This Weekend and Last

This is a super long post (I apologize) you totally don't have to read it.

Andy and I have had two exciting weekends in a row and it's been a nice change. It was great to be able to hang out with family and friends. Last weekend we headed up north first to Peoria for Andy's friend, Tim's wedding. We then continued our journey to Oswego for my cousin Shane's high school graduation party. It was a lot of fun and the first time to see the family after we had gotten married. There was a ton of food (including a roasting pig) and hot weather. I even got called a creep by someone. =) So all in all it was a completely successful day, apparently.

The rest of Saturday we spent watching 24. Sunday we went to church with my family and celebrated Father's Day with grilling out and playing bags. In which me and Andy got obliterated...

Tuesday was our one month anniversary and when Andy got home from work, we got dressed up and headed to the hill. The Hill in Saint Louis is where there are a TON of Italian restaurants all with the names of Mama and Papa and all those Italianish words. We went to a place called Zia's which was PACKED. Especially for a Tuesday night. It was pretty good.

Thursday was our first experience to find and go to a medical facility... I was up most of the night on Wednesday for a pain in my side and other symptoms... Which we knew wasn't my appendix because that's long gone. So we frantically checked if I still had insurance (oops) and went to a local urgent care. All in all I got some meds and am finally feeling better. But being in a new place where you don't know anyone or places around like that can be frustrating and annoying especially when you're in pain.

Friday about mid afternoon two good friends showed up... Megan and Augie! They came for the weekend to hang out and explore. Friday night we took it easy (because I wasn't feeling well) and made BLTs and watched the final episodes of LOST. Saturday, Megan and I got up and made Monkey Bread for breakfast while the boys put new tires on Andy's bike, which looks brand new now. We then all headed to the Science Museum in Forest Park. It was really a neat museum, not a whole lot to do if you don't want to pay money, but fun none the less. We even contracted DNA from wheat germ! Haha. We all (22-25) were surrounded in a lab with 4 and 5 year olds and their parents doing experiments with lab coats and goggles. We then ate lunch, took a nap, watched two more episodes of LOST and then went to the zoo to see the penguins, prairie dogs, and the river walk trail. After those short exhibits we were all drenched with sweat.

We took another swing by the originial PI restaurant and I was greatly disappointed at their lack of mathematical proofs involving PI on their bathroom doors. But the pizza was delicious as well as the garlic bread. When we got back we did a photo shoot, obviously and watched the most antipated episode of LOST, the series finale. And we were all greatly disappointed. Sunday we slept through our alarm and had to go to later church while Andy went to work. Came home made veggie pizza and played some games. And finally had to say goodbye to our dear friends. The rest of Sunday I felt exhausted and took a super long nap, I just can't hang out like I used to being an old married lady.

Happenings

So not too much is new in our household...

We did however get a pet. He is a male Betta. Our new addition to the family is NAP (Not a Pup) named in the hopes that one day we will get a puppy. NAP is not too friendly and doesn't seem to like us very much. He is also kind of boring and doesn't like going on walks. My big incentive in finding a job is so that we can get a puppy. Both of us being from families with dogs, we feel there is an absence in our home. I think I'm most affected from this change and miss Maisy and Skippy very much...

As you can also see we finally got our kitchen cart and put it together, together. It is very nice and fits well in the space provided. It doesn't exactly match the rest of our kitchen but does the job of hiding things well. We do like it a lot better than the wire shelving unit we had up before

it. It also is nice because it provides extra counter space to work on.

In the post before we mentioned our Dyson vacuum. I love it and it vacuums very well.

Outside of just the items in our house... Andy is still doing his clinicals Monday through Thursday and I think is still for the most part enjoying them. He is working on Sundays for a couple of hours also. I started nannying this week which is a great break from being at home working on things around the house, thank you notes (yes they're coming...), and job stuff. Speaking of jobs, I did have my second interview with a school district for both a high school position or a middle school position as I interviewed with both principals. So I will know by the end of this week, early next week if they will ask me back for the final interview. Cross your fingers and pray that the verdict is a good one. God will definitely provide but it would be nice to be assured that I have a job and we will have a cash flow. Other than that nothing much is new!

Welcoming New Members to Family

Hi. This is Andy and I will try my best to narrate this post. Meet the newest (and largest) member of our family. He goes by the name of Gigantor and he makes coffee tables (which appear larger in previous pictures) look tiny. We got him last Friday and we are very excited. We also got a Dyson Vacuum (Allysha is thrilled) and new bed sheets and comforter! All in all we have done a lot of shopping and we feel very blessed to have all of these things. In my opinion, we have quite an apartment (I have to admit that Allysha should get almost entirely (98%) all of the credit for the design and arrangement; she has done an amazing job).






In other news, we set out on Saturday morning to do a little more hiking with our friend Irene. This time we went to Babler State Park. We did see a large crawly thing and some pretty flowers, but the bugs were terrible. The highlight of the trip: Allysha finding two tics on her arms! Hopefully she's not scarred for life...



We are finally getting settled in and life feels like it is starting to become normal. We have been going to great church called The Journey and are looking for ways to get involved. I'm still working at my clinical and Allysha starts her nannying job this week. Thanks for reading.

Life in Saint Louis

I can't believe it's already been 11 days since we've gotten married. It seems like only a few days, but a lot has happened. We moved in, bought a couch, hiked a trail, gone to the zoo (that's a given), Andy went back to work (without pay), and I have been on the job hunt. To give you a picture of our week, Andy leaves at about 7 to his clinical site, Monday through Thursday, and usually doesn't get home until about 6. So that leaves me with about 11 hours to myself. So I usually get up with Andy and push him out the door with lunch and breakfast and I crawl back into bed for another hour or two... I then slowly get out of bed, shower, get dressed, and check Facebook. For the first couple of days I spent a lot of my time cleaning and organizing, but as you can see by the pictures, I've kind of run out of things to do. So I started searching for my math teaching job. It's been a pain in the butt. The application I worked on today took me a total of three and a half hours to complete. But it must be done. (Pray that I can find something for this coming school year) Anyway on an exciting note, I did find something to do this summer. I am going to babysit two days a week for a family with two adorable boys! I am very excited for this and just for the opportunity to leave the apartment!

This past weekend (our first official married weekend) we did a lot of fun things. On Friday we got up, looked at couches, went to the zoo, ate dinner, and watched a movie. (The zoo is one of my most favorite things in the whole wide world)

This was an awsome bear. We watched him for like a half hour. Their names are Bert and Ernie (really). One paced back and forth the same route the entire time. This one was pacing but did this fancy step over step move with a very aggressive head swing added in when he reached one of the walls. Very hilarious and entertaining.

I don't know what this guy is.. but it looked like he was meditating. So I took his picture.

We also went on a hike on Chubb Trail in some park somewhere South of here. (I can't remember)... It was really neat. First we just drove around the park to see what it had and we saw live, free bison, a turtle crossing the road, and lots of deer. Once we got on the trail we saw a deer like 10 feet from us and a cool lizard. And some really dangerous caution tape and some railroad tracks... We were totally in nature.

So that's what we did this past weekend. And that doesn't include buying a couch and going to Target and Crate and Barrel.

May Madness

Hey I thought this might be a great way to stay in touch with everyone and a lot easier than emailing every week or two. (And had to keep up with Amy and Brandon) So enjoy!

So obviously May was a very busy month for the both of us. (Can't believe May is already gone) I finished up student teaching April 30th and began the job hunt as well as do all the finishing touches on the wedding. I moved into Andy's (now his and mine) apartment May 1st. Then I graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a Mathematics degree with Secondary education Certification and a Middle School Endorsement. Andy finished up with his first year (2nd semester) of physical therapy at Washington University in Saint Louis. He also began his first clinical in the beginning of May.

So that's kind of boring stuff... So obviously Andy and I got married on May 22nd and had one of the best weddings (if I do say so myself) ever. I don't have all the pictures yet but here's some of the highlights...

Andy with his men.
Me with my lovely girls.Us leaving the church as a married couple!

The wedding was amazing thanks to both of my parents especially my mom who did everything with me. We thank each and every one of you who came and celebrated our day with us.

Post Wedding:

So after the wedding Andy and I stayed in Schaumburg until Tuesday and finally took off to our final destination: Saint Louis. (We are taking our honeymoon in July when Andy's clinical is done) So we unpacked our fourth car load of stuff into our tiny one bedroom apartment and I got to work organizing and putting everything away. Our place is super nice and we love it. We have a washer and dryer in the unit. It's never been lived in before. Dishwasher. Big closet (found out not big enough). Balcony! Here's some pictures of how it looks now... Oh we bought our very first couch! (the couch in the pictures is not it, we'll be getting it this Friday or Saturday!)

Welcome! To our Home!

Entrance/Laundry Room

Our Kitchen.Our Bedroom and new bed.Our "Office" area... still is getting worked on. Dresser. You can see out into the kitchen. Where the wire shelves our is where our kitchen cart with extra counter space is going. It's being shipped as we speak.Our jammed packed closet... Still working on this too.
Our BEAUTIFUL kitchen table. It does expand to fit more people.
Our lovely and huge shower and tub.
Bathroom pic!Sink and mirror.Living room. Again the couch will change.

TV center. And you can see our balcony.

View from the balcony.Our first flower garden. I will show improvements as they come. I hope you enjoyed a tour of our home!