Day 1 & Weekend Recap

Our anniversary weekend was amazing. I came home from grocery shopping to a candlelit, four-course meal prepared by my one and only. At the exact minute we were married one year ago, he handed me an adorable book - a fairy tale book, written about our love story. It's title? "The Princess and The Idiot." I have photos, I promise - I just haven't gotten around to uploading them yet. Dropbox sometimes decides to hate me.

Sunday it was cold and breezy, perfect football weather. Since the pitch was just a 2 minute walk away, I was able to go watch Steve play as the colorful leaves blew across the field. It's a much slower seasonal transition, but I definitely need to get some of my cold weather clothing (especially scarves!) shipped over here ASAP.

Don't forget... Today is the start of my 30 day candid photo challenge - so get on Instagram and hashtag #Disowned30Days to join in!

Time Traveling & The 30-Day Photo Challenge

Albums of old photographs absolutely captivate me. 

A lot of people, and photographers, try to capture that antiquated feel in their pictures, but you simply can't come close to the charm in grainy, candid black and white and faded colors of old film. 

It's an inspiration, really; to actually get a film camera, and leave the photographs to fate. We all edit photos, and we all know it. Film doesn't give you that luxury; you're stuck with whatever a scene looked like at that very moment in time.There is no preview, no delete button. No substitutions, no regrets. 

Sitting around the dining room table with family, a bottle of wine, and some old photo albums makes for one of  the most genuinely nostalgic scenes I can imagine. I wish I had more old family photos; I'm jealous of those who have boxes upon boxes of old photographs, because luckily someone in the family was a hobbyist photographer, or enthusiast. It makes me feel a little left out, sometimes, for only having staged and special-occasion photos (for the most part). I love the random moments that make up life. We need to capture those more, because that's what it's really like, and that's what it's really about. 

I'm doing a 30-day photo challenge: to take candid photo(s) every day, for 30 days. Who's with me? 

I'll begin posting for the 30-day challenge tomorrow, with a link-up badge for anyone who wants to participate. If you're not a blogger, but want to do it anyway, use #disowned30days on Instagram to tag and post along. 

Time Flies

Today is my first wedding anniversary.

And by "first," I mean, one year. It's also the first of my two wedding anniversaries. 

(Legally married in October 2013, married in the church in June 2014. Hey. I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to celebrate two anniversaries.)

Yep, one year ago we won the award for casual weddings. We said our vows with our closest family and friends during a ceremony that lasted all of 2 minutes at City Hall in NYC. Then I took off my shoes and we walked to our favorite bar, where we had our "reception."  I changed into a dress that I pulled off the sale rack at Target, for that.  Our fancy wedding menu included buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, and nacho mountains. We forgot all about a cake and champagne, but luckily my buddy at the bar provided us with a cake from a nearby Chinatown bakery, and two bottles of bubbly. About 8 hours of fun later, we headed home with my best friend and new brother-in-law, where we [drunkenly] ordered a pizza and watched The Inbetweeners Movie. Romantic, right? 

It was perfect.

It's hard to believe how incredibly quickly time has flown in the past 365 days, and how much my life and our lives together have changed in the process. It's been a beautiful, magical year, filled with growth and learning and sacrifice, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Here we are, 3,000+ miles away from where we said "I do," in the midst of starting a brand new chapter of our lives together.
I don't even want to imagine where I'd be today, what I'd be doing, what my life would be like, if it wasn't exactly as it is at this moment. And I'm more in love each and every day.

Here's to many, many more years that are just as wonderful as the last.