As a kid I was a little bit infatuated with Amelia Earhart and ordered multiple books about her from our elementary school book orders. This was pre-Google. (Do you remember ordering books? You'd fill out what you want on the thin, crinkly paper and then wait for the books to get there and it was like Christmas? At least it was for me... Best day ever.)
I used to imagine what happened to her and in my more positive thoughts she was living it up on a deserted island with some fun, castaway friends in cool Swiss Family Robinson-style treehouses.
This new-to-me online magazine Matchbook did a fun feature on Amelia-inspired style. I loved all of the items included, especially the photo of our heroine and her adorable pixie haircut and awesome airplane in the background.
This week Z & I celebrated 10 years of wedded adventure. I can't believe it's been that long.
The photo above is beautiful isn't it? It's from this wonderful blog. And it's a photo of peonies. My favorite flower. Of all the details, big and small, from that day, I remember a few things extra clear, allllllllllll these years later. One of them is the peonies I used to decorate the church and some parts of our reception. They were from my grandmother's garden and serendipitously bloomed just about a day before our wedding. They were bright pink and so cheerful.
I'm taking the fact that they made a magical appearance for our big day as a sign of good luck.
These beauties and their impressive color were but a mere distraction
to Little A until we could get to the owls.
Little A and I spent most of the early afternoon at the local aviary. We had a blast.
When I told him this morning we were going to the aviary to see the birds he immediately started with the questions. His queries led me to understand he has inexplicably (and overnight) become owl-obsessed. "Are we going to see an owl?" "I want to see an owl and a baby owl." "Where do baby owls come from?" "What color are owls?" "Are the owls there the ones from Aunt Suzi's house?" "Owls say 'hooo hooo' just like a dove. But they are not doves." "I reallllllllly want to hold a baby owl. Baby owl feathers are SO soft!"
We had to run a couple of errands and then finally got to the aviary. We were checking in at the front desk and the college-age guy working was cute with Little A, asking him if he was excited to see the birds. "Yes, I want to see the owls. Do you have owls? Do owls live here?"
The guy assured him that owls do, in fact live there. But, just as our luck would have it, the brand new super impressive extra fun and exciting Owl Forest of all Owl Forests was opening for the first time -- tomorrow. We missed it by one day.
However, he said we could still see the owls from the sidewalk. I was relieved. And Little A's head was about to explode from pure happiness. Then the guy gave us a map of the grounds that had an OWL ON THE COVER and it almost put him over the edge.
We trekked around the aviary, looking at flamingos, eagles bald and golden and some unfortunate looking vultures (poor guys). "Where are the owls???"
Finally, we got to the owls. I lifted A up so he could get a good look and as a large barn owl turned toward him -- I grinned in anticipation of how excited he was going to be -- he mumbled "Oh, there's one."
And then immediately turned his attention, and excitement, towards a pair of ducks that just poo'd on the sidewalk.
I took this photo with my phone on a beautiful spring day. And speaking of Washington Square, have you ever heard Ryan Tanner's song of the same name, by his band Atherton? It's one of my favorites.
Last week I went to New York for a business trip. It was one of the better trips I've had there in a long time, I think the fact that the weather was gorgeous had a lot to do with it. Also, our schedule was perfect. Sometimes we pack so many meetings into a few days that it feels like one gigantic, taxi-dotted whirlwind and suddenly I'm on a plane back home.
This time my clients and I were on our way to meet up with a freelance writer near NYU. That part of town, Greenwich Village, is great -- much more colorful and lively than midtown Manhattan where I usually spend most of my time. Since the Village is home to lots of celebs, including Anderson Cooper, Julianne Moore and Anna Wintour, it wouldn't be unusual to run into someone famous.
We were walking down the sidewalk when a large man in a Red Sox jersey walked toward us and asked us for a hug. I happily gave him one but because I was wearing sunglasses and not my prescriptions my eyes weren't completely sure if I was seeing who I thought I was seeing.
Imagine my surprise that the celebrity I ran into was none other than my favorite Major League Baseball player David Ortiz, a.k.a Big Papi, of the Boston Red Sox.
If you don't follow baseball closely then you may not know that the Red Sox vs. Yankees rivalry may be the fiercest in all of sports. The U of U vs. BYU one may be a close second. It's that bad. So it was a little strange to see someone in a Sox jersey walking around the Big Apple with a huge smile on his face.
What I didn't realize during our hug fest was that a camera crew from the MLB Fan Cave filmed it. I believe this is called, in showbiz speak, "my big break." Since this video launched I have become quite busy/very important/good at 'doing lunch' and am in the process of hiring my own manager.
After the hug that was caught on camera (I'm at 2:40), I was able to talk to him and thank him for signing a baseball for Little A last year (it was a very thoughtful gift from my cousin who works for the team). David couldn't have been nicer.
And I got my best NYC souvenir to-date.
*This post's title was inspired by a comment from my friend Scott. .
I'm not the type that watches documentaries very often. I like to think that I am, but I am not. I usually don't have, er, make the time to watch films (because you can't call them movies, right?) that are so often insightful and educational.
Aside from Food Inc. (and I still believe that if you eat food you should watch it), the last documentary I watched was The September Issue, a look into the World of Anna Wintour and Vogue during the finalization of fashion's most important magazine.
And now, I really can't wait for this one.
Bill Cunningham's New York Timesphoto essays are always a treat (I mentioned one a few years ago here). He is 82 years old and rides a bicycle around Manhattan -- a fact that probably provides enough content for a documentary by itself -- taking photos of interestingly or fabulously dressed people on the street and on the catwalk, too. I keep hoping that during one of my trips to New York he will ride by (and you know he'll keep riding -- no need to snap a photo of me in my TJ Maxx ensemble, I'm sure.).
He is eccentric and bold and Anna Wintour herself says that if he doesn't take a picture of her it's "death."
Bill says, "I'm not interested in celebrities with their FREE DRESSES. I'm interested in clothes."
Although I wouldn't AT ALL consider myself anything close to a fashionista, I think peoples' fashion choices when they're dressing to impress or express -- especially in big cities where it's easier to be anonymous -- say a lot about them.
I know I have some catching up to do on this blog but in the meantime, I wanted to share a beautiful video. In the (almost 10! Eeek! Gasp!) years since Z & I walked down the aisle, documentary-stylewedding photography has become the norm. No more posed photos (or at least, more than just the traditional, posed photos) -- candid photography is where it's at.
I'm wondering if the stunning footage (and some of the other weddings this talented company has done) below will spark a trend for artistic, music-video style mini-movies to go along with those candid photos commemorating the big day.
Not only is the videography (cinematography?) beautiful, but the bride is stunning, her veil is In. Cred. Ible. and just watch how she arrives to meet her groom.
Sidenote: On our wedding day, after the ceremony, we stayed at the church to sign the license, take a few (posed) photos and then were supposed to go to our reception, about a mile away. Z & I walked out of the church only to find out that all of our friends and family left us. And, since we were young with not much experience in this sort of thing, we hadn't thought to arrange for some sort of romantic transportation (vintage Rolls Royce? Horse-drawn carriage? Bicycle-built-for-two?).
Luckily, we found my cousin who happened to be rounding up some items and was still at the church. Z rode shotgun in her Chevy Malibu and I, and my enormous hoop skirt, squished into the backseat with my then 4-year-old and 6-year-old family members.
But arriving by boat, like the French bride in the video, would be pretty cool, too.
If you are getting hitched - in FRANCE! - hire this company.
By the way, one of the first places I saw this video was on a site that's a favorite of mine, Cup of Jo.
Check her out!
