Our *New* Anniversary

Last year, July 30th was a hot, sunny day in New England and I couldn't believe that I had planned an outdoor wedding that would not be rained out...it was a miracle.

So much has transpired over the past year--I started a new job, we traveled, I had surgery on my foot, my mom had surgery on her lung, Tommie started a new job, and we moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina. It makes the wedding seem like it was much more than a year ago...which is why I wish we could do it again!

But really, even if I tried to do it all over, I couldn't guarantee the sky that day would be so blue, or that everyone I loved could be there, or that the dress I ordered on a whim would be just right, or that Maya and all the kids would be so well-behaved during the ceremony, or that my Dad would make everyone laugh so much with his speech, or that my day-of wedding planner would be so supportive, and everyone who helped us in some form would be amazing, or that I would look back and appreciate it so much that I'd even want to do it all over again. This day last year was perfect.

Photo Books To The Test

Between our wedding and honeymoon last year, I had compiled with a lot of digital pictures to organize into memories for us and our families.


Never having made an online photo book before, I decided to test out a few different places: Lulu, Picaboo, and AdoramaPix. It helped that I got a deal from all three places using promotions, coupon codes, and Groupons.


First, I created a book for my grandparents with Lulu. I found the system to be simple and straightforward. In a way, it was a little too simple. Customizing pages was either not a real option or it wasn't very easy. It also yelled about sizing a lot--even for photos with high resolution.

The end result was nice. Photos were clear, yet the overall look was somewhat muted. Whether from the paper or ink, nothing really "popped." A 9x7 hardcover with 21 pages costs $25.45 plus shipping.


I next made several customized books for family members using Picaboo. This system allowed for more individual customization per page. There was a vast library of layouts and backgrounds from which to choose.

Picaboo's finished photo books have a reddish tone to them, making people like Tommie look rather flushed. The paper is also on the thin side. Two of the four books I ordered were printed with the wrong covers, but Picaboo was good about sending replacements. A 8.5x11 classic custom hardcover with 20 pages costs $39.99 plus shipping. It is $1 per additional page.

Lastly, I decided to go with AdoramaPix for our more artistic pictures from our honeymoon to Turkey. This system was also very customizable, though I was not impressed with any of the rather cheesy backgrounds. Sticking with black, white, and gray gave pages a classic look.

The quality of the finished photo book illustrates Adorama's place as a leader in the photo business. The book looks like a professional book of art with lay-flat pages, real photographic paper, and a lustre finish that gives images just the right amount of shine. It's also archival.

I don't know what it is about my bad luck with photo books, but my first book arrived with an upside-down cover. AdoramaPix was also good about sending a quick replacement. An 8x10 custom hardcover with 38 pages costs $68.95 plus shipping. One thing to note is that you can only order in page increments of 14, 26, 38, 40 and 76.

Though the most expensive of the three, AdoramaPix definitely offers the best quality, particularly for high resolution photos that you want to showcase.

Most Popular Posts of 2011

I started this blog three years ago the day after Christmas. Each year it takes on new topics as my interests and my life evolves. 

Every blogiversary I like to run a report in Google Analytics to find out the most popular posts for the past year.

Just as my wedding dominated my thoughts this past year, so too did it dominate my blog visitors'. The most viewed post of 2011 is a how-to for making luminaries from soup cans. I did this project for my wedding and am happy other people found inspiration for making their own.

 

The next most popular posts were also wedding-related, covering topics such as flowers, cake, and my honeymoon to Istanbul. Part of the fun of planning a wedding is searching online for ideas and pictures; I hope the brides that came across my blog during their search were able to find a little bit of help and inspiration for their own big day.

 With the wedding behind us, stay tuned for new topics and adventures in 2012. Thanks for viewing!

Winning Money for Buying Used Paper Lanterns

Best news I have received in a while...I won $100 for sharing my story about how I scored a bunch of cheap paper lanterns from Recycled Bride! 

Recycled Bride is an online wedding marketplace for searching and getting great deals on used and new items for ones wedding. It's kind of like the "Craigslist" of wedding items--no wonder I like it.

Winning stories and other comments can be viewed on Recycled Bride's blog here.  I included a photo our reception venue decorated with the lanterns. 

I knew my obsession with lanterns would pay off someday!

Thankful

With Thanksgiving upon us, it's as good a time as any to reflect on the things we are most thankful for. 

For all the griping that I do, I have a lot of big things to be thankful for this year such as....

A miraculously warm and sunny wedding day.

My mom's recovery from kidney surgery.

Beginning a job that affords me more time and writing experience.

 A safe and memorable trip to Turkey.

I can only hope the upcoming year is full of equally grateful, sunny moments.

For the Love of Lanterns

In college, I had visions of covering the entire ceiling of my dorm room with lanterns. Those white cement cells were just begging for some lively pops of color and cozy accents. At the risk of being a one-woman fire hazard, I didn't cover the whole ceiling, but I always strung a few lanterns from the corners to brighten up the space. I think this is where my obsession began.

I admit, I'm easily distracted by cool lighting, which is why Tommie had to literally drag me out of the lantern shops in Turkey. I bought one--and would have bought more if I had a better way to transport them. They were really pretty with intricate glass mosaic patterns and copper-colored bases. Some day, when I'm old and completely off my rocker, my ceiling will look like this. Tommie gets scared when I say things like this because he knows I mean it.

I have a bunch of lanterns left over from our wedding as well. Our venue was a blank white space, and I knew from the onset I was going to liven the place up with lanterns. I got an awesome deal buying used turquoise lanterns on recycledbride.com and placed bids for different sized yellow lanterns on Ebay. My parents helped put little LED lights in them so they flickered at night without needing to be plugged in.

If the innkeeper would have allowed it, I would have hung 100 more from the ceiling (I think Tommie and my parents are thankful we were capped at 40). You can never have too many lanterns if you ask me.

More Craigslist Finds: Kitchen Island

With the new kitchen gadgets Tommie and I received for our wedding this summer, we were in desperate need of more cabinet space. Our kitchen has only two functional cabinets for storing pots and plans, and we had already piled them up so that every time we needed something it was like playing a game of Jenga to pull out a pan and not cause an avalanche. 

Since we rarely eat at our dining table (pictured above), we opted to replace it with a big kitchen island. I found this beast on Craigslist for $200.

It's a solid piece of furniture that's even wired for electricity should we ever need it. I rarely spend this much on used furniture, but decided since this is not some rickety, fake wood island on wheels--and I saw some of these listed for more than $200--we were getting a good deal. The owners also threw in a large marble cutting board for us. On top of that, I sold our Ikea table and chairs on Craigslist for a profit of $75. Luckily it fit in the back of the Forester and when we got home we just gave it a good cleaning and decided to replace the old country-looking drawer pulls with more modern brushed silver hardware ($15 for six at Home Depot).

Now we have a proper place for our mixer, dutch oven, blender, and pressure cooker and a much better, counter-height surface for food prep.

Turkish Food

One of our favorite things to do on vacation is to eat...heck, it's one of our favorite things to do when we're not on vacation. When we visit a place we have been to before, we make sure to hit all our favorite restaurants; and when we visit somewhere new, we sample the cuisine to get a feel for what the locals enjoy. Food is definitely part of the cultural experience.

It makes sense then that we came away from our trip to Turkey with some international favorites. Who knows if we'll venture to that area of the world again, but if we do, we know what kinds of things we'll be looking for...and what kinds of things we won't.
Our honeymoon happened to coincide with Ramadan. Those who celebrate the month-long holiday, fast from sunrise to sunset. During our first night in Istanbul, we had no idea where to go or what to eat until we saw a long line of people outside a bakery. We got in line and waited for our turn to get a warm loaf of flatbread (called pide) for only 1.50 TL (less than $1.00). We quickly learned that every night during Ramadan, the bread shop starts firing off hundreds of loaves of flatbread from their brick oven just before sundown, as the line begins to form. This was the best time to get a warm, fresh loaf of bread and it wasn't the same when Ramadan ended, so we felt lucky to experience it when we did.
Prior to our trip, Tommie watched Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel and was intrigued by his review of lahmacun. Lahmacun (meaning "meat with dough") is like a Turkish pizza. It is flatbread with minced meat and finely chopped/minced tomato, onion, garlic and parsley. We also really liked the cheese pide (basically pizza/flatbread with no sauce; just really good cheese on top). It was also affordable--the lahmacun in the picture was only 4 TL (less than $3.00 each).
I love olives, so it's no surprise that during our journey I was happy to discover that olives (zeytins in Turkish) are a staple starter for many meals, and they are also almost always part of a traditional Turkish breakfast. Since olive trees grow abundantly in the southern parts of the country, they are fresh and delicious.
Yes, we went all the way to Turkey and one of our favorite stops was a hamburger joint--silly Americans. We were initially drawn inside Mano Burger (located along İstiklal Caddesi aka Independence Avenue) in Istanbul because the style of it reminded us of San Diego burger places like In-and-Out and Burger Lounge. Come to find out, the creator of Mano Burger spent years in southern California and wanted to bring some of the vibe and food back to Turkey. He did well! We enjoyed flavorful burgers with caramelized onions and special sauce, and we loved their spicy fries.

Of course kebabs (chicken, lamb, etc.) are a hit in Turkey as well. Our favorite local place to go for kebabs was Kafe Restaruant located down a side alley/street in Ortakoy.
Turkish people always finish their meals with a cup of tea. We weren't a fan of the strong black tea most serve, but being the sugar-centric American's we are, we fell in love with their apple tea which is like a sweet, warm cider.
We know gelato is an Italian thing, but we weren't complaining to find that it has made it's mark in Turkey as well. Just to be clear, we did try Turkish ice cream and thought it was gross--we recommend sticking to the gelato. Surprisingly our favorite kind was cinnamon, which had a really good flavor to it.
One food we did not care for was the Turkish version of ravioli. Tommie claims it may have even taken the #1 worst food spot away from my mother's pumpkin soup. It was warm, small ravioli with some kind of meat (we presume) inside, and instead of warm tomato sauce on top, it was floating in cold, plain yogurt. Let's just say the stray cat under our table was well fed that night.

Traveling Turkey (Part II)

(Village of Sirince, near Ephesus)

With the help of a travel agent recommended by our friend, we booked a six-day side trip from Istanbul down to the Mediterranean coast.

Again, we relied mostly on public transit to get us from place to place--taking planes, trains, and automobiles. We rented a car for a short while but gas is extremely expensive in Turkey so we didn't drive ourselves the whole time. At moments we were glad to be at the mercy of bus drivers who knew their way around windy mountainous roads; other times--like the five hour bus ride I spent next to a really stinky chain smoker who kept making smacking noises with his mouth--I would have rather been walking to my next destination.

Each place we visited was like a different country in itself, with varying geography, climate, culture and people.

(Breakfast at the Nisanyan Houses--yum!)

The Nisanyan Houses in Sirince (a small village on a mountain above the ruins at Ephesus) was a pleasant surprise. While the ride up the side of the mountain on the minibus was terrifying, and the hike up to the hotel strenuous, it was a beautiful little retreat up there. They also had the best breakfast ever with fresh fruit, jams, bread, olives, and cheese.

("The Library," ruins at Ephesus)
(Pamukkale; looks like snow and ice, but it's warm mineral pools you can walk in)

Our next stop to see the calcium pools of Pamukkale was by far our most difficult excursion. The buses going to/from were few and far between. The Richmond Hotel was hot, stuffy and outdated, and the people there only seemed to view tourists as big, walking dollar signs. The ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis and the "cotton castle" were very cool sites, it's just too bad everything around them was not.

(Ancient tombs at Hierapolis in Pamukkale)

We quickly discovered that the Turkish coastline is a major summer destination for England; local workers told us it's rare to see American's there. We enjoyed our time at the Kano Hotel on the river in Dalyan and at The Oyster Residences right on the beach in Olu Deniz. These were our couple days of "relaxation," though Tommie might still be scarred by our walk (that quickly became a sprint for fear of blistering) on the scorching hot sand which he likens to walking across hot coals. I guess that enjoying our swim in the calm, warm sea water could be considered our reward.

(River boat taking people to the beach in Dalyan; above are ancient tombs carved into the cliff)
(Driving down to Olu Deniz)

Traveling Turkey (Part 1)

Our honeymoon to Turkey may not have been what most would consider a "relaxing" retreat after marriage, but that's not really what we were going for. We wanted to travel, to experience something completely new, and have an adventure together. It was our first trip abroad together and it was very cool.

Bridge from Europe to Asia ( from our balcony in Ortakoy)

We began our journey in Istanbul. A kind friend let us borrow her "townhouse" in Ortakoy (just north of downtown Istanbul) which had a large balcony that proved to be a spectacular spot for people-watching, enjoying the breezes from the Bosphorus River, watching the bridge from Europe to Asia illuminate at night, and hearing the Islamic call to prayer from the mosque next door (this, however, lost some of it charm when it woke us up each night at 4:45 a.m. Note the megaphones...which were right outside our bedroom window).
During our stay in the city, we managed to find our way around the public transit systems and get to all the major sites (mostly via bus and tram). Be warned, those bus rides are not for the faint of heart--how there is not an accident every five seconds defies all logic.

Below are some highlights from our time in Istanbul. More to come from our travels to other parts of Turkey.

Topkapi Palace

Blue Mosque

Haghia SophiaIn the new district by the Galata Tower
Underground Cistern
Ferry down the Bosphorus
The Spice Market

Wedding Vendors

When Tommie and I first got engaged, we didn't have a wedding destination in mind. We took road trips far north, researched places online in the far south, and then we came across everything we were looking for in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire.

Tommie's dad, Don Watson, was our main photographer for the day and captured a lot of great shots! Several of his photos appear below.

Our welcome dinner took place on the enclosed deck at Warren's Lobster House in Kittery, ME. It was a casual, fun place to meet up as everyone arrived and enjoyed some New England seafood as well as the giant salad bar.

We chose to have our ceremony in the beautiful and intimate Fuller Gardens in Northampton, NH; perfect for a smallish wedding of up to 70 people.
Our titanium wedding bands were made by Minter & Richter Designs, Boston-based artists I came across on Etsy.com
Five-minutes down the road from the gardens in Hampton, NH is The Victoria Inn which has a cute covered pavilion in back. This meant I didn't have to rent an expensive, ugly tent--score! My family also had a place to crash at the Inn.
I ordered my dress online from a knock-off shop called Maryann Bridal to save money, and then had it fixed up at Alterations by Rosa in Salem, Mass. because she had fantastic reviews on Yelp.com
I was lucky enough to stumble upon my awesome day-of planner, JennieDee of Diamond and Pearl Affairs, on Craigslist. With the help of her planning friend, Tracy, they kept the whole day running smoothly so I could enjoy it.

Our reception food came from our favorite East Coast Mexican restaurant, Loco Coco's in Kittery, ME. They don't offer catering services, but they worked with us to deliver buffet pans full of flavorful food to our party. BML Catering based in Manchester, NH helped staff the evening.

Wild Orchid Baking Company in Northampton, NH made the cute lemon and vanilla cupcakes.
Lamie's Inn and Old Salt Restaurant provided lodging for Tommie's family and had an impressive and delicious Sunday brunch that many of us attended.

There are a lot of decisions to make when it comes to planning your own wedding. This process was daunting for two Libras, but we made it through and were so pleased with how it all turned out.