The other day I asked Kelly, "What do you think your signature shot is for wedding photography?" To this question, she replied, "I have been told that the couple kiss where the wedding party goes nuts is MY photo."
I do LOVE that picture from our wedding. Here is how I would narrate this picture . . .

Top Row (L to R): Sarah, Latonya, Mikki, Kelly, Megan, Craig, Russ, Dave, Libby
bottom Row (L to R): Amy, Cara, Herb, Matt, Andy, Jake

Sarah: "Oh my . . . now THAT is a kiss. Looks like they have done THAT once or twice before!"
Latonya: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dawg, you are going to LOVE sex!"
Mikki: "YEAH! You are going to love sex!"
Kelly: "Cara! You are in public!"
Megan: "Yeah! You are going to love sex!" (see a trend here with the married girls!:)
Craig: "I would rather not act silly, i need to have as many sexy poses as possible for my modeling portfolio!"
Russ: "But she is so innocent. You can't kiss her like that!"
Dave: "Look! I'm JUMPING high! I must have trampolines in my shoes!"
Libs: "Come here, Andy . . . it is going to be alright."
Amy: "Sis-ter!"
Cara: "Ahhhhhh!"
Herb: "MMMMMMMM!!!"
Matt: "Um, herb. Excuse me. Um, that's a girl your kissing. Herb?"
Andy: "That's my SISTER he's touching like that!"
Jake: "I will play along with just about everything. but i am not doing this. i will just smile."

The Engagement

This is a picture of my first scrapbook page . . . I made it this past January. It tells the story of our engagement. What a lovely evening! There were a handful of times when I knew, for sure, that I would marry Herb. I was very timid about dating in general . . . typically cut off any perspective relationship by date two or three . . . but with Herb, I know I needed to keep going. But that didn't stop me from being nervous . . . just like everyone, I have my issues & scars . . . especially when it comes to trusting men . . . but that is another story for another day . . . or maybe that is another story that just doesn't need to be highlighted. I am not sure. But all of that to say, going out with Herb felt like a big risk. After Herb asked me out for our second date, I remember telling my roommate, "I don't want to go out with him! But I do know that I am going to marry him. So, I guess I need to go."

It was one of those things. Intuition . . . the Holy Spirit . . . whatever it was . . . I knew. Sometimes, we have to move towards things even when they scare us. And I did. And I do. And I will continue to.

How is that for a cryptic post?

You can find another story (written on 10/31/06) about how I knew I would marry herb here.

A Few Random Things

**** i love jesus but i have a really tough time getting into a lot of the music that other people who love jesus tend to make. BUT i am lovin' the "Who We Are Instead" album by Jars of Clay. Have no idea how old this album is . . . no idea how or when this little gem made it onto my iTunes . . . but I am so glad.
Find it.
Groove to it.
Love it.
Thanks.

**** Our friend Jake gave us a gift certificate to this sweet place, complete with credit to the lovely spa next door. On Friday, we got a jump start on Anniversary Week Celebrations! I sent Herb on a scavenger hunt around town . . . picking up little gifts and clues along the way . . . we met at the hotel (that was weird, never met a man at a hotel before. felt sketchy even though it totally wasn't! :) we had a great dinner, laughed, rested, read, had room service, and walked over to REI the next day. Fun fun times!

Happy 51 Weeks!

It is official. This time, 53 weeks ago, I was hopping out of the shower after walking home from Einstein Brother’s bagels with Amy. The weather was cold and rainy. Despite my self-diagnosed seasonal affective disorder, the weather did not disturb me the least bit. The hairdresser was on his way. It was a mellow morning, just as I had planned. Jack Johnson playing in the background. Nobody had been invited over, with the exception of two bridesmaids who were asked to refrain from coming if they were the least bit overwhelmed or stressed out. They didn’t come by except to pick me up to go to the church.

This week, I am going to take us all on a little trip down memory lane . . . dating, engagement, the wedding, and the big fat first year of marriage!
How about these fun pictures? Our first big night out as a couple – my 80’s party! And our first “nice picture” as a couple! I had this enlarged to a 5x7 and put into a frame for Herb. I was so nervous to give it to him; what if he freaked out because he thought I was more serious about the relationship than he was?!?!? And I would feel like a fool! But, I pushed my fear and gave him the framed photo. He did not, as it turned out, freak out. He was relieved that I liked him enough to frame a picture of us!

You can read about "our story" here.

Beauty

WOW! I have felt so inspired and fired up since I gave my talk about beauty and body image last weekend. Then I posted most of it here because I was so excited about it! Then I thought more and more about my long time goal of having an article or even a book published. And then I thought more about what I wrote about beauty and body image. And how I might like to use some of that in my pursuit of publication.

So, for now, I am taking it off of the World Wide Web. Just seems like a good idea. I would hate for somebody to like it, "borrow" it, publish it before I do, and then all of a sudden I am talking to Katie Couric's replacement on the Today Show about why on earth I published somebody else's work. (I do realize, of course that that girl from Harvard most likely did use somebody else's work. But wouldn't it be weird if I was accused of plagiarizing my own plagiarizer? Note to self: learn how to spell plagiarize before trying to get published). If you have any questions about what I wrote, let me know. It is an important topic and I feel very excited about women learning where their true beauty and value come from! We can chat. Otherwise, it is going into a safe place for now.

The good news is, I feel inspired to take writing off of my "someday" list and put it on the "today" list. I am going to do it. I am going to work on the essay I published here and see what it turns into. I have a magazine in mind that I might send it to for review. Special thanks to my friend Kelly who inspires me by keeping her five year goals on her fridge. I have mine up now (to my husban's chagrin, i am sure because he hates things hanging on fridges!) I have already crossed one thing off!
Here I go!

SPAM-tastic!

Dear Richard, Adam, Simon, Henry, Hugh, Gilbert, Peter, Nicholas, Geoffrey, Ralph, John, Brody and Reginald:

Thank you for your personal concern for my well-being. I don't remember meeting any of you, but our encounter obviously made an impression on you! And you seem worried. Especially in the past 24 hours. I had not heard anything from you and then all of a sudden you have been thinking about me a lot. And emailing me. A LOT. You must be worried about me. But don't be. I am okay. Obviously, there are concerns floating about that I am having concerns in the bedroom. But I need to let you know that I am just fine. So while I am flattered that you would take the time out of your busy schedules to compose an email to somebody you hardly know, I feel your tools and resources might be useful elsewhere. As for me and my house, we are just fine.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Cara

2 AM Friends

Who do you call when the boogy-man comes out to get you in the middle of life's dark nights? For me, it is Sarah, Latonya, and Mikki. They have known me since I was 19 years old. And they love me anyway. Two weekends ago, I got to spend a few days with them at the lake of the Ozarks. It was heavenly. Although, in heaven, I doubt your pontoon boat dies and drifts onto the rocky shore. And if it did, you probably would have better luck paddeling it away from shore because you would have heavenly muscles. And even if that didn't work, the people you flagged down for help would have stopped to help you. Or at least one of the five boats of people would have stopped to help you. And if that didn't work, you certainly would not have to get into the cold October lake water to swim/push the huge old boat back out into the lake so that you didn't get charged for ruining the bottom of a huge old boat.
Never a dull moment with them!

YUM!

Snow is falling outside my window. Well, all over Denver. But I can see it outside of my window and it is lovely!

I scrubbed my legs and arms with a mixture of olive oil and brown sugar. Ladies, you have everything you need in your pantry to mix up a little something that will help you feel lovely!

Your base is a "grain" to exfoliate:
Choose from things like salt, ground oatmeal, coffee grounds, sugar (brown or white), ground almonds.

Then you add your liquid to moisturize:
Jojoba oil, safflower oil, apricot kernel oil, grape seed oil, even olive or vegetable oil. Don't use mineral oil (baby oil) because it will clog and dry the skin.

Finally, add a few drops of a scented oil.

Other yummy stuff . . . if you are making Thanksgiving dinner this year, check out the current issue of Bon Appetit - there are some incredible recipes inside!

Not so yummy . . . I have some sort of yucky stomach thing going on today. But I would rather have this than have a cold!

The Sweetest Thing . . .

There is a lot to write about right now . . . and hopefully it will get up here . . . a day at a time. But for now, let me say this:

Check out my cousin's new blog! It is encouraging and is certain to bring a smile to your face . . . as she counts her blessings, i bet you will count your own!
It is called "The Sweetest Things Is . . . "
www.barthnfagan.blogspot.com

Yes, her name is also Cara and we ARE cousins . . . YOU figure it out!