This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy

Just dropped Kira off at the airport. She's off to Huntington Beach, California for a conference...until wednesday night. Then she's on the red eye, back in Philly thursday morning...I'm heading down after work on thursday afternoon to join forces with her (and anyone else who might want to stop by, pizza and beer for everyone) and finish off the packing. We're moving on friday. Yes, we're insane. Yes, we're stressed. But in one week, the move will be over, we'll be in Hoboken (where everyone is invited to come spend some time with us) and we can start really focusing on the next big deal, our WEDDING...
It's been a rough month, but it could have been so much worse. Being apart has been hard, but the weeks rolled by pretty quickly. Kira's hung in like a champ...she's just coming off the stress of a major project at work and she's been trying to keep things together in Philly while I've been in Hoboken during the week. We realize how fortunate we are that these are our problems, that things could in fact be far more difficult...but we're also human and we've had a few "moments" in the past few weeks where we broke down a bit. It's going to be so good to have all of us back together (Denali has been with my folks for the better part of a month, so we haven't all been together for quite a while).
We have managed to get a few more wedding things in order. I bought a suit this weekend, picked out shoes and a tie...I must admit, I've looked worse. Kira has been fitted for her dress, which is currently being altered. Erika finalized the invitation design and showed us an initial print last night (we had a wonderful dinner with Kira's mom last night at Citrus...everything was so good). We ordered the wine glasses and the mason jars for the flowers...decided on a menu for the rehearsal dinner...and started the process of registering for gifts.
We're moving along and looking forward to being in Hoboken, where we can really start coming to grips with the fact that we're getting married in 10 weeks! Hope everyone is doing well

The Magic Bus...

and the Hilton Garden Inn. Now that we're starting to really roll with preparations (inside 3 months until the big day), we promise to keep things updated here as often as possible. Which brings us to the topic of where we think you might be staying...We realize most of you have won't be able to tell Newburgh from New Paltz when you start heading up the thruway, so rather than leaving it up to all of you to decide where you'll be sleeping for a night or two, we think we might have made your decision a bit easier. The Hilton Garden Inn in Newburgh (there is a link here, or call 845 567-9500) is a new hotel just off the NY State Thruway, south of New Paltz. We're reserved a block of rooms there for Friday and Saturday nights (under the Ebert/Theesfeld wedding). We've also arranged for buses to transport everyone from the hotel to the farm and back again on saturday. We're thinking the buses might be a bit of fun, Kira and I would love to be with you all on the way to the farm on saturday afternoon. Of course, there are other options in and around New Paltz, some lovely B&B's, a few hotels/motels and some more traditional business type lodging closer to Poughkeepsie, but we think this might work best for everyone. If anyone has any questions, please drop us a note or give us a call. That's it for now...hope you're all doing well. See you soon

Back and Forth

Since Kira won't be moving up to Hoboken until the end of the month, I've been on the road (or rail) each Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with her and Luna in Philly. Yesterday was quite a trip...5 hours from when I stepped on the ferry to leave Manhattan until I parked the car around the corner from the house on South Street (it should've been a 2 hour trip). It wasn't as bad as it sounds...the traffic on the turnpike was relatively well behaved, moving along and obeying the 35 mph speed limit. A few cars spun around pointing the wrong way, and more than a few SUV's flipped over on the side of the road (don't get me started...) I'm happy to have made it home safe and sound...Kira and I enjoyed dinner at L2, watched some TV and went to bed after a long day.
We slept in a bit this morning, took Luna to the park and had breakfast at Ant's Pants...a fine morning indeed. We're hoping to take care of a few wedding and moving things this weekend, though Kira is having a hard time tearing herself away from the piles of old photos (Pete Doran, you sure were hot in high school) and keepsakes (why is it that most "keepsakes" are in fact things you have no real reason to keep) she recently uncovered from the boxes of things her mom gave us last weekend. It's hard to believe the wedding is less than 3 months away. I'm sure there's so much to do, but I don't feel like we're too far behind. I think that's one of the great things about having the wedding in New Paltz...if it were closer, I feel like we'd be pressed to be far more hands on, but it's been easier (and necessary) to hand things over to the people up there who are in charge of the day.
One of the most important things we've been able to take care of here in Philly is our invitations. Kira's sister, Erika, is making them for us, and they are beautiful. She's managed to design something which suits Kira and I perfectly, we couldn't be happier. Erika is remarkable...to call her my new sister is a blessing.