[Comfort Music]

Blogging five days a week is a real drag.

Aren't you all sick of my blog? I'm sick of my blog.

We got back to Canada today. I could go on and on about how bloomin' cold it is here, or how I miss the green winter lawns of my home state, or I could talk about That Baby some more...but it would be redundant, really. We all know I thrive in Mesa; we all know I enjoy green grass; and we all really know I love That Baby more than I ever thought I would be able to love any human child.

But I won't bore you with it all over again.

I realised something on my long drive up to Canada. During the winter, I've noticed a lot of cooking blogs post recipes for "comfort food." Dishes like beef stroganoff, vegetable stew, and piping hot lasagna are supposed to take us back to "the good ol' days" and make us forget all our cares (like snow tires and frozen windshield wiper fluid).

I have always totally believed in--and supported--the notion of comfort food. And I got to thinking on the drive up to the north country, as I flipped through songs on my iPod while scanning a cooking magazine, "Aha! Comfort music!"

Comfort music. Songs, albums, or playlists that we've known forever, or that got us through a particularly hard time (read: and icy-cold Canadian winter). For example, my dear friend Chelsie sent me a mix of songs two years ago when I was living here in Canada (before I knew I'd really be living here in Canada someday). It was the perfect blend of Relient K, Rent, Wicked, and random Canadian songs; I listened to it over and over and over, and I have no doubt that I might've not survived being so far from home without it.

That's comfort music.

And Billy Joel--pretty much every song he ever wrote is comfort music to me. I was introduced to his musical genius back in seventh grade, and since then, there has never been a time when I haven't embraced his music [unlike various "it" bands, like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, who came and went faster than any kid could get through high school].

If you don't have any comfort music, get some. I am convinced that comfort music is an absolute necessity for these winter months--every bit as important as scarves and touques and chicken noodle soup. If you haven't heard Piano Man by Billy Joel--hear it. Borrow it as your own comfort music until you find your own.

And if you already know what comfort music means to you...do tell.

...Pre-Wedding Photos...Update #3

Well. My big sister is in the process of having a baby** and since I live thousands of kilometers away, all I can do is wait nervously in this Vast Northern Country and wait. And make this pomegranate ice cream...

So here I am. I live in Canada now, as most of you may know. That's because I got married about two months ago. [Didn't you hear? All the married people are moving to Canada now.] Okay, not really. Actually, I live in Canada because I married a Canadian (otherwise they never would have let me in). And if you are a long-time reader of the Archives of Our Lives, you've probably already read updates #1 and #2. This is what I like to call Update #3...

...Part of the décor at our wedding reception called for photos of Kyle and me in our wedding garb. We needed them to be printed before the actual wedding day, obviously, so we had my friend--and amazing photographer--Jenny Biggs take them for us a few days before the wedding. It was a huge favor to us, because she actually prefers to photograph newborns, children, and families. So don't go bugging her to take your wedding pictures, because she might say "no."

Here are some of our favourites (she took tons, and they all turned out so well that it's hard to choose only a few. You'll just have to look at a whole bunch. If that irritates you, stop reading my blog...) :

I am obsessed with this photo because it reminds me of picture in a magazine. Advertising cologne or deodorant or maybe even asphalt...

These next few were some of the first we took:

All of our together days, Kyle has had a terrible phobia of public displays of anything remotely resembling affection, and so it was really quite awkward for us to be kissing in front of Jenny and Adell. This photo was what it looked like the first few times we tried. Embracing the double chins, because, of course, double chins are so jolly...

We got over it though...


Don't I look so cozy snuggled into Kyle? I was. Cozy, that is:


Jenny really liked this photo...


Another one that could have been in a magazine...



Remember always to embrace those double chins. They are so cheerful!


Thank you, Jami Parker Pitts, for letting me blatantly copy your wedding photo poses. I'm sure she had some that looked just like this, only with her face...

We didn't get tons done in black and white, but I the ones we did choose turned out so classy... {I thought...}


...and something about this photo reminds me of the painting American Gothic by Grant Wood. {You know the one...that famous pose of the farmer holding a pitchfork with the younger lady right next to him...}

Last and least, the flowers. (From the time we took these photos to the day of our actual wedding, my bouquet actually changed quite a lot. Thanks to everyone who helped!)


So there you have it. We're all married. Next update will be the actual wedding day.

**Since starting this post earlier this morning, my sister has had her baby!!! He was a few weeks early, but he came out rarin' to go. They are calling him Preston (fill in the blank) Atwood {still waiting on a middle name}, and he weighed somewhere around six pounds. [I never understood what the big deal was with the ounces...why does it matter so much? He weighed six or seven pounds, give or take a few ounces, and that's all we really need to know.] I hear he's got a bit of a cone head (and who wouldn't, after squeezing through such a tiny little opening), but is nevertheless rather dashing. I can't pass any judgments for myself, of course, because nobody in my family knows how to email photos. If I were there, I would email his little face to me...but then, if I were there, I wouldn't need to see photos of him. I'd get a good long look in the flesh. As it is, I won't get to meet the little buddy for about a month. Sad, but that's the way it goes.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD ANYWAY, "PRES!!" I already love you and can't wait to teach you French!