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!

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!**

pretty sure this is it for ms. frost

September 4

Bedroom

The bench legs getting some ac air to help the finish dry.

September 5

Front yard

One bench! (Explanation: Andy is making four benches as gifts for the families that live on the compound where our wedding will be. They are also going to be used in the ceremony for seating for the older folks.)

September 6

Bedroom

Adah in her pillow crib again. I love her little legs trying to poke out. I swear she looks like she's grown so much since the last time I took a picture of her sleeping on the bed on August 31.

September 7

Living Room

His and her wedding gift from Cousin Paul and Shannon. Awesome! I can't wait to not cry when I cut onions.

September 8

Olio

Molly, my wedding date partner, and I making ourselves at home as we have a not-so-cold one. We were reflecting on how we are both getting married in two weeks!

September 9

James River

Andy's back satchel is getting full of skipping rocks. We had a contest to see who could find the best skipping rock and I won. Or maybe I was the only one having the contest...

September 10

Office

I booked us a room at a bed and breakfast and went ahead and used our new salutation. :) 

September 11

Bedroom

Z must be sensing our departure because she has been napping and sleeping in the bed. I wish she were as nice as she is cute.

September 12

Church Hill

Took an afternoon stroll with Sister and Adah. We saw the city from up high. I'm going to go ahead and say it's a nice place to be. (Ten days.)

September 13

Living Room

The packing piles are started! We head out butt-early Saturday morning. That's okay because I love to get up at 3:45 am now!

September 14
Living Room
Last of the truck snacks have been purchased. We could leave for Arkansas right now and be okay.

September 15
Parent's Carport
 Little Rock, AR
The infamous chalkboard greets us after our quick and easy 15-hour drive. (7 days! Holy smokes! or Holy shitballs! if you're talking to Matt.)

We aren't big countdowners, but we're kind of counting down

August 17

Kitchen

What I did with a zillion peaches: made some mini tarts. Along with a peach cobbler and three bags of frozen peaches for smoothies.

August 18

Bathroom

To me this is more than just my cat climbing up for a pet. It's a reminder of how shy I am when it comes to taking pictures. I just got home from an evening of hanging out with friends, plenty of opportunity to make my life look more interesting than just being a lady with a cat. But no, taking a picture might have drawn attention to myself.

August 19

Otter Cove

Guest photographer Andy. He's been working hard on some benches for the wedding, but took the time to notice this nature.

August 20

Cupertino's

This morning at work two girls were talking about delicious New York style bagel sandwiches. I got off at 11 am so I had to go have one. Again, it was no Bagel Delight, but it was nice to discover a place  where I can get a semi-fix. It's actually probably a good thing that they aren't the best bagels I've ever had in the world or I would develop a dangerous habit.

August 21

Bedroom

This is how Andy naps in the daytime when he gets off work and has had a night of saving lives. It's nice for him because it blocks out the sunlight and it's nice for me because it muffles his snoring.

August 22

Otter Cove

Finally I was able to get down to the river to "help" with the benches. We got there just in time for sunset on the dock. As a side note, anytime I hang my feet over the edge of a dock, I think of Honduras and get nostalgic/happy about those months of my life.

This was also a great way to celebrate One Month(!) until the wedding.

August 23

Otter Cove

The bench maker.

August 24

Bedroom

I think this was just an illustration of how lame I was being that night. I did get home from the river the night before at about midnight and had to work at 6:30 so I must have been really tired.

August 25

Otter Cove

Again, guest photographer Andy hard at work.

August 26

Otter Cove

So this week I barely saw Andy because he was at the river the whole time and I was in Richmond. He had his grandparents over to test out a bench. He gave them giant tools to hold.

August 27

Stella's

A little lady brunch to celebrate the upcoming festivities!

August 28

Living Room

I get to babysit this little superhero sometimes and it is so much fun.

August 29

Virginia Historical Society

Food truck potluck. My first RVA food truck experience actually. It was hard to choose which one to try, but I went with some tacos and one of them nearly burnt my tongue off it was so spicy. But good!

August 30

Kitchen window

Wedding crafting from my end. (Andy does the manly stuff, like making benches from scratch, and I do the girlie things like taping photographs to tags and hanging them from rods). This is not the final product, which I didn't take a picture of before sending home with Mom, but turned out wonderfully!

August 31

Bedroom

Tiny Adah in her pillow fort.

September 1

Office

I love colors! And crafting supplies!

Notice the change of months. We aren't crazy countdowners, but we can now say we're getting married this month. I'm just calmly expressing the passing of time and how it relates to significant events.

September 2

Sister's house

Admittedly, this is not the most flattering picture of Adah, but she is wearing a headband and a tutu-type skirt.

 

September 3

Whole Foods

The time is 4:23 am. I am at work. But at least I have awesome new socks. (Oh yeah, I started doing the baking in the mornings. That means crazy early in and crazy early out.)
And for good measure, nineteen days and we're hitched.