Gators in the Swamp

Short post for a very busy Tuesday. Today's pictures come from a good friend of mine, John. John is a big fan of Appalachian State. A week and a half ago he went to the Appalachian State/ University of Florida game. While the outcome wasn't quite what he was hoping for at least he helped out with the Project, which I am sure made the trip worth it.

Thanks John! (and Katie who probably made him take the picture or at least reminded him)

Kyle O.

Nagano

Hello Hello-

Welcome to another work week. The Project has officially reached every continent but Africa. I am confident that we will still be able to cross it off the list.

Today's picture come from Furuhata, who lives in Tokyo. He found out about the Project but reading my post requesting help on reddit.com. He was reading through reddit to study the English llanguage. He has been quite a help with the Project and I have enjoyed reading his very friendly emails. I will let him describe the pictures that he tool.  

"1st picture is "Nagano Olympic Stadium". In 1998, the opening and closing ceremony of the Nagano Olympic Winter Games was held in the stadium. Recently, the stadium is used for baseball games."

"2nd picture is "Cauldron for Olympic Flame". This is near to Olympic Stadium."

"3rd picture is "Zenkoji temple". This is one of the most authoritative temples in Japan. The temple has a special ceremony, "Gokaicho", once every 6 years. Then it become the most popular tourist spot in Japan."

"4th picture is "Statue of Binzuru". It is in the Zenkoji main hall. Tourists can rub the statue. It is said that you make the same point of your body that you rub on his body. In fact, tourists can't take a picture in the hall but I didn't know that."

Thanks again Furuhata. It is the kindness of strangers such as yourself that make this Project work and so special.

Be sure to check out yesterday's map. Let me know your thoughts on it and if you know how to get the map to start at a different place.

Kyle O.

Goals of the Week- Map it out.

Welcome to another week.

Today's goals pretty short, and not really goals. My brother in law Jonathan and I have been working on mapping out the Save the Dates. Here is the Product. You may need to scroll out. I am not sure how to get it centered at the start. If you know how please let me know.


View Project Save the Date in a larger map
Please let me know what you think and any suggestions.

Keep on spreading the Project.

Kyle O.

Another Bear!!!

I hope everyone in the states had a great Thanksgiving.  One Wednesday there was some talk in the comment section that the bear in Madrid looked like it was kissing a pole. Someone suggested that we needed to find another bear instead of a pole. So here it is.

This bear stands outside the Denver Convention Center. This picture was sent in my Pete and Michelle. Pete's sister was able to take this picture for us. You may recognize her from the Kimo Theater photo. Thanks for helping out and crossing another state off the list. I will provide a list of states that we still need on Sunday. Enjoy your weekend!

Kyle

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This applies to about half of the blog's readers, those in the states. Today's set of photos come from Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. Harpers Ferry is where West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland meet along with the intersection of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

These pictures were provided by Jim P. during a family vacation. Thanks for taking them and thinking of us.

Sorry today's blog is short but it was a long day of traveling and I am pretty tired. I typically write the entries at night before I head to bed then set them to post automatically at 8am Eastern Time. I am sitting in bed right now finishing this up. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and enjoys the three F's, family, friends, and food. If you are outside the states, well, happy Thursday. One day closer to the weekend.

Kyle O.

El Oso y El Madrono (Madrid)

We made it to Madrid! The picture come from Kristen at Zankyou. She got these pictures of a statue in Madrid Spain. As she told me "The bear statue is called El Oso y El Madroño, which is the city's symbol. It appears on the city seal as well."

Thanks for helping out Kristen. Also, if you missed the piece that Zankyou wrote about the Project click on their icon on the right side and it should take you right to it.

Have a great Wednesday.

Kyle O.

The Girl (Guy?) from Ipanema

How can you not love this picture?

This is another picture sent in by Cheryl. She sent this one in from Ipanema Beach in Brazil. The beach is the inspiration behind the song "The Girl From Ipanema". Cheryl intentionally waited for a guy in a Speedo to walk by to take the picture. 

There are a few more coming from Cheryl in the future so stay tuned. Thanks again.

Site Update: As you can see I have added two tabs up top. I have added a "Maps" tab that will eventually have a map with all the Save The Dates located on them. I had it up for a day but didn't like it because it felt rushed. I took it down last night and am going to work on it this week. I will let you know when it goes back up.

Also there now is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) tab. We have received so many great questions. I am sure there are many people that are just as curious as those who have sent in questions so I figured I would share some of the common questions. Feel free to submit more if have any. I will let you know when I have finished that section as well.

Thanks for reading.

Kyle

Aren't Things Grand?

Happy Monday-

For those in the US this should be a nice short work week with Thanksgiving on Thursday. I'm still trying to get a great picture for Thanksgiving (any ideas?) Today's picture comes courtesy of on of Katie's high school friend, Elly. Elly was able to take these pictures during one of her recent trips. 

A few weeks ago Elly emailed the two of us to let us know that she was headed to the Grand Canyon and our Save The Date would be tagging along. This certainly made me smile. 

You see, when we made our first list, there were several that I thought would be rather easy to get for a variety of reasons, location, proximity to large populations, amount of tourists, etc. The others are the Hollywood Sign, Key West Southernmost Buoy, Hoover Dam and the White House. (let us know if you can help).

We wanted to get these landmarks and were very excited that we are able to cross the Grand Canyon off the list. Thank you so much Elly. We really appreciate you thinking of us on your trip.

Don't forget, we now have a comment section up and running. Don't hesitate to test it out!

Thanks again Elly.

Kyle

Goals of the Week

This week Project Save The Date has exploded. This is largely due to Reddit. Reddit has allowed us to reach out to individuals across the world with our Project. In the short time I have been on Reddit we have already received several pictures and many emails asking to help out.  We are excited to start posting these pictures soon. Here are the goals of the week.

1) Comments. Starting today readers will be allowed to post comments. I will see how they go and whether the reaction is positive. That will determine whether or not comments stay.

2) Map. Along with my brother in law Jonathan, I am working on putting a map on the blog with the locations of the Save The Date. Once it is up and running let me know how you like it.

3) Keep the Feedback Coming. Feedback helps the blog grow, so keep it coming. If you have any ideas on how to expand the Project, want to help, know someone who can, or just want to say hi email ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com

Enjoy your week.

Kyle O.

Remember the Alamo

Happy Friday-

I recently received this great picture below. This was mailed to me via regular mail. I was shocked when I opened it up. I scanned it in and below is the result. The picture is just amazing. The Alamo is one of those iconic locations that I have always heard about, but never visited. Quite a piece of history.

Be sure to check back on Sunday for the goals of the week. I am going to try and open things up a bit and change the format with the help of my brother in law Jonathan. It will only be a test run and we will see what kind of feedback we get. Let us know if you like it or what other features you might like.

We will be putting a map as an additional tab which I am excited about along with comments. More to come on Sunday.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

As always, feel free to email us at ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter

Kyle O.

Put on your Sunday best kids, we're going to Sears (Tower)...

We got lots and lots of pictures from the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) skydeck in Chicago. It looks like the staff there had a great time reenacting the proposal out on "The Ledge." The Ledge is a glass box that hangs over the side of the tower and allows visitors to look straight down through the Plexiglas beneath their feet. 

Thanks to Bailey and the rest of the staff at the skydeck (Sorry I don't know anyone else's name).

Also, I received an email today through twitter from Dan at National Park Artist who was visiting Chichen Itza. He uploaded the Save The Date onto his Ipod and snapped a picture. I am excited to see it. Thanks a lot Dan for helping up out.  Can't wait to see it.

We should have some great ones coming up. Also, this weekend I am going to work on putting up an interactive map on the blog that will pinpoint all the places we have received a Save The Date from. Always open to ideas on how to make the Project better. If you have any ideas, want to help, know someone who can, or just want to say hi feel free to email us at ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com. We's love to hear from you.

Have a great day.

Kyle O.

 

Water Water Everywhere...

So I was torn.  I didn't know what to post today. I could do what I was planning, or I could call an audible. I decided to do both. You see my brother-in-law Jonathan had an incident at their house a few weeks ago that ended up messing up their hard wood floors. 

So why do you care? Well I received this beauty in the mail from him.

That's right. In the middle of ciaos he decided to take a snap shot of the most unique location ever. The swamp in his kitchen.

Thanks Jonathan.

Now moving on to another, more global picture. Holly with the National Park Service sent me these great ones from Philly. She took these pictures at the Liberty Bell and in front of Independence Hall. As you can see Independence Hall is in the middle of a face lift.

Holly was so excited to be helping out with the Project. She not only took these pictures, wrote a lengthy email, but also was kind enough to send us a packet full of goodies from Independence Hall.

Not only was Holly a tremendous source and help, she is also engaged and getting married May 21, 2011. Congratulations again Holly. Best of luck.

That's it for today.

Kyle

New Mexico

One of our goals was to get the Save The Date to all fifty states. One of my good friends Pete and Michelle saw that and decided to help out. Pete's sister is out west and was able to knock off a few of the states for us.

Today's picture comes from the Kimo Theater in New Mexico. According to Wikipedia the Kimo building is the best known landmark in Albuquerque. Thanks again Michelle, Pete and Sarah for helping out.

Let's cross that off the list. That only leaves the following:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Connecticut
Delaware(On the Way)
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
North Dakota
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Rock On!

Hello Again-

I hope everyone had a great weekend. 

Today's pictures come to us from my dad. A little back story on it. We told my parents about our Project about a month ago when we were visiting Cleveland for my Dad's birthday party. He knew we were coming but we also had a surprise party planned. We told my parents about this on the Friday night and then I suggested to my dad that we take some pictures of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for it and then meet up with the rest of my family to watch the Notre Dame Game (My family minus my brother in law are big Notre Dame Fans). 

When we met up there were a bunch of my dad's close friends and extended family there waiting for us. He was very surprised. So the picture today comes courtesy of my dad and needing to get him out of the house. 

Enjoy!

Kyle O.

Goals of the Week

What a great week we had. We have another fantastic week coming up. I received quite a few pictures this week and word of even more. Thank you to everyone for all the help. My twitter followers are up to just under 150 so we reached that goal!!!

Here are this weeks goals:

1) Skydive with the Save The Date. This is my next "white whale". My biggest goal was to get it to the South Pole. With that accomplished the next dream is to have a picture of someone skydiving with it. Let us know if you have any ideas on how to get this done.

2) Scubadive with the Save The Date. In line with the Skydive, another dream would be for the Save The Date to go skydiving.  All I would need if for the Save The Date to get laminated and go down with a diver, whether that is in nature or an aquarium. Either would be fantastic.

Well the weather is fantastic here in Raleigh so I am going to enjoy it while I can. Enjoy the weekend.

Kyle O.

The Center of the World

Welcome to Friday-

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. I had one written up and thought I set it up to run automatically but apparently something went wrong. Normally I would check it in the morning to make sure it is up but I was out of town for work. My apologies. Today's picture come to us from Cheryl. The picture is from Equator and is taken right at the Equator. Pretty Cool. Now we have the bottom of the world and the center of the world. Amazing. Thanks Cheryl.

So last night I was flipping through and cataloging some of the photos received and I must admit, there are some that I am quite surprised we haven't heard back from,  received, or had someone tell us that they would get it for us.

Some of the ones we haven't received are the Grand Canyon, Key West "Soutrhernmost" Sign, the new "Cleveland" Banner (where the Lebron Banner used to be), the Four Corners, Salt Lake, Hollywood Sign, or the Chinese Theater.

Also, since we got the South Pole, my next big BIG goal is to get the following:

-underwater scuba diving

-a picture of someone skydiving with it

-a picture of the Save The Date in a hot air balloon.

Email us at ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com if you can help. If you know someone who can help with our Project please forward it on to them.

Thanks for all the support.

Kyle O.  

Cloud Gate

Happy Wednessday to Everyone!!!

Today's picture was quite a surprise. We received this this in our email and had no idea it was on the way. One of Katie's college friends was visiting a friend in Chicago and decided to take along our Save The Date. She took this picture in front of "The Bean" (Cloud Gate) in Millenium Park Chicago. 

We would like to thank Brooksie for taking this picture and keeping our Project in mind. It was quite the surprise and we really appreciate it.

Brooksie may not know this but Cloud Gate actually is very special to us. Last spring we went on a special trip to Chicago. We ended up buying a photo of Cloud Gate that hangs proudly on her wall. It is a very special piece for us and our first adult piece of artwork.

Thanks again Brooksie

Keep on spreading the Project. We need your help to keep it going. Please forward to friends and family.

Kyle O.

Into The Wild

 Into The Wild is one of my favorite books. It is about a young man's journey through life and to the Alaska wilderness. He wanted to spend time in nature. While his trip does not end up successful from most standards (he dies), his journey is truly magnificent. I highly recommend checking out the book or movie.

As previously mentioned I have always had a fascination with Alaska. There is just something pristine about it. The last true bit of nature. I sent the Save The Date up to Alaska in hopes of getting a photo in front of Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. Unfortunately the card made it there just a bit too late and the park was already closed.

Once again (I sound like a broken record) the Park Rangers went above and beyond for the Project. The Park Ranger, Alex, not only took a photo of the card at the sign but, well, I'll let him explain:

Hello Kyle and Katie -

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage! I think your travel list is really cool, and am happy to help with the project. At the moment, unfortunately, the Denali Park Road is closed just five
miles into the park - too low in elevation to gain views of Mount McKinley. So, I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of photoshopping the card onto a picture of the mountain. The image, while taken a while ago, is pretty comparable to what the mountain and scenery looks like now - not too much snow, and really low-angle light that tends to bathe the mountains in
very pretty pink alpenglow.

So there you have it. Another Park Ranger doing everything they can to help us. Hopefully we can get a card back to Denali for a picture in front of Mt. McKinley.

Thanks again Alex.

Kyle O.

Holy Cow Helsinki

Good Morning!!!

Today's photo comes to us from Angela from who has a custom stationary store. She was able to get us pictures from one of the most iconic places in Helsinki Finland, the Helsinki Cathedral.

One interesting aspect of the Cathedral is that when the pictures were taken there was an art display outside the cathedral. You can see in the first picture there is a large bear. This art exhibit is much like the Chicago Cows, or the Cleveland Guitars.

This was a very big weekend with the Zankyou article so today's blog is a little shorter.

Kyle O.

PS. Still looking for help on the Grand Canyon, Key West, and the Alamo. Let me know if you, or someone you know can help us out. ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com

Goals of the Week

This week was a very good week from my point of view. I received pictures from the Willis Tower's Skydeck (Sears Tower), Ecuador, Honduras and Brazil. These pictures will get posted as some point next week.

Our Project was also listed on Zankyou as I wrote about yesterday. I big thanks to Kristen for writing that piece.

Without further ado, here are this week's goals:

1) Increase Facebook/Twitter followers.  We want to get to 100 Facebook followers and 175 Twitter followers. What do people want to get out of the social media? Let me know what you all want to get out of it?

2) New Locations There are a couple locations that I am surprised we haven't received any word from the national parks or readers. Email us at ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com if you or someone you know can help.

3) Keep having fun. Readership is up. We keep getting pictures. We enjoy talking with everyone. Keep up the good work everyone. Enjoy your Sunday.

Kyle O.

A Special Saturday Edition

Just wanted to mention ZankYou. Yesterday afternoon I say that there was an article about our Project on the front page of their website. You can see the article by Clicking Here.

From my understanding, ZankYou is a international bridal registry website with services in the US, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Germany, Belgium the UK, Italy, Spain and France.

Just wanted to pass along the article from overseas.

Keep the Project spreading... It would be nothing without your help. Let's keep it going.

Kyle O.

What's the Secret Max?

Herman Blume: What's the secret, Max?

Max Fischer: The secret?

Herman Blume: Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.

Max Fischer: The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life.

Friday-

And there you have it folks, another work week in the books, another set of pictures, and another week closer to our wedding. This week was great.

Yesterday one of my friends Melissa posted about Project Save The Date on her blog (Check it out at The View From Five Two) which sent not only more traffic my way, but also more volunteers. This morning I received several emails from people looking to help us out.

It was great to see that support for our Project. Keep on passing it on to friends and family. It is all the volunteers that make this Project what it is. Keep up the good work!!!

I hope you all enjoyed the quote above. It is from one of my favorite movies, Rushmore. It definitely is a good quote headed into marriage. Find the one you want to be with, then never let them go.  

Enjoy the weekend.

Kyle O.

Alaska- Closed for the Season

Thursday, that much closer to the weekend.

One of the places that Katie and I have always been enamored by Alaska. There is something majestic about Alaska. We have always wanted to take a cruise to Alaska to see all the sights, go whale watching, see the glaciers, and take in the scenery.

We really wanted our Save The Date to get to Alaska. Unfortunately we started the Project about a month too late. When Glacier Bay National Park received our Save The Date there were no longer boats going out to the Glacier.  The Park Rangers at Glacier Bay National Park were great though. They took a picture of the Save The Date on the entrance sign to the park (so we could prove that it made it) and one a really cool mural of a humpback whale in front of the glacier.

We can not wait to get to Alaska someday. We are hopefully that we can get a picture of our Save The Date in front of the glaciers this spring. Hopefully there will be an update in the future with that photo.

Thanks again to the staff at Glacier Bay National Park for the photos.

Kyle O.

One more thing. Does anyone have a contact in Asia (Japan or China)? If so, please email us at ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com

Mahalo Hawai'i

Aloha Again-

Once again I was lucky enough to receive picture from Hawai'i. This time they are from Hakeakala National Park, home of several volcanoes. I particularly love the one of the sunrise on October 17, 2010. They were taken by Park Ranger Anne Olsen who had to have been up early to take the picture. Thank you Anne for helping the Project. 

As always the National Park Service and the Park Rangers have been big supporters of the Project. We always receive the nicest notes and emails with the photos. These pictures are stunning.

So last night I received an email from a good friend of mine who is an international admissions counselor (which is a great job for somone to be able to help us!) at Elon University. She just got back from traveling for work and informed me that she took some pictures of the Save The Date in South America. We are very excited to get them and post them for you all.

One area where we still need some help and are open to suggestion. How to spread the word of Project Save The Date. We already have a Facebook Page Here and a Twitter Page Here. Be sure to join and pass it along to friends.

Tonight while eating frozen yogurt I thought of a new way to get pictures. Craigslist. Starting this weekend I am going to try and post a few adds in a  few select cities to see if I can help get certain locations. I think I will try and post in the Key West, LA, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta. This should be a pretty diverse group and hopefully will not only allow me to pinpoint spots, but also help spread the word. If you have any suggestions please let us know ProjectSaveTheDate@gmail.com. Thanks again for being a part of our journey. 

Kyle