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The wedding is finally over and we are slowly getting back to our normal lives. I am still exhausted and trying to catch up on some sleep, as is Michael. Our first few days as husband and wife has been pretty much the same as it was before we got married, just in case anyone is wondering. We are now trying to focus on planning our honeymoon to Italy in May.

We have made some updates to the website and have included our vows and ceremony speech performed by my sister, Judith. We were having some difficulty with the sound system and I'm sure not everyone was able to hear us. We hope you enjoy reading the ceremony and vows and much as we did hearing them on Sunday.

OMG...it's FINALLY the big day!!! I am so excited, exhausted, and so many things right now. I'm happy this day is finally here and hope to soak it all in and enjoy every moment. Several people have given me the advice that I need to make sure to take the time and just observe everything happening around me...the day goes by so fast and if I blink, I might miss it. So far, I've enjoyed every moment since Friday (well, maybe not EVERY moment...there was that creepy guy at Mango's), and hope this will be a stress-free day.

I have two amazing sisters and the best friend anyone could ever ask for who have helped me finish the small details which will help make this experience complete. I love them with all my heart and am extremely lucky to have them in my life. My new family is amazing and have been welcoming and loving since the first moment I met them.

Michael and are are so grateful for all the help and support everyone has given us. We greatly appreciate it and love you!

It's been a busy few weeks since our last post. We are less than a week away from the big day. Michael and I have been working on the last-minute details for the wedding and we hope we have everything we need. Planning your own wedding has not been an easy task! So much to think about and so many things to easily forget. We are definitely looking forward to the big day though!

This will most likely be our last post before the wedding. We can't wait to see everyone in a few days and for those travelling from out of town, we wish you safe travels!

I made it through the night.  I woke up this morning and Liz was at it again, attempting to pour poison in my ear in an attempt to "loosen up ear wax".  I've managed to do a little bit of research on my bride to be, and what I found was very scary.  Liz is apparently one of the world's most devious assassins.  She's known as "Elizabeth Jade Chang" A.K.A "The Chinese Butcher" A.K.A. "The Chinese Baker" A.K.A. "The Chinese Candlestick Maker".  She's what's known as a "domestic assassin".  She has relationships with men of great wealth or political influence who wind up dying do to domestic accidents.  Her last boyfriend was a Senator from Montana who was crushed by his own garage door after a "remote malfunction".  Because I have no money and no political power, I'm still trying to figure out why I've been targeted by her; maybe she actually loves me the way she claims.  Pray for me, because I don't know how long I will last.  And Happy Valentine's Day to all.  

Happy Valentine's Day! For those of you who are following along, it is officially 30 days til our wedding!!! eeeek! (That "eeeek" is not out of fear, but out of excitement...ok, maybe a little out of fear...we still need to wrap up a few details for the wedding and we have such little time to do it.)

In the midst of all this wedding planning, I (Liz) have been busy at work, as well. We have moved our office location to a temporary space for the next three years while we build a new City Hall. Our new space will be pretty amazing and I look forward to it. But packing up an entire department is not easy. I remember when I was moving from New York to Florida...and even though I had help from my sister and brother (Judith and Isaac), it was still extremely hard. I had soooo much stuff. Anyways, since all of our boxes, desks, computers, filing cabinets, etc. are being moved this weekend, I've decided to take today off since I have no physical office to go in to. I will report back on Monday to help organize our new office space. Typically, we get President's Day off, but we had the option to take Friday off instead which helps me since I'll be running errands for our wedding. We still need to finalize the plans for the rental equipment, i.e. chairs, tables, linens, etc. and Michael and I will be applying for our marriage license today! Yay!! And then I have my hair trial later...appropriate since it's Valentine's Day...I'll look all nice and pretty for our romantic dinner at....Jaxson's. For those of you who do not know what Jaxson's is, it is an old time ice cream parlor and restaurant . It's a fun place that we've gone to the last two year's on Valentine's Day so I guess you could say it's tradition. We hope to keep it up as long as we can.

Anyways, since we are 30 days out from the wedding, it is also time to make sure your RSVP's have been returned. We've heard from quite a few folks, but there are some that we are missing. We hope to see everyone next month. Please let us know either through the website or via the enclosed response card from our invitation.

Oh, and if some of you are in suspense of Michael's previous post...he survived...(sigh)...I'm marrying a goofball...

Hey everyone, it's Michael.  Liz tried to kill me tonight.  She claimed that I had wax in my ears that she wanted to remove, but it turns out she was just trying to stab my brain through my ear.  To be fair, she has been talking about removing ear wax from my ears for months; but its just been the long con this whole time.  I know what some of you might be thinking: Michael, she must really love you if she is willing to dig into your ears for wax.  You can think what you want to think; its my hope that she doesn't kill me while I sleep tonight.  I'll report tomorrow if I make it through the night. 

The invitations are officially in the mail! I'm excited to have this part completed so we will now wait for your responses. We have tried to make it as convenient as possible and gave the option to RSVP via the website or send the response card back in the enclosed envelope. If you use the website, feel free to save the envelope and stamp for something else.

As explained on the insert, our invitation is made from recycled materials and the green panel and response card is made from seed paper. If planted, wildflowers will grow! I was excited to find this kit and really hope you enjoy planting them. Remember, it's only the green panel and response card. You can recycle the vellum and envelopes. If you like the seed paper, you can find it here.

If you have any issues RSVPing online, please let us know.

Hope to hear from you all soon and we look forward to seeing everyone in March!

Happy New Year!!

We hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. We spent New Year's Eve at home. While we were planning to drive to Fort Myers to be with Louise and Jerry, we just couldn't muster up enough energy to make the 2 hour drive...sorry guys! As it turns out, Ezio and Milhouse (Mason) do not like fireworks, so we spent most of the night keeping them calm. Luckily, Auntie Louise gave them enough toys for Christmas to keep them occupied.

Also, just a quick update on the wedding plans. We are officially 73 days away from our wedding...eek!!! We still have so much to do. While we thought we would be done with all the major planning before the end of 2013, we are still working out some details with the caterer and bakery. We are also hoping to find someone that makes an excellent Jamaican wedding cake. We have made some changes to our website today and for those of you who will be RSVPing online, it is now password protected so as to prevent uninvitees to try and attend our wedding. It is a small affair and we are keeping the guest list small so please remember, only those who received invitations with their names on it are permitted to attend the wedding. The password will be in the envelope with the invitation so please keep a lookout.

Okay, so apparently we have taken a break from the blog...a long break. Quite a bit has happened since our last entry but I won't bore you with the details.

First off, I hope everyone had a Happy Hannukkah and/or Merry Christmas!

If you've been following along, we have updated our website to include information on the date, venue, time, and travel info. Our wedding will be taking place on Sunday, March 16, 2014 at Flamingo Gardens. In our last entry, we did say we were going to take a look at the location and when we saw it, we immediately knew it was for us! We loved the look of the wedding gazebo and the oak canopy where the reception will be. We definitely wanted an outdoor wedding and we hope the weather will cooperate. We are excited to see everyone on the big day so we are working on getting the wedding invitations out as soon as possible. Hopefully this weekend!!

We have lots to do so we will continue to update the website and look forward to getting the RSVP's back! We have tried to make it easy and gave you the choice of sending a paper response back or you can RSVP via the website. See the RSVP link.

We still have not found a wedding venue and we are less than 7 months away from the planned wedding date of either Saturday, March 8th or Sunday, March 9th. You must be wondering if I'm freaking out...maybe...but I've been distracted these past few days by some wonderful news. I will be starting a new job on Monday, September 9th with the City of Coral Springs!!! I am extrememly excited and looking forward to a new start as their Planning and Zoning Manager. This is a big step for me and I hope not to dissapoint. It is somewhat bittersweet as I will obviously be leaving the City of Hollywood where I began my career almost 6 years ago. I have learned so much while I have been there and met some pretty amazing people. My last day will be Wednesday, September 4th and will be taking a couple of days off before I start my new job.

But today brings us back to the reality of the wedding and Michael and I will need to make a decision soon on the venue. We started our search by looking at locations along the west coast of Florida in Fort Myers. We then started looking at locations in Islamorada because we were thinking of a beach wedding. We also looked at locations in South Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Our minds are spinning!!

Now, we have started to rethink what it is we want since we need to stick to our budget. We have decided to have our wedding at Flamingo Gardens. It is a beautiful location and hope we can get the date we want. It is a popular wedding venue and dates go pretty fast, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and will be calling them tomorrow. We haven't even really seen the location and have an appointment next week for a visit, but we are booking it anyway. We will get to have the caterer we want, so we are excited about that!

If you would like to check out the gardens, click here.

We got a new addition to the family today! Mason Milhouse joined the clan and now Ezio has a brother. They are very happy and enjoy each other's company. Michael says no more animals for now but I'm sure he'll soften up. This will be quite an adventure for us all with these two as Ezio is troublesome all on his own and Milhouse appears to have the potential for trouble. They are both "street" cats afterall. I'll be posting some pictures of our guesome twosome at some point so that you can see how cute they are.