eclaire (what’s in a) name?

one year ago today, mike and i celebrated our wedding with our friends and family at pajaro dunes. most of you know the story, but just in case you don’t – we started dating on september 20, 1999, and decided to get married on the saturday closest to our 8 year anniversary. we sweated over details, made lists, spent lots of money, and involved our family and friends in all kinds of projects to get to the day of the wedding.

the plan was to hold the ceremony outdoors on the beach by the water, and then have the reception/amazing food/dance party indoors. september is usually a warm month in santa cruz, and we expected sunny skies and people needing to apply copious quantities of sunscreen not to burn. but lo and behold, in the days leading up to the wedding the forecasts for september 22, 2007 showed nothing but rain showers. we were able to hold the rehearsal on the beach the day before the wedding with only a few moments of drizzle, and wished and hoped for sunny skies.

when we awoke on the morning of our wedding, not only were we nervous about all the details and plans and the whole everyone-staring-at-us, what if we trip factor, but the sky was a dreary gray and rain was pouring. we hauled ourselves over to the breakfast my mom prepared and were consoled/slightly cheered up by our amazing friends and family, who promised to do everything they could to have the wedding happen outdoors. it was all i could do not to cry into my bowl of delicious homemade oatmeal.

our fabulously heroic friends and family members deployed from the breakfast and ran all over town, scrambling to get umbrellas and tents for overhead, laminating the signs, and preparing for the worst. it was a really stressful morning, but this filling, tasty oatmeal held me together through my anxiety, nausea, excitement, tears, and laughter.

at 1pm, right before the deadline for the florist to decide if she could set up outdoors, the sun started to shine and the rain paused long enough for us to get married on the beach.

a year later, i’m so glad that the planning and the stress is behind us, but i also love looking at the pictures and wouldn’t change anything!

so, i’d like to take this opportunity to thank: all four of our marvelous parents, our two lovely sisters, and our incredible friends for your support, help, and advice – we couldn’t have / wouldn’t have wanted to pull the wedding off without you!!!

and to mike: happy anniversary – i can’t wait for many more!

and to everyone: go make this oatmeal – it will hold you together when you need it most…or at the very least keep you full.

emilie’s mom’s oatmeal

(serving size = 1, duplicate as needed)

• 1/3c water
• 1/3c soy milk
• pinch of salt
• 1t sugar (or less)
• 1/8t vanilla
• 1/3c oats
• 1/2 D’Anjou pear, diced leaving skin on (or other seasonal fruit – i used nectarines here)
• 1 Medjool date, diced
  ________________________

1. boil water and soy milk
2. add salt, sugar, vanilla, oats, fruit, and dates and heat until boiling
3. remove from heat when mixture begins to thicken, and let stand about five minutes while oats absorb excess moisture