Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Mimosas, Wombats, and Best Girlfriends (Our Wedding, Pt. 1)
It's been nearly two months since Dave and I got married! We are so excited to share our photos here with everyone. I haven't had time to post recently, but for a good reason; I finally got a job! I am working in the Office of Admissions at Carnegie Mellon University. I'm very grateful.
I will post our favorite wedding photos over the course of several posts, and will share the story of our wedding along with the pictures. Our amazing photographer was Miriam Lorenzi, who flew all the way from Florida to capture our special day! We met Miriam at our friend Alan's annual Labor Day party, where she took a photo of Dave and I that we loved. A few months later, when we got engaged, Miriam was the first person I thought of to take our engagement photos. We were so delighted with the photos and how easy and natural Miriam was to work with that we decided to ask her to come to Pennsylvania for our wedding, and she agreed. We couldn't have been happier; Miriam did an amazing job, as you'll see by the photos, and we so enjoyed having her at the wedding to celebrate with us. She was a friend, who just happened to be taking our photos. Thank you Miriam!
I will post our favorite wedding photos over the course of several posts, and will share the story of our wedding along with the pictures. Our amazing photographer was Miriam Lorenzi, who flew all the way from Florida to capture our special day! We met Miriam at our friend Alan's annual Labor Day party, where she took a photo of Dave and I that we loved. A few months later, when we got engaged, Miriam was the first person I thought of to take our engagement photos. We were so delighted with the photos and how easy and natural Miriam was to work with that we decided to ask her to come to Pennsylvania for our wedding, and she agreed. We couldn't have been happier; Miriam did an amazing job, as you'll see by the photos, and we so enjoyed having her at the wedding to celebrate with us. She was a friend, who just happened to be taking our photos. Thank you Miriam!
Our friends and family came from all over the country to share our wedding with us. The night before the wedding, we all went out for a celebratory dinner. Usually sleepy Donegal, PA was alive with the annual Glass and Culture Festival; we had to park several blocks away from the restaurant. The energy was fantastic; it felt like the whole town was celebrating with us.
Friends and family came from Florida, North Dakota, Maryland, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Maine! We're awfully lucky.
Most everyone stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, and the next morning, the girls came to my room to help me get ready. First, we poured mimosas...
and Sam gave an impromptu toast that made me tear up for the first time of the day. Sam and I have been friends for something like 7 years.
I never wear makeup and usually opt for hair in a ponytail, so thinking about my hair and makeup was one of the most stressful parts of planning the wedding, especially after repeatedly failing to get my hair right while practicing. However, like always, my worrying turned out to be wasted energy; the girls did everything for me, and did an amazing job. Deborah, Gwen, Ev, Miriam, and Sam all helped.
Getting ready turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the day. It was so personal and just fun, like the best girls day out, ever.
Ev and Sam both did a beautiful job on my makeup. It turned out just how I had wanted.
Miriam did such an excellent job of making our messy and whirlwind hotel room look great. She even managed to make the bed into a fantastic background for shots like these.
Our trusty wombat, Ted, has been with Dave and I since our very first trip to Pittsburgh together, which was Thanksgiving 2010. Since then, he's been traveling nearly everywhere with us, making an appearance at beaches, bars, museums, and just about anywhere we've gone. He's accompanied us on long road trips, made our friends laugh, and attained the status of cult wombat. Naturally, he found his way to the wedding. We were delighted to discover Miriam took photos of Ted holding our rings!
I wasn't about to wear uncomfortable shoes on my wedding day, when I knew I would be on my feet for hours. I went with my trusty cowboy boots, which my Mom gave me for Christmas last year. I made wonderful memories in them as I wore them all around the country on our road trip; they were the perfect footwear for my wedding.
My wedding dress involves the story of Dave's proposal. One day last December, after finishing college and just before my birthday, a box arrived in the mail. Dave wouldn't tell me what it was, nor did he open it. It sat in the sunroom for days, piquing my curiosity. One night, Dave told me I could open the box. He was folding laundry and was completely nonchalant. I opened the box, and wasn't sure what to think. The dress was wadded up, and at first I thought it was a set of lacy curtains, a strange gift. Dave prompted me to continue pulling it out of the box. Soon, it became clear that it was not curtains, but a dress. A wedding dress. Of course, I was speechless and just started crying.
Dave's unique proposal perfectly suited us and our relationship. Better yet, Dave ordered the dress from Ebay. It is vintage, circa the 1960's, my favorite era. Unbelievably, when I went to the seamstress a few weeks later in Pennsylvania to see about getting it cleaned and altered, we realized the dress fit me like a glove, as if it was custom made. It needed only a bit of length removed, a bustle added, and a good cleaning and stain removal. Dave picking the dress for me was especially perfect because I hate shopping. I can imagine that shopping for a wedding dress possibly would have caused me so much stress that I may have called the whole wedding off. Also, I never would have thought to pick this out for myself, but it was truly perfect, and it just felt "right." I lovingly named the dress Joan after Joan Baez, the lovely singer who began her career in the 60's. Joan was magic, the most perfect dress possible, with the most perfect story.
My Mom and the girls helped me get into Joan.
Even after instructions from the seamstress, the train of this dress was really something to figure out.
My Mamaw and I.
After I got into my dress, I realized I could not bend down to get my socks and shoes on. Sam came to my rescue, and made everyone laugh. "I've never put socks or shoes on another adult human being before," she said.
Last minute touchups to my hair and floral crown.
Somehow, we made it to the winery where we were to be married on time. My mom and I shared a hug before she left to mingle with the guests and take her seat. Meanwhile, I waited with my dad in the back room of Greendance Winery.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Back on the Road, Part 2: Swimming Holes, Wine Country, and Abandoned School Houses
After the buffalo, deer, and lighthouses in the early part of our afternoon yesterday, our day continued to be amazing. Right on the border of Pennsylvania and New York, we stumbled on this awesome place.
This really neat tunnel through the hill was finished in 1905 and caught our eye from the road.
When we turned the car around to come back to the neat tunnel, we discovered we were at Twenty Mile Creek.
Right next to our neat tunnel was a bridge that spanned a deep ravine, and a second, massive tunnel had been built to direct water at the bottom. This was the view down from the bridge. We knew we had to go check it out.
From the bridge, we saw a path that led down to the creek. I wasn't really dressed for an adventure and it wasn't terribly practical, but we couldn't resist.
Clearly this path has been well traveled. The climb is steep, so some kind souls had put ropes between the trees all the way down to the creek. They were really helpful.
When we got to the bottom, we saw why this was such a popular spot. There was the perfect swimming hole! This would have been an even more delightful find on a really hot summer day.
There was also an unlimited supply of excellent skipping stones.
This was a really beautiful place.
This tunnel was enormous! Dave said it must be 75 feet tall.
The view downstream was lovely as the sun filtered through the trees.
The water was freezing! We walked across the shallow section to take pictures from the other side.
After we left the creek, we continued along Rt. 20 North in our quest to avoid the tolls on I-90 across New York and take in more scenery. This was one of those beautiful surprises; it turns out Rt. 20 runs straight through New York wine country and follows along the Chautauqua wine trail! I'd never driven through any wine country before, and that drive definitely goes on our top three places on this trip so far. Seeing nothing but vineyards, wine tasting spots, and adorable houses for miles and miles was breathtaking. It was Sunday evening, so none of the wineries were open, but just cruising through, passing miles of grapevines that stretched as far as the eye could see, and driving through a string of picturesque small towns and villages was perfect.
Since we've been in New York, we encountered several abandoned old schools like this one, which was at once eerie and neat to see. Oddly, they are still cutting the grass in front.
We continued our drive along Route 20 and eventually landed in Buffalo, where we stayed the night. We couldn't have asked for a better first day back on the road! We love exploring and the freedom this offers us at this time in our lives.
Back on the Road, Part 1: Buffalo, Deer, and Lighthouses
Yesterday, after a lovely birthday lunch with my mom, Dave and I got back on the road to begin the next leg of our journey. We were in Pittsburgh for about a month, and it was a much needed and appreciated pit stop. We got so much accomplished: wedding plans, paring down our stuff and cleaning out the van, making wedding favors, visiting with family, being at friend's graduation/engagement/moving celebrations, and so much more. It was also just wonderful to visit with my parents and be able to cook, make coffee, and enjoy the comforts of home, like hot baths and morning bird watching, for a while. We left feeling refreshed and ready for the summer leg of our trip, which we'll spend in New York, New England, and Canada before returning to Pennsylvania to house sit for our friends Joe and Angie followed, of course, by our wedding in September.
We had an epic first day back on the road. First, we stopped at Edinboro, PA, near Lake Erie, to visit some of my old stomping grounds. I attended my first semester of college at Edinboro. Nothing much has changed there, except for a bit of expansion on the campus. We decided to stop at the buffalo farm near the college, which I've driven past a million times, but never stopped at.
It was so neat to see buffalos! I'd never seen them up close in real life before.
The poor guys looked like the had the mange, but they were just molting their winter coats.
They looked so itchy and uncomfortable and the biting insects seemed to be relentless. They rolled in the dirt, kicked their legs, and constantly flipped their tails to ward off the bugs and scratch their itchy hides.
They came right up to the fence line to eat. They tore up huge mouthfuls of grass, and they made the best snuffling eating sounds. It was so peaceful to watch and listen to them.
"Eat more bison. 200,000 Indians can't be wrong," read the sign outside the Wooden Nickel. We didn't eat at the restaurant, but at least these buffalos were having a happy, free-ranging, grass-fed life before they made it to the dinner table. There were lots of babies, too, which was great to see.
When we drove through the Edinboro campus, we saw this very young deer, who still had her spots, running through the sports complex and across the soccer field, right in the middle of a game! Poor thing was very scared and confused, and obviously separated from her mother. It didn't seem real, and most players in the game didn't seem to notice the deer or register what was going on. Traffic by the field, though, had stopped, and everyone was watching the young deer. Hopefully she found her way to safety.
After leaving Edinboro, we continued North to Erie, where we drove along the bay. Erie is full of ghosts of industry with old factories and dilapidated warehouses at every block. There are still some well-kept parts of town and signs of jobs and economic life, but it clearly is just a shadow of what the city used to be, as so many old industrial, coal, and steel towns we have passed through on this trip.
We went to Erie's Land Lighthouse, which was first constructed in 1812. This area of Lake Erie has a proud history: "By virtue of a natural harbor considered the best on the lake, Erie first rose to prominence in the 19th century as a maritime center. In addition to shipbuilding and fishing, Erie's docks served as a hub of travel and trade." This lighthouse helped lead these ships, so important to Erie's economy, safely into the bay. It was rebuilt after having troubles with unstable foundations, and now sits "on a massive foundation consisting of eight courses of solid oak timbers and a ton of crushed limestone covered in cement." Its light still shines today, penetrating 17 miles into Lake Erie.
I loved this little boat displayed next to the lighthouse.
Our day continued to be amazing after all this, soon to be posted in Part 2!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Bug Spray and Garden Magic
This week, we decided to make homemade bug spray and tick repellant. We really try to avoid the chemicals in things like Off, but natural bug sprays can be pricey, so crafting our own made sense. And it's just fun to feel like an alchemist in an ancient apothecary.
The blue spray bottle in the back center is what we mixed our bug spray in. For a base, we filled the bottle halfway with boiled water, then filled it almost to the top with witch hazel. People often use a carrier oil, like grapeseed, coconut, or olive, for something like this, but we opted to find something other than oil to use since it sounded greasy in the hot summer sun. We stumbled across a blog that suggested using the witch hazel and water mix, and decided to give it a try.
For our oils, we used about 30 drops each of tea tree, peppermint, citronella, and neem. We've read that neem oil is an excellent natural tick repellent. The other oils are good for mosquito and general bug repelling, and they smell nice.
Dave giving our new bug spray a try, complete with his beloved bug netting hat, one of his way over-prepared Ebay purchases before this trip.
Dave was able to capture this woodpecker on a tree in my parent's backyard.
Especially with the recent rains, our garden has really taken off! It was so cool to literally watch the beans sprout out of the ground overnight. It's like magic.
We are clearly planning on having the tallest tomato plants in the neighborhood! These 8 foot stakes were a great price, and the 4 foot stakes just seemed too short, so my Dad and I brought these home, giving everyone a good laugh.
We have so many small tomatoes already! In just two weeks these tomatoes have gotten bigger than our poor blight riddled Florida tomatoes ever got.
These tomato plants were happy to be staked today.
The weeds also have been happy! Dave did a bunch of weeding after this photo was taken, and now that all the sprouts are coming up, my Dad is going to put down newspaper and more dirt to choke out the weed growth.
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