Congrats, Alex & Kasia!

Adam and I spent last weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, for Alex and Kasia's wedding. It was gorgeous! We also got to reconnect with lots of friends we hadn't seen in a while, so that was great as well. All of Adam's friends from high school (aka "the Posse") were there, along with their wives/girlfriends, several of whom I had not yet met. It was so great to see everyone, and surprisingly wonderful that all of the significant others are such cool people.

We got into town on Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and headed over to the wedding rehearsal at the church. Adam was an usher, and at first was a little worried about his role, but everything went very smoothly. Adam was raised in a Lutheran church, and I was raised United Methodist, so it was interesting, to say the least, for us to see all of the details of a big Catholic wedding!

Here, the Posse (minus Austin, whose plane was delayed) waits for instructions before the rehearsal:

After the rehearsal dinner Friday night, the whole Posse, plus significant others, headed out to the downtown Des Moines bars. They were several blocks from the hotel we were staying at, but when we got there -- wow! Quite a happening nightlife for Iowa ;) We found an English pub and hung out for a few hours to catch up with everyone.

On Saturday, we got to experience the wedding, of course. We've both known Alex so well and for such a long time that we were thrilled to see him marry someone as awesome as Kasia!

The wedding reception was also eventful, especially since it included the Polish tradition of stealing the bride and groom's shoes. Adam nearly had one of Alex's, but lost it to a bigger, drunker Polish guy. He did get a consolation prize, though; one of our friends who had successfully stolen a shoe gave him the prize she won for it (a bottle of Grey Goose).

All in all, a fantastic weekend :)

First wedding of the summer

Not so long ago, Kasia and Alex were at our wedding... now we're getting ready to go to theirs!!



This weekend, we'll head out to Des Moines, Iowa, for the big event. Adam is an usher, so we'll be attending the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, as well. He's taken Friday afternoon off of work, so we can leave early and be there with plenty of time to spare. We're both looking forward to it, and I am excited to see some of the Polish traditions that Kasia's family will be incorporating into the celebration. I'm sure it will be a blast!

Last weekend, I went up to Arlington Heights, Ill., for a tea party-themed bridal shower for Becky. Everyone was asked to wear tea-appropriate hats, which was hilarious. All the decorations were so cute, and the food was delicious! While I was doing that, Adam went to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the weekend, to keep Sam company. Although they couldn't get the Wii to work, it sounded like they had a good time anyhow ;)

I've had a couple of calls back about jobs this week, and have also gotten more involved in my volunteer work, so that has definitely been a positive. I just keep hoping for that perfect opportunity to come my way soon!

First anniversary!

Today is our first anniversary! I can't believe an entire year has gone by since the wedding.

Adam and I spent the weekend in St. Louis, doing some touristy things. The first thing we did Saturday afternoon when we got into town was head straight for the Arch.

There was lots of waiting in line, but we thought it was worth the experience. The Arch is really, really tall. Really. This is a bad idea for anyone who is afraid of heights or is claustrophobic, since they cram you into these tiny tram cars for the trip to the top. Luckily, neither of us is (that...) afraid of either, so we survived. The view from the top was cool!

Then, we went to the Moonrise Hotel, where we were staying. This place also was neat. And moon-themed. So, honestly, what could be better? We were in The Loop, part of St. Louis near Washington University, and it had lots of dining options within walking distance, so we had time to explore that evening, which was fun.

On Sunday, we toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery. It was a very complete tour and included everything from the Clydesdales to how beer is made and, of course, free samples at the end :) We then met up with McKenna, who lives in St. Louis, before we headed home.

EDIT: Per Lynn's request, here is the "Adam on the couch" photo, taken at our moon-themed hotel!

Planning Ahead

Right now, we are gearing up for a very busy summer! Between now and October, we will be attending FIVE weddings, along with bachelor/bachelorette parties, showers, etc. It's going to be a little crazy, but we are excited about all of the friends we'll be able to see in the coming months.

Memorial Day weekend was one of the non-wedding weekends for us, so we took it easy and mostly stayed around home. On Saturday, we did drive up to Naperville for my 3-year-old cousin's birthday party.

This weekend, we're splitting up -- Adam is heading to Kansas City, Mo., for Alex's bachelor party weekend, and I am going to Roscoe for my brother Ben's high school graduation party. The weekend after that, we're hoping to head down to St. Louis for a short trip to celebrate our first anniversary!

Settled in

Things have been moving right along since we headed down to Bloomington, and we are now officially settled in (and so is our stuff... it's all over the place in this tiny apartment!)

Adam is enjoying his job, and is gearing up for Preview, the ISU program where new students come down to enroll in classes, learn about college, etc., during the summer before they start. He'll be supporting some of the IT roles for that program, so it will keep him busy during the summer.

I am doing some freelance work at the Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, where I worked as a student. This is nice because it's stuff I enjoy, it gets me out of the apartment, and I get to talk to other people! I'm also starting this week on a volunteer basis with a local nonprofit organization, working with their marketing department on some public relations-type projects.

Looking for jobs has been difficult, as it's hard to find anything to even apply for. But, I do have a couple of promising leads (I took an editing test for a position in Champaign last week, and I have an interview for a different job in Bloomington this week), so I hope that things are starting to look up!

Things have been pretty mellow around here. We hung out with Sarah S. on my birthday weekend, but other than that we've just been back to Roscoe a few times. Most evenings, we drive around and look at houses for sale and decide what we'd like to have when we're ready to buy! We hope this is sooner, rather than later.

Internet!

We finally have Internet!!!! After a 2 hour conversation with Verizon, I was finally able to convince them that they needed to come hook up our wires so we could surf the net!

Sarah and I celebrated today with this "monumental" occasion by going to Qdoba for dinner, one of our Bloomington-Normal favorites. MMMM so good.

The rest of the night has been spent taking advantage of having non-stolen Internet.

In all serious, I'm really happy Sarah will not be bored to tears during the day now while she is searching for a job.

More apartment photos

I've snuck into The Ames Library at Illinois Wesleyan University (my alma mater) for a little free Internet. It's the last day of IWU spring finals, so there is quite a bit of activity here, but the Internet speed is still amazing, compared to the stolen wifi we get at our apartment!

I'm finally going to post additional apartment photos -- I've been meaning to, but since only Adam's laptop can get our stolen wifi, it's been difficult. So, here they are!

Our main room (remember, it's an efficiency apartment, so that's pretty much all there is!) There is a bed "area" off to the right, but I didn't take a picture of it.

Full kitchen, which is actually new and cute!

Stairway up to our place.

I've been joking that it's the opposite of our Janesville apartment. There, we had a two-bedroom place, so we had plenty of space, but EVERYTHING was from 1985 when the building was built, including the brown carpet, electric heating system, refrigerator, stove, bathroom fixtures, etc.

Here, it's all beautiful and newly remodeled, but tiny! Adam and I have decided that we need to get out, often, or we go kind of crazy. This is especially a challenge for me, since I suddenly have an extra 40 hours of free time each week and no idea what to do with it.

So far, I've been applying to jobs, cleaning and running errands. If I don't find something long-term soon, I'll probably start looking for a more involved volunteer opportunity. It's just suddenly very difficult to find the motivation to do anything!

Adam has been loving his job at ISU so far, as he knew he would. He also loves his five-minute commute, instead of the drive between Janesville and McHenry, which could take up to an hour and a half each way.

My parents came down this weekend to celebrate my 24th birthday (which is actually today). We went out for lunch, opened presents and played Rock Band. We're planning to head up to Roscoe this weekend, as I have a cousin with a birthday coming up!