wedding recap quickie

so i need to post something, and i want to be able to post about all sorts of details about the wedding in detail (because i was all about details), but i wanted to  give you a little taste of how the day went.

well, first off, remember when i wrote about how worried i was about the weather? the weather on my wedding day ended out being (in the words of our photographer) "the most perfect weather day of this years wedding season." it was 75 and sunny with little to no humidity. we had white puffy clouds during our photos, clear blue skies during our ceremony. the temperature was PERFECT. i was hesitant about an august wedding and that it would be too hot. but it was perfect.

so here are some pictures other people have posted--just want to give you the idea, and we'll get into the good stuff soon. 

we got in last night at midnight from our honeymoon, have a lot to do, andy's got a cold, and our landlord re-did our bathroom while we were gone, which is great, but there is dust EVERYWHERE. so i need to clean the toaster before i can make breakfast.

anyway, here's some photos:

bouquets

bridesmaids: twin, sister, and sister-in-law

the guys (including dads)

ceremony

and for full effect

oh yeah, the kiss.

we did it!

place cards

first dance: I'll Always Be Right There by Bryan Adams

dance with dad: Then They Do by Trace Adkins

fingerprint tree guestbook

sweetheart table

my sister and i and our husbands :)

yes, that's the one i just married. and yes, he's on the floor.

party time! (and this photo features my boston friends)

hope you enjoyed them! it was a GREAT day. the PERFECT day.

warning: not a happy topic, but keep reading.

A friend had posted a link on facebook to a blog post about "What you can do to help a grieving family." The blogger, a mother who lost her son in a tragic accident this past September, posted this wonderful list of things to do or say. Most of us are paralyzed in these interactions, not wanting to upset someone who is grieving.

On Christmas Eve 2011, I woke up and found myself going through old emails--the ones that I had from when Meghan, my classmate and friend from my study abroad program, was killed in a bus accident in Peru. I had written about her, on the fourth anniversary of her death, in my old blog. The group of us had put together a memory book that summer (and through the fall and winter), which traveled around the world, collecting stories and photographs from the 14 of us, which was hand-delivered by one of our group to Meghan's parents in March of the following year. Meghan's parents had asked us to write, and I never felt I was close enough to her, or I didn't want to upset them. 

But for some reason, I felt compelled to write to them on Christmas Eve. I wanted to tell them about all of the times that I've thought about Meghan over the past 5 1/2 years. She loved monkeys, so when I went to Africa, I naturally thought about her. She was one of the reasons I wanted to get a DSLR to take photos (which is now one of my favorite things to do). I shared with them the things I have wanted to share with Meghan. I shared with them what her death has meant to me. I offered to send them an email she had sent to us just hours before she was gone.

I have not heard back from them, and for a time I've regretted it. Until I read this post from Anna at An Inch of Gray. The only regret I have is not sending the email sooner.

I feel I've been surrounded by so much loss in my short life that I need to be better prepared for dealing with this. I hate being at funeral homes, and I've been spending a lot of time there recently, after losing Uncle Ken and Poppa in the past few months. And we're just a few weeks away from 10 years without Uncle Parkie. (I was not able to write that without getting a huge pit in my throat and starting to cry).

With my upcoming wedding, I've been thinking about ways to honor family members mentioned, especially because their absence will be very noticeable because of how fresh some of this is. I have seen calla lilies on the alter during the ceremony for those no longer with us. And Pinterest gave me this idea:

source

but the number of pictures I would have to have, just for my family would take over my bouquet (I'm at 8, just out of grandparents, and aunts/uncles). So I'm working on something else. I'm hoping with my renewed sense of how to help those grieving (myself included), that a remembrance gesture like this would be well-received.

Thanks for reading and putting up with this. I feel that the tips on what to do and say are helpful for all, so I just needed to share (and then my heart takes over and the above mess is what results).

Have you seen other ways to remember loved ones at a wedding?

life update--including that i found THE DRESS!

so, i know. i haven't been writing very often. and that's because things have been crazy. between vacation and holidays and wedding planning and that other thing--oh yeah, work, i just haven't gotten around to it. or cleaning my house (which is a whole other story).

after we got back from florida, we went back to work for a couple of days, and then we headed off to visit andy's family for the thanksgiving holiday. we went out for a whole week, because andy really misses hunting. well, and he sure got to go hunting a lot. he shot a turkey on thanksgiving morning, and he got an 8-point buck. he got to spend a lot of time with his dad, which made him really happy. i spent my time doing wedding planning online, spending a lot of time on pinterest, and even getting some time in at the local Y out there (yay for the Y AWAY program!)

when we got back, we decorated the house, and then a few days later, my mom, my sister and i met up with some old family friends and resurrected our formerly annual holiday cookie baking extravaganza. we used to eat raw cookie dough bake cookies from noon until 9pm. and i mean sugar, spritzer, choc chip, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, fudge, and everything. dozens of dozens of cookies. we didn't make nearly that many this year, now that we're older (i think the last time we did this was maybe 10 years ago?). but it was fun.

in wedding news, i have done a lot of dress shopping (which resulted in a lot of crying--mostly from stressing out), but i'm so glad that on the first day i was able to go with my mom (who lives in TX), my sister (who lives in PA), and my best friend/twin (who lives in SC).  mostly the morning after i thought i liked a dress, i woke up at 3am, panicked because i found a bazillion things wrong with the dress. i did find the right color/fabric dresses for my bmaids on the first day, although i didn't find my dress. on the same day of my first dress shopping adventure, we met with an invitations person, and got to check out another band. it was a good day, so i'm glad i've been able to get a lot done. and we LOVED the band! (we being: andy and i, my sister and her hubby, my mom, and twin--so happy i could have almost everybody there, just missing my dad). I'm so glad we were able to get that figured out and we're all set with the band. And the invitations I think will come along nicely!

after my first dress attempt, i had to head out to more stores. i made three appointments the next weekend, and twin was able to come with me and spend the night. i really liked this organza with fern design dress at david's bridal and i thought it fit my personality perfectly, it was just a little too much dress and train than i was looking for. although i didn't get a dress, i'm so happy twin was able to spend the night, and spend time with andy and i. andy even made waffles and mini omelets the next morning!

organza and fern dress by vera wang
this was not the dress i chose,
but still beautiful!

on sunday i had two more appointments scheduled with my sister. i liked the first place (some things were a bit too expensive), but i found a dress that made me look AMAZING. i liked some details of another dress, and they said since each dress is made to order, they can make it how i want it to be. i didn't want to commit to anything since i was thinking about the fern dress, and i knew we had another appointment. we went to lunch first, and i realized that the fern dress was really not what i wanted and that the amazing dress was what i had been looking for all along. the 2nd store was a DISASTER. both places said "bridal couture"--which i scoffed at, and my sister told me it didn't mean couture like i thought it did. but for this place, it did. nothing looked good, most dresses actually made me look like a house.

i had been so overwhelmed with how awesome i looked in the dress at the first place, that i forgot to picture myself walking down the aisle. we called them and asked if we could come back before they closed. i knew when i put it on that it felt so right. i was hesitant because i hadn't slept on it and it was more than i anticipated spending on a dress. but i was going to be so comfortable in it, and i wouldn't have been in any other dress. and it was going to be made custom for me. so we placed the order! and the more i sleep on it and think about it, i'm so glad that's the dress i chose.

so, we got our save the date proof--it looks ADORABLE. i still have a little shopping to do, although most of my shopping was done and wrapped before thanksgiving. which is a good thing since i really haven't had any weekends free since then. this weekend won't help: we're going to a wedding! [since i'm surely not wedding-ed out] the bride, andy and i were 3 out of the 4 interns the first summer at PEEC. it is crazy where life takes us in just a few years.

hopefully i can blog a little more frequently than once a month! just in case, happy holidays and a happy 2012!

(i have a feeling that 2012 is going to be a wonderful year! i can't believe this time next year i will be MARRIED.)

our trip to America's Dairyland

So, now that we've been back for just under 1 MONTH, I'm making this post happen...

in mid-August, Andy and I headed out to Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? you might ask. Well, way back in 2006, when I was studying abroad in Ecuador, two of my fellow classmates met on the trip and started dating. Since our whole group was there when they got together, we were all invited to their wedding in Wisconsin. Although it would have been wonderful to have the whole group together again, only myself and one other from the group of 14 were able to make it.

We left the house very early on Thursday morning, got to the airport, boarded our plane from the tarmac, and then it started POURING. and we were delayed. and we missed our connection in Cleveland. So we were re-booked from Cleveland to Milwaukee to Madison instead of just Cleveland to Madison. We hung around the Cleveland airport for a while, lugging our bags around, eventually made it to Milwaukee, and only about 4 hours behind schedule we made it to Madison. (In my personal opinion, Milwaukee was a crappy airport--we had to leave the 'secured' area to get our tickets for the third flight, which was from a different airline, and then had to go through security again. And dump out the water bottle I had purchased at the Philly airport--UGH).

Anyway, we arrived, exhausted and cranky--and eventually went to find some food. Now, I really wanted to explore and visit the quintessential local fare. So we went to The Old Fashioned, and I had one of the most ridiculously delicious sandwiches ever. Grilled Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese with bacon and roasted red pepper, with a huge pile of onion strings (I read they were the best in Madison!), complemented by a local hard cider. YUM.

After consuming half of it (and saving the rest for later), we went for a walk to get a feel for Mad-Town. We walked over to Monona Terrace (this is our 2nd Frank Lloyd Wright building we've visited--the first was Fallingwater out in southwestern PA way back in 2008). The sun was setting, and they had just lit up the capitol building, and it was beautiful! We sat on the Terrace just looking out over Lake Monona, watching the boats drive around.

The next day, we ate breakfast at the Marigold Kitchen (delicious) and I had planned for us to walk out to Picnic Point, through the UW-Madison campus. It was probably about a 6-7 mile round trip walk. It was a beautiful preserve along Lake Mendota that then went past some beautiful campus buildings, and eventually back into preserve again on this very thin peninusla that provided wonderful views of Madison. On our walk back, we stopped and had lunch at the famous Memorial Union (which came highly recommended from a wonderful friend, Dr. Mookie).

We met up with the bride and groom to be on the eve of their wedding at the Great Dane Pub, and we consumed a couple beers and the cheese and artichoke dip (another recommendation from the fabulous Dr. Mookie). More yum. (I was eyeing up the cheddar mac that some other people got, though!)

The following day, we had breakfast at the Sunprint Cafe (mmm bacon egg and cheese sandwich), we met up with Noah and Rachael (Noah was from the Ecuador group), and Rachael is his wife. They were on the last leg of their 5 week long honeymoon, and heading back to their new home in Boulder. ADORABLE couple. I bought some cheese to take home at Fromagination on the Square, and we enjoyed the Dane County Farmer's Market (which was HUGE, and kept people shuffling along in a counterclockwise fashion around the capitol square). I tried some cheese curds, DELICIOUS cheesecake, fresh sliced tomatoes, and so much more. 

We had some leftovers at the hotel for lunch, had some ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe on State Street. (It's America's Dairyland--now that I've had lots of cheese, I had to have ice cream). I got their signature Zanzibar Chocolate with peanut butter topping, peanut butter cups, etc.Andy got something green (maybe pistachio?) I don't know. I was too engrossed in my sundae.

We took a nap after all that and then it was time for the wedding. Held at the lovely Orpheum Theater on State Street, it was a beautiful ceremony. Something I really liked that they did was they passed around the rings for the entire group to touch and send their blessing, as everyone had touched their lives in some way.

 

Nicole & Alex (her dress was handmade by her aunt!)

the adorable Rachael and Noah (quite the dancers!)

we partied and danced until I was about to pass out (around 11:30, I think), went back to our hotel room and slept until it was time to go to brunch in the AM. After saying goodbye to Noah/Rachael, and Alex/Nicole, we headed off on our next adventure. We walked through the other side of the UW-Madison campus towards the Henry Vilas Zoo. We passed the Orpheum, which still had the message for Alex & Nicole (So far so good)--since they were officially married last year, and then wanted to have the wedding ceremony/party for friends and family.

The zoo was pretty awesome for being a free zoo! It was about a 3 mile walk to get there, but I need to work off all of the cheese that I had consumed so far. We saw some really cool animals like a badger (of course, the UW mascot), capybaras, an alligator snapping turtle, etc.

We decided to call a cab to get ourselves some food, since we were hungry, and I really wanted that cheddar mac at the Great Dane, so that's where we went. It was DELICIOUS.


It was our last night, and I had also been keeping an eye on the grasshopper ice cream at The Old Fashioned, so we got some of that for dessert (it's got creme de menthe in it, so I got carded to get ice cream), over a brownie, to go, and took it to Monona Terrace. It was a great last night in Madison, a city I really enjoyed. 

(The trip home went off without a hitch--we did have to take a propeller plane from Madison to Cleveland! It was pretty crazy!)


Hopefully I'll be better about posting for my next vacation!! :)

5 years ago: coming home.

This day, five years ago, I returned home from my semester abroad in Ecuador. Although I had the best time of my life, I was ready to return home after 4.5 months. 

I have many many memories and a list of things I did to rival any bucket list. Here's a small snippet:

- visited the Galapagos Islands

- lived in the Amazon Rainforest for 1 month

- went horseback riding in the Andes

- jumped off a 40 foot tall waterfall (i have no photo of me, but here's one of some random person at the same place)

- saw a Cock-of-the-Rock lek (group mating ritual of some brightly colored birds)

- saw 8 species of monkeys (among more wildlife than anyone could imagine)

- rode a bicycle on the Panamerican Highway 

- soaked in natural hot springs baths

- stood on two active volcanoes

- swam with sea lions, sea turtles, rays, and sharks

- saw Lonesome George

- got the worst sunburn of my life
- saw many sunrises and sunsets

- caught bats, raised baby turtles, studied fiddler crabs, measured and counted hermit crabs, among several other research projects (e.g., schoolwork)

- traveled via plane, train (on the roof), bus, and boat

- rode in the bed of many a truck

- lived with a host family, where my host mother did not speak any English

- oh yeah, and that earned me 18 college credits.

here are some photos to continue the trip down memory lane.

getting ready to leave. i brought all that stuff.

my host sister and I

my first full day in Ecuador. at the Equator.

BU Tropical Ecology Program 2006

at 13,500 feet elevation

me at 14,700 feet on Cotopaxi Volcano (one of the highest active volcanoes in the world)

this is class.

awkward foot wash station.

me & a land iguana in the Galapagos

i have a bat in my hand.

on the Rio Tiputini (this is the only way to get to and from our research station)

canopy walkway up 100ft in the air

riding on top of a train to El Nariz del Diablo

at nearly 12,000 feet at Podocarpus National Park (I'm smiling because this is before I thought we were lost and were not going to survive)

at the best known Inca ruins in Ecuador, Ingapirca

this is our professor.

my parents even came to visit! this is the REAL Equator.

i have to mention the other item for this day. although May 14th was the 'last day of the semester,' some members of our group stayed to continue traveling. one of our group, Meghan Sennott, was traveling in Peru on an overnight bus trip, and the bus went off the side of a mountain in the Andes. Thirteen people, including Meghan, were killed in the crash. 

Our group was only 14 students, 1 TA, and 1 professor. I found out via email two days after it happened. I had messages from our TA, our professor, and our program administrator in Ecuador. it hit hard, as it could have been any or all of us. we spent a lot of time in buses, speeding around blind corners on dirt roads with no guardrails in the Andes.


i had been happy to be home, and at that point, i was just glad i was able to come home. it still was a great semester, but my return to the US and the end of the trip still is bittersweet.