chillow

Adam and I are getting married. Whoohoohooooo! I'm so happy. As I sent in an e-mail yesterday to some friends/family:

In a typically non-traditional Lauren/Adam approach, the "proposal" took place over a lovely brunch Saturday morning at a tiny French cafe near our
apartment. We broached the subject of marriage (not for the first time) and both agreed that we've found the love of our lives, fit together perfectly, and want to get married. No ring, no pomp and circumstance--just the most perfect conversation I've ever had with the man I want to spend the rest of my
life with. =)

From the moment I met Adam--when he plopped down on the park bench next to me in Prospect Park in Brooklyn on a Sunday afternoon blind date--I knew he was special and suspected I might one day be sending this e-mail. And from that zany, fabulous 8-hour date (which included a walk in the park, him accompanying me on a reporting assignment interviewing Corona beer
drinkers for BusinessWeek, a Mexican dinner and a movie) onward, I have never been happier.

Don't know when we'll get married, but probably sooner rather than later. (And hey, I'm not with child....!)

We actually did a StoryCorps (storycorps.com) interview yesterday at Grand Central Station (an NPR-affiliated oral history project where you get 40 minutes to interview someone and get a copy of the CD). I'd interviewed him last month, and so this time around he interviewed me. Was really neat, particularly due to our engagment. I think I only cried four times, yahoooo! Go Lauren! I recommend doing it if you're in NYC, but plan ahead since you need to make reservations a couple weeks in advance. You'll be surprised by how much you learn...

Must say I'm thrilled to have received the 2005 Casey Medal for meritorious reporting for an article I spent 8 months working on during journalism school. http://www.cjc.umd.edu/awards/2005_awards.html
From the award site:
NONDAILY NEWSPAPER
Winner: Lauren Gard, East Bay Express, Emeryville, Calif., "Good Kids, Bad Blood"
This story -- a detailed account of the travails of a 172-pound 10-year-old girl struggling with adult-onset diabetes -- personalizes the pressing issue of childhood obesity. One doctor quoted calls the epidemic of adult-onset diabetes in children "one of the big stories of the millennium," and Gard found a way, by delving deeply and with understanding into a child's life, family situation, diet and daily routine, to capture that sense of importance.

Took 4 hours to drive back from Ocean City yesterday, but hey, that's a small price to pay for such tremendous photobooth joy. We took a record 20 strips and even hit the 99 cent store up for props this time. A bit obsessive? Yes. As my father said while glancing at strip after strip, laid out on the dining room table, "you two deserve each other!" So glad we do!