Then I met his family. Then he met mine. And that first date was just four weeks ago.

Crazy, right?

The Dreamboat and I met in NY (he moved there shortly after I moved away) and knew little of each other for months. During my first vacation of the summer (I may have alluded to him when I referenced new friends in this post), he and I spent a bit of time together at church and various social gatherings. Upon my arrival home, I sent him a HUGE list of must-listen-to Coldplay songs and two weeks later, we were email BFFs. Respectively speaking, of course.

A week or so after that, my second NY vacation was mentioned and The Dreamboat asked me out on a date.

Um, yes please?

We hung out every night I was in town and it was glorious. And foreign. And oh, so comfortable.

I don’t want to bore you with all the details at this point in time; as things progress between The Dreamboat and I, I may start filling in some holes. For now, know that we’re really excited about this new relationship. And by “excited” I mean overwhelmed with joy.

Ok fine, one quick story: A week after date #1, we had another epic excursion that involved amazing coffee, a used book store and reciting Charles Dickens. If you know me well (or have been following the blog for more than three months), this was the best.date.ever. Followed closely by the evening that involved sushi, ice cream and 200,000 miles.

For those of you inclined to pray, please pray for us! I may have met The Dreamboat on the East Coast, but he lives in California. CALIFORNIA.

P.S. I apologize for making you all wait for this post! I threw up Part 1 in haste, not thinking that Part 2 would need a little more time; we wanted to take a few weeks and tell people, versus them finding out via social media.

That’s how it is with me and Photoshop actions. Genius. Brilliant. I’m so thankful for photogs/computer programmers who create these actions that do miraculous things to your photos at literally the touch of a button.

A few days ago, I purchased an action set called Blog Stomp, and since then, I’ve been wondering what life was like before it. At the click of your mouse, it resizes, sharpens and adds your logo to an image, THEN it saves a copy in an appropriate folder for you, ready to use in a blog. BRILLIANT.

Anywho, I made this purchase for some help on wedding proofs, but I intend on using it here all the time now. For the time being, I’ve got the Belong to the Day logo plugged in there, but I intend on switching that over to Not a Local soon; after I create a logo. In my spare time.

Here’s a sample:

These photos were taken on a recent road trip with the mysterious Dreamboat (I promise that post is coming!). It’s not often I get to ride in the car, so I took the opportunity to snap a few photos and enjoy the passenger seat; I highly recommend it.

I hiked and saw this:

Took a drive and saw this:

And spent a lot of time talking with the man to which this arm belongs:

And I know you’re in stitches wanting to know who this guy is and why I’ve titled this series The Dreamboat; patience will bring Part 2.

And it was about here:

That this happened:

And on a completely unrelated note, when I was checking out at the Mart of Walls earlier this week, my cashier took a moment to tell me one of my purchases was silly. A flash drive. She had seen it in another store for less money. I graciously thanked her, made my purchase anyway and came home. When I pulled my brand-new, hot pink flash drive out of the packaging, I found a coupon for 50 free song downloads.

Win. I win.

I got four CDs + out of the deal. One of those CDs has been rocking.my.world. this week. Keith and Kristyn Getty‘s Awaken the Dawn. Check out some of my new favorite songs:

The arrangements on the CD are much better (you should probably get a copy) than these TV studio recordings, but the words are so stellar.

A rainy afternoon made complete with my Peter Bradley Adams Pandora radio station.

Cheers

There’s a new girl at work who shares the same first name as me. Fun, right?

Actually, so far it is. I always greet her with, “Hello Christina,” and she responds, “Hello Christina”. I think it’s hysterical. We’re both prepared for people to confuse us, especially customers who only know to ask for “Christina”, but neither of us were really prepared for the similarities we find between us.

Similarities like our middle names.

And that we both like to take a mug of something hot and peruse Anthropologie with no intention of buying anything.

And that we both don’t like being called anything other than Christina.

And that we both often answer to xtina.

And that we both have strong connections to the graphic design industry.

So in honor of the “new girl” at work, I need your help! We’re trying to come up with ways to differentiate ourselves.

Thoughts?

Last summer, Jeff found his way to Speculator, NY from Connecticut. Daniela? She made it all the way to NY from Ecuador. Randomly, they met outside the town’s only Chinese food restaurant. North America meets South America in China.

That first encounter propelled them into spending more and more time together as two hearts were gently being guided towards “forever”. These two hearts will be bound together in marriage this August and I’m terribly excited for them.

Their engagement shoot started out with Jeff suggesting we go to that Chinese food restaurant to take some portraits. “Um, excuse me? You want to celebrate your love in front of a hideous, green building?” Thankfully, that thought only lasted for a minute before creativity began oozing out of me and I found myself eager and up for the challenge.

That green building turned out to be a gem!

I was told by Jeff and then by Daniela herself that she was nervous because she didn’t like having her photo taken. Nervous or not, Daniela WORKED IT for me. I must have stopped to drool over the photos I was taking 50 times that afternoon.

Are you sure you’re not a super model in Ecuador?

After bebopping around town for a bit, we wound up at CAMP-of-the-WOODS, where Jeff and Daniela are working for the summer. Our first stop was the little pond in the center of Camp…

…then we moved up to a magical spot behind the auditorium. The lighting was uh-maz-zing.

Epic.

When I look at this next photo, I have a huge desire to go to Daniela’s house for dinner; she’s so engaging in here, I instantly feel at home.

Love.

We finished the day with the sun setting on the lake. I’m so glad we came back to do these; some of my favorites are here!

To be honest, I was nervous about this shoot because I hadn’t spent any time with Daniela since she’s been in Ecuador this past winter. After taking my first photo of these two together, I was in photog-bliss. I cannot wait to document their wedding day; it’s going to be EPIC.

I started to unpack, but then I found this hat I bought on vacation. Now I’m wearing it while unpacking, except I’m not really unpacking, I’m blogging.