chronica2015

You Can Tell Everybody That This Is Your Card

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Happy anniversary, my love.

We’ve done a lot of walking and worn a lot of shoes in the six years we’ve been together, but these shoes from this day — always my favorite.

I’m sorry I didn’t get you a card. Did we have any idea when we got married what a whirlwind our lives would become? And that we would have no free time and be bad at planning stuff and basically be living life flying from one thing to the next? I certainly didn’t. “After this, things will calm down.” False.

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I love that dress so much, and you looked so amazing. You look lovely every day, but that day really took the cake. And doughnuts. And cookies.

You have made my life so much better, and are so supportive of all of my fangirling, even if I’m not always the best about dividing my attention. You even agreed to a Star Wars theme for part of our special day. Who does that? You do. And you are amazing.

So I’m sorry that I didn’t get you a card, since my free time during the week was spent writing, doing pod prep, dealing with plumbing business, and trying to do laundry to prep for Iceland in the middle of our busiest season at work. And also reading fanfic, because please see above regarding “bad at dividing my attention.” And then on the weekend, we hate to spend any time apart, because we are those people.

You made a day I was sort of low-key dreading because my father wouldn’t be there one of the best days of my life. He would have loved you.

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He would have loved your sass, your wit, and, most importantly, your all-encompassing love for his daughter, the giant nerd.

And he probably would have wondered how I landed such a hottie.

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I also wonder that.

You’re my protector, my biggest fan, my best girl, and my occasional makeup artist.

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So I’m sorry our lives were so hectic that I didn’t get you card, but I hope this blog will do.

We’ve certainly had our share of rain, but there’s no one else I’d rather be under the umbrella with.

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Here’s to the next two…hundred.0937

I belong with you, you belong with me. You’re my sweetheart.1091

#CHRONICA2015 FOREVER!

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The Big Day, part 2

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All pictures below are courtesy of the amazing Laura Kathleen Photography. If you need a photographer, look her up. She was part of what made our day so amazing. Laura, if you’re reading this, I’m still sorry you didn’t have time to eat dinner and you had to take it to go. I blame the hotel.

Guys. Remember how I got married last year? I’m biased, but I definitely think our wedding and reception is probably the best wedding I’ll ever attend in my entire life, or that anyone will attend in any lifetime. But maybe I’m biased.

I woke up early that day and couldn’t sleep because of excitement. I walked down to a coffee shop — our event coordinator’s suggestion and one of the few positives about her — and got us breakfast. The rest of the morning is a blur, quite honestly. The only standout to me is when I stood, naked, in front of the sink in our kitchen and ate leftover wings from the night before. And, yes, Chris still married me.

Chris, Amy, and I all kind of got ready together. Chris did my makeup, and she and Amy did their own makeup and got their hair done. Dawn did my hair, too, but it seriously took about 30 seconds. Chris’ hair looked amazing. If you have a special day needing special hair, give Salon Sartori a try.

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Photographing proof of me wearing makeup. Also, look how awkward I am when just holding Chapstick!

Then my mom came and hung out with me while the girly people took 17 hours to get ready. And Laura took some shots of our jewelry, our clothes, and my mom and I trying to overcome our awkward German nature and touch each other.

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Then…it was time. Time to marry my most favoritest person in the world. If you’d like to know my feelings about that, please see the picture to the above left.

To be continued!

The Eve of the Big Day

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I know, I know. I’m moving in reverse. I know I live-blogged about the day before our wedding, but I left out a lot of stuff, like about the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner.

Oh, and — as Chris just reminded me — how our sink exploded that morning.

Okay, I’m being dramatic. There was a leak and a bit of a mess, right before we were leaving to begin our prep day. We looked at each other and realized there really wasn’t much of anything we could do at that point other than clean it up, have minimal use of the sink, ask our friends who were checking on Graham to make sure nothing fell apart, and hope for the best.

(Nothing fell apart, and all is well.)

We got our nails done, did a bunch of prep with some friends and family, and then went upstairs to get ready for our rehearsal and also some cookie dropoff.

(Guys, our cookie table was epic, and that isn’t an exaggeration, but you’ll have to wait to see that for yourselves in a post or two).

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Sister-in-Law Amy demonstrating how to sit down or something, I guess.

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The Big Day, part 1

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I don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but I did get married last October.

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This is how I felt about it.

It was the best day of my life. Not an exaggeration. I wish I could have bottled up the feeling and sipped on it slowly when stress and doubt and other generic badness entered my life in the weeks and months after.

I live-blogged the day before the wedding, and it the room and person prep we did on our wedding eve. It’s fun to go back and read about the day that I didn’t know what Oxford heels were.

Like I said, our wedding was amazing. It was beautiful, touching, meaningful, amazing, and all sorts of other positive adjectives. The road leading up to it had a few bumps in it, though. I’ll mention a few of them briefly, and then I’ll get to the good stuff.

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Honeymoon, part 3

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Thursday, we were headed down the 1, so we watched the sunrise from the bedroom, packed up our car, hopped on the Golden Gate Bridge, and headed into the city by vehicle for the first time.

    
    
  
  
First, we headed to the Presidio for the part I was most excited about. Lucasfilm has an office there, and in addition to the lobby being open to the public, there was a Yoda fountain. Guys, Yoda is my favorite, and as most of the free world knows, I’m a huge Star Wars fan. I. Was. Stoked. And let me tell you — it didn’t disappoint.  

  
  
  
  
  
  
Can you believe I only posted a few that we took? So, Facebook friends, you have that to look forward to. 

Then we headed to Crissy Field to park, because last night’s Uber driver, Hoang, told us that was the only place in the city to park for free, which was great. What wasn’t great was that we didn’t know we couldn’t tip him through the app until after, so…sorry for being dicks, Hoang. 

We called another Uber (so fancy!) to take us to the Mission for brunch at Tartine bakery. Neither of us remembers how we heard about this place, but everyone we mentioned it to was so excited we were going. And everyone was right, as it was one of the best breakfast-type meals I have ever had. We split the Monte cristo and a coconut tart (recommended by Uber driver Leanna, who we DID tip) and each had a cafe au lait. 

  
  
  
So. Good. 

After our delicious brunch, we made our way to the Castro, where we met up with a friend of Chris’ from ITMI. He was so nice and suggested many things for us to visit while he squared away a friend who just got into town. We enjoyed all of the rainbows and some other random stuff, saw Harvey Milk’s old camera store/the current location of the HRC store, and got a yummy Philz Coffee. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
We didn’t end up getting a photo with Matt, which was sad. But next time!

So we Ubered back to our car, and I successfully navigated us out of town. Hooray!

We stopped at Half Moon Brewing for dinner, and it was spectacular. We saw the sunset from the car and finally got to our hotel in Monterey. 

  

  
  
  
Almost to Friday!

Honeymoon, part 2

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We planned on getting an early start Wednesday, but “early” ended up being around 11:00am. Hey, we are honeymooning. We should be relaxing. 

Before we started our day, we grabbed this photo for National Chocolate Day. 

  
We grabbed a quick breakfast and then hopped on ferry 5 in 24 hours. Joy. 

   
    
 
  

  
Beautiful views. 

  

‘Twas a little windy. 

  

Our treat? Breakfast ice cream from Humphry Slocumbe. 

  
Secret breakfast for the wife; candy cap for me; boats and bridges for everyone!

We fueled up with Blue Bottle coffee, and the guys working there were so nice. They gave us a ton of recommendations…none of which we used, but still. 

  
We headed into San Francisco and found the most important of all landmarks, the Fed. 

  

 My friend Kristin runs the Fed or whatever, and her boyfriend said this branch was nice, so when we passed by, I knew it was special.  
We walked around and touristed a bit, including Union Square, the financial district, and Chinatown. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The best cafe. 

  
For the assorted family who likes the Coach store. 

We popped in the store for ModCloth, where Chris got her wedding dress online. 

  
Then we headed to the Stinking Rose, famous for serving food with their garlic. Let me tell you — I love me some garlic. But…holy crap. When we finished, we stunk of garlic so bad, I had zero fears of vampires for the next seventeen days. The food was delicious, but the resulting burps and other assorted bodily functions were rough. For multiple days. Happy honeymooning. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
We stumbled in our garlic haze to a cable car and made our way to the waterfront. 

  
  
  
  
We went to this olden-timey arcade museum. People had a morbid idea about what was entertaining. 

 

    
 
  
  
We went into a candy store, where we found this gem. 

  
We hung out with the sea lions for a bit and then took our first Uber ride back to the house, like big-city folk. It was an awesome but tiring day!

Honeymoon, part 1

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“Honeymoon? What about the wedding?” you say? Yes, the wedding happened. And it was wonderful. Magical. Perfect. Amazing. And I’m still trying to process all of it. So that will be a bit later. 

Sunday night, after doing a hasty load of laundry, packing up everything we thought we would need for two weeks, and jumping in the car with SIL Amy, we headed to my friend Sarah’s hotel by the airport. It was super nice! We were sad to only spend about five hours in it, what with our 6am flight and all. 

  

  
In addition to identifying the bag to me, it lets potential thieves know there is nothing worth stealing inside. 



The flight was good. There was more than McDonald’s open that early, a change from most early-morning flights I’ve taken, so we dined on tasty breakfast burritos…that didn’t end up making me sick, despite my anxiety that 5am chorizo was maybe a bad choice. 

  
We managed to wake up long enough to snap this photo. 

Then we landed,  got a Peet’s Coffee, grabbed our luggage, located our rental-car shuttle, and made our way to the hotel which housed Sixt. I was a little nervous because I was unfamiliar with the company, but they were great. They had the car we reserved (the European gentlemen after us weren’t so lucky and were dissatisfied with the replacement she offered because “I drive a Volvo every day”), the staff was extremely friendly, and it was less expensive than the “traditional” rental-car companies where we couldn’t reserve a specific car. So after a quick tutorial (“how do we open the trunk?”), we were on our way. 

  
We look pretty good for seven hours of sleep in two days. 

No one else had the top down because it was kind of chilly, but you can’t rent a VW Beetle convertible and not put the top down as soon as you get in. 

We made our way to the house in Sausalito, our home until Thursday, which meant we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. 

  
It was so cool, I forgot to be terrified. 

Then through the Robin Williams tunnel. 

   
Featuring rainbows!

We settled into the house, which is owned by the in-laws of my friend Raven. Who I’ve never technically met. Who I know from blogging. About a wedding to someone else that never happened. Could the only reason for dating someone else be that Chris and I had this lovely home to stay in on our honeymoon? Maybe. Worth it. The house was gorgeous, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to stay there. Such an amazing experience. 

We left our car and walked to the town, a mistake we would never make again. “It’s .3 miles. How far could it be?” Pretty far down the winding hills, and even further up. My Fitbit clocked us at 7.72 miles that day, and keep in mind that we were on a plane for five-plus of those hours. I finally stopped wearing it because we are supposed to be relaxing!

We went to a little restaurant for fish tacos and beer, one of the best choices we made that day. 

  
Yasss. 

We walked around Sausalito and shopped a bit, then decided to head back home. There were multiple snapchats of our climb, recording the bad decision. When we finally got back to the house, we literally laid on the floor for at least 10 minutes to try to not be dead. 

We jumped back in the car and headed to Rodeo Beach to watch the sunset, our first beach sunset as a married couple. It didn’t disappoint. 

  
Zoinks. 

Then we did boring stuff like buy shampoo, but I was amused to find Trader Joe’s sells liquor. 

  
Do-do, do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do…

We found a local brewery for dinner, Marin Brewing Company. Delicious beers, delicious food, and a waitress who pronounced everything “bomb.”

   
It actually was pretty bomb.

Then, back to the house for our first full night’s sleep in what seemed like months. 

The next morning, we ate on the little deck overlooking the ocean, then hopped in the car and headed to Muir Woods. I can’t remember seeing a more beautiful place. We also got National Parks passports because we are giant dorks. Nothing wrong with that!

It was so calm and quiet and beautiful and peaceful here. The majority of the other visitors were also pretty laid back and surprisingly not obnoxious, which helped. 

   

 
  

  

 
  
  
  
Redwoods selfie!

We had a 3:20 tour at Alcatraz, so we headed back to Sausalito to park the car and catch the ferry, the first of five ferry rides in 24 hours. I am not a big fan of boats/the water/falling to my death/drowning, so I was a bit apprehensive. But it was okay. 

  
Quick stop at Muir Beach, and then…

  

Alcatraz ferry selfie!

Alcatraz was very cool but kind of surreal. “Here is this crazy place that housed all of these horrible criminals but now appreciate its beauty and birds but try not to think about all of the violence and bad stuff and please buy a commemorative metal cup.”

  
  
I preferred the beautiful view of the city. 

   

   
This guy hitched a ride back. 

We got back to the harbor and touristed pretty hard.   
  

   
 
Can’t take me anywhere. 

Then we booked it back to the ferry building to catch the last boat to Sausalito. We were disappointed that Humphry Slocombe was closed, so we consoled ourselves with the view from the water (and ice cream from Lappert’s). 

  
We walked ten miles that day, so sleep was very welcome that night as well. 

That’s all for now. More to come!

Wedding Eve — Live Blog

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7:43am — alarms were set for 8/8:30, but excitement and nerves woke us up before 7:00. I checked FSIL Amy’s flight and saw that it was delayed, so I texted with her a bit. A broken toilet has delayed her flight, which is one of the signs of a lucky pre-wedding day, right?

7:46am — number of shits Graham gives that his mothers are getting married — zero.


Whatever. Fill up my bowl. 

7:50am — it’s really hard to believe that the phrase “we are getting married tomorrow” is a thing I can say.

9:25am — breakfast has been eaten. Chris is doing dishes, and I started packing because “maybe it’s best if we do it separately.” I tried to give her a hug, and she demanded that I go pack my toiletry bag instead.

9:54am — toiletry bag packed. I used my dad’s old LL Bean one, so there’s a nice thought of him with me all weekend.

10:28am — FSIL left a comment on Facebook that she wonders what will happen next. We are running around like crazy people and getting our stuff ready to leave, that’s what. Good sign — no fighting. No serious tears. When one of us freaks out, the other calms down. Teamwork. I’m so lucky.

10:40am — I’ve been dispatched to locate Oxford heels.

10:41am — I realize I do not know what Oxford heels are.

10:42am — I am happy to report I am very good at guessing.

11:49am — at the nail salon! A woman is doing needlepoint, which is fun.

11:57am — the Dremel has just been brought out.


Aubrey and I in the customary hand-holding position of the pedicure. 

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What Do August Showers Bring?

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Awesomeness, that’s what. 

  
And super-hot ladies, my friends.

The picture above is from our family shower, thrown by FSIL Amy and Chris’ mom and aunts.  It was at a local restaurant, and it was filled with our family and family friends. 

   
   
   
   
I loved Chris’ dress at this one. She looked so pretty! My mom helped me pick out my outfit, which is why I look fancier than usual. The only sad part of the whole day was that she wasn’t able to make it. She had a compression fracture in her spine, probably from wrestling a bear or something. But my brother recorded all of the present opening, and they took her a meal to go. We visited the next day, which was nice. 

Mom is feeling much better now, still improving. Sad that she wasn’t at the shower, but happy that this means she will be at full power at the wedding. 
A few weeks later, our wonderful friends threw us a shower! It was at the Wigle Whiskey barrel house, so the location and the drinks were excellent. 

And the company, of course. 

  
Chronica knows how to party. 

Aubrey, Heather, Michelle, and Beth threw us a lovely shower. It really was a lesson in Pinteresting. The took the travel theme and ran with it. So lovely!

   
    
    
   
 Both were awesome and lovely and special and perfect. Chris and I are so, so lucky. 

Thank you to all of the people who made these happen, attended, or sent their wishes from afar.  We love you all. 

45 days to go. Let’s plan a wedding! #Chronica2015

Equality

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Marriage equality, bitches!

Ahem. Excuse me.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality is the law of the land. No more gay marriage ban.

All of the gay marriage!!

  Eh, close enough.

I made the mistake of reading some internet comments, and that brought me down a little bit. I’m getting tired of reading that gay marriage will be the downfall of us as a society, that it will bring the apocalypse, that it’s immoral and it should be illegal. Those are what are called opinions, not facts. Believing homsexuality is wrong is just that — a belief. I am entitled to marry Chris, and the fact that we are two women shouldn’t — and now won’t — stand in our way.

And to those people who think it’s a choice, I encourage you to change your sexuality. Go ahead. I’ll wait. I hear it’s easy.

In the sage words of a true visionary, “There’s only one true judge, and that’s God. So chill and let my father do His job.”

  “Preach, Salt-N-Pepa,” says Graham.

Chris and I have 120 days until we get married (!!!), and I have to say, knowing the bans have been struck down is a good feeling. Nope. Great feeling.

  

 We can do it did it!