One Lucky Bride

I found out some exciting news!

Gene Higa is one of the premier photographers in the Bay Area and around the world. In the February, he announced a contest that he would be holding, called One Lucky Bride. You can read the details here. Basically, he has teamed up with some of the other most sought after vendors (Maria Chang for hair/makeup and Mandy Scott Flowers) to provide a free bridal shoot. You just had to tell him a story.

Well, check it out. I drafted up the story pretty quickly and wasn't expecting to get picked. I was totally stunned yesterday!

Gene does beautiful work, and I'm really looking forward to working with him! We looked into him for our wedding, but it would've broken our bank! You can see more of his work at www.genehiga.com

We'll not only have the amazing work of our amazing photographer, Michelle, on our wedding day, I'll also have a separate session with Gene on another day and get to get all dolled up again! fun times. Any suggestions on cool locations?

Crunch Time
In other news, it's countdown time for the wedding. Wednesday marked the 1 month point. There are so many little details left to take care of.

This is what I did last night after I got home at 8pm: Cooked dinner, made bridesmaids gifts, designed centerpieces, started doing the crafty work for our centerpieces, contacted our florst, entered RSVPs, contacted our print designer, read a little, sleep.

It's pretty much like this all day every day. I'm so grateful for all the wonderful help we have been offered and given. It's a really special time to celebrate and spend with friends and family.

I may be MIA for the next 6 weeks (not that I post that much as it is). But, I'll be back! As a married woman!

Puppies, Cartwheels, and a Near Death Experience.

So my bachelorette party was this weekend. Fun times. Others may write more later. But, we did almost die. See Karen's post for more details about that. Oh, and Janet taught Mary how to do cartwheels. Awesome. And Bob. Oh, drunk Bob, and your two boring friends and your one cute married friend with a tsunami tattoo. Thank you for entertaining us so. Olivia's an assassin.

What else? Mega millions drawing tonight. I get a puppy if Karen wins. Proof is below.

[16:16] k: some ppl at work pitched in to buy some mega million lotto tickets
[16:16] k: hee
[16:16] k: hee
[16:16] ev: NICE
[16:16] ev: did you/
[16:16] k: yeah i pitched in with them
[16:19] ev: nice
[16:19] ev: if you win
[16:19] ev: will you buy me something?
[16:19] k: i'll buy you a puppy
[16:19] ev: will you buy me a puppy?
[16:19] k: HAHAHAHA
[16:20] ev: pppppllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?
[16:20] ev: hahaha
[16:21] k: HAHAHA
[16:21] k: i wrote it before you asked for it
[16:21] ev: hahahah
[16:21] ev: YES!!!!
[16:22] ev: you should buy mary a puppy too
[16:22] ev: that'd make her happy
[16:22] k: yes, i'll buy mary one too
[16:22] k: everybody gets a puppy
[16:22] ev: YAY!!

Ridiculous Conversations

First conversation between me and Janet:
Janet: I wish we had uh....
Ev: What?
E: Oh! I want to play this game! Chips! I wish we had chips!
J: Beer! Wish we had beer!
E: Chips and beer!
J: A maid!
E: A masseuse!

If only Mary were still here....this could've gone on for hours.


Second, over IM with bev:
Ev: I'm so excited for April!
Bev: Yeah?
E: 1) I'm getting married.
E: 2) BASEBALL!!!
E: Hahahahaha.

Ok, these may not be funny to you. But, I've been working so hard at work and at home, that I'm a bit delirious and find funny random things hilarious. Someone save me!!

Thank you!

Jason and I are tremendously blessed. We have had so much help with our wedding, it has really floored us. We're not even half way there yet! My friends are so freaking talented...

Thank you to Jenie, who designed stunning save the date cards!! They are perfect!! I can't wait to see our invitations!!

Thank you to Jessica, who designed a gorgeous website so fast!!! It's beautiful!!

Thank you to Long who can whip stuff up, host stuff, fix bugs, and make shadows disappear. (that's some talent!)

And..not so much a talent, but thank you to Karen and Alinna who gave us our first wedding gift!! You are FAR TOO generous.

I love the community I have around me. I'm learning to ask for help; I'm learning to trust people more and let go of control. Thanks, friends, for all that you are and do.

(I wrote this post two months ago, but never finished it).

Fall.

I love fall. I’ve been drinking spiced cider and peppermint tea. The leaves are changing, which is absolutely gorgeous. But, honestly, nothing beats fall colors like October in Shenandoah. Two years ago, I went camping with my classmate Maria in Shenandoah. We hiked to these beautiful ridges with glorious views of the Shenandoah Valley. The sky was filled with blues and grays, with ominous storm clouds in the distance, casting patchy shadows across the valleys. Hillsides covered in rich reds, burnt oranges and golden yellows from the millions of trees. Small, green plains with little farm houses illuminated from the small glimpse of sun peaking through the clouds. An eagle flew overhead, gliding gracefully through streams of light that descend from the heavens to the land below. It was one of the most magnificent views I’d ever seen.

Speaking of magnificent views, I was going to blog about sunsets. I don’t know how I got distracted by fall.

The top 4 sunsets (in no particular order):

December 1998. Sitting with a good friend in Lucy, my old Volvo station wagon. We parked at the empty lot up on Euclid Avenue in the Berkeley Hills. We could see the San Francisco skyline starting to sparkle as city lights came up, the gray, ominous fog rolling in over the Golden Gate Bridge, and a golden sun setting behind Mount Tam, with warm rays radiating, spiraling from the center as it slipped behind Marin. Quality time with a quality friend.

July 24, 2005. Waikiki beach with three great friends and some damn good sushi. We had waded into the surf just a little bit, but that wasn’t terribly fun since it was so rocky. So we sprawled out on our towels on a surprisingly not-so-crowded Waikiki beach. Armed with the Costco sushi (including California rolls with real crab!), we camped out, ate sushi with our fingers, talked, and watched the sun set to the west. Kids scurried along further down the beach. Their silhouettes were a stark contrast from the first gold and then pink backdrop behind them.

July 18, 2006. Jason had proposed several hours earlier. So, the world was already completely rose colored. We had a lovely dinner in Pacific Grove and wandered out to the waterfront where these rocks jutted out into the ocean. A cool breeze blew around us as we scrambled up the rocks and took a seat. As the sun set, the sky turned a warm mix of yellow, orange, and pink as it slipped behind the trees and then the horizon. The sun warmed the rocks and turned the entire area a beautiful glowy hue. And, it made my ring pretty darn sparkly!

September 2006. A little running group of friend and coworkers would run once a week after work on the trails behind Yahoo!. The trails wandered through the marshes and salt ponds, attracting birds of all kinds. As the days grew shorter, the sunsets came earlier and earlier in our runs. There’s a stretch of our normal course that is about .75 miles and perfectly straight headed toward the west, with beautiful views of the sunsets for a good 7-8 minutes (depending on how fast we were running). The wind caused small ripples along the surface of the water and beautiful birds stood with a delicate grandeur as if they revered the setting sun. Whispy clouds turned a lush orange pink as the sun set, reflecting more light off the salt ponds. 8 minutes of that view can keep a girl running.