1 Week To Go!!!

Hey Everyone.  We are getting very excited as the day gets closer!  We wanted to fill you in on some things for next weekend.  The weather is looking beautiful.  When the ceremony starts, it will be around 90 degrees.  We advise bringing sunglasses and some sunscreen.  As the evening goes on and the sun goes down, it will cool off and be perfect!

Shuttle Schedule

For those of you staying at Hawthorn Suites, we are having shuttles driving to the house.  The shuttles are only taking 2 trips.  To ensure all of our guests arrive to the house before the ceremony, the first trip will leave fairly early.

The 2 departure times are:

2:20pm

2:45pm

Please make sure you are on one of these trips.

The shuttles will also be taking you back to the hotel throughout the night, with 3 departure times:

9:00pm

9:30pm

10:00pm

These times will be posting at both the hotel and the house.

Also, just in case you've misplaced the invite, we are registered at Macy's, Target, and honeyfund.com.  Thanks!

We can’t wait to see you all!  Please travel safely and we will see you very soon!

-Rebecca & Andrew

Wedding Weekend & Attire

Hey Everybody,

We're really getting excited about our weekend in September, just over four months away!  Crazy but it's all becoming real.  We thought we'd take this time to update you all on the event details and answer any questions.  Please feel free to email us anytime (we both have access, FYI it's not private).

It has come to our attention that the "Black Tie Reception" invite line has raised questions.  We're sorry for the confusion and hope to clear it up now.  Lets be real, we're not expecting you guys to go out to buy a new tux or you ladies to buy a ball gown and dress for the Oscars.  What we do wish though is for a formal, elegant event.  So gentleman please break out your favorite tie and woman enjoy this opportunity to dress up!  Please no shorts or flip flops.  Bring your best attire, the camera might catch you in a photo. ;). Honestly our intention is to enjoy this outdoor, formal, spiritual and loving celebration!



Please come out to Livermore and enjoy a great weekend away.  Livermore is a beautiful wine country that offers a fun downtown with great restaurants and bars.  Following a family dinner Friday 9/13 Andrew and I hope to rally.  Lets cheers to our last and final night apart as bachelor and bachelorette.  So please come thirsty and we can raise our glasses!  The exact bar location is to be determined.  Heck, we can crawl down First Street and explore.  For your info downtown is less than two mile from our hotel block.  

As stated on the invitation details page, we reserved several rooms at Hawthorn suits.  Use this link or feel free to call, please mention your part of the Bauer wedding party.  All rooms must be reserved before August 1st!  It's first come first serve but there should be plenty.  Hopefully those of you that live in the Bay Area will be down to stay the night too.  We have DDs planned with our shuttle taxi service, no tipsy driving allowed!  Because the wedding is on a private neighborhood street we ask limited individual car.  There is room for all to shuttle for the hotel.  

***To make a reservation it's just an easy click away, this will give you our Bartlow-Bauer discounted special rates! 

http://www.hawthorn.com/hotels/hotel-overview?propId=BH30800&rate_code=LKBB

We're excited as our wedding day is rapidly approaching.  Neither if us have cold feet yet. ;)  But it might get emotional once it comes to our vows.  It will be a long lived day, so come prepared for love, laughter and lots of fun!

Thanks for the continued support, we truly can't wait to celebrate with you all.  Thanks also for the RSVPs and thoughtful and funny advice.

Always,
RB & AB

Hello Californians and Michiganders!

Andrew and I are steadily planning our wedding!  It's been a lot of fun and overall stress free; we are well ahead of the game.  Andrew continually thanks me; I guess I'm pretty organized. ;)  As all the major vendors are on board and contracts are underway, we are ready for the fun planning to begin.  It's exciting to be focusing now on the extra details, decorations, and logistics.  We have our lovely venue at my Aunt & Uncle's home in Livermore!  It's a beautiful formal home with great landscaping, a vibrant swimming pool, fun features with a cabana, and relaxing water fountain.  The atmosphere is natural and lively with several tall palm trees, a maple tree, lush green grass, and roses.  We are so thankful for the Crawford's warm welcome to open their yard for our wedding and reception!!!

Last weekend, yes St. Patty’s day, Andrew and I found the hotel that we are blocking off multiple rooms for the night before and evening of our wedding!  This hotel is called Hawthorne Suites by Wyndham in Livermore.  It's only two miles from downtown Livermore and First Street, which is filled with good restaurants, fun bars, ice cream shops and bouquets.  The distance from the venue is an easy drive, only 5 miles away.  We will be blocking enough rooms for Saturday plus extended stay nights for out of town guests.  Rooms will be available Thursday 9/12- Sunday 9/15.  We won't be leaving for our honeymoon until Tuesday, so we'd love to visit a little while longer.  

We’re curious on everyone’s anticipated length of stay in CA and the Livermore wine country.  I hope to adequately save rooms for you!  We hope both family and friends far and near are free to play for the long weekend.  Andrew and I do hope to rally Friday night, after our rehearsal, for a bit out at the bars before we split with our bridal parties.  Please keep in mind for the wedding we will be providing a shuttle service to and from the wedding site to this hotel at Hawthorne Suites only.  Because the wedding is down a private residential street we will need to limit personal and rental car parking; the shuttle is a good way to avoid this and drink up without worrying about driving! ;)

At this Hawthorne hotel, we've settled for the best rate in town, with savings of $25-50+ per night.  There are two basic room types: hotel studio vs. executive suite.  The major difference with the “executive” is a full size fridge and stovetop for those who might want to cook and eat in, or have dietary restrictions (these are ~$10/night).  Otherwise all rooms have single king beds available or two queens, plus any extra needed rollaway twin beds.  Our contract settled for prices as good as $99-$113 per night.  This is cheap for CA, especially right near the wine country!

Please take a peak at the photos provided.  We like the granite counter tops, a full length mirror, a dress closet, an ice bucket, mini fridge & freezer (essential for snacks, spirits and cold brews;), a coffee pot, study with a desk & lamp, free WiFi, table seating, a 40-inch LCD-TV (no DVD , and plush beds.  Extra linens, towels, and roll-away cots are available upon request.  There is also a laundry service on site and same day dry cleaning.  The regular rooms are smoke free but you can request a smoking room and do so outside on the balconies.  

We really like the hotel and hope you all do too!  It’s very comfortable, friendly and best of all in a good location!  There is a small outdoor swimming pool, patio, indoor spa & sauna, and small basic gym/cardio room.  The kitchen area in the lobby is open every morning with a complementary hot breakfast and afternoon tea, coffee, and fruits.

Hold tight please to Reserve... Much more information will be available on our Blog in the near future!  We will also be posting local Bay Area hot spots, good vineyards, day trips, SF tours, and our favorite things to do around town!  Do NOT yet make your reservations, we will give you the go ahead once we have settled our contract and blocked off the rooms.  You have until 45 days prior to our wedding September 14th to book your rooms, so this marks August 1st.  But the more spacious rooms are first come first serve, so be prepared once we give you the ok!  Reservations can be done by phone call or through an easy link on our Blog soon! 

For now, please email us your interests, plans and suggestions.  We can’t wait to see you all, visit, dance and party!

Much appreciated!  

Rebecca and Andrew

Happy New Year!

WOW, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  It came up fast, it’s been a good year, although tough individually it’s been exciting and life changing as a couple.  Personal injuries and health aside Andrew expressed his loyalty to me.  He asked for the ultimate gift, to marry me and he proposed to me in July.  Of course I said yes, “I will!” 

We spent the last five days in Michigan to finish out the year.  It’s been a blast sharing time with his family and friends.  This year Christmas lasted a whole week from California to Michigan!  The Bartlow's and Crawford’s got together Sunday 12/23 and Christmas Eve day with the Hevenor's, our close family friends.  Rebecca nursed in the ICU on Christmas day while her brothers, twin bro's girlfriend Liz and fiancé Andrew all enjoyed a white Xmas on the mountain slopes at Kirkwood ski resort.  Oh well, my time will come to snowboard and cross-country ski in the New Year. J

Comerica Park

Rebecca & Hockeytown

In Birmingham, MI we did a late Christmas with Pam on Thursday 12/27.  We enjoyed gift giving and opening with Andrew’s mom, brother Ryan, girlfriend Katie and his grandparents’ papa and grandma.  Over presents we shared funny moments, good laughs, great stories and gracious gifting.  Pam set us all up for Ten Buck with nice slippers and cool sleeping bags that partner up and zip together… yeaaah!  We also ate a delicious ham dinner with the famous cheesy potatoes and sipped a CA red wine.  Andrew and I brought out a 6-bottle box of wine to taste, gift, and cheers; these are all wedding candidates from the CA vineyards.

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Next we did a fourth holiday in Bloomfield Hills with Andrew’s dad Elan and grandma Doris.  This was another great evening gathered by the tree.  We circled around the living room to take turns opening gifts.  We received some nice things including beautiful picture frames, a Traeger grill cover, a 6-pack and mini keg of favorite MI beers!  Again we were more than set for the trip up north to drink up and stay warm. ;)  Elan treated the sons and significant others to a night at the Palace of Auburn Hills to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  It was an amazing well-rounded performance of great music, singing, dancing and lights.

No trip to Michigan is complete without spending time in Ann Arbor.  A bunch of Andrew’s old cross country and track teammates organized a bar crawl.  It was great to see and meet some old friends to relive old stories and talk about where we've been.  We stayed the night there after the bar crawl and met up with Andrew’s freshman year dorm-mate Luke and his girlfriend Heather at Zingerman's.  Great lunch and another great time catching up!

Ten Buck!

Team Onesy!

The bros and their girls!

Now the traditions could begin and the forever talked about Ten Buck could be lived!!  For five years Andrew talked about this family hunting cabin up North near Alpena where the Parks’, Bartz's, and Martin's extended families would gather for the New Years week.  Here we partook in a variety of activities from snow mobiling and four wheeling, to sledding and tobogganing, running in the woods, telling stories around the late night bon fires, drinking Oberon beer from the mini keg, to playing cards and learning euchre.   It was fun to celebrate cousin Danny’s birthday and take mini beer shots of 43 liquor and cream; I think we found a new drink for grandma Sally! I also enjoyed the traditions playing line gin at the large table for 14.  I beat Uncle Dan with a blow out score of 60+. ;)  New Years Eve Andrew and I brought team onesie uniforms for taco making and flipping contest.  He represented U of M while I was festive in holiday red Mickey Mouse.  Overall Ten Buck was an awesome experience and wonderful time!

To end the trip we embraced a few neighborhood runs together to reflect and talk about our New Year’s goals.  Andrew and I both agreed on two resolutions; one being to get our healthy athletic sides back and two to throw a bomb-ass party in September!  We both feel our best when we are training and competing for something to achieve.  I hope to get my fitness level back to racing organized runs, Tris and rides.  I look forward to riding a few centuries (yes 100 miles) this springtime!  I’d also like to run some trail 10Ks and local half’s.  Andrew wants to race professionally again in triathlons.  He plans to train for a few of his favorite Bay Area races like Escape from Alcatraz in March, Morgan Hill, and Vineman.  The infamous Wildflower is also on his list where he wishes to race his first half!  Regarding our second resolution, it is more of a goal, to prep and plan well to have the best wedding possible.  We are counting on all you, friends and family, to join us and make this party EPIC! 

Posing after a snowy Ten Buck run

We are thankful for the wonderful opportunity to spend time with our other families away from home and very grateful for the hospitality!  Cheers to 2013, we look forward to a year filled with love, laughter and happiness and can’t wait to celebrate our marriage together!

'Tis The Season

Hello Everyone!

In a tree!

We are excited to say the announcements are out!  Many of you have probably received them already and have followed the link to our blog, very good!  Now that we've had a blast creating and sending out the “Save the Date” magnets, the wedding is now feeling more and more official.  J  Our magnet photo of Andrew and I in the tree was taken at Mt. Diablo State Park.   We had a great day traveling to a few of our top favorite places in the Bay Area, including Lake Merritt in Oakland, Mount Diablo in Walnut Creek, and world famous Baker Beach in San Francisco with the Golden Gate in the background.  At Mt. D we planned to hike around the hillside until we found a picture perfect spot.  Instead we stumbled up a hill of loose dirt and grass and saw this beautiful old oak tree.  You know what we were both thinking - how cool would it be to kiss in a tree ;).  Sure enough we made it happen!  With some struggle and much anticipated excitement Andrew boosted me up to where I could then pull myself onto the tree branch.  Andrew followed

with ease and we found ourselves happily seated to enjoy each other’s company.  We had a blast talking, laughing and smiling for the camera.  Believe it or not, the way down was more nerve racking.  Here’s a photo to prove it.  Although it doesn't look that high, the thought of landing on a rock or twisting an ankle was in the back of our minds.  We made it, no injuries to speak of.  Just another Rebecca & Andrew adventure!

Posing at Lake Merritt

Santa's guarding our front door

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone so fast we are getting ready for Christmas.  The holiday season is wonderful with friends gathering, work holiday parties, house decorating and good home cooking & baking!  We enjoyed getting our Christmas tree last week and putting the lights up that night.  The tree remained simple for a week until we got around to hanging our ornaments last night.  Now it feels more complete, looks pretty, and smells great.  We hope to enjoy it for the month until we’ll take it down just before our trip to Michigan for New Years.  The holiday plans have settled; we are always flexible on days due to 3 Bartlow siblings in healthcare.  We will celebrate with the Crawfords (Rebecca’s mom’s side of the family) on Sunday the 23^rd, do an early Bartlow “Christmas morning” on Xmas Eve Day and have our annual Christmas Eve night with the Hevenors (the Bartlow family friends- adopted cousins, aunt & uncle).  Our Xmas Eve celebration with the Hevenors tends to get a little crazy.  Festivities include a champagne toast and a mixture of different drinks, and of course the ever popular White Elephant gift exchange.  In the past, we've gifting random stuff we didn't want anymore.  In the past, you might have gotten a gift like unwanted earmuffs, a decade-old ice cream maker, or Andrew’s personal favorite, wrapped batteries with a sticky-note saying “gift not included” (good one Todd!).  We've since moved on to “nicer” gifts with a $20 limit.

Our fire place!

This year, for the first time, we will be going home to Michigan for New Years!  By working in the hospital both Thanksgiving and Christmas I've bargained for the 1^st of 2013 off and actually get a week away from Eden ICU and Royal Ambulance.  Thanks to Andrew and Sport Basement we will be flying on company miles and able to save some money. J  It’s amazing how much the holidays add up!$!  The MI events are exciting, including Christmas with his mom’s family, a holiday with his dad, grandma and friends, and quality sibling time with his bother and girlfriend.  Hard to believe, but I've never truly met Ryan Bauer.  Crazy…but our busy schedules have never collided.  Between school, work, a tour in Afghanistan and living over 2,000 miles apart, we haven’t been able to make it happen.  I am more than thrilled to meet my future brother-in-law!  It also sounds like we’ll have some wild time to share at Ten Buck, the Bartz (Andrew’s mom’s) family tradition to go to the hunting cabin every New Year’s.  We shall let the fun begin with the snow, games, and the annual taco flipping late night New Year’s Eve tradition!  We return to CA shortly after the New Year.  A few days later, we’ll head up to the mountains for a late holiday with my dad and his wife.  It’s a busy schedule we’re really looking forward to it all.

As far as the wedding plans go, we have taken this month to relax a bit and love each other’s

Our Tree!

companionship.  Once we signed the catering and photography contracts we decided to let the details wait for January and on.  With all the key players involved: caterer, wedding planner, DJ, photographer, and baker we really don’t feel stressed a bit.  We are enjoying planning a private backyard wedding!  Andrew and I have spent the extra time baking, reading, relaxing, shopping, cycling and climbing together.  This past weekend we just about did it all, with a 25 moderate intensity ride and 3 hour rock climb.  Oakland and the bay area continue to impress us with all the things there are to do, restaurants to visit, and hole in the wall places to go!  We are happy with our home, really like where we live, and are blessed with one another’s presence. 

We look forward to visiting with you all.  If we haven’t seen you in a while we should meet up!  Give us a call or send us an email, we’d like to be in contact. 

Take Care & Happy Holidays!!!

-Rebecca & Andrew

BIG Progress in Wedding Planning!

Hello everyone, with this blog we’d like to update you on our current status and plans!  We feel like we've done a lot and spare time & days are spent organizing for our big day to come.  Things seem to be coming together though; from engagement pictures, a wedding location & season, to the announced wedding party for both bridesmaids & groomsmen.

WOW, what a day!  We had so much fun today, thanks to my friend Sean from Eden Medical Center.  Andrew and I finally took official engagement photos today around the Bay Area.  Sean is a coworker and a nurse whom has become a close friend.  One of his hobbies is photography.  He had mentioned it even before my engagement jokingly that, “Hey, so when the day comes for some proposal you’re going to need pictures…”  I said, “What?”  Not knowing that Sean was a semi-pro photographer (although he may not say PRO, he’s pretty modest, and humble) and had just offered to take our photos when the timing was right.  Sure enough, come July 21st Andrew popped the Big Question! ;) I said YES to marry him of course.  Soon after, I update Sean that it happened and he said “great, when do you want to do pictures?”  We had a picture day scheduled with Sean in August, but sadly that was the day I had my nose reduced after fracturing it and my face that weekend prior!  That added a hard cast to my nose for a week, and bye-bye nice photographs.  Come October I healed well and we were anxious to document the engagement!  Today we went to Oakland- Lake Merritt for some home town shots where we run & walk, Walnut Creek- Mount Diablo hillside where we ride, and last but not least San Francisco, a popular place with a great landmark background!  We are looking forward to seeing the finished product!!

As far as our wedding location and season, we are thrilled to announce it will be next fall - mid September 2013 held in Livermore, CA.  We both really like the fall season in CA with great weather; warmth, sun, beautiful colors, and crisp fresh air.  Andrew gives shout outs for the fall as I listed, plus he loves his college football!  Livermore is special and near to my heart with my family, memories, and athletic events.  My whole life my Aunt & Uncle on my mother’s side have resided in Livermore; the good times are endless with childhood Easter egg hunts, pool parties and holiday gatherings.  Andrew has got to know my family pretty well in the past 4+ years and he’s attended these parties!  Two years ago we witnessed my grandmother Flo drive into the swimming pool at age 98!  Crazy!  Together we share athletics in Livermore with the local triathlons and frequent rides together or with the “House of Pain” groups.  Not to mention, wine country is famous out there.  We have toured some of the vineyards together and always enjoy the local Concannon wine.

The last of the major updates is our decided wedding parties!  We've both had our special people on our minds for a while, and now we've been able to ask everyone and get them excited to support us and celebrate!  On Andrew’s behalf he’s invited 4 close guys in his life.  One being his best friend Tommy Greenless from college and home in Michigan.  They shared an apartment in Walnut Creek when Andrew and I first met.  He’s welcomed me as a girlfriend and fiancé.  The other three guys are Ryan Bauer, Andrew (Drew) Bartlow, and Todd Bartlow.  I’m psyched to know all our brothers can back us up.  On the ladies side, my two best friends from middle school will be joining: Alison Comfort and Megan Young.  We (Al, Megs & Becs) all go way back to Columbia neighborhood summer league swimming and girls nights, school dances, high school cross country (with Alison), hiking, and snow shoeing & boarding (with Megan).  We are the true Trio!  Linda Saunders is a 9^th grade high school girlfriend who was my backpacking sister on the trail.  We hiked miles & days together with the co-ed Venture Crew group that we helped start up and lead!  And fourth but not least is my girlfriend Alyssa Bonsall, my CSUEB RN girlie, study-mate, and admirable friend.  She is a kind, caring nurse, considerate friend, and great role model as a peer and wife (married two years ago;).  This is it, 8 wonderful people we are stoked to celebrate with!!

Hope you enjoyed this update.  It’s a lot said, a bit done, and much more to do.  Wedding planning is endless I am learning quickly.

Happy Halloween!

Our Interests

We enjoy common activities and past times.  We both compete in Triathlons; hence we swim, bike, and run for fitness; although this year has been a tough one due to injuries.  We also like to hike, backpack, and camp outdoors in the High Sierra and Yosemite National Parks.  Thanks Todd, Rebecca's older brother for hooking it up as a tour guide and place to stay in Yosemite Valley.  This past May ‘12 we spent a week in Maui and snorkeled everyday, even twice a day!  Overall, we are thankful to live in the CA Bay Area and share this active lifestyle.

In Oakland, we like to explore our neighborhood.  For an afternoon walk we’ll go to the Oakland cemetery and visit my grandparents.  We walk to Fenton’s Creamery for an ice cream in memory of Grandma Flo.  We were very fortunate to share our engagement news before saying good bye to her this August at age 100; what an incredible inspiration she was!  We like to cook together. We make some pretty killer dinners but every once in a while we treat ourselves to a nice meal out.  Oakland has a great variety of tasteful meals out.  On occasion, we also like to have a drink or two out.  We are excited to visit the local bars and get to know more restaurants!

Around the house, we like to play with Gus, our pet chinchilla.  We are forever entertained by his curiosity and energy.  We always get a good laugh when he gets a dust bath.  He goes to town.  We’ll post a video soon, promise.  We also enjoy a relaxing night in to share a movie or good book.  Yes, sometimes we read aloud to each other, shh it’s a secret though. ;)  We’re excited about our new complex with a pool and hot tub.  We’ve already used the facility a hand full of times, it’s awesome. We look forward to host and entertain more this year!

Our favorite music, books, and movies are to come!  We're down for any ideas for bridal tunes and dance themes. ;) Thanks.