Posts Tagged ‘Andrea’

The February Due Date Club is having a cyber baby shower for secret shower buddies. I got a girl who is stationed at Rammstein and have had a blast shopping for her! It’s her first baby and she’s having a boy and I got all sorts of cute things from the store (fun clothes, a very soft bear hooded blanket, baby bath gift set) and off her registry! I’ve been wrapping them up and will be sending out the box this week. Then when we all receive our gifts we open them at the same time and have a little shower! It’ll be fun.

I have also been shopping for Andrea. She just had her shower in Virginia earlier this week and it sounded like a terrific time! She’ll be posting photos when her schedule calms down and I can’t wait to see! It’s a shame that we can’t have showers with our families, I would love to have been there and I know Mama would have too. I’ve been enjoying shopping for other girls; it keeps my mind off shopping for our own baby. I’ve been good and haven’t gotten anything else, but I have been “window shopping” online. I put together two online registries at Target & Babies”R”Us. I’m not sure if I’ll have a shower or not or if anyone will even use the registries, but it’s at least a place for me to keep a list of things I’d like so I can buy things off there when baby arrives. Plus, it’s just fun to look at cute things!

It always goes this way — I’m never loyal to my journals. I’m just so lazy.

I’m sitting in the school parking lot, wiping sour cream off my Taco Bell order, and waiting for my computer science class to start. School is going pretty well. Next week I have my first exams in math and physics. Physics is pretty tough, but Mr. Jorstad says it gets much easier from here. Math is extremely boring. I took this class (particularly) with spastic Mr. King before dropping last semester. Now Dr. Mesri very slowly over explains everything. It’s better than being too difficult, I guess. My programming class is just an introduction to C and it’s not too tough. some of my days are long (M/W: 9a-7p; T: 830a-3p; R: 830a-930p), but I never have classes on Fridays.

I met a girl at work named Danielle who recently moved to Lompoc (the same street as us.) We’re going to the gym together Mondays-Thursdays before class/work. She picks me up at 4:40 and we do weight training or spinning until Matt picks me up on his way to work. Danielle used to be a Marine and loves to work out, so she is the perfect motivator. This is only our second week into it, but I feel fantastic all day long! I’m very sore and hopefully soon I’ll start toning up. I’ve put on entirely too much weight over the past year.

We also started going back to church after about three months. We were going to a small group at Jim’s on Thursday nights, studying Acts, but we hadn’t been able to attend since school started up. He found a group for us on Friday nights at Wayne & Rena’s, studying marriage. They live right across the street from us and are so great! All of the other four couples in the group have children older than us, so it is interesting to hear about their experiences.

Last weekend Answers in Genesis, a group that teaches creation backed by science, came to Calvary for a two-day conference. We took in a few lectures about apologetics, astronomy, and our foundations. Matt had heard Ken Ham, the founder of AiG, speak many years ago. He believes in intelligent design, a six day creation, that we are the center of the universe, that there was a worldwide flood, and that dinosaurs lived at the same time as man, to name a few. Some of it still sounds pretty out there to me, but some of their evidence was pretty convincing. And science aside, there’s a lot said in the Bible that I never knew about. We picked up some DVDs and a book to research these ideas further.

Andrea sent me a really cute new journal the other day, which I suppose inspired me to pick up the pen again. I’m not letting myself start new journals without finishing the old ones anymore.

Last month we decided what we’re going to do when Matt leaves the Air Force. The plan was: I’d move out to Colorado over Christmas ’07 and go to CSU in the spring. At the beginning of March he’d follow and find a job around Fort Collins. I have two years left in my physics degree and we would try to buy a house. The last time I went to work I learned that many people in my shop will be leaving, another squadron is moving out with us, many full-time positions will be opening up, and they want to promote at least one SrA. The full-time job will be a GS-11 position and we’re getting new equipment that someone needs to learn and teach to everyone else. It’s extremely tempting to stick around for another two years after signing on full-time

Yes, it certainly is. Matt was a sweetheart and picked me up at the airport last Wednesday looking all handsome in his nice suit, and greeting me with chocolate and a rose. It's been a nice, relaxing week for me to adjust to being back home. It's cool hanging out with Jason and having him around. We play a lot of games together and whatnot. It's also nice having a third seat at dinner; we don't have leftovers that will never truly be eaten. Last night the three of us went over to my buddy Brian's house (joined by my other school pals Missy and Evin) for some food and Office Space and [if we had not been tired and stayed a little longer] Halo 2. It was a good time and it's nice to introduce Jason to some new people. We went to a new church that Jason picked out last Sunday and stayed later for a great potluck. It was a good time and a nice, small church and it suits Jason really well. Matt and I are going to return to Calvary, though. There is a lot about that particular church that we like, we just have to find a way to be more socially comfortable. That's up to us, though, and not really any fault of Calvary's. We also went to Jalama Beach last weekend, which is a very pretty, tucked-away beach right in our backyard.

We had a good time walking up and down the beach and sunbathing. The water was nearly freezing, but Matt and Jason jumped in anyway. They got a tad sunburned and Matt has been suffering all week, but we plan on going back hopefully every weekend. Good times. I also finally got a chance to upload the photos I took while TDY. I have an album up of visiting with Andrea. I said earlier that we did some origami and crocheting while I was there, here are a few of our finished products.

I also got a chance to do a bit of crocheting while I was hanging out by myself in the hotel room. I started working on a baby afghan and worked on a bunch of squares for Mama's afghan. These are the squares I completed:

So there's that. Jason and I played a bunch of pool today. I never really learned how to play, so today was sort of instructional. Of course, I've played plenty of games before, but I learned today that I've been doing everything incorrectly. We practiced for almost two hours and had a grand ol' time. I got an email from Andy yesterday saying that he had been sailing from San Diego to Santa Barbara as part of some crew, proving his seaworthiness in order to be part of some large Mexico –> New Zealand trip. I was so excited to hear he was in Santa Barbara and sent off an email immediately making plans for today. Alas, he called today from Colorado as soon as he received my message. I was a little bummed that he was in California and didn't even think to get together. He's a world-traveler now and I'm not sure when our paths will cross again. I'm sure they will. I think sometimes I just get nostalgic for times in my past. College in Colorado was fun most of the time and I do miss the friends I had then. Being that they're all males, I often feel it's inappropriate to keep in touch or be as close as I'd like to. They're good guys and I think of them often. It's always good to see someone or get an email hearing about all the great adventures. Matt and I are planning a quick trip next month. Neil Gaiman will be up near San Francisco, about 4 hours away from us, for a book signing. He's cutting back a lot on his appearances and I don't want to miss an opportunity. I've never been to a signing before, but I think it sounds like a good time. And of all the famous people I know of, I think he is the one I'd like to meet the most. Matt will take a day or two of leave and we'll probably stay the night up in the bay area. We had only been once, for a Switchfoot concert, and didn't get to explore the city at all. So maybe we'll make a big event of it. Anyhow, I'm excited to pick up Neil's Fragile Things and get to say hello. Wednesday was my first day of math class. I was really nervous about the whole thing and ready to drop the class that day. I received a text message from Erick earlier reporting that they just started chapter 5. I had just finished chapter 2 and started freaking out about how I'd never catch up. It really bummed me out a bit because I've been struggling on my own with the coursework. Then I received another text informing me that they had skipped chapters 3 and 4, renewing my confidence. I went to class and found I wasn't really that far behind. I just have to do some super-studying for our first exam two weeks from now. I'm not working (though I am researching some exciting jobs) and this is the only class I'm taking, so I shouldn't have any excuses not to do well enough. I went to the dentist today for a first exam and cleaning. It went well enough at first and I really like my dentist. Before going to Georgia I had toothaches and learned I needed a root canal due to decay around some poorly installed Air Force filling. Bummed about that, got over it though. I still need to get a crown on my tooth-stub. Today they found another filling that had improperly bonded and didn't do it's job. So I have some deep decay in that tooth as well and will go in to look at it again next week and see if we can avoid another root canal. And another Air Force filling cracked and will need to be redone. And my gums are receding around the implant I got when I was sixteen, exposing the metal. It could get worse and become a bad thing, so I need to go to someone else to see about some bone grafting. Fun … and cheap, I'm sure. Ughh. So it was somewhat of a disheartening day at the dentist, but that's life I guess. I'm just wondering how our wallet is going to take to all this work. Well, that's my overly wordy update for the week. Jason starts work on Tuesday, then I'll be home alone during the week. I have class at night on Mondays and Wednesdays, but during the day I'll be alone … studying, crocheting, and most likely blogging. So ta ta 'til then.

So I've passed my half-way mark here in Georgia. Class is going all right. I'm in Block 3 of 4 and will test out on Monday. It's a little boring and way more information than I'll really need to know, but I'm getting paid to sit in class for a few hours a night. My days aren't terribly exciting. During the week I sleep in, go to lunch with the guys, run some errands, go to the Y, then to school. It's almost like clockwork. The first weekend here we hung out in Augusta. We ate at the Bees's Knees (one of my all-time favorite restaurants) and then hung out at the Soul Bar on "Disco Hell" night. I'm not much of a clubber, but it was a decent time (although I learned that Whiskey Sours and I are highly disagreeable.) The second weekend we drove to Charleston and back on Saturday. We found a really nice rooftop bar where we had some snacks and drinks while listening to two guys with guitars. Sublime and Grateful Dead covers. It was good. We found a touristy hot-spot called Wet Willy's, a daiquiri bar, and had a good time drinking and dancing. Needless to say, much of Sunday was spent in bed. This past weekend was a three-day weekend. Lance had planned to take the rental car up to D.C. to visit friends from when he lived there, and I got to tag along and get dropped off near Langley AFB to visit with Andrea. I slipped in silently at 5:00 Friday morning, was greeted by the cats, and crashed on the couch. Friday Andrea gave me the LAFB tour and then we headed over to Poquoson, our childhood hometown. We drove around and saw all our friends' old houses, passed by our elementary school, saw our church, and the old house. Some things have changed, but not too much. We attempted to explore the old woods in which we used to play (the parts that weren't replaced with homes), but they were so overgrown and overrun with massive spider webs, we didn't get very far. We had a half-off dinner at Chili's, where Michael works. We watched a bunch of movies (Howl's Moving Castle, Mirror Mask, The Jacket, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, Snake Eyes) throughout the weekend. The three of us played some Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Andrea and I hung out at Virginia Beach, soaked up the sun, had some frozen custard, and visited the haunted house. It was a blast! I brought hooks and taught her to crochet. She did quite well for just three days of instruction! Michael is apparently very good at origami and has taught her quite a bit, so she passed some knowledge along to me. We made Chinese dragons and cubes out of dollar bills, as well as cute patterned pigs and cranes. I have tons of great photos of the weekend, but for some reason I cannot get the card reader to work for me. It's been so long since Andrea and I have really spent time together, so the weekend was really nice to just be around her and gab. It was definitely worth the long drive. Phew! I finished my art class, though not as successfully as I had planned. I can be quite the slacker. I'm starting up my math class now, which isn't designed to be a distance learning class, but I'm communicating with my prof through the end of the month and will try to do it on my own. It's not so bad … so far. I was on a crocheting kick, trying to get a significant amount done on Mama's afghan. The past week has been sort of crochet-lazy, though. I still have to make two squares to mail out for my square trade. I received three squares since I've been gone, I just wish I were there to open them! That's sort of a long-winded overview of what's been going on out here in Georgia. It's not the most exciting, I know. The active duty pay will be nice and while I'm out here, the government pays me to eat out (and the Augusta restaurant selection dwarfs that of Lompoc!) I miss Matt terribly and cannot wait to see him. We chat every day, though haven't really been playing much Diablo II together. He has Jason and the cats and seems to be doing well enough. I'll be home on the 30th … I'm sure I'll have more to blabber about before then, though.

Today was the last day of instruction at the college. Yippee! Next week is finals week, but I have all four of my finals on Monday. Yah, it's a bummer of a stressful day, but at least I'll get it all over with at the beginning! I have high hopes for As in three of my classes, just not math. I don't expect to fail, I just don't expect an A. Thank goodness I'm all finished with calculus; this last semester was a bear! School's been good the past month, just busy. I finished up tutoring earlier this week. I'm praying my Algebra 2 tutee passes. He's worked so hard and it's the sixth time he's taken it. It's time to move onward try something else. Things haven't been too exciting over here, really. Matt graduated from ALS on the 4th of this month. Last week we went over to our new friends, Dave and Clarissa's for a lasagna dinner and some board games. Yesterday we bought a new digital camera (here are random photos of my playing around with it last night.) Matt is back on WoW and I made a character, too. He also picked out a new game to play, Rise of Legends, which seems really cool. We're getting ready for a trip to Colorado next month. We're spending a week in Colorado Springs with my mom and Denver just hanging out. We'll go to the Renaissance Festival, do a bit of hiking, check out Denver's Museum of Nature & Science's BodyWorlds 2 exhibit, see some of my pals in Fort Collins, my mom and I will have a little spa getaway — it'll be a blast! So I've been pondering what to do with my near future. I need one more math and one more physics class and a health class and then I'll have three associates degrees from AHC and nothing more to take in the way of transfer credits. Matt could be transferred any time or, at least, he'll be getting out in less than two years. I don't have enough time to transfer to a university (the closest of which is at least an hour's drive from home) and finish a physics program. I figured I'd take my math class at night at AHC and my health class online next semester and work full-time during the day. Then the following semester I'd take physics at night. So I need a job. I was looking into PG&E's nuclear power plant; they need an operator and I'm qualified. That sounded interesting, but it's quite a ways from home and it would be shift work that rotates all the time, which would make transportation difficult. I had heard that the squadron where I work for the guard once a month, needed to fill a full-time Mon-Fri technician slot doing the same thing I do on drill weekends. I guess the slot was opened, but the window closed and I can just keep checking back on the website to see if it ever returns. That would be the perfect job for me right now, but it may never reopen. I enjoy being a student, so I thought maybe I'd just continue studying at the junior college in a different field. UCSB has a BA program located at AHC for a few majors (not physics). I was thinking, if I were to study one of the arts, I'd be most interested in an English program. UCSB provides that where I'm currently going to school, so maybe next semester I'll pick up a few literature classes. All in all, I guess I don't know what I'm doing until Matt finishes his commitment and we can move somewhere where I can complete my degree of choice. We'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to the summer. On the 30th I start a 3-week, 3-credit physical anthropology course online. Then I'll start an 8-week art appreciation course, followed by a 6-week psychology course. They're all online classes, which I enjoy doing. Plus, I get tired of driving out to Santa Maria or relying on a carpool. I can't realistically attend on-site classes anyway, since I'm going TDY at the end of July for 6-weeks to Georgia for more military training. It'll be a bummer being away from Matt, but it'll be nice to earn some extra cash, have more time to do online classes, and explore the local area. I'll drive up one weekend to see Andrea and Michael at Langley, maybe check out a concert or two (there's a ton of interesting musicians playing nearby during my stay), and see the sights. That's all that's really been happening lately. I have today and the weekend to finish studying for Monday's finals, so that's what I'm off to do. That and play with the new camera …

Jen, Matt's sister, spent some of her Spring Break with us last week. We only had four days with her, but they were a blast!

Day 1: Took some time off school to pick her up. Met the kitties. Looked through photos of her Martha's Vineyard internship. Listened to recordings she and friends did there. Cooked dinner. Watched Alias. Chit chat. Day 2: I had to go to school. Matt and her hung out and played Halo 2, Monkeyball 2, and some other games. Mystery Science Theater 3000. Went out to Sugar Magnolia's for dinner. Watched more Alias. Played with the kitties. Relaxing and more chit chat. Day 3: Turned in keys to the old apartment. Early Bird miniature golf special at Boomer's. DDR (man, are we out of practice!) Ordered pizza. Watched more Alias. Day 4: The self-proclaimed cat-hater falls in love with our kitties. Gabby didn't want Jen to leave (or she wanted to go with her!). Drove down to Santa Barbara. Walked along State Street. Watched some guy play the drums. Saw the beach. Strolled along the pier. Ate enchiladas and burgers at Ruby's. Saw her plane off. Spent half an hour watching the cool clock at the Santa Barbara Airport.

Jen is such a cool chickie. I wish we could have spent more time with her or at least see her more often. We'll fly out to New York for Thanksgiving this year, so we'll have some time then. Matt and I had an awesome time visiting with her. I think we're a little boring to come and visit, but she argued that we aren't. I'm glad she enjoyed herself. My mom and Ron are out on the east coast spending time with my sister and cruising around the little states. I'm so jealous. From the sounds of everything, Andrea and Michael are doing pretty well. Work is a bit of a strain on her eyes (being that she just sits and looks at screens non-stop), but it sounds like she enjoys it enough. Michael is working at Olive Garden now and it sounds like a good job. I found out what dates I'll have long weekends this summer when I'm down in Georgia so we can coordinate a time to visit. Andrea needs plenty of advance notice to apply for leave and I need to get plane tickets to Virginia whenever she gets it approved. I'm not especially looking forward to six summer weeks in Georgia, but having a weekend to visit with Andrea and Michael will be worth it! My classes are canceled today and I've been a bit under the weather anyway, so I'm taking the day off. So far I haven't done much: a little bit of math studying, chatting with my brother for a tad, updating my photo gallery, watching part of The Squid and the Whale, and hanging with the cool cats. It's nice to have lazy days. School is school. Still haven't heard back about my second math exam, though I don't have high hopes for it. I'm trying to get a head-start on the third exam at the end of this month because I hear it's the toughest and all this doesn't exactly come easily to me. It's getting more interesting/fun, though. I'm just having my doubts about whether or not I can handle future math classes. Physics is fun, as usual. The school is hiring a new full-time physics professor and they're in the interviewing stage right now. The picked ten candidates to do a short teaching demonstration of Gauss's Law. I attended three of them yesterday to give my feedback. It was actually a lot of fun. I'm not really allowed to discuss the candidates … physics teachers are just funny people. It was kind of neat because I aspire to be a physics teacher one day (high school preferable, then possibly moving on to college eventually) and I got to hear critiques of how all these teachers presented the material. It was pretty informative and hopefully somewhat helpful when I'm up there one day. Matt is almost finished with his first week of Airman Leadership School. He was really dreading doing this class, but it seems like things aren't nearly as bad as he had expected. The material seems pretty easy and he can get all his homework finished during class breaks. I wouldn't say he's making friends, but there are a few cool guys in there that he chats with and maybe could turn into something more. It would be nice to have some couple-buddies to hang out with. Today he had to attend in full service dress, which is very uncomfortable. It seems men have it worse than women on account of their neck ties, but they look much more striking than women do in blues. So he's at work right now getting choked, then in a few hours he'll have to do his PT evaluation. We've been pretty lazy lately and haven't run all that much, so he doesn't expect to do so well. But come the end of the month when he has his final exam, the difference will be quite significant. I'm sure he'll do perfectly fine, as he has long legs and is built to run; he'll probably just be sore this weekend. That's all for today. I'm off to download some more MST3K and lounge around lazily. Woo!

So … it's been a while. And here we go! Well, my mother has now nearly fully recovered from her appendectomy. She was in the hospital for seven days, got out and had three horrible days, and then was on a smooth road to recovery. Just a few days after leaving the hospital, my sister, Andrea, was admitted for appendicitis! The craziness! Thankfully hers hadn't ruptured, but was just causing her problems. So she had hers removed as well. I think I should make myself an appointment! :p The lucky duck, she gets two weeks of convalescent leave to recuperate. She's doing just fine now … So last weekend Matt got Friday and Monday off so we took a little trip up into the Sierra Nevadas. Friday morning we drove five hours to Sacramento to hang out with some family friends Chris & ShaRon and Kris & Jaylene. We hung out at Chris's office when we arrived in town. He works in Old Town Folsom where all the shops look like old West saloons. Chris & ShaRon, Rusty & Tiny (their boys), Matt & I had dinner at a nice little Italian place on the balcony overlooking the main street. It just so happened that the rodeo had come to town that day and there was going to be a parade through Old Town. The men wearing chaps and giant hats and the women in big, frilly dresses staged us a little gun fight in the middle of the street and we watched a bunch of horses and old men in go-karts parade around. The coolest part was the long horns they had run down the street. Moo! Then we went over to Kris & Jaylene's to hang out and chat it up through the night. It was a nice visit with people we really haven't seen that much (except for at the wedding). We had to get up early the next morning to head up to Quincy (at least three more hours north) though, so it wasn't a very long visit. A few weeks ago we got tickets to the High Sierra Music Festival. It's a four-day festival (Thurs-Sun) but we could only make it up for the last two days. We arrived in town around 11 am and set up camp in the blazing heat. I've been to a few festivals in the past with my father (mainly Rockygrass in Lyons, CO) and was expecting something similar. This was huge! Matt said it was like a music festival theme park! All the tents were practically on top of each other in a huge meadow, which wasn't quite as comfortable as I was expecting, but it was fine. There were four main stages and bands playing in other venues throughout the area. Tons of vendors and classes and workshops and crazy people! It was, well, kind of like a zoo. The music was good … a little bit of a lot of things: bluegrass, funk, jazz, blues, rock, reggae, tribal … mostly bands just jamming. The first one we saw was Tea Leaf Green, which I do enjoy very much. We also took in some Blue Turtle Seduction (one of Matt's faves, a “High-Altitude Bohemian Tribal Funk Grass” band), Railroad Earth, and The New Mastersounds (a cool funk band from the UK). We saw a little bit of Meltone on Saturday, a jam band of Japanese kids, but we saw more of them playing on top of a camper on Sunday. One of the main attractions for me on Saturday was Gov't Mule and I was waiting most of the day to see them. Well, it was very hot in Quincy that weekend and there was very, very little shade available. I had my CamelBak and lots of sunscreen and was conscious of staying well hydrated all day, but I think I got sun poisoning anyway. My Saturday night was miserable with nausea and the worst headache I've ever experienced. So I just crashed early and missed Gov't Mule. Grrr! Anywho, here are a few photos from our festival experience! It's very difficult to sleep-in in a 2-man tent in the scorching heat with thousands of people all around, so Matt and I were up pretty early on Sunday. The music didn't start on stage until about 10 and there wasn't much that we were interested in until 3 anyway, so we took off and went exploring. To my surprise, Lassen Volcanic National Park was closer than I had thought. Man, we were a lot further north than I had thought, actually! So we got a nose-full of stinky sulfur and a bunch of pretty photos! It was nice to get away from the festival grounds and up where there's a little snow. Sunday afternoon was a blast! We saw Meltone, The New Mastersounds again, and … Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon! Woohoo! That was the highlight of the festival for me and it was awesome! We decided to pack up and drive home right after their show … we really just wanted to get home rather than camp another night. So Matt drove the eight hours home until sunrise on the 4th. So it’s a week later and really there hasn’t been too much excitement since. All week long I have been doing school work, watching Bewitched, and playing Ragnarok. School is a drag. They’re all online classes, so it’s just a whole lot of reading, essays, and quizzes every single day. It’s working out, though. I just registered for the fall semester. Calculus, physics, and chemistry. It should be fun. Last weekend was my first Air National Guard weekend. I signed up for six years, so wherever we happen to move, I’m going to have a job for two days out of the month. I didn’t really learn too much last weekend, just met a bunch of people and did a little bit of training on things I all ready knew, but hopefully come October I’ll get to work more on the equipment and all that jazz. Well, that’s all for now. I’ve been working all day on my security clearance paperwork and a website for my mother’s business. So I'm gonna go watch some Carnivale and conk out now. Ciao!

Phew! I know it's all cliche and whatnot, but seriously, last weekend was the best weekend of my life! Everything was so beautiful! *tear!* I'm currently working on getting all my favorite wedding photos up at my gallery. The biggest thanks ever goes out to Aaron and Alex! I invited them as friends and they went to work as photographers, taking hundreds upon hundreds of photos. I couldn't ask for better friends! So, here's how it went: Thursday Got up kind of early to drive to Fresno. Listened to all our wedding CDs in the car on the way up (no DJ, just a bunch of our faves burned to disk). Met up with my father and brother around noon, waited to meet up with Matt's family a few hours later. We all trooped down to the Fresno mall to pick up tuxedos then all headed to BJ's for pizza. Matt's family had been up since 3am New York time and nearly everyone was exhausted, hungry, and a bit grumpy. It was still awesome to get together for a meal and meet/catch up. My brother (Matthew) and Matt's brother (Jason) … well, it's absolutely uncanny! It's like they're twins. Very creepy. They just met and hit it off quite well. They sat all through dinner drawing physics problems and anime sketches on napkins and discussing little-brother random things. My mother and Ron were driving in from Las Vegas (the long way!) and got in later than expected. They met up with everyone at the Picadilly Inn, where most of us stayed the night. Friday This is the day that I had most of my wedding-stresses. This was mostly because I had only been up to Yosemite during the off-season and had no idea what a zoo it would be. What is a 30-minute drive in November is more like a 90-minute drive in June. So I was late all over the place and frustrated and got lost a whole lot. Jen was in the car with me when I was near tears and was a blessing in the way of emotional support! Thanks, Jen! *hugs* My mother and I met up with the banquet manager at the Wawona Hotel that afternoon to discuss the reception. This eased my worried a lot as I just got more and more excited about how beautiful it was going to be! That evening Dave and Diane invited everyone down to the Pines Resort's restaurant, Duceys, for Jazz on the Lake. This was awesome rehearsal dinner (though there really wasn't much to rehearse)! Papa Bear and Company played while we buffeted and danced out on Bass Lake. Carol (from work) met up with us at the last minute, too, and stayed with me and Jen in the Wawona that evening. The three of us and my mother stuffed birds nests and ironed dresses late into the evening. Saturday I couldn't stay asleep past 5:00 and was pretty surprised I got that much rest. Wedding morning is worse than Christmas morning! Jen, Carol and I got up and got ready to go to Revive Day Spa with Mama and Diane. I sat down first for a manicure/pedicure, which was so relaxing! Then Andrea showed up! Andrea was originally going to be the Maid of Honor and she lived in Monterey, which isn't far from Yosemite. But she just transferred to Texas and we canceled her dress and flowers and just accepted that she wouldn't be able to attend. At the very last minute she got approval to fly out to California (you can't usually take leave in training, but this is a special occasion!) She got in very late on Friday night, went out and found a dress in Oakhurst the day of the wedding, and I got an extra bouquet for her and it all worked out! Yay, Andrea!! After we all got prettied up at the day spa, the girls headed off to the Wawona to get dressed super-speedy like. Then off to the chapel! My mom is so cute, she played Bette Midler's "Chapel of Love" on the drive up to Yosemite Village while Jen and I danced in the back seat. We left for the chapel really early because I was afraid of the 2 mph traffic into the Village that my father experienced, but we ended up arriving early after all. We met up with Aaron and the guys in front of the chapel to take photos then went down by Superintendent's Bridge to take more. It was so horribly buggy out by the river we had to leave and return to the chapel. Everyone was being eaten alive. We waited around for the pastor forever and he finally showed up and we went back to the bridge for a gorgeous, mosquito-y ceremony. It was so pretty, but I felt horrible for Matt. Every now and then I'd just tune out the pastor and watch the four or five mosquitoes on Matt's face suck away and I just wanted to reach up and slap him. That's probably not the best thing to do in the middle of your wedding, though. Matt drove me to the Wawona for the reception and from there everything just seemed to go too quickly. Guests dinged on their glasses so we'd kiss five hundred times and Chris Nail threatened to keep dinging until we "did it like we mean it!" After that, Matt threatened to be rolling around on the floor with me at each ding. The food was good, but I didn't really eat much. The cake wasn't exactly like I'd imagined, but so so cute! And really, I didn't rig the bouquet toss, it just happened to go right for Jen! And when Jason caught the garter, that just didn't seem right and we did a redo (which is horrible! So sorry, Jason!) :p I had worried so much about which songs to play and what would make people comfortable and what wouldn't put them to sleep and all that, and I think I heard maybe a few seconds of two or three songs. All the things I worried about really didn't matter or even present themselves as a problem, but I'm sure most brides learn that. The whole day was really much better than I had dreamed and although it's corny, it truly was the best day of my life thus far! Sunday Matt and I stayed Saturday night and Sunday night at the Houndstooth Inn in Oakhurst, which is absolutely adorable and we highly recommend to anyone staying the night in the Yosemite area! All the rooms there are so awesome, but we decided to have the entire summer cottage to ourselves! We're going up to camp in Yosemite around the Fourth of July, so we didn't really get out around the area. I know it's boring or whatever, but we just stayed inside pretty much the entire time. We were both exhausted from a whole week of stressing and traveling and excitement, so we just crashed all weekend. That's fine with me though! We opened gifts (which just made me bawl; the people we know are so sweet!) and got out for dinner and Star Wars: Episode III. Matt doesn't have too much more leave saved up, so we had to get him back Monday night so he could return to work. What an amazing weekend! As for me, I don't have to plan a wedding, go to work, or study until Monday, so I'm just bumming around this week. Cleaning house, shopping, cooking — all the domestic stuff a wife needs to do, I guess (sleep in and eat leftover wedding cake, really!) Oh, and thank you notes. So many thank you notes! Life is good. It's nice to be back with Tal, who I think was pretty lonely without us for five days. No worries, we had a sweet cat sitter come and spend time with him! Sorry for such a long post today, but I needed to catch you all up! And go check out some pictures!

Well, I've been slightly guilted into updating my brand new blog! :p I set out meaning to do so every single day, then thought that my life probably isn't quite that interesting … Anyhow, here's the scoop! Last Thursday I drove down from Monterey via Highway 1, or the Pacific Coastal Highway. Taking this route versus the 101 extends my trip significantly, but it is a truly gorgeous drive. The only other time I had the opportunity, Matt and I got into a car-fight and I really just couldn't enjoy it! Well, I left Andrea before 5:00 am (she had quite an early flight), so I saw the coast in its dreary, foggy stage. Not quite as spectacular as a clear day at sunset, really. I think I'm going through some wedding woes right now. I didn't think I would be, considering it's a fairly simple celebration and we haven't really gone all-out. Twice as many guests will be attending than I had expected (being that everybody has to travel quite a distance to see us for a short time), which is absolutely terrific! I really can't wait to see everyone. Someone told me recently that you know who your real friends are by who attends your wedding. I don't agree with that 100%, but it is kind of putting the relationships I hold into a different perspective for me. There are five friends driving 20 hours from Colorado, which is more than the friends I have driving in from California! Anyhow, I think it's just the little things that are getting me freaked out, which I'm sure is normal. My divorced parents have not spoken to each other civilly in eight years and now I'm putting them into a pretty uncomfortable situation. I should just let them deal with it or work it out, but I'm trying to please everyone and bend to make everything more tolerable. I had a silly dream last night that all sorts of things went wrong: there was no time for hair/makeup, my father didn't show up, no photos were taken, and my nails were painted in candle wax which kept breaking off. It sounds shallow/trivial but really, it stressed me out so much! :p My mom and Ron are packed up and ready to leave bright and early tomorrow morning, which just hit me how soon everything is. We've been planning this for almost a year, and now, the event being five days away, I'm just worrying about every little thing. Not cold feet or fear of marriage kind of worries, more like guests being comfortable and rain and everyone finding their way just fine! My father joked that he'll bring some Valium for me on Thursday, but well, in a way I'm hoping he's not joking! Matt and I adopted a gorgeous, now four-month old kitten last a little while ago. I'm watching him jump up and slam himself into the wall and go crazy on every single object in our living room. Really, watching him is my new favorite activity. I always knew kittens were energetic, but I never really knew! Tal astonishes me; he is so playful and personable. It's almost annoying though, being kneaded and gnawed every morning at 5:30 or stalked every time I walk down the hallway. But oh, so cute. Go take a gander! Anyhow, I'm off to go finalize reception seating charts and music playlists. Ciao!

Well I'm up here in Monterey with my sister and her husband. I'm taking her to the airport tomorrow morning; she is PCSing to Goodfellow AFB. He leaves two days later, so today we've just been cleaning up and Good Will-ing things away. We just got some awesome grub at this classy pizza joint up here. Geez, is Monterey expensive! Quite a nice place, though … Neither Andrea nor Michael had been to a See's Candy, which I believe to be the most spectacular chocolate ever, so we stopped by and picked up half a pound. Ungghh. Andrea has been up here in Monterey at the Defense Language Institute studying Arabic for the USAF. Things haven't been working out so well with that, so she got reclassed into Intelligence Imagery Analysis and her tech school is in Texas. She'll be about six hours away from our father, which will be nice for holidays and long weekends. It's a shame because she's been less than four hours away from me for almost a year and we haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time together. She was going to be my maid of honor on the 11th (oh my goodness, it's coming up so soon!!) but she got orders to leave California on the 1st. It was a huge disappointment, as my wedding is without my maid of honor, best girlfriend, and sister, but there's not anything that can be done about it. So yesterday Matt's grandfather, great-aunt, and aunt sent us a really nice Cutco knife set. It's one of the first wedding gifts we've received and was quite exciting. I was hastily tearing a steak knife from it's cardboard sheath when I sliced my thumb. These knives are really sharp and it was a clean cut, but it got pretty deep and I just kept bleeding and bleeding until I was light-headed. Matt mentioned stitches, but I immediately felt like the biggest weenie even thinking about going to the hospital for a sliced thumb. So every few hours yesterday when I'd poke at it too much it would bleed profusely and I'm still afraid to take the band-aid off. It'll be fine, I just feel like a loser hurting myself on our first wedding gift. Well I'm just sitting around right now while Andrea and Michael take a nap. It's been a long day! I think I'll go follow suit …