A City Life For Me

Introducing - Mr. and Mrs. Donald Meader ~ KISS ~ We requested a kiss of Donny & Erika at the reception. (When Donny & Erika had their FIRST kiss during the ceremony, I couldn't see it from the piano bench. Ben said it was nice and long. Donny really went at it). The Hamiltons and the Meaders Ben & Andrea - all dressed up for the wedding! Andrea & Erika. I played the piano for the ceremony and postlude. The groom and his men - Donny, Scott DeVane (best man), Jeremiah Clark, Ben (yes - he was a groomsman), and Brian (from Donny's church in CT). Erika - waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin. Isn't she a beautiful bride? Donny & Erika make their exit from the reception hall. The weather was rainy. The groomsmen had stuffed the getaway car with balloons. Erika had to throw some balloons out the window before she could get into the car!

One of the blogs that I read, Rocks in My Dryer , hosts "Works for Me Wednesday" where readers share tips with other readers. My tip is regarding online photo printing. I have discovered that most online photo printing sites, such as snapfish , winkflash , shutterfly , and many local photo developers offer anywhere from 20-100 free prints with your first order. I have a lot of pictures to be developed from our wedding rehearsal and dinner, honeymoon, and first year together thus far. To be more cost effective, I just googled "online photo printing" and wrote down which websites offer introductory free prints. Then I have been "trying" each website out by ordering a couple of prints and taking advantage of the free prints. Essentially, you only have to pay for shipping, which is very reasonable for photos. I have received over 200 prints for free, and paid only an average of $2 in shipping cost. It works for me! Check out the other WFMW tips here .

It all started at Books A Million where I work. I am allowed to "check out" any book for up to two weeks. So on Tuesday I was stocking the cookbooks and I came across this huge book called "The Bread Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Ben has asked me to make bread, and my last two attempts didn't thrill me by any means, so I thought this book might help. Well, it might have. Except the author is very scientific about her bread, and uses all of the "official" words that I have never even heard before. I had a hard time with the instructions. But it is supposed to be fabulous bread, so I persevered. The recipe starts with making a sponge, in which you pre-ferment the yeast and some flour, in order to pull out better flavors. So I made the sponge and let it set for two hours as directed. But when I came back to do the next step, I discovered that I had read the instructions incorrectly. Or at least I thought I had. I decided at this point to put it off unti...

When I was at the laundry mat this week the attendant was watching a TV news report on the 2008 presidential election. When I walked in, he jokingly asked me, “Who are you voting for?” Just as jokingly, yet completely seriously, I replied, “Sarah Palin.” I was choosing to vote for John McCain only as a means to avoid an Obama presidency. Now I am voting for John McCain because his running mate is Sarah Palin. Here are some highlights form her Vice Presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday, September 3, 2008. On the purpose of government… “The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it. No one expects us to agree on everything. But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.” On government spending… “I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't belie...