Back to Work

I seem to be easing my way back into work. I had one haircut on Saturday and only two haircuts today. Kayla suprised me at work because she had to drop off a workmate in my building. We decided to have lunch before she went back to work.

Chicken Thalis serves two at Whip In! We were super impressed with the new cafe and wine bar. They seriously jazzed up the place since we had last been in. It has always been a go to for me, but with the wedding, we stopped frequenting a lot of our favorites. Back in the top 3 for sure.

Dog Days

Yesterday was our last day of honeymoon. Kayla built an adirondak bench out of a pallet, and I made a lace screen out of some of our leftover wedding linens. Sitting on the bench with a glass of wine at the end of the day, I had a "think", as Kayla calls it, and got super inspired for a landscape plan for the backyard. We ended up pulling up part of makeshift patio that someone previously had built from pavers and building a flower bed across the back of the house. Since we aren't usually good at before and after photos, I decided to snap a few as we were getting started.

When this is finished, it will be amazing! Since we started this inspired job so late in the day, we had to quit before it was finished because it was getting too dark. The dogs were done.

Alterntative Lifestyle Girls

Kayla and I installed two new light fixtures in our house today. Kayla learned a new skill and I learned that I can hold my arms above my head for a really long time. Our wedding band, The Carper Family played at our Central Market this evening so we went over there for dinner. We drank a bottle of wine and met an older gentleman named George that apparently sees The Carper Family every time they play at CM, and frequents the country dance scene in Austin. He told us two jokes, one about an ostrich and one about a lady that buried her husband upside down. He said he would like to dance with one of us and when Jenn told him we were married and that they had just played at our wedding last weekend, he told us that his wife had died 6 years ago, and since then she had sent him lots of pretty girls to dance with, and that all of his girlfriends were "alternative lifestyle girls". He said "I know all about the lifestyle because I have a gay son." He was adorable, and wore a bolo tie. I wish I had gotten a photo of George.

Here is The Carper Family playing at Central Market. I was playing around with the options on my camera phone. Black and white? eh.

Thrifting!

We spent the entire afternoon thrifting. I mapped out an itinerary of all of the thrift stores we wanted to hit in Austin and we made it to every one but one. We are masters in the art of finding treasures for our home on the cheap. I like to think I have a flair for decorating and my spouse is extremely handy with power tools and anything that requires a sewing machine. As I sit in my living room and look around me, I realize that almost everything here has been refurbished, repurposed, or made by hand by either or both of us. This is just another reason why we make such a great team. We got so hungry while thrifting that we had to stop for sandwiches midway through. I wanted to take Kayla to Cenote on Cesar Chavez because they have a gluten free menu, rare for a coffee shop, and it is uber adorable. We refueled with our Topo Chicos and sammies and then found most of our treasures of the afternoon at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, a few blocks away.

Reflecting

Someone posted this on facebook. We don't have any of our wedding photos back from Sean yet, so this is the first image that we have seen of our ceremony. This will forever be one of my most beloved memories. As we stood in front of our friends and family, I really focused on what was happening, the words coming out of Spike's mouth, our mouths, the looks on my beautiful best friends' faces, and the comfort and security and love that I felt when I looked into Kayla's eyes. After we were finished she said to me "That was the best thing I have ever done." And that is the most wonderful thing I have ever heard.

Getting Dirrrty

We asked for Lowe's gift cards on our registry because we love fixing up our new house. We bought our house in September, on top of planning and paying for our wedding, so it has been challenging to balance both. We are super stoked that we were able to pull off two huge "events" in one year. Our friends were super generous and we couldn't wait to get to Lowe's and spend those cards! Since we are "staycationing" on our honeymoon, we have some time this week to work on projects that we have been itching to get our hands on. We loaded up today!

We put on our new sunhats and played in the dirt! Here is a scratch on the surface of what our front walkway will look like when we are finished!

How my family does Weddin' Gifts

This is the hibiscus bush and the avocado tree that came from my family. We were still so exhausted today that we got massages. We bought a coffee pot with our Target gift card and laid on the couch all day. We won't have the energy to plant these until tomorrow...

Here is that Cocker Spaniel again,snuggling with his most prized possession. He and the Chihuahua are still exhausted from the wedding.

This is.

I married my best friend and my partner for life on April 22, 2012. Earth Day. We worked our balls off to make this wedding reflect who we are and what we love, and to make it green green green. We couldn't possibly represent everything that we stand for in one day, so I decided to start a photo blog of the first year of our marriage. We walked down the aisle to Bright Eyes' "This is the First Day of My Life." Our friend Alison performed the song with her acoustic guitar. Our friends Tiffany and Hilary read passages, and Kayla's mom Linda read an excerpt from a sweet book called Margarettowne, where a dying father translates his version of love and commitment to his 8 year old daughter that he will leave behind. The ceremony was beautiful. It was amazing. I could write volumes about what our commitment ceremony meant to us from the start of our engagement, what it evolved to mean to us, how it made us appreciate our community and friendships, and ultimately how it served as a catalyst for healing in our relationships with our families. But I won't do that now. This blog is about The First Day of My Life. It starts now. The first day that I spend married to my beautiful partner, Kayla Williams.

We woke up at our venue, House on the Hill, the next morning to find this pile of gifts that we opened the night before. One of my best memories from our wedding will be the after party with Sean and Lauren. We pulled the keg up to the front porch of the house, brought the IPOD dock outside as well and danced and sang into the wee hours of the night. Lauren performed her "Texas" version of an Adele song and Kayla spilled red wine all over her white wedding pants. We decided then that we should lug all of our wedding gifts to the porch and open them in front of Lauren and Sean. It was fun.

Here is our beloved Cocker Spaniel, Bertie, posed in front of the waterfall at the venue. He had his first "cocker spaniel haircut" a few days before the wedding. We like him long and shaggy, but its hot and he needed a trim. We think he looks super handsome no matter what, but his head kind of resembles a bowl cut.

This is a photo of Kayla trying to coax Bertie into the swimming pool. To our knowledge, Bertie has never been swimming. He didn't try it out today, but he was curious. If one of us got into the pool first, he might join in.