I Heart NY!

Travis' Aunt Maxine took her two sisters, Debbie and Katy, and her daughter-in-law, Audrey (Chris and Audrey got married this year too), and Yours Truly on a girls trip to New York during the first week in December. It was awesome! If you haven't ever been, put it on your bucket list. Besides the shopping and bazillions of people, there is so much to see and do. I highly recommend going during the holiday season, but beware of the heat. Not outside, but inside the buildings. I do not understand why New Yorkers cannot grasp the concept of climate control, but don't get me started.

Christmas time is a magical, festive time in New York. Everything is sprinkled with twinkling lights, the stores decorate their windows with elaborate scenes, and of course, there's The Radio City Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular. The show was my favorite part of the trip.

We did a lot of shopping, a lot of walking, and I had my first taste of roasted chestnuts (not exactly 'roasting on an open fire').

This is the one and only picture with all of us in it (that wasn't superimposed over a scene of the city). We are outside Macy's at Broadway and 34th Street.

Times Square is a lot like Vegas. Giant scrolling and flashing bursts of color adorn the buildings from top to bottom. There is always something to see and it is very busy. It is the hub of the broadcasting and theatre districts. This is outside the ABC studios. Just seconds after this shot was taken, the scrolling marquee reported that the Sooners' would play for the Big Twelve Championship.

I took this picture of Central Park from the 'Top of the Rock' at Rockefeller Center. It was an amazing view and, from the opposite direction, you can see the Empire State Building.

The Statue of Liberty was a powerful sight, although, much smaller than I had anticipated. It was closed, so we were not able to go inside, but we were able to walk around Liberty Island (which is tiny).

We had a great time, laughed a lot and made memories that will stay with us forever.

Thank you, Maxine!

The Story of Us...So Far

It's kind of old news, but it can't possibly go without mention. On August 2, 2008, I became Mrs. Travis Frantz. How we got here: Travis and I met and became friends our senior year in high school. We remained friends after graduation, but soon drifted our separate ways. In 2002, we reunited and the sparks stated to fly. After five years, we decided to tie the knot. We were engaged a little over a year...and what an exciting year that was. Wedding planning: My friends tried to get me to start blogging during wedding planning, but I was resistant. Now I wish I had. Looking back, it was such a funny time. My goal during the entire process was to keep my cool. Not become Bridezilla. Not lose sight of the real purpose of that special day. Ha! Yeah right. Travis and I met in the middle on most of the decisions and our closest friends and family helped fill in the rest. I must say, it was a lot of fun. There weren't too many hitches and the ball kept rolling. All this fuss over us?: Many of our friends threw us showers and parties throughout the year and we are so grateful. We have a great support system and we appreciate all of you. Travis’ bachelor party was in Dallas and my bachelorette party was in OKC. The guys did typical guy things (that are boring and shouldn’t be put into writing J). The girls dressed me up, pampered me with a pedicure, took me shopping, forced me to play embarrassing games (much like truth or dare, without the truth), and took me dancing. It was so much fun!

The big day: The ceremony was beautiful. The room was filled with twinkle lights dripping from the ceiling and Edgar Cruz played guitar. It was perfect. One minor little detail was the heat. OMG it was so freaking hot. Interestingly, the facility owner wanted to charge us more to run the A/C in the room we used, since it was a different room from where the reception was held. That may have been a valid point if it actually cooled the place down. Everyone was melting. Sorry about that, folks. We tried to keep it brief.

Festing: Of course, the wedding ceremony was about us, but Travis and I wanted the reception to be about EVERYONE. We brought in a band from Houston, laid out an enormous spread of food, and served up a drink menu customized for the occasion. Almost three hundred of our friends and family members came to Guthrie. The band told us they play a lot of weddings and there are never as many people on the dance floor as there was at ours. Thanks to everyone who travelled the distance, endured the heat, stayed to see Travis Bon Jovi take over the mic, and helped make it the time of our lives.

Incidentally: We have 150 CDs of music we love for anyone who passed them up thinking they were DVDs of the photo slideshow. We know we’re cute, but we don’t expect all our guests to want to pop in a DVD of our entire lives and watch it when they get bored. Geez, people! Let us know if you want one. :)

The after party: The reception closed down at 11:00 p.m. but the festivities didn’t end there. The band, with the help of the groomsmen and ushers, hauled all their equipment down the street and set up at the local bar to play an encore. The celebration went on into the wee hours of the morning and fun was had by all.