Monday, October 22

nothing says fall like apples



September 30
Cyborg Room
Our jar of guest book stars, all read, cherished, and bottled for safe keeping.


October 1
Living Room
On the floor so Adah and I can share a blanket while she naps and I read. We got a wedding present with a tiny spatula attached to it. Perfect for babies who want to bake!


October 2
Botanical Gardens
Elisabeth took me to lunch and to see the butterflies for my birthday! This guy landed on me and stayed there for a long time! (Also, I'm 30. Wowzers.)


October 3
Cyborg
This is a close up of the handcraft Oma made us as a wedding gift that we got in the mail today. It is a beautiful and detailed runner for our cyborg.


October 4
Lakeside Ballpark
Andy and I took a walk after dinner to the little league field in our neighborhood. I think this guy lives there. The inside is full of leaves and plants. And not like a nice garden.


October 5
So I did take a video on October 5, but I failed to snap a photo. I might have put a substitute here instead, but I didn't even have anything I could use to fake it! I worked at the culinary school this evening for "Edible Arrangements." One woman said, "It must be illegal to have this much fun on a Friday night." I worry about her a little.

October 6
Capital Ale House Oktoberfest
Giant pretzel on my face!


October 7
Martin's
Grocery shopping with Sister and Adah. I get the baby, she gets the food.


October 8
Bedroom
Summer to Winter clothes switch. It's always a little sad to put these colorful patterns away. And then it turns 80 degrees for the next two weeks.


October 9
Carter Mountain Apple Orchard
This little lady was a champion apple picker. This was a first for me and it will probably be a tradition now. We walked away minus one pair of glasses (big bummer) and plus 27 pounds of apples.

All apple picking pictures are here!


October 10
Office
That's the progress of Andy's sweater sleeve. Christmas is going to come fast...


October 11
Butcher Block
What 27 pounds of hand-picked apples look like!


October 12
Botanical Gardens
I went back to the butterflies with Natasha and Molly. This time one landed on Natasha!


October 13
Attic
I had to do a before and after, otherwise it would not be so satisfying. We spent the Saturday cleaning out the attic! 

  

October 14
Richmond Folk Festival
We hopped over for a quick visit to hear Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Cha's. It was well worth it and I can't believe this was my first time to go to the Folk Festival.


October 15
Sunroom
Z sure wants to drink Andy's beer.


October 16
Truck, Kitchen, Cyborg, Sunroom
The many things to make with 27 pounds of apples: tart, butter, donuts, sauce, cake, dehydrated. I'm a little over apples for the time being.


October 17
WF
I get to watch the sunrise almost every day. Sometimes they are unbelievably neon pink and it makes you stop what you're doing and go appreciate it. It is pretty incredible to see them, only a little less so that it's from inside work.


October 18
Living Room
Adah starting to fall after sitting up by herself!






Friday, October 5

I'll be the right hand, you'll be the left hand




September 16
Parent's Dining Room, Little Rock
I pulled out the giant schedule/to-do list that started with the evening of our arrival in Little Rock and did not end until the day after the wedding. These are the welcome bags, packed and ready for out-of-towners!


September 17
Court House, Little Rock
Can you tell we are excited. I felt a little bit like that time my sister and I put on costumes and went to the front door and tried to sell my mom something. We were convinced she didn't recognize us. What I mean is, I felt like a kid trying to sneak something by the adults, like I can't possibly be old enough to be doing this. But we are! We are adults! And all we had to do was pay $65.00! They didn't even ask us if we were related.


September 18
Greers Ferry Lake
Maybe the best thing we did was get to town a week before the wedding to allow for a mini-vacay to the lake with both our parents. It was so special to get away for two days and just be together. This is during a pre-dinner boat ride while the sun was setting and lighting up the rock walls and caves.


September 19
Greers Ferry Lake
We went for a morning canoe ride and the water was still as glass. We saw an otter and followed it for a little while!


September 20
Missy's House, Little Rock
It's the Roller tradition to have dinner with our mothers the Thursday before the wedding. We ate delicious almond and eggplant enchiladas and everyone imparted advice and wisdom to me.


September 21
Parent's Kitchen, Little Rock
Getting the gifts ready for the bridesmaid's luncheon (or breakfast in this case). For someone who likes to take a lot of pictures, I really took it easy. Once the events started, I kind of put my phone away and made myself as present as possible. I'm sure plenty of other people took plenty of other photos that I will eventually see. But I love this party cat wrapping paper and I coordinated the string colors with the dresses they would be wearing. (Not Beth's, but her dress was green and her string was golden, like the sunflowers!)



**If you want to see more pictures from the last six days, click here!**


September 22
Monica's House, The Compound, Little Rock
Again, my pictures, not so many. I do, however, think hair prep photos are always hilarious. The process of getting to the good look is classic and if I were more ballsy, I would have suggested that we just stop right there. 


We did not stop right there, though, and Beth and 
Mimi did beautiful jobs on all of our hair. 

There is no way in tarnation that I could possibly say this (below) is my favorite photo from the day because each one, all 1400 photos that Dixie took, says something to me. This is after the ceremony and we're married and we've been having fun at the reception, and now there is a beautiful sunset 
carrying this perfect day into a perfect night. 
*I also like it because I have a tattoo on my arm. Classy.*



**Here's the Motherload with a capital M, by Dixie.**
Wedding Day: Pre-ceremony, click here.
Wedding Day: Ceremony, click here.
Wedding Day: Reception, click here.


September 23
The Compound, Little Rock
The next day. The canoes are emptied of their booze and the tent is empty of its people. We went out to help divvy up forty pounds of leftover barbeque, slaw, beans, and potatoes and pack up all the decorations my mom provided.


September 24
Seth Parker's Backyard, Vilonia
This is a cherry tree from The Compound. We found a guy to mill it so Andy can make us things, like a dining room table. It was an unexpected and educational (for me) kick off to our honeymoon!


Of course I was thrilled when we pulled up and there were goats and horses and chickens. This guy tried to eat my shorts.



September 25
Cantrell Road, Little Rock
We have our provisions and we are ready to hit the road! I went to Starbucks to get the coffee and Andy went across the street to get the donuts. He saw his parents there getting donuts too! We drove ten hours and found ourselves a campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains.


September 26
Big Creek Trail, Great Smokies
We woke up under a canopy of trees at 9 am! That's late for camping. After we packed ourselves up and had some breakfast, we set out and did this 10 miler. It was such a change from the past few days being surrounded by trees instead of people. It was a nice time to think (mostly about being in the Hunger Games I'll admit) and just be together. Toward the end, Andy went swimming in this crystal clear swimming hole. No way I was getting in. I could hardly dip my toe it was so cold!


September 27
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC
After our hike we went an hour east and had one night in style at a B and B. The photo is after a day of mountain biking, wine tasting, and ice cream eating. The sun was setting and nearly everyone else had gone home. It really felt like we had the place to ourselves. 


September 28
Biltmore Estate, Asheville
Yes, we spent two days there! The place is huge (8,000 acres). Today we toured the inside of the house and then had a lovely picnic here. Not inside the tunnel, that was just Andy trying to get more interesting pictures, but on the rocks outside of it.


September 29
I-40 East, North Carolina
Some nice symmetry to our road tripping. We got donuts to go after a huge and amazing breakfast at Sunny Point Cafe in Asheville. I also want to point out that this is when it started to rain. Not when we were at the lake before the wedding. Not on the wedding day. Not while we were hiking or biking. But when we were driving, when we didn't want to be outside anyway.




**If you want to see more pictures from the honeymooning, click here!**