Ten years ago today, on October 20, Greg and I were married in Palm Springs, California. It was a totally glorious and special day for us. Everyone does things their own way…some folks want a smaller intimate affair, others go for the big hoopla. We wanted a nifty location, a fun vintage cocktail party vibe and something that was special enough that we would remember, but not so over-the- top that we were broke for years after.

One weekend, after being utterly overwhelmed by wedding thoughts, Greg suggested we head down to Palm Springs. This was in late 2000 and it was no where near the destination it is today. I have to say Greg was ahead of his time! I was a little skeptical…Palm Springs? Isn’t it mostly old golfers?? He told me he was pretty sure I’d like it. We drove down one sunny morning and from the moment I laid eyes on the amazing mid-century architecture that was all over the place, I was hooked! None of the current hip hotels existed at the time —there was no Jonathan Adler or Kelly Wearstler goodness to be found. No Ace. No Viceroy. No Parker. (In fact, the Parker was the Givenchy Merv Griffin Hotel! Hah!) They were all still the oldie hotel/motels from yesteryear. While we were down there lounging, we said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could just rent an awesome mid-century house and have the wedding there??” That afternoon we stumbled upon this:

It was the iconic 1960s Palm Springs Alexander House(aka the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway). The house was where Elvis and Priscilla were supposed to get married, but because Rona Barrett broke the news that they were in Palm Springs (and reporters began to swarm the town) they snuck out and flew to Vegas. They ended up spending their honeymoon there, and Elvis loved the place so much he wanted to buy it. At the time we didn’t know all this, we just thought it was a spectacular place….and exactly where we wanted to get married. So as luck would have it…. we did!

To get married at a place known as “The House of the Future” was truly a dream come true!  They don’t typically rent the place out that often for personal events, so it was very special that we were allowed to have our day there (and the lovely couple who own the place were exceptionally kind and really helped to make it happen for us!).

Shockingly, I didn’t spend much money on my dress (gasp! I know, right? haha). IMy shoes and accessories were vintage and the dress was actually brand new. I also did all the flowers myself (both my bouquet and all the table and decor flowers) and my brother Karl (aka DJ Kurse) spun amazing tunes all evening. Being a vintage kookoo, I also staged the place with my own vintage pillows, bric-a-brac and even vintage 60s bridal magazines in the “boudoir.” Yes, I’m a vintage perfectionist. But those little details paid off because everyone thought they were actually part of the place! [tomorrow I’ll share some more photos of the house, if you like!]

I wanted to share with you some photos of our special day. It’s funny, when I got married I didn’t have a blog (hardly anyone did), not everyone had digital cameras, and the trend of documenting every detail in an editorial manner hadn’t really happened. Thankfully we had a groovy young photographer who shot lots of unconventional photos—at the time I remember some people thinking our wedding photos were a little kooky (he shot on real film and even cross-processed a lot of the rolls) but I love ’em. Because the real photos are all in frames,  I scanned some of the mediocre copies I have tucked away in a box —sorry  the colors are a bit wonky. The real ones are much pertier! When I look at some of the amazing wedding photo spreads in blogs today they almost seem like a magazine shoot and I think, “Wow, what we would have done if we had gotten married today!” That being said, I love all of these pictures so much. It was a truly amazing day!

Ten years. Wow. It’s such a milestone. Being together so long, Greg and I know each other so well…..we have our little moments where we drive each other crazy, and we have tons of moments where we are just so happy and thankful for our sweet little family. Just last night Greg and I were laughing so hard about something that I was literally crying and my stomach hurt. And that’s what it’s really all about! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY sweetie. To the coolest, funniest, goofiest, handsomest fella I know! What other fella can act like a goofy spaz with the kiddos and the dog, but still know exactly which shoes would make the perfect Christmas present for me? As Wolfie would say you are the best dadda ever and an amazing partner! I love you. Here’s to ten more years! Oh….and don’t forget the flowers. I’ll pick up the cake.   *wink*

The other weekend my friend Stephanie and I sold at the Alameda Flea Market again. Whenever I tell friends I’m doing the Flea, people always go, “Oooh fun!” And while it IS lots of fun, I have to say it is also boat loads of work! It all starts with sorting and loading up allllll the things you want to sell. Clothing, furniture, knick knacks. Furniture and lamps will bring you the most coin, but it takes up the most space in the van. Also, figuring out how to display everything is really important. You want an eye catching, fun display with lots of levels so people can browse everything easily. A messy pile is never fun! Thankfully my sweet pal Rusty lent us her folding tables (which was a HUGE help!) and I even schlepped a book shelf type dealie with me to display my shoes and handbags. The trick is, you don’t want to have TOOO many staging items, because you need room for all the stuff you’re selling!

Sellers have to get there early—it’s still dark outside. Early bird sellers are allowed in at 6am, and they wander around with miner-style head lamps and little flashlights. Unloading everything at 5:30am (when you’re all bleary eyed) is tough, but Steph and I always manage to have fun. There she is down there, look how cute she is! AND she’s preggo. She’s a super woman, doing the crazy Flea while pregnant!

My favorite part is early on, when the crowd’s start building. I love chit chatting with shoppers. I have to confess I’m not experienced enough to be a hard nosed seller. Our prices were really decent, but I always worry I’m charging too much. When I wander around all the other vintage sellers are charging SO much more….but people still love to haggle ya down. You really have to price things for a good $10-20 more than what you really want. “It’s $45. But I can do $30.” “Um, how about $25?” Sigh.

Steph and I always end up browsing each others goodies (she has a huge vintage collection) and last time we kept saying, “What? You’re selling THIS??” So this time we were really good about saying, “You’re selling that? Good! You’ll get some bucks for it!” We make sure we take turns taking little breaks so we can grab a snack, run to the bathroom, and just browse all the great stuff everyone is selling. As I wander around it’s always soooo tempting to shop. But that defeats the purpose of trying to make some money, right? Still, it’s hard to resist….

Nope. I didn’t buy any suitcases! I held strong….and frankly I have plenty. But that round white one sure was cuuuute!

The consistent comment we got throughout the day was, “Wow! You guys have such cool stuff. Your booth is one of the most colorful here!” Which I loved hearing….

We met a ton of great shoppers and sold some really cool things to some really great people. That’s one of the best things! Seeing people discover something they love, or buying something that fits them PERFECTLY. It’s so great. Of all the customers that day, my second-favorite was this awesome little 10 year old girl who fell in love with an orange, mod raincoat. Her mama bought it for her and she was sooo thrilled! It was so so cute. Oh, and my favorite customer? This cutie. Hee.

By far our most popular item was my Magnum P.I. tv tray. It’s kind of beat up and rusty on one side, but Tom Selleck’s face is in pristine condition. It’s hilarious! I love to imagine some Uber Fan eating on it but taking great care not to disturb The Tom. I decided I didn’t really want to sell it after all, so I tacked a “sold” sign on it. And friends, if I had a dollar for every person who asked me about it, I’d be a rich lady! Magnum became our little good luck charm—breaking hearts all day long!

By the end of the day we are always BEAT. Your hands are filthy, your face is dusty, and your feet are achey from standing around for 11 hours. And then you have to load it all up again! That’s my least favorite part. I always want the packing fairy to come by and load everything up for me into the car. I swear, as much as you sell, it always seems like you’re coming home with just as much stuff! But as hard as it is, Stephanie and I always have a blast…..and ya know, the end result is always pretty satisfying.

We are huge animal lovers in our family. Before Wolfie was born, Greg and I had one cat (Chuckie, the amazing wondercat) and one dog (Spencer, our amazing three-legger). They were the best, best pets ever. Chuckie was a beautiful grey kitty…and an amazing mix of “independent neighborhood bad ass” and “supreme snuggler”. I wasn’t really a cat person til I met Chuckie. I adored him. And Spence….Spence was a truly magical dog. He lost his leg when he was two, but still ran and swam like gang busters. He was a beauty (part Irish Setter, part Springer) LOVED to chase a ball and looked for any excuse to go in the water. Sadly, Chuckie passed away while I was pregnant and Spencer passed away within a few weeks of Wolfie’s birth. It was pretty devastating. We decided we’d wait to get another dog til Wolfie was a bit older. In the mean time we collected a menagerie of crazy kitties (one feral, two strays….see? we’re suckers for any sweet animal). BUT we have really been hankerin’ for a pup. We love bigger dogs that you can really snuggle and hug on. We  were thinking something in the labrador/golden retriever category (we’ve been dog sitting my friend’s dog Henry this past year, and he is an awesome chocolate lab)….but then one day, a few weeks ago, we went to the pound and we met this fella:

He looks kind of cute and little in that photo, but it’s an optical illusion. He’s pretty huge. They didn’t know much about him….but they were fairly sure he was a Kuvasz, a Hungarian goat guarding dog. His coat had to be shaved because he was so matted and had tons of foxtails and burrs in his fur. One look in his big ol’ brown eyes and something about him made us know he was special. I have to say it was quite an ordeal trying to adopt him—we almost didn’t get him! A young hippy girl (who was a renter) got there before us and laid claim to him. She didn’t have a note from her landlord (which they require in order to adopt) and was on the phone with him. Technically we could have swooped in and nabbed him (the lady behind the counter was brusque, “We don’t hold animals. First person whose application is approved gets the dog!”) but even though we were in love, we felt weird starting things out awkwardly. We decided to wait a few hours to give the girl time to get her papers together and then we’d go back. If he was still there, we figured we could go ahead and try to adopt. So Greg and Wolfie went back (I had to work) and he was still there. Yay! They spent a lot of time with him in the little play yard and said he was wonderful. But they were told that the entire family had to be there in order to process an adoption. Boooo! That was a Saturday. We decided we’d go back first thing Sunday to apply. We were a little nervous hippy girl would have come back so we got there 15 minutes before they opened….only to find out that they were short staffed and they were closed. Argh!! We went back Monday and they were closed again! Double argh!! Tuesday they were FINALLY open….and Wolfie and I went there immediately after school. He was still there, wagging his tail and looking like a love. Of course we had to wait for Greg, and I was paranoid someone would come and snag him out from under us—including hippy girl. I literally sat on the floor in front of his cage with my paperwork. He probably thought I was crazy, sitting there for 30 minutes speaking softly to him. While I waited, at least four  different people came to the shelter specifically to look at him. I nervously clutched our paperwork and tried to look like I was official. One couple seemed reeeeally interested in him and lingered, but bless little Wolfie, who piped up, “Oh, this is our doggie. We are adopting him! He’s awesome!” The man was very sweet and said, “Oh, well then. If he’s your doggie he’s a very lucky dog.” The woman didn’t look too pleased. Finally Greg showed up….and we moved into full adoption swing! We were literally signing on the dotted line when I heard someone come in behind me saying, “I’m back! And I have all my papers finally.” Eek. It was Hippy Girl. My heart dropped, I was still paranoid that this beautiful doggie wouldn’t be ours, but thankfully it was all an done deal (and to be fair, it was four days after we first saw her so I felt like our boy was fair game). They told us he still needed to be fixed and microchipped and we couldn’t take him home for a few days. We were confused because he sure looked fixed, but they insisted he wasn’t. [Oh, and as a happy story side note, when we were leaving we saw Hippy Girl with a most lovely siberian huskey in the play yard, and I think she ended up adopting him!]

Of course the next day they called us, apologetic, “Um,  so we put him under to do the operation and uh, heh….well he IS fixed!”  Argh. Poor pooch. The one upside was that they were able to remove some more foxtails that were embedded deep in his little ears. I went to pick him up and they led him out of the back room all woozy and groggy. I was so happy to see him, although he was pretty out of it. All of a sudden an older somewhat fancily dressed woman comes flying up to us, “Oh my goodness, there he is! Oh my he’s beautiful!” “Um, thank you….we just adopted him.” “You adopted him? Oh no! I saw him on the web site. He’s beautiful! I came alllll the way from Marin to look at him! I am afraid of driving…I had to Mapquest the way and it was SUCH an ordeal! Really? You are adopting him??? Oh no!” It was so crazy and awkward. I felt like she wanted me to say, “oh ok, you can have him then.” Instead I said,  “Yes….we completed the adoption yesterday. We really love him.” The woman was nice but kept following us. “Can I please pet him? I’m so happy to meet him…..and see you….you who are adopting him. You know my own dog was a Samoyed and he just passed away 2 weeks ago.” Oy. What do you say? We were an odd pair, me and my wobbly legged pup being followed by the Marin fancy lady. I was trying to pay the Rescue people for his rabies shots and she wouldn’t stop cooing and petting him. I finally had to say, “I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to finalize things here.” We finished up and as I turned to leave, Fancy Lady was still there staring whistfully at our boy. She even followed us out to the parking lot. It was very awkward. But not as awkward as me trying to get Mr. Dog into the back seat of my Jetta. We have a mini van (MINI VAN!) and that’s what we had planned on bringing him home in…we weren’t expecting the “Oops. He’s already fixed!” call. Add that to the fact that the poor guy was still partially drowsy from the anesthesia and we were a comical pair as I tried to help him clamber into the back seat. Fancy lady suddenly appeared (again) and for once I was glad to see her. She happened to have a special car ramp they had built for her dog and offered it to help get him inside. As crazy as she was, she was very kind and helpful in the end. It was astounding to me how many people wanted to adopt this doggy and how everyone’s reaction to him was so positive. We knew we landed ourselves a pretty special guy.

We decided to name him Samson, since his glorious mane was shorn. We know it will come back in its full glory and are feeding him lots of healthy food to encourage a luscious coat—and put a little meat on his slender frame. We call him Sam….or Sammy. It was so fun bringing him home and once his drugs wore off, he was very curious, alert and loved hunkerin’ out in the backyard with a bone.

We’ve been researching online and we think he is either a Great Pyrenees or a Kuvasz.

Both dogs look extremely similar and both are herd guarding dogs….we’re leaning towards a Great Pyrenees. He might have some lab in him too, but he doesn’t really look like a mix. It’s hard to tell since his coat is still short. One thing that’s certain is he is SUCH a sweetie. So gentle and mellow. He has a mean and throaty bark, which cracks us up. We had no clue how old he was but we took him to the vet this weekend and she thinks he’s 1 1/2 – 2. MUCH younger than we thought!

He still has very puppie-ish behavior….we came home the other day to find that he had tore open a whole sack of fishy kitty treats….and a bag of goldfish crackers….and ate them on the bed…and then dragged our little compost bin off the counter and who knows WHAT he ate outta that thing.  Sigh. Yep. We are now the proud owners of a 72 pound teenager. Lord have mercy! But honestly, he’s just so dang cute and sweet….we’re all so smitten. He’s got personality for days. Wolfie is especially thrilled, he’s an animal lover and has always been gentle with pets. And Sammy is pretty wonderful with Wolfie. Already protective of him.

Having a dog is a big responsibility, and one we don’t take lightly. But the rewards are also so very great. He’s already added so much joy and excitement (ahem…..compost bin) to our lives. Stay tuned for more adventures!