Veritas

Made a brief stop at Veritas today, the winery where we got married.



It's been almost three years since our wedding.



Time marches on.

Babysitting!

Tonight my hubs and I babysat my classmate's 4 week old baby. He was precious, and we had a lot of fun. He alternated sleeping and fussing; mostly he just wanted to be bounced on this giant ball.



Doing it 24/7 seems pretty exhausting and scary! I salute you, parents of the internet!

Quote from Dinner

As I'm shoveling down the Laurabelle Salad: Spinach, Dates, Apples, Virginia Ham, Baby Swiss Cheese, Candied Pecans,& Maple Vinaigrette.

Note that I am not a salad eater.. at all.

Me: Mmm, this is really good!! (with a surprised tone)
Husband: I think you might hold the assumption that salad is supposed to taste bad.

L'Etoile

Last night we went to a nice restaurant in town called L'Etoile. My cooking class instructor last weekend named it as one of, in her opinion, the best restaurants in Charlottesville with a lot of talent in the kitchen... so we thought, "why not?"

We were put upstairs in a cute little room by ourselves.







Instead of wine or beer, we decided to enjoy the fall season by ordering the Royal Pippin cider from Albemarle CiderWorks.



It was a good choice that went well with the pork loin and duck we ordered as entrees.



This was the last photo I took before they seated another party in our room and I accepted that it's not the best etiquette to take photos of your food in a fancy restaurant. The salad included apples, cheese, spinach leaves, candied pecans and slivers of Virginia ham.



After dinner we went on a haunted "spirit walk," courtesy of Albemarle Historical Society. The walk started in historic Maplewood Cemetery, where we met several "spirits" or actors portraying historical characters. The tour continued out from the cemetery and to other "spirits" who chat with you in front of a former tavern, former opera house and you get a glimpse of an old trial at the County Courthouse.

Family Portraits

TinyPrints.com has been running a lot of great sales lately if you follow them on Facebook, and I wanted to use the opportunity to get a start on ordering photo cards for Christmas.

My husband couldn't believe that I didn't have any "family portraits" of us with Biscuit in the last year, but it's true! I only got one last year because he was still small enough to scoop up. Think about it - how easy is it to find a level place to set up the camera, get in to position while the timer is on, keep the dog in one place AND try to get him to look in the general direction of the camera... not gonna happen.



And we failed again!

Wildflowers

Just got back from a terrific wedding outside of Chicago. There were many things about the weekend that were great, but today I'm thinking about the bouquets.

How perfect are these wildflower bouquets as we say goodbye to summer?

Happy Two

Celebrating year two of our journey together.



Enjoyed an anniversary dinner outside at Shebeen Pub & Braai, a South African restaurant.



Rogue Dead Guy Ale and some much needed water kept us cool.



We shared Durban spiced chicken and Sosatie, a lamb dish.



Then I thought we should take a family portrait to mark the occasion.



But luck wasn't on my side.



Biscuit was not amused.



I resorted to holding the camera at arms length - not an easy task with a DSLR.



There was also an unexpected gift.



Cheers to many more years.

From our wedding script:

"A true marriage is an act of transformation, a profound mystery as two loves are blended into one. This is not a loss or giving up of oneself, but rather a giving over of self to something greater. In this process you will each be challenged to discover, again and again, new depths and possibilities in yourselves and each other.

This wedding ceremony, and the vows you will speak to one another today are the gateway into this mystery. In a sense, the whole of your lives has brought you here, to this moment, and together you now join together to create something wholly new and transcendent, something that has never existed before … your unique marriage. In this act you open yourselves to an even fuller experience and expression of the vast miracle of love.

No ceremony can create a marriage. Only the two of you can do that … with love patience, dedication, perseverance … through supporting and believing in each other … through tenderness and laughter, cooperation and play … through learning to forgive, learning to respect and appreciate your differences, and learning to make the important things in life matter and letting go of the rest."