I've been on the road so much since the year started, I don't even know where to begin. Last weekend, I finally took the luggage upstairs and stored it away from anywhere I might need its space. Finally, I think (knock wood) I might be home for a little while. So, let the reading and "local" picture-taking commence.
As yet, though, I've still got a backlog of photos from the wedding trips and the bachelorette party insanity, so I thought y'all might like a little romance and beachy stuff!
As I mentioned in my "previous installment" (boy, that sounds pretentious) I've been taking a lot of pictures with my phone lately. These are all iPhone 4 photos, filtered using various apps (free and otherwise) for that platform.
I turned 31 a few weeks ago, and though right now it feels like ages, when I go back through my photostream on Instagram, it really wasn't.
Thomas got me a TLR that I'm just getting used to. It's hard to go back to "all manual" when you've gotten used to "all automatic" - even if I did grow up on a Pentax K-1000.
We went to Chattanooga for a baseball game or two and some wandering around downtown. I kept my phone with me throughout, but not to actually "talk" to people. I posted to Instagram almost constantly. The games were both good - victories for the baby Cubs against the Baby Dodgers. (Lookouts {LAD} vs. Smokies {CHC}) But the second one was a day game and I didn't take very many photos - it was too damned hot to do much more than keep score:
The night game was much more comfortable, and we were right behind the screen:
During the day on Saturday, we had the city as our oyster. Chattanooga is small-town-ish, but with enough culture and climate-consciousness to really make the two of us happy. They have an electric shuttle that runs throughout the city center and across the river, so we took that from our hotel to a lovely corner of the 'Northshore' neighborhood.
Chattanooga is a pretty walker- or cyclist-friendly city. Walking across the river a handful of times was pretty nice, as the view is an enviable one:
We had a wonderful dinner at Chattanooga's only tapas place, Terra Nostra. Their food was amazing, the service was perfect, and the atmosphere was relaxing and romantic. I really wanted to figure out a way to remove the carved steel tables from the place, though:
Sunday morning, we were starving and found a delicious little brunch place, Easy Bistro. At first we thought it was far too dressy for us in our traveling clothes, but we were made to feel right at home - and the food was divine.
We got back from Chattanooga, tired but happy, and full after a pit stop for black bean burgers and shakes at one of our favorite Nashville drive-ins -- Bobbie's Dairy Dip.
And then, of course, there were the showers and parties and other froux leading up to the wedding excitement. There was an insane amount of driving hither and thither. I'd have given my left arm for some TRAIN options, but all I got to do was take a photo of an old friend - the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad line in Gulfport, MS.
We spent the weekend at a condo in Orange Beach and had dinner at the very delicious Calypso in OB.
During the week I was home, I made a lot of coffee in strange places with odd water, which increased my appreciation for the "real thing" when I got home:
But while all the traveling was going on, I spent a lot of time with questionable brew in the cupholder and the radio blaring, particularly on the trip to Orange Beach for the bachelorette party. Driving back 9 hours on three hours' sleep with a hangover was horrible.
But when the big day finally got here? She was beautiful. He was handsome. And everything went swimmingly.
The Ring:
The Shoes:
The Flowers:
And, of course,... The Dress:
The happy couple's first dance:
I came home to disgusting weather, with the flooding that has (or hasn't) been on national news hitting quite close to home. (I'm just over an hour from Cairo, IL.)
This poor guy who plants across the road from us already had his corn in. The river is usually just inside the tree line to the left here. This road ended up flooding at both ends, and we were stuck at home for a little while.
Now that we're back, life is slowly returning to normal. Little League games with our neighbors' kids:
And taking random pictures while running out to make groceries or to and from work:
Work is insane - I still don't have a boss, and my entire office will be gone for three weeks total during the summer, leaving me to run the place. At least I have my pictures to keep me sane.