Happy Weekend!

After all that wedding planning, we started to forget what it was like to have a real weekend together with no stress. So, finally, after Thanksgiving and an out-of-town meeting, we finally got a chance to remember what is was like to have a fun weekend together.

We started off Saturday with a fun visit to the Houston Dairymaids, a funny little warehouse in the Heights that distributes local cheeses from all over Texas. (But we forgot to take pictures, doh!) Next, we visited a fun grocery store / farmer's market just up the street:

They had the most gorgeous produce, and they even had fresh beans:

Today, we took a 15 mile bike ride to train for the MS 150, a 150-mile bicycle race from Houston to Austin. Here we are at the halfway point:

Then, finally, we got a chance to do some Christmas decorating. Look at me precariously perched while pushing push-pins:

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Housewife Sauce

It's the weekend before our wedding! What should we do? Last minute arrangements? Nah, we don't really have any. Projects and crafts? We already did all of those. How about a trip to our favorite Asian grocery store to get some delicious delicacies for our short work week before we head out for the wedding!? Here are a few of our favorite finds.

And finally, my favorite: House Wife Soy Sauce. That's right!

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Our Un-Honeymoon

Just after our whirlwind wedding, Eddy had a conference in Toronto. (Alright, that's why we were headed to the Niagara Falls region to begin with). While, there, we did the usual tourist things. We toured the amazing Steam Whistle Brewery.

Steam Whistle brews a tasty pilsner and is alternatively fueled, is community minded and lets guests go right down on the floor where they brew and bottle. Eddy even got to blow the steam whistle at the end.

We experienced some of the Toronto art scene in the form of murals,

the famed Bata Shoe Museum,

and the Museum of Inuit Art.

While Eddy amused himself with his conference, I managed to make a pilgrimage to the Hockey Hall of Fame!!

Everyone knows I can't visit a city without visiting the Zoo.

But don't worry, we aren't counting this as our honeymoon... I think I finally have Eddy sold on the idea of a bike tour of Italy.

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The Westbrooks!

We've had a chance to tell most of our family and a few friends, but why not broadcast it over our blog?! We got married!!

So we had always planned on the big family wedding (perhaps in Hawaii) in our little minds. But then we were thinking seriously about moving to Sweden, so we scaled it back to a tiny get together at some Texas courthouse. Then, Eddy remembered we had plans to travel to Toronto this June and asked if I would rather get married at Niagara Falls. Um... Yes!!

We were SOOOOO lucky to be able to coerce Emily Dewan--wedding photographer extraordinaire-- and Neal Groothuis--recently ordained minister in the fakey Universal Life Church--to fly out and meet us.

We enjoyed an Indian Mega Buffet.

We had an impromptu wedding shoot in a parking garage.

Then we boarded the Maiden of the Mist where we took our vows!

Afterward, we had just enough time to hit up the Hard Rock Cafe where Neal treated us to a vodka shot before we sprinted to the airport to (BARELY) put Emily and Neal on the last flight back to NYC. Later that weekend, Eddy and I convened over a bottle of champagne to record our favorite memories from the day so that we could share them with everyone we love.

Now we are working with our families to plan a ring exchange ceremony and reception in St. Louis, Missouri this fall. Check out our new website to get the latest information.

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Bling--Part 2

I think I have made the rounds to most of the immediately accessible friends and family, so time to make the ring reveal. Here's the original post if you need a refresher on gimmel rings.

So we worked with Mark at Designer Jewels to make a custom gimmel ring. It is completely fun to visit them. Their office is chock full of framed jewelry patents and Zamy Steynovitz paintings. I knew Mark was "the one" after I had taken my nutso gimmel ring idea to a handful of jewelers and received nothing but blank stares. When I mentioned the gimmel to Mark, he said, "I know just what you mean--wait here." He then proceeded to grab a book from the office and flip through until he found an example of a Renaissance gimmel. Mark comes from a long family of jewelers. But they are also tech savvy. The designed the ring in CAD for us.

Here is their first go:

Love that pink marble virtual table--very classy. Eddy and I suggested some revisions and this is what we got:

At this point, we approved the CAD designs and Mark cast the ring in wax for us. This was awesome because we got to see the ring with our stone in it exactly as it would eventually be in platinum. I proceeded to immediately break the wax mold. (Bad Nicci!!)

So they used the wax cast to create the ring and polished it up and mounted the stone and all that good stuff. And here's the final product--a contemporary gimmel ring!

Yes, the inside engravings have sustained some wear since we got the ring in October. That's how you can tell it's mine--I'm tough on jewelry. And, yes, it says, "team sunshine fuzzy bunny" on the inside of my ring. The opposite side is engraved with our first date, "november 19, 2005."

Be on the look out for Bling--Part 3 in which we visit Mark again to make our own wedding bands!

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Bling--Part 1

After Eddy proposed to me back in August, we visited our jeweler. Here is a photo of me literally RUNNING to the car 1st thing the next morning--I couldn't even be bothered to turn around for the photo.


On Friday, October 16th, we picked up my engagement ring from our jeweler! Selecting a jeweler was tough for us because--let's face it--I am picky. I began with a very clear idea of exactly what I wanted. If you know me, you know I was willing to accept only very few, very minor compromises in the design.

It all began with this beauty:


This is an image of a 15th century French gimmel ring. Gimmels were popular for many hundreds of years as their interlocking design is symbolic of union. They were commonly inscribed with verses from romantic poems when they were given as tokens of love or marriage. Here is the same ring as above closed as it would appear on the finger.


Here is a more elaborate gimmel shown open and closed. Note the tiny sculptures of a skeleton and a baby decorated with enamel. This ring was meant to symbolize both the beginning and end of life:


Rewind about 6 months when we fell in love with and bought a pear shaped diamond from our jeweler. Here is a pear cut ring that I adore to give you an idea of the stone.


Now, here's how all of these ideas were synthesized into one stellar ring:


NOT! Because the ring is totally bitchin' I want as many people as possible to see the ring in person before I publish photos of it. Look for a Bling--Part 2 in the coming months!

If you would like to learn more about gimmel rings or rings in general, check out the work of Diana Scarisbrick, especially her Rings: Symbols of Wealth, Power and Affection and Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty.

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We Got Affianced!

I took Nicci out to a fancy French restaurant Friday night - Brasserie Max and Julie - and I popped the Big Question! Of course, being a crafty nerd, I didn't just ask her in words. After dessert, the manager came out with a half bottle of special cuvee, two champagne flutes (you can see them in the picture above), and a purple box wrapped in purple ribbon (purple is one of Nicci's favorite colors):


I made the box earlier that day (who needs to go to work?) from cardboard and coated it with craft paper. Here is another picture of the "mystery box" in natural light (from the day after), without the ribbon:


When Nicci removed the ribbon, the box opened up to reveal a message (this picture is also from the next day, since we couldn't get a good picture in the restaurant):


Also inside the box was a special "placeholder" ring. (We are custom-making our rings through our jeweler in Houston.) The ring even has a hand-made "diamond" and it fits perfectly on Nicci's finger (I used one of her rings at home to get the right size):


She loved the box and the ring... and she said yes!

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