Sunday, February 22, 2009

NEW YORK CITY






Does this bed not look lovely? I love motel beds, the white sheets, the fluffy pillows - maybe it's because our mattress is pretty much shot and it gives me back aches sometimes... anyways, we were so excited to get to go to NYC for Zach and Mary's wedding. It's actually our 8th anniversary this week, so we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone and make a long weekend out of it for our anniversary too. We took the train from Lancaster and just tootled blissfully along after running from our house to catch it - we made it with about a minute to spare - no lie. That is true Rich and Shannon style - never allow enough time, you think we'd learn. I love riding on the train - the seats are comfy, you can see the scenery, it's quiet and we could read and read - for 3 hrs.

When we got there we walked to our hotel, it was a couple blocks and we dropped our stuff off - when we looked out the window, we saw some photographers shooting a bride on a balcony in this tall skyscraper right across from us. You can't really see them in the picture, but it was cool to us.



We then set off to find a place to eat - I had been craving Indian food for a long time - we only have about 1 good place in Lancaster and it's too nice to take kids. So we found a little place and eat we did. We both polished off an entire order of naan - it was so good! Oh, forgot to mention that I had just ended my six week diet, so I was into food even more than usual. After stuffing ourselves we strolled on over to Olde Good Things, an architechtural salvage place, just to nose around and see what they have. Well, they had amazing things and we looked and looked - it was an incredible store, especially if you have a house like ours.I would've liked to buy many things, but I settled for just taking pictures.



We were in there for a while and decided to walk down to little Italy - my idea was to get a pastry or something at a little coffee shop - we really weren't hungry after stuffing ourselves with naan. So we struck out for little italy - after numerous mis turns, wrong train, etc... (there were no maps to be had except for the big ones posted down in the subway - and when you were up on the street you're supposed to know where you're going) we passed this little shop and decided to stop.










This was my little cupcake which was actually not as good as I had hoped. Don't you just hate it when you're looking forward to something and it just doesn't meet your expectations? But, the place was really cool and we could get in out of the cold for a little while. Along the way we stopped at some cool stores - one was called Cockpit - it was vintage and reproduction air force gear and stuff made in that style - they had this awesome leather trenchcoat - the leather felt like butter - the price was $650 - a little out of my price range, but boy was it cool. I could hardly get Rich out of there - he was very enthralled.


In the end we never did make it to little italy, we totally missed it we later discovered, but we didn't even really care - we were having so much fun just being together and exploring - no pressure, no kids, no schedule.

The next morning we set off bright and early for the wedding - we were staying in Manhattan and the wedding was in Queens, so it was a little jog. We allowed lots of time, you know so we could get lost and stuff and it was just about right - the J train was not running, so we had to take a shuttle bus and somehow magically get off at the right place ( they did not announce stops) we did make it and started on time. Here's some pics from the wedding-








The church was a really cool old Catholic church and the outside had all kinds of textures and old
paint to work with









They had the best worship I have ever seen at a wedding - I really enjoyed it as I was puttering around getting my shots.

They also did this cord braiding ceremony instead of a unity candle - I thought it was a great idea - something a little unique.


Flower detail from the reception - I totally love queen anne's lace. Cheap and pretty, what more do you want?


After the wedding we hung out with a bunch of people my sister Sonya and brother Darren among them - walked downtown to a diner - ate giant delicious burgers - talked loud - laughed alot. It was good, real good. Didn't get any pics cause I was so busy talking and to be honest was a bit pictured out from the wedding - I do get like that.
Next morning we struck out for Times Square - It was really cold, alot colder then before, so we walked around, ate some of those roasted nuts they sell, had a starbucks and then finally stopped at a pizza place that had high seats by the window facing the street and just sat there and talked for a while, watched people.



One of those long-armed self portraits

Man in foreground - does he not look cold and miserable?

We did manage to get to the train station on time to catch our ride home - and man was it a good trip! I feel refreshed still and it's already been a week since we got home. So here's to Zach and Mary for getting married in NY!
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Thursday, February 19, 2009

So I guess I am after all

Blogging I mean - I always thought I had too much to do, too many pics to edit, too many kids to keep happy and it looked more stressful then what it was worth. But after spending too much time looking at other peoples blogs it looked like more fun than work. Don't know how consistent this will be and not sure what the content will be either - I guess we will see how that all pans out, but for now I'm going to start with an engagement shoot I had the other Saturday with
Jolyn and Liz -

We had a good time and I thought they were adorable! Speaking of adorable, next post will probably be about our trip to NYC for Zach and Mary's wedding! So long