lazy sundays

yesterday was lovely.

tim + i decided to be heathens for the day. we skipped church, slept in + generally indulged our need to just be together. no appointments, no dinner plans, no interruptions... just us in our little apartment... enjoying each other on a sunny december sunday.

on our last date night, we went and got our first christmas tree. it was such a perfect evening. we went to the most unromantic place possible to pick out our tree: the home depot. but it was a slow night there. so we pretty much had the store (and the tree lot) to ourselves. it was snowing, those big, quiet flakes that fall so slowly you can almost see them dancing, and the orange-y parking lot lights made it seem like we were in a really huge snow globe.

the tree lot attendants were so adorable when we told them that it was our first tree. they cut off a little bit of the trunk for a "fresh cut" and saved the little cutting for us. they said we should make an ornament of it... isn't that the cutest? good grief... it's the home depot!

anyhow, we decided to wait to decorate the tree until we had a little more time to really enjoy it.

so, on sunday, after a leisurely breakfast, i turned on some christmas tunes, made some hot cocoa + we were off. it was really fun to dig out all the old ornaments, passed to us from our loving moms. i have one of those "baby's first christmas" ones from 1978, a glitter-bespangled wooden star of david that i made in kindergarten, a hollowed-out egg with papier mache all over it (probably made in my brownies/girl scout days), and a noodle angel. tim had this gorgeous hand-blown glass tree topper. and i have to say, our tree is just perfect. it's short + fat + full of all the wonder-filled memories of christmases past. tim + i laughed + told stories + laughed some more.

after tree decorating, we did some thank you notes (still working on them from the wedding -- we're such slackers!), some laundry, some dishes, some cooking... i started work on some christmas gifts that i'm sewing. we snuggled up on the couch + watched part of the very depressing vikings game. and we finished up season 4 of lost. yes. we're addicts.

and then, to end the day of luxuriation in style, i took a very, very long, very, very hot shower.

it was a perfect sunday. perfect.

good grief!

i've been slacking off... it's been nearly a month since my last post.

yesterday was the two month marker of being a married woman. tim was saying that sometimes it feels like we've been married two minutes, and sometimes it feels like two years. and he's right. it seems so natural to be together. but so new, too.

blah, blah, mushy stuff, blah. the point is, we're married. it's going well. we still like each other a lot. and from all accounts, that's a good sign.

we've been working our financial plan for the past month. it's gone pretty well. i've enjoyed the challenge of living on cash only. and i really appreciate all the communication that is necessary to make a budget (and a marriage) work.

the past few weeks have been s o . d a n g e d . b u s y ! we scheduled ourselves solid and found that it was really taking a toll on our energy + physical health, not to mention our mental health. tim came down with a cold. and i ended up in the emergency room on monday -- i have the i.v. bruises to prove it! we're both okay now. lesson learned.

we've begun a TIME budget... just being intentional about alone time, together time, family time + friends time. we'll see how it goes. but if the money budget is any indication, i'm looking forward to a serious reduction in stress levels for both of us.

we're hosting thanksgiving at our house this year for the moms, the joyce grandparents, uncle peter (mom h's younger brother -- a recent addition to the MN-dwellers), mom k's friend + former client, marge. hopefully, kim + boyfriend, mitch, will be able to stop by. but even without their company, we'll have a full house.

i was planning on brining the turkey, but realized the only place that's protected from the elements + still cool enough to store the turkey is the spider-infested garage. yep. brining is out. so i've switched to a orange rosemary recipe (though, per usual, i will depart from said recipe rather widely). i'm pretty excited about it.

i'm a little nervous about the gravy + the stuffing. historically, my attempts at gravy made rather poor showings. and i never eat the stuffing, so i'm fairly inept at making it.

* m m e h *

i guess that's what "the joy of cooking" is for.

i still have a whole bunch of hawaii pictures to post. AAANNNND all of our wedding pictures.

p.s. if you took pictures at our wedding, we'd love, love, love to see them. you can send them by email to lisaheaner@gmail.com if that suits your fancy.

over the moon: our honeymoon in hawaii (part one)

day one on molokai...

we were literally the only people on this two-mile beach

on the far west end of molokai
breathtaking

a little windblown, but loving it

tim thinks this looks like a verizon ad

can you see the little yellow + black striped fish?

they were everywhere in the tide pools

super old, gnarled trees in the park

that bordered the two-mile-long beach

the halawa valley river ends in the ocean here

on the extreme east end of molokai

this is looking out toward the ocean

halawa valley -- looking up toward the mountains

my husband, flaunting his pectorals

at the halawa inlet

it's so green + gorgeous there

the view from our condo's balcony

the kalaupapa peninsula

the amazingly weird + ancient-feeling forest
up near the kalaupapa overlook

you can't even tell where the ocean ends + the sky begins

looking down a sheer cliff to the black sand beach

on the mountain top

kalaupapa overlook

we went out to the overlook twice in one week
and must've taken about three thousand pictures there

sitting on the wall at the overlook

the phallic rock

yes, we were there.

we went ocean kayaking + snorkeling

this is lisa about to disappear into a mangrove tunnel

the mangrove tunnel -- it was spooky + totally amazing

resting in the shade of the ancient fish pond

we happened to be there for the annual

women's outrigger race from molokai to oahu

women come from all over the world

to row 40 miles of the most treacherous spans of open ocean on the planet

we got up way early to drive to the far side of the island

to see the start of the race

this is taken at the harbor where the race started

a panoramic view of the harbor

it was way fun climbing around on all the lava rocks,

exploring the tide pools,

searching for sea glass... we could have stayed all day!

10.19.09 = one month!

it's been a blissful month. tim + i were talking last night about how being married doesn't seem unnatural at all. it feels like (almost) nothing changed, because the transitions from singlehood, to dating, to engagement, to marriage have been so timely... so right.

anyhow, i thought it was time to post some photos from the wedding. these were all taken by my dear friend, kim howe. she + her husband live in chicago. kim + i have been friends since high school + it made the day feel so much more complete to have her there, sharing in it with us.

if you were at the wedding + took pictures, we would LOVE to see them. please email them to ldkieffer@gmail.com. we'd so appreciate it!

tim + honor corps member, bud cushing

walking in to the church + looking quite handsome

the hair + beauty ninja, briana stone

she gives fantastic hair treatments at

euphoria salon in st. paul

http://www.euphoriasalon.info/

i'm so not the photogenic type

mama k, kim k + mama roth, laughing it up

mom heaner in the background, waiting her turn with the hair ninja

the prettier half of our pro-photographer team

tamrah ryan

check out their work at http://ctryan.com/blog

me + my pretty mama

she looked so fantastic because she IS so fantastic (and hot!)

the programs

they look like letters because tim + i have written so many to each other over the course of our relationship

the confetti was made from antique magazines + construction manuals

the birds were made from antique sheet music

that originally belonged to lisa's aunt whitney's mother

(her name was hayden)

the door + window were salvaged from old building

originally, tim was going to build a chuppah

it's a jewish wedding element that is meant to signify

God's covering over the couple

the home that they will build together

the four open walls of the chuppah

signify the couple welcoming others into their love

and inviting them under the covering of God

we didn't have time to build one... so the window + door are a stand-in

the communion table

the two books are the one tim used to propose to me

and an old leather-bound volume of poetry

that we found on one of our bookshop haunts

the flowers are three different varieties of cosmos, my favorite flower
tim planted, tended them + picked these for me on our wedding day

honor corps members + sisters

kimberly kieffer

melody oaks

so pretty. and this photo is just way too typical of them!

honor corps members

melody oaks

bridgitte showell

again... with the gorgeousness

this is the breathless bride, waiting to walk down the aisle

from this point, everything was a beautiful, joy-infused blur

walking to meet The One

mom + dad met me at the end of the aisle

mom lifted my poorly-attached drop veil and...

WHOOPS!

off it came!

we had a good laugh... i'm not sure that anyone else even saw what happened.

taking a moment to take in

all the faces of our loved ones.

we are so lucky!

tim + i (with the help of mike, the pastor)

wrote every single word of the service

(except the pastor's charge to us + when he went "off script")

even the repeat-after-the-pastor vows

every single moment of that day was so full of meaning

this was part of that "off script" moment...

and, in my mind,

one of the most significant parts of the ceremony

i cry every time i think about it.

the ring

the kiss

SO happy.

cheesy married grins

man + wife!

costumes for the photo booth

one of the many board games available for our guests

flower arrangements by wedding warriors

abbey von gohren

robbie lewis

kari holmes

table arrangements by wedding warrior

rachel cushing

all the books, vases + candle holders were purchased

at thrift stores, yard sales or borrowed from friends

part of the dessert buffet

because what's a wedding without tootsie pops?

our "guestbook"
guests were asked to put a pin (with a little note)

in a spot that was special to them

we'll have the pinned-up version hanging in our living room.

all the notes will be pasted into our wedding album

the photo family tree

five generations of our history

the wedding favors were mix cd's

tim + i made about a jillion of these for each other while he was living in ohio

we thought we'd pass along some of the music we like best

the long hallway from the sanctuary to the reception hall

lined with borrowed mason jars that served as luminaries

it was a perfect evening.

perfect.