First Photography Class

So, I just recently started taking this introductory photography class at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. The Torpedo Factory is this wonderful art center where local artists can house and sell their art work in addition to offering lots of fun classes! Tonight I have my second class and we are instructed to bring in 5-6 pictures that we took over the week and after presenting them to the class we will be critiqued by the members and instructor! Yikes! Oh yeah, and the pics must be of one subject. I love flowers, so while Whit and I were at Eastern Market in DC Sunday, I purchased some beautiful snap dragons and brought them home to photograph in different ways. Here are the 6 that I have chosen to present to the class, wish me luck!

On the grass Grass

Feeling romantic

Close Up
Back Porch Table
Back Fence

Most people roll their eyes over Texas pride up here. But that doesn't dissuade me, loud and proud baby, loud and proud!!!This is just a picture of the food market at Eastern Market, not showing this tonight, just for fun:)

Thankful...

Whit and I had a great time this weekend! Saturday night we spent the night at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City (part of Arlington, VA). Now, normally we don't just spend the night at really fancy hotels, but my sister Emily works at the Ritz in Dallas and had planned to get us a "family rate". It didn't work out at the last minute (and I am choosing to not make it a big deal:), but we had a great time relaxing there and Whit scheduled us for in -room deep tissue massages. They were wonderful!

For dinner, Whit had been trying to get us reservations at this new restaurant in Old Town Alexandria called Restaurant Eve. They were just voted #4 in DC's top 100 restaurants and the Washingtonian magazine just gave them 4 stars in October. Naturally, they were booked for weeks, so instead he made reservations at another wonderful place called Vermillion. Well, as luck would have it they had a cancellation on the night of our anniversary, so we jumped at the opportunity and switched our reservations. Not going to lie, it was maybe the most amazing meal I have ever had! The restaurant is so cute and cozy and is located on the cutest little street in Old Town. We had a blast!Whit in front of Restaurant Eve
Cute little street, where Restaurant Eve is located
view from our hotel window, look see the pentagon!
just giving a picture of the room! You can see that Whit is not so amused! ha!
Compliments of the Ritz :)

1 Year

One year ago today, Whit and I got married at the church where we met in Falls Church, VA. Both our families were coming from out of town, so you can imagine planning this wedding was quite the experience :) Emailing pictures of reception venues,menus, flowers, dresses, tuxes, etc back and forth to our parents got very old! In addition to that, I was in Africa for work for three weeks about a month before the wedding, made last minute details and planning particularly interesting :)

As I mentioned we were married at The Historic Falls Church, in Falls Church, VA. A little known fact, the city was actually named after the church! The church got its name because it was on the trail towards Great Falls (water falls that flow from the Potomac River) thus was given the name "Little Falls Church" and eventually, The Falls Church. There are gravestones surrounding the original church dating back to the late 1700s and early 1800s. The church its self was converted into an infirmary during the revolutionary war. And the proudest fact, George Washington (as in the first president) was on the vestry after the church was established in 1783.
Our reception was held at the Atrium at the Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, DC. Old Ebbitt is probably one of the most famous and historic dining areas in DC (you can go there for lunch and look around and see a dozen or so senators, lobbyists, etc.) its located right across from the White House and was established in 1856. (Ironically, it is dubbed as DC's first known saloon, haha!) We had been praying that it would not rain all week as we had planned to have cocktails on the rooftop terrace overlooking the White House. Alas, the rains came, but they made for GREAT wedding pictures and as my dear friend Amy Hartman reminded me the day before our wedding, "rain on your wedding day is good luck, it means that you will have a long and blessed marriage." I will take it! Amy is from Roswell, NM and it rains like two days out of every year, but the day of their summer wedding it rained SHEETS! She and her husband Rome have an amazing marriage, so I will take that as good luck!

We loved our photographer, Laura of In His Grace Photography. If you want to take a peek, you can view our online gallery here. Happy one year, Babe!! Its been the best year of my life, I love you!!
My all time favorite pic from our wedding day :)

Reminiscing...

Whit and my anniversary is this coming Monday. We are going to celebrate it together in a special way, but I was just thinking back on our wonderful honeymoon....feeling like I could really use another massage these days :):) hee hee. We had such a great honeymoon, we went to the northwestern coast of Costa Rica, close to Tamarindo. It was perfect. Whit did such an amazing job planning it....we are both not really into the big, huge all inclusive hotel types, so we decided to go to a couple smaller, boutique-ish type places. The first place was called, Sueno Del Mar, a precious little bed and breakfast right on the beach. We took long walks on the beach, walked into the town for meals and enjoyed the gorgeous sunsets at night! As I mentioned we weren't really into the planned activity type honeymoon, we wanted something relaxed and laid back with the flexibility to decide if we wanted to do something (other than veg-out) all day. Our one big adventure was taking a "canopy tour" over the Costa Rica Rain Forest.

Now, let me just preface this by saying, the name "canopy tour" does not do justice to what this experience encompasses. Had I reviewed the canopy tour's website and read their "minimum mental requirements" for touring, I would have backed-out all together. (To see minimum mental requirements, click here and then scroll down). I am pretty sure that I could guarantee NONE of these requirements, especially the one about not vomiting or hyperventilating. I am thinking "cool, we'll ride some cute little gondola thing through the rain forest trees, I will be able to take pictures with my new camera and if we're lucky perhaps we will have a little 'wine and cheese' break mid-way through". Um, no. For those of you who don't know what canopy touring is, here is the description from their website, "The tour consists of observation platforms mounted in the trees with horizontal traverse cables between each. There are vertical descents. Guides help participants move from platform to platform using high angle equipment and techniques. Participants need no previous experience." They neglect to mention here that you (the tourer) are responsible for your own braking, thus we were instructed to wear huge leather gloves that you grasp the cable with; when you are about 30 yards from the end of the line you are supposed pull down very hard on the cable and this slows you down.

Apparently, there was some kind of "emergency"stop contraption that snaps up and stops you if you are going so fast that you can't slow down and are about to hit the tree, but I never saw this, and regularly ran into the little Costa Rican men who were operating the line on the other end. In all there were 10 "jumps" in our tour where you had to "jump" off the platform and fly over the rain forest to reach the other side. The very first jump was 1/4 a mile long and you reached a speed of 50 miles per hour. I thought I was going to die.

My favorite moment was when we got to the top of the mountain and prepared to take our first jump, the line operator said that they didn't have enough technicians to start the tour and we were going to have to wait for another one to return from break. Without missing a beat, our little tour guide (the man that had picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the canopy tour) said, "oh no worries, I will be a guide for you" meaning he would strap me into all the ropes and harnesses and send my out over the canyon on a 1/2 inch cable line. I said, "I'm sorry, but are you TRAINED to do this?" He said, "Oh yes Mary (they called me mary bc they couldn't remember meredith), I lead canopy tours before I drove vans." Perfect, we're so lucky :)

The second place we stayed was called Los Altos De Eros. It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. It is situated on the side of a mountain overlooking the bay. They made you fresh home-made lunches everyday with avocados and hearts of palm right off their property! Whit and I enjoyed a romantic dinner and massage for two one night overlooking the beach. I loved Sueno Del Mar, but Altos De Eros was fantastic :)

Sunset at the Whale watching tour...
The beaches are pretty rocky in Costa Rica, but REALLY beautiful

Sunsets like this every night, we saw a wedding take place almost every-evening somewhere at the beach...

This is pretty much my version of heaven (laying out, beautiful view, reading my domino and Real Simple magazines, with a glass of wine) Perrrrrrrrfection!
I like this pic bc you can see whit in my glasses.
Oh to be this tan again...
Just hangin'
Reading by the pool....
...with a little wine :) My favorite quote from the trip: these really nice staff members would come up to you at the pool and say "Mrs. Copley, can I get you a glass of white wine, a diet coke or a fresh fruit smoothie?" My answer: "Yes, yes and yes!"
Sunset

notice my little toes at the bottom of this pic :)
this was our room (there are only 5 rooms in the whole place, very private).


Sueno Del Mar, path to the beach


Canopy tour , looking okay here...
Now, this is a little hard to see, but I was talked into doing the "super man " maneuver on this zip line. One of the Costa Rican guides operated the wire while you hang horizontally, wrapping your legs around his waits (I know weird, right?!) and spread your arms out like superman. I kept thinking I was going to throw up all over the rain forest.
Whit, looking much more at ease and natural than me.After the tour we had mud baths with volcanic mud bubbling up from the earth, our tour guide insisted we take this pic. I am sure Whit loves that I posted this on the blog :)

Going to the chapel....

.......and (Lizzy and Stanton) are going to get married! This post is a little late, but I am so thrilled that my good friends Lizzy and Stanton are engaged! Lizzy was a bridesmaid in my wedding and Stanton and his family have been friends of mine for years (probably since we were 4 or 5). They are SUCH a great couple and I couldn't be happier for them! Cheers to you, Lizzy and Stanton!

My Best Gals

I love my friends. Seriously, I think I have the best friends in the entire world, I am so blessed and thankful. I regularly find myself wondering what life would be like without my closest friends. But do you know those friends that are like family? Friends that know you so well and understand you and your life story so completely that you don't have to explain what you are thinking or feeling sometimes. They know you and love you (sometimes) in spite of yourself. Friends that love you when its hard, when its really, really, REALLY hard. That aren't' afraid to humbly, gently call you out when you are wrong or making a bad decision. They say the hard things that others shy away from or avoid. They will get down on the floor with you and cry or scream or pray, whatever is necessary to take away the pain or ease the burden. They are legitimately happy for you. Kimberly, Amy Marie and Laurel are those friends to me. These friends remind me that our God is good, and that he loves me.

Amy Marie and I in NYC for Fashion Week!
Vero Beach, Florida for a little vacay!

Vineyard in Fredericksburg, TX for Laurel's bachelorette party
Me and Laurel on Safari in Kenya, East Africa
Apple Picking in Northern Virginia!
Las Vegas for my Bachelorette Weekend
Vegas, Tao Restaurant
Me and Kimberly (Berly)
Halloween 2005, ask Laurel about the "M" costume :)
Amy Marie and I in Notting Hill, London
Me, Laurel, Ames preparing for a wedding shower.
Vegas with the gals
Berly, Ames, Me
This was out Christmas Picture, 2005 when we were all roommates!
Me and Laurel at my wedding

ladies
The Weekend we met Mark (Amy Marie's fiance)