Labbe Family Voyages: Saint Valentine's Day and beyond

What a wonderful time it has been the last few days, even though my kids are out of State.

Going back to Wednesday, Kate and I met her friend Andrea Simmons at Barnes and Noble to discuss the possibility of her being our wedding photographer. Andrea and her sister own http://www.adornphotos.com/ and do a bang up job with their picture taking! Needless to say she was hired and now we have the hall reserved and the photographer!

Everything is coming along very well on the nuptials front! What’s the honeymoon you ask, well right now it’s the Shenandoah Valley National Park and a bit of the Nation’s Capital with the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Museums!!!!!!

Thursday was Valentine’s Day, the biggest Hallmark Holiday there is! I’ll save you the rant but needless to say I told Kate I would give her 1 real Valentine’s Day as she has never had one, but that is it! No more this point going forward.

My gift to her was a pearl bracelet to match the pearl necklace I got her for Christmas and this one was also strung by her best friend Erin and features the custom horseshoe and yolk clasp like her necklace does. You can see them on my fancy lady in the photo below!

I made reservations to the Liberal Cup, good thing too it was packed, as we went there on our first date back on May 27, 2012. We decided that every year on May 27^th we would go to the Cup and I think weather permitting walk the Arboretum in Augusta.

Kate tried to get the chicken special but they were all so she got the Veggie Burger and I got my standard Bangers and Smash, so good! Kate had a couple Long Island’s and I had my a Tarbox Cream Stout & State Budget Red Ale, and we got desert of the red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting! We were both very pleased with you meals.

We ended the evening at home watching Notting Hill; I really wanted to watch Serendipity starring John Cusack after I saw on Facebook her cousin Jesse was watching it.

Friday we finally made it to Bangor and Bagel Central for the best Bagels that I have ever had! I can say this is true as I have tried several different variety of Bagels from store bought ones, to Dunkin Donuts, Tim Horton’s, Panera bread, and Bagel Mainea and they all pale in comparison to Bagel Central.

My favorite is the Whole Wheat Everything followed by the Herb. Kate is a fan of the Onion, Herb, and Everything as well. I did get an Apple Cinnamon and a Blueberry to try them buy I prefer the savory over the sweet bagels. We also discovered to go earlier in the morning, we got there just after noon time and they were picked over pretty well, but we were happy with what we got. I also got bagels for Mom and Gram-Gram and Kate got bagels for two other people as well.

We hit two bridal dress shops in the Bangor area, Kate was very pleased with Henry’s as the lady there was extra helpful, I did not see her in any of the dresses that she tried on, I waited in the car or the reception area. She wants to go back with a gaggle of girls and make a day of it!

We also went to TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory, I was looking for pants and no luck finding them, Kate found some sweaters and a skirt. We had dinner at Dysarts before rolling home.

Friday night we went to Kate’s cousin’s Jesse’s house for a social gathering that included several people I didn’t know and some folks I did know in Emma & Caleb, Nikki & Justin, and Justin’s brother Rickle. We had a great time enjoying some good beer, and not twisted tea crap, games and each other’s company. I look forward for the opportunity to do it again! As you can tell, we are all very serious people;