Friendly posing iguana

This little guy is actually quite large and I have another photo that won´t upload that has a sign in it for showing the actual size but he just sat proudly and posed. It was quite sweet actually. And we went crazy, snapping away for him like he was an A list star.

We just checked into our wedding night hotel and they had a chilled towel, scented with Eucalyptus and chilled mimosas waiting for us when we arrived. Nice. But the room isn´t ready so we are going to toddle off for lunch. Hugs.

North Side of the Island

Very hurricane prone and very windy

Wedding Day is here!

I am sorry that there are not more photos. I actually got up at 6:30 a.m. this morning to upload a bunch when there was not queue to use the Internet but the ´net doesn´t start working until 8 around this island. I think there´s a connection that they (the ubiquitous they ... no, I have no idea who they are ...) turn it on for the island. Anyhoo, the upload process is painfully slow so it takes about 10 minutos per photo.

The rehearsal dinner last night was amazing and I even drank a mimosa in front of my parents. The food was truly superb, the best gnocci I have ever had, and the family was in high spirits. Both clans are getting along swimmingly and I can see many family vacations together in the future. It´s a beautiful thing.

My dad gave a little speech last night that had us ALL crying. I have never seen my father cry for more than a choked sob and he´s done the eulogies for both of his parents. But, last night, he was a sentimental blubbering father. It was a glorious thing. The only draw back was that I was wearing insane amounts of make up and it all pretty much ran. It was also a preview for today. The entire Faiola family cried so much last night that it really doesn´t bode well for today.

My hair and make up start at 2 p.m. and then photos in town with the red sash wedding dress at 4 and then, I go into seclusion and change into the Grecian wedding dress and put my veil on to surprise Chris so his first look at my as I walk down the aisle will be in a new wedding dress that he has not seen. I think that this little compromise allows us to get photos before the wedding and also for me to wear the cannot-breathe-one-iota dress for a bit.

I will work on uploading photos now. I miss you all desperately and am dying for an update for numbers for Bramble Berry. The ´net is so slow that I can´t really get onto my computer to check balances and numbers. I am going a little bit crazy but nothing a mimosa won´t cure.

sorry it´s sideways

Policia! Policia!

The Police pulled us over in our little golf cart. It was very very funny. All six of us were crammed into the golf cart. It was working way over capacity and could barely make it over speedbumps. And, then the police siren goes on and we got pulled over for having too many people in the car. Whoops. Golf Cart I mean. So I ended up taking my leave of the happy kids and went to the luxury resort to take care of some last minute details and sit in the shadow of the pool. It worked out very well for me. And the kids didn´t get a ticket ... kids being the rest of the family.

The countdown begins

Just 24 hours to the wedding and we are almost to the rehersal dinner. I did wild and crazy hair and make up tonight. Not to worry, tomorow will be a Gracey Kelly-esque look for the wedding.

Highlight of the day

The highlight of Sunday was definitely the fresh coconut milk that we mixed with chili peppers, lime and salt. It was so yummy. They actually cut it on the side of the road for us, with a machete. I was worried for all the guy´s ten finghers!

Contoy Island Trip

Today was the day long adventure tour to Contoy Island. We took a small little boat with the entire family over to a teensy little island where there is a huge amount of frigates and the most massive baracuda that one ever could hope to see. Or, as my mother in law, Kelly thinks - more of a nightmare - but the most large barracuda that I´ve ever seen. It was an amazing adventure with an hour in a small boat to the island and a very bumpy ride at that. Thankfully, my Dad brought anti nausea pills for the sickies (all the Renoud men get sea sick) so there were not violent upspellings over the side of the boat.

Erik, my brother, saw a shark while snorkeling and we all saw a baby sea turtle while snorkeling. That was definitely a highlight. Oh, and of course, the friendly, biting finger barracuda. I estimate he weighed 75 pounds, my brother said 150 but then again, my brother fishes a lot so he probably automatically doubles the weight of any creature he sees or catches.

Tonight, we´re headed to a family dinner at Villa Rolandi, all ten of us. All of the family togetherness (small boat, small island, dinner tonight) is still a positive charming experience which is a bit shocking to me but I´ll take my blessings where I can.

Hugs and loves to you all. I am already getting antsy to get home and I still have like 10 more days.

Getting our blood tests

They make you get blood tests to prove you don´t have any communicable diseases. I am not sure what they would do if they found that you had a communicable disease. The hospital is so modern that we literally had to buy band aids at a grocery store to staunch the flow of blood from the two vial poke with a viciously large needle. Chris won´t let me post the photo of him turning green when they drew his blood but it was an impressively large needle.

Leaving Cancun, thank goodness

Cancun is totally overbuilt and crowded. We are happy to be going to an island!

boarding the yacht to take us to the island

that´s right, it´s a pirate ship in the background. apparently, they do these drunken cruises where the entire thing culiminates in a fake battle between the red and the green ships, complete with little sexy pirate outfits on the waiters slash plundering pirates.

Friendly Iguanas

We have local iguana friends. Three of them. They love our patio. I tried to pet one. It ran away. I was sad. Chris was relieved not to have a bride with bite marks running down the side of her cheek.

A particulary bad shot of our wedding location

We speak no Espanol

We have managed to fall prey to the dreaded White-Man-Speak-No-Spanish curse. You know the one, the one where you suddenly feel the need to add an O to the end of every word?

Our conversations for the last 24 hours have sounded something like this -

Honey-o, go get-o the el golf-o carto-o so we-o can go into town-o.

All the time. Everything gets an O on the end of it. We sound like blinkin` idiots but somehow, cannot stop. I suspect that this does not ingratiate us favorably with the locals.

The island is a balmy 85 degrees

Chris and I arrived on Isla Mujeres last night by private ferry, thanks to Villa Rolandi, where we will spend our wedding night. We rode over the on the ferry beside the captain, getting splashed with waves in 2 to 3 foot seas. Luckily, intrepid Chris did not get sea sick so all was well.

We started yesterday morning out at a very respectable 6 a.m. and rode our shuttle from the Seattle airport Hilton with a very sleepy, bleary eyed Risk Manager (for a coal company) who had literally 30 minutes to make his flight, or else miss his kids track meet. We hope he made it.

Since Chris splurged with his airline miles, we flew first class and of course, had to take advantage of all the perks. These same perks that we would not have known about had Norman at Bramble Berry not told us about them - suddenly, we felt very entitled to take the short security line and drink mimosas at 7 a.m. (yes you read that right. 7 a.m.). We proceeded to get on the plane, in 1st class, and continued to drink mimosas for a few hours feeling very privileged and full of ourselves. Until of course, we passed out. Or rather, took a nice long nap and woke up on the descent into Cancun. We managed to stay awake for one movie. We´re so cool.

Sigh. We could´ve done that little sleeping trick in Coach!

More shower photos

Thank you to my dear Mother for taking these. She has quite an eye for photos!


My beautiful friend Christin and me. Christin has been leaving me encouraging messages the last two weeks, to talk me down from the freak-out "Oh. My. Goodness. I am getting married. Soon!" moments that I've been prone to lately. Gotta love that patience in a friend.



The amazing gifts - including all the buttercreme yellow placemats and napkins I registered for, the bridal shower announcement mounted in a shadow box (thanks Mom!), $120 in CHEESE gift certificates (love those book club girls), knives (real knives! We didn't have any yet, just $3 paring knives for everything), gorgeous dishes (antipasti tray and pitcher and wine glasses) and a lovely cotton nightie to wear in Mexico. I love 'em all. Haven't written thank you notes yet, but I will, I promise.


Joyous Greek Dancing!



More joyous Greek dancing to get our limbs working and blood pumping.


The ignominious plate-dropping-close-to-toe incident. Notice the blue plate is no where near the sheet and instead is on Amy's concrete driveway. Somewhere, some Angel is lecturing God that He should have given me slightly better sport skills than the negative 100% that I current posses. It is only through divine intervention that I have all ten of my toes right now.


The finished final beautiful mosaic mirror. It will weigh 45 pounds with the grout and glue on and I expect Chris will have to reinforce the wall to ensure it doesn't peel away under the weight. I can't wait to have it up on our wall.

Bridal Shower

Big thanks to Amy and Doris for hosting our Big Fat Greek Bridal Shower, complete with breaking plates, all Greek food and an amazing keepsake book.

Here are some fun photos from the bridal shower.

My beautiful sister in law, Keylena, six months pregnant and my dear Mother in Law Kelly arriving at the shower. Doesn't Keylena look like a super model? I sure hope I look this good pregnant.

Rachel and Christin, looking gorgeous as always.

Keylena, Kelly and my dear mother Wenche, who drove all the way from Olympia to join us.
Quite the food spread - four kinds of dips, multiple phyllo encrusted little gems of food, and over a pound of feta. That's right, literally a pound of feta. The best food spread at any party - truly epic. Again, big thanks for Amy and Doris for the amazing spread.

Angelic Angie and Sarah.

Next post will be all about the breaking of the plates!

Doris, co-hostess with the mostess, breaking plates.

Sarah and Christin decorating the mosaic mirror.

Erin and Angie making very Martha-Stewarty art.


The decimation of 18 plates looks much smaller while piled up in a basket, all akimbo.

Sarah, Allison and Doris , my photogenic friends.

Breaking the plates

While I failed to get any photos of us all doing a traditional Greek dance in Amy's drive way, rest assured, it was quite a fun spectacle. There was a tradition that Doris explained - something about bringing the joy into the day - but I missed it with the laughter and all the blood flowing to my head from all the exercise.
Here is our beautiful hostess Amy, handing out very nice plates to break. Note the look of stunned incomprehension on Rachel's face. Other than one person, none of us had ever broken plates before so it was an experience not to be missed.
Allison, who my mother described as, "The Funniest Person She's Ever Met," bravely breaks the first plate.
Me, timidly, throwing a small blue plate. What you don't see is the next frame, where I narrowly avoid my foot. Having never shown much sporting aptitude, this proves to be no different when I promptly throw the plate directly on the concrete, squarely in front of my toe. I am given no more plates to smash, probably a good thing for my limbs.
My mother, sagely utilizes an underhanded throw, thus sparing us all the embarrassment of another Non-Sporting, Toe-Threatening, Faiola Family Moment.
The Aftermath. It doesn't look like much but they had been 18 very happy plates just a few minutes before.

Hairstyle Test Day

Thanks to the fabulous Studio Galactica (752-1188) for doing five of these updos in an hour - no small feat! And yes, I know, the pea green sweater is doing me no favors. I have no excuse. I was cold. You know, Washington in April ... cold wet rainy.