Sweet Virginia

Whenever we're invited to an out-of-town wedding in an interesting spot, we make a habit of turning it into a mini-getaway. So when Alex's close friend from law school invited Alex to be in his wedding in Richmond, Virginia, we knew we were in for a jam packed, fun-filled weekend.

The wedding itself was so southern and proper. At a beautiful church with a reception at the Jefferson Hotel. The bride and groom were glowing with happiness and it was a beautiful day.

Apart from the wedding festivities, we took it upon ourselves to have little adventures. We grabbed a night cap after the rehearsal dinner with our good friend who got married earlier this year in Korea, checked out the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, had a seriously mouth-watering BBQ lunch, and explored a bit of downtown Richmond, including a fantastic dinner at Rappahannock.

It's crazy to think that our own wedding is in the near future. I'll miss calling Alex my fiance and I'll miss all the anticipation up to our big day, but I won't miss all the planning and preparation and logistics. Even though I've planned tons of events for work, it's so different now that it's my own. Add an extra layer of pressure from the crazy wedding industry that exists these days (Say Yes to the Dress, Pinterest, Etsy,the Knot, Wedding Wire)...and it feels a bit overwhelming at times trying to meet so many expectations and deadlines. But I've got a great partner in Alex and at the end of the day, that's what's most important.

Foreign Relations

Alex and I were instructed by our rabbi to get some preliminary genetic testing in preparation for having children in the future. As Ashkenazi Jews, there are a few scary diseases we have to worry about passing on to the next generation such as Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis. Before going in to a genetic counselor, we decided to have a little fun and do 23andme - both to check out our gene pools and learn about our ancestry.

From kit receipt to lab results, the entire process took about 6 weeks. Luckily neither of us carry variants for the array of horrible things we could pass on to a child. (WHEW!) With our diverse gene pools, I can't say I'm surprised! I did learn that I'm at high risk for developing Alzheimer's Disease late in life (yikes). As the time comes closer for us to plan for a family, we'll go through additional, more thorough testing just in case.

One cool thing the site tests for is ancestry. I found out that I'm about 47% Italian, about 48% Ashkenazi Jew, and the remaining 5% of my genetics are from the Middle East, Northern Europe, and Asia. Alex is about 55% Ashkenazi Jew and the remaining 45% of his genetics are a mixed bag: Middle Eastern, Northern African, Iberian, Balkan, Italian, Northern European, Eastern European...fascinating!

The highlight of this process for me was discovering a new family member in San Francisco! My dad's mother, Sylvia, had 3 siblings: Floyd, Melvin and Pearl (THOSE NAMES!). Floyd and Sylvia were the closest of the siblings (they shared a birth day of August 30 although years apart). My grandmother's stage name during her short career as an opera singer was Sylvia Floyd. I know that she grieved for Floyd for many years. He died very young (in his 40's) while his wife was pregnant with their second son, also named Floyd. His widow was also caring for their older son, Gordon when she moved back into her parents' home and lost touch with my grandmother and her family. Gordon's son, Aaron, was also on 23andme and our genetic results matched us as 2nd cousins. I reached out and connected with him and it's been amazing getting to know my family. Aaron has 2 sisters with very interesting backgrounds: one is married to a transgender rabbi and the other is a single mom who works as a nurse. I'm so thrilled to learn all about my family and it gives me the perfect excuse to (maybe, one-day) travel to San Francisco for a family reunion. It's been so interesting learning about my family history!

Here's a photo of my paternal grandparents' wedding that hangs on the wall in my aunt's apartment:

from left to right top row: Pearl*, Jean's husband, Jean**, Melvin*, Lois**, Floyd* [*=grandmother's sibling; **=grandfather's sibling]

from left to right bottom row: Golda, Paul*, Dena*, Sylvia, Irving, Dora**, Philip** [*=grandmother's parents; **=grandfather's parents; Sylvia and Irving were my grandparents and Golda was my great great grandmother!]

Rhythm and Seoul

When Alex and I found out our good friend Nooree was getting married, we were thrilled. When we found out his wedding would be in South Korea we were even more excited - there's nothing we love more than a travel adventure! Also, we neither of us had taken a full week of work off since our ski trip to Utah over a year ago so we were stoked for a much-needed break.

At an ungodly hour of the morning, we took off on our 14.5 hour flight (direct, thank goodness!) to Seoul. We flew Korean Air which was the most polite and orgnized airline I've ever flown. The flight itself was so pleasant, I almost didn't mind the super long trip.

We spent our first day in Seoul exploring. We had a traditional ox bone soup for breakfast, took a nice walk around the neighborhood where our hotel was, and ate dinner in the very trendy SMT in Gangnam with kpop music videos on the ceiling. I was so impressed that we were easily able to navigate the public transit system.

We took a full day to celebrate our good friend Nooree and his new wife Sookyun. We stayed at the Lotte Hotel where their wedding events were so it was a very easy day for us. The wedding itself was all in Korean, and, while we didn't understand most of what was being said, it was easy to interpret the beautiful ceremony. Guests ate lunch during their Christian ceremony which was followed by a beautiful Korean ceremony. One cool tradition that I really enjoyed watching: the mother of the groom throws dates and then walnuts to the bride and groom who attempt to catch them with a piece of fabric. These represent how many girls (dates) and boys (walnuts) the couple will have in the future. We finished the wedding festivities with a drink with the newlyweds at the lobby bar before they headed off to their honeymoon. Nooree's mom hosted us that evening at her family's restaurant in Seoul. The cuisine was Korean inspired Chinese and every bite was sensational. It tasted nothing like the greasy American Chinese food that I have come to know and love. It wasn't really the type of occasion where you could take a lot of pictures so the few I have from it are blurry at best.

We spent the rest of the trip taking in all of the sites of the city. We explored one of the palaces and the business area surrounding it.