A Week Ago Today

We watched two great friends get married in Hawaii. What a joyful day. Thanks for having us there N&D.

Aloha

Morning

I've been thinking 'how can we move here?' a lot since landing.

Here

Aloha Hawaii! We've landed, found our way to our awesome condo, and snorkeled already. We have a watched a very orange sunset and enjoyed warm evening breeze. I could get used to this!

Aloha

Off to Hawaii!

Seven Years

Holding hands at the beach

Husband,

Seven years ago today I promised to love you and cherish you for the rest of my life.  Little did I know that I could love you even more than I did that day.  Little did I know that I would cherish you more deeply than anything else in my life.  You are my everything.  I love you more and more everyday.  Thank you for making my life full and happy.  Thank you for understanding me more than I do myself and loving me the way I am, now and in every moment of my life.  Thank you for supporting my hopes and dreams, for pushing me, for helping me not to be afraid.  These seven years have been better than I could have ever imagined, here's to 70 more.  

I love you,

Your Wife

Still Here

Having photo fun at a wedding this weekend

We are still here, life is just so hectic.  Some high points of the past few days:


- Chris was sneaky and arranged a surprise birthday brunch for me with a bunch of my friends, a week early.  I didn't suspect a thing.  Good one hon!


- We completed the 100th annual Bay to Breakers 12k race in San Francisco.


- Chris got ordained and performed the wedding ceremony for our friends S&S.  He had some very thoughtful words and did a great job.

- I got to play photographer at the wedding for a special photo project - getting all the guests snapped posing with picture frames, printing out photos of everyone, and sticking them in the guest book for everyone to sign.  Phew!!!  Mission accomplished.


- Farmer's market and dinner with friends.


- A birthday brunch on my actual birthday with my husband and two other good friends.  


- A full day at Maker Faire, with Chris participating in the Amateur Radio Booth with great success

New Year Love

We had a wonderful turn of the year during a weekend away to celebrate the start of 2011 and the start of a sure to be wonderful marriage between our two friends M.C. and L.O. in Carmel, CA.  The wedding was on 1.1.11 so we decided to head down early and splurge a bit on a 'cottage' with a fireplace at the Carmel River Inn for new years eve and the night of the wedding.  We had such a glorious and quiet time arriving at the inn and walking into our lovely little abode.  The cottage had a gas fireplace and to our surprise it also had a little private garden patio with a table and chairs.  We ended up stepping out for a bite to eat for lunch, then returning and spending the entire afternoon reading outdoors on our patio.  The bride and groom invited us out to dinner which we greatly enjoyed, but we split off from the group to escape back to our fireplace and a chilled bottle of sparkling wine to ring in the new year.  

The next day was the wedding.  Chris escaped early in the morning and took a stroll down to the ocean front and around Carmel while I slept in.  He proceeded to rub it in for the rest of the day, and while I did regret not getting up to go with him, I did love the extra hour of sleep and ended up needing it for the  day's requirements.  We went off for a lovely big breakfast at the Black Bear Dinner and did a few errands for the bride and groom (flower delivery, place cards, etc).  Then back to our cottage for relaxation and prep for the evening.  We fielded a panicked phone call from the family of the bride about the zipper on her dress getting stuck (eek!) but luckily they got it fixed before the need for reinforcements (though I was ready to go buy needle and thread to sew her in)!

Chris and I enjoying the wedding dinner at Casanova's.

The wedding was absolutely lovely, intimate, and personal.  The bride's godmother 'smudged' the guests with sage smoke as they arrived, the bride and groom welcomed the guests and asked them to take a small shell or stone from a bowl to hold durning the ceremony and pour their good thoughts and well wishes into, the guests formed a circle around the bride and groom and the ceremony was performed by her mother and his father.  They faced south, north, east, and west to be reminded of all of the world's supports for their marriage and to see all of the guests and feel our support as well.  They exchanged their own written vows, the bride smiled, the groom was moved to tears, and we all felt their love and dedication to one another.  It was magical and meaningful for us all.

My place at the table with my stone filling up with well wishes and love for the couple.

The stones and shells were collected at the end of the evening and will be displayed by the couple at their home. 

After the ceremony we were treated to a celebration with an incredibly delicious dinner at Casanova Restaurant in Carmel.  We were welcomed into a cozy room with two long tables set up with yellow tablecloths and pitchers of roses.  The restaurant is the favorite of this couple and it was clear why as plates of melon with prosciutto and then dishes of airy spinach gnocchi were brought out for the guests to enjoy.  The dinner was a choice between roasted chicken or filet mignon and the dessert was a perfect creme brulee.

Our view down the long table.  It was a perfect evening.

The guests toasted the bride and groom and speeches from family and friends abounded.  Chris and I even gave a speech about sharing in the first meal with the couple when they met (my birthday dinner nearly 2 years ago) and the joy in knowing that first night that they had met their matches and then the honor of seeing them fall in love and progress as a couple.  It was a fantastic event, one that was exactly fitting for this couple, and we look forward to supporting them and celebrating with them throughout their marriage.  May it be a life long and happy one!

The Bride

I think this just about sums up the whole feeling of the wedding...

The Great Northwest: Day 3 - The Wedding

What a joy to see my great friend M.S. marry her sweetheart M.S. - it was a wonderful, personal, thoughtful, hand-spun, loving, happy, lovely day. M&M were glowing. It was plain to see that they were really meant to be together, and had a strong deep understanding love for each other. After getting to know the groom better I could not have wished for a more perfect match for my good friend. How lovely.
There were so many personal details in this wedding. From the hand cut hearts used for garlands and 'flower petals' for the flower girls from surplus pages of the children's books M&M craft into clever journals together. To the pie served from their most loved coffee shop date in there home neighborhood. And the picnic blankets stacked up for use at the reception site. Thank you M&M for involving us to witness and be present for you on this unique and special day.

Wedding Bliss

My good friends S&J got married yesterday. It was a lovely ceremony in a very rustic catholic church. I got there early and though not really religious, went and lit a candle for my friends and concentrated on all of my well wishes for the couple. I hoped that the happiness and love they felt on their wedding day would grow even deeper as time went on. That they would succeed in supporting each other in jobs, kids, and times of stress, and that there would be laughter and smiles through even the tough times.

The reception was a blast. Chris saw many, many friends from High School (both the bride and the groom went to high school with him) and reconnected over stories of the past and of the present. We danced for hours (even the funky chicken) both together as a couple and in a circle of friends until the DJ called it quits. We hugged our friends goodbye and packed our car full of gifts and cases of leftover wine to drop-off at the bride and groom's house on the way home. Once home, shoes were kicked off and we crawled into bed.

We slept in this morning, until a late for us 9:30. I persuaded Chris that really, nothing would do for breakfast except a fresh donut, and set him packing for a 'Happy Donut' run (not that I had to twist his arm or anything). We then watched an hour or so of Looney Tunes with our donuts, coffee, and fruit salad while in our PJ's before starting the menial tasks of the day (homework, grocery shopping, etc). Chris laughed when I took the picture below, but really I think it captures the heavenly, lazy feeling of the morning perfectly!