First Wedding Gift!

Javier and I had the chance to open our first wedding present on Friday! (I promise I won't recap every wedding present we get, but since this was our first and very special, I thought I'd share it with each of you!) Over Easter weekend, Mrs Cabezas tempted us with a quick peak at a package that had arrived at the Cabezas casa. She explained the huge box was for us! It was a wedding present (our first!), but assured us that last Friday (April 13th and TJ's bday) was the day to open it. Her suggested open date, certainly provided a clue, but left us even more curious about the box's insides. We waited the week and anxiously arrived at the Cabezas house for dinner after work on Friday. It took all three of us to gently removed the box, styrofoam peanuts and layers of bubble wrap from our mysterious gift. But when the present finally appeared (completely unscathed from is trip to DC) it was so worth it!

Look!

At an antique store in Milwaukee, Mrs Cabezas had been surprised to find this lovely UVA print! Her thoughtful mind remembered two wahoos taking their nuptials, come October, and so she whisked it back to good ole Virginia (well Washington DC) for us! Its obviously hard to tell here, but the detail is amazing. Javier's aunt and uncle took a magnifying glass to it and saw that even the people walking about grounds are dressed in period attire. Very cool!! We love that you can see the chapel and some of the builds surrounding the lawn. An especially neat touch (for us nerdy UVA history folk) is the Pavilion VII sketched into the border at the bottom. The building of the University did not start with the Rotunda (as many people think), but right there, completely randomly at Pavilion VII so this addition immediately caught my eye and made me excited.

(Nerdy History Aside: The Rotunda was actually the last building constructed on the Lawn. Jefferson died before seeing it completed. While there are several theories as to why TJ started with Pav VII I've always believed the one that implied he understood how government funding worked and was worried the $$ would run out before he completed the true vision he had for the Lawn, so he started at VII then hopped to Pav II and back and forth up the Lawn so that the project always looked unfinished and the $$ kept rolling in. What a smart man!)

Needless to say, Javier and I are so pumped about the print. Thanks again Mrs. Cabezas!