Happy Christmas!

...as the witches and wizards from the world of Harry Potter would say. Or as my Cuban people would say "Feliz Noche Buena." Christmas is finally here and I can't help but be warmed by that fact.

Though I'm definitly in a cheery mood, I must confess I'm a little homesick today. My mom is cooking a great meal that I can almost taste. More than anything I miss my family, their warmth, their love.

If I can't be home for Christmas, though, this is the second best place to be. Seeing Mike this happy, makes a little homesickness worth it. His brother and sister are here, it smells of freshly baked cookies, we just finished watching Scrooged, and presents will be opened tonight.

As a photographer, I can't get over how difficult it is to get pictures taken of myself or with Mike. I've become an ace, however, at setting the timer and running to where Mike is standing patiently. This picture could be better, but it's cold as all get out and I wasn't going to dally. Take the picture and get back inside!

Happy Christmas! Felicidades!

May your Christmas be filled with all the things that make this life worth living: Family, faith and love.

HOLIDAY TRAVEL HELL

This is the face of people who were sitting at an airport for close to five hours yesterday. No joke--that's what I say. Traveling in the holiday is no joke.

Our flight to NY was delayed because the stupid plane was delayed leaving JFK. We were also stuck in the most boring terminal in America. This polaroid was taken after I claimed a coveted power outlet for my laptop (whose battery dies in 10 minutes. Santa, hear that?) I established a whole command center, updated my website (check it out!) and tooled around the internet.

We finally got to my in-law's house at close to two in the morning. It was a pain in the ass, but we're blessed because a lot of people are still grounded in airports all over the Northeast. F-that.

I'm going to document our vacation everyday, so stay tuned.

Anyone have any horror travel stories? Anyone stuck at an airport? Leave your thoughts in the comments, all two of you.

Photobooth Action

So my dear, dear friend Lissette (also known as Elle) and her wonderful Sam got married a little over a week ago. The wedding was beautiful, emotional, wonderful. AND I was given free reign to take all the pictures I wanted. She had an amazing photographer but, I won't lie, I was totally picture jealous. I wanted to take those pictures! I still got some good ones (and some Elaine Exclusives) that I'll be sharing here as soon as I'm done editing them. I've been trying to multi-task: creating the new website, editing Elle's pictures, teaching, wifeing (new word?), cooking, that it's a wonder I haven't lost it.

The point of this post: Instead of the usual favors offered at weddings, Sam and Elle provided their guests with a photobooth. That thing was awesome! Mike and I went up five times. You had four seconds between pictures and they provided all sorts of hats, glasses, boas--the works.

Here we are in all our photobooth glory (pardon the graininess, Mike scanned them at work. Santa, can I have a printer/scanner?)

I'm going to start off with the best series. We walked into the booth with a plan of attack: cops and robbers/pimp hats/antennas/glasses. I barked out orders that way, too.

Here I am with the blushing bride:

Can someone else get married and have a photobooth so that Mike and I can do this again?

Kept

This is what I woke up to this morning:

In our wedding rings we engraved a simple KEPT. It ties to how he proposed to me and to how I feel everyday. Kept happy, kept safe, kept in love.

Two Years Ago Today...

Two years ago today I married the love of my life...

That morning I woke up to the sound of wind and rain. My mom and dad were already in the kitchen working on the food. I remember walking out of my room and saying, "Well, I guess the wedding's going to be inside."

I still get choked up when I start to think about the people who made the trek to the Outer Banks for our wedding or those who helped us move an entire wedding indoors thanks to that pesky tropical storm that erased the beach for the day. All of it: the crazy storm, seeing my friends from high school sitting with Mike's grandparents, looking over and seeing only faces of people that we cared about--no obligations, no judgements--made walking down that aisle towards Mike all the sweeter. We knew that the people there with us were there to support the promises we made to each other, not just on that day, but for as long as we stay married, which by my estimation will be um, forever.

Our marriage works because of the love and support we have from our families and friends. And not just starting the day we got married but from the very beginning--10 years ago this April.

I couldn't ask for a better person to share my life with. He has so many wonderful qualities that make me love him but if I had to pick just one is that he makes me laugh. It's the type of laughter that comes from the inside and makes everything better.

Happy anniversary,my honey.

So Damn Lucky

Last night the husband and I went to see the Dave Matthews Band with a couple of friends. It was all kinds of awesome. The trip getting there was an adventure if I've ever been in one. Traveling from South Beach to West Palm Beach in the middle of rush hour is no joke. By the time we got to the parking lot, my head felt like it was going to explode. I just wanted to get the eff out of the car.

I couldn't bring my camera (oh, the pictures I could have taken!) but I did manage to take some pictures with my nifty phone. This is the view from the top of the lawn where we started the night. We had a debate about how many people were at the show. I looked it up and the place holds 18,900 people (there you go, Scooter!), but it wasn't sold out like tonight's show is. All I know is that there were a bunch of people there and a good 80% of them were high. Geez Louise, were they ever. Say no to drugs, my friends, they only make you look like an idiot.

We were PUMPED when they got on stage and started with "Funny The Way It Is," but it was a bit anti-climactic when we couldn't hear a darn thing. We could hear but not in the loud I-Can-Barely-Speak-My-Ears-Will-Be-Ringing-For-Days kind of way. It seemed that the speakers and the big screens that pointed to the lawn were broken. Of course, I called the venue because I'm THAT girl. All I got was a lively, "We're working on it," but they didn't work on it 'cause the darn things stayed broken.

Seven songs in, I couldn't take the peripheral converstations anymore so Mike and I moved up. Then, the concert really started for me. They played a kick ass version of "Burning Down the House" (one of the reasons why I will most def. buy the live trax of this concert). We stood behind people who were legit fans and the rest was an absolute pleasure.

This was one of the best concerts I've ever been to, though we stumbled off the blocks a bit. The band sounded amazing and they had a great mix of new and classic stuff. They played "#41," "Typical Situation," AND the song that I wrote about in a previous post "You & Me." They played a 20 minute version of "Dancing Nancies" that was insane. The new stuff was all the best songs off their new album.

For their encore, they played two of my favorites "Sister," a song that always makes me think of my sister, Yani, and gets me all emotional, and "Grey Street," that I heard the first time I went to see them (with Yani) and got me thinking of that great experience.

What I loved most is that I got to see them with Mike. We both love this band and their songs hold great memories for us. I discovered DMB around the same time that I discovered Mike so it was nice to finally see them with him. And it's the first concert we've been too where we both have been equally excited. Usually I drag him to see people I want to see.

What I will say, though, is that next time DMB is in town I'm just going to bite the bullet and pay for great seats. It's got to be out of this world to see this band up close. Next up, Metallica and The Killers in October and all in the same week.

OH! I forgot to mention just how cool Tim Reynolds is. The dude wore a Harry Potter Seeker shirt just like the one I own. I may be a dork because I'm a 27 year old who owns this shirt but I'm in good company because he's a guitar god. Check us out:


What about you, folks? What's your best/worst concert experience? Do you think that I'll get a refund if I make a big enough stink with Live Nation about the poor sound? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

~

My picture-of-the-day is the sky before the music...

DMB and their Songs...

One of the things that you'll learn about me is that the hottie to the left is the subject of many of my pictures. Maybe it's because we're always together. Maybe I'm obsessed. Can you be obsessed with the person you married? God, I hope not. I could do a gallery called Mike: A Restrospective. But I won't (for those of you already gagging).

I'm just debating whether to go to the Dave Matthews Band concert or not so i've been listening to their new album on repeat and love the song, You and Me, more than any on the album. I can say that I acutally cried the first time I heard it but I think I might have been hormonal that day. Here is a sample of its fabulosity:

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world
 That, man. Dave sure knows how to write some music. I was on a plane on the way back from New Hampshire filled with that glow you get after being in nature for a week, surrounded by family and laughter. I looked over at him with the song swelling in my headphones and the waterworks started. Yeah, totally going to the concert now. Check it out:


Here is one of my all-time Mike favorites that I took during our New Hampshire vacation after he jumped in Hubbard Brook to get me rocks from the other side: