We Got Our Papers!!

Let me start by saying I WANT FALL TO BE HERE! NOT SUMMER, THEN WINTER! There was FROST on our house here in Tampa, Florida! It is October 29th for goodness sakes!! Fall is my favorite time of year, and did I miss it the 7 days we were on the cruise? Fall is supposed to last a few weeks, not one week! It was nice to come back to cooler weather and gas $1 cheaper than when we left, but is it too much to want a little weather in the 60's? Just asking! (By the way, gas was $6/gallon in Honduras!) It is a beautiful time of year right now. It's snuggling weather!
When I got home today, our marriage license was in the mail! I'm so excited! Now starts the flurry of changing names on EVERYTHING! There is a website connected with theknot.com called thenest.com which is a wonderful site that tells you what all you need to do after you are married. This will be helpful since I am new at this. I have to continue signing all of my nursing stuff with my maiden name until my nursing license is changed (which I understand isn't cheap!) I think changing your name the first time should be free on everything. I understand there are people who get married a lot, but one freeby won't hurt. I can't wait to get the name thing done! I'm going to be a "hyphenater" since my maiden name is so cool, but I want his too. The best of both worlds! Much love to everyone! Shannon

For Those Interested

Rehearsal Dinner Table Dance
(Bride-to-Be, Man-of-Honor and a friend)

After quite a few requests, we have put together all our music from the wedding in a CD playlist. The Complete Set is 7 discs from the ceremony to the requests and dedications. The reception only is the middle 5 CD's of music. I will post a complete list of songs plus artists soon for those interested.
Shannon & Robert

P.s. We had more fun than you could possibly ever know putting the music together. (i.e. playing samples whenever friends were over to see if we could get them moving). The best was during the rehearsal dinner where we kept people dancing seventeen songs in a row. we also have to thank Cher, Nicole, Ryan, Jeanne, and Dee for all the input (and dancing).

What Can I Say?

I absolutely love this picture with Dana's caption. This says it all to me.

It's my day!!!

I love her so,
Robert

A Time to Share

Since the wedding, we have been asked quite a bit about the food so Shannon and I thought we would post a selection of the recipes we used to cater out rehearsal dinner and wedding. The first is our black bean recipe. The only difference to the recipe is the fact that we did not use chorizo or a ham hock due to the fact we had vegetarians present. We also used canned beans instead of soaking dried beans (which I prefer). When using the sherry, if you use cream sherry, you may want to adjust the sugar a little so it will not be too sweet. Now, I have always wanted to try making the sofrito first and then cooking the beans and sofrito in a slow cooker for at least a day. I have the feeling that they may achieve and ethereal flavor cooking low and slow.

Click on the image for the recipe.The next recipe is an excerpt from the cookbook I am working on. It is the Portuguese Mussels. A great tip is to use lemons (fresh squeezed) to really heighten the flavors of the dish. If you can, use a Vinho Verde as the wine, If you add a little spice (heat with red pepper paste or crushed red pepper flakes) to the dish, I might add a more full bodied, white wine for steaming the mussels. BTW, the sausage I prefer is Gaspar's Chourico. It is a Portuguese sausage. If you cannot find it a Spanish or Mexican chorizo will work, plus you can switch out the lemons for limes in the case of Mexican chorizo.

Click on the image for the recipe.

We will be working on getting together the rice and pork recipes soon. Hopefully we can get the chicken and sausage gumbo recipe together for you as well. These recipes are also available with others on our other blog La Spiaggia.

Shannon & Robert

Back to the Real World!

Well, I start back to work in the morning and somehow I still haven't been able to locate my land legs!!! I'm still very dizzy and feel like I'm on a rocking ship. I'm hoping to wake up in the morning feeling somewhat normal. I'm taking dramamine twice a day, and hopefully it will help some. We have been going through gifts and washing clothes, just trying to get in the swing of things after a mind-blowing 2 weeks. The wedding went by so fast!! We had so much fun and I'm sad that we didn't have a lot of time to visit with everybody! It was so wonderful to have most of the people who love us all together on such a beautiful day and in such a beautiful place! Here are a few more pictures I wanted to share:

Click on image for a larger view.

Thanks again to everyone for a wonderful day!

We love y'all!!
Shannon and Robert

The Ray's Did It!!

Ever since the eHarmony tickets to the Rays/Red Sox game, we have loved watching the games when we have had the time, and tonight Shannon and I just got done seeing the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Red Sox to go to the World Series. Too cool.

Love Shannon & Robert

Thank You To All...!!!

Thanks to everyone who participated, helped out, gave best wishes, thoughts, prayers, cards and gifts for our wedding last weekend. Each one of you made it an exceptionally special event for us both. To the setup and support crew, what can we say, it was a precision operation. To Dana, P Joe, Carl & Deb for the flowers. To Scott and Dad for making the Chardonnay and help with the kegs and all the ice. Mom, Thanks for the amazing picadillo,coleslaw and burgers. Dorothy for the awesome Jamaican chicken wings. Sherry and Kelly for getting Carrie for the photography. Dave for being the iPod DJ. Tom for busting his hump keeping people well fed and taken care of. Laura, Jeanne, Deb and Cheryl, the BRIDESMAIDS, for helping Shannon get ready. Again, Sherry and Kelly for being the best gophers and crowd control we could ask for. A huge thanks to Mama (despite being wounded-in-action/makin' friends), Joey, Joyce, Nicole, Lorraine, Isabelle, Alexandria, Clint and Dana for raking the sand, setting up the lighting, tables, chairs, tiki-torches and all the table decorations. Oh, and the amazing arch! In the blink of an eye the back yard and the ceremony site were transformed into something that resembled Heaven (on a beach). A BIG thank you to Clint and his wonderful and moving solo, Ave Maria. That was such a blessing. To our Official-Man-Of-The-Hour, Rev. Mac Steinmeyer, thank you for your beautiful words and blessings as well as the understanding of "The Main Thing". We Got It. Last but not least, to Dana and Marcus (our last minute coordinators, chaueffers, florists, bartenders, dancers/entertainers and all-round get'r'dones.) We love you all and will forever be indebted to each and everyone of you for making our wedding truly unforgettable.

THANK YOU!

Love,
Shannon & Robert

P.s. We will be sorting through a lot of pics and stories over the next few weeks as well as a selection of recipes we used for the rehearsal and reception.

They Made It!!!

Mama and Daddy made it here at 6:30pm yesterday! They took the scenic route on the way here. I'm glad they had the time to drive and look. That is rare on their trips to Florida. They loved the horse farms around Ocala. For anyone who knows may Mama, she loves to make friends: at the rest areas, in the bathroom, in grocery stores, it doesn't matter where!! Well, she fell really hard on her knee as she was going to talk to a security guard at the Florida State Line rest stop. Just makin' friends. That security guard will NEVER forget my Mama!! She was unable to walk for a whole day, but, thanks to Michael Buble, she has found her dancing legs once again!! It is swollen, bruised and has quite the strawberry on it, but it can still cut a rug!!! She does have an issue with standing after she sits for a while. My only concern with her dancing at the wedding, is that there will be no walls. She is famous for wall dancing when she has a toddie or 2. It may be sand angel dancing instead. Watch out for sandy cracks!!! Pictures to follow, I'm sure!!! Wish y'all were all here!! This could be news worthy!!! Love, Shannon

Last Day!

Today is my last day of work for 2 weeks!! I will be running errands all day tomorrow. We have done a lot, but we still have more to do. We worked on the reception playlist of songs last night. It is going to be great!! We've got to finish printing the programs this evening and finish up the song list. We have completed the wine labels. I'm ordering the Cuban bread today from a Cuban sandwich shop. The guy who owns it was originally from Mississippi! I'm almost done with cooking the Cuban Roast Pork!! It will be complete by tomorrow morning. Robert is going to call the Treasure Island Publix to order mussels for Saturday and check on the cake. (We want to make sure our order isn't missed since both of my shower cakes were overlooked! That would be bad!!) Mama and Daddy are coming in tomorrow night or Thursday morning, depending on how tired they are. Once the workday is over, I can really kick into high gear and leave the "nursing" side behind and turn into wild planner bride!! Love, Shannon

Six Days To Go!

I'm not sure where the last 4 months have gone!! I know we've been busy planning, not to mention how busy work has been the last few months. I packed for the beach and the honeymoon this weekend and went through all of the decorations, supplies, etc. I have got a lot of stuff!! We have been picking up things here and there, and it is amazing to see it all packed and ready to go! I have lists upon lists of things not to forget. My mind is in 100 different directions and things pop into it all day. I need to keep a notepad with me all the time. Everyone is asking what they can do to help. I think we have it under control, BUT if anyone can wiggle their nose and make all of THIS appear over in TREASURE ISLAND, we'll take you up on it! Otherwise your prayers that the next few days at work are relatively calm for both of us, that the weather is nice, and seeing y'all in 6 days will be all we can ask of you! We are so looking forward to the wedding and being married!!! We'll be on a cruise this time next week!!! Oh my!!! Much love, Shannon and Robert

A Big Thanks

Just wanted to send a BIG THANK YOU to my friends at Brandon Dental Lab (My former employer from several years ago when I was starting out as a technician) for all the help and support in making Shannon's wedding band. Originally when I got Shannon's engagement ring we were going to get a simple gold band for the wedding. The problem was, when she wore them both, it kept slipping under her ring. two months ago, I was given some of my Grandmothers gold after she passed away, and thought it would be appropriate to design and cast a custom band for the wedding. Well, after weeks of designs, carving and tweaking it in wax, it finally was cast in the gold. We picked it up last night. Randy was a HUGE help and made the process so easy.I will try to get a pic up ASAP for you all. Thanks again to David, Randy, Pam, Burt and the rest of the crew at Brandon Dental Lab. You were always the most fun to work with. Shannon and I cannot thank you enough. When we get back we are going to make you all the best lunch.
Thanks again,
Shannon & Robert

The band I made is the extra one towards Shannon's hand to the right.

P.s. I think Grandma would love the ring

"Big Boy Trip" Weekend.

Ryan had his first "big boy" trip without his parents this weekend. He had so much fun and liked the doggie and kitties WAY more than the "gerbils." Pippin (who is 12 years old) is one tired Jack Russell!! Ryan has some kind of energy!! He loved exploring the conservation lot behind the house! He saw a spider and lizards. We went to Lowry Park Zoo on Saturday which was SO much fun!! The stingray touch pool was amazing! We fed them and they sounded like pigs eating! Ryan's favorite critters were the poison dart frogs!! We were so glad that Dana and Clint let us get him for the weekend and we are so glad they had a great weekend together. They got us some wonderful books on marriage and relationship building, which will be very helpful. Time is flying by and things have been stressful!! I'm starting to see Chicken People and Aliens!!! Keep praying for us!!

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Love, Shannon and Robert

Friday

We have a busy day planned tomorrow. We are getting our marriage license, taking my ring to get cast, running by Scott's house (Robert's brother), then going to pick up Ryan (Dana's 3 year old) at Ft Myers. We are so excited about having him for the weekend while Dana and Clint are in Sanibel Island. He is so excited about coming to see the "gerbils," which are actually mini hamsters, the cats and Pippin (my Jack Russell.) The "gerbils" are at the top of his list, though. Thank goodness, because tonight we noticed that they are very different (in the rear area), so Ryan is #1 on the list for baby gerbils!!!! YEAH!!! Dana told him I was having a bad day and he got on the phone today and said, "Aunt Shannie, It's a good day!!! I'm packing to come see you!!" How can you beat that??? Children can change a challenging day into a blessing with just a few words!!! It's been one of those weeks (actually a couple of weeks) where I have seriously thought Candid Camera was following me and people were playing pranks on me. Not so!! It's all real!! One day I'm going to write a book about the weird crap I hear. Aliens, chicken suits, Brits taking over the world, RN's working at TJMaxx, that's just the stuff lately. Anyway, keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we draw nearer to the big day and trying to get everything smoothed out and done.

Love,
Shannon and Robert

We Win!!

Well Last night was the Tampa Bay Rays game eHarmony invited us to. There were so many couples there from all different age groups. They also gave us Ray Dollars (Can only be spent at the field) so our drinks and food were paid for. What a game. We were a little worried when the Red Sox homered in the first inning, but it turned out no to be much of a problem as we just kept scoring. We also saw that the Cubs, unfortunately, lost last night. We still hope to see the Rays & Cubs in the World Series (That would be waaay too much fun!).

Love,
Shannon & Robert

I Ain't Skeered: Part II The Way KC's Camera Saw It!

Here goes!! Enjoy!! As you can tell, we did!!

Click On the Pics for a Larger View

Love, Shannon and the wildest bunch of women on the planet!!!

I Ain't Skeered

Here are some pics from Saturdays Excursions.

Click On the Pics for a Larger View

See, I Ain't Skeered! More to come soon.
Love,
Shannon & Robert