Holli Rausch

In the last two weeks, Miles and I have hosted 11 people.  Two weekends ago: Tony.  Last weekend: David, Chris, Tyler, Joel, Bryan, Deb, Luke, Marissa and Patty.   Yesterday/today: Dan.  Our apartment (and we) enjoy the company.

When Tony visited, we saw Heywood Banks, RockBand-ed, talked about LOST and traveled to Madison to see DSU’s play (I threw up 3 times on the way).  I also cooked every meal, except Saturday night where we ate at Ruby Tuesdays.  Then the vomit.  We had a good time.

When our nine friends visited, it was our LOST weekend.  And that was such a fantastic and magical weekend. Who knew that 11 people sitting in our apartment could watch TV non-stop for 11 hours before a break at 11pm?  That’s a lot of elevens.  And then powered through for 4 more hours of LOST watching?  That’s a lot of TV.  With not very comfortable seating.  What was even more awesome was that everyone there was hooked (if they weren’t already) by the end of Friday, which was only 4 episodes.  I cooked every meal that weekend too, except for Friday when we just ordered pizza.  We also had Dharma-issued snacks and drinks.  You wouldn’t understand, if you haven’t seen at least the first episode of Season 2.  The thing about LOST is, you can’t really start watching in Season 4…or really even skip an episode.  You wouldn’t be entirely LOST if you skipped an episode, but you might  miss an important link.  And that’s awesome.  We’re having another weekend in a couple of weeks, and I’ve been thinking of LOST ever since everyone left us.  Good thing a new one is on tonight!

Dan came to us yesterday on his way back from Kansas.  We ate at Valentino’s and will be eating at Panera Bread for lunch and at Skippers in Madison tonight, before Mass (Skippers had been planned for like 3 weeks).  I didn’t cook for Dan because we had planned out our meals this week and only bought groceries for those meals and they all involved meat.  Good thing I like Valentino’s, Panera Bread, and Skippers!

Anyway, we’ve had lots of guests but don’t mind more.  This weekend will be our “last” one alone in Sioux Falls, then we’re off to St. Paul!

Sunday, Day One: Arrival, Hollywood Studios

Miles and I woke up at 3:00am to get ready and be at the airport by 3:45 for our 5:00am flight. All went well, except for the no sleep thing. After a smooth connection in Minneapolis, we arrived in Orlando at 11:30. We rode Disney’s Magical Express and checked in at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, where we were able to upgrade to a King-sized bed and fridge. Even better, it was already available so we stopped up in our room and dropped off our carry-ons. Then we were off to the happiest place on Earth!

We ate at 50′s Primetime Cafe at Hollywood Studios and spent more than we wanted, but the chocolate milkshake was worth it. After some Tower of Terroring and Stunt Driver watching and many other things, we realized how early the park closes and would have to return another day to ride the Rockin’ Roller Coaster. We ended the night with supper at the Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater and though I didn’t care for the food there, it was a great atmosphere.

That night, we decided to take maps from all of the parks and plan our days, because we did a lot of unnecessary walking because we didn’t have a plan. That proved to make our vacation even more magical.

Monday, Day Two: Magic Kingdom

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to Magic Kingdom and waited in a 10 minute line for Space Mountain. Then we get a fast pass for it. Because Monsters, Inc. is one of my favorite movies (my favorite animated movie), we decided to try out the new Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. After a pretty lame build-up, we came out of there quite impressed with the show. It’s animated and partially improvised, so you can imagine how much we enjoyed it. And if you can’t imagine how an animated show can be partially improvised, you’ll have to visit it yourself. After lunch, snack, dinner, characters, Thunder Roading, Small Worlding and many other -ings, we headed home mildly early. I was asleep by 9:00pm, which may sound dumb on a honeymoon, but it was quite enjoyable and needed.

Tuesday, Day Three: Epcot, Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom Lodge

We woke up early and headed to Epcot to get a fast pass for Soarin’ (which stopped giving fast passes by noon), stood in line for Test Track, watched a Finding Nemo show and headed to Downtown Disney for a lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe. Miles had sushi and I went the safe route with pasta…and hated it. After shopping a little and getting over some stomach sickness, we headed back to Epcot for Mission: Space and walking around the World. After realizing the next day was Ash Wednesday and we would be fasting and abstaining from meat, we changed our Boma’s reservation to this night.

Boma’s is an African buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge and very enjoyable. As a picky eater, I didn’t have too high of hopes but both Miles and I really enjoyed our meal there. It was a great ending to Fat Tuesday.

Wednesday, Day Four: Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom

We arrived at Hollywood Studios at 9:01 (the park opens at 9:00) and made our way to Rockin’ Roller Coaster to finish our time at that park. Everyone else was headed there too. But we still only had a 10 minute wait. We headed to Animal Kingdom (Albie joined us there) and we Mt. Everested, Safaried, Dinosaured, fasted and rained. Came back to the hotel early and ordered cheese pizza and watched our week’s photos in a slideshow. We also walked around the hotel a little and bought hoodies. It was a great relaxing day to end the vacation.

Thursday, Day Four: Departure

We slept in, had a lovely breakfast, used Disney’s airline check-in and waited for the Magical Express to pick us up and bring us to the airport. The flight to Minneapolis was smooth and uneventful. I got more of HP5 read. Then after sitting on the runway, we went back to the gate to replace an anti-skid part. After determining that it wasn’t fixed, we had to transfer planes by walking across the entire terminal to a new gate. Then we had to wait because other planes were in line on the runway and to get de-iced. In any case, we took off 3.5 hrs later than we were supposed and didn’t get to watch LOST at the time we thought we would along with the rest of the world. But we DVR’d it and watched it when we got home. Excellent.

We were given buttons when we checked in that said “Just Married” on them and so most of the Disney cast members congratulated us whenever they saw us. We felt special. Even a few Disney guests saw our buttons and congratulated us. And it was fun to see people around us wondering why they were telling them congratulations. We didn’t have the heart to rub it in their faces that the person was talking to us. Some told us Happy Anniversary on accident, but most got it right. It happened so many times in a day and sometimes so nonchalantly that I wondered if they get special rewards for saying it, whether or not we hear them.

My camera is still MIA. It has been since I arrived at the church on the Wedding day. So Miles and I had to share his. Our photo sets of the honeymoon will be exactly the same, but you can see photos here. Along with a few that I … borrowed … from their park Photographers.

Thanks to everyone who chose to put money towards our honeymoon as their wedding gift for us. You’ll get formal thank you’s of course, along with photos of us enjoying your gift. It turns out using that honeymoon registry was the best 2nd best [edit] decision of our lives because it nearly made us financially stress-free. If anyone is considering honeymooning to Disney, we say do it, and use their registry!

Enjoy the photos.

After a little over a year of planning, we finally did it. Miles and I got married. And we had a really fun weekend! The rehearsal and dinner were fabulous. I wished I had been more hungry because I had about 4 bites of my steak. Then I sat there and all of the sudden the waiters started bringing out pieces of chocolate pie! I had forgotten we had Christina’s Concoctions make some pies for the dinner and I thought, “YES, that is exactly what I want right now!” We handed out gifts and thank you’s and I think people enjoyed them and I went back and packed up a lot more of my house.

I thought I wouldn’t remember much of “the big day” (mostly because that’s what everyone said) but the only thing I don’t recall is if I shaved when I showered that morning. I did. *phew* I know people thought we were weird for having the reception and dance end so early, but I really didn’t want people waiting around for the reception to start, as many people wouldn’t have a house or hotel room to go to in between the ceremony and reception. It helped me, if no one else, to have no down-time. And we had a lot of fun! It seemed like a lot of others did too. And Marissa and Bryce – we loved your speeches. As for the decorations, the Playhouse seemed to have transformed. If you’ve ever seen it before that night, you definitely know how different it looked. Even the caterer and servers commented on the impact color in there had. My aunt is amazing at what she does. And our hosts/esses did an excellent job of keeping things flowing smoothly. Bryan, Heather, Debra and Jackie – you rock!

Whenever we get the chance, we’ll post the first-dance video. My dad got it on his camera when the DJ requested it as the last song, but it’s mostly our silhouettes and so I am hoping Bob got our facial expressions and stuff. I know that he got the first half the first time and probably the second half the second time (he was in the entry way when we started it that last time and someone went out to get him).

Anyway, we moved me the next day (thanks to all who helped, we really needed you!) And it was a great weekend. I’m still working on putting the apartment together and even though I’ve made a lot of progress, it doesn’t look like it.

The photos are already up and if I didn’t get an email to you with the username and password, let me know and I’ll hook you up. The photos look great and I’m so excited to have them in our home! Thanks to everyone who was there, who played a part in our special day, and who thought of us this weekend. We’re off to Disney World on Sunday and as bloggers, there will probably be a post or two while we’re there. If not – deal with it!

But seriously, there probably will.

Well, I didn’t think I’d be posting again before the wedding, but here I am. Last weekend was my bachelorette party. First we all met at Color Me Mine in Sioux Falls. Basically, you pick out a ceramic piece (anything from a mug to a frog piggy bank), then you paint it however you want and they’ll glaze and fire it (to pick up a week later). Molly and Brenna came late because of basketball practice, and unfortunately they came after their cut off point for before they close and didn’t get to paint. We’ll do it sometime when they come to Sioux Falls. Here’s a list of others who came and what they made:

Holli: decorative plate that says “DREAM”
Miles: Triceratops that everyone unfortunately made fun of but will likely turn out to be the best one
Marissa: cupcake jar
Holly: penguin bank
Bob: Science mug

Then we went out to eat at Olive Garden where we had a much shorter wait than the staff had predicted, so that was a nice treat! The food was delicious and we all had a good time. :) The night ended at the apartment where we chit-chatted with the Davidsons a little and the girls fell asleep. Thanks to Holly who planned it all!

This week has been pretty quiet and minimal as far as wedding planning goes. I took half days last week which has turned out to be almost the best decision of my life. It gives me time to relax, pack up my house, and be able to take time to go to Sioux City for friends that need to be surrounded by love. Though I got paid half as much last week, the half-days were a blessing.

As many of you know, Miles and I traveled to Philadelphia this past weekend to visit Bryce and Lindsey. We weren’t there for long, but we had a good time.

We stayed at Miles’s aunt Karin’s place in Sioux Falls on Thursday night; since our flight was at 5:45am, we didn’t want to wake up an hour earlier to drive to the airport from Madison, and she was kind enough to let us stay in her unoccupied rooms. We got there late, and consequently got little sleep.

The next morning we flew to Philly, with a 90 minute layover in Minneapolis/St. Paul and arrived at 1:30pm. Twenty minutes before we landed, I got severe sinus pressure and could feel it in my jaws, like last August when I had a sinus infection. So I was hoping it would go away when I could get to some medicine in my luggage. We hadn’t eaten since our layover at 8:00am, but neither of us were really hungry. Lindsey picked us up and we were on our way. When Bryce got home, we went to pick up wings, and iced fruit drinks (kind of like Tropical Sno). I got carsick on the way back and threw up about 1/4 mile from the apartment. (I was able to not get any on the car. I’m awesome.) I felt much better.

The next day we went out on the town. We walked around Philly; went to the LOVE park and other sites like the Liberty Bell and Chinatown. It was a beautiful day. For lunch, we had real Philly Cheese Steaks. I couldn’t eat all of mine, too much sandwich for me. That night we went to the Franklin Institute of Science [I'm not entirely sure that's what it's called]. There, we saw a video on The Secrets of the Pharaohs in IMAX and the King Tut exhibit. I’m sad to report that King Tut’s remains were not there. However, using forensic science [Lindsey!] they created what he might have looked like. And to be honest, I thought he looked eerily like David. Which is awesome, because David was cast as the boy king in a short play Miles wrote for the Freshman Showcase. Maybe he’s Tut in an afterlife. How exciting! My only regret for the day is not walking up the Rocky steps…but we couldn’t get there because a stage was being set up in front of it and such.

Late that night we had Italian and some good laughs. Sunday morning we went to Church, had a sandwich at Wawa’s, and had ice cream at a place similar to Cold Stone. Bryce and Lindsey dropped us off at the airport. Our flight was delayed a little over an hour, and delayed in Minneapolis/St. Paul as well, making our arrival to Madison quite late [or early, this morning].

All in all, it was a great trip and it was good to see Bryce and Lindsey again. Thanks for letting us stay with you! See photos here.