Amsterdam, Netherlands

We got back from Amsterdam a while ago, but Cathy and I have been pretty busy. We're still busy, but I've finally gotten around to looking at my photos from Amsterdam. Now I'm not as...enthusiastic, or passionate maybe, about traveling to Europe as some other people, but I admit I had a great time.


Flag of Amsterdam. We arrived at 9 a.m. Central European Time, and had been basically up for 30 odd hours already. I wasn't sure if I was delirious, excited, or both, but it didn't really matter. We just checked in and started wandering.


There was a lot of walking. Good thing I like walking and the city is pretty much made for walking too. And, as you know, the place is made for bicycles, although we never did get around to renting any...oh well.


Typical canal view, building towards the left is the Bijbels Museum. As for the weather, the forecast the week prior predicted clouds, rain, and more clouds. Needless to say, I was happily surprised when the clouds gave way to blue skies and sun. It stayed that way for most of the trip. Foolish forecasts.


We visited a lot of museums, including the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh (awesome), and a couple photography museums/galleries I was interested in. This one is at Huis Marseille. We also hung out at some parks (mainly Vondel Park), gardens, other random spots.


There was a lot of this. Beers and maps. Between sights, the general rule was to wander into a random cafe or bar, get a beer, and look at the map. Maybe a sandwich. Beers, maps, and a sandwich.


Zuiderkerk, a church. There was a lot to look at just by walking down any random street. I found it all too easy to just wander around and see interesting stuff everywhere I went, especially the architecture.


Ok, that's enough for now. Obviously, there was much more to the visit, but I think you get the idea. Vacation successful.

Going out of town again. We'll be back shortly.

Anniversary

One year, done.

We decided to lay low since we'll be taking an anniversary vacation later this month. We did, however, make a nice dinner together, including spice-roasted Cornish hens with cucumber-yogurt sauce, cauliflower soup with toasted cumin and lime...and of course, defrosted one-year old wedding cake for dessert. I guess it's some sort of tradition to save the top tier and eat it a year later. Seems a bit odd to me, but whatever, it still tasted good.


Tastes kind of like commitment.

(blank)

Filing jointly

(Engagement photo, taken by friend James)

Multi-Gift

Multi-gift for Cathy.

For Valentine's/Birthday/Whatever other day I can milk out of this thing

Case Dismissed. Certifiably Married.

Way back in September, we went to the Cook County Clerk's office to get our marriage license so we could get married. They took Cathy's info off her driver's license that indicates her name is "Cathy." So after our wedding, our marriage certificate ended up stating that I was married to "Cathy." However, her full given legal name is Catherine. So what's the big deal?

Well apparently it's a huge deal when it comes to changing your name post-marriage. When Cathy went to change her surname (a decision I left entirely up to her), the discrepancy between our marriage certificate and her vital records barred her from doing so. After a bunch of red taped dead ends, we learned we had to file a complaint against the Cook County Clerk to correct the certificate, i.e., we had to sue the Cook County Clerk (which we did). Thankfully, we didn't have to wait until our court date in July to prove that Cathy and Catherine are one and the same - it was agreed that we would voluntarily dismiss the action if they just made the change. So one lawsuit and four weeks later:

At first blush, this seems ridiculous. The procedure for correcting just a letter or the whole name on a marriage certificate is the same: you have to go through court and prove it. Why? Well I don't know the real reason but I do know that whose name is on a marriage certificate is powerful information in, say, the execution of a large estate, determining insurance coverage, property transfers, divorces, and a shit ton of other things. You make it too easy to change things like marriage licenses and you'll just get a lot of fraud.

Well either way, it was a pain so watch out for these things since sometimes the devil really is in the details.

Ring

Nothing to report. Just came across an old photo I took of my wedding ring, decided to post it:

Took the photo about three days after it was made. For whatever reason, the wood is a bit darker now.

Married

I am.
Much love and thanks to all the friends and family, it was great to see and be with everyone. It's rare that I can be with all my close friends or family at the same time so the weekend was special to me on many different levels.

And by the way, all the credit for the wedding must go to my lovely and beautiful wife Cathy. Our amazing wedding was the culmination of countless hours of her imagining, planning, organizing, creating, crafting, working, and loving.

In a couple days we're traveling all over South Korea to see some of Cathy's extended family and then to Bali for ourselves. Excitement abounds. I'll be sure to post travel updates and other assorted crap while I'm out there, at least whenever I have spare time and an internet connection.

Photo unrelated.

Swing ride.

8512...

...minutes until the wedding ceremony. Cathy enjoys being informed of exactly how much time she has left for planning. Wait that's not totally accurate. Replace "enjoys" with "despises."

Actually now it's 8510 minutes left. Almooost there.

Another one while hiking up Camelback. I feel like this is an apt photo for a motivational posters. Like "Determination" or "That's it we're lost."

T Minus Two Weeks

Two more weeks people! Our lives are quickly becoming consumed by a wedding to do list which is refusing to get shorter. I really haven't had much time to think or do much of anything else despite the fact that Cathy is responsible for the vast majority of the planning. I don't know how she does it - all I can say is that she is quite amazing.

The updates here for the next two weeks will likely fluctuate wildly between actual content and absolute nonsense. I suppose that is nothing out of the ordinary. However, updates for the month after the wedding, well, that all depends on how much spare time I have when I'm in Korea and Bali...more about that later.

Random photo:


A skyset while backpacking the SHT, 2006.

Cathy's Bridal Shower

Cathy's bridal shower was last weekend and I was recruited to take some photos. It was kind of difficult since I don't really do event photography and I'm not exactly well versed on the going ons of a bridal shower. But I did what I could and here's a few I took:


Listen to the cake. It is wise.


Bernice setup a nice party room in her building to have the shower in.


That's Bernice next to Cathy.


The rest of the guests.


Favor box. Filled with girly stuff. I was hoping it was going to be filled with beef jerky and knives.


Flowers (which Bernice arranged) hanging out with the cake.


Some of the food. Tasty.


Some of the treats. Tasty x 2.

Cathy and the guests had fun. I had fun too since all I did was eat and occasionally wave the camera around. More photos on Cathy's facebook.

Invites

A couple weeks ago, Cathy started putting together the wedding invites. She had to cut some paper and I went for moral support. Used Cathy's Sony point-and-shoot to take a couple photos for posterity's sake:


Setting up the paper...


Cutting the paper...


All with the Self-Sharpening Safety Super Roller Cutter. Awesome.

Only three months left. Time flies.

Flowers and Paper

I have a folder of photos I never posted but wanted to post at one point. So I'll be posting them starting with this post. Post.


We kept just two of the many, many dozens of roses I proposed with. Some say it's bad luck to keep dead flowers around...


But I think it's worse to just throw something away.


Mom Lee and Cathy looking over paper at Hollander's in Ann Arbor. I sat in the corner and nodded approvingly, providing invaluable moral support.

Holidays and TheKnot.com

Well the holiday season is almost here. I find it funny (or maybe unfortunate) how life gets busier during the holidays. Used to be the other way around, where I'd get a week or two off and basically try my best to make trouble without getting caught making it.

Also, Cathy setup a profile at the [theknot.com]. I never heard of theknot website until recently, but then again I wasn't engaged until recently either. It's nothing crazy but you can get random details about us, the wedding, and other info.

Sign the guestbook too... Let's just say someone whose name rhymes with "bathy," has been eagerly waiting for people to sign it, and thus far there is a grand total of two entries :) (thanks to Rie/Eric and a canned entry by the administrators of website, yay).

Photo unrelated.


Shrine Chapel by Orchard Lake in Michigan. The chapel wasn't consistently lit so I snuck a tripod in and took some bracketed exposures to make this composite image. You risk "flatness" to an image when you do that, but you can bring out a lot of interesting detail...

Cathy's Ring

Cathy's "real" engagement ring arrived yesterday.


Although we were able to pick out and look at each component piece when designing it, it was still little difficult to imagine how it was going to look - especially since the ring itself required a couple tweaks to it.


But when I opened the box, it blew me away. The ring exceeded every expectation I had and it fit Cathy's finger perfectly. Needless to say, Cathy is ecstatic.

Engaged

Surprise / proposal ring / family heirloom / engaged / happy