It is Christmas Eve. Matt and I have sorely neglected the blog for the last few months but this time of year I always miss my far-flung family and we thought it would be a nice time to revive the blog. Let those of you still reading know what we're up to and to wish you all a wonderful holiday and New Year. We wish were closer.
Compared to the early part of 2008 (graduation, new job, moving, wedding) the last few months have seemed so...normal. We didn't know what to say.
Matt has gotten yet another promotion at Sherry-Lehman just in time for the crazed holiday season. He has been working insane hours for the last few weeks and is looking forward to spending Christmas with Brad, Gayle, Lian and the Hamilton Grandparents in Cold Spring. I have been working and taking Graphic Design classes at NYU, which has been great fun and am looking forward to the spring semester. Both of our jobs have been unscathed by the economic woes that are effecting many New Yorkers this year. We are both thankful for that.
We are both adjusting to married life. I have almost completely stopped introducing myself as Matt's girlfriend and nearly finished the tedious task of changing my name. No one told me there would be so much paperwork.
We plan on blogging more regularly again in 2009 and in the meantime wish all of you a wonderful New Year!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Official Photos
Our “official” photos are here, courtesy of the generous Travis and his handsome assistant Nate, of Becker Productions. They were kind enough to act as our pro bono wedding photographers for the day, and also kind of enough to give us a lift to our ceremony in their minivan.These are all of the family portraits and the “getting ready” pictures as well as ceremony, reception and post-reception.
Enjoy!
Click here for photos. [10.9.08 Update: I was informed the link was broken, but I fixed it. If you had difficulty, give it another go! Sorry about that.]
Sunday, September 28, 2008
apropos of nothing
I was on the subway on the way home from work, shoulder, to elbow, to cheek with the other 5 million people riding my train at 5 o'clock, listening to one of my favorite radio shows on NPR called Radio Lab. It is a science show that discusses questions like time and mortality but also everyday human things like laughter (did you know rats giggle when tickled!) and why songs get stuck in your head.
The episode I was listening to was Memory about how human beings form memories. The show has 2 hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich and Robert explains that we usually think of memory as a "filing cabinet in your brain." Something happens, our brain records it and then we store it away. When we remember it, we simply go to the filing cabinet and retrieve it. Sometimes files get lost or misplaced but they are there in our brains and we carry them around with us all the time.
Science experiments indicate that this is not the way it works. Rather than recalling an original memory, remembering is actually an act of "creation and construction." When we remember we rebuild the experience piece by piece, essentially painting it in our heads, which is why some memories can produce very real, powerful reactions (post-traumatic stress disorders, etc.). You are reliving it every time you remember.
The issue with this is the more often you remember something, a first kiss is the example they use, the more it gets distorted. Every time you tell that story or remember it, you create that experience anew, and you rearrange one or two tiny blocks from the last time you constructed it. The more often you remember, the more distorted that story becomes. So in truth, the most accurate memories you have are the ones you recall the least often.
Robert, one of the 2 hosts, tends to grapple a little more with the spiritual side of scientific revelations and is very distressed about the idea that our most treasured memories are the ones that have the least truth. We have rearranged the pieces so many times, flattened and moulded them, that the memory and what actually happened, are fundamentally different.
I kind of like the idea of building stories together, even if they aren't fundamentally true. I think often when we remember, it is in the act of telling stories to each other. As a couple, as a family, or between old friends when you tell a story, you are actually creating it anew each time, changing it so it is unique. I think there is something beautiful about that - writing our lives over and over again with people we love, building them from scratch together every time we remember.
The episode I was listening to was Memory about how human beings form memories. The show has 2 hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich and Robert explains that we usually think of memory as a "filing cabinet in your brain." Something happens, our brain records it and then we store it away. When we remember it, we simply go to the filing cabinet and retrieve it. Sometimes files get lost or misplaced but they are there in our brains and we carry them around with us all the time.
Science experiments indicate that this is not the way it works. Rather than recalling an original memory, remembering is actually an act of "creation and construction." When we remember we rebuild the experience piece by piece, essentially painting it in our heads, which is why some memories can produce very real, powerful reactions (post-traumatic stress disorders, etc.). You are reliving it every time you remember.
The issue with this is the more often you remember something, a first kiss is the example they use, the more it gets distorted. Every time you tell that story or remember it, you create that experience anew, and you rearrange one or two tiny blocks from the last time you constructed it. The more often you remember, the more distorted that story becomes. So in truth, the most accurate memories you have are the ones you recall the least often.
Robert, one of the 2 hosts, tends to grapple a little more with the spiritual side of scientific revelations and is very distressed about the idea that our most treasured memories are the ones that have the least truth. We have rearranged the pieces so many times, flattened and moulded them, that the memory and what actually happened, are fundamentally different.
I kind of like the idea of building stories together, even if they aren't fundamentally true. I think often when we remember, it is in the act of telling stories to each other. As a couple, as a family, or between old friends when you tell a story, you are actually creating it anew each time, changing it so it is unique. I think there is something beautiful about that - writing our lives over and over again with people we love, building them from scratch together every time we remember.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Our Ceremony
One of the things that several people commented on after the wedding was our our vows which were written by us, and Evelyn's reflection. Everyone, including us, seemed to feel that they were both a great expression of us as individuals and as a couple. In case anyone (like me) was too caught up in the moment to catch every word and wants a second read. I've posted the entire ceremony to it's own website, which you can view here. Special thanks to Evelyn for sending a copy of this to us.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thank You, Thank You, and Thank You
For the many of you that gave us generous monetary gifts as wedding presents, I want to share something very special with you, something that is giving both Ana and I a great deal of joy, thanks to you. In fact, I'm enjoying it right now as I sit here writing this post.
A little bit of background:
As most of you probably already know, after Ana graduated from Columbia in May, we moved out of student housing and into a beautiful apartment in Astoria, Queens. We loved our apartment from the first time we walked through the door. However, rent in New York is, as you may know, ridiculously expensive. Make that ludicrously expensive. Ana and I were able to scrape together enough cash for the deposit, the broker's fee, and to make rent, but we had no money at all left over for furniture, which was a problem, because neither of us owned any. In fact, the only two pieces of furniture we had were the desk and dresser left behind by the previous tenant at Columbia. So, despite living in this beautiful, spacious apartment (a true rarity in these parts), our living room, I'm embarrassed to reveal, looked like this:
Yeah, those are our sleeping pads we use for camping. They were our living room chairs. We ate dinner on a mat on the floor. Originally it was only supposed to be like that for a few weeks, but as the wedding neared, weeks turned into months. Three months. That is, until this past weekend.
Thanks to your generous gifts, a trip to Ikea, a couch delivery, several hours of assembly, and one possibly broken toe later, that same room you see above now looks like this:
I'm sitting at the table you can see in those shots as I write this, and I couldn't be happier. If the goal of wedding gifts is to help a new couple establish their new life together, then those who gave to us definitely succeeded. Ana and I are both so happy with our new home, which you helped us build. We're proud to call it ours.
Thank you.
A little bit of background:
As most of you probably already know, after Ana graduated from Columbia in May, we moved out of student housing and into a beautiful apartment in Astoria, Queens. We loved our apartment from the first time we walked through the door. However, rent in New York is, as you may know, ridiculously expensive. Make that ludicrously expensive. Ana and I were able to scrape together enough cash for the deposit, the broker's fee, and to make rent, but we had no money at all left over for furniture, which was a problem, because neither of us owned any. In fact, the only two pieces of furniture we had were the desk and dresser left behind by the previous tenant at Columbia. So, despite living in this beautiful, spacious apartment (a true rarity in these parts), our living room, I'm embarrassed to reveal, looked like this:
Yeah, those are our sleeping pads we use for camping. They were our living room chairs. We ate dinner on a mat on the floor. Originally it was only supposed to be like that for a few weeks, but as the wedding neared, weeks turned into months. Three months. That is, until this past weekend.
Thanks to your generous gifts, a trip to Ikea, a couch delivery, several hours of assembly, and one possibly broken toe later, that same room you see above now looks like this:
I'm sitting at the table you can see in those shots as I write this, and I couldn't be happier. If the goal of wedding gifts is to help a new couple establish their new life together, then those who gave to us definitely succeeded. Ana and I are both so happy with our new home, which you helped us build. We're proud to call it ours.
Thank you.
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