Friday, July 12, 2013

A Year at OSF

Throughout my year-long dietetic internship, I've done a poor job of blogging. You may have noticed that what I have blogged about the internship has been positive, but any posts written have not nearly touched the surface of my time spent at OSF. It was simply one of the best years of my life..

 Filled with the best people..


Left top and bottom: SLU Internship Forum, October 2012 graduation
Right top and bottom: Farm to Table dinner at Farmer Keith's, procedure presentations


Many fun memories..


Left top to bottom: making frozen banana "ice cream" at Kate's, car trip to SLU
Right top to bottom: fall 2012 Luthy cooking demo, National Food Day at Christ Lutheran


Hike nights and Sweet Cece's trips..


Junction City Sweet Cece's and scenic Grandview Drive views


The best food..


Left top to bottom: OSF tilapia, kale salad, Bar Toma Chicago Pizzeria menu
Right top to bottom: Innkeeper's truffles, Aya Sofia gyro, homemade sushi with Golda

And one very bittersweet graduation..



It's been a little over a month since we've been done and although it was time to move on, I am so appreciative of the people I met and the things I learned. I miss everyone so much and know I have made life-long friends through that experience. Here's to the Super Cinco and Karl, Janny, Kare-Bear, Katy-Cake and me, Brownie. We did it.

First day in lab coats

Highlights of Graduation:

1. Baseball themed message to Donna before retirement
2. Message to Golda on importance of keeping "tusks up"
3. ABCs of precepting and preceptor of the year (Liz and Jenna)
4. Highlight video of our year together, viewed here

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Our Wedding Day

 June 8, 2013

I remember waking up around 6:45 am and relaxing on my parents' couch a bit before showering. My mom, sisters, and I headed to the reception site probably a little after 8 to do some touching up of the room. I will say there really wasn't that much of a need for us to be there, but we didn't need to get our hair done that early and I couldn't just sit around doing nothing while the action was happening. We finished the napkin and silverware placing before we started putting lavender sprigs at each place setting, along with a roll of mints made by my MIL. We kind of helped the chair cover ladies with the table runners, but we ran out of things to do. We weren't even there an hour before picking up the rest of my bridesmaids (Claire at the hotel and Kayla at her house). Time to go get pretty!

Here is where I will note what had been happening with the weather. We had monstrous downpours pretty much on and off for six weeks before (and even some after) the wedding day. It had been one the wettest years in history, and Andy hadn't even finished planting yet (which is really, really late). Somehow we picked the best day of weather to have a wedding. God had to have been smiling down on us because it was probably mid to high 70s, sunny, and not humid at all! It could not have been more perfect.

We had our two usual hairstylists booked, along with our make up go-to gal, Sara. Melissa rolled my hair first thing and then I just hung out and watched everyone else get done. It was an extremely low key morning. I was much less anxious than I expected to be, and the morning went by quickly. My dad made a run to Subway for lunch (which I hardly touched). All the while Andy and the guys spent the morning playing a quick 9-holes of golf and later went to his parent's house to get dressed.

I will mention that my friends had gotten me a light blue robe and "Bride" tank top specifically to wear on the wedding day, so I was garbed up. I kind of felt weird because I'm usually not into attention, but when else was I going to get to wear these? It did end up looking really nice to have the robe in photos.



We were kind of crunching on time near the end, but I got dressed around 1:15 or so and we loaded up the RV to go to the church for our 2:30 wedding! Once I sat down, I started feeling a little weird. Getting married is a surreal experience. I kept thinking "is this happening?" We sat in the RV at the church for a bit, but I was getting stir crazy and needed to go in. We all stood in the back of the church for the last 10 minutes leading up to it, but a few guests kept going in those doors, so I had to hide in the corner so they couldn't get a full view of me. I was so ready to have the walk down the aisle over with, since that was really the only thing I was nervous about. The processional went well and the music was great. The only hiccup was that our nephews, the ring bearers didn't go down the aisle, but my nephew Barrett gave a show. After about 20 seconds of them standing there I was hollering for them to give up so I could just go..




The ceremony was enjoyable. I was glad I didn't have to look at the guests because I didn't feel like I had 200 people staring at me. Honestly, I was pretty comfortable up there. The readers did a great job (thanks Jenn and Liz!) and the homily was centered around our unity candle song, Crazy Love. We said our vows and were married!


We greeted guests as they left the church, which went quickly. I was so thankful we did that! Then we took family photos outside of the church before loading the RV again with the bridal party.

We took group pictures at the Jones' House, the oldest brick home in Pontiac, before heading to the courthouse. Andy and I went to the Yost Museum for a few photos before we all went to the Elks for more. We separated the boys and girls and this was where we had a few laughs and got comfortable. I had four bridesmads (my 2 sisters and 2 friends), while Andy had 5 groomsmen (3 brothers and 2 friends). He also had 3 of his friends as ushers. We finished just in time to be announced at the reception. I was surprised we missed all of cocktail hour! It was all already going by so fast..




We were announced and cut the cake (no face smashing here!), before the speeches. My dad started us off followed by our 2 best men and my MOH. They were great speeches (not embarrassing, thank goodness!). We had our first dances (which may have been the only semi-weird point of being the center of attention) and it was time for us to mingle.


I will say now that I am so thankful we greeted everyone as they left the ceremony, because we must've missed half the people in the room at the reception. There are so many people that I don't remember seeing. It still bothers me, but I guess that's the curse of having a large wedding and I knew there was nothing I could do to change it. I danced when I wanted to dance and had a blast. Andy and I each got to eat a piece of cake around 10 pm or so (it was so good). We stayed until the after the last song and then made our exit. It had been the perfect day. It all went by in such a blur.. I still can't believe it's over.

I'm just so thankful it was such an easy, stress-free day. I hear all the time about crazy busy, stressed out brides and think "they don't know what they're doing." We did it right. It was the best. I wish we could live it over a thousand times..



Things to Note:

Wedding Dress - Martina Liana
Bridesmaid Dresses - Jim Hjelm Occasions
        (brooches via Esty thanks to my MOH)
Tuxes - Men's Warehouse
Photographers - Beyond the Well
DJ, Lighting, and Draping - Sound and Light Creations
Chair Covers, Table Runners, and Linens - I Do Events
Flowers - Kim's Floral

Wedding Anticipation

I wanted to make sure I did a few wedding posts. This post is probably uninteresting to everyone but me, but with a nearly 2 year engagement and the fact that I had been planning my wedding since I was about 2, I can't just let the process pass without doing some serious documentation! I know I'll forget all of this stuff in just a few years. First I'll start with the events leading up to the day...

A few weeks earlier, I had to move out of my apartment in Peoria, leaving me homeless for a bit. I luckily crashed on friends' couches in Peoria during the week, but all of my belongings were in a bit of limbo. I remember moving my clothes and things into Andy and my house on Memorial Day. The week before the wedding, I stayed at our house and just commuted the few days I had to be in Peoria. Thursday was graduation! (Story on that coming soon) It was nice to settle into our house before the wedding, because having to move stuff after returning from our honeymoon in Hawaii would've been torture.

More about the wedding-related stuff..

I had my hair cut, colored, and trialed on Saturday, June 1 - exactly one week before the day. All went well. Most of the month of May was rainy and cold, so I hadn't gotten the natural tan/glow I had planned on having. I had been using tanning products like a maniac trying to make myself appear less pale (I still was pale but oh well). I got a pedicure on Wednesday.

Friday, the day before the wedding was pretty low key. My mom, sisters, Andy, and I went to our reception hall to check out the setup and do the few things we could do to prep. The tables needed a bit of adjusting to get things just right. We also wanted the silverware and napkins a particular way, so we did those ourselves and set them at each setting. We were there about an hour or so, and then I went to get a manicure. (Sidenote: it was really hard for me to find an opening that week!) The rest of the afternoon I sat by my parent's pool and relaxed on the couch while Andy ran around for work.

We ran home, showered, and it was rehearsal time! I got there a bit early to say confession (yay). Andy must've drilled his groomsmen about being early, so they all showed up with plenty of time. At 5:30 pm, we began. I was pretty excited to hear the musicians for the first time. We had an organist and flutist, and a friend of mine from high school who is an opera major did the vocals. They were awesome.

The directions we got were kind of vague, but I left feeling okay. Our marriage license was signed and we were off to Bernardi's for dinner.

My MIL had been in charge, so she had made little bride and groom favors for everyone with our faces stuck on them, filled with chocolates and a purple candy cane...

The dinner was pretty uneventful. Andy and I sat at a table with my bridesmaids and one of his best men. After, we stopped at the reception hall to check things out one last time while the guys got drinks and the girls had our personal tailor, Teri do make some adjustments to their dresses. Time to head to my parents for a surprisingly good night of sleep.. It was time to get married!




Living Room

Time to get back on the wagon with this blogging stuff. So, here is an update of our living room. We've come a long way since moving in, but I'm calling this the "before" phase because we just aren't there yet (and probably won't be for a while).

Yes, these are iPhone photos and I am not a photog, so my apologies for not having BHG-worthy lighting. Also, I did not stage AT ALL. This is how we have been living.. with random stuff EVERYWHERE. I blame it on both wedding gift overload and the fact that we're still settling in. I hate it but then I remind myself we are probably much more on top of it than a lot of other recent movers. Don't mind that half of the frames are empty. Printing photos has been a job plus I'm saving several for wedding photos, which we haven't gotten back yet.

View from front door entry/hallway

View from kitchen

View facing away from the TV. On the other side of this wall is our front door/entry.

Old, ugly, brown furniture that does not match.

There you have it my friends: the current state of our living. Let's talk about my likes and dislikes of the space..

Likes:
1. Size - it's big, but not too big
2. Windows - although it still gets a little dark, I love the two flanking windows and the new curtains from West Elm

and that's about where the likes end..

Dislikes:
1. The furniture - it's all hand-me-down and mis-matchy. The seating and end tables are the ones Andy and his brothers rotated having throughout their college years, so they have seen better days, but they don't go with the gray and navy color scheme. Just getting a new couch would make me love the space about a million times more.
2. The TV stand - again this was another of Andy's pieces. It's fine in theory but I hate that it's all open  (eye clutter of chords and boxes).
3. Lack of storage - we are housing DVDs in the marble top piece to the right of the TV, but we can't fit them all nor can we SEE them all. We also have too many blankets (we keep a few in the wooden chest in the corner but they all don't fit). Also, we don't have a place for board games. I envision all of this stuff going in the closet, but we don't have any shelves yet.
4. Wall space/decor - we have a lot of it. It's been difficult trying to balance all the bare space without making it look uneven, mismatched, cluttered, or barren. 

Now let me walk you through what I would like done, both in short and long term lists..

Short term/within 6 months:

1. Shelving for the closet to store movies, games, and spare blankets (hopefully this weekend!)
2. Ditch the current seating for a new dark gray sectional (2-3 months)
3. Mount the TV on the wall where the current Bauman sign hangs

Long term (probably several years from now):

1. Install a fireplace with flanking cabinet storage (where the TV is now) and hang TV above
2. Swap out the coffee table for an ottoman
3. Relocate/replace two other furniture pieces (the marble top by the TV and the dark piece by the closet)

There you have it. I'm ready to get rolling on this wish list. Stay tuned!