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.

good friends, good cake

guess what?! i'm still alive! i may not have any readers left sticking around after such a long post drought, but i'm finally back. its been a hectic week or two, and there's lots to share. it will be at least a month before we get any of the professional photos back, but there's plenty of other stuff in the meantime. (and if anyone out there reading this has pictures from the wedding, send them to me!!)

the saturday before the wedding, some of my good friends threw a bridal shower for me. since my family is scattered so far across the country, and because it was only one short week before the wedding, most of my relatives were unable to make it. i did have a handful of good friends that came, and even got a surprise visit from an old friend and my future mother and sister in law.

they drove all the way from upstate ny, just for the day!!

sarilyn!

the always amazing jenny made a BEAUTIFUL wedding gown cake. it got rave reviews from all shower attendees. (check out her blog, there's a great picture of me preparing to cut the cake)

lemon cake with lemon curd and blueberry... mmmm

some shots of some of the lovely ladies in attendance. unfortunately i didn't get one of everybody, but i tried.

too cute :)

can't wait for baby pictures!

is she disgustingly lovely or what??

a huge thank you to ashley for hosting, and to jenny, sonja, and sara for helping out. and to everyone who came or who sent something for the scrapbook!

family

one of the contributors over at the always inspiring shutter sisters blog said something that struck a chord (cord?) with me a few days ago. (well i thought it was on shutter sisters, but i'll be damned if i can find the post) but regardless, she said that someone had reminded her to take pictures of the ones you love. i am especially bad about this. i feel awkward getting my giant camera out when i'm gathered with friends and family, especially when they are snapping away with their tiny point and shoots. i feel terribly silly around the people i know, thinking that surely they must be annoyed by the fact that i'm always sticking my camera in their face.

but this time i decided to take her words to heart. some are more artistic than others, but all are meaningful.

she was talking about her flowers and just kept on a-talking

this is my grandmother, my mom's mom.


she still lives in the cute little house that my grandpa and his brother built for her back in the 40's. its full of little details that I have forgotten to remember.


like the ornate doorknobs that came from another old house. the one on the way into the kitchen has the pattern almost worn off from all the hands that have gripped it over the years. that one always had rubber bands around it, just in case you needed one.


or the little fellow by the garage that holds a lantern. its probably as unpolitically correct as you can get. but it wouldn't be grandma's house without it.


and the chicks-and-hens that grow in and around all her flower beds. i don't know where she got the idea to plant them in shoes, but apparently they thrive in them. these were my grandpa's last heavy work boots he wore before he retired. they've held up since the 70's, she tells me. not like those cheap shoes you get today...


this is where she has sat for as long as i can remember. her chair is by the bay window. his chair was in the corner on the other side of the fireplace. his chair always had a jar of candy behind it, but that's been gone for many years, though the chair remains.


and beside the chair, hanging on her reading lamp is her rosary. she prays it every day. once for each of her children and their spouses, for the grandkids and the great-grandkids. she reminded me before i left to remember to pray, and for a moment i wished that i believed because i knew it would make her happy.


even now, with both my aunt and i in the house, she insists on washing the dishes. its her routine, she says. and so we shared the task. (once i was done taking a picture, that is.)

fun with templates

because i spend a lot of time on the internet at my current rotation, i've been adding a lot of photography blogs to my google reader. sometimes i think i'd really like to get into doing some photography just on the side for fun, but other times i'm just so awed by some of the awesome work out there i wonder if its even worth bothering. after all, there are some really amazing photogs out there and its pretty intimidating.

but, while i was out stumbling around, i did find a few free photo templates to mess around with. this one is actually a little more cutesy than is really my style but its still nice. i guess i am just not into the color block sort of look, though it does work nicely with kids pictures. i really do think it would be a lot of fun to shoot little ones. (in the photography sense... not actually shoot them)



i just thought it was the perfect template for all these pictures of Halle making her model faces. That same photographer also had a border set, which i really like. i love the messy border look but am way too unphotoshop savy to figure out how to do it myself. i think the next picture would look awesome printed on the metallic paper that WHCC (the printing company i use) has.

anybody recognize that font??

both the collage template and the border set were some freebies from this gal here. she also has a lot of nice templates for sale as well. other favorite template providers are Swiss Miss Haus and NicoleV. maybe someday if i ever actually take pictures, i will have a reason to buy one of their gorgeous sets. even if its just to use for my own personal christmas cards.