Robb + Jessie Married & in the Badger State
A Treasured Tradition
Robb’s family has a cool tradition. Every Christmas, Robb’s parents would give him an ornament so that when he moved out and got married, he would have his own collection of ornaments for his first tree. We thought we’d share some of the ornaments with you.
I can’t get over how pretty our tree is. And next year, it will be different. My childhood handcrafted and gifted ornaments will eventually make the journey across the continental divide to join Robb’s ornaments.
What has happened in the past 30 days?
Wow. August has been busy. The biggest event was going home for the first time since our wedding.
And, it was quite fitting to go home for our friends’ wedding. It is such a blessing to see our friends getting married, and it is quite nice to have more married friends to share this whole new phase of life with.
August in Seattle is what is known as “California Sucker Days” because the skies are blue, except the occassional day of showers, the Mountain is always “out” and the temperature never rises much above 75ºF. Lovely.
Except, we did get the more-than-usual rain showers, but I loved being able to sit outside as the sun set and not be bit my mosquitos. And what is a trip home without getting stuck on 520 West Bound at 5pm?
Did I mention how busy we were? Honestly, our trip home consisted of seeing all of our friends and family and driving in a huge triangle from Seattle to Ellensburg to Fish Lake and back home. When we got back to Madison, we slept. I have never taken quite so many naps.
We didn’t spend all of August in Seattle, although that would have been nice; the rest of the month has been rather low key. Work, coffee with friends, cooking, gardening, running, and such. We are now gearing up for school again. And planning our winter vacation (San Diego - here we come!).
I know we’ve left you hanging, waiting to hear what has been going on in our lives, but seriously? We have just been living. Oh yes, and watching the Olympics. That has entirely consumed our free time. Sorry. I hope you can forgive us. I’ll be posting some of our recent gardening-expeditions soon.
Stay tuned!
Loneliness
Dad helped me move to Wisconsin in August of last year, staying with me for about a week before flying home. From that point on, I was all alone.
It’s not like I wasn’t able to make friends here in Madison. My new church family and colleagues from work have been very welcoming. But my whole life, all my friends, my family, and all the familiar places up to that point had disappeared.
Anyone who once was such an important support in my life could only be reached through the tenuous and completely unsatisfying lines of communication of telephone and email. On a few nights I actually cried myself to sleep because of the loneliness.
In January, when Jessie and I got married and she moved out here with me, I completely forgot about how difficult those months of loneliness were for me, because I finally had Jessie to satisfy my need for social contact as an anchor to my past life. However, all at once she was in my shoes, having been ripped from friends, family, and everything familiar, and my attempts to comfort her insufficient.
At small group this week, Jessie opened up to the other girls and revealed how lonely she has been. Now, a funny thing about our church is that most of the congregation, much like Madison itself, are transplants, new in town and only here long enough to get that degree or finish that internship/fellowship.
Unbeknownst to her, all the other girls in small group, having moved here just recently, were extremely lonely too. All it took was for Jessie to break the ice, and now the church girls are planning a lot of future social events!
All this to say, we got together with a few other people from church to see a great concert last night. It’s really wonderful to see Jessie “back in her game”, enjoying being social with people again.
We have learned so much getting married, moving away from home, and starting grad school all at the same time. Learning how to deal with loneliness is yet another lesson we are learning together as we rely on one another, on our new community of friends here, and on Christ.
Loose ends
Yesterday was a sigh of relief.
It seems like all of our loose ends from the fire were tied up:
- Painting in our apartment (walls, ceilings etc.) is finished
- Robb’s younger brother bought us a wedding/Robb’s birthday/Robb’s Christmas gift that arrived: A brand spanking new Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainless-Steel 8-Quart Stockpot to replace the one we lost in the fire
- The house is clean
- Our replacement ink cartridge arrived (we found that if you buy from HP directly, it’s cheaper!)
- Robb printed out our Eagle Heights Gardening Manual so we can start reading up on how to garden organically in Madison
- We got to video chat with Robb’s parents and wish his dad a happy birthday!
- Our landlord dropped off our new drip drays for our electric stovetop (the other ones were falling apart well before we acquired the apartment!)
- Our landlord also told us to expect the new cabinets in the next week (remeber, the other ones were burnt and the paint was peeling off from the fire… they were not very good quality to begin with)
Well, that sums it up. While not everything had to do with fire-related stuff… it feels like winter is over and spring is here. The sunny weather really helps with that, too!
And Robb is off on the set for “Public Enemies” being a hard working extra. He got up at 4 am this morning and left at 4:15 am to drive to the set! He’ll be home around dinner (hopefully!)
It has been a while (again)
Hello! I doubt anyone really reads this anymore. Gone are the days of my obsessive blogging. Well, I don’t think I actually had any.
But let me catch you up on what is happening in my life since I returned from Europe and got engaged.
Robb and I have decided on moving to Madison, Wisconsin where we will both persue our higher degrees. For him, a PhD in Genetics and for me a MS in either Nutrition or Food Science (or perhaps even completing the Dietetic Internship!) Robb will move away in August and I will stay home where I will continue to work until our big day in January. If anyone has some grand advice for budget wedding planning, I would love to hear it. Or honeymoon advice. That would be nice. We are thinking of flying to the San Juans. I like that, although it will be chilly in January!
Robb and I have put together a website for our friends and family who want to read about the wedding. Granted, it will be a small wedding and not everyone will be invited. But at least I don’t have a lot of friends I will be disappointing.
Right now, wedding planning is consuming most of my life. But that is to be expected. Plus, with Robb going to Europe for 3 weeks (his turn now) and then leaving in August I am left on my own to plan. But I have the most lovely bridesmaids and maid of honour. We are going dress shopping soon to figure out how to meet my criteria for a perfect bridal party. I need my ladies to (1) love their dresses (2) be able to wear their dresses again (3) not spend too much. Anthropologie is probably our best bet. I think the ladies will like that.
Robb and I also have begun pre-marriage counseling. Which is awesome. We are to read some books, ones that Robb and I have already read, actually. I just re-read the book for women called “For Women Only” which is an insightful book for any woman about the inner workings of men. Not only did it help me understand Robb more, but my father and brother as well!
Other exciting things, Cathy and I went to the Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook signing in the U-District. The event coordinator when to town and baked several of Clotide’s recipes [delicious!]. Here is a photo Clotide took of the display and if you look closely, I am the girl in the back wearing a maroon t-shirt with some white writing on the top & Cathy is to my left, wearing black [of course!] I highly recommend picking up a copy of the cookbook for yourself! The cookbook is a great addition to her website as she includes all new material (besides a few favourites including the Cacao & Zucchini Absorption Pasta that Jamie and I loved to cook last year).
A funny story, the day before the book signing, I was in a massive bicycle accident. I was going down a steep Redmond hill on my way to the podiatrist to pick up my new insoles (how very responsible of me). Let me set the scene: it was mid-morning and raining (of course) but traffic was not too terrible. Now remember, I bike this hill every day for work: up and down. I know this hill and I honestly pray every single time that God will keep me safe and deliver me to where I need to go. I don’t remember if I didn’t pray or I was just not paying attention but that day was different. I was about to make a sharp turn onto another street (a street I don’t even like to go down when I am driving!) and I was braking and just about ready to turn when I realized that I wasn’t moving but I was falling to the ground. I ended up being really lucky. There were no cars behind me! A gentleman who is a trained first response person was first to my rescue and helped me to the sidewalk. 911 was called. An off duty firefighter also came to my aid to make sure i didn’t have a head injury. Then Robb’s dad happened to be driving by, saw me and pulled over. I was taken such good care of that day. I ended up getting six stitches above my left eye and was left with a badily bruised left arm and a black eye. I did go to work the next day, but I was in so much pain and looked terrible I went home early.
Oh boy! But I am quite thrilled that my scar is healing nicely and that the black eye finally fully went away after two weeks.
But enough about me… how are you?