Married Mondays: 9.23.10

Three years ago today, on a brisk Fall evening, Wes and I walked over to the Memorial Art Gallery from my apartment on Atlantic Ave.  We had been seeing each other for a little over a month at the time, but had yet to "make it official" with the ever-anticipated boyfriend/girlfriend title.  Well, after our trip to the gallery, perhaps inspired by the lovely art, we decided that it was finally time to put a label on it. :) 

Unfortunately, the Memorial Art Gallery is closed on Monday's, so we couldn't recreate the night completely, but we tried our best anyway...  

We started by grabbing a coffee at Starry Nites and then breaking into entering through the open door of my old building to take a trip down memory lane.     

We have so many memories in and around the Flat Iron building.  For example, the 1st time Wes came over - he was still on his crutches and had to climb 2 extra-long flights of stairs to get to my apartment!  I warned him, but he came anyway. *sigh*  He also took a cab all the way from Greece - I know this because I found the $40 receipt on my living room floor the next morning.  

~Be still my heart~  

Next, we walked along the gorgeous grounds of the gallery.  This is one of my favorite Rochester spots!  Breathtaking tree-line and what we hope our driveway looks like someday.

We had fun taking in the new additions to the area!

Love me some feet pictures!

Happy.

I was super excited to be able to call Wes my boyfriend that night and now I'm proud to have him as my husband!

Married Mondays: Home Sweet Home

Well, the day finally came and we are officially Rochesterians again!

We could not have done this move without the help of our dads.  They flew in Friday night, so that they could help us pack the truck on Saturday morning.  They are truly rockstar dads.

Little did they know they'd be running a sprint that morning, as we were forced to load the truck in just 2 hours!  As a goodbye present, our building decided to screw up the appointment book for the loading dock/service elevator and forget to write us down for the 9:30a-12:30p time-slot (even though Wes booked it 3 weeks ago!).  So after some calm and peaceful negotiations, Wes was able to get us the 6 - 8a slot.  Whatever, we took it - anything to get home as fast as possible.  

At a pace just short of a brisk run we raced to pack the truck.  After trying to unsuccessfully jam our oversized couch through the door, waking up grumpy neighbors, realizing that U-Haul under-quoted us on the size of the truck for the amount of our stuff and having words with the local garbage truck man, we jammed pushed the last few items onto the truck as the rain began to fall.  We were pretty darn proud of our work!

    

It was finally time to get on the road!  Here we go!!

Here we are!   

I wish I could have captured a photo of our moms standing at the top of the driveway watching us pull up - it was definitely one of those simple, but meaningful moments.  Both Wes and I agreed that we felt overwhelmed with a mix of positive emotions as we put the cars in park and stepped out and into the next chapter of our life together.  

  

We celebrated appropriately with our wonderful parents!  They've been incredibly supportive throughout this entire adventure; it felt so right to celebrate with the 4 of them. 

Then it was off to work on Sunday morning.  

A big THANK YOU goes out to our helpful family and friends!

I think we may have set a record for how quickly we were able to unload the truck!  

Post-unload smiles. :)

Thank you to everyone that's followed us on our journey over the past 2 years.  We're so overwhelmed with gratitude for our life back here in Rochester and can't wait to resume the special moments with family and friends.  

We'll still be blogging, so don't forget to visit us virtually! :)

Married Mondays: Big Transitions

Just about 2 years and a few weeks ago, we captured this photo on what would be the 1st of countless drives to Virginia.  We were going to drop off Wes' car and so that I could interview with about a dozen elementary schools, before we made the final move just a few weeks later.  It was our 1st really important transition as a couple.  We decided to go big and move out of state. :)  

Well, Wes and I are happy to officially report (to the blog world, at least) that we are about to make another really exciting transition - WE'RE MOVING BACK HOME!  ...and it's happening THIS WEEKEND!!!

While we sure are going to miss this place, we are absolutely thrilled to be moving back to our real home.  Before we leave, however, we'd like to take some time to remember all of the big transitions that  happened during our stay in what we fondly call, "home-ish."

We moved in together!  

This kind of goes without saying; it's not like we were going to/could ever even afford to, live in 2 separate apartments here in Arlington, but it's still worth noting.  After all, it is a big transition.  Luckily, Wes and I have a similar vision for decorating and share a strong affection for our beloved air mattress.  There's 5 nights left to come visit us and experience the joy that is our pillow-top aerobed!  

We got engaged!  

One of our biggest if we hadn't made the move realizations is this one.  Had we not lived in Arlington, a stone's throw from The Kennedy Center, we're pretty sure this moment would never have happened this way.  I have no doubt that Wes would have made it just as special if we were in Rochester, but I have to say that I am so, so, so grateful for this wild engagement experience!

I'm so happy that I captured this little detail - it's the 1st envelope addressed to us in this way, that we received after our engagement!  This one was from Wes' Aunt Sue & Uncle Dave.  They also gave us the sweetest card that had a picture of a little boy and girl on the front who looked very similar to the two of us - the little boy had a bow-tie on and everything. :)

We planned...

And planned our wedding...

And planned our wedding...

I digress.

We went ahead and got married!  

Quite possibly the biggest transition to date, but the happiest one at that! 

And finally, after a lot of hemming and hawing, we made another big transition decision:

To move back Rochester!!

We'd be lying if we didn't admit that these past 2 years have been full of emotional ups and downs.  With every exciting transition, came 5 emotionally draining decisions, but we honestly wouldn't change any of it, especially our original decision to move to Virginia.  Wes and I have grown together as a couple, we believe, more quickly than if we had remained in Rochester.  We've learned a lot about ourselves individually and as a team, and are excited to take our rejuvenated appreciation for family, friends and the familiar back home!  

Rochester, get ready - HERE WE COME! 

Married Mondays: Family Vacations

Well, we're back from Disney with sun-kissed skin and a revitalized state of mind.  Throughout our vacation, Wes and I would often talk about how lucky we are to have two families that get along so well.  While it's not the first time the topic has come up, it was definitely one of the more obvious situations that caused us to stop and be thankful.  At some point along our 10 days together, someone said something about our family.  I don't remember the exact quote, but the word family, used in it's singular tense, caught my attention and got me thinking.  In a way, this trip together felt like the 1st step on our journey to creating our own version of a family.  A bit of a milestone, if you will.  Obviously, family means something different to everyone.  I often think of our friends as family - a pretty awesome family.  At the start of every school-year I talk to my "kids" about how we'll end up being like a family, with arguments, tears, happy memories and hugs galore.  And I can't tell you the number of times I've been mistakenly called mom.  Some of us even have our "work families."  

Merriam-Webster's primary definition of family is:  a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head.  

However, I'd rather pay attention to definition #4: a group of things related by common characteristics.

The common characteristics that united us as a family this particular vacation were smiling, happy faces...along with a strong ability to consume food and drinks at a pretty impressive pace.

Needless to say, we're both grateful that our families, willingly (seriously), vacationed together and are looking forward to creating more magical memories as a family.  :)

p.s. stay tuned for more vacation photos in the coming days.

Married Mondays: Mr. Fix It.

Wes sent me this video recently, with the subject line of his email reading:  hmm this convo sounds familiar.  I can't tell you the number of times we've had a similar conversation!  I've recently learned to preface my "venting sessions," with the following line:  I don't need you to fix this, just listen.  To his credit, Wes really is a fantastic listener.

My favorite line from the video:  "all of my sweaters are snagged."  hahahahaha   

p.s. I don't think you necessarily need to be married to relate to the conversation displayed by the couple in the video.  It just seems to be one of those venus vs. mars situations. :)

Married Mondays: It's all in the name.

Having decided to change my last name, one of the 1st "Oh my goodness, we're married!" moments was seeing my new last name in writing.  Hearing it was one thing, but actually seeing it in writing sort of stopped me in my tracks the first time.

  

We were at Wes' company Holiday party, the Friday after getting back from our honeymoon, when I went to look for my name tag (yes, we have to wear name tags :/) outside of the reception room.  Having thought ahead when he filled out his holiday party form, prior to our wedding, Wes submitted what would be my new name.  It was a happy little surprise and I wore my name tag proudly. :)   

Introducing: Married Mondays!

Wes and I have decided to start a new weekly (ish - we'll try our best to be consistent!) tradition!  Every Monday we will feature a post about the moments when you realize YOU'RE MARRIED!  One thing you'll probably remember, if you're already married, or will for sure experience when that day comes, if you so choose, is this question (or something similar):  "Congratulations!  So, how is married life?!"  An expected, justified, understandable question, right?  Definitely.  But what we've found kind of funny, is how pressured we feel to give a big, sort of animated, response.  Perhaps it's the emphasis on the word so.  Like we for sure are about to reveal something really exciting or shocking about our new relationship status.  I suspect that we've let many inquiring folks down with our less than over-the-top responses.  It's not that we aren't thrilled to be married.  Duh; it's great.  I guess we just don't feel all that different really, which we believe is a mostly good thing.

Nevertheless, the question has got us thinking.  First, we brainstormed some funny, unexpected, responses to the question:

• "Hate it."  (said in a loud, stern voice, followed by a long awkward pause and a sad face - like the kind that kids make when they don't get their way)
• "OH MY GOODNESS!  IT'S THE BEST THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!  WE WON THE LOTTERY WHEN WE SAID I DO!!" (obviously said in a loud, excited voice, while jumping up and down, pumping our fists in the air)
• "Well, everything was going great until Jaime brought home this f'n ostrich about a week ago.  The thing is running around sh*tting all over the place."

Then, we stopped and thought...how is married life?  And so, Married Mondays came to be.  We'll share some of those "oh my goodness, we are married!" moments (we mean that in a good way), and some funny stories about our life in another tax bracket.

Stay tuned for our 1st official Married Mondays post next week!