Books: I Like Them

Today I am doing a meme! A book meme. As a side note, let's all take a moment to be impressed with how many books I managed to creatively stuff into my bookshelf. Some of my organization had to be a (slightly) dispensed with in the interest of space, but life is about compromises, right? Hah. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that moment of imagination since I have no pictures of said bookshelf to show you. Now, onto the meme.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sometimes, especially when I'm in for a long haul (i.e. a first read of Deathly Hallows). At those times I go for crackers.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? No! No writing in books! I like my books to look new. I do put in little markers so I can copy out quotes that I like afterwards.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? I always have some kind of bookmark--a receipt, an actual bookmark or a catalog advertisement for an alarm clock voiced by Stephen Fry.

Laying the book flat open? Only with hardcover library books whilst I eat.

Fiction, non-fiction or both? Fiction.

Hard copy or audiobooks? Hard copy.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? I always strive to read to a break.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? I used to keep lists, but I rarely look things up.

What are you currently reading? Camille, Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Children of Hurin.

What is the last book you bought? A Betty Crocker cookbook...bor-ing.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? I usually reading two--one that I read faster and one that's more long term.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? I like to read laying down, preferably on my bed at any time.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? Both.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author's last name, etc.?) *Ahem* I organize roughly by genre (with young adult/juvenile separate) and then by sub-genre and author. I try to keep publishers together (I like Bantam Classics) and keep the sizes the uniform as well. I like to be precise!

PS: You should all read My Cousin Rachel.

I Got Married. Did You Know?

Well, it has been almost 4 weeks to the day since Drew and I were wed. One of these days I will do a post and tell you all about our windy, wandering path to marriage. But on this day I will tell you all about the actual wedding day. Some of you were there so you know all about it already, but some of you weren't for a variety of reasons so read on and be enlightened. There are many pictures, partly for the benefit of you non-Facebookers. Speaking of which, if any of you would like to see the pictures on Facebook but can't, let me know and I can send you the link. Anyhoo, let's get going.

August 15th. It started early, at 7:00 and it was cloudy and very rainy and wet outside. Our poor tent went right down on the ground.
Drew went for a run because he is crazy, and I camped out in the downstairs bathroom to get my hair done. There were no windows around so I had no idea what was happening in the rest of the house or out in nature. So I spent the early morning chatting with Kami with a K (ie, not Drew's Sister Cami) while she did my hair. I was getting pretty antsy by the end of it, since the breakfast was getting started at 10:30 while she was still wrestling with some hair that absolutely refused to curl. The hair, in the end, did refuse to curl for longer than the next twenty minutes, but I didn't care and look at the end result! It's fantastic and has lots of bobby pins in it.
So, as I was heading towards the stairs D-Rew met me at the bottom and said "Guess who's here?" And then I said "Annnnnnnn????" and he nodded and I fairly squealed my head off running for the stairs. It was a glorious reunion! Seriously, it was one of my favorite things that day. And her nice manfriend, JM, came along with her so I didn't have to worry about her being bored since she didn't really know anyone besides my sister.
So the breakfast was great and there was tons of food and friends and family. In the meanwhile our poor tent sat forlornly on the front lawn. Finally, midway through the breakfast, the wind died down and the rain had stopped so all the menfolk went outside and put the poor thing back up (where it stayed the rest of the day). We were a little anxious about the weather, but we had a few backup plans so we didn't fret too much.
A few hours later and off we went to the temple, each with a parent in tow. By this time we were seeing some blue sky among the clouds but it was still mostly cloudy. Unfortunately Drew had forgotten something at home so after a few attempts to have it found via the telephone, he ran back himself (ran=drove). What was it? This little number, made especially to coordinate with the rest of my jewelry:
And then we got married. It was nice to look around and see a bunch of friends and family, some that traveled a ways to be there. I don't know what else to say about this part except we got married and no, I didn't cry.

So then we were all married and stuff and we headed out to greet everyone. Doesn't he look so good in his tux? I wish he owned it so I could make him put it on periodically so I could give him googly eyes. I guess I do that anyway.
So, we took lots of pictures and everyone was really good about getting in their spots when their group was up. Oh, and the weather--it was perfect! Just a few clouds hither and thither and a nice cool temperature. Everything was dry and my heels only sunk into the ground a few times. The only really sad thing was that my poor hydrangeas in my bouquet were very unhappy and they started to wilt almost immediately.
After we had a lot of pictures taken we headed back to the house where things were coming together for the reception. The cake arrived and we were happy to not worry about it melting in the unseasonably cool August weather. Isn't it pretty? It's just what I wanted and it tasted great too.
I stuck my bouquet in some water during the meantime, but alas, they just couldn't pull it together. But that's okay, they still look pretty in pictures and the ones on the tables lasted just fine. I finished packing and walked about barefoot with the lace of my dress wrapped over my shoulder like a sari.
So then we had a reception, and it was great. People had a good time and we got all manner of compliments. I don't remember the name of a single new person I met. Luckily there were lots of familiar faces too.
The only reception tradition we did was cutting the cake. I never got around to ordering a bouquet for throwing, I vetoed any dancing and we both vetoed a garter toss. In the end the line lasted so long there wasn't much time for doing other things besides taking some more pictures with friends and family and eating a single creme puff.

So, at long last, we decided it was time to head off to Salt Lake City. I changed out of my dress (*sigh*), threw around a few last directions ("Don't forget my shoes!" "Please dry my flowers!") and headed to the car, dispensing last hugs along the way. Did I mention the car? It was delightful.
And that, my friends, was the wedding day. It went off with nary a hitch and the biggest potential problem was resolved halfway through the day. And now, in bulleted fashion, here are my favorite things from the day:

• Wearing my wedding dress. Going along with this, finally revealing it to D-Rew, who had just right reaction of jaw dropping and gasping and plentiful compliments.
• Delicious foods. I always like good food.
  
• The family! Of course. It's always fun when a bunch of the family is together at once, and not just a few. This always makes me wish we lived closer.
  
• The friends! They came from near and far and made everything that much more special.
  
• Not to be predictable or anything, but marrying Mr. Graham was my very favorite and best.
  

So, the events are all over now although of course the Graham household is just beginning. Four weeks in and everything just gets better and better.

And thus concludes my wedding post. If you'd like to read about the wedding and the honeymoon from the Mister's perspective, you can check out his posts. Also, in case you were wondering, we have no plans to combine our blogs or start a new one or anything. Business continues as normal in the blog world.

This Love: It's New

So several months ago the Husband and I decided that after the wedding we would start a Disney marathon in which we would watch all the animated movies in order, approximately one per day. We started it off last week and last night we arrived at Dumbo. I think the last time I saw any part of this movie was when I was about 14 and it was Youth Conference. The John Bytheway video didn't work so why not show a bit of Dumbo for restless teenagers, hm? Apparently that was my only chance to get acquainted with J. Bytheway because I still have no idea what he looks or sounds like.

Anyway, Dumbo.

So we start the movie last night. And then Dumbo appeared. And my brain exploded into rainbows and butterflies. Just look:

He. Is. So. Cute. I can't even stand it. I wish I could find more screencaps from when he is even cuter, but that picture is enough to make me wring my hands. Seriously, I have never really cared about this movie, and now I am watching it again as I type this. If we weren't going out of town I would probably watch it again tomorrow (this is not normal behavior for me, just for the record).

So yes, Dumbo. So cute. Brain. Explodes. I wish I could find the clip of him having a bath where he makes the cutest squeaking noises ever in the world, but this is only good clip I found. It's still plenty cute.

PS

I realized that I forgot one of my favorite points on the list in my last post (I wrote it in my head while I fell asleep). Then I thought of a few more things to add so this is just a quick note of a few more things I have learned recently in the school of married life.

• Gnocchi and small shells are not the same size. When substituting the larger (gnocchi) for the smaller (shells), I need not put in the same amount of poundage. 1 pound of small shells=kind of overwhelming in my skillet.
• Listening to a sleep talker is entertaining. "I'm going to show you these two pictures and then I'm going to tell you why this one is better by a trillion points."*
  
• Marriage > dating
• My husband > all boys ever. Here is the latest evidence:
  

It's a rotten picture, but Red Camera is still out of commission. Luckily I happen to have a webcam. Oh, and just FYI, wedding pictures are up on Facebook now.

*This is the one I forgot, in case you were wondering.