six images, six years

   our wedding day, august 31, 2003

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of God to witness the union of two people, Frederic and Rebecca in holy matrimony; which is instituted of God, blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ, and to be held in honor among all people.

That was how it all began. Six years ago today. My favorite part of the ceremony is ever changing but today when I read over our vows, the part I love most is this…

Above you are the stars, below you are the stones, as time doth pass, remember….

Like a stone should your love be firm, like a star should your love be constant. Let the Lord guide you in marriage, let the strength of your wills bind you together, let the power of love and desire make you happy and the strength of your dedication make you inseparable. Be close but not to close. Posses one another but be one with yourself. Have patience with one another, for storms will come, but they will pass. Be free in giving affection and praise. Have no fear, for the Lord is with you always.

I have said hundreds of times that I am a lucky girl. Marring Fred is proof of that. To have found someone that allows me to be me and loves me for me is all I ever wanted.

Happy Anniversary Fred!! We made it six years. 

our wedding invitation

time square, new york

casa italiana at the campus of columbia university

inside case italian

the end

* all images by the amazing husband and wife team – Something in Blue

light breakfast

 

Image by David Sykes

Fun.

a wonderful life

Naomi Campbell photographed by Peter Lindberg

I have always considered myself to be a free spirit. I spent my youth imagining up big things and then rushing off to live out all the great thoughts I had dreamt up. I miss that energy. I miss that feeling of the world being mine to take on.

One of the greatest things I did was move to New York. I had always known I would end up here. The details were blurry back then but I knew New York would be my home. One hot summer the ball was finally set into motion during a ten day trip to Puerto Rico. It was a wonderful vacation with my mother and my lovely boyfriend. It was a vacation where I fell out of love and then madly in love. Like that Katy Perry song…

We fight, we break up

We kiss, we make up

I deeply love that song and I deeply love that man I vacationed with. It was on that trip that I begged my lover to make the move with me. It was a hard sell but my free spirit won him over. Shortly after that I found myself on a road trip with the same crew of people, my mother and my lovely boyfriend. It took us eleven hours but at the end of that trip I was finally in the city I loved most. In my small luggage I had forged papers that had been meticulously assembled in hopes of convincing someone that I was worthy of being their tenant. It took one look, at one apartment, in a grimy neighborhood, for me to sign my first lease. In that moment I experienced one of my biggest highs. It had happened, I was home. For $600 a month I had my 200 sq. feet of Manhattan real estate. All that was missing was a job to pay to pay rent.

This month I celebrate my ninth year in New York. And that boyfriend I fell madly in love with while vacationing in Puerto Rico… well, he’s my husband now. I am so fortunate that in just a few days we celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary.

These days I am much more subdued. Yes, my free spirit has been tamed… but this year I have been feeling restless. I have a lot of things in the works and the energy I had as a youth is simmering back up. And with that energy I now have these strong urges to break out in dance. It’s as if I’m body wants to start channeling characters from the Ally McBeal show except, all my dance moves are Michael Jackson inspired.

I think at some point I’m just gonna have to do it. Dance and spin and scream in crazy high pitches. If you’re in the city and you see me – the crazy looking girl with the happiest grin and the most wacked out dance moves… give me a high five and some kind words of encouragement.

Michael Jackons on his Victory Tour. Photo by Lennox McLendon.

street treats

On a recent weekend excursion we stumbled upon the Cupcake Stop truck. I had never even heard of it but I admit to fully loving all these trucks roaming the streets that specialize in tasty treats. Are these in all cities? 

I digress. So bam (!!) we stumble into the truck and of course we had to sample the pickings. Now I’ll be honest – I wasn’t blown away. My cupcake was good but not over the top delicious in the sense that I will be following things on twitter to find out there next local. My husband had a chocolate and peanut butter cupcake which he liked but followed up the comment with “I like Crumbs better.” Needless, it was a fun experience.

If anyone has any suggestions on a truck I just *have* to hit up, please pass on the details.

 

Cupcake Truck

I believe this was the funfetti cupcake.

Peanut butter and chocolate cupcake.

pink fluffiness

cotton candy via Martha Stewart

I was chatting with my mother about Graycen’s birthday party. Now in regards to my own birthday, for almost a decade now my mother has traveled to wherever I am so that she can celebrate the occasion with me. It’s a time I always look forward to. I was born six days before Christmas and my birthday is definitely the bigger celebration come December. When my son made an appearance into our lives my mother called and shared some devastating news with me. She felt that going forward she’d only be able to spend every other birthday with me.. because you see, on alternating years she would visit us for Graycen’s birthday.

Yes, I was devastated to learn this. I’m very close to my mother. As in, I almost start to cry the instant I think of her. The verb “attached” would be downplaying my affection and feelings towards her. My son is only going on two and I’m not certain where things stand at this point but I made it clear that I am her child, Graycen is not. So much for putting the pressure on her.

So envision my mother and me chatting about my sons upcoming birthday. He’ll be two but long before he was even one my mother was eager to attend his first birthday celebration. As you I wrote in my post here, we planned to wait until he was a bit older to do the full on birthday bash. As it stands, that is still the plan BUT we’re having a Birthday Party this year – think something wonderfully small.

Here’s a snippet from the conversation I had with my mother…

Me, feeling extremely smitten: We’ve decided to have a birthday party for Graycen!

My mother, seemingly unsmitten: How many people will there be?

Me, feeling caught in my own antics: Uh.

Me, internally laughing my ass off: Three people. Graycen, Frederic and me.

 

If you recall this post then you know I’m big on hosting parties that involve no guests other then myself and my husband. It seems we are moving into bigger territory these days and have decided to let one more person in on the fun – Graycen. We keep getting pressure to actually invite someone to the party.. as in other kids but I’m perfectly content on a party for three. And clearly it’s so me given that the first comment my mother had was “how many people will be there.”

I am still trying to narrow down my thoughts but yesterday I started to think – cotton candy must be involved. Check out these fun takes on it.

Ever clever Martha Stewart with Cotton Candy Floats

Cotton Candy ice cream topped with white chocolate by Blue Bunny's

motivation monday

Me with my Wonder Woman cake

Look, that’s me with my Wonder Woman cake! Gosh, I hope in that moment I thought I could do anything. My thoughts may not have been that advanced.. but maybe they were.

I’m all grown up now and for the last several weeks I have found myself making my best efforts on Monday morning to psyche myself up for another week doing the same ol’ same ol’. My methods for doing this vary. Some days the voice in my head chatters away. On other days I make my best attempts at quieting my mind.

Today I found balance with music. There are so many lines from this song that I could quote but I’ll simply start with the beginning..

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?

Lose Yourself – Eminem

I’m pretty certain this is going to be a good week.

favorite shoes

 

Graycen with his new shoes.

 

I don’t know where it came from or how it started but pretty early into motherhood I grew a fondness for infant shoes in silver. More accurately, adorable silver shoes for a little lad. You would think that they aren’t easy to find and perhaps they aren’t yet somehow I keep stumbling into them. However this summer I was certain I would change things up and seek out something different. I was thinking… gold. Well, that thought never took off. 

 

Then a few months back I found myself at a grown up shoe store looking for your standard toddler shoes. I do live in New York City which means sometimes the selection isn’t so standard but in the end we left with a pair of gray Nikes. It was a disappointing purchase – boring cookie cutter shoes. But just last week that all changed. So this morning when I dressed my son for an outing to the playground I was bouncing with pure giddiness. It had finally happened, I found my son another pair of perfectly adorable silver shoes. I love them and once agin my little guy is oozing with style. And yes, I fully admit that the day my son wants to pick out his own clothing will be a sad day for this mama. 

 

Past shoes we’ve owned include these (but the boy version).

 

Infant Track Shoes in Silver

one word…

Lovely.

collections

green hobnail glassware, image via country living

I have a small collection of cake stands. It’s a collection that I anticipate will grow as the years pass. It’s the type of collection that I hope I can pass on to my someday daughter. But I’m not picky about this sort of thing and if that plan never pans out, I’ll settle for a wonderful daughter-in-law.

I’m not certain how practical it is for one person to own a plethora of cake stands, let alone one person living in a New York co-op. Thankfully, not everything about life has to be practical.

I’ve held off on telling my husband this but I have big plans for starting a few more collections. Like modern day glass milk jugs that resemble those from an era when milk was delivered to your door. I have simply fallen in love with them and I can already envision lining up a row of fifteen or so. I would sit them on my window sill  where the sunlight can beam in and then ever so gently flicker off the water that fills them. And for that added beauty, each jug would contain a perfectly picked flower. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Tell me, what impractical things do you collect? 

 

shatto milk

cupcakes anyone

cupcake floss via fred flare

I wonder if my dentist would approve. Cupcake floss.

When I think I can’t love my husband any more then I already do, things like this pop up on my radar. And then I realize, I’d love him even more if he surprised me with this. I’m such a simple girl.