A Long Far View

The guys suit up.

We had our first look!

We enjoy the sun at the Tree House!

We take photos with our people.

We make our entrance.

We say I do.

We take family pictures.

We join our guests for cocktail hour.

The toasts keep coming.
We dance.

We were surprised with a photobooth.

Wedding in the Woods: Surprise Photobooth!

2011-12-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

After the cake had been cut and the dance party was going strong, I found out that Kat had one more surprise up her sleeve.

She set up a photo booth.

This wasn't in our budget so I wasn't prepared with props or anything else, but she had that covered too. (And people improvised by grabbing whatever else they could find. Like an extension cord. Because why not?)

Some of my favorite pictures ended up being ones from the photobooth.

It was pretty hilarious to see later who the hams were, going back to the booth multiple times.

And of course, I had to get some shots with a couple good friends of mine!

It was such an amazing surprise and one I really appreciated. Thanks again Kat!

*Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the fabulously talented Persimmon Images.

Want to catch up?

The guys suit up.

We had our first look!

We enjoy the sun at the Tree House!

We take photos with our people.

We make our entrance.

We say I do.

We take family pictures.

We join our guests for cocktail hour.

The toasts keep coming.
We dance.

Appreciate

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Appreciate: In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?

I know I'm pulling a lot from our wedding, but that was the single biggest emotional moment of 2011 for me. And a lot of these prompts bring me back to that weekend. While I felt a lot of appreciation and gratitude during that weekend (especially when looking at what so many people did the day of the wedding to pull together such a beautiful ceremony), one of the moments that sticks out to me the most was during the bonfire we had the night before the wedding.

There were so many people there who I love - family, friends, people I had just met that day and already considered them to be part of my family.

It was the beginning of one of my favorite weekends and I remember the overwhelming amount of gratitude I felt for all of my friends and family who were able to celebrate with us.

I'm not entirely certain that I'll ever be able to top that feeling, so for 2012 I want to hold onto that gratitude. My family and friends are the most important people to me, and I always want them to know how much they mean to me.

*All photos by Persimmon Images.

Choose

2011-12-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

Choose: What was the biggest choice you made in 2011? What caused you to choose what you chose?

How many choices have I made this year that have affected my life? A lot. But there are two that stand out in my mind as being the biggest choices of the past year.

The first one? Saying "I do" to my husband. Yes, I already made the choice to marry him when he proposed in 2009. But in February of this year, we each made the choice to formalize that commitment to each other. And I'm so happy I did. Definitely the best choice I could have made.

The second one? Trusting myself and not choosing to take the first job offer I received after being unemployed for several months when we moved back to Seattle. I was so frustrated with my job search and really didn't know what I wanted to do, and yet the first thing I did when I was offered that job was to burst into tears. Because I knew I didn't want it. Because I was in the running for a job that I wanted much more, and because deep down inside I was still holding out hope that there was an even better job out there for me.

It took a lot for me to walk away from that job, not knowing for certain how things were going to turn out and whether something else would come through for me. I'm so thankful that it worked out, but I'm also thankful for trusting my gut and not getting myself into a bad situation where I would have been searching for a new job within a few months.

Feeling a little lost

2011-12-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest. I'm having kind of a rough time right now. Nothing really has changed - and perhaps that's the problem. The feeling that nothing is changing and I'm just treading water and not getting anywhere. Reflecting on this past year is both helping and hurting with that, I imagine. I can see that I really have accomplished several goals... but I'm nowhere close to being where I want to be. And that's incredibly frustrating.

It also hasn't really helped that I've started studying for the bar. Which really serves as some sort of odd kick in the pants that I'm back where I was three years ago. Again, intellectually I know that I'm not, but it's a bit disheartening nonetheless (plus, um, studying for the bar sucks. I don't care what anyone else might tell you, spending three months of my life trying to memorize areas of the law that DO NOT apply to my practice does not make me happy).

And so far the holidays aren't helping. I love Christmas. Love it. The lights, the Christmas music, the time spent with family and friends - bring it on. Plus, this is the time of year that B and I got engaged - how can I not love this season? But so far this year I haven't felt it. Maybe it's because we don't have a tree yet. Maybe it's because I feel terrible that I can't get my friends and family gifts that I've found that would be perfect for them (I love to give gifts and for the last several years I haven't really been able to do much in this department because our budget is tight. This sucks a lot). And yes, there's always handmade gifts. But those take time and do you see the above paragraph about studying for the bar? That means that time is in short supply right now.

I think most of all I'm just tired of feeling this way. It's as though I have moments of clarity that things will be fine and we'll get through this, but the rest of my time is spent in this cloudy haze of anxiety and worrying. No matter how many times I tell myself to let it go, it keeps coming back.

I'm feeling stagnant, and I'm tired of it. Tired of feeling as though I'm waiting for something (but I'm not entirely certain what that something is). And I'm not sure how to change this for myself, as I know that's what I need to do (rather than wait for certain things in my life to change, which I have no power over). An attitude adjustment is needed for sure, I'm just not sure where to start. Ideas?

My Favorite Month

2011-12-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

Day 6 - Favor

What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?

February. No question.

This was also by far my most stressful month.

But saying yes to this man? Knowing that we've promised each other to be together for the rest of our lives, through the hard stuff and the easy? Through sickness and health? Through whatever our teenagers might one day throw at us?

No contest, the month that I married my husband is most definitely my favorite month from 2011.

Lesson Learned

2011-12-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

Today's prompt was:

Learn: What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?

This year I learned to let go. Similar to my word for the first prompt, I have done a lot of letting go this year - of expectations, worries and anxiety.

Here's hoping I can continue to let go of those things that have bogged me down, and instead focus on those things that I can change and work to create the life that I want.

Song as Mood Changer

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

My immediate thought when I saw today's prompt (What song did you listen to in 2011 to completely change your mood? Think about ways you can you add more music to your life in 2012.)?

Cee Lo Green's "F*ck You." And yes, the unedited version. "Eff You" just doesn't have the same effect when you're pissed off.

In all seriousness though, that song and possibly "Raise Your Glass" by Pink are the two songs that stand out in my mind from this past year as being what I turned to when I was in a pissed off mood and just needed to let it out. And they made me feel better, every time.

When I'm in a happy mood and want to stay that way? Iron and Wine or Mumford and Sons. What can I say, I don't have particularly eclectic tastes and I tend to stick with what I like (which may or may not drive my husband crazy).

#WEverb11

2011-12-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

I am SO happy that Kim got #WEverb11 rolling this year. When I opened the email from Gwen saying that there wasn't going to be a #reverb11, my first thought was, huh, I enjoyed some of the prompts from last year, and I really enjoyed some of the posts that I ended up writing. But I guess if it's not happening this year, that's ok. Maybe I'll reflect a bit on my own? Or maybe not...

Because as much as I like to think that I would have written some reflection posts this next month, I probably wouldn't have. Because life is busy. And things happen. And my blogging has sort of fallen off a bit and I'm not entirely certain why. Life feels a little bit adrift right now, and I'm not really sure why that is either. But maybe by looking back at this last year and thinking ahead to the future I can re-center myself? It's worth a shot anyway.

Today's prompt: Choose one word.

Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why. Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you?

I looked back at last year's post (since the prompt was the same in the spirit of where this started), and was intrigued to see my choices of words. My word for 2010: Change. My word for 2011: Passion. Change was right on. Passion was maybe less so. I don't think that I would necessarily have described 2011 as a passionate year, however, when I look back I am surprised at the passion that was there. First off, our wedding. Second, reigniting my passion for the law (strange how finding yourself in the area of law you wanted to be in makes you want to be a lawyer again!). Third, my passion for my family as a whole - I feel incredibly blessed to be back in a place where I can see my parents on a weekly basis.

So while those words were a good choice for last year me, this year my words are:

2011: Release (I would have used "letting go" but I was trying not to cheat on the first post!). This might seem like it would be the opposite of passion, but I don't think so. It's more the way that I have tried to approach aspects of my life this year. When I was so worried about being unemployed and afraid that I would never find a job, I had to let go and trust that it would happen. And then I had three job offers in three weeks. When I was worried about not getting down to California for Christmas this year, I consciously released my anxiety and that day B found incredibly cheap tickets to California so that we both could celebrate with his family. Freaking out about B's job search and feeling like we'll be treading water forever and never getting ahead? Releasing that worry and telling the universe that we'll figure it out has led to an interview. My life is far from perfect, but for all of those things that I cannot change, I also can no longer hold on to my worries like they're a security blanket. This past year has been an exercise in learning that, and I hope to continue that into 2012.

2012: Growth. I want 2012 to be a year of growth for myself - personally, professionally, our family, all of it. Building upon the foundation that B and I have created for ourselves, and seeing where it takes us. And letting go of the anxiety about the future and embracing it instead.

It's Only Wednesday?

2011-11-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a long week and it's only Wednesday. And today was one of those days where you go from a two hour conference call to a spur of the moment lunch meeting with your boss to trying to figure out what exactly needs to happen (and when!) for the 17 different people are asking you to draft documents that may or may not have something to do with each other. Oh and look into terminating this contractor and review this contract to see if we can get out of it. At least there was a puppy at work to play with.

Yup, I'm definitely back at work.

I was working last week while I was at home recovering from the surgery, but it was a pretty slow week with the Thanksgiving holiday (thank goodness!), and working on my couch in yoga pants is vastly preferable to actually getting dressed and coming into the office (even though I get to wear jeans to work. Yoga pants are always superior to jeans). It also probably didn't help that this morning's usually 20 minute commute took nearly an hour (thus leaving me not as much time to prepare for everything that needed to happen this morning).

Anyway. There really isn't much of a point to this. Just that it's felt like a very long week and I still have two more days to get through. And then come Saturday I officially start to study for the bar. Again. Except that last time I was studying for a bar exam it was the summer of 2008, I was a newly minted law grad living by myself and I had nothing else to do for 6 weeks except study for the bar (thank god for bar stipends). Being married and working full time and attempting some sort of a social life during the holidays sounds as though it will be a bit different experience this time around...

But! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is the first week of March which has already been blocked off as a week of relaxation for our belated honeymoon/first anniversary/bar trip extravaganza. Even if we just drive to the coast and rent a cabin there, it shall be an extravaganza (apparently my definition of extravaganza involves a beach and copious amounts of alcohol. I would like for it to include the sun and warm breezes, but hey, I'll take what I can get!).

Just have to keep swimming until March...

Guest post on Geek In Heels!

2011-11-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

Hey all - I'm guest posting for Jenny at Geek In Heels while she spends some time with her two adorable children!

Check out my post on how the glass you're drinking wine from really does affect its taste (also for some pictures of my dad's spectacular wine glass collection!)

I Am Thankful

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for:

My husband - he has waited on me hand and foot this past week doing everything he could to make me as comfortable as possible. And he would do this for me even if I hadn't just had surgery.

My family - they are truly amazing. My parents have been there for me through all of the ups and downs in my life, and I can't even imagine where I'd be without their support. My brother and sister and new brother-in-law are equally amazing and I'm so looking forward to spending more time with them (with no wedding discussions for any of us!).

My friends - how have I been blessed with so many amazing people to call friends? I only hope they know how special they are to me, and how much brighter my life is with them in it.

My dog - yup, I am thankful for the crazy puppy that is Cody. He helped keep me sane through law school, has made a new best friend out of my husband, and will be a great buddy to our future kiddos (nope, not pregnant now though!).

My job and my co-workers - last year at this time was pretty rough. I had no idea that I would end up working with such an amazing group of people (including people who would bring me and my husband dinner this past week!).

My health - this is a big one. Before this surgery I've generally been a pretty healthy person. Sure, I broke bones and got the twice a year cold, but that was about it. I know that I can't take my health for granted, and must be more vigilant about keeping it in good condition going forward. I know so many others have a much harder time of it, and I'm trying to make sure I remember how lucky I am.

My life - I may bitch and moan sometimes, and I might joke about just how broke we are right now, but we have what matters and we'll work to dig our way out and get to the life that we want. Knowing that, and reminding myself how lucky I am in so many ways helps a lot.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and I hope you have a wonderful (and safe!) holiday!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T15:15:00.001-08:00

Do you know that I have had Thanksgiving dinner with my parents every single year of my life? Not always at their house (one year we were in London, and often we've been with other relatives or friends). But I have always seen them on this holiday.

This is something that a lot of my friends (and my husband) are amazed by - but in college we had a week off at Thanksgiving so I always went home for the week. And when I was living in Oregon for 5 years, I still always managed to make it home for turkey day. This is one of my favorite holidays for many reasons - the family togetherness, the food (and now the wine!), the days off from work (or school), and a time to take a few days to relax before the craziness that is December.

Whenever my mom makes Thanksgiving dinner it's all the foods that I remember from childhood - turkey and gravy, my grandmother's stuffing (that I used to dislike and is now one of my favorite foods!), peas and squash (which I still don't eat to this day - but the rest of my family loves), homemade rolls, green beans, cranberry and apple jello, cranberry sauce... and of course pies to top it off when we're all still stuffed silly.

I know a lot of people (again, including my husband) like to change up menus and try something new every year. I can appreciate that, but for me this holiday is about being with family and having the same (or at least similar throughout the years) meal drives that home for me. The food helps to connect the past with the present, and makes me excited for what the future will bring.

And since my husband and I love this type of food so much, we tend to make a belated Thanksgiving meal early in December where we try out new dishes (like sweet potatoes!). Turkey leftovers are the best!

No matter where you're celebrating, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are able to be with family or friends (or both! We're celebrating our annual Deep Fried Thanksgiving with friends on Saturday - too bad I won't be able to eat anything there this year!).

Anyone else have traditions of going home like this? Or are you building new traditions as you get older?

Recovery

2011-11-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

At home, sitting in a surprisingly perfectly angled Ikea Poang chair, watching football and keeping an eye on the clock. As the second hand ticks past, it means it's closer to another round of pain meds. Also the USC-OR game (Go Ducks!).

I don't love how the pain meds are making me feel (super fuzzy head, very out of it, and ready to fall asleep at the drop of a hat - but only sometimes), so I'm hoping to be off of them soon. On the other hand, I also know better than to let myself go too long if I am in pain. So I'm trying to figure that out.

Overall, things haven't been so bad, though this morning has been a bit rough. Had more of an appetite last night, not so much of one right now. Though I'm trying to keep something in my stomach since I know that ultimately that will make me feel better. Sleeping's been interesting - I'm trying to keep myself propped up a bit due to the pain in my shoulder (from the gas), but then I get uncomfortable and have trouble getting into a new position. Slept in the living room the last two nights (so did B - he was worried he wouldn't wake up if I needed him if he was in the bedroom), but moved back to the bed around 4 this morning. I think that helped. I'll probably try that tonight (yay for having lots of pillows!).

Mainly this has been an exercise in patience - patience for myself and letting my body heal at whatever rate it needs to. Patience with letting others help me - particularly my husband who has been awesome (seriously, I'm pretty sure I got the best husband out there). Patience with myself when I need to let other responsibilities go (ie stop replying to work emails when I can't effect much change right now and my head's too fuzzy to make much sense anyway!).

Cody still isn't quite sure what's going on and why I'm not playing with him and letting him up to snuggle. He's figuring it out slowly that he needs to be careful with me, though he'd still prefer I throw his toys for him.

Finally, I really want to thank all of you who have reached out to me with good wishes the last couple of days! It meant a lot to read them all when I woke up on Thursday. You're all pretty amazing and I wish I could send cookies to everyone once I was feeling better! In all seriousness, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Waiting

2011-11-17T06:30:00.001-08:00

At the hospital. Checked in. Waiting for them to call me back to get started. And just found out that B can't come back with me for any part (is that normal? I thought he could be with me while I got my iv at least).

In any event, almost time for the gallbladder to come out. And I have to leave my phone with B because they don't allow them back there. Hopefully pre-op goes quickly or else I'll be bored with nothing to do!

Being Yourself

2011-11-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to happy hour with a couple of my good friends from college. It's sometimes still hard for me to believe that we've known each other for more than ten years. Along with being closer to my family, this was one of the things that really pulled me to move back here - getting to have the random evenings (along with planned events) with them. They are my people and we've all gone through a lot of shit together. The only bummer is that we're all so busy now we tend to go far too long between seeing each other! (Also, one of our group moved Jamaica. And it sucks that she's not around for happy hour right now. Except that she's in Jamaica. So it's kind of hard to feel bad for her.)

Anyway! One of the things that we talked about was a conversation my friend had had about being yourself. Specifically how at this point in our life, we've all more or less figured (some) things out and have become comfortable with being who we are. That we aren't trying to be anyone else, that we've accepted who our essential selves are. And that at this point, your friends have shaken out such that the ones who are still in your life are there not from any convenience (like growing up together on the same street, or living together in college or roommates afterward), but are there because they appreciate and like spending time with the quintessential "you." It was a really interesting point for me to think about.

See, I've spent most of my life being uncomfortable with who I was - whether it was my size, appearance, intelligence, whatever. And only in the past couple of years do I feel like I'm finally starting to own everything that makes me "me." And I've gotta say, actually being aware of it like that, being comfortable in my own skin and also recognizing that me being me is the person who my (incredibly talented and amazing) friends want to spend time with? It's a pretty good place to be.

For me, I think a lot of this acceptance came when I became serious about B. When I figured out that he liked me. Not any pretend version of myself, but the me who likes to wear sweatpants and watch football on the weekends. The me who very occasionally likes to dress up and dance with her friends, but who really prefers to go out for drinks at a local bar. The me who likes to wear makeup, but not enough of it that anyone really notices. The me who loves to re-read books and gets sucked into lives of characters on TV shows and is perfectly happy hanging out with my family. Feels good to know that all he wants is for me to be me. Because that's who he fell in love with and married. (And for the record, that's all I want for him as well.)

Why does it take so long to understand that?

And I should note that I'm certainly not saying I have everything figured out (god knows I don't), but this realization of acceptance has been a big one for me.

I just wish I'd been able to figure it out sooner - I think my early 20s would have been much happier. But I guess this is what growing up is all about?

TGIF

2011-11-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm still stressed out, but it no longer looks like the sky is falling and I've moved on from my WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE freakout. So I'm going to take that feeling and go with it and start to look on the bright side. Which, first off, is that it's Friday. Thank freaking god.

Other bright side news? Finding out some things about work has prompted me to jump back in to networking with people in my profession. No, I'm not planning on changing jobs any time soon, but I've done a really terrible job of growing my network since moving back to Seattle. That's just dumb, because as my father has always drilled into my head, you need your network in place long before you actually need to use it. I should be involved in my profession and community and actively trying to help others long before I need to ask for help myself. I've found several people that I want to talk to and get to know better and have already set up a time to meet with one of them. Go me.

Also on the not-being-a-hermit track, I've got plans with a bunch of friends tomorrow night which could keep me out of the house past 10pm. I love my husband and I love being a homebody (most of the time), but sometimes a girl just needs to let loose and dance which is what will be happening tomorrow. After spending a good portion of the day relaxing with my girls. Plus there's football to be enjoyed and all that other good stuff.

And while I'm still nervous about my upcoming surgery, I'm feeling better about it and am looking forward to life post-surgery.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and are looking on the bright side of things yourselves!

Stress

2011-11-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

So. I've been pretty stressed lately. I try not to talk about it too much as who needs to deal with other people's stressors when they probably have plenty of their own to deal with? (My husband of course is the exception to this rule. He gets to hear all about my stress. Lucky him!)

In no particular order, here's what's been going on with me and what I've been worrying about:

My upcoming surgery. (Next week. Next Thursday to be precise.) I've been under general anesthesia before, but that was when I was much younger and my mom was doing much more of the worrying, because honestly I had no idea what was going on. Now I do. And I've been told about all of the risks and everything that could possibly go wrong. Knowledge is power, yes, but it's also more to worry about. Also, did I mention they're removing an organ? That still totally weirds me out.

Money. Pretty sure money will be a stressor in my life no matter how much or how little of it we have at any given time. I think that's how I'm wired. But it still sucks and stresses me out to think about our finances.

My job and career. Lots of stuff going on here which I really can't go into detail about. Let's just say that things aren't always what they seem to be and I'm trying to figure out what the best move for me will be. I hate not knowing what to do, and not knowing what the best option is. So instead I worry about lots of different things.

My husband's job and career. This I can control even less than my own. But still. I stress.

Christmas. I love Christmas and spending time with family. That is not what I worry about. But there are other aspects to this holiday that do stress me out ($$). Not just presents (but I hate that I can't be as generous as I want to be with the people who I love the most). But the transportation and logistical side of the holidays.

There's more. But those are the highlights. I've really been actively trying lately (and by lately I mean the past year or so) to not stress about those things that I cannot control. And I've done an ok job of that for the most part. There really is something to the whole "let it go" philosophy. But in the last couple of weeks my anxiety has shifted into overdrive on so many levels and it's been really hard for me to let it go. I know I need to. And I think some relaxing time with some of my favorite girl friends this weekend will help. As well as reminding myself that things will work out. Maybe not the way I thought they would, or the way that I originally intended, but they will work out.

But still.

I worry.

Weekend in the Woods: Let's Dance!

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love dancing. I look ridiculous while doing it, but it's just so much fun I can't help it. Mr. EB, however, is not a fan of dancing. But he promised to dance with me at our wedding, and he more than lived up to that promise (and I'm pretty sure he had some fun, too!).

Our first dance was to Iron and Wine's "Love & Some Verses." It was perfect, and our band even learned the song so that they could play it live. (And I don't think our photographers minded that we borrowed their first dance song either!)

The best part about having our band learn the song was that they were able to make it a bit shorter (while I love to dance I knew I would be incredibly self-conscious being out there by ourselves on the dance floor, so I didn't want to dance for the entire length of the song).

After our first dance, Mr. EB danced with his mom and I danced with my dad to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version). About halfway through the song we opened up the dance floor to everyone else. This worked out great for us - we had part of the song to dance specifically with our parents, but then the rest of the song to share with all of our family and friends.

I have no idea what my dad said here, but clearly I thought it was pretty funny!

Once the dances were out of the way, everyone took to the floor and didn't leave! Our band was fantastic (sure, I may be biased because they're friends, but they really were great). Everyone had a good time and there were plenty of spaces for people to wander to if they didn't want to be directly on the dance floor.

Co-MOH S even got up and sang with the band, too!

I got to dance with my new husband, my parents, my in-laws, with my best girlfriends from high school, college and law school, my siblings, my cousins - it was absolutely perfect.

We cut the cake during a quick break from the dance floor (IslandWood made all of the desserts for our dessert table and they were amazing!).

We only had a cake in the first place because my mom wanted cake-cutting photos. I didn't want to stop the action and people kept asking if they could eat the cake, so I grabbed Mr. EB and my mom and we cut the cake! Sadly, that was my only bite of dessert all evening, but man that was a good cake.

It was about this time that Kat and Justin mentioned they had a little surprise for Mr. EB and myself back in the Great Hall...

*Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the fabulously talented Persimmon Images.

Want to catch up?

The guys suit up.

We had our first look!

We enjoy the sun at the Tree House!

We take photos with our people.

We make our entrance.

We say I do.

We take family pictures.

We join our guests for cocktail hour.

The toasts keep coming.

Weekend in the Woods: The Toasts!

2011-11-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

After dinner was served it was time for the toast. Oh, the toasts!

Mr. EB's best man took charge of organizing the people who wanted to speak, and I highly recommend appointing someone to do this if you haven't already.

It made it so that Mr. EB and I didn't have to worry about making sure everyone who wanted to speak got a chance to, and we could instead just listen to the amazing things our incredibly wonderful family and friends said.

On the other hand though, we had a LOT of people speak - my two co-MOHs, Mr. EB's sister (and groomswoman), his best man, each of his parents, both of my parents, and several aunts, uncles and cousins. While this was appreciated, it meant that the toasts lasted a lot longer than anyone was really expecting - to the point that we were nearly an hour off schedule by the time we made our way back into the Great Hall for dancing. This is a LONG time to listen to people speak, and while I was enjoying it, I do remember thinking in the back of my head that this meant we weren't going to have as much time for dancing.

But their words were so special - and it really did mean a lot to both Mr. EB and myself that they wanted to speak.

I should note that my family is from North Carolina - and when my mom broke into the North Carolina toast ("Here's to the land of the long leaf pine"), my sister and I couldn't help but stand up and toast along!

My mom also thanked all of the staff who had made it such an incredible weekend, including IslandWood's wonderful chef, the house manager and of course, our amazing coordinator.

The toasts finally ended when my cousins on my mom's side came up to say a few final words (we're spread out across the country, but we all spent at least two weeks at the North Carolina beach every summer so we still got to feel like we grew up together). It was the perfect end to the toasts and we managed to get a couple of great photos out of the craziness!

Finally, it was time to dance!

*Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the fabulously talented Persimmon Images.

Want to catch up?

The guys suit up.

We had our first look!

We enjoy the sun at the Tree House!

We take photos with our people.

We make our entrance.

We say I do.

We take family pictures.

We join our guests for cocktail hour.

We get our license to wed.

Insomnia

2011-11-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

How do you deal with being awake at night? For no particular reason whatsoever, except that when you lie down and close your eyes to sleep, you stay awake, staring at the clock as it slowly ticks past midnight, getting closer and closer to the time when your alarm will go off?

I've been very lucky to avoid sleeping problems for most of my life. Sure I've had the occasional problem falling asleep, but most often I can trace it to that second cup of coffee that I didn't really need, or some chocolate that I had too late at night. I've known people who have had serious sleep issues and because of that I've tried very hard not to take my good sleep patterns for granted.

For much of the past year any sleep problems that I had could be attributed to the pain from my gallbladder attacks. I'd be in too much pain to lie down and sleep, and so I'd creep out to the couch to read or watch TV until the pain subsided. Even when I was in pain, I'd have to admit to a certain beauty in the stillness and quiet of the middle of the night - a secret time just for me. But the overwhelming tiredness and not being able to think the next morning could never make up for the quiet awake time in the middle of the night.

Last night was something different for me - I just couldn't fall asleep. I could hear my husband and my dog sleeping peacefully next to me, but I was wide awake, staring at the ceiling. Even though I'd been tired when I was getting ready for bed. So I followed what's been my routine this year when the pain made it hard to sleep. I went to the couch and read, thinking it would only take a half hour or so until my eyes grew heavy and I could go back to sleep. Instead, it took 1 cup of tea, 2 1/2 hours and many, many chapters in my book before I reached the point where I thought I could maybe go back to bed and fall asleep.

Given how tired I've been today, I certainly hope that this is not the beginning of a new pattern, but simply a rare occurrence of a mind that wasn't quite ready to shut off. But in case it happens again - have you had this happen? How do you get yourself to fall asleep when your mind refuses?

Parenting taboos

2011-10-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Do you watch TED talks? I love them, and I love how easily accessible they are now. This is another talk that I've watched a couple of times now as I think more and more seriously about when B and I will add to our family.

Total tangent - does anyone else get annoyed when people ask you when you're going to start a family? I mean, B and I are a family! If we choose not to have kids or couldn't have kids, that wouldn't make us any less than a family. Anyway, I realize it might be semantics to some people, but that phrase has always bothered me.

But back to what I was saying. This was a talk by the founders of Babble, and while I might have some issues with that website and some of their editorial guidelines, I really enjoy this talk and what they have to say about parenting taboos. I wonder if some of the taboos haven't gone away a bit since this talk (particularly given a lot of the articles on their website), but I still think what they have to say rings true with a lot of parents. Particularly the part about marital happiness and how after having kids it declines, and doesn't fully recover to the "before kids" level until the kids are out of the house.

When put in stark terms like that, it kind of makes me wonder why on earth anyone still has kids (you know, beyond that whole instinctive preservation of the species bit). But, then they looked more deeply at that marital happiness chart - specifically pointing out how the average decline doesn't tell the whole story, but that with kids come much higher highs and much lower lows. My mom has often said that that was true for her, and I very much expect that to be the case for B and myself.

Clearly we won't know how it all goes until we're in the position of being parents ourselves, but I'd love to hear what you guys think about marital happiness and kids. Has this been true for you (if you're a parent)? Or do you think it will be once you have kids?

Fall

2011-10-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's nearly November. B and I celebrated eight months of marriage last week (a day late since I was with my mom and my aunt on the 19th). Christmas is only two months away.

Seriously, where has the time gone?

Does anyone else feel like time speeds up the older you get? I remember as a kid, summer days seemed to stretch forever, and when school finally started it took what felt like years to get to Christmas vacation. And the ten days in between my sister's birthday and my birthday? Longest ten days of my life! When did time speed up and go crazy, with the months flying by, leaving you reeling in their wake, wondering what happened to another year?

I always think of one of Gretchen Rubin's (author of the Happiness Project) four splendid truths when I think about how fast the year has gone - "The days are long, but the years are short."

Lately that has felt so true, especially as work has been stressful and the hours seem to drag on before I can get home to spend time with B. But then I look up to find that the leaves have changed, it's nearly Halloween, Thanksgiving will be here before I know it and half the stores already have Christmas decorations lining the aisles.

This doesn't change does it?

In fact, my mom assures me that once kids are in the picture, this dichotomy of the days being long but the years being short will become even more stark.

Though, as my great-grandmother used to tell us, it wasn't until the decades started flying by that she really wondered what was happening with time!

Anyone else wondering how to slow down the months? Doing my best to live in the moment is what I try, but I'd love other suggestions!

And the pain continues

2011-10-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Do you ever think you've got something figured out, and in so doing, forget about all of the warning signs you should really be paying attention to?

Yeah. About that. I'm currently awake having one of the worst attacks I've had in awhile.

Because I thought I had my body figured out and I was in control.

Apparently not. Definitely not. I'd been starting to think that maybe there was another way to fix this, and that surgery wasn't really necessary. I don't know how I thought I could manage this pain any other way when nothing has worked for the past 8 months, but I did.

This is not something that I want to have to live with any longer than I have to.

If nothing else, it's become a painful reminder to me that I'm never really in control, am I?

On staying healthy

2011-10-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

One of the other things that I always think about when I let my mind wander to the future and having kids and what that looks like is my health (and my husband's, but this is my blog, so I'm talking about me today).

Overall, I've been a fairly healthy person. Now, that doesn't mean that I've never seen the inside of a hospital, since even though I might be generally healthy I am most definitely a klutz. And that combined with the poor judgment often shown by myself as a child landed me in the doctor's office more than once with various broken bones, bruises and all manner of injuries that always led to the inevitable question, "What on earth were you thinking?" (um, that spinning around and around in the living room with the sharp brick hearth would be a really good idea? 10 stitches later it was proven to me that in fact, it was not.)

As I get older I've been thinking more and more about my health, and more specifically, staying healthy. I am incredibly paranoid and so have always made sure that I've had some sort of health insurance, even when it's been the crappiest individual policy ever because that was all I could afford when I was unemployed. At least it was something. But I've never really had to use it before, except for those annual exams that we all know and love.

Until I started having unexplained pain. Pain that no one could really figure it out. Pain that kept me up for hours at a time at night (causing sleep deprivation, but also time to catch up on tv shows! See, there's always a silver lining somewhere). Finally I was able to figure out the correlation between certain foods and the pain that I had, and match the symptoms to the likely cause. Sure enough, turns out I have gallstones and the primary way to treat that is to remove the gallbladder.

On the one hand, I'm grateful that they've found something that the pain can be attributed to, and there's a way to fix it so I won't hurt anymore.

On the other hand, they're going to be removing an organ. I find that incredibly weird.

In any event, it looks like surgery will be sometime next month as I'm not in massive amounts of pain all the time requiring it to come out immediately. Which is definitely a plus. On the downside, when I do have pain it's the kind where I'm up for several hours during the night just waiting for it to subside. And then I feel like a zombie in the morning from lack of sleep (hey, maybe this is my body's way of preparing me to deal with having a baby? No? Well in that case, quit it!).

I am grateful that this is considered a routine surgery, and that after it's over I should feel much better (heck, my grandfather was performing this surgery when he was a surgeon! Though not laparoscopically as mine will be. "How can you do it right with just a few teeny incisions? You've got to have room to look around!"). Of course, I do wonder about potential complications (because that's how I roll), but I've learned that I need to be more optimistic and not always look for the worse case scenario (I have always argued that if I worry about everything, I can be prepared for it. This isn't true. So I'm attempting to try something new).

I'm also grateful that I have (slightly) better insurance that will help to pay for the surgery.

And mostly, I'm grateful that even though this part of my body has decided to stop working, I'm still in pretty good health. I need to remember that, and work harder to keep myself healthy.

On a random note, do they record surgeries for people anymore? I wonder what it would look like. (No, I don't actually want to google videos of surgery. This was more of a rhetorical question. Or something.)

Having it all?

2011-10-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking more and more about careers lately - both mine and those of my friends. Mainly, I'm trying to figure out how to keep mine going on a forward trajectory, to learn more, become more experienced, have more of a say in the direction of my career (instead of only reacting to outside forces), while still maintaining my family life. And I'm not even to the point of having kids yet. But I figure thinking about this now and attempting to understand how others do it can only be beneficial for later, when there's less time and energy to devote to it.

But in thinking about it more, it truly does make me wonder how on earth women* manage to do it.

I mean, truly - I often feel like I don't have time to get to the things I want to do now, so how do you do it when you have a baby? Or once you have the second or third child? And how do you end up affording it all? (Clearly, it seems the first answer is that there is no "all." You do what you can with what you have. But I'm still trying to learn that.)

I'm certainly not the only one thinking about this. Just today, Amanda was talking about maternity leave and the impact that can have on your career. But you just had a baby! How on earth do you NOT take maternity leave of some sort? Forget about the fact that you just had a baby and need to physically heal, but what about the bonding time with your newborn? For a country that proclaims family to be first and professes its devotion to family values, I don't see a whole lot of those values helping out women who want to remain relevant and in control of their careers as well as be a parent.

I don't have any answers to this, but I do feel incredibly blessed to be a part of a community of women and mothers who speak out every day about what their lives are like and how they make it work. I know that I won't be able to have it all (or at least not all at the same time), but I do know I want to be fulfilled and feel like I've made a difference, both in my family life and my career. There has to be a way, right? Beyond just opting out and leaving the work force for years (or for good?). Especially because as the economy has sputtered and faltered over the last few years, it's painfully clear that whatever assumptions you make when you leave a career won't always be true.

If you haven't already seen this talk by Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, please watch it because it's a good one and makes some excellent points about staying in the workforce and keeping control over your career. I especially like her point about not leaving before you leave. I don't know yet how I'll be able to manage everything in the future, but I do know I want to try. And I hope that I have choices about how I'll make it work.

So how do you make it work? And this is a question for parents and non-parents alike, as I'm genuinely curious how other people organize their lives.

*Yes, I'm speaking to women because I am one, and I'm trying to figure out how to balance career and family now, and adding kids to the equation in the next few years.

Food I miss

2011-10-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hey all - I'm guest posting over at Nodakademic today while she churns out more pages of her dissertation!

I had the hard task of remembering some of my favorite restaurants that I wish were still within driving distance... only hard because it made me incredibly hungry while I was writing the post! I hope you go check out my post to find out what they are!

Pinterest Recipes

2011-10-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

I've been on Pinterest for a little while now, and one of my favorite things about it has been the ability to both find new recipes as well as keep track of ones that I've been wanting to try. Now granted, as I've mentioned many times, I am not the cook in our house. My husband is most definitely the cook and a damned good one. However, he always appreciates when I make dinner, plus I love to bake, so I find myself in the kitchen every so often. Some of the things that I've made recently that I found on Pinterest are:

French Onion Soup

Source: howsweeteats.com via A Long Far View on Pinterest

This was absolutely amazing. I think it was even better because I was able to throw it together in the morning and then we got to smell it all afternoon while we were watching football and doing things around the house. I then had enough left over so that B and I had it for lunch the next couple of days. I love French Onion Soup, and I'm so happy that I have a great go-to recipe for it now! And bonus? I finally used the crockpot we got for our wedding!

Pumpkin Muffins (with cream cheese frosting)

Source: sweet-verbena.blogspot.com via A Long Far View on Pinterest

These were super tasty. The first time I made them I used a spice cake box mix and while they were tasty, I was pretty sure I could make them better. I had a ton of cream cheese frosting left over so I made another batch today, and since I didn't have a boxed cake mix I used this recipe for the dry ingredients. I also added some cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg to add a bit of spice to the mix. I really like the taste and texture of my second batch, but I need to adjust the leavening agent as they didn't rise very much. But they're still just as tasty with copious amounts of cream cheese frosting!

Cheesy bread (great pizza crust!)

Source: laurenslatest.com via A Long Far View on Pinterest

I made this the last time that B went out of town - it ended up being an excellent dinner and then multiple snacks the next day. I really liked the crust on this, but I don't think I'll use the parchment paper the next time. I'm not sure if it just got a little bit wet on my counter or what, but it stuck pretty badly to the bottom of the crust. Fine for me to tear off, but certainly not something I'd want to serve to anyone else! Pretty sure that one was user error though...

So what are your favorite recipes you've found on Pinterest? I'm always looking for new things to try!

One Less Voice in the World Tonight

2011-10-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

The first computer that I remember using was an old Macintosh Plus when I was around five. I'm pretty sure that my dad still has it, although I think the mouse or keyboard has gotten lost in one of the many moves since I last used it. I remember making cards for my grandparents on that computer (long before I could actually read any of the menus on the screen) and later playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.

While I've mainly been a PC girl since buying my own computers, I have been a dedicated iPod fan since my first one, and I'm currently the owner of 3 different models. I now work for a company that has recently launched a new line of products for the iPad and I use my MacBook Pro for everything these days.

Steve Jobs did an amazing amount to change the way products are designed, built, marketed and sold.

Many of us found out about his passing on a product that his vision created and shaped.

Rest in peace Mr. Jobs.

My first guest post!

2011-09-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Check it out, my first ever guest post is up at Kimberly Michelle! I was super excited when Kim asked me to write something while she was on vacation (though I'm incredibly jealous of her trip!), and I hope you go check out my ramblings on how well I deal with change (hint: not very).

Prioritizing What's Actually Important

2011-09-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about two different things and determining how they fit together so that they aren't diametrically opposed - family and career. I do not yet have kids, but I very definitely have a family. My main family now consists of me and my husband. My larger family with my parents and siblings and B's parents and siblings. Our extended families that go out even further. And my friends are another circle around that ring of extended family. My family is extremely important to me, because they are the most important people to me.

But so is my career. Ever since I was younger, I've been working towards a goal of being able to support my family in the event that it was on me to do so. I've talked a lot with my mom about this, and how she always stressed the importance of knowing that you can provide for yourself and your family whenever you need to. And I absolutely love that I have succeeded in that goal (though I'll be honest and say it sometimes stresses the hell out of me. More on that in another post though). But it often feels like it's hard to keep your family a priority when you're also trying to do everything you can to further your career and do the best job at work you can.

And yes, I know that this gets even harder once you add kids to the mix, which I'm hoping won't be too far into the future.

But I read a post from Callie at The Wannabe Athlete the other day (who I love - she's such an amazing inspiration as a working mom to me!), which really motivated me to think more clearly about my priorities and how I'm really spending my time. And in seeing how she framed her priorities, it gave me a new way of thinking in particular about how to make career and family work together.

Callie's priorities are:

Faith

Family

Future

Fitness

Finance

Friendship

Here's the list of how my priorities look like after ~~borrowing~~ blatantly stealing from Callie:

Family - my family is everything, immediate family, parents and siblings, extended family and friends

Future - focusing on my future to create the best outcome for my family (which right now means focusing on my career)

Fitness/Balance - in order to have the future I want, I have to take care of myself, both physically and mentally (which is where balance comes in)

Finance - my finances must be in order, both so I can prepare for whatever will come in the future and so I can maintain a balanced perspective (this is such a huge source of stress for me, no matter how much or little income is coming in at any given time)

Travel/Adventure - because what is a future without knowing our world and having adventures?

My friends are of course incredibly important to me, but as I mentioned above, I consider them to be one more circle in my family priority. And my family will always be priority number one for me.

But in thinking about my career in terms of what I'm prioritizing for my future, it makes it easier for me to see how it works in tandem with making my family a priority, rather than the two priorities working against each other. Everything that I do for my future career-wise is ultimately for the good of my family. I want to ensure that my family is provided for, but I also want to make sure that I'm in the best position possible to be flexible once my family includes children.

Fitness and Balance are included on my list of priorities because as I have gotten older I have learned just how close the connection is between my mental health and my physical health. When I feel good physically I'm a much happier and even tempered person. All of my irritabilities pop up ten-fold when I'm in pain or feel out of control with respect to my body.

Finance will always be a priority of mine because of how much it stresses me out. No matter what our income level is at any given time, I am stressed about our finances. I do much better when we have concrete goals in place and are actively making strides to reach those goals, and prioritizing this means that I make the time to plan.

Travel and Adventure are also priorities of mine because of how much I love to travel. For me, I want to see the world. I want to know that there are new adventures that we can take all the time, whether we're actively planning one or not. And I want to focus my travels not just on the world at large, but also on my own community here at home. Adventures can be had just down the street as easily as they can halfway across the world. I knew that as a child, and I'm trying to rediscover that as an adult.

What about you? Have you had to re-think how you made time and space for your priorities in order to have them work together instead of against each other? How did you do that?

Books I'm Loving

2011-09-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

I like to do this periodically, both as a way to recommend new books in case anyone else is looking for a new read, and a way to look back at what I've been interested in.

A Game of Thrones

A Clash of Kings

We don't have HBO so I haven't gotten a chance to see this as a miniseries yet, but after everyone started talking about it (and always mentioning how good the books were), I figured that I should read the books while waiting for the show to come out on dvd. Turns out I absolutely love it. Even though it's a little bit darker than what I normally gravitate to, it sucks me in and I can't put it down. I'm halfway through the second book (this one is taking me longer as work has gone crazy and I don't have as much time to read which is so hard!). But I'm really looking forward to seeing where Mr. Martin takes this world.

In Defense of Food

I read Omnivore's Dilemma a few years ago and this has been sitting on our shelves with B reminding me to read it every so often. With the health issues I've been dealing with and the changes that I've made in my diet, I've been more and more interested in food and how I can make myself feel better (and I'll be honest, look better as well) by focusing on my diet. I haven't finished this one yet, but loving it so far.

And there's one other book that I've been reading, but I'm pretty sure that deserves a post of its own, which will be coming soon, promise!

So what's on your reading lists lately? I'm a champion re-reader of books that I already own, but I'm trying hard to work on my Unread Library. Slowly but surely I'll get there (even though I'm not helping since I'm technically now buying the rest of the Game of Thrones trilogy...).

Monday, Monday

2011-09-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

After an amazing weekend with some friends I have not seen in far too long, I got hit upside the head by real life today. Not literally. But you know, in that way that only a Monday back at work when everything hits you at once (and there's no more vacation in sight). So I already know this week will be tough. But I've got a couple of fun posts up my sleeves for this, and my first guest post goes live this week (don't worry, I'll let you know when/where once it's live).

So, here's hoping that the Monday blues don't turn into a week long funk! In the meantime, I'm spending my evening catching up on a few of my favorite shows - Project Runway, Amazing Race, How I Met Your Mother and whatever else we might squeeze in (yes, I like TV, yes, I watch quite a bit, and no, I don't care if you think that makes me shallow. Relaxing with my husband and puppy in a way that will be all but impossible once we introduce little kiddos into the picture makes me a happy, happy woman! Plus any time I can snuggle with my husband is a good evening in my books).

Hope your Monday was better than mine!

She's Married!

2011-09-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Oh wow. We had such an amazing time at my sister's wedding last weekend, and I haven't even shown you any pictures yet! I don't have any idea where September has gone, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be October before I know it. Since I don't have all of my photos on my computer yet, I'm going to borrow a few that my aunt sent me.

And also? I'm pretty sure that going to the first wedding after your own might just be the best thing ever. You get to relive all the fun moments of your own wedding with no stress! I had an absolutely wonderful time when B and I got married, but I'm pretty sure I had a lot more fun last weekend. I'll be back with more pictures soon, but can I just say, how amazingly gorgeous is my sister?? Love her and my new brother-in-law, and thank you both for such a great time!

*All photos courtesy of my aunt

Weddings, Birthdays and Toast Writing

2011-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

My beautiful sister is getting married this weekend! I am so excited for her and cannot wait to be a part of her day, as she was such an integral part of my wedding day back in February.

I am still trying to finish the toast that I'm planning on giving, but as I've been writing it I keep remembering all of the things we did growing up together, and it's a little bit amazing to see how far we've come since running around in the woods chasing our little brother (who's now taller than both of us).

The other part of this weekend is my birthday! Friday I turn 30 - officially leaving my 20s behind for a new decade (never mind those who say that I'm actually ending the decade with this year - I'm looking at it as a beginning!). I have always loved my birthday, though to be honest as the numbers get higher it feels a little bit weirder celebrating them. Due to distance I have not gotten to spend a birthday with my family in a very long time, so I feel very blessed to be able to spend the day with them this year. Even more so because we're spending the day in wine country. I think that's an excellent way to ring in my 30s!

This is the first wedding that B and I will have been to as a married couple, and while I won't be sitting next to him during the ceremony, I am very much looking forward to laughing and dancing with him all night long. These past 7 months have been pretty great for us, and I'm so excited to celebrate with my sister now and welcome her fiance into the family!

Weekend in the Woods: Dinner Time!

2011-09-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Finally, it was time for the meal that I had been looking forward to ever since we chose IslandWood as our venue - dinner!

Several months prior, we sat down with our coordinator at IslandWood, Marla, and the head chef, Jim, to plan our weekend menu, and specifically what the wedding dinner would include. IslandWood is focused on providing sustainable and local food wherever possible, so we knew from the beginning that we wanted this dinner to reflect the Northwest in winter time. Jim started by asking me about the feeling that I wanted the dinner to evoke. My answer was almost immediate - warm, friendly, homey. The type of food that you would have on a cold day in front of a roaring fireplace. And oh, did he and his staff deliver.

We had stuffed pork tenderloin, a whole presentation of arctic char, freshly baked bread with rosemary butter, warm rustic potatoes, fresh green salads and the best green beans I've ever tasted. It was absolutely, breathtakingly delicious.

*Guest photo

And I could barely eat a thing.

My appetite had been completely sporadic since about a week before the wedding. Essentially I would be hungry until I was presented with the opportunity to eat, and then I couldn't eat a bite. Nothing would go down. So I tried to eat what I could leading up to the wedding, feeling confident that my nervous energy would dissipate by the time it was dinner after the ceremony and I would be able to eat as much as I wanted. Not so much. I had a bite of everything that was there so that I could at least taste it, but that was all I was able to force myself to eat. I had even done a good job with seeing most all of our guests by that point so we didn't even have to get up during dinner to go visit tables. But I still wasn't able to eat anything.

I know that everyone says to make sure that you eat at your own wedding, and if you can, I am a big proponent of following that advice. Unfortunately, it just wasn't a possibility for me that night which I'm still sad about, given how incredible all of the food was. Luckily, the staff at IslandWood very thoughtfully sent a huge plate of appetizers and a loaf of bread back to our cabin so I was able to eat a little bit more before I went to bed that night.

My appetite didn't fully return for a good week or so after the wedding. I've never really had that total lack of appetite happen to me before, but I just wanted to let others know that sometimes eating on your wedding day doesn't happen for reasons other than time. And that's ok.

As long as you also drink plenty of water!

*Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the fabulously talented Persimmon Images.

Want to catch up?

We bottle and seal our wedding wine.

We finish our projects one week out.

The bridesmaids lunch.

I make gifts for my girls.

I break down the morning before.

The family gathered.

We come together at the Welcome Dinner.

We eat s'mores and tell stories around the bonfire.

I'm a little less calm when the power goes out.

The guys suit up.

We get our license to wed.

We had our first look!

We enjoy the sun at the Tree House!

We take photos with our people.
It's time!
We make our entrance.
We say I do.
We take family pictures.
We join our guests for cocktail hour.

10 Years Ago

2011-09-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago I woke up to a phone call.

I was a sophomore in college and was living by myself for the first time. Not exactly by choice, but living in a single did have its perks. Tuesdays were my busiest class days, with four classes starting at 9am. Since I was generally up late doing homework (or not) the nights before, I usually slept in as late as possible, rising with just enough time to shower, change and walk to my friend's dorm room to pick her up before walking to Astronomy, our first class of the day.

But that morning I woke up to a phone call.

It was my mom, asking if I'd heard what had happened. No, what? Planes flew into the Twin Towers in New York, another into the Pentagon. One tower had collapsed. Oh my god, the second tower is collapsing.

Oh my god.

What? No, wait, what? What do you mean? How could this have possibly happened?

I didn't know very many people in that dorm which was my home for a semester. I certainly had no idea where the nearest tv was. I tried to get on any of the news sites but nothing would load. I couldn't understand what my mom was saying while I fumbled at the dial on my ancient radio trying to find out what was happening, what had happened.

I sat there listening to the radio in my pajamas for an hour before realizing I still had class. I had no idea if it was canceled or not, but I wanted to be with friends, with anyone, not alone in my dorm anymore.

I caught a brief glance of a TV set when I got to my friend's dorm room - towers with smoke pouring out against a bright blue background. But wait, I thought they had collapsed? Are they still standing? No, this was what they looked like before they collapsed.

We walked across the main quad. Talking in circles. Who could have done this? How could this have happened? Are there any other planes out there?

The television screen in the Astronomy classroom was the biggest tv I'd ever seen. It was also the first time I saw a plane fly into a building.

My professor turned off the tv and still taught class. He said he had to, he couldn't not. I'm sure I took notes, but I have no recollection of what he taught that morning. I went to each class the rest of the day, not really knowing why, but not knowing what else to do. All of my professors were there. Some canceled class totally, some stayed. There was so much talking about what happened that day.

My dad worked in the tallest building in Seattle. They were all evacuated since no one knew if there were any more planes. There were no commercial planes in the sky for days. I remember the emptiness. Never before had the sky seemed so big, so clear, so empty without anything in it, not even contrails.

I know that my story is just that - a story of one person on a day. My husband lived in New York on that day, while I was 3,000 miles away. He has a very different story of that day. A family friend who would have been eating at Windows on the World except that his breakfast meeting was canceled has yet another story of that day.

But this is my story. I don't feel that ten years has given me any clarity or profound thoughts of that day. Except that when I remember, all those details remain as sharp as they were the day I woke up to a phone call.

Time to Relax

2011-09-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Why do short weeks end up feeling so long by the end of them? It doesn't help that I have been counting down the days to Saturday. My birthday is coming up (yay!) but since I'll be out of town next Friday on the actual day for my sister's wedding (double yay!), I'm celebrating tomorrow night with some vino and very good friends.

But before that my college roommates and I are going to spend the entire day together before one of our own moves to Jamaica. Yes, Jamaica. We're so sad to see her go, but there are worse places to have to go to visit a person! Not sure when her last day in the NW will be, but since we all have crazy schedules we'll take whatever time we can get together. And did I mention that we'll be spending that time together in a spa? Oh yes. We will. Just the relaxation that I've needed!

I hope you all have exciting (or relaxing!) weekend plans ahead of you! Many people seem to be talking about fall and looking forward to cold weather, but after a few dreary months with high temps in the 60s, Seattle has finally decided it's summer with sunny days in the 80s and (gasp!) possibly even hitting 90. Our new place right by the water is the perfect place to take advantage of all that sun, so that's where I'll be come Sunday (you know, in between football games, of course!).

And don't worry - we've made some huge strides with unpacking (yes, I did use "we" incredibly liberally as it's really B who has done all of the unpacking), so I'm hoping to have pictures to show you sometime next week!

Weekend in the Woods: Cocktail Hour

2011-09-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

Once we were finished with family pictures we could finally join our guests for cocktail hour!

Even though we'd seen a lot of our guests the day before at the welcome dinner or the bonfire, there were some guests who were only able to make it to the wedding, so I made it a point to try to seek them out first.

Seeing one of my college friends in particular was a wonderful surprise, as she had previously told me that due to certain circumstances she would be unable to make it to the wedding. I had hoped that she would find a way to come so I always kept her in the final tally of guests, and I promptly burst into tears when she ended up being the first person I saw when I joined the cocktail hour.

*Guest photo

College roommates and wonderful friends. *Guest photo

After that, things were kind of a blur of hugging old friends, laughing with new family members and attempting to keep track of my glass of wine (which I failed at miserably. Luckily one of Mr. EB's groomsmen took it upon himself to make sure I always had a glass of wine in my hand so at least when I lost my glass somewhere I didn't have to wait too long for a new one to appear! And yes, he was also good about making sure I drank water in there, too!)

Law school friends (photobomb courtesy of my brother)

My new father-in-law!

Me and my dad. Love this pictures of the two of us.

Our family and friends signed our guestbook and left us advice, wishes and a few predictions.

And of course, they enjoyed the wonderful appetizers that IslandWood had set out for us.

Before long, it was time to make our way over to the Dining Hall for our spectacular dinner.

My other wonderful roommates from college.

Kat and Justin grabbed one more portrait of me on the way there, and then it was time to eat!

*Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the fabulously talented Persimmon Images.

Want to catch up?

We bottle and seal our wedding wine.

We finish our projects one week out.

The bridesmaids lunch.

I make gifts for my girls.

I break down the morning before.

The family gathered.

We come together at the Welcome Dinner.

We eat s'mores and tell stories around the bonfire.

I'm a little less calm when the power goes out.

The guys suit up.