Kim and I are expecting our first child! We’re really excited and we can’t keep the news to ourselves any longer! This is big — we’re even using exclamation points, people!

Update Dec. 23, 2011

See photos from Kim’s second ultrasound appointment from October 26.

FlockDraw

The first one is FlockDraw. And it’s beyond cool. Somehow, thanks to the amazing power of the Internets, it allows for collaborative drawing. Like, I could be drawing on it, and you could be drawing on it AT THE SAME TIME … and we can see each other do this … in real time.

It’s FLASH based, I believe and it’s really cool … when it works. I say this because I drew something at work, and then later today from home, I went to look at it and it was gone. I did post it to Facebook, and though no one commented, maybe someone erased it? Shrugs. See it here:

[It was embedded here. But, I've since removed it - it was not working as I had hoped and was busting my WordPress container.]

Of course, at this moment, it’s blank again. Sigh. Well, we’ll see … maybe it will right itself.

Just in case, I’ve embedded it here in this non-blog page: http://www.brandonandkimberly.com/flockdraw.html … It’s not working as of this writing. The “embed” code they give out is wonky, and it doesn’t even display on my Mac at work. Go figure.

In the meanwhile, the URL for the one I’ve been playing with is: http://flockdraw.com/cc0u4z

UPDATE: Oh wait, now I get it: “It’s important to note that these FlockDraw rooms are meant to be disposable — once the last person leaves the room, the image disappears.” from: ReadWriteWeb. But, still, I can’t seem to get the embedding to work. Sigh.

Squidoo

I’ve been looking for a guestbook for www.brandonandkimberly.com because someone has strongly advised me to, and one of the first things I found in a Google search was Squidoo.

Squidoo is a lot like GeoCities, in that it allows anybody to set up a free website. And, that it looks pretty crappy. I hate all the banner ads, as represented in this screenshot:

If you’re interested in seeing the Squidoo page I set up today but likely won’t continue messing with, see it here: http://www.squidoo.com/brandonandkim … Really, I just think I’m too old for that many ads. However, if anyone clicks on them, I might make money. Ka-ching … yeah, right.

It was easy. I went to their website, signed up, chose two fonts from the free trial selection and specified what domain I will be using them on. The free trial only allows for the use of two fonts on one domain. I then copied the two-line Java call and pasted it into the head of all the site’s pages, then configured the easy-to-use TypeKit editor to specify which font corresponded to which selector in my HTML/CSS of the site, and after a few minutes, I was done.

I chose FF Enzo Web by FontFont for my headlines.

I chose Scrivano by Outras Fontes for my regular body text. I know, I know – it’s a little wild. And kind of a little fancy pants, but it really highlights the fact that I’m using a unique font on my Web site and if you’re cool enough to have an updated browser, then you’re cool enough to see it and, perhaps, be inspired by it and the brilliant web developer behind the Web site. All that, and Kim let me, so there.

But it doesn’t work in all the browsers I use. Here’s the results of my survey:

Go

MAC
Firefox 3.5.5
Safari*

PC
Firefox 3.5.5
Internet Explorer 8

No Go

Mac
Camino
Google Chrome
Opera

PC
Chrome 3
Internet Explorer 6+7

* Though BrandonandKimberly.com keeps crashing Safari. Doh! Man, I hate that browser.

Also, I’m kind of disappointed in the way that various browsers display the fonts I chose.

Check out these screen shots. Discuss.

Firefox 3.5.5 (PC): This is how Typekit displays our wedding Web site on the browser of my choice.

Internet Explorer 8 (PC): It doesn't display as nicely, but, maybe that's just my opinion. Notice how the weights of the headlines between this one and FF are inconsistent.

Firefox 3.5.5 (Mac): It looks pretty good on Firefox for Mac.

We used the font Brioso Pro throughout the program.

Here's the main graphic for the cover of the wedding program that I designed.

Here's the graphic I created for our name. Note the interlocking ampersand.

Here's the front and back covers of the wedding program.

Here is the PDF of the wedding program I designed for our wedding.

I designed them using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS4.

Here they are:

The blue "formal" coozie.

Photos taken for the blue coozie were shot by Pin Lim, from our engagement photo shoot. The background of this coozie will be blue, so the ink needs to be white, and so the white ink is black above – which means it’s kind of hard to tell what this one will look like. I’m confident it will be awesome.

The white "fun" coozie.

One of the photos taken for the white coozie was shot by Pin Lim (see the one on the far right). The others were shot myself, holding the camera out at a decent distance. This coozie was white with blue ink, so it’s not hard to see what it will look like, since the black ink above will be blue.

UPDATE: See a photo of the finished coozie, printed by Kustom Koozies, from Pin Lim’s wedding photo shoot:

The coozies came out great. Our guests loved them!

The Only One – The American Analog Set
Brandy Alexander – Feist
Can’t Afford to Do It – Odetta
Don’t Forget Me – Neko Case
I’m Your Man – Leonard Cohen
My Blue Heaven – Frank Sinatra
Help I’m Alive – Metric
You Were Made for ME – Sam Cooke
Blue Eyes – Elton John
An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy (The Wedding Song) – Lyle Lovett
Remedy – Black Crowes
The Cause of it All – Roy Orbison
I’m glad YOu’re Mine – Al green
Joan Osborne – Cathedrals
My Only Offer – Mates of State
Valerie – The zutons
Sunshine of Your Love – Ella Fitzgerald

Kim and I had a chance to drop by their offices recently for a cake testing and they made two giant cakes for us to sample and showed us a portfolio of their work.

I hate to spoil the cake before it’s baked, so I think all I’m allowed to say is that Kim’s will be white and mine will be chocolate.

I was really impressed with the owner’s cake portfolio and professionalism and look forward to the masterpiece her staff will be creating for our special day.

We took home a lot of cake after our tasting at Sweet Tooth.

Also, songs that were rejected today for consideration for the wedding reception playlist:

• Table and Chairs – Andrew Bird
• Waltz #2 – Elliott Smith
• Sugar Magnolia – Grateful Dead
• Flowers and Liquor – Hayes Carll
• Burn the Honeysuckle – The Gourds
• Voodoo Chile – Jimi Hendrix

www.brandonandkimberly.com

Kim and Brandon's engagement photo

Well, don’t be a stranger. Comment below and congratulate us.

See A Lot of photos of Kim and I here.

Or, see other photos used in this year’s Christmas cards here.