Weekend in Tampa Bay

Wedding season has begun. Last weekend started a string of 7 weddings in 8 weeks. This weekend was our furthest ever. A family I knew from church back in the day contacted us about shooting their wedding in Tampa Bay. We were flattered at the offer and got their date locked in. The wedding was on a Friday so we scheduled to stay an extra day and make a very mini vacation out of it.

After doing the math I figured it would be cheaper to drive even though the 10 hours one way was not appealing. Rebecca was also afraid at the possibility of having to get her gear checked. Lost camera gear could not be an option. So to spice up the drive down a little bit a decided to set up the camera and do a time lapse. I know I've been a little time lapse heavy as of late, but I think they're fun. We set up the camera in the back seat on the tripod. Photos were taken every 60 seconds except for a few certain scenes that warranted being closer together. Rebecca will be adding some actual photos of our trip to her blog in the near future.

We drove down on Thursday and got there just before dark. We got some seafood at a local joint then went briefly to the beach. I don't think we've been to the beach since Matt's triathlon nearly two years ago. Josh and Lauren's wedding festivities began at one on Friday. They had the ceremony at a local botanical gardens which was really pretty. Everything went real well. Once again, I'll let Rebecca give a more detailed account of that day.

Saturday we had to cut back on our per diem since we had gone a little high the first two days. So we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and used some coupons. We also had to go to the Apple Store because Rebecca's laptop had quit working. Since she had planned on working in the car on the way home we figured it would be best to go ahead and get it fixed. She needed a new battery and a new charger. Glad to have that taken care of we moved on to activities we couldn't actually do in Birmingham. Next stop was Ikea. The 3 hour maze of home furnishings was overwhelming as always. I calmed my nerves with some Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria. Keeping the per diem low. Rebecca got a few small things. I think she's set on some new office furniture, but we didn't have room in the car. Maybe it was just a secret ploy on Rebecca's part to go back? After leaving we went to the beach and got there just in time for it to start raining. A little ice cream helped to pass the time and got back out for the rain to pass and leave a beautiful sunset.

The drive back today seemed to drag on forever. Rebecca managed to squeeze in three naps. She'll probably stay up most of the night now.

Sod Party - Time Lapse

One of my favorite non-maintenance landscape jobs, is putting in sod. I love transforming a space and I love turf, so combining the two makes my day. I schedule this job to coordinate when Matt would be home for Easter. The shady backyard needed to be replaced with Zoysiagrass and came out to about 6 pallets. It also needed some topsoil, so we brought in 10 cubic yards. The backyard had limited access so that meant everything had to be carried by wheelbarrow into place. Since it was also on a pretty steep slope we had to staple a good portion of the sod so it would stay in place. We had a two hour rain delay on Thursday and also made things pretty muddy. Dad came out for a couple hours that afternoon to help out. The rest of the project took all Friday and an hour on Saturday to finish up. It all went really well and glad we got to be a part of it.

Mr. No Shoulders

Mr. No Shoulders with no head.

I set up the camera to do a time lapse of the project. Since its Rebecca's gear I had to be extra careful with it and so I put a ziplock bag over the camera and lens to protect it from dust and rain. That's why its a little hazy and has trouble focusing in some. The third guy in some of the pictures is the homeowner who was working on his back patio. The camera battery died in the afternoon on the first day so that is the reason for the big jump in progress.