Pickle sends her best...

Pickle requested, since her mama is so late getting her Christmas cards out this year, that I post our family card to the blog. We argued a bit over it...I didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone still waiting to receive their card...but in the end, her desire to make known her Christmas tidings won out.

Merry Christmas from the Giovagnoli family!

Rehearsal-ing

I'm just going to jump right in here...

Prior to the rehearsal, the plan was to move all of the supplies and the cake to the reception space, where I would assemble the cake and then we would rehearse and go to dinner. I love that, no matter my experience to the contrary, I always generally assume that things will go smoothly as planned. Ha! Please imagine four different friends and family members each holding a tier of the wedding cake in their arms standing around as we (Justin, actually) find someone to let us into the space that we'd been told would be unlocked for us. Imagine that one of those people is Mark, who had specifically and unequivocally requested to not have to do anything related to moving the cake...he was the guy holding the 16 inch bottom tier weighing 30 lbs with the terror transparent in his eyes. When the space was unlocked, we entered to find the gorgeous antique table on which the cake was to reside missing in action. We called our site coordinator who stated that in the five years she'd been working there, she'd never seen that table moved from its usual resting place. I will admit that I panicked just the slightest bit since we were already running late and I really, really, really didn't want to have to assemble the cake the morning of the wedding. We ended up assembling it on another table, leaving it to the caterers to move it to the proper table the following day.


The cake & rehearsal...


Our photographers came for the rehearsal to shoot a few photos and test out what it would be like to cope with the utter darkness that would be the scene for the wedding the following evening. We rehearsed for a whopping ten minutes and then headed to Shield's Tavern for the rehearsal dinner. It was wonderful, despite having to be divided into three tables. We actually were in a room with several other groups of people, one being a large family group. Justin and I chose to do our thank you toast to our parents regardless of the audience and for the rest of the evening the group would intermittently clang their glasses with their flatware, the universal signal for Justin and I to kiss. There was a couple in the group that had been married for over 50 years who congratulated us...it was such an honor!

The rehearsal dinner at Shield's Tavern...


We rang the evening in with a crowded open house of friends and extended family at our condo. In my heart of hearts, there is nothing that fills me with a deeper contentment than a house full of family and friends. Give me spilled drinks, half-eaten snack food left harry-tarry in the oddest nooks and crannies, and noisy rambunctiousness any day of the week...I LOVE having so many hearts and smiles under my roof (even if the roof is rented), eating, drinking, and being merry.

In that, my final night as CRapp, I went to bed with such a tremendous sense of belonging and a steadfast excitement to marry this exceptional man, I hardly have the words.

Wedding Week...

I know that I've been terribly behind in my blogging and I'm so sorry! I initially began writing this gargantuan post attempting to fill in all of the details of the past weeks in perfect chronological order, but (thankfully!) thought better of it. So be prepared for the bits and pieces that are likely to pop up as I settle in for the remainder of my holiday respite from school...

Wedding Week

Can I tell you how excited I am to be married? The week of our wedding was incredible. As friends and family poured into Williamsburg from all over the country, Justin and I were just overwhelmed with how fortunate we are to be so undeniably loved by so many magnificent people.

My bridesmaid and best friend, Erin, and her husband, Mark, came in Tuesday from Florida and were just on top of it, no matter what "it" happened to be. Mark even sat on the couch tying little tiny brown ribbons to little tiny candles for the ceremony...100 of them!! Erin ran errands, stopped to pick up coffee, and stayed up late even when I wasn't sure what it was I meant to be accomplishing at the late hour! She and her brother, Mike, even stayed to help me put the layers of rolled fondant over the layers of wedding cake after I realized that I'd never actually fondanted a 16 x 4 inch tier before (I meant to practice that...oops!). Picture the four of us (Justin woke up to help us) covered head to toe in cocoa powder with arms under the fondant past our elbows trying to move it over the cake without tearing the fondant, hitting the cake, or in anyway misshaping what will be the base of the wedding cake...quite a sight to be sure!

It was also wonderful that, aside from the cake, just about everything was done by Wednesday. Wednesday evening actually ended up being this fantastic, laid back evening that is one of my best memories of the week! Justin's parents came in that day, and although his Dad was under the weather and stayed back to sleep, his Mom came over to our place and hung out. My longtime friend and bridesmaid, Kim, arrived with her daughter, Avery, and her brother and new sister-in-law, Brian and Seema. Our friends, Jennie & Rebekah also came by to spend some time...Jennie was our officiant and she couldn't have done a more perfect job! We lit a fire, cracked open a few beers, and just enjoyed being surrounded by the exceptional people that we are privileged to call our friends!

A little snapshot of Wednesday...



And Thursday...


Friday was "spa day" for the girls and "golf day" for the boys. The girls spent the morning sipping mimosas, eating breakfast pastry, and getting beautified, while the guys ended up having a perfect, albeit slightly chilly, day hitting the links. We (the girls!) had a gourmet lunch at the Williamsburg Winery before everyone headed back to get ready for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Spa Day...


Ladies Who Lunch...


Keep an eye out for a post about the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner...an adventure it was!

Cut the Crapp...I got married!!!

I have to keep this unfortunately brief, but know that I have an ENORMOUS amount of "stuff" that I can't wait to write about once this round of finals is behind me!

The wedding was amazing. Amazing. I don't have words that are even remotely sufficient to capture what a week it was... possibly the most incredible of my life. So much love. Amazing.

So before I get back to the books here, I thought I would share our photographers' AWESOME work. They captured the essence of the evening so well. Shout out to Mobbs Photography! They were fun, professional, and have been endlessly patient with my million and one questions about how to work my camera! I can't recommend them highly enough!

So here's the show!

Holy Cow...it's time!!!!

I am going to keep this brief as it is very nearly 4am and I still have quite a bit to do before I get to sleep (I say this as though I believe I will sleep tonight...)

WE ARE GOING TO VIRGINIA IN 6 HOURS! I am getting married in 5 days!!

Between this moment and that one, I need to figure out how to get an ENORMOUS amount of "stuff" into Justin and my cars! Justin spent approximately 5 hours today trying to acquire and then assemble all of the correct pieces to move the Yakima rack from the roof of the old KIA (aka "The Roller Skate" who, after 200,000 miles and many a fond memory will soon be joining the ranks of NPR donations) onto the Mazda. I'm not sure that he actually finished, but between the dark (you should have seen how cute he was out there with his headlamp on) and the cold (hey- it got into the low 30s!), he bailed around 9pm.

I also need to finish a tax research project, at least start two separate tax finals (have I mentioned how much I love law school and how impeccable my choice of wedding date is in relation to final exams...), bake my wedding cake, assemble welcome gifts, meet with my vendors one final time, and remember that THIS is IT! This is the "stuff of life", those moments that you look back on for the rest of your days as "the good stuff." I searched for 30 years for the "right" guy (well, a good chunk of that time was spent finding the "right" ME, figuring out what I wanted in the "right" guy, and then recognizing that I found him once I had! But you get the picture...). My goal this week is, aside from doing what I can as far as getting my "to do" list taken care of, to be here in this moment, to be fully present and to STOP and recognize how fortunate I truly am. I have so much to be grateful for, this Thanksgiving even more than usual!

So just in case I don't find a moment to post in the next week or so, bear with my silence and I promise to make up for it over the Christmas holiday! In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

More Christmas card photos...

After meeting with Barbara last week to take pictures for her Christmas cards, Rachel wanted a few more photos of her family! So we decided to go out to Barbara's farm, a gorgeous spread of land on the outskirts of Chapel Hill, and take them there.

As so often happens when anyone is attempting to organize an entire family, Rachel and the family were a few minutes late. It worked out well in that the very rainy and overcast day suddenly gave us an insane sunset at the last minute... unfortunately, we had all of ten minutes to take advantage of it before the light was gone! So we are going to meet one more time this week to see if we can't get some good, natural light pictures of everyone! I have so much to learn about photography!

The farm...





I liked the "vintage" look of the barn...



I just love this moss-covered log!



The wind chimes...



Emma & Nicholas



David & the kiddos





Rachel swinging Emma



And of course, the famous Penny Lane!



Rachel was babysitting her friend's two-year-old, Christina, who was just the cutest thing ever!







Christina couldn't stop watching everything Emma did!







The family...it's tough to get everyone smiling & looking at the same time!!

Study Break...

I thought I'd take some silly pictures while I waited for my appellate brief to print...I'm tired!!

What did the world do before "Starby's"? My favorite vice!



So these are unfortunately soft...I have real issues getting my photos sharp! Suggestions, anyone? She's so much more patient with me in the middle of the night- I think she might assume that if she cooperates, we'll go to bed sooner!






I bought Justin's wedding gift on Monday! I'm dying to give it to him! Do you like my decorating? I love to pretend I don't have an ever-growing pile of work in front of me!


Have I mentioned that I'm having an illicit affair? It's only with my camera and I'm not sure that that counts, but Justin may beg to differ...

Christmas Cards...

It's already time to start ordering Christmas cards, can you believe it?! I'm such a sucker for the holidays...I love everything about the season! Thanksgiving is my favorite, but I admit that I smile when I see the Christmas decorations out at Target already. I know that it's shameless commercialization, but it doesn't change the magic for me! I love it!

So when I asked my organization client, Barbara, the other day what sort of Christmas cards she was planning to send out this year, she wasn't sure. So we ended up deciding to take some pictures and see what we could come up with! This afternoon we hung out and grabbed some shots of her, her fabulous dog, Myra, and her daughter & grandson, Rachel & Nicholas. Nicholas was not at all excited about having his picture taken, but Myra was more than accommodating! Here are a few (please excuse the noise...I'm still learning you know!):

A moment of solitude...

Amidst the craziness of weddings and school, I've found myself in desperate need of a moment to myself lately. The opportunity for one came up suddenly while running an errand Friday afternoon! I realized, as I was about to get back onto the highway to head home, that I was right next to the entrance to a great local park. Umstead Park has a plethora of fantastic trails as well as great picnic spots and I really loved the opportunity to get to know it better a few years ago when I ran the very well executed Umstead Trail Marathon.

So I decided to avail myself of the opportunity and eat my lunch at the park. I didn't have much time, but even those 10 minutes were sufficient to bring a sense of calm back into my heart. It's no secret that I love fall deeply and the light in the trees was just incredible. I'm so glad that fall has come to North Carolina!

Nearly speechless

I sat down to write just now, feeling so emotional and charged after last night's victory and the most inspirational political speech of my lifetime, thinking that I would have so much to say. But I find myself at a loss for words. At least the right words.
For as long as I can remember, I had a certain amount of envy for our parents' generation. While, of course, always grateful for the opportunities that they opened up for us, there lacked in my own generation and time the same passion to make the world a better place and the sense of personal responsibility to do just that. Please don't mistake my words- there has been no shortage of social injustices worldwide and at home for my generation to fight, and I am always both so proud of and awed by those individuals who have taken their commitment to a cause so seriously. But the understanding that we must unite and cooperate to bring about real change, that, as a society, we must sacrifice some of our daily convenience for the benefit of all people- in that way, my generation has been different than our parents. We've fought injustice, but we've done it in a more fragmented way- we've fought it from various struggling non-profits, or from our boardrooms, or by seeking the educational opportunities that our parents' worked so hard to open to us. I am not underestimating any of those efforts or the changes that they have brought about- of course they have been both significant and meaningful.

But last night, I heard a speech that riveted me to my seat. I heard a true leader commit to bringing us together, not in fear, but in cooperation. I felt what I can only imagine our parents must have felt watching JFK 's inaugural address and MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. That we must act. That we must make a difference. And we finally have the leadership to unite us with each other and with the world. For the first time since I was a little girl, I felt justified in my awe of the President of the United States (even if he is still "elect") and inspired by him in a way I have never known. I can only feel that, come January, we are entering a new era in American history...a better America than we've been for some time. I can't wait to get started!

 

If you missed last night's speech by Obama, click here to read the transcript or watch the video.