Life goes on

...and a little too quickly most of the time! I have again been reminded to update le blog, which has taken a back back seat to most everything else in my life. I certainly don't post with the regularity I used to, but I somehow can't bring myself to delete it entirely. There's so much of me here, that I don't want to say goodbye, at least just yet. I'll continue to post infrequently, so that may take some adjustment from all sides. :)

Life is crazy at the moment. I know it usually seems that way, so I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but that's the truth. Wedding planning goes in cycles of stress and fun/excitement. I'm trying to keep some balance between wedding stuff and the rest of my life, but that's still a challenge. The parents visited last weekend for Easter, and gave me a good dose of wedding reality. There's a lot left to do! :) I love my parents, and they certainly know how I operate and are able to bring up things in a sensitive way, but the main thing I took from their visit is that there are too many things that we've not even considered yet, let alone completed. It is good to know about these things, it's just hard to keep track of it all sometimes.

In other news, I have a new cousin! Calvin Alexander Meyer was born last week, and along with Mom, is home from the hospital already. Excellent news for being born a month early. Calvin swells the ranks of my group of 1st cousins once removed to 3, which is very cool. What's up with everyone having babies, huh? :)

I have an "intended!"

I've been reminded of this blog and reprimanded for not updating more... I've been remiss in my responsibilities, I know. (I guess I like to use lots of R words too...)
Fast forward 4 months from when I wrote my last post and life is extraordinarily better!! I love that. I love my life, it's awesome. I forget that sometimes.
The big news is that I got engaged to Chris Hosch in September and we are planning a July 2010 wedding in Minnesota!! It's been up and down as far as stress goes, but hopefully we can learn from the past and reduce stress in the coming months. Things are moving along, although that's all I'm going to say for now, not wanting to jinx anything.
So here are some recent photos of us at the site of our first date, the Roseville Oval skating center in the Twin Cities. :)

The ring.

The ice was so sparkly in the sun!

Can you just see my excitement?

Chris has become quite the skater since our first date, you can see how hard he concentrates. :)

what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

I find myself really struggling this week. I feel utterly and completely betrayed, by someone for whom I've given so much in the years that we've been friends. Now, I'm not saying that I did it for the glory or to get something in return, but when I receive the complete opposite of friendship back, it makes me sad. I'm really sad. And I'm frustrated that I'm sad, because I know I'm a complete downer and pretty much preoccupied these days.
I'm also angry. And my growing anger is a little surprising and scary. I'm angry at people I thought I knew, at people I don't know, and at people who have been friends to me in the past. I feel like no one is sticking up for me. I know that there are people sticking up for me now, but when it was all going down, before I even knew that I was about to lose a friend, it seems like no one was sticking up for me. There was no fight, just resigned sadness. And I'm not sure how to deal with that.

the ebb and flow of life

Sometimes life really throws me for a loop. I can be lying in bed, half on my way to falling asleep when I get a telephone call. Then, 2 hours later, I've been smacked in the face with the loss of probably my closest guy friend (save for my wonderful and amazing boyfriend) in the world. I was told that his current girlfriend is uncomfortable with the close friendship that we share. She didn't actually ask him to stop talking to me, but as I see it, there really wasn't another choice when it came down to it. So many ironies in this situation, not the least of which is that I'd just started to come to terms with the fact that he didn't have as much time for "hanging out" (via email and telephone) as we'd enjoyed in the previous 4 years of our friendship, only to have this come up. I wonder how all of the struggle and frustration was pointless. I wonder if this is really the best thing to do. Even though it's sort of tearing me apart, I decided that I'm going to go along with this, for him, for her, because I feel called to make that sacrifice. If I can be helpful to them in this way, then that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be angry and hurt and a complete wreck for a while, I have no doubts, but I look forward to learning why this is all happening, whenever it comes out.
I wish you all the best, ML.

baseball

I freakin' love baseball. It's true. I think I come to love it more and more as time passes, and as I see more games that are just awesome games. Tonight was my first Twins game of the 2009 season and what a game it was. The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6 to 3. All runs were scored with home run hits for a total of 5 in the game. The third of the three hit by the Twins was a grand slam home run from Justin Morneau. Joe Mauer had just gotten beaned in the right arm to walk and Justin came out to show the what's what. It was a rocket to the upper deck of right field. It was simply electric! I'd never seen a grand slam in person before, so this was quite a momentous occassion.
Also, slightly less wholesome of an event was the guy who jumped down on the field and was tackled by 5 security guards. The dude didn't even get a chance to try to run around before one security guard had him in a headlock and the others decended and sat on him. It was pretty intense.
We were sitting in the 5th row behind the left fielder, although because they don't let anyone sit in rows 1 or 2, it was effectively the 3rd row. They are really great seats, courtesy of some friends who have season tickets and couldn't use them tonight. Sorry you guys missed it, but super thankful for the chance to see a great game!

busy busy bee!

Sometimes, being busy and having a lot to do spurs me on to accomplishment. But sometimes I find it impossible to know where to begin, and I am just paralyzed. Today is, unfortunately, the latter.

The Season of the Baby

I'm not sure if there's something in the water or what, but apparently many couples I know have decided to all have babies in about a 4 month period. Seriously, there are 6 babies I expect to hear about between April and July! Two of them have already arrived, my boss had a grandson last month and Chris became an uncle again this past Thursday. 2 down, 4 to go. :)
I haven't yet experienced "wedding season" as many people do, but baby season is sure in full swing! I think I'm ok with that, babies make me smile. What can I say? I'm such a girl.