Yay! I’m so excited to share our wedding video with you. Yesterday I posted a duo of photos from the wedding on Instagram, today I went to the social security office to begin to change my name, and made it FBO!*
This journey has been so exciting all throughout–at first keeping hush about it was the worst, I’m always the most open person in the room. I knew it’d be “more fun” this way and it sure was!
Without further ado… Continue reading
As I mentioned in my post about new year’s resolutions, I really enjoyed making our elopement announcements! Whenever we travel somewhere new, I always buy two postcards. Two, because it’s hard to pick just one and they’re the cheapest souvenirs around so I can justify it. I figure there’ll be more than one way I’ll want to commemorate all these good times.
When we decided that we were going to elope to the palm desert in California, I thought it’d be super cool to keep it a secret then make an announcement after-the-fact by sending out “postcards” to our family. I cringed at the thought of my nearest and dearest learning about the elopement via Facebook. (If you hadn’t been on my received texts on the phone I’ve had for the last year, I didn’t ask for your address, and Facebook’s how you found out, Sorry! Let’s keep in better touch!)
After searching Etsy high and low for what I had dreamed up, I wasn’t finding any luck. But what I did find was this snazzy little POST CARD stamp at The Paper Source. HELLO, INSPIRATION.
Way back in November, before I was bogged down with the holidays, I married the sweetest nerd I know. We flew out to California, had an adventure (or two or three), stayed in a hotel designed by my idol, took a quick hike to a place like no other, and tied the knot. This is that story in pictures: getting ready, our first look, arrival to the cold desert of Joshua Tree National Park (along with Tobias, who was very displeased with the weather), our vows, first kiss (As husband and wife. We’ve actually kissed a couple of times before. Just for practice.), and our first dance. Continue reading
I did a few posts about my family trip to Southern California. I made posts about L.A., Disneyland, our stay at the fabulous Parker Palm Springs, and a road trip to take from Palm Springs. But there’s one thing I didn’t mention, and I’ve been keeping offline for six weeks.
A little back story:
Mark and I’s courtship began with an impromptu trip to the sunny state of California. Once running buddies then with a few dates between us, we flew across the country to see the beaches of San Diego, taking turns glancing at each other with enamor in our eyes and laughing about how unreal it all seemed. Then we agreed: “Yep, you’re my type of crazy.”
Fast forward a couple years and a few million more of those glances and memories, we were engaged. I soon threw myself in a frenzy of wedding research, excited at the chance to have a dream wedding with my soul mate—both of which I had, at one point, given up on the idea of—only to be disappointed that in our culture of Bridezillas and materialism, vendors are taking advantage of people who are vulnerable to those dreams and raising costs accordingly. We considered all of the OTHER dreams we could pursue at the same price of ONE, bought flights back to The Golden State where it all started and… Continue reading
I spent the last two days of our California trip riding shotgun and directing Mark how to get to the last stops on my itinerary. I might have directed him an hour in the wrong direction at one point…that man of mine is exceptionally patient. Plus, I think it was a pretty nice drive.
As I mentioned in my post about Disneyland, I am enthralled with all things mid-century modern. What originally brought us on this trip to Southern California wasn’t really Disneyland. It was Palm Springs and–embarrassingly enough–The Parker Palm Springs.
After our brief stint in Los Angeles, we stayed a night in Anaheim and prepped for the following days that we’d be at Disneyland. Originally, we had booked a room at the Sheraton Anaheim, but Mark looked at reviews last minute and it had a terrible reputation. We instead stayed at Sheraton Park Anaheim, which was just on the other side of the park from the first one.
The rooms had balconies that overlooked the back end of Disneyland Adventure, which allowed us to watch fireworks from our balconies each night rather than dealing with the crowds in the park. Sweet! We arrived at the park a short while before it opened, but I was surprised how quick it was for us to get in. Pro tip I found through my research prior: go to the entry lines at the far left. Everyone goes for the first lines that they see.
We were so happy when we arrived and found that we had come to Disneyland California during the FIRST WEEK of Christmas decorations!
Southern California has a special place in my heart. Mark and I took our first ever trip to San Diego, and I’m sure to always include it when I drag out our love story. The weather is grand, the people are beautiful, and the produce tastes so luscious. We went back to SD a year after our first trip for him to run a marathon, but three weeks ago we brought ‘Bias for his first time to The Golden State. My mom came along for the ride, too.
Mark and I flew together, and arrived in L.A. a day earlier than my mom & Tobias, so that they could fulfill their school/work duties for one more day. Right after we got our rental car, we went straight to the Hollywood sign because priorities.
tiny kelsie 