Smile for the birdy

Oh right, the engagement pictures!

In our fast-paced electronic world where everyone who reads this blog already saw these pictures on facebook, this post seems a little redundant. But I do what I want.

We weren't actually planning on having engagement pictures taken, and we kept getting coupons for professional photographers in DC, but here's the formula for getting the pictures you see above (for free!):


One good friend who is talented behind the lens and charitable with her time (Jana)
+ One digital camera which you already own
+ irresistible urge to purchase to cute dress (and nowhere to wear it)
÷ Limited number of crisp October mornings in the National Arboretum
x undying love and devotion (awwwwwww)
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Seriously priceless photographs












I know how much I lucked out with these. It's really hard for me to pick a favorite, and I can tell that Tim and I look at each one totally differently. We're both scrutinizing ourselves and laughing at each other (in a good, crinkly-eyed kind of way). All I can say is that I'm glad I passed up the many email offers I received to have the pictures professionally done. Business casual at the Lincoln Memorial just wouldn't have been "us."

Here's the best part though (I thought)--after we took the pictures, we were already all dressed up so we made a day of it.

I called Fogo de Chao as soon as we were done, since we'd been hoping to go there for as long as we've lived in DC, but we discovered that on weekends they don't have a lunch service. Why on earth would they pass up the beaucoup tourist dollar and not serve lunch? I have no idea. So that meant not eating until 4:30--which, let's be honest, is a pretty solid plan if you're going to Fogo.

Since we were all dressed up with no place to go for a few hours, we decided to see a matinee in Georgetown and settled on The Social Network. Sweet mother. If you haven't seen it yet, there is a scene of a regatta that is like a short film in itself. It made my hair stand on end. The rest of the film is David Finchercredible with a whole lot of Aaron Sorkintastic thrown in for good measure. It's the only movie I've seen so far where Jesse Eisenberg plays an actual character and not a bargain Michael Cera--and he did a remarkable job. All of this from a movie about facebook, for god's sake.

Anyhoo. After the movie we sat in the park for a while and watched a crazy man roll around in the bushes without ever taking his lit cigarette out of his mouth. He wasn't old-homeless-dirty crazy, he was young-drunk-needs-attention crazy. Like something from a French movie. It was interesting, to say the least.

Then, on to Fogo. Really the only thing I can say about that is that my dress still smells like meat. The only other time I've experienced residual meat-smells is when I actually sold meat to people for 8 hours a day as a Turkey Wench. This was one meal. Everything I had on me, my purse, my dress, my shoes, everything smells of the heavenly aroma of roasted meat. That is ridiculous.

It's amazing for me to think that we were over-dressed for something that costs as much as Fogo de Chao does (but honestly, I think we were over-dressed for just about everything on earth), though it's shocking how many people go there in border-line sweatsuits and slippers. I know it's a meat-fest, but it's not a BBQ on super-bowl Sunday.

Anyway, after the gorging, we went home and played Super Mario Bros. Wii. Because such things are the solid foundation upon which our relationship is built.

I can't wait for our wedding. These pictures are--if I do say so myself--super cute. But I would like to have some with our friends and family in them.