Amanda and Kyle’s wedding was a different one for us, as it wasn’t technically a wedding. They got married in Mexico the weekend that Ashley and Jason had their wedding, and then came back home to have a cocktail reception with their family and friends. They held the reception at a new Spanish tapas restaurant off of 1960 called Capriccio. The night was full of lots of mingling and a million awesome little details:

It was a black and white reception, and everyone looked awesome. Some of their guests had super cute shoes.

They set up a projection screen and played a slideshow full of images from their lives, as well as their wedding day. I think people really enjoyed it.

There was plenty of alcohol to go around, because hey, what’s a cocktail reception without good booze?

Always a friendly sight: kegs at weddings.

Capriccio served up some oh-holy-goodness awesome Spanish paella.

I am pretty sure this kid wanted to go home the whole time. It just wasn’t his scene.

Amanda checks out some bling:

It was pretty crowded, so we didn’t get to use the photo booth as much as usual, but once it cleared out a bit we had a little fun.

By the end of the night, the shoes came off and the cigars came out.

I think Kyle made good use of that candle, don’t you?

Amanda and Kyle, thanks for a great reception!

Tyra Banks has a talk show that is freaking hilarious. She reminds me a lot of Paris Hilton, in that I’m never quite sure if she is behaving so crazy for attention and profit, or if she really is just that cooky. Anyway, I tune in to her show every now and then, and today I found a special treat.

She did her show on YouTube celebrities. She’s certainly not the first one to do it, but she had some interesting stuff, particularly the Wii Fit Girl. If you haven’t seen the video, she’s the one whose boyfriend took a video of her playing the Wii Fit hula hoop game in her underwear. For reference, here’s what the jerkface posted:

Embarrassing, no? Well, they were both on Tyra’s show today, and she made him do the hula hoop in his underwear!

I totally love that he left his pants around his ankles. Awkwaaard!

Here’s an early look at a project I’m working on:

I promise you’ll see more very soon!

Oh dear. Either someone’s made a terrible mistake, or they have a totally twisted mind.

You might want to turn the sound off. The bastardized Queen song is a little bit annoying.

…And hey, while we’re looking at weird stuff on YouTube, why don’t you check out the making of this totally creepy baby cake? I can just imagine the squeamishness that ensues when people take a knife to that thing at a baby shower. It reminds me of the whole life size bride cake from a while back.

People, hurricanes are bad enough without your bonehead contributions. This is not the time to be an idiot, so please stop and learn a few lessons from Hurricane Ike.

If the authorities issue a mandatory evacuation, it’s time to go. If they get frustrated and finally just tell you to write your name and social security number on your arms so they can identify your body after the storm, and the National Weather Service says “leave or die,” it’s REALLY time to go. Your house is your home, but it can be replaced. You can’t. Further, your stupid decision affects the first responders who have to risk their lives to save you after the storm.

Don’t leave your animals. If it’s not safe for you, it’s not safe for them. Period. The stories about people being reunited with their animals that survived the storm in destroyed homes do not warm my heart. They make me mad. If you love your dog so much, why did you leave him?

Run your generator outside, or it will kill you. So far, carbon monoxide poisoning from generators has been responsible for 5 of the 9 Hurricane Ike deaths in Harris County, including children.

Swimming in flood waters is not a good way to entertain yourself. It’s gross. There is some seriously nasty stuff in there, including ants that will swarm anything dry (that would be you). Don’t get in it. Don’t let your kids or pets in it. Don’t drive in it either. When you get stuck in high water and have to abandon your car, you’re only contributing to the nastiness that ends up in the water that is flooding peoples’ homes.

Finally, don’t take pictures of yourself and all of your drinking buddies standing on a tree that’s inside your demolished roof. You have may have serious structural damage and it’s not safe. We don’t need you clogging up the hospitals with stupid injuries. (Yes, I actually saw these photos.)

Be safe, everyone.

If you want to help, donate to the American Red Cross or the Greater Houston Community Foundation. And if you’re picking up a 6 pack of beer in Texas, make it a St. Arnold Elissa IPA. They donate to the Galveston Historical Society.

As I said in our update, JD and I made it through the hurricane without any problems. All of our family and friends are doing well. Some lost boats and sustained property damage, but are otherwise just fine.

Our house lost a few roof shingles and an old section of fence fell down, but we had no major damage. We even have water and power. Our Internet is out, but I’m using a neighbor’s connection.

We’re very, very fortunate to have gotten off this easily. Most of the people in the Houston area are still without power, including my parents and JD’s mom and stepdad. Many residents are without livable homes, and others are still evacuated out of town and have no idea what state their home is in.

Galveston Island is pretty trashed. It’s really terrible. I am perhaps most sad about the historic Balinese Even our bride and groom for October 25th are scrambling to find a new venue to get married in, because their original plan to get married at the Garten Verein in Galveston is obviously not working out.

On Thursday we stuffed our animals, lots of board games, and ourselves into JD’s tiny Jeep and headed to my mom and dad’s house so we wouldn’t have to ride out the storm on our own.

Our kitties are NOT used to riding in cars and they were of course whining, shedding messes. Before we got to Beltway 8 and 59, Beast had pooped. In my lap. Yes. So he had to be carried in inside a towel and dumped in the bathroom while I changed and took a shower, and then bathed him. He was pretty traumatized and as a result, spent the entire time at my mom and dad’s house under the bed.

He’s doing much better now at home, and the ride back was poop free, thank goodness.

I took some photos around the house before the storm and noticed that the bees did not decide to evacuate.

My dad was totally prepared. He pre-cut a bunch of plywood and marked where it should all go and what to use to hang it up. He even cut holes to watch the storm through.

The sunset before Ike hit was really pretty. This is the front yard of my mom and dad’s house.

The animals got bored after a while.

Shego protected my phone. I had enough foresight to set up a Twitter account that I could send text messages to update our families throughout the storm. Good thing, because my phone service is still screwed up.

During the storm, I drank a St. Arnold Elissa IPA. I thought it would be appropriate, given that the ship the beer is named after was getting pummeled in Galveston. (Note: It’s a good beer to buy right now if you want to support Galveston. St. Arnold donates a part of their profits from the beer to the Galveston Historical Society.) I also tried to read Their Eyes Were Watching God, a book that includes a deadly hurricane in the Florida Everglades, but I never got past the foreword.

If you’re wondering, the Elissa did well in the storm. An 1877 ship, this is clearly not her first hurricane.

This was the biggest damage at my mom and dad’s house. A huge part of the big tree in their backyard fell. We were lucky it didn’t fall a little bit farther to the right or left. It could have taken out the phone and power lines, or hit the garage.

We cleared a lot of debris Saturday morning. We’d just gotten started and already we had a huge pile.

My dad’s pond, before and after.

Some kids check out a downed tree in my mom and dad’s neighborhood.

Their neighbors had some interesting messages for Ike painted on their plywood.

Some firemen work to clear fallen trees from the road.

Hanging out near the generator at my mom and dad’s house. Right now, they are still without power and running it for their refrigerator and TV. And a fan-pretty important. My dad helped with the Katrina evacuees at the Astrodome and used the money he got for working there to get better hurricane supplies, like this generator. Pretty smart, eh?

JD and I took Puck on a walk throughout the neighborhood and found some lost dogs. This one escaped through a hole in the fence, but JD found his owners. The little girl and her mom were really happy to get him back.

JD also found this dog far from home. JD carried him all the way back to his owners, who were very excited to see him again, and vice versa.

We saw plenty of destruction around the neighborhood. Downed fences, uprooted trees, broken gutters, etc.

After the 2:00 curfew was lifted in Fort Bend, we came back to check out our house and found out it was fine. We took showers and while we were here, the power came back on! We drove back to my mom and dad’s for dinner and to pick up our animals to bring them back home. My sister and her boyfriend came to stay the night and enjoy our utilities, too. Our neighborhood was OK, but there were a ton of trees down. This one’s in between our neighborhood pool and tennis courts.

On the ride over, we saw that lots of billboards were taken back to the past.

Sunday evening we decided to check out Oyster Creek Park/Lost Creek Park. It was not bad, although very swampy. It actually looked a lot like it did after a big rain a couple years ago, except with some really screwed up trees.

The creek looked pretty swampy.

This sign offered a timely warning. JD and I have never seen alligators here, but I think now would be the time. We still didn’t see any, but let’s just say I kept my distance from the water. PS, there’s a bridge under there.

Some families found a cure for their cabin fever by playing soccer at the park. The park was officially closed, probably because of alligators and possible water contamination, but that obviously didn’t stop us or them.

Since then, we’ve had a handful of friends and family stop by to partake in our sweet, delicious utilities for stuff like hot showers, laundry, email, and air conditioning relief.

Our Hurricane Ike story is obviously mild. There are a lot of people in the Houston/Galveston area and beyond that are really suffering right now. I’ve been glued to the media these days reading lots of stories and staying updated. These are a few of the items that I thought were interesting:

The Galveston County Daily News has been publishing throughout the storm and the aftermath, as has the Houston Chronicle. You can access the electronic edition of the Chronicle for free here. The username and password are both Ike.

The Houston Zoo’s baby elephant pitched in to clear debris.

Neighbors helping neighbors. Thankfully, there’s been a lot of this going on.

Good luck to everyone who is still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Ike.

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know we’re doing perfectly fine. We never lost water and our power was restored Saturday afternoon. We even went to Randalls yesterday and it wasn’t crazy! I am stealing an Internet connection from our neighbors. JD is back at work editing photos, so we’re only behind a couple days. Life is pretty much back to normal for us.

I’ll be posting an update soon with plenty of photos from before, during, and after the storm.

Please think good thoughts for all of the people in the Houston and Galveston area that are not as fortunate as we are. If you know anyone who needs a hot shower, good meal, or AC relief, they are welcome to it in our home-leave a comment here and we’ll send you the info you need.

Dear Ike,

You’re not welcome here.

Love,

Jessica

PS: Clients, don’t worry about your images. We’ve got our backups and external hard drives under control.

I have a secret addiction that I don’t talk about much. Not because I’m embarrassed by it, but just because it doesn’t come up that often in regular conversation.

It’s paper. I love it. Books, magazines, photo prints, cards…you name a paper product that doesn’t belong in the bathroom or kitchen, and I probably have an extensive and completely unnecessary collection of it.

Snaptacular Photos has given me a new outlet for my love affair with paper. Our lab makes it possible for us to custom design and print really awesome cards and invitations. Like these:

We even designed our own save the dates, invitations, and programs for our wedding. And when I say “we” I mean JD did all the work and I gave it my stamp of approval. Anyway, these were the goods:

Our invitations were especially a hit and my personal favorite out of all the paper that came out of our wedding, so I just have to show you all of the little details:

People kept telling us, “You should design stuff like this for a living!” Little did they know…we do. We’ve created a handful of custom designed save the dates and cards for our clients, and I really love what we’ve (again, I use the term “we” loosely) done. These are a couple of my favorites:

Kim and Kevin’s save the date card:

Ashley and Jason’s magnet save the date:

So if you’re on the hunt for awesome custom designed wedding invitations, save the dates, or other card products, drop me a line. I’ll be happy to send you our price list and talk about design ideas.

PS-It’s not too early to start thinking about holiday cards, either! We’re currently doing discounted mini-sessions just for family Christmas card photos.

This afternoon, JD took a quick break from work to play with our animals and brought out the bubbles. Here is what happened.

Puck likes to open wide and get as many bubbles in his mouth as possible.

Of course, it helps when JD blows them directly into his mouth.

Other times, he just licks them off the couch.

Beast is a little more laid back.

Sometimes Beast doesn’t understand the concept of bubbles.

Meanwhile, Shego is way more interested in sunbathing than some stupid bubbles.

We don’t take coffee breaks around here-it’s all about bubbles and sunshine.