A Police Pursuit

I was having a normal day on Monday, taking my daily walk with a baby and a dog around Venice (as I am employed as a nanny), and I stopped at a stop light, waiting for green so I could cross the street.

Just before the light turned green, I saw a police car drive through an alleyway behind a 7-11 that I was about to be headed straight towards- the policeman in such a hurry that his door wasn't fully closed at first.

And just after that I saw two more police cars in the same small alley, with their sirens on, and a man running away from them. A few seconds after that a police helicopter was above me.

It was right about this time I decided I wasn't crossing the street.

As I stayed on my side of the street and quickly walked away from the commotion, at least 8 police cars flew past me at full speed, sirens on, towards the scene I was walking away from.

I walked as far away from it as feasible and waited to be sure there were no more fast-driving police cars, then crossed the street and walked back home in the most efficient way possible.

It was definitely the most exciting walk I've had yet here in Venice.

I've found two articles explaining what I witnessed, apparently the police had been following a stolen white pickup truck from West LA to Venice, and it appears as though the pickup crashed into a gym next to 7-11 just as I got to the intersection, and then the driver attempted to flee on foot.

Much of the pursuit happened on Palms Blvd, which is exactly the street I was about to continue on. I am very thankful for the timing of it all, if I had made the previous green light, I would have likely been right in the middle of it.

less informative article: http://www.yovenice.com/2013/08/26/police-pursuit-in-venice-beach-8-26-13/
more informative article: http://venice311.org/2013/08/26/stolen-car-pursuit-ends-through-the-wall-at-profit-on-lincoln-in-venice/

Our Wedding: A Story

Here are some photos that share a bit of the story of our wedding day. There are links to all of the wedding photos at the bottom of this post.

Dresses in the breeze.

Little sister who's not quite so little.

Flower girl and ring bearer.

Mom helping with my veil, which was made from a piece of hers.

Mother and daughter.

Jer and the guys.

Me and the girls.

Ty sneaking in on one of the photos.

Dad and me, making an entrance.

Dad and me.

Happy Jeremy.

Happy us.

Just married!

Happy family.

My sister Kirstyn did a wonderful job on my hair.

Happy. 

An Asbury reunion.

Got him good, and ate my cake like a lady.

"I Jeremy Michael Kozeluh will marry Rebekah Rae Witzer"- signed 6/25/2011
(I certainly didn't know about that.)

Little brother.

Dance party.

Dancing with Totoro.

Come Sail Away.

Portrait.

Portrait. 

Portrait.

Silhouette.

Bouquet.

Japanese floating lanterns.

Watching the lanterns.

To see all of the photos:

Wedding photos 1

Wedding photos 2

The National at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

August 11th is a special day, as it is Jeremy's Mom's birthday, and the birthday of one of our good friends. This date also falls part-way between my birthday and Jer's birthday, and this year on August 11th there was a band in town that we knew we wouldn't want to miss. So, back in April we bought tickets to see The National at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on August 11th, for a celebration of our birthdays. We were absolutely not disappointed.

Quite the interesting location for a venue, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is used often for shows, outdoor movies, and large parties, while also being exactly what it says it is- a cemetery. There is a stage set up at the front of a large lawn surrounded by tombstones, small mausoleums, and the very large walk-in Cathedral Mausoleum. We brought our outdoor blanket, a bottle of wine and some dinner, and made ourselves a picnic spot among the masses, not too far from the stage, nor too far from those six feet under.

Picnicking before the show.

The supposed 8:00 show started earlier than on time- opener Daughter started playing at 7:15, and The National started their set with I Should Live in Salt at 8:25! That is definitely my kind of show. (My mantra "early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable" isn't typically part of the music industry.) They played a wide selection of 25 songs from a span of multiple albums, and thanks to Jeremy's influence and very long commutes to and from work together, I was familiar with every single song they played!

While I was enjoying keeping warm with a blanket over my lap at our picnicking spot, I wasn't able to see the stage from that position, as many people ("many" may be an understatement, it was a sold out show) stood up to be closer to the stage while The National played. I stood up to enjoy watching them play a few of my favorites- one of the highlights of the night (also happens to be one of their few happier songs) was "I Need My Girl." I will leave you with a stripped-down version of this beautiful song.

The Photobooth

We set up a simple photobooth for our reception sort of last minute, and it's been quite fun to see what our friends and families were up to while we weren't looking.

All 330 or so pictures are posted here, with easy access to download the full-size version for your own keeping.

Here is a small handful of the antics that ensued during the reception:

Our fearless officiant (and friend) Brad, and his wife (also our friend).

Mother and father of the groom!

Where's Waldo? in fairy form.

Princess Totoro Flower Girl.

Cody the ninja.

Darth Vader and Cat Woman.

And we found time for a picture, too.

Beginnings

It's been over a month and a half since our wedding day. I feel as though that day was years ago, or maybe it didn't even happen. Life now simply feels normal, and the best kind of normal.

I am at the beginning of the rest of my life with my best friend at my side, and we don't need to say goodbye at the end of the day. I am very happy.

Here is a preview of our wedding photos, taken by three different friend photographers throughout the day. We'll share more once we have more.