the goods

We love Michael & Kristin. And we loved where they chose to get married. And we  really loved getting way for the whole weekend to celebrate them.

Both my and Jimmy's first moments with Michael - the times we met in college - were the most ridiculous meetings. Jimmy remembers meeting a kid in Aaron's office singing a song about elephants. I remember the guy with the southern drawl trying to tell me that his thin jacket was wind and water resistant and enough to brave the Ohio winter.

He's become one of most dear friends and we have loved getting to know his now wife, Kristin. She compliments him in every way and we knew when we met her that she was Michael's partner.

Their wedding was beautiful and fun and laid back which was so refreshing. They got married in the most adorable chapel on the sea (yes, like out of a novel). The reception was in the adorable town hall across the street.

I took video rather than photos most of the day (working on finishing that!) so these are a bit scattered. Some are from their photographer, a few from my phone (because it didn't occur to us to get a nice picture on a real camera), and some from the camera I was shooting with.

Here goes:

On the day that we setup, I got in Michael's car and there were all these blocks of cheese in the front shelf. Of course there were four blocks of cheese there. Only Michael.

In a chapel by the sea.

There's Jimmy in true form. True, true form.

They had the most beautiful backdrop for photos. The most.

As good as it gets for photos of us. Clearly we need to work on our options for faces.

the beach

Being at this beach in Trinidad was possibly the most refreshing experience I've had in a very long time. 

It was chilly but not too cold. You could breathe deep and at that moment nothing else mattered. There were no bills or life plans or jobs to think about. Just the waves and watching the girls play on the rocks. 

(Jimmy was with the wedding party getting ready and I was behind the camera.)

winston

Tonight while watching Mad Men, we had a moment. Well, Jimmy had a moment.

Years ago when Jimmy and I started to get to know each other, he decided to share with me one of his most proud purchases - a brass swan that he named Winston. Jimmy names everything.

He bought this swan at a garage sale with friends and decided it needed to travel to college with him to give his room some flavor.

When you're first getting to know someone, all things are cute. The knowledge of this swan didn't phase me. At all.

Anyways, tonight while watching Mad Men, Jimmy paused the scene and flew off the couch in excitement.

Don Draper chose to flavor up his space with said swan. Literally, it's the same swan. Jimmy said it made his week.

I wonder if I should've been more concerned when he first told me.

(No really, he's the most quirky man and I love him.)

some video from trinidad

Two weekends ago we caravanned over to the California coast for our friend Michael's wedding.

The experience was better than words in every way and we have a ton of fun photos to share. I can't get to all of them tonight, so here's a little video I put together of video we shot randomly at the beach before we got ready for the wedding. 

(The song is "Like the River" by James Vincent McMorrow.)

horses & birthdays

I'm a bit late getting to this, but I had an amazing birthday weekend in March.

Friday Jimmy told me he had plans for the afternoon - surprise plans. I finished work early, found the outfit he laid out for me and was totally confused. I thought we were going to see a movie. He insisted I wear my boots. I couldn't figure out why.

We drove about 15 minutes outside of Redding to a small town called Anderson. We stopped at a horse farm. I was elated. Elated.
I had never had a chance to ride horses before and have been begging to go for quite a while. So on this beautiful, 75 degree day in March, we spent the afternoon riding horses on a trail near the Sacramento River.

If I could ride horses every day I would. Every day. I think I said, "That was so amazing!" 50 times a day that weekend. It was the best gift.

And nothing makes you feel more attractive than wearing helmets.

The next day the girls spent the day in Chico, a great little college town about an hour from Redding. We shopped, we ate amazing food, we laughed over ridiculous stories about first kisses.

I love these women and my life is so enriched by their presence. We somehow all ended up here in Redding for this season and if the whole reason was just to build this community - this family - it's all worth it.

an afternoon thought

“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.” 

― Thomas Merton

collecting art

We dream about some day having a home full of art and collected items from places that we've visited. We want to have a story behind the things that fill our home.

If I received art pieces and prints for every gift for the next few years, I'd be happy as a clam. Unfortunately, prints, paintings and framed pieces are usually pretty expensive.

Even though we don't have a big budget, we've been able to find some art in some unexpected places for super cheap (win!) and they're great reminders of our adventures.

(Sorry for the poor quality of the photos - I need to start using my actual camera instead of just the iPhone!)

Found this guy for $5 from a street vendor our first time in San Francisco.

This one is from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There were some beautiful prints but they were upwards of $100. This watercolor print is actually a greeting card and cost only $2.95!

I picked up these vintage postcards in a shop in Ohio actually. Total cost: $1.80. They're from Eagle Rock, the city near LA where Jimmy lived for 6 months after we graduated.

This one was actually a gift from our friend Cat - also a postcard.

Hopefully one day we'll have walls full of this kind of stuff!