Perfect Picnic Day

In our quest to find ways to adapt to Todd's new schedule, I've been surprised at how easy it's been to do all sorts of fun things... In fact, now that we have the mornings together (instead of the evenings) we're actually able to do all the activities we lack the energy or time to do at night.  

For instance, last Friday we went on a picnic in Golden Gate Park, up near Stowe Lake, before competing in a charity dodgeball tournament where we got thoroughly pummeled (though Todd stood his ground for ten minutes - alone of our team of seven against five members of the competing team.  I was so proud of him!!).

Back to the picnic: we picked up sandwiches at this great little deli in the Marina District called Marina Market and we put all of the food and drinks into the wicker picnic basket that we've been itching to use ever since we got it! 

Then we drove over to the park and wandered about for a bit, looking for the ideal sunny/grassy spot.

[Most of the pictures I took are on my camera, rather than on its memory card, so the photos below are the ones I took once I realized I needed to put the memory card in.  Once I figure out how to transfer pictures from the camera itself, you will see some wonderfully silly ones of us lying on a bed of tiny daisies, looking very sleepy and happy...]

Our picnic was delicious.  We poured our drinks into proper glasses and toasted the afternoon and the sun and each other, and marveled at the fact that we would be married in less than four months!

Afterwards, we decided to take a nice long walk and came upon some beautiful scenery, such as these white flowering trees:

And these turtles, balancing precariously on a sodden log:

And this little... prairie dog? gopher?  what could it possibly be?  But he was very adorable...

Thus ended a sweet, stolen afternoon. :-)

Great New Skin Product

I'm a very low-maintenance girl, most would say too low-maintenance.  But one of the things I've been worrying about for a while now is my fairly light skin being so damaged by so many years in the brilliant California sun that I look like I'm 40 by the time I'm 27, especially since I still can't get up the enthusiasm to wear makeup on a regular basis.

So, to that end, I've been looking for a moisturizing product that also helps repair sun-damaged skin... and I've found the perfect one!

Presenting Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Anti-Sun Damage:

Not only is it a moisturizer, it has SPF 28, and it is so light and lovely that it rubs in easily and leaves no slippery residue on the hands.  And in two weeks of use (just a pump each day after the shower), my skin looks and feels so much better.  I mean, it's just brighter, smoother, less splotchy.  Although this product's more expensive than, say, Lubriderm, it's still very affordably priced (at $13.99) and, since a little goes a long way, I probably won't need to buy it all that often.

All in all, I'm so happy I found it!  If you're looking for a similar product, be sure to give this one a try!

Sacramento!

Two weeks ago, our team went to Sacramento for the McGeorge Ethics Competition (a legal malpractice case in which Doug and I represented the plaintiff).

Adam and I drove to Sacramento at midday on Thursday, and were pleasantly surprised to find such a pretty city awaiting us:

We checked into the deliciously swank Citizen Hotel, with it's striped wallpaper rooms with velvet chairs and diamond-glass-paned armoires and huge bathrooms and lovely library-like lobby and second floor bar.  Very nice indeed.  And due to a hilarious incident involving Doug walking in on someone because Adam and Doug's room had been double-booked, the boys ended up getting a suite and a hefty drinks credit!

The Federal Courthouse is where we spent the better part of two days.  Thursday evening Adam and Megan went up against Roger Williams, a law school in Rhode Island.  Doug and I played their witnesses and they did brilliantly.  We ended up winning the round 2-1.  The next morning Doug and I went up against a thoroughly good team from UCLA, whom we beat 3-0!  With only a fifteen minute turnaround between four hour trials, Doug and I found out we were again up for the afternoon round, against UC Davis.  Although we were tired, we pulled it together and had our best round yet!  We again won 3-0.  At the cocktail reception that night, we found out that four teams had gotten perfect 9-0 ballots over three rounds (Georgetown, Temple, Stetson, and Chicago), so we narrowly missed the finals with our 8-1 record.  It was a bit of a disappointment but we had great fun that night, staying up until practically dawn!

The next day was Saturday and, even though we were no longer in the running, we all had to stay for the reception that night.  So we spent the day eating a fabulous brunch on the river, walking around Old Town buying candy and darting under awnings to get out of the rain, visiting the Capitol, seeing I Love You, Man and finding suitable attire for the reception.  This involved the boys weighing in with their opinions as we tried on endless dresses.  In the end, I found the perfect inexpensive little frock - dark blue, silky, with flowers at the straps.

The reception turned out to be great fun.  It was held in our hotel, on the terrace under a great white tent.  It was a three-course dinner, with a keynote address by a lawyer from the firm that sponsors Hastings' trial team program and an announcement of the winners of the competition: an all-girl team from Georgetown.  We also talked with the UCLA team and Doug found out he was working with one of the boys in the Riverside DA's Office this summer!  I found out that another of the boys is working very near where I will be in LA.  We made plans to have lunch 

:-).

After the reception, we all went up to the boys' suite and chatted and watched SNL until, exhausted, we finally fell into bed.  The next morning, we headed back to San Francisco, able to hold our heads high after a great competition.  Next year, I hope we do even better!

Wedding Budget Survey!

I've finally found a way to combine my (admitted) teensy-tiny obsession with all things wedding with a project for school!  I'm in a Law and Anthropology seminar and we have to do an ethnographic research project about any kind of informal (not in the formal legal system) dispute resolution.  And - given recent experiences - I thought: why not make my project be about wedding budget disputes!  One of the aspects of my research is the survey below. 

If you are getting married soon, or have gotten married within the last two years, and wouldn't mind filling out the survey, and e-mailing me your responses, it would be greatly appreciated.**   All returned surveys will be kept strictly anonymous, and will be destroyed after I've incorporated the data into my paper.

SURVEY:

1. How old are you?  How old is your fiance/fiancee? If you're already married, how old were both of you when you tied the knot?

2. Where (city/state/general type of location - e.g. garden, hotel, museum, etc.) will get married?  Where will you have the reception?  If you're already married, where did you have the ceremony and reception?

3. What is/ was your total wedding budget (either expected, if you are not yet married, or actual, if you're already married)?

4.  Who paid/ is paying for your wedding?  (If multiple people are paying, please list the cost distribution.  (For example: groom's parents are paying for the rehearsal dinner, expected (or actual) cost: $2,000; bride and groom are paying for the flowers, expected (or actual) cost: $3,000)

5. Did the cost distribution change from the beginning of the wedding planning to the end?   (For example: The bride was originally going to pay for her wedding dress, but the mother-of-the-bride ended up paying for it).  Please list the ways in which the cost distribution changed.

6.  Why did it change?

7.  Were there any disagreements over the budget between parties who are paying?

(For example: bride and groom wanted all vegetarian food, parents didn't; parents wanted certain location for ceremony, bride and groom didn't)  Please briefly explain the nature of these disagreements.

8.  Did you resolve any budget disagreements?  If so, how did you resolve them?  If not, what happened as a result of the disagreements?

9.  Who is the primary wedding planner?  (For example: the bride; the bride and groom; a wedding planner; the bride's parents)

10. Did the amount of money contributed to the wedding affect the amount of "say" (i.e. decision-making power) that person had in the planning?

11.  Are you satisfied with the way budget disputes were (or are) being resolved?  If so, why?  If not, why not (or, what would you like to be different)?

12.  What do you think would help (or would have helped) any budget disputes you are having (or had) during the wedding planning process?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INPUT!  Please e-mail responses to emily.hoag@gmail.com.

**I had planned to put the survey on some major wedding site chatrooms, such as the Knot and iVillage, but all of them have use restrictions limiting things posted for research purposes.  So I'm hoping that between here and Facebook, I'll find enough willing participants to create a good data sample.  I can't wait to see the results!**

Fortunately/ Unfortunately

These past couple of weeks have reminded me a lot of a booklet my dear Mrs. Chris made and gave to me just before I left for Arkansas.  It was styled after the Fortunately/ Unfortunately series, and was one of the most sweet and touching gifts I've ever received... 

These last few days have really been marvels of good and not-so-good melded together.

For instance,

Fortunately - Todd and I had a wonderful time with his parents.  We saw Wicked (fabulous!), ate much good food in Mill Valley and Half Moon Bay, and just spent some wonderful quality time together.

Fortunately - Mom came to visit for Spring Break.  We had a terrific time driving down highway 1, staying in Carmel and Monterey, and visiting Hearst Castle.

Unfortunately - I am now thoroughly, thoroughly behind on a pile of projects for school.

Fortunately - Todd got promoted to Associate Producer at Comcast Sports Network!!

Unfortunately - He has a really awful schedule now, mostly working every day from 3 pm - midnight (to produce the news segments for the Comcast sports channels), with his off days as Thursday and Friday.  We'll find the time to spend with each other, but it's going to involve a heck of a lot more planning...

Unfortunately - Last Wednesday morning, while in the shower, I fainted.  It was a frightening experience.  Luckily, Todd was there to catch me and revive me (I was only out for a few seconds). I have never seen such a stricken look on his face, and that look scared me more than my actually fainting.

Fortunately - I went to the doctor and he asked a lot of questions, checked my blood pressure, and did blood work.  Everything checked out fine, except for the fact that my blood pressure's on the low side of normal.  I'm not anemic or hypoglycemic.  The doctor said I probably fainted because of dehydration combined with the heat in the shower and the sudden change in body position (I moved my head out from under the water right before I fainted).  So that's a relief.

Fortunately - the McGeorge ethics trial team competition is tomorrow through Sunday, and I think we'll do great!  I've never been a plaintiff's side lawyer before so it should be interesting...

Unfortunately - the ONE weekend that we have a competition is the same weekend as the highly anticipated (at least for me and other criminal law geeks at Hastings) California Correctional Crisis Conference at Hastings, which features criminologists and attorneys from all over the country and world talking about the the state of the prison system in California (including the juvenile justice system) and what can be done to improve it.  I'm really bummed that I'll miss the entire thing...

Fortunately - for our three year anniversary on St. Patrick's Day, Todd wrote me a beautiful letter and made origami hearts and set the whole thing up so it looked like a frog peeping up off the table.  He's so sweet :-)

Unfortunately - any celebrating for our anniversary will have to be postponed at least a week!

Fortunately - car searching is pretty fun, and we both can't wait to go on test drives!

Unfortunately - cars are expensive.

Back with more wedding stuff next week but for now, a quote from Adam Gopnik's article about Babar in the The New Yorker a few months ago:

"There is allure in escaping from the constraints that button you up and hold you; there is also allure in the constraints and the buttons.  We would all love to be free, untrammelled elephants, but we long, too, for a green suit."

So true.

Fans, and Luggage Tags, and Scrolls, oh my!

There are so many options when deciding what kind of wedding program to have.  

At first, I was in love with the idea of a combination fan/program.  After all, we are having a garden wedding in July in Southern California.  It is going to be HOT.  But, on a trip to Michael's, we saw fan/program templates (and they were on sale!) that, while cute, wouldn't be able to fit all of the information that we want to convey.

Of course, there is always this kind of fan, with several sections bound together at the bottom with ribbon.  But they would involve a large amount of time (a thing rather scarce in the Hoag-Rosenfelt home) to make and assemble.

These would probably fit all of the program information, and would be much simpler to make, but I have reservations about the tongue-depressor handles, and the square shape.

What about luggage tag programs?  Many people will be traveling long distances to attend our wedding, and we're going to London and Paris for our honeymoon... Still, it's not like our wedding is travel-themed by any means.  Cute, but not quite right.

Ooo - scroll wedding programs.  These, I love.  They look so Elizabethan and romantic.  And we could make the scroll as long as we wanted, so there'd be no issues with fitting everything in.  I also love how this is another element of our wedding that could use bows and ribbon (so far my dress and shoes, the bridal party bouquets, the boutonnieres, the hanging ivy letters, the cake, and the favors all incorporate ribbons, too!).  However, a couple of problems arose.

Todd's concern was that, in order to roll properly, the paper might have to be slightly flimsy. He likes the idea of a substantial weight program.  And another thing: if we roll all the scrolls before coming down to LA for the wedding, they might get squashed.  But if we wait t 'til we're at Disney to roll them, then we (and any of our friends and family that we conscript) will be rolling programs when we'd rather be relaxing and getting ready to be married.  Hmmm... what to do?

Well, there's nothing wrong with the classic program, is there?  Simple to make, fits everything, can be as creative or uncreative as one wants, and still has ribbon.  They'd fit very nicely in one of the baskets we've bought... I think we have a winner!

Tux Shopping!

On Sunday afternoon, following a glorious lunch at Pasta Moon in Half Moon Bay with Todd's parents, we all drove over to the Men's Wearhouse in Daly City ( just across the parking lot from a David's Bridal - imagine the convenience for David's brides and Men's Wearhouse grooms!).  

It was pretty busy inside but a very friendly saleswoman came over and helped us page through the quite large selection of suits.  We also looked at multiple colors of vest swatches.  Now, I'm going to be honest: there were a couple of - erm - disagreements - about various aspects of the attire, but in the end, we all were very happy with the choices made.

First up:  Todd.  As the groom, he'll be wearing a silver checked vest and tie in order to stand-out from the groomsmen.

The groomsmen will be wearing mid-blue checked vests and ties.

And the fathers will be wearing black vests and ties.  

Below is a photo of all three colors together.

As for the suiting, Todd will wear a Jones New York (or Kenneth Cole; can't remember which we chose, but they're virtually identical) three-button tuxedo.  In my humble and completely unbiased opinion, he looks quite dashing!

I can't wait to see "the look" all put together!

Possibly One of the Best Days Ever!

Okay, so the last few weeks have been incredibly busy and stressful and rainy and cold.  Tomorrow, however, was fantastic.

Behold:

1) Todd's parents arrived from New Jersey for a weekend visit.

2) They brought our wedding bands for us... which are absolutely beautiful!  I could hardly bear to take mine off!

3) My (almost) final dress fitting was this afternoon - and it fit like a glove.  The bustling is lovely, and the corseting is perfect.  The only change is going to be adding in bra cups to make my Cs have a little more va-va-voom!

4) Today I FINALLY, AT LONG LAST heard from my number one choice for summer employment: the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles.  And I received a job offer!  Now, although this will mean living in LA for the summer, and getting a car, it will also be a) a GREAT experience, which will provide me with connections for a permanent job once we move back to LA after graduation; b) a steady source of income over the summer; c) EXACTLY what I want to do as a lawyer, which is public defense!  So I'm psyched.  And although I'll miss Todd (am sure we'll see each other on multiple weekends), I'm excited to spend time with some LA friends that I miss seeing on a regular basis...

And more good things are right around the corner:

1) It's Spring Break - no school for a week!

1) Mom's coming on Tuesday for a visit!  I haven't seen her since August and I've missed her, so I'm thrilled!  We'll probably drive up to Big Sur on a two-day mini-break...

2) McGeorge Ethics trial team competition in Sacramento is in two weeks.

3) Todd and my 3 year anniversary is March 17 - St. Patrick's Day.  I feel so lucky to be in love with and loved by him.

Ah, life is good.  

And though there is much work ahead (top of my head: 20-page research paper; research assistant stuff; FINALS; last details of wedding planning, such as sending out invites; car-buying; finding a place to live for 10 weeks in LA), I'm confident I'll be able to do all of it.

At least I hope...