Since I'm done recapping...

Now that I've got the general recap posts out of the way I have a bit more space to write about the details of the wedding, the diy projects, and some other odds and ends.

I can also respond to M&M's post tagging me (though I'm not going to tag anyone else).

Rules - List 5 Obsessions/Addictions that you have, and tag back to the person(s) that gave you the award. Post the rules and tag and additional 5 people.

1. Taking pictures. After my nice camera was taken in Argentina, I've been living with a camera that runs on AA batteries. It's not my favorite, but I'm dealing since we can't afford to buy me a dSLR right now and I'm holding out for that.

2. Blogs. Obviously, I guess. I've had one since I was in high school. That's about ten years of blogging now. Pretty wild. I blog about my life outside my wedding here.

3. Traveling, but particularly hotels. Not necessarily swanky hotels, but I love seeing how different hotels, b&b's, hostels are run, who stays there, etc. My obsession grew when I worked as an innkeeper.

4. Food, but particularly cooking people breakfast. After working as an innkeeper, I became an expert breakfast food cook. I love having breakfast parties and cooking for groups of friends. I'm learning to become more confident cooking non-breakfast foods. Food is also very political for me. We try and eat locally as much as possible and I've cut back my meat consumption to just grass-fed, free range stuff.

5. California. I've never lived anywhere else and it's really hard to imagine doing so. It's diverse in every way--the climate, the politics, the landscape. We've got big cities and wide open spaces. Very conservative areas and San Francisco. It's endlessly fascinating.

Us, Continued...

A few days later I received what I thought was a random friend request on Myspace. I make a point to not "friend" people I don't know in real life, but this guy was kind of cute so I sent him back something along the lines of "I don't know you, but I might want to." He, having been told by our mutual friend, that I'd raved about how cute he is after our meeting in the thrift store, was confused but responded to my message with a polite reminder that I had met him, and maybe he should work on making himself more memorable.

Later that week, my friend and I were at a local bar grabbing a drink when she decided that we should call P and invite him. I was totally in the dark about her desire to set us up until that point, but I did think he was cute and he'd just moved to town, so at worst I figured he could use some new people to hang out with.

When he arrived it was clear there was chemistry. We talked for a long time that night (I'm not even sure how long). And I left the bar with my friend practically, no actually, skipping. And blabbing about how I thought I might be in love, and she knew I'd wanted to stay single, and why did she have to go on introducing me to someone so perfect.

Turns out P felt exactly the same way. And we've basically been inseparable since. We started talking about weddings after about a month of being together. Started talking about specific possible wedding dates soon after that, and in October he proposed.

Not exactly the normal relationship trajectory or what either of us was looking for, but everything about it has felt exactly right.

Us Part One.

My relationship with my finance has been far from traditional. Both of us are in our mid/early twenties and have spent much of the last decade in a series of not so great long term relationships. When we met, both of us were single and determined, for the first time in our lives, to stay that way for as long as possible. Apparently, for us, that wasn't very long.

The day I met P, we actually met twice. It was a Saturday, a day I regularly carved out time with my house mates to garage sale and thrift store shop. Our first stop of the day was a friend's garage sale. Another close friend was there with her boyfriend and a friend of theirs (P). Though I don't remember it, I've been told that he tried to introduce himself then. Later that day I was digging through fabric at my favorite thrift shop when my friend from the garage sale appeared (still with her boyfriend and P). My memory of this is really vague, but I do recall P introducing himself then.