Cuteness.

I just couldn't resist posting this picture of Nathaniel/Nate Beckloff, who will become my nephew September 27th. He will be at the Kansas Wedding for all of you to awww over in person. You gotta love his Oklahoma State outfit too, Jerrod is so proud of the little Cowboy fan. Eeeee so tiny!

Prairie advertising.

Found these print ads on a blog I like, Advertising is Good For You. Thought they were perfect to share, urban meets prairie (sounds a little like our wedding with most of you traveling to Kansas for the first time). The ads I'm working on aren't nearly as edgy, our cows can't wear Nelly bandaids. Enjoy!

Headline: Now in the Prairies. The urban-inspired, 2009 Toyota Matrix.

One Month!

One month = 30.4368499 days
One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life
One month of the iPhone 3G and what Apple needs to fix
(still wish I had one, very jealous of Jerrod's iPhone)
One Month App
(the documented process of the one month development of a web application, fascinating)
One-Month LIBOR rate – LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. It's the rate of interest at which banks offer to lend money to one another in the wholesale money markets in London.
Learn Chinese in One Month
(it really can't be that easy)
Dollar surges to one month high versus euro
Stimulate a One Month Old Baby's Development with Toys and Play
(Nate (Nathaniel) Beckloff will be one month old on September 12th, which also happens to be Lindsay M's Birthday!)
People with ADHD Do One Month's Less Work Per Year (sometimes I wonder if I have ADHD, but then I remember I'm just a Creative)
SELF Magazine: One Month Makeover
Me and Wii Fit: One Month Later

I will admit, I didn't actually read any of the above articles, but I'm sure you've made the connection that the Prairie Wedding is ONE MONTH from today! Will try to post more as the Kansas Wedding and Ohio Reception quickly approach.

THANK YOU FRIENDS! I wanted to publicly thank all the lovely ladies for attending my Bachelorette party in Cincinnati. Very special thanks to Jeanna and Lindsay for the awesome theme and planning (yes, I was dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz); Erin for all her efforts, the amazing mini tacos, and having all us crazy women at her house; and Dana for the sweet VIP treatment at the bar. Such an amazing night. And an equally rough next morning.

Dogs in weddings.

One popular trend with weddings is having Man's Best Friend (of the canine species) be part of the ceremony. The CBS Early Show featured this very amusing TV story, "Some Weddings Going to the Dogs." Dogs, "are either being entrusted with roles such as ring bearers, bridesmaids, and groomsmen or are simply present during the ceremony to bear witness to their owner’s nuptials." There are even tips on How to Include Your Dog in the Wedding. "Have the dog bring up the rings on a satin pillow tied to his collar or - if he is really well trained - in his mouth."

If Tiller were part of our wedding it would go something like this: As Jerrod waits for our grand entrance and before I can even walk to the ceremony, Tiller comes loping across the field, having broken free of her leash. After leaving two big muddy paw prints on the front of my gorgeous dress, she then knocks down at least two bridesmaids and licks off their lovely makeup. (Right now Tiller is barking at me because I will not throw her ball).

So, the chocolate fur ball goes sprinting down the aisle, with the rings grasped tightly in her jaw, enticing the groomsmen by shaking the satin pillow the same way she "kills" her stuffed duck. She proceeds to run joyfully into the prairie where she happily rolls in a huge buffalo pile.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer also features a story about Dogs in Weddings, "While assisting with a "pet wedding" for the first time, one wedding planner said, 'A mother-in-law insisted on walking down the aisle with her poodle. The bride feared that her future in-law would drink too much and lose sight of the poodle.'" HA! My mother-in-law did volunteer Ted Williams the bulldog to wear a tuxedo as part of our ceremony, which would have been adorable, but probably ended in disaster (not due to her drinking, just him being a crazy bulldog puppy).

The Dog Whisper, Cesar Millan, offers some of his own advice about furry friends in ceremonies, "Remember, it may be your day, but it is still important that you meet your dog's needs and make sure he is comfortable and safe." I don't quite believe that a dog could feel comfortable (or have much dignity left) while wearing a tiny tux or dress. Now I have dressed Molly in a doggy GAP hoodie and it is very fun, Tiller also had her reinbeer antlers, but just look at this poor little pooch below. Precious.

In conclusion, dogs in weddings could be cool and very memorable, but pretty risky. Darn cute if they're small and well-behaved, but I can just imagine the chaos that our rambunctious Lab would cause. Anyone who wants to have an ALL dog bridal party, I'd love to attend. Tiller will be at the Pet Resort playing with her furry friends in the baby pool while we celebrate at the Ranch.

The Prairie

The prairie is a region of flat, gently sloping, or hilly land covered chiefly by tall grasses and not many trees. Pioneers who first saw the flat prairies of the American Middle West called them a 'sea of grass.' While that doesn't sound like a very nice description for a wedding location, the Circle S Ranch is in the middle of the Kansas prairie with rolling green hills and quite a few trees and wild flowers. Kansas is part of the U.S. known as the Great Plains.

Prairie madness was an affliction that was common in the U.S. among white settlers of the Great Plains during the mid to late 1800s. The affected individual would fixate on the fact that they were surrounded by hundreds of miles of prairie land, with no neighbors or anyone to talk to.

When the perceived isolation became too much to bear, mental breakdown would occur. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson were all victims of the disease. If you're coming to the wedding in Kansas, don't worry, one weekend on the prairie won't drive you mad, you will be having too much fun to notice the isolation.

Prairie dogs are a type of squirrel; small, burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. I have always thought they were adorable little animals, building their tunnels and whatnot. "Prairie dogs are very social animals and come to almost seem like they treat humans as members of their colony, answering barks and chirps, and even coming when called by name." They carry the bubonic plague, though...this is quite a morbid blog entry isn't it? But, aww, they're kissing.

Little House on the Prairie (obviously where the title of this blog came from) was a 1970's TV-series loosely adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s best-selling series of Little House on the Prairie books.

Further Prairie reading:
The Prairie Enthusiasts
Prairie Plains Resource Institute

The Prairie Social at the Moore-Beckloff wedding will not have any prairie dogs or bubonic plague, but will have a margaritas, Boulevard Wheat beer, southwestern snacks, and a bonfire and smores. See, the prairie can be fun and educational.

Wedding Traditions Quiz

Just some questions to ponder if you're having a slow day at work...

1. In the rhyme, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," "blue" is symbolic of:
a) The time before the bride met the groom.
b) True love.
c) The clear skies hoped for on the wedding morning, and symbolically, throughout the marriage.
d) The blood of royalty, since both the bride and the groom were once considered to be "royal" on their wedding day.
e) None of the above.

2. "Thrice a bridesmaid, never a bride" is an old charm that can be broken by:
a) Hanging a true love knot made from the skin of frogs in the window during a full moon
b) Making a paste from mistletoe berries and rubbing it into your
pillowcase on the night of a full moon.
c) Being a bridesmaid five times.
d) Being a bridesmaid seven times.
e) None of the above.

3. Bridesmaids dress the same as each other and in similar style to the bride because:
a) In early times, when arranged marriages were still common, if someone objected to the proposed marriage during the ceremony, a substitute was readily available.
b) It has come to be considered tasteful in the 20th century, while in previous centuries it was thought to be a sign of rudeness to compete with the attire chosen by the bride.
c) Evil spirits have a more difficult time distinguishing which one is the bride and putting a hex on her.
d) It has evolved as a cost-effective measure to have the bridesmaids' dresses made at the same time.
e) None of the above.

4. Which one of the following is not a wedding tradition:
a) Feeding the cat out of an old shoe on the wedding day.
b) Preventing the groom and bride from seeing each other on the morning of the wedding.
c) Sipping milk fresh from the cow on the morning of the wedding.
d) The bride throwing one stocking over her left shoulder as she undresses on the wedding night.
e) The bride placing a dime in her shoe the morning of the wedding for
good luck.

5. Yer standard medieval chastity belt:
a) Became popular among upper class families in the Middle Ages while the husband was overseas fighting in the crusades.
b) Was a lockable device that some aspirant female saints voluntarily enclosed themselves in and then threw away the key.
c) Contained one or more narrow apertures to enable normal bodily functions to continue, but which were often faced with spikes or metal teeth to discourage the truly hardy suitor.
d) All of the above.

6. If the ring is dropped by the groom before it is placed on the bride's finger, it is:
a) A sign of bad luck.
b) A sign that the groom is clumsy.
c) A sign that the groom would like to back out.
d) A sign that the groom is nervous.
e) Possibly all of the above.

7. The groom must carry the bride over the threshold:
a) To appease the goddess of chastity, Diana.
b) To avert danger from the envious witchcraft of the evil eye.
c) To show that the husband will carry the burden of the work done around the house.
d) None of the above.

8. Which one of the following throwing traditions is false:
a) In India, a coconut was passed three times over the bride and groom, then shattered on the ground to drive away demons.
b) In Morocco, the groom would throw an egg at his wife so she would have ease at childbirth.
c) Greeks and Romans tossed kernels of wheat and corn at a new couple. The grain was a symbol of food and childbearing.
d) The throwing of the garter comes from a British tradition called "Flinging the Stocking." Friends would storm into the wedding couple's bedroom, remove the bride and groom's stockings and while sitting on the bed, take turns "flinging" the stocking at the newlyweds. The first to have their stocking "flung" on the nose of the bride or groom would be the next to marry.
e) In Palestine, the wedding party tossed fig leaves at the bride and groom before the festivities began to wish them a fruitful and fertile marriage.

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Answers: 1-b | 2-d | 3-c | 4-c | 5-d | 6-a | 7-b | 8-e

JULY 26TH — Holiday Inn Rooms released!

Yep, I know I'm being totally annoying with the reminders, but the Holiday Inn is very nice with newly renovated rooms. The Baymont Inn & Suites is nice also, though a little more expensive. We just want our guests happy and comfortable.

If you do not get a room by August 26th (when the Baymont releases the rooms to the public) there will be no other hotels in Lawrence for the weekend. All the others are booked solid for the Nascar Event at the Kansas Speedway. So please, if you are coming to the Kansas Wedding, get those rooms booked!!

A shuttle will be running from the two wedding hotels, to the Ranch for the Wedding and after the Reception back to those hotels (details still being worked out on that).