Not Related to Wedding and/or Honeymoon!

Shocking!  A post about something totally unrelated to the theme of this blog.  But here it is...

As you may know, I like to read Young House Love every day.  I usually love most of the stuff they do over there, even if it's something I wouldn't do myself.

But this recent post has me a little puzzled!  It makes me upset actually.  The post is about how Clara, the bloggers' young daughter, has a Little Tykes basketball hoop of the red, white and blue variety:

From AmericanListed.com

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of it either, but Sherry, Clara's mom and the co-author of the blog, decided to spray paint it Oil-Rubbed Bronze (her favorite variety of spray paint) so that it wouldn't stick out so much in their carport from the curb.  Now it basically disappears, which makes me kind of sad.

Someone commented that the colors are probably meant to help kids learn coordination and to distinguish the background from the foreground.  Making it one color makes the object "flat", as this person said, and more difficult for a young kid to find the basket.

Now I don't think Clara will have any trouble with finding the basket, since 1) she's played with it in full color already, and 2) she's getting old enough to not have trouble with coordination as much.  But it still takes it out of the realm of "kids' toy", for me.

I probably would have kept the white backboard and maybe ORB-ed the red ring, but painted the blue stand yellow to match their front door.  I'm being really particular and it doesn't matter in ANY WAY, I know.

But it still bugged me that she just slapped ORB all over it.  It also feels invasive to me, like what if Clara liked it better with colors?  Sherry claims in the comments that Clara loves the hoop still and calls it her "shiny shiny hoop" (or something).  I'm sure she is just as thrilled with it as before.

But still!  What about the next child that comes along (if any), or what about donation or resale down the road?  Just seems short-sighted to me to slap ORB on everything just so that it's not visible from the curb.  Put it away or something, instead, if it bugs you so much!

/ irrelevant rant

Some Amtrak Updates

Good news, everyone!

Photo belongs to Futurama, of course.

Amtrak is holding a promotion where any travel September through November gets you double points!  So we'll be racking 'em up.

We have tentatively decided it may be most prudent to avoid Chicago Cubs traffic and take the Hiawatha line from Milwaukee to Chicago on Sunday after our wedding.  I've been hearing horror stories from coworkers, family and friends about unexpected Chicago highway traffic backups, and I cannot risk losing out on our tickets.  If we miss the train, it's a total forfeit.  They may allow us to reschedule, but I'm not sure.

So!  We can't be late.  If we leave Milwaukee at 11 a.m. on the commuter line, arrive at Union Station at 12:29 (if on time), we should have plenty of time to get on our 2:00 p.m. departure to San Francisco!

We're doing the whole mambo in reverse coming home.  We'll get off our train in Chicago and get on another one to head back to Milwaukee, where Super Fiance's mom will pick us up!  Hopefully all will run smoothly.  If something goes horribly wrong, we can catch a cab home (should be around $40).

The even better news is we have enough Amtrak points to get our second set of coach tickets for free - plus we had a free companion coach ticket from when we signed up for the trusty Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card.  That thing has seen a lot of mileage since March!

Rental Cars

Thank heaven for rental cars.  They're so much simpler than hotels!

Yet they manage to be confusing in their own right.  Which website do we start with?  Orbitz?  Travelocity?  My work's Adelman Travel Concur portal?

Which vendor do we choose?  Enterprise (they'll pick you up!), Budget, Hertz, Avis?

There were so many overwhelming choices... finally when it all came down to the wire, I decided to make some executive decisions.

1)  Which rental car agencies are closest to the Amtrak station in Emeryville?
2) Which rental car agencies give me a discount/special promotion?

At this point, I still had Budget, Enterprise and Hertz going on. The final question was:
3) Which rental car agency offers the best deal?

The answer was Budget, with 30% off the price in addition to quadruple Amtrak Guest Rewards Points.  Done and done!

We booked a Dodge Charger, just for fun.  We'll let you know how we like it!

Another item checked off our to-do list.  On to printing family day-of field guides, honeymoon itineraries/emergency numbers, and pet care paperwork!

Attractive, Attracting Attractions - First Installment

I'd like to start out by introducing you to my good friend, Trello.  Trello is a tool that helps you stay organized and collaborate on projects by creating boards and lists.  I started using it to keep track of all the stuff that still needed doing for the wedding, because I was losing my handle on things.

I made my bridesmaids join Trello so that I could keep them up to date on what kind of things needed doing,  as well as have everyone in a discussion space that wasn't Facebook, since my sister (and matron of honor) isn't on Facebook.  It worked pretty well, for the most part.  We got through the dress choosing, and the dress ordering, and they all planned the shower/bachelorette party together in secret.

Naturally I started keeping a running list of ideas for our honeymoon in Trello.  This evolved into a list for what to do before we leave (there is a LOT to do), what we need to pack, things we need to see, and so on.

I'll just tickle your fancy with one delightful attraction for today: Ghirardelli Square.

Source:  http://ghirardellisquare.com/

This is one that Super Fiance discovered the other day, and said something like "How did I not know this was a real thing?  We are GOING THERE."  (Okay, so I paraphrased him.)  But he was excited.

Located in the Fisherman's Wharf area on the Bay, Ghirardelli Square is home to great food, chocolate, ice cream, wine, and shopping.  Yes, it's a "tourist trap", but it has a longstanding place in San Francisco History, which is part of what makes it so interesting to me.  The location was in use from 1895 through the 1960s, until the company relocated.  The site was then purchased by developers who turned it into what it is today.

This intrigues me, because a similar project is planned for the old Pabst Brewery, a site near and dear to my heart (I used to be a scout group tour guide/teacher for the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee).  I hate to see big pieces of industrial history get torn down, especially when they involve beautiful architecture or brickwork.  So something like Ghirardelli Square is right up my alley!  We will probably stop by here for a bite of lunch and some fooling around in shops one afternoon.

Stay tuned for more attractive, attracting attractions!

Bachelorette/Shower Post-Mortem Part 2

Sorry it's been a day or two!  Things have been busy at work.

I'm here to pick up where I left off.  After the shower, we did some scrap booking, as previously mentioned.

I'd like to take a second to further expound on this, because it actually has a lot of meaning for me.  I don't usually print out photos or keep albums, I just post them to Facebook and keep files on my computer.  But the shower and bachelorette party has got to be one of those 'best days of my life' kind of things.  The actual wedding has got some serious living-up to do after that!

One thing I've been sort of worried about in the back of my mind is what will fill the hole in my life left behind by the lack of wedding planning?  Once everything is over, will I be depressed?

I like the idea of having another "step" left in the process post-wedding and post-honeymoon: archiving the pictures in a fun way.  I feel that this will help me to re-live the events in a healthy way, and "put them away" where I can visit them over and over again.  Plus it's something I'm hoping that Super Fiance and I can work on together.  I encouraged him to take a camera with him today while he goes to a Cubs game with his brother, and I got some Cubs stickers and baseball-themed stick-ons from the craft store.

Long story short, I think it's going to be therapeutic and enjoyable, and leave us with a really nice final product.  To start with, we can bring the book with us to to the rehearsal dinner to show our families and friends, and after the wedding it can "make the rounds" along with our more formal wedding photo album, which I plan to have printed online.

But enough about that!  On to the rest of the story.  We got all dressed up, and hit the road for dinner.  The very talented Bethany made this crown that I am wearing, as well as a ribbon bouquet for the rehearsal!

We had dinner at Riviera Maya (you can see my Yelp! review here), then headed over to At Random for ice cream drinks.  I had a Pink Squirrel, which was delightful.  At first we thought they wouldn't let us in, since we ran into another rowdier-looking bachelorette party who told us they'd been informed it was an hour wait.  That didn't sit right with my sister, so she walked in and they seated her and a few girls with no problem, then the rest of us joined them.  Guess it was just that they didn't care for the other group's attitude! 

After At Random we moseyed on over to Koz's Mini Bowl for a round of bowling.  Super fun!

Sarah giving those pins what-for.

Our next stop was meant to be Cuvee, but it turns out they were hosting a wedding reception that particular evening, so we stopped over at Palms Bistro instead!  We were glad we did.  The drinks were awesome and the bartenders were wonderful.  Try the Door County Mimosa!  We had a great time here until it was time to call it a night.

Sarah, me and Kelsey, with a photo-bombing gentleman in the back!

But we made time for one final stop...

We had to make a visit to the Fonz!  It was a fantastic night (and day), and I wish I could hang out with all those ladies every day!  Thank you everyone for a wonderful party.

Bachelorette/Shower Post-Mortem Part 1

The wedding shower and bachelorette party were this weekend, and they were amazing!

My wonderful sister made all the arrangements.  She swooped into my house on Saturday, and sent me to go and amuse myself while she and my friend Kelsey cleaned and cooked and set everything up.

I went to get a shake from Lee's Dairy Treat, then hit a couple garage sales (found nothing), then drove over to the shopping center with World Market in it.  I thought I'd go there, but as I saw the other shops I realized I should get my ring cleaned at Gold Creations.  So I did that, took 5 minutes tops, then I went and sat on a bench near a fountain to finish my shake.  I walked into PetSmart after that, to look at the animals, and then it was time to head back!

When I got there, they had brought forth this wonderful, low-calorie, low-sugar California-themed spread:

The delightful finger food finery

There was homemade guacamole with chips, crackers and brie, white stilton with cranberries, apples, dried apricots,fresh berries and melon, chili-lime cashews, mini quiches, kale chips, popcorn, and chocolate-chocolate and lemon berry cupcakes from my sister's friend Beth, owner of Bethy's Cakes!!  Yummm.  I could have eaten about 15 of those mini quiches (I think they are from the Bisquick "impossible quiches" recipe).

People began to arrive: my mom, Super Fiance's mom, his aunt Juliette, and my dear friends Sarah, Caitlin, Bethany and Ali.  My sisters-in-law were unable to make it, unfortunately, but they had good reasons!

Once everyone was there, we played an ice-breaker game and then settled in for a round of trivia based on questions about me, Super Fiance, Milwaukee, and San Francisco.  Super Fiance had been a sneaky secret helper and had contributed some information about himself for this project.  It was very fun!

I opened the wonderful gifts they had all brought, and was dazzled by the array of San Francisco travel books, games to play on the train (mini Boggle and pocket Farkle!), financial assistance with which to feed/amuse ourselves, fabulous household goods, and a hilarious Journey Journal that asks the all-important question, "Do you like squirrels?"   You can tell a lot about a person based on their answer to that one.  Oh! And I was excited to receive my very own EOS egg balm (lemon flavor! delicious!) from my sweet and thoughtful sister-in-law Blair.  You can see her review over on the Irish Swedish Experience.  Those egg balms have become quite a favorite among the Larson women!

Here is me opening some gifts from Bethany!

After all the gift-opening, the mothers and Juliette had to get going.  The young ladies stuck around and busted out the scrapbooking materials!  Another surprise!  We all got to work making scrapbook pages to complement the photos from the night ahead.  The resulting pages are so lovely and I can't wait to put photos in with them!  After this I got dressed for going out and tossed my toothbrush in a bag...

... to be continued once my photographers for the evening have posted their pictures on Facebook so I can snag them all!

Through the Woods

Whew!  This week we knocked a lot of important accomplishments off our to-do list.  Aside from asking some dear friends or family to do readings, we have our ceremony pretty much all planned!

We're down to printing programs and selecting a reception playlist.  That's about it!

Of course there are some other things, like purchasing some napkins for our post-ceremony refreshments, and getting the bridesmaids bouquets on the day-of.  There are still things to be done, but the big hurdles are over!   Mostly we are feeling like this right now:

Photo from the London Telegraph

Now we can move on to the most important things in life, like watching every episode of Dexter, all in a row (thanks Heather) spending time with friends and family without being a giant stressball!

I'd also like to say, holy crap!  Over 300 page views!  Thanks everyone for checking in.  It's nice to know someone's listening on the other end of the coaxial cable.

Motivation

Today's topic: motivation.  What motivates you?  It depends, right?

For example, right now I'm being motivated to keep my dishes from piling in the sink and my bathroom from growing its own hair by excitement over the prospect of seeing my friends and family on Saturday.  A ticking clock or a shriveling calendar are good motivators, which I think is a good thing.  I'm not a procrastinator on my own.  I've always liked to get projects done right away so that I don't have to think about them again until right before they're due, when I polish them and make sure all the loose ends are secured, then I'm done!  A+ (Or at least something B and above.... which is good enough for me.)

I always hated group projects in college.  I'm something of a natural leader, and I was a good student.  Couple those facts with my lack of desire to procrastinate, and I ended up doing a lot of the work on several projects.  I'd tell myself I didn't care, so long as we got a good grade.  But everyone knows deep down you never really forgive those people on your project team for being terrible at time management or project execution.

Oh well.   That's part of what makes the clock and the calendar your friends.  It motivates other people.  So even though I may have been planning our honeymoon for 6 months (not much of an exaggeration), if no one has been with me on the importance of making these decisions now, just wait.  When we're down to two weeks before the departure date, it will suddenly become important to everyone else involved, and I will step in and say "Aha!  Here is what I think of that."  Problem solved (hopefully).

Except when it comes to hotels, where even I fell prey to a false sense of having "so much time".  Dang it, hotels!!

But then there's exercising, the one area where I can't seem to tell myself to "Dude, get on that already".  But today, as I was out walking on my lunch break, I found myself thinking back to Zombieland.  You know, "Rule #1: Cardio".

Is it weird that I think about life in Zombieland / I Am Legend terms sometimes?  I think about what locations have non-perishable food, but might not seem obvious (like office buildings- shhhh), so that once the mobs completely loot the Walmarts and grocery stores, I'll know where to go.  

The same thing goes for exercise.  I sometimes think about whether I'd make it if I had to run for my life or climb trees or something, and honestly I wouldn't.  I have never done one successful chin-up in my life.  So that's something that motivates me.  And no, I'm not worried about zombies.  But you never know when you'll need to survive a natural disaster or a nuclear holocaust.  Aside from right place-right time luck and some general survival know-how (and maybe some good old ingenuity), your physical condition can make or break you.  

I want to live!!!

Okay that was weird enough.  Back again later, but if not it's because I'm either watching Dexter, doing dishes, or celebrating with my fabulous ladies!  Obviously I'll be coming back to update on all of that.

General Life Updates

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here.  This week is exciting!  Looking forward to seeing our dear friend Kelsey on Friday, and the amazing shower and bachelorette party on Saturday!

I wanted to get a big "thank you" in there to all of those who are bending over backwards to fit these events into their busy lives.  I know what it's like to be busy!  It means the world to me that those of you who are performing work-school-life gymnastics are being so gosh-darn flexible and forgiving and generous.  Thank you (you know who you are).

I'm in limbo this week, feeling halfway like "Let's call the whole thing off!  We're bankrupting all of our friends and family!" and halfway like I just want to plow through every remaining decision, as though that would make the good stuff come sooner.  But it won't, and we have another month to accomplish the following:

1. Finalize our limo decision
2. Figure out our vows
3. Figure out our ceremony music
4. Make a reception play-list
5. Meet with our delightful volunteer MC
6. Print programs
7. Finish the seating chart

And just about a million other things!!  But for now, focusing on decluttering and guest-readying our house, balanced with a heavy dose of relaxational Dexter watching.

Honeymoon Registries

Today's episode: honeymoon registries.

When we first started planning our wedding, we weren't sure what we wanted to do for a honeymoon, or if we'd even take one.  Wild ideas of Italy fluttered in our minds, but thoughts of getting passports (or in my case, a renewed passport) and saving all that dough put us off.  Then we bought a house, and things became even more uncertain.  I started socking away a few hundred dollars each month, if I could spare it.  I also saved the bulk of my sizable tax refunds, which I was fortunate enough to receive in 2010 and 2011 tax years due to my student status in 2010 and our major home purchase in 2011 (this year I won't be so lucky - maybe I should buy a second house!!! kidding... ).

Then we decided our furnace needed to go (the thing dated back to the 1960's, it was time), and in its place we should include an air conditioner, where none had gone before.  GREAT decision that turned out to be (hottest July ever, what?).

At the beginning of the summer, as we were preparing to send out our invitations, we were feeling a bit strapped for cash and decided to set up a honeymoon registry.  You can see ours here.   I took lots of care to research potential activities and attractions (coming soon in a future post), and itemized each activity by cost so that our friends and family could "buy" us an experience, or a meal, or a night in a hotel - whatever!

So far, no takers except for my future mother-in-law, bless her.  I am nervous that no one else is going to use the honeyfund!

199 Page Views

Almost 200!

Things are going to get a little quiet here for a few days.  Things have picked up in busy-ness at work and at home.  With the deadline of my boss leaving on maternity leave coinciding with our wedding and honeymoon kick-off, we at WorkPlace are now realizing what kind of creek we've managed to find our way up without a paddle... and now we are working extra hard to catch up on everything so I'll be all set when my boss is out of the office for three months!

At home, the wedding shower is in 9 days, and we are having a fabulous overnight guest (I think) next Friday night, so we are prepping the house by cleaning like mad.  Super Fiance has been working hard on organizing his store inventory and getting it all into ship-shape, as well as keeping the kitchen mess at bay, and I'm trying to wrangle the disaster that is the small guest room while combating cat poop mountains in the litter box.  My goal is to have the house looking clean and fresh, and to keep it that way for the next month!

Good luck, right?  Heh...

So you may hear from me a little less over the next week or so, but rest assured things are carrying on and I will be back to update you sooner or later.

Small Good Things

I am running on absolute fumes this morning, which is funny because I feel alert!

I took my dishes into the kitchen at work to wash them and proceeded to fool myself into thinking I had thrown away a lid for a container, when it was right there in the sink.  Then I turn around and stupidly say "Whoa, it smells like something is burning!" to my coworker who is making toast.  Something IS burning - it's toast crumbs, genius.

Just wow.  I took my coffee and got out of there STAT.

On to the honeymoon planning-related material!  I'm starting to realize it was probably dumb of me to start this blog so far in advance before the actual trip, but maybe not.  Mainly I'll just be pressed for meaningful content so I will probably end up making this into more and more of a wedding blog the further things go along.  But I'm getting the sense that those who are reading this won't mind that so much.

One actually honeymoon-related thing happened last night!  Super Fiance and I went to Goodwill to drop off some stuff and to shop a little.  I found us a backpack!  A small, one-strap backpack.  It's similar to this one from Patagonia, only it isn't from Patagonia.  I'll get a picture of it up on here a little later, so check back for that.

Update: Here is the backpack in question!

It's just the right size to hold some snacks or a packed lunch, maps, cell phones, wallets and whatever other daily essentials we might need.  It has a strap that goes across your waist so it's secure and not pulling on your shoulder or sliding off.  Brilliant!  I love it so much I almost want to start using it as a purse immediately, because I'm getting sick of shoulder bags.   The best part is that it cost about $7.

Before you go...

There is a lot of stuff to be done before packing it all up and skipping town for 10 days, believe it or not.  Especially when one is the proud parent of two fur children (perhaps one less capable than the other).

I'm in a weird place right now where it feels like it will be forever before our wedding and honeymoon, but simultaneously I'm panicking because I don't know when I'll get everything done.  The stack of last-minute tasks really is piling higher and higher.

I can't very well clean the house now, since it will have a man and a dog and a hairy little cat tromping through it for the next six weeks yet.  But in two weeks it will have to be spic and span, since our wedding shower is being held in our house.  I know, I know - should I be cleaning for my own shower?  I don't mind, since everyone else is being so fabulous and going to such trouble for us. It's the least I can do. Besides, it's easier to maintain a clean house than clean a disaster area from scratch, right?

Right?

A Strange and Busy Weekend

To all those who have been reading, sorry for the lapse in posts over the weekend!  We had a busy time.  We saw our photographer on Saturday, and took our engagement photos (followed by pizza and bowling).

I'll be following up with a more honeymoon-related post later today, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the latest news.

I'm sure you have all heard about the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, WI.  This is an area I am very familiar with; we used to go shopping at the Woodmans down there all the time when we lived downtown.  It really hits home for me, as the church I attend had a "rainbow spirituality" day on Sunday where the sermon touched upon being accepting of all people (LGBT in particular, but also people of all colors and religions).  Many people were wearing the tye-dye shirts they had made the week before, or rainbow colors.  I had on my rainbow pride button, but regular clothes.  If someone with enough hate in their heart had known about our service that day, they could have come in and done the same thing to us.

In fact, a few years ago a congregant did bring a gun into this church.  She wasn't trying to hurt anyone - just touting her gun because she wanted to - but it brings into perspective how easily weapons can be in our midst in a place where we feel safe.  At any rate, it's scary because it could happen to anyone.

I actually walked home from church that day, which was a 4 mile walk.  I wouldn't do this normally, but it was SUCH a gorgeous day, and Super Fiance was staying for a meeting that I couldn't sit through.  On my walk I saw several unusual things.

I saw a little girl on her training-wheels bike nearly get run over by a jerk in a big white pickup truck, who was flying down a residential street much too fast.  I saw a lawn care sign that also said "We rent horse and pony rides!" on the bottom.  I saw a dead mole (so soft).  I saw the Flight for Life helicopter flying over me, headed for Froedtert Hospital (which I would later figure out was probably carrying the wounded Oak Creek police officer who engaged the Sikh temple shooter).  I saw a mostly-naked woman with cat ears and tail, covered in blue body paint coming out of the woods.

I walked and walked until my feet were burning (I wasn't wearing proper walking attire), but I made it almost all the way home.  Super Fiance caught up with me two blocks from our house and picked me up.  This is when we turned on the TV and heard about what had happened.  Full circle.

The Search for Shelter - Part 2

This has got to be the most stressful point in the two years of wedding planning.  The big stuff is squared away, but now it's all those tiny details, like what should our ceremony music be, or what should our vows be like?  You know, that silly unimportant stuff no one cares about.  Obviously.  ( /sarcasm) So in my head, all these not so little to-do items have been building up.

About a week after booking our first few nights at the Extended Stay America, the pressure was mounting and I HAD to book the rest of our nights, or the stress would eat me alive.  I was also stressing over the above-mentioned things, plus our lack of a limo driver, and not having ordered our wedding cupcakes.  I demolished those two tasks over a weekend, and decided to tackle this remaining piece as well.

Pay-off pictures under the cut!

Every Woman Is a Fat Bride

Wedding-induced insanity update. We recently switched to DirecTV from Time Warner Cable.  After watching a few too many extended Sensa commercials, I started to get curious about if this wonder powder would actually work. My better judgement said "Fat chance!", but my curiosity won out and I Googled it today.  First source was the Mayo Clinic's site, which essentially said "This is a powdered smell thing that supposedly triggers appetite suppression, but doesn't really work."

Still curious, I went back to my Google search results and found this guy's review on Escape from Obesity blog.  He says it basically comes in two types: one for savory, which smells like onion power, and one for sweet which smells like Smarties candy.  Considering that I LOVE ONION POWDER AND ALREADY PUT IT ON EVERYTHING (almost), I really don't think Sensa would work for me.  Good thing I Googled and didn't just run out to GNC like a mad person!

For the record, I do not think I am fat, and I think I look awesome in my wedding dress as-is.  But since our wedding is now officially 43 days away (thanks Bed Bath and Beyond for that reminder!), I'm starting to become more concerned about my overall appearance for photography.  I'm paying a lot of money for those pictures!

I'm worried I'll get thinner a few years AFTER my wedding photos have been taken, and then always look back at them and regret that I looked how I did at the time.  Anyone else worry about these things??

The Search for Shelter - Part 1

Just as we had started to enjoy the smug confidence of having booked two $900 Amtrak roomettes for less than $500 total, reality put us in our place, like a heavy bag of carrots upside the head.

We spent precious weeks relaxing, confident that there were "so many" hotels in the Bay Area that it would be "no problem" to find one that offered everything we were looking for, at a reasonable rate, in a great location.   I am an esteemed member of Marriott Rewards, Kimpton InTouch, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Wyndham Rewards. Not to mention the Delta Sky Miles, Chase Freedom and Amtrak Guest Rewards programs, which offer affiliate deals.  Surely among all these, there would be some insider fast track to the perfect hotel.

Hello, over 47,000 Salesforce.com users!  Nice to fight over hotels with meet you. 

How We Did It - Amtrak Edition

So as soon as we saw the price tag for the Amtrak trip, we stopped breathing.  Luckily our pets are certified in CPR, so they were able to revive us with minimal rib breakage.

Check out Amtrak's virtual Super Liner to explore what it's like to ride inside a sleeper car.  Essentially, this is what $900 gets you:

Credit to  http://www.carolinedonahue.com for the photo!

We bought our first home one year ago in May, and since then all our extra scratch has been piling up in the wedding/new furnace fund.  Assuming that each of these things was going to cost us at least $5,000, and that's about all we had saved - total - we got right on figuring out how to buy those train tickets for less.  Because that's what we do.