We’re starting the day in a thankful mood — so first we want to post a public thank-you of our own. WSB may not look any different than it did a week ago, but it is running a lot more smoothly “under the hood,” thanks to a whole lot of time, energy, creativity, and sheer determination expended by STUART MAXWELL. We’ve known for months WSB simply had to move to a new “host” server because the old one was on the brink of doing what it did back in June, and worse — publishing a simple update or change took extra time just to wait for the server to deal with it (or not) — but because we needed to make the move without losing any of the thousands of posts, comments, and photos published on WSB in the past two years, and for some other reasons Stuart discovered along the way, it was way too complicated for us to handle (despite some bleary all-nighters during which we tried). We asked technically oriented crosstown friends for advice on a tech adviser — and the inquiries blazed a trail straight back to West Seattle (of course!), and, in fact, to someone who happened to have a site linked from our Other Blogs page (one of Stuart’s many projects is The New Big). So again, HUGE thanks to Stuart – his tireless, creative, good-natured, patient work has saved the site and our sanity, and is paving the way for more improvements. … Also on the thankfulness front – an unusual tale landed in the WSB inbox – someone who pulled off a last-minute wedding with a lot of West Seattle help:

Anne’ wants the world to know this:

I just have to share a wonderful story of a absolutely wonderful community that I now call home.

I have lived in Seattle my whole life and moved out to the suburbs of Sammamish to raise the kids, dabble in community politics and other great causes. When my youngest moved off to college last year I asked myself what next.

One Sunday night last October I posted an ad on Match.com and giggled at disbelief.
Having remembered about the late night posting a few days later I logged on again to take a peek. 720 messages for me in 3 days YIKES.

I started with Match candidate #1. He is a West Seattle resident and he had a great sense of humor and wish list for life.

Well I only sent one email, I only went on one date and 7 months later he proposed to me at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. We were sitting at Duke’s at the beach on his birthday and we were both looking at our phone calendars trying to find a Wedding date.
2008, no 2009, out of time in 2007. But Thanksgiving Weekend was wide open, we thought IF we could pull it off we would. So here is the recap of the 10 days of craziness and the wonderful people in West Seattle did to pull this off.

The Place: Top of the Space Needle ( We got it)
The Pastor: Pastor Dan from West Seattle Christian Church – (Thank you, Dan
& Joanie)
The Ring: Menashe & Sons- Jack and Josh are truly amazing. I have never experienced this type of service, care, expertise and compassion. They custom designed a breathtaking ring for me in 7 days (including Thanksgiving) and they customized a ring for my husband in 3 days. I had a design in mind and they made it even better. But this experience was so much more than getting a pretty-shiny bobble…we felt like family the minute we walked in a shook hands. I cant stop applauding what they have done for us and the wonderful memory they have helped create.

The Flowers: the Jefferson Square Safeway. I went to them because every Sunday for a year my fiance surprised me with flowers from here. They have always wrapped them up or found something special for him to surprise me with. We ordered the bouquet and other flowers and found out Thanksgiving day they would not arrive due to the flowers were all rejected by the buyer …but the gals there helped me improvise.

Northwest Art and Frame- invitations and decorations in a snap. A great art supply area.

Primping: Head to Toe Spa- I went in 4 days before the wedding and then again the morning of. I love this place…I will be back again and again.

Rose’s Nails on Alaska- The day before the wedding was black Friday and traditionally Rose’s is closed so she can do some shopping. The dear opened the shop just for my daughter and I to get our nails done.

So I just wanted to say Kudos to them all for helping and for making me feel so welcome as if I had grown up here.

The sense of community here is West Seattle is terrific. I now live two blocks from the junction and as I get my bearings wondering in and out of the coffee shops, cafes and stores (and by reading this awesome blog) I look forward to meeting many more of you.

Cheers-
The new girl.
Anne’

Congratulations to Anne’ on her marriage AND on moving to wonderful West Seattle!