect ring.  Granted, I may be a bit biased, but the ring is perfect for me.  It is not too small to be bleh and not to big to get in the way when I am working with (a) fossils (b) crazy acids to digest said fossils (c) insanely intricate machines to analyze said fossils.  In case you have not seen it yet, check out my awesome ring!

Picture of my ring right after we got engaged.  Mr. Rocks is in the background opening up the Champagne. (Personal photo)

However, the problem with having a custom-designed ring is that *most* of the "typical" wedding bands would not fit properly around my ring.  The straight circle rings don't fit snugly around the band, and the rings that are curved usually have too small of a curve to fit properly around the band.  We had been perusing jewelry stores in Christiansburg and Chicago and had yet to find anything suitable.

So we decided to check out Brent L. Millers in Lancaster.  Momma and Pops Rocks have shopped at BLM's for as long as I can remember, so, if we were going to have to drop a good chunk of money on a ring, I would have preferred to do so at a business that has always "done right" by my parents.  Its the whole "reward the businesses with good customer service" thing.  So, the first time we went to BLM's, we could not find a band that fit me, and it was looking like we would need to get a ring designed around my e-ring.  But the jeweler (who would be designing my ring) was not in the store whenever we stopped by.  This ended up being a good thing!

When we stopped by the store last week, the sales girl remembered us from the last time we were in the store (months ago) - a big plus- aaaand the first thing she said was "Hey! I am so glad you guys stopped in!  We recently got a new batch of wedding rings, and I think there might be one that will fit your ring!"  So, Mr. Rocks and I sat down and started looking at rings.  And we found several that could fit the bill, but weren't all that super-awesome-great.  THEN, I tried this double-banded wedding ring that looked like it was made for my ring!  The style, shape...everything about it just meshed so nicely with my ring!  Here - take a look!

Sorry for the crap-tastic photo quality....this one is from Mr. Rock's cell phone!

Its a bit weird, since I never pictured myself with a double-banded wedding ring, but there it is!  And, for most of the ring-searching process, Mr. Rocks was kinda like "meh...whatever you want."  But we he saw The Ring, his comment was "I really like this one - it totally works with your ring.  I think this is the one."  Coming from someone so previously ambivalent, this means a lot!!

The one hitch...it is waaay over our ring budget!  (And this is after our sales lady gave us a really nice discount on the ring!!!  Thank god we aren't paying full price!) But, Mr. Rocks and I spent the weekend thinking about it, and discussing how we will be able to come up with the extra money, and at the end of the day, we decided it was worth it - we are kinda going on the idea that this is a once-in-a-lifetime-purchase, and it is OK to splurge a little.  Or splurge a lot!

Now we just need to find Mr. Rocks a ring.  Hmmmm....maybe I should go back to NZ and climb Mt. Doom (again) and look for a special ring :)

(Personal Photo)

Ok - before I get yelled at...we did not really climb Mt. Doom.  It was cold/rainy and we were lazy, so we only climbed part of the mountain.  Who knows, maybe if I climb the whole thing, there will be a yellow ring at the top?!

We have a Photographer!

So, another big thing we can check off the "Wedding To-Do List" is that we now officially have a photographer!  Scott Sheppard of Dream Wedding Photography is going to be our photographer for the day (and he will have a second photographer too).  Yay!!!!!  Especially since looking for a wedding photographer has so far been the single most frustrating part of wedding planning!  Even more frustrating than the Save the Dates.  But we are D.O.N.E. with that crap!  Yay!!

So, why was it so frustrating, you ask?  Well, maybe you don't ask, but if you are bored at work and still reading, then you'll find out anyways!  It all pretty much comes down to money.  Or rather, having champagne tastes with a beer budget.  And I'm not talking about good beer---more like Natty Ice.

I know that the photos we get of the wedding really are one of the few 'tangible' things that come out of the wedding.  (Ya know, other than Mr. Rocks and I actually getting married!)  And I know that when asked what they should have spent more money on, most brides, more often than not, will say that they wished they had spent more money and gotten a better photographer.  I know all this.  I really do.

Mr. Rocks and I at the Jimmy Buffet Concert.  

I am hoping our pro-photographer will take better pictures than this.  

(personal photo)

But we are on a budget.  And when push comes to shove, Mr. Rocks and I would rather spend the money on booze and food for everyone to have a good time.  But, see the paragraph above - I knew that we had to have at least some type of professional photographer there.  And I wanted 2 photographers....one to take pics of Mr. Rocks getting ready, and one for me getting ready.  And I wanted them there all day - getting ready, ceremony, formal pics after, and reception.

So, knowing what I wanted, I jumped headfirst into searching for photographer last February. (Yes, 5 months ago.  It has taken me 5 months to find a photographer. Like I said, annoying!)  And the first problem I ran into was that my venue could not recommend a photographer.  A DJ?  Cake?  Yep - they had lots of recommendations, but they would not recommend a single photographer from alllll of the weddings that had come and gone through the Key Colony Inn.  Which sucks.  So, I searched and searched and searched....and what I came up with was split into 3 categories....

(1) The photographers cost anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of our ENTIRE wedding budget.  WTF?  SERIOUSLY?
(2) I could get 1 photographer for only 1/2 of the day
(3) I could get 1 really sketchy photographer for the whole day, but his pictures were really pretty bad (and considering my lack of artistic talent, they would have to be really bad if I thought so!)      

Which led me to just flat-out ignoring the problem for a while (cuz that always works out, right?)  But after I got back from New Zealand, I started attacking the problem with a renewed sense of purpose.  Luckily, I found a photographer in Key Largo.  After sending emails back and forth a few times, this guys quickly moved up to my #1 photographer spot on my imaginary list.  He has (1) shot a lot of weddings and knows his stuff, (2) we like his photos (check out his website), (3) he is (mostly) within our budget, and will include a second photographer!

So, I can rest easy now, we have a photographer - the deposit has been paid and the date is set in his book.  Yay!!!  Now, onto the 8 million other things on the list.

The demonic Save the Dates

Pre-Blog Warning to BM NZ - if you have not received your STD in the mail yet, don't read any further!!


So, by now, hopefully our guests have received our Save the Date in the mail.  Yay!  One more thing I can cross off my "To Do" list!  We mailed these guys out on Wednesday, ~ 1 year before our wedding.  Most of the wedding books suggest mailing off Save the Dates 6-8 months before the wedding, but with a destination wedding, sending them out a year in advance is a good idea if you want to give your guests plenty of time to plan for travel.

So, without further adieu, lets take a look at what our guests got in the mail!  The front of the envelope is rather plain, but once they flip it over to the back, they will see this:

(Photo by RockHugger)

Once they open the envelope, they will see our "very hard to create" magnets.  I am kinda bummed, because Mr. Rocks put a lot of time into creating the image for the magnets, and I was not very impressed with the final product.  But, meh, it is what it is, so....

(Photo by RockHugger)

Finally, the magnet is attached to another sheet of paper with a bit more information....

(Photo by RockHugger)

And there you have it folks - our "Save the Dates!"

Wedding Fitness

So, both of the Rock Hugger 'rents have called to say they got our Save the Date in the mail - yay for the post office!  So, our guests should be getting the STD's in the mail soon, and in a few days, I will post what we did.  Just keep in mind....even though it looks like we just threw these Save the Dates together, we really worked on them for quite a long time!


But today's post is not about the STD's, it is about fitness!  Both Mr. Rocks and I Need. To. Lose. Weight.  Granted, we are both generally healthy and we tend to do a lot of "active" activities, but we can both stand to drop a few LBS.  (Ok, maybe more than a few.)  And our wedding is a great goal to work towards!  


So, my goal is to get back to the weight I was 5 years ago, plus a few lbs.  See, in the summer of 2006, BM NZ and I went on a 2-week backpacking trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.  Earlier that summer, I joined weight watchers and started going to the gym like a fiend. And it worked!  I was pretty happy with what I looked like on that trip....see?

(Photo by RockHugger)

Now fast forward 5 years.  In that time, I met the Most Wonderful Man in the World...which meant I gained weight....eating out all the time plus having a wonderful person constantly telling you how wonderful you look means I would go for the ice cream rather than fruit for dessert!  And then I met Mr. Rock's mom (MIL Rocks), who is an amazing cook (can we say ravioli's?!?), so there went a few more pounds.  Not to mention every time we went to visit my family with Momma Rock's amazing cooking.  Add to that finishing a Ph.D. (which involves a lot of sitting and stressing and writing), so there went a few more pounds.  Mix into that the cooking abilities of both Mr. Rocks and myself (hey?  what would you expect?  We both had good teachers in the cooking arena!) and you have a bunch of well-fed Rockhuggers!


But, enough is enough, and it is time to lose da' wieght.  So, Mr. Rocks and I are counting our points a' la Weight Watchers, and we have started P90X.  For those who don't know, P90X is a 90-day workout routine.  Each day's routine is a little different, with the idea that you never "plateau".  We finished the first week's workout last week - only 83 more days to go!  We are both rather sore, but I have noticed a small difference (so far).  Aaannnd, Mr. Rocks has already lost 8 Lbs. and I have lost 6 Lbs.  So here's to getting healthy!  Bring it!

(Image from FitnessBodyOnline.com)

Door Hangers

So, Mr. Rocks and I have just finished and mailed out the Save the Dates.  And it did Not. Go. Well.  We had a lot of trouble with the Xyron, a machine that I am convinced was created by the devil.  So, when you do receive one in mail, please just lie to me and tell me they are nice :).  OK, you don't really need to lie to me - my ego is not that fragile, but just know that, even though it looks like we just threw these Save the Dates together, we really worked on them for quite a long time!

But in the meantime, I can share another project that is almost finished - our personalized door hangers!

(Photo by RockHugger)

Aren't they neat!  I am really pleased with how they came out!  And they were easy to make (not like the stoopid STDs!)  We plan on including these in our Out of Town Bags.  We have 5 different colors - yes, I know these colors are bright and obnoxious, but hey, it is the Keys - if there is anywhere in the world where you can get away with bright and obnoxious colors, it is in the Keys!  (Yes, I also realize that I am only showing 4 colors in the photo - the fifth color is a mystery!)

(Photo by RockHugger)

So now everyone will have personalized door hangers in the hotel :)

The story behind our wedding logo...

So, this post is a little bit about how I fell victim to the Wedding Industry.  Before I started reading about wedding blogs, I had no idea that people created their own little wedding logos - little personalized tiny logos that was supposed to represent the couple and their wedding.  But, I got sucked in, and therefore we had to have a wedding logo.  I am so ashamed... please don't judge me!

 We are getting ready to send out the first "official" wedding correspondence to our guests (the save-the-dates), so we needed to create our wedding "mark" or wedding logo.  And when I say "we," I really mean Mr. Rocks.  He is definitely the artistic talent in our duo, and he single-handedly created the following masterpiece....

(artwork by Mr. Rocks)

And here it is in gray-scale.....

(artwork by Mr. Rocks)

The actual logos have our wedding date on them, but, ya know...internet and all....

This baby (in either color or black and white version) will grace the envelopes of our STD's, our invites, the water bottles we are going to give out...basically any paper-product we give to people.  So, I hope you all like it!

Do you want to know our inspiration for our wedding logo?   Well, as you know, we are getting married on the pedestrian bridge at Bahia Honda State Park.  That pedestrian bridge used to be a railroad bridge, and was paved over as the era of trains in the Keys came to an end.  See, waaaay back in the day, there were no bridges connecting the Keys together.  Henry Flager was the owner of a railroad comglomerate who decided to build a train track from Jacksonville to Key West.  This was a difficult task, plagued with several hurricanes during construction, and many of the workers died along the way.  But in the end, the first train arrived at the Key West station in 1912 with a very old Flager in the first car.  The story of the railroad construction is actually pretty neat, and if you have the time, you should check out this link.

It is because of the railroad that there are bridges in the Keys, and eventually, the railroad bridges were converted into car bridges.  But since we are getting married on one of those old railroad bridges, we thought it would be appropriate to pay some homage to the Flager Road...

(image from Gold Coast Railroad Museum) 

(image from Flagler Railroad Photos)

As you can see, Mr. Rocks took elements from both emblems to create our wedding logo.  I love our logo!  And I love that we can pay a little bit of respect to Flager's Folly.

Re-energized with wedding planning by a nightmare

Hi everyone!  So, I have been a bit busy lately - April was INSANE as school was finishing up, then I ran up to PA to celebrate Mother's day with the bestest mom in the world then I (literally) flew half-way around the world to visit with BM NZ in...well, New Zealand.

Mirror Lakes in the south island of NZ 

(photo by RockHugger33)

BUT, the night I finally got back home, I had this terrible nightmare - you know the type -where you feel like you are actually there.  It was not a nightmare in the "scary-zombie" way, but in the "holy shit how can this happen" way.  I was dreaming that it was the day of the wedding, and the BM's and I had just come back from setting up the reception room and were starting to get ready.  And I realized that the photographer was not there yet.  And I wanted a photographer to be there while we were getting ready.  And then I realized that I had not done any planning since April 2011.  So we had no photographer, no DJ, no bouquets, nada.  And holy shit did I start to freak out.  But, I think my dream-self handled her shit pretty well.  I had BM NZ call her BF and get him to be our "photographer" for the wedding.  I had my go-to-girl  contact the DJ and bribe him with extra money to drive down to DJ our reception.  And I had Momma Rocks go out and pick flowers for us just outside (benefits to getting married in a tropical location!).

And then I woke up in a panic with my heart racing.  I think this was the universe's way of telling me it is time to get back to planning this wedding.
So Mr. Rocks and I are getting ready to send out the Save-The-Dates.  And being the artist that he is, Mr. Rocks is currently staying home from school today to create out "wedding logo" (tee-hee: yup - we now have a wedding logo.  And it is awesome!)  And I also have a few other things I have been working on.  So....summer is here, which means that students tend to be less annoying than normal, and I will get a good chunk of this wedding in order!    

And just to leave you with a few more images from NZ...

BM NZ threatening to push MOH into the river - Oh no! 

(photo by RockHugger33)

One of my super-awesome bridge decorators - doing what geologist do best -point out cool rocks! 

(photo by RockHugger33)

Mega-awesome-totally-cool waterfall in Milford Sound

(photo by RockHugger33)

Our "short" trip to the beach...

After breakfast, Momma Rocks and I donned our bathing suits and cover-ups, jumped in the car, and headed down to what we thought would be a 15-min trip to Bahia Honda State Park to see the ceremony site and have a little beach time.  Little did we know we would be side-tracked by a friendly, helpful, but very talkative vendor!

We are getting married on a bridge, and like most bridges, this bridge does not come equipped with chairs.

(Photo by me)

See?  No chairs.  And while Mr. Rocks would prefer our ceremony last only 5 minutes, it is an important event (I mean, hell, it is where we both commit to spend the rest of our lives with each other!), and I am thinking we should shoot for 30 - 45min.  And we figured that people will want a place to sit for those 30 - 45 min (cuz we are nice like that!).  So we will have to rent chairs (and a speaker system, while we are at it).  Luckily, the friendly folks at Mile Marker Party Rentals have chairs for us to rent.

(Mile Marker Party Rentals)

And more importantly, they will carry the chairs up to the bridge, set 'em up, and take 'em down when we are done.  So, I had emailed the vendor prior to flying down to FL, but had not heard back from her.  Which is no biggie - I mean, we are still over a year out from the wedding.  And April is wedding season in FL, so I assumed (correctly) that she was probably busy with 2011 wedding.  But I figured since we were in the neighborhood, that Momma Rocks and I would stop by the store and see if the vendor was in and had a minute to talk with us and give us a contract so I could give her money.

It turns out, when you want to give a vendor moola, they are more than willing to talk with you!  Actually, I am sure that, even if I was not planning on paying a deposit, the vendor would have still taken the time to meet with us.  She is a pretty neat lady - very friendly, a bit high-strung and type-a, and perfect as a person who would be (partially) in charge of setting up a wedding!

We not only finalized a contract, but she also gave me several photographers to contact - which was super helpful!   So, an hour later, we still had not made it to the beach, but we did indeed secure chairs for people to sit on whilst hanging out in the bridge!  

A Tropical Breakfast

Momma Rocks and I had a lot planned for the Saturday of our Rockin' Keys.  (We were only in town for two days, and we were on a mission!)  First up on our list Saturday morning was to check out the free breakfast at the Holiday Inn.  See, Mr. Rocks and I want to do a "morning after" breakfast the day after our wedding, and....well......how convenient, the Holiday Inn (where all of the guests will be staying, we hope), has a free hot breakfast.  And it was tasty!  They had a nice assortment of eggs, biscuits and gravy (a southern favorite), bagels, toast, pastries, cereal, and the best self-made pancakes in the world!

(Source: blog-popcake-na.com)

I love this little machine - you just push a button, and a few minutes later, 2 delicious pancakes come out the side.  Seriously, I am considering asking for one for Christmas this year (just kidding, kinda of).

However, our plan on "Let's just have our morning after breakfast at the free hotel breakfast" plan is not going to work out.  First, the food area is a bit small, and there were often lines of people waiting to get food (and who wants to wait in a line?).  Second, the breakfast room is kinda small - it could probably hold ~50 people.  And if it was just people from our wedding, that would not be too bad, but, since breakfast is open to all guests, I am guess it would be kind of crowded in there (and crowds + Rock Hugger = not fun time).

So, Momma Rocks and I started brainstorming ideas about alternative breakfast plans.  We planned based on the following facts:
    1)We really don't have money in the budget to treat all of the guests to a full-service breakfast.
    2) It really does not make sense to give everyone breakfast when they can get it for free at the hotel.
    3) The hotel breakfast runs from 7 - 10 AM.  While I can see getting up at 9/9:30 the day after the wedding, there is NO WAY Mr. Rocks or I would be up at 7 or even 8AM.  To me, an ideal morning after breakfast would really be a morning after brunch and run from 10AM - 11:30AM.

So, we came up with a "Plan A" and a "Plan B".

Plan A:  We utilize the outdoor space at the Tiki Bar (attached/behind the hotel) and have a Mimosa and Cuban Pastry brunch from 10 - 11:30.  The Tiki Bar probably won't be serving breakfast, so it should be closed and we would have the place to ourselves.  We could sit outside and enjoy the beautiful Keys weather, sipping on Mimosas and munching on tasty cuban treats.  This way, if people want a bigger breakfast, they can hit up the hotel breakfast beforehand.

(Source: Bubblybride.com)

The catch to Plan A?  Well, the tiki bar is still not open- it was supposed to open in January, then February, then March, and now I am told it will be open at the end of April.  We'll see - I am a bit skeptical.  I am sure it will open before next year, but until it is operational, I cannot talk to a general manager about prices.  See, Momma Rocks and I were thinking if we buy bottles of champagne and OJ, the cost of the breakfast would be manageable.  However, if we have to pay "bar prices" for the alcohol, then I am not so sure if we can fit it into our "already higher than it should be" budget.  I am hoping that we can just pay a little to rent the space and pay for a bartender and a waiter or 2 and bring in our own stuff.  I am hoping my awesome persuasion skills will be able to convince the GM that getting a little extra money is better than getting no extra money (i.e. we won't use them if it is too expensive).  But, until the damn place opens, IDK.

Plan B: becuase everyone needs a plan B! If the Tiki Bar idea does not work out, "plan B" is to rent out the breakfast room in the Holiday Inn and just do coffee and cuban pastries.  I talked with the GM, and we can totally have that room after breakfast ends at 10AM.  However, we probably would not be allowed to have mimosas if we did it in the Holiday Inn, since they don't have a liquor license.  Also, it would be inside and not as "tropically cool" as having it at the Tiki Bar would be.

So, we shall see what happens after the Tiki Bar opens.  But at least I have 2 options for the morning-after breakfast bunch!

After breakfast, we put on our bathing suits and started to make our way down to the beach....

Let's have our cake (and eat it too)

So, one of the goals of the recent Rockin' Keys trip was to eat cake.  And eat cake we did!  I scheduled 3 cake tastings on one afternoon for Momma Rocks and myself.  In retrospect, I think I should have spaced them out over the two days we were there - after 3 tastings in a row (where you wash down every. single. bite. of. cake with a drink of water, we were full, had a sugar high, and we both really had to pee.....oh well.

Momma Rocks - pre-cake tastings, enjoying Key West

(Photo by me) 

Me, waiting for my first cake tasting!

(Photo by Momma Rocks)

Now, you might be thinking "Wait a minute Rock Hugger, didn't you decide to do butterfly cupcakes ala Publix?"  Well, the butterfly cupcakes aren't off the table (and I recently acquired some really nice thick cardboard to make a cupcake tower!), but I kept reading about how other brides got to do cake tastings, and dammit, I wanted my cake tasting too!  Not to mention, we had not really considered any other cake places (mainly because Mr. Rocks is not a big fancy cake guy), and it was worth a look, right?

So, off to Key West we went for a bit o' cake.  The first place we went to was a bit disappointing.  So disappointing, in fact, that I am not even going to mention their name.  They brought us several "mini-cakes" where the cake and flavored frosting were already put together.  

(Photo by me)

The chocolate gnache was awesome, but the cakes themselves were a bit...dry...ucky....bitter....they just weren't good.  But apparently this place specializes in novelty cakes - good if you want someone to make a cake that looks like an elephant, but only if you don't plan on eating it.


So, an hour later (and a pee break), we were off to the next place, Amazing Cakes.  We met the baker in this office complex right off of Duval street - she had basically converted an office space into her kitchen, with the big mixing bowels and ovens and all.  Her place was really clean and she had all of her certifications on the wall (Momma Rocks really liked that).  Unlike stop #1, Amazing Cakes gave us a platter with all of her cake flavors and all of her frosting flavors separate.

(Photo by me of some tasty, tasty cake!)

This is a much better way to taste cakes!  Paula (the baker) has us try each frosting first, then try the cakes, then mix and match cake and frosting flavors.  And her cakes were excellent!  All of her frostings were buttercream based, and the cakes were very moist and yummy.  Momma Rocks and I both approved.  We played around a bit, and came up with two different cake/frosting combinations:  one would be the chocolate cake - 3 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and raspberry buttercream filling.  The other would be the "non-chocolate" cake with 3 layers of yellow cake with strawberry butter cream and plain buttercream filling.  How good does that sound?  Hungry yet?  :)

And even better - Paula and I went over some design ideas that I loved, and the cake was totally affordable!  I sent her an email after we got back from the Keys, and I am waiting to hear back from her. We would still need to figure out if there would be a delivery charge from Key West to Marathon (and how much that would be) but the Publix Plan may have a serious contender!

After Amazing Cakes, we jumped back in the car and headed up to White Street to Key West Cakes.  (And we had another potty break - I seriously had no idea how much water one drinks while tasting cakes!!)  Key West Cakes set up the tasting similar to Amazing Cakes - with the cakes separate from the fillings.

(Photo by me)

These cakes also tasted good - not as good as Amazing Cakes, but much better than the first place!  I liked how Key West Cakes had some neat flavors - like coconut cake and key lime cake.  However, Key West Cakes was waaaaayyy to expensive (for us).  So, while tasty, not a contender in the cake race.

Once we left Key West Cakes, it was getting close to sunset...which meant that there was absolutely no parking anywhere near Duval Street.  Momma Rocks and I were also getting a bit tired (coming down from the sugar rush plus we did not sleep the night before), so we decided to do some "drive-by" sightseeing in Key West.  I showed Momma Rocks the Southernmost Point and Mile Marker "0"

(Drive-By photo by Momma Rocks)

And, of course, we had to pee again.  After a potty break in the absolute-most-disgusting-gas station bathroom-I-have-ever-seen (and I have traveled in third-world countries, yo), we packed it in, said good-by to Key West, and headed back up to the middle keys for dinner and an early night to bed.

Little did we know that missing the sunset at Mallory Square would be faaar surpassed by the sunset the next night.... :)

A teaser of what we did on Saturday!

(Photo by me)