44 Days and Counting...

Hello and Happy New Year!  We hope the holidays treated all of you as well as it treated us.  For those of you that had a bunch of time off, please keep your relaxed mood to yourself.  This working for a living thing isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Today is January 5th and the wedding is 44 days away.  44!  I'd always heard that time goes faster as you get older, but man oh man.  I'm 30, but I can only imagine what it's like for really old people (Uncle Paul).  Forty-one days from today, Crystal and I catch our flight to Mexico.  Some of you will be joining us... some of you will be missing one Hell of a time.  We've planned surprises for all those that attend and big lumps of coal for those that don't.  Don't worry though non-attenders, the lumps of coal are of the highest quality.

Random thought: You know how you drive home from work and you think to yourself, "Man, could I go for a pizza right now!"?  Well, apparently that thought has lead to a bit of a weight gain for yours truly.  So, as not to be outdone by my beautiful bride-to-be (who's been Captain Dedicated for months now), the gym has become my new best friend.  At this point in the game, Crystal is tearing things up and may not be caught, but I'll do my best to stay within shouting distance. 

The wedding website is up and running with all the important details for travel and the hotel (click here).  As we get closer to the March 12th reception, you'll be able to find those details too... check your mail in mid to late January for those pieces of gold.  Seats will go quickly, so RSVP as soon as you can.

We hope all is well and, in honor of Mexico, una mas margarita por favor.

You know you've missed us

Let's clear one idea up right away....

Yes, it has been a REALLY long time.  Sorry.  You must be thinking, "there's no way Eric has been too busy to write one of these posts every now and then."  Well, you're right.  Sure life has been busy but, and let's be honest, Eric has been too lazy.  This is nothing new.  Everyone who's everyone knows this is the case and has been for... how old am I again?

So, let's move on to the happy couple...

We are still alive and kicking.  Some of you have seen us and some (a.k.a unlucky) have not.  The new apartment is no longer so new, but we're loving every second of it.  Although Crystal's cat Hugo has developed a wonderful habit of pawing at the metal blinds at 4 in the morning.  Gotta love cats!  Otherwise, the apartment life is grand.

Eric started a new job in August.  The teaching life has been traded for a big boy job at a non-for-profit based in Oak Park.  Out are the Adidas pants and gym shoes and in are the khaki pants and polo shirts.  Not many people can claim to experience adulthood for the first time at 30.

Crystal is still working hard with Cook County.  She spent most of the summer extremely jealous of Eric and his pool time, yet she still has somehow managed to be as tan.  Yes, yes, we hate her. 

As for the wedding... 4 months to go!  We've had to rebook our flights 2x already.  The esteemed Mexicana Airlines decided to go belly up and leave us scrambling for alternatives... pricey alternatives.  Either way, the trip is still good to go.  We've been busy planning our at-home reception party.  Actually, Crystal has been busy planning the at-home reception party.  Occasionally, Eric tries to provide input, but ultimately looks like an idiot because he doesn't recognize the differences in anything or understand why there have to be decorations for decorations.  But if it makes her happy then there will be decorations for decorations.

Speaking of Mexicana Airlines, Mexico is really calling our names right now, yet many people are still not officially booked.  These trips don't book themselves people!  Whether you call our travel agent or pull up expedia, it's time to take the plunge.  In case you need motivation, again, here's the pitch, again.  Fun in the sun in February, booze, pools, food, excursions, booze, oh and a wedding.  I'm pretty sure I hear the sound of keyboard keys now.

We hope all is well.  Happy marathon weekend everyone!

We made the move!

So, we spent the past 2-3 weeks experiencing fall-like weather but, as all of you know, weather turns into the one thing you don't want exactly when you don't want it.  So, our move was a bit warm and rainy.  Otherwise, the apartment is full of stuff.  Some things had to be nixed from the plans.  And the unpacking process is in full swing.  So far, our view has proven to be even better than we remembered and the pool looks refreshing.  Now it's just a matter of squeezing myself into my bathing suit to go for a swim.  Anyway... big thanks to Knoth and Clint for the help.  Although, staying up until 2 am Saturday morning drinking vodka with Clint did eventually prove to be my downfall by about 5 pm Saturday afternoon.  Good times though.

Give us a few weeks and we'll be ready to entertain.

Enjoy the weather friends.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Well everyone, May is here, the sun isn't shining and the tan is pathetic, but wedding plans are off and running.  If you don't want travel insurance, then you can book today!  All of you should take the next 10 minutes to call the travel agent and book your trip.

Moving day is growing near and we're still hoping that some of our friends will make it.  May 22nd... beer... food.  It's enough to convince me, hopefully you're convinced too.

Otherwise, nothing else all that new around here.  We're just trying to get out of the cold like everyone else.  Stay thirsty my friends.

Has it really been 2 weeks?

So, we have neglected all of you, our loyal readers, for the past two weeks.  Don't sit there and think that we've forgotten you though.  We have been busy at work trying to get the trip planned, scoping out reception locations and finalizing plans for our move.  So much to do and so little time.

For those of you that have been attempting to book your trip, we apologize that it's not happening just yet.  For some reason, Moon Palace withdrew their room information and rates and no one can book anymore.  We were told soon, but no date was provided.  If it weren't for the fact that we love everything the Moon has to offer, we'd be long gone by now.  Supply and demand sucks.

The reception date and location are coming a bit more into focus.  Hopefully, the next couple of weeks will clear everything up.  Stay tuned...

As for the move, we're down to less than a month.  It seems like a long time ago that we even started looking, yet it's quickly approaching.  Packing hasn't even started and, if Crystal has her way, it will occur 2 days prior.  Then again, she also throws everything in trash bags.

Enough about us though.  We haven't heard from many of you in a while, so how about catching us up.

Spring is here and so is travel information!

After a few months of (im)patiently waiting, we are happy to say that both hotel and flight information are available for the wedding weekend. That's right sports fans we can now book our trips! So, no more wondering if we were going to actually invite everyone. This is your official notice. Book now!

Below are couple of links that you'll likely want to click on so that you have all the information and for you to be able to make an informed decision. The first link is for our wedding website that features all of the specific information (dates, location, times, etc.). On this site, you'll find the second link (in the "how to book travel arrangements section"), as well as the "guest book" where you can RSVP to let Crystal and I know that you're coming to the big show. The second link is the travel agency pdf file. This file has pricing for either (1) the "land only" prices for the sort OR (2) the "bundle" which is flight and hotel together. Obviously, flight pricing is based on right now, so if you wait 3 months to book, they can't guarantee you the same flight pricing. After you've read through Liberty Travel's information, you can choose to give them a call or you can choose a different route of travel. Crystal and I are not forcing anyone into anything, we just liked having everything spelled out nice and simple.

Crystal and Eric Wedding Page: www.mywedding.com/crystalanderic2011

Liberty Travel Chicago Travel Information

As usual, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call, email or stop by and we'll do what we can to help.

Go Mexico!

Update 2.5

Happy Spring Break and awesome friggin weather everyone!

It seems that we misspoke about our new apartment. South Loop is out and West Loop/River West is in. Can you believe those south loop people wanted to charge us $400 a month to park our cars? Thieves. We're not even sure that Crystal's car is worth $400. I love you Crystal... don't hurt me when you get home!

Anyway, so after we realized that we'd have to take out a loan to pay for the parking, we decided to start searching again. 3 days later, we had found a great place with a view of the SEARS tower, the Sun-Times building, the river and Trump's compensation, I mean tower. The move-in date is still the same (May 22 for those of you that forgot). We're still looking for some assistance for those willing helpers. We offer beer and the building's pool as payment. No excuses from you Knoth and Maryniw... we need the muscle.

The next topic is the one that everyone is sure to be intrigued by... the trip. We spoke with the travel agent this week and flight information is available for the week of the trip. However, hotel information is not. I was told that the room availability and 2011 rates would be up within 2 weeks. So, please be patient even though you're as sick of waiting as we are. We wonder why the process has to be so ridiculous too. Maybe hiring Forrest Gump to create scheduling for Moon Palace was a mistake, but they figured that he could do everything else so well!

Update #2

So Crystal and I have finally come down from our engagement party hang-over. What a blur that day was!

So here's the latest tidbits...

We're down to about a month and half before we can book our trip. We've grown a bit impatient but, since I haven't perfected the time machine just yet, we have to wait it out. We have noticed that a few people have stated to post to our official wedding website with their RSVPs and we think it's great that some people are already planning to attend. Yet, somehow, none of our loyal readers on this site have made a single peep... I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

Crystal and I are also excited to say that we have found our first apartment in the South Loop about 1/2 mile from the lake. We move in at the end of May. The building is about 1 1/2 years old, is 24 stories tall and, much to Crystal's delight, gives away free Starbucks coffee everyday. Anyone that is in town on the 22nd of May that feels like lending a hand for moving is more than welcome (wink wink).

We hope everything is going well for all of you and talk to you soon.

The Party

Phew!

Thank you to everyone that came out to help us celebrate our upcoming big day. Saturday was a whirlwind of new and old faces, catching up and shots with Crystal's father. We wish we could have spent more time with some of our long, lost friends and we apologize to those of you that felt cheated. We'd be more than happy to catch up with you really soon though.

The highlights...
1. Shots with Crystal's father.
2. Maryniw's torn pants and the safety-pin sewing job.
3. Aunt Jen - nothing more needs to be said.
4. Crystal getting destroyed by a 7 year old in Wii boxing and spending all of Sunday complaining that her biceps hurt.
5. Great food.
6. Shots with Crystal's father.

If anyone would like to add to the list, please feel free. I can update...

Thanks again for coming to the party. It was great to see everyone.

Parties and STD's....

By now everyone should have received their STD from us. Hopefully, everyone enjoyed receiving their STD as much as we enjoyed giving it. We tried to provide everyone with a simple, yet fitting STD. If you didn't receive your STD yet, we'll make sure to pass it along to you on Saturday at the Carlson household.

If you haven't had the chance to check the wedding website, please check www.mywedding.com/crystalanderic2011 at your earliest convenience. It has all of the resort-specific information, as well as some nearly-set-in-stone travel information. The big date is now less than a year away and we're pumped.

As I mentioned before, there is a party this Saturday. Obviously, you're invited... we could never leave out our readers. The address is 2409 Delore, McHenry, IL, 60051. It's a casual open house from 3-7. Show up and leave anytime you please. We look forward to seeing everyone and we thank everyone in advance for making the trek. Be sure to tip the staff. Haha.

Save-the-dates have been mailed!

The process has officially begun ladies and gents. The save-the-date cards have been mailed. I wish I could abbreviate save-the-date from here on out but the acronym is just a bit too unfortunate. So, make sure you check your mail over the next few days to get your save-the-date (imagine if you replaced this occurrence of save-the-date with the acronym... not good).

Travel arrangements... less pending

Hello everyone!

So, we've heard back from the travel agents and everything is starting to fall into place. We have some approximate room costs but, unfortunately, we do not have flight costs because those rates are released 9 months prior (for those math majors at home, we still have 12 months). So, we will not be booking our trip until May and we recommend the same to you.

For now, if you plan on booking a basic, garden-view, double-occupancy room, plan on spending around $200 per person per night with an additional $300-400 on a flight (non direct). Some of you might be wondering what you get for that $200 a night. Well, all the food you can eat, all the booze you can drink, 4 swim up bars, around 10 pools, 24 hour room service, all the excursions you can handle and, most importantly, a weekend of Eric... and Crystal too. For those of you that don't want to settle for the basic room, there are other room categories to tickle your fancy: golf course view, resort view, ocean view, etc. The pricing varies significantly based on the view and the class of room (deluxe vs. concierge vs. presidential). If you wish to wake up the the ocean everyday, plan on spending about $250 per person per night. If you wish to be treated like royalty in the presidential suite, plan on $670 per person per night and a party in your room everyday.

Hopefully, this answered some questions that people have. More specifics will be coming out with the save-the-date/invitations. So check the mailbox in about a month or so.

Adios

Travel arrangements... still pending

Hello everyone!

Yes, it has been a while since our last post and we do apologize. We have now discovered what the term "Mexico time" means and we are being forced to follow it. For those of you unfamiliar with Mexico time, the policy states that nothing gets done in anything remotely resembling a specific time frame. For example, if someone in Illinois tells you they'll return your call today or tomorrow... they likely will. This is the epitome of "normal time." Mexico, somehow, missed the message on that one. So, we wait... and wait... and wait some more. Exciting, isn't it?

On a "for sure" note, we are really pumped about the engagement party on March 6th. We can't wait to see everyone.

The Date is...

Hello to our loyal readers and infrequent guests,

First, our loyal reader total has not yet reached the magic double digit goal. I'm slightly hurt, but I'm willing to get by with a little help from my friends.

Second, Crystal and I are excited by the rapid responses for the upcoming engagement party to be held in magnificent McHenry, IL (yes, it does actually exist). Some of our guests will be making their first trek to Iowa and we (in this case "we" means Eric) look forward to the many phone calls requesting further directions on how to get there. If, for some reason, you did not receive the invite through pingg.com, check your spam filter for a message from Eric Carlson or email us and we'll get that to you as quickly as possible.

Finally, set your calendars my fun-loving friends... February 19th, 2011, at 2pm at the Moon Palace in Riviera Maya is when Crystal and I will take the plunge into wedded bliss. Official save-the-dates will be coming out soon, we just have to make some final arrangements with the resort to ensure that we reserve enough rooms and worms for the tequila. So, don't make your travel plans just yet as we promise to provide you with so much information that it will make your head spin.

Buenos noches!

Loyal reader update...

We now have 2 really loyal readers (still Eric and Crystal) and 4 followers. Only 4 frickin followers? Come on people... let's aim for at least double digits by the end of the weekend. We're counting on you!

Update #1

Hello to all of our loyal readers! That's right Eric and Crystal, we're talking to you.

So, now that we've had a chance to soak in the gravity of our brand new adventure, we know it's time to spread the information wealth.

1. There is no set wedding date yet, but expect early February 2011. Hopefully, that will give everyone plenty of time to come up with a really great gift.
2. The theme for this wedding is definitely "unconventional." Church and reception are out like stonewashed, tight-rolled jeans. Beach and all-inclusive are all the rage. So, ladies and gentlemen, get your bikinis and Speedos (please see that word as joke... please) ready because it will be a gathering on the beach and, maybe if we're lucky, at the swim-up bar.
3. Now might be a good time to renew that passport and brush up on your Espanol, because we forecast Mexico in the future. That's right party people, margaritas will be flowing!
4. We're working on getting information out to our guests as soon as possible so that everyone can start the decision making process on whether to go. But honestly folks, Mexico, all-inclusive, Crystal and Eric getting hitched... do you need any more incentive than that? Didn't think so.
5. For those people that won't be able to attend the "The Vacation of All Vacations" (that's what the kids are calling it), we do plan to have a shindig upon our return so that everyone else can be jealous of our tans... I mean jealous of our love... I mean celebrate in our marriage. Details of this party are very much pending, but will be publicized as soon as we know. We hear TMZ is interested in buying pictures.
6. As always, if you have any questions about what's going on, please call Crystal. Not, I say, I say, not Eric. He's busy writing these posts and the creative process wears him out.

Fin

The Cruise

Every beginning needs a story. Most people plan vacations with ideal circumstances in mind. Miami/Bahamas in January should not be considered when planning for ideal circumstances. Like "The story of the Ring", Eric is your author.

"So, we went on a cruise this past weekend. Left Chicago in a snow storm on Thursday. Of course the plane left late (corruption and airport delays are what Chicago does best you know) and therefore arrived to Atlanta late. Well, as you're likely aware, airports don't like to hold airplanes for only a couple passengers. Our connecting flight to Ft. Lauderdale was scheduled to leave at the same time as our flight arrived in from Chicago. It was running time! We exited the plane and took off. Now, if you've never been to the Atlanta airport, you must be one of the luckiest people alive because this airport must have been designed by someone that has full access to one of those little golf carts all the time. Then factor in the seemingly never ending sets of escalators and, in the time it took you to travel from one terminal to the next, you have successfully completed a half marathon and a mountain climbing expedition.

After we go through our full-blown exercise routine for the day, we finally arrive to our gate. The plane isn't even frickin there! We are sweating like you wouldn't believe and we now have to wait for the plane. That particular flight, once it arrived of course, then proceeded to sit on the runway for what seemed like a decade and we arrived to Ft. Lauderdale after midnight. We hopped a cab to Miami for the night in anticipation of the cruise the next day. Let me tell you a little something about Miami hotels... they don't have heat! That night, I'm pretty sure that my little toes froze off. Who in the hell expects to go to Miami only to discover that it's 45 degrees?

Friday turned out to be a great day. The sun was shining and the weather blessed us with a day of about 65 degrees. We killed some time in Miami before boarding the boat by eating at a little restaurant where the staff understood only "yes" and "no" in English. We went to Macy's to buy some long sleeve clothing and then we were sailing. Once we were on the boat, we found our "stateroom." It was more like a closet with a toilet, but it did the trick. Looking out our window, we had an excellent view of the tow rope/anchor area off the front of the ship. Breathtaking view. We spent some time getting to know the ship, ate, had some drinks, ate, had some more drinks, went to a couple presentations and followed it up with some more food and drinks. Eventually, we went back to our mansion on the sea to check on our luggage. We decided to lay down to take a breather and that's when the magic happened. I had spent half the evening with the ring in my pocket just biding my time. So Crystal and I were talking about a secret I had been keeping from her (which is a much longer story relating to the circumstances of how I bought the ring) and I brought the ring out of my pocket. Her response of "are you kidding me?!" will likely go down as the most eloquent proposal response ever. However, as you all now know, she recovered quickly and did say yes.

Later that night, we did go back out for a night on the ship. We finally made it to bed around 1:30. Around 7 that morning we awoke to a freight train in our room. The ship's captain, in his infinite wisdom, must have told his crew to drop anchor as loudly as humanly possible, because that damn thing shook the entire room and was deafening. That was the beginning of a long couple of rough days at sea. Choppy was the theme of the weekend. Had it only been choppy, I'm fairly confident that we'd have made it through unscathed, but the weather also decided to change to rain and freeze-your-ass-off cold. It might be the only tropical vacation in history where all the white people returned with less of a tan than before they left for the trip.

Aside from the crappy cruise weather and the arctic temperature of 32 when we arrived back to Miami and the insanely long day yesterday waiting in airports, it was a great trip."

The Story of the Ring

As the title suggests, here is a story of when Eric started looking into rings. This is from an email he sent to a friend. Crystal found this amusing...

"When I moved to the city, Crystal gave me a CTA pass so that I could take the el or a bus and not have to use cash. That little gift has proven quite useful ever since. Apparently, these cards automatically draw funds out of a person's account once they reach a certain threshold. I'll come back to this in a second.

Last night, Crystal was meeting up with a friend for dinner after work, so I knew that I had some time before she was going to be around. So, I went home and hopped on the el to head downtown to go to a jewelry store. Obviously, I haven't told Crystal any of this and I had no intention of mentioning it.

Well... it seems that yesterday was the day that the balance on the card decided to dip below its threshold. Which means that Crystal's bank account was charged the standard reloading charge. Which means that when Crystal was checking her bank account this morning she recognized a charge from the CTA. Which means Crystal sends me an instant message asking me if I took the train yesterday. Which means Eric had to tell her that he did. Which means that Eric, King of the Dumbasses, got busted - hard core - less than 24 hours after he put down a deposit on a ring. Which means that Crystal is now suspicious and, if she really decided to do some research, could check the rider logs to see where the el stop was and she could start to put two and two together. Phew!"

Hello everyone!

We thought this blog would be an excellent way to keep people posted on our plans for the big day. So, make sure that you check this site periodically if you feel like you're being left out of the loop. We can absolutely promise you that we will not update this daily. In fact, we'll be lucky to remember to post two weeks from now... but it's the thought that counts, right?

We hope that everyone decides to put as many comments as they like on this site and we, at bare minimum, promise to glance them over. Funnier comments are more likely to receive responses than dull ones. We're just kidding. Neither funny or dull comments are likely to receive responses. Haha.

Happy reading!