Glee - Musical Comedy or Comedic Musical

I love musicals. There's something about a rousing musical number that I just can't get enough of. In recent years, there have been far too few examples of quality musical for me to partake of. The remake of Hairspray, the movie version of Rent, and a few musical episodes of TV shows are pretty much all we've had for a while.

We've also had quite the drought of good television in recent years, especially when it comes to new shows. The Office and 30 Rock continue to please in the 30-minute category, Lost and Chuck are both good but on hiatus until after the Winter Olympics, and Jay Leno has destroyed NBC's entire 10pm block. That's why Glee is such a breath of fresh air.

Glee is the tale of a high school teacher (Matthew Morrison) taking over the glee club after the last sponsor (Stephen Tobolowsky) is forced to leave. He recruits a ragtag band of vocally-talented misfits including an exceptionally talented and annoyingly driven star-to-be (Lea Michele), the quarterback of the football team (Cory Monteith), and a wheelchair-bound musician (Kevin McHale).

Glee is one of those rare shows that are genuinely funny while integrating music. Jane Lynch is hilarious as the champion cheerleading coach out to destroy the glee club, and each of the other characters have their own funny idiosyncrasies scatter in among their character development. My only real complaint on that point is that the fake pregnancy of Mr. Shu's wife Teri (Jessalyn Gilsig) has lost its charm, but that is the only part of the show that lacks charm. This show has definitely made it to my regular rotation.

Watch it on Hulu.

Temple Dates Finalized

For my inaugural post on this wonderful blog of ours, I thought I might share the temple dates as finalized just this morning. My beautiful bride and I will be sealed on December 22, 2009 at 7:15 pm. Those attending the ceremony should note that we will be arriving around 5:30 pm at the temple to give time for getting ready and taking pre-wedding pictures. We will be going in to receive our endowments on December 19 at 2:00 pm.

For the assistance of all of our faithful readers who are wondering, "How many days is it exactly until those two amazing people get married?" I am putting a countdown widget on the sidebar, so you never have to wonder again. Isn't technology amazing?

Quick recap:

Dec. 19 - Endowments (@ Louisville Temple)

Dec. 22 - Wedding (@ Louisville Temple)

Jan. 2 - Ring Ceremony/Reception (@ Richmond Ward building)

Ring Ceremony Date Finalized & Other News

Last Sunday, Nathan and I set the date officially for the ring ceremony - it's going to be on January 2nd, around 12:30 PM, in the cultural hall of the Richmond Ward building. More information about the ring ceremony will be forthcoming as we finalize things.

Our colors are spring green, pastel pink, and chocolate brown. :) (I realize that the brown doesn't show up well on this background, sorry.) In no way do I want this to be mistaken for a Christmas wedding, since the sealing will probably happen beforehand and the ring ceremony is definitely after New Years. Hence the spring colors (that were my picks the whole time - but Nathan was in favor of them too, and that solidified the decision).

Also today, Nathan found out that there is a full-time position open at Best Buy where he works, in Appliances. Right now he is working part-time in Computers, and his boss told him that he knew that he would be looking for full-time work and benefits since he was getting married, so he should put his name in for appliances. There's also been talk about a job opening up on Best Buy's Geek Squad - which will be a bump in pay, full time, and work that Nathan really wants to be doing - in the next few months. So it's entirely possible that he will be able to move over there when that opens up. We are super excited about this development, because benefits mean insurance, which we will be in sore need of. Also, Nathan will have a job that is pretty sure to outlast all but the worst recessions - people will pretty much always need appliances. :)

My parents surprised me by jumping in with plans and offers for help with the ring ceremony. Mom called me from Lexington Saturday afternoon to ask me to come up and help her pick fabric for my wedding dress, and we ended up picking out patterns and fabric for my dress, my bridesmaid's dresses, and the flower girl's dress. My cousin Alexandra, who is adorable, has agreed to be the flower girl, and she is so very excited about it.

Mom and I started work on my wedding dress today, and it's going to be gorgeous. The dress itself is strapless, tea length, and princess cut, but the pattern included instructions for a very elegant looking jacket as well, and we're going to make it out of the same material. I would post pictures, but Nathan isn't allowed to see it until the day of the temple sealing, so... No pictures for you!

At least not for now...

The Big News

After much conversation, gaining of advice from adults in our lives, consideration of said advice, and (most importantly) prayer, Nathan and I have decided to get married.
Those of you who know us will not find this idea very shocking - we've been moving toward this almost since our first date. :) What may be news to many of you is that we have decided to be sealed at the Louisville Kentucky Temple, over Christmas break. No date has been officially announced yet, because we are waiting to meet with the bishop, get my reccommend updated, and set dates with the temple for the endowment and sealing ceremonies, but we are fairly sure that it will be during the four weeks of EKU's christmas break.
There is not much to say about the proposal - it wasn't a surprise for either of us and we decided against buying an engagement ring, because of expense. The conversation has been had so many times over the past few weeks that I'm fairly certain he said "I'm going to marry you." And I said "Good, because I'm going to marry you."
...Here I invite you to laugh at our oddity. If you aren't used to it now, you will be, the more time you spend around us. (I make no promises that we are funnier in person.)
For the moment, we are using my CTR ring to hold the place of an engagement ring, as a nod to the traditionalists in our families who would want us to have one. And, I won't skirt truths here, I came very close to tearing up when he slipped it from my right hand to my left. It was a cool thing - and it's a very awesome thing, to look at Nathan and know that I will be with him forever.
Anyway, news hasn't officially been broken yet, so NO TELLING until we get to talk to the parents. *stern face*