January

January has been a whirlwind. The first 15 days were spent working on my graduate school application as I 'postponed' my acceptance to SLU's nurse practitioner program and moved up to Seattle. (Great decision!) I still feel like I should have the desire to pursue my masters, but my frame of reference for my future has changed considerably in the last 12 months. I am not as confident in this application, and I'm not sure it will get me in to the school. I have peace about the situation, though, and I know God will have me where I need to be. I would be ok with being in school, and I would be ok with spending the first years of marriage focusing on building a home and being more available to our relationship. We talked in church today about having faith today that God will provide for tomorrow. An interesting concept- I will have faith that He will reveal his plan! In the midst of not-fun applications, we had visits from Becca and Julie. Becca is applying for jobs in the Pac NW, so we toured some of the different campuses around town. We discovered a glass museum down in Tacoma. Pictured above is the roof of a walking bridge. It's made up of many tiles like this one. Awesome!

Chihuly (sp?) glass bridge. Looks like rock candy to me...

Becca and me. Can you believe the sun in this January sky? I promise we were in Seattle!

This picture is a little bit closer to a typical Seattle sky in January. This is Julie and me on a ferry- on our way back to Seattle. Julie and I are good friends from Nashville; we were nurses on 11N together. She just finished graduate school, passed her nurse practitioner boards, and is now deciding what's next. We are pulling for Africa...

This is just a little sneak preview of what is to come in September. I was SO blessed to be able to go home last weekend to wedding plan. My mom and Kim were the perfect companions, and they helped me pick out a dress, a photographer, and a cake! It was a GREAT trip, and it was super hard to leave. I missed that boy too much, though, to stay away any longer.

365 Days.... of falling in love

Go ahead, throw up. It's ok. A year ago today I arrived in Seattle to begin the adventure of a lifetime. My whole world changed when Mike opened the door to his apartment. He was so much cuter than I remember.. boy am I a lucky girl! We ate dinner that night at Tap House Grill- I still remember the butterflies in my stomach =)

In other news, we just enjoyed a wonderful visit with Becca (pictures to follow), and we are looking forward to a visit from Julie Weist from Nashville. She arrives tomorrow!

Holidays 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope this finds your 2008 starting out well! I am just working away on my grad school application and enjoying some Missouri football! Our trip home was a whirlwind, but we were very productive with wedding plans, and we had a blast with our families! It was a Merry Christmas indeed. This blog is a culmination of the last 1/2 of December. Enjoy!

Mike and I at my Christmas party. How nice does he look? We had a great night playing 'fake' poker, and I realized I'm not even good at spending someone else's chips. It could be worse, right?

This is Tana, my roomie! I think this might be her blog debut! She is super great, and very pretty! We have a great time- and you can tell I am partying it up with my cup of coffee.

Steven and Mike at home in STL. They were supporting Va Tech's orange and maroon at Ryan's graduation party. He now has a degree in Residential Property management, but we all hope he goes to cooking school! He's an awesome cook, and he's 6'5'' and the size of my left leg, so he can cook with whatever he wants!

Mike #1 and Mike #2; in whatever order you prefer.

Our engagement party! The picture frame has a series of 3 pics; one of each of us as a little one, and in the middle is our invite. How fun is it that we are engaged? I am still not over it. Hey guess what, I am getting married THIS year!

All of the best men I've ever met in my life. Mike Callahan, Mike Cooper, Dave Wade, Rick Schuster, Mike Wright. Mike Wright hosted our engagement party, and he served several pounds of pork. It is his (and my Mike's) opinion that every good meal should begin with a pound of pork! Thanks, Mike Wright for being so gracious! (There are SO many Mikes!)

Julie Haferkamp (great friend from MIZZOU) at the engagement party. She is drinking egg nog out of a MOOSE cup! Now all she needs is a 'dickie' and we would be totally National Lampoon.

Christmas Dinner at the Coopers. All of the boys are playing music on their wine glasses. Grandma Betty loved that!

My mint chocolate chip Birthday cake! It was a great day... we went to see August Rush (highly recommend) and to dinner at my FAVORITE restaurant here in Seattle. Thanks Mike for a great day!

Our matching UW sweatshirts...

My mom gave us a crock pot for Christmas (it's all Mike has been asking for!) This is what's currently in the crock pot- french onion beef. It still has 5 hours to go, but it is smelling SO good.

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR and GO ILLINI! (It's taken me so long to write this that the Tigers have won, and Illinois is just beginning!)