Hey you, wanna catch up?

I know I've been ignoring this little place. I've been putting 1000% in to getting my other blog up and running. I also started school again 5 weeks ago, which has a been taking up a bit of my time. I'm also a nanny for this little girl, which I really love. But I want to breathe some life back into this space. I want it to go back to what it was originally for, keeping friends and family in the loop on what's going on in this life. So here it is:

The Wedding~ Things are starting to fall into place. We're planning it for January of 2012, so we still have loads of time. Eliot and I are both feeling ahead of the curve for the moment. (I'm going to kick myself later for saying that). I'm really excited about it all, but part of me just wants to be married to him already. I know it will be worth it to have an awesome party though...a week long one.

Eliot~ He's gone at the moment to the wonderful land of South Africa. He's been gone for 2 weeks and will be gone another 3. I miss him, but I'm excited for him. While he's there they're going to launch a brand new boat. This will be the first project he's been completely involved in from start to finish, so it will be so awesome for him to be there for the launch. Then he's going to meet me in California to celebrate Thanksgiving with my grandparents.

Florida~ The weather is so nice right now. It's cold in the mornings and you need a sweatshirt. But it's comfortable during the day. I don't want it to get any cooler, it just needs to stay like this. The end of summer here was amazing. We were out on our friends boat Tinky the Reef Seeker, diving almost every weekend, and afterward we would go post up on a sandbar, go swimming and enjoy some beverages. Now the gulf has gotten shockingly cold in just the span of a couple of weeks. But the wind is picking up, so it might be time to get the kite gear out and try and get better at that. One of my best friends Holly is coming to visit in just a couple of weeks. So the weather better stay in place for a little while longer.

Sailing~ Recently I've started racing every Thursday night. I got in at the tail end of the season, but it's been fun to look forward to every week. Looking forward to being more competitive next season for sure.

Just a few photos


building castles on the beach




Diving

The Ring

I've gotten lots of requests to see 'the ring' that Eliot gave to me. It is so beautiful and I'm completely in love with it. But first, I have to say, when I would think about getting engaged it was never about 'the ring' for me. It was always about being in love, and knowing I was going to spend the rest of my life with my favorite person (cheesy I know). Don't get me wrong, it's a nice plus that I get to wear something beautiful on my hand from the only person I would ever want to receive it from. But I never had any grand ideas of what my ring was going to look like. I didn't design it before hand. I hadn't planned it out and left little notes on pictures for Eliot to see so he would know what to get. I didn't even know what I really wanted. Until he gave it to me. And the fact that he picked it out especially for me makes me love it even more. It is perfect in every way, and I love it. So here it is: "The Ring"

Wedding Season in Fuyang

Three designers in Eliot's office decided to get engaged this past month. Why they all decided to do it within two weeks of each other, we're not quite sure, but since one of the guys, Jackie, is from Fuyang he had his wedding here and we were lucky enough to get to go as well.

We weren't sure what to expect and we didn't even really know how we were to dress so we just decided to go with what we know (I believe I was probably was overdressed). When we arrived we were taken to the upstairs of someone's 4 story house. The only parts of the house that were furnished were the first 2 floors and the 3rd and 4th floors were completely empty of any furniture at all. So they used one of those floors to set up several tables for the guest to sit and eat at.

There was no ceremony at all. We're not sure if they did it on a different day or if Chinese weddings just don't have ceremonies. So we all kind of hung around the main room and watched the people cooking down below on the front patio. I was asked by a couple of the bridesmaids (?) to get my picture taken with them. This happens a lot in China and a lot more in Fuyang because they don't see very many foreigners and I was the only foreign girl at the wedding. After that the bride even wanted her picture taken with me so I had Eliot take a picture of us as well.

Once the food was ready we all sat down to eat and they just kept bringing in more and more food it. Then several guests went around to different tables and cheersed the people sitting at that table. Whenever someone came to our table we made them cheers everyone one by one. It's always customary in China to try and get people as drunk as possible, so we were just carrying on tradition. In a while the bride and groom came around and cheersed each of the tables and the groom also went around with a big bowl of cigarettes to pass out.

Pretty soon the room was empty and it seemed that the foreigners were the only ones still sitting and eating/drinking. It was the weirdest thing, as soon as everyone was done eating they got up and left and the wedding was over after only about 2 hours. But it was really cool to be a part of it and to see how two people getting married is celebrated in China.