Karina and I finally completed the arduous (and long-procrastinated) task of sorting our wedding photos. I’m in the process of putting together an online gallery, and in the meantime, I’ve put up a placeholder page with a few preview photos.

Take a look!

For the Fourth, though, we’re going to take a break from building photo galleries, studying and everything else, with a quick jaunt over to Austin to relax and celebrate.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone (twice over)!

We’re still traveling, enjoying our last few days in Mexico. See you here again soon, when we return to the States with more photos and stories…

Karina left for her conference on international medical missions at the University of Missouri – Kansas City today. We just finished a nice good-night video chat, but now I find myself with time on my hands in the suddenly very empty house. It seems like a fine time to do a belated post on the holiday weekend!

Last week’s events included a benefit for the Rice Boniuk Center at the Dharma Cafe, where Suneeta (our teacher at Hugh and Donna’s cooking lesson event a couple of months back) prepared some tasty dishes accompanied by music and a silent auction.

We spent part of the Memorial Day holiday camping at a primitive site in the nearby Sam Houston National Forest. It was a very brief getaway, but it felt great to be out in the quiet where we could actually see stars… away from all things electronic. The sun was hot and the ground beneath the sleeping bag was hard — and it was all wonderful. In my urge to get away from civilization, I was inclined to bring nothing but the barest gear, water and a few PowerBars and turrones, but fortunately Karina was much smarter and talked me into bringing a few other goodies like sourdough, cheese and wine. That made the evening, and it kept us from going to bed hungry!

In wedding prep news, we met with Vickie (pictured below) and Debra again to work out more details. It feels like things are getting close now, but a million bits and pieces seem to remain. We made a lot of progress on invites, and the bulk of them are out and on their way now (that’s my part of the assembly line at right). We also found a local photographer that we really like — and as you probably know, we’re quite picky about that. We really wanted a photojournalistic style, and not so much of the typical stand-em-up-and-shoot look.

P.S. Several people have asked about suggested attire for the wedding — I’m still working on that page! But in the meantime, think beach chic. Lightweight, cooling fabrics, beach-friendly sandals or shoes, pants and dresses. And the wedding color is cornflower.

In December of 2007, Gerry and I visited the Philippines. Like many vacations, it seemed short with frantic hops from one airport, pier and terminal to another. We did cover enough places to add to our shared memory pile, celebrated our first anniversary, and shared wonderful time with friends old and new at Marj and Den’s wedding. As Gerry continues to share with me his places on one side of the Pacific, it was wonderful to be able to share with him more of my places, too, on the other side. More importantly, this trip included a stop to have Gerry’s wedding wear done.

We started with Manila, where he was born and lived ’til he was five. I also spent my college years there. We stayed at Maita’s place, which was my happy place during those years. It still is. It was like traveling back in time in a strangely quiet way — being in the same space but now intersected with Gerry’s.

We decided it would be an appropriate touch to have Gerry wear the traditional Filipino Barong on our wedding day. We went to a special shop — Tesoro’s of Manila — in the Ermita district, known since 1945 for fine barong materials that represent well the garment’s cultural history. After browsing the many different fabrics, the resident tailor-craftsman, Mr. Saturnino Calumba, crafted one just for Gerry.

The barong comes in many forms and styles. It is usually worn in special and more formal, dressier occasions in the Philippines. Many Filipino men continue to wear the barong on occasions abroad. Certain styles can be as formal as the tuxedo, which in the Philippines’ warm climate is not practical. It offers a more physically relaxed feel without taking the value off of an occasion as a more casual linen shirt might.

Mexico’s tropical climate and the beachside breezes where we will be celebrating will certainly make the barong feel at home.

We will very soon post links here or in The Wedding page to sites on barongs for whomever wants to explore this practical wear further. You’ll never know — you might just fall in love with it.

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I’ll continue sharing more about this trip sometime in Our Story.