Sileo/Stewart/Sherman Family Christmas

This year, for Christmas, Carl and I traveled to my hometown for an 8 day Sileo/Stewart/Sherman family adventure.  The decision to travel to DC was a joint one with Chris, Missy, Lucie and Audrey.  The only downside is that we can't all stay with my dad so we decided to rent a house for the first part of our trip.

We arrived to DC on a Friday evening, got settled into the house and made some dinner. The wine drinking began as did a few of us getting sick.  I had a cold before I left town and it just got way worse.   It didn't stop us from trying to make the most of our time, though.  For the 4 days we were in DC, we went to Natural History Museum, both Air & Space Museums, the Zoo, had friends over for drinks one night and went out to dinner, just Carl and I, one night.  In between all of this, we cooked some pretty great meals, watched a lot of Disney and holiday movies and even managed to go for a chilly run one morning.

From there we drove to my mom's, about 2 hours away, for the next part of our trip.  Lucie and Audrey were champs during this entire trip, quickly getting accustomed to things they don't normally have to deal with - like sharing rooms, stairs and snow.

While my mom doesn't have museums we made the most of being indoors at the local library, bowling (which I've quickly discovered I'd like to do more often), painting nails and watching more movies.

My parents were both good sports for having us with them over the holidays and we had a lot of fun.  I'm glad we go to see snow and Carl got to spend more time with my family and friends.  I know it's his obligation as my husband to spend time with my family but he really went above and beyond spending 8 days with them.  I love them but I know that it's not easy to spend 8 days with family that isn't yours.

I'm really happy to be home and to have a few days off before going back to work though and, of course, snuggling with Buster, who I missed terribly.

In the pictures of Lucie and Audrey below you'll notice they are often wearing their matching princess nightgowns that I got them for Christmas. They were clearly a big hit!

And, yes, I know that I'm still behind on blog posts - particularly our honeymoon and my trip to Australia.  I'm really hoping that 2013 is a bit less hectic than 2012 felt and I can enjoy more downtime.

Always a Bridesmaid....

Finally a bride! This is a direct quote from my friend, Leslie, who officiated our wedding.  And she was right. I had been a bridesmaid 12 times before getting married. This is one of the many reasons I decided not to have bridesmaids.  But I digress.....

The day had arrived.  Our wedding day.  And I'm pretty sure I've thought about it every day, multiple times each day, since then.  It wasn't just that I was finally getting married (yes, even my loving brother's speech had undertones of relief) it was that I was marrying Carl.

As much as I've thought about the wedding, I've thought about this post.  This feels like the most important blog post of my life for some reason. And the pressure I've been putting on myself to make it amazing has caused me to freeze up and not know where to start.

So I'll do my best.

I've always heard married women say that their wedding day was the best day of their life.  I secretly thought, 'really? the best day?" How can one day be that great? What about all the other things one accomplishes in their lifetime? Was marriage really better than graduation or getting your first job? It was just really hard for me to imagine how this one day could be so great.

Turns out, they were right.  In fact many of my married friends were right about a lot of things, including:

1. You really and truly don't feel nervous when you're walking down that aisle.
2. No one will ever know the things that went wrong. Even if you're obsessing about them.
3. The day goes by way too fast.
4. You won't eat.

And other things....

But most of all, they were right, it was the best day of my life.  How could it not be when I think about it now? Almost everyone I love gathered in one place to support Carl and me in taking the next step in our lives together.

Sure, some things weren't ideal. A cold front moved in - so we got heaters.  One of our buses was at the wrong hotel and picked up guests 45 minutes late - so we got a delayed start.  Carl's grandmother fell.  This was perhaps the worst part of our wedding.  But she's recovered from her hip replacement surgery and doing well.

But so much went right.  Even though I'm a huge fan of lists (see above) I don't think a list can hold up to this day.  A day that truly was the best day of my life.  But I'll try anyway.  Some of my favorite things from our wedding:



1. Our ceremony - more perfect than I could have ever imagined
2. Carl's vows - he totally upstaged me
3. Buster and his ring bearing duties
4. Peeing, half naked outside the airstream
5. Peeing, with friends holding up my dress, in the port-o-potty (clearly peeing makes me giggle)
6. The Hora dance
7. Carl's back flip

See, the list just doesn't do it any justice.  But it was worth a shot.

So for all of you who warned me about how fast the day would go and how I'd hardly talk to anyone but the night would fly by - I get it now.

I'm still awaiting our final wedding pictures from Natalie and most of you have seen the ones on Facebook so I thought I'd share some behind the scenes ones from getting ready that day.  The first Devon took of me on our morning stroll before the day got started.  The second is of Jess and me awaiting hair and makeup and the last one really captures the ceremony to me - silly and loving. This was us trying to get Buster to bring the rings to us.  He thought it was a game and went running up and down the aisle.

And, finally, because I truly feel like the wedding wouldn't have been as special to me without all the love and support I felt, I want to thank my friends and family. Those of you who stepped up (repeatedly) to help me brainstorm, plan, order, research, shop, organize, review, rationalize, indulge and celebrate with and for me, thank you. I was already pretty lucky before I met Carl. Now I feel even luckier.

What's In A Name?

Well, today it become official (at least to the U.S. Government). I am legally Melissa Sileo Stewart (not hyphenated - Sileo is just my middle name now). Goodbye Ann. Hello Sileo. And Stewart.

I know that I have so much to blog about and I think I need to pace myself but I wanted to post a link to a sneak peak of photos from the wedding that Natalie sent to me.

Suffice it to say our wedding day (and the entire weekend) was amazing. I can't think of how it could have been better. I keep reflecting on it, trying to hold onto all of the memories.

So take a look at the pictures and I'll be back....

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Musings

There's a lot happening in the world right now. Some things that impact all of us like the presidential election. Some things that impact many of us like Lance and his latest news. Some things that impact my closest friends and family like our wedding.

It's hard to balance all that's going on right now and still focus on trying to get through the day to day to-dos. Some days feel really hectic and tense.   I have done what I can to influence the presidential outcome (yay for early voting in Texas) and will continue to do what I can do to ensure that LIVESTRONG is seen as a separate entity from Lance.  Now I must focus on my wedding.  This is the only wedding I'm planning to have and it's such an exciting and memorable time.

I have heard many times that the wedding day will fly by. That I will hardly remember anything.  I'm sure this will happen to me (because why wouldn't it if it does to everyone else) so I really want to make the most of the time I have leading up to the wedding.

I'm officially off work for 3 weeks now. This is the longest I have ever taken off work and the timing is good and bad. Currently my days are filled with errands and self care and beginning to welcome visitors into town.

Katie and Rob arrived from England on Saturday night and we spent most of Sunday with them. It was so special to me. Not only because it was great to see Katie but I loved getting to spend more time with Rob and for them to get to know Carl.

So I apologize if I'm not the greatest blogger in the coming weeks as family arrives and our free time is taken up with last minute errands. And as we head off to Spain (without my computer!) and enjoy our much needed honeymoon.  But I will have some great stories to share in a couple of weeks!

This Weekend's Projects

I had my last work trip (before the wedding) this past week. While it was in one of my favorite cities (NYC) at my favorite time of year, I was happy to come home on Friday night and put in a full weekend of wedding related prep and errands. With officially less than 2 weeks left every second counts (yes, that was a purposeful reference to Lance's book).

Carl's dad came in town to help with some land related projects. The final things to complete are the following:

1. The step up onto the deck
2. The dance floor
3. Final land prep and clean up

Carl and his dad got some of the step completed on Saturday but it was pouring down rain (even hailing) a lot of the day, which delayed some of their progress. I went out to the land and brought them lunch and worked on my signage plan.  I now have the wood selected and the list of signs I need to make. This is a project for next week, once I'm off work.

The dance floor supplies are all bought and should be completed next weekend, along with a big group clean up.  It really does feel like it's all finally coming together.

The big project today was beer bottling!  Carl brewed 20 gallons of beer a couple of weeks ago and today began the assembly line to prep for distribution.

Carl and I have worked on many projects together but I think this may have been our most successful. It really highlighted both our strengths - Carl and his physical strength and inventive strategies and my efficiency and process expertise.  We were unstoppable.

First, there was bottle soaking.  We had to clean the over 200 beer bottles in a large tub.

Then we had to rinse. We had to ensure the soap and residue was all gone.

Then we moved inside to begin the bottling process.

Carl had to do something to get each jug flowing to then pour into the individual (freshly cleaned) bottles.

Then I got to cap them!

All in all it took us about 6 hours. But I felt a huge accomplishment that we have almost 200 beers for our friends and family to enjoy during our ceremony.  It was well worth the mess that was our kitchen for a few hours.

Now only one more (albeit hectic) week of work before the final prep, wedding and honeymoon are finally here!

Licenses and Brews

This week, Carl and I went to get our marriage license.  I did a lot of research ahead of time to confirm that we could get it in Travis County even though we're getting married in Blanco County. I couldn't find a clear answer so we just went to the County Clerk's office and asked. The only thing they seem to care about in Texas is if you are related. Turns out, you can't get married if that's the case.

So, it's official, we have our marriage license! And in 22 short days we'll be married.

In other news, Carl took on another project for our wedding this past week and home brewed our ceremony beer.  While we'll have kegs for the reception, Carl made beer for our guests to enjoy when they arrive and during the ceremony. I love how many personal touches we're going to have at the wedding. It makes all of this so worth it.

Where In The World Is Mellie?

I've been a bit of a slacker lately on writing blog posts. But it's certainly not because I don't have plenty to write about.  I've just hardly been home.

In the past 10 days I've been the following places.  Austin to Los Angeles to Santa Barbara back to Los Angeles to Austin.  Then Austin to Baltimore to Norfolk to Chicago and back to Austin.  Finally Austin to Chicago and back to Austin.

In between all this travel I've had to try to keep up with work and plan our wedding, which is less than 4 weeks away now. Carl wasn't traveling during this time so while it was sad we weren't both in Austin together I was happy to know he was home with Buster and the chickens.

Oh, the chickens. Sadly I have a Barley update. After a few days of not returning home (again), Carl confirmed his suspicion that she was nesting under the shed and found her little body and over a dozen eggs.  Sadly the eggs were no good and Barley was no longer for this world.  So then there were 4 chickens, 2 of which are now laying eggs.

While a lot of these trips have been work related I did enjoy a long weekend in Santa Barbara with Chris, Missy, Lucie and Audrey.  It was beautiful and we enjoyed lots of great sunsets and time in the pool.

So now I'm home (and so is Carl for some of the time!) until October 10, which will be my last work travel before the wedding.  So the countdown to the wedding and the much awaited honeymoon continues.