Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Good morning everyone! I know that not everyone joins us first thing in the morning, but it doesn't matter. Since this is a cyber meeting, you can join in any time during the day. And besides, it's always morning somewhere in the world.

The first order of business is the food. Yes, the food. This morning we are having yummy chocolate cupcakes, piled high with creamy frosting. Don't worry, I tested one and the frosting is light and fluffy, not sickening sweet. These are compliments of the Italian bakery.



They got a little smushed in the box on the way home but the taste is not affected by that. You simply turn the cupcake around so the smushed side is in the back.



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Yesterday I posted that wedding video and it got me to thinking about our wedding. It involved a cake accident (much worse than a smushed cupcake), a horrendous snowstorm and not being able to have my mom and stepdad attend the party.

The Farmer and I have always been go-with-the-flow kind of people and it's a good thing. If we'd been super-duper planning people, attached to the idea that everything must be perfection, we'd have been very unhappy wedding campers.

We didn't want any kind of formal wedding. Since we were paying for the wedding ourselves the budget wouldn't support such an idea and we weren't in any position to go into debt over nuptials. We were married at the county courthouse in judge's chambers. My grandmother and the Farmer's friend were our witnesses. My grandmother didn't know until we got her in the car because we couldn't count on her to keep a secret. Nobody knew we were getting married.

The next day we flew down to New Orleans for our honeymoon and mailed the invitations on our way to the airport, inviting everyone to join us for a party on our return.

New Orleans was fun. We sat on the floor at Preservation Hall and listened to jazz and walked over to Cafe du Monde for beignets and chickory coffee at 1 a.m. On the TV in the evening we watched the news of a horrendous snowstorm descending on Chicago. No worries for us, we were in the south.

We should have worried. The snowstorm started up anew when we returned home. It raged on and off for two weeks. My mom and stepdad came up from Nashville for our party. Another storm dropped snow that closed down the city. Literally.

The Farmer and I drove to pick up our wedding cake. From there we inched our way to the dry cleaners to pick up his suit. The streets were treacherous and the snow was piled 7 feet high on the sides of the road. There was no place to pull over, so the Farmer dropped me off and made a turn around the block while I went inside to get his suit.

I stood waiting for him as the snow continued to fly. He pulled up, I jumped in the backseat and noticed his face was pale.

"What's wrong honey?" I asked.

"There's a problem with the cake," he offered.

"What?"

He lifted up his arm to reveal white and purple frosting smeared on the sleeve of his jacket! The car had slid on the ice and the cake had also slid - across the front seat and into his arm.

What could you do but laugh? And, we did. I couldn't lose sleep over a dented cake. But the disaster continued to grow. The next morning the restaurant called to say that there was no way we could hold a reception that day. The snow had continued overnight and even a snowplow couldn't make it into the parking lot to clear out the snow.

This was no news to us as we realized upon awakening that our reception wasn't going to happen. Again, neither of us lost sleep. We worked with the restaurant to reschedule, even though that meant that it wasn't possible for my mom and stepdad to make the trip from Nashville a second time.

The wedding cake? We found a freezer big enough to store it for two weeks and that's what we did.




We unfroze the wedding cake and turned it around so the smushed part was in the back.

The party was fun. Finally! None of the trappings were really important to either of us. We were just anxious to be together and get on with our lives.

P.S. I ain't ever getting married again. I've had two, count 'em TWO wedding cake disasters. My first wedding cake was displayed on a table whose legs collapsed at one end. The cake slid down the table and was caught (and smushed) by one of the guests.

Read more about our wedding cake here:

WEDDING CAKE

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Now it's time to draw the name for the backstage Pony Pass. I know you've always wanted a backstage pass!



The winner is........

"C" - the Stickhorse Cowgirl


Thanks for playing along.

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That's all I have for today. What about you? The floor is open. Funny wedding stories anyone?

Ask away.... discuss away.... sing, whatever!