Engagement

Wow, this month has flown by! I can't believe that June is almost over. We got engaged in June, so I often like to celebrate, but because of all of the stuff happening, we really didn't get to do anything. Our engagement story is great. Gess tricked me and planned out this elaborate scheme, which included the rose garden at Boise State U, flying from Boise (where we lived at the time) to Seattle, meeting some of Gess's family, dinner at a beautiful restaurant on the water, and the flying back home. He also had a friend videotape the engagement. I will have to dig up that tape sometime...but for now, here are a couple of pictures from that day (11 years ago!!)! Aren't we cute?? :)

Me and Santa...

Go way back!

This picture was actually taken a couple of years ago.  Gess surprised me with a night at our favorite Seattle hotel, the W.  We were in their great lobby having a drink when he saw Santa come in.  Gess excused himself and went up to the Santa offering him $20 if he would go up to me and ask me what I wanted for Christmas.  Gess bought a disposable camera from the front desk and watched as I was completely surprised to have Santa approach me and make me sit on his lap!  It was pretty funny.  And we had a great rest of our stay at the W!

Happy Career Anniversary to Me!

Just over 5 years ago, on Nov. 3, 2003, I was sworn into the Washington State Bar as an attorney. I can't believe that it has been that long!

Happy Halloween!

Lots of Wedding Pictures

So, I have been married for almost 10 years!! Recently we got all of our photos scanned in, so now I have digital versions of our wedding photos. We were young and poor when we got these, so please keep that in mine when viewing :)

Me :)

Hubby

Gess didn't want me to look taller than him in the pics, so I wore keds :)

Awwww

Pretty Cake

One of my favorite pictures--I wish I remember what I was saying :)

I like this one too!

My little brother taking my picture

Signing on the dotted line...look at my MOH's face :)

Guess Who?

History--Engagement

So...I am feeling a bit sentimental tonight, so I thought that I would tell my engagement story. I had been dating Gess for a year. It was our 1 year anniversary and Gess told me that he had a job interview in Boise so that we would go out for lunch after. He talked to my professor (the joys of a small college) and got me excused from the quiz. We drove into Boise (we lived in Nampa at the time, which is about 20 minutes away). He told me that we had some time before his interview (which was supposedly at Home Depot) so we would go to the rose garden that we liked to go to. So, we went and walked around. He was being sweet and stopped us in front of a particular rose bush--the Singing in the Rain roses. Then he got down on one knee and proposed. I said yes (of course), and then he pointed out that one of his professors was a little ways away videotaping the proposal. So sweet! After that, the professor took some pictures of us around the garden (see them below).

After that Gess said that he really did need to go to the interview and we got in the car and drove off. He "got lost" and we ended up at the Boise Airport. He told me that there was one more surprise in the airport, so we went inside. We got through security (after I showed off my bling to the security checkers of course!) and went to one of the gates (this was pre-9/11 and the changes in security). We sat there for awhile and then there was a call for a flight to Seattle. Gess stood up and said "That's us!" He had booked us on a flight to Seattle for the day. I was so excited.

He wanted it to be special so he rented a Town Car--not the best car for Seattle :) I remember him trying to parallel park that thing :) Anyway, he had arranged for us to meet his cousins for coffee. After that we went to downtown Seattle and just walked around. Then we had dinner at Palisade. It was a great dinner and a beautiful location.

Then we got back on the plane and flew back to Seattle. The next day, half of the college knew about the engagement, so it was easy for me to show off my ring and talk about the story.

Isn't he sweet??? :)

Random Pictures

Some very random photos:

Me and my niece Kayla at Point Defiance Zoo

Beauty giving me kisses :)

It's blurry, but I like it---from law school graduation

Scanmyphotos.com

Like many people we lots of old pre-everyone-has-a-digital-camera-days photos sitting around. We have had "scan in photos" on our "to do list" for a very long time (it is even on my 101 list!). So when I heard about a company that does it for you and is reasonably priced, I was all over it! In August there was an article in the NY Times about scanmyphotos.com, so I decided to check it out. You have to arrange your photos by size, which took some time, but in the end it was well worth it. Last Thursday I mailed out 11 pounds worth of old photographs. Today when I arrived at my office my photos were returned along with a DVD with all 1368 photos on it. The quality is pretty good and the turn around was so fast. The total cost--about $140 (which included shipping both ways). Well worth it IMHO. So, now you will get to see lots and lots of old photos--including never-before-posted wedding photos from my 1999 wedding...I bet you are on the edge of your seat!! Anywho...I am excited about being able to post all of these old photos. And also to play around with editting them in photoshop! To start it off right...here are a couple of wedding photos--January 2, 1999!

Happy Lisa Day!!

Hello 31! 30 seemed to go by so fast! I am not loving the term "birthday" right now, so I declared that today is simply Lisa Day--and since it is my day, I can call it whatever I want :)

I am ready for a vacation!

I know, we went to Belize in July....but I am ready for a vacation!  Here are a couple of pictures from a previous vacation:

This one is in at Dunn Falls in Montego Bay Jamaica (December 2006)

And this one is in Grand Cayman (same trip--we were out kayaking)

Time for more old photos!!

These pictures were taken in November 1999 in Orlando.  I can't believe I owned those pants!!

"Old" New Pictures

I realized that I never posted our "original" portraits by Clane (http://www.clanegesselphotography.blogspot.com/). This is actually how we met Clane. We were at the Ballard Farmer's Market one Sunday in March, getting some produce and enjoying the community when we saw Clane's booth set up. He was selling prints of his amazing landscapes and I overheard him talking to someone about doing portraits as well. I had been bugging Gessner for months to get portraits, so I went over to talk to Clane. He said that he did do portraits and that he had an opening the following weekend, but then was booked up for awhile. So, I went home and check out his blog and loved his work and Gess called right away and we set it up. So the next week we met Clane on Alki and he took our photos. He seemed like such a nice guys, so I suggested that we should get coffee sometime...and the rest is as they say "history!" Clane is such a great guy, and we love his girlfriend Skylar too. So...anyway, here are the photos that started the friendship :)