Some preview wedding pics!

Becca Dilley, our fabulous wedding photograher, has posted a handful of photos from our wedding on her blog.
Or, if you're on Facebook, see a couple more from Becca here.
Other Facebook albums:
Lauren and Matt's (or here if you're not on Facebook for the same pics),
Jill's
Katie's here and here
Joanna's
Mom and Dad's here and here

Stay tuned for more!

If you took photos, we'd love for you to share them with us! Email them to either one of us PLEASE!!! :) We're going to put together a big album of everything (online, probably, in addition to printed copies).

xoxo,

Mr. and Mrs. Rice!

A Survey of I-90 State Welcome Signs, and more!

This is what our trip home looked like, considered through the signs each state used (or lack thereof) on our move back across the country from Boston, MA, to the Twin Cities.

New York was all dark. I didn't think a black rectangle made for good reading.

Pennsylvania. It's really quite a pretty state for the roughly nine miles we were there.


"Thanks for paying to get into our state." - Ohio, at the I-90 toll plaza


"All those tolls you pay to get in here, and we can't even pave a straight highway. Good luck." - Ohio, coming into downtown (yes, downtown) Cleveland
The sign isn't joking, they're not exaggerating. This is a literal 90-degree turn. If you miss it, you end up in the drink otherwise known as Lake Erie.


Ahh, Indiana -- a sign you can easily overlook, just like your state.


Note: There is no "Welcome to Illinois" sign. Even the state thinks it's inferior to its most populated city. I happen to believe that the lack of sign probably has more to do with encouraging tourism -- but probably not in the way you think. If you had randomly decided to head east on I-90 and came to Gary, Indiana, you probably wouldn't continue on either if it was just Illinois you had to look forward to. The "Welcome to Chicago" sign is clearly an effort to tell passengers "It's OK -- you made it out on the other side! Keep driving!" (Have you been to Gary, Indiana?)


"Wisconsin Welcomes You"...


...Shouldn't this really be the sign they have instead?


Minnesota, hats off to thee... Your signs may be unremarkable, and you may not have the official "welcome" sign close enough to the border, but anything is better than another Gary, Indiana.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fu-un

Last Saturday was superbly fun-filled -- my bridesmaids Katie, Zoe, Jill, and Marni threw me a brunch bridal shower -- complete with Wuollet's pastries, cheesy hashbrowns, mimosas, and more! THEN, later that evening Katie, Jill, and Zoe threw me a bachelorette party (Marni may be 12 now, but she's still not quite old enough to partake ;) ) with many a bottle of wine. And maybe some pizza rolls.

I have to keep some of the evidence hush-hush, but here are some of the street-legal highlights from the festivities:
1. Seeing lots of my girlfriends!


2. Bridal haute couture, modeled by KatieJ, Marni, and Greta!


3. Hanging out with the prettiest, smartest, awesomest bridesmaids ever ;)


4. Deliciousness


5. A dissertation on fine art given by yours truly


6. Snuggling!


7. And presents, presents, presents!

(Bet you're wondering what's in the box, aren'tcha?)

LADIES: If you have more pictures, please send them to me!

Much laughter was laughed, many games were played, and much wine was drank. And yes Eric, it's true, I knew I loved you when I saw your triangle hair. I won't deny it anymore ;)

Thank you to all my girls, the moms, and Eric for marrying me, and ergo affording me the opportunity to have such awesome parties.

I now pronounce you... Mr. and Mrs. Kuitunen!

Yesterday Eric and I spent some time in northern Minnesota at my uncle Eric's wedding to Mishawn. After dating for more than eight years (I think), they finally got engaged, and we all headed up to beautiful Jay Cooke State Park and Fitger's Inn and Brew House in downtown Duluth for their nuptials. The rain held off just long enough for the ceremony, and the fog that ushered it gave the whole park an ethereal, fairy-tale quality that you can see in my pictures, I hope.

See pictures here. Or, watch them recite their vows:


Lots of love to you both, Eric and Mishawn!

*Check out these hotties!*

This is me with my friend KatieJ. I hope she's not embarassed that I'm posting this... : ) In the last year or so we've lost more than 100 pounds between us. This picture was taken a couple days ago at our "I can't believe I lost 50lbs!" celebration :)

From Birthday Losers

Shabbatin' it up, Jew-style

Now that I'm a full-fledged Jew, I thought I'd kick it off right and have a big Shabbat dinner for the family before services. I love that we have a holiday every week. That's right -- every Friday night/Saturday! Nearly everyone was there -- Eric, Michelle, Gary, Marni, Doug, Jim, and Casey, Doug's friend. We lit candles using my new candlesticks that the rabbis and cantor gave me at my conversion and blessed everything -- Shabbat, bread, and the wine!

Behold, my first Shabbat dinner! I made super delicious challah from scratch (with help from Marni on the stirring and Casey's help with the braiding),


matzo ball soup (with thanks to Doug and Casey for handling most of it!), honey-orange chicken (this was way yummier than this picture would lead you to believe -- it was moist, flavorful, sweet, and deliciously breaded and pan-fried),


glazed carrots (who doesn't enjoy carrots in a soup of buttery-sugary goodness?),


and, the pièce de résistance, scallion-gruyere latkes!


After dinner, we rushed to the synagogue to make services because I was going to be called up to the bimah for a special blessing. It was really cool and I got to hold the Torah -- apparently quite the honor, since most people don't get to ever. I found out later that photos aren't allowed during services, so there aren't any pictures of my moment, so I'll let you imagine it. :)

Although I don't promise anything as elaborate as this meal, Eric and I love hosting Shabbat dinners, so expect to be invited once in awhile to partake in the festivities!

"Welcome to the Tribe!" or "Rub a dub dub, Sara's in the tub... becoming a Jew!"

Today was a pretty big day. After many months working with Rabbi Morrison at Temple Israel in Boston (and a few short weeks with Rabbi Spilker here in Minnesota at Mount Zion), I was deemed ready to take the plunge -- literally -- and officially converted to Judaism.

The Rabbis Spilker and Adler and Cantor Spilker met with me beforehand as part of my beit din, the rabbinic panel, to serve as the official gateways into the tribe, as it were :) They questioned me about my intentions, sincerity, and knowledge of the religion and practices. After passing that first test, I had to go strip down (not joking!), including what ended up being a ridiculously long amount of time for removing nail polish (it just would not come off), I met Cantor Spilker in the mikveh, the ritual bath, for my dunk.

If you're struggling to picture this, envision old school baptism (it's where the practice came from) in a really pretty spa-like atmosphere, sans the Catholic guilt and crucifixes.

After dunking and saying a prayer and the sheheckiyanu, I was asked the declarations of faith -- including some funnily-phrased questions involving the involvement of children in Jewish education programs and becoming a member of a synagogue (something Jews by birth are notorious for not doing, or doing in a non-timely fashion :) ). After my third dunk everyone waiting out in the living room joined in a chorus of "Simon Tov u Mazel Tov" for me.

At the end of it, Rabbi Spilker said a blessing, we all said the Shema, and I read a passage from Ruth, the first convert. You might know it -- it's the one that begins with "Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge." (Ruth 1) Then the rabbis and cantor gave me some pretty candlesticks that we'll use for Shabbat on Friday. Yay!

It was really nice to have everyone there -- Eric (of course!), my mom and dad, Eric's mom Michelle, his dad Jim, and brother Doug.

After the formalities, we went to Mount Zion's gift shop and I got all Jew-ed up -- we bought a kiddush cup (for the wedding) a seder plate, a cookbook from the sisterhood at the synagogue, and Jim bought me a star of David necklace. And some Bazooka Joe from Israel :)

All of us plus Gary, Marni, Joe, Katie, Adam, Jill, and Isaiah, headed down to Figlio for a celebratory dinner. Yummm!!!! Sooooo good. I got Thai mussels, wood roasted mushroom pizza with goat cheese and scallions, red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, AND a profiterole. I also had some of their super good house-infused raspberry-lemon vodka. Delicious delicious delicious.