{ Living Off the Hook }

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