The Reception

 After the ceremony there were pictures.

 We actually suggested that one of the photographers 

cluck like a chicken to get Baby X to laugh.

He did- awesome shot.

 My mom was two-fisting it.

(Not really, she was just holding my brother and sister's beer.)

 It's how we roll.

The Brat Child photobombing in the background.

 We actually hiked up to the falls.

Hiking in a wedding dress is no easy feat.

I got several interesting stares

but mostly people congratulated us.

 We also took photos on the famous Swinging Bridge

We arrived!

 We had our first dance.

 My dad and I danced.

 The brat Child and I danced.

He had this whole plan to dance to Ghostbusters 

with Nerf guns 

and pretend we were hunting ghosts.

He chickened out.

 There was delicious cake

 And time with friends and family

 

The End.

If you're interested in any of the DIY projects I did, you can check out my other blog The Wannabe Farm where I will share some of the details.

The Wedding

Now that the wedding is over,

I can finally share some of the details.

Cascade Falls

 The wedding and ceremony were held at Patapsco Valley State Park.

If you've read older posts on this blog,

you might remember the name of the park.

My great-uncle "Pepop" 

was once the superintendent here.

Bloede Dam

I spent a lot of time here as a kid too.

And one of my grandmother's favorite photos:

l to r: my brother, my grandmother, my sister and me

was taken at this park.

So it made sense to have it here.

 I had my custom made wedding shoes.

Since the wedding took place on flag day

and all bride's need something blue

I went with the blue and red theme.

The wedding date is embroidered on the side. 

Yes, I know I'm wicked cool.  

 There was the arranging of the arbor.

The arbor was built by Big E.

We cut the the branches for it ourselves
 from trees needing to be cleared from the fence line at home.

The day of the ceremony it was realized that the arbor wasn't quite sturdy enough,

so my dad and brother helped with those corner supports you see in the back.

 My sister did the flower arranging.

She actually did all the actual hands on arranging-

I just gave instruction on what flowers went into what arrangements. 

(from what I heard, my brother also helped with the flower arranging on the arbor)

My brother Lunchbox being cool- in my gardening gloves.

There was setting up of the chairs.

And by chairs I mean straw bales.

The finished product for the ceremony.

I scored those 2 large hydrangeas last minute.

The Brat Child looking serious.

The Brat Child looks so solemn

and Baby X is hanging onto the wagon with both hands.

I just now realized that my dad wore his sunglasses.

Here's the first look.

 There was the ceremony

 Midge sang "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri

 Then Big E surprised me with a song "Grow Old Along With Me"

Then we kissed.

Tomorrow I'll share the other photos.

A Bike?

The only modes of transportation we had as children were walking or riding a bike. It was a good vacation if your dad managed to find room to take your bike with you.  It meant you would be racing around The Point on two wheels rather than hoofing it.  It meant you could make it into town in a few minutes instead of 30+ which meant trips to the Stop & Shop for fireworks.

Fast forward to July of 2012.  Big E and I are preparing for a weekend camping trip, and he's excited about a surprise he has for me.  I'm excited too. I love surprises. So I walk around to the back of his truck, and he shows me the bike he's purchased for me.  And my first thought is "A Bike?" Not because I have anything at all against bikes.  I spent much of my youth on a bike flying down Stafford Drive with no hands, cruising through town and doing bunny hops over in the Votech parking lot (all of which were done without a helmet). But the operative word here is youth. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm an adult and a parent who is well versed in every possible worst case scenario that could befall someone in any given situation.  And I haven't been on a bike in at least 20 years. Did I really want to be the one testing to see if bike riding was really "just like riding a bike"?

While I wasn't able to test any theories about bike riding on that particular trip (we hiked 10+ miles, my legs were shot), we did bring the bikes along on the second camping trip.  And this time, I wasn't given an opportunity to not ride.  Big E arranged for our friends to drive the kids over to the lake while we rode our bikes. Here I was, not sure I was in good enough physical condition to ride a bike, not sure I had the balance to ride a bike and not having any recent experience with riding a bike now throwing my leg over a bike and hitting the trail.

Riding a bike is, in fact, "just like riding a bike". Your muscles and brain remember what to do and eventually you stop riding your brakes like a 98 year old driver in a Buick and you let yourself fly down the hills.  I loved it.

So I took my bike to Deltaville for the week on the off chance I'd be able to ride it.  One afternoon I snuck out and rode around The Point.  I rode down the lane towards town and on the way back to the house, I rode down the sandy lane that my cousins and I referred to as "The Shortcut".  I was 10 again. I was a centaur on wheels.

I love, love, love this guy.

He knew what I wanted when I didn't even know I wanted it. And in giving me a bike, he gave me the ability to relive happy moments of my childhood. Rest assured, that bike is going with me on each of my treks to Deltaville.  Photography from bike seat is probably easier than photography from moving car.

Oh the adventures I'm going to relive!

Scenes From Seabreeze

This past Saturday, I had lunch at one of my favorite little spots on Gwynn's Island: Seabreeze.  It's located on the water just as you cross the swing bridge and enter the Island.  Saturday I lunched with the love of my life at a small corner table for two, watched the water and enjoyed the breeze blowing in off the water.  I chatted about the weather with the waitress, pointed out different sights to my companion and watched an osprey fish in Milford Haven.  It was quiet and relaxing.  One of the things that draws me to this area is the slower way of life.  It's not a lazy slow, it's more of a sensual enjoy everything around you slow.

Monday Meditation

Here are a couple pearls of wisdom from friends of mine on love, more specifically about finding it/knowing you've got it.

"It's not all about your heart racing when he walks into a room- that's more lust or passion. For me, I know my husband has my back no matter what.  That's what it's about."

"Find someone you can laugh in bed with."

"Make sure you trust him completely."

 I think I've got those covered.

Monday Meditation on Tuesday

"Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches."

~From "The Princess Bride" - Wesley to Buttercup 

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever."
~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Haven Beach Overlook

 I've taken more than a few photos of these chairs sitting on this dock called the Haven Beach Overlook.

Located at one the the Mathews' beaches where people swim and fish, 

it was something that made me dream and think.

One day, I'd be sitting in those chairs and sharing the view with someone special.

There would be hand holding.

There would be deep meaningful conversation or not 

because just being with someone special and not saying a word is deep and meaningful in its own way.

 I never climbed up to sit in those chairs.  

Just took photos and made my dreams.

Sadly, I learned yesterday that Hurricane Irene took the dock and the chairs out to the Bay.

They're gone.

Of course now I have someone special to sit with. 

And while I'm disappointed that I don't have the chance to sit in the chairs with person, 

I am grateful that the chairs were there when he wasn't to help keep the dream alive until he showed up.

Monday Meditation

"Love comes to those who still hope even though they’ve been disappointed, to those who still believe even though they’ve been betrayed, to those who still love even though they’ve been hurt before."

~Unknown 

 These lovely daffodils were a gift from the lovely CBW  when I was down south back in March.
The photo does not do justice to just how bright and sunny these flowers were.  
They practically glowed.
To me, they serve as a visual reminder to never lose hope. 
That no matter how bad things are getting, keep whatever hope you have alive, 
no matter how small it is. 
Remember that sometimes your prayers are unanswered for a reason- 
because there's something far better for you around the corner. 
In the time since I received this bouquet of sunshine, my life has changed in magical ways. 
I'd like to think it's because these flowers served as a reminder not to give up.

Monday Meditation

 "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

~Rumi


“But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.”
~Pablo Neruda

Platonic Love

I knew it the first of the summer,
I knew it the same at the end,
That you and your love were plighted,
But couldn’t you be my friend?
Couldn’t we sit in the twilight,
Couldn’t we walk on the shore
With only a pleasant friendship
To bind us, and nothing more?
There was not a word of folly
Spoken between us two,
Though we lingered oft in the garden
Till the roses were wet with dew.
We touched on a thousand subjects—
The moon and the worlds above,—
And our talk was tinctured with science,
And everything else, save love.
A wholly Platonic friendship
You said I had proven to you
Could bind a man and a woman
The whole long season through,
With never a thought of flirting,
Though both were in their youth
What would you have said, my lady,
If you had known the truth!
What would you have done, I wonder,
Had I gone on my knees to you
And told you my passionate story,
There in the dusk and the dew?
My burning, burdensome story,
Hidden and hushed so long—
My story of hopeless loving—
Say, would you have thought it wrong?
But I fought with my heart and conquered,
I hid my wound from sight;
You were going away in the morning,
And I said a calm good-night.
But now when I sit in the twilight,
Or when I walk by the sea
That friendship, quite Platonic,
Comes surging over me.
And a passionate longing fills me
For the roses, the dusk, the dew;
For the beautiful summer vanished,
For the moonlight walks—and you.
                       ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox