The central California coast

From the Sierra Ranch to Monterey Bay and down the one through Big Sur. Calamari and local wine, waterfall into the pacific, Elephant seals, sunset, Spectacular. Pepperoni pizza for dinner. Happy valentine’s day.

The Coastal Redwoods: Muir Woods

This land was made for you and me.

Our honeymoon adventure begins

We landed in San Francisco. It was a long day, but I’m always full of energy at the beginning of a trip. It was nice to be up at dawn when the sky is a color of blue I rarely get to experience.

Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, valentine’s day, Friday, Jake and Maggie’s wedding, Chinese New Year, Presidents’ Day, plus 4 more days!!! What a vacation.

We met Matt and Megan at the airport, got a car and headed downtown to 2nd street for some local brews and yummy food at the 21st Amendment Brewery. We had dinner with Matt’s cousin and his new finance. Then we crossed the Bay Bridge and made our way to Oakley where Eliot and Anna welcomed us happily into their home. Good conversation, music and dancing.

Next on the agenda: the Golden Gate Bridge and the REDWOODS!!!

happy new year

A couple photographs to summarize a glorious beginning to a new year.

Much love,
Sal

lemon tree blossoms

Look at all the new growth!

Hot Air

Hot air balloon rides are magical and romantic because there are TV ads for credit card companies that show engagements and happy people in perfect moments. I heard about a couple one time who took a trip in a hot air balloon from their ceremony to the reception, but the wind carried them away and they were very late for the party because a driver had to follow them across the countryside to pick them up and bring them back.

The cool, crisp air of late fall mornings must be ideal for blowing around in the basket of a gigantic balloon. For the last several years I have driven one direction or the other on I-40 between Asheville, NC and Canton, NC. On occasion I see the colorful dots drift across the interstate or across the fields nearby. I can’t help but to twist my neck to get a glimpse through the trees.

Ian and I have talked about taking a ride sometime together, and it will likely be a spontaneous, painfully cold, and early morning float across the sky. This appeals to me because I had recurring dreams as a child about soaring and flying like a bird. I imagine the trip is slow and any number of things can go wrong. But there is an intrigue to the stillness of the dawn and the thin space of floating along the peaks and valleys of western NC that has me longing to soak in that twinkle of a moment. A moment where a photograph could hardly capture the bliss of drifting along in no particular direction, with a perspective you just don’t experience often, hopefully a special person to share it with, and awkward blasts of hot air breathing life into your balloon. It is a journey I can only dream about, for now.

What are you dreaming of today?

all smiles

i can’t wipe this smile off my face! dad said even though i love to smile, he’s never seen me smile so much. that should tell you something. thanks to Larson at Song Hill Reserve for snapping this photo as we were walking down the isle. more photos to come…

THANK YOU

there are so many folks to thank. it’s going to take me a while. Thomas Murphy for sharing the journey of friendship and leading by example, Jessica Wharton with Encore Events for handling the behind the scenes details, Larson and John Dunn of the magnificent Song Hill Reserve, Brooke Priddy from Ship to Shore for creating a masterpiece dress out of lace and silk to twirl in, Cheryl Gettinger for arranging the flowers we got from the Gardner’s Cottage, Jacque for collecting all sorts of charming decorations, my godmother Sarah Fishburne for holding us all together, Maleah Pusz for amazing bite size chocolates, Frank Sorrells for brewing the best IPA and Stout i’ve ever had, the Wharton family for inviting us all into their beautifully decorated home and feeding us so well, all our friends and family who toasted us, and those who just couldn’t say something outloud, for BBQ, crawfish, shrimp, cheese and cornbread, the Pine Crest Inn for hosting the Hart family clan, the prayers that brought zero percent precipitation and sunshine,  for The Campfire Reverends who sang us some tunes, Cecil Gurganus for playing the Swannanoa Waltz as I walked down the isle, for Lou Murrey, Rachel Dudasik and JennyV. Dowdle for capturing moments on film, Molly Fitzpatrick and Erin Bicknese for the lullaby while we danced, the Lazy Birds who got everyone else dancing. we ate all the food, drank all the booze, including jello shots and bourbon, and everyone went home smiling. we have the best people in the world and we are forever grateful for a perfect day to celebrate the love of ian and sallie williams!!!

 

Love

 

part of a favorite love poem

the backyard

We have an awesome backyard. This is time of year when I really love ours and the fact that everywhere outside feels like a backyard. A place to gather with friends, wait for the pup to do his business in the middle of the night, share candle lit dinners, morning coffee with out of town friends, a place for Bay to feel at home when he can’t come with us.

Maybe this is why we are getting married in November. The colors outdoors are changing everyday, with pops of red and yellow poking through the evergreens. The sun shines but it’s not hot. It’s perfect to roll down the windows in your car and feel the cool air, or open the windows in your house and listen to the bugs whistle and the birds chirp. The nights are cool so you need layers like sweaters and scarves. You are more likely to sit around a fire, rock on a front porch, drink a swig of whiskey, or take an evening stroll in the crisp air.

I want to mention the wedding capsule again. Please tell us a story you love about one or both of us, or one from your life experience to remind us when we fight or argue what love and marriage are all about. It is amazing what folks we barely know have to say about the fact that we are getting married. And they aren’t even the ones that know us best.

Getting married means we get to plan a perfect day, with the people we love, celebrating the beginning of our lives together. I realize that marriage has it’s ups and downs just as the engagement process does, but you know what? Ian is worth it. There were so many details to plan over the last several months, but the love I’ve poured into this should be worth it. Fall is official, RSVP’s and cards arrive in the mailbox daily, and the big day is right around the corner. I’m anxious, nervous, impatient, excited, exhausted, and extremely emotional. Meanwhile I’ll be in the backyard with Ian and Bay soaking it all in.

The Blue Ridge Parkway

Bay got a taste of hiking on a trail off the parkway with peak colors. He blends right in!

Engagement photos

I am so grateful for our friendship with JennieV. and Franklin. They met at Lake Logan, so it only seemed natural to have a picnic with them in such a beautiful place. Frank is making us IPA and Stout for the wedding festivities. What awesome gifts. JennieV. also graciously did a photo shoot with us.  Here are some favorites:

 

 

September Garden

Round three of planting for 2012. Ian is doing most of the work. The end of the peppers, and he planted broccoli, radishes, and arugula. Hooray for fresh salad. I hope it isn’t too late to plant more spinach.

Late summer

What a brilliant idea to take some friends away to a lake house for the weekend. We went to Bald Mountain Lake, just north of Lake Lure for a weekend of floating, chocolate cupcakes, bacon, and just plain fun. Jesse Wharton, I am glad to celebrate your life and our friendship. Ian and I now want to make a floating dock (the lake did not allow motors)!!

Grill

Grilling and chilling just Ian, Bay and I. Fire to keep the bugs away, my favorite cut of red meat, red wine, roasted peppers and squash from the garden, roasted sweet potatoes, and mustard greens we froze when the garden was plentiful.

Driftwood

Bay loves to chew on wood in the back yard. I have collected scraps and branches for him, but his favorite is the Oregon driftwood that I brought home from my visit to Eugene more than 3 years ago! Ok, so I am a collector, but look how happy he is! It makes me think of my gal, Allison, and our lovely road trip along the west coast on a daily basis! I’m thankful for adventures and friendships that last a lifetime. And for puppy love. And The Band because Acadian Driftwood has been in my head for a week.

Bay

We got an adorable 9 week old puppy yesterday!

kickstarter and friendship

My friend Molly is amazing.  When she sings, it makes my soul smile.  Her laughter and joy through food, wine, laughing, and singing makes me want to be around her as much as possible.  That is what friendship should be about.  Funny enough, these are some of the very reasons I love Ian.  There is one big difference, however.  Molly is recording an album so I will be able to play her voice when I choose to, while Ian gets to pick when I get to hear him sing.

Kickstarter is an online fundraising tool for emerging artists to get financial backing for their projects. The idea is that if enough people pledge to support the project, it gets funded.  The goal has to be met in order for the project to get the funding, and if it doesn’t happen, those who pledged never contribute.  It is not a loan, like Kiva. It is better than regular campaign fundraising because no one pays unless you solicit enough pledging members. And it supports local artists and friends of artists and friends of friends of artists. It lets dreamers dream and test them in a real and practical way.

Molly finally made a record and I want you to know about it.  In about 24 hours, she reached her goal on kickstarter. She has a full month to continue gathering pledges (If you pledge you’ll get a copy of her album!).  She can see how much we love it when she sings, and though we’ve told her she ought to do this, it is magical to watch it all come together.  Not only will she be able to produce the record to share with us, she’s raised more than she needs! With her husband Steve, who is her sound engineer, they can explore doing things like adding instruments to songs to enhance them.  Or make more records so they can go on tour and visit me!

I just had to share.  The creative juices of wedding planning are contagious.  Forget the knot, and fat bridal magazines with fancy expensive dresses and dream.  Find out what your friends are great at, and find a way to support them.

Ian’s version of our engagement story

So Sallie asked me to write about our engagement story because apparently it’s “nice” and the 4 people who would actually read this seem to want to hear it, so here goes.  I saw a girl I thought was pretty, knocked her over the head with my club and dragged her back to my cave.  That’s the true story, there you go, deal with it.  Okay so I will go ahead and make something else up for all you sentimental types.

I am not sure when to start the story.  As some of you may know, Sallie and I have known one another since we were in the 6^th grade having gone to Episcopal youth conferences from a very young age.  We became friends very quickly and our relationship has grown and evolved as we have grown up.  During our senior year (it makes me feel old to admit that we graduated in 2002) of high school the two of us were a part of a mission trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras where we worked for a week at an orphanage called El Hogar de amor y esperanza.  It seems to me that at some point during that week we started to like each other a bit more than just friends and soon thereafter decided to go to prom together.  So I suppose that would really be the start of our “romantic” relationship if you really have to put a finger on it.  That summer the two of us worked at CampHenry as counselors.  We were not dating when we started the summer, but as is a frequent circumstance at summer camps we figured out in the first couple of weeks that each of us had pretty significant feelings for one another.  Then I got fired.  That is a totally different story but since I left early that year it wasn’t until the summer of ’03 that we really first got together.  Love was in the air, the sun was shining, flowers were in bloom, I had a full head of hair, lots of skinny-dipping happened, etc. etc.  We dated some off an on for the next year or so in college and at camp.  Eventually (and inevitably) it was apparent that our courtship was not working.  Being at two different schools very far away from one another at that time in our lives was not conducive to a healthy relationship.  So Sallie broke my heart because she is just mean like that and we broke up.  If you need time to go get a tissue, please do, these words will be here when you get back.  Despite Sallie being such a heartbreaker we stayed in touch somewhat throughout the subsequent few years which can be attributed almost fully to my caring, understanding, and Zen like personal nature.  We had been friends before we dated, so it made sense somewhat that we should remain friends.

Sallie went her way, I went mine yet we would still talk a handful of times each year.  Sallie dated other people, and so did I.  At some point during the spring/summer of 2010 I was living and working on NantucketIsland in Massachusetts I got a call from Sallie and we just hit it off, or re-hit it off I suppose.  We started talking frequently and it became apparent to me at least that there were still some pretty significant feelings there.  Now to be fair, she may have just been leading me along so that she would have a reason to come to Nantucket during the summer time, but that is neither here nor there at this point because as soon as we saw each other at the airport it was obvious that we liked each other.  From that point on our relationship grew at a very fast pace.  We traveled together, spoke on the phone regularly, and when we had both moved back to North Carolina in the fall/winter of 2010 we started dating again.

2011 was a great year for Sallie and I.  We saw each other almost every day and really enjoyed sharing our lives with one another.  My counselors during the summer of 2011 thought it was the coolest thing ever to try and get me to talk about Sallie and my relationship and if we were going to get married, when we were going to have kids and all that fun stuff.  We started living together in Asheville in August of 2011 and very soon thereafter I knew that I wanted to, and almost as importantly could live with her for the rest of our lives.  I can’t remember the exact date or anything, but at some point around December ’11 I decided that I was going to ask her to marry me.  I made sure to ask permission from her Dad (that happened in the spice isle in the Grocery store), her mom (asked her on our back porch), her brother and sister, and her best friend.  They all gave me the thumbs up, so I had a ring made by a local artist named Dave Vrooman who is quite awesome at his craft in case you were wondering.  The ring is unique and beautiful and reflects Sallie’s tastes, likes, and beliefs very well.  I actually can remember getting the ring on a Thursday and having to wait all night that night, all day Friday, and half of the day on Saturday to ask her to marry me.  I had a plan though and no matter how much the ring was burning a hole in my pocket, I had to stick to the plan.  What I wanted to do was to take Sallie on a hike to Sam’s Knob near the black balsam area off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This is a beautiful location with 360-degree views and is almost completely deserted during the winter months.  Sam’s knob also holds a special place in my heart for other reasons and Sallie had never been there, so I thought it would be the perfect place.  Well plans don’t always turn out the way you want them to and it snowed that day, so they closed the parkway and we couldn’t get to Sam’s knob.  Luckily I had recently been working on a trail at Lake Logan where we both work that comes to an overlook with nearly 360-degree views of the lake and mountains and is almost certain to be secluded and private.  When we got to that point (after catching our breaths for a few seconds) I told Sallie how much I enjoyed spending time with her, how much I loved hiking and being outside with her, how I loved how we had grown together, and how much I was looking forward to spending our lives together.  I told Sallie that I loved her and asked if she would marry me.  I got down on one knee opened the box and showed her the ring.  It was snowing, but not so much that you couldn’t enjoy the views.  I was nervous (half of the reason men get down on one knee, I think), and she was completely surprised, happy, and emotional.  Yes, Sallie cried.  That is not too uncommon, and if you know her well you won’t be surprised by her reaction.  She also said yes twice, just to make sure she claims, which is also a very Sallie thing to do.  Needless to say it was special, beautiful, and huge.  On February 12^th 2012, Sallie Hart said the one word (twice) that made me the happiest and luckiest man in the world.  So if you don’t believe me about the club and cave thing, go by that story.

i bid you goodnight

The goodnight song, as sung by Grateful Dead, and a Camp Henry tradition:

Lay down my dear children, lay down and take your rest
Oh won’t you lay your head upon your savior’s breast
I love you, oh but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

 

soak it in

summer is fading into fall. i love to swing, watch the flowers grow, listen to the birds and lately i’ve been painting more.  we get married in less than 3 months! so much to do, but i’m soaking it in.

dawn and dusk

My favorite times of day are dawn and dusk. The light is just spectacular, and since it is hard to capture on film, those moments often live mostly in my memories. A couple weekends ago I was down in the gorge at NOC doing a Wilderness First Aid course. Saturday night we ate pizza by the riverside, drank free Sweetwater beer and listened to live music as the darkness settled in. While sitting there, I was able to capture the change in light and the fog floating on the river. This inspiration lead to a painting session with the gray and blue hues of dusk, which brings me great joy. These also happen to be my favorite colors, so the inspiration is quite appropriate; wedding planning has brought out the artist in me.

family

Back in December of 2011 I accompanied my mom to a service celebrating the life of an incredible woman, Marnie Werth. An only child, Marnie created her own family, despite blood relations, marriage ties, and other traditional definitions of family units. Her three children each had different parents, but they were all very closely knit into one anothers lives.  She lived a life of passion towards helping others, including the Avery County Habitat for Humanity, and the Valle Crucis Day School, where I went as a toddler. Marnie forever expanded my definition of family.

My approach, as I plan this wedding, is to be inclusive rather than exclusive. And while Ian and I both grew up in the church, and work with the church, we are not getting married in a church. I would have gotten married in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Valle Crucis, but it isn’t open past labor day and I felt that we had more than 100 family members, so we wouldn’t be able to cram in there. We are instead getting married outdoors, in the middle of God’s beautiful creation. There will be plenty of Episcopal priests present, so it might as well be church, anyway. As Camp Henry taught us to appreciate the world around us and to notice the little moments, we often look to creation to see the beauty of this world and it is where we see one another clearly. The other advantage is that we are not constrained by space outdoors, and thus it makes it easier to have all our family present on our wedding day.

I wonder in all of this who my family will be in 30 years. I think about who I will raise kids with, what I will remember from my wedding day, and what kind of family I will look back on. As I work on invitations, I imagine the greatest dinner party of my life thus far. Determining a guest list is not easy. There are people who have been in our lives for a very long time. There are new friends who we expect to be around for the rest of our lives. We have all sorts of cousins, aunts, uncles and friends from old and new relationships. We have one set of grandparents, who will not be able to travel the distance to celebrate with us, but all of our grandparents will be there in spirit. In the beginning of the wedding planning craziness, I decided being in a beautiful space with people we love was all that mattered (besides the promise Ian and I make to one another). So when I get all tied up in a knot about some detail, I think about my family. My immediate family, my Camp Henry family, my Sewanee family, my church family, my childhood family, my Polk county family, my family friends that might as well be family, and the family I will create with Ian. These relationships, the people in our lives, this is what we’re celebrating.

abundance

“Here is a summertime truth: abundance is a communal act, the joint creation of an incredibly complex ecology in which each part functions on behalf of the whole and, in return, is sustained by the whole. Community not only creates abundance—community is abundance. If we could learn that equation from the world of nature, the human world might be transformed.”

— Parker J. Palmer

July garden

The garden has been a fulfilling and exciting adventure. The mustard greens, salad greens and turnips are all gone. I have some beets to harvest, some chard to harvest and the squash has started to multiply. We are picking the biggest tomatoes in our neighborhood, and the carrots are nice and fat. I’m waiting on the cucumbers to grow from the vines, and the various pepper plants are starting to produce fruit. With Ian at camp, it has been hard to keep up the watering in the summer heat. This week we have gotten a couple gully washers to soak the ground, which gives me a little break.

share the love

Things to share:

photographs, hugs, scrabble games, love, anything with a hart or a heart, greens from the garden, a trampoline, breakfast, coffee on the porch, smoothies with fresh picked berries, a game of bocce, laughter, lunch, art projects, neighborhood strolls, dogs, road trips, epic concerts, prayers, dinner, beers, tubing trips down the french broad, summertime!

moments

“If, as Herod, we fill our lives with things, and again with things; if we consider ourselves so unimportant that we must fill every moment of our lives with action, when will we have the time to make the long, slow journey across the desert as did the Magi? Or sit and watch the stars as did the shepherds? Or brood over the coming of the child as did Mary? For each one of us, there is a desert to travel. A star to discover. And a being within ourselves to bring to life.”

-Author Unknown

strawberries

Went to pick strawberries at The Ten Acre Garden in Haywood County, and turned it into strawberry spread. So delicious!

Jewelry design

My brother, David Hart, is a jeweler. He makes rings and likes to work with silver, so I’m commissioning him to make some jewelry for me in general, and for gifts to the bridesmaids. Today we had our first session of brainstorming. Here are my drawings:

Braves Game

Craig Stump and Ian Williams finally meet! It was a nice last minute trip to play before Ian started camp and the Stump family moved west to Lacey, Washington. Go Braves!

May Garden

garden view

mixed greens, carrots, arugula

happy romaine, the last radish, mature spinach

 

breakfast

Hot french press coffee; G’ma Margaret Hart’s homemade bread made by David Hart, with fresh strawberry spread by Sallie Hart; local sausage from the Chapel Hill Farmers Market; slow cooked cheddar cheese stone ground grits with a hint of cayenne; fresh kiwi

Our Wishlist

• 2 CamelBak water bottles with built in UV filter

• A hot air balloon ride

• Iron Outdoor Furniture: chairs, tables, benches (mismatched is ok, used is ok, any color)

• New standing bike pump

• Canister Miele vacuum cleaner

• Jigsaw with cord, new or used if in great condition

• Cordless drill and Sawzall, new or used if in great working condition, with compatible batteries

• Shop Vac (used is ok, or gift card to Lowes)

• Kitchen Aid Classic Stand Mixer, neutral color

• A good, new iron

• Wooden bench porch swing

• Armoire from Viva Terra in dark brown

• Carved wooden side table from World Market

• Wooden hangars (any color/shape, new or used)

• Turkish hamam towels (bath towels or hand towels, any color)

blue Hydrangeas

we’ve known each other for more than half our lives!

Ian and I have known each other since New Beginnings in sixth grade. We continued to do youth events through The Episcopal Diocese of Western NC. We went on a youth mission trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for spring break in 2002. And we went to prom together our senior year of High School.

We went our separate ways to The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenneessee and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We continued to work together in the summers at Camp Henry.

When he graduated, he went off to California and taught Environmental Education in the mountains and at the coast. Then he moved to the island of Nantucket, MA to develop a youth program with St. Pauls Epsicopal Church.

After graduation I spent some time in Bangladesh studying microfinance with Grameen Bank before moving to Asheville, NC. I worked with OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling and then moved to Knoxville to build houses with Habitat for Humanity through the Americorps program.

We both moved back to Western NC in the fall of 2010. The rest is history.

Home

Here are a couple more favorite songs:

“Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

“I Don’t Know” by Lisa Hannigan

There is comfort in having a companion, in the deeper, more vulnerable layers of friendship, and the opportunity for creating a life together. What a beautiful thing to share with another soul. I am thoroughly enjoying the transition of being engaged. It has sparked my creativity, triggered great conversations, and generated cause for celebration.

why a wedding blog?

So why do we have a wedding blog, you ask? Well the cookie cutter wedding websites were just too plain for me. And the engagement process is exciting, thrilling, exhausting, and one of the most creative projects I have had in a while. And I wanted to document it. Plus I’ve been looking for an excuse to start a blog of my own.

A good friend suggested another blog, which turned into a book, called A Practical Wedding. It has been a lifesaver in the creative process because they are good to remind you to dream your own wedding, and not to get stuck in the perfection and expensive world of wedding magazines and pinterest. Pinterest, for those of you who have not discovered it yet, is brilliant. It is an online bulletin board. It helps you find and keep a record of websites that teach you how to make things and ways to organize things in your life. From recipes, to inspirational quotes, art, fashion, and photographs from all over the world, I mean internet. It is very easy to get carried away, because it is focused on material things and endless crafts. But it is extremely handy for color schemes and gathering party ideas. And there are a LOT of good ideas out there. Hooray for creativity!

I have to say, I had no idea how much time, energy, resources and money go into weddings. The average wedding costs $27,000 and the now popular do-it-yourself (DIY) or do-it-together (DIT) weddings still cost around $10,000 on average. I had a mini freak out in the beginning because that is a lot of money to throw at a couple of hours worth of party. And even though there are a lot of details, I decided that I cared about getting to marry Ian in a beautiful space, have people around us that love and support us, and I might want to try and make my own dress. Oh, and there will be dancing. Everything else really doesn’t matter very much.

Now that I’ve picked the location, gathered snail mail addresses and assigned Ian to find some good music, it’s time to start figuring out this wedding dress. I’m a little nervous about such a giant task. My godmother graciously gave me her duponi silk gown from her wedding in 1986. It has a cathedral train and bubble sleeves. One of my best friends doubted me back in high school for the thing I brought home from the thrift store, claiming it was going to be my prom dress. It is so awesome I still have it. I also went to prom with Ian, so all the more reason to make my dress for the wedding day! Since Ian can’t know about it, I’ll have to post about the dress later.

I’ve caught myself thinking about fabric napkins at the reception. Thanks to good friends, I was quickly reminded that it was not worth thinking about. Who remembers napkins?! It is amazing how fast I can get off track. It is easy to spend money, easy to dream up more projects, but in the end, it’s about the people that witness Ian and I in our promise to each other. That is pretty dang special. So I hope to throw a good party!

Cheers!

Postcards & Snail mail

In honor of postcards, here is a fun and creative little video of a precious art form: Melvin the mini Machine.

I’ve had fun collecting stamps and designing the save the date postcard with my Sewanee friend, Macon York. She has her own letterpress and design company because she is that awesome. I sent her photos of my favorite doilies and she did the design.

As soon as I got my rubber stamps in the mail I made my bridesmaids a little snail mail package to show how much I appreciate them. Being a bridesmaid is a big deal, so I want them to feel extra loved!

I’ve also had the excuse to invite girlfriends over for regular art parties, with champagne of course, to involve my gals with the planning process. Here are some photos of the process:

the practice round

final version hanging up to dry

This is one reason why I really like Sallie

I really like Sallie because we get to go to as many cool live music shows as we want to.  Here are a couple songs from a couple shows we have seen in the past week.

Trampled by Turtles “Alone” 

Ziggy Marley “Love is my Religion”

I am pretty sure love means being able to share amazing experiences with a very special person, and that’s what I get to do every day!

 

Ian’s April garden

Ian has started a glorious garden in our back yard. He built boxes, picked up a truck load of mulch, and planted the seeds. We’re composting and hand watering, and it’s already paying off with fresh salad!

romaine, radishes, spinach

arugula, carrots, mixed greens

mustard greens, chard, beets and two kinds of turnips

thyme, hosta, lemon thyme

Wedding Capsule, An Invitation

Food for thought

Getting married is a big deal. I am still not quite able to wrap my head around the concept. I believe it will be an awesome journey, full of rich experiences, travels, and challenges. I also expect our families and friends to support and encourage us all along the way. Thus, this invitation.

Ian and I are going to have a vessel, probably a big mason jar, as a time capsule for our marriage journey. You will see it at events in the coming months where we will collect prayers, memories, stories, pictures, and anything else you want to contribute. You may also send us something in the mail if you wish, just write on the envelope that it is for the wedding capsule. This is particularly powerful opportunity for those we love who may not be able to grace us with the gift of presence in the festivities.

We still haven’t decided which anniversary we will crack it open, maybe year 2 or 3. We also might have a second one for year 15 or so. This is open for discussion, so if you have any recommendations or ideas for us, holla!

I love it when Ian wears seersucker

Happy Easter!

My sister came up to visit for Easter last year and we met my brother, in his new grey suit, at church. Then we had a good southern lunch at Cracker Barrel. That afternoon we had a cookout at Ian’s house and invited over friends for a nice game of Beersbee.

Sisters, Easter 2011

a Franciscan blessing

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

May today there be peace …

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

― St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Happy Birthday, Brother

Happy 25th Birthday David! I hope to make you many more carob cakes for you over the years! With all these weddings, we’ll have more birthdays to celebrate and more people to cheer. How wonderful.

Hiking on Sam’s knob

Sam’s knob, off the Blue Ridge Parkway, is one of Ian’s favorite places to hike. We took dad out there after we got engaged. This is where Ian originally planned to propose, but this section of the parkway closes when it snows.

Sam's knob, off the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sam's knob February, 2012

Hiking at Sam's knob February, 2012

We’re getting married!

November 3, 2012 at Song Hill Reserve in Landrum, SC.

See the event page for more details!

Bent Mountain, Virginia August 2011