Trivia Answer 3

For those of you who thought I never took Joe on a date, you can almost consider yourselves correct. I never intended on taking Joe to the game; he was actually my back-up date's back-up. My brother and I (also Joe) had planned to go to a BU hockey game--you know, for some brother-sister bonding time. This is how a brother and sister (in my family) meet halfway to hang out when they get older--Sporting event at my alma mater (or anything to do with Boston). You see Joe (Montano) was about to get married in T-six months. For those of you who don't know Joe and our relationship, I think he thought he was going to get charged with abandonment the day he said, "I do." So this whole hockey game plan was one of Joe's many many attempts to show me, his little sister, that there would always be time for me, "his #1." Ironically, something came up (after tickets were bought), and Joe couldn't make it. Well, I would just take Shannon, my roommate (and now co-made-of-honor), but of course the tickets were for a Saturday night and Shannon bartends, so she wasn't free. What was I to do last minute, other than ask Joe, who just moved from Michigan--I knew he'd be free if I couldn't find anyone else. Of course, I let my brother know this is what was going to go down if he really couldn't make it and he had to say ok. Quite ironic, looking back now. Little did we know, my brother was passing the torch on to Joe Faraoni. I guess even then, in the back of his head, he knew it was time to let go and let someone else take care of me.

Well, of course the kid from Michigan was free and it just so happened I had been in Boston a week prior to see some friends and dragged my friend Sarah Spencer into the BU bookstore. Just in case, I had to take Joe with me to the game, I wasn't going to let him (or us) stick out like a sore thumb at the game, so I bought him a BU t-shirt. Anywho, we get to the game, it's nice and packed with fans. Hockey's a pretty big deal in Boston--and BU--if you didn't know already.


With BU t-shirt on and all, Joe makes us look like tourists anyway. He randomly started snickering in the middle of the game and I'm thinking, "what is wrong with this kid?" So I ask him what he's laughing at and once he gets over the giggles, and the screaming guys from Southie behind us yelling to the goalie, "Go BOOMA!" Joe says (nice and loud) "I've never heard a real Boston accent before!" I almost got up and switched seats, so as not to be seen with him.

Plus One

The day after Valentine's Day is a rather large part of our love story. It's how it all started.
I remember Valentine's Day much better than I remember the night of the Robert Randolph concert. There are a few parts of the concert night that I remember very well though.

I picked Marisa up after work and during the ride to the show Marisa felt it necessary to be on her phone. I think it was her now sister in law, Ryan, if I remember correctly. It was an extremely boring ride for me. I remember wanting to turn around, leave her at home and go to the show on my own. Looking back, I probably should have.

After finding the Webster, on my own (Marisa was still on the phone) and parking atop a foot of packed snow, we made our way in to the theater, Marisa as my plus one. This is where things get hazy... Once in, we got a drink and chatted while we waited for the show to start. I left Marisa for the wolves while I photographed the first 3 songs, this is usually the case with most concerts. I remember being really in the groove, enjoying the music & getting the shots I wanted.

My three songs came and went so I headed to the bar area to find if my date had been swept away by someone else or if she liked me enough to wait around. Thankfully, she was still there, talking with everyone. She introduced me to people I didn't really care to know but she had spent the last 3 songs talking to. I thought they attended high school together or something. Nope, just strangers.

We went to the bar to get another drink and Marisa started a tab. This part I remember. She asked me not to let her forget she was leaving her card for the tab. Mental note made.

Like I said I don't remember all the details but we killed a few hours by dancing, talking and I'm not sure what else. Robert Randolph finished the night strong, I got my photos and the girl I came with was still hanging around with me. We made sure we had our stuff and we headed to the car.

On the way to the car Marisa and I had a moment. We were talking and we locked eyes (she has the most amazing green eyes!), we leaned toward one another, turned our heads a little, then the impossible happened... I fought as hard as I could but I couldn't help it. "Your credit card!" Huh? Why? Why, of all moments of the night did I have to think of Marisa's credit card being left at the bar now? It spewed out and it was too late. I was devastated. Our moment to lock lips and see if it felt right came and went as fast as "credit card" shot out of my mouth. Marisa looked at me as if I was insane, her head tilted, eyebrows curled. She turned back towards the door and as I mustered all the energy I could to tag along during my walk-of-shame, she laughed. "You really messed that one up. Not sure if you'll get another chance now. Thanks for reminding me about the card though." Not sure if she was mocking me or just trying to comfort me at that point. Regardless, I blew it.

We made our way back into the theater, picked up her card and headed for the car again retracing the shameful steps I just made, all the while replaying the moment over and over in my head... "Your credit card!" Rewind. "Your credit card!" This time the walk to the car generated no moment.


Marisa and I got lost finding our way back to the highway. Again, Marisa was on the phone. This time calling my friends from my phone. After my "moment to remember" things must have been a bit awkward and Marisa thought it a good idea to see what all my buddies were up to at about 1:30 a.m. One answered. I'm not sure Scott knew what was going on but he played along, I apologized and I took the phone away from Marisa.

Finally, we got back to her place. I dropped her off (no goodnight kiss included). This is by far one of the most embarrassing moments Marisa and I have shared but its safe to say it all panned out in the end. This one cost me points so at the end of the night, the plus one left me in the hole.

And the list gets longer...

If you haven't noticed, we have not yet had a post revealing our venue. That's because we don't have one! We had some "tie-ups"--and what Joe and I felt were run arounds--with our previously-chosen venue. While we are still considering the place (only because Michelle is willing to go to bat for us against them), we have reviewed our list and expanded it once again, opening any and all options. So if you have any ideas (or really good connections!) send them our way please! As I have stated in so many emails, we are looking for a "non-traditional" venue where our pennies (and I do mean pennies) can go to go use, rather than supporting the "wedding-factory business."

We'll be updating our long-running list here, so check back shortly if you are interested. And yes, I've inquired about every last one of them.

China

Check out our registry at Macy's!

Please note, our china looks MUCH nicer in person than on your computer screen!!! (At least better than on ours). I was a bit appalled.

Trivia Answer 2

The poll has closed!

Joe asked my brother (the oldest, Joe also) permission to marry me at.... can you believe it?? A NASCAR race! Joe and I went up to visit my brother and sister-in-law, Ryan and we all went up to Lowden for the race. While us girls were at the ol' port-a-potty, Joe took the opportunity and ran with it before we could get back!! Of course, he requested that my brother not say anything to anybody---so what does my brother do? Immeditately text Ryan (my sister-in-law) while we're in line for the loo, so she knew the whole time we were chatting and couldn't say a thing!

Holidays & Update

I'm sure all of you are completely disheveled that Joe & I forgot to put up Round 2 of our "Joe & Marisa" trivia this past Friday... so we apologize!!! We'll get one up by the end of the day.

I had to work Thanksgiving Eve til 11pm and was back there at 7am-3pm on Thanksgiving Day, while Joe was at home, doing laundry, cleaning the apartment, and packing for the two of us to leave for New Hampshire as soon as I got out of work. What a good domestic husband-to-be he is, isn't he???

Here are a couple pics from our long weekend with my brother and sister-in-law...You'd think there would be more, but we were really focused on tasting a variety of beers and wines--to get ideas for the wedding of course!

As far as wedding plans go, we are just about ready to put our deposit down on the venue, so you will see those details very soon! We are working out some final kinks after talking to the owner the other day, so it should only be a matter of days. However, with the holiday festivities taking up much of our time, we didn't complete much more on the planning, so as soon as we got back to CT (well, after a nice nap), we were sure to run over to Crate and Barrel and update our poor excuse for a registry.... before Michelle could ask us about it Monday morning! And we have an appointment this week to start another. Apparently, people might want to get us stuff.

As for now, I need to go buy some essentials to get our Save-The-Dates going, but look for our trivia later today!

OH! and! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CHRIS & SARAH!! LOVE, US --->