Snow day

We didn't get the full blast of the snowstorm that hit this part of the world last night and tonight. But it did dump a couple inches, which was enough to make things look right purty when the sun came out this afternoon. A few shots follow; the rest are on my Picasa page.

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Three months and 15 years

As of today, we've been married for three months. We celebrated by ... doing laundry and generally lazing about the house, because we decided not to be one of those couples that celebrated every single milestone in our marriage with some overly shmoopy public display. Plus we made a really nice dinner last night.

As the calendar would have it, though, today is also the 15-year anniversary of the day we met. And that deserves its own story.

Feb. 15, 1994, was a Wednesday, I'm pretty sure. I know that the previous night, my roommates and I, none of us having girlfriends and all of us possessing a soon-to-expire rain check from a couple weeks earlier when there was a power outage at the theater, had seen Schindler's List in Wilmette (there's a nice Valentine's Day -- four dudes and a Holocaust movie). My friend Chris had extended his usual invitation to Evanston's only real student-friendly bar, The Keg, and it must have been a fairly light week for me at The Daily Northwestern, 'cause I went.

I sat down in a booth with Chris and a few other folks, some of whom I knew, some of whom I didn't. One of the latter was Lisa, so by way of introduction Chris said to her, "Do you know Rick?" Her response: "No, but I have seen you naked."*

(*In the previous week's issue of tgif, the Friday entertainment section of The Daily, had aped a Jimmy John's ad by posing naked, with only cardboard Valentine hearts covering our business, for a staff photo -- which, by the way, was taken by a future Pulitzer Prize-winning shooter. When we tell this story, people always seem to raise their eyebrows at Lisa, but as she rightfully points out, I was the one posing naked. So lay off her.)

Ice thus broken, we hit it off pretty well, and enjoyed a good night of cheap pitchers with our friends. She was wearing a green sweater, as I recall. I don't remember what I was wearing, though chances are it was my (still) standard uniform of jeans, T-shirt and untucked button-down shirt. I gave her, and a couple other people, a ride home, with no ulterior motive beyond not making people walk if they didn't have to.

Chris and his roommates had a party about a week and a half later. I don't entirely remember if I'd heard Lisa was going to be there beforehand or if we just saw each other there, but anyway, I kind of made sure we ended up sitting next to each other for a good portion of the time. We kissed for the first time that night, and dated until graduation, pictured above, before having to go our separate ways -- Lisa to New York for an internship, me home to Kettering for a few months and then to California for my first newspaper job.

We stayed in touch on and off in the intervening time, seeing each other a couple of times. Chris, the guy who invited me to The Keg that night, got us back in touch in the summer of 2006. First we e-mailed, then we talked, then we talked a lot, then Lisa came to Santa Monica for Thanksgiving that year, and then that was it. By an extreme stroke of luck my bosses let me move to Virginia in the summer of '07, and 15 months after that we got married.

And now here we are. It took us a while, but here we are.

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So, we took a trip...

Not that you'd know it from reading this blog -- we've been our usual lax selves in updating this thing post-wedding -- but we actually went on a honeymoon. To Argentina.

And look -- there's photographic proof.

Chances are we'll expand on our wine-soaked, beef-eating, leather-clad, heat-wave-suffering, completely wonderful and-did-I-mention-the-wine trip in the coming days. (We'll actually have a touch of free time post-Christmas.) For now, though, we invite you to check out some of our photos. I have a smallish album of my favorite shots on Picasa, and Lisa -- both a more prolific shooter and more diligent editor than me -- has a great big set up on her Flickr. Enjoy.

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A bit of housekeeping

Seeing as how we've made it legal and all, Lisa and I figured a name change for the blog was in order. We are still, indeed, shacked up, but more important now, we're, you know, married. So welcome to Hitched Up.

Please also note the link to the lovely and talented Billy Hunt's site over there on the right. We are deeply indebted to him and Jeremy Mullis for making us look so good on our wedding day.

Coming soon: Thank you notes (in the actual mail) and large numbers of pictures, descriptions and accounts of Argentina.

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An Amazing Day

As a rule, I think the word "amazing" is overused. "The risotto was amazing." "That America's Next Top Model contestant had an amazing photo shoot." "Did you see that amazing camera sequence in Quantum of Solace." (That last one actually is probably true.)

But Saturday really WAS amazing. We really could not have been more thrilled to see so many people who are so dear to us. And to stand in front of all of them in such a beautiful place and marry Rick was absolutely the most incredible thing I've ever experienced.

After days of looking at increasingly ominous forecasts, we ended up with a gorgeous, blustery, partly cloudy, 70-degree day -- perfect. Our fabulous caterer agreed to create chicken and waffle canapes for us. The flowers were gorgeous. We managed not to screw up the first dance, even if we didn't exactly reinact a scene from Strictly Ballroom. Our families got along wonderfully. We were so blessed that our wonderful friends came from far and wide to share the day with us.

All of those things added together made me convinced that somebody somewhere is looking out for us. A good omen if I've ever seen one -- and something for which I am eternally grateful.

Even funnier: Photos of the day started showing up on Facebook even before the next morning -- and I have stolen liberally from everyone else's photo albums. Our photographers totally rocked -- Billy and Jeremy helped make the day, and we can't wait to see the pics. For now, here's the preview.


Thanks, everyone -- we hope you had a great day. It was without question the best one of our lives.


Coming soon: pics and many red wine stories from Argentina!

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A few wedding details

Locations and times and whatnot for Saturday:

The ceremony is at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Italian Garden at Maymont (that's it up above, in the spring; we'll be standing under the gazebo at the far left). You'll be going to the Hampton Street entrance and walking a couple hundred yards to the garden. There are also some steps from the main park road down to the garden, and a cobblestone path leading from the garden to the reception site (another short walk), so shod yourself appropriately. Here's a PDF map of the grounds.

The ceremony is outside. Saturday's weather should be in the low to mid-60s, and there's a chance of rain (dry thoughts are appreciated). We promise the ceremony will be short, to allow more time for...

The reception, which will start right after the ceremony at the Garden Hall at Maymont. It's inside, but we hope to be using the adjacent patio too. We'll be serving you some very tasty heavy hors d'oeuvres, along with some lovely beverages and cake.

Saturday is also the Richmond Marathon. Unless you're staying downtown, you shouldn't be affected by street closures. This page at the Maymont site has directions to the Hampton Street entrance (about halfway down the page). If you're staying at the Marriott West (or daytripping from D.C.), follow the Interstate 64/95 directions. If you're at the Hyatt Place, you'll want the Powhite Parkway (Route 76) directions. Paper copies of the directions will also be in your hotel rooms.

Can't wait to see you all! Cheers!

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Things to do in Richmond when you're wed (or single, for that matter)

Man does not live by butlered hors d'oeuvres alone, so while you're in town for the wedding, here's a few other things you might enjoy.

Carytown. Mile-long strip of West Cary Street with several good restaurants and cool shops -- antiques, funky clothing, tchotchkes and the like. We particularly enjoy For the Love of Chocolate (everything from Mo's Bacon Bar to Chick-o-Sticks) and Anthill Antiques.

Monument Avenue. Several, uh, interesting monuments to heroes of the Confederacy (as well as one to hometown tennis great Arthur Ashe), as well as a lot of gorgeous old homes on either side. The Virginia Center for Architecture, housed in an enormous Tudor-revival mansion, is worth a look too.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. We really enjoyed the Faberge exhibit.

Shockoe Slip. Historic neighborhood near the James River and Richmond's canal system, with lots of places to eat and drink. Just east is Shockoe Bottom, with more good food. Impressive architecture in he old (but still in-use) Main Street Station.

The Poe Museum. Housed a few blocks from where Edgar Allan Poe lived and worked in Richmond, and celebrating his freaky life.

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32 days and counting

Well, it's official. Kind of.

No, we didn't go and elope or anything like that -- we've already got like 60 RSVPs for the wedding, and we wouldn't want to piss off our family and friends who're coming to see us (and, by the way, we're getting pretty damn excited about celebrating with y'all).

I am speaking instead of the marriage license we obtained today. In the eyes of the Commonwealth of Virginia, we are now cleared to get hitched. No blood test and no birth certificate needed -- just $30, a picture ID and assurances that we're not already married to someone else (we're not).

Now, about that party ...

After getting the state's permission, we headed over to Richmond for a tasting with our caterer. We've heard effusive praise for A Sharper Palate pretty much from the moment we decided to go with them, and after today we totally get why. I can sum it up in three words: chicken and waffles.

We love us some Roscoe's and have joked (check that -- we really weren't joking) that if we were getting married in L.A., we'd have them cater the reception. And then we figured, hey, we've got a good caterer -- why not have them make this delicacy for us?

Our rep was puzzled at first, but after we described what were thinking of -- a small piece of fried chicken sitting atop a bite-sized waffle, with some kind of sweet-spicy topping for both -- something seemed to click, and it led to what we had today: a little round waffle holding a bite of a crunchy breast tender, topped with a maple-jalapeno butter.

It was exactly what we hoped we were describing, and it tasted really, really, really good. So did the other three things we tried, and I'm pretty sure the rest of the menu will be the same. Every last bite was awesome, and we're even more excited to have you come and share with us in about a month. See you then.

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The Wedding

We thought about calling it "The Event of the Century" or "Rumble in the Jungle," but we didn't want expectations to get out of hand. So here are the basics and some further details.


Wedding/Reception
The wedding ceremony will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, in the Italian Garden at Maymont, a former estate located in Byrd Park in Richmond, Va. (1700 Hampton St.)

(The Bald Eagle Habitat is now open, in addition to the black bear habitat -- just an added bonus.)

The cocktail reception will take place immediately following, in the Garden Hall.


Hotels
We have reserved blocks of rooms at three hotels:

Richmond Marriott (about 10 minutes to Maymont by car)
500 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
5 rooms available, reserved under Rick Porter. To place under your name, please call Hotels.com (with whom the reservations were booked) at (866) 476-8771, ext. 5116, and say you want to take over one of the rooms.

*This is different information than what's on the enclosure card in your invitation, and we apologize for the confusion.

Rooms are reserved until Monday, Oct. 13.

Hyatt Place Richmond/Arboretum (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
201 Arboretum Place
Richmond, VA 23236
(804) 560-1566 or (888) 492-8847
15 rooms available; ask for the Todorovich-Porter wedding. Held until Friday, Oct. 17.

Marriott Richmond West (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
4240 Dominion Blvd.
Glen Allen, VA 23060
(804) 965-9500
10 rooms available; ask for the Todorovich-Porter wedding. Held until Friday, Oct. 17.


Here are some other options that you may consider but that have not been reserved:

Sheraton Richmond West (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
6624 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 285-2000

Crowne Plaza Richmond West (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
6531 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 285-9951


Note: The Richmond Marathon also takes place on Nov. 15. We anticipate the streets on the course through downtown will be open by early afternoon.

Some notes from Discover Richmond and the Richmond Visitors Center about the city and all it has to offer. We've enjoyed ourselves immensely here; there's a lot to do -- particularly in Carytown and Shockoe Bottom.


Other
We are registered at Crate & Barrel, Target, and Macy's.

If you have questions or need more information, please don't hesitate to e-mail Lisa or Rick, or to call us at (434) 971-7722.

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It just doesn't matter: Intellectually indefensible movies that are awesome anyway (Rick's list)

A week or so ago, during the weekly wine-tasting run, we started talking about movies. Not just any movies, but bad ones, bad ones that we nonetheless will watch anytime we come across them on television.

It wasn't just a guilty pleasure sort of thing. We came up with the catch-all category of Intellectually Indefensible Movies -- the ones we know are bad, that we know aren't well-shot or well-paced or well-written, that pretty much don't have any kind of redeeming value other than giving us something to do for a couple hours, but that we'll watch every time anyway.

The discussion initially centered just on comedies, but as I've thought about it I decided to expand the list to all genres. You'll see a couple sports movies in there, because I'm really just a sucker for sports movies. So after the jump, my list.

Rocky III. Some folks will tell you Rocky IV is the more terribly awesome film, with Rocky singlehandedly bringing about perestroika with his unyielding performance against Ivan Drago. For me, though, it's the third installment. When Clubber Lang stares into the camera and snarls, "Prediction? Pain," well, I'm in.

Bring It On. In the rash of teen movies around the turn of the millennium, Can't Hardly Wait had the classic Hughesian feel, 10 Things I Hate About You had the Shakespearean pedigree, and Bring It On had ... spirit fingers. And Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku in cheerleading outfits. Yeah.

Meatballs. I thought about Stripes for this spot, but two years of extra experience and a bigger budget clearly helped Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis elevate that one. Meatballs was a Reitman-Ramis joint too -- but a cheap-looking, unfocused one that spawned several shitty sequels. But I still chant "Spaz! Spaz! Spaz!" and "It just doesn't matter" right along with it every time it's on cable.

White Men Can't Jump. I could try to mount a defense of the movie that launched the very brief Wesley-and-Woody buddy-movie run on the grounds of how good the basketball action is, and how well it portrays the culture of the playground game. But then I remember that a huge plot point is Rosie Perez scheming to get on Jepoardy!, and that pretty much goes out the window. But it's probably among my ten favorite sports movies.

The Running Man. Loud, crass and crude, plus it features a completely superfluous "I'll be back." And Richard Freaking Dawson is the bad guy. My inner 15-year-old loves every second.

My younger self probably would have included some of the middle chapters of the Nightmare on Elm Street series too, but I doubt I could stomach them now.

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