Volcanocalypse & Wedding Sneak Peek.

Hi friends!!

We landed in the Bahamas this morning after barely escaping the Icelandic volcano ash cloud that was predicted to close London's Heathrow airport for 4 days. I spent our entire boarding time trying to memorize the spelling of the darn thing (YOU try memorizing: Eyjafjallajökull) while Jamie tried to remember what credit card we used to book HoneymoonPhaseII; specifically whether or not we had basic coverage for travel on said card. Finger-crossers included a flight attendant trying to make it home for her daughter's graduation and what I imagine to be every single other person on our flight. Images of stranded passengers sleeping in the airport for a week were running on a constant mental reel, but we got out a few hours before Europe's busiest airport was forced to shut down for the second time in a month.

This time it turns that pesky cloud only needed 6 hours to pass through, but with 1300 cancelled flights in that time, we're feeling pretty lucky to have gotten out of there to make our connecting flights. Especially since we barely escaped the east coast snowpocalype earlier this year! Phew.

By the way, London was amaaayyy........wait.for.it........ZING.

Unfortunately, I lost our USB cord at some point between leaving SF at the end of April and now. So in lieu of our self-portraits in front of Big Ben, I'd like to share a few photos from our favorite little cardigan+tie wearing wedding photographer...click here for their post and notice that they called it "one of our favorite weddings". Seeing as how they did upwards of 60 weddings in 3 months last year, we're a little bit floored by that compliment.

All images below are from markbrooke photgraphers:

-markbrooke.com

The first two images were shot in an abandoned downtown Los Angeles lot, pre-wedding. And the third was shot post-ceremony while guests mingled while trying out some original cocktails (more on these later) and enjoying some pre-selected tunes we love (think: mariah carey, etc.).

-markbrooke.com

We keep thinking about how terrific our wedding ended up and how much we were able to rely on so many of our friends and family to get through it so smoothly. It was amazing and I don't think we would really have changed a thing. Keeping the party size down let us have conversations with basically each guest (albeit some shorter than desired) and our vendors were TOTALLY incredible.

-markbrooke.com

Obviously, I'll be posting many more details once we return from our travels! We've been struggling with slow internet connections the last couple of weeks, but have thoroughly enjoyed the photos you're sending our way. Can't wait to share them with the rest of you.

And definitely keep an eye on MARKBROOKE's blog for future posting. we.love.them!

Chicago Days...

While in Chicago, I received many-an-email asking, "What have you been doing while Devon and Patrick are at work? Aren't you getting bored?"

Hmmmm....let me put it this way:

Played with the camera @ Nordstrom.

Spotted a faux-lebrity*.
*that'd be faux + celebrity = faux-lebrity.

Salvage yarded with Katherine.
Thanks, Sheila, for the great recommendations!

Stalked some Valspar baseball fans.
"Do you know Patrick?? He works @ Valspar!"

Made friends with some old guys in Viagra Triangle.

Baked with mini-butter.

Did LOTS of balcony time every morning.

Had built-in entertainment after 5pm.

And duh, OPRAH.

Never got bored. Not for one single second. Nope. Not at all.

Fall's a-coming.

yummy strawberry popsicles
summer '09

Fall...or ""autumn"", depending on how pretentious you're feeling today...is met with mixed feelings from me this year. Traditionally, the anticipation of pumpkin pie and caramel apples and new notebooks and backpacks have made my knees buckle. I mean, really...New Notebooks?? Oh geez. I.love.new.notebooks. This year, however, I've been enjoying the crap out of summer-time and I'm having difficulty knowing how to look forward to cooler weather and so much more indoor time.

picnic with annie @ dolores park.

Sniff, sniff.
Maybe I'll just desperately hang onto some of my favorite images of this summer while making the transition into fall? Find my inner-chi while coming to terms with no.more.barefeet.on.grass?
Sniff, sniff.

grassy green park time.

Things to look forward to...in no particular order:

Fall tv is coming back in full swing --yay for 'theOffice' and '30Rock' -- minus a few of my FAVES. Damn you, CW, for canceling 'Privileged'. I have a long list of crafting and baking I want to do. We haven't used the crockpot all summer...chili cook-off? Jamie has an increased "workload" over the next little while aka "fairytale football". He'll be glued to the computer + tv for the next few months. We also have a close friend's wedding to attend in a few weeks up in the northernest part of Northern California - barns!farmlife!tractors! oh my!

does it get more SUMMER! than this?

Follow us as we transition into a series of "savings months" as we prepare for our upcoming wedding. Any assistance or advice in the savings department will be much appreciated. One thing is for certain, our typical travel-llanting (travel+gallivanting) will have to be kept relatively local for awhile. Isn't it advantageous that there are plenty of things to do in our immediate area?

more strawberry popsicle.

oh, that strawberry popsicle.

The Kantahara B&B is officially open for any visitors and surprisingly booking up quickly. Let us know if you're coming into town and want a free place to crash right smack dab in the middle of SF. Needless to say, we'll plan on keeping just as busy even if we're tethered a little bit more to the homestead. Happy Fall, Ya'll.

Obama Monday.

Hey. You HAVE to admit that having a President so active on both Flickr and Twitter is pretty tight. I'm loving that the White House is responding to people on twitter and how much am I digging their photographer right now?? I mean, sheesh. Who has that job, right?

"What do you do?"
"Oh, I maintain Obama's Flickr and Twitter pages."
"-------" <-- That's the silence that would follow. Any other job descr. would sound so boring.

To be fair and balanced, I will admit to not really liking his Facebook page. So, if someone told me it was their job to maintain his Facebook page, I would walk away from the conversation. Blah. Enjoy some more pics this presidential morning:

And obligatory First Dog photo:

See, Jamie? It's not just Hudson.
Shoes are fun to dogs.

Back-to-School Pictures

NEVER enjoyed picture day @ school.
who knew i'd end up with a blog one day, posting daily photos of myself, huh?

Oh man. How cool are these PHOTOGRAPHERS?? I mean, way to go, folks. Way to reinvent an old school tradition, making it more fun and pleasurable and terrific! I.am.so.into.them.

Like, how cool would it be to have this as your class photo??

And yet another reason for us to birth and relocate to NYC. Ok, maybe just relocate. not birth. No birthing going on around here. Hmmm...no relocation plans in the near future, for that matter. Maybe just another reason to visit? Oooh, I wonder if Stomping Ground would be creeped out if Jamie and I scheduled a couple of appointments for ourselves. :)

Enjoy with your pancakes.

took this while jen heckled me from her car.
"leave that flower alone!"
sorry, friend. i liked the light.

Mail for Nana

A package on its way up to Devon's Nana in Salem, OR.
Envelope: Recycled craft paper cut/glued.
Frame: Aaron Bros, I think
Photo (taken and edited): Kate Von Koss
Idea: Joanna Daly

Crafting - Mini Marble Magnets

Bad lighting and I didn't think about doing this on a better background than ugly newspaper, but here's a photo tutorial on how to make mini magnets! Made a variety of them to include in gift bags for Dev's bridal shower only to leave them behind in a bag at home along with the bottles of alcohol I got for pre-partying. Smart, huh?

Supplies: Marbles, magnets, silicone sealer, paper cut to size, newspaper to prep coffee table.
Squish some silicone onto the marble.
Place paper on and squish it down. Watch all the bubbles smear out...v.therapeutic.
Throw some more silicone onto magnet. Squish that down on paper.
Tada! Done!
Here are the complete sets, ready to go into each gift bag...or onto my own fridge, i guess.
I made a bunch with photos of dev's girlies so maybe I'll bring them to the wedding?

Crafting - Photo Confetti

The Viceroy is pretty restrictive about bringing in your own decorations for an event...

"We pride ourselves on the aesthetic of our hotel, nothing can take away from the appearance of the poolside. For example, if you must bring in flowers, they have to be white and low to the table. Everything must be black, white, or seagreen."

Huh? What's seagreen? And what the heck can I do to match their decor?? Ummmm... okaaaay... what about photo confetti? So, while I work on uploading the non-scandalous (and therefore, blog-worthy) photos from this weekend, here are a couple of shots of the only decorating I did for Devon's bridal shower on Saturday (we had a grrrreat time):

i stalked all of devon's friends on their individual blogs,
cut/pasted the photos into Word, shrunked 'em smaller,
printed on photo paper, and punched out with a fatty 1" hole punch.threw in some green/black/vellum circles + a few green birdies
some of the girls seemed to have fun picking out their faces and asking
dev who the unrecognizable were.

I'm 3 seconds from hopping on my flight back home after such a fun-filled girls weekend! Can I get a what-what for wireless internet @ the ole aeropuerto?? Gotta love it. Hope ya'll had a great 3day wkend (or just 2day wkend?).

Schmapped and "Published"!

Schmap.com emailed me last month, mentioning that one of my photos from Australia was being considered for their online travel guide and guess what? They picked it! It's a pretty interesting way of gathering a material for a travel guide without the associated costs of travel photographers, etc. Hmm...maybe I should''ve asked for some dollars before consenting? Check it out here (and note that the ad on the right is for AmbienCR - totally used to sell it!).