Hello Josiah!

Uncle Luke...

a new tradition...

Last night the philosopher and I got back from a quick little trip to Vancouver with L's mom, Christy. It was a lot of fun. We picnicked by a rose garden, ate interesting food and spent hours walking through Stanley Park admiring the gardens, interacting with the raccoons, looking at the trees, and talking.

The raccoons were very, very unnaturally social and absolutely adorable. They were so used to people feeding them peanuts and such that they would walk right up to you with their big eyes asking for food.

We also spent over four hours at the Vancouver aquarium looking at fish and watching the dolphins play. Oh, how I love dolphins! It was the first time, that any of us could think of, that we've been to an aquarium that wasn't solely focused on entertainment. There was a big social push for sustainability and alternatives with our fishing practices. It used to be that the aquariums went and caught their whales, dolphins, otters, sea lions, etc... But surprisingly, and sadly, most of their whales, dolphins, and sea lions were rescued.

...And then we walked and talked a little more.


{all photos by my philosopher or myself}

somewhere along the way I turned into a hippie

With all our attempts at planning for grad school, a move to {somewhere}, and a wedding one thing has become very apparent: this next year is going to be BIG. SO, I would like our honeymoon to totally once-in-a-lifetime-crazy-spankles-super-cool! Of course all honeymoons are *fingers-crossed* "once-in-a-lifetime"-type trips and, of course, all honeymoons are *fingers-crossed* special. BUT, since this next summer is going to be such an unusual and important marker in our lives, I would like for the philosopher and I to make the absolute most of a summer that we'll remember forever. I want the stories we tell our grandkids to be flat out unbelievable (in a good way, bien sûr)!

In thinking about amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, incredibly fun trip possibilities I stumbled across a great idea: a road-trip across Europe or the United States in an old VW van. Memorable? Surely! Unusual? Yes! Fun? Well... I think so. I ran the idea past the philosopher and it didn't even garner a verbal response. I wish I had a picture to share of the look on his face. I guess this idea will rest in the reject bin. To give him credit, I probably would get tired of riding around in a clunker. What with my unrelenting car-sickness and my desire for our honeymoon to not be associated with the word «gritty». Maybe we could compromise on one of these or these.

Although if we can't ride across the country in a VW van, I'd at least like to head to New York dance in front of this one:

the street i live on in my head

{photo found here}

My birthday is on Thursday and the philosopher has been sneaking around our place making all sorts of secret arrangements to surprise me this weekend. I feel so happy and excited I could just burst!

Dear Mr.

You rock. I love laying on the sofa watching dubbed movies with heath Klondikes in hand. And I love lifting weights with you later on, knowing your right there on the spot just in case I fall.

xoxo
me

hunting

So umm it is hard to find a great place to celebrate our marriage. Luke and I were pretty much set on the Lake (for oh so many reasons) until:

1. we could no longer deny the **possibility** that it might (gasp) rain on our oh-so-anticipated-parade and 2. we found out certain family members were a little uncomfortable with the prospect.

Boo. The lake isn't OUT but we do have to really weigh our options at this point. At the very least we need a plan b. {Seattle weather doesn't have a good track record for sunshine.} But then what exactly are our options... the ones we are supposed to be weighing?


The Alexis Hotel is nice... I love exposed brick and it isn't a long drive for guests in Seattle. But the food minimums are high, the space is rather small, and ... well... what is there for people to do? Eat. Dance. Eat. Talk. Eat. Dance. Eh.

(although I wouldn't go with those table cloths...)

The Great Hall at Union Station is majestic but requires a down payment on a home for JUST the rental and food. Never mind flowers, clothes, chairs, invitations, music, decorations, etc...Where else? There are some nice restaurants in town and some sweet farms outside of town. None of them really feel right though and all are quite pricey. It is hard to pay so much for a place that is just so-so. AND, by the way, it is not exactly that a wedding at the lake would be much cheaper - - there is only so much wedding money and believe me it will probably all get circulated. However, a wedding at the lake allows us to do much more with our money - - on our terms. No required caterer and the like.

I really wish we could get married and celebrate here:

at the Pelican Hill Resort in Southern California.

or here...

at The Grand Del Mar in San Diego

With an alfresco dinner and party with a view...

Isn't it beautiful?

Seattle has nothing on these gorgeous places. AND, they are cheaper! AND, they would make for an unforgettable, amazing memory for our families and friends. AND, the unpredictability of weather patterns would no longer haunt my would-be-blissful dreams.

At first I was against a "destination wedding" for several reasons. First of all it would inevitably have a larger carbon footprint than a local wedding. There is no getting around it - even if Southern California is "close by". Secondly, it would be an expense for our guests. While most of my family lives out of state, most of Luke's live in the area. So we would be forcing many more people to decide between our celebration and their pocketbooks.

What motivated my change of heart? Well, when the philosopher's sister (who has NO money) happily shelled out the dough to fly across the country for one of her friends wedding recently I realized that the people who really want to be there will be - - especially if they have a year to plan and save. As for the environmental toll, there really is no way to cancel it out. However, we can contribute to programs that "offset" the carbon footprint of our guest's flights. In our day to day lives the philosopher and I are rather eco-conscious. This is *hopefully* a once in a lifetime celebration for us and it is not as though we would be initiating a new travel-oriented tradition to be repeated year after year. I know these are not ways to justify the ecological cost but I do think they are relevant. I don't think it makes us bad people to have one party at a place less than 15oo miles away.

The philosopher disagrees. So I guess it is all a moot point. Just a wish.

inspiration

{photo found here}

This picture has been really inspiring me lately...
even if the model looks a lot like Taylor Swift.
Actually, that might be Taylor Swift. No matter.

I'm also loving this retro picnic set.

{picnic set found here}

It makes me want to go to the lake,
picnic with my philosopher,
and lay in a hammock cuddling and reading
for the rest of the afternoon.

the whole package.

I know what you're thinking. My man is hot. Smokin' hot. Should be in a naughty fireman calendar kind of hot. Well guess what? All that brawn is nothing compared to his brains. Seriously. Sir Thinksalot is a genius. And to prove it, lemme just say this: today LUKE WON THE LIBRARY RESEARCH AWARD FOR UNDERGRADUATES AT OUR CAMPUS!!!! In case anyone is counting, that is the SECOND scholarship he's earned in 2009! So, you see. I don't lie. My man's got it all - brawn and brains... and whole lot more!

CONGRATULATIONS LUKE!!!

dear philosopher

even when you have to stay up late
into the wee hours of the night
writing a paper you hate...I


it is true.

{poster awesomeness}

a most marvelous place to be

{photo by me}

One of my favorite things about summer
is spending time at the Tupper lake property
picking fresh raspberries, playing pickleball,
& laying in the sun with my philosopher.

this is love

yesterday Luke made lemon cupcakes all by himself
just for us to share in celebration of our anniversary
covered in sprinkles, they were amazing

a poem for my lover.

I was going to share a poem I wrote to Luke the summer after we started dating until I realized it is chock-full of 'inside' stories and jokes... so instead I've decided to dedicate a cheezy little poem about love by John Cooper Clark to my lover on day 2 of our 3 year anniversary:

I Wanna Be Yours
by John Cooper Clark

let me be your vacuum cleaner
breathing in your dust
let me be your ford cortina
i will never rust
if you like your coffee hot
let me be your coffee pot
you call the shots
i wanna be yours

let me be your raincoat
for those frequent rainy days
let me be your dreamboat
when you wanna sail away
let me be your teddy bear
take me with you anywhere
i dont care
i wanna be yours

let me be your electric meter
i will not run out
let me be the electric heater
you get cold without
let me be your setting lotion
hold your hair with deep devotion
deep as the deep atlantic ocean
thats how deep is my emotion
deep deep deep deep deep deep
i wanna be yours

kitschy or tacky?

my philosopher has voted tacky.
i thought they would be fun.
just imagine: fields and fields of plastic pink flamingos.

thinking about the wedding has revealed a lot about the Mr.
i mean, I knew he didn't exactly have champagne tastes
but as it turns out
he's got a few standards for our celebration decor.

guess these will go into the reject bin.

oh, and I did a little research
and realized my philosopher probably knows best on this one.
apparently "flamingo flocking" is
"the 21st century version of getting toilet papered".

{which, by the way, sounds like so much fun!}
thanks, Houston. you've made my day...if not my wedding.

photo thanks to the Human Flower Project

Portland

I recently had the opportunity to visit Portland with my philosopher! Although we were in town for a conference and our ability to explore slightly curtailed, we had an absolute blast.

Our favorite places: the Hotel Deluxe - a gorgeous Hollywood themed hotel with wonderful hospitality and the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in! And yes, I slept in more than one. We had to switch rooms after the first night (long story) but the hotel staff could not have been more helpful. And, to put the icing on the cupcake, they loaned the philosopher and I a dvd player to use with their fancy flat screen t.v.s!



Speaking of cupcakes, my second favorite place is Saint Cupcake, a cute little bakery near our hotel. They were not as tasty as the trophies I enjoy here (a delight you'll no doubt hear more about in the future) but they were good. We ate cupcakes in bed and watched WALLE the night we got in. It was bliss.




Lastly, even though we're not exactly baseball people, we enjoyed our time near Portland's P.G.E Park. There was a Starbucks across the street (the barista had the coolest Jamaican accent!), beautiful tree lined neighborhoods to the North West, and interesting metal masks marking each corner.

three marvelous years

The fifth and sixth of May are very special days to me
because three years ago, in the limbo hours between
night and day, Luke and I realized without a doubt
we were more than just friends.

Perhaps it was the adventure we had just shared
being lost in our city of Seattle
or maybe it was the thrill of watching Kindergarten Cop
for the second time (in French!) just to postpone saying goodnight.

Whatever it was that led us to that moment,
I'm so happy it did.

Three years later...
I am still madly in love.

Smokin' Hot

As some of you may know, I am in the process
of planning my wedding to the philosopher
and I am happily obsessed with
creating our invitations, stationary, and various ephemera.

That said,it doesn't take a wedding-crazed dreamer
to know that Studio on Fire is fierce.

Check out their latest beast design:

I just love the dinner and thank you cards for this suite!


Other recent creations from the studio include:





and {my favorite yet}




Truth be told, I'll be going in a different direction with my invitations.
But seriously. These sets are so hot they're burning my socks off!