EPoD

{dip}

engagement photo of the day (EPoD)

{besos}

Preview…

Here are some of the “I can’t wait until tomorrow to get my hands on these photos” from our engagement shoot today. I’m playing around with the cropping. I love the wide shots, and at a proper viewing size, they look sigh worthy, but they don’t read as well on every computer.

Vanessa, who I am going to start marketing as an engagement photographer, did a great job of bringing my vision to life, AND capturing some really nice candids that we didn’t bargain for. She was also great at rolling with the punches when the weather didn’t really cooperate with our plan (despite a promising forecast). I really couldn’t be more pleased (or grateful).

engagement photos are coming…

Today Will & I spent a good portion of the day with my favorite (ex) co-worker and very generous friend, Vanessa, taking engagement photos. Although the weather didn’t cooperate with my Pinterest planned photoshoot, we still got more amazing photos than I know what to do with.

Vanessa needs a REALLY nice gift (she won’t accept money). I’m taking suggestions here.

Happy Habibi Bear

Hank was added to the “Happy Tails” section of his breeder’s website. For anyone who thinks he’s the cutest (because he is, duh), this is where you can get your very own living Teddy Bear:
http://www.habibibears.com/

Julie (the breeder) is great, experienced, and a responsible breeder. She breeds two sizes of “Habibi Bears”: Standard (Hank’s size) at about 40-50 lbs and Mini at about 15-20 lbs. She puts a litter box in the whelping box with the puppies from practically day 1, which they naturally take to, so when your puppy comes home with you, it’s got a HUGE jumpstart on potty training (this is VERY good).

You can check out more Happy Tails here. Be sure to roll over the menu item to see the very long drop down list of happy families and pictures of other Habibi Bear/Schnoodle puppies.

Enjoying the weather

We had some extremely warm days in SF recently, and while Hank does not love being hot, he does love being outside with us.

Enjoying some sun and grass in the sun.

A new way to see MORE Hank

Now that Will and I officially have 2 million and 1 things happening in our lives, we’re clearly not able to properly supply this site with the Hank photo updates we should be.
SO… there have been a few new features you can explore in the mean time:

1. A new RSS feed of Instagram images of Hank spooned to you via a tumblr, and found at the top of the right side column. (But what does that mean?!)

See this right side column —>
(go ahead, look at it, we’ll wait)

The top section is an ongoing feed of Instagram photos (read: photos) of Hank that I post. I’ve added EVERY Instagram photo I’ve EVER taken of him to this now, and will continue to add when there are new ones.
And yes, they are in chronological order.

You can click the top title link to scroll through all the photos, or click an individual title that interests you.

2. Videos.
Hank is now available to you in approx 30 fps (frames per second).

See the top menu bar? (Yes, we’ll wait…)
It probably shows “Home” bolded right now. Then Registries (you can ignore this, Will added it), and then, VIDEOS.

In case you’re illiterate, in which, this probably won’t help, but perhaps you’re intermittently illiterate, the password for ALL HANK VIDEOS is: Hank

I’m adding videos slowly, as Vimeo is a bit of a battle in terms of how many videos you can upload per week, and obviously, I just started this, 5 weeks into having Hank, and we have 5 weeks of videos to catch up on. And yes, I’m posting them in chronological order, BUT, they’re not being uploaded in chronological order, so you may have to scroll through them to find the new ones for the next few weeks. Sorry.

We’ll continue to update and utilize this blog, so check back frequently (or infrequently), and in the mean time: ENJOY!

The 2013 Nor Cal CrossFit Games Regionals.

The Northern California CrossFit Games Regionals are coming, and I’m so proud to say that Will has been asked to be on the San Francisco CrossFit (SFCF) team.

This may not seem like such a big deal, since Will competed with the Lalanne Fitness team  at last year’s regionals, but with the continual growth of CrossFit, and more and more elite, professional, and college athletes choosing it as their “sport” of choice, the CrossFit Games become more and more competitive each year.

Additionally, Will has spent the last year focusing on and expanding his business, which leaves little time for training himself. Will competed in “the Open” this year for good practice, but without expectations of doing anything note-worthy, so the invitation to contribute to the team was unexpected and extremely flattering.

Despite being “out of shape”, Will maintains great form, strength, and an exemplary ability to perform high-skill movements (like Muscle Ups). I suppose they don’t call him “the Natural” for nothing.

Prior to this boastful news, I had previously purchased my plane tickets, and planned my annual Mother-Daughter trip to Palm Desert, which means, unlike last year, I will not be there to support and cheer for Will and the SFCF team.

Regionals are a fun and inspiring experience for anyone, despite your fitness routine (or lack there of). I strongly encourage you attend the 3-day event this year, and if you do, please show some love for Will, and all the athletes competing.

NorCal CrossFit Regionals:

May 24-26 (Friday-Sunday)
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
1350 Bennett Valley Road Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Buy Tickets

The Engagement Continues… (Brooke’s Story)

It’s no secret that Will and I had intentions of marrying. We talked about it plenty, and it was a matter of when, not if. So when last week Will suggested on various occasions, “Hey, let’s get married.” My reply was a well practiced, “Sure, whenever you propose.”

The puppy sleeps about six hours in his crate at night before needing a potty break, and (hopefully) returning to sleep for another hour or so. Will’s early morning clients means that I usually volunteer for “puppy duty” to allow him more sleep, which was the case Thursday night.

On Friday morning Hank and I got up about 6:30 am, leaving Will to sleep in until about 8:45 am. Will was trolling around in his sweatpants, and I had begun my work day, cross-legged on the couch with my laptop in my lap.

At about 9 am, Will came out of the bedroom and crouched in front of the couch. {Will says he was down on one knee, but I couldn’t tell from where I was sitting.}

Will was a bit shaky, and visibly nervous as he began to say something about hot air balloons and unicorns, and loving me and spending our lives together in the most peculiar fragmented run-on sentence I’ve ever witnessed. I was smiling and focusing on following this pieced together train of thought. {Neither of us remember exactly what was said, but I’m pretty certain it was all jibberish.}

Then Will says, “… so I wanted to give you this.” And pulls the ring out of his pocket, and… hands it to me? {Will says he was trying to put it on my finger, but I messed that up somehow.} I kissed him, and he sputters out the words, “So will you marry me?” {Or at least I’m pretty sure he asked something like that.} And of course, I said, “Yes.”

Benji Shine, you really are the first person to officially know we got engaged.

I put the ring on, we kiss, the puppy starts jumping up on Will’s leg and chewing things he’s not suppose to and my boss is calling on the phone… the moment is officially over (by 9:05 am).

I get a moment to take a breath in the chaos, and Will has already tweeted about proposing!

Me: “Will, my parents don’t even know yet, and you’re getting replies on Twitter!?”

The rest of the day, and night, and possibly weekend, was a balance of triaging work, work phone calls, family phone calls, texts, the puppy, and yes, facebook notifications.

To anyone who was informed in a less than favorable manner, we apologize, we’ve never done this before, and Friday was an insane day for me, with a full work load and constant interruptions (with nothing but good intentions).

To any man proposing in the future, I offer you what I told Will (at about noon on Friday): Proposals are for WEEKENDS.

We ended the day at San Francisco CrossFit partaking in their “Friday Night Lights” for the CrosFit Games Open WOD and then headed home to cook and eat, and shower our puppy in love. {If a workout, home-cooked paleo meal, and puppy love doesn’t sound like the proper way to celebrate an engagement, it’s ok, you’re not marrying us.}

Will and I feel very blessed and loved and grateful and overwhelmed…

The plan so far is: Summer or Fall, 2014 and The West Coast. We intend to enjoy this phase for awhile, touch base with immediate family and close friends about scheduling, and then delve into actually getting married.

Here are some more pictures of the ring, as requested:

Sorry for the lack of a Macro focus on the iPhone.

The Engagement Begins… (Will’s Story)

Boy meets girl.  Girl works her voodoo.  Boy falls in love, buys a ring, gets down on a knee, blacks out, and when he comes to, she’s wearing the ring.  Guess it worked out.

Friday morning I woke up and couldn’t wait any longer.  As I explained to Brooke, I didn’t have a hot air balloon, a white pony, or a scoreboard at the ballpark to express my love.  It was at this point that the rest of the details are a bit fuzzy, but I’m sure I said some very romantic shit, asked her to be my wife, and before I could get the ring on her finger she was kissing me.

Although there weren’t any candles, trumpets, swans, or other such props, I was extremely excited to give Brooke her ring.  Last Thanksgiving we were in Eugene, and ended up at the Holiday Market.  Brooke and her mom, Jacqui ended up talking at length with a jeweler who they had come to know over the years.  I stood back quietly and took notes:

In January, with these notes, I met with Margot, a friend of my family, and asked her to make the notes into a ring.  After multiple meetings, going over design, stones, and selling my kidney on the black market, Margot and her team created this:

 

The day got even better for me from there on out.  My CrossFit hero, Kelly Starrett, DPT followed me on twitter, and the Giants extended their contract with Buster Posey.

 

 

 

Everyone has been asking us when and where?  We have no idea.  We’ll let you know.  Thanks for sharing this special time with us!