a week away & some real talk.

hello again.  

I am writing this post from my back patio; coffee, dog and cat all within arms reach, and I feel like this is just about all I need in life.  It's 75 degrees with a strong breeze and these transitional spring to summer days will soon be replaced with scorching sun and dry heat, so I'm practically living outside right now.

  Anyway, we are leaving for ITALY a week from today for our honeymoon, which motivated me to post some wedding photos...seeing as how it's wedding season and all that too.  We planned our wedding in 3 months, and we did 99% of it ourselves...although the day was beautiful and everything more or less came together, it was THE most stressful time in my life and the adjustment to marriage after all that has been both wonderful and trying.  Marriage isn't easy, relationships aren't easy...but as I've come to accept, the first year might be the hardest.  No one really warned me of that (besides I guess occasionally just hearing that phrase throughout life, "the first year is the hardest"), but plenty of people reassured me after the fact.  Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of fun together and the laughter never stops, but you have to work at things and balance your own identity and everyday there is compromise.  I am glad we waited to take our honeymoon because we are just now getting into a rhythm with each other and an understanding of each others moods and needs. I feel like we can enjoy it much more now than if we had rushed away immediately after such a huge event.    

So yeah, if you ever need advice or have questions about planning a wedding or where to get cheap stuff, anything, just ask!  I learned a lot about weddings and found all sorts of cool sites and inspiration and "alternative" dresses :)

I have tons more photos to share, but I had to save something for our Anniversary!