Dave Loves Elizabeth

A Star is Born

May 14, 2009

Photo of Lucy Garr 

The Critics are Raving...

"The most eagerly awaited sequel ever!"
- Lucy's Grandparents

"Yo, Lucy, what's up dawg? Check it out: for me, for you, that was just alright dude. Your crying started a bit pitchy, but you worked it out and made it your own."
- Randy Jackson, American Idol Judge

"I laughed, I cried, she cried."
- Roger Ebert

"Forget 'Sleepless in Seattle.' This 'Little Miss Sunshine' has already brought 'Insomnia' to Menlo Park."
- The New York Times

CATCH IT AT A DELIVERY ROOM NEAR YOU

Announcing Amadeus Einstein Garr

April 23, 2007

Okay, that's not really her name.

I'm thrilled to announce that Katherine Sophie Garr was born Wednesday, March 28th at 5:28 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. Elizabeth and Katherine are both healthy and doing great (although Elizabeth is only getting about four hours of sleep a night)(and she can't blame it entirely on my snoring).

Although I haven't installed a CribCam, I can share these photos:

Katherine’s first thought
Katherine’s first thought (at 20 minutes old)

Katherine’s first exposure to the color that would soon come to dominate her life
Katherine’s first exposure to the color that would soon come to dominate her life

I've got her in the palm of my hand (and she has me wrapped around her finger)
I've got her in the palm of my hand (and she has me wrapped around her finger)

First comes love, then comes marriage...

March 10, 2007

Dave frantically prepares for an offline responsibility
Dave frantically prepares for an offline responsibility

Elizabeth is pregnant! She's having a girl around April 1st (this is no joke). (Her belly has grown considerably since the above photo.) I suggested to Elizabeth that we ask the readers of this blog to vote on names and that we go with the peoples' choice. Unfortunately Elizabeth doesn't have as much faith in the wisdom of crowds as I do, so she didn't feel comfortable with that strategy.

“You had me at www”

August 03, 2006

Webby Award
All dressed up and (finally) somewhere to go

DaveLovesElizabeth.com was fortunate enough to win a Webby Award (thanks to everyone who voted). So Elizabeth and I went to New York City for the Webby Award ceremony. The Webbys famously limit acceptance speeches to five words. At the ceremony, CNN interviewed us and asked Elizabeth what her speech would have been (if she'd had the chance to give one). Her response: "You had me at www." CNN liked that so much that they aired her comment. My acceptance speech was, "I proposed, Elizabeth said…" and then I pointed to her in the audience and she yelled out, "Yes!"

To cap off the ceremony, Prince performed solo. While nearly everyone else was on their feet, Arianna Huffington, who was at the table next to us, was madly typing away at her PDA.  A blogger's work, apparently, is never done.

Prince’s performance ended abruptly as he suddenly chucked his guitar back over his head with a crash and raced off to a waiting limousine. One problem: apparently it was not his guitar. As Elizabeth and I were leaving, we passed two anxious-looking Webby workers and heard one say, "I can't believe it--we rented that guitar for him for $4,000. Who's going to pay for it?"

She is woman, hear me snore

May 02, 2006

I received many emails about my snoring problem, with all kinds of advice. The most common suggestion was Breathe Right strips. They might work for mild snorers--but they didn't work for me.

Like a lot of people, I snore when I'm on my back. So if I could force myself to sleep on my side, my snoring should decrease. My doctor told me that one technique for doing this is to sew a tennis ball to the back of my pajama top.

So I tried it. Unfortunately, the tennis ball didn't stop me...Elizabeth said that I just kept sleeping on my back.

"Okay, I'll just try a bigger ball."

So we taped a softball to my back. Unfortunately the outcome was the same: I was oblivious to the softball and kept turning onto my back and snoring.

Now we (mainly Elizabeth) are getting desperate. So we took it to the next level and fastened a soccer ball to my back with duct tape.

Me and my friend Wilson
He shoots, he snores

Is it me, or is this bed lumpy?
A snore loser

The result? It may be hard to believe, but I'm still snoring. How is that possible? Well, my body apparently yearns to lay on its back, and so I end up sleeping at a 45 degree angle...still a snoring beauty.

The next step? I'm investigating surgery to put an end to this snore war.

The honeymoon

March 28, 2006

Honeymoon
Sunset at Wailea, Maui

In an effort to prevent saccharine overload in anyone reading DaveLovesElizabeth.com, I'll record for you what went wrong during our honeymoon:

  • The $20 burgers at the Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay.
  • It rained half of the days we were in Hawaii. (But it was still beautiful and in the mid-70s. And rain didn't stop me from playing golf at the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua, Maui; having access to the Ritz's facilities was an unexpected bonus to our three-day stay at the Kapalua Villas.)
  • We loved Wailea, Maui, but weren't thrilled with our condo at the Ekahi Village (three out of our four days there we were awakened by maintenance men who came to fix broken appliances).
  • We found out that one of us has a very slight snoring problem. I'm not going to name any names here, but Elizabeth has asked me to specify that it wasn't her. So if any of you have suggestions for curing snoring, please let us [but not Elizabeth] know.

And some things that went wrong from Elizabeth's perspective:

  • "About 32 seconds after we arrived in our ocean-front hotel room on Kauai, Dave found an Internet connection and began reading RSS feeds."
  • "I [Elizabeth] WAY over-packed, which meant Dave had to lug three huge and heavy bags around. I claimed one bag was for snorkeling gear—it was a nice excuse, but would have been even better if I'd actually snorkeled during the trip."

Other than that, the honeymoon was blissful. 

And I am loving married life.

P.S. Thanks to Scott Pearson (Elizabeth's dad) for giving us Hyatt Points so we could stay a week at the amazing Grand Hyatt Kauai, which was my favorite part of the trip.

The wedding

March 22, 2006

Wedding
Newly wedded at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

From my (misty-eyed) perspective, the wedding could not have been better.

Beforehand, I had worried about how I could keep a smile plastered on my face during the ceremony and photo session. (I'm not good at generating camera-ready smiles.) It wasn't a problem. I became so caught up in the experience that I wasn't worried about anything. When the organ began playing the "Wedding March" and I saw Elizabeth for the first time in her gown, I was overwhelmed with joy. She looked so beautiful that I began crying with thankfulness. And I was crying hard. (But I didn't wipe my eyes, trying to avoid drawing attention to the tears)(although I was told afterwards that it was obvious).

Here are the wedding photos (more than anyone—except my mom—would ever want to see).

Thanks to Collin Lim for taking the photos.

What's happened since the proposal

December 08, 2005

Black_and_white
Attempting to kiss our way through wedding planning stress

Thanks (to family and friends...and to others who took the time to write) for being so encouraging to Elizabeth and me. Let me answer the three questions that I'm sure are keeping you up at night:

When is the wedding? February 18, 2006.

Where is the honeymoon? You blew us away with your helpful recommendations. Thank you. (Although you made it difficult to pick just one.) You suggested locations on every continent (someone thought Antarctica would limit my web usage).

The three most frequent recommendations:
#1  Hawaii
#2  Italy (with emphasis on Tuscany)
#3  New Zealand

We've decided to follow the wisdom of crowds and go to the location that was recommended most often: Hawaii. We'll spend one week on Kauai and one week on Maui.

Can I watch any of this? No (I'm sorry to disappoint those who suggested a webcam at the wedding or honeymoon). However, since our wedding will be so small, we are having a "Celebration" dance party on the evening of May 6, and we'd love to have all our family and friends join us (even if we've been out of touch). Please email me for details.

She said "Yes"!

October 26, 2005

She said yes
Elizabeth accepted my proposal with a "Yes" and a hug.


Pumping fists
We celebrate after getting engaged.


Family and friends:

After visiting the previous DaveLovesElizabeth.com pages, Elizabeth left the computer and walked to the room where we first met, and we sat in the same seats. I asked her if she would marry me, and she said "Yes."

Woo-hoo! Yes, oh yes!

Then, after taking some photos, we went to Half Moon Bay where we walked on the beach and had a wonderful dinner.

How she was lured to DaveLovesElizabeth.com

October 26, 2005

The banner
Our parents and her grandfather held the banner...


Elizabeth sees the banner
...until Elizabeth turned around.


Here's what happened earlier in the day:

10:00 AM Elizabeth and I had brunch at University Cafe in Palo Alto, where we had our first solo date.
11:40 AM When she excused herself to go to the restroom, I called "Command Central" (an Apple Store, where my parents, her parents, and her 90-year-old grandfather were waiting).
11:45 AM They sprang into action, unrolled the "DaveLovesElizabeth.com" banner and paraded it in front of University Cafe. People in the restaurant, including Elizabeth, turned to see what was happening.
11:50 AM After a lot of family hugging, I suggested that we check out the website.
11:55 AM I drove Elizabeth to our nearby church, where a PC was waiting for her. I kissed her and said, "I'll see you soon."
12:05 PM She looked at the first eight DaveLovesElizabeth.com pages. (This blog page had not been posted yet.)
12:15 PM She followed the clue to where I was waiting to propose.

A few words from the (very surprised, very happy) bride-to-be

October 26, 2005

Daves_gift_to_me
A(nother) gift from Dave: "You are going to need these."

Needless to say, I was—and still am—fairly overwhelmed by the whole experience. I knew that Dave was working on something for me; initially he called it my “Birthday Present,” but when my birthday came and went, it morphed into being known as “The Project.” Thanks to Dave’s vigilance at maintaining the mystery, and a few ground rules (I was allowed to ask questions, but he wasn’t necessarily going to answer them; I was never allowed to look even in the direction of his computer screen), “The Project” remained a tightly-held secret. I had no idea he was creating a website.

I had my own (secret) hopes that “The Project” was a proposal, but Dave kept throwing me off the scent. But on “The Day” I did have a few positive clues: he’d asked me to dress up for an all-day extravaganza; he took me to the site of our first date (nostalgia—a good sign!); and, once there, he ate only about two bites of his meal. 

From there, everything became a bit of a whirlwind: the surprise of seeing our parents and my grandfather with the banner; hustling off to the church and not knowing what was next. As I went through the website, waves of various emotions coursed through me (shock, happiness, awe, nostalgia, gratitude)—resulting in me frequently requesting more tissue.  (Crying is not an unfamiliar activity for me—just ask Dave.)  I couldn’t quite take it all in, but as I was poring over the rap video/slide show/map/card section, it suddenly occurred to me that Dave must be waiting for me somewhere. I clicked on to the final page and found out where—and why. That’s when it all became crystal clear—“This is IT!,” I realized (perhaps somewhat delinquently—but hey, I was in an emotional haze).

I can’t remember exactly what we each said during the actual proposal; but I am very clear on how it felt and the intensity with which we were looking at and speaking to each other. I also remember that after answering with a whole-hearted “Yes!,” I wanted to kiss him, so I got down on my knees too—and then thought, “Is this strange that we’re both down here on our knees, kissing?!?”

At the risk of sounding too fairly-tale-ish, the rest of the day (at the beach) continued to feel magical. It was wonderful to have all that time to just be together, and talk about the day, our relationship, and our life together. And, of course, I had my turn: after he had worked so hard to ask me “the” question, I peppered him with lots and lots of questions: how did you do this, when were you doing that, etc. It was a perfect day—the best day of my life—and I did not want it to end.

If only I had the skills, I would create my own website: ElizabethLovesDave.com. But the operative words there are "if only." (I bought that domain name just in case, but don't waste your time visiting it any time soon.) Short of a full-blown website, suffice to say that I am very happy and grateful to get to spend the rest of my life with Dave.

Where should we go on our honeymoon?

October 26, 2005

Gulfstream_468x222_2

Elizabeth and I have talked about:

  • Hawaii
  • Caribbean
  • Tahiti

Elizabeth would prefer a location that has no web access.

If you have a honeymoon recommendation, would you be willing to write it in the “Comments” below? Thank you.

What people are saying about Dave's proposal

October 26, 2005

"It seemed kind of long...but maybe it was just me."
- Cliffs Notes

"Once in a lifetime a bachelor comes along that makes you glad you're still single. This is not that bachelor."
- Cosmopolitan
"Dave created this site? That's pretty good for someone whose lips move when he reads the comics."
- Dave's manager

Hey! This is your chance to be creative (and mock me). Please feel free to add another "quote" in the Comments.