Category Archives: engagement

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.)

hurdles

  By Kevin | November 21, 2010 - 8:37 pm | engagement, love
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Life seems to have it’s own way with us at times.  Things can be going just fine, you make plans, you look forward to them and then the rug gets pulled out from under you.  For instance this week, Meg and I cleared one our biggest hurdles* for the wedding.  Things have been going very well.  We planned to sit and address invitations together today.

However, life decided that we shouldn’t do that, for when I went to bed last night (after an incredible dinner Meg cooked for us.) I didn’t feel quite right.  A couple of hours later, I was extremely nauseous and clammy.  I won’t go into details, but neither Meg or I got much sleep and I spent most of today on the day bed (as Meg worked diligently.)  About the time I was starting to perk up, Meg started feeling a little under the weather.  After the work she did today without me, I tried to pick up a little where she left off.  I don’t think I managed as much as she did.  We did manage to get out and pick up some dinner,  but now neither of us feels like doing much of anything but relaxing in front of the TV and enjoying each others company, in what little time is left in the weekend.

So it’s another hurdle to overcome, but like the previous ones we’ve overcome (by wits, by faith, or sometimes by force) we will prevail together.  I’m especially mindful of this fact as we approach the holiday season, with all it’s potential drama and pitfalls.  We will hold tight and jump each hurdle together.

*ask me if you need more info.

homecoming

  By Meg | October 24, 2010 - 7:29 pm | engagement
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I returned to this blog tonight to find a comment from Kim Kardashian (albeit in the spam category), the Packers-Vikings game in progress, and having spent around twenty hours in the Prius this weekend. My eyes are glassy, my ankle is swollen, and I’m generally a bit dazed. I went to Valparaiso this weekend (via Milwaukee) and had a wonderful shower thanks to the BAGS, my mom, and my future mother in law. Now that I am back home, drowsy and happy- it is delightful to relive the weekend while watching Kevin re-open the half of our presents that made it into the car (the second half will come up at Thanksgiving).

Opening shower booty

Thank you to everyone who came to Munster. I love seeing fellow BAGgies Maggie and Amanda, Academy friends Nath and Dawn, and my oldest friend Bran. Friends from FUMC, Shorewood, Miller, and more were all dear! Thank you.

our new home

  By Kevin | August 18, 2010 - 7:24 pm | engagement
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I apologize that my posts have been slightly less “polished” than I would like, but I’m still working through my lack of cohesive subject generation.

Last weekend, thanks to the help of Paul, Steve, Alicia, and Nate (who helped with morale,) we moved Meg into our new home in Maple Grove.  I call it that even though Meg will be the principal occupant until after the wedding in January.  I think it’s mainly because I’m anxious to start sharing this new space with her, and living our lives together all the time.  Luckily for me, she feels the same way and we’ve been talking actively about what decorating and other choices we would make to our new townhome together.  It’s obvious to both of us that we will not live here forever, but it will be a great place for us to start our lives together and make it our home regardless.

Moving is a excellent test of endurance, and everyone did really well.  I am so glad, we had help the we did.  Everyone pitched in and we got things done in record time.  Mainly thanks to Meg’s great prep work in the weeks that preceded the move.  We’ll be settling in for a little bit longer, but Meg (or both of us depending on the calendar) is anxious for guests so let her know and she’d be glad to welcome you.  Soon we’ll have a get together to show everyone our suburban hospitality.  (For the record, it’s exactly the same as our urban hospitality, it’s just in a different location)

Pictures coming soon.  ps. with moving almost “done” I’ll be moving onto more wedding planning posts.

moving and stuff

  By Kevin | August 10, 2010 - 8:21 pm | engagement, love
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This weekend Meg and I (along with the help of some very generous friends) will move Meg into our new “Home” in Maple Grove.  (Once she’s moved in we’ll have posts about our new neighborhood and backyard and things like that.)

Because of this, for the past few weeks, Meg has been busy boxing up items in her current apartment.  She’s an excellent trooper, for moving is considerably more stressful for her than for me with my numerous moves in the past.  (17 total, some almost solo) As I recounted the moves I’ve made, I realized that perhaps a certain amount of my moving confidence comes from my experience at work.  In the first year I worked for Troupe America, I loaded and unloaded a 24ft truck over 30 times.  I drove a 24ft truck at least 4 or 5 times that year as well, and at least one of those trips was solo.  Needless to say at this point, moving isn’t that stressful for me.  I will admit that I do hate putting items in boxes, that’s my moving nemesis, but once the stuff is in boxes or totes, or ready to wrap in a blanket, I’m all ready to do the rest.

Moving puts things in perspective for people, and while Meg has been doing the bulk of the packing and boxing, I have been doing my fair share of evaluating and “purging” for while Meg believes she has a lot of “stuff” her amount seems a trifle compared to what I have.  My moving equipment has increased from my parents mini-van for my first move to college to my truck pulling a U-Haul trailer to a 24ft truck hauling my truck.  For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been working and accumulating tools and materials in my work as a theatrical technician.  Unfortunately for me, since I left Troupe America, I haven’t had a place to keep all these things.  (by the seemingly endless generosity of my parents and grandmother, I have been cheaply separated from a number of these belongings.)  I also haven’t had to share space with someone.  Back to putting things in perspective.  I’ve been evaluating the amount of things I have and their place in my life and how those relations to my “things” has changed drastically.  I’m anxious to get everything in one place in Maple Grove, but I’m just as anxious to clear out the detritus of my past life experiences and start living leaner and more present in my shared home with Meg.

happy 90th Mary

  By Meg | August 3, 2010 - 7:37 pm | engagement
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Grandma and Kevin sample beer

Kevin comes from good stock- his 90 year old grandma is smart, kind and funny too. This weekend, along with 40 other friends and family we celebrated Mary. I also got to spend some quality time Kevin’s parents and his brother Steven.

writing is tough, loving is not

  By Kevin | July 13, 2010 - 9:47 pm | engagement, love, wedding
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I’ve been having trouble sitting down to write a post here.  It’s not an aversion to writing about Meg, or the wedding, or our relationship.  All of those things make me tremendously happy.  I think the problem exists because I’m always unsure what to write about.  Wondering what you, our audience, want to hear about.  Sometimes it’s very easy, something exciting happens and then I can write about it.  Lately lots of good things have happened but I haven’t felt like any of them merited a new blog post.  Perhaps I’m setting the bar too high.  I’m thinking that perhaps I should look at this as an exercise in blog writing.  Perhaps I can write small posts when things happen and hope that with practice they will become longer posts.  Will you stick with me through it?  I hope so.   In the mean time I’m going to recap the latest in the lives of Meg and Kevin. (in no particular order)

  • Meg and I found a new home in Maple Grove and have a signed copy of the lease in our hands.  We will start moving Meg in August.  We’re both very excited about building a home together.  Once we’ve started to move in, expect lots of posts about decorating and housewarming party invites.
  • Meg went to Chicago and picked out her dress (See the Previous Post.)  My thanks to Mary, Starr and Krista for taking such good care of my fiancee for the weekend.
  • Meg and I received the postcards we are using for our Save the Dates.  They look very similar to the animated version shown earlier here.  We plan on finishing the guest list this weekend and mailing them soon.
  • We’ve had more discussion about themes and decorating for the wedding and we’re both on the same page now, I think.
  • We had a meeting at the church regarding the details of the wedding mass and we reserved an Accompanist for the wedding as well.

We’ve also had a lot of fun spending time with new and old friends.  We’re looking forward to a trip to Wisconsin to celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday and a couple of other fun weekend plans before summer is over and I get busier at work when school starts.

Ok, I realize that I haven’t quite matched up to the title of this post.  I normally write the title last, but I tried here to let the title inspire me.  When I started writing I was thinking that while I sometimes feel very reluctant to sit down and write a blog post, I have no problems or hesitations when it comes to loving Meg and/or looking forward to our future together.

busy

  By Kevin | June 22, 2010 - 1:57 pm | engagement
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I know it’s a lame excuse but both Meg and I have been unseasonably busy this summer. What with planning a wedding and working to combine two households and keep paying the bills and all. I know what you’re thinking; all of that busy-ness should be fodder for a lovely well written blog post. Well you would be right. Stay tuned for the brilliance (It’ll probably come from Meg.)

(editor’s note: Thanks for passing the buck, babe. Srsly though, we’ll be back soon ;) )