Mr. Parks and I just returned from the most incredible weekend we have ever had. Hands down, I am on complete sensory overload from the sheer awesomeness of our brief (yet monumental) celebratory sojourn to Vegas. My best friend and maid of honor, Becca, put together a weekend that I will never, ever forget, and it will never be created quite like that again. That is, unless Mr. Parks and I have another bachelor/bachelorette party, assemble a geographically diverse group of people in the most fun city ever, and get surprised by some kick ass Brits!! We had college roommates, elementary school best friends, all of their new significant others, family, almost-family, and friends that are so close they’re family. I was so happy to share this time with everyone that I couldn’t help but get tears of joy in my eyes on more than a few occasions. It made me feel like all is right in the world to see all of these people together in one place, all laughing while losing money! The jokes were going off like firecrackers, and damn, everyone was ON!!!!There are many ways to be lucky in life, to be rich in this world. But Mr. Parks and I are the luckiest and richest ever, because we have so many wonderful people who care about us and who we care about. That is absolutely the best feeling in the world! We can’t wait until the wedding - we will get to have all of these wonderful people AND more to share this awesome time with!!! Thank you everyone for making this trip for us and celebrating our pure joy at getting married! We know you all have a lot going on right now (especially those of you who are also planning weddings!), and it means a LOT to us that you’d all take the time to make this weekend so special. We will never, ever forget it. We LOVE YOU ALL!!!! PICS OF VEGAS HERE. 

Christmas 2007 is over, but it was lots of fun! And it was Becca’s birthday, so Happy Birthday Becca, we wish we could celebrate with you! We spent Christmas Eve at Mrs. Parks’ family’s house, eating lots of yummy appetizers, playing games, and opening a lot of presents. Thanks for always going over the top, Mom, and truly turning our home into a Christmas extravaganza. Christmas Day was spent at Mr. Parks’ mom’s house, and his grandmother and step-grandfather were in town from Florida. We had dinner together and ate way too much (again!) and opened up more gifts! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to celebrate in person with Mr. Parks’ dad, stepmom and sister, but we’re planning to make the trip to the West Coast next Christmas. Mr. Parks and I exchanged some gifts (early - he can never keep a surprise!), and then I surprised him with a new media stand from West Elm for our living room. That was really fun!As for the wedding, I think we’ve found our honeymoon of choice…it’s in St. Lucia in the Caribbean. Mr. Parks has never been there before, and it makes a lot of sense to head down there after our Florida beach nuptials. Plus, St. Lucia is really mountainous and beautiful, with a rain forest and great snorkeling. Plus the obvious: beach and relaxing! I’ll have him post a link for those of you who might want to check out a gorgeous resort! As for other wedding stuff, I’ll be down in Marco Island from Saturday through Thursday. There will be lots of wedding appointments and we’ll hopefully finalize a few things. My main issue is choosing a bridesmaid dress. I worry so much about making everyone happy, but I guess I’ll just have to choose. So sorry in advance - I’ll try my best to make a good decision! Oh yeah - Mr. Parks and I have been in bed and sick for the past two days. We have bronchitis - a terribly disgusting cough and just generally feel bad. At least we’re suffering together, and both dogs have been snuggling with us. All in all, it’s not a bad way to spend a couple of days, even if we are sick!! Happy holidays everyone!!! See you next year!!! Oh yeah - Vegas in THREE weeks!!!

Pickle, our beloved pooch of some six months now, went in to the O.R. to have a standard procedure performed this past Thursday. However, her hyperactivity has made the post-op time a little trying on her new sutures. She has popped a few stitches and we had to get her skin stapled back together to keep her organs from falling out. Sounds worse than it was…it is just so hard to keep her from playing - she is a ball of energy that never seems to run out of batteries.

So, i guess she is no longer a bitch. She is pretty much asexual - like our other dog … but she still acts like a bitch, and she is a bitch to deep under control - that’s for sure. So we have to keep her cage bound for a while…boo hoo.

It appears that throwing a huge, offensively expensive and outrageous party for our nuptials, and the novelty that it was, has worn off for lack of any real good reason to do it. I mean a party is certainly in order, but spending a small fortune to get 200+ guests nice and liquored up for a few hours and shove food down their throats seems a bit… hmmm… what’s the word… exorbitant, and almost wanton. I mean, we might as well be in Vegas for five hours and the same things could probably occur for a much less hefty price tag. Don’t get me wrong, i think that a party is definitely in order and i will be the first one to pop open a champagne bottle, i just think that we are loosing focus of what we really want to achieve here.We want to get married, not throw the best party Columbus has ever seen. If we could do both without loosing our minds along the way, that would be great. Seeing things as they are, we have chosen an alternate route to the alter - a much cheaper yet, in its own way, much more personal and perhaps beautiful arrangement for our big day. We were thinking of Marco Beach Ocean Resort for a beach side ceremony and reception following on the veranda. Simple, elegant, uncomplicated. We are by no means big planners. I can’t even organize my own sock drawer. I think an easy packaged ceremony bodes well for us, and the destination provides us with a trimmed down guest list. The C-bus wedding was getting really hard with all the vendors, appointments, meetings, and the like - this is just easier. We fly there, we get married. Simple. More info on our wedding website! 

so we finally squared away our bachelor/bachelorette bash and it couldn’t get any better!! a big thank you to becca for dealing with all of the details, and to andy for offering support and insight. it’s going to be a rockin’ good time…we’re staying at mandalay bay, and i am probably too excited about the backstage shark reef tour.

so i feel really bad about not blogging for so long…a lot has been going on, and i want to ease back into the routine of using this venue to share what is going on in our lives - especially now with the wedding and everything. i want to continue our virtual life scrapbook, and i don’t want to leave out all of the good stuff going on now.

weddings are full time jobs - thank god for my mom. and for mr. park’s annoyingly neurotic, yet endearing knack/obsession with striking the perfect design. without him, we’d probably be eating off of paper plates, surrounded by a horrid mismatched color palette. i am gravely lacking in this department, and he frequently looks completely stunned by some of my original “ideas.” i like to think of them as unique little quirks…mr. parks thinks of them as terrible taste!!!

i have a hundred new observations on the world of over the top party planning, and i promise to start sharing on a regular basis. i fell asleep early tonight, then woke up to “driving rain” at about 2:00 and decided it was the prime time to roll out a little blog. i’m glad to be back - i miss this creative outlet that thrives on the silly nuances of life that we observe in our daily routines. thank god for all of the infinitely interesting twists that are out there, waiting to be discovered among everyday events that are camouflaged in a suit of the mundane.

my new photography site is up and running…i still have a few snags to smooth out, like price points and so forth but it is online officially so take a gander if you like! thanks!

Here is a mock-up of what the ceremony will possibly look like.  Thought you guys would like to see it…

The prospect of going somewhere without the modern conveniences that a fiber optically connected world has grown so accustomed to can be frightening thought. What really scares me i think is the realization of how much we have become dependent on technology - myself included. Our recent sojourn to literally the middle of nowhere was a sobering reminder that i am just as culturally conditioned as the next; the first thing i asked when we arrived to our quaint Inn was, “where is the TV?”

Where was i bound, gagged and taken to you ask??? Well, my fiancee arranged a getaway weekend in Hocking Hills, Ohio and the weekend i must say, couldn’t have been more fine.

It is really refreshing how a weekend of Scrabble and sitting on the porch can revitalize your spirit. It is nice to know that you can still be stripped down basics once in a while. When asked, “what did you guys do?” i genuinely rejoiced in being able to respond, “nothing.”

The Inn we stayed at was perched on a private expanse of wood, secluded from what usually occupies your mind. Days were serene, and lazy for the most part…mornings started with opening the creaky screen-door to reveal the curtain of forest and enjoying a stretch…During the day, we struck out on hikes towards the local attractions that draw most of the visitors each year, managed to get a good workout, and then share a tenderloin for lunch (the best in Ohio by the way is at Old Man’s Cave). I took some photos and never thought about the time - not once…the trip was great and of course, too short…I find that i am so different when i am not occupied by the everyday burdens and thoughts that dictate our lives;  if you force yourself to just be present once and a while, and refocus on what is real and what is merely a construct, you can actually rekindle a zeal that you never knew you had.

Pics of the Hills