Another One Ties the Knot

What a joy it was to celebrate a residency colleague's wedding at President Lincoln's Cottage! Built on a hill overlooking the Capitol in 1842 for a Washington DC banker, the federal government purchased the property in 1851 as a Soldiers Home, and other presidents have stayed there as well. The Lincolns used it as their summer home during his presidency, Lincoln developed the Emancipation Proclamation there, and he visited it the day before he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. It served as the Public Affairs Office for the Armed Forces Retirement in the 1990s, and there is a military cemetery across the street. After a big renovation that involved removing 20 coats of paint from the walls, down to beautiful hard word, it was opened to the public in 2008. Now part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, President Lincoln's Cottage bills itself as "the home for brave ideas."

The day was overcast and wet, but by the time the breeze had shaken the last of the raindrops from the trees, the clouds lightened and the sky turned blue in time for the brief ceremony, which was officiated by a veteran in residence on the grounds. Both the dog and the baby were well behaved. 

Instead was a beautiful vanilla cake with strawberries by Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe--and a really good chocolate cake with chocolate icing for the groom's niece whose birthday was yesterday from Wegman's, where the bride and groom ate sushi on their second date. However, some guests filled up at the cookie table, a Pittsburgh tradition in which friends and family bake cookies for guests to take home as their favor. When they finally came out of the oven, the pizzas from Timber Pizza were very popular.

I asked the groom's aunt to take a photo of me with the statue of Lincoln and his horse out front, in the food tent. Then we had a lovely conversation about physical therapy and Charlotte, NC. Inside the classical guitar player who had entertained us before the ceremony played, and in the gazebo on the side was a cover band. It was so pleasant just to sit and soak up the atmosphere, the music, the company. There's just one more of the four of us to get hitched...

The Furniture Wedding Anniversary

Dear Husband and I have just celebrated 17 years of marriage. Did you know that on the 17th anniversary you are supposed to buy each other furniture? That means we've celebrated many times over since we moved into our new house in late March! God blessed us with beautiful weather to have some church friends over for a cookout/potluck on our anniversary this year. Beforehand, I went through the memory boxes in the attic to pull out items to show them.

I found the Feng Shui for the perfect wedding book that my maid of honor got us!

(We got married on the auspicious date of 8/6.)

I still had an old Baltimore Sun Travel article on Denver, and the whole issue from August 8, which is the day we left for our honeymoon. (Why? I don't know anymore and recycled them both.)

This was our invitation set; the seashell stands out better

on the stone engraving one of his relatives got us as a creative gift.

I consider this beautiful blue buffet our anniversary gift to each other.

Here is a page from our wedding album and handwritten

"Sweet Memories" of our engagement on July 19, 2004, at the Outer Banks.

We still have a copy of the wedding program in Howard Nash's inimitable style.

We were even in the newspaper! DH's mother put an announcement in their local paper

and laminated a couple copies for posterity.

I still have several dozen custom party favors: a paper with our names and the name with the edges cut like driftwood, a seashell, some paper "bear grass," real baby's breath, and a loop of ribbon. Thank goodness for SH's design and hot glue-gun skills! I encouraged our guests to take one.

At the last minute, I grabbed my wedding dress and draped it over the bed. The only thing that got a better response all night was opening the door to the full-sized cedar closet!

My bridesmaids decorated the door of our hotel room in the middle of the night! 

I found it stashed at the bottom of a box and put it on the front door of the house.

We honeymooned in Denver and Estes Park, Colorado. DH had wanted to travel to Spain, and I wanted to visit Italy, but we didn't have time to cross the Atlantic and still get back to pick up the keys to our apartment, so we chose Denver in order to "collect" Coors Field, where the Rockies play baseball. This trip started the tradition of visiting a botanical garden and an art museum on vacation. We also toured the State Capitol, Mile High Stadium (we touched the grass!), and the aquarium.

This is the photo collage my grandmother made that hung in her house until we bought our own.

No one who celebrated with us knew us back then, so it was really wonderful to share this part of our lives with them. Just like it took a small army to put on the wedding and its associated events, so these are "our people" now. We had a lovely time grilling, sharing salads, and finishing DH's birthday ice cream cake with them.