We're the W.O.T.M.!

Check it out: Westchester Magazine picked us as their Wedding of the Month for February! Mike sent an email to them after our Tarrytown-themed event, and then we got a call for an interview. I guess they liked what they heard, because now our smiling faces are smack dab in the center of their Weddings home page, followed by a two page story. They asked about how we met, when we got engaged, how we decided on Tarrytown for the wedding, what it was like to incorporate the town we love into all the little details, and of course, they asked bout the car too. Everybody wants to talk about that car! The article came our great, so kudos to Nancy for doing such a good job. About some of the quotes though...we're not exactly sure that Mike actually used the verb "connotes" during the interview, but you get the idea :)

The Adventure Continues

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know it's been over a month since my last post, and I know everyone has been thinking the blog is dead. But the Anstett Adventures continue! I've just been sidetracked with another project recently. More about that later, but a first a quick recap of all things Anstett:

1) We became AUNT Chrystalle and UNCLE Mike recently! On January 11, Kristen Anstett gave birth to our first nephew, Max: a beautiful, healthy 8 pound baby boy. The new parents are doing just fine, and the new grandparents couldn't be prouder. My father-in-law, a man who never met a moment he couldn't montage, put together this adorable reel to celebrate the family's latest addition.

2) Our photographer made the cover of People! Not for our wedding, but for the Jonas brother's. Anthony Vasquez, photog to the stars (and to the Anstetts), shot the wedding of Kevin Jonas and Danielle Delesea at Oheka Castle in December. We could make snarky remarks about how the Jonas's stole our ideas (hello, castle wedding and AV photography!) but we'll just take the high road and congratulate them on their excellent choice of shutterbug.  :)

3) Our proofs are done! Now we just have to figure out how to narrow down the 1000+ prints to a wedding album of 80 shots. So far we settled on, oh, roughly two that shouldn't go in the book. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Fun with Government Offices and GPS

Who knew changing my name would be this much fun? First off, can someone please explain to me why I need to go IN PERSON to the Social Security office to change my last name when everything else at Social Security can be done online? Seriously. Go to their website. There is an entire page dedicated to "Things You Can Do Online" which includes signing up for every benefit program under the sun, but getting married and changing to your husband's last name is not one of them. For that, you must physically go to a field office. This makes no sense. Want SSI checks? No problem, just click here! Want to report wages under a new name? Oh no no no! We're going to need to see you in person. Why?? Why can't I just fill out a form and submit a copy of my marriage license online? I don't get it.

So, clearly, I was annoyed about having to take time off work to take care of this but already it's been a month since I got married. I figured I had better stop stalling and get it done. Fortunately, there is a field office about 15 minutes from where I live, so I was hopeful that I could get this over with pretty quickly and get to work before 10. And I probably could have gotten it over with pretty quickly had I not relied on my GPS to get me there. TomTom strikes again! I had a vague idea of where the Social Security office was but since I wasn't exactly sure, I plugged the address into the GPS. And sure enough, GPS sent me the wrong way. Seriously, TomTom has to be the worst GPS on the market right now. T-squared has screwed me more times that I can count and has yet to buy me dinner. And I know it's not just me. Friends have told me that they too have been in the middle of a bridge and been told by Tom "You have reached your destination!" And that's kind of what happened on Wednesday morning.

I turned off the highway and, as per Tom's directions, made a left at the light. In 400 yards I was supposed to arrive at my destination: 297 Knollwood Road. Except that in 400 yards I wasn't at 297 Knollwood. I had 399 Knollwood on my right, and... 41 Knollwood on my left. Awesome. So I think, Okaaaay, maybe the 3 fell off? Maybe that is really 341. So I continue straight and the next building on the left is... 45 Knollwood. F me. At this point Tom thinks I he already got me to my destination so he isn't even trying to help me out anymore. Not "turn around when possible” or anything. And I'm totally confused: do I continue going straight since the odd numbers are on the left and I haven't come into the 200s yet? Or do I turn around because the numbers on the right side are already into the 400s? I decide to go straight. MISTAKE. Not long after I passed 45 Knollwood, there ceased to be any buildings at all on the left side and there was also no place to turn around. I ended up driving a good five minutes out of my way before I finally was able to make a U-turn. Okay, so now I'm turned around and driving back from whence I came, and as I pass 45 Knollwood again Tom announces "You have reached your destination!" Apparently, my destination is Staples. It was the only other building around! I ignored it before because, logically, I didn't think Social Security was renting space inside Staples, but who knows? Now I’m doubting myself. So I drive into the Staples shopping center trying to keep an open mind, but the only numbered building I see is 327. And for a second I honestly consider going inside Staples to ask them if they are 297 Knollwood. Can you image? Um, hi! Which aisle is Social Security in? Oy.

Thankfully, common sense prevailed. I pulled over, turned Tom off, and was about to call the office itself for directions when I saw an office building on the opposite side of the road from where Tom had originally told me to turn left. No... could it be? Could Tom have told me to turn left when I should have turned RIGHT? Sure enough, there, RIGHT off the highway, not left, onto Knollood was 297. F-ing A, Tom. F-ing A.

Once I actually made it into the office it was pretty much smooth sailing. What an interesting cross-section of life in there though. Wow. While waiting in line to hear my number called, I saw a blind man with a seeing-eye dog trying to figure out from the clerk why he got an overpayment letter demanding he repay Zero dollars and Zero cents. And then there was the lady who threw a fit because they wouldn't see her because she missed her appointment. Apparently she was late because she couldn't find the office and was yelling at the other clerk "Nobody knows where this place is!!" To which the clerk responded "Nobody? I know where it is." And then the lady really went ballistic. Can't say I don't relate.

Hopefully all is well that ends well. They took my form and looked at my marriage certificate and said that I should be receiving my new card in a week. Fingers crossed.

Who's with me?

Wow-- my Facebook post clearly struck a nerve. I have been hearing it for days now on both sides-- lots of "Right on, Sista!" and equal amounts of "You're wrong! FB rocks!" Not that anybody comments PUBLICLY on the blog, but that's a discussion for another day... In the meantime, I'm very curious to know where the rest of you stand:

poll by twiigs.com

Pictures! And a rant about Facebook...

Anthony, our freakin phenomenal photographer, just posted a sneak peak of our pics on Mike's Facebook page......... And they're freakin HOT!

I stole a couple for the blog, emphasis on the word stole, for those of you who may not be on Facebook. I, like so precious few other people, am NOT on Facebook. For a while Mike was standing strong with me in The Resistance, but he caved last week. It was pretty ironic actually-- he's only worked in the Internet biz for, oh, a decade and finally last week for no particular reason at all he's like "Oh hey wow, this Facebook thing is pretty cool!" So now he's on Facebook and all of our pictures from the honeymoon are on Facebook and now our professional photos from the wedding are on Facebook, but I'm NOT on Facebook.

Seriously, the pressure to get on FB grows stronger every day. All you Facebook pushers should be ashamed of yourselves. You'll seriously stop at nothing! My cousin won't even send me photos of her kids because she says "Well.... if you were on Facebook you could see them." My own flesh and blood. Nice.
But I will not be coerced. I gave my word to Maura and Fareeda that I wouldn't do it, and while I am beginning to feel like we may end up as the last three standing, I am not getting on Facebook.


......I may however continue to ogle our photos on Mike's FB page.

Skyway Jack's: Home of the All-Day Breakfast!

It has been roughly 4 months since Mike and I last went to Toronto, but time has not faded my husband's memory of the amazing breakfast we had on our last trip. We headed back to Canada this past Saturday to meet up with our favorite Canadians, Still Motion-- I'll get to that story in a second. But first, I have to share the hilarity of what transpired en route to their studios.

Our flight was at 8:45am, which meant we had to leave our apartment by 6:30. It also meant we didn't have time to eat before our flight. No Garden State Diner this time around. After our volcano experience I knew to pack a snack, especially considering that it would probably be close to 11am by the time we made it out of the airport and into a restaurant in Canada. But Mike wasn't interested in the protein bar I offered to share on the plane-- he was saving his appetite for Skyway Jack's.

Honestly, I had forgotten all about Skyway Jack's. When we were standing in line at Customs in Toronto and Mike suggested we try to find "that place we ate at last time" I didn't think much of it. Much beyond, Good Lord, Please Don't Let Us Drive Around Until Dinner Time Trying to Find the Random Hole in the Wall We Ate Breakfast at 5 Months Ago Whose Name We Can't Remember .

But I should know better by now than to doubt my husband's ability to find food. No joke: his stomach gives better turn-by-turn directions than TomTom. Watching him behind the wheel of our rental car retracing his steps out of the airport last August was like something out of Rain Man. Okay, we headed out of Terminal 3 onto 409. Then we merged onto 401 and we took that for a while. Then we got off at that exit that didn't have a lot of stuff around it. Was it this one? No, no, too many buildings. Betcha it's the next one. Yes! This is it! Okay, then we were on this for a while... just past the bridge... we made a right at the McDonald's and then it was right next to the--ah! There it is!

And there it was: Skyway Jacks! Home of the All Day Breakfast. I really couldn't tell you what was so amazing about this place other than that they just make really good, simple food. And that with a slogan like "Home of the Healthy Portions" you know you won't leave there hungry.

As usual my order disappointed Mike. I did not take advantage of the "whole lotta food for not a lotta money" offer. In fact, I think my two eggs sunny side up/sliced tomato/no potato/dry toast special order cost more than Mike's selection off the menu: THE RANCHER. For $5.95 Canadian THE RANCHER gets you 3 Eggs, Grilled Sausage, Onions and Peppers, and Toast. And this was a modest breakfast by Skyway Jack's standards. Last time, Mike got THE RANGLER: 3 Eggs, Ground Beef, Peppers, Tomatoes, Onions & Cheddar Cheese. Wowsa. That is what Mike calls on his Facebook page "so much awesomeness on such a small plate."

Check Out Our Video!!

The Same Day Edit is up!! If you missed it the first time or have been dying to see it again, go watch Michael + Chrystalle - A Wedding is More Than One Day. And check out the comments-- as expected, somebody immediately posted "Dude-- she bought him a Lambo!!" Maybe one day, darling :)

By the way, while we're on the topic of the SDE, I have to tell you a few things about Still Motion. (Yeah yeah yeah, I'm about to get all mushy again. Deal with it!)

So, One, we've never seen anyone work harder. When they say that they worked around the clock, they really mean around the clock. Powered by pizza and passion, they shot all day, edited all night and did it all again the next day.

Two, we've never seen anyone have more fun. I mean for real, I love my coworkers to death but I can't imagine looking as happy as the Still Motion crew did after spending 144 straight hours with my office-mates. Yet every day the SM gang seemed like they were having the time of their lives following US around while we got ready for the time of OUR lives. How awesome is that?

Three, we miss them!! Guys, you rocked our world and we can't wait to see you again.