New Zealand Honeymoon: Part II

So, just to catch you up, we'd flown in (albeit, after a lot of stress), wandered Christchurch, taken an incredibly scenic drive to Kaikoura, and gone wine- and beer-tasting in Marlborough. And, remember, we now had George, an adorable little stuffed bear, along for the ride.

Day 3: Marlborough --> Marahau

We arrived into Marahau in the middle of the afternoon with plans to go horseback riding up into the lush valley. We met our Kiwi horseman and off we went.

Our horses didn't like each other so we couldn't stand too close together.

Finally, we made it to our accommodations, the Ocean View Chalets.

George on our balcony

Day 4 --> Mountain Biking in Abel Tasman State Park, then to Nelson

In the morning, we woke up and connected with Anna and Reg, the husband-and-wife team who owns Abel Tasman Mountain Biking. They drove us up into Abel Tasman State Park in a huge, four-wheel-drive vehicle (equipped with snorkel for driving through flooded roads) and dropped us off in a grassy field with a guide. We'd signed up for their Full Dirt trip, which included five hours of biking through some of the most stunning landscape I've ever seen.

Yep, that's us coming down the hill. Note: There was a professional photographer on the trip. All mountain-biking photos by Ian Trafford.

Biking in a marble quarry. Amazing.

We left Marahau muddy. Although we were only on our way to our next accommodation in

Nelson, we decided to make a stop at an olive grove to taste some New Zealand olive oil. When we got engaged in Italy, tasting olive oil was one of our favorite memories, so we wanted to compare.

After making a quick purchase, we made it to Nelson, about an hour from Marahau. We checked into our next place, The Wheelhouse Inn. I loved this place because it had such a cute story. The couple who owns it is American. They sailed away from Long Beach, California, 30 years ago and planned to go around the world. Their anchor got stuck in Nelson so they've been there ever since. Their property is made up of about five self-catering apartments.

The Wheelhouse Inn: Our Quarters

The view from our living room

Next up, we head down the West Coast of the South Island, a road less-traveled by tourists. What did we find? Some of the most beautiful places to pull over for lunch, like the one below.

Our rental car

New Zealand Honeymoon: Part I

Once we finally arrived in Christchurch, on the east coast of the South Island, after our horrible debacle flying to New Zealand, we were ready to start our trip. One of our favorite parts? Our rental car and driving, not only on the wrong side of the road, but on the wrong side of the car! [Note: Mr. CB didn't let me drive once. Probably a good thing.].

Day 1: Christchurch

We checked into our first hotel, The George, to find, well, George on our bed!

So, we brought George along for the ride in the same way that the French Bulldogs brought their gnome, Sheldon! Once we'd had a minute to breathe, we strolled around a rainy city that resembled Holland more so than, say, the Lord-of-the-Rings' Shire.

Have you ever seen flowers the color of the ones behind me?

This was followed by a drive along the Port Hills, which we were supposed to be mountain biking but the sleet wasn't really appealing on two wheels.

That night, we went to dinner at our hotel's restaurant, Pescatore, which began with a berry spritzer (see below).

Day 2: Christchurch --> Hanmer Springs --> Kaikoura

We took a detour from Christchurch to Kaikoura (about an hour and a half north) through Hanmer Springs, a high altitude hot springs destination. The drive was gorgeous.

Photo by Mr. CB

Because it was springtime, there were TONS of baby sheep milling about.

Photo by Mr. CB

While driving on these one-lane country roads, we weren't sure what the speed limit was. We passed a cop and Mr. CB decided to slow his driving so he didn't get a speeding ticket. It didn't matter because we got pulled over anyway.

"The speed limit around here is 90 [kilometers per hour]," the cop said, "but people like to drive 100. So just go as fast as you can without losing control of the car, okay?"

We were in shock for the better part of the next hour at how back asswards this place was.

The country road opened up onto the beach in Kaikoura and our jaws dropped. We'd never seen a more beautiful place on Earth--turquoise ocean to our right and snow-capped giants to our left. It was so surreal.

My absolute favorite hotel we stayed in was in Kaikoura: The Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses.

The view from our tree house (Starring George):

From the other way:

My favorite was the view from our shower:

The inside was not too shabby either.

Day 3: Kaikoura --> Marlborough

As many of you know, Marlborough is New Zealand's biggest wine region with what I think is the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. We had to make a stop.

Which turned into a beer tasting at one of New Zealand's only beer makers (they only have about four!).

Next up: horseback riding and mountain biking in Abel Tasman State Park...

New Zealand Honeymoon: A Scary Start

Scene: It's 2 AM on our double-decker 747 airplane. We're two hours out of Los Angeles, somewhere over a dark Pacific Ocean. Mr. Cowboy Boot and I scored the bulkhead seats (front row with extra leg room) for letting the flight attendants know we were on our honeymoon. Mr. CB is snoozing away next to me while I read and combat heavy eyelids in hopes of beating jet lag. Three crew members, including the flight's safety manager, are sitting facing us.

The phone rings and the safety manager answers it. She's a Kiwi with a sweet smile and a primped outfit. Her face drops as she receives word from the person on the phone. She lowers her voice and turns her face into the wall, speaking softly into the receiver. My stomach drops, my palms sweat and I grab for my new husband. What's happening?

She hangs up the phone and her accent comes over the loudspeaker, falling on the ears of passengers clad in eye masks and itchy blankets.

"It seems there's been a little problem. Our pilots told me we hit what they think is a pelican. Unfortunately, the bird went straight into the nose of the plane," she says statedly. "The bird has damaged our weather radar, prohibiting us from being able to see storms over the ocean. So, the safest thing for us to do is turn around and head back to Los Angeles."

A gloom of disappointment and frustration, much of it from exhaustion (after our wedding, after driving for two days to LA, after trying to stay up just to catch our plane and fight jet lag), washes over us. The anxiety in the air is tangible.

The safety manager comes back on: "Before we can go back, we have to dump our fuel otherwise we'll be too heavy to land."

I picture sailors on their anchored boats holding umbrellas as drops of oil rained down on them. Later, I learn that the jet engine fuel simply dissipates in the air--not that that sat well with me either.

Mr. CB and I discuss how lucky we are that the bird didn't go into the engine, recalling the Sully Sullenberger incident in the Hudson River just a few months prior. I mean, there can only be one Sully, right? What were the chances that we could recreate that heroic landing?

After another two hours of flying in circles, we land right back where we started at the glowing towers of LAX. They release sections of the plane (first class first!) painfully slowly until we finally make it to a bus to take us to a hotel where we wait in line to get a room. It's 4:45 AM before we finally hit the bed. After crying, bickering, and very seriously considering not even going to New Zealand, we finally fall asleep. We'd already wasted 1 of our 10 short vacation days and the travel time was starting to look overbearing.

At noon, the next day, our flight takes off for a second time out of Los Angeles, its travelers marked by their weary, sinking eyes, disheveled hair, and apparent disdain for a second go-round in the security line. This time, we make it to Auckland safe and sound (albeit at midnight, forced into another makeshift hotel until we could finally get on with it the following morning).

What we didn't know at the time was for our betterment. A few days after arriving back from our honeymoon [Don't worry! I'll fill you on that too!], we're eating dinner with my parents in LA. My uncle, an aeronautical engineer who builds planes for a living, had filled my mom in on the real story of what could've gone wrong. Apparently, the nose of the plane doesn't only hold the weather radar, it's also where the plane's speed is measured. My uncle would take a bird in the engine over the nose any day. Had the bird made a bigger dent, moved a little to the left, or something we might have gone too slow and...

Well, you remember the Air France flight that disappeared into the ocean outside of Rio de Janeiro. That could've been us, or so my uncle says.

Was it scary? Yes. Am I glad we still got on the second plane? Absolutely. I can't wait to share our adventures with you. But until then, just give someone you care about an extra kiss or hug today. We were thisclose to ending up at the bottom of the Pacific. But what's life without a little risk, right?

P to the W to the C

What does that spell? Post-wedding chop!

I did it, everyone. I had to. It was down to my waist and I couldn't stand the static, tangles, and hair-always-in-my-way. It was heavy, unhealthy, and ready for a trim.

(sorry for the blurry picture. taken on a phone!)

But, instead of a trim, Ms. Buttons and Heidi Klum inspired me to get back to my high school days and go short!

Drum roll please...

I'm donating my 10+ inches to Locks of Love, a non-profit that makes hair prosthetics for financially-disabled youth with long-term medical hair loss. Donating is very, very simple to do. Here are the rules:

• Hair must 10 inches from tip to tip
• It must be sent in a braid or a ponytail
  
• It must be sent dry: have your stylist braid it and chop away, then wash and re-cut
• The hair can't have graced the floor
  

The new 'do will take some getting used to but at least Mr. CB says he likes it more than my long hair.

Will you be chopping your hair after your wedding?

Love at The Ranch: Our Video Teaser!

To say that nothing went "wrong" at our wedding would be an understatement.

We ran out of appetizers 15 minutes into our cocktail hour. Storm clouds swelled throughout the day forcing our ceremony from an expansive meadow into a cozy barn. The photo booth backdrop didn't end up being quite enough fabric to encompass a large group of guests. Our band played for longer than planned (score!) but that meant we had to skip our end-of-the-night dance party playlist which I'd been looking forward to. The bluegrass songs I picked for our band breaks brought the dancing to a halt every time the band took a break; I could never figure out which songs would keep the energy high between live sets. You can't go from fiddle and washboard to Jay-Z, right?

But calling everything above a "wedding failure" depends on your perspective and mindset. According to me? Nothing went wrong at our wedding. And that's because I didn't have a strong definition of the word "right." Here's a teaser of our wedding video, made by my brother, to give you an idea of how it all played out (note: you can make it full-screen):

I knew that our wedding was going to be what it was going to be no matter what. There was no controlling it which is something I tried to keep in mind while planning it. I put my best foot forward, I planned decor that spoke to me, I infused the whole thing with details that were reflective of us, but stressing over hiccups was never worth it. Especially not on the day of.

Remember how we didn't have a rehearsal? By not practicing the way something was "supposed to be," we had no expectations. Nothing could be a mistake because there was no "right" way of doing it. Sure, I forgot to hand over my bouquet to my MOH for a few minutes and we needed a shove to get us moving down the aisle for our recessional, but who cares?

One of the things my aunt said during her rehearsal dinner speech was that ceremony is sacred. That you do ceremony. You don't practice ceremony. And for us, this worked. We wanted it to be organic and that's what it became.

I'm not trying to tell you not to rehearse. And I'm not saying don't have high standards for your wedding--it should be as special as you want it to be. What I'm saying is: find the balance that works for you. Find a way to have a wedding that doesn't make your stress level sky rocket and then, walk down that aisle with your head high regardless of everything. Love your wedding for the way it unravels--as planned or otherwise--because that is the best gift you can give yourself. It will let you live on cloud nine for just a little bit longer.

Love at The Ranch: Buy My Dress

After much thought and consideration, I've decided to consider offers on my dress. I so wanted to indulge all the comments that told me to keep my dress, cherish it, and watch my future (possible) daughter twirl in it down the road. But, there were very convincing arguments for selling it as well. Not only will I be making another bride happy and making a conscious decision to recycle, but you gals (and guys) gave me some great ideas for what to spend the money on: a high-end photo album, a weekend escape for our one-year anniversary, a less-expensive replica of the dress for memory's sake.

To be honest, we've been trying to get our finances in order (Mr. CB's had three ACL reconstructions) and could use this towards a down payment on a house. It would just be a start, but a fairly good one.

So, without further adieu, make me an offer!

Julianna, by Christos, sells for $3650 in bridal salons. She's had $450 worth of alterations but she does need a new button for the bustle. She has no tears, holes, or stains.

She's a size 2 and will fit someone with the measurements: 34-24-34. She's cut to a length of 5'5" (including heels). I'm 5' 2 1/2" and wore 2 1/2" heels.

If you're interested, comment below or send me a private message (PM) and we can discuss the details. :)

Love at The Ranch: Thank You Cards

There were two things we really wanted to include in our wedding that didn't happen: 1) our dogs and 2) our calligraphied "thank you" signs. The reasons we didn't include our precious pups as ring bearers? Debated here.

Our "thank you" signage, penned by Pretty Pen Jen, never made it out of the cabin where all of the ladies got ready on the morning of the wedding. There was too much going on and they simply got left behind. Halfway through the night, our photographer, Tec, asked if I wanted someone to go grab them but I declined his offer saying, "We'll shoot them when we get home." And that's just how our thank you cards came to be.

This makes me giggle.

I knew I wanted a thank you card with a full-bleed image on the front (as you see above). The website I found that had this option was Cardstore.com. Once I'd made the card above, though, I started playing with another format (see below) and ended up splitting our order between the two cards. I just couldn't choose between the two!

We bought 50 7 x 5 cards (25 of each) at just under $2.00 per card. The total (with $10 of shipping) came to $85.

I was excited to have two different cards for a couple of reasons. I felt like card number one would go to our more silly guests who we knew would laugh when they saw it. The other reason was that certain households were receiving multiple thank you cards (i.e. one for my parents and one for my brother), so it was nice to switch it up. I also knew certain friends would be at each other's houses and, should the card be out somewhere, it might be fun to see a variation of it.

I'd never ordered or heard of Cardstore.com but I was really impressed by the quality. The cards were thick and the images printed flawlessly. Bonus: Cardstore uses 130-pound heavy white card stock that also happens to be recycled from 100% post-consumer waste. The paper is produced by 100% wind power and the printing process is also eco-friendly.

The other bonus?

They print your return address on the back of the envelopes for free! Below, you'll find an image of the thickness of the cards (and the skis that Mr. CB just won't put away, even when his nagging wife asks him to!). :)

Interested in outtakes of Odin (black dog) and Rio (red dog) from the shoot?

Rabbit?

"Profile picture? This is my better side."

"Ants are more interesting than this!"

Rio says, "I'm outta here."

Odin says: "Are we done yet, dad?"

Are you including your dogs in the wedding? Or are you doing anything creative with your stationary?