New Beginnings

With all wedding-related posts now done, it's about that time. 

I've heard you can retain your "bride" title for a full year after you're married (like Miss America), but I have to say, I'm ready to leave the veil behind.  After the wedding, I went through a little mourning period.  When you dedicate practically all your waking thoughts to tablecloths and napkins, flowers, favors, and photographers for an entire year, it's hard to start being a normal person again.  I found myself walking through the supermarket with the latest Martha Stewart Weddings in hand, Mr. Goodlaff looking at me like I had sprung an extra head. Letting go was hard.

Four months later, I've finally figured out what to do with my "free" time.  The title of "bride" is one that I'm more than happy to relinquish, though the tiara was nice while it lasted. I've loved sharing our wedding story with you all, but new, more exciting adventures are about to begin. 

Mr. Goodlaff and I are heading on our honeymoon in a few weeks. After that, we are taking a huge leap of faith and moving to a new state where we will start all over.  Most days that prospect is exciting; some days, it's totally terrifying. Still, we adventure into the great beyond together, as is the Goodlaff way.

So, today is officially Moving Day.  If you choose to follow the Goodlaff adventures, you'll find that the veil, the dress, the wedding frills will be all gone. From here on out, you can find me here:

The Goodlaff Girl

My new blog is in its infancy, so I have a few kinks to work out.   But if you love cooking, crafting, and tackling life with reckless abandon (also, if you'd like to be really jealous while looking over what I'm sure will be our fabulous honeymoon photos), you'll fit in just fine.  Come stop by and say Hi.

Thanks for your love and support--it was a crazy ride.  I wish every one of you the very best in love and in life.

Signing off,

The Goodlaff Bride

PS-This blog's not going anywhere.  If you're distraught over my blog move, you can just read all my wedding-related content over and over again.

So, We Have All These Pictures...

Now, what do we do with them?

Mr. Goodlaff and I had thousands of pictures to go through after the wedding.  With such beautiful photos, we had to find some way to display them all!

Mr. Goodlaff and I chose not to include an album in our photography package, knowing that we'd use some kind of online service to create our own album, post-wedding.  We made sure we got the digital rights to our photos, which meant we could basically do whatever we want with them.  Use Photoshop to draw mustaches on our guests? Check.  Poster-size prints? Check.  Self-made album? Check.

It turns out that being Costco members has advantages beyond gigantic jars of mayonnaise and pickles. We discovered that My Publisher partnered with Costco to provide a 20% discount to members, so without any real comparison shopping, we decided to create our wedding album through that company. At the time they were also running a buy one, get one free offer, which was a huge savings and a big enticement for us, seeing as we wanted to get albums for each set of parents.  Total quantity needed: four books.  Perfect!

Wedding Inspiration Vs. Wedding Reality

I love it when brides share their wedding inspiration boards and compare them to their actual wedding details, and there was no way I was going to miss out on all of that!  In that spirit, here's my before and after--my inspiration versus reality.

Inspiration:

Reality:

How'd I do?

May Day!: It's the Little Things

You all thought I was done with wedding stuff, didn't you?  Well, it appears that I forgot a few things in my rush to get my wedding recaps over and done with. So, I have a few more wedding-related posts for you.  You don't mind, do you?

I didn't think so.

I realized that I'd never shared with you some of the fantastic details that I worked so hard on leading up to the wedding. Our photographer, Niki Ross, was able to capture so many amazing details with her camera lens that I just have to share them with you.

First, there were the gorgeous shots of my dress and accessories:

Niki really took advantage of all the great pieces of furniture and art in the room...

Guest Spot!

I'm so lucky to be guest blogging today over at 365 Days of Gratitude: A Year in Thanks! 

Could you find one thing every day to be thankful for, even on the crappy days?  Emily does. Her gratitude doesn't take a day off.

Emily made a New Year's Resolution to give thanks and blog about the things that she's grateful for each day for an entire year.  From the big things to the little things, she finds and shares her daily thanks with the whole virtual world.  Emily's blog is incredibly uplifting and inspiring, and constantly reminds me how much I have to be thankful for every single day. 

Stop by and see what I'm thankful for, and while you're at it, take a peek around Emily's fantastic blog;  it's a refreshing and inspiring daily dose of happiness. 

Left Coast Ambitions: Wine Not?

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: we had no idea where we were going to spend the last night of our honeymoon.  We went back and forth.  Should we stay in San Francisco? What about Napa?  Maybe Sonoma? Consequently, Mr. Goodlaff and I didn't book our Friday night hotel until 10PM on Thursday night.

So where were did we end up? Napa, CA.
But first, breakfast.  We used Urban Spoon again to find LouLou's Griddle in the Middle in Monterey.  Located on the Commercial wharf, it's this really cute, tiny diner-style restaurant, and it's supposed to have really good pancakes.  And I'm all about pancakes.

A table with a view...

Left Coast Ambitions: Golf Carts on the Beach

The Goodlaffs headed north to Monterey, and I think this was quite possibly the most un-notable drive of our trip.  Then again, that could be because I was asleep for most of the journey. Oh well.  We trusted our GPS to get us from Cambria to Monterey, and it took us places we never thought we'd go--and not in a good way.  Until we were ten minutes away from our destination, we were questioning the judgement of our tiny little navigational friend.

We pulled up to the hotel, which was the fabulous Sanctuary Beach Resort just outside of Monterey in Marina, CA.  Yes, yes, the rooms are lovely.  But let me show you the real reason the Goodlaffs loved staying there:

Golf. Carts.  True to the name, the Sanctuary Beach Resort is located in a marine sanctuary--a preserved coastal habitat--and as such, you can't drive your earth-killing, carbon-spewing cars up to your room.