Our Reception - Part 5- A Great Cake...and the Challenge

One thing about organizing our wedding reception, was that it involved a caterer, string quartet , singer, and music organization. It also involved ordering the right amount of chairs and tables, linens, chair covers, and working with a florist. All of this took months. One that that was interesting to me, was the cake. I'm a cake-a-holic anyway. I LOVE cake. -BUT... I'm lactose intolerant.
While looking for a cake, I went to about 5 or 6 big, expensive cake shops around the Baltimore-Washington area, and there are a number of them. One of them is even featured on a Cable-TV program. However, the answer was always the same: "We use butter cream frosting on the cakes, and won't make anything non-dairy. PERIOD."
I was stunned. Didn't they want more business? Especially in THIS tough economy?
Couldn't they make an exception, or TRY to please a customer? NO.
Further, a CNN story came out this week and stated as many as 60% of caucasian Americans have some degree of lactose intolerance, about 80% African-American, and 100% of Native Americans are lactose intolerant. That's a Lot of lost business.
After all of the expensive places, I tried our local Giant Food supermarket, and wound up ordering it from the lead baker, Cindy. She accommodated us with 'no dairy' whereas other places refused. The cake had a white and yellow theme for our wedding, and raspberry filling, too. Cindy helped us decide about a border, and suggested we put our initials on the top of the cake- and we agreed.
The bottom line is that businesses need to be more accommodating if they want to stay in business. I would recommend Cindy and Giant Food's bakery in a heartbeat. I wouldn't give you two cents for all of the haughty, snooty bakeries I contacted though, and to be nice, I won't name 'em.
Next time I want a great tasting cake I can eat without getting sick (bloating, etc.), I'm going to Giant Food's Bakery.

Our Local Wedding Reception - Part 4

Here's another installment of some of the pics from this past weekend's wedding reception in our backyard!
Rob's brother Doug gave the most wonderful toast ever- he talked about how he and Rob grew up as best friends, and are still best friends. It choked us up, and a number of friends said it was truly a wonderful toast.
Also pictured is Rob's NASA friends, from Left to Right: Rob (aka Superboy); Rob; Lynn; Ed and Cynthia.

Finished Great Mystery Novel: "Damage Control" by JA Jance

Author J.A. Jance is my (Rob) favorite author, and I just finished reading her 2008 novel "Damage Control" featuring the on-going character Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County, Arizona. This is yet another fantastic mystery in the series. In fact, I've read all of them (and there are many), and they're all great!
SUMMARY: Sheriff Joanna Brady and her staff face a host of challenges while her husband, Butch, tends their infant son in bestseller Jance's solid 13th novel to feature the Cochise County, Ariz., cop (after Dead Wrong). A woman shoots a home intruder, an elderly couple drive their car off a cliff and a mysterious fire kills an older man and leaves three homeless. Were these accidents or something more sinister? When Det. Jaime Carbajal's nephew discovers a body in the desert, the investigation leads to a shady organization that operates halfway houses for troubled and disabled persons. Meanwhile, Joanna must deal with her interfering mother, who exhibits a sudden personality change, and the discovery of family secrets about her late father and late first husband. As usual, Jance beautifully evokes the desert and towns of her belovedsouthwest as well as the strong individuals who live there.
Of course it helps to read them in order, so here's the order: http://www.jajance.com/jajance.com/Books_In_Order_List.html

Pres. Obama Sets the Record Straight: Health Care:VIDEO

We didn't watch the broadcast of the President's address on health care, because we've read enough to be comfortable about it. He set the record straight last night. It DOESN'T FUND: 1) abortions 2) illegal immigrants, and DOESN'T HAVE "Death Panels" that the Fool, Sarah Palin has said in her NY Times OP ED piece and speeches around the U.S.
THE ULTIMATE DISRESPECT - Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican yelled out "LIAR" to the President when he mentioned the health care plan doesn't fund illegal immigrants. The GOP has now lost respect for the President's position. I've NEVER heard of Democrats doing that to Bush, despite all of the "untruths" from his Administration. CNN Said: Wilson's behavior was "totally disrespectful," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on CNN. "There is no place for it in that setting, or any other, and he should apologize for it immediately."

Flowers at Our Reception

One of the things that was important to us for the reception, was having flowers! We decided he colors would be yellow and white (which matched the cake, linens and chairs. We read in the local paper about a great job a local florist did for someone else's wedding, so we contacted them. We met with Carmina of the Pink Orchard Florist in Bowie, Maryland- and they were great! We highly recommend them! http://www.thepinkorchidflorist.com/default.html.

Our Local Wedding Reception - Part 3

Here's the third batch of photos from our wedding reception this past Saturday.
1) Tom and Rob listen to the Sermon. Once again, Craig B. captured this really great photo of us and made it black and white.










2) Jeff F. did our Second Reading. He read a passage from the book 'Embraced by the Light" by Betty Eadie. The passage was about how Betty discovered (in an afterlife experience) how life should be lived with unconditional love. Jeff did a great job.









3 and 4) Listening Intently. Two different shots of the service and our friends and family in attendance. We've heard from several already that they thought the preacher was wonderful and funny.

Our Local Wedding Reception - Part 2

Here are the second batch of photos from our outside wedding reception on Saturday. Turns out that Saturday was the last really perfect day to have it- weather-wise. You could say that we planned it that way. :)
PHOTOS:
1) Our ushers: Jeff F. and Lynn J. served as greeters and ushers to our ceremony and welcomed everyone in the front of our house. There they handed everyone the program for our 30 minute event, and led them into the backyard for all of the festivities. Jeff was our "best man" at our legal marriage in Connecticut in June, and Rob and Lynn are like brother and sister.
2) The four-piece string quartet consisted of 2 violins, a viola and a cello. Our friend Rob "Superboy" recruited them all from the University of Maryland (one was an accomplished professional, too).
3) Tom and Rob share a laugh: Our friend Craig B, an "amateur photographer," (although you'd never know it) took this great pic of us sharing in a laugh as the ceremony got started. To see Craig's photo blog, go to: http://craig365photo.blogspot.com/
4) The Ceremony in Full-swing - This is one of many pictures of the ceremony in progress. Tom and Rob are standing in the back with the quartet toward the front.
5) Jane Reads from "The Velveteen Rabbit" - Tom picked a great section from this book, when the characters were talking about love. Jane read it wonderfully, and it was really touching.

Our Local Wedding Reception - Part 1

Today was a special day for us- Today we had a local reception to celebrate our marriage that took place in Connecticut on June 26, 2009. We had a small ceremony in our backyard, and we had it catered with flowers and a 4 piece string section, coordinated and conducted by our friend Rob (Superboy, as we call him). So many of our friends pitched in - and helped out in so many ways, and it was the perfect weather day. It was sunny and in the upper 70s when we started.
PHOTOS: 1) Helping the caterers set up the chairs at 10am
2) Jeff and "the Lynns" (Jenner, Bechtold and Chandler). Jeff's favorite singer is Loretta Lynn, and her daughters are a singing group called "The Lynns" - so this was perfect for him!
3) Family and friends already getting seated.
4) Our Wedding Cake!
5) Tom and Rob with our friend Hil

Rob's Brother's Family Visits! (Sees NASA-Part 3)

This is the third and last batch of pictures and adventures of Rob's tour of NASA - and afterward it was a dinner at our house and the kids got to play with our dogs, Dolly and Franklin.

PHOTO 1: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is being assembled at Goddard, and it's the follow-up to the Hubble Space Telescope. Part of the Webb Telescope is in one of the clean rooms at Goddard, and here, Brian (left) and Scotty (right) got to see it. It's only a small piece (believe it or not) and the telescope will launch in 2014, so there's a way to go on it! See more info at: http://jwst.nasa.gov/




PHOTO 2: "To the Moon!" Rob had the family pose in front of this model of NASA's latest satellite that is currently orbiting the Moon! It was launched earlier this year, and is making a map of the entire surface of the Moon. It's called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. The COOL thing is that before it launched NASA let people submit their names to be loaded on a computer chip to fly in the satellite, and I put in Doug, Sue, Brian and Scotty's names, so they're all orbiting the Moon right now!



PHOTO 3: After a fun tour of NASA, everyone headed to our house for a meal of baked chicken, corn, greenbeans and fresh-baked fudge brownies!


PHOTO 4: Before and after dinner the boys took advantage of the backyard and played rope toss with Dolly (the Weimaraner), who loves to catch her ropes in her mouth. In fact she loves leaping in the air to catch them, so that was a lot of fun for Brian and Scotty to toss 'em.




PHOTO 5: Here Dolly looks at the rope wondering if Scotty is going to pick it up and toss it. Scotty is wondering if Dolly is going to grab it before he can get it. I think Dolly won...sometimes she can't wait for someone to toss it and likes to play her own version of "keep away!"

Rob's Brother's Family Visits! (Sees NASA-Part 2)

Here's part 2 of Rob's brother's family visit to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It's a great place to visit (plug, plug!) For more info about it go to: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

PHOTO 1: Great, funny picture of Rob's sister-in-law Sue in the Astronaut cut-out in the NASA visitor's center!











PHOTO 2: Behind the Visitor's center is a "rocket garden" with giant life-sized rocket models. Brian and Scotty were able to fit under the rocket base!










PHOTO 3: Rob took the family on a behind-the-scenes tour inside NASA's campus, and showed them the giant clean room where satellites are built! Here's Brian, Rob and Scotty in front of the room (where engineers where clean suits).






PHOTO 4: Scotty (left) and Brian (right) stand in front of a replica of the fuse box on the Hubble Space Telescope. It's an exact duplicate that astronauts practiced on using their thick space gloves. NASA had to create special tools to work on this, because of the bulky space gloves (it's not as easy as changing a fuse in the house- try doing it with 1/2" thick gloves on!)






PHOTO 5: Doug, Sue and the boys got to stand inside the massive sound test chamber at Goddard. The doors are about 80 feet or so high, and scientists bring satellites in there that were just built and blast super loud noises at them to see if they don't fall apart (to simulate the sound of a rocket blasting off that carries them into space). Look at the size of the speaker behind the family!

Rob's Brother's Family Visits! (Sees NASA)

In anticipation of our local celebration (of our marriage), Rob's younger brother Doug, wife Sue, and boys Brian and Scotty came to Maryland. Rob took them on a tour of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and went behind the scenes with them. Here's the first batch of photos, so you can take the tour, too!

PHOTO: Doug, Sue, Brian and Scotty took the commuter train from Baltimore to our town, as a fun way to travel.





PHOTO 2:Inside the NASA Goddard Visitor's Center, there's a plasma exhibit where if you touch a globe it brings "lightning" to where your hands are on the glass globe. The boys were fascinated with it (so was Rob's brother Doug!)







PHOTO 3: This is Rob's favorite pic of Doug,Sue and the boys- in front of a galaxy display in the Goddard Visitor's Center. Cosmic!





PHOTO 4: Visitors can sit inside an old space capsule at the vistor's center, and Brian and Scotty couldn't wait to do it. They even have helmets for kids to wear.





PHOTO 5: Scotty (left) and Brian (right) were blasting off!

60% of adults can't digest milk - (me, too!)

This article was in USA Today, and I've been dealing with a Lactose intolerance since I was about 20 years old *that's 27 years of it*- and when you're 1) eating out or 2) buying pre-prepared food/frozen food, there is LOTS of milk-product in everything. It makes it difficult to enjoy a meal, because in the 20 minutes it takes to digest, the bad reactions start... and Lactaid doesn't work for me. If you have stomach upset a lot, chances are you're somewhat lactose intolerant and need to be more careful about what you're eating.
FROM USA TODAY: People who are lactose intolerant can't digest the main sugar —lactose— found in milk. In normal humans, the enzyme that does so —lactase— stops being produced when the person is between two and five years old. The undigested sugars end up in the colon, where they begin to ferment, producing gas that can cause cramping, bloating, nausea, flatulence and diarrhea.
If you're American or European it's hard to realize this, but being able to digest milk as an adult is one weird genetic adaptation.
It's not normal. Somewhat less than 40% of people in the world retain the ability to digest lactose after childhood. The numbers are often given as close to 0% of Native Americans, 5% of Asians, 25% of African and Caribbean peoples, 50% of Mediterranean peoples and 90% of northern Europeans. Sweden has one of the world's highest percentages of lactase tolerant people.
Being able to digest milk is so strange that scientists say we shouldn't really call lactose intolerance a disease, because that presumes it's abnormal. Instead, they call it lactase persistence, indicating what's really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk.