Moments in Ireland
As our first guest post, I bring some photos, writing and even a recipe from Sara Lynn Paige of Simply Stardust. She is an amazingly talented photographer who herself just got hitched last October. Not to mention, she just recently went vegan. Make sure to pop over to her blog to see some lovely photos and get a glimpse of her life in Toronto. So without further ado, here’s Sara! (more…)
the end is the beginning
I’m drawing a blank with words at the moment. Our wedding will be this Saturday. That’s just 4 days away and counting.
It’s supposed to start raining here in Los Angeles and rain through the weekend. While our wedding is indoors I’m just realizing that maybe I should have thought about a jacket or at least a sweater.
So instead of going on about ridiculous details, I’ll share a few photos from my bachelorette ride. Thankfully there wasn’t too much debauchery. My dear friend Jannatha planned out a beautiful bike ride, picnic and wine tastings. It was perfect.
Oh and there was a cat. Adorable.
I’ll try and squeeze in another post before we’re off on our honeymoon (perhaps even a wedding sneak peak) but I promise even more exciting posts while I’m gone. I’ve enlisted some bloggers from here to all the way across the continent to brighten up Cute and Delicious for a few weeks.
Ponderings on perfection
Dear friends, we’re in the home stretch for the wedding. Only 5 weeks remain until the big day. With everything so close upon us, I’ve become a bit introspective on the whole thing. So friends, settle in for maybe a bit more reading than usual in this post, but surely on topics beyond just a wedding.
Between Shawn and I, we know how to do a lot of things. We’re makers, so to speak. He knows tons about photography. I know about sewing and crafting and baking. We’re both planners. We know what it takes to get something done. So when entering the world of wedding planning, this knowledge, for me in particular, has often been something I’ve had to reconcile with, rather than being helpful.
How do you choose a photographer when you yourself take better photos than most of the “professionals” out there? How do you order a wedding cake when you bake a better vegan cake than you could buy? It’s tricky these questions, because obviously you can’t do everything.
Personally, I like to do things myself. I take issue with paying for something I’m capable of, unless I know someone will do it better than I will. Even more than that, I have a hard time letting others do things for me, even if I’m not paying, for fear it won’t be exactly what I want. Face it, I’m a little bit of a control freak. It is the downfall of knowing how to do things. You expect perfection.
The wedding process has been a lot about letting go for me. Letting go of control. It’s not easy. It’s against my personality. I think this is what happens with big life events though and I really feel it’s for the better. That’s not to say it hasn’t been a struggle.
It’s also, in my mind, been about merging my wishes and desires with Shawn’s. Even being in a committed relationship, two people are still somewhat separate in decision making. There is this strange place where you are not compromising on things but actually agreeing, and it’s odd but wonderful. This is the first task where we’ve had to really agree on everything. I think we had a similar experience when making Brainwashed Love, but our differences worked to keep the movie on course.
I think if I designed the whole affair, it would be some sort of small soiree in the woods. (You should see this wedding, which I’m sure is the most fantastic wedding I’ve ever seen.) Instead our wedding is indoors, and will be fairly large (by my standards anyway). I’m happy about this too. Our secret location is really the coolest and I’m excited that we’ll get to celebrate with so many people that love us. I’m glad we’ll be bringing our families together from across the country.
Most of these thoughts have come up for me since I now have my finished dress. The truth is, that there are a few little things that bother me about it. I can’t quite figure out if I’m just being obsessive or if it is a real flaw. Am I aiming for perfection when it’s just a dress? Is it something I can fix or should I just leave it alone?
There is still so much to do and I have a number of tasks that I’m responsible for, but I’m leaving a few major things in the hands of others. I’m trying to let things happen how they will. I haven’t thought about flowers or decorations or much of that sort of thing at all, nor will I unless someone asks me. I’m hoping all the things I’m not taking care of work out, as they should, without me managing every detail. And say they shouldn’t, I’m trying to prepare myself to be ok with this.
I’m not trying to ignore the details or not worry about the whole event, instead I’m just trying to face the reality of it all.
*a note about the photos. these are from a trip shawn and i took to pennsylvania in 2008. they make me happy as the woods do. they are a reminder of calmness for me. and the owl’s name is morris.
Snow Day
You may recall, last week I was fantasizing about having a snowy adventure. Well, despite living in Los Angeles, we made it happen. We drove up to nearby Mt. Baldy to go play in the snow for the day.
The crew threw on all their warm gear, loaded up in our cars and drove up the mountain…to snow!
Even though I read the weather before hand, it still seems so unbelievable that there could be snow so close to where we live. It wasn’t until we were nearly at the top of the mountain that things became dusted and then covered in white.
We took the scenic ski lift all the way to the top. I have to admit, it did make me a little nervous.
This was right before Shawn realized I didn’t have a strap on my camera (right after I leaned over the side with it in my hands to take a photo of a squirrel).
At the top, we were above the clouds. They turned into a sea of white.
It was so much fun. It made me want to rent a cabin, snuggle up by a fire at night and build snowman in the day. I want to go sledding.
I’m so happy we were able to make the trip, even though it was brief, as it really made it feel like real winter.
Snowy dreams
I’ve been dreaming of snow. It’s been extra cold here in Southern California these past few weeks, but we don’t have that same winter feeling of snowy places. It was actually cold enough here to snow in areas not far from Los Angeles.
I looked back on our road trip last winter. Here are a few shots in snowy wonderland.
Look at this sweet bearded man. Beards are good for cold weather.
I’m hoping we’ll get to drive somewhere and see a bit of snow before it’s gone. Maybe I’m also just dreaming about anywhere else but Los Angeles as is often the case.
I can’t wait to go on another big adventure.
