I started this blog about 18 months ago. At that time, I'd been writing at my triathlon blog for a couple of years, and I felt like I couldn't quite be myself there. My readership had become mostly guys, and I didn't want to clog my blog with rantings about diamonds, relationship bumph and girl stuff.
So, here I came. And found lots of like minded mid-twenties girl bloggers to read, which was great. But now I'm feeling like I'm compartmentalising myself. Here, I'm "Miscellaneous Kate- wife and lover of pretty things." Joining tumblr only emphasised this, and I found myself posting more and more pretties and day to day girl dramas, because no-one was interested in the other Kate.
The other Kate, "Hotpotato Kate- hard core triathlete" lived at the other blog. And sure enough, I found it harder and harder to write about my personal stuff there. Instead, it became more and more dedicated to training, with life only there to provide the necessary background.
Now, I don't necessarily think that this compartmentalising was a bad thing. But maintaining both blogs and the tumblr is eating my time. And since I can't quite bring myself to spend $80/month on internet, a lot of that time has been lunchtime (etc...) So I started thinking, and decided something had to go.
So, from here on in, I'm just going to be Kate- a sometimes cynical newlywed, living and training in a new city, and enjoying all the challenges of marriage, lawyering and triathlon. I'm going to live at hotpotatorunning.blogspot.com, mostly because it's been home for longer, but I'm going to turn it from a tri-blog into a ME blog.
I sincerely hope that anyone reading this will visit me there!
Love,
Kate
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Penultimate post
I'm saying goodbye to this blog, and to my tumblr (reasons to come), but before I go, I thought I'd wrap up this wedding stuff with the wedding report I prepared to submit to a local mag.
Photos are copyright Adrian de la Fuente, made by me into a pretty shabby mosaic on bighugelabs!
"Phillip and I were married on 31 January 2009 at St Christopher’s Presbyterian Church in Seatoun, Wellington, followed by a reception at The Pines in Houghton Bay (a real Wellington institution).
We started our wedding planning with no real plan, but we knew we wanted a wedding that:
-was traditional, but totally “us”
-was elegant, but above all, fun
-involved our families and friends as much as possible
-reflected our love for Wellington and our shared enthusiasm for exercise and the outdoors
-included heaps of cheesy music and a jam packed dance floor, and above all
It didn’t take long for the ideas to take shape. A few weeks into the planning, I looked at all of the different ideas we had buzzing around and tried to think of a “theme” that could tie them all together, but the only words that came to mind were “Kate and Phil.” And that was all I needed.
We both worked pretty hard to prepare a wedding that we felt totally reflected our personalities and styles, and in my (totally biased) opinion we absolutely achieved that. We put a lot of thought into every element of the day- from the start of the processional (we used the wedding processional from The Sound of Music, which is my all time favourite movie) until the venue kicked us out at 1am - and I think it showed. The fantastic day we had, and the comments from guests, and our vendors, the next day (and for weeks afterwards) really made all of the stress and effort completely worth it.
Some of the things that we felt were very “us” were:
-the bike motif used on everything from invitations and other stationery, to our photo board, cake and our custom beer labels (we are both keen cyclists, and have spent a lot of time training together)
-our church and reception venue, which were both around the south coast of Wellington, an area we both really love and where we had been doing a lot of our triathlon training
-our vows, which we adapted ourselves from more traditional church vows
-the hymns and songs during the ceremony, which were songs I’d always dreamed of having at my wedding (and which Phil listened to before agreeing to them!)
-having Mr Whippy waiting outside the ceremony with free ice cream for everyone (I LOVE Mr Whippy, and it was a huge hit on a hot Wellington day)
-having our MC do a quiz about the two of us to get the ball rolling at the reception- and giving out embarrassing costumes (including a hot pink cowboy hat and a pair of pink fairy wings) to the “winning” team
-the custom Tuatara beer, “Cornfield Lager” (Phil is a beer nut, and his cousin- who’s a graphic designer- designed a fantastic label that incorporated our wedding motif and the Tuatara label design)
-the party (we’re both big 80s fans and dance-floor hogs and, along with our brilliant DJ, we put lots of effort into creating a playlist that included all of our favourites and would keep the dance floor full)
-writing our invitations in haiku, just for fun
-the photo board my parents and sisters made (using the bike, of course) and hung in the small tower outside the church for guests to poke their heads through and take photos in.
We also involved our family and friends as much as we could:
-we were married by my mum, who’s a minister
-my stepfather sang during the ceremony, along with a family friend
-my sisters were two of my bridesmaids
-we gathered a bunch of our family and friends, including aunts, sisters and grandparents to sing as a choir while we signed the register
-my future brother in law and Phil’s sister were our witnesses, instead of having members of our bridal party
-the organist from my old family church played for us
-Phil’s cousin designed all of our stationery
-a family friend made the bridesmaids’ dresses
-we served assorted slices made by Phil’s grandmother at an afternoon tea after the ceremony
-we had my Dad and stepmum’s olive oil out on the tables at the reception
My advice for other couples is to not worry too much about whether the crazy ideas you love will work. If you love them, they will work. So many of our ideas were a little “wacky” (in the words of our photographer), and we sometimes wondered how well they’d go down, but everything was just right on the day, and it was the personal touches that made it memorable. You have to keep your guests in mind, but the most important thing is to make sure that you make the day fun for you. If you and your husband are having the time of your life, so will your guests.
Design elements
The colours and aesthetics of the wedding were not the prime focus, but they were still important to me, and to Phil (to a lesser extent), so I thought I’d say a bit about them too. We chose our colours- a pale, almost bubblegum pink and a fresh sagey green- pretty early on. We then tried to keep the things we chose within the theme of “eclectic, whimsical vintage” which probably didn’t mean much to anyone but me! We kept track of the different ideas we had by making dozens of inspiration boards using the “mosaic maker” on bighugelabs.com.
To reflect our “theme”:
•we used soft, old-fashioned looking flowers like lisianthus and hydrangeas in the bouquets and mismatched antique china in the centrepieces (displayed on either pink polka dotted or green table runners);
•rather than buy additional flowers for the top table, we displayed the bride and bridesmaids’ bouquets in preserving jars decorated with old doilies I bought from a second hand shop (my maid of honour also used some of these doilies to craft herself up a gorgeous hairpiece);
•the men wore vintage lace buttonholes we’d had custom made on Etsy.com (by seller amanda1986) with their morning suits;
•I wore a vintage (faux) pearl and crystal brooch (also from Etsy, seller lilpaisley) on my
•Phil’s cufflinks were vintage (and included a couple sitting on a tandem bike).
I had a very classic single layer drop veil, slinky, v-neck, silk and lace dress (made for me by Renee Bridal, who was beyond wonderful). My (faux) pearl hairpins were also an Etsy find (from seller beadiful things), and my pearl and crystal earrings (from Luminary) were a present from Phil for our first Christmas together.
Our bridesmaids (my two sisters and two best friends) wore green dresses, each with a slightly different top, and each with a different sash. Two of the sashes were pink, and two were green. Their (faux) pearl jewellery was also custom made for them, by Kiwi Etsy seller Cleobelle. Phil’s Best “Man” (she’s a woman, but we couldn’t call her best lady, because that’s me!) wore a similar dress in pink, with a green sash, and the groomsmen wore polka dotted ties from Three Wise Men (one pink, one green). The bridesmaid and best “man” dresses were made for us by a good friend of my sisters, who recently finished her design degree and started teaching.
I don’t have a lot of sage (pun absolutely intended) advice on the design/aesthetic elements of wedding planning. Craft projects and DIY were very much not my strong point.
However:
•what they say is true- no-one leaves a wedding gushing about your centrepieces;
•spending the extra money on the dress of my dreams was absolutely worth it - for me;
•Etsy.com is a great source for jewellery (etc), and many sellers include a custom-making service."
Photos are copyright Adrian de la Fuente, made by me into a pretty shabby mosaic on bighugelabs!
"Phillip and I were married on 31 January 2009 at St Christopher’s Presbyterian Church in Seatoun, Wellington, followed by a reception at The Pines in Houghton Bay (a real Wellington institution).
We started our wedding planning with no real plan, but we knew we wanted a wedding that:
-was traditional, but totally “us”
-was elegant, but above all, fun
-involved our families and friends as much as possible
-reflected our love for Wellington and our shared enthusiasm for exercise and the outdoors
-included heaps of cheesy music and a jam packed dance floor, and above all
It didn’t take long for the ideas to take shape. A few weeks into the planning, I looked at all of the different ideas we had buzzing around and tried to think of a “theme” that could tie them all together, but the only words that came to mind were “Kate and Phil.” And that was all I needed.
We both worked pretty hard to prepare a wedding that we felt totally reflected our personalities and styles, and in my (totally biased) opinion we absolutely achieved that. We put a lot of thought into every element of the day- from the start of the processional (we used the wedding processional from The Sound of Music, which is my all time favourite movie) until the venue kicked us out at 1am - and I think it showed. The fantastic day we had, and the comments from guests, and our vendors, the next day (and for weeks afterwards) really made all of the stress and effort completely worth it.
Some of the things that we felt were very “us” were:
-the bike motif used on everything from invitations and other stationery, to our photo board, cake and our custom beer labels (we are both keen cyclists, and have spent a lot of time training together)
-our church and reception venue, which were both around the south coast of Wellington, an area we both really love and where we had been doing a lot of our triathlon training
-our vows, which we adapted ourselves from more traditional church vows
-the hymns and songs during the ceremony, which were songs I’d always dreamed of having at my wedding (and which Phil listened to before agreeing to them!)
-having Mr Whippy waiting outside the ceremony with free ice cream for everyone (I LOVE Mr Whippy, and it was a huge hit on a hot Wellington day)
-having our MC do a quiz about the two of us to get the ball rolling at the reception- and giving out embarrassing costumes (including a hot pink cowboy hat and a pair of pink fairy wings) to the “winning” team
-the custom Tuatara beer, “Cornfield Lager” (Phil is a beer nut, and his cousin- who’s a graphic designer- designed a fantastic label that incorporated our wedding motif and the Tuatara label design)
-the party (we’re both big 80s fans and dance-floor hogs and, along with our brilliant DJ, we put lots of effort into creating a playlist that included all of our favourites and would keep the dance floor full)
-writing our invitations in haiku, just for fun
-the photo board my parents and sisters made (using the bike, of course) and hung in the small tower outside the church for guests to poke their heads through and take photos in.
We also involved our family and friends as much as we could:
-we were married by my mum, who’s a minister
-my stepfather sang during the ceremony, along with a family friend
-my sisters were two of my bridesmaids
-we gathered a bunch of our family and friends, including aunts, sisters and grandparents to sing as a choir while we signed the register
-my future brother in law and Phil’s sister were our witnesses, instead of having members of our bridal party
-the organist from my old family church played for us
-Phil’s cousin designed all of our stationery
-a family friend made the bridesmaids’ dresses
-we served assorted slices made by Phil’s grandmother at an afternoon tea after the ceremony
-we had my Dad and stepmum’s olive oil out on the tables at the reception
My advice for other couples is to not worry too much about whether the crazy ideas you love will work. If you love them, they will work. So many of our ideas were a little “wacky” (in the words of our photographer), and we sometimes wondered how well they’d go down, but everything was just right on the day, and it was the personal touches that made it memorable. You have to keep your guests in mind, but the most important thing is to make sure that you make the day fun for you. If you and your husband are having the time of your life, so will your guests.
Design elements
The colours and aesthetics of the wedding were not the prime focus, but they were still important to me, and to Phil (to a lesser extent), so I thought I’d say a bit about them too. We chose our colours- a pale, almost bubblegum pink and a fresh sagey green- pretty early on. We then tried to keep the things we chose within the theme of “eclectic, whimsical vintage” which probably didn’t mean much to anyone but me! We kept track of the different ideas we had by making dozens of inspiration boards using the “mosaic maker” on bighugelabs.com.
To reflect our “theme”:
•we used soft, old-fashioned looking flowers like lisianthus and hydrangeas in the bouquets and mismatched antique china in the centrepieces (displayed on either pink polka dotted or green table runners);
•rather than buy additional flowers for the top table, we displayed the bride and bridesmaids’ bouquets in preserving jars decorated with old doilies I bought from a second hand shop (my maid of honour also used some of these doilies to craft herself up a gorgeous hairpiece);
•the men wore vintage lace buttonholes we’d had custom made on Etsy.com (by seller amanda1986) with their morning suits;
•I wore a vintage (faux) pearl and crystal brooch (also from Etsy, seller lilpaisley) on my
•Phil’s cufflinks were vintage (and included a couple sitting on a tandem bike).
I had a very classic single layer drop veil, slinky, v-neck, silk and lace dress (made for me by Renee Bridal, who was beyond wonderful). My (faux) pearl hairpins were also an Etsy find (from seller beadiful things), and my pearl and crystal earrings (from Luminary) were a present from Phil for our first Christmas together.
Our bridesmaids (my two sisters and two best friends) wore green dresses, each with a slightly different top, and each with a different sash. Two of the sashes were pink, and two were green. Their (faux) pearl jewellery was also custom made for them, by Kiwi Etsy seller Cleobelle. Phil’s Best “Man” (she’s a woman, but we couldn’t call her best lady, because that’s me!) wore a similar dress in pink, with a green sash, and the groomsmen wore polka dotted ties from Three Wise Men (one pink, one green). The bridesmaid and best “man” dresses were made for us by a good friend of my sisters, who recently finished her design degree and started teaching.
I don’t have a lot of sage (pun absolutely intended) advice on the design/aesthetic elements of wedding planning. Craft projects and DIY were very much not my strong point.
However:
•what they say is true- no-one leaves a wedding gushing about your centrepieces;
•spending the extra money on the dress of my dreams was absolutely worth it - for me;
•Etsy.com is a great source for jewellery (etc), and many sellers include a custom-making service."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
After the wedding
After you run a marathon, no-one expects you to suddenly just stop being interested in running. Even if you never intend to do another. You don't just say goodbye to something you've invested a year of your life in preparing for.
After your wedding, people expect you to jump straight off the wedding boat and onto the marriage, babies and home decoration ocean liner. After a certain point, even thinking about the wedding becomes a little pathetic.
10 weeks later, our thank yous are ready and will be going out next week. My wedding blog reading has gone down dramatically, but is still hovering somewhere a wee way above zero. I still have photo jobs up the wazoo, and a meeting with Duo Photography to discuss albums and the like next month. It's probably time to start leaving it behind.
But I'm not quite ready to let go completely. I hope I never am. I still want to be looking at my photos and my ring and smiling in 20, 30, 50 years' time, the way I still enjoy reading my first Rotorua race report, and my first blog posts.
After your wedding, people expect you to jump straight off the wedding boat and onto the marriage, babies and home decoration ocean liner. After a certain point, even thinking about the wedding becomes a little pathetic.
10 weeks later, our thank yous are ready and will be going out next week. My wedding blog reading has gone down dramatically, but is still hovering somewhere a wee way above zero. I still have photo jobs up the wazoo, and a meeting with Duo Photography to discuss albums and the like next month. It's probably time to start leaving it behind.
But I'm not quite ready to let go completely. I hope I never am. I still want to be looking at my photos and my ring and smiling in 20, 30, 50 years' time, the way I still enjoy reading my first Rotorua race report, and my first blog posts.
Monday, April 6, 2009
New leaf resolutions
After losing 5kg and finishing my half ironman last year, my dressmaker told me not to lose any more weight before the wedding. I took this to extremes, and made the most of the silly season. Then I made the most of the wedding season. Then the crazy hours at work season. I made a lot of excuses during the moving house season. And then a few more in the settling in season. And I'm making more every weekend.
With all these seasons, I kind of missed New Years resolution time, but I'm ready now, to start my next phase as Auckland-dwelling, healthy, hot, fast, wife.
My scales are at Phil's parents, but it's time to reacquaint myself with them. The last couple of days have been respectable B+ days, but it's time to make A- the norm and B+ the day I cringe about.
Lastly? Easter= No Excuse.
With all these seasons, I kind of missed New Years resolution time, but I'm ready now, to start my next phase as Auckland-dwelling, healthy, hot, fast, wife.
My scales are at Phil's parents, but it's time to reacquaint myself with them. The last couple of days have been respectable B+ days, but it's time to make A- the norm and B+ the day I cringe about.
Lastly? Easter= No Excuse.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Happy thoughts
It’s been a hard week. Maybe just a hard couple of days. Taking care of myself, and sorting out name changes, library membership, all those new-apartment details, and various banking issues has completely overwhelmed me. Having my bank cards cancelled without any warning was the last straw.
This morning I (gasp) missed a programmed workout. Swim squad- which I love, and have beenlooking forward to all week. Maybe it's not such a huge transgression, but it has filled me with frustration and self-loathing.
Then, I just about burst into tears as I lugged a ginormous bag up the hill to work. Oh, and I yelled at my husband, who didn't deserve it, of course.
So- time for happy thoughts! And what better way to make happy thoughts than to share some of my favourite wedding pics? (copyright of course belongs to duo photography ltd).. Right- as it seems that blogger has other plans, ONE of our favourite pics:
Holding my train up around my hips because it was being whipped about by the wind.
This morning I (gasp) missed a programmed workout. Swim squad- which I love, and have beenlooking forward to all week. Maybe it's not such a huge transgression, but it has filled me with frustration and self-loathing.
Then, I just about burst into tears as I lugged a ginormous bag up the hill to work. Oh, and I yelled at my husband, who didn't deserve it, of course.
So- time for happy thoughts! And what better way to make happy thoughts than to share some of my favourite wedding pics? (copyright of course belongs to duo photography ltd).. Right- as it seems that blogger has other plans, ONE of our favourite pics:
Holding my train up around my hips because it was being whipped about by the wind.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Marriage by commute: Week 1
The first week was hard, but manageable. The first half weekend was pleasant, but horrible. I saw Phil on Friday night, then he left early on Saturday. Saturday was a nice day, but hard work. I ran, and spent the day with two couples I don’t know well. Too much small talk, too much trying.
On Sunday, he came back around 10am. I’d had a lovely walk around my aunt’s neighbourhood in the morning and was feeling bouncy and sunny. But then we spent an hour or so small talking at my aunt’s, and 2 hours at a tedious family lunch, and I started to get very grouchy and very precious about my time with Phil.
Then we watched our slideshow of beautiful wedding photos, and cried and cuddled. Then went to see Spirit of the Marathon, watched too much HIMYM and slept fitfully. Then he was gone and I was swimming.
And now I know why it’s hard. It’s not that it’s awful without him, but it’s awesome with him. He makes everything about my life happier.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
My photographer
Well, my photos still haven't arrived (not grizzling, just being impatient), so here are a few of my favourite shots from my photographer's site- including just one of us!
It was meeting him and seeing a DVD of some full weddings that totally sold us on him, as I think the biggest of his many strengths is his versatility and his ability to capture the essence of the wedding he's photographing. So many photographers' sites (believe me, I'm a total wedding photog stalker) are wonderful but very all-the-samey, but Adrian's blog shows off a huge range of weddings, and seems to get them all just right.
All images copyright duo photography ltd (www.duophotography.co.nz)
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