Happily Ever After

One of Jimmy's co-worker's got married this weekend. The weather didn't cooperate very well, but they expected that. After all, it is summer in San Francisco. It was foggy and wet but the festivities weren't dampened by the weather.

They had a simple but beautiful ceremony in Golden Gate Park. Their reception was totally how I'd do a wedding if I had a wedding in 2013. A lot of beautiful and colorful crafty, DIY decorations with tons of flowers everywhere. I was throughly impressed.
The Bride and Groom.




life sized jenga for friends and family to play.

Cornhole toss game with a profile of the bride and groom on each platform.

Instead of signing a guestbook, everyone signed a jenga tile so the couple would remember their guests whenever they played. Clever!!






Cheers!!


Confetti Wedding Cake! So fun!
Cotton candy and caramel popcorn for us to take home.

Watching What Not To Wear wondering what to wear.

Next weekend we'll be in Anchorage.
This is not Anchorage. This is Glacier Bay circa 2004.

We're going to my brother-in-law's wedding on July 7th. Yep, that 7/07/07. And can you guess what time the ceremony is?
7:07pm, naturally.
Living in the lower 48, one might think: 7:07pm? Oh my. That's so late.
But in Anchorage, the sun does not set till 2am. So that'd be like having a wedding at 2pm.
BTW, the sun rises around 4am. Whoo hoo. a whole 2 hours of nighttime. Have I told you I like me my sleep?

Ok, there are a lot of other thoughts filtering thru my head right now, but I'm still thinking about what I'm going to wear. It's a very casual wedding. My soon to be sister in law says 'come as you are' and 'jeans are perfectly acceptable'. Quite a difference from the wedding I went to in March where the bride doesn't even wear pants on a daily basis. Get your mind outta the gutter...what I mean is she only wears dresses or skirts! LOL!

So, I'm thinking jeans and a pretty top. Or black pants and a sweater. What would you wear if you were going to a casual outdoor wedding in Alaska?

Window Shopping

After last week's spree, I had to become content with window shopping. The bad thing about having a mini shopping spree is that it's addicting. Last week I said I don't typically like malls, yet I found myself at one again today. I have a good excuse though: we're going to a wedding tomorrow and I needed to get a gift. So, aside from the gift for the newlyweds and 2 magazines, my venture to the mall was merely an excuse to take photos.

Ted Baker always has the coolest window displays:


I can't resist chickens, especially these feathered friends at Sur La Table:


And I was happy to see that one of my favorite stores is coming soon, 4 miles from my front door, rather than having to go to San Francisco or Berkeley:


A few of you asked what the little designer bag that I bought last week looked like. Now that the husband has clued in and I even spilled the beans on the ducats it cost (as if he wouldn't find out when the credit card statement came in), well...here's the precious little thing:
Fits my little camera, cell phone, CC and DL and car keys.

My oldest friend is getting married tomorrow; we go back since the 3rd grade. We were the very best of friends till high school graduation, but with college and different life choices, our paths went in opposite directions. We made efforts to maintain our friendship because we had so much history together, but her judgments regarding my spiritual path were too heavy for her and she couldn't put our differences aside and accept me for who I am. I was a heathen destined for hell because I chose to see, learn and believe more about alternate views on faith and not base my spirituality solely on the writings in the Bible and the United Pentecostal Church. My beliefs are simple, God is Love and God is in all things so love is in all things. God created all of us equal, not just all Christians as equals. I'm happy that she finds strength and comfort in her faith and that she's so passionate about it. I even understand her concerns about me - she doesn't want me to go to hell. I just find her to be close minded and judgmental and unwilling to accept people for who they are. But I'm happy with where I stand and where I am growing spiritually. I'm still searching for answers, every day. But I do know that her path definitely is not my path. I accept that, but I don't know if she can.

It's odd to me the direction of where this post went. When I first started the paragraph about going to the wedding tomorrow, I initially was going to question what I was going to wear. The female parishioners can't wear pants and don't cut their hair or wear make-up. Sleeves can't be any shorter than 3/4 length, no elbows showing. The men also can't show elbow, short hair and no facial hair are required. I don't know what I'm expected to wear. How formal of a wedding is it going to be? It's an evening wedding, but on a Friday and it's both their 2nd marriages. I have 3 skirts, all of them casual, but that's what I've got. No dresses. I suppose I'll figure something out, but I'm definitely wearing make up.

Lost: Voice.

Found: time to be hypnotized by a glowing monitor. and do too much photoshop altering to a simple little photo.

I think I'm starting to feel a little better, except my voice is crackly or missing all together.
But now that I'm home, I can think about the upcoming trips the following year might bring. When we got home from the hideaway last night, a wedding invitation awaited us in our mailbox. A wedding in Anchorage. I don't know if you know any other Anchorage, but this one is the one in Alaska. Yes, we might (keyword: might) be going to Alaska for a wedding in July. July 7th, 2007 to be exact. Vows will be exchanged at 7:07pm. Thank God not 7:07am. I think it'd be fun. It's just a matter of A) can Jimmy take that much time off of work and 2) who else is going. It'd be cool if more than just us went. I told Jimmy that we have to go because I'm the self-proclaimed family photographer. Not sure if he'll buy into that.