s'more

With my parents
















With his family














Our whole family now!












Cherry blossom cake











Mom successfully removes the top to be frozen and eaten later. Ideally we do this on our first anniversary, but we'll still be in Japan during that time.

PS: way to forget about your glasses there Amanda






Cutting our cake.




















First bite!
















Heading off











Pretty. Thanks Trish, you little scamp. I'll have you know that we pulled over a quarter of a mile later to remove the cans (they're still in my trunk) and the balloons were lost less than half a mile down the highway. Thankfully no cops were around to pull us over for littering...







FRICK!! Blogger is being stupid and not allowing me to post the rest!! I'll have to pick up and end with a third and final post. This is so irritating...

As promised, more wedding pictures.

It took a loooong time to go through them all. They were taken on such a huge resolution I had to make them all smaller so they wouldn't take forever to load. The only reason to have them that good is if we wanted to blow it up for be like four feet wide. Fun as that is, it's a little unnecessary.
So here be some of the best. Enjoy.

PS: can't wait to see Karen and Angus all decked out like this! Not long now!
PPS: Karen, there ought to be enough dress shots this time around to satisfy you.




Maurice before hand, centering and calming himself. Wish I could have had a few moments to do the same.

















Instead, this was me not long after I'd stopped shaking like a leaf. My girls calmed me down a bit. Especially Trish. In case I didn't already love you forever Trish, you got bumped up another notch as the best maid of honor ever (your honorness -- hee)!!












White cat eye rhinestone glasses as supplied by said honorness. Yes, they were extremely necessary. :D


















Going over stuff last minute














A moment shared... aren't they cu- handsome















Daddy walking me out























I'm spotted (so cute)!









We shared a reading from the Prophet. Chapter II on Love. Well chosen my love, well chosen.



















Joel and Emily read a poem chosen by Emily.
Then Brandon and Trish each said a little something. Brandon was so somber the whole time! But Trish, like me, was grinning like a fool.









































After the blessing of the rings, I give him his...










...and I get mine...

Trish, the fully loaded and best ever MoH that she is, was well equipped with kleenex. I was very impressed with myself for holding it together the whole time, even after spotting others crying. Probably helped that I wasn't wearing my glasses and ran out of contacts, so no one was in sharp focus.













Emily nearly losing it.
Thus began a flurry of hugging everyone in sight. Though the pics are fun, you all probably don't really want to see them.
















This was too cute though. Josiah saw his mommy hugging me and decided to get in on the action. Very adorable. He just came up an latched on which he's previously been too shy to do. Jen said he liked my flowly skirts. Good enough reason for me.

































Okay, that's it for now. That's a lot of pictures. Sorry it was so long, but I can't remember/never figured out how to make it link to another page. I think Clay tried to tell me once, but I never tried. Tomorrow I'll put up some more. There were over three hundred pictures -- most of which were pretty good. Choosing which to put up was really hard because I want to share them ALL! I figure if I'm this excited, everyone else must be too. No? Maybe? Maybe Karen, and a few other lady folk?

Anyhoo, more tomorrow. Cheers!

I'm leavin,' on a Jet plane...

Well, not until Aug 21st. However, my wonderful husband is currently half way across the Pacific. His plane left at 2:45 this afternoon. Baggage check was a breeze and we sat and chatted for an hour and a half, ending up accidentally cutting a bit closer than we should have... It was absolutely nothing like the misery of last time. The pain of parting in January was nearly unbearable and I'd never been so miserable to be home in my entire life. We both cried the whole time before I finally had to go through security. I felt physical pain when I eventually forced myself to break our visual and round the corner. After a rocky first time apart, we then knew we wanted to be together and that it would be seven very long and difficult months until we again saw each other.

But this time it was just fine. We are happily married (for 8 wholes days now!) and it will be four short weeks until we're again safe in each other's arms -- nothing after those aweful seven. There is no lingering uncertainty and though I miss him already, there were no tears, but smiles and a happy though swift parting. In 29 days we will be together again, this time really starting out life together in our first home, far away from lovingly meddling friends and family. After thinking on this for awhile, I've decided that's probably a better way to start off. Though there will be times where I'll probably wish I could run to a few choice friends or my mom, it's better that we are aways from said friends and family. Our familise are wonderful, but we will be forced to work stuff out on our own. As for friends, being gone for a year will make it easier for them to accept that things are different once we have finally returned. Already the day after we got married, we ran into some problems with two of Maurice's friends not at all accepting that he'd rather spend time with his wife than with them. Eventually though, they'll learn that friends (though they sometimes come before girl/boyfriends) do not come before spouses, and they'll find their own respective women and will understand.

It was pretty odd though this morning leaving his house. A year ago today, he left for Japan. I said goodbye to him in his driveway and his parents drove off with him, with me following sadly behind, not to see him again for five months. This time it was his parents who stayed behind as I drove off. Quite a role reversal and really a bit surreal. Now we are responsible for each other, instead of our parents for us. It hits a little more every day and I love it! It's very fun to be able to say things such as "I'll wait for my husband to get back first" to the waitress asking me about my wine preferences.

Anyway, pictures to come! They just need to be made a bit smaller first. Also, still culling from the enormous herd.

Quick update and piccies for all the curious folk!

The wedding was wonderful. Everything and more than what I could have hoped for. I was nervous as anything and it took me a good long while to stop shaking and being on the verge of hysterical sobbing. As ever though, Maurice was totally calm. He'd apparently spent a good long while meditating before hand. Would that I could have had a little alone time, but things didn't go quite as scheduled at my house, so I didn't have any alone time to relax first because toward the end there was some major running around.
Calm down I did though and cried very little during the ceremony. My maid of honor Trish was well stocked with kleenex though, and I only had to have her hand me one. :)

After the ceremony, there were pictures and then amazing dinner at Sawan's Thai food, and then pretty cake. Then Reese and I were off to our gorgeous hotel that had an amazing view looking out over the water. Really nice place. Very much too bad that we only had one night there. I could have stayed for a week! It had a HUGE bath tub and TWO flat screen TV's!

So here are some pics that Emily sent me. Never fear though. When I get my hands on the rest, I'll be posting gobs of photos.
































My new family. Left to right: Maurice, Emily, Debbie, Reese, me, his older sister Jen, her husband Nick, and their two boys Ethan and Josiah (they were very good the whole time).


























Dinner!

Hurray!!!!

My honey is home!! I'm so happy!!!!

It took the better part of the day for his presence to stop seeming so surreal.

The little scamp figured out I'd be at the airport to pick him up with his parents, but was still semi surprised 'cause he wasn't completely sure. There was definately some bodily flinging on my part when I saw him, and I dont' think he was expecting that!

We went and got his suit with his dad and then after filling up on his mom's spaghetti, we went off to talk to the pastor who's marrying us. This is going to be a really cool and different wedding. I'm even more excited now. Having him home and having talked with the pastor... yeah pretty real now. For him too. He's no longer 5000 miles away doing his daily routine to keep him occupied.

I just tucked him in. When one is awake for 36 hours, it is not difficult to be talked into crawling into bed. Especially not after falling asleep for nearly ten minutes with his eyes half open! That was creepy. He wouldn't wake up. Then while I was sitting there trying to ponder a better way to awaken him without startling him so much he might accidentally whack me, his eyes shot open and he sat up. I started laughing and he was like "What, I wasn't asleep." Oh yes he was. Wasn't too hard to talk him into sleeping after that. If any of you have seen a sleep deprived Maurice, you may have seen his odd crashing habbits. Some of the positions he can fall asleep in are truly remarkable. Then he'll start awake and half the time doesn't think he's been sleeping in the first place!
Cute, yet disturbing.

There will be much less sleep deprivation when I get over there, just because I actually need sleep, so when I go to bed, he may be more inclined to follow. :)

Tomorrow: Ring shopping in Seattle and the 'rehersal' dinner. Woo hoo! His mom has big food plans!

It's also funny to see him freaking out about driving on the right side of the road over here. "I keep feeling like this is very dangerous..." heee.

My butter and chocolate are melting

It's very warm here in eburg. Instead of turning on the air conditioner though, I just run around my apartment in a super sexy rayon mumu type dress. Hot damn, baby! Well, it's not like anyone is around to see me. Boy it is lonely here...

I saw Pirates of the Carribbean II today. Really long, but good fun. The whole movie felt like a giant chase scene, and there was a lot going on. AMAZing CGI though, truly. The best I've seen. It's also smashed all previous box office records, even whooping Star Wars. That's pretty impressive. Oh yeah, and it has a cliff hanger ending. WTF?!! Well, at least that means that they won't have to come up with a new plot, but will just finish this story. Good times. I look forward to it, even with all the recycled jokes. A little cheesey, but still funny. Come on, the rum jokes are always good. :) Just brush up on your Jamaican accents before you go. I took my Japanese friend to it and she almost didn't believe me when I told her the woman was actually speaking English. Even I was struggling, and I have a pretty good ear for accents, I think.

As for school, only this week and three days next week till it's over (minus this thurs and fri that I'm skipping to go home). Short quarter, short quarter. I have a test on Islam on Monday, and somehow we still have to cram in Buddhism and Hinduism. I have no idea how that's going to happen. This class, as cool as it is, never should be offered during a four week session. Ah well.

I've also spent many hours after school in the ceramics room, replaying scenes from Ghost as I make stuff on the pottery wheel (which is waaay harder than it looks). That class is so much fun and I'm kicking myself a little for not taking it before so I could now be taking a more advanced class where I could make tea pots. Ah well. I have a huge jug that was fired on saturday that I tried to make with a nod to the middle and late Jomon periods in Japan. I've also been busily making bowls and cups, and as I said before, replaying Ghost in my head, along with that song... ah I feel another wave of sappy romantic mood coming on. And why the heck not? My honey's going to be home in four and a half short days.

I look forward to this not just because I've never missed anyone so much in my life, but also for the great stress relief it will bring. Having him home is going to make me feel 1000 pounds lighter. I can't imagine how absolutely out of my mind I would currently be if I had actually planned a full fledged wedding for this weekend.

AAaaack! THIS weekend! I'm getting married THIS week! Holy friggin... Well, I guess I'm thankful that my to-do list isn't as long as it could potentially be.
I can't wait to see Maurice!!

Four sleep times left!!!


taken about this time last year at Point White dock. Said dock was pictured recently :D

check this out!

One of my friends sent this to me. Ladies, how often do we feel like crap looking at Cosmo covers? Yeah yeah, it's all airbrushing right? Well, yes actually. No one is that perfect and here's proof. Nice to see that even fit and trim women have imperfect skin and yes, even cellulite!

Here is some amazing (and sometimes plasticy) airbrushing work.

and this is a walk through of a typical magazine cover retouch.

Really amazing stuff. So who besides me wants to be airbrushed?! Missing the point? Naw, not really. Good to know that the women aren't really that beautiful, but it would still be nice to have an airbrushing artist go to town on a picture of you at some point in your life, ne?

So who feels better about themselves with their imperfect skin now? I do, I do!

the fourth of July and pictures a-plenty! (since my posts are normally so devoid of them)

Well happy fourth to anyone who cares to celebrate. I myself am feeling a little sad and sentimental because a year ago today, Reese and I were down in Suquamish watching teenagers try to blow themselves up fifty feet away, and we found ourselves having to dance out of the way of several alarmingly huge bottle rockets and the like. I belive he even had to grab me at one point and yank me out harm's way and fold me into the sweet protection of his arms... sigh... THe guy next to us caught on fire. It was moderately amusing. Next year we'll be together but no fourth festivities. Ah well. It's a fun holiday though.
Here be some pictures from last year's celebration. We had dinner with his fam before heading off to dodge bottle rockets.

My soon to be family (minus Maurice's dad)


Emily and me roasting some marshmallows. Oishii!


Check this out. A $200 firecracker than I think he got for $50. It pays (or saves) to know the people selling these things. It was basically a really really long string of zebra style firecrackers.


Maurice and his dad, grinning in anticipation of setting off that sucker.


Unrolling of the beast...


What was left afterwards: a smoking cloud of destruction. Ohhhh scary. Oh yeah, and nosey whiney neighbors traipsed through the woods to complain about the noise. It was very annoying. It's the fourth of July, and you're not used to things blowing up all day yet?? Course, the firecracker did turn out to be a bit boring and long winded, but it was still pretty cool.


****
In other news, yesterday I went and turned in our marriage license application. That was very strange. I had to go get my signature notarized (he'd had his done at the consulate in Fukuoka) by one of my coworkers at the bank. I filled everything out and all was in order. Then Ryun carefully placed her notary stamp on the document and with gusto, pounded that thing down. Never before has the notary stamp sounded so loud. The sound brought to me how real this all is. That's the first time it's hit me so hard and so fast. It was a very strange but exciting feeling. My application is now official, filled out and sealed by two people a world away from each other.

I clutched the paper to my chest the entire walk back to the car. My parents drove me out to Port Orchard and the whole process was very simple and I walked out with a packet full of information and legal documents. It's all real now. That was the most important step as far as the government is concerned. I was really worried that something would go wrong -- they wouldn't approve of the notary for some reason, the office would be closed, something was spelled wrong, the list went on. I expect I'll sleep much better tonight. I know my mom will since I think she was fretting even more than I was. She was tearing up at the courthouse, even! How's she going to be at the wedding?!! I'm really glad I'll be looking away from her because I'll be having enough trouble keeping it together myself. If I saw anyone else crying (my mom, dad, or Maurice's mom) I really think I'd completely fall apart, and THEN how would the pictures be!!

On a separate note, here are pictures from the day after my party. My dad lisenced the boat and we took it out for a spin. He didn't do it last year because the weather wasn't as good, so I was really happy to be out on the water again. I may even get a ski or two in before heading off. There's no smell that brings out that kind of happy comfort feeling, like the smell of salt water and seaweed. It's home smell, only appreciated and liked by those who grow up near it.
So the whole fam plus the dog Bear and Joel's quasi-girlfriend Liah (charming girl, too bad she's going off to college in Florida next month) all went out.

I have to also add that I got a truly spectacular sun burn. I used a new spray-on sunscreen thing that my mom got. Works great if you're not in a hurry! I have a really weird bright red triangle on my right shin, and all kinds of attractive red splotches on my forehead and nose. Fortunately with some aloe and another day or two, I'll be back to my normal pasty self, and sticking to good ol' fashioned lotion in the future.



My brother Joel, Liah, and me waiting for dad to get back from parking the car and trailor.


We took the boat around the south end of the Island and ended up tooling around in Poulsbo several miles further north. On the way we passed this guy. It's apparent how many people sea life sees now. Sealions used to scatter if you got too close. Dad was nice enough to slow down so I could get a picture and this guy barely looked up long enough to acknowledge our presence.


Bear, Joel, Liah. We weren't sure how Bear would like the boat. He's scared of the vaccuum, lawnmowers, sprinklers, and any other things that makes alarming noises. Surprisingly, he liked the boat because of the interesting new smells out on the water. He looks a little unhappy here just because he's not used to that much wind in his face. He's so CUTE!!


Point White dock. Many teenagers are fond of flinging themselves from this dock. Maurice and I have some fond memories of that area as well (inster eyebrow wiggle here).


See that white spot that is a building, way off in the distance? We didn't get any closer this time, but that's the new resort where we'll be staying on our wedding night. It's beautiful and I was sad we didn't end up going closer.


Joel taking a turn at the wheel


Some seals sunning themselves at a marina in Poulsbo. Again, they didn't care that we were there. One did huff a bit when we accidentally got a little closer than we intended. Bear had no idea what to make of them. It would have been cool if one had barked though. Bear would have freaked out.


The icing on the cake: a mommy and baby!! I've never actually seen one this small before. He couldn't have been more than 15 pounds.




LOTS of boats out getting ready for the fourth of July festivites.


Bear liked the boat but dad did take off a little faster than he was ready for and Bear immediately leapt into my lap at the sound of the engine gunning. 94 pounds of pansy.


Ferry with Mt Ranier foggily sitting in the background. The camera just didn't really want to pick it up very well. Pretty though. Perfect day for an outing on the water.


And of course, after all the fun is had, the salt needs to be washed away. A second after this was taken, my dear brother squirted me in the butt with the hose. I don't know for sure, but I think it's entirely possible he has a death wish...


***
And since I liked how Angus phrased his countdown to Karen's return...
9 sleep times till I see Maurice!!