Wedding Wednesday

This week I am feeling a little nostalgic and maybe even a bit sappy. Hubs and I are coming up on our fifth wedding anniversary and I love him more than ever. 

For me it's the season to enjoy the zen before the storm (my school year starts way too soon). We all need more flowers and peace in our life.

I think weddings should be the start of something amazing rather than a production and an endgame in themselves. If you're married, or getting married remember to hold hands, appreciate each other and stay as zen as possible.

What do you think about peace, love and zen? What do you do to accomplish these things in your life and your relationships?

::Garden Update::

Pretty excited about how our garden has turned out this summer. We returned from Puerto Rico to a jungle of garden goodness. We've been munching on salad, beets, arugula, strawberries, onions and most recently straight from the garden. Neither hubs nor I get many strawberries or tomatoes because the boy loves them so much! His love for tomatoes is well established but he surprised us this summer with an utter obsession with sugar snap peas. We're pretty sure it's because they look like balls. He is obsessed with anything round.

What's next for our little garden? We will be planting our late fall/winter crops soon. Kale and chard are both on the list.

There's something pretty amazing about eating from your own garden. I urge anyone who's interested in growing their own food to do so, it's really great. And so cool for the boy to see where food comes from and be introduced to healthy fruits and vegetables in the process.

::Wedding Wednesday:: Simple & Rad

I get really excited about simple down-to-earth weddings, cool photos, and bearded men. This wedding has all of these things! I am also excited to find a few of the photographers for Labor of Love, David and Kendrick. Check out their site and I bet you'll find something to love too.

 

I love that this bride got her wedding dress off craigslist. I love the flowers, the quirky photos and the obvious love between the two of them. It all reminds me a bit of our wedding, which is fun to remember. Thanks to Labor of Love and Susan and Dan for getting married rad and simple.

Travel Tuesday

We spent last weekend close to home in the global sense. Lake Wenatchee is a few hours from our home. Every year we make an effort to do two sibling trips with hubs' two sisters, one brother and their families. The adult count totals eight and the kids total six, the oldest of the cousins has four years under his belt. These stats should give you and idea of the chaos that can come with these trips but there's also great bonding, conversation and eating that happens from adults and kids alike.

All packed up

On Saturday my sis in law and I biked our way to the lake. It began as a quick morning activity as it was supposed to be four miles. At mile seven I realized I'd been had, did I mention that I was pulling two small humans in the bike trailer? And that there were hills? And that lately I haven't ridden farther than several miles in any direction from our house? Anyway, it ended up being really fun (and twelve miles). I re learned some kids songs from my precocious nephew (who was behind his mama on his tag along bike), got my sweat on a bit and ended at the lake.

The boy and his cousin ready to hit the road

Every year I demand that we get group photos of everyone together, the sibs are all really good sports about it. I know that someday I will be thanked because we will have the documentation of life being lived and trips being taken.

Cousins

The gangs all here (minus one bro in law but we gained a German friend who was visiting)

The point of this post is two fold... First family is rad whether they are blood related, or married-in, or honorary. And, you don't have to go far to have an adventure.

Abbey living life in motion in elSage

::Wedding Wednesday:: Boots

Went shopping today and fell in love with some Frye boots. Sat down to create a Wedding Wednesday post, boots still on my mind, and found some lovely boot wearing brides. Hope you like.

A little bit country...

A little bit rock & roll

Beautiful

Polka dots & red boots

New logo for elSage

I'm excited about revamping some things around elSage in the coming weeks before school starts up again. Be on the look out for some fun new stuff and (hopefully) a little bit of polish on the old. I have finished the new logo, carved and then doctored a bit in PS I am happy with how it turned out.

::Travel Tuesday, Puerto Rico::

We recently spent almost 3 weeks in Puerto Rico. I thought I would share some photos and musings from the trip. It was amazing how different it was to travel with a toddler. Everything moved a little slower. There was a distinct lack of sitting in bars until the wee hours, but we did make some pretty killer sand castles.

We stayed in Rincon for the first 12 days. A little town on the north west side of the island. The town itself is nothing special but there is an area called Puntas that's a drive out of town on the coast. This little gem is beachfront bliss. Nestled in an ocean valley and filled with expat surfers, Puntas gets my vote for best place to chill in Puerto Rico.

Some of the said expat surfers leaving Rock Bottom Grill

We stayed beach front (not in Puntas). It was rad to walk out the door and go for a swim or play on the beach. Swimming & walking along the beach daily were wonderful perks.

Crashboat Beach, Aguadilla

After our stay in Rincon we headed back to San Juan to drop off our friends who were headed back to the mainland. We had actually made reservations for the remainder of our trip and were headed to Fajardo, a town described by Let's Go like this... 

"Most travelers simply zip through Fajardo on their way to Vieques and Culebra and never see the real city. But Fajardo and its surrounding area deserve a closer look." 

Our reservations were at a place described as...  

"Puerto Real Guest House, C. Cometa 476 (☎ 863-0018 or 617-8755). Homey is an understatement for this small guesthouse—the lobby is actually someone’s living room. Amazing amenities for the price: A/C, cable TV, and small fridge."

I'm getting ahead of myself though. I already said that we made reservations, for our hotels. We quickly realized that we had forgotten to make a rental car reservation for the rest of our trip. We got to the counter and the woman said "no cars". We called several rental companies and they all said the same. Shit. We ended up in a taxi to the wonderful Fajardo, it was definitely the low of the trip.

We spent one night in our Fajardo accommodations and we were out. The boy did amazing with such depressing conditions but at one point he woke up, said "all done" and pointed at the door. I agreed and was about to get up with him and then realized it was 3 am... We had to wait a bit longer.

Next, it was on to one of the highlights of our trip. Nestled in the rain forest sits Casa Cubuy. This place is amazing. We spent our time reading in our beautiful room and hiking to the river. The restaurant has a similar view and good food. My birthday was spent eating pizza and drinking wine looking out at a mist covered rain forest valley.

Our last 3 nights were spent in the city staying at Da House. This bohemian hotel was once a convent and then housed artist studio space. It now serves a a great place to stay in Old San Juan whether you are looking for a party or clean, family friendly accommodations. Old San Juan is beautiful. The boy is currently fascinated with keys, we would walk through the city and he would point at every key hole and exclaim, "key". It was a good thing we weren't in a hurry.

 Old San Juan was unbelievable. I have hundreds of photos of doors and pretty streets, graffiti and plazas.

After that it was a very long travel day to get home (15 hours with all the lay overs I think). Next time we're flying first class direct.

For more photos check out our Flickr