gourmet idea

Granted, I am no food photographer...but this meal was delish!

I typically cook during the week, and on Friday and Saturday nights we will go out to eat. That has been our normal schedule for years now, it seems...

Saturday evening, Mimi was playing bingo and Aspen was with her mom for the weekend. Chris says to me, "I have an idea...why don't we stay in tonight and make a great meal? Something we don't typically eat." Well, that sounded intriguing!

So, we looked online and found a recipe that we liked, and then headed to the grocery store. $75 later, we were headed home to cook us a gourmet dinner!

On the menu:

:: Tuscan tuna steak (a la Rachel Ray)
:: Portobello mushroom caps stuffed with a mixture of bread crumbs, crab meat, seasonings, olive oil, topped with mozzarella slices
:: Thick tomato slices with olive oil, greek olives, goat cheese (recreated from our anniversary dinner)
:: Two grilled shrimp each
:: Whole wheat rolls
:: Sliced avocado

And to top it all off, the last bottle of our yummy favorite wine; it was seriously the best meal we've ever prepared at home. The food was delicious. I'd say probably the best part was the portobello mushrooms, oh my.

It was such a wonderful evening spent with my husband...I love it when he has these fabulous ideas! We had a great time working in the kitchen together, preparing such a feast. And then to sit, and talk, and savor every bite...this will definitely be filed in my "special memories"...

never get too old to hold hands

Photo by Aspen @ White Rock Marathon, 12-07

For our anniversary, one gift from Chris was a book entitled, "Married for Life: Inspirations from those married 50 years or more."

I've been reading one entry a night, before bed. Last night's really spoke to me, so I thought I would share it with you.

Never get too old to hold hands

It starts with a tiny fist wrapped around a mother's finger. It continues with a young hand held gently in one much larger. It endures through puppy love, adolescent relationships, and courtship. And if we are wise, it extends into marriage, through middle age, beyond the golden years, to the very end of life.

Holding hands is one of the most intimate expressions of love between two human beings.

Don't ever let this beautiful act slip away from you. It's so much more than a gesture of affection, so much greater than a mere symbol of connection. It's an incredibly meaningful communication, a deep connection in and of itself. It requires no words; in fact, no words can convey such a profound message.

Why would two people ever stop holding hands? Perhaps it seems silly, somehow undignified, when we're older and have been married a long time. We may begin to think such things were meant only for young lovers and newlyweds. That's far from true! Besides its many other purposes, holding hands helps satisfy the basic human need for physical touch, a need we never outgrow.

Hold your spouse's hand throughout your life together; don't ever let it go until the day when you've fulfilled every marriage vow and finally release it from your grasp, placing it lovingly, trustingly into the hand of God.

first anniversary - first gift

Well, Chris and I have received our very first "first anniversary" gift today!

Of course, it was from my mom. And of course, it is nothing you would expect! :)

Since the First Anniversary is paper, I present you with our paperdolls:




She is too funny! I had no idea who these were from for a few minutes, and then finally saw the "Love Mom and Randy" in the middle...

Thanks Mom and Randy, for thinking of us as we celebrate our first year together!!

wedding photos ready

Hey everyone!! All of our wedding photos are now uploaded onto the site!! There are quite a few (hundreds!), but well worth seeing if you've got the time or the interest!!

apwphotography.com/chrisandkelley

Click on the top link, enter the password, and from there, pick the category of photos you'd like to see...

I'd love to hear your thoughts on them, and I'm sure that our photographer would too!

in awe

Holy crap.

I am in complete awe of Kris. Her photography is amazing. Watching the slideshow she made for us (144 images in all) was like watching a still-frame video of our beautiful day, from beginning to end. So neat to watch. So neat to see what her creative eye captured. So impressed with how GOOD she made us all look!!! :)

I hope she doesn't mind, I picked a handful of some of my favorites to post on here. Mainly so that I can copy them over to my computer at work, and see them all day long on my screensaver!!

To check out all 144 photos in the slide show, click HERE.

You can watch the slideshow, but you can also click on the control panel to see them one image at a time, at your own pace. Very cool!


My gorgeous bling bling shoes...


I love this close up detail of my dress...it's such a great compliment to the full size one of the whole dress on that beautiful door background...


I don't know why, but I love this photo of me. I don't think I've ever looked like that before in my life. I saw this and thought, how is that ME?


Such a great one of Chris walking Mimi to her seat up front...


This photo is gorgeous of Leon performing our ceremony...


Our fun group shot, love this one!! All the special people who shared our day with us...


This pretty much wraps up my friendships with these girls...constant laughter!!


Fabulous Zach Harmon, who really did a great job (minus the whole "not playing a song while I'm walking down the aisle" bit!!). Truly though, he set a great mood for the entire day...


Hugging my sweet mom before they headed back to St. Louis...


Twirling with Ms. Aspen...


I am soooooooooo in love with this one!!!!


Oh, those soccer girls are BAD!!! Just look at that car! :) Chris was thrilled! He loves those girls...


Mr. and Mrs...

Ahhhhh...thank you Kris, from the bottom of my heart. I'm enthralled by your work. Can't wait to see the rest. But this will certainly tide me over until the rest are ready!!!!

sigh

...of relief, that is!

I just had a realization dawn on me...after months and months and months of non-stop action and planning and stuff to do, it's ALL DONE!!!

The old house IS SOLD!!! Our new house IS DONE & we are MOVED IN!! Our wedding has taken place, and it WAS LOVELY!!!

Months and months of DOING is DONE! I am thrilled!!!

Ahhhhhhhh....

So, I leave you with a few more wedding photos (taken by my dear friend Kim, who so wonderfully dropped a cd full of images on my desk this morning...)


Look at that dapper man I married! Wow. I love this photo, and how he looks hopeful...and excited...and ready to pledge his love...


Me with wonderful Kim, she is a true ray of sunlight in my life! Her friendship is something I know I can count on, every single day...you don't find many like her, out there in this crazy world. I'm a very lucky girl. In so many ways!


Oh, this girl...she's a gem!!!!! Worth every penny, and $10,000 more!! And the best part? Not only is she a talented photographer, but she's a wonderful person. I am so blessed to have had the chance to meet her finally! And do you know, she drove 22 HOURS from Michigan to shoot our wedding?????


Just a cute one of Mr. and Mrs. walking down the pathway...


And the groom with his beautiful mother...in her twirly dress that made her smile...

official

photo by Kim Halfmann

Well, friends, family, and strangers…

It’s official…I’m married!

Here’s a quick run-down of what’s been going on with me, since I’ve last posted.

The Visit
We all had a very lovely visit while mom and Randy were in town with us. It was so nice to have them in our new home, and introduce them to our doggies.

The Wedding
We all traveled to Fredericksburg on Friday and had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Saturday was the wedding. For the most part, the day went as planned and all was good. I had a bit of a stressed-out half hour before the wedding, getting ready. My hair wouldn’t do what I wanted it to, so I had to go to plan B. But overall, the day was beautiful. Blue skies, dry weather, and extremely hot. And we are married and have begun our life together as husband and wife…which is really a little surreal, after being a couple for about 4 years already. Yes, it does feel different. Very very awesome.

We stayed at Trois that night, in the bridal suite. Swam in the underground Grotto pool, which was quite cold!! Sunday, we hit a few of the shops and had lunch with Mimi, Aspen, Chris’ aunt and uncle, and Kim, Gary, and Brandon before heading out on our mini-honeymoon.

The Mini-Honeymoon
The original plan was to head to Austin…but as we filled up the car with gas, Chris mentioned that he might prefer heading to San Antonio instead. So that is exactly what we’ve done!

Let me just say. If you travel a lot, or have a hard time with directions, or get into arguments with your significant other when navigation is concerned, get yourself a GPS. This little beauty has been our savior!!!! We decided to get one right before we left Abilene, and we just plug in where we want to go and “Maggie” leads us there step by step. Love it!!! And best of all, no arguing with new hubby!!! :)

We stayed near the Riverwalk the first night at a beautiful Westin hotel, and did some shopping and some eating. The Riverwalk is always a romantic, enjoyable place, and we had a good time. The next day, we headed away from the Riverwalk and stayed in town at a Doubletree hotel. We went swimming and just enjoyed our time. This morning, we checked out, and headed out for some sightseeing. We went to the San Antonio Botanical Garden, which was just beautiful. We got lots of beautiful pictures there. After that, we went to see the Natural Bridge Caverns, such a beautiful place.

Now we are heading back to Fredericksburg for another night there. We’re going to stop at the Wildflower Farm tomorrow, and then head back home. Just doing whatever we feel like doing, and that is oh so much fun. We are greatly enjoying our first few days as Mr. and Mrs.

I will let you know the web link for where all of our wedding photos are going to be posted. I can not wait to see what images Kris captured!! It was such a special treat, getting to meet Kris and her husband. The blog world is such a great invention, it draws people together, and lets you get to know people before you even meet in person. Meeting Kris was like meeting a long-lost friend, she was exactly as I had pictured her in my mind. She is a very special person, and I am blessed to finally have met her!

Farewell for now…I’m off to spend some quality time with my husband!!!!!!

(p.s. You can see a few more photos on Kim's blog and Kris' blog...just click their names over in my sidebar...)