Charlotte & Pete Madison

This past Saturday, my childhood friend, Charlotte married Pete Madison. It was such a beautiful wedding and Charlotte looked amazing. Plus, I got the special privilege of shooting along side her photographer! This was the first time I had done anything like that and it proved how much work I really need in my photography skills. Regardless, I had a wonderful time and I am so happy for her and Pete! Here are a few pictures to start, but there are many, many more.

(This one is looking kind of dark, but I think it might be that I copied it or

just my monitor at work, because at home it looked fine.)

This is my friend Lauren, who now is a cop in Philidelphia! Her, Charlotte, and I have been friends since 5th grade!

(I have another one of these, where Charlotte doesn't look so wide eyed)

Anniversary Weekend

For our anniversary we decided to have dinner at Cafe Hidalgo's. They catered our wedding and are located in the courtyard that we got married in. It was weird being back there, but it is so beautiful and obviously full of memories for both of us, so it was perfect to go back on our one year anniversary. The food was great too! I had items that were served at our wedding: pecan crusted salmon, garlic mashed potatoes, and the exotic salad! Yum!

Then, we went to San Diego's Gaslamp District over the weekend to celebrate. We had never been there before and both thought it was really neat. The history is interesting and the old buildings were amazing.

This is the hotel we stayed at, The Horton Hotel. It was so cute and old feeling. All of the rooms are decorated differently and Ian got kick out of the fact that Wyatt Earp had slept there. (He is a cowboy sheriff from the 1800s that Ian loves)

This is our room. We got a king sized canopy bed! The room also had a fireplace and the bay window in front of the desk is original to the hotel. Our balcony overlooked one of the main streets in the district, so we had pretty city views. 

Me, with my morning coffee.

Ian liked the backdrop for the picture and wanted to do something GQ looking. The Obama poster just happened to be there, but it does not reflect our views. 

After lunch in the Quarter, we headed over to Seaport Village and scoped out the cute shops. We also shared an ice cream cone and a few kisses. And yes, it was really windy and cold!

On our drive home, we stopped at the Carlsbad Flower Fields, where they charged way too much to get in! The flowers were, of course, beautiful and I was surprised how many shades of colors ranaculous come in. It was cloudy and getting late though, so we had a hard time getting good photos. 

Here is my handsome hubby sitting ever so patiently.

And here is me. I think I got something in my eye, but I am really not sure. Ian loves this picture though and made me put it up.

1 Year Anniversary!

We have made it one year! I can not believe that one year ago Ian and I tied the knot! The time has flown by so fast.

Everyone says the first year is the hardest, and I won't lie - it hasn't been easy. We went through an "adjustment" period that was difficult, but once we got through it, things went a lot smoother and we have been able to just enjoy each other. I couldn't have asked for a better partner in life. He is everything to me. We have so much fun together and I can't imagine my life without him!

So, here's to you Babe - Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

Us in 50+ years - Photo by our friends, the Sukraws

Easter Excitement

Ian and I celebrated Easter at his mom's house this year with all his siblings and nieces and nephews. We pretty much watched the kids run around and play and ate way too much food! Ian's mom always has my favorite, Honey Baked Ham, at every holiday and I can't get enough of it! After leaving his family, we swung by my dad's house for a bit, where the Easter bunny left us baskets of candy, movies, and flowers! We hope everyone had a nice Easter!

Happy Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day/Easter Eggs

This past weekend, Ian and I celebrated both, Easter and St. Patrick's Day with our good friends the Sukraws! We chowed down on corned beef and cabbage with sauerkruat and garlic mashed potatoes and drank plenty of beer (minus the green food coloring, because I forgot!). Then we dyed Easter eggs, of course!

Pictures from Hawaii

Family in Hawaii

The reason for our trip to Hawaii was to visit Ian's family. His dad's whole family lives on the Big Island in Hilo. We had a great time with everyone while we were there, enjoying each others' company, sharing good (and weird) food and having drinks. We visited with Ian's grandma, who is in a nursing home, because of health problems. This was my first time meeting her and she was so sweet! We had a blast watching Ian's grandpa as well! He was so funny and was cracking us up the whole time. We watched Ian's dad, Randy, shave him and thought it was the cutest and funniest thing ever! We felt funny taking pictures of it, but there is one in the slideshow. Ian's dad and stepmom were such wonderful hosts and we can't thank them enough for everything they did for us. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to visit agian!

Hawaii

Ian and I went to the Big Island of Hawaii last week to visit his family. Our trip started off rocky, but ended up being a good trip.

Here's the story: We missed our first flight! We were issued paper tickets instead of e-tickets, because the little Island Hopper plane we needed to get on, didn't except e-tickets. So, because the line to check in with paper tickets was so unbelievably long, by the time we got up there, they said we wouldn't make it through Security in time to catch the flight. So, they re-booked us for the next day. This time, we got there even earlier, but still had to wait in line for about an hour, only to be told that our flight was now cancelled. After a struggle, they finally put us on another airline with a flight leaving the same time as our scheduled flight. So, of course, we had to run across the airport to that terminal, wait in line again to check in, then run to one side of the airport to check our bags and run back to the other side to go through security. Then, our tickets were marked that we needed extra security, so they sent us through a special line, where we had to take our shoes off, get patted down, the whole bit. So, we ran to the gate and it was final boarding call. We were relieved until they said that Security didn't stamp our tickets that we passed, so they had to hold the plane for us and call Security to come check us again. A man and a woman came, took us behind a wall and patted us down again, took off our shoes, and went through our carry on with precision! Finally, as we were able to board the plane, we hear the captain telling all the other passengers that they were being held up because of two passengers - as Ian and I walk on red faced and sweating!

Then, they made us pay for our crappy lunch! Which we thought was included. And we didn't get the nice "exit row" seats that we booked on the original airline, so we were crammed into a row with other people. Not a big deal though; we were just happy to have gotten on a plane this time!

We finally made it to the Honolulu airport, but we had to go to the next airline to check in and it just happened to be all the way on the other side airport! We took a tram there, go to check in, and they can't find us! Finally and luckily, we got it squared away. Since we had a pretty long lay over, we decided to get something to eat, but the food was in the main terminal, so we had to take a tram back and go through security again just to eat, and then take the tram back and go through security again to get on the next plane, all while carrying our carry on bags in the humidity, while wearing our sweats and Uggs!

We finally made it though! And of course, our trip was too short. We got to spend time with Ian's dad and step mom and I got to meet his extended family for the first time. We enjoyed good food and a few drinks. I will post more pictures as soon as I sort through them all.