René of the Day // 11.26.11 // Ky's Luau!

The adult's bar

We threw a luau party for Kylie's 8th birthday, in preparation for her trip to Maui with my parents in December! She had a great time with some of her friends from school and of course the adults enjoyed the festivities, as well. We all dressed in Hawaiian gear and enjoyed local fare - Mom made kalua pig (not the drink, it's a salty savory shredded pork dish). The hula girl cake was so adorable!

With her American Girl doll, Kanani

Birthday girl!

Mom made a hula girl cake!

René of the Day // 11.24.11 // Thanks!

Via http://www.landeeseelandeedo.com

René of the Day // 11.23.11 // T-Gives Eve

It's tradition! For at least the past three years, Becca and I go to R.P. McMurphy's on Thanksgiving Eve. Usually her favorite musician, Paul Otten, is playing. This year there was another band but we still came and invited more friends (Vale, Maura, Dave, Alex...) to join us. With our plastic green and pink Mug Night cups filled, we sang and had a great time, enjoying the friends for whom we're thankful. Cheers!

René of the Day // 11.21.11 // Unbirthday!

A very merry unbirthday to me! Today is my half birthday (26.5 to be exact). So I had to share this fun video from the classic Disney movie, "Alice in Wonderful." These cats are cra.

René of the Day // 11.19.11 // Kylie's 8!

My Baby Binks is growing up… I remember babysitting her after school during my senior year. Being an aunt is one of my favorite parts of my life and I love watching her become a young lady. She loves to sing and dance and draw… Her questions make me laugh and it’s so interesting to listen to her vocabulary advance and her understandings of the world deepen. I’m so lucky to have her brightness in my life.

René of the Day // 11.18.12 // Happy Annivvvvversary!

"Happy annivvvvvversary!" My mom and step dad are big cruisers and one year they had a server who sang this with his wonderful accent and so now I always hear it this way in my head. It seems like a lifetime ago (1995) that I wore that off-the-shoulder black calico and lace dress my mom made, with my short blond poufy hair and sausage-roll bangs. 

The only photo I can find of them together, since they're always the ones taking photos!

René of the Day // 11.15.11 // One point five

Today marks a year and a half with MR. :) I have learned that God tends to pour blessings on people going in a direction He wants them to go.

René of the Day // 11.6.11 // A Scottish Wedding

Congratulations to my Scottish lassie, Pinzi Lou, who was married yesterday!!! What a beautiful bride she made. So sad to not have been in attendance but it just seems like yesterday we were giggling as we went to bed at Andi's house in England in August, discussing the potential of when her engagement would come. It all happened so fast! (Lyndsey "Pinzi" and I met the summer of 2007 when we were camp counselors in the woods of Connecticut. She rode all the way home to Cincinnati in my Civic at the end of our adventurous summer and was a wonderful friends as I arrived home to hear my grandmother had passed away the night before... And she came back to visit two years later with her lovely friend Jenna. Then she flew from Scotland to surprise me in England this summer!)

Cannot wait until I get to meet Mr. James Carter when they visit Cincinnati on their trip around the world next year, before moving to the oil town of Perth, Australia to settle. Now MR and I have one more reason to go down under (visit the east coast and the west with our friends in Byron Bay.) Ever so happy for this couple - very few people can make me laugh the way Pinzi can. James is a lucky lad - congrats!

How beautiful and traditional :)

René of the Day // 10.13-15.11 // RT+KP=RKT

I love the hot Tomalia's!

The girls

Or something like that... What I can tell you it does equal is a wonderful love story. Three years ago one of my best friends, Kristin (KP) was living in Jacksonville, Florida, sick of the "scene" and enjoying some wine after a long Monday. She saw a commercial from Match.com and with the courage of her wine glass, decided to give it a shot. A handsome gentleman named Mr. René (RT) (yes, I am officially Miss René) from Michigan made a similar choice. They chatted... they dated... I'm abbreviating this story but they moved to Cincinnati and were engaged months later on the night of her birthday. As I sat at the bar waiting for them, an hour past their due, I caught on to the surprise. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne and celebrated. I was honored to be René #2 in their wedding. And seriously, I was so anti-online dating but look at these two. I mean, they're models. Alas, even hot, uncreepy cool people meet on the interwebs.
--

Since many of the wedding guests were visiting from out of town, we held Kristin's bachelorette party the Thursday night before the wedding weekend. We reserved the private dining room upstairs at Via Vite and stocked the girl's place setting with little candies that said "Mint to Be," tissues with a monogrammed "T" and penis straws that Miss Kristin (yes MOH has same name as bride, do we sense a trend?) and I trekked around town to 4 stores to find, including The Party Source, Hustler Hollywood, Party City and the gold mine - Spencer's Gifts. Had a great time planning the party with her (hello, Sundays at Coffee Emporium and Cafe De Wheels burger truck with bloody marys at Dutch's.) After a deliciously stuffing dinner of authentic Italian pizzas and great wine, we went to Scene Ultra Lounge for a free bottle of bubbles and played a hilarious card game that's similar to Never Have I Ever. We followed with another complimentary bottle of champagne at the new(ish) Luxe and then to Bartini for dancing with British men on a business trip - successful weeknight bachelorette party in Cincy!

The rehearsal and subsequent dinner the following night were wonderful. The Peaks are phenomenal entertainers - Kris' mom specifically designed the house for entertaining with the architect when the moved to Cincinnati from Miami, Florida in the early 90s. We enjoyed the food, company and beverages, including the fabulous apple cinnamon-infused vodka Mr. René homemade and adapted from the Bee Knees martini recipe from Bonefish Grill.

The wedding day was absolutely beautiful - an early October Saturday with bright skies and a slight breeze. We had a fantastic time getting ready with the girls and I took a video opening her lovely gifts from Mr. René. We watched "Father of the Bride" (her fav) as we waited at the church and took photos in the gorgeous garden courtyard at the church. The ceremony was lovely - Bruce was a fantastic priest and he made it fun and engaging.

The reception was an absolutely ball - wonderful food, an open bar and a great DJ - evidently MR asked them how much cash it would take to keep them going until midnight - $600 was a little high for his bid. And I loved how they had the cake toppers from both of their parents weddings on the table with their cake. It was a nice I'd love to live over again!

Congrats to you, Mr. & Mrs T - on your marriage, your new place and new jobs in Indy - can't wait to visit! Thank you for including me in your special day - it truly was perfect. I love you! xoxo

Bridal party

René of the Day // 10.12.11 // Cheers!

With celebration on my mind as Kristin's wedding approaches this weekend, I've been referencing my handy stack of books tucked into my built-in desk. Thick ones like "Words of Wisdom" and "Emily Post's Etiquette" are go-tos but I also pulled out "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" - a book of 500 fascinating stories that was my grandmother's, full of interesting nuggets that you can live forever without knowledge of but acquiring it can enrich your life at most random of times. I flipped through the wedding chapter and learned that the diamond engagement ring dates back to the 15th century in Venice and that wedding cake was originally tossed at brides, instead of eaten, as a symbol of fertility.

But I especially intrigued when I came across the origin on the toast. I've posted before about Toastmasters, but this is not about public speaking - it's about intimate celebration and acknowledgement of those who are important to us. I toast or 'cheers' whenever I go out to dinner or share a man with special people - MR and my niece Kylie know to expect this from me. And so the story goes...

"Anyone who has ever drunk a toast to a friend's health or good fortune may have wondered how the word 'toast' came to designate a ceremony that involves no roasted slice of bread. The custom of a host drinking to a friend's health originated with the Greeks, as early as the sixth century, BC, and for a highly practical reason: to assure guests that the wine they were about to consume was not poisoned.

Spiking wine with poison had long been a preferred way to dispose of a political rival or suspended enemy, or to circumvent divorce. Thus, a host sipped the first wine poured from a decanter, and satisfied of its safety, the guests raised their glasses and drank. This drinking in sequences - guests following host - came to symbolize a sort of fledge of friendship and amity.

The Romans adopted the Greek penchant for poisoning (the ambitious Livia Drusilla, empress of Rome in the first century B.C. made something of a science of the practice) and the custom of drinking as a pledge of friendship. The Roman custom of dropping a burnt piece of toast into a cup of wine is the origin of the verbal usage. The practice continued into a Shakespeare's time. In Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff orders a jug of wine and requests "put toast in't."

For many years, it was assumed that the Roman slice of toast was a piece of spiced or sugared bread, added to wine for sweetening. More recently, it was scientifically shown that charcoal can reduce a liquid's acidity, and that a blackened piece of bread added to an inferior, slightly vinegary wine can render it more mellow and palatable - something the Romans may have discovered for themselves. Our word 'toast' comes from the Latin tostus, meaning 'parched' or 'roasted.'

In summary: The Greeks drank to a friend's health; the Romans flavored the drink with toast; and in time, the drink itself became a 'toast.' In the early eighteenth century, the custom of drinking a toast took a new twist. Instead of drinking to a friend present at dinner, the toast was drunk to the health of a celebrated person, particularly a beautiful woman - whom the diners might have never met. In The Tatler of June 4, 1709, Sir Richard Steele mentions that British men were so accustomed to toasting a beautiful woman that 'the lady mentioned in our liquor has been called a toast.' In Steele's lifetime, a celebrated or fashionable Briton became known as the 'toast of the town.'

In the next century, drinking toasts acquired such popularity in England that no dinner was complete without them. A British duke wrote in 1803 that 'every glass during dinner had to be dedicated to someone,' and that to refrain from toasting was considered 'sottish and rude, as if no one present was worth drinking to.' One way to effectively insult a dinner guest was to omit toasting to him or her; it was, as the duke wrote, 'a piece of direct contempt."

So there you have it... consider this at your next dinner party or event and raise your glass.