[chicago style] wedding

 a whirlwind trip to chicago one weekend meant lots of good times with old friends and very few pictures.  guess we'll just have mostly memories.... especially of the best breakfast i've ever had in my life.

the [shack] supper

when you're here...you're family.

after the wedding my family stayed in town for another week.  when my wife and i got back from our mini honeymoon, we were able to spend some quality time with them before they headed home.  one particular night, they all wanted to experience a true maine lobster shack.  as i've only been to one a quick google search pointed us in the right direction.  thirty minutes later we were all sitting in the rising tide restaurant, which ended up being a legit lobster shack.  we all ordered various seafood items from the menu, with a few people even going for a whole lobster.

between the cracking of lobster tails and the squirting of lemon slices, people told their favorite stories from the wedding reception.  i had to laugh, not only at some of the hilarity i apparently missed at my own wedding, but because i looked around and realized i was in the middle of something my family does extremely well, telling stories, laughing and enjoying great food.

though we aren't all directly related, this group of people is my family...

and i was so excited to have that group go up in population by one with the addition of my wife.

there's no place like [gin]

as a kid, with lots of relatives in western kansas, i attended my share of weddings, all of which  incorporated volga german traditions; the wedding march, the singing of the brautlied (bride's song), the flying dutchman and many other polka's.  i enjoyed them because my grandfather loved them and i knew they were part of my heritage.

it took moving 1,800 miles away from my home to realize just why these traditions are so important.


with a touch of homesickness last month, my fiancee suggested that we throw a "june" bucket party. this was a party held by my friends back in kansas every june which included a large cocktail drink known as a gin bucket; a party i was going to miss this year.  however with her suggestion, i was immediately excited!  we invited all our new friends and started planning.  i was meticulous down to every detail, annoying my fiancee with discussions of correct bucket sizes and number of basters.  

the night of the party, all of our new found friends and neighbors came over. they were a little apprehensive about this gin concoction involving drinking communally from a large bucket with turkey basters, however after a few "bastes," everyone was on board.  the night ended up being a wonderful time and all our new friends became better friends that night.

i couldn't have been happier that night. i was like tevye dancing around the streets of anatevk shouting out "tradition!"  somewhere between joking about getting "basted" and eating "walking tacos" out of doritos bags, portland maine started to feel a little bit more like home.

a few days later my fiance and i did a little wedding planning.  still reeling in the happiness of the tradition of june bucket and thinking about our upcoming wedding i began to think about all the volga german traditions i'd like to include.  that's when it hit me.  these weren't just simple songs and dances you did at weddings just for the fun of it; theses were traditions brought over from my ancestors who had left their home.  songs and dances that reminded them of good times with friends and family they were now apart from.  traditions bought over that helped this new world they found themselves in seem a little less scary. familiar tunes and lyrics they could get lost in and feel like they were home again. a little piece of their old life that helped make their new life feel more like home.  these traditions were tiny seeds of a world they once knew that they could plant in a new place.  with time and love those seeds took root and became a whole new tradition, the wedding songs and dances i knew as a kid a hundred years after they were planted.

who knows if my great great grandchildren will be throwing june bucket parties in a hundred years, but there have been requests for a repeat in 2017.  

the year in pictures [2015]

year eleven for the [year in pictures] post.

in the past, i'd have to dig through files on my computer to gather my favorite photos from the last year, now i can simply open up instagram. scrolling through my feed, it was easy to see this year had a defining theme.  thumbing through photos of babies, marriages and engagements, this was a year of [growing up]. i realize that's a very vague theme to some up a year, but it is true. more than any previous year, i saw the people in my life make choices and go through events which added maturity  to their life story, myself included.

instagram had a feature this year where it grouped your best nine photos of the year, however that feature was based only on likes and comments. it didn't take into account the sentiment or personal feeling behind the photograph.

please enjoy ten images i personally chose because of what they meant to me and show this year was all about [growing up].

the_spicy_pickle_3.28.15

maybe not the best photo to start off a year of [growing up] as this photograph shows the time i had my girlfriend try an incredibly hot pickle, but i'll explain. my girlfriend and i have very different tastes in most everything.  a phrase we always say to each other when trying something new is "open mind" which is exactly what i said before she sampled the pickle.  remembering to keep an open mind seems to me a very [grown up] attitude, which is why i included this picture. well, that and it still cracks me up. by the way, she wasn't a fan.

 whale_of_a_good_time_5.25.15

memorial day found my girlfriend and i traveling to tulsa for a long weekend.  we enjoyed craft beer, wine, museums and incredible food. we also stopped to visit the blue whale, a route 66 icon. originally a playground and rest stop for the kids of cross country travelers, it now sits as a relic of a time long gone by.  she knows i love visiting places like this and we had a wonderful time checking it out.  what really made this trip memorable though, is that it affirmed a very [grown up] decision i had brewing in my head.

containment_6.26.15

i love my city and one of the ways i try to give back to my community is being an active member of our local aia.  to make that organization more apart of the community i wanted our group to host an art show for the monthly art gallery crawl, but i wanted to do something different, something never before seen here. through a lot of donations, a lot of peoples help and hard work, and through the creativity of friends and countless strangers, we did.  in june we hosted a "pop-up" gallery, a shipping container filled with over 500 napkin sketches. by far one of the greatest things i ever helped organized.  planning an event like that and caring about the community you live in made me feel very [grown up].

the_future_is_now_7.3.15

back to the future is my all time favorite movie and 2015 is a very big year in the movies trilogy. as most of you know, it's the year marty travels into the future. a small town near wichita hosted a "back to the future" celebration last summer and there was no way i was going to miss it. i ended up having a great time. when i was eight years old i remember wondering what life would be like in 2015 when i was all [grown up].  little did i know then, ironically, i'd be attending a "back to the future" festival.

 lobstah_roll_8.1.15

i think this is the most "norman rockwell-esque" photo i've ever taken.  as a mid-westerner this scene is so typically new england to me, it makes me smile. this photograph gets included because this is the weekend i asked my girlfriends parents for their "blessing" to ask their daughter to marry me. the second most [grown-up] question i would ask in 2015.

day_at_the_beach_8.30.15

as an architect, i had to visit "the national building museum" this summer while in washington d.c. it's a fantastic space and i had the chance to view "the beach".  an installation which allowed [grown-ups] to act like kids having fun in a gigantic ball pit. this was also a wonderful trip spent attending a wedding with my girlfriend. a trip which helped me decide the setting for an event later in the year.

 popping_up_9.25.15

this summer wichita took a vacant and unsightly lot in downtown and turned it into a pop-up park. in the grand scheme of large cities, this is nothing new, but for our little mid-western town it was a very original idea.  with food trucks, seating, artwork and outdoor games, it seems to be filling a "hole" in our cities urban fabric by creating a dynamic community space for the more and more people living and working downtown.  one small way i feel this city is [growing up].

above_the_crowd_10.3.15

a staple in my yearly schedule is attending the austin city limits festival.  i go to great lengths to make sure this weekend is blocked out every october so i can attend.  i wouldn't miss it for the world. however this year was the first time my concert going friends entertained the idea of doing something else next year. are we [growing up] or simply getting to old for the three day festival in the texas sun? who knows. that being said, this shot does a great job of capturing the feel of the festival and i'm glad i got to experience it for another year.

 point_of_engagement_12.10.15

this is outside the willard hotel in washington d.c. the spot where i asked the most [grown up] question of my life. from this spot forward i knew my life would be different.  from this spot forward i no longer thought about "me" but rather "us." from this spot forward i knew i'd have someone there with me all the time, to laugh with, to cry with, to share good times and bad.  this spot changed everything in my life and i couldn't be happier about it. 

off_to_the_future_12.27.15

in a year full of [growing up] it seems appropriate to end with this photo from my friends december wedding.  he and i [grew up] together and i was absolutely thrilled to be a part of this moment in his life. we both did a lot of [growing up] the later part of 2015 and i'm glad we were there to talk about it with each other. i love this photograph because there's such a feeling of happiness and pure joy as he and his new wife head into the future. a perfect way to feel as we enter into a new and exciting year.

[wedding]ton dc

growing up in the conservative mid-west, it's easy to believe washington dc is a horrible place to live, let alone visit.

thankfully, my second trip to the city, found me touring new areas, monuments and museums and reaffirmed to me how great the city truly is.

this trip found me atop of the washington monument, visiting the mlk, fdr and jefferson memorials, exploring the national building museum, the newseum, taking the metro, the nationals ballpark and fords theatre as well as eating in some amazing restaurants and bars.  as an added bonus, i also attended a beautiful wedding and made some wonderful new friends.  all of which helped skyrocket washington dc into my unofficial list of favorite place.

enjoy the pics.

new york state of [marriage]

i attended a great wedding last weekend.

it deserves this title for several reasons. first of all i've known this couple for a long time. he is one of my best friends and over the years his wife has become one as well.  it was intimate. the couple decided on a very small guest list choosing to celebrate this wonderful occasion with those people who had a direct part of their relationship. next, it took place in new york, a city they've come to love, and a place that helped foster their love for each other. finally, the whole weekend perfectly and beautifully reflected the couple. it was personal, elegant, meaningful, minimal and incredibly well designed, placing the importance on the essential. just the way a relationship should be.

congratulations adam and angela, love you both.

lord of the [bachelors]

bachelor parties should be as unique as the bachelor they're intended to celebrate, and my buddy tim's couldn't have fit him better.  the best man secured a large house on the shores of the lake of the ozarks for 15 of us to enjoy a long weekend.  time was spent fishing, grilling, floating, watching soccer and of course drinking. for the most part we all lived like complete bachelors for a few days have no contact with the outside world.  most of us spent the majority of the time covered in a mix of sunscreen and bbq sauce, using the lake to rinse off occasionally.  meals consisted of grilled meat of all shapes and forms and beer.  with this group of hob heads we probably had the best selection of beer on the lake, and as much as we hate to admit it, the occasional "mangarita" thrown in for variety.  the only thing missing was a conch shell. 

all in all it was a perfect way to send tim, a guy who loves the company of his brothers and friends, off to get married.