Memory-Keeping: Flower girl dress

When we got married and picked out our flower girl dresses (this was an Easter dress at Target for $17.99!) and outfits for our ringbearers (little guayaberas that matched Jude's!), I bought one extra of each of them for any future children we may have. We knew we were going to have a LOT of kids at our wedding, so we also bought little teddy bears--some pink, some green--for each child to keep. I kept one of each of those bears, too!

I bought a 12-month size in the dress, but my cousin Angie (whose adorable daughter, Abby, was one of our three flower girls) ended up having an extra one in a 2T size (she had bought multiples of the dress at the time, not knowing which size would fit Abby best) and sent it to me last year. When Ruby was about nine months old, I put her in the dress and did a little "photo shoot" in our living room with the pink bear from our wedding. Then, last month, with Ruby at 25 months old, I put her in the bigger size and took some more pictures. Really fun and special to see her in that dress...Our wedding seems like just yesterday and it really makes us stop and reminisce to see our beautiful girl wearing it now.

 

And here are the adorable little munchkins from our actual wedding day in 2007!

Memory-Keeping: "Face book" for baby

When I took this photo (the third one below) this weekend, I wasn't thinking about replicating any other photo...but once I looked at it on my computer, I realized how much it reminded me of my favorite photo of Ruby (the second one below) that I took last summer. I love this little face! I know I take a LOT of photos of Ruby, but I think I'm going to start a little book with a head shot of Ruby right around each of her birthdays, to see how that lovable little face changes over the years. :) Here are the first three!

Ruby at one day old, looking sweet:

Ruby at one year old, looking sweet:

Ruby at two years old, looking sweet:

Just Because: Ruby loves Buddha

This is at Jude's parents' house. Ruby used to call this statue: "Baby Boo-Doo," but now refers to it correctly as "Buddha." She gives it hugs and kisses. Actually, one of her favorite places to go for an outing is the neighborhood garden store, where she gives hugs and kisses to all of the Buddha statues they are selling.

Wedding Inspiration: Celebration of Love, Life, and Land

Went to the wedding of some dear friends in Upstate New York this weekend. It was one of those special days where the sky opens up and makes you contemplate all that is lovely and wonderous in this life. Katie and Alex are special people alone, but even more so together. Their wedding was a celebration of their love, the life they share, the joining of their families, and their passion and appreciation for natural beauty. I went with another girlfriend (road trip from NYC!) and we basically cried all afternoon/night. It was an emotionally draining weekend!
The wedding was on Alex's family's land.

This was the view from my seat during the ceremony. Not too shabby.

Gorgeous cakes made by a family member.

Alex's talented brother is a wood sculptor and made this installation piece for the wedding. Gorgeous.

Laughter is so important!

Memory-Keeping: Anniversary photo wall

I love traditions. Before we got married, my aunt Connie threw us a "traditions shower" where she asked friends and family to tell us about their family traditions so that we could start some of our own. One of my favorites came from my aunt Carol. Each year, on their anniversary, my aunt and uncle take a family photo. Initially, it was just the two of them, then kids began to be added, and now they have six grandchildren that are included as well! They have a wall in their house that is covered in these photos. What an inspiration to see their marriage grow!

We loved this idea and have started the tradition in our family as well. Our "anniversary wall" has a photo from our wedding, then a photo from each subsequent anniversary. Our first anniversary was spent in Ojai, California. Our second anniversary, however, didn't get a photo taken until the next morning...because I went into labor on July 6 and didn't give birth to our daughter until July 8! Since I was in active labor from start to finish on the day itself, I opted for our "anniversary photo" to include Ruby the next morning! Our third anniversary was spent on a trip to LA (we were still living in New York at the time). Today is our fourth anniversary. I had to begin working by 8 a.m. and Jude won't get home from work tonight until after Ruby is in bed, so we ended up setting up the timer and taking a picture of us in bed upon waking up! Silly, but sometimes you just have to make things work!

Here is our anniversary wall:

Here is today's photo (to be added to the wall soon!):

Wedding Inspiration: Lucky-in-Love on 07.07.07

Speaking of my wedding...Here are some of my favorite things (aside from my hubby and all of our friends and family, of course) from our big day:

Gift bags I hand-delivered to the hotels to greet our guests at check-in. This included little gifts, maps, snacks, a crossword puzzle about me and Jude, and some one-pagers about our favorite places to eat and things to do around town:
We had a LOT of kids coming to the wedding, so we put out teddy bears that they could have as keepsakes:
Each of my bridesmaids had a different bouquet and mine was a compilation of all seven of their flowers. I picked them all out from seed catalogs and had a local gardener grow all of the flowers for the wedding...not only did this save money, but I don't like the idea of the energy involved in bringing my flowers from Europe or Australia (where most florists get theirs from): I was lucky enough to have my mother's Belgian veil, so I chose a simple dress (actually a Vera Wang bridesmaids dress!) to accentuate the lace.

My amazing mother-in-law made every program by hand. They were gorgeous and each one was bound with a little twig. We also knew it would be hot, so each guest got a fan.

The name cards had a photo of the guest with either the bride or groom. Sure, there were a few people here or there that needed a different image (like one of our parents with that person), but you'd be surprised how many I came up with!

Our adorable flower girls! In the spring, I picked out cute Easter dresses from Target ($17.99 each!) for the little ones. I also loved the flower crowns I had the flower lady make for them!

Our adorable ring bearers! Their little guayaberas matched Jude's and the pillow is a family heirloom (Jude's parents and grandparents used it).

Jude's lovely cousin, Maya, performed the ceremony. It's a big commitment to ask someone to do this, but it was so special to have someone close do this!

We decorated the entire rim of the tent with phtoos of the weddings of our friends and families. This was so fun and a great conversation starter for our guests. Here is my parents' wedding photo (with the veil!):

Our cake topper was my favorite! This was made by a small company in Brooklyn to reflect our outfits and everything. So cute!

Jude made the playlist and pumped it from his iPod. I have to say: best wedding music ever! It had everyone dancing.
I had a costume change! Ha! This is my flower crown from the rehearsal dinner party and a sassy little dress from Banana Republic.

After the reception, we headed out on the town with some of our friends. What a day!

Just Because: Laughter and lucky 7s

Jude and I were married four years ago today. Since then: two moves (one cross-country), a sweet baby, the purchase of a house, new jobs, the gaining and losing of 73 pregnancy pounds (ha!), and lots and lots of laughs. 07.07.07 was, in fact, a lucky (not to mention incredibly fun) day. Happy-yay indeed!