The Ceremony

It's time for the really good stuff now. I have to say that I was completely fine all day until about 2 seconds before I was about to walk down the aisle. I looked outside and saw how beautiful everything was and how the song our bridal party was walking out to was just perfect and I couldn't believe that it was actually my wedding. It was more perfect than any movie, magazine, or wedding website that I'd ever seen and just knowing that my best friend in the whole world was waiting for me caused the tears to flow. Then "Here Comes the Sun" started to play and I knew I had to get it together. I managed to make it down the aisle without crying too much, but it was soooo overwhelming to be the center of attention and to know that everyone was staring at me. On top of that, the way we'd positioned the chairs caused me to not be able to see Jake until I was almost to the end of the aisle. His warm smile caused my anxiety to cease and Uncle Rob's sweet introduction set the grounds for a wonderful ceremony. We read our vows, exchanged rings, and sealed everything with a kiss. Enjoy the photos!


Other recaps:
Rehearsal Dinner
Getting Ready
Car Photos

I HAVE PICTURES!!

It's time for the recaps to begin again. I received our pictures from Sara a couple of days ago and could not be more thrilled. I'm going to have to back track a little bit. I know we already moved past the rehearsal dinner and on to the "day of" pictures, but we're going to revisit the rehearsal dinner because the pictures Sara took that night are amazing.



Other recaps (in case you missed them):
Rehearsal Dinner
Getting Ready

Let me know if you'd like Sara's contact information. She's based out of the DFW area, but is willing to travel. I HIGHLY recommend her.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!

Jake is OLD ;)

Jake turns 26 today!! It was an extra exciting b-day for me because it was my first time to shop in the "husband" card section. Actually, I think I got him a "husband" card a few years ago because it had a cute picture of a cat and a dog on it, but this was the first legitimate one. He's away at a Raider's game today so we celebrated with his family last night. Here are the pictures:

I sent Jake away to the office so I could decorate.

Always up to no good.

Sydney thinks it's her birthday and that she should get all the attention.

New flight bag!

Jenna cracks me up.

I was laughing really hard when this picture was taken.

Jake's favorite present. I'm making that up, but I'm sure he'd agree.

Race Pictures

Thanks to Jill for sending me pictures from the race! If you'd like to see more click
here for pictures of Jake or here for pictures of me.


Here's a review of the race that I sent to a fellow running friend:

Likes:
-It's a beautiful city so obviously they course was beautiful
-Wonderful running temps.
-Very nice finishers medal

Dislikes:
-very few bathrooms along the course
-they had water stations at miles 2 and 3 but I didn't drink at those b/c it was so early, but then I had to wait until mile 7 until they had another station
-mile 11 and 12 were near the beach so I was running on a gravel/sand mixture that was very uncomfortable

Overall it was a good race and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more had it not been for the stomach issues. However, based on the $70 entry fee I feel like they could have provided a lot more than they did so if you want to run a race in San Fran I would recommend the Nike Marathon/ 1/2 Marathon. I've never done it before but I know people that have and they liked it. Plus, it's sponsored by Nike so I'm sure they don't skimp on stuff like bathrooms and water ;)

What we've been up to:

Last weekend Jake pruned the grapes and we made a wreath. If there was a craft store nearby then the wreath would be cute and decorated, but for now it remains a circle of branches.

Jake is pretending to be a horse in this picture

We've also been busy babysitting this little fur ball the past few days.


Her and Sydney are finally learning to tolerate each other. The first few days were kind of rough though. It definitely made me realize that I don't want another cat right now. I feel guilty when I'm loving on Eileen and Sydney looks at me with sad eyes that say "Is she your favorite now?" I just can't handle it. It was fun to have her as a guest though. She will be staying with us for several weeks over the summer when Jake's parents are out of town.

It's starting to get very cold at night here in Kelseyville and our Snuggies have come in very handy. I highly recommend these things. I know they look silly, but they keep you warm and keep your hands free to change the channel or pet the cat!


The other night I was saying how I wished there was a way to tie it in the back so that I could walk around with it on. The next night when I was doing the dishes Jake said that he had a surprise for me, but that I couldn't have it until I was done with the dishes (I realize this sounds ridiculous like Jake was forcing me to do the dishes, but he really wasn't). Anway, I finished the dishes and Jake went to the closet to get something. He comes out with his hand closed and tells me to put on my Snuggie, then he opened his hand to reveal a safety pin to keep my Snuggie closed!! He's so thoughtful :)

Last weekend:

I'm a little behind with the updates. Last weekend was spectacular so I must write about it. Jake and I went to San Fransisco for the 1/2 Marathon/10k race (more on that at a later date). We stayed with our friends Tim and Jill who were wonderful hosts. We arrived on Friday night after quite a long trip thanks to Friday night traffic into the city and the fact the Bay bridge was still closed. Kind of a nightmare. It was worth it though because we finally got to meet up with everyone at the Magnolia Pub for Tim's b-day celebration.

It was fun meeting Tim's new law school friends as well as hanging out with some of their friends we'd met on previous occasions. The Magnolia is really cool. They serve water in old wine bottles, use cute vintage-like dish towels as napkins and they pickle all of their own vegetables in the basement. I guess they have some really good beers too, but I didn't try any of them. After some fun times at the pub we headed down the street to Escape from NY pizza where I enjoyed the best piece of pizza to ever be made. It had pesto, potatoes, and whole cloves of garlic. So good.

We then headed back to Tim and Jill's house to turn in for the night. The next day we slept in really late, enjoyed some homemade waffles, and then began our adventure in search of the sports expo (to pick up race packets) and to find Ike's Place. We got a bit lost searching for the sports expo (apparently there are 2 totally different streets in San Fran with the same name) so we decided to search for Ike's instead and try to find the expo later in the day.

I saw Ike's on Man Vs. Food a while back. Man Vs. Food is similar to Diner, Drive-ins, and Dives, but instead of just visiting various places, the host also partakes in outrageous eating challenges. Ike's is know for amazing sandwiches that have every wonderful ingredient you could ever imagine. They had a couple hundred sandwiches to choose from! We spent an entire hour waiting in line, but it was well worth it. Jill had a sandwich with meatballs, marinara sauce and mozzarella sticks! I had one with chicken, Frank's red hot sauce, ranch, and jalapeno poppers! I can't remember what all was on Jake's, but I had a bite and it was delicious too. After lunch we resumed our search for the expo. This took a bit longer than expected, but we made it and picked up our stuff. We then made our way back to meet Tim for dinner (he'd been at the library all day).

We went to Nopalito for some fancy Mexican food. I actually wasn't starving (surprising, I know) so I just ordered a small quesadilla. It was made with a blue corn tortilla that was amazing. We headed back to Tim and Jill's after dinner to rest up for the race. I'll write about that next time though. I'm tired of typing :)

New Camera!!

Our new camera arrived the other day (we ordered it through Sears with a couple of wedding gift cards). Jake did a lot of research to find the best one in our price range and this is what he came up with:

I need to learn how to use it, but here's what I've taken so far:

This one is for my mom :)

Jake just started to take piano lessons. He's being a good student and practicing at home!

This is my new craft room. It was an office, but we never went in except for to get things out of the closets. I went to Wal-mart the other day to get some storage containers to organize all my craft supplies and I found these cute curtains. I also covered the desk with a cheap table cloth so that it won't get ruined with paint and glue. I'm very excited to start my Christmas crafts now!

Weekend Update

I've been complaining a lot lately about how there is NOTHING to do here, but this weekend was very eventful and wonderful so I guess there are things to do (you just have to travel a little bit to do them).

We started off with a hike on Saturday at the state park. This was fun until the end of the hike when Jake decided he wanted to go off the trail for a bit. I voiced my opinion repeatedly about how I thought it was a bad idea. He should have listened. Right as we were nearing the clearing we went through some type of poisonous plant that made our legs instantly itch and burn like they were on fire. Luckily we had some type of poisonous plant wipe thing in our first aid kit, but we still have no idea what it actually was. The pain lasted the rest of the day, but it seems to have healed.

http://www.clearlakestatepark.org/

After the hike we went home and got ready to leave for Santa Rosa for the night. I found out a few days ago that Tainted Love (my favorite 80's cover band) was playing in town.

http://taintedlove.com

The show didn't start until 10pm though so we spent the day at Bed Bath and Beyond using our wedding gift cards, shopping at Michael's for craft supplies to make Christmas presents, and dinner with Jake's grandma and sister. It was a super fun day and it was nice to be in a well populated area for the afternoon/evening.

We slept in this morning and then headed home around 11. On our way back we decided to try this restaurant in St. Helena called Taylor's Automatic Refresher. I saw this place on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (one of my favorite shows on the Food Network) and have been wanting to go for a while. I have this personal goal to go to as many places that I can on that show and the show Man vs. Food. So far I've only been to 3 from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, but I'm still young and have plenty of time. The food was really good and the drive through St. Helena was beautiful.

After we got home we went to play tennis for about an hour. The weather was perfect and even though we didn't play very well we still had a lot of fun. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm sad it has to end. Next weekend I have to work and Jake has to take a test in Sacramento so I won't have any more fun weekend updates until the next weekend. We'll be spending the next Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco for the half marathon!

P.S. Our new camera should be arriving soon so look forward to some actual pictures!!!

New Favorite Show

It's called Man Shops Globe and it's on the Sundance channel Wed. @ 10pm. It's about a buyer for Anthropologie (one of my favorite stores) who goes all over the world in search of cool things for the store (to decorate with and to sell). Little known fact: ALL of the decorations in the stores are for sale. Based on the 2 episodes that I've seen I'm guessing that they are very expensive and out of reach for most customers. This past episode featured a huge chandelier made out of recycled materials that was AMAZING. The store had a special exhibit to showcase the items the buyer found in South Africa and president Obama bought it for his daughter's room! Anyway, it's a great show and I wish it was my job to travel the world for Anthropologie.

Sorry for the delay...again!

Ok, let's move on to the getting ready part. Since my friends and family were setting everything up, I had plenty of time to do nothing all day. I started my day with a short run, cleaned up around the house, and then hung out with Nick (bridesmaid's boyfriend) until around lunch time. It was actually a very normal day and I don't remember feeling nervous or anxious at all. The girls started to arrive around 2 or 3 and we started to get ready. Aunt Terri and cousin Adair came over to make us look pretty. I am so grateful they were there because I don't know how to do anything with my hair besides pull it back or straighten it. Here are a few pictures from the wonderfully talented Sara Gillespie. Request to be her friend on facebook and see all of her awesome photo albums.






The following picture is not by Sara, but had to be added because I think it's going to be a crowd favorite. Let me preface the picture by saying that all of my bridesmaids are naturally gorgeous so it didn't take everyone long to get ready. We actually had a long time before our rides to the wedding arrived and I noticed a mess on the floor and thought I better sweep it up. Not many brides have a picture like this on their wedding day:

Let's not forget about the boys!! Here are some pictures of them:


You might be wondering what the deal is with the Butterfingers. Let me explain....several years ago (when Jake was younger and not quiet as mature) he explained to me that getting married was like having a Butterfinger every day for the rest of your life. It would be fine at first, but then you'd get tired of it. Well, I thought it would be funny to send a Costco size box of Butterfingers to him while he was getting ready. I LOVE that they took pictures with them!

That's all for now. I might wait until I get more pictures from Sara before I post more recaps. We'll see....