Guess who has a new last name

Well it's official! I want to thank you all for sticking with me while I handcrafted my special event. Lots and lots to share with you now that everything is said and done and we are back from the Honeymoon in Japan!

-BG

Big News! Changes in the Wind!

1930s Daisy Picking from the Vassar College Photo Archives. 

Lots of changes going on here at $25V and I've got some BIG news! The biggest news? We're getting a domain of our very own! That's right $25V is hitting the big time my friends!  

We've also got a new name, a new logo, a new design, and a new server. I'll keep you posted as the change over happens. I'll be taking the month of march to make the change over during which time I'll be posting to both servers simultaneously.  So you'll have plenty of time to adjust your bookmarks and feeds. 

The other big news? I've purchased my wedding dress for the big day! I can't post a photo because one of my subscribers happens to be Mr. Fiancé, but I'm more than happy to share a link with anyone that sends me a quick email. 

Hope you're day is going just ducky!

New York Trip Part 2

Part 1

Friday we hopped in the car and drove up to Albany for Bradlea and Mike's wedding. 

Fiance enjoyed snapping some photos of the city as we drove in. He's only been to New York a handful of times and this was his first trip to the Capitol. Albany is an old city and has some awesome architecture. I think the building above is an administrative building at SUNY Albany.

We arrived at the church about an hour early. I've gotten to used to the Atlanta traffic. I expect any trip undertaken during rush hour to take an additional hour to complete. This isn't really the case in Albany, NY. It's a small city and it's pretty easy to navigate.  So my excellently executed leave-early-because-of-traffic plan was a bust.

We putzed around outside for a bit, but went inside once we started to get cold. Not that it was blisteringly cold by any stretch. It was actually in the 50s that day, but there was a lot of wind. That and I am southern folk now. 

The inside of the church was cute. Bradlea only had a few of these simple bouquets hung around the church, but they really gave the place a nice feel. Bradlea is a classy lady with classy tastes.

About 20 minutes later my bridesmaid and ex-college roommate Tiffany showed up. (She came to visit a few months ago you may recall). It was awesome to see her twice in one year and it was also great to see her boyfriend Kern who I hadn't seen in over two years. I like this photo of Kern. I call this look his "lecturing a bunch of bored college students" face.

The wedding kicked off at 4:30pm and was beautiful. Bradlea went for a long sheath dress with an empire waist. She looked absolutely beautiful.

Bradlea roomed with Tiffany and myself back in art school. Her Fiance Mike didn't technically live with us, but he slept at our place way more often than he slept at his own place. Their wedding took place on their 7th anniversary of dating. The ceremony was very sweet and I was able to hold in the tears, though my eyelashes did get stuck together with mascara. Wet eyes and all that.

After the ceremony we headed over to the reception hall. It was dark when we arrived, but we went back the next morning to snap a picture of the outside of the building. The reception venue is an old converted bank. It was built in 1927. Can we say vintage geek out? The walls and floor are marble and there were these great deco carvings and light fixtures inside. I'm pretty sure someone had to remind me not to stare more than once that evening.

We partook in some of the libations and then went to find the crew. We spent most of the night with our table mates Tiffany and the beautiful Jen. Jen was an honorary member of the old apartment crew. She even put up with our crazy Spice Girls Halloween costume idea.

Halloween 2006, the Riverknoll 35 crew. Renata as Baby Spice, Tiffany as Sporty Spice, yours truly as Ginger Spice, Bradlea (the bride) as Scary Spice and Jen as Posh Spice. Good times, good embarrassing times. 

 

After some awesome food and cocktails the bride and groom arrived and had their first dance. There may or may not have been more wet eyes and sticky mascara on my part.

This picture gives you some idea of the inside of the old building. It was gorgeous. We danced and partied way too long into the night.

The Mrs

 

 and the Mr.

And yes I totally made them stop their wedding rounds and snap a few pictures with me. I'm like that. How do you all like my 1950s red satin wiggle dress with pearls? It's one of my favorites.

New York Trip Part 1

Hey all! How have you been? I've been fantastic. Today was a great day and it looks like things are turning around for the better. Hurray!

I want to thank you guys for sticking with me these last few weeks while I was off job hunting, gallivanting, and wedding attending. The last few weeks have been busy and a bit of a ride, but I promise to give you all my pre-mentioned blog posts on the Logan costume's construction, secret surprise presents, and autocromes this week. I also vow to give you a sneak preview of the Holiday Dress and to show off my very first real Christmas Tree. Stay tuned!

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog. Fiance and I had a lovely holiday and we hope you did too! This was one of those great years when we got to spend Thanksgiving with both sides of the family. With his parents in Georgia and my parents in New York we normally have to choose who to spend what holiday with, but thanks to my good friend/ex-roomate/bridesmaid now bridesmatron's wedding and my family members putting up with thanksgiving dinner happening 5 days early everything worked out.

We started the trip late Wednesday night. Our flight left at 5:30pm from Atlanta and thanks to some strong tail winds we made the trip in about one hour and forty minutes. Only problem was that we had to land in a 45mph crosswinds at a teeny-tiny airport in Newburgh, NY. I knew things were going to be rough when the flight attendant started holding his arms up in the air and pretending we were all on a rollercoaster.

Neither of us ended up loosing our lunches, but several people in the back of the plane didn't make it. I'll also note that there was a real shortage of vomit-bags on this trip, probably because they had already made the same landing in the same wind earlier that day. We did eventually make it to the ground where I promptly rushed to the terminal bathroom and washed my face for about 15 minutes, trying not to lose my cookies and also trying to curb the nausea. Fiance fared much better than I did during the landing.

Thankfully the rest of the trip to my parent's house was on land and it was quite enjoyable. We hung out with my parents for a little bit that night and then hit-the-hay.

The next morning we went in search of a Bridal gift for Miss Bradlea (the aforementioned bridesmaid/matron/roomate/etc) and enjoyed lunch at a great little place called Crew. The food was fantastic, though I'll admit that I was less than impressed with their Iced Tea. I guess after living in Georgia for two years now I've become a tea snob and only like brewed ice tea. Crew's tea was powdered, but other than that I have no complaints. The atmosphere was great and the food was delicious. If you're ever in Poughkeepsie, NY go try it out.

After lunch we decided to take a walk over the Hudson.

The Walkway over the Hudson is a neat little state park that was built over an old train bridge that had burned in the 1970s. For most of my life the railway bridge just sat rotting away, but a few years ago the state turned the decaying bridge into a public walkway. It's really quite neat.

 

It was great to see the FDR bridge from the walkway. I can't tell you how many times I've driven across that bridge in the past, looked at the railroad bridge and wished they'd do something with it. Now they have!

Totally drove across that bridge at least 5 times a week for most of my life. No bridges near me in GA, unless you count traffic bridges like spaghetti junction.

We stopped for photo ops as well. Mom and Dad were good sports about posing with me for 20 something photos. Anyone like my new hair? It was a present from my Mom.

 

Grabbed a few with Fiance as well. 

Then we contemplated the river, unsolvable equations and the meaning of life. 

But only for about five seconds.

After that we snapped a few more photos before it got too dark and a little too cold.

Then it was back to my parent's house where my mother made us delicious delicious lasagna. I ate too much.

How did your Holiday's go? Tell me all about them :)