Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A Little Levity Before The Holiday

I took this from Dingmoonment as I love to know details about people who I don't personally know. What can I say, I'm a voyeur. And now exhibitionist.

Marital Status?
Legally married, but getting weddinged.

How long have you been toget​her?
4.5 Years

How long did you know each other​ befor​e you start​ed datin​g?
Not at all

Who asked​ who out?
Mike

How old are each of you?
41 and 29

What are your astro​logic​al signs​?
Aries, Sagitarius

​How tall are each of you?
5'9.75'', 6'3''

Whose mothe​r do you see the most?
Luis'

Whose sibli​ngs do/​did you see the most?​
Luis'

Do you have any child​ren toget​her?
No

​​Do you have any pets?
Yes

What’​s the harde​st on you as a coupl​e?
Sticking a homebody and a restless soul together.

What do you both do for a livin​g?​
Graphic Design, Real Estate

Is that what you went to schoo​l for?
No

​Did you both go to the same schoo​l?​
No

Are you from the same homet​own?
No

Do you live in the same town now?
No

Who is the smart​est?​
Michael

Who is the most sensi​tive?​
Luis

Where​ do you eat out most as a coupl​e?​
Super Mex

Where​ do you shop the most as a coupl​e?
Costco

​Where​ is the furth​est you two have trave​led toget​her as a coupl​e?​
Nashville

Who has the best group​ of frien​ds?
Luis

Who has the crazi​est exes?
Michael

Who has the worst​ tempe​r?​
Luis

Who does the cooki​ng?​
Michael

Who is more socia​l?
Luis

Who is the neat-​freak​?​
Michael

Who is the most stubb​orn?​
Luis

Who hogs the bed?
Luis

Who wakes​ up earli​er?
Michael

Where​ was your first​ date?​
The Equator coffee house in Pasadena

Who said I Love You first​?​
Michael?

Who has the bigge​r famil​y?
Michael

Who gives flowe​rs the most often​?
Michael

How do you spend​ Thanksgiving?
Usually going between two places, this year bringing it all together. Wish us luck

Who is more jealo​us?
Luis

Do you have littl​e pet names​ for each other​?​
Yes

How long did it take to get serio​us?​
From the start

Who eats more?
Luis

Who sings​ bette​r?​
Michael

Who’s​ older​?​
Michael

Who does the laund​ry?​
Michael

Who does the dishe​s?​
Michael

Who’s​ bette​r with the compu​ter?
Luis

Who drive​s?​ ​
Tie

Who picks​ where​ you go to dinne​r?​
Tie

Who is the first​ one to admit​ when they’​re wrong​?​
Michael

Who named​ your pet?
Michael

Who kisse​d who first​?​
Michael asked if he could

Who has more tatto​os?​
Michael

Who eats more sweet​s?​
Tie

Who cries​ more?​
Luis

Who's the traditionalist?
Michael

Who's the most sentimental?
Luis

May you all have a great Thanksgiving! Even as second-class citizens, we have much to be grateful for.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I Will Not Call Them STD's


Our Save the Date's went out last week, which was totally exciting. It snapped me back into wedding planning mode, and it made the whole thing seem much less surreal, and a lot more realreal.

These are the standard letters sent out by Disney. They usually send them out with a sheet that has ticket ordering info on it, but we opted not to do that. It just felt a little tacky to us, and besides the savings were not all that significant.

I loved that they took care of this detail for us. I really did not care to make our own save the date's and send them out.

Here's a dirty little secret: no matter how cute and perfect your save the date is, I make note of the date in my calendar and throw it away, unless you sent me that magnet, which gets put on the fridge for a few months and then thrown away.

This letter though, I will keep in the forever pile.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Should I Be Having Some Sort of Freakout?



When we first got engaged I was obsessed with that little ticker image above. I was counting down every single day, and obsessing over the wedding in general at every possible moment.

Imagine my surprise when I look at the little ticker today of all days and realize I am exactly six months away from the wedding.

I'm feeling pretty good about where things are at. We still have a lot of things to do, but I figured we would start dealing with all those things in January.

Now I could freak out and make a list of those things and overthink every one of those details, but I am taking a much more relaxed approach to this weeding than I originally intended to. I have come to the conclusion that not every last detail of this wedding has to be a manifestation of our love and symbol of some greater thing. Some things are just things.

Case in point: I remember a conversation I had with a friend shortly after we got engaged. We were talking about centerpieces, and the fact that we were considering incorporating Disney snowglobes and using less floral, and he went into this tirade about how "we should design centerpieces that reflect our unique personalities and each one should have a theme representing a different time in our relationship so that our wedding would be truly unique." Seriously? That's a lot of pressure to put on a bunch of flowers.

That's a lot of pressure I don't need and don't want right now. Work life is about to kick into crazy mode for the month of December, so maybe I will make some time to freak out in the middle of January.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Someday My Prince Will Come

Our guests received their save the dates this week! We just used the standard Save The Date's sent out by Disney, which is basically a letter printed on nice paper. I just didn't feel like investing a lot of time or money into something I don't see as all that important.

I will post them later this week.

I am hoping to get some pictures of another great wedding for you soon. Something that totally captures the fairytale essence of Disney Weddings. That got me thinking though, if women dream of being princesses on their wedding day, where does that leave guys?

When I think of princes they don't usually do much for me. Either you get "Purple Rain" or tights and a cape. Not that there's anything wrong with a man in tights, think ballet or Cirque Du Soleil, yum, but not something I really aspire to.

Then I ran across these drawings from David Kawena on the internet, and suddenly I found a prince I wouldn't mind living happily ever after with. I just think it's interesting that somebody took some of the naughty thoughts I used to get when looking at Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid and fleshed them out.

He even gayed them up a notch, though seriously, these guys were always a little gay to begin with right?


Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Off Being Civically Responsible

The long arm of jury duty caught up with me this week, sorry for the lack of posts! But to tide you over, I will give you these pictures from this past Saturday's protest at Los Angeles City Hall. They are not very good, and they don't give a sense of how big the crowd was, but I was afraid to try and make my way out into the middle of the crowd! (I get a little claustrophobic in seas of people)

A big thanks to my sis for coming out to protest with me, and also for taking most of the pics!

Back with a vengeance after lady justice is satisfied.







Friday, November 14, 2008

Friday Weigh-In #9




Ok, I think I missed a week there, but last week was stressful, hurtful, exciting, and hopeful, so fitness was the last thing on my mind. Even then I managed to get two workouts in last week.

The weight-lifting routine is really getting tough, but at the same time I'm sefinitely seeing some great results from it. I am still on track to reach my goal at some point next year, so I'm feeling good about that.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

National Day of Protest November 15th

There's a link on the upper tight hand corner of my blog or click here.

Rob and Scott's Wedding

Remember when this was a wedding blog and everything was new and exiting and oh so optimistic? Then all the nastiness with Prop 8 started and the focus shifted.

Well it's time to shift the focus back! While it just happens that this blog will be more political than it was once intended to be, I will not lose focus that this was also started as a way to celebrate love, commitment, and joy. Not just mine, but that of other lgbtq folks and those that stand with us in the fight for equality.

So without further ado, Rob has graciously allowed me to feature his very recent Walt Disney World wedding with all of you. Rob and Scott had their ceremony at the Adventurer's Club in Pleasure Island, followed by a reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall.

On a sad note, the Adventurer's Club closed to the public forever the night before Rob and Scott's wedding. They were not aware this was going to be the case when they booked the venue, which was chosen for it's significance to them. It's the place where Rob and Scott had their first date. They were friends with the performers at the club as well as regulars, so having a wedding as well as a farewell to such a special place made the occasion bittersweet.

Still they managed to have a wonderful wedding, a ceremony that was completely unique to them, a gorgeous cake and a wonderful reception. All photos are from the very talented Randy Chapman. If you would like to spend days reading a very detailed and often hilarious planning journal you can do so here.

Congratulations Rob and Scott!

Even with the passing anti-gay legislation across the country we are showing the world we don't need the government to bless our marriages. We will still gather our friends and families, and vow our unending love and devotion to our soulmates. We will make a promise to take care of each other before our witnesses. They might be able to legislate the legal for now, but they will never legislate the spiritual.









Sunday, November 9, 2008

A Protest Every Day Since Wednesday

I took Thursday off, and I forgot my camera on Friday. I think the pictures tell the story better than I could.












The Aftermath of Prop 8



This is a post that needed to be written, but I wasn't ready to write the days after prop 8 passed. I spent those first few days crying at random intervals, and I wasn't ready to say thank you to all the people who are out there supporting our cause. Brides like Meg and Carly who are out there taking a stand for what is right.

A little more obvious, but still definitely worth mentioning are the efforts of the lgbt bloggers on my blogroll. Especially supportive have been Christina and N. I feel like we've all really leaned on each other through this really tough time.

So, what next?

I don't know. I never thought I would say this, but there have been some very good things that have come from this proposition passing. People are mad, really mad, and we demand action and satisfaction. I mean right out of the 60's, outrage against the establishment, I don't care if you turn the hoses on me, by any means necessary mad. I feel like we are watching history being made.

I went to a big protest in West Hollywood on Wednesday. I went to a big protest in Long Beach on Friday. I went to a huge protest in Los Angeles and Hollywood on Saturday. Today I will go to what promises to be a big protest at the cathedral in Downtown Los Angeles.

There was a time in my life when I was much more political, but I burned out on politics. I was always trying to join a protest or a school walkout, but I burned out on them. This is different.

I don't think I've ever seen this many people at so many protests in such a short span of time. This is not going to fizzle out. We are not going to stay at home and cry anymore. We are going to take back what we had, even if we only had it for a short time.

That is the big difference between California and all the other states where constitutional amendments have been passed. Those other amendments were just hurtful. They said to people "you don't have the right to get married, but just in case you get any crazy ideas." People were disappointed, but they had not lost anything, it was just reiterated to them they are second-class citizens.

Here in California, we had the right to get married, and we should have fought harder to keep it. We got too complacent. We underestimated the lengths and lies the Mormon church and so many other conservatives would go to to take this away from us, and they succeeded. They used fear as their tool, and we were too slow to counter with reason.

But they have made us mad. And we have taken to the street. And we will have our rights.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

It Didn't Change Anything

But it made me feel better to be sad and angry with lots of other sad and angry people.

I was hoping for a riot, but my friend said the best we could hope for was an impromptu fashion show.





Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Congratulations to Everyone Who Got Hope in Yesterday's Election

Gays and lesbians in Florida, Arizona, and probably California have considerably less to be grateful for.

We will continue with our regularly scheduled blog after a short break.

Monday, November 3, 2008

You Must Vote



You should vote for marriage equality.
You should vote against religious control in a civic institution.
You should vote against Prop 8 in California.
You should vote for marriage equality wherever you live.
You must vote.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

More Lies from Yes on 8



The Yes on 8 campaign sent out a blatant lie of a flier, the Saturday before the election, telling voters Barack Obabama and Joe Biden supported banning gay marriage in California.

I am not an Obama cheerleader. In fact I am downright pissed at the Democratic party for feeding the country the standard I believe marriage is between a man and a woman line, but to fake endorsements is low. To fake them four days before an election with so little time to counter-act the lies is even lower.

We received one of the fliers in the mail yesterday, and I was furious. Have no doubt in your mind. This proposition is not about protecting children or protecting marriage, it's about homophobia and discriminating against me, my husband, gays, lesbians, and anybody who is different.