chip and i had a busy weekend. we started out by tackling the barn and the bookshelves, preparing to clear out a boat load of “stuff” at our upcoming yard sale on oct. 25th. it feels good to downsize our belongings yet again.

saturday evening, we went to washington farms to pick pumpkins with friends. here i am with my pumpkin:

a handful of us stuck around to go through the corn maze. as you can see, we got a little lost:

fortunately, we found our way out; however, we tempted fate by testing out the “vortex” before heading out. (the vortex is essentially a room with giant tube with rotating black-lit images and a walkway down the center.)  it was neat — all optical illusion-y and stuff — but i felt a little motion sick when i came out:

courtney posted some more pictures of our outing here. chip’s supposed to post the rest of our pictures here.

today, chip and i tapped into our emily post & martha stewart sides. chip’s been writing thank you notes till his hand resembled a claw. (i finished mine two weeks ago — *zing!*) i was busy cookin’ up tasty vittles in the kitchen, testing out a few of the recipes you all submitted during our kitchen shower: pumpkin cookies for a sweet treat, and skillet shepherd’s pie for supper. delicious!

i’m not sure we’re ready for the start of another work week, but mondays are certainly better than they used to be for us both.  an added plus — this weather has been glorious!

all apologies for being a little negligent with my blog, but as you can see, i’ve been a little busy. chip and i got married! it was absolutely beautiful, and we were so overwhelmed that so many family & friends were there to support us. you really made it a special day for two people who really don’t like to be the center of attention.

jacob and his lovely assistant/schmoo, carrie, took our pictures, and they are fabulous! we have about 300 to go through, but we’ll be posting a handful our favorites along with the pictures our friends took here in our flickr group. (for those of you who took pictures during any part of the wedding weekend, please feel free to add your own!)

we have had such a good time looking through all the pictures from the weekend. it’s funny how much you forget (or miss!) because it’s all such an emotional blur. looking back at the pictures also reminds us how much this was really a “community event” in that every single person supported us in one way or another throughout the whole process. it could have been a kind or encouraging word, a funny recipe card (SURPRISE!), an offer to run errands, throw a party (or make silly hats), take pictures, manage the flower arrangements, or — holy poo — fix the bloomin’ train on that dress! there are so many more! it’s all starting to sink in, and we are thankful we have you to call a friend.

*phew*

now that i’ve got that out of my system, it’s time to move on and talk about the other fun things. in case you missed it, chip posted a bunch of our favorite honeymoon photos here. we had a great time out in las vegas. we didn’t win big, but we only lost $20.

we walked through most of the major casinos, saw cirque du soleil’s show called mystere, and of course, we got tickets to attend the bangles‘ pool party performance. we also traveled to see hoover dam (which included my favorite moment in the whole trip — the old fashioned diorama!

we also went to arizona and had a quick visit with my friend ben and his new fiancee, jenny, in flagstaff. it’s a pretty town that reminds me a lot of the mountain towns in north carolina. while we were in arizona, we stayed at a hotel in williams and took the train to the grand canyon. it was a great way to relax and see the landscape and wildlife.

before we left arizona to go back to las vegas, we stopped at bedrock city. it was awesome! it was only $5 a person, and we were the only people there. the best part was the woman telling us before we went in that if we wanted to go on the ride, just to tell the guy out back who was weeding! (it was a series of flintstone cars connected together that drove in a circle under a plaster volcano — complete with pteradactyl — pulled by something resembling a dressed-up lawn mower.) again, awesome.

for the three of you who have not yet seen the video of chip introducing me to the flavor wonder that is “the beverly” from italy, here is the video from our stop at the world of coke in las vegas.