General Check-in

Okay, so here's the thing. In the hectic months leading up to the wedding, I kept saying, "We'll do that after the wedding. We'll have more time then. After the wedding."

Hmmm. Not sure where all that free time I thought I'd have has gotten to! It's life, I guess - there's always something else coming down the pike. However, we are having a particularly busy summer. On our plates at the moment:

• We leave for our annual vacation on Prince Edward Island a week from tomorrow. This is a great thing, of course, but requires planning & packing & taking time off work & such.
• Since we drive up, the trip also requires getting some work done on my car - the brake job my mechanic recommended last summer and possibly something with the suspension, as it's been a very bouncy ride lately.
• We're moving! Since my grandparents' house in Hometown is (regrettably) empty, we're going to move in. This of course requires LOTS of planning & packing & such. We have to get out of our current lease in Portsmouth, clear out our storage unit (this Saturday), and move everything sixty miles south (probably the last weekend in August).
• Since we'll be moving to a house with more room & a yard, we can finally get a dog! We've both wanted one for a very long time, but the timing was never right. Of course, now . . .
• Justin is deploying in September. :( Which means that all of these things - move, dog, etc. - need to take place before he leaves. As does a bunch of military paperwork that proves I'm now his wife. And celebrating his birthday (9 days before his deployment date) and making sure he sees both of our families a bunch before he goes.
• Both Justin's and my best friends are moving to the midwest in August and September, respectively. This doesn't require much work on our parts, but is very sad and prompts us to try to see them as often as humanly possible before they go. Thankfully, my friend will only be out there for a year, but his (our best man) is starting a PhD program, so he won't be back on the East Coast for quite awhile.

There are other things, as well, but these are the major ones. See what I mean?!?

Snapshots from a Wedding

And we're back! Sorry I didn't weigh in sooner, but we got back late Monday night. AND since my computer crashed two days before the wedding (!), I had to wait until that got sorted to post any pics. The old one is completely dead, but thanks to the generosity of our wedding guests, we were able to buy me a brand new one!

Hence, posting again and wedding pictures galore. At last count, there were over 400 photos of the wedding weekend - and that's just on Facebook! We should be getting the official photos any day now . . .

So, before delving into recaps and insight, here's an utterly random sample of my favorite wedding photos. Be forewarned - there are 23. ;)

We Did It!

We had a magical night and so did everyone else, from the sound of it. We're off to Montreal in the morning, but will recap all when we return. Above is my favorite of the pics already up on Facebook (photo credit to my friend Caron).

Love to all who were able to make it & to all who sent us their best wishes!

Lost in Translation

This is completely random, but funny. We're honeymooning in Montreal and awhile ago, I was online looking for good restaurants near our inn. I found a great looking one (can't remember the name now, of course). However, as I tried to translate the French on the menu, one particular item kept coming up and defying me. I still don't know what they were going for, but apparently this restaurant offers -

Caribou chili with beer gas explosions, served with sour cream and nachos

Whaaaa?

Redefinition of Hectic

So it turns out that attempting to plan a wedding and work four jobs and mourn a grandfather and celebrate family birthdays and graduations and attempt to keep up with three blogs . . . means something's gotta give. In this case, it was the blogs, clearly. Which is fitting. All of those other things are much more important.

However, I always feel a little disconnected when I'm not posting regularly. I mean, I've had this piece for over four years, for goodness sake. I have to warn you though - we're 17 days out from the wedding, so expect the next month or so to be wedding wedding wedding, then honeymoon honeymoon honeymoon. Deal with it. ;)

All Systems A-OK

We celebrated a lovely Memorial Day weekend at my parents' lake house. The R&R was much needed and much appreciated.

The little monkeys watch a show called the Backyardigans, which apparently includes an episode with robots who say the line, "All systems A-OK." This led to many instances of them repeatedly quoting the line, while wading, playing in the sand, etc. It was super cute and a good reminder of the fact that, for the moment, at least, all systems were A-OK. :)

My favorite photos below from the weekend. Enjoy!