It’s been crickets around here lately, due to the craziness that is our life. I’ve been updating Instagram regularly, so if you follow me there, not all of this is news to you, but I wanted to fill the rest of y’all in. So if you need a coffee of wine refill, now’s the time, before we settle in for a good old fashioned catch up.
For the last few years, we’d been living in a family-owned home, and when it was put on the market this spring we began apartment hunting. The housing market in LA is incredibly saturated, which means that we looked at a billion places that ranged from unlivable to underwhelming, all at varying levels of overpriced. And when it came to the places that were manageable in both amenities and budget, we were competing with dozens of other applicants. Just when I was convinced we’d be stuck living somewhere unfortunate, David found a spacious garden condo just a few blocks from our old place.
We went to see it and submitted an application on the spot- hardwood floors, natural light, and lots of storage space can be an impossible trifecta in the rental market. I went to bed dreaming of those closets, and it was such a relief to get the call telling us it was ours. I immediately started planning to decorate, and to turn the second bedroom in to an office/studio, and of course- packing. I will say, I never realized how much stuff we (mostly me, really- David’s not the one collecting shoes and antique china) had until I needed to put it all in a zillion boxes.
Most of our belongings were still in those boxes when life threw us a major curveball. I was unpacking a bathroom box, when I got the call that David had been in an accident coming home on our Vespa- and in the case of man vs machine, the machine won and David’s leg lost. We rushed to the ER, spent the night at the hospital, and learned the total fracture count was 11, including breaks in his fibula, metatarsals, and several in his badly dislocated ankle. Though on the grand scale of things he was incredibly lucky that his spine and skull were totally fine (grateful beyond measure for guardian angels and his helmet), that is a hell of a lot of damage to his poor leg. It took several weeks and dozens of tests and dr appointments and referrals for us to get a handle on the scope of his injury, and then to get his swelling down in hopes of facilitating reconstruction.
We’re incredibly grateful for David’s orthopedic surgeon. A few weeks ago, he did in one (long, nerve wracking) surgery what other doctors said would take two or more. Setting all those breaks, removing bone fragments and reconnecting ligaments, repairing that shattered ankle with plates, screws, and biocartilage, and pinning the metatarsals back together in his foot was a tall order. A note on the pins- they are equally best and worst. While they are a big part of the reason David was one and done in surgery, they are also gruesome- their purpose is internal, but they extend externally from the sole of his foot, like frankenstein bolts. Suffice it to say, not quite a blogworthy look.
And while those pins are in (all the fingers crossed for not much longer), David has to keep his heart rate down and his leg elevated- which means he’s pretty much housebound. Other than doctor’s appointments, he’s left the house exactly twice. He’s being such a good patient, but for someone who’s normally super athletic, he is pretty miserable casted up and stuck on the couch. I’d be lying if I said his recovery has been anything but rough, but we’ve been taking it day by day. He’s had lots of visitors, my mom flew in for a week to help me unpack and get us settled, and healing has been slow and steady which is about all we can ask.
On a brighter note, we had worked with some friends on a styled elopement shoot this spring, and it was featured on Green Wedding Shoes recently, so I can finally share it with you all! My friend Tabitha executes the most beautiful visions for weddings and events, and this shoot in the superbloom with Julie Shuford, dressed by the Blushing Bird, made for some dreamy images.
The Anza Borrego desert was all kinds of windblown and wonderful, and these pictures are the same.
