It's been a busy summer and I guess I haven't felt much like writing... or maybe I just haven't felt much like writing for everyone to read. Not that anyone reads here anyway. ;-)
Posted new pictures: from when my parents came out to go to Niagara Falls with us, and from Joe's and my whirlwind trip up to Maine to visit Angela. Horseshoe crab hunting, shopping, relaxing, spending time by the ocean watching waves and checking out tide pools, visiting St Andrews by the Sea in New Brunswick (now I've officially been to TWO provinces in Canada and they're not even adjacent!) and just getting to see some of the gorgeous scenery of downeast Maine and where Ange calls home. (And of course, meeting Bug the cat and playing with "the dot" aka the laser pointer, her favorite toy! :-)) Lots of fun, wish we had more time there... next time! We also made it out to visit Molly and take the girls to the zoo, where a great time was had by all. Playing and chasing with Eva, and watching Joe carry her around to all the different exhibits, pointing out the animals, makes me realize how much I'm looking forward to having our own family. Plus it was great to visit with my Mahyee friend and I hope she liked having some company. Aside from all that, Kristen got married, my sister became a cat person (who would have guessed?) and Jason has been in the hospital since mid-July... I don't even know what else we've been doing, but it's been busy. And of course there's always work to fill up the time.
Speaking of which, I just got promoted. Now I'm a "Programmer/Analyst" as opposed to a "Junior Programmer/Analyst". :-) Of course I've been telling people I'm a programmer the whole time anyway so the title doesn't really mean much, but the money is nice.
Joe's back at school, which sucks up his life. ;-) It's really not that bad, and it'll calm down once we get past the first couple of weeks. But even so, tonight is his night off, and yet I am typing this on his laptop while he's at a faculty meeting that got sprung on him this morning. But what can ya do?
For the past two weeks though, anyone eavesdropping on us will have heard a lot of "Won't it be nice next year when I'm here, and we're together, and I can be sitting around doing my thing in OUR apartment while Joe's on duty, and when he wants to he can just pop in and say hi." And after a long rough night, we won't have to stay up past our bedtimes on the phone just to get contact with each other. Joe claims to hate the phone, but I think it is better than nothing... email is nice too, but sometimes you just like to hear a voice.
You'd think we were hours and hours apart... I don't know how people do it when they are. Ange had to spend the whole summer away from Mike this year while he was interning in Alaska... props to them for making it through. We could do it if we had to, I'm sure of it. But it wouldn't be fun. Half an hour apart already isn't. :-)
Wedding plans are coming along. Talked to the guy who is going to play the piano and cantor for us at Mass. He plays with the folk group at church now, or fills in for Masses. He's going to do a beautiful job and I have a feeling we're going to get along really well. :-) The next question is going to be what music to actually have. Wish I knew some wedding-appropriate hymns... hopefully he will have some ideas to help me out! All I know is I want hymns, preferably some nice old-fashioned ones with lovely tunes. And I want to sneak some Latin in there where we can. ;-)
Also found a program template online that already has the words of the Mass in it, which is exactly what we were hoping for (since at least half the congregation doesn't know all the responses). I could have made one on my own if I needed to, but it's nice having a template already made up, so all we have to do is edit in our own info, and (hopefully) scan in the songs/hymns so people can follow along. Very pleased with that find.
Joe is going to scout out hotels for me so we can get a block reserved for all the out-of-towners (read: my side). I'll be glad when that's done... not exactly what I would call the fun part of the planning. I'd rather plan out the Mass, the music, and other details like flowers and whatnot. It's starting to come together though. :-) Saturday I tried on my dress with the veil to see how they look together. Still need to get the dress cleaned and taken in. I can't wait to wear it though, and the veil is so gorgeous. Pity I only get to wear it once. :-P
Eight months, 4 weeks and 2 days left to go (according to one of my counters). Time is ticking, slowly but surely.
So there you have it... an update on the life of me, and a pretty superficial post in some regards. There's a lot that's been on my mind lately, but I guess I can't put most of it in here.