Life…or something like it…
April // December 1st, 2009 // 3 Comments »
When we started our wedding website, we vowed to blog regularly to keep everyone updated on our wedding plans. Then life happened and here we are, three months post-engagement with only three blog posts! We have been very busy in the past few months with traveling, wedding-related events and other exciting things. So, we wanted to take the time to bring everyone up to speed on what has been going on in our lives since the engagement.
In mid-September, a few weeks after our engagement, we met with our marital counselor, Bill, at Christ the King Catholic Church where we will be married. We really like him and are looking forward to marriage preparation. Joe left the following Monday for a week-long trip to South Bend, Indiana, to work at his company’s office on the Notre Dame campus. April flew to Chicago on Friday and drove to South Bend to meet Joe. We were able to spend time with old friends, enjoying an evening out with dinner at The Vine on Friday night, followed by drinks and dancing at The Linebacker. On Saturday, we tailgated for several hours before going to the Notre Dame v. Michigan State game, our first Notre Dame football game. On Sunday, we headed back to Chicago and had lunch with Joe’s cousin, Sarah, who is a junior at Northwestern University. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around downtown before our evening flight back to Dallas. This trip to South Bend/Chicago was much more enjoyable than our first in the summer of 2008, when April’s luggage was lost…a story I’m sure everyone has heard by now!
October was another eventful month. The first weekend of the month was the wedding dress shopping extravaganza (see previous post). The second weekend, we went to the State Fair with our engaged friends Dan and Kaitlyn. Apparently Oprah heard we were going to be there and came down to tape segments for her show, so that was quite exciting! The weekend of October 17th, our good friends Tricia, Holly, Jill and Kelsey hosted an engagement happy hour for us at Blue Mesa, and April’s friends Beth and Rachel came from Livingston to attend the party on Friday evening. On Saturday, the girls enjoyed the day touring the area where all of the wedding festivities will take place. When April took them to Park City Club to show them the reception site, there just so happened to be an Open House for wedding receptions and they were able to taste some of the food that will be served at the reception, as well as enjoy a champagne toast. The last weekend of the month, we traveled to St. Louis with Joe’s parents for his sister’s “Oktoberfest”. She and her now-husband hosted a great pre-wedding party at the brewery where he works. We had a great weekend sightseeing and enjoying the city. St. Louis is gorgeous in the fall!
November was another crazy month. The first weekend of the month, we traveled to Livingston for Aunt Karla’s 50th Birthday/Costume Party. We made a great Sarah Palin and Obama, and had a fantastic time. The following weekend we finally found time for a little rest and relaxation (not much, but a little), and spent Sunday afternoon registering at Pottery Barn. This is, by far, April’s favorite of the three registries and the first one Joe has gotten somewhat excited about. I’m sure once we start receiving gifts to furnish our home, he will understand the importance of wedding registries! Thanksgiving Break finally came last week and although April had the entire week off from school and Joe only worked Monday and Tuesday, we managed to stay busy the entire week between Thanksgiving celebrations and Joe’s sister’s wedding. Thursday, we had a wonderful lunch at Joe’s aunt and uncle’s house in North Dallas, followed by a game of dodgeball with the Wunderlick family. That evening, we went to another aunt and uncle’s house to watch the Longhorns beat the Aggies. Friday night was the wedding rehearsal and dinner at Ball’s Hamburgers, which was the perfect location and a lot of fun. Saturday, we joined Julie and Drew and their friends for a game of Whirly Ball. The wedding was that evening, and the wedding and reception were an absolute blast and got us very excited about our own wedding. We both have families that really know how to party (Joe’s especially!), so we are really looking forward to our big day!
In addition to our busy weekends and holidays, we have both had some very exciting career-related changes. Joe’s freelance website business, WunderCreative, has really taken off in the last few months, so he has been busy working on websites. As if this isn’t exciting enough, he received a promotion at work the last week of October and is now a marketing manager. That same week, April was offered a long-term sub position at her favorite school in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD and began teaching 6th grade social studies on November 2nd. Teaching “full-time” has been a big adjustment, but she is absolutely loving it. She will be in this position until the regular teacher returns from maternity leave in mid-February, and is certain that other exciting teaching opportunities are in store for her. She is also continuing to work part-time at Ann Taylor LOFT, as well as tutor at The Tutoring Place. Needless to say, with five jobs between the two of us, we don’t find a lot of free time!
So as you can see, we have been going non-stop since August 29th and don’t forsee slowing down any time soon, but we promise to regularly post from now on so we can keep everyone informed about our exciting life and the progress of our wedding plans as the big day approaches. We have no doubt that June 26th will be here faster than we can imagine!
