baby stalking

the day after my bridal shower/bachelorette party i managed to haul myself out of bed and halfway to Cincinnati for the renaissance festival. it was, to say the least, an interesting experience. While watching a sword-fighting show, pegasaurus and i were seated behind an adorable baby. so i practiced my baby stalking skills.


is she not the cutest thing?? even her little crocheted hat is cute.

and just to avoid any confusion or potential alarm (amongst my ten readers)... baby stalking is mr. z's affectionate term used to refer my propensity for getting really excited about taking pictures of babies. I don't REALLY stalk babies... much.

debauchery

once again, we will take a break from my own mediocre photography and pointless rambling to indulge in more stolen wedding photos. this time from a friend who just happens to be married to our officiant. while everyone else was taking pictures of the decorations and other pretty things, she was capturing the pure ridiculousness that the night deteriorated into.

she did also capture some good ones from throughout the day, so without further ado... our wedding day, more or less. (a few of these are from other friends as well)

we got married.




we ate.



we danced.



we posed for photos.

maybe the absurdity started around this point.

we smoked cigars.

my mom is probably wondering who the hell that spanish guy is.

and from there on out, it just got absurd.

the shrug was perfect... until i lifted my arms. then, not so much

there are probably a lot of similar pictures floating around out there with more of our male guests.
and i have no idea who's hand that is.

As Tracy pointed out, there are no pictures of Mr. Z taking part in the craziness. Perhaps he was out with the guys fixing the generator. Or perhaps he was talking to the guests... which I probably should have been doing, instead of leading the locomotion, but whatever.

Texas Tech

Yesterday I went onto campus with mr. z in search of a notary for some of the name change paperwork. Afterwards we wandered around Texas Tech, enjoying the sunny day and the lovely architecture. (Almost) all of the buildings are a beautiful spanish colonial style, with gorgeous tile roofs and ornate details. There is an unfortunate math building designed to resemble a calculator... a tragic carryover from the 80's I assume.

the lanterns along the ceiling are fantastic

but the campus totally redeems itself solely on the basis of this sweet arched walkway along the side of the chemistry building. it is spectacular in every sense of the word. it is difficult to capture just how awesome it is.

a little cross-processing treatment

i can totally picture engagement or wedding photos here. at least, i can picture them in my head. even if i did have models, i'm not sure i have the technical ability to do them proper justice.

a more vintage treatment

there is also this other sweet building, with a rocking staircase that would also make for some sweet portraits. i had to use the fisheye to get the whole staircase in, which is further proof that i need that 24-70. the distortion wouldn't work so well for portraits.

talk about an amazing blue sky!

there are several other spots on campus that would make for some fantastic portrait shots as well. lots of archways and stairs and quaint details.

they also have some cool sculptures scattered around campus, many of which seem to have books as a theme.


this was a life size "man" made of books. there were also giant marble books scattered around a fountain, and a wacky sculpture of tiny characters climbing all over a mountain of notable titles.

Ohio State is a beautiful campus, don't get me wrong. There are lots of very pretty nooks and crannies scattered around (i LOVE the secret labyrinth garden) and some stunning architecture there as well. But Tech seems to have a more cohesive building appearance (aside from one or two wacky structures) and I was pleasantly surprised by how pretty it was.

texas

so i finally got around to going through some photos from the last few weeks. i hadn't realized how behind i was! there's some baby stalking pictures and a few family ones left from the wedding weekend. and now there are texas pictures. now if only i was so motivated to actually write up posts.

so far texas is ok. there's plenty of shopping, and good restaurants. we even went to a really nice wine and tapas bar with some of mr. z's friends the other night. i think that, eventually, it will be a fine place to live. it will just take a little getting used to... and some making of friends. i'm pretty homesick for all my friends and favorite places in columbus right now. but all that "getting used to" will have to wait, as i am off to new mexico to hang out with sister (ok, and do another rotation) for two months.

so let's talk about lubbock. texas. mmkay.

there is definitely some desolate landscape between dallas and lubbock. and some HUGE ass ranches. and horses. and cows. TONS of cows. and a whole bunch of tiny towns that look like perfect settings for events that later become horror movies "based on a true story." i didn't take any pictures because i was afraid to slow down long enough. self preservation and all that jazz.


closer to lubbock, there's cotton, which i have never seen before. i don't think i've seen a cornfield since the far side of dallas at least. but there's lots of cotton. lots.


and there's whataburger, not to be confused with lotaburger, which can be found in gallup, nm. we tried it today, and with the exception of the jalapeños, the burger was unremarkable. i view it much like burger king... tasty fries with underwhelming sandwiches. they do bring your food out to the table, along with a tray of condiments for you to chose from. which is a nice, if somewhat strange, touch.



and of course, there is the famed buddy holly statue. we drove around for a long time looking for this park and "walk of fame" with a giant buddy holly. we finally found a life size statue squeezed in between two parking lots. the "walk of fame" is a circle of plaques mounted on the base of flower bed in which buddy is hanging out. there are all sorts of streets and buildings named for the poor guy. you'd think he'd be in a more prestigious spot than in front of the la quinta hotel. but what do i know? on the other hand, i did find a HUGE pair of buddy holly glasses, but didn't have my camera with me. perhaps another time...


waylon jennings is also on the walk of fame, as is tanya tucker and a slew of other people i've never heard of.


texas is weird. all their stop lights are sideways. there is also a bizarre access road system of getting on and off the highway which i don't understand. and u-turns are legal here, which adds a whole new dimension of fun when trying to turn right on red...


oh! and i almost forgot. there's oil here in texas, which i knew. what i didn't know (but probably should have expected) is that there are oil thingies (rigs? derricks? whatchamacallits?) right in town. this one, at least, is disappointingly small. my dad and i did pass a drilling site, which seemed more impressive but we didn't stop to gawk. mostly because we'd been on the road for a million hours and just wanted to get to our destination.


i've seen plenty of cows but i refuse to take a picture unless its a longhorn. plain cows are boring. i saw a longhorn competition on t.v. so i know they are real... its just a matter of finding one.

drinking in lubbock is such an entertaining idea, that it will get a future post all of its own. and if you are wondering about the house. don't ask. seriously.

Cynder

on the way to Lubbock, my dad and I stayed at my aunt and uncle's place in Dallas for an extra day so we could visit my grandma (his mom). they have the cutest dog ever.



if you ask her where Chester is, she goes nuts. apparently Chester was a squirrel that used to live in the backyard.



p.s. i am working on the pictures of texas. i want to get a fair representation of the awesomeness that is Lubbock, so you'll have to be patient.

what and why

people have asked on several occasions why we chose to have our wedding in upstate ny. the reasons are simple.

1. i love fall. its my favorite season, and i've always wanted to get married among the fall colors.
2. its apple picking season and if we wanted mr. z's family to attend, we had to take the wedding to them. they were excellent sports about working around us.

i've also had several people comment on the readings we chose for the wedding. we did stay away from some of the more traditional readings and tried to chose ones that we liked and found meaningful and unique.

so in this post i would like to share our readings and some examples of why upstate ny in october is a perfect place to get married...

from Captain Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernieres
(read by my SIL Wendy)
Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

From "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams
(read by Mr. Z's SIL Kelly)

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

lyrics to Adam Sandler's "I Wanna Grow Old With You" from The Wedding Singer
(read by our good friend Jamie)

I wanna make you smile,
Whenever you're sad.
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad.
All I wanna do,
Is grow old with you.
I'll get you medicine,
When your tummy aches.
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks.
Oh it could be so nice,
Growin' old with you.
I'll miss you, kiss you,
Give you my coat when you are cold.
Need you, feed you.
Even let you hold the remote control.
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink.
Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink.
Oh I could be the man,
Who grows old with you.
I wanna grow old with you.

i'm still obsessing a bit over little details that are obviously too late to change (did we rush out of the church too fast after the ceremony? did we hurry the photos too much to get any good ones? are people thinking i'm horribly rude for not talking to everyone at the reception? crap like that) but everyone's kind comments have made me feel much better.

wedding photos, round 1

people are starting to post pictures from the wedding on facebook, and i am super excited. (so excited, in fact, that it took me three tries to type "excited" properly)

overall, i think the whole event went splendidly. the decorations turned out amazing, which i can say because i'm not the one responsible. sister gets a rockstar award for making my hodgepodge of fall purchases come together in one splendid decor. her fiance, my little brother, and his girlfriend also win rockstar awards for spending two whole days busting ass and doing all the manual labor. it never would have worked without all of them. another rockstar, sara also did pretty much anything i asked her to do for the week leading up to the wedding... thank god for family and friends!

now i totally stole these pictures from sam, sonja, and jenny. thanks ladies!

the front of the "church." couldn't ask for lovelier weather.


the front "alter."


the reception tent out in the orchard.


the seating tags... everyone had their own apple.


best idea i had for the whole wedding was the coloring books. kept the young ones (and some of the older ones) occupied.


cornhole also keeps the older kids amused.


the dreaded martha stewart pompoms. mike and lorrie also win HUGE props for sticking around and helping us pouf (not sure if that's a real verb or if we just turned it into one) them all. all 110 or so.

the bouquets went into decorated mason jars to decorate the head table.


my super gorgeous cake!! also martha stewart inspired, courtesy of Premier Pastries of Rochester. complete with caketopper from Lauren Alane.


jay and dominic helped us out by making sure the cake made it out to the tent between the ceremony and the reception. i hear it was very anxiety-inducing, but they did a marvelous job.


when there was a generator disaster of some sort (which the men in our lives handled splendidly, and most guests never knew there was a problem) our candle centerpieces lit the tent.


people also seemed to dig the sparklers later in the evening.


considering the great snapshots people got, i can't wait to see how Kristina's professional photos turn out. we got TONS of compliments, particularly on the "details" and the "unique-ness" of the wedding. both of which were things that put a lot of effort into. we owe a huge thank you to our family and friends that went out of their way to help make sure our day was fantastic.

if i could go back and do it again, there are only a few (very minor) things i would change.

1. i would have gone over the actual entrance at the rehearsal dinner so that my brothers would have closed the doors and my dad could have straightened my train prior to everyone seeing me

2. i would not have been so nervous that i forgot to give my dad a hug and kiss when he gave me away :(

3. i would have looked at mr. z more, even if it did mean i cried more and my mascara ran everywhere

4. i would have made sure the ushers knew who was supposed to sit in the reserved pews so the aunts/uncles hadn't ended up in back

5. i would have tried harder to make sure i got around to say hello to everyone at the reception. this is the one i am kicking myself for the most. there were several people that i never got a chance to talk to and i feel quite bad about it.

so, all things considered, i think that's pretty good. we couldn't have asked for better weather, the dj was good, the food was delicious... it was definitely worth the stress of planning. i think everyone had a good time.