Wedding Shower Wine Gift

Question: you said in a previous blog post about a wine gift a friend had given to you. this sounds like a fabulous idea! how was the gift set up (in a basket)? and what did the notes say...ex: drink this wine _____? i think it would be a great bridal shower gift or even a christmas gift. and with the holidays fast approaching, i need all the ideas i can gather!

Answer: Before my shower, Barbie kept telling me (joking, I'm not sure) that her present would be my favorite. I'll agree that it was right up there with the best of them. If anything one of her gifts was one that I look at EVERY day (it's a framed map with pins to mark places we've been - it has a cute plaque that says "the world travels or ryan and alicia kennedy") - I love it and it got placed above our fireplace. Another portion of her gift was a pail? (I'm not sure what you would call the container) that was decoupaged with pieces of paper that matched out wedding theme and pictures of Ryan and I. It was/is great. Currently the pail is in our pantry holding misc. items, but eventually we are putting shelves in our front living room and it will be displayed there. I love it! Obviously if you do this gift, you can use a basket, a box, whatever,

But anyway... the pail was full of bottles of wine wrapped in different colored tulle. Each color matched the 'theme' of the wine (i.e. black tulle and a 'boxed' wine for first fight). I have the poem around the house somewhere ( I think in my wedding memory box) - but for the sake of not running around the house I found something similar online... this may or may not be the same poem but it's pretty close:

Wedding Night (white ribbon)
The night you have dreamed of is finally here,
The future surrounds you with hope and yet fear.
You’ve been to the chapel and married your soulmate,
So sip this wine and toast this date.
The night is meant for you each to share,
Mary and John – a perfect pair.

First Dinner party (gold ribbon)
You’ll open your home for guests to eat,
A place for old friends to catch up and new ones to meet.
When the night is over two hosts share this wine,
Don’t sit down yet – pull up your sleeves – it’s clean up time.

First fight (black ribbon)
When fights occur and tempers are steaming hot,
Pour a glass, take a sip and be thankful for what you’ve got.
For in a marriage it would certainly be a bore,
If everyone agreed and said nothing more.

First Christmas Eve (red and green ribbon)
A wise man once said wine is better than beer,
Now is the season for friends and family to draw near.
Pop the cork for a toast when the night is through,
Kiss goodnight, close your eyes and Santa will be good to you.

First Anniversary (cream ribbon)
On your first anniversary you’ll wonder where the time goes,
No longer are you newlyweds, soon you’ll be pros.
The days have found you in good health and spirit,
Keep saying “I love you” – one always needs to hear it.
Now raise your glass to this date as the first, not the last,
And as you build your future don’t ever forget the past.

1st Baby (pink and blue ribbon)
The news that a baby will soon share your life,
Will make you a mother not only a wife.
You’ll see the child through good times and bad,
Mary the loving mother and John the dearest dad.
Now John must drink this one alone, Mary with an empty glass.
Sit back and relax nine months quickly pass!

I think it's a great shower gift! Or you could make up your own poem and do something for the holidays (new years, thanksgiving, next christmas, maybe a case of beer for the 4th of july, etc) and it could be good for a holiday/christmas gift.

The map I mentioned:

And the wine bucket...

And just a few more:

I will add that I was 100% truly shocked/surprised when I walked in the door. They played the whole thing off soooo well. I was convinced that I was going to go look at cameras with Barbie and then go to Meghan's for the shower. I was also convinced that Barbie didn't know that I 'knew' the shower was that day. It was awesome - I remember trying to play it off cool when the camera store was closed like "alright, well I know we need to stall - do whatever Barbie suggests". I honestly remember walking through the restaurant thinking 'why the hell are they sitting us all the way in the back???' and then thinking "whatever - just go with the flow - don't eat too much, there will be plenty of food at the shower...". So fun - such great friends.

Ryan's B-day Celebration

May 20th was Ryan's birthday. As with many of the other significant days in the near future, Ryan had to work at Lowe's, so we weren't able to really celebrate.

Instead he decided he wanted to invite a few friends out for dinner on Thursday (last night). It was very low key and he requested that we didn't have the whole restaurant sing happy birthday to him. As difficult as it was not to embarrass him, I agreed and we just ate and had a good time.

RIGHT before leaving for the restaurant I had fed Jude and knew that 1. He'd sleep through the majority of dinner and 2. he wouldn't be eating again for another 2 hours or so. I took this opportunity to have my SECOND adult beverage since I've given birth - a glass of sutter home! Yummy!

Me and my FIRST adult drink (at our anniversary dinner):

After dinner we headed back to our house for a little ice cream cake. Ryan was a little tired and everyone had work the next day so we called it quits around 9:30 or so, but it was still nice doing a little something to celebrate Ryan transitioning in to his "late 20's".

Ryan is generally a difficult person to shop for. He usually doesn't want anything and so I buy him things that remind me of him for some reason or things he "needs" (new clothes, shoes, etc.). we had just gotten him new sneakers a few weeks ago and he really doesn't need any new clothes, so I had to go another route. First we bought him a new drill (which is for work, so doesn't really count as a b-day gift) and a baseball glove! He's been wanting a baseball glove for some reason and my mom sent him a check to cover part of it. The other day we went out and I realized that 25 dollars just wasn't enough for a glove and so i bought him the rest of the glove and a couple of balls and some "leather conditioner". He was more than excited and the next day I saw it already wrapped up with conditioner on it to get him ready for his catch (or whatever it is that he plans to do with it). I'm always thrilled when he actually uses something I buy him!

Changes in Technology and Design

For my brithday this year I was given a glorious gift from my brother Bryan. For quite some time now I've been casually mentioning that I need a backup hard drive for my computer. I have well over 10,000 pictures on my computer and I honestly feel that I would be completely devastated if I were to loose any significant number of them. I have some various images that I've printed over time. Random photos posted on web pages and my blog, but would never be able to re-collect the bulk of them.

So, my dear brother bought me an amazing external hard drive. I was aiming for a small average sized amount of memory, but he went above and beyond. In addition to purchasing it, he even installed the hardware and helped me perform my first upload. It really is a weight lifted off my shoulders not worrying if my 4 or 5 year old computer will crash any day now erasing the memory.

In addition to my hard drive I got another rather large gift. My mom contributed to get me a coffee table for our living room! When Ryan purchased the house, neither of us had any real furniture to bring. With my taste for nice things, it's be a slow process gathering pieces that would fianlly furnish the house. For our living room, the missing pieces were tables (as we bought the couch and chair already). I can't wait to get it!