A sheepish grin plus several excuses

Okay, so I said I'd post after we got back from Italy. I didn't mean to lie! I really believed what I said...when I said it... err, I didn't say exactly when I'd post regularly, did I? The thing thing is... well, you know. It just kinda happened. And while I won't pretend I didn't break your trust, I will offer the following lame excuses:

1. I had 1900 photos from our vacation to sort, edit, upload, caption and distribute.
2. Not that I actually have gotten anything accomplished since getting back, but, there's the job.
3. The post-wedding-honeymoon-get-in-shape-be-proactive-to-do-list slump.
4. Summer heat sucks, the kitchen is the hottest room, and we don't use enough AC to make a difference.
   

The funny thing about the summer heat is that it doesn't discourage me from creating edible concoctions (indeed, I find myself cooking and serving up just as much in July as in February), but it does make me disinclined to document the activities. Because when your face is sweaty and your hair is sticky and you're leaning over a pot of simmering, well something, do you really want to reach for the camera? I thought not. No, what you really want to do is get the heck out of the kitchen until the curry lentils are done and you can eat in front two fans and a AC unit



That said, I do miss this blog, both writing it as well as reading your comments. So I offer a compromise. That is, if you'll have me back:

1. Pictures of Italy now
2. Pictures of Blueberry-Buckle-To-Die-For later

Now while I can provide you with aforementioned photos immediately, the blueberry buckle under question is stilling sitting on the kitchen counter, with a small corner scooped away for tasting. I don't have the photo yet. But I can tell you that the batter bowl was can-I-eat-the-whole-thing fantastic and the recipe is so easy that I simply can't not share it with you soon.

Back to the photos. Here's the trip. Here's the wedding. Here's us after the wedding hanging out at Roman Forum. Did I just say "hanging out at the Roman Forum"? Thought so. The wedding was more than I could ask for, the trip was amazing, and I feel like we succesfully did things our way while maintaining traditions that were important to us. There's a small part of me that still misses all the fuss and fanfare that a 200 person sit-down-dinner would have brought, but that part is quickly overwhelmed when I close my eyes and picture the simple, romantic and personal time with our families that we had instead. I hope you enjoy the pictures in the links above, and I thought it would be fun, in the spirit of closing one chapter of my life and opening another, to add in two more.

First, what I looked like on a "pre-date" hiking-date with Greg (a Wednesday night dinner and a movie plus kiss was to follow several days later). I think he vaguely mentioned that day that he "had a thing for long hair". I think I started growing it out that day - a cosmetic decision I don't regret for a minute (can anyone say ponytail?) I also stopped dying it pink, and that was another good move.


Second, what I looked like, or rather where I was, when he proposed (I'm the one on the right). In New Orleans. Doing a habitat for humanity project. Away for two weeks. Covered in sweat, grime, toxic chemicals. Lacking cell phone reception. And so excited on this day, the last day of the trip, and what I just realized was about to be the first day of something else, that I couldn't even push a wheelbarrow.