life, as we know it

we're job hunting

broke

and newlyweds.

it's an adventure, to say the very least.

the Czech graduated the week we got married and is now facing the world of "AHHHH!!!! I NEED A JOB!!!!!"

in fact, that's why we're in Florida. to save money and find a job. the former (believe it or not) is working far better than the latter thanks to the ever-so-generous hospitality of the Czech's parents.

I'm slowly but surely reaching that point though. the point of wanting a house. this is due in large part to a blog I recently stumbled upon, full of all of these incredible ideas of how to decorate your house on a budget.

we're in limbo. holding. cows grazing in the field. waiting...waiting....searching...waiting....

what I keep forgetting though, is that life keeps moving. this last week I had a staggering reminder of how little control over events.

late Thursday night, after a day that can only be described as blech, I received a call from mum. she wanted to tell me that my grandmother's health was fading fast and would probably be gone within a few days. this news made me dread my phone ringing.

imagine my alarm when I was jolted awake early Friday morning by the sound of my phone beside my bed. it was a text from the Nurse. "my water broke! on the way to the hospital...it's baby time!!" sweet lulu came Friday afternoon. we're still awaiting news on my grandmother.

so we keep job hunting. my phone keeps ringing. baby pictures. updates on grandmother.

limbo is such a strange place, isn't it?

here fishy fishy fishy

enjoying a nice evening on the dock, waiting for the Czech to come home from his fishing trip.

cranford

I had it in my hands. Ridiculously cool copy of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel I'd been wanting to read. And it was on clearance. Super clearance. And it was my birthday. It was fate.

I walked it up to the register and handed it to the clerk.

"I know," I laughed, "Leave it to me to find a book at Anthropologie."

The clerk smirked and responded, "I wasn't thinking that at all. I was noticing the recipe in your bag. Are you a cook?"

The folded card was indeed falling out of my over sized Vera Bradley tote, a remnant of my trip to Ikea.

"Not really," I said. "I'm Swedish and just came from Ikea and like collecting recipes from them to tap into my heritage."

"Oh cool! You just struck me as a person who would throw dinner parties."

And that was it. The coolest compliment anyone had ever given me. I look like a person who would throw dinner parties. I look like a sophisticated type of person. Cultured even. Who can strike up witty conversations and keep guests entertained. A well-dressed person with a cool looking house.

According to that clerk, I had already become the dream version of who I want to be. Sweet!

for ingrid

and myself.

I have slew of art projects waiting for me, but I feel like I can't get to them until I share some more about my wedding.

we were married in Manti, Utah on one day and partied like it was 1999 the next day. I really wanted to have our wedding day be about the temple and our sealing. I wanted to focus on family and get lost in the tiny moments before letting myself totally let go and mingle and dance.

though it was the end of March, it snowed on our wedding day. not just snowed. blizzarded. white out. could barely drive more than twenty-five miles-an-hour down the backroad Utah highways. it was the first time that day I really freaked out. I thought I was going to be late! it was one of the very rare occasions that the Czech showed up somewhere before I did.

our reception and ring ceremony were held at the sundance resort. my wonderful family did all of the decorating. the vases (an assortment of canning jars) and vintage books were all contributed by my sweet grandmother, who also made the skirt of my wedding gown. it was such fun to watch family members read through the books and find scribbles written by aunts and uncles who once owned the volumes.

I really loved our two-day extravaganza because it allowed us the leisure to really enjoy our guests, and ourselves! the Czech and I wandered through the tables greeting everyone as dinner dwindled down. I think we talked to nearly everyone! (to those we didn't, my sincerest apologies.)

because we were married in the temple, not all of our family members could join us for the sealing ceremony. one of my absolute favorite memories is making my way out of the dressing room and hearing all of my family in the waiting room. because of the snow, the temple workers invited everyone inside to wait in the dry warmth. I had to wait behind a wall until everyone went outside so we could take pictures. (picture taking is not allowed within the temple so as to preserve the sacred nature of the building.)

this is my mor mor and me moments after the Czech and I made our big reveal. it meant the world to me to have her and all of my family drive to the middle of nowhere just to take pictures with us in the middle of a snowstorm.

because of the ring ceremony, we had a formal sit down dinner so as to have everyone in place. our escort cards were printed on library cards. there was a definite book theme to our celebrations. in fact, our save the date cards were also printed on library cards. the card was inside the sleeve with the words "check it out!" peeking at the viewer where the book title would customarily be found. for the escort cards, the guests' names were at the top and the table letter (not number) was one the body of the card when it was pulled out of the sleeve.

okay, this cake, was absolute embodiment of the cake I had been dreaming of. I am not a big sweet person, so the wedding cake was never really high on my priority list. (I am now living with the Czech's family and we eat cake and cupcakes on a nearly daily basis...I'm adjusting...) well, my wonderfully talented aunt inherited all (and I do mean ALL) of the domestic arts for our family. while the rest of us women can iron and clean from here till doomsday, none of us can cook, and absolutely can compete with auntie L's baking genius.

she flew in from Chicago toting half a dozen different kinds of cookies for our family dinner after the sealing. she then baked up a storm and produced this beautiful, beautiful cake! not only that, she made two of them! they looked stunning on the rustic wooden table in the mountain lodge.

confession: I never actually tasted this cake. we cut the cake, but were unable to get the piece out...so we fed each other berries.

my brother, the Stud. his hips don't lie. pretty sure the DJ wants to hire him to get the party going. Studly McStudlypants was on the dance floor the entire night.

my Liver went around the temple, the town, and the entire valley taking pictures of everything long after the crowds had departed. these flowers were lovingly supporting the base of the temple, even though snow threatened their very existence.

I got a sister! she's the best. and now we're even roommates for a short while. Sista Bear and the Czech are close like the Stud and me. they were actually the extent of our bridal party.

during the ring ceremony, Stud and Sista walked up the rings so we could exchange them. now it just feels like the four of us are siblings. when one is missing from an outing, the cosmos seem horribly out of whack.

remember how I said table letters? well, here ya go! I found these papier mache letters for not a whole lotta money at jo-ann fabric and absolutely loved the overall aesthetic they provided. we used them again three weeks later for our shindig in Columbus.

chicken legs meets "what do I do with this sheet again?" a hilarious candid from our photos at Sundance. it was absolutely freezing when we got out of the temple so we didn't spend a tremendous amount of time taking photos. the next day my Liver showed up early and did the entire photo shoot all over again. he was absolutely amazing and turned out some incredible images.

why did we get married in Manti? because. because I like to do things differently. but mainly because that's where my grandparents were sealed. I learned from my Nana that our family helped build this temple. when we walked inside, we knew we had made the right choice. we were one of two sealings that day and the other couple were already leaving. the entire decor was unlike any other temple I have ever visited. a victorian parlor, tastefully adorned with embroideries, florals, and the most exquisite carpets. the Czech and I were able to sit together in the Celestial room for a short period of time before the ceremony. we were coddled by the elderly temple workers and taught of the historical legacy of the structure as well as the spiritual.

lastly, these are my siblings. I mean cousins. when I started university in Provo, Clutsy on the left was ten years-old. she graduates from high school next week! they were my home away from home, and still are. my family and I stayed with them the week of the wedding and it just seemed fitting. it was like I was being sent off from my own childhood home.

and now.... go check out my Liver's website. he is one crazy talented photographer.

I'm going for a walk on the beach with my husband now.

a chip in the bucket

looks like any other day at the beach here in Florida...

except it's eight-thirty on a monday morning....

and more people keep showing up...

they find places standing...

sitting...

in the surf.

all eyes are fixed on the northern horizon for this tiny blip of light..

it hides briefly behind clouds....

but steadily, and unbelievably, ascends into the heavens.

higher...

and higher it climbs.

we follow the cloud of smoke...

and then the shuttle is gone...

only then did we hear the rumble of the jets. it took nearly five minutes for the sound to travel nearly forty miles down the beach. racing down the surf, the sonic boom rolled over all of us, reminding us of the power behind this historic flight.

I always thought seeing a shuttle launch would be cool. I had no idea how truly awe-inspiring it would be. I marvel at the minds that were able to engineer something so remarkable as propelling a relatively small object carrying human life into the great void of space and to bring those lives safely home, time and time again.

farewell, Endeavor. enjoy your last trip. and thank you for your service.

e.t.

So there was this one time the Czechoslovakian and I decided we really needed to get out of the house. The sun had already set, but we decided on a drive along the beach road. Couldn't see anything, but it was still a nice change of scenery.

Feeling like we had driven far enough, the Czech made a U-turn at an appropriate location and started heading towards home. We then realized we were driving beside the military base and began discussing the recent assassination of Osama bin Laden and the current state of international affairs. (Dang Libya and their oil!) Overhead we both picked out the distant rumblings of an aircraft. We looked out the window to the military base and saw that the aircraft we thought was far above us was, in fact, not thirty feet above our car and was making a smooth landing on the airstrip. With no lights on. Effortlessly. From over the ocean. Did I mention how quiet it was and how it had no lights on? So freaking cool!

In short, a super-secret-stealth-awesome-military-grade-plane was about five feet from landing on us. Totally worth getting out of the house for a little while!

it's a rough life..

but someone has to live it. that boat right there...it's my new abode. mum has been singing the theme song to the love boat for the past few weeks.

home is where the flowers grow

flora from our floridian backyard. bird of paradise seems like such an apropos name, doesn't it?