Pics Galore!

Hannah's picture of the wedding:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HannahSWeddingPics62709620PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCOaamp-Bvf7CVA&feat=directlink

Guest book wedding pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/WeddingPhotoBooth628091128AM?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOi58SnmbPy3AE&feat=directlink

Honeymoon:
Day 1 - no pics - all travel
Day 2 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay2ItalyCinqueTerre628091143AM?authkey=Gv1sRgCNLV8NbJ8MGsDQ&feat=directlink
Day 3 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay3628091251PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCLmM57-D5JLRbw&feat=directlink
Day 4 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay462809104PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCOSIwNPbqayvCw&feat=directlink
Day 5 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay562809109PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCJifncvUicGEdA&feat=directlink
Day 6 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay662809130PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCInM7va6-c-3cw&feat=directlink
Day 7 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay762809149PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCPvKwaKbjt696wE&feat=directlink
Day 8 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay862809230PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCLfvwYSX2LTM-AE&feat=directlink
Day 9 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay962809345PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCJq44cehooLlJg&feat=directlink
Day 10 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay1062809403PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyV4cfE3_avyAE&feat=directlink
Day 11 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay1162809503PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCNWU5onZyIqgVg&feat=directlink
Day 12 - http://picasaweb.google.com/Olivia.Irene.Parkin/HoneymoonDay1262809611PM?authkey=Gv1sRgCPTYnpCzqJmPswE&feat=directlink

Our Honeymoon in Italy

This was taken in the second to last town on our Cinque Terre hike: Vernazza, home of the best pesto we've ever had.

Here I am sitting in the apartment we rented at the drop-leaf kitchen table.  In front of me is the extremely tasty meal we picked up at the local pizzeria.  Wine in plastic cups is made much better when it's made locally, extremely cheap, and better than most wines we've had in America. 

This is all the luggage we took on our trip!  I am watching all of our stuff while we wait for the train to Venice and Todd makes phone calls to find a hotel.

Venice = canals.  Todd almost fell into the canal taking this picture of a lovely waterfront hotel with gondolas out front. (Todd: I'm not sure those thick wooden pillars are entirely stable.)

This is at the top of El Duomo.  In the background you can see the Giotto's Bell tower which we also climbed.

We wisely chose to take the Best of Tuscany Tour on the day that Florence had a bank holiday.  This is at the vineyard where we had lunch as part of the tour.

Todd is standing on the Ponte alle Grazie and in the distance you can see the Ponte Vecchio.

Our first stop in Rome was the St. Angelo Castle.  St. Angelo is a family name on Todd's dad's side so it was particularly interesting to think that this castle was a part of our family history.

And no trip to Rome is complete without a visit to the Colosseum.

In this picture Todd is dwarfed by the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla.

For our honeymoon Todd and I spent 14 glorious days in Italy. We had a fantastic time. We decided to go somewhere that neither of us had ever been, and to "try not to do too much" so we only hit 4 cities/areas. We spent time in Cinque Terre, Venice, Florence and Rome.

The food and wine everywhere were fabulous! Even snacks from local pizzerias and the table wines were were amazing. Fortunately all the delicious food was balanced by miles and miles of walking. Everyone walks everywhere, so...when in Rome...

There was also lots of history. There is a change of perspective when you come from a country that is only a few hundred years old and you visit a country that is a few thousand years old.

First we flew into Rome on a redeye flight and then hopped on a series of trains to our first stop: Cinque Terre, specifically Riomaggiore. Cinque Terre is "a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera" composed of 5 towns perched above the water. It's extremely laid back and a fun place to start our trip as we rested after the flight in to Italy and the train up the coast.

Venice was our second stop, and it was lovely.  But of all the places we visited it was surprising to us that it ended up being our least favorite.  The canals are one-of-a-kind and the food was fantastic at all of our meals.  We went to St. Mark's basilica and the Doge's Palace.  At the Doge's Palace we got the audio guide and learned all sorts of interesting facts about Venice's history and art. 

My favorite city was Florence.  Florence, or Firenze, is filled with historic landmarks and churches, and is in the middle of Tuscany.  The city is beautiful, and we could have spent another week there exploring all the museums and gardens and...historical stuff.  More on this in another post.

Our final stop was Rome, where we spent the most time soaking up history and identifying all the ruins that can be found all over the city. We trekked out to the catacombs and had a mediocre tour there. It was sort of a shame, because lots of people who had been to Italy before told us that it was one of the best things they did in Italy, so we'd sort of been expecting a lot.  It seems that they've really pared back on what you can see there due to the destruction caused by tourists.  One of the understated things that was surprisingly impressive was the Baths of Caracalla (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_of_Caracalla).  It's amazing how intact they are, considering that they're situated in the middle of the city. 

On our adventures we met lots of great people, locals and fellow travelers alike.  In our honeymoon-happy stupor we forgot to get contact info for some of the people we would have liked to stay in touch with, but you never know whom you'll run into again in the future.

New Name

After much thought I decided that I would take Todd's last name now that we're married. It's weird to think that after 27 years of having one name, and a name that I liked, my name is now something else.

My parents did a really good job coming up with an entire name that sounds good and is pronounceable in English and Spanish so it was hard for me to concieve of having a different name. But I like my new name. It also sounds good all together and for me is a symbol of my being "all in" on the marriage. I know that many people consider their professional reputation and contacts when they think about changing their name. I realized that I've spent so little time in my industry that I haven't really got a lot of contacts to lose track of so if I want to change my name now is the time.

At work I've been terrorizing IT Support as they try to change my name in the system and it breaks everything on my computer and the network. Since my company is only 10% female and not everyone changes their name when they get married, IT Support doesn't have a really polished process for changing things...but at least they're super nice and chipper while they straighten everything out.

Wedding Photos

If you would like to see the pictures of our wedding, please see the link below:
1. Go to www.theprosphotos.com (note: Only the bride and groom may order through the “Clients” login. Family and guests must order through the “Guests” login)
2. Enter the month, year and first name. Hit Login.

Awful news

Our little orange visiter is gone for good. Last week, Firenze's adventures in the big wide world came to an end when he got hit by a car before he could find his way home. It's so sad that such an unexpected thing, an adorable tiny kitten that showed up in the basement, ended so unexpectedly as well.

It's a very strange feeling to have something taken away just when you've changed your life around to accommodate it. The saddest part is that he finally got his wish to go explore out the front door. Firenze had already been trying to get outside as often as possible once we let him out the back for the first time. It made him so happy to be out there with us, playing with all the low-hanging leaves and pouncing on shadows. We tried never to let him get out the front, but his persistence paid off when he snuck out completely unnoticed as we were taking out the trash. All our searching and putting up posters and walking around the neighborhood with his cat treats couldn't bring him back.

As Todd pointed out it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. But it hurts like hell and those tiny little paws leave surprisingly big footprints on your heart.

Wedding Success!

On Sunday, May 24th......Todd and I got married! Everything went perfectly! From the weather to our wonderful friends, family and guests, everything cooperated beautifully. Everyone told us that the wedding would go by in a blur - and it did! So much time and energy and planning goes into a wedding and we were so happy with the way everything turned out. One of the parts of the wedding that we worked on was finding an officiant that would say something meaningful at the wedding and Reverend Hall really did a wonderful job.
I was really just so happy to be getting married to Todd and happy to have so many people who are important to us there with us as we celebrated. We barely got to sit down, but that hardly mattered.

The ceremony was held in the garden of The Fox Hill Inn with picturesque little tufts of cottonwood seeds floating by. We chose to have a receiving line which was nice because that meant we got to see just about everyone between the ceremony and the reception. The photographer did a great job, and was extremely patient through many, many family portraits. Our florist was particularly fabulous; she made a great impression when my mom and I met her at a bridal show and then after just one meeting we were confident that we were on the same page about the flowers and on the day of the wedding they were perfect! We hadn't really thought about it but it really worked out to have the ceremony and reception at the same location and to have a location that did the catering, the cake and beverages.

Everything went so well, I don't think we could have asked for things to be better. We had a terrific time and we hope that all our guests did too.