August 2006

So I just wanted to take a moment and share some great pictures.

Mike and I, Justine, Tim (my brother-in-law), and his girlfriend (Rebecca) went up north to my grandparents’ cabin. (It’s the coolest place on earth.)

The deer are really tame at the cabin because you can not hunt anywhere on the resort property and they get feed. We feed a lot of deer dried corn in the yard, and the fawns that were born in the yard are especially tame.

One day we walked to the resort to find an 8-point buck standing on the deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t know how tame the buck was, so we were afraid to approach it. But a guy who worked at the resort came outside and said that the buck was friendly and gave us some peanuts to feed it. So Justine went up to the buck and fed it peanuts.

The deer really liked eating the peanuts, so Mike and I wanted to see if it would eat one out of Justine’s mouth. So she stuck one half of a peanut in her mouth and….

Justine kissed an 8-point buck!

And then it followed us home…

The End!

Well, we got the apartment from Dennis (but he still isn’t so nice)
I FINALLY figured out how I am going to graduate in May!
And we got internet at our apartment!!!

Plus I get to live with MIke… it’s fun

So I haven’t been blogging at all since Mike and I moved to Chicago on August 12th because we have not had internet at our apartment. To get online, as I am now, we’ve had to trek into campus and work on the computers at North Park’s library. But school hasn’t started yet so I have been trying to stay out of the library, which means I haven’t allowed myself any time to sit and blog.

We were supposed to get our cable modem in the mail via UPS a few days ago. We went on vacation to my grandparents’ cabin along with my sister, my brother-in-law Tim, and Tim’s girlfriend, Rebecca from Friday until yesterday morning. While we were gone, our UPS man tried delievering our modem three times, and on the third try someone else signed for our package. They even signed DREWS. So now one of our neighbors is enjoying our cable modem… the one we paid $80 for. Hoping that our neighbor with our modem may feel bad and decide to give the modem back, I placed a large “Missing Package” sign down by the mailboxes discribing our stolen package. Nothing has been turned in yet. Who steals modems anyways? How did they even know it was an expensive electronic device in the mail? It could have been a large cookbook for all they knew…

So for now Mike and I still don’t have internet, but after spending about 4 hours on the phone with UPS and the modem shippers (and that may be an underestimate on time) we just may get the claims department at UPS may refund our $80 in a few weeks And then I can start blogging again.

This past Friday Mike and I went to Chicago to find an apartment. We have to move this Saturday because our lease on our apartments in Madison end on the 14th. So that meant that on Friday we had to find an apartment we could move into a week and a day later. Being Chicago this isn’t as bad as it may seem. There are several apartments vacant in any Chicago neighborhood at any time during the year just waiting for someone to come rent it, and soon, so landlords can start making money off their properties again. Mike and I scheduled some apartment showing ourselves and also planned on going through an apartment-finding service called the “Apartment People“. We looked at some in the morning then went to the Apartment People office where we met the woman who would show us some places. We picked three that were close to my school and looked like they may work, so the three of us headed out to the apartments to take a look. The first one was just not good (ewwwww Chicago grunge), the second one was GREAT, and the third one was alright. As soon as I saw that second apartment I could visualize Mike and I living there. Only 3 blocks from campus and close to the El (so Mike could commute to work), the location was perfect. The interior was gut-rehabed so the bathroom and kitchen were new and beautiful. There was exposed brick and plenty of windows to let sunshine in (something typically lacking in Chicago apartments) and beautiful wood floors. It was a real place! (And I wouldn’t feel like I need to wear sandals in the shower.) I fell in love with it, and so did Mike. He had to leave for his job interview in Chicago and I went back to the Apartment People offices to sign all the paperwork.

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Ah northpark… I have to say that i have very very mixed feelings about North Park University. I’ve spent one semester there and it’s hard to tell if it was just a hard semester or bad circumstances or if the school just isn’t for me. Either way, I think North Park may hate me right now, and I hate it right back. I feel like I should have some sort of loyalty to my college, but I am and always will be a UW-Madison Badger, and my three semesters at North Park will never taint that.

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Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s because all I’ve been eating is popcilces and a little ice-cream, but I am wiped-out. This summer (summer?) has been crazy…. planning a wedding, showers, two other friends’ weddings, so so so much planning, invitations, meetings, thank-yous, big decisions, running 56 every week, more meetings, early mornings at the coffee shop, stressing about getting everything done on time, and did I mention planning… was it worth it? Sure was!

And somehow I thought that when the wedding was over things would “cool down”. Well, not so much… Mike and I went to NYC for our honeymoon (which was AWESOME) but not so relaxing. I think we walked five miles everyday… nothing like working off the wedding cake! And then this week is Madison Missions at Blackhawk. And I’m also trying to change my name (it’s a process), figure out our fiances, get ready to move in less than two weeks, fill out FASFA (always fun), and figure out how I am going to graduate in May. I also have 56 this week and am spending the day tomorrow looking for apartments in Chicago with Mike. 

And suddenly i feel a bit overwhelmed…                      

Will Mike and I find an apartment tomorrow? (Because we need to move on the 12th!)

Will Mike find a job?

Will I be able to deal without my friends?

Will I be able to graduate in May?

Will Mike and I make friends in Chicago? Be happy there? Or will we be homesick for Madson?

Will I be able to balance a full credit load and marriage?

To be honest, I’m scared. But I am praying and working and trusting that God is going to put all the pieces together. And if it’s hard… well, it will make us stronger, right? I can’t see the road that far ahead, but I know we’ll be ok. I have the most amazing husband and together I trust that we can get through anything… so for now, I’m taking a break, working on FASFA and watching Felicity. And it’s all going to be ok.