AJ & Lauren Are Married!

So, after our first delicious-looking honeymoon post, we ended up at a B&B that is so delightfully secluded that there was no internet access…then we were driving through the mountains…then we ended up at a different B&B that is so delightfully secluded that there was no internet access…then we were on a plane…then we were flippin’ jetlagged…now here I finally am, to present to you: DAY TWO, FOOD EDITION.

Our first stop on Tuesday was at Mama’s on Washington Square for breakfast. It was recommended by Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri and Dave Stash, so who are we to defy such a powerful trifecta? If you hold freshly made jam, alcoholic breakfast drinks and inch-thick bacon in high esteem (and if you don’t, why are we friends?), then make it a point to hop on a plane in the near future and make your way to Mama’s. The starting lineup:

Lauren's drink: Mama's Spiked Lemonade (Fresh lemonade, champagne, and chardonnay). AJ's drink: some kind of fancy Bloody Mary with secret ingredients that must have been good because even I, who generally thinks that Bloody Marys taste like a tall glass of Chi-Chi's mild salsa, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lauren's breakfast: Farmer's omelette with goat cheese, spinach and bacon. AJ's breakfast: Banana Berry French Toast with chocolatey drizzle and homemade jam goodness, and a side of bacon as thick as the layer of fat that is now hugging my waist.

I know, I know. You’re thinking, “Surely they didn’t again on Tuesday. They just wrapped that bacon up and had it for dinner in their hotel room. Like crazy hobos.” That is where you’re wrong. After our breakfast, we started the drive to our next location in Sonoma, and passed through the lovely town of Petaluma. In addition to an array of antique stores, Petaluma is also home to “Viva Cocolat”, a wonderful chocolate/coffee shop. The mid-day snack:

Banana truffles, Coconut lemongrass truffle, cappuccino truffle, and a dark chocolate something-or-other.

After this, we did take a brief respite to check into our B&B and change into our elastic waistband pants. But you can’t keep us down!! Later that night, we had a delightful 4-course meal (thanks Painter-Ulloms!!) at The Girl and the Fig, a great place right in Sonoma Square. We cozied up next to the outdoor fire with our bottle of wine and enjoyed the following goodies:

That is some hardcore CA cheese and meat, along with figs, my new fave snack. Much cooler than a Fig Newton.

These salads were about the closest we've come to a spiritual experience. Seriously. Lauren's salad: Heirloom tomato and watermelon stack with lemon vinaigrette. AJ's salad: Arugula, figs, and some kind of magical cheese with a PANCETTA SURPRISE at the bottom.

AJ's dinner: Pork with brocollini (I really like saying that word) and couscous. Lauren's dinner: Filet with macaroni and (what I still believe to be magical) cheese.

There was a dessert that didn’t live long enough to see photo time (you will notice that as a pattern in the coming days), but it was an Apricot crumble with Lemon Ice Cream.

Whew! Day two was a doozy! More to come tomorrow–the Humpday Menu was a little hazy, as that was the day that we did our 7-hour winery tour, but there are some other goodies in store

AJ and I, as people for whom good food and drink is a number one priority, decided that we would chronicle our journey through San Francisco and wine country with a daily food photo journal. It might make you jealous, it might make you hungry, it might make you wonder how we’re still standing at the end of the day, but it will certainly make you want to come  out here and eat your way around the west coast, too!

So, it turns out that San Francisco is in a different time zone than Pittsburgh. And it turns out that the only thing you will want to do when you get here at 2pm is eat dinner.

So that is what we did. Upon the recommendation of our kindly hotel concierge, we walked down the street to “Le Colonial”, which is a Vietnamese/French restaurant. Our waiter (who, I might add was super attractive and spoke like the Geico gecko) suggested a few items, and this is what we ended up with:

Orange vodka with pineapple puree, and vodka with merlot and passionfruit puree.

The second thing from the left was a sesame shortrib tht AJ was having an intimate conversation with about how well it came off the bone. That's what she said.

Sticky rice with lobster and shittake mushrooms wrapped in banana leaf, filet mignon cube on delicious greens that we neglected because, um, there was filet mignon on them, and to the left, Ahi Tuna that I kind of wanted to just inject into my body wth an IV.

Stay tuned for today’s gluttonous adventures, and until then, a photo of how this “blogging about our meals” idea actually started–we went to get drinks before dinner, and I said to AJ “Ooooh! Take a picture of me with my fall scarf and fall apple cider!” Flash forward to apple cider being too full, and me now having apple-cider covered pants.

A parting thought: at Le Colonial, there were two guys at the table across from us who we overheard chatting about whether or not they should get the appetizer plate pictured above. AJ and I both leaned in and said to each other, in unison, “If this was Pittsburgh, we could yell across the room and tell  them that it was rill good”. Aaaaand that is why we are married.

Well.

There are 12 days until the BIG day, and I must say, the events of the 12 days of Christmas might actually make for a pretty kick-ass wedding. Minus the geese a-laying. But the ladies dancing and lords a-leaping sound right up our alley.

It’s funny to think about the number of people who have said to us in the past week or two “Are you READY??” I’m not sure what my response is supposed to be …”I don’t know…I just really wish I knew AJ better before jumping into something like this” or “Yeah, I mean…I think we’re rea…SHIT! I FORGOT TO GET A DRESS!!!”

I guess we can chalk most of those conversations up to small talk, but it kind of begs the question, are we not supposed to be ready? Should I be worried? Because I’m not. I think at this point, it’s more satisfying than stressful to realize  that it’s too late to do some of things we meant to do, like buy custom napkins for the bar and cookie table (first of all, I don’t even think I can live with myself having uttered the phrase “custom napkins”, and most of our friends just use their pants as a napkin anyway), or have “cool” table numbers (“normal” table numbers are the new black, I hear).

And right around the time that we realized there was not enough time to do those things, we realized it was the perfect time to do others, like make dinner reservations for our honeymoon and finish writing our vows. Don’t let bridal magazines fool you, 2 weeks out is a pretty cozy little time. Too late for the things that don’t matter. Just late enough for the things that do.

Today’s post on my fave wedding blog (www.apracticalwedding.com) was about the stress associated with the crunch time right before the wedding, and was titled “It’s About Your Person (That’s Really It)”. That really stuck with me because ready or not (choice A, please), this wedding is goin’ down. It’s goin’ all the way down. And my person is AJ and AJ’s person is me, and that is why we decided to have this whole wonderful event. To wake up the next morning and officially be each others’ people.

So, if you were going to ask…yes, we’re ready. Have been since last year around this time. But we figured we needed time to get napkins. And look how well that panned out.

So, there are some important ways that we have used the interwebs to enhance the wedding experience (separate from this little blog). As you guest-type folks plan your wedding weekend in the ‘Burgh, let us refer you to these handy dandy links.

PLACES TO STAY:

We have blocked off rooms at the Hampton Inn on Smallman St. and the Westin Convention Center on Penn Ave. The discounted group rate can be found by clicking either of the links below. You must book by Aug. 13 for the Westin and Aug. 11 for the Hampton.

http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/SiscoStash

or

http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/PITDNHX-SSW-20100910/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

SHOPPING:

Our registry can be found at http://myregistry.com/default.aspx

Search for either Lauren Stash or Alan Sisco, and use the password “Pittsburgh” (with a capital P) to view the registry.

If you have questions on either of these things, or anything at all about the weekend, let us know! You can email us at ajandlauren@gmail.com

See you in September!

Lauren and AJ

Last weekend, we took a little jaunt to MOH Jessie’s family house on Lake Michigan with nearly all of our wedding party. It was a chance for everybody to meet, greet, eat, and…pleat? Ok, not  that last one…it really wasn’t that formal of an event. Anyway, I suppose you could call this our joint bachelor/bachelorette event, because if you’ve met us, you know that we’re a little less

and a little more

…a little heavy on the

and a little light on the

Consequently, we were so so so so so so (very?) happy to have so many people that we love in one place, and so so so so so so (extremely?) happy that those people are more than contented (almost disturbingly so) to simply sit, eat, sit some more, and enjoy spending time together.

As a sidenote, I’ve never really understood the bachelor/bachelorette thing anyway. At this point, is it really accurate to say this is my “last night as a single lady”? Did I miss something? Have I really been single and free to wear penis hats this whole time? And why should I be angry if AJ wanted to visit a fine establishment like “Bare Elegance”? If I was all that concerned about my fiance leaving me for a stripper, I feel as though I have bigger problems on my hands than whether or not he’s doing so the day before our wedding.

But I digress. What really stuck with us after this weekend was the idea that underneath all the parties and events and outfits that go along with the wedding, the driving force is love and friendship and family. You couldn’t have a event like this if your friends didn’t drive 12 hours from DC to meet you at the lake house. And you couldn’t have a proper grown-up wedding reception if your cousins and friends and parents and roommates weren’t there to band together and remind you what a nutjob you were 14 or 4 years ago.

At the risk of sounding like…myself…

I must say again that there’s so much talk within wedding circles about the details. “Will your bridemaids’ bouquets be matching the ribbon around your favors?” “You can’t just use a regular knife to cut the cake! It’s your wedding cake!” “So, you’re not wearing a veil? Nothing at all on your head?”. And I agree. It is about details. But those aren’t the details that we’re interested in. We’re interested in the fact that our friend Maggie spent God knows how long painting our faces on a damn wedding cornhole set. We’re interested in the delicious dinner that Jessie’s parents had delivered to us, half of whom they didn’t know, but trusted that we were all like family. We’re interested in the “people on a stick” that we took to the beach with us to have those who couldn’t come along closeby. We’re interested in the way that a group of guys made up of AJ’s cousins, roommates, and high school friends were smoking cigars on the beach together like they had been friends for years.

And the most important detail. The simplest of them all. It was fun. We had fun. This whole thing has been fun. People warned me at the beginning of this that by this time in the planning process we’d just want to elope. And to that, I call bullshit. There is not one part of this that we haven’t enjoyed, and we wouldn’t have rushed through any of it. There’s really no point in rushing this thing that we’ve gotten to share with our friends and parents and families…and after it’s all done, we will certainly not want to rush the moments when things are quiet and we just get to “be” with those people again.

45 days left…let’s have some more fun.

So, we did it. Post-engagement/pre-wedding photos taken. And, fine. We admit it. We really like them. Our photographers, Chuck and Julie Schneider, are awesome to work with, and they completely understand that we want to look like us, not like people in a picture. After seeing these pics, I would really like them to just photograph our life…in the least creepy way possible. Anyway, if you’d like to look at 18 more pictures of us than the average person needs to see, take a look at the 19 pictures below. And if you’re a resident of the Greater McKeesport area, you might be lucky enough to see one of these bad boys in the “Society” section of the Daily News. If that section even exists. 

Also, TheKnot.com (I use it very sparingly, because it tells me that we should have hired a professional calligrapher, and that I should have gotten a pre-wedding chemical peel by now) tells me that there are 100 days until our wedding…and the countdown begins!

I know, I said we would never take engagement photos (editor’s note: I accidentally typed enGAGment at first…maybe I should have left it like that to drive my point home). However, upon looking for a photo of AJ and I to use with our invitations, and hell, to just hang up at our apartment, I was at a loss. Nothing very recent, lots of pictures taken in bars, and lots of self-taken photos (which, due to the angle, tend to make our two gigantic heads look even more terrifying).

So, we’re giving in. Taking the photos tonight. I don’t know if they can rightfully be called engagement photos anymore, since we’ve been engaged for 10 months at this point, and are now just in the pre-marriage happy place. Maybe that’s what we’ll call them. Happy Place Pictures. Sounds much less formal, and a lot more goofy. Bingo.

Anyway, I must admit that I’m now kind of excited to have some nice, grown-up (are we really grown-ups?) pictures of us. And I fully trust in our awesome photographers, Chuck and Julie, that they will not suggest any of the following photos scenarios: 

*AJ pushing me me on a swing in a park.

*AJ and I strolling along a wee bridge that overlooks a pond, holding hands, and looking off into the distance (presumably at our rosy future).

*Me placing my left hand in a prominently awkward place on AJ’s chest, as if to say “Look what my man done bought, ya’ll!”.

*AJ carrying me/holding me aloft in any way. I’m a big girl. It will just look like I was injured during the photo session, and he is attempting to drag me to the nearest hospital.

*AJ and I laughing heartily at an imaginary joke. On the other hand, I make no guarantees about the attractiveness of the face I would make if someone told a real joke, so maybe an imaginary joke isn’t so bad after all.

So, wish us luck. The outcome will most definitely be better than the time that my dad and I thought that it would be fun for me to take Glamour Shots in Monroeville Mall as a child. They put hot rollers in my teased hair and made me wear a denim shirt with sequined fringe.

And with that image, I bid you adieu.

We should mention that, at the wedding, you are going to see some strange people. They will appear to be wearing some sort of cult-ish uniform, and they will probably be featured prominently on the dance floor. This is the wedding party. Our family and family of friends. Meet them. Know them. Love them.

Robbie Johnson: Best Man

Robbie and AJ’s burgeoning relationship began in Mrs. Pater’s Chemistry lab.  They shared a social awkwardness, an unfortunate love for Barenaked Ladies, and a proclivity for breaking things like test tubes.  Without Robbie, AJ never would have passed chemistry, dated Lauren, moved to D.C., or learned those killer recipes for Junk Pasta.

Kate Sisco: Best Sister

Kate was born exactly 4 years and 1 day after AJ.  Since then, their overly practical mother has combined their birthday parties 22 times in a row.  Kate resents AJ for this, as she should.  If you find yourself conversing with Kate during the reception, please try not to mention anything LOST-related…trust us, you don’t have the time.

Jessie Beckman: Maid of Honor

Jessie and Lauren met on the very first day of college when Lauren needed to borrow a hammer to hang her 648 knick-knacks on the wall. Seven years later, they still count on each other for many things, especially being the only other person snickering when someone says “duty”, and being the only other person who dreams that “Simon and Garfunkel Folk Band” will someday be released for the Wii. 

Jeffrey Krsul: Man of Honor

Jeffrey and Lauren became fast friends during freshman year at Serra Catholic High School, as they were the only two students listening to Tori Amos during lunch. You can now find them summering at church fairs, striving to find the best pierogies in Pittsburgh, and dyeing religiously insensitive eggs at Eastertime.

Beth Wilson

Beth and Lauren met as hallmates during freshman year of college. As roommates, Beth usually spent her time turning off lights that Lauren had turned on. Beth has recently been trying to get Lauren to be more interested in cooking (perhaps a good interest for a soon-to-be-wife), but Lauren is really hoping that Beth just moves in with her and AJ as that friend who is also your personal chef. Is that not normal?

Chad Schropp

Chad Leonardo Schropp is the oldest of 11 grandchildren on the groom’s side.  As the unquestioned prodigal son, he has been setting trends in AJ’s family since Nike bags and college hoodies were in style.  These days, he serves as AJ’s key adviser on matters relating to wedding planning, zombie apocalypse preparedness, and prescription drugs.

Fabricio Fernandez

Fabricio and Lauren were next door neighbors during freshman year of college, when Lauren’s mom was really happy that she was living next to someone with such an “exotic” name. The two of them spent the year sharing haircut appointments and an irrational love of the short-lived reality show “Starting Over”, and they have remained friends ever since.

Jake Zetek

The above photo to the contrary, Jake is not a sleazy written off cast-member of the Jersey Shore.  He is, however, prone to fist pumping – but only when it comes to things like Phillies’ games, securing the winner’s chair in Tecmo Super Bowl tournaments, or knocking down his younger cousins in search of chewing gum in the annual Cunningham Family Candy Toss.

Jillian Stash

Jillian and Lauren met when Lauren was born and Jillian was 3. They have been told that it was an enjoyable meeting, and shortly thereafter, they invented the game “bus stop” at their grandma’s house (they were really active children). Since then, they have seen approximately 68 Jimmy Buffett concerts together, and like to spend time thinking of new portable and parking lot grill-able food choices. 

Kim Painter

Kim and Lauren met at Schenley High School, around the time that AJ was still wearing Hawaiian shirts, and Robbie still wasn’t telling him that that wasn’t ok. Before AJ and Lauren began dating, they asked Kim if it was okay (lest they ruin the group dynamic), and she said yes, so she might actually be credited for this whole wedding thing.

Maggie Wheltle

Lauren met Maggie on the first day of college in Mitchell Hall at GWU, when Maggie looked so flippin’ friendly that Lauren assumed that she was the RA. Lauren has since learned that Maggie has a passion for cynicism that is perhaps rivaled only by her own. Maggie and Lauren could also be found watching TV for countless hours in their dorm room while Jessie and Beth were doing actual work. 

Nathan Rudy

Nathan and AJ met while they were both visiting their girlfriends at GWU.   Being that Jessie and Lauren are inseparable, they pretty much had to become friends.  Bridging a divide greater than the Capulets and Montagues, AJ managed to put aside Nathan’s Cincinnati Bengal loyalties, as Nathan did AJ’s loyalty to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  As roommates, they shared a fondness for cost-effective grocery shopping, rooms devoted solely to video games, and 14-hour LOST marathons.

Shane Malek

If you don’t already know about AJ’s cousin Shane…well…then there is nothing we can tell you.

Kristin LaRoche

Kristin and Lauren met in Dana Burgess’ modern dance class during freshman year at GWU. More important than the class itself was the daily bacon and egg sandwiches that they shared afterwards. As ladies with identical priorities, they have always been able to rely on each other to skip dance class in favor of food and/or shopping.

Tom McGee

Tom McGee (you have to say both names) and AJ met at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.  Sure, the school was kind of crappy and the students were predominantly dumb, but this unfortunate reality only strengthened Tom and AJ’s resolve and sense of superiority.  With all due respect to other former roommates in the wedding party, Tom takes the title as most awesome because he had a kitchen appliance that cooked hot dogs and toasted the bun all at the same time.

Honeymoon has been booked. If you’re looking for us from September 13-18, we’ll be in San Francisco/Napa/Sonoma. 

If I have too much wine and try to stowaway in a winery somewhere, I’ll just remember the wise words of Carrie Bradshaw…”If you’re tired, you TAKE a Napa, you don’t MOVE to Napa!”

I stole this title from one of my favorite marriage blogs, www.apracticalwedding.com, because I think it describes our feelings on the wedding registry perfectly. It’s not that we find shopping boring, or are uninterested in receiving a shiny new standing mixer. It’s that we are a little uneasy with the idea that, because we are in love, people should get us pre-determined gifts. Or any gifts at all, really. That being said, I present our wedding registry:

Visit www.myregistry.com (search for either Lauren Stash or Alan Sisco, and the password to see the registry is Pittsburgh, with a capital P). 

Now, I will be honest with you. Yes, these  are things that we truly want and/or need. Yes, we will secretly look forward to returning from our honeymoon and ripping open packages wrapped in sparkly silver paper, perhaps printed with wedding bells or tiny champagne glasses. 

But.

If you look at our registry and say, “Hmm…none of these things really seem like something I want to buy for AJ and Lauren”, or “Wow, AJ and Lauren have terrible taste in housewares”, or “I can’t afford this crap”, or “I think AJ and Lauren would really like a framed copy of my great-grandmother’s bundt cake recipe”, then by all means, disregard the website above. 

In the spirit of being honest, I will say this: the part we are  most looking forward to about our wedding day is the people who will be there. The people who have helped to make us who we are as individuals and as a couple, and the people who will continue to do so throughout our marriage. And if any of those people think that instead of sheets and towels, we need a matching set of 3-D glasses, round trip tickets to Buenos Aires (bonus points for you, wedding guest…), or a piece of notebook paper with marriage advice scribbled on it, then that will just make the day even happier. 

Much love, 

AJ and Lauren