Promises I fully intend to keep:

1. Indepth photo-heavy posts re: the wedding and the honeymoon.
2. Regular updates on our lives.
3. A photo tour of the new place.
4. Lots of sappy comments about how fantastic James is. :)

But, the internet in the hotel is real slow (and our photographer is starting school next week). And we're scheduled to sign a lease tomorrow afternoon, but we're going to see a house built in 1912, newly renovated, prairie style (30 minutes away from work and 45 from Madison) tomorrow morning that may ruin everything.

James, however, is fantastic. And bearded. And charming. And fun to hold hands with at church.


This week:
Apartment searching. A lot of dingy cream-colored townhomes. Some smokey, some pet-smelling, some fine but sort of soulless? I found out after 3 or 4 Craiglist postings that "charming" gets me every time. It's been fine--we've had some success just out and driving around. We've spent most of our time in Verona (Hometown USA), where my job is, which is a little town (10,000), very charming, renaissancing. Lots of trees and delicious eats (more later). But we're also looking at the surrounding areas. Mt. Horeb ("the troll capital of the world") is smaller, 15 minutes down the road and delightful. Mt. Horeb is probably where we'll end up.

Eating. Culvers (home of the Butter Burger if you can imagine) was the big Verona success--a small chain (3-4 locations), killer custard and a pot roast sandwich that I could eat every day of the week. James started throwing around the word "obesity", but I'm not certain what he's referring to. We also tried the Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb. I got the brat burger (served w/sauerkraut and a side of spicy mustard) and wondered why it's taken me 28 years to come to Wisconsin.

Driving. It's crazy beautiful here. So wooded it looks a little jungly, lakes around every corner, rolling corn-y hills. Love love love. We took a drive out to Tyrol Basin, the local ski area (also charming :) ) and stopped by Little Norway--we didn't take the 1 hr tour (full of local history and family anecdotes) to see the 5,000 Norwegian artifacts, but I did decide where I was going to prep for Christmas. (Unfortunately the Scandinavian influence has not helped anyone pronounce my name correctly, but.)

If all goes well we'll be in our new place next Sunday. Until then: much love and we're safe and happy and etc. :)

Wisconsin: also a thing.

So we started out 3 days later than we anticipated (but well rested and brilliantly packed). And when in the middle of Nebraska the flat, open, west began being filled up with trees and was suddenly and certainly midwestern I felt a twinge of panic. And when we crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin, even though it was entirely gorgeous, the "west of the Mississippi" in me felt a lot like throwing up. We may just have moved across the country. Out of Utah for the first time, really. (Hurrah/wtf!)

But. We're here! And safe! And a lot excited.

What *my* weekend was like.

Win.

Late on this one:

Love love love.

Anniversary for realz.

So. James and I have been dating for an entire year (this actually happened early yesterday morning: we started dating like we start other important things, with a late-night conversation). I, for one, can not believe that this is a real thing, but am very happy that it is.

He is so good to me.

 Plus hilarious.

Plus nice.

 Also adorable.

Happy one year! (And to many many more!)

(Thanks to my old and great friend Meikel. The shoot was a dream and these pictures are a genius.)

Super 8

#1: Why have Spielberg and JJ Abrams never yet worked together? Match made in heaven. Particularly for a friendly summertimey alien flick.

#2: I didn't realized that Spielbergian was a thing. But it totally is. Low, wide shots of kids on bikes at dusk. Dads alienated from their sons. Entirely. And it's not bad--like some parts of this movie feel really familiar, and in another teams' hands I would call it predictable, but here it just feels stylized and comfortable.

#3: I loved it as an ode to filmmaking.

I dunno. I say yes.

On Father's Day

In wedding planning I've had this feeling of being vaguely thwarted. I have these great visions in my head--all of the things I want to do and how I want things to look and feel, but I keep being surprised at how little time, energy, and resources I have. I mean, part of it is that my sisters and close friends are all pregnant and/or moving, that we only have a couple of months (6 weeks!) etc., but I also felt vaguely aware of a lack, some support I kept reaching for but wasn't where I expected it to be. And I realized today that this is what missing my dad feels like.

Because if you need a really funky cool venue in Salt Lake, you would call Dennis. Or if you need someone who can spend an inordinate amount of time or money, like, building a fountain or renting folding chairs without worrying you about it you could call Dennis. Or if you need someone to put together a luncheon with thought mostly to tastefulness with an appropriate spritz of heart-felt emotion, or you need 200 extra man hours, or you're wondering what flowers match, or you need some good samba, or someone to bounce ideas off of to make sure you're living up to the Evans family standard of good taste and good parties, or just to be pleasantly surprised by an extra dozen paperwhites, you could call Dennis.

I don't know if this paean will translate to other families. Because I'm sure everyone loves and misses their dads in their own ways, and maybe this sounds trite or utilitarian...but. This is what Dennis does and did. This is me beginning to realize and appreciate how a gruff old curmudgeon showed me he loved me. And how much who I am depended on him.

Happy Father's Day. I miss you. ke




[I want to say, too, that I'm super grateful for all the help that everyone has offered and provided. And also that I keep referring to taste--this is subjective, of course, but the things is, Dennis defined my tastes almost exclusively so any stylistic thing he did was in perfectly good taste? If that makes sense? A subject for another post.]