Quite a Week

I guess I had myself really fooled that life would slow down after the wedding.

This week has been insane.

I think the day that best illustrates it was the day of the photo shoot of our house...running around for flowers and props, cleaning, and then a shoot that culminated in jumping on the bed with William, hands joined.

Which broke our bed.

Yeah, I wasn't really in the market for a new mattress since this one is only about five years old.

Awesome.

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.

On My Mind

*Starting a new job--in a related field, but not what I have been doing for the past five years--and being the new girl.

*Grandma's 82 this week. She still looks beautiful. I hope I remain person who's full of vitality by then.

*Life is going too fast. The summer is slipping by, and I've been swamped.

*I'm broke. Waiting for a first paycheck after being underemployed is rough. Serious.

*Starting work around 9 is SO MUCH better than starting around 8. Hallelujah!

*Must.Start.Thank-you notes for the wedding.

*Must get keys made, stamps, oil change.

*Must prepare house for photo shoot next week.

*Finish writing freelance pieces (I interviewed Jane Seymour this morning!)

*Get laundry done

*Must see friend Fatty's house

*Glad my friend is back

There's always just so much it feels like. I've been looking forward to getting my life back a little bit after the wedding... That hasn't happened yet. I need a breather, people!

Any advice for what you do to relax—or keep on top of your million things you have to do?

Home Sweet Home (At least, one of them)

Two photos of the home I wrote about last night. Just thought I'd share some of William's talent and give you a little visual.



The yard:

Home

I have been doing a lot of contemplating lately about what makes a home, home.
I grew up just a few miles from where I live now, and St. Paul and its metro area will always be home for me, no matter where I may go. (Probably nowhere permanently because I'm such a fraidy-cat).

This weekend, I went to one of my homes. I took a road trip with my husband and brother-in-law, four and a half hours north, to a cabin that resides quietly near at the Canadian border. It's near a few towns you've never heard of. The mosquitoes take steroids. A local bar names the geographic location as "where the pavement ends and the north begins." I can't make this stuff up.

The nights become so pitch black you can see the swirls and whorls of the Milky Way, actual milky, sparkly spindles that wind through the sky. Everything smells like pine and clean water and gravel road. When I was young, we got one radio station. It was old country, interspersed with Achy Breaky Heart, and promptly at 9 p.m., you lost reception. It didn't matter if it was mid-song. We got one tv station. Usually it showed Sesame Street in the afternoons. I read a lot of books.

It was there I learned to fish, and I learned the difference between rock bass, sunfish, walleye, crappies, northerns, and perch. I saw a rainbow end in my front yard. I saw an eagle teach her babies to fly. A snake slithered over my foot in the outhouse—indoor plumbing is a fairly new addition to our outpost. I can be fully immersed in 70-degree water in less than a minute and after some initial screaming, enjoy it.

I have convinced wild ducks to eat out of my hand. Come to think of it, I saw ducks immediately after birth, pushed out of their duck house to find the lake. I had a bear amble by the living room window. I have seen fawns frolic with their mom. I've danced in a bar to the live tunes of Johnny Cash's former guitarist. I learned to drive a three wheeler.

I've learned about respecting the environment and seen the effects of what happens when you don't. I've become protective of that environment.

I've learned a lot of life lessons and I've gotten to know my parents and my siblings in ways I don't think I would have, had we always stayed in the city. We play games together at the cabin. We watch less TV and fish together. We tell stories from a long time ago. Those are treasured bits of my family history.

I have eaten a lot of appetizers, enjoyed a lot of cocktail hours, swam in a lot of cold water, and screamed at bugs and other slithery and slimy critters. I've itched a lot of bites. I've listened to wicked raindrops cascade onto a tin roof, and done nothing else because we're out of power.

I've spent a lot of time in awe, in total wonder, at how something so beautiful has become a part of me. Trees like old friends. The massive unpredictability of weather that makes a good day feel like winning the lottery.

Just yesterday, I woke up, threw on some day clothes, brushed my teeth, and headed out on the boat with my dad and brother-in-law and husband. We fished for three-ish hours, carrying in quite a few sunnies. My dad filleted them immediately afterward. We donned our suits and our brave faces and waded into the water. We floated on noodles and bobbed with waves and rinsed off. My sister and niece sat in the lounge chairs, shiny from sunscreen, and giggled at my screaming at the cold water. But, I promise, it really is refreshing once you get in.

We ate tacos for dinner and packed sunny filets in our cooler. We packed up reluctantly, bid everyone farewell. As the dust kicked up under our wheels, I thought about how I felt like I was driving away from home to go home. Behind this urban-girl veneer is a country girl.

4th of July

I'm heading out of town, to my parents' cabin. Far away in the north woods, where WiFi is a futuristic concept. Where cell phones do not get reception. Where it smells like pine and sweet water and plants and sand.
I will decompress from all this madness.
And I will come back and blog. Promise.