full of great...

fair warning: I have marriage on the brain.

tablecloths and favors and locations and photography and transportation and eco-friendly options. I even looked at vintage dresses online today. I've been thinking about my family. And Matt's family. and my friends. a lot.

and can I just say...WOW. I have had many, many, MANY generous offers from friends. to do things, to help me, to listen, to bounce ideas off of. friends who have offered their services. (PLURAL, by the way!) friends who have said "I would be more than happy to do whatever you need me to do in order to make that happen"--and they meant it. Friends who are searching for dresses, or who are trying to write something special, or who are doing research, or who are just being an ear and an opinion-giver (and if you know me, you know I DESPERATELY need opinion givers!).

but something else I've been thinking about is family.

I mean, it had crossed my mind that I would some day get to be a part of the Fry family. And that made me smile! But other than looking forward to marrying Matt and getting to continue to celebrate with his relatives, I hadn't put much thought into it.

(and totally off topic, but what's with me knowing all the gals whose hubby's last name begins with an F? Faby. Ferguson. Fedesna. Fry. there's another I forgot. it's a LONG list.)

So.

Matt and I had discussed amongst ourselves how now his niece and goddaughter, Bridget, who is 3, can now call me "Aunt Carrie." It's kind of funny, 'cause Matt's sisters, who both have daughters, have always said "Aunt Carrie" and then corrected themselves--and I don't think it's because they minded having their daughters think of me as an Aunt, it's because they didn't want to make me uncomfy.

And today when I told Michele how that was convenient, she said it's a good thing too, because when she showed Bridget the picture of Matt and me, Bridget told her mother that that was "Aunt Carrie."

I've also been thinking about how fantastic it is that my children will have a grandfather, and that he will be a good, caring man. I think most of you know, but my father is deceased, and though he would've tried very hard and meant very well, I can't say with certainty that I'd have mostly positive terms to describe the kind of grandfather he might be. But I can tell you what kind of Pop-Pop Matt's dad will be, and it brings a smile to my face even as I type.

AND I realized....

When Matt and I get married? I become a sister to THREE ladies. I also gain THREE brothers. I get a Mom Fry and Dad Fry. I get two nieces that are adorable beyond belief. I get a whole new SIDE to the people I call my family. I know that I knew this already, I know that I knew it would be great. But now it is REAL.

And? My family gets a new member too! Matt becomes the oldest of my mom's "kids" --I think she has like eleven now, what with people like SJG and Harvey's friend Brandon--but this is pretty awesome for my family because they love Matt and are so excited to know he's officially a part of my life for, you know, ever. :)

The funniest thing of all to me is the extremely easygoing happy mood I've been in. I have been in a pretty amazinglyhappyfantastic mood, honestly. And I know part of it is all of this hullaballo about getting married to some amazing guy named Matt. :D But realistically I should be kind of down-and-out right now. I've been working ~10-11 hours a day and then coming home and working on school stuff all evening. I've been spending my days with NO down time. I have a wedding to plan and it's getting a smidge complicated.

But you know what? All I have to do is look at the sparkly object on my finger and think about my new sisters and brothers and nieces and family and remember how UNBELIEVABLY kind and generous and helpful my friends are being, and even the craziest of deadlines and the most impending-est of homework due dates aren't gonna get me down :)

and for fun, here's a picture I took of my ring and my CSA pumpkin. admittedly, I saw a similar picture on PW, but I saw it after I'd thought of ithe idea and bfore I had a chance to take it, so I took it anyway!

thanks for reminding me! about my eco-friendly wedding...

someone *just* commented about this, and I've been meaning to blog it anyway, so here it goes...comment:

David said...

I'm gonna eco-nerd it out here...cuz I fly one of the biggest pollution creaters (especially at high altitude) in the world...

But wouldn't the most eco-friendly be the location where the least number of people need to fly to get there?

Good luck with all the planning. According to any movie I've seen that has a wedding in it...this is the hard part.

your point is very, very, VERY valid. like, extra extremely valid. we discussed it, even. y'see, North Carolina would require travelers to fly from Oklahoma and Colorado and Nova Scotia and Georgia and Florida and California and Texas and who knows where else, but overall, we would guess that the most people are HERE. In North Carolina. And certainly on the East Coast.

however.

A wedding here would mean that the two most important ladies in my life, my Mother and my Granny, would be unable to attend.

And that is simply unacceptable, don't you agree?

Sometimes emotions and practicality *should* win over eco-friendliness, you know? And yes, you can quote me on that. But only if you say "sometimes" and only if you know that really means "in rare circumstances."

So, Tulsa is it. April 17th in Tulsa. :) Once I hear back from my mom (and potentially call in a favor by Jackie or Jessica) we just might have a VENUE, too. A venue where the event fee all goes to charity, even. I'll keep you posted! Yay!!!

oh my god, I'm planning a wedding!

yesterday Matt and I came to some potentially-actually-real conclusions about what we would/would not be doing for our wedding. we have two dates in mind, and I think we're pretty close to knowing which one it's gonna be.

did you hear that? we might have a DATE. for our WEDDING. seriously. when it's official I will tell you :)

and I think we have decided upon
-a theme
-our colors
-clothes for the guys
-clothes for the gals
-our centerpieces
-our save-the-dates
-our favors
-our placecards

and MORE.

today I emailed an officiant, a photographer and a florist.

I feel very efficient. :)

okay, well now I'm just getting a little bit giddy...

so, potential full disclosure as appropriate--but I am starting to get some fantastic eco-friendly ideas for our wedding. like, I totally want to spill the beans, but I must talk to Matt, and I think I want to leave parts as a surprise. maybe.

and omg, I just typed the words "our wedding." did you read that? OUR WEDDING.
holy freaking smokes.

yesterday I was kind of bummed. I feel like, in math terms, fiancematt and I have too many unknowns and not enough equations to solve for them. (yeah, mathgeeky, I know.) like, we think of such-and-such brilliant plan, and start to go through our list of "musts" and go "sh!t. that won't work."

our tempers are getting shorter and our frustration getting higher.

(eg: will people come to oklahoma? or are they going to boo-hoo about money?* if they don't come, were they the type of people worth making it in north carolina? or people we can just celebrate with another time? what about our families? what about our friends? where are people coming from? what about north carolina since it's here? do we focus on what is eco-friendly or what is emotionally-friendly or what is pocket-friendly? is there a balance we're willing to live with?)

*[and by boo-hoo about money, I'm not being insensitive to the economic times or personal situations. but there's a BIG difference between not being able to afford something and complaining that a bride and groom made a choice that isn't convenient for you, personally. I feel like I have a right to say that since I attended ALL nine weddings I was invited to as a guest this year--in four different states at that. It was expensive. But I made it happen because these people were important to me. we have realized that location is going to affect many friends and loved ones and their respective pockets, and some won't be able to come. and we understand that. but we don't want anyone to feel slighted or complain about our decision!]

and yeah, this where-to-have-it thing isn't a cake-walk, but we're gonna figure it out. we HAVE decided not to get mad at each other about it, and we've decided that it'll all work out in the end. :)

and? that the very most important thing is getting MARRIED.

[because after that we get to go on a honeymoon. and not talk about whose money is whose. and eventually have babies. and enjoy lots of laughter and sunsets and frothy beverages and share our LIFE. and grow old together. and eventually I'll have the honor of pushing him around in a wheelchair. and in the meantime he'll make it up to me. etc. :)]

but right now? now I'm focusing on making decisions as they come instead of forcing the decision-making path. and it is making me GIDDY.

tell you what--since I can only give you some info? I'm gonna make an "inspiration board" and share it with you. :)

warm it up [dryer]--I'm about to.

so, Matt and I have nine-ish days worth of laundry that's hanging out, waiting to get so fresh and so clean-clean. including the majority of my tank-tops and my jeans that I like. (I love american eagle. they keep coming out with more and more comfy styles. I got 3 pairs for $16.32 a piece earlier this year--woohoo!) anyway.

this AM I went to turn on the dryer before I took a shower--I am a very light sleeper until I am WAY asleep, so I try to wash/dry things in the morning or before bedtime. this morning I noticed steam POURING out of our dryer vent--while I was chilly in my house 'cause I don't want to turn on the heat. the upper 30s at night, lower 70s during the day combo is killer for climate control.

I literally thought "what a waste of energy."

and then today I was catching up on my blog reader (down to 672 from like 900, btw) and saw this article. There are a lot of options here and I'll be investing in one. I feel like since I use eco-friendly detergent and eco-friendly dryer sheets, I don't need to worry about introducing airborne toxins into our air. We shall see--and I'll let you know what I think!

one from the trip and a few courtesy of the amazing lara!

hey, we're in vermont!! this is right before we toured harpoon and then started heading south to philly. I couldn't do a post without at least ONE trip photo!! this was the spot that was so beautiful that all I could do was point and be a codfish--I couldn't even make words form to say "please pull over fiancematt, I'd like to take pictures of that." Thankfully, he was thinking the same thing (and also unable to verbalize due to the "wow" factor)

and this is what we came home to yesterday. LARA, you ROCK! we had a kind of rough ride home--Matt felt HORRIBLE, and I drove all but 1 of the 5 hours, but then I felt like I was about to fall asleep and had to ask him to drive, and we were just kind of worn out. So this was an AMAZING surprise! I even brought one of the little bouquets to put on my corkboard at work :)

more soon. must.play.catchup. :)

engage-cation!

in case you didn't get a call. or a text. or see it on facebook. OR on twitter.

and because I wouldn't want to miss out on telling ANYONE...

on Monday night, Matt and I got engaged!!!!

so, there is more to the story, but I am in a hurry to do vacation stuff, so you only get a teaser of a story...and pretty much straight from facebook :)

we went out to dinner at S&P Oyster, then headed to a bar that had been recommended by our server. On the way we crossed a bridge over the Mystic River. We had a beer, we left that bar and went to head to another bar. On the way, we walked over the same bridge, and Matt said "let's take a picture on the bridge--use the timer on the camera!"

(side note: this would be canon sd78O that I bought on the road 'cause UPS didn't deliver!)

so...this is how matt proposed. note the diamond ring in the picture--he wanted to make sure to include my photography! I didn't know it was in the picture--but when I checked how it turned out and asked what was in his hand, I turned around and he was on one knee :) And he said "Carrie, will you marry me." No muss, no fuss, just the real deal. :)

this pic was taken immediately after! we had some girls outside of a bar take it. they were SO EXCITED that we'd gotten engaged in Mystic, Connecticut, and we weren't even from there!

and here are the girls who took our picture...they came over to give us...

two celebratory Irish Car Bombs. Ha! so cute! it was the bar our server had recommended at dinner, and we are SO glad we went there. Called John's. Pictures of the place later. There was live music too--violins, fiddles and other strings!

and here's my pretty pretty vintage ring! I must say, it is exceptionally sparkly. like, moreso than I have ever seen--and since I'm a wedding photographer, that is saying a LOT. I promise it is not just sentiment talking!!

Add a caption

this is how matt proposed. note the diamond ring in the picture--he wanted to make sure to include my photography! I didn't know it was in the picture--but when I checked how it turned out and asked what was in his hand, I turned around and he was on one knee :)

and here we are the next day--in the same spot. :) look how pretty the sky was!!

for those who are asking and wondering--no concrete plans yet--but we're talking details and enjoying the fun :) today: to two breweries and vermont!!

love from new hampshire...

♫ i've been ev-er-y where man, i've been ev-er-y where man. across this coun-tr-y fair, man. i've been ever-y where... ♪

~mister johnny cash.

hi!!

who knew I'd be blogging on vacation, hmm? well, I'm not quite sleepy yet, and I'm kind of unwinding, and I have the time and I am SO excited about today's pictures, so...here you go!

yesterday we left at SEVEN THIRTY pm. we meant to leave at 3. Matt didn't even get home until 345, and before he left the car was not cleaned out, his things were not in his bags and I had been FREAKING OUT about my camera.

I want a c@non sd94O. I ordered one off amazon. In blue. And paid for two-day shipping. On friday the nice UPS man came by, and left a you-must-sign-for-this notice on the door. Long story short, my camera is still sitting in chapel hill. And UPS was wholly unhelpful. I might have cried. Thrice.

so, I called all of the "authorized retailers" in NC and VA, and none had it. nary a one. what the hell, I say!

so, I decided to buy the runner up, the sd78O, also by c@non. Um, yeah. no one sells them in silver. seriously. NO ONE. I think black cameras are ugly (I'm an artist, I get to be eccentric, right?) and I tolerate it for my slr because, well, I must. And it looks more professional. But this point and shoot is just for me, just for fun, and dang it, I don't want black. or red.

but. after spending all this time being annoyed and worried because my point and shoot will not flash, no matter what batteries I put on it (and yes of course it's on the right setting!) well, I decided I would just buy the red 78O. And if I check out the 940 later and love it and want to keep it? I will be happy to pay B3st Buy my 15% restocking fee. It is worth ~$40 to me to just have a good, working camera for the duration of the trip and not have to stress about it anymore!

so, I am pleased as punch to have a tiny, properly functioning point and shoot. between that, the scenery and the 50D, I am a happy camper!

anyhoodle, onto the show...

we woke up near BWI, grabbed some dunkin donuts when ihop was overwhelmingly crowded, stopped for the camera purchase and headed to new castle delaware. we had just arrived...

we saw cool buildings and statues and went to the best pub/tavern in ALL of Delaware! It's called Jessop's Tavern, and it was neato. Lots of beers (we just had one and some delish sweet potato fries) and I was amused that their "house wheat" is acutally a Leinenkugel product--their sunset wheat! Thank goodness I asked 'cause if I hadn't I would've tried it, and I'd be bummed 'cause I can get that beer where I live.

Oh, and some how I resisted the urge to have a New Castle in New Castle. Not sure how. Probably the words "fresh" and "local" on one of the taps! and CHECK OUT my beer--see the ying yang? It makes me think of the time there was a smiley face in my beer!

and the town is PRETTY! there were signs that made me giggle, awesome door-knockers, and if a picture of a kitchen grease barrel even looks kind of cool? then that town ROCKS.

and this was an awesome water fountain. matt took the one w/ the sign in it--look how well I've trained him :)

and aren't we cute?


oh, and my hair is redder. you can't really tell all that much most of the time--unless I get in sunlight. I wanted it lighter so i'll probably try again, but I'm enjoying it right now!! and aren't we cute? btw, the picture of us is the ONLY one I edited. the rest are all SOOC (straight out of camera). I decided to just edit the ones I loooooove instead of all of them. We'll see how long this reduce-my-stress kick holds. :)

after that we tried to see the World's Largest Frying pan, to no avail.

and here's a pic of the bridge in philly...

and then we went to Matt's Grandmother's house. She is a sweetheart! We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, greenbeans and biscuits and then helped her fold programs for her church ceremony on Tuesday. It was fabulous to finally meet her!!

and now? now it's bedtime. :)

you put WHAT in WHERE??? or triclosan in toothpaste

after you read this, go home, grab your toothpaste and read the active ingredients.  if it says "triclosan" there I would seriously consider discarding that toothpaste (yes, it's wasteful. but the alternative is worse, in my mind). at a minimum, when you're done with the tube? please, please buy toothpaste without triclosan.

if the word triclosan doesn't at least sort-of-kind-of ring a bell, I think you need to get out more. :)

triclosan is an antimicrobial.
and a pesticide.
and approved for use by the FDA.
it is also a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.
you find it in shampoos sometimes. and in hand soap and sanitizers.
and even in kitchen utensils, toys, bedding and socks, to name a few.
and it is VERY TOXIC to aquatic organisms. when exposed to sunlight, triclosan forms dioxins.  go read about 'em. they are very, very, very bad.

some scientists believe it may contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. I agree with them. if you want a more neutral point, check out what this fella has to say. but in any case, it's like what I tell the people who think global warming is a hoax--okay, fine, let's pretend it's a hoax. is putting less pollution into the world a BAD thing? yeah, that's what I thought.

just in case you're still not picking up what I'm putting down--so, the sides are stacked, and triclosan looks pretty bad...but maybe it's not, like horrifyingly bad. I mean, it isn't lethal, right? Not to humans, anyway.

But, do you really want to put a skin and eye irritant INTO YOUR MOUTH? And do you really want to kill the fishies and pollute our waterways every time you brush your teeth?  I mean...put toothpaste on brush. brush your teeth. spit. rinse. spit. right?

where does that water go? down the drain...where it gets to the wastewater treatment, eventually, right? and they can't get out all of the triclosan (which ps, that water is often exposed to sunlight as a part of treatment, did you know that? hello, dioxins. nice scary to see you!)...so after the wastewater is treated it's released into some body of water, where it sits, and mixes with other water, and the dioxins and the remaining triclosan just hang out...

maybe that water is used for city water at some point. maybe a fish swimming in that water is your dinner in a few months.

maybe you should get new toothpaste.
and maybe we should stop supporting all this damn germ hysteria.

(note: I get that with the sw!ne flu and all that germs are a huge deal. but it's nothing that a 30 second hand wash with soap and hot water wouldn't fix. I mean, hand sanitizer? everywhere? in addition to hand washing, even? yikesies.)

way back wednesday--the first october edition

I think it's totally cute that my friend Jackie put her boyfriend on the blog today for her WBW post because I had also decided to put *my* boyfriend on the blog today for my WBW post! except, not his kiddo pictures. but oh my goodness, if you saw some of their family pictures, you would not stop saying how cute of a little kid he was!

there's this one where he's pouting that is precious, and that's everyone's fave, but my fave is the one when he's smiling. I think maybe his parents said he's 5 in that picture?  The look in his eyes and the smile on his face are the exact same look and smile he gives me sometimes. It's making me smile just thinking about it :)

But here's my WBW--this is the first picture of Matt and me. We were just outside of Tyler's in and had just gone to a Bull's game with the KDs. We'd been dating for almost 2 months at that point. Aww.

the savvy photographer's awesome ANIMOTO contest!

y'all know I love animoto!  I've been using it for a little over two years now--found out about it from a friend on facebook who loooooved it!  and it makes me happy. :) see this cuteness I made of Matt and me so long ago? awww.

I got Matt hooked on it for his school slideshows AND now his dad George has started a business with a corporate ANIMOTO account (and kindly passed his unlimited-full-length account to me!).  George has done some AWESOME videos, and I've been contemplating getting it for my photography. They even have this slick $99 trial you can do to test it out for 3 months. Sounds brilliant, yes?

Wellllll...even better, THE SAVVY PHOTOGRAPHER has set up a contest where you can win a FREE three-month trial. My twitter blew up with people entering today so I'm entering all the ways I can!  Sounds like a good birthday-month present, methinks! I'm hoping that even if I don't win they'll at least have a discount code!

it's the most wonderful [month] of the year!

happy october, friends. it's my very, very, VERY favorite month.

birthday + leaves changing + cooler weather + sweaters + pumpkins + halloween+ using the heavy blankets = happy carrie! plus, matt and I are going on vacay and that makes october awesome too!

I leave today for Moline, IL. It is gonna be a hoot. and friggin COLD. Lows in the 30s at night. I brought laaaaaaaaaayers. And I have a suitcase and a carryon, and that's it! Granted it's for one night, but two outfits, my puffer coat, a fleece, hat, gloves, scarf, etc = impressed with myself.

maybe after this things'll slow a little? I mean I had that surgery (and continue to improve!), homework due, a test and I'm traveling for work. It'll get better now, yes? That's what I thought :)

must finish putting things in my bag and rollll out.