Teaser

Joe and I thought we'd post a teaser photo for now until we get back to Chicago this weekend. Enjoy!

My wedding day

Yes, it's my wedding day and I'm posting a comemorative blog. Since Joe is taking a brief nap before dinner, I wanted to check in just to let everyone know that the day went off without a hitch. It has rained the past two afternoons but today it was perfectly nice. At 3 pm today I got married. How cool and crazy is that? I don't know why but I was so nervous beforehand. By the time we got to the ceremony and it started, I was laughing nervously. Fortunately, the giggles went away and I was able to remain calm. Believe it or not - no tears! Beautiful day. Beautiful little ceremony. The entire thing took about 15 minutes. Tomorrow we get to see how our photos and video turned out. Then I'll let you know if I'm sharing them or not! Kidding...Kind of. I'm off to pick up Joe and then we're off to our private, candlelit beach dinner complete with lobster. Cheers!

Weddingmoon

Joe and I are off for our weddingmoon early in the a.m. I'm currently working on packing and laundry and can't wait to share with you all of our pictures and memories next week when we return. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes!

P.S. I found my address book! It was lodged up underneath one of the drawers of my coffee table (where I'd checked for it no less than 20 times). Hooray!

Chi-town update

1. The kitchen now resembles a kitchen. Same with living room, dinning room, bedroom, bathroom, etc. (Still lots of clutter but at least you can tell what room you're in.)
2. I will be cooking my first meal tonight. With things somewhat in order in the kitchen there are no more excuses. And we're on a budget. One income, two people. Lots of bills. Eating out isn't going to be an option for awhile.
3. I hate unpacking clothes and putting stuff away in the closet. This was one of the perks of Meagan helping me last time. She did a fantastic job organizing my closet. I have managed to procrastinate this one all week and have been sifting through garbage bags to find clothes each day.
4. I haven't watched E! all week. And PerezHilton is all but a distant memory. Sigh.
5. Where is that pesky address book?

Day three - meltdown

Okay, in reality my first meltdown probably happened my first morning here but I've been doing pretty well. Today I had to make the trek to Joliet to get my car licensed. I finally got all my papers together and got in my car and typed the address into my GPS. Nothing. I sat and waited and waited but it was searching for a signal. After a LONG time of nothing I went inside to print out directions online, the old fashioned way. The paper got jammed in the printer and I was so frustrated that I couldn't help but have a minor meltdown. I finally got the printer working, wiped my tears and headed out the door only to notice that the GPS did, indeed, find a signal and was now working. Even with my miracle device, I did manage to make a wrong turn on the way home and headed down a tollway that I didn't need to be on. So $146 (licensing fees) later I am home and relatively unscathed.

The other problem is that I have managed to lose my address book. I have EVERYTHING in my address book and purposely packed it last because I was still writing thank you notes. I have unpacked every possible box that it could be in and it's nowhere to be found. Joe asked if I had all the addresses on the computer. Um, no. That would be too easy. I am a visual person. I like things that I can hold in my hand and I like to write things down. So I may be contacting everyone to ask for addresses.

More unpacking

I spent my day unpacking more stuff. I still haven't touched my clothes but need to get to it soon in time to repack for my trip to Jamaica; our flight leaves at 6 am on Saturday. The AC decided to stop working yesterday afternoon. I kept thinking I was hot and sweaty because I was working so hard. Joe came home and told me to step outside. I did and realized it was several degrees cooler out there. Took most of today to get someone here to fix it. So I have mostly unpacked my posessions drenched with sweat. Not my idea of fun but at least I'm making progress. By the end of tomorrow I hope to feel really good about things. Also the dogs came home from the kennel tonight. I don't think they quite know what to make of all the mess and the new furniture and posessions.

Little Victories

I'm here. I'm alive. Saturday we loaded up the truck and, miraculously, everthing fit. Just barely. (Thanks to Cristin's husband Tom, the packing genius.) A few days earlier, I did get rid of a couple tvs, tv stand and desk and sent a few things home with my parents. If I hadn't done that there may have been serious problems but we were able to make the trip with everything. Thanks again to everyone for helping!

Joe and I cleaned the apartment late Saturday afternoon and then decided to go on one last Columbia date to Ragtag (also the place of our very first date) to see Bigger, Stronger, Faster. I love documentaries and this one was no exception. Even though it's about steriod use (something that would normally not interest me much) I found it completely interesting. Also we went out for Mexican food. It didn't occur to me until later that my "last meal" was also my very first meal when I arrived in Columbia - Mexican. I remember being totally excited but even more scared when Breanne picked me up and we headed out for dinner and celebatory margartias. Oh how much changes and stays the same in eight years!

I had these grand hopes of getting everything put away in record time and spending my day making dinner for Joe and maybe even a pie. (Hey, I am a housewife or housegirlfriend/fiance.) Those expectations were extremely high to say the least. I have unpacked exactly 0 boxes right now. I am cleaning and contemplating and just plain exhausted. More than anything I think I'm in a state of just being overwhelmed. There's so much to do. I did venture out by myself for the first time to go to Target. If anything can put a smile on my face it's Target. Was crazy that I even had to get directions to find Target...but I managed. And it's a fabulous Target complete with a Starbucks inside. It's all about the little victories.

The next chapter

It's definitely been an emotional week but honestly I think I'm handling it much better than I had anticipated. Joe came via bus last night and I was too tired to do much of the work I still needed to do. (I think emotions can be physically draining and I had worked hard this past week.) Today he's off running errands, seeing friends and taking care of a few things for me. Tonight we see The Dark Knight and then we pack up the truck tomorrow. I think I'm just ready to be settled...and I'm ready for Jamaica!

Something to think about

Maybe mistakes are what make our fate...without them what would shape our lives? Maybe if we never veered off course we wouldn't fall in love, have babies, or be who we are. After all, things change, so do cities, people come into your life and they go. But it's comforting to know that the ones you love are always in your heart...and if you're very lucky, a plane ride away.
-Carrie Bradshaw

A week in pictures

Burr Oak Tree estimated to be over 300 years old.
Coworkers/friends (Jodi, Lori, Jessica, Keri, me and Sue).
The girls (Rach, Tia, Taina, Meera, Monica and Breanne).

One week to go

Well this is it. One week from now I'll be unemployed in Chicago and unpacking. Yikes! These past five months have flown by.

Today was my last day at my church here. I've been pretty good at keeping myself together. In fact, my tears have been at a minimum this past week and already I've told several people goodbye. (Go me!) Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a "crier" and that it's something I do rather well so I'm hoping this trend continues during my last week here...hopefully I don't jinx myself. I know I will come back and visit so even though I hate goodbyes I keep trying to keep things in perspective.

I'm still obsessing over my move and whether or not I'll fit everything in my truck. The bigger truck is twice as much money so I'm taking my chances...I won't breathe easy until we are done loading it. I still have a little packing to do. Mostly clothes and linens. I'm starting to feel a little guilty about how many shoes I have. In my defense, I did take two pairs along with a car load of stuff to Goodwill which was a huge deal for me. I hate getting rid of things. I've definitely inherited that gene because it runs in my family. I notice that each time I move I'm getting less and less sentimental. But, yes, I found letters from my girlfriends dating back to college and even my leftover name cards from my high school graduation and copies of cover letters I'd written eight years ago. Sad. I did pitch a lot of things but I am still a Sentimental Sally.

Joe deserves big props for getting his house in order for me. He's been cleaning out the garage, cleaning out closets, removing an eyesore of a desk, etc. He also knows how much I love to take baths and his bath tub drain and spout doesn't really work (it works for showers) so he's getting that fixed this week. I know he's trying to make things nice for me and he's even cleaning out his entire bedroom closet to make way for me. I guess it's fair to say we both have a lot of work to do this week.

A week in pictures

Moving bites

Meagan started moving today into a new place. She took time away from her own packing and unpacking to help me pack. That makes her an absolute rock star and a gem of a friend. Thanks, Meagan. With the help of the packing expert I feel like I've actually made a dent and have accomplished something. It's a good feeling.

This is where I need your help. I am renting a Budget truck because it ended up being way cheaper than U-Haul. I have the choice between a 16-foot truck and a 24-foot truck. Nothing in between. I live in a 2-bedroom apartment and the 16-foot truck says it's for 3 to 4 rooms. The 24-foot truck is for 8 rooms. I opted for the 16-foot but I'm starting to second guess myself. I have two beds, couch, large coffee table, small table and four small chairs, very small (tiny) patio table with two chairs, chair and ottoman, rocking chair, dresser, misc. table, antique cabinent, treadmill (which I could take or leave - obviously) and desk. Oh and about 100 boxes of "stuff" and 800 pairs of shoes. Am I okay with the 16-foot truck or should I get something bigger? I don't want to spend the extra money on the truck and more fuel if it's not necessary. Thoughts? Opinions? Advice?

Quality Control

I had lunch with my friend Barb today. I knew ahead of time what salad I was going to order because it always comes with a particularly yummy and buttery roll that I love. Today the roll was absent. When the salad came and the waiter asked if everything looked okay or if we needed anything else I said, "Um, yeah, doesn't the salad usually come with a roll?" He told me that they discontinued the rolls about a month ago due to a quality issue. Huh?

Read all about it

My crazy (and extremely creative) coworkers made quite the card for me - I love it! Don't they know me well? What's even funnier is that at least one of them thought Joe actually had a neck tattoo when they saw it for the first time (fortunately that was just Photoshopped). Enjoy!

Adyson is nine months old

Happy Fourth

Last year during the fourth of July, I'd only been in my apartment for two weeks. After being on vacation and working, I was still getting settled and unpacking. This year, I'm spending the day packing. Blah. I have also been under the weather this week and went to the doctor to find out I have some sort of bacterial infection which has been pretty annoying and I haven' t felt like doing much of anything. The most exciting part of my day, thus far, consisted of watching the annual Nathan's hot dog eating competition on ESPN. And because Kobayashi and Chestnut had to go into a tie-breaking round it was a real nail-biter. Back to packing.

Sacrifices

I'm missing my first John Mayer concert tonight. Well the first one that I've purposely missed in MO in the past seven years or so that I've liked him. With my concert buddy still settling in as a new mommy and with all my upcoming moving/wedding expenses, I just couldn't justify it. So I feel a little sad about it but maybe that's just another sacrifice of adulthood. Honestly, it kinda sucks.

Sound-off

Lots of stuff to take care of these days. It's always such a pain to move and change your address 500 times. I'm sure after I get the address changed, I'll be changing my name 500 times on every thing. The stickers on my car are due in July so that is my first order of business once I move - new license plates! Joe says this (license plates, changing my address and name) will give me something to do when I get to Chicago and it will force me to drive around and keep busy. Not to sound pessimistic but I think I'll have enough to keep me busy...like unpacking!

And speaking of my car, I took it in today because it's been making this weird noise for the past month and a half. (And other people have heard the noise so, contrary to popular belief, it's not just me.) Anyway, I take it in and of course they can't hear it. So I'm fully expecting to pick up my car and make the guys drive around with me so I can say, "See! That noise! I told you. Ha." but they are gone to lunch. So I leave in my car for lunch, too. And guess what? No noise. Nada. I went back to work. I don't know whether to be happy or frustrated. Joe thinks maybe my car is in remission but I think it's just playing tricks on me.

I received my cable bill last night for my internet and it was more than twice the cost it usually is with no explanation. It even shows where I paid my bill last month and it was at a different cost. So I called last night and was on hold for over 35 minutes (and once I was even randomly disconnected). Finally I got so frustrated that I hung up for good and called it a night. I called today and got someone right away who was fairly helpful but I was still a little annoyed from last night. She told me that when she hung up to stay on the line and I could take an automated survey about my experience. Satisfaction! Next thing you know I hear the dial tone and she's hung up on me and the survey is not to be. Is it just me or are cable and cell phone companies almost always known for bad customer service?