another ball-game/park

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base." -- Dave Barry

One of Al's life goals is to visit all the baseball parks across the United States. As his future life partner, I might as well be part of this goal. So alas, this past weekend, we made some progress on our cross country (cross century?) journey by visiting Nationals Park in Washington, DC. What better way to spend the longest day of the year, than by soaking in some summer baseball? The park was absolutely gorgeous, and brand spanking new. And the many hours that we spent on bus/train/foot this past weekend made for some quality talk time about a variety of topics, obviously the wedding being one of the most prominent. I would be lying if I said that all this planning isn't stressing me out one bit, but I'm glad that Alphonse and I are talking through each decision and truly making this wedding our own.

Here's a sampling of photos from our ball park visit, complete with a goofy Alphonse photo.

Also, as I side note, we've been to four games this season and have yet to see the home team win... perhaps, we should stop watching live baseball. We'll see how things play out at the Mets game we go to on Tuesday. And even if we have no luck in baseball this year, we've been pretty lucky in love so far.

"But he said to them, 'Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.'"-- Genesis 24:56

one, two, three, FLASH!

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." -- Ansel Adams


Ok. so I like photo booths. Seeee:

Actually I like most things photo-related, including, but not limited to: photographs, photo opportunities, photo albums, and photosynthesis.



At times my "I love photographs. Let's take another picture!" collides with Alphonse's "Another photo?! Seriously?" But luckily such incidents almost always playfully evolve into Alphonse sticking his tongue out or attempting to sabotage my photo in some other way. And by now it should come as no surprise to you that Alphonse and I can be quite silly at times, so such attempts are well received (and documented via photograph). When I saw that my friend Raph had a photo booth at his wedding, I thought it might be the perfect way to combine my love for (candid) photos and Al's love for (candid) silliness. And photo booth photos (or frames) might make fun favors, right? Of course this may mean cutting down our original photography package, but it might be worth it. We'll keep you updated...

A few photos from Raph's wedding, click to enlarge:

“Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” -- Psalm 68: 4-5.

the dress hunt continues [1] ...

"A happy bridesmaid makes a happy bride" -- Alfred Tennyson

I thought finding bridesmaids dresses would be pretty easy since I don't consider myself a very picky person, and I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. At this point I've gone through (too) many websites, and literally hundreds of dresses, and sadly, so far this is pretty much all I've come away liking. It turns out, I am pickier than I first thought, and I don't really have any idea what I'm doing. This sampling is from collections by BCBG, Ann Taylor, Jim Hjelm, and Bari Jay:

click to enlarge:

A few things I've liked so far:

• sweetheart and v-neck -- these necklines seem to be comfortable and flattering on most people; I'm also leaning away from strapless, since my gown is strapless (and supposedly the bridesmaids shouldn't match the bride too much)
• chiffon and organza -- these fabrics seem pretty soft and flowy
• empire waist and A-line silhouettes -- again, these styles seem pretty flattering
  

Let me know which dresses you like (aka HELP!) Also, I forgot to mention it earlier, but Alphonse and I saw Sex and the City a few weekends ago. To protect Al's manhood, I think I'm required to say that I "forced" him to go and that he "hated it" (both false). But anyways, we both learned a little about wedding planning, like (surprise!) the bride-to-be should consider her fiance's opinion on major decisions, like party size. Anyways, stay tuned for more dresses from Betsey Johnson, Nicole Miller, Maggy London, and Anthropologie!

"As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." -- Isaiah 62:5

happy father's day...

"There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself." -- John Gregory Brown

I wouldn't exactly call myself a "Daddy's Girl" but I think every little girl has special relationship with her father. Some dads are "sporty dads," some dads are "handy dads," some dads are "cool dads," but my dad, I like to think, was a "funny dad." During my teen years my "funny dad" became my "corny dad," (although I'm not sure his jokes changed all the much, and I'm even slightly embarrassed to say that sometimes he would even make jokes about corn, just begging to be called corny). And while he still cracks corny jokes, it's nice to know that I can always rely on my dad for a laugh, or at least a smile while I shake my head at his corniness. And it warms a special place in my heart when I overhear my dad start to tell someone new a joke I've heard a hundred times. There's a certain comfort in knowing and loving someone so well that you can sense the start of a familiar joke, even if it's a corny one.

So while I'm not a little girl any more, all this wedding planning is making me feel like I'm my dad's little girl again. Just the other day I asked him if he had a song preference for the father-daughter dance at my wedding, and he said he didn't have one in mind yet. I'm still not quite sure, myself, what we should dance to... but I'll let you know as soon as we decide something. And even though my dad will walk me down the aisle and give me away in about a year... I'll always be his little girl, and he will always be my funny/corny dad.

Happy father's day, to fathers everywhere!

"Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace." -- Psalm 144:12

what to wear?!

"The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves" -- Yves Saint Laurent

When I first started wedding planning, one of the earliest things that I decided (in my head) was that I wanted my bridesmaids' dresses to be light, flowy, and slightly Greek goddess-like. This idea worked perfectly when I was thinking of having all my bridesmaids wear long evening gowns, but when we decided on shorter afternoon dresses, I thought that maybe I would have to pass on my original idea-- the words "short" and "Greek goddess-esque" didn't seem like a good match. That was until I stumbled upon this dress in a window in Annapolis. Looked like an appropriately flowy and simple dress, and best of all it was cocktail length! So with newfound hope, my search for bridesmaids dresses pressed on.





Below are a few of my most recent favorites. And while this selection lacks any real consistency as far as dress length, or silhouette, or possibly even overall feel, I can say this much for sure: the dresses are going to be cute (and probably empire waisted). And almost definitely yellow, tea length, and flowy as well.

click to enlarge

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ... See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." -- Matthew 6:25-33

a blog about blogs...

"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise." -- Sylvia Plath

So apparently wedding blogs are cool... or maybe just popular. A google search for "wedding blog" returned over 8 million sites. Wowzers. There are blogs for all sorts of weddings: preppy weddings, offbeat weddings, ethnic weddings... the list goes on. As someone who is in the midst of planning her own wedding, I think I am justified in spending (perhaps a little too much) time browsing such sites. And I'm happy to say that I've been getting lots of different ideas along the way. To spare you the experience of hopping from blog to blog in hope of finding treasures of inspiration, I'll summarize a few of my favorites:

• Snippet & Ink - great pictures, real weddings, budget tips
• Something Old, Something New - creative ideas from things old and new
• The Bride Cafe - more pictures and real wedding stories
• Oh Happy Blog! - lots of cute dresses, random ideas
  
• Style Me Pretty - I've mentioned this one before...

And last but not least... all the best bridal blogs in one place! And no, it's not your imagination. Future brides, you can thank me now for this find. I plan to keep blogging until someone puts me up on that list.

And here's a little inspiration in picture form from Snippet & Ink (the yellow makes me happy):

click to enlarge

"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll" -- Job 19:23

cream and sugar.

"He was my cream, and I was his coffee - And when you poured us together, it was something." -- Josephine Baker

Aside from those 40 days and nights during Lent, my typical Monday to Friday routine involves one to two cups of java, disguised by milk and sugar. My lab version of Seth Rogan, the one and only Andrew "B-bear" Edelstein can attest to this habit (and partly enables it , as well). As someone who's been an insider to two weddings in the past month (and whose sister is in the process of planning a wedding) he might have a few pearls of wisdom to share about remaining sane through this process... but that is another blog for another day.

Back to my original thought... coffee. I do love that tasty daily dose of caffeine, but after being inspired by weddingbee, I think perhaps I may need to give it up for the sake of white teeth on my wedding day.


I'm not sure first year of med school would approve of such a decision, but I think the fact that I successfully gave it up for Lent is some indication of my ability to survive sans coffee. And if all else fails, there's always teeth whitening, or embracing my off-white teeth.

In other news, today Al and I chaperoned his first graders on their school field trip to the zoo. We haven't had this much fun at a zoo since... we went to the Bronx Zoo last year. Honestly, it's pretty easy to enjoy the zoo when you're there in good company. :) . Those kids are so energetic. I'm poooped.

" God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." -- Genesis 1:25