I hope our resorts are still there. The Baja Peninsula and Cabo got hit by Hurricane Jimena.

Kyle and I went to Sears today and registered.  So it no longer has zero items.  You can definitely tell this is Kyle’s registry, but I’m excited about it too.  Now we’ll have cool tools to match my cordless drill, not that we really have anywhere to put them, but we’ll find a way.  And we’ll build more stuff like our table and recycling center.  And there is some electronics type stuff too.  So check it out sometime if you want.

Also, we got an e-mail from Pampered Chef:

Dear Caitlan and Kyle,

We regret to inform you that the following products on your registry will be discontinued as of September 1, 2009. You might want to drop hints to your guests that they’re available for a limited time.

• 2228 / Easy Adjustable Measuring Cup
• 2229 / Easy Adjustable Measuring Spoon

So if anyone wants to buy us anything early, those would be two good things.  It’s not a big deal if we don’t get them.  They’re getting some new products too, and they might have different adjustable measuing things.  But just thought we would let people know. 🙂

We actually registered a while back, but we registered at quite a few stores, so we wanted to make sure nothing overlapped.  There were different, specific things we wanted at each place, and everyone has different stores close to them, so we thought it was okay to register at multiple places.  We are registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond; Target; JCPenney; Williams and Sonoma; and Pampered Chef.  All have websites (I think you can only get stuff from Pampered Chef online), but some of our products are in-store only.  Click on the Registry button at the bottom of our “Bride & Groom” page and you’ll have links to all our registries.  If you’re in the store, or looking us up online (you have to for Williams and Sonoma), if you just spell my name correctly (Caitlan Adkins), you’ll only come up with one registry, I think, on all of them.  A good thing about having a uniquely spelled name.

We tried to cover a range of prices and a range of types of gifts.  We tried to register at Lowes, but they apparently discontinued their gift registry, so we tried Home Depot and they don’t seem to have one either.  Kyle still wants manly stuff, so we registered at Sears for that (but he hasn’t picked anything out yet).  We’ll be keeping an eye on our registries and updating them when we need to.  Yay!

I think everyone should have gotten our save-the-dates by now.  Brendan drew us a great picture that we’ve gotten lots of compliments on.  We e-mailed most and mailed some, but we wanted to post it up for everyone to see here, too.

 

 

Kyle and I have two very generous uncles, and we just got off the phone with my Uncle Jerome finishing booking our second week of our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on the Baja Peninsula.  Kyle’s Uncle Roger and Aunt Becky came in a few weeks ago, and they helped us book our first week there.  We’re very excited.

We’ll be staying at two different resorts run by the same company.  Our first week we’ll be in Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach and our second week we’ll be in Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos.  We’ll have studios both weeks, and we can travel to their other resorts on their free shuttle and use all their facilities.  Our first resort is on the Pacific side with big waves crashing in, so we can’t swim in the ocean there, but our resort for the second week is on an inlet, so we will be able to swim in the ocean then.  And one resort that we’re not staying in, but we can use, has big beds on the beach that you can rent, so we want to do that.

We’re still trying to figure out our flights.  Our resort stay is January 2  – January 16, so we may go somewhere the day after our wedding and fly out from there.  But now we know definitely where we are going and our dates, so we’ll be booking the flights soon.

Click here if you want to check the resorts out!  They’re the ones in Cabo San Lucas: Sunset Beach and Los Cabos.

Kyle and I had a bit of a stumbling block last month when we found out in church that the priest we had been working with on our wedding at St. Louis Bertrand was being transferred to Rhode Island.  And we were having trouble getting a hold of him, so we weren’t really sure if anyone else at the church knew we were getting married there.  After a few calls, I found out who I should talk to, but then I had trouble getting a hold of him.  I panicked a bit, especially when we hit the 6-month mark and I still hadn’t been able to talk to anyone at the church.  I talked to Fr. Pat, and he assured me it would all be okay, and if I didn’t get in touch with someone soon, he would give them a call and see what he could find out.   Soon after I talked to Fr. Pat, I did hear back from the new priest, and we got a meeting set up.  That meeting was today, and Kyle and I still scheduled to get married December 31, 2009.

This priest has been at the church longer and seemed to be more in the know about the details with having the wedding there.  We got information on preparation, and we’re mailing out a registration form for that tomorrow.  And we got a book on planning a wedding service in a Catholic church without having the Mass.  We got names for who we should talk to about financial info and building details.

There might be some complications with the reception hall, having to do with security and making sure a person on staff is there on New Year’s Eve, but we were assured that we would get it worked out since we’re already committed (and who knows if anywhere else in the city is available for a wedding reception on New Year’s Eve less than six months in advance?).

Then we just chatted a bit and got to know our new contact in the church.  I feel much more comfortable now, knowing someone else in the church knows about us.  The wedding will go on, and  it will even happen where we said it would.  Yay!

Many of you already know about the changes happening in the office of Advancement. Others have heard me share the challenges that come with being a fundraiser in the current economy. It had recently become apparent that I would be unable to continue in my position which I held for 2 years. As of Wednesday, June 24th I no longer work for my alma mater.

While the decisions that led to my current state were, at the very least, disappointing, I will always be a vocal proponent of all things red and black, and thank the University for the opportunities it has given me over the past two years. I have met entrepreneurs who have created wealth from merely an idea of what they wanted to accomplish, and the determination to see their work to its conclusion. I have worked beside brilliant academics, recognized experts in their field, who are called all over the planet to speak to people who think an hour listening to them will make them a better person. I have met students whose lives have been radically changed by education and philanthropy. Students short on both income and knowledge of business have been turned into industry leaders by our College, supported by its donors. Those who know me well know that I was never exaggerating when I referred to my work as “inspirational.”

I have learned a great deal over the past 2 years about who I was, and who I wanted to become. I will miss my former colleagues but enjoy knowing they are diligently doing some of the most important work on this planet. Caitlan and I have some major decisions to make about the course of our lives, and we appreciate the support of our family and friends as we deal with these sudden changes.

Thank you all,

Kyle

We sent our engagement announcement to the Richmond Register this week. So we think it will be in the Sunday paper either this Sunday or next. If you’re in Richmond, you should pick one up and look for it. And if it’s in there, you should buy one for my mom, and maybe for us too. It’s supposed to have a color picture too. Obviously if you’re reading this, it won’t have any new info that you don’t already know. But it should still be cool. Yay!!

It’s been a long time since we’ve written on here. Got a little sidetracked with the moving and unpacking. I’ve taken the day off work to try to finish unpacking and catch up on wedding stuff.

On the weekend of May 15, my mom and Kyle’s parents came up to Louisville, and we rented a U-haul. Kyle friends came over and helped too. And we got all the big stuff moved from Kyle’s and my place. We got everything out of Kyle’s place and got it cleaned. And since we had the U-haul, we went ahead and moved most stuff out of my place. The last weekend in June is the last weekend I’ll have at my old place, so we’ll be cleaning there and moving the last few things (including Christi’s couches, which we found out later that she didn’t want). So if you’re free the last weekend in June, let us know!

We really like our new place. It looks over 3rd and Broadway, and I can walk to work in 15 minutes. And last weekend we just went up to Miss Alice’s and made a dinner table and a shelf for our “recycling center.” Once we have some free time, we would like to have a little apartment-warming party, and invite people over to see it when it’s all unpacked and clean. So we’ll let you know. That’s about it for moving. I’m hoping to get a lot done today, so I might be writing another blog entry too. Getting back on track!

We have decided on our caterer, and we are going to have Chardeau’s do our wedding. Michelle, the caterer, has been very helpful to us, even coming to look at the reception hall, and she has worked hard to keep us within our budget. The food is very good, and she will also sort of serve as a day-of coordinator, which will be nice. We think she will be great to work with, and we’re excited to have this decision made. We’ve put down a deposit. Now we just have to sign the contract and give her an estimated number of people who will be at the reception. Yay!