Photos by Joe

One of my coworkers, Joe Howell, will be taking the wedding photos, and I couldn't be happier. Mostly I'm excited because I know Joe and will be comfortable with him following me around all day. An added bonus is that he's a fabulous photographer.

He's a photojournalist who has worked for many newspapers and taught classes. He's a marine and has literally travelled the world (much to my envy). As you can see below, he takes incredible photos, and every one has a great story behind it (especially the colonial settler with the cell phone).

I really got to know Joe when we trekked out to the trailer of Jon "Trailerpark" Jackson for a story I was writing. He didn't even have to look through the lens to take one of my all-time favorites:

He hates to pose things, and is great at capturing moments and expressions. Just how I want to remember the wedding!

Hitting the Links

I headed down to Texas for the Labor Day holiday and had a wonderful weekend of sand, surf, sun and plenty of golf. On Saturday, Jake and I faced off against his friends Lake & Laura and Nate & Martha in a couples golf scramble. We won with an amazing three over par. I couldn't out-drive Jake, but I did put it on the green for us twice from about 120 yards out!

On Sunday, we headed for the beach at South Padre Island with a posse of other Teachers for America and significant others. I was in heaven with the fluffy white sand and perfectly warm ocean water. Someone had a bright idea to bring clubs and play golf on the beach, but it was only a good idea in theory. There's a reason you try to avoid sand traps.

On Monday, we headed to "Fun Zone," McAllen's premiere entertainment venue for a round of putt putt. Jake beat me by one stroke and even managed a hole-in-one.