This is Zoe:
You've seen her before here. She was our house guest last weekend while her humans took a little trip to the place where all Georgians are required to visit at least once in the fall - the mountains.
Zoe was an awesome house guest because:
1. She's like, tiny. She fits in my lap. Unlike two other 100-pound creatures I know.
2. She comes with a wardrobe. Kind of like Barbie. (And thus the cheerleading uniform.)
3. She shares a name with my future BFF, Zooey Deschanel (okay, it's not spelled the same, but sounds the same).
4. She didn't judge us even though our house is a disaster due to certain unfinished projects. And if she did she was totally polite and didn't say anything.
When Matthew and I got engaged in Jamaica, we had a great time relaxing and lounging around. But after about two days of lounging, we were ready to get out and do things. So when we were choosing a location for our honeymoon, we knew that, yes, we wanted some romantic destination, but romantic only gets you so far - we wanted some adventure!
After lots of browsing of the internets, we decided to go to Costa Rica.
We picked a small bed & breakfast in Manuel Antonio, Mango Moon. It was actually recommended to us by a friend, and the couple who owned it actually moved to Costa Rica from a town about 15 minutes from our house. (I've heard that since then they've sold it to the lead singer of the band Creed. Weird.)
It was set in the mountains, just a short hike to the beach. This was the view from our balcony:
We spent tons of time on the balcony, listening to the rain and even getting couples massages there. Matthew usually hogged the hammock:
We went in October, which just happens to be rainy season. Lots of people choose not to go during that time because it literally rains EVERY DAY for hours on end. But do you know what that means? Naps. Lots of them. Also - great service at restaurants because you are the only one there. It also means hideously curly hair. Try to ignore that.
The service was so good at the restaurants that they did things like make little roses and grasshoppers out of plants:
We opted for an adventure package rather than a honeymoon package, which sent us on a different excursion daily, like ziplining (is that a verb?) through the forest canopy:
Yep, that's me making quite the fashion statement in the red helmet.
There was also horseback riding to some waterfalls:
Side note: riding a horse in the rain while wearing wet pants for three hours can equal major chafing. Just saying.
There was also a kayaking adventure through the mangroves (don't have a picture of that one) and lots of walking around, including a couple of trips down to the beach to check out the black sand and the loads and loads of hermit crabs.
(Please don't think that I would ever wear something like this on a normal occasion. First of all, I don't wear tennis shoes. Second of all, I was cold and wet and we bought this shirt because it was dry. This is what a medium t-shirt looks like on me. So instead, please direct your attention to the black sand.)
We also spent lots of night sipping on rum and talking to the B&B owners and staff. Jeff, one of the owners, was in a band and would make up impromptu (funny) songs. We were the only guests who stayed the whole week, but we met lots of people who stopped for one night and each had fun stories to share.
But our favorite adventures by far were those involving the Costa Rican wildlife. Each morning, we woke up to the sounds of howler monkeys calling one another. Capuchin monkeys (like Marcel on Friends!) passed over the roof of our balcony in the mornings and evenings, peeking over to see what we were having for breakfast (and by the way, the banana pancakes were to. die. for. I ate them every morning. It's no surprise the monkeys were jealous.)
The coolest creatures were in Manual Antonio National Park. We toured with an awesome guide who could spot a bird the size of my fist 200 feet away. No joke. We saw lots of sloths (which pretty much just look like giant moldy fur balls in photos, so I'll spare you), cute little squirrel monkeys and ton of birds.
Disregard this furry bald guy and check out that monkey (wow, that's a sentence I never thought I'd utter):
Considering that we're photographers, we really didn't take that many photos. But rain, humidity and cameras really don't mix. Most shots taken with a Canon point-and-shoot, Canon 10D or Canon 20D (we're Canon people, can you tell?).
I'd definitely suggest taking a trip to Costa Rica (we want to go back one day) if you're looking for a vacation spot. There are lots of places to visit, but Manual Antonio really was awesome. Other areas of Costa Rica are known for great surfing, scuba diving and lots of other fun activities. And if you're not too opposed to rain, I'd suggest going during rainy season to avoid crowds and touristy-tourists. Unless, of course, you're looking to lay poolside all day. That wouldn't work.
...Matthew and I said "I do." Since it's wedding extravaganza here on the blog this week, I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into our wedding day.
Even before Matthew and I got engaged, we both knew we wanted to get married on a beach somewhere. We love the ocean and we loved even more the idea of a destination wedding with just close family and friends. Since my parents live on the beach, we had the perfect ready-made location for our wedding in Fort Morgan, Alabama.
About 60 family members and close friends all traveled to celebrate with us. We had such a good time at our wedding - no bridezilla moments (that I recall), and I feel like we really took the opportunity to enjoy the day that I'd had a blast planning for the prior three months.
I chose the colors brown and light blue because I really wanted to stick with the already beautiful color scheme of our backdrop - the ocean. We incorporated lots of little details which really made our wedding personal. It was definitely a DIY affair - from the invitations to the food. I'll share some of those ideas in a future post.
For now, here's our day in photos:
I wanted both of my parents to walk me down the aisle. This is probably my favorite shot from the day.
Matthew and I did see each other before the ceremony for photos. I preferred that we have our own private moment to see each other for the first time that day.
Our wedding party. My brother-in-law Chad was a groomsman, and my friends Katie and Megan were bridesmaids.
The sky was amazing that evening. Rain fell all around us, but left us alone most of the evening (with the exception of a few sprinkles).
My parents did all of the food and drinks (and probably wouldn't recommend doing that again, even though it was SO good - crab cakes, Mexican style shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, pork tenderloin, a mashed potato bar, blue margaritas - seriously YUM).
The cake was one of the few things we didn't handle ourselves. I knew exactly what I wanted and took about a million pictures to the bakery to explain - it was exactly what I wanted (with edible seashells).
There was LOTS of dancing:
And then we departed on a golf cart as our guests held sparklers and fireworks went off. We had a near snafu when Matthew couldn't find the key hole in the golf cart (we'll blame it on the dark, but the blue margaritas may have had a little something to do with it). But everything ended up being timed wonderfully - a perfect ending to an awesome day.
It doesn't seem like it's been two years!
Side note: It was actually two years ago yesterday, as it's now after midnight. Oh well.
This week (today, actually), Matthew and I are celebrating our two-year wedding anniversary. I thought I'd switch gears and post something wedding related every day this week. Yes, I said every day - I'm committing to blogging every day this week. Quit laughing.
I thought the best place to start might be to tell the story about how we got engaged. So you may be wondering why I named this post what I did if I'm going to tell my engagement story. Oh, just you wait.
When people ask me how I got engaged, I tell one of two versions - the clean, edited one, and the real, not quite as clean one. Here, I'm going to tell the real one. So if you're offended by or dislike reading the word penis, you should probably stop now. (But please, even if you're offended you know you're going to keep reading.)
About two years and three months ago (we had a short engagement), Matthew and I decided to take a little vacation to Jamaica. We'd been dating for over five years, but it was our first trip alone as a couple. We'd taken plenty of trips together, mostly with family, but this was our first with just the two of us. We chose to stay at a small, couples only resort. Not that the appeal of being surrounded by nothing but a bunch of couples was particularly appealing, but the idea of not having to battle annoying tweens for a kayak was.
One of the "perks" of a couples only resort - a nude beach (which we had no intention of using). Can someone please explain to me why the only people who utilize a nude beach are the exact ones who should be as far away from the nude beach as possible? (My first nude beach experience was when I accidentally stumbled upon one on a family vacation when I was 12. Scarring.)
So Matthew and I were hanging out on the non-nude beach on our first day there. The beach for the clothed was no further than 20 feet from the one for the unclothed, and was only semi-divided by lattice. LATTICE. And please, who's not going to look to see who/what's over there?
So there are only two people on the nude beach - an older couple who could easily have been my grandparents. The woman seemed a little uneasy with the nudity and stayed mostly covered. The man, on the other hand, paced back and forth ankle-deep in the water in full glory, alternating hand-over-head stretching and hands on his hips. Back and forth, back and forth. But here's the thing. He was wearing a hat. A HAT! Because he was afraid his head might get burned? [Insert bad joke here.]
You can imagine that talk of the old man and his penis occupied the rest of our day. Lots of unnecessary comments and jokes. But really? He had the energy to put on a hat but NOTHING ELSE?
Flash forward to that evening. We ate dinner and decided to hang out in the hammock by the water afterwards. Matthew started talking about how long we'd been together and this and that and I couldn't listen because RIGHT OVER THERE just a few hours ago. The old man. His penis. THE HAT! I mean, he wore a hat! We made some more inappropriate jokes and we laughed. Then Matthew started again with the talking. Then more talk of the old man, the penis. The hat. Matthew kept changing the subject, launching into more serious conversation. It wasn't until he finally said "Will you marry me?" that I knew the reason for the subject change. Of course I said yes (actually, first I said, "Are you kidding?") To my credit, we had dated for five years and Matthew didn't seem the least bit nervous that night.
After that we didn't talk about the old man, the penis or the hat - at least not until the next day.
Here's a photo of us scuba diving in Jamaica -
Still to come this week - lots of wedding photos, some wedding ideas and maybe a few more funny stories!
several little kids will come to my door (many of them probably dressed as Spiderman) demanding candy.
This Halloween, the closest thing to children that we have to dress up are dogs, and if we were the type to dress up our dogs, they would most certainly go as Joe Dirt and Billy Ray Cyrus so that they could wear these:
Like it? Get your very own from Trixie & Peanut here.
