We're gonna have another niece/nephew!

Nick and I are thrilled to announce that we have a new neice/nephew in the works to add to our aunt/uncle duties with Kristina! My twin sister, Danielle, and her husband Jason are 8 weeks pregnant! They had the first ultrasound this Friday, and the baby is healthy, heart rate strong. S/he looks like a little gummy bear, don't you think? Her due date is June 26th, and they're coming to visit us in the city on December 4th, so it'll be so nice to see them. I guess when she said "now the race is on to have babies" at our wedding- they already had a head start :)

We love you already, little Gummy bear! May you be blessed with a happy and healthy pregnancy, Danielle!

Matt and Kerry's Destination wedding

Nick and I spent last weekend in West Palm Beach, Florida, for a destination wedding of Matt and Kerry- two of Nick's co-workers and our good friends from NYC. Nick and I got on an earlier flight on Friday, so we could get down on time for the welcoming reception dinner, hosted by Matt's parents. We stayed at The Chesterfield Inn, a wonderful boutique hotel just minutes from the reception site. We loved the Inn- so quaint and the staff were so sweet and helpful.

Valet being festive.

The welcoming reception was at the Breakers, outdoors and the night was gorgeous. Great food, great drinks, slide shows, and good times. Here are some pics of the welcoming reception:

The guys of Medical Knowledge Group.

More peeps from Medial Knowledge Group. Including the bride!

The "fish bar" at The Breakers is where we went after the welcoming reception. The bar is literally a live aquarium, and this little clown fish loved circling around my drink.

Saturday included the wedding ceremony at St. Anne's Catholic Church, and then a few hours break before the cocktial hour and reception. So Nick and I went to the beach. Gorgeous white sand, clear blue water, and plenty of sun. What a way to spend Halloween! We thought it was a tease of what is to come with our honeymoon!

Matt and Kerry saying their vows. It was a full Catholic Mass, so really nice. The pics are aweful, due to our distance from the altar, and the inability to use flash photography. But they looked so great!

Nick before he went swimming. We kept seeing jelly fish, so I was too scared to take a plunge. Waste-deep was enough for me!

The only sun my body has seen since August. So pale!

The cocktail hour on the Ocean Lawn at The Breakers was perfect. A beautiful full moon rising over the ocean, and pristine landscaping. We then went inside for dinner, drinks, and very FUN dancing. Their live bands played the best cover songs and the bride and groom danced all night with us. It was so fun. Unfortunately, my camera battery died at the cocktail hour, so I don't have any pics of the reception. But take my word for it, the party was FABULOUS!

Wedding photos have been posted!

We received the copies of all 1620 photos from our photographer! We learned that one of the ways they are budget-friendly is that they do no editing. So we have EVERY SINGLE photo they snapped that day. We sorted through them and narrowed them down to about 400. Feel free to take a look:

http://nickandjanswedding.shutterfly.com/953

There are other albums from guests that attended the wedding, so feel free to peruse through those. Honestly, I think the ones from my friends and family are as good, or better than what the "professional" photographers did. The photographer had the tendency to take a picture of the play, but not of the actors, if that makes any sense. It was like he was scared to get in close with the camera. But I knew what I was getting- so no regrets. We just don't have any beautiful artistic shots of our wedding day....

Here's a sneak peek of what you'll find:

New toys, name changes, and dress cleaning

Nothing too exciting has happened in the past week, after the traumatic hair cut. But we are realizing that married life actually IS different than before. It's BETTER. I never thought that a wedding day would change things and change the way we felt about each other. But now, everything just seems better, we closer, and it's just awesome.

We received our first purchase as a married couple: an upgrade to a queen-size bed from Sleepy's. We used some of our Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards to get new linens and the new bed is great! Just 6 more inches makes a huge difference for us, and it is so comfortable. Makes getting up to go to work even harder, but getting into bed for the night even easier! We also treated ourselves to a flat screen HDTV. We went with the Samsung 40" from P.C. Richard and Son. We thought it would be a monster in our tiny apartment, but surprisingly, it looks fine (at least to our eyes). The new flat screens are so crisp and sleek that they don't seem to clutter the room at all. Can't wait to watch some football this weekend on it!

I had some monumental changes this week as well: legally became Jeannine LaRocque Kappas. Well, at least to the DMV, Social Security Office, and all my financial institutions. Still need to do my passport and contact HR at work, but I can't do the passport until after the honeymoon (I need a document with my maiden names since that's what's on the plane tickets), and I can't change over in HR until I get the Social Security card in the mail. The DMV on Tuesday was fine- but since this was a return trip after a hellacious 2 hour wait on Friday (only for the computers to crash when I was next in line), the overall experience was sub par. But I was efficient with my time (thank you notes are slowly getting done), and the license is changed. So that's all that matters. The Social Security Office was SKETCH! It was so packed, and there had to have been the least aromatic citizens at the office that day (to put it lightly). You can technically mail in your documents to change your name on your card, but since they wanted my passport, social security card, and original marriage license to be mailed in, I was a little scared of losing these vital documents. So I decided waiting 2 hours at the local SS Office was worth it. In the long run, it was, because the card is being sent to me as we speak, and all my important documents are back safely in the apartment. I did tear up though when he shredded my old card right in front of me! I've never had to replace it, so that's the card I've had since I was a baby (almost 30 years!). Ok, so I was a little sentimental that day, but come on! But it's done, and we're moving right along.

For those of you that are curious, although I legally and personally will go by Jan Kappas, my maiden name will live on in my past, present, and future publications. I'm going to keep my name professionally as Jeannine Ruth LaRocque. So that's what they'll call me at work, and what I'll publish under, since I've already published under that name. Plus, its a good compromise for me, because I'm proud of what I've done professionally as LaRocque, but also proud of what I've done personally to become a Kappas. So it suits me.

Also, for any person that wants to change their name after a marriage, I recommend using From Miss to Mrs.com. It's a great website that is so easy to use, and they make sure you've completed all the necessary forms to change everything over. Just $30 to make sure you have crossed your T's and dotted your I's. There are tons of things to do, so it's nice for them to clearly walk me through the process.

And for those looking for a place to clean your gown and preserve it, I went with Wedding Gown Preservation Co. You can order the kit online (basic for $149 and this includes an additional 3 pieces, like veil, handkerchief, etc). They mail you the box with pre-printed shipping labels for you to pack your dress and send it to them. They will clean it (mine needed it with the red wine on the back, and the dirt on the bottom!), preserve it, and pack it in a box for you to store. Not that I have any idea what I'd possibly do with it. But this seemed like the best solution.

Happy Birthday to Dr. J-Y L, and happy wedding weekend to JD of Chapel Hill!

And here's another wedding photo, just for kicks. At first, I felt bizarre in this pose, until I saw the photo. I love how the dress looks, and the Francis Marion lobby was so pretty a that morning. Kudos for Danielle for getting on the floor (literally) to take this shot!

Bye bye hair!

Last night, I decided on an impromptu hair cut. I knew I wanted to trim the locks that I had grown over the course of my year-long engagement (by the way, today our one-year anniversary of becoming engaged!). I knew I wanted to cut it all off- short to medium length. I decided to walk in to a salon on the Upper West Side called Amor de Hair.

I hadn't been thrilled with my previous stylist, and this place looked nice and had prices I could afford. So Randy sits me down, and I tell him I want all the length to be cut. He suggested that if I didn't mind to cut it SHORT that I had enough hair, and it was healthy to donate. As I work at a cancer center, there was no way my guilt was going to allow my vanity to win this battle, and I decided to cut it all off to donate. 9 inches in a ponytail- GONE. The hair washer sweeping behind me made the most gastly expression when she saw what I was doing. I wanted to jump out of the chair to strangle her. My stylist did a fantastic job- the layers looked modern and sharp. They frame my face well. But it is a DRASTIC cut. I've never had it this short, especially in the back. So after about 30 minutes of crying (yeah, how pathetic is that!? Thanks Mom, Danielle and Nick for listening to my sobs!), I got over it. I felt better this morning, and realize that I will slowly get used to it, and by then, it'll be two inches longer!

I've decided to donate the hair to Children With Hair Loss. I chose this charity because they take donated hair and provide hair and wigs for children that suffer from any sort of medically-related hair loss. Not just chemotherapy patients, but burn victims, and other rare diseases. In a practical sense, they also accepted what I had to offer: 9 inches of dyed hair (as long as it was healthy). Other charities required 10 inches of dyed or undyed hair, and another accepted 8 inches, but it couldn't have been dyed. So I'm happy that through my tears, hopefully this will help someone's self esteem.

Here are some pictures of my transformation. They're taken from this morning, where I enjoyed mocking my dead ponytail.

Me with all my hair.

And then it just fell off!


And after the initial shock, I've just learned to embrace it.

Although the ponytail of disembodied hair is quite disgusting, I must say. Reminds me of a dead animal:

I also wanted to take the chance to give a shout out to others that have donated their locks: EJF and Kiki "Shine" Trowbridge. Both women had the most gorgeous hair that they also donated to and Pantene Beautiful Lengths and Locks of Love, respectively. I know so many brides that grow their hair out for their wedding day, and then just cut it off shortly after. Please consider helping out these great causes.

Best. Week. Ever

Seriously. They all say "it's the best day of your life, blah blah blah." But not only was it the best day of our lives, it was the best few days of our lives, and by far! Our wedding celebrations ran circles around the other top 3 best days ever. My face still hurts from grinning ear to ear, my legs still hurt from all the dancing at the reception, and my heart has a little ache in it, missing all the family and friends that traveled so far to be a part of our special day.

So here's the skinny of what went down last week (or at least up until the ceremony):

Jan arrived in Charleston Tuesday, September 29th. First item on the To Do list: meet Mom, Dad, Danielle, and Jason (who arrived at 4 AM that day after driving all night!) at Wild Wings for beer and wings. And it was awesome. So nice to be home, beautiful weather, vacationing from work, and getting excited about the upcoming festivities.

On Wednesday, September 30th, Jan and Mom spent the morning running around doing errands, ranging from picking up my gown (!!!), to dropping of gift bags at all the hotels our guests were staying in. We met Nicole back at the house for dinner (she had left VA at 5 AM and drove straight through!). An afternoon nap on the porch (!), and a visit to see Grandpa (he LOVED having all the LaRocque granddaughters in town). I then went to pick up my groom at the airport that evening (both flights arrived early!). My favorite part of that airport run was that I literally followed Nick's plane as it flew in over the Cooper River (i was driving parallel on 526). I waved, but I don't think he saw me....

On Thursday, Nick and I had to go down to the SC Probate Court to apply for our marriage license. This process was a JOKE. They said online that we'd need our original social security cards, and our driver's licenses (made sense). We get down there, and they ask for nothing but the fee. I mean, we could have made up any name of any person of any age! But we got it done, and Nick spent the rest of the day with his family that had arrived in Charleston. I went to be pampered, getting manicured and pedicures with Mom, Danielle, and Nicole. Pale pink for my nails, and a rose for my toes. Very pretty. They clothed me in a pink feathered boa, tiara, and veil. Good times. Will have to post pics of those soon.

Thursday night we had a lovely BBQ dinner hosted by my parents. Nick's family and Jason's family came over for Sticky Fingers BBQ and Frogmore stew (and of course Sweet Tea Vodka!). It was a lovely evening, and we even got a lesson or two of Greek dancing.

Friday morning, Dr. JYL and Dr. EJF arrived (still no hitches with the airline!). Nick and I picked up the marriage license (yeah, 24-hour waiting period), and dropped it off at the church. Nick was dropped off at the Francis Marion and checked in for the night. He hung out with his family for the day, while I went to my Bridal Tea. It was fabulous! Here are some pics, provided by EJF. I'll post some by JYL when I get a chance:

The three sisters and me at Thoroughbred Club at the Charleston Place Hotel.

After a quick change, off to the rehearsal at the Holy Trinity (photos again by EJF):

Ready to rehearse!

Then we went to High Cotton for the rehearsal dinner. Hor d'oeuvres were amazing (shrimp wrapped in bacon!), dinner was delicious, and it was great to see the family and bridal party that had arrived. Pics courtesy of DLS and EJF:

Nick, Nicole, Michael, Akash, Jason at dinner.

The significant others.
Jen, Jan, Emily.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown, and my Dad looking like he's done something wrong.
Mom, Aunt Marilyn, and Amanda lounging on the patio.
Nick and Jan toasting to our wonderful parents.
With Danielle and hubby Jason.
Angie, Jeremiah, Raymond (2/5 of the groomsmen).

After dinner, a group of the "young" ones went to Southend Brewery where they met up with people that weren't part of the rehearsal, but here for the weekend. Jan went home to be a "good girl" and get all the necessary beauty rest for wedding day!

Saturday, October 3rd: WEDDING DAY!

We started off getting our hair done: blow outs for the moms and bridesmaids and an up-do for the bride:

Before.

Then after a quick lunch at East Bay Deli, back to the house for make up by Danielle. She was quite talented at this wedding: matron of honor, photographer, make up artist, and veil expert!

Neighborhood sign.
On Sunday, it read "Congratulations to Jan and Nick Wed October 3, 2009". Nice touch, Mom and Dad!

Getting make up done. Danielle is GOOD. And Clinique rocks.

We then went down to the Francis Marion to get dressed and Danielle took some bridal shots:

Evidence that Danielle was a veil expert as well.

This dress was TIGHT. And the snaps were nearly impossible to get....

Love this photo of the Charleston skyline. Good eyes, Danielle!

Put it all together, and we have a bride!

Out on the balcony with my bridesmaids!
Nick accidentally saw me at this point, as his window of his room looked over the ballroom balcony. Oops.
Sisters!

Mom and the bride.
I love how you can see the full gown in this shot (again, good eye, Danielle!).
After shots at the Francis Marion, we met at the church and waited for the ceremony.
Grandpa Rocky came in for a sneak peek!

The remaining part of the wedding- the ceremony and reception, and the days after the reception, will be posted at a later date. But this is what I have so far to catch everyone up with the Best. Week. Ever.

Lab love

My labmates and boss threw me a wedding shower this morning right before I left for the airport. There was great food: quiches of plenty from Grace’s Marketplace, a delicious carrot cake from Financier Patisserie, and of course some bubbly to toast!

They also gave Nick and me gorgeous crystal: a vase and four champagne flutes. Modern look, and just my style! I'm so happy to finally be "old" enough to own champagne flutes! Hopefully we'll have a lot of blessings in the future and they'll be of great use!

Kathi and Aldo also sent us a beautiful bouquet of white/green flowers all the way from LA. They are gorgeous!

Pretty crystal vase. I need to add some flowers to really show it off.

One of the four crystal champagne flutes they gave us.
Ignore the nerdy science stuff in the background. I had to take these pics at work!

Pretty flower bouquet from Kathi and Aldo- all the way from LA.