So, our first year as a married couple has come and gone. When thinking about how we would spend our first anniversary, we knew it wouldn't be a big trip or fancy dinner. As some of you may know, we booked a trip to Jamaica for our honeymoon last year, but shortly after we found out that one of our good friends was going to be competing in the Beijing Olympics. So, we immediately researched plane tickets, hotels and logistics; only to find that there was no way in heck we would be able to afford it! Enter Lady Luck - through our research and brainstorming, we found that some of our friends wanted to go as well. We also found out that one of the parents of one of K's little league wrestlers does business in China several times a month (what?!?). Fast forward a couple weeks, we have discounted plane tickets through K's brother-in-law's job with American Airlines, a condo to stay in in Beijing, a driver to take us anywhere we want to go, and a translator! What the?! Yeah, exactly my thoughts...
There you have the story of how our honeymoon trip to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica turned into a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Beijing Olympics. We couldn't get a refund on our Jamaica trip since there were no deaths or travel-prohibiting injuries (only fabulous plans for another amazing trip), but we did get it postponed for a year (actually within 15 months from the cancel date). Therefore, come August we will be lounging on the beach in Ochos Rios, Jamaica - ahhhh...
With that trip in our future, we had to come up with some fun, relatively cheap way to celebrate our first anniversary. And what better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than by camping, floating and playing with fireworks? But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Our anniversary celebration began on Thursday, July 2nd (which happens to be the date of our rehearsal dinner - perfect, no?). My mom had been telling me that she had a surprise for me, but that it wouldn't be "ready" until Thursday, so she was going to bring it to our house that evening. I love surprises, so I was beyond excited about what it could be. She said that I would probably like it more than K, but he would like it, too. Huh? So, come Thursday, my mom calls to say she's on her way down, but has to pick up my surprise and then she'll be over to our house. I was pacing back and forth, so excited, with Loki following me everywhere whining and moaning - and FINALLY my mom arrives with this:
A replica of the second tier of our wedding cake! Isn't it beautiful? Here's another look...
Now, if you've seen our wedding cake, you may say "I don't remember it looking like that." or "Something's different, but I can't put my finger on it...". Well, you'd be correct! When I arrived at the reception after taking pictures between the ceremony and reception, my wedding coordinator approached me just before we entered and said "OK, I don't want you to be upset, but the cake isn't exactly like we'd planned. Your mom's already seen it and she isn't happy." I said, "Oh? What's wrong?" and Sabrina proceeded to tell me that instead of the cake being covered in ivory icing, with chocolate brown details, it was ivory on ivory. So, while this definitely wasn't what we'd ordered, I knew in the big scheme of things, I (and my mother and wedding coordinator) were the ONLY people in the room that would have ever known. So, I said "OK, no big deal; nothing we can do about it now!" and entered my reception, cut the cake, and ate several pieces (even took some back to our wedding night suite!). It was as delicious with ivory on ivory as it would have been otherwise! Here's a picture of it at the wedding:
Pretty, huh? Well, after the wedding hoopla died down a bit, my mom called the bakery and they were sooooo sweet about the entire thing, apologizing up and down, and sending the nicest letter stating that they completely understood the importance of a mistake such as this on a wedding cake and were truly sorry. Needless to say, my mom had no qualms about returning to order an "anniversary cake" from that same bakery. And this time they got it right!
As for the real top tier of the cake? Well, we'll find out how that tastes this weekend. My sister was supposed to bring it to Lesterville on the fourth (it was still in my parents' freezer), but she forgot; so we'll eat it when we go out to Saint Charles on Saturday. I can't wait - french vanilla cake with raspberry filling! Mmmmmm...
For now we'll just deal with the pounds of red velvet cake in our freezer - I don't know how we will possibly deal with this hardship...
Now that I've spent an entire post talking about cake, I think I'll save the camping, floating and sparklers for the next post. Until then, we'll be having our cake and eating it, too!
Thanks, mom!
nicky
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