John + Carolyn

My whole life, I’ve been very good at being a fan. When I was young, it was Little House on the Prairie, American Girls, Disney princesses, and the Boxcar Children. In middle and high school, Harry Potter pretty much changed my life. Then in college there was Twilight (yes, I know…), the Hunger Games, anything related to Jane Austen or the British regency period, Friends, and Battlestar Galactica. Since we got married, John and I have even had a few shared nerding out moments, like when we watched all of Downton Abbey and Avatar: The Last Airbender (the kickass cartoon, not the terrible movie), when we played all the Halo games and read some of the books (I’m reading one now), and now when we both separately decided to start watching Doctor Who (I’m obligated to tell you that he started first). For a long time, I tried to hide how geeky I got about all this stuff, probably in an effort to show the world I was, in fact, a mature grown-up. However, at some point over the past few years I subconsciously decided that I just didn’t care anymore and slowly unraveled my nerd flag. I’ve come to have the same opinion as the glorious Simon Pegg:

Along with this nerd self-acceptance, I decided to start incorporating the things I love into my living space. I like having things that make me smile whenever I see them. I’m not talking about something like the the *NSync posters that I used to have plastered all over my walls, but a more sophisticated take on geek-chic. Take, for example, the giant Star Wars quote I put up in the living room. It’s seeped in nerdiness, but it’s not a giant statue of a Stormtrooper or anything. Or a Wookiee Jesus. Oh wait…we do have that. I should take an aside here and say that this “sophisticated” geek decor does not apply to the War Room. That place is basically a child’s room, so we can have things like Wookiee Jesus, a Gryffindor banner, and an X-Men comic cover all in the same corner (sorry for the grainy iPhone pic).

But anyways, war room aside, I’ve been trying to add things into other areas of the apartment that embody things that John and I love. In the bedroom, for instance, I have an art print inspired by “It’s a Wonderful Life” (one of my fave movies) and a map of the London tube from my time spent there, exemplifying my love of all things British.

Art is obviously the easiest way to add some subtle nerdiness to the home, but novelty mugs are a close second (yes, they’re not very subtle, but they stay hidden in a cupboard most of the time). I’m especially intrigued by these Star Wars twin mugs (recognize the quote?) and the TARDIS mug (from Doctor Who):

I’ve also been pining for some awesome bookends to add interest to our shelves (and later, to our floor-to-ceiling library with ladders in our giant home, obviously). I love these zombie and white owl (reminds me of Hedwig) ones:

Hopefully, I will acquire all of these things and slowly turn our apartment into a subtle nerd haven. Anyone out there nerding out over something these days? As I’m writing this I keep wishing I were watching Doctor Who, but I must. pace. myself.

Have you ever seen this pin? I’m starting to agree with it.

Especially because “cooking” and “working out” have gotten together and had a “healthy eating” baby, which is also all over Pinterest. Two healthy things that have been playing a major role in my life lately were found on Pinterest. First, green smoothies:

Second, salad in a jar:

I am naturally averse to all things green and leafy, so it’s quite amazing that these two healthy things have made their way into my life. I’ve always loved making smoothies (fruit is the BEST) but was convinced that adding any sort of vegetables would just ruin everything. But the Internet and some of your comments convinced me to try it…and, lo and behold, I discovered that you can put like a cup of spinach in a smoothie and you can’t even taste it! I’ve been making these for John and me pretty much every day for lunch during the past two weeks. Here’s what mine usually look like, pre-blending:

I put a bit of orange juice at the bottom, a few spoonfuls of low-fat vanilla yogurt, half a banana, some frozen berries, and then the spinach. It’s so delicious! And filling. And pretty darn healthy, too. I’ve had pretty good success with this personal-size blender I bought on Amazon. It’s very basic, as you just pulse the blender repeatedly until everything is chopped up, but it does the job. Also, it’s got two cups with travel tops so you can just grab the cup and go! Very convenient. John gives these smoothies top marks, so you know they’ve got to be good.

The smoothies alone usually aren’t enough to eat, but if I pair it with one of my salads then I’m pretty much set. To get started on this new salad endeavor, I bought a bunch of mason jars, which you can never have too many of, anyways. I also stocked up on salad condiments, because these would be pretty boring if they were just lettuce and dressing. I bought low-fat dressing, croutons, walnuts, shredded carrots, onion and red pepper. I make about five salads for the week at once, which means I’m chopping up A LOT of romaine lettuce. Thank goodness I bought that salad spinner at IKEA!

This is how I layered everything for the past week’s salads: Caesar dressing, carrots, onions, pepper, walnuts, and lettuce. At first I tried sticking the croutons in there, but unfortunately they get pretty soggy, even if they weren’t actually in the dressing. I think they just absorb all the moisture in the jars or something. Here’s one of my completed salads:

This picture is of a salad that isn’t actually perfect, though. There’s too much dressing (there should just be a thin layer on the bottom), croutons, and not enough lettuce. Ideally, the lettuce should be all the way up to the top. When it’s time to eat, you just shake it all up until everything is nice and mixed. I usually just eat them right out of the jar, which saves some dishes. With one of these salads and a smoothie, I’m definitely full. On some days, things don’t look very edible though:

Barf in a cup and barf in a jar. Yum.

Kidding aside, though, that smoothie was actually really good. It had mangoes, bananas, and strawberries, so the colors just didn’t mix very well. That salad, on the other hand, had too much dressing and not enough lettuce, so everything was a bit soggy. I ended up grabbing some more lettuce to mix in and it became instantly more edible.

So, if you’re looking for a way to healthy-up your lunches, you should definitely give one or both of these ideas a try. I’m looking forward to trying new recipes with both. I have all the stuff to do an Asian chicken salad next: sesame ginger dressing, won-ton noodles, clementines, chicken cooked in the skillet with soy sauce, and peanuts. Yum!

If you’ve ever wondered which room in our apartment gets changed the most, it’s definitely the office. If you asked John, though, he would say the “war room,” as he refuses to recognize a boring old word like “office” in reference to his nerdy haven. If you haven’t been to our place recently (or ever), the last time you saw it, the room looked like this:

We had one giant desk that we “shared,” containing a huge TV and lots of shelves for John’s video games. Eventually, we moved this desk over to the opposite wall so that it was no longer in front of the window. John also took that big square shelf off and bought some other small shelving units to hold his monitor. After that, he bought a new PC and ANOTHER monitor. He officially had a battle station, which looked like this:

Then, he hung up all his Tiger and nerd memorabilia in an act that I pretty much interpreted as officially marking his territory. Here’s what his desk set-up looks like now–pay attention to that square of space on the left, which is where I usually set my laptop:

You see where I’m going with this? It was time for me to get my own desk. John didn’t intentionally crowd me out, but I definitely needed some space so I wasn’t constantly pushing away video game controllers and accidentally running into him with my chair. After checking out the options online (and our finances), I decided that I just needed something cheap but functional. And, since the tagline of IKEA might as well be “cheap but functional,” it was time to make my first trip there! I went with my friend Yvette on Monday (which was a good choice, it wasn’t crowded at all) and had my first taste of the famous Swedish meatballs. Honestly, they weren’t as good as I thought they were going to be…but I’m glad I tried them.

I went into IKEA with a clear shopping list: a simple desk that I picked out online ahead of time, a hook for John to hang his giant headphones on (see above picture), some clocks for my mom, and one impulse buy (in case you’re  wondering, it was a $4 salad spinner…just me, livin’ on the edge). I didn’t take any other pictures while in the store, but that’s because I was overwhelmed by the sheer gloriousness of it all. Especially their closet systems. They have racks just for pants that you can pull out! And closets that have LED lights that turn on when you open the doors like a fridge! Amazing. I would go back there just to stare at the closets alone.

But anyways, I resisted the lure of the storage department  and got what I wanted, a birch effect tabletop/white legs combo for a whopping $34. Luckily, the instructions for assembling this desk were pretty simple: screw legs into table. Before I knew it, I had my own desk…my own little place to work with freedom from the oppression of video game systems. I collected a bunch of things I already had to fancify/function-ify the workspace: some square frames with art, a desk lamp, a small set of drawers for storage, and some small vases/jars/boxes to hold stuff on my desk. Here’s my happy corner:

Since then, I’ve also added sackboy to the mix, which I think officially marks my territory. Especially because he’s impersonating a movie musical.

And there you have it! My lovely new desk, complete with an ominous hippo. Really, no workspace is complete without a threatening stuffed animal.

Everyone, I have a confession to make: I love Young Adult (YA) novels. Yes, I’m aware that I’m far beyond being a young adult, but I just can’t help it. It all started in my undergrad when I burned through the Twilight books. Next it was the Graceling series, the Hunger Games, the Infernal Devices series, Divergent, Across the Universe, and now the Mortal Instruments series, with a few others sprinkled in here and there. If you look on my Goodreads page, you will see that a lot of my “to read” books are YA. Now, before you judge me too much, I feel like I need to dispel some myths about these books:

1. I do not read them because I want to be a teenager again.  High school was fun and all, but I’m perfectly happy being married and independent and not getting up at 6am every day.
2. They are not all about flimsy girls like Bella Swan (from Twilight). A lot of the books I have loved have had strong female heroines. Katniss, for instance…she’s a badass. Also Divergent, the Mortal Instruments, the Infernal Devices…a lot of these books have awesome girl characters. Don’t read A Great and Terrible Beauty, though–the main character is stupid and whiny and I hated her.
3. They are not all fluff–in fact, many of them deal with some heavy crap. Like hunger, racism/classism, sexual abuse, vampire/werewolf relations, potentially having to kill your boyfriend…wait, I got off track there. But you get the idea.

So, are you convinced yet? ‘Cause now I’m going to drop some truth on you that might change your mind again (just because I like to keep things fair and balanced):

1. They are great for when you don’t want to think too hard. As someone who basically reads boring stuff for a living, I truly appreciate writing that don’t require me to re-read paragraphs multiple times to try to decipher what the author was trying to say.
2. There is a fair amount of cheesiness. Yes, I admit, sometimes the romantic storylines are absurd: for instance, in a book I read recently, the protagonist found out that the guy she was in love with was actually her brother. LAME. I was so pissed.
3. Bad YA books are more common than good ones. Because the market for this genre is booming, there is a ton of crap being published. If you want to read good books, use websites like Goodreads or Amazon to read reviews beforehand. It will save you from books like Tiger’s Curse, in which a girl decides to escort a tiger to India with a complete stranger only to realize that the tiger actually a sexy prince who is, you guessed it, cursed (yikes).

Overall, YA books aren’t for everyone, but they are at least fun enough to read from time to time to spice up your reading list. If you’re looking for a good place to start (or to continue, if you already love YA books like all the cool people do), here are some of my recommendations:

Divergent: This is the next Hunger Games, ya’ll. It’s already been picked up for a movie deal and has the same dystopian/the-world-is-a-shitty-place feel to it. There are two books out in the series (Divergent and Insurgent, both equally good), and they tell the story of Tris, a girl living in some kind of post-apocalyptic Chicago in which society is divided into five factions. Each faction represents a personality trait, such as bravery, honesty, intelligence, etc. The story begins with Tris having to choose which faction she wants to live the rest of her life in: the one she grew up in so she can stay with her family, or a different one, which means she will never speak to them again. For the sake of drama, I’m sure you can guess what path she chooses. I love this book because of the interesting world it portrays and the philosophical questions it raises. Also, there’s a whole conspiracy theory layer to it, which adds nicely to the plot.

The Infernal Devices Series: In steampunk/industrial revolution London, Tessa realizes that she is not the normal girl she thought she was (yes, this is a recurring situation in YA books). She’s kidnapped by some seriously crazy ladies and then rescued by a dark, handsome stranger–who happens to be a Shadowhunter. He’s half -angel/half-human and his sole occupation is to rid the world of demons. It sounds kind of crazy and grandiose, but it’s a pretty interesting mythology and the characters are fun. There’s also a good amount of mystery involved, as Tessa tries to figure out what she is and something larger and much more sinister comes to light. There are two books out so far in this series (Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince), with more expected soon.

Any other YA recommendations I should add to my reading list?

No, not that kind of “business time“…though I do enjoy that song. I’ve actually been making progress on one of my new years resolutions, which was to get a personal website up and running so I’ve got more of a professional image online. When I’m applying for jobs this fall, I don’t think they will really be interested in the state of my apartment or my DIY projects. So, it’s time to introduce carolynlauckner.com!

…just kidding, it’s not really ready to be introduced. The basic template for the website is up and there’s a bit of content, but it’s definitely a work in progress. I will be blogging from time to time on that site, too, so feel free to wander over there to see what professional Carolyn has to say.

Remarkably, I’ve also been making progress on some of my other resolutions. John and I actually did join a gym and went there for the first time today…and needless to say, this lady is pretty out of shape. She’s also really hungry. I forgot how easy it is to work out and then just eat a bunch of crap the rest of the day to negate all the work you did. It will be good for me once the nutella runs out.

Also, I have a question to pose to the group: has anyone actually tried “green” smoothies? LIke with spinach or kale or something? I’ve been reading about them and people say that they don’t actually taste leafy, but the opinion of someone I trust would help get me past that…because I don’t particularly enjoy the taste of leaves. I just bought a personal size blender so I can make smoothies more easily for breakfast/lunch, and I’m looking for some new recipes. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Hey guys…remember this blog? It’s been almost exactly 4 months since I last wrote anything. One of my goals for the new year is to blog more often, though, so I figured a post on New Year’s Day would start things off on the right foot. I think the reason I took such a long hiatus was because I was writing blog posts that were way too involved and lengthy. Because it took so much work to put one up, I just didn’t feel like putting the energy into it anymore. So, this year, the goal is to write more, shorter posts. In case you’re curious, here are my other goals (I make lots of them so I am more likely to achieve at least one):

• Go to yoga on a weekly basis (when classes are $3 on campus, I really don’t have an excuse).
• Read 36 books in 2013. This is based on 3 books per month: one audio book (I’m getting an audible.com subscription) and two regular books, hopefully loaned from the library (to cut costs).
• Stop watching TV shows I don’t actually like. I’ve been wasting time watching shows that I have enjoyed in the past but don’t really like anymore–it’s quite a stupid habit.
• Work out (along with everyone else in the world). John and I are getting a gym membership this week, so I’m hoping we will make good use of it.
• Get on a better sleeping schedule. Lately I’ve been going to bed at 2 and waking up at 10, which makes me feel lazy. I want to bully myself into being a morning person…so if I’m grumpy for the next few weeks while I’m adjusting, I apologize.
• Put together a professional website. I will be going on the job market in the fall (OH MY GOD) so I need to get my crap together.
• Finish the gallery wall in the bedroom that I started 4 months ago. One frame is empty (waiting for my long-delayed cross stitch to be completed) and there is a gaping hole waiting for frames that are just sitting in a pile on the bedroom floor. Whoops.

Yes, this post is very much overdue. But for real, blogging every day during wedding week really tired me out…I have much more respect now for people who work and blog on a daily basis! I’m back from the hiatus, though, and ready to post about some of the latest happenings.

Our first anniversary was on August 13th, and it was wonderful. We didn’t go on a fancy romantic vacation (we’re taking too many trips this fall/winter!), but we had a great day/evening at home together. It had been a while since we went on a “date,” so we loved the quality time. We started out the day by exchanging small gifts–cards for one another and, in keeping with the “paper” first anniversary gift theme, I wrote out an official letter indicating that John’s computer debts had been wiped from the record. Up until then, he had been taking out less spending money to make up for the purchase…so he was pretty excited about that. Now, he has more money to buy video games! Or stuffed animal Marios. He, in turn, got me some white roses–just like those that were in my wedding bouquet.

Next, we went to the store to pick out our next bottle of wine to put in our wine box. For those who don’t remember or weren’t there, at the wedding we put a nice bottle of wine in a chest, along with letters that we wrote to one another on our wedding day. The idea was to establish a tradition in which, on every anniversary, we drink the wine, read the letters we wrote to each other the previous year, then replace the wine and write new letters to be opened on our next anniversary.

We also decided to establish another new tradition–watching the movie Up, which has one of the most wonderful movie love stories contained within the first 10 minutes. We picked it partly because of the romance aspect, but mainly because we love it and we think it will stand the test of time well. Also, it’s kid-friendly, so someday in the future our kids could watch it with us on our anniversary every year.

I was absurdly weepy while we were watching the movie. Not only is the storyline pretty heartwrenching at times, but we also decided to write our letters for the next year while we were watching it. So…I was pretty emotional. It was nice, though–I can’t wait to watch it every year from now on!

Once we finished the movie, it was time to head out to dinner! We put some semi-fancy clothes on and went to the only restaurant left in Williamston that we hadn’t tried yet: the RiverHouse Inn. It is a really cute, quaint restaurant in an old farmhouse that had AMAZING food and a cozy atmosphere. I got some delicious meatloaf, and John went all out with some filet mignon. We were very much satisfied at the end of that meal, but made sure we left room for dessert (more on that later).

After dinner, it was time to open up the box,  drink the wine (which was really tasty, btw), and read the letters. Again, I was crying…but a good kind of crying. We both thought our letters were going to suck because we were so rushed and distracted on our wedding day, but they both turned out pretty well! In my letter to John I actually put “Hopefully you haven’t convinced me to buy any big electronics in the past year.” A new TV and two new computers for John don’t count, right?

The night ended with one last anniversary tradition. For our wedding, our friend Noah made an awesome audio story of our relationship. He interviewed each of us separately and edited it all together with some music to make an amazing, personal, and touching gift. The first time we listened to it was on the plane on the way to our honeymoon, and from now on we hope to listen to it every year. It’s an awesome way to reflect on how far we’ve come together and relive the moments leading up to our wedding. While we listened, we also got out the top layer of our wedding cake. My mom had delivered it a few days prior and we let it thaw out in the fridge.

We were a bit skeptical about eating a one-year-old cake, but we went for it. And, it turns out that it was pretty good! We attacked it with forks while we listened to our story, and this is what it looked like at the end:

Before we knew it, the day was over and we had been married for more than a year. Crazy. Are we even still newlyweds? What is the official cut-off time for newlyweds? I should know this.

Anyways, celebrating our anniversary really gave me a chance to think about how grateful I am for John and our marriage. Every day is more fun when he’s around, and I have loved living together and sharing all the mundane little moments of life.  I can’t wait for many more years together and for all the anniversary celebrations to come!

I was looking through iPhoto today for some pictures to print out for a gallery wall in the bedroom when I realized I glossed over an unforgettable wedding moment: the Alligator…that awesome song during the reception when suddenly people were rolling all over the floor, strangers who had never met came together for a dance, and ladies were flashing their underwear to anyone who had the right angle. I will let the pictures tell the story of that amazing reception moment:

Those Woodbridges sure know how to party! So does Kirk–my father-in-law has got some moves!

Oh, and I also feel compelled to share some photos of the bouquet toss. Believe it or not, I almost completely forgot to do this, and I’m so glad I did because the pictures are pretty amazing.

It all started out innocently, with me standing on the stage willing myself to throw it in the right direction (I totally throw like a girl).

Turns out I did throw it in the right direction, because this was what happened a moment later:

And of course, Stevie, with her crazy competitiveness and athletic skills, snatched it out of the air by the pearl ribbon. I love this victory photo not only because it’s cute, but also because of how pissed Kelly looks in the background about not catching the bouquet. I just heard from her, though, that she caught the bouquet at a wedding this weekend–so I guess her time has arrived!

And that’s the last of the wedding recaps ,I promise…at least for now :) Hope you all had a great weekend!

Today, I’m closing out wedding week with a recap of our beautiful honeymoon in Mexico.

In case you missed it, I’ve already covered the pre-wedding happenings, the ceremony, and the reception (part one and part two) this week. The day after the wedding, following a family brunch and gift opening party, John and I packed up and headed to Detroit to stay at a hotel close to the airport–our flight the next morning was at 6am! We caught a 4am shuttle to the airport….which was rough, let me tell you. I was lacking on sleep already from all the wedding excitement so I was pretty much a cranky zombie that morning. It didn’t help that all of our flights that day were delayed so we spent a bunch of time sitting in airports, and that all the airports were inexplicably FREEZING. I was wearing a cute jetting-off-to-my-honeymoon outfit that unfortunately didn’t offer much protection from the excessive air conditioning. By the time we finally made it to Cancun, we were so exhausted and happy to done traveling. Our first impressions were pretty amazing–the main areas of the hotel are all open-air, and this awesome thatched roof covered the lobby:

Our room was also amazing–the fanciest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in, for sure. We got an awesome vacation package deal through Orbitz that upgraded us to an oceanfront suite. The bed was crazy comfortable and we had a bunch of space to hang out in. My favorite part was the jacuzzi on the balcony–that was heavenly.

After scoping out the place, we eagerly headed down to dinner. The first night, we dined at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, which was surprisingly delicious and weirdly empty of people. The waiters were always super attentive, polite, and willing to take pictures of us eating.

Turns out, the lack of people in the restaurant that night wasn’t an isolated incident. The resort was relatively deserted, which was awesome–we could always find good chairs by the pool or on the beach, the service at the swim-up bar was prompt, and we never had to wait at a restaurant. Apparently August is a great time to go to Mexico. I’m assuming people avoid it because it’s hot that month, but it actually wasn’t that bad. When you’re right on the ocean there’s always a nice breeze, and there was no shortage of shade to hide under.

We spent most days in the same way at the resort. We would get up, go throw a towel on some chairs to save them for later, get breakfast at the buffet-type restaurant (I would usually drink a mimosa), go lay on the beach and do some reading, get lunch, spend the afternoon at the swim-up bar/in the pool, have a fancy dinner, then round out the night with dessert and/or drinks. We never even left the resort! We had grand plans to do so before we got there, but we were so exhausted that we were perfectly content to just lay around every day. It was so relaxing…I have found myself dreaming of this trip at multiple times during the year when things have been really hectic.

Some highlights of the trip include the morning when I made John get up super early with me to watch the sunrise over the ocean. It was so peaceful and beautiful at that time of day. We ordered room service breakfast and just sat on our balcony to watch the show.

Another highlight was the fancy Italian restaurant on the resort. The food there was AMAZING, so we went there a couple of times during the week. The same hostess was there every night and recognized us, calling us by name. It was pretty funny–I booked the hotel under my maiden name so people kept calling John “Senor LaPlante.” Every night we went to this restaurant the waiter convinced us to get the dessert sampler, no matter how full we said we were. There were small servings of 6 different desserts, all of which were delicious. I think my favorite was the mini creme brulee. Mmm…my mouth is watering just thinking about them.

I also really enjoyed just sitting on the beach and reading in the mornings while I sipped mimosas. I think I read about three books during that trip, which was more than I had probably read during the past year. We would always sit in the shade on account of my pasty complexion, which stayed remarkably protected during our whole trip due to gratuitous amounts of sunscreen and a giant hat.

One day when we were on the beach, a dude with a monkey showed up and let people take pictures with it. Of course, it’s a gimmick to get you to pay ridiculous prices for the pictures, but I was totally into it. We have this picture hanging up in our living room, and I’ve seriously enjoyed people doing a double take and saying, “Wait, is that a monkey?!” The monkey was also pretty frisky–he made a few grabs that would have earned him a slap if he were human. The things trainers teach their monkeys these days, am I right?

(my apologies for the bad photo...didn't feel like taking it off my wall!)

The last day of our trip was super rainy, but we didn’t mind. At that point, we were actually a bit beached-out so we were happy to take it easy. We stayed in the room, ordered a bunch of room service, watched reruns of Hawaii Five-O on TV, read some more, and played Settlers on the iPad.

Coming back to reality after that trip ended was rough, especially because we started the fall semester pretty quickly after we got back. It was a wonderful trip, though, and I can’t wait until we get to go back to an all-inclusive resort. If you’re looking for a truly relaxing vacation, I highly recommend it.  We’re already planning on going back to one once I finish my PhD, because I will be in need of some serious de-stressing at that point.

And now, wedding week is concluded! Thanks so much for reading along and reminiscing with me. This past year of marriage since the wedding has been so happy and has felt so right, and I can’t wait to celebrate many more anniversaries. Check back next week for a post about our anniversary celebration!

Yesterday, I wrote a post about the first part of our wedding reception, and earlier in the week I wrote about the pre-ceremony happenings and the ceremony itself. Today, it’s time to reminisce about the last part of the reception…which mostly included dancing and drinking. By the time the dancing rolled around, I was so ready to get started–mainly because I wanted to take my shoes off! I brought a pair of flats to change into, but slow dancing with John is difficult when I’m not in heels (I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s much taller than me), so I had to make it through the public dances before I allowed myself to change.

Our first dance was to a song by Maria Taylor, called “Speakeasy,” which John put on a mixed CD for me back when I was 17 and I’ve loved ever since. It’s a very sweet, romantic song…and luckily, it was short. Our wedding band, Honesty and the Liars, were great and learned it for us. Honesty, the singer, has a beautiful voice, so it sounded perfect.

We didn’t take any dance lessons or anything, but relied on the good old stand and sway method, with a twirl or two thrown in the mix. Luckily, we’ve attended lots of other weddings together, so we’ve had plenty of practice with the whole slow dancing thing. It was such a nice, romantic moment.

Next up, it was time for the parents to join in on the fun. To avoid forcing everyone to sit and watch a million dances, John and I danced with our parents at the same time. After much deliberation, we picked the song “In My Life” by the Beatles. This was a hard song to choose–I wanted something classic to fit my dad’s tastes while also avoiding the cheesiness factor. It worked really well, and it was fun dancing with my dad! When John and I dance I’m usually leading us (let’s be honest, dancing is not his forte), so it was a nice change having someone else lead me along.

About halfway into the song, we had Kirk and my mom cut in and dance with their respective spouses, so we finished off the dance as three separate couples. This was one of our better choices for the reception, I think, because I liked that all the parents got to partake in the dancing. It was an interesting feeling, having just the six of us out there–kind of like John and I were being initiated into married life or something.

Then, finally, it was time for everyone else to join the party! Although the first song was a little painful (no one ever wants to get up and dance to the first song at weddings, for some reason) I dragged some unfortunate attendees out on to the dance floor to get the party started. It was a bit strange having so many people watching me dance…especially because I make weird faces while I get my groove on. Like this:

Luckily, little Lucy was there to help take some of the attention away from me. That girl can dance! It’s a little spastic and crazy, sure, but she’s got some moves.

Those moves took a lot out of her, though. Towards the middle of the reception this could be seen on the dance floor:

Lucy wasn’t the only one rocking it out. I was so amazed at how many people were dancing it up. One of the biggest compliments I received about our wedding was how great the band was and how glad people were that we didn’t have a DJ. I totally agree–the band was fantastic and genuine and I didn’t have the urge to punch any of them in the face, which is how I usually feel about DJs. They were so great at engaging everyone and keeping the party going.

Seriously, look at this crowd!

That above picture also shows one of the highlights of the night–when Michael got up on stage and rocked the cowbell during a song. Clearly, he’s a musician, because he had some great rhythm going on, with some kickass dance moves to support it.

Along with dancing, we also had some time during the wedding to make the rounds and chat with guests–though not as much as I would have liked. It was hard to find everyone because they were all out on the dance floor! It was really nice to chat with those who we could, though.

It was also nice to take a dancing break because, as it got further into the night, my lower back actually started to hurt from that giant train of mine! It was bustled so I wasn’t stepping all over it, but it was definitely pulling down and messing with my center of gravity. I love the dress I picked, but I’m so glad I never have to wear it again!

Toward the end of the night, our photographer Amanda whisked us off outside to take some pictures in front of the Temple’s marquee, which had our names on it….another one of my favorite parts about having the Temple Theatre as a venue. I remember being so happy at this moment and enjoying being alone (well, sort of) with John for a few minutes.

We said our goodbyes at the reception to those who were still partying it up (both sets of parents included) and got on the shuttle to take us to the hotel. I snuggled next to John, his arm around my shoulders, and thought back on the wonderful day. I couldn’t believe how quickly everything had gone by. It felt like we had just been waiting for the ceremony to start, and suddenly it was time to leave. I felt a bit of sadness at the fact that it was all over, and the end of the night was very surreal. This huge event that we had been planning for over a year was actually done. And I had a husband! There were so many conflicting emotions…exhaustion, excitement, disbelief, happiness, and most of all, thankfulness.