Update...

Okay, okay...I'll update!

Let's start will the wedding. First of all, when we started planning, things were incredibly disjointed and we were doing it all ourselves. What a stressful pain in the butt! We made the (very good) decision to start hiring out and finding a new venue. Oh my goodness has that been WAY better!

Here is the status of everything:

Ceremony: Same as it has been - St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Fabulous! Although I am NOT looking forward to our second premarital counseling session. That is entirely different kind of pain in the butt.

Reception Venue: Now at Dance Street Ballroom. Amanda (the owner and brains of the operation) is amazing! She takes care of setting up, centerpieces, candles, lights, all of it. So cool! Pricey, but awesome and easy!

Food: We opted to go with a caterer. We are using Puttin' On the Ritz (run by Shannon, a friend of Amanda's), and are going to have scrumptious food! Again, more expensive, but it comes with dishes, bar tending, and a plethora of other amazing inclusions. Yay for Mom and Dad not having to worry about food!

Photographer: Nathan Coltrane, a guy we met through school is doing our pictures. He took a long time to do our engagement photos, which was nice, but I hope he get through some good wedding photos after the ceremony without keeping us from our guests at the reception for too long.

DJ: Steve Baker, a friend of Sam's is going to do this for us. I got to hear him DJ at a bar at the end of summer and it seemed fun and good enough for me!

Florist: We interviewed and chose a florist last night. Special Touch Floral, also recommended by Amanda and run by Esther, is a wonderful florist and very affordable. She put together a package with everything we wanted and a bit more for the price of one bridal bouquet at any other florist. Super exciting!

Honeymoon: Still working on this aspect of things. Costa Rica is out I think. Hawaii a maybe, and Cabo San Lucas is looking like the best option for us. More on that at a different date.

So that leaves us with wedding bands, cake, invitations, and tuxes left to go! Woohoo! We just put together a final in a month! Wow!

Now, other updates...on the physical front...we are not doing so well. We haven't gone to the gym and we haven't used "The Biggest Loser" game on Sam's new xbox. This is a problem. We want to, or at least I know that I do. But after a long day at school and then teaching private lessons...the last thing I want to do is work! Again...this is a problem. I need to find some motivation!!! You would think that I had enough, right? with trying to shrink a bit so that I can get my dress altered smaller, and also so that I can wear a nice bathing suit on a the beach of whatever resort/city/country we end up choosing for our honeymoon. Always a work in progress I suppose.

Okay, there is my update...Your turn!

Hangin'

Happy Monday! I am saying this because I teach and I have it off. Two of them in a row actually. So today is a reason to rejoice. Guess what I have done today?? Given a sax lesson, and driven for about an hour. Other than that, nothing. And it feels marvelous. Heather and I did not work out (yet) due to some scheduling changes, but we plan on doing it later today. Getting back into that routine is going to be very nice.

That's all I had to write about, because there is nothing to report for once:) Yay!


Sam

School, break, Christmas!

Merry Christmas Break! Heather and I are going to OFFICIALLY be on break tomorrow, but today will work. It has been a long and exhausting few months for us. As first year teachers, we've learned to WANT to walk away from our job to push the reset button. Before we were naive and thought we'd always want to be there to make our students better musicians, make our program stronger, etc. But, we have figured out that this is not realistic. Creating your program takes time, effort, and yes, the ability to refocus (and be ok with taking the time to do so).

This break we plan on taking it easy; sleeping in, eating a lot, working out. We will pepper our break with a little bit of preping for teaching, but that will not be our main focus. Although that will make us effective, simply resting will probably benefit us just as much.

All of our concerts went fantastically well. We have not though about it (I don't think), but they were our VERY FIRST CONCERTS as teachers. Considering that, it did go well. Certainly, there were some downsides and some (a lot of) things we need our students to learn to take the next step, but the concerts were a good place to start.

We hope you all have a great Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season! I intend on trying to really make that a focus of the break. I hope you all do too!

Sam

Stress-Free Fee!

Weddings are stressful. And they shouldn't be. It should be a magical day for the happy couple to share with their friends and family and each other. Therefore, I think paying for a more expensive venue and catering is a good option at this point. We shall call it...the Stress-Free Fee!

Now if only there was that sort of thing for my thesis and oral exams...

Break Time!

I am taking a break from writing my thesis, and decided to update! (Aren't you proud of me, Sam? :) )

Speaking of my thesis...if everything goes well, I will be done writing it this week, will meet with Dr. Ellsworth on Friday to find out what I need to do to fix it, will fix it next week, print, turn the damn thing in, and schedule my oral exams. Oh, and bring Patrick a latte. A really big one! I had a dream last night that I had too much to fix, though, and couldn't get it done in time to turn in this quarter. While that would be entirely my fault as I have procrastinated more than even I would have thought I would, that would be a nightmare to be sure. I hope it isn't the case.

I want to read. For fun. REALLY bad. And organize at home. I have been wanting to reorganize the closets and cupboards and things, and have been too tired, either honestly physically tired, or mentally tired from either writing or thinking about my thesis. It would be nice to have the energy to do something else.

Which means: I need to push through and get it done! Here goes nothin'! Wish me a good week, because it's about to be long!

IT BEGINS!

"My eyes are closed, my muscles are sore, and with this finger, I quit corps. "

A buddy of mine said this a few years ago in response to our drum corps director saying: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, and morning stretches are waiting for you!" It was pretty comical. We had just gotten off a bus after a 9 or 10 our drive the night before and we were all beat. The last thing we wanted to do was get up, stretch and get to practicing. But we did nonetheless.

I was 20 years old, in shape, and felt like I could do anything...except on those mornings. But I did. Because I knew I could. Quite easily too. I was just "mentally" lazy; my body was in prime shape and had no problem making it happen.

Now, more than 6 years later, it is the opposite. I wake up and my mind wants to go, but my body won't let me. BUT! Heather and I have gotten a gym membership with hopes of getting the two seemingly-opposing units to work togethor.

We started on November 1st, and have gone three out of the five days of the month. We are going to go tomorrow night, and then again on Sunday. That will bring us to a total of five out of seven days of the month of November (any way we can put it to make us think that we've succeeded thus far is going to have to work for now). The best thing: it feels good.

If we continue this and work out 20 days of the 30 in the month, then I think we will have done an incredible job at beginning some sort of routine. We are off to a good start. The fact that we felt incredibly guilty about skipping two days is probably a good sign (and that was because we were busy with school conferences...).

So, as I sit and sip my Jack Daniel's (regaining the carbs), I am quite content with the establishing of the routine. Cheers!

Sam

A Happier Update

So, I supposed that I should update with something happier. Here we go:

WE ARE GETTING MARRIED 8 MONTHS FROM TODAY! 8 PEOPLE! That is not a lot! And I am so excited and couldn't be happier about spending the rest of my life with Sam. He is an amazing man, and is everything I have ever dreamed of. He is faithful (in God and me), he is strong (especially when I am freaking out), and he loves me! Thank God we met and had class together!

I love you, Sam, and cannot wait to marry you...IN 8 MONTHS!!!

~Heather