Back in the Saddle Again!

Just last weekend we attended our first wedding as a married couple. My good buddy Brett and his wife Cat. Known him since 5th grade and we get married within 2 weeks of one another—how 'bout that! Their wedding band did classic rock covers and was the best at it I've heard to date. They did Highway to Hell with howling female vocals—Bonn Scott would've been proud. Becky and I had a great time dancing and listening to me sing along with the band (right..honey??). We also had fun the night of the rehearsal dinner, walking two suburban blocks from my house to Brett's family's place to have a few glasses with his visiting relatives. Brett, Rob and I spent many many nights of single dude-dom over there during our teen and college days, shooting pool and listening to Led Zeppelin. To be back, toasting to the last of us being officially-spoken-for, felt pretty great. Congratulations to Cat and Brett!

Just Married

photo by Pete Meltzer

Once Becky and I were back on our feet from the chair-and-hair-raising portion of the Hora, there was officially nothing left to worry about on our wedding day. Really though, we had a great time from the moment we started with our parents and dogs down the grassy hill at Hartman's to the garden where we had our ceremony. All of the little things we'd worried about just kind of fell into place, and we couldn't have been happier with how things turned out. My chief concern going in, was the friends and relatives we'd invited should have fun, after all the effort they were going through to be with us. Careful examination of the photos we have so far show lots of smiles on faces, and boy did they make us feel like a million well-loved bucks. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who came. The folks at Hartman's commented many times on how sweet, fun and well-mannered our crowd was, and how much love was in the air, and we really felt it too.

There's occasional glimpses of the rings on our fingers that come as a smiling surprise in the middle of an otherwise ordinary afternoon. Also, referring to Bec as 'my wife' is so much cooler and more appropriate than 'my girlfriend whom I live with that I will most certainly marry soon' or 'fiancé'. It was a bit shocking to head straight from the wedding into the start of school, with no honeymoon. But sheesh - I don't know how people manage to plan an elaborate vacation along with all they have to do to make the wedding happen. Hopefully we'll still have one in December/January. We're planning a road trip to the family house down in Sarasota, with a stop somewheres like Savannah or Charleston along the way. Then, much relaxing in the winter sun.

One More Week!

Things have gotten pretty hectic in the Schmal-McCarthy household, as we're a mere week away from our wedding. At the same time that we're taking care of all the final details [table charts, safety pins, and um...our vows], Becky is racing to finish an online statistics course before her start at NYU Nursing shortly after our wedding, and I'm in the midst of registering at Kingsborough Community College, to take the prerequisite history survey I need for my applications to Masters programs in the spring. Goodness, I just got anxious typing that. Maggie and Summer don't seem to notice or mind the pacing- both are relaxing on the floor next to me as I type. If only they knew of my plans to send them to classes in place of Becky and me, they'd be a more concerned.

Beards, Fried Chicken and Big Buck Hunter

Last weekend, a collapsed bachelor's camping trip lead to a successful bachelor dinner at Sidecar, a delicious and laid-back spot in the South Slope that appeared shortly before I moved in North with Bec. There were 8 of us, and though I didn't anticipate any challenge since we're a well-behaved cohort, I feel like the staff there took care of us

pretty well. My Cousin Ethan who couldn't make it due to the confluence of his wife Rachel's pregnancy, their move into their first house, and well...living 5 hours away, called in ahead of time and bought us two bottles of champagne. Very cool, E. I had fried chicken that was pretty great and was possibly overshadowed by its own side, kale with thick cut bacon chunks in it. Oh - and we also had some oysters to start things, and they were delicious and very fresh. Seth: way to be a mensch and try 'em for the first time. Oysters are somehow spectacular and spectacularly ordinary at the same time, in my opinion, but man alive I love 'e

m in the summer. A girl came over to our booth with a camera and asked to take our picture* for some Italian blog on American culture. All but one of us had a beard, as is the style of the time, I suppose. After Side car we went to Buttermilk, the bar I used to go to when I lived around there. It was a nice adieu to my bachelorhood: standing in a cluster of my male friends and feeding dollars into the Big Buck Hunter game which I'm pretty nimble on. I shot several trophy Bucks over the course of the evening, but couldn't fit them on Chris's scooter when he gave me a ride home.

*if said indiv. reads this post, please contact with picture or address of fake blog, thank you

Marriage = Conversational Lode

As a dog owner living next to Prospect Park, there's a category of acquaintance — dog owners whom I see 3 or 4 times a week, chat with, but still do not know their names. They are called Luna-mom, Bella-mom, Shep-dad, etc. I've noticed that these acquaintances and other small-talk candidates, have for the most part a very genuinely enthusiastic response to the news of me and Bec's engagement. It's absolutely cool to be on the receiving end of this, and it surprises me every time. I mean, most people get married, right? And I don't think I carry myself in such a way that news of my impending wedding makes others pat me on the back in any sort of success-despite-overwhelming-odds manner. But when I tell them I'm getting married soon, they almost all get really bright-eyed and ask a bunch of questions about the wedding. When I talked about it with Bec, she suggested that others' experience and hopes and memories play into their response, which I think must be the case. And this notion is really cool, because added to the excitement of marrying the girl I love, is the suggestion that while we're entering the biggest day of our lives as a couple, we're also joining on to a giant Jungian bunny-hop, with...well, everyone!

Getting Legal, Lexington Style

Becky and I drove up to Lexington to take care of some wedding business. On the docket: apply for a marriage license; meet with potential wedding photographer; go to our wedding location for the menu tasting. Compared to the other aspects of planning the wedding, the Happiness-to-Effort ratio of going to town hall for our license was tip-top. The picture here was taken by the clerk that filed the paperwork, and I think it captures our mood - being a little closer to getting married - thrilled, plain and simple. Can't wait. The tasting was a lot of fun, but I don't want to give anything away.

Wait, okay, I will:

The steak was excellent, as were the farm's own veggies and herbs. And dessert...ohhhh baby.

What day is it?

I've been hesitant to post updates lately because most of my time is spent thinking about and planning our wedding, or figuring out my hopeful beginning of a Graduate Degree in Education; both seem to me like the kind of thing I want to keep under-wraps until good and ready. However, the Mets are close to unwatchable and I don't want to wake the sleeping beast that is Michael Jackson coverage, so I might as well write about the other stuff. Bec and I had a solid two week period of making decisions on the wedding ceremony and reception. I created our invitations and we got them all sent out. We've set up a menu tasting that we'll be checking out this coming weekend in Barre, along with meeting a potential picture-taker for the day. Most importantly, we decided on our officiants, Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Louise of our Cousin Rachel. It was really rejuvenating and giddy-feeling to talk about the actual wedding ceremony - the reason we're doing all of this - as opposed to the various party details that have to be addressed. I'm pretty excited to celebrate with friends and relatives, but it's nothing compared to how much I'm looking forward to Bec and I saying We Do, and putting on our wedding rings*. As for school: there's certainly a lot to be considered. The nuts and bolts of tuition, time, work and other functional details are sort of making my head spin. I'm really excited at the thought of being immersed in a learning environment again, working towards an occupation I think will be a better fit for me. This week will be devoted to getting a definitive answer on how my art school transcripts will affect my admission into a program. It's not going to be pretty.

*more on this to come