Five Months Ago....

I did not have as much love in my heart as I do today, something that I would have thought impossible.


My honey. My love. His face as he turned around and saw me walking down the aisle.


A most handsome man, the first man in my life, who taught me that men should respect me and above all, I must respect myself. My dad did not give me away this day. My dad showed me the way. He will always be my dad, and I will always be his girl.


These rings are blessed by our Hawaiian Ohana, a circle, which never ends. We promise.


I feel like our minister's face says what we are feeling as we kiss.


I felt a mix of adrenaline, anxiety, happiness in the morning, but after we sealed the deal, an enormous sense of relief. Saying those words, even in front of close friends and family, was hard. I was emotional and cried through nearly the whole thing.


We're "going Hollywood" here, to quote the minister. The videographer made his rounds with the photographer and caught this moment, where I can just feel our joy leaping out of the photo. I was so happy that he married us.


This face expresses how I felt inside, too.


Everyone. Thanks again so much for coming. It meant so much to us to have you all there.


Our moms and dads. Who, literally, made all this possible. Thanks for raising us right. Thanks for supporting us. Thanks for letting us be who we are. Thanks for loving us. And thanks for letting us join each other's families so well. We are so grateful.



Check out my grandma!


My best girls. Who have taught me a thing or two about friendship, love, patience, kindness, generosity, and how to have a damn good laugh.


My handsome devil.


Rapture.


I still can't get over my flowers. They were SO BEAUTIFUL. I love how vivid our wedding was.


A whole new horizon, together.



Aw, yeah! Sassy!


My honey.


A photo with a hidden treat. If you look closely, you can see our reflection.

I can't believe it's been five months. I swear life has been on fast forward. And on this chilly fall day, I'm totally feeling sunny just looking at these photos. It's like it was one hot, sunny, gorgeous dream. Only I get to keep living in it.

Knock, Knock

Hello everyone.

I know you are reading, and yet, I'm not having a dialogue with you. What do you want to read about? What's interesting to you? Anything you're wondering about me or William? Sorry, I'm in a bit of a blogging lull and I think it's all boring up in here. So let me know if I'm doing ok or I'm boring or there's something you'd rather hear about.

In the meantime, I have been laughing about this Cheesus--Jesus on a Cheeto--all day. I love when people find Jesus in processed food snacks. I guess if I thought Jesus was trying to communicate with me, or reveal himself to me, I would assume it wouldn't be in a bag of something made by Frito-Lay. Cheesus.


Also, I saw video today, for the first time, of my parents' engagement night and wedding day. I cried like a baby--what else is new? It's such a strange feeling, actually watching my parents in action, at 20, when all I've seen are still photographs to this point. And to know all the history that's followed. I love seeing the outfits, the cars they drove to the church, my dad pretending like he doesn't want to get in the car, my mom waving good-bye before she walks down the aisle, pretending to sneak out the back door. They've always had that way with each other, I guess, that flirty teasing way, where they bicker and pretend that they both aren't in love. My dad wore his army uniform and my mom wore a knee-length shift dress with gloves. So '60s, so awesome. They make such a beautiful couple. Still.
I saw a quick look that passed over my mom's face before she walked down the aisle, where she bit her bottom lip, and I know I made that exact same face just two months ago. Anxiety and shock and excitement all rolled into one. Watching her was like watching me, twenty pounds thinner, and with a dark brown bouffant. Kind of a surreal experience. But sweet and awesome and fun. It made my heart bigger.I hope I watch my own wedding video 41 years from now, with William, and I get the same look on my face that my mom got today. Or maybe I'll watch it with my own daughter, too, who knows?
It's nice to be reminded of where you come from once in awhile.

Anything You Want, You Got It Part II

Here's me, trying to not be nervous before the wedding. I'm standing at the top of the stairs that led onto the beach, and my mom is pinning flowers in my hair. In my hand is my something blue, a handkerchief my grandma carried at her wedding, my mom carried at hers, and my sister carried at hers.


Our minister, blowing the conch shell to begin the wedding ceremony:


My honey, with his back to the chaos behind him, waiting to come down the stairs to the beach. We had requested not to see each other before the wedding.


I think this was the look on William's face when he saw me for the first time, but I can't be sure.


My daddy, walking me down the sandy aisle:


Our first moments with our gorgeous wedding party:


I don't know where we are in the ceremony here, but I like that we both appear to be giggling.


Serenaded by our guitarist, who sang us the Hawaiian Wedding Song (again, look at that wedding party):


Oooh! The ring!


Ooh! His ring!


we actually kissed four times in the ceremony. Here's a shot of one of them:


...And here's the final kiss, which sealed the total deal. Look how happy our minister looks!


Being announced as man and wife. This photo makes me giggle. One reason why: check out my best girl in green. I love how she's laughing at me.


We did it!


After the ceremony and portrait shots to come!

A Little More Aloha

I just have to mention my last post, which was a stupid post, was my 200th post! A little anniversary to enjoy.

I was just going through some old files on my computer and tossing things in the trash. We're doing housecleaning and I figured I could do a little computer cleaning, too. While doing said cleaning, I came across a document that was our guide to the place we stayed in Kauai.

It made my heart hurt.

I miss using the words lanai, aloha, mahalo. I miss sounding out the street names. I miss tree tunnels and mountains and white sandy beaches. And while I don't miss wedding planning--and am relieved to have it over—I do miss the anticipation of jetting off to my beloved Hawaii. Everyone likes to have a trip looming in the future, right?

Whenever I get stressed out, I usually come around to thinking about how running away to Hawaii would feel good. Except I'd still have to get oil changes and buy stamps (a lot more of them, come to think of it) in Hawaii. I'd REALLY be on a budget. And I'd have heat rash pretty much all the time. So I know that this isn't a reasonable avenue of thinking, but I've only been home about two months and already I'm itching to go back. (So jealous, Wan!)

it isn't that I'm unhappy or even experiencing a drought of good weather here. It's just that I wouldn't mind a little more aloha.

Our minister told us the day we married that because we chose the beautiful island of Maui, that we are ohana with him, with Hawaii. Hawaii is officially one of our homes, a place with family, a place that will be filled with special memories for both of us, forever.







I miss you, Hawaii.

post wedding craziness

So sorry . . . long absence when there is so much to say. We have been swamped with getting our place in shape! With wedding money, presents, and more to put away, find places for, and a photo shoot (!) for our home--its going to appear in the magazine I used to work for full time--we are just super tired and ready for bed after a long weekend of moving, shifting, organizing... etc.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my catch-up day, so I'm hoping to have a post tomorrow with LOTS of photos (I have had a draft partially done for days) and some info. :)

Thanks for sticking with me. And thanks to Found Out About Me and Miz Stizzle for their kind words about my wedding reception!

Pending

I know I shouldn't even worry about this, because what can you do? BUt I'm really, really hoping it wont' rain on my reception day, since you know, we're having it outside (we do have a tent) and all.

A couple days ago, we were in the clear. Now it looks like 40 percent chance of rain on Saturday and it's been raining CONSTANTLY since we got home a week ago.

I can't take it anymore! No more rain! No rain Saturday.

Think sunny thoughts!

Maui and Kauai

Sorry for holding out on y'all. I have heard your cries for more photos... and I have been stymied due to technical difficulties... I have virtually no photos of my own from the ceremony (I have shared the ones I have had access to). I tried burning cds and dvds from my mom; that has resulted in error messages. I'm frustrated, too.

Ok, but I figured, since I do a lot of things backwards in my life, I can do these backwards too. So here are some select photos from our trip to paradise.

We got married on this date:


My sister, Sooz, rules, and rented the awesomest house on the ocean in the Wailea/Makena area of Maui (southwestern side). This was the view out the bedroom window in the morning:


Here is one of our best men, one of our best girls, and me, right after the ceremony, just hangin' loose:


And here is my daddy and me, after the ceremony. We were waiting for our lunches to show up. This photo makes my heart bigger. Just look at the look on his face! Isn't he handsome?


(There will be better recapping than this in the future, I promise).

Before the ceremony, we drove to the town of Paia. It's really one of my favorite places in the whole world. I feel like I could live there, only I don't surf and it's a surfer town. But the shops! And the atmosphere! William spotted Don Nelson, the Golden State Warriors coach.I had no idea who he was or that the Golden State Warriors was even a pro team.:

While there, we stopped at this overlook where you can watch the surfers catch the waves. We took a ton of photos, but this was apparently William's favorite:


This was often the scene when we were yawning, full from seared ahi tuna, and full of sun:

It looked a lot like this the night of our ceremony, when we flew from Maui to Kauai, our honeymoon spot.

While in Kauai, we saw a lot of these (and yes we have a T-shirt we want to make):


Sometimes they were looking for a lift:


Mobile little fellows.

Our second day on the island, we took a helicopter ride. I was afraid I'd be anxious since I hate flying, but I found that I loved being in a helicopter. I felt safer in that than a big ol' airplane. William and I dug our headphones.


Once we got in the heli, we saw some amazing sights: the rainest point int he world (400 inches a year!), Mt. Wai 'ale 'ale, the Na Pali coast, waterfalls upon waterfalls upon waterfalls, mountains green with plant life, and a hideaway home for the people who own most of the land on Kauai. This was a typical view:


Seriously, it was enough to bring a tear to my eye. I know my jaw was hanging open the whole time. I have never done anything like that before, and never seen world with that view, besides in coffee table books. I was living a coffee table book!

Also the second day we were there, we spotted this tree. Later, we asked our groundskeeper what it was (we explained where we had seen it on the road). We were totally in love with the tree... and he said it's called The Wedding Tree! How appropriate! I wish I could have one of these at home.



And another one for good measure, because come on. That is a stunner of a tree. We just caught the final blooms...a couple days later, it was all leaves. Just one of a couple things that felt especially made for us.



Yes, that's me under the tree.

We drove up to the north shore, home of gorgeous beaches, multi-million-dollar abodes, expensive gas and food, and, also, a slice of pure heaven.

We checked out Hideaways beach, which you have to descend several flights of concrete stairs to get to. There we found this landscape:



The beach was soft, coarse sand, so it brushed off super easily (my fave!), and there were tons of false kamani trees (not fake, FYI, it's the name), which have tons of shade (this girl needs shade) and gnarly roots which are perfect for putting your beach bag against as a pillow.)There will be more photos to come of it.

We also saw the lighthouse, which is the furthest point north in Hawaiian islands.


We also did a hike, which I was NOT prepared for. It was hard, strenuous, slow going. I was seriously hurting. And crabby. The guidebook did not mention the difficulty of it, while it had three paragraphs on how difficult it ws to get to Hideaways beach (not hard at all). We didn't have enough water and it was hot. Anyway. All of the photos pretty much show me pissed, although there were a couple high points--ha, ha, HIGH points?--including a view of Bali Hai.


This was when I was feeling somewhat accomplished (little did I know how much was yet to come):

This was later:


And even later:


On the south side, where we were staying, we saw Spouting Horn, a beach/park with this neat little explosion/attraction:


And we got to spot a very endangered species, the monk seal. Talk about cute!


William took a lot of photos:


I mostly goofed around:


Then one night we checked out the sunset on the South side:


It was romantic, but William hates lip gloss:


I love this man:


More to come! Sooner hopefully rather than later. Try to get those ceremony photos tomorrow.