Thanksgiving at the beach!

My mom's beach house has been under construction for a long time and was finally completed right before Thanksgiving. So, we had 12 people out for the long weekend for lots of eating, lounging, and board games. The weather was cold but sunny so we walked down to the beach to throw a frisbee and give Gabby a workout. You can see how tuckered she was from all the activity.

One year ago today...

...I was staring at the Mediterranean from my veranda on Santorini. I spent 2 weeks prior to that visiting my work sites in Italy and Athens, and meeting all the students I sent on those programs. Then my 2 friends, Greta & Liz (from Denver), flew over to meet me in Athens. We saw the sights there and then left the big city to spend a few days in the Greek mountains and a few more days in the Greek Isles. Sigh... Here are some of the memories...

The Duomo in Florence (before the torrential rains started)Me after climbing to the top of the domeFlorence later that night
Il Campo Square in Siena, ItalyThe view from our office in Athens
Gretta, me, and Liz in Meteora (mountain town in Greece)
Skirts were required at the monastery we visited

Views from our Santorini hotelHiking across Santorini

The town on the other sideLast night in Santorini? Our waiter gave us LOTS of free wine :)

More wedding pictures!

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything in a long time. I do finally have the link to our professional photos from the wedding, so thought I'd post the link. There are nearly 1200 photos so it can take a while to load. If you choose the layout of 7x25 per page, you can see more and the pages take less time to load.


http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=3227615&s=0


Enjoy!!! I'll try to get some Thanksgiving pictures from my mom's beach house soon!

The Honeymoon!

After the wedding, Paul and I took a day to recuperate and then left for Sedona, AZ, where we stayed at a lovely spa for 4 days of pampering. It was so fun and relaxing - exactly what we wanted it to be. And after the rain and cold from our wedding weekend, we really needed the sunshine! On day 2, we drove up to the Grand Canyon (which I had never seen) and caught a beautiful sunset. Then, on day 3 we got hot stone massages at the spa, which I can't wait to do again. Other than that, we just relaxed, read a lot, and explored beautiful Sedona.


Sedona view (from a restaurant)
Stopping for a picture on the way to the Grand Canyon

Eating breakfast at the spa restaurant - so peaceful...
At the Grand Canyon

Married!

Well, the day came and went, and was a smashing success. Although it did sprinkle for most of the day, and got a little chilly that evening, everyone seemed to have a good time and enjoy the scenery and festivities. Here are some pictures:

Crunch Time!

I can't believe the wedding is THIS WEEKEND! We've been working so hard on everything lately, and it seems we haven't had a normal boring weekend in months. We're really looking forward to a fun day with family and friends, and hopefully getting to that point where we can just say that's it - there's nothing else we can plan for. Yesterday, we spent a long time laying out the order of the entire day so the photographer, videographer, caterer, and wedding coordinator (my aunt), will know when things should start and end. What a headache, but I'm glad we did it. Now we can leave it in the hands of others and just get married and enjoy the day.

Aside from all of this, I'm really excited to have my friends, dad, aunt, and Paul's family coming from far away. I've gotten to know Paul's family over webcam, but we still haven't met in person! He'll also be meeting my dad and one of my brothers in person for the first time. It's been such a funny year...not only have we been planning our wedding for HALF of our relationship, but we'll be celebrating our 8 month anniversary while on our honeymoon. Sigh. It seems like I've known him for at least a year... :)

Bridge Pedal!

Finally, I have some new stuff to post. Last Sunday, Paul and I (and 20,000 other people) rode in the annual Portland Bridge Pedal and it was really fun. Portland has 10 bridges and we rode over 6 of them (2 being freeways!) and I think it totaled 14+ miles. Pretty good for very little training! It was great because they blocked almost all traffic from using them during the event so we could ride at our own pace and stop to take plenty of pictures. And of course, here are the pictures:

planning a wedding in less than 90 days!

I haven't posted in a while, so for anyone who reads this, here's a little update. We finally found a place for the wedding and I found my dress, so things are moving along. The save-the-dates went out, and this week we meet with a caterer, florist, and a friend who may be officiating. There's still a ton to get done, but I've recruited others to assist me so I'm not terribly anxious anymore (I'm actually able to sleep all night now!).


So, here's the run-down of the wedding party:
Bridesmaids are Kristin (my sis), Marcene, and Jen (2 b.f.f.'s from grad school)
Groomsmen are Patrick (Paul's brother), Jason, and Chris (2 b.f.f.'s from college)
Flowergirl will be the adorable Eilise McLaughlin, and her little brother Charlie will be a ringbearer if we have one.


No, Gabby the dog will not be involved in the ceremony. :)

Other news...Paul and I finally got most of our stuff moved into our new apartment, so it almost feels like we're settled. I'll post a picture of the place as soon as we clean!

Engaged!

So, Paul and I went to Bend over the weekend, to celebrate his birthday and finally getting 4 days off. We had a great time hiking, walking around the cute downtown, dining out, and sampling those great NW microbrews. :) But the best part of the weekend had to be the part when he asked me to marry him. I can't get over how lucky I feel to have finally met this guy - he's exactly who I always pictured marrying. Somebody should pinch me because I feel like I'm still floating...

My buddy, Paul

In addition to a busy winter travel schedule and a few weddings and family gatherings, I also managed to meet the sweetest, most handsome, and charming guy ever: my buddy Paul. We met on a blind date in January (thank you match.com!), and the rest is history.

This is a picture we took while we were in Vegas for a long weekend in March. We had such a great time! We haven't taken too many pictures, but the summer should bring some fun adventures so I'll be sure to take some more. Isn't he cute? :)

Just getting started...

So, after seeing Marika's, Dale's, Chris's, and the Shank Family's blogs, I thought I'd give it a try and see how it looks. I'm not good at keeping daily logs, but I do like to post pictures from my travels and trips to see family and friends. We'll see if I stick to it. Let me know what you think.

These pictures are from a trip to L.A. a few weeks ago when Kristin & I went to see Ryan, Derek, and Meg, and see Derek play in a live Goldspot show. We had a blast at the concert, and as usual, had a lot of fun hanging with our bros and our new sis-in-law.