Day 112

A major setback! This is what happens when the husband decides to turn on the swamp cooler (which requires a water line in the attic) on the day he's leaving town for two weeks while his lovely and amazingly patient wife is also leaving town for 1.5 weeks.

I returned home from San Diego to find the ceiling drywall sagging and water pouring out of the ceiling onto my antique pine chest. I poked a hole in the ceiling and more water came pouring out. I thought the damage was contained to the area seen sagging in the photo.



Today my wonderful contractor brought some guys out to tear out the wet parts of the ceiling. And it turns out that the water line started leaking almost immediately, and two weeks worth of water can do a lot of damage! It's airing out over the weekend, and next week some time they'll be back to repair it. In the meantime, the husband will be taking me to my favorite restaurant.

Whisknladle

I made two phenomenal discoveries while in San Diego.

The first is the restaurant Whisknladle in La Jolla. I ate there three times! There is a very good reason why it was voted number 1 of 105 hot new restaurants worldwide by Conde Nast Publications in 2008.



The restaurant has partnered up with local farmers, ranchers and fisherman to provide the best product in the most conscientious way. They also bake, cure, age, pickle, and churn everything in house, so the amazing menu changes with the season.

During each of my visits I had a summer salad of arugula, avocado, white and yellow corn, grapefruit, and hearts of palm. A-mazing! Other notable items I devoured include the scallops, a summer squash ravioli, two different flat breads, a tomato salad with heirloom tomatoes, the best danged herb fries on the planet, a bourbon chocolate torte with butter pecans and mocha ice cream, and a dark chocolate ice cream that was so good it had me and my mom fighting over who could lick the bowl!

I probably gained 5 pounds from eating so much, but it was well worth it.

San Diego

I just returned from a week and a half in San Diego. It was my first time there and I loved it. The first part of the trip was for work, but my mom came out for three days at the end and we visited the wild animal park, the zoo, and Sea World.

This soft and snuggly baby flamingo at the zoo is one of my favorites.

Strange squirrel

While I was at my parents' house last week, this little fella started hanging out in the globe willow tree in their back yard.



We think it's a squirrel of some sort, but we've never seen anything like it where my parents live. Its eyes seem much bigger, and the nose/snout seems larger than most squirrels and is darker than the rest of the face. The ears seem to be longer and more narrow, and the top of them are sort of square rather than pointed. It has really long fingers on its front paws, and I saw it hold a piece of food in one paw as it ran up the tree.



Does anybody have any idea whether this really is a squirrel, and if so what type it may be?



Inquiring minds want to know.

Flower of the week: Gaillardia

I was at my parents' house last week, and I spent some time checking out my mom's awesome garden of western wildflowers. The gaillardia is among my favorites. They are so beautiful at each stage of their life, and I'm always intrigued by how different the flowers can be from each other.

Studio on Fire business card

Holy cow! I love these ninja throwing star business cards for the phenomenal letterpress printers at Studio on Fire.



If you want to drool and go ga-ga over some fabulous letterpress goods, check out their blog, Beast Pieces.

My 3/50 Project: June

I went a little crazy with my 3/50 Project in May, so in June I toned it down a bit and just bought these items at our local antique mall.

I've been on a mission to collect old and interesting wood boxes, so I added these to my collection. I especially like the one with the leather strap handle.



And I finally started working on getting some glass floats. I don't think they're antiques (the "Made in Taiwan" sticker on one was a pretty good hint), but I still love the colors and sizes.



My final purchase was a cute 1/2 pint old milk bottle. In certain light it has a faint yellow tint to the glass. It's the perfect size for holding a small bunch of my wild sweet peas!



So, how's your 3/50 Project going?

And thanks to everyone for all your nice comments on my wedding photos last week!

My wedding: Part V

A lot of people probably thought it was a little odd that our ring bearer was carrying around a rock with a flower stuck to it.



Have you ever tried to attach rings to a rock? It's not easy. Fortunately, my brother is a bronze artist so we used a blob of some of his sculpting clay to secure the rings.



So why did I decide to have the rings carried on the rock? Well, it sure is a pretty rock. Isn't it? But this is also a notable rock in my life. You see, the day the husband proposed to me, we were high up in the mountains of Colorado collecting some landscaping rocks. I mean, we were collecting ROCKS.



See?



The short story is that we split up and went in different directions, looking for some large boulders we could use for landscaping. I came across the now famous ring rock, snatched it up, and skipped back to the husband proclaiming that I had just found the prettiest rock. He says he found one better. I tell him there's no way. He tells me to go look for myself. After walking all over looking for his pretty rock on the ground, I finally adjust my eyes a little higher and spot the ring on the stem of a small red rose, sitting on top of a boulder.



And now you know the beginning of the story.

I leave you with the slideshow that our photographer Vlad did for us. Have a happy weekend!

(Top three photos by Vladimir Chaloupka).

My wedding: Part IV

A few more of my favorite photos.



I really wanted the wedding to be fun. I know most people say that, but I really meant it. So we started by serving people margaritas before the ceremony, and we had a Mariachi band on hand to serenade them. They continued to play through the cocktail hour.



My dad had to steal me away from the husband for a dance.



There are few things in life more fun than watching kids having fun!



We had hoola hoops and glo-sticks on hands for the kids. They were a huge hit! My cousin Morgan can hoola-hoop with the pros!








Another dance with my dad.






In addition to the Mariachis we had the best western cowboy swing band this side of the Mississippi: Syd Masters and the Swing Riders. Heck, they're probably the best western cowboy swing band in this hemisphere! They were fantastic, as usual!



And my awesome friends arranged to have Syd sing one of my favorite songs about how a guy doesn't see much of his girl after she starts riding horses.









Before the toasts, my dad introduced the husband to everyone by telling the story about the first time the husband met my mom and dad, and he got stuck to the toilet seat.



Seriously.



And people are still asking if it's a true story. I'll never tell.



One of my favorite photos. We spent the night in that tent! :)



All photos by Vladimir Chaloupka.

My wedding: Part III

I love looking at the photos of our friends. And I love all the colors of their dresses. I told them to pick their own dress, anything they wanted, as long as it fell somewhere in my color scheme and was something they were certain they would wear again. One bridesmaid even got lucky enough to use her bridesmaid dress from the wedding of another friend. Score!



For the guys, we rented the suits and then I matched their ties with the color of the dresses.



I think they all looked great.



And this right here is one of my favorite photos. I never did hear what prompted such a laugh from them as they walked up the aisle. I'll have to remember to ask.



This is another one of my favorites.



And the kids... Oh my.



Cute as a bug's ear.



Maybe even cuter than that!









All photos by Vladimir Chaloupka.