Wedding Favorites

Wedding photos are in and we are meticulously combing through them to create a hard cover album. Our photographer sent us a CD of photos but no info on albums..A friend of mine suggested Somerset Albums, does anyone else have suggestions? In any event, here are some of our favorite snapshots. The rest can be viewed at http://proofs.nuvoria.com/enterEvent.php?id=525816 password lin1022.

Photography by Nuvoria, LLC out of Norfolk, VA.

Next Year I'll be the Wiser

In an effort to come home sane and without any pulled muscles next year, I wrote myself this note and tucked it in my wallet....for me to remember that no matter how glorious it still is to wake up to a Christmas tree piled with presents, lugging them all home 3/4 of the way across the country is painful and unnecessary. I'm too old. We don't need gifts. Or six dogs to 16 people in one house. So next year, let's pack the place full of family, bring them in from every corner of the world, but leave the furry friends out of the equation.

On Volunteering....

Over the summer while I was knee deep in wedding planning, Will volunteered to plan and host his squadron Christmas party. At the time, the Boss mentioned that it should be someone with a wife to help with all of the logistics, decorating, invitations....you know, planning. A smile spread across his face as he said "I'll have a wife by then!"

Either I made my dissatisfaction with his volunteer spirit evident, or he is just an incredibly thoughtful man, but Will actually took on most of the planning himself, leaving me only to choose a tacky sweater and enjoy the party.

We snagged a DJ from the Christmas party we attended just the night before we hosted ours and Will MC'd the night with flare. He was a big hit with the crowd, and the bartender. Here's a pictorial summary of our evening, awkward family photos and all.....

Whose baby is that?

These are the men that are defending our country....from the sky. Feeling safe?

Forced to fly fighter jets, all they really want to do are craft sweaters and throw gang signs.

Spinning

Watch out for this lethal hip thrust...

Way back before Thanksgiving, Will and I decked the halls for Christmas so that our house would look pretty for our Thanksgiving house guests. The stockings were hung on the fireplace, the prelit twirling tree was ornamented, but not twirling because apparently that is "tacky" - the tree is from Kmart - let the tackiness twirl. And of course, the hand-painted nativity set my mother in law made for us was set out on our new sofa table.

When we told mom about the Nativity set over the phone, she instinctively knew something was wrong - without even seeing it. Can you tell where we made a mistake?


Well, there it is, Baby Jesus laying on his manger ...... in the well. Not a platform to display the newborn king as we thought was obvious, it is indeed a well. Here's hoping the wise men and their camels can save the day little buddy.

Our wedding cinematographers are amazing! Check out the video montage they created for us - it's like our own music video.

When I named my blog "Soundtrack to Life," this is exactly what I envisioned - someone following me around with a camera putting my life to music, whatever song it was that was stuck in my head at the time. It started by walking through airports listening to my ipod, putting a soundtrack to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. And now my dream has come full circle. Or at least I have a soundtrack to my wedding day! If only I could get the geniuses at Illuxa Studio to follow me around more often.....

Lindsey+William // This Moment from Illuxa Studio on Vimeo.

Cinematographers:
Jason Encarnacion
Milli Encarnacion
Joey Cunanan

Photographers:
Kate Fowler
Lauren Lyon

The Inflatables

I've learned a few things about Arizona in the past six months.

• While most of us have "desert landscaping" with a yard full of rocks, there are a few die-hards out there who fight for that 10x10 patch of grass in their front yard - and buy a lawnmower to keep it in check.
• No one actually lives in Phoenix, it's a dump.When we say "Phoenix," we usually mean to say, Scottsdale, Tempe, or the proper suburban neighborhood name.
• There are empty shopping centers on almost every corner - remnants of the businesses that used to thrive - yet there are more nail salons than there are Starbucks in NYC and they are all wildly successful.
• And now that it's Christmastime, my favorite Arizona tradition - inflatable lawn ornaments. Everyone has them, even the rich folk. It's as if there are small children in every home begging for the biggest Christmas decorations in the neighborhood when the majority of the residents here are actually retired senior citizens. Gone are the classy white lights and garland. We live in the land of tacky blow up dolls.