Category Archives: dating

golden envelopes (or OMG! only 45 days?)

  By Kevin | December 8, 2010 - 7:23 pm | dating, engagement, home, love, married life, wedding
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Welcome to our new visitors, (I’m assuming, of course that some of you haven’t visited before and now that you got that golden envelope in your mailbox, you thought you might see what that whole internet thing was about) and to our regulars as well.  I’m so far behind on posting I don’t even know where to start. I guess I’ll just cover the high points and hopefully this weekend get back to some longer posts

  • Most of you should have gotten the formal invitation to the wedding today or will in the next couple days.  (There are couple waiting for details and such things.)  If you think yours is missing, let us know.
  • Many thanks to Meg (and her awesome friend Juli {who did the graphic design for us} and my boss Brooke {who helped with some embossing})  for doing ALL the work on the invitations, they really look great.
  • My contribution to the invitations was the addressing, so if there was a problem with the address or salutation on your invitation, It was my fault and I’m truly sorry.  Drop us a line and we’ll fix it.

Before I continue let me backtrack… I was supposed to write a post last weekend after our big Thanksgiving “week-end” but I managed to get sick and completely forget about it. Below are the high points.  It’s weird it seems like it was almost a month ago now, but it was just a little over a week ago.

  • We got out of Minnesota just in time before the big burst of snowfall the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  It was a slower than normal drive but we got to Indiana without any problems (other than showing up at 1am, that is.)
  • Thursday, we had “brunch” with some Gerritsen family friends, and we had a lovely Dutch style dinner with Meg’s parents.
  • Friday, we helped Meg’s parents prepare and host a 65th birthday party for one of their friends.  It was a long day but I think everyone had a great time.
  • Saturday, I left Indiana early to pick up the Uhaul trailer (which didn’t work as intended) while Meg and her parents drove behind me to the last wedding shower (this one held by my parents).
  • The shower at my parents’ house was lovely.  Unfortunately, I showed up an hour late, but the part I was there for was great.   I’m working on Thank You notes this week, but before you get them, thank you to all you who could come and help Meg and I celebrate our upcoming wedding and future life together and thank you even more for the generous gifts you gave us.
  • Saturday evening, my dad helped me load the trailer with all my tools from storage while Meg and my grandmother chatted.
  • Sunday morning, Meg and I drove back to Minnesota with my god-daughter/cousin (who is studying at the U of M)  and arrived in Maple Grove with just enough time to unload and fall into bed.

Back to the present now (which I should finish since I need to get back to the cleaning, but I’m procrastinating.)

  • Last weekend Steve, Meg and I went to pick out suits, shirts and ties for the big day.  See some pictures here.
  • Meg and I are very excited that tomorrow, our new sofa will be delivered by Pottery Barn.  I’m excited to see the delivery personnel show up with their white gloves and booties.  Meg and I are excited to have a living room full of furniture.  Plus now we can put up the Christmas tree.  Pictures and dinner party invitations to follow.
  • As I mentioned in the title of the post, there are only 45 days left until the wedding day.  Honestly I wish it was 5 days. I’m ready to enter wedded life (and honestly I’m not good with transitions). But as much as I think it won’t take a lot more work to get things ready for the wedding day, 45 days will probably go much faster than I ever imagined.

Reading all that post above makes me wonder why I’m not tired all the time.  I think it’s effective time management.  I don’t always mention the little things that happen so often between Meg and I that make me smile and make the time go by with 100% less worry or complaints.  We sneaked out on a week night to see the current Harry Potter movie, we laughed through podcasts in the car together, we exchanged simple gifts for Sinterklaas, and we try to do little things for each other whenever we can like cleaning the house before she gets home from volunteering at the prison (oops, I gotta go.)

my guys

  By Meg | August 20, 2010 - 5:37 pm | dating, love
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When I was 6 or 7 years old and searching for the perfect stuffed animal, I found the Gund Snuffles bear at Carson Pirie Scott at the Southlake Mall. I loved the bear, but didn’t think he looked enough like a bear. At the same time (1980), Hallmark developed the Shirt Tales which were featured on stickers. Ah Stickers- sigh. I thought my Gund looked more like the mole on Shirt Tales. Thus entered Mole, my security blanket into my life. With the exception of a lost season (maybe six months) that Mole spent in Louisville, Kentucky (I was very distraught), he was a mainstay of my childhood.

Kevin met Mole when we were dating and often tells me about Mole’s adventures. One time when we started the Nintendo Wii, Kevin explained that Mole liked to play when we weren’t home. Sure enough, Mole had his own Mii and a bit of game history. Mole also dislikes reality television and has a penchant for napping, according to Kevin.

We (ah, yes the bear, too) moved this past weekend, and Kevin sent me this photo when I was at work:

mole

"I told you he likes to look out the window."

an ordinary time

  By Meg | June 28, 2010 - 8:46 pm | dating, love
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When Kevin and I met, and began to fall into couple patterns, we started attending mass together on weekends. I remember reading the missal that read, “the 18th (or 19th or 20th etc.) Sunday in an Ordinary Time.” What is an ordinary time?

These seemed like extraordinary times to me. I was falling love, returning to organized religion, and dreaming big dreams again. In the liturgical year, Ordinary Times are those which aren’t Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Of course, I am simplifying here. It is also the reason we are getting married in January- after Advent and Epiphany and before Lent.

What is ordinary? This Sunday, an ordinary Sunday, Kevin and I had breakfast at the Good Day Cafe, went to mass at the Basilica, and enjoyed walking around the Pride celebration in Loring Park. On our walk back to the parking ramp, Kevin turned to me and said, “our anniversary was two days ago.” We laughed and gasped. We’d both forgotten to even congratulate each other on one year together! Things have been happening so quickly lately- finding a home where we’ll live together in January, wedding planning, not to mention the ordinary stuff.

Happy Belated 1 Year Anniversary, Babe. Here’s to a new Anniversary in January (one we won’t forget).

gccp

  By Kevin | March 23, 2010 - 2:54 pm | dating
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gccp – gratuitous cute couple photo
I hope this post doesn’t make Krista or anyone else throw-up. I couldn’t help it. I thought we looked cute here.

I got Meg earrings for Valentine's Day.

8 months by the numbers

  By Meg | February 28, 2010 - 3:15 pm | dating
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So, Kevin and I just passed the eight month mark.  Somehow this seems impossibly short given all we’ve done together. Time really does fly when you are happy. Our eight months by the numbers:

Less countable, but even more lovely to me are the times we’ve spent sharing meals, playing board games, and sharing sudoku or crossword puzzles.  Whether we are going to movies or just spending time around our apartments, it’s good to be together. I also love that Kevin has almost finished reading Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs aloud to me.

Minnesota winters can be brutal, and I confess I am looking forward to spring.  We have much to celebrate this Easter when I will become a full member of the Catholic Church and our families meet. This summer we’ll celebrate Kevin’s grandmother’s 90th birthday.  Plus, I can’t wait to be outside geocaching, hiking, and taking photos.

what lies within us

  By Kevin | February 25, 2010 - 11:29 pm | dating
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What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You make me want to be a better man. ~ Melvin Udall / As Good as it Gets

I tend to try and avoid sounding to sappy in my life.  The truth is my extreme cynicism is tempered by a relatively large amount of affection and love.  Sometimes it comes out in sweet stories like the following.

I’ve always believed in the power of love, but it’s so much more exciting to see in yourself. I can’t speak for Meg, but I was pretty smitten from the very beginning of our courtship.  Almost immediately I saw myself changing from old patterns of living.  I had such a big reason to make myself a better person (or more accurately more like the person I used to be.)  The closer Meg and I got, the more exciting the relationship got and the more I felt her influence on me.  I’ve already mentioned my new found positivity, here are some other things that have re-appeared in my life and some new things too.

I’ve started going to Church again.  I’ve always had a pretty strong Christian based faith, but my connection to the Catholic Church I was raised in had become strained to say the least.  Now I’m actually involved in my local parish and looking forward to becoming a actual part of that community instead of a visitor.  I’ve also felt more strengthened by my faith even in the face of recent uncertainties

I’ve become more excited about my life.  I feel energized to do things better.  Both in my personal life as well as at work.  At work I look for ways to maximize the possibilities I have in front of me more than complaining about the problems.  In my life outside of work I’m looking for ways to get back the hobbies and things I enjoyed that I had left behind a long time ago.

New to me are interesting new friends and new creative outlets.  While I don’t have a shop yet to start building fun new projects I have  online spaces to explore and store project ideas that I now feel closer to being able to actualize.  Additionally I’m beginning to explore completely new worlds and how I could fit in them and bring my own talents to them.

When Meg and I started dating we talked about each others pasts.   I remember thinking both of us were more hung up on our own pasts than each others.  I know for me, it didn’t matter what had happened to Meg in the past other than how it might have changed the person she now was.  I wanted to get to know her.  I fell in love with her.  Emerson is right.  It only matters what lies within us.  I’m glad that Meg both saw what lies within me, she also believed enough to wait until it came out to be seen.

our first “find”

  By Kevin | February 17, 2010 - 11:48 am | dating
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As Meg said in her first post, we went geocaching on our second date (June 28th.)  We walked 4.5 miles that day around her neighborhood.  You can see our walk on Everytrail.   We were unsuccessful in locating a single geocache that day, but we did have a great date and found out a lot about each other.  I spent a lot of the time looking for opportunities to kiss her.  All of which I managed to miss.

On September 7th, we went out geocaching again.  This time I let Meg hold the GPS unit.  I’m not sure if that was the deciding factor, but we did find three of the four caches we looked for that day.  I took my camera with me this time and I’m glad I did.

What's Inside

I got this picture of Meg as she opened her first found geocache.  Doesn’t she look beautiful?  It was a great date and I believe our first “find” together.

good things

  By Kevin | February 14, 2010 - 4:25 pm | dating, engagement
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Meg and I had our first date on June 25th of last year.  We went to see a performance of Power Balladz and then we had drinks at Club Jäger.  She invited me to come up and see her apartment. Since I was looking for an opportunity to kiss her, I accepted.

During the tour I saw this sign above the toilet in her bathroom.

Good Things are Going To Happen

I remember smiling and thinking,  I really hope so.

For a long time I’ve dealt with depression.  When I moved to St. Cloud I continued the battle.  Things in my life were turning out very good, but still obscured by the dark cloud of depression.  Since I’ve been with Meg it seems that the cloud has lifted.  I see the good things happening much clearer and I’ve become about a million times more positive.  Love is a powerful force.

Meg and I have a lot of things to figure out in our future lives together (wedding date, city to live in, future plans, etc), but I try not to worry because I know two things:

1. We’ll do it together, and

2. The sign is right, Good Things are Going to Happen.  I believe it.

ps. I didn’t capitalize on the apartment tour, but I did get a small kiss as she walked me to my car after the tour.

Kevin

chapel walk

  By Meg | February 12, 2010 - 8:29 pm | dating
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In 1872 a romantic and picturesque chapel was built across Lake Sagatagan to honor Mary, the Mother of God, under the title of Stella Maris (meaning “Star of the Sea”).  Originally it was situated on what was then called Doctor’s Island named after an English teacher (Dr. Aylward) who dropped his glasses on the site. However since the chapel was built, it has been referred to as Chapel Island.

-CSBSJU website

7/6/09

According to the map software I have, it is about 1.4 miles from the beach to the chapel.  So we probably walked a little over 3 miles yesterday. So I figure 2 mosquito bites per mile?

- Kevin

Lake Sag 7/5/09

7/7/09

Richard says we’re going to get married. I told Richard and Leslie we walked around Lake Sag. Richard said, “Did you walk to the chapel? That means you’re going to get married.”

-Kevin

9/4/09

“Collegeville folklore fosters the idea that the first Johnnie who accompanies a Bennie on a Chapel Walk (or vice versa) will be the person she marries.”

-Alyse Carpenter, Editor of The Record, CSBSJU

9/9/09

Do you wish you could take it back? ;)

-Meg

9/9/09

Not at all.

-Kevin

xo, Meg

meg found kevin? kevin found meg?

  By Meg | February 10, 2010 - 11:39 pm | dating, engagement
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Does it really matter anymore? Kevin and I met online, on a site called OK Cupid! He saved my profile sometime in December, but I think I winked at him (an Ok Cupid signature move) in June 2010 (omg 2009, thanks, C.) The rest is history. Kevin gave us this website as a Valentine’s Day present (see a theme?).

KevinfoundMeg.com and MegfoundKevin.com both lead here- My Sweetest Find. Kevin introduced me to geocaching on our second date.  From Wikipedia, “Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world.” We didn’t find anything on our first hunt. We looked for three caches and found zero. But somewhere along the way, we found each other.

Together we’ve found new dreams and plans for the future (including a wedding!!!!) so stay tuned for more discoveries and more details about our plans.

xo, Meg