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.

Post-Wedding Vacation

For some inexplicable reason, I have an aversion to the term "honeymoon." There's just something about it that I simply don't like. Thus, I'm attempting to avoid calling the six nights that Leslie and I will be spending in Colorado after our wedding a honeymoon, although that's really what it is.

Anyway, I made arrangements for Leslie and I to spend the week after our wedding in the Rockies. We're flying from Lexington to Montrose, CO the day after the wedding, renting a car, and spending three nights at Dunton Hot Springs. What a few years ago was the dead shell of an old mining town is now a small (fewer than 50 people at a time) all-inclusive luxury resort with 12 refurbished cabins. We'll be staying in the Echo, pictured below.



In addition to relaxing in the natural hot springs and doing some self-guided hiking, I'm hoping we can take a guide out for a day of fly fishing. Dunton has exclusive rights on nine miles of the Delores River and June is supposed to be a good time for trout.

After leaving the springs, we're going to Telluride for a couple of nights. While based in Telluride, we're hoping to do some sort of river riding (either kayaking or rafting), a bit of climbing, and perhaps a mountain bike ride.

Our last night will be back in Montrose before an early departure to ensure we'll make it back to our friend Gulu's wedding on the 26th.

I'm totally stoked--it's going to be the best week ever.

Vacation Report

Alas, the vacation is over. We put over a thousand miles on the trusty Civic and got to see many sights and many friends.

This is Jake breaking one of the commandments of water skiing (don't bend your arms) and suffering the consequences. Others include "keep your tips up," "stay in a ball," and the number-one cited piece of advice: "let the boat pull you up."

I was skeptical that Jake would be able to ski, but he surprised us all when he popped right out of the water. Then he made all my dreams come true by double skiing with me. As I've always said, a couple that skis together, stays together.

The next leg of our journey was Chicago for some big-city food and fun. We saw the incredible Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry (unfortunately, no photos were allowed), and then headed to Wrigley Field. The Cubs lost and it rained the whole time, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

For the third leg of our journey, we met with the wedding officiants in Danville, stayed in Roy Lee's new palace and investigated a few reception venues. Then it was off to Lexington to see college friends and go to Megan and Patrick's wedding. Those photos are trapped in Jake's camera, so you'll just have to imagine how beautiful it was.

Yay for vacation!

Happy Summer!

I just battled the DMV to get an official Tennessee driver's license (it took them three tries to print out the right address), Jake's on a plane from McAllen, and we're ready for summer vacation! We're headed to Kentucky Lake for Independence Day festivities, Chicago for some big city living, and Lexington for a wedding and pre-marital counseling. Let the adventure begin!

New Shoes

As part of the wedding planning process, we're keeping an online "inspiration board" with photos of things we'd like to see or moods we'd like reflected at our wedding. The entire time, we've both wanted to keep things light and fun--we don't take ourselves too seriously and we don't want our wedding to be too stuffy.

Anyway, based on what we put on the board, we decided that I'd be better off in a suit than in a tuxedo. For those of you who don't know me, I'm kind of a lanky guy and I don't generally fit into rented clothes too well and a suit fits into the un-stuffy feel we were looking for.

Deciding not to wear a tux means I won't be wearing black patent leather shoes to the wedding either. We decided for a gray suit and brown shoes and this weekend I made my first official wedding purchase--the shoes. For those of you who are interested, here they are:


Strangely enough, McAllen, TX is commercial mecca of sorts. Although the students that I teach are nearly all low-income, there is a lot of money floating around. Some of the money comes from legitimate sources, like trade and manufacturing, while some comes from less savory sources, like human trafficking and drugs. Additionally, there's a ton of money being spent in American stores from wealthy Mexicans who come across the border on the weekends to shop in the U.S. In addition to having what I've heard are the highest grossing Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy in the country, we also have a really nice mall and a super-fancy outlet mall. Taking advantage of this, I got my new kicks at the Cole Haan outlet for half-off.

So, there you have it. One more wedding decision taken care of. It may be minor, but our list of things to do is getting shorter by the day.

T Minus One Year

Exactly one year from today Leslie and I will be married in Danville. There's not much to say about it, except that it's a long time coming. This summer marks the ten year anniversary of our friendship and we're both really excited about this day next year. We have the venue, dress, photographer, and a hot lead on a reception venue. There's sure to be lots to keep us busy over the coming year, but we both think we're handling the stress of planning a wedding pretty well and it'll definitely be a good time.

Here we are at Drew's wedding. Delightfully traditional photo, eh?

Hope you're as excited about June 19, 2010 as we are. See you in Danville!