What a Year

What a year...indeed.

We were so very blessed with such an awesome year in 2013!  Thank you to all of our friends and family who celebrated with us as we got engaged in the Spring and then began our new chapter as husband and wife in the Fall.  So many precious and fun memories were made this year, so many family and friends reunited, and so much hope for the future.

As joyful and pivotal a year this has been for us, we realize we have friends and family who are very eager to get this year behind them and start anew.  My hope is that each of you who may be hurting right now or scarred by 2013 find the rainbow at the end of your storm, and look onward with hope for a better year ahead.  May your wounds be healed by the love and memories of those lives or loves lost, and may 2014 be a year of great renewal for you.

Of course, the two biggest events for us this past year were our engagement and our wedding!  I hadn't realized until now that the majority of this year revolved around these two events.  This was certainly a year full of excitement, love, and joy, as well as dreams fulfilled and new dreams imagined.  God has been so good to us this year, and we are very grateful for His presence in our lives.  One of our goals for 2014 and beyond is to have a Christ-centered marriage, and we look forward to living out our life mission of building community by making new friends, connecting and reconnecting with "old" friends 'n family, and most definitely entertaining a little in the new year.

As we finish out 2013 tonight and head into 2014 with the newness of marriage still fresh on our minds and in our hearts, we will keep it pretty low-key tonight, as we have in the past.  Perhaps we'll start a new tradition...  We'll most likely share a bottle of champagne (that didn't quite make it to the wedding reception - oops!), perhaps with a couple of friends...and we might even have our 1st Annual Mr & Mrs "W" Wii Bowling Championship and/or a movie version of an Iron Man Triathlon...and of course we'll end it with a newlywed New Year's Eve kiss goodnight ;)

“The future depends on what you do today.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

First Month of Wedded Bliss

A more literal meaning of "the two shall become one...?"

Matthew & I celebrated our 1-month anniversary on Sunday - wow, one month already?!  But the honeymoon's not even close to being over yet... ;)

We certainly have been enjoying our time as a newly married couple, and we're deep into "Project Integration" heading into the holidays.  (In case you're wondering, "Project Integration" is the more "physical" aspect of the two becoming one.)

We were blessed enough to find immediate renters for Matthew's house (they were very eager to move in before Christmas - one of the benefits of owning a home on Christmas Card Lane!); I've been having "fun" changing my name, and we're having a blast merging two households into one.  Well, maybe I'm exaggerating...a little...(except for the thing about the renters!).

Changing your name is a lot like changing your address...except...it's not!

If you've ever had to change your name, you might remember it as a relatively painless procedure (or do you?), other than having to run around town with your marriage certificate in your hand.  Well, I challenge you to try it with no driver's license or an expired passport. (Oops)  You see, after our honeymoon, I realized my driver's license was missing and I hadn't seen it (and several other items) since our wedding day.  (Yes, it took me over a week to discover this...I was on my honeymoon, what do you expect?!)  No problem, I can use my passport, right? Sure, except that I let it expire back in April.  Ugh.

Okay, so it was a bit more "challenging" for me to initiate my name-changing process.  After some frustration and extra running around, I got it going, received my new social security card just a couple of days later, and I expect my new driver's license any day now.  AND I confirmed that my Costco card works for ID when using a credit card at Starbucks :)  In the process, I also learned that CA governmental agencies are much more pleasant to deal with than federal governmental agencies :\

Next on the list for name-changing...pick away at the long list of organizations and institutions who need to know my new last name...all while experiencing a bit of an identity crisis (which, I found out is completely normal - phew!).

As we consolidate our lives and learn how to live with each other, we're especially looking forward to spending our first Christmas as Mr & Mrs and creating some lasting memories and traditions.

A Dream Wedding and a New Tradition

...And the Two Became One...

To all of you who told us to cherish every moment because the day would go by fast:  WOW!  You weren't kidding!

Our wedding day was truly a dream come true.  Everything about the day was exciting and perfect, and it very much felt like a dream to me.  There were times while we were getting ready that I truly felt like a princess, and a few times before the ceremony I got a little teary-eyed.  Everything about this day was perfect: the weather, no noticeable hiccups, I married my best friend (BEST of all!), and we had one heck of a party with friends and family on the biggest day of our lives!

From what we've heard so far, it appears the Hora and the photo booth were huge hits, and we're so happy to be hearing that everyone had such a great time!  The pictures from the photo booth are hysterical, and our wedding photos are breathtakingly beautiful!  I'll share our gallery in another post in the near future.

We hid away in a nearby hotel for a couple of days to relax and unwind from the week, and then we drove up the coast for a mini-honeymoon getaway that provided us with much needed relaxation and serenity.  At the end of the week, we stopped in at the Happiest Place on Earth for some fun with Mickey & Friends, and then we were surprisingly so excited to get home to Sophie!  I honestly don't know who was more excited about the reunion, us or Little Miss Wiggly Butt!  She was especially cuddly and lovey-dovy all weekend, which we didn't mind one bit :)

First Family Tradition

After a short week at work, Matthew and I started our first family tradition for Thanksgiving.  We call it Pizza & Pierogi!  Followed by a "family run" the Friday after Thanksgiving to help combat some of the pizza and pierogi eating.  On Thanksgiving, we made pizza and homemade pierogi, and the morning after, the three of us went for a nice run before starting our day.

There is so much more that I want to share, yet I don't want to write a book just yet.  We've still got thank you cards to write after all! ;)  I will post more about our wedding festivities in future posts, so please be sure to follow our blog!  If you aren't currently subscribed, please be sure to enter your email address in the "Follow By Email" box provided on the right side of this page so you will be informed of future posts relating to our wedding events and our journey as husband & wife in America's Finest City.

If you joined in on our wedding festivities and took your own pictures, PLEASE upload them to our Capsule if you haven't already - we'd LOVE to see our magical day from your perspective!

Until next time...

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."