What the *!$!...Is that a frog?...OH MY.....!!!

Sorry about the slight delay on "Our First Trip Story". Been trying to get the pictures and time frame together to tell that one properly. So, instead I give you one of the absolutely, funniest things I have ever heard over a phone.
It all started as I was getting ready to head over to Shannon's to pick her up so that we can visit Mason, my very, new nephew, and the phone rang. As I picked it up there was a panicked voice on the verge of a scream. But let me go back just a little farther and let the chain of events unfold as they happened. (The following info came from Shannon as we pieced together this incident from stage-1 to stage-hilarious.) That morning before Shannon left for work she heard a "glug, glug, glug" from her toilet. Not thinking to much of it, and assuming it was nothing more than air trapped in the lower part of the toilet, she flushed it and problem solved. Jump ahead now to that afternoon after work when Shannon was cleaning up before I got there. As she walked into the bathroom and glanced at the toilet, she saw a little mass/clump of "something" in the bottom of the toilet. Any red flags yet? Maybe a question mark in the back of her mind? Maybe. As she watches as she flushes, a surprising array of bug parts swirls about the bowl. Still, no BIG RED FLAG. Now as she walks back into her bedroom, she has the uncanny feeling that she is being watched. There, on her backpack, was according to Shannon, A tree frog the size of a small dog. They both froze when eye contact was made. Then as Shannon made a move to the phone, it twisted its grotesquely large neck to follow her movement. Then my phone rang. Stage-Hilarious ensues. The panic in her voice was genuine. I thought someone had broken into her house. Then it JUMPED!! The screams of shear terror as it stalked her through the bedroom ruptured my left eardrum. Now honestly, it was a mixture of screams, curses and hysterical/maniacal laughter. I guess she could not believe this was happening. On my end, I was on the floor, peeing my pants while trying to be helpful and supportive all at once. Talk about multi-tasking. I manage to tell her to grab a plastic grocery bag to grab the frog, yet for some strange reason she cursed at me and said, "There was no way in Hell I was gonna touch that thing!" By this time, the little frog had grown to the size of a Buick. (Honestly, I could hear over the phone when it would splat against the floor and walls and the chase ensued.) Needless to say, Shannon gained her wits and grabbed a partially melted plastic food storage container, and managed to contain the BEAST. As she hustled it to the back porch, its massive head wriggled through the melted part, which caused such a blood-curdling scream, that Shannon's two Jack Russell's fled for the safety of large furniture. All said and done, Shannon won the battle, but did she win the war? For 30 minutes after the monster was evicted, he stared back at the window as she peeked through the blinds. He would not leave. In hindsight, it is apparent that this demon came up through the vent on the roof and dropped into Shannon's toilet. Also, the picture in this post, of this tree frog was taken over two years later. Same one...Who knows?

P.S. - Note the crazy smile on the frogs face

Musical Requests Please

Well, I haven't done a lot this week in the way of wedding planning, just some surfing the internet, trying to get addresses, etc. Robert and I want some suggestions on music people would like to hear. We have a lot of "beachy" type music ie Jimmy Buffet, Bob Marley, IZ, reggae, and some zydeco but we want to know what y'all want to hear too, so we can put it in a request list. Please keep it PG 13 or at least something that can be played around children and adults of all ages. "I like big butts" OK, "Slappin' Bitches" not so much so. The more positive, and less abusive type music would be great!! We are willing to play any type of music (short of polka, just joking Aaron and Deb) Eclectic and fun is the order of the day, so give ideas!!! We are going to start painting Robert's condo this weekend to get it ready to sell, hopefully quickly!!!

Love, Shannon and Robert

The Menu

Here is the proposed dinner menu for the wedding. Hope you all like it.

Love Shannon & Robert

PS - The recipe for our black beans and mussels are
at La Spiaggia

I found THE dress!

Well, we went to David's bridal today at 10am and I tried on at least 14 dresses. It was hot as hell, but we had a fun time. The first dress I tried on "showed a lot of skin" as warned the attendant. I thought, "I'll be ok showing some skin." OK!! This was a scream!! It was cut to my xiphoid bone ( the nub at the end of your breast bone) showed 2/3rds of my hoots, as well as some surgery scars. From the hoots down I looked like a sausage in too tight casing. (Only Laura saw me in this! She was my zipper, dresser, helper girl and she did an awesome job!! Jeanne and Cher would have wet themselves.) I tried on one that was pretty close to Cinderella, and Cher cried. We knew she would before we opened the door. The last dress the attendant pulled out was one she was unsure about, and it was THE ONE! It is also the LAST one in the country. AND it is a 14 Petite!!! It is just the right length, and fits. YEAH!!! Jeanne, Cher and Laura tried on some dresses for ideas. Then we went to eat as a way of celebrating. Plus, we were really hungry after watching all those skinny 20 year olds trying on size 0 dresses. They needed US to teach them how to eat!!! ( There were some "healthy" girls in there too, but I do think I got the award for "oldest bride of the day!") It was a great girls day out!!! Everything is coming together so easily!!! It is 2 weeks tonight since we got engaged and we have "the big things" done!!! I only wish Mama, Dana, Marcus and Deb could have been here!!! Love, Shannon
PS- I found my little girls dresses on sale at JC Penneys tonight!!! It was my day for finding things!!!

The search is on: dresses!

Well, since we have found the place, we will be spending tomorrow dress shopping. Laura, Jeanne, Cheryl and I are starting early on the quest! I'm going with the plan of getting ideas since I feel like a big bloated white heffer right now. It's extremely hard to give up 2 vices at once: nail biting and eating!!! The nail biting is coming along really well. I have microscopic amounts of white nails growing out! Not bad for 1 1/2 weeks. The down side: I was in the office yesterday, and it gives me the munchies!!! The Pizza Man was there yesterday, then there was a leftover chicken breast the size of my head from "nurse appreciation day," and Diana's boyscout fund raiser skittles. Damn! Why does food have to taste so good!! They need to make a pill that makes food taste bad, or at least like nothing!!! The good thing is that I know I can lose the weight, I've just got to work hard. I will let y'all know how the dress shopping goes. If we don't see anything we like, we can always have fun and try on the most hideous dresses and hats and laugh at each other!!!

Love, Shannon



PS- I can't believe we are just under 2 weeks since we got engaged and we've already gotten so much done!! Thank goodness, because it takes some people a year to plan!! We only have 4 months!

It's on!!!

Alright everybody!!! We have a place: Sunset Beach House (deposit was mailed today). We have a date and time: Oct 11th at 5pm AND We have a man of God: Mac Steinmeyer (our favorite pastor because he is hilarious!!) We have a plan: to get married without any hurricanes, floods, plagues, etc. Now I need a dress! Don't pencil us in, write it in SHARPIE baby!!!




Love, Shannon and Robert

PS- Here is the link to a hotel just down the beach from us. It looks cute, Jefferson Motel Apartments, plus the prices look really reasonable at $49/night and up

We went to the beach today!!

Well, we went to Treasure Island to sniff around the Sunset Beach House after work. We ran into the people who were renting it this week, and when they heard we were planning a wedding, they invited us in to take a look around the inside of the whole house. That was so nice of them. It is PERFECT!!! This is what I dreamed of!!! It has a big sand back yard with sea oats on a small dune separating the yard from the public beach. It is big enough for a reception, eating and dancing!! The beach is absolutely gorgeous!! I'm sure it will be quiet that time of year!!! Now all we have to do is make absolutely sure that our preacher is available that weekend!!! It's 99.9% a done deal!!! As soon as I get the word from the preacher, I'm mailing the deposit!! There is an adorable shell shop right down the road with great shells and stuff for decorating!! It's my dream and it's coming true!!! We already have our invitations planned, we just need the go-ahead on the place and time!! I'm can't believe it is all falling into place!! Now I can spend this Saturday looking for a dress instead of site shopping!!! Hootie Whoo!!!

Love, Shannon

PS- see the link to the Sunset Beach House!

We are going to the beach today!

I received an email from the Sunset Beach House last night saying that they have availability for the whole house on the weekend of Oct 10-12th, which is great because our pastor has a scheduling conflict with Oct 18th. We are driving to Treasure Island this afternoon after work to look around at the place, so I should know more this evening! I'm getting excited because this is REALLY how we wanted to do the wedding. We (meaning Robert) want to cook the food for the reception and rehearsal dinner. We cater events, so why shouldn't we have what we want food wise. Plus, our food is REALLY GOOD!! It is a private beach house, so we can do everything we want there. The beach looks beautiful, and the house looks beautiful, but we will see it this evening!! So we have a tentative date of October 11th. The time will be around 5pm. We have picked out the invitations we want, now we have to know where. I'm getting really excited!! I didn't want to go through a hotel and have to deal with all that mess. Having gawking tourists in speedo's in the wedding pics isn't what I'm going for here. I want everyone to wear comfortable clothes ie: khaki's and short sleeve button up shirts for guys and comfortable dresses for girls. Not dressy, fun and comfy. Well, I better get going! Thanks for all the comments and emails!

Love, Shannon

I think finding a place to marry is going to be harder than finding "the One!!"

I made my first "honey do" list today for Robert. Since I had to work, I left him a list of places to call for information and prices on beach weddings, as well as to write our story on e harmony (that one wasn't done) and to call Joey and Bobby about being groomsmen. We have so many things going on, that we can't remember who we've told WHAT!! Now remember, once I get my mind made up on something, IT'S DONE!!! Well, I want my beach wedding!!! (No! I'm not turning into a bridezilla, YET!) Needless to say, Robert did really well with "the list." He is such a patient wonderful guy!! I wouldn't trade him for all the fried catfish, hushpuppies and french fries in the world. Most of these places are insanely high!! Some want $125/person. Well, I hate to say, we're going to have to draw straws! Only 2 people can come. The rest of the 250 are SOL! Just joking!! The search has just begun, and I know that this will work out. At 36 3/4 years old, I haven't been this patient for all this time for this not to work. I could have caved in and married any number of illegals in our area, but I didn't. Now I know some of you are saying, "Sure you didn't!! You can't even speak Spanish!!!" THAT IS NOT THE REASON!! Love and green cards know no language people!! (Although I do get suspicious when people speak around me in languages I don't understand.) I hope that didn't offend anyone. I love all my Spanish speaking friends, I'm just jealous! Anyway, next weekend starts the SERIOUS looking. We are going to drive to the beach and look around. If it doesn't work out on this coast, we may have to go to the St Augustine area. I know good nearly deserted beaches there!! I have found bridesmaid's dresses and guayabera shirts and khaki's for the guys that I like! That's pretty good. I, on the other hand, may be naked if I don't start looking for a dress for me!! Anyway, if anyone has any great ideas, we are open for them!! We love y'all and keep the hilarious comments coming!

Love, Shannon

Cooking For Each Other For The First Time

Well, while I am sitting here waiting for my first attempt at Cuban bread to come to a hopefully successful conclusion, I thought I may share the wonderful story of our first meals cooked together. Once I learned that Shannon loved cajun food I absolutely had to make her a muffuletta sandwich since I knew about this great bakery that I could get the bread from. She absolutely loved it, unfortunately due to the olive content and the capers she had a slight issue with the swelling from the sodium. All that aside we had a great evening and I could not wait until she cooked for me.

Now Shannon has been cooking since she was about 6 years old and she does make the best damned catfish and hush puppies, her mom's recipe, that I have ever had. When we met I actually watched what I ate and was working out pretty regularly. She made fried chicken, gravy and rice, and some amazing cornbread. I knew then that I was in some SERIOUS trouble. This was the most amazing, down home, southern, comfort food I had ever had. I was in love. Yet another BONUS! Ever since those first meals we have eaten very well. Sometime too well. Shannon is such an amazing and talented woman, and we have so much fun together. As for next time, look forward to our first mega, event filled first trip.

Our story - The other side of it

Well my e harmony quest began 7 months before Shannon’s and I was actually getting pretty frustrated with it all. I had only a few days left before I was going to left my subscription run out. Then I saw Shannon. It was rare that I was home for lunch that day, and I started communicating with her right away. She was so different from the others. Down-to-Earth, funny, beautiful, and according to her, she could clean a catfish and be in a dress and out on the town all in the same day. We hit it off pretty much right away. She was a joy to talk to, and what an accent. We were planning on meeting soon but unfortunately I was studying for my big certification exam for work. It was a very, very long week until the exam. After a long night of studying, an hour and a half drive to Orlando with a co-worker (If you know me and heard the stories, you know who I am talking about and would completely understand), and the four hour exam, I at last, got to meet Shannon in person. Wow, she was amazing, even more so in person. As it turned out after calling her on the way back, the next movie showing happened to be Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. BONUS! So as I got the tickets we sat in her car waiting a few minutes before proceeding into the theatre. It turns out she wanted to listen to the Preakness Stakes and her pick Scrappy T actually came in second place. Honestly, I am not a horse racing fan, but I guess any relationship should have a base of compromise, and it had started early, although she didn't know it. That was 3 years ago, and I am still as amazed by her as I was the first time I met her. I know this post is a bit shorter than Shannon’s, but I think it would be more fun exploring all the milestones in a more detailed, Saturday afternoon serial-like approach. I’ll post things such as cooking for each other for the first time, our first trip, first hurricane (see first trip), meeting the families (Thank you so much Dana for the comments on the last post, I had completely forgot about all that), meeting Jeanne, the birth of our nephews, and the path that led to this wedding. So, I guess in keeping with that Saturday tradition, tune in next time for “Cooking for each other for the first time.”

Our story - My Side of It

I guess it is best to start from the beginning so y'all will know our story. We actually met on e harmony, which isn't all that different nowadays, but for me it was WAY OUT THERE! I'm no computer guru, as a matter of fact, I had a computer we named "special ed" because he was a 1999 reject from the county school department, but "special ed" did his job well, just very slowly!! I started on e harmony after my sister-in-law-law Cheryl (my sister's sister-in-law) told me about it and suggested I give it a try. I was embarrassed to start it, but quickly became intrigued. I was matched with the widest variety of people from the self centered John from MO MO(I am my own biggest positive influence) to the down home good ol' boy Clement (MacGyver is my biggest positive influence). No offense, I loved MacGyver, the way he made bombs from chewing gum and paper clips, but he wasn't MY idea of a greatest influence! Then there was Robert. He had a picture up. He was cute, but didn't look like a smiley person. He liked to cook (hell yeah!!!) felt that his Grandfather (not MacGyver) was his biggest influence, was born and raised in Florida ( a rare NATIVE FLORIDIAN!) was a dental tech (great!!! he has teeth, and probably really good ones), plus, from the picture he had hair!!! My 2 top priorities to start out: teeth and hair. For a while I thought I would have to give up one of these. Thank God I didn't!! But seriously, he was a Christian, and his info caught my eye. We started sending each other questions on May 10th 2005, which is my Daddy's birthday. We stayed up all hours of the night emailing and talking. It was really neat! Then I found out the horrible truth. HE WAS A STAR TREK, STAR WARS, ALL THINGS SPACE fan!!! We have worked through this after 3 years, though. He is still a big fan, I tolerate it. Anyway, we had our first date on May 21st, 2005 after he took a big dental tech test. We went to see of all things STAR WARS! The compromising started early, although he didn't know it. We hit it off immediately. He was a smiley person after all. Great teeth, nice hair, and TALL. Soon after we met, I discovered that I actually knew some of his family. Yes, me! I had met his brother, sister-in-law and niece quite a few times at my neighbor's house. As a matter of fact, my neighbor and his sister-in-law were best friends since they were little. His brother has also worked with a guy that I had dated! Walt was right!! It's a small world after all!!! We saw each other often, and quickly knew that this was something special. We went to New Orleans for my 15 year reunion in July, and quickly had to come home because Hurricane Dennis was heading our way. We had a blast though. We got up early and took great pics of New Orleans. I took lovely black and white photos, and we walked it the quiet of an empty street at 7am. I feel so blessed that we did this, because the next month, Katrina changed New Orleans in a terrible way. We were heartbroken that the town where our first trip was taken was a disaster area in chaos. In August we welcomed 2 new little guys into our lives. Mason (Robert's nephew) was born early in the morning on August 2nd. Ryan (my nephew, who wasn't such a little guy at 9lbs 13oz) was born early in the morning on August 6th. So that is how the first few months started out from my side.