Summer Loves ...

These are all of the things I love about summer:

... flip flops.

... dogs eating ice cubes.

... pretty flowers

... green grass. especially when I'm walking in it barefoot.

... lemonade.

... BBQs

... sleeping with the windows open.

... sitting outside, reading a good book.

... the way my dog rolls around in the grass.

... wearing less clothes.

... getting tan lines.

... how much better beer tastes.

... happy hours on the patio.

... ice tea.

... dogs swimming.

... live bands.

... fireworks.

... picnics.

... driving with the windows down and Henry's head out the window, ears and tongue flopping in the wind.

... thunderstorms. especially when I'm on a porch.

... long, long days.

... golf. not for me, for the hubs.

... sundresses.

... long walks after dinner.

... baseball.

... sunsets.

... oh, yes & the beach. but I love it every season.

Wedding Recap: The ceremony

It was really important to me to get married outside. And one of the reasons we picked our location was that there were multiple ceremony location options and a huge tent for the reception & the ceremony if it rained. I'm not really sure why I was so adamant about everything being outside, but I was. Ok, in reality I just hate being inside. Besides, our location was so beautiful it would have been a waste to hold everything inside.

We had our ceremony performed by an ex-Catholic priest. I wanted some spirituality in the ceremony and Charlie didn't want to have too much so it was a good compromise. He did a great job aside from the fact that his "speech on love" rambled on and on. He kept talking about particles and how we're all tied together because of the particles that run through us all. Odd, but whatever.

Since we were married around a pond, we didn't have a traditional aisle down the center. So we all came in from different directions. Charlie & the boys walked in from one side.

The girls walked in from the other side.

And my parents and I walked in from the opposite direction. Sounds confusing but, trust me, it wasn't.

We listened to a talk about particles and love.

Exchanged vows.

Sealed the deal with a kiss.

And left to enjoy 5 minutes of "alone" time before taking pictures. [Ok, maybe we would have been alone if one of the caterers hadn't thought this was a good time for him to sit down and have a drink where we happened to be.]

All of these pictures are credited to Joseph Allen.

Polaroid Pics

Check out this website. It's great procrastination fun if you're looking for something to do besides study.

I think this one's my favorite.

Oh, summer

So many things to do, so little time. During the rest of the summer I will:

... fly home, yet again, for a small trip to see the fam. Not the original plan but nonrefundable tickets will make you rethink your plans & take what you can get.

... Pack up our apartment. *sigh* Charlie told me he doesn't want to pack until the week before we move because he doesn't want to live in a house full of boxes. Considering the fact that I packed everything last year when we had half the amount of stuff I can't imagine trying to pack in that time. However, I don't feel like arguing about it.

... Study & take the PLACE exam. Lucky for me the day of the exam is the day we're moving & I can't really change either dates. August 1st is going to be a rough day for me.

... Hike this baby. Truth be told, I'm scared to death of hiking it. I'd much rather do a 14er summit that's 6 miles round trip instead of 26. Then I think of the people who run this marathon. Crazy.

... I want to see 500 Days of Summer. I hardly ever go to the movies & friends of ours got us some movie passes when we watched their dogs. I think it's a good excuse to go. The soundtrack to this looks really good, too.

... Sadly, I will not be visiting the beach at all. First summer ever to not see the ocean. I think even the dogs are sad about that. They love the beach as much as I do.

I have to live vicariously through our former beach trips.

Please notice the Dunkin' Donuts coffee next to me. We used to stop there before heading to the beach in the morning. They would always give us donut holes for the pups.

Wedding Recap: Dancing

If you're not a fan of wedding photos I suggest you skip this post ... and the several that will follow. We've had our wedding pictures back for a bit but between "packing", hiking, dealing with school & job stuff, and heading back home for my 4th and final trip this year, the only time I mess with our wedding pictures is when I'm attempting album making.

I decided not to do these "wedding recaps" in any particular order because, well that's just me. Here are a few of my favorite dancing pictures from the night. We had a significant amount of country music during the reception. I realize that not everyone likes country but it's all I listen to. I figured if I wanted to rock out to Zac Brown Band at my wedding then I would. Luckily all of Charlie's groomsmen are country fans, too. I think they appreciated it as much as I did.

Note: All of these pictures were taken by Joseph Allen. He is amazing & I would highly recommend him.

"Shout" makes its appearance at most weddings I think. If you look closely you can see that my lovely husband is doing some PG13 rated dancing with me.

"Where the Green Grass Grows"

We danced to this many, many nights during college.

*sigh*

The groom and his awesome sister.

My cousin. Freaking adorable, no?

I have about 10 others that look pretty similar to this. A few years ago we were at Charlie's work party. The dance floor was empty except for him ... doing the worm. His boss came up to me and said "Well, it'll never be boring". He's been right. :)

Photo Overload: Part 1

So since we're moving in 3 weeks and I'm looking for ways to put of packing that I can still claim to be "productive", I've been thinking of what pictures to frame in our new place. We have a lot of framed pictures now. Some will stay the same & other's I'll switch out, but I also want to put up some of our wedding pictures and make a photo collage on one wall. Here are some of the pictures I've decided I definitely want to put up somewhere.

LOVE this picture of Henry, even though he's not being his usual goofy self.

With all the hiking we do we definitely need some pictures of Colorado in all of it's beauty (meaning June and not March). I want a panoramic of the Flatirons. I could stare at them all day.

These are my two favorite engagement pictures. I want to do something with them together.

Our "family" picture.

This picture makes me happy for so many reasons. It was where we met, we had just gotten engaged, and it was summer.

Ceremony.

Probably my favorite "portrait".

... and I want to do something with the "girls" and "guys" of our wedding.

... this is probably about 1/3 of all of the pictures I want somewhere, but I'll save the rest for another day. I'm in the middle of designing a wedding album for my in-laws (wow, that feels weird to say) so I'm sure I'll come across more pictures I definitely want somewhere. I'm also in the middle of a debate about whether or not to buy Photoshop. I get a pretty good education discount but it's still a lot of money to drop. We shall see ... Happy 4th! :)

All things thankful for: June

... hiking. & lots of it.

... taking the dogs swimming in the reservoir. unfortunately there were also naked children swimming there as well.

... getting our thank you notes done.

... getting our wedding pictures back.

... BBQs with friends.

... signing a lease on our new apartment.

... Coronas with lime. My official drink of summer.

... discovering Friday's Folly. It's a Colorado wine made with organic grapes that are sustainably grown. It's also cheap and delicious.

... friends and family that made our wedding so special. excited for our trip back to MD in July.

... our new t.v.. Ok, so I put up a small fight about this one but it's been nice.

... settling into married life. :)