Florida Wedding

Two weekends ago, Carl and I went to Florida to go to Kathy's wedding. It was the first wedding I've been to since we got engaged and, as always, we had tons of fun. I love that Carl likes (is willing?) to dance with me and is a good sport (kind of) about getting dressed up. I have no idea how many weddings I've been to. I would guess around 40 or 50? But I still enjoy going to them. I love seeing what people do, getting dressed up, free drinks and having a little fun on the dance floor.  My DC girlfriends were there, too, and it was great to see them.  Carl has met them all before but I'm glad he got a chance to get to know them even more. 

It was also the first time I've ever been to a wedding on the beach. I've been to weddings that are in beach towns but they have always been at the hotel. This was literally on the beach. Surprisingly it cooled off and was pretty tolerable to be outside for a Florida evening (although I was still happy the reception was inside).  While I am very excited to get married outside, I am glad that we are not doing it on the beach. First, Carl would never stand for it. Second, there are so many strangers who just witness your wedding and take pictures. So strange - I would never take pictures of people I didn't know getting married.  All in all it was a fun, relaxing weekend.  We have one more wedding to attend before we get married!

Smoked Meats

We're still deciding on which Austin BBQ place will cater our wedding. As part of this decision making process we've had to try a lot of different kinds.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. This is probably every Texas man's dream. But it does get a bit cumbersome.  I can certainly tell right away when I eat one that I don't like but it is getting harder to tell what I do like.

I think we've narrowed it down to the final few and I'm determined to make a decision by the end of this week.

In the meantime, as Kelsey has coined, my signature smell of 2012 is smoked meats. I feel like I smell like smoked meat all of the time.  Again, things could be worse. When I lived in Boston during grad school and we had a large skunk living outside my bedroom window, I'm pretty sure I smelled like him all the time.

So, in the grand scheme of smells, I'll take smoked meats any day over skunk.

The Hungry Little Caterpillar

Recently, Carl found a few of these very large caterpillars in our tomato plants. I'm pretty sure, just like in the children's book (which I just read to Audrey last weekend), it was enjoying many tasty things in our garden.  There was a much larger one that I didn't get a picture of.

Our lucky little chickens then got to feast on the caterpillar. Thus is the circle of life....