The Amateur Bot-ann-ist Marries John in Her Garden

My wedding bouquet made for great photo opportunities.

Four weeks ago today I married an amazing man in the back garden. And now—as I sit here writing this—it's great to publicly admit that we met online and immediately knew we would marry. 

Just 6 months after we met, we were married. There, I said it.

This happened because maturity and experience are great things. Middle-aged love is nothing to scoff at either—especially when it brings such joy and happiness. 

And in my case, I can't say enough about the lessons learned from my divorce. I know now that it took a divorce in order for me to truly understand how much marriage and commitment mean to me. Marriage means working together and being a team and I have that now for the first time. It's what I've always wanted and hoped for and it's such a great feeling knowing now that someone truly has my back and I can count on him to be there. I'm pretty sure he feels the same way too.

Maurice helping to roll out the garden carpet. 

Getting ready for our noontime wedding was a lot of fun. Up until the last minute we'd planned to get married that day in a government office but then I realized we could just do it at home. Why not?

Planted topiary ball with Bromeliad and Ficus. Made to come indoors over the winter. Will keep you updated on how it holds up indoors as a houseplant planting. 

Of course I tried to clean up the back garden as much as possible. I added a few pretty things to make it look better too, but overall, we didn't really intend for it to be a big affair so not much was added. I did make this topiary though.

Two of the fur balls thinking all of the hub-bub was about them—since it usually is all about them.

The night before the ceremony I packed for Alaska and straightened the house.

Since John didn't move in with me until after our honeymoon, that night, we both had a lot of time to think about our new life together and what it would be like in the future.

My mind was so busy thinking about packing I knew I just had to be me no matter what.

Oh why did I wait until the last minute? 

That's when I rushed out and bought some flowers to arrange at 9pm. That's just the kind of thing that I do.

Having fun with my own selfie. 

The morning of the wedding I had my hair and makeup done. It felt amazing and I'm so happy I did so.

When you plan a noontime wedding, that doesn't mean you have a ton of time to get ready. I know that now. But of course, I pulled it all together.

John and I are oddballs. If you don't know that about me yet, then you must be new to my blog or else you haven't been paying attention. 

John and I only invited a handful of important people. We hadn't really thought a lot about wedding photography so many of these pictures were just shot by iPhone by my nieces.

Look! My head is exploding with flowers! 

My flowers were designed by a dear friend who has an amazing touch. (Quinn in the City Flowers).

I had asked Quinn to go "over the top" and I'm pretty sure she nailed it.

Yes, I really do laugh loudly. Am I channeling Phyllis Diller? Maybe...

On my wedding day, I was very happy and we had a little secret too. 

The look on my face terrifies me. I look a lot like my paternal great-grandmother who I take after in so many ways. I guess it makes sense.  

My eldest niece, seen here on the left, was the minister of our ceremony. We kept that a secret from my family until after the ceremony. It was such a great idea and it made the event so much more meaningful.

That's not to say that her younger sister (on the right) wasn't involved too. She made sure we had lots of photos and provided plenty of laughs. 

I love my girls. 

Probably one of my favorite pictures from our special day. I know. I'm weird. I already told you I was though...

Afterwards, our little group met both of our mothers for a special dessert at one of my favorite restaurants in Portland.

Yes, we didn't invite our moms to our wedding. They've been through it all before so we did things differently and they didn't mind at all.

Trust me, it worked very well and they both loved seeing us all dressed up while we ate Boccone Dolce.

John looking at me thinking, "We pulled it off, our moms are both stuffed, now let's get the heck out of here and head to Alaska!!"

And with that, we were off to Alaska!

Wordless Wednesday: A Rose Tattoo in my Honor

Roses to represent Auntie Annie.

A succulent tattoo designed by the tattoo artist for another client. 

I do love a studio, don't you?

My eldest niece and Alice (the tattoo artist) at Anatomy Tattoo. (She specializes in floral tattoo work.)

The unfinished piece—I had to leave before it was done but I am sure you get the idea. 

A Gardener on an Alaskan Honeymoon

The Alaskan honeymoon is over and I'm back at my dining room table writing another blog post. 

There are lots of orders to pack and things to get done. With only a few days of summer left I'm embracing each and every one with much love. It's been a great year for me—and an amazing summer. 

An Alaskan glacier.

Going to Alaska was a bit of a surprise. I'd never visited but it has always been a dream of mine. Back when I was 18 I'd thought very seriously of going to college there to study environment science and biology. When John suggested it—since neither one of us had been there—I was so excited.

Alaskan taiga and stream.

My father always visited Alaska in early September. (He's a salmon fisherman and that's what you do if you fish.) I never understood why he went, and why he always seemed to miss my birthday, but I understand now.

It's a place that gets under your skin. I want to return each and every September for my birthday now. I get it.

Alaskan birch forest, (Betula neoalaskana).  

We only saw a tiny portion of what the state has to offer. I have been to Texas and I can say now that they have nothing on Alaska. It would be far easier to survive down there than in Alaska. I think that's a huge part of the charm. It really heightens the senses and makes you feel alive and small in its vast landscape. 

Alaskan landscape.

There will be more posts to come. I have a party to prepare for right now and I must continue to work hard.

I still hear the sounds though of planes in my ears and my eyes are yet filled with the vast expanse of beauty which I've just witnessed. 

Alaskan landscape.

I hope to find my book about the native plants of Alaska. I oddly misplaced it before we left but since it was my honeymoon I let it go. (Don't think I just looked at plants! I won't even begin right now to tell you about the amazing food.)

Lastly, there were the animals. We saw a lot of them but we knew it would be difficult to see grizzlies in the wild since we were traveling by car. I had even mentally prepared myself to see no bears so that I wouldn't be disappointed. Then, to my delight and surprise—during the cruise out to the Kenai Fjords National Park—we saw a black bear cruising the beach of a small island not far from the open sea. I was quite pleased.

Ok. More on plant life soon. 

Getting Married in My Garden on a Friday

Yesterday we held a private wedding ceremony at home. We invited a few family members and friends but more to come on that later. For now, I just wanted to share some of my wedding flowers with you. 

Currently I'm in Alaska on our honeymoon. Blogging from my iPhone sure is awkward. Will fire up the laptop for a longer post soon.