Devin

Ten of my favorite wedding pictures

kristy, , , , 6 Comments

Fun fact: our wedding was captured by two dear friends. Devin has known James practically his whole life, and I met Marissa the last time I wore a white dress in a church, my First Communion! They both had to travel far to attend and then got to work as soon as they landed. It is so cool to see the wedding through their eyes and know that the photos were taken with love.

We are really lucky to have family and friends who all chipped in and made the wedding beautiful and fun. Thanks, everyone! We love you!

1ceremony by marissa 2running out the church by marissa 3dinner by marissa 4tiny dancer by marissa 5james in action 6marissa in action 7morgan 8dev and grandma 9shoe game

10the wedding party

Ten of my favorite wedding pictures

When my family comes to town

kristy, , , 3 Comments

This past weekend, when my cousin and her husband came to town, I asked Devin to take a picture of us. As you know from this weblog, Devin is an old hand at accommodating my request for pictures, and he’s developed a strategy. As soon as I hand him the camera, he starts shooting. Unfortunately, I never remember Devin’s paparazzi skills, and days later I find 20 pictures of me making strange faces, like the surprisingly popular One Eye Open, One Eye Closed, Lips Puckered. (Do I walk around making that face? No, no, please don’t answer that.)

So you can imagine my surprise when this weekend’s rapid-fire picture-taking resulted in the world’s happiest outtakes.

'Wearing helmets is fun!'
‘Wearing helmets is fun!’
'So is taking them off!'
‘So is taking them off!’
'We both have hair!'
‘You’re so cool!’
...and here's the picture we actually posed for.
…and here’s the picture we actually posed for.

Josh makes a cameo in the background of all of these pictures. Don’t be fooled by his serious demeanor. The very first time I met him, he conned me into ordering my food at a French Café…in French. The café was on his college campus, and he promised it was staffed entirely by French majors. Je veux une baguette. I know it sounds ridiculous, but in my defense the menu consisted of French food words, and he is a master of deadpan. It’s a good thing his pranks are usually funny.

Love you so much, Vanessa and Josh. Thanks for coming to make my week!

When my family comes to town

Pie-iversary

kristy, , , 7 Comments
Shepherd's pie and blueberry pie
Shepherd’s pie and blueberry pie

Last weekend Devin and I celebrated our fifth pie-iversary. A pie-iversary is a holiday that desperately needs a new name (suggestions?). I made it up because in 2008 Devin single-handedly baked me two pies—the single-handed thing is not hyperbole; he’d just had surgery on his right wrist, so he could only use his left hand. Incidentally, he’s right-handed. He biked the pies over in the rain with a plastic bag over his cast and a kettle of tea in his backpack.

Since then, he’s done at least a hundred similar things. We joke that his motto is, ‘Go big or go bigger’ because his gifts and projects are always like this: thoughtful and ambitious. There was nothing else significant about that day. Neither of us remember if we even ate any pie together, but somehow the date has always stuck with me; and every year I try to celebrate it. Usually I do something sneaky to avoid having to bake (the biggest stretch was buying him a pint of Boston Cream Pie flavored ice cream), but this year I felt like making the real deal.

I modified this recipe for blueberry pie and this one for shepherd’s pie. Shepherd’s pie is a cheater’s pie because you can cook all of it on the stove (hooray!), but we stuck it in the oven for a little bit to give the top layer of mashed potatoes a little crisp, and I made a heart out of fresh sage from our CSA. Our four year-old neighbor heard we were making dessert and decided to come over for dinner. She discovered that she loves ‘chicken-peas’ (chickpeas). Devin and I discovered that I can bake. It was a two-course pie meal enjoyed by all!

Pie-iversary

Lately

kristy, , , 4 Comments

New York has been full of fancy surprises. First, I found out that my next door neighbor directed the latest Animal Collective video. Then, I found out that a month ago when something was being filmed in my building and I was just grateful to be able to get into the building without unlocking the heavy front door—it was propped open so all the film people could scurry in and out, over and over—well, I should have been more curious! Because last week my neighbor told me it was a movie by that ‘old guy with the really dry sense of humor. You know…he’s Jewish…I can’t think of his name’ (direct quote). That’s right. A Woody Allen movie filmed down the hall from me, and I missed the opportunity to become his next muse. I could have been discovered while taking out the compost, and wouldn’t that make a good opening line in Vogue? ‘Rotten tomatoes usually mean the end of an acting career, not the beginning; but kristy so-and-so has always done things a little differently…’

Oh well! I did get to have dinner with friends on top of a building in the West Village that may or may not be the home of Sarah Jessica Parker. I am never fact-checking this story, for obvious reasons, but I can tell you definitively that the view was beautiful, and there were fireworks in the distance, and Devin and I made my favorite soup for the occasion. Yes, soup in August. It’s been brisk ever since we got back from our honeymoon, and I am slowly letting go of my dream to go swimming just one more time before September.

Lately

First

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It’s our first weekend in New York together, or rather it’s the hundredth one we’ve spent here but the first one we’ve spent as two New York residents, living in the same apartment, with no place else to be. It’s our first weekend in New York ~together forever~ if you know what I mean. And if you don’t, what I mean is we’re married!

This morning we went to look at a place where maybe we will make a home. ‘Is it a room or an apartment?’ ‘It’s both! It’s a two-in-one!’, we joked. A front door that locks, space for a bed, a stove, a little fridge, and a bathroom. That’s all anyone really needs, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed. 
 
After the apartment viewing, we came home and made tomato soup with  tomatoes of every color and ate it with homemade bread, a wedding present from our friends in Wisconsin.
 
Our life is one big wedding present lately. Heartfelt words and pretty cards and hugs and cool kitchen stuff and pictures and books everywhere we look! I can’t wait to write a thank-you note to each of you. For now, I’ll start with a big group thank-you right here.
 
All of your notes, phone calls, text messages, e-mails, playlists, recommendations, cards, pictures, packages, and trips to see us—whether at the wedding or before or after—have made the past month the most magical, awe-inspiring moment of my life. I looked up synonyms for ‘thank you’ because it just isn’t enough to express all the gratitude and love I feel for you. The best way I can sum it up is this: my cheeks hurt from all the smiling, and they’ve hurt every day since July 13th. Honestly, I’m not sure they’ll ever recover.
 
thankyouthankyouthankyoooou
First

10 DAYS

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Devin and I are getting married in ten (!) days. Here’s what we look like in case you forgot.

Our first picture together! April 2009.
Our first picture together! April 2009
First photo strip, May 2009.
First photo strip, May 2009
"Hey, I have an idea! What if I wear a tie that matches your dress?" -Devin, May 2010
“Hey, I have an idea! What if I wear a tie that matches your dress?” -Devin, May 2010
Our life in Portland summed up in one picture, August 2010.
Our life in Portland summed up in one picture, August 2010
'American Gothic in Sepia', January 2011
‘American Gothic in Sepia’, January 2011
One of my favorite Devin faces, May 2011
One of my favorite Devin faces, May 2011
Engaged! July 2011
Engaged! July 2011
october 2011
First Photo in Brooklyn, October 2011
Grand Central, our portal to each other when Devin lived in Connecticut. March 2012
Grand Central, our portal to each other when Devin lived in Connecticut. March 2012
City mouse, country mouse. October 2012
Confession: I am really into coordinating costumes. Possibly I am the cheesiest person alive. City mouse, country mouse.  October 2012
Last picture before Devin left the East Coast for the summer. Central Park, June 2013 (I think it kind of looks like our first picture together, but possibly all our pictures look exactly the same, ha.)
Last picture before Devin left the East Coast for the summer. Central Park, June 2013 (I think it kind of looks like our first picture together. Then again, all our pictures look almost exactly the same, ha.)

Hey Dev, you look good enough to marry! See you Tuesday!

10 DAYS

Four Years In

kristy, , , , 2 Comments

Last week, when I was blogging about my new favorite hat, Devin read the title and asked if I was posting pictures of all my hats. ‘No’, I gasped, ‘but I will!’ because, as silly as it is, I think blogging about my love of hats would be an afternoon well-spent. And the fact that it occurred to Devin before me was a total ‘he gets me!’ moment.

Devin and I have been a couple for four years now, and I’ve been thinking about how to describe it–I mean, I am in Uncharted Territory here–I didn’t grow up around young couples and all the books and movies I consumed were about falling in love, not staying in it. In fact, most of the romantic comedies seemed to portray staying in love as unbearably boring if not impossible. Here’s what I learned about relationships from Hollywood: when you’re young, you’re beautiful and passionate and you have a beautiful wedding and lots of cool friends; fast-forward and you’re either divorced because you both cheated on each other or you’re this old couple wearing sweatpants who’s only in the movie to provide comedic relief by nagging each other and rolling your eyes. Um yeah, thanks but no thanks.

I thought love was this feeling that faded with time and that some people chose to stay together despite their diminished feelings, which is kind of…romantic in a way, but I thought probably not for me because I wanted my life to be fun, and I didn’t think wearing sweater sets and reminiscing about how much fun we used to have would do it for me.

These days I’m daydreaming of writing a screenplay for a new kind of romantic comedy. It would be called Four Years In and its cheesy tagline would be, ‘It gets AWESOME’.

unplanned matching

The movie would be about how much fun it is to make up songs while you ride bikes and cook dinner while you dance in the kitchen. It would be about going to weddings together and not feeling nervous when people ask you when it’ll be ‘your turn’ because you know you both want to spend the rest of your lives together. It would be about all the inside jokes you accumulate over the years and the traditions you get to create; about knowing each other’s families and making up games to play in the pool with your younger cousins; about having embarrassing moments; and helping each other get through hard times. It would be about supporting one another in all your dreams and how much more fun you can have when you know how to avoid annoying the crap out of each other!

I’d probably hire another screenwriter to help me infuse that with some plot points or something. ; ) But honestly, I think it would be really great to have a rom-com in sharp contrast to all the patriarchal, capitalist, Men-Are-From-Mars-Women-Are-From-Venus, Committed-Relationships-Are-Boring movies about love that already exist.

My movie would be totally feminist and progressive! Only could it still have product placement? I really, really love product placement.

Here’s to four more!
kristy

Four Years In

Every Day is Hat-urday, Pt. I

kristy, , , 4 Comments

It’s technically springtime, but New York is still COLD. And I’m afraid it might be all my fault.

What have I done???

See, when Devin gave me the wool hat of my dreams for my birthday, the first thing I did was wish for a long winter, so I’d get lots of chances to wear it this year.

Since my birthday, it’s been consistently near-freezing, and I have worn it every day. I still love love love it, but I’m thinking we could both use a break until about mid-October with the occasional September reunion. So this weekend, I sent Mother Nature another memo.

MEMO

TO: Ms. Mother Nature
DATE: 24 March 2013
SUBJECT: Springtime

Dear Mama Na’,

Thanks so much for doing me a solid and letting me break in my new favorite hat. It’s been really nice!

However, my neighbors and friends and all ten of my toes are ready to thaw. Mr. Softee is begging for business. Baby birds are shivering while they chirp.

Please feel free to resume regularly-scheduled programming.

Your friend,
kristy

Every Day is Hat-urday, Pt. I

Statistics

kristy, , , 4 Comments

I first spotted Devin in the spring of my first year of college when I walked into the dining hall. He was dancing with a fork in hand, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Who is that cute boy? And how have I not seen him before?’ We ended up meeting that night after I unwittingly bought a double-bacon cheeseburger for a classmate who asked to borrow ‘board points’, a.k.a. Cafeteria Money. This kid knew Devin, who had just gotten back from Russia (that’s why I’d never seen him), and he invited Devin to sit at our table.

And you know, at first I was kind of weirded out that my cafeteria money, a strictly vegetarian currency, had been used to buy meat; but in retrospect, I’d say it was money well spent. Sometimes I tell Devin that he is worth thousands of dead cows and pigs!

He does not find that very romantic.

The other day we were discussing the merits of huge universities (what it would have been like to take lecture classes or go to football games and frat parties or drive around a campus); and I remembered all this. I looked at Devin and said solemnly, ‘You know, if we’d gone to a huge school, I might have walked into the dining hall and seen the boy dancing with a fork for the first AND ONLY time’.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘although, there would have been a lot of boys dancing with forks, statistically speaking’.

Which is kind of a fair point—or an inappropriate inference, depending on which nerd you ask. However, I have it on good authority that there is only one Devin Last Name-Last Name, and I’m glad we went to a school small enough for us to see each other all of the time.

Statistics