Wedding Picture Slideshow!

Our photography Lindsay created a slide-show for us!! I'm excited to get the cd of all the pictures soon! Kapsie is putting lots of pressure on me to create a Christmas card ; )

See the slideshow HERE!!

A few pictures from the wedding...

Our wedding photographer has been swamped since our wedding, so we're still waiting to get our disc of pictures. However...she did post a few on her blog!

I can't wait to see the rest!

See the pictures here!

Florida

Florida. What can I say? We pretty much dominated you last week. At least, we dominated Tampa, Orlando, and Sarasota. Domination may be a bit strong of an adjective, but I'm confident that we covered a lot of miles in our rented Ford Focus. (Or the Fast and Furious Focus as I like to call it).

The reason for our Florida escapades was because my good friend Jessica Murphy was getting married to one Sarasota local, Jason Puckett. Jessica and I have been going through this whole wedding planning process together, and it was so fun to be able to see all her hard work come to fruition in the most excellent of ways. AND she's such a good friend that even though she was working full time and planning her own wedding, she and Jason still made the time to come out and celebrate with Tim and I last month.

I met Jessica through a school program I was privileged to go on in college called the International Business Institute (IBI). There were a few of us going from Westmont, and basically the rest of the trip was composed of students from Messiah C0llege in PA, and Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois. Jess and I became good friends quickly (along with our other sidekick Jill Carlson -- who I also got to see at the wedding!) There is nothing quite like traveling Europe with strangers to form lifelong bonds. I could go on and on about IBI, the fabulous people I met and friendships I get to maintain; IBI was such a blessing in my life. I digress.

Jess and I in Russia in the Red Square circa 2007.

At the top of Mount Chamonix in France.

Jess, Jill, and myself in Antwerp, Belgium.

This was my first time in Florida and I didn't quite know what to expect. I've heard stories. I've heard tell of gigantic bugs, weather so hot and sticky it's better to never venture outdoors, and alligators showing up in your backyard or swimming pool. My ideal outfit of choice based on these factoids consisted of a bodysuit made of breathable, yet insanely strong netting covered in bug repellent. (So as avoiding the bugs, weather, AND alligators). To my great pleasure, I found Florida to be none of these things, and was quite comfortable wearing the normal clothes that I had packed.

Tim and I spent our first night in Florida exploring downtown Orlando. To be honest, there's not too much to see. I could be comparing too closely to the GIGANTIC city of Chicago where we were earlier in the week, but Orlando felt small and slightly boring. However, we did eat a delicious meal of flatbread pizza downtown. That was the highlight.

Day two brings us to the Magical Kingdom. With thanks to Anna Storvick, Amanda Crowley, and Todd Pulliam, I have a slight obsession with all things Disney. It was an obvious choice to make Disneyworld a necessary stop while we were in Florida.

Tim and I had epic timing, arriving at the opening gates for the ten second countdown to open the park. We raced around like pro's to get fast-passes to all the best rides. We covered the park so well that we even had time to watch the 3D movie, go to the Hall of Presidents (which was awesome!), AND the Tiki Room, which in my opinion is a last resort at D-world. We witnessed three parades, AND the fireworks, AND rode Big Thunder Mountain six times. Not too shabby.

The famous Disneyworld Castle.

Watching movies in 3D!

Sunday brought us to Sarasota to get ready for Jess' wedding! Tim and I got to spend some time with Jill catching up on her jet-setting lifestyle before the ceremony. (I hadn't seen her in three years!) The wedding was at a beautiful venue called the Powell-Crosley Estate. It was right on the ocean and couldn't have been a more picturesque place to tie the knot, so to speak. Jess had everything planned perfectly, and the whole shebang came off as a huge, roaring, god-honoring, Jess and Jason celebrating SUCCESS!! We're so glad to have been there, congratulations to the both of you!

Mr. and Mrs. Puckett being introduced.

Jilly Bean and I circa 2010.

We've already done that "getting married" thing.

The sunset. Nice work by God.

It was hard to follow the success of the previous evening, but we tried our best on Monday by exploring downtown St. Petersburg and Tampa before our flight back to Denver. I did get to see a few dolphins, but most unfortunately, no dugongs, stellar sea cows, or manatees.

Overall it was an awesome trip, with the most important part as getting to celebrate with Jessica and Jason Puckett. I can say, however, that I'm glad to be home with a future of COOKING, rather than eating every meal out. Huzzah!

So much for my promises...

I know I said I wanted to be much more consistent in my postings on this bloggy blog; and I succeeded for about three days. I count this as a small success...and I think I have a slightly good excuse for my lack of commitment. Maybe.

On September 18th, my Timmy and I got married!!!!! More to come on this later. There are so many details I want to include; the wedding post is going to be a doozy. In the meantime, some celebration and recognition are in order for the best of all seasons, that has snuck up on me!!

FALL!!

Colorado has beautiful fall colors. However, we Coloradan's are still waiting for them to pop out this season. (At least in the City) The weather has been so sneaksy lately, and we've been topping out in the high 70's, low 80's, with nothing cooler to speak of in the upcoming 10 day weather forecast. (Curses to the weather.com for not allowing me to see further than 10 days! I thought meteorologists were supposed to be magicians who could tell the future... It seems like their skills fail after ten days. Lame.) I am, however, exceedingly excited for an upcoming trip to Vail, CO this Sunday with Abbey, Josh, Tim and myself. By golly, we WILL see some fall colors!!

Day trips...that's one of the great things about Colorado. I can wake up in the morning in my little apartment in Denver, and in only a couple of hours, be surrounded by incredible mountains, fall colors, and local mountain folk (always fun!). And how fun is it that I get to take this little trip with my sister, her husband, and MY HUSBAND!?!? :) :)

Speaking of my husband, I've been pretty excited to spend my favorite season with him by my side, faithfully conceding to my ever present desires to explore. One of these explorations MUST INVOLVE a pumpkin patch! It's just such a wonderful fall experience to head out to the patch, and spend hours overanalyzing the different pumpkins before finally deciding on one that most likely looks like all the others. (Except for mine. They always look different. It's all about the stems!) The last time I got to go to a pumpkin patch I was in Massachusetts with my good friend Nikki. Talk about quintessential aweseomeness! We got to go for a hayride, pick out pumpkins, visit a petting zoo, and end it all in apple cider and apple cider doughnuts (which are AMAZING!)

And shall we just devote a little praise to the pumpkin itself? Seriously, I can't think of any other flavor that reminds me so much of fall. They're fun shapes, pretty colors, you can carve them into scary faces, smash them, play catch with the little ones, put candles in them, cook them, bake them, make them into soups, bread, and other foodstuffs. And besides all that, pumpkins are JUST DELICIOUS!!

One of my favorite pumpkin variations would have to be pumpkin muffin. I could probably die from eating too many of these little babies, because I just have no self control when it comes these. I cannot combat their deliciousness. One of my all time favorite pumpkin muffins came from Great Harvest. Again, my fall season partner in crime Nikki and I discovered these in the fall of 2006. We used to go early in the morning before classes started, to start off our day right with a muffin and some ridiculously strong, yet equally delicious Peets Coffee. Thankfully, there are two Great Harvest's I know of in a relatively close proximity to where I live. However, I am saddened for Nikki, and the fact that our favorite Massachusetts bakery closed soon after I left. (Probably because Nikki and I most likely covered all their operating expenses with the amount of time and money we spent there.)

Lastly, homage must be paid to the....

Abbey and I patiently wait for the day, every year, that Starbucks once again brings back the PSL to the everyday menu. This year we had an insider in the company, and consequently, insider information. All that to say, we were ecstatic for August 28th to come. Regrettably, the weather was in the high 80s, but NO MATTER!! Nothing can undermine the liquid taste of fall, or our excitement to consume said beverage.

*Hair Update*

Thoughtsies? Whimsical perhaps? Romantic? Good or bad?

NOW IS THE TIME FOR INPUT PEOPLE!!

Thank you Aunt Beeuh for wisely pointing out that I have not labeled that fact that these latest pictures are actually MY head. :)

how to wear my hair...

T minus 38 days until my wedding. Things are starting to get serious around here. I knew the procrastination period would eventually have to end. We're getting close to the home-stretch, the final lap, I can almost hear the fans cheering as approach the proverbial destination!! What am I saying...we still have 38 days. Soooooooo much time.

BUT...there is a pressing issue that has come to pass. My hair, and how it should present itself on the wedding day. The DIY hairstyle was not even an option. If you know me at all you would know that any creativity and skill that I might possess in any area of my life, does most certainly NOT translate to being stylish and nifty with my hair. I basically go for three looks.

1) The "straight blow-dry look."

2) The "pony-tail."

and

3) The "I went to bed with my hair wet and it looks like this" look.

Hence, I will be going to an actual stylist to have my hairs done for the wedding. Someone who has actually gone to school for this sort of thing. Someone who has skillzzz.

I have my trial run TODAY in 3 hours, and I'm not sure what I want. I DO know that I want something relatively simple and loose. Because of my affinity for a complete lack of hair-style, I wouldn't want to have some lavish up-do on my wedding that doesn't even look like me. No-sir. I have concerns, however, based off of two, less than ideal prom up-do's. Whatever. I have a sense that Nicole [the lucky stylist who gets to style my locks] will have just the sort of eye and creativity that I need to make my hair AWESOME for my wedding.

P.S. I need to think of something GREAT to do tonight because I'm going to have super pretty hair to show off (assuming all goes well!)

Who Knew?

I mean really, who knew that registering for wedding gifts was going to be such a challenge? I mean, it's AWESOME, but it's hard! Even though we're still in the middle of the process, I feel as if I have a few little nuggets of wisdom to share. Of course I'm in a position to do this, I'm probably the smartest, most awesome, and most wise newly engaged person on the planet.

Objective: Find places to register

Our Approach: Hey! Crate and Barrel will give us free breakfast if we register there!

The Correct Approach: Perhaps decide on two or three locations where you want to get gifts from, based off of their products, not their incentives. Although I'll admit, Crate and Barrel was a winner for us. Not only did we get free breakfast, but we got the store to ourselves (with other engaged couples), lots of time with the scan gun, (the BRIDAL GUN as they call it!), and some free ridiculous heart shaped champagne flutes. If that doesn't say true love, well then, I'm just not sure what does.

Objective: Outfit your kitchen and home with niceties.

Our Approach: Zero thought, discussion, or research into styles, level of quality, etc.

The Correct Approach: The correct approach would probably be anything but what we did. I would recommend at least a little bit of research. Even the tinniest, wee bit of looking up ideas would be helpful. Thankfully, most locations where you register will give you lists, so you're not completely in the dark as you wanted around with the bridal gun. You'd think this would be helpful right? WRONG. Completely overwhelming. An asparagus steamer? Really Crate and Barrel, really? A trifle dish?!? What is that? I was so thankful to be able to at least check of one item. Toasting Flutes. Yes, we're set on that one. We have these lovely, heart shaped flutes....

Objective: Register with speed and thoughtfulness.

Our Approach: Speed? We don't even know where to begin here!

The Correct Approach: You must allot yourself a generous amount of time here. I mean, generous. Tim and I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (which, by the way, has a completely inordinate amount of items. I mean, Tim and I were staring at a wall of pizza cutters. Seriously, how different can they all be?). Anyway, Tim and I went to Triple B at 7. They close at 9:30. We've got lots of time right? Again, WRONG. Our wedding coordinator, Isaac, took about an hour of our time, showing us pictures of some really ugly dishes and stemware. The only fun part of this was when he demonstrated the strength of a porcelain teacup by SMASHING it against the desk. It did not break for those curious. After we finally straightened out the spelling of Timothy, (yes Isaac, it does have two T's....) we were off with the bridal gun, which weighs in at about 5 lbs. And I was wondering why my arm was sore this morning..... Needless to say, we ended up scanning evereything we could find the last ten minutes, because we had barely made it out of the toaster section of the store; because yes, there is a toaster section. It's these types of decisions that you'd think would be easy to make, but then all of the sudden, you're standing in front of five toasters, and you are suddenly struck with a bout of indecision. Do you make a decision based on price? Toasting ability? Number of toast slots? Stainless Silver or Plastic? Brushed or shiny silver? DO YOU SEE WHAT I'M SAYING? This whole process is stressful.

Whatever.

We still have one place to register...Pottery Barn. I'm hoping that by the time we make it there, we're going to have this whole process down to a tee. I mean, they're classy at that store. The last thing I want is a ten minute deadline with Tim yelling "Scan! Scan! Scan!" while I frantically look for barcodes and SKU's.

I'm thinking about making a bridal gun/taser combo. That way, the taser part can be used to whip people into shape, force out decisions, and stun Isaac into silence...(and if he's lucky, improve his spelling!)

I found my wedding dress!

I really love it because it has that perfect combination of Sarcophagus/English Wig/Coif look that I was really going for. Talk about a great find. It's couture. Now...I just need to find matching bridesmaid dresses!