I just wanted to write a little note about the current state of frenzy that is beginning to stir....
There is less than 12 days until the "I do's" and still much "to-do" before then. Alot of little things. Tomorrow morning, my mom and I are going to pick out flowergirl baskets after an internet order fiasco went awry, sending us only green ribbon instead. We are also going to look for some 'low-tone' noise-makers, like kazoos or clappers or something because yours truly despises the high-pitch clinking of glasses.... Yes, I know it is tradition, but there are plenty of others that are just as great, so we're making the 'kissy tradition' easier on the ears.
After that, we're going to the hair salon to do trim and wedding day hair-style trial, hopefully with my veil, too. This way everything will be planned out ahead of time and done much quicker on wedding day morning. :)
Then, I'm going to check out this salon/spa place in St. Paul that my maid of honour and I may go to for facials and mani-pedis.
Then dinner with Natie, then off to my Aunt's house to visit and see my cute lil cousin flowergirls. My mom and I are going to deliver their flowercrowns, ribbons, and see their nice dresses in person. I'm very excited!
Now that you know my whole day schedule for tomorrow I'll quit, because I'm sure it is kind of a weird post. Basically, it is just a sampling of the random things I'm doing these days. Every day is different and every day reminds me of something else I've got to add to the never-ending, ever-growing list --- which really must stop at some point, right???..... That remains to be seen.
So far, so good.
Showing posts with label Wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wedding. Show all posts
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....
And now.... for that much needed update........
I am living currently in Saint Paul at my grampa's old house, I'm still working on my thesis, I'll be in MN until after Nate's and my honeymoon (through mid-October), and I accepted a job in Philadelphia (albeit, not the same one I interviewed for) which will start as soon as Nate and I can move out there in October. That's the 2-cent version!
So it is a lil over a month away before the wedding.... and since I will actually get to be in Minnesota the month before the wedding (fortunately), I think I'm finally able to get more and more excited. There's still much to do, of course, but I'll actually be able to do more of it myself and also go with my mom on all those in-town errands!
In addition to all that hustle and bustle, Nate and I are working on my grampa's house trying to get it sale-ready. The more days we are here, the more we realize how much there is to be done. For those of you with little to modest electrical knowledge can appreciate "grounded" electrical outlets. Well, this house is about 50-60 years old (post-WWII) and does NOT have a good number of those..... Not good, and definitely in need of updating. It is risky to even plug in your nice tv or computer or other big electronics. It also means that many-most of the sockets in this house do NOT have 3 prongs. Now THAT is annoying. Imagine your current abode without 3-prong sockets. Yeah. Not very useful. Also, at some point, someone put 3-prong outlet faceplates over some of the sockets, but without that third prong actually ever having been converted! Someone just switched out the faceplates without actually updating the electrical! That is very misleading and not very smart, either. Anyway, in order not to drag this technical jargon out any further, let's just say that without grounded, 3-prong sockets, your tv could actually blow up if your house is struck by lightning, as opposed to safely traveling to the ground and discharging somewhere safely, rather than through one of your beloved electronic devices.
I could go on and on about the cleaning and updating the house needs, but I won't bore you any further. Just come visit us sometime and we'll show you if you're that interested. haha...
As far as my job offer/acceptance, I accepted a one-year paid internship as a Junior Keeper (of the Near Eastern section) at UPenn's University Museum. It is essentially a 'junior' version of the position I actually originally applied for and interviewed for. I got beat out by one other person (whom I'll be working with...) who had more experience, which was indeed my weakest feature. The selection committee was "very impressed" with me, however, and offered me the Junior position instead. I look at it this way: I lacked experience, they liked me, I didn't quite make the cut, so they offered me that experience I needed! They could have handed me a "thank you very much, good bye," but they didn't. Basically, this is a more realistic next logical step for me and will give me some great experience. There is the opportunity to get to know the institution and see if I like it, too. If I do, I will be able to get my foot in the door in case any internal positions open up and if I don't, I am not stuck there like I would be if it were a more tenured position. So all in all, it is a good career move for me.
So now you're wondering, "what about Nate?" Well, that's a more complicated story, but he most likely will be looking for a new job before January. All telecommuters and contract employees are going to be eliminated by the end of 2008, so that means Nate. He has been with his company for 3 years and is also ready to move on, so now is the time we have decided. It wasn't an easy decision, but after hours of discussion we have decided is the right one for us. To put it into more perspective, that means that if he wanted to stay with his current company, I would be stuck job searching only in the Twin Cities, i.e. Mpls/St. Paul or nothing is the deal, according to the company's plans. So if I found a good job anywhere but the Cities, Nate would have to do something else.
We are very happy that I have found such a good position and that Nate gets the opportunity to try something new and potentially use some more of those skills he learned in college in a new, and hopefully better job. We will both be diversifying and learning and moving forward! We will also get to test out East coast living in Philadelphia! Maybe family/friends will actually visit us since we will be in a decent-sized city...(as opposed to Columbia)....!!
I just want to give a shout-out to my girl, Laura, who started law school at Hamline this week!!! Wahooooooooooo!!
I am living currently in Saint Paul at my grampa's old house, I'm still working on my thesis, I'll be in MN until after Nate's and my honeymoon (through mid-October), and I accepted a job in Philadelphia (albeit, not the same one I interviewed for) which will start as soon as Nate and I can move out there in October. That's the 2-cent version!
So it is a lil over a month away before the wedding.... and since I will actually get to be in Minnesota the month before the wedding (fortunately), I think I'm finally able to get more and more excited. There's still much to do, of course, but I'll actually be able to do more of it myself and also go with my mom on all those in-town errands!
In addition to all that hustle and bustle, Nate and I are working on my grampa's house trying to get it sale-ready. The more days we are here, the more we realize how much there is to be done. For those of you with little to modest electrical knowledge can appreciate "grounded" electrical outlets. Well, this house is about 50-60 years old (post-WWII) and does NOT have a good number of those..... Not good, and definitely in need of updating. It is risky to even plug in your nice tv or computer or other big electronics. It also means that many-most of the sockets in this house do NOT have 3 prongs. Now THAT is annoying. Imagine your current abode without 3-prong sockets. Yeah. Not very useful. Also, at some point, someone put 3-prong outlet faceplates over some of the sockets, but without that third prong actually ever having been converted! Someone just switched out the faceplates without actually updating the electrical! That is very misleading and not very smart, either. Anyway, in order not to drag this technical jargon out any further, let's just say that without grounded, 3-prong sockets, your tv could actually blow up if your house is struck by lightning, as opposed to safely traveling to the ground and discharging somewhere safely, rather than through one of your beloved electronic devices.
I could go on and on about the cleaning and updating the house needs, but I won't bore you any further. Just come visit us sometime and we'll show you if you're that interested. haha...
As far as my job offer/acceptance, I accepted a one-year paid internship as a Junior Keeper (of the Near Eastern section) at UPenn's University Museum. It is essentially a 'junior' version of the position I actually originally applied for and interviewed for. I got beat out by one other person (whom I'll be working with...) who had more experience, which was indeed my weakest feature. The selection committee was "very impressed" with me, however, and offered me the Junior position instead. I look at it this way: I lacked experience, they liked me, I didn't quite make the cut, so they offered me that experience I needed! They could have handed me a "thank you very much, good bye," but they didn't. Basically, this is a more realistic next logical step for me and will give me some great experience. There is the opportunity to get to know the institution and see if I like it, too. If I do, I will be able to get my foot in the door in case any internal positions open up and if I don't, I am not stuck there like I would be if it were a more tenured position. So all in all, it is a good career move for me.
So now you're wondering, "what about Nate?" Well, that's a more complicated story, but he most likely will be looking for a new job before January. All telecommuters and contract employees are going to be eliminated by the end of 2008, so that means Nate. He has been with his company for 3 years and is also ready to move on, so now is the time we have decided. It wasn't an easy decision, but after hours of discussion we have decided is the right one for us. To put it into more perspective, that means that if he wanted to stay with his current company, I would be stuck job searching only in the Twin Cities, i.e. Mpls/St. Paul or nothing is the deal, according to the company's plans. So if I found a good job anywhere but the Cities, Nate would have to do something else.
We are very happy that I have found such a good position and that Nate gets the opportunity to try something new and potentially use some more of those skills he learned in college in a new, and hopefully better job. We will both be diversifying and learning and moving forward! We will also get to test out East coast living in Philadelphia! Maybe family/friends will actually visit us since we will be in a decent-sized city...(as opposed to Columbia)....!!
I just want to give a shout-out to my girl, Laura, who started law school at Hamline this week!!! Wahooooooooooo!!
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles......and Moving Trucks!
Costa Rica's flag
Nate and I are officially moving back to Minnesota.......
at least temporarily.
haha...
I figured that at this point, that is my biggest, practical announcement. We are moving back to St. Paul to my grampa's (Arne's) old house off of WB Ave & Hwy 36, near the White Castle...whooo for sliders! We will be hauling the moving truck up next week on the 14th, in case any of you lucky readers are inclined to help us move in that day or the next. Any help would be greatly appreciated! (I am not going to be shy about asking for moving help, that's for sure). :)
Also, last week I had a job interview in Philadelphia, which went as well as I could have hoped. It is now up to the selection committee at the University Museum to determine whether I beat out their other candidates. I know I was the last to be interviewed, so selection, I was told, will take place this month. My fate now lies between my competitors and the Museum. I do really hope I get it, but at the same time I have been trying to convince myself that it would be "OK" if I didn't get it, too. I can live in the twin cities for a while and re-group with my family and friends whom I feel I've alienated to some extent over the last few years with all my schooling and traveling/living far away. For a while (or longer?), it would be nice to be around when people are getting married, or die, or have babies. You know, all those 'normal' aspects to living near family and close friends. We'll see. I'm not making any plans except getting married on September 27th!
Nate has been in charge of the honeymoon planning and has been diligently researching locations, prices, etc., literally, for MONTHS. I give him big props for continually adapting to changing/unknown moving plans. After my Philly interview, I was finally able to derive the flexiblitiy of start-date for that job, which is "very flexible." So, that was a BIG relief. We now know that we can even HAVE one at all! We were worried for a while that IF I got the job, and IF they weren't very flexible about start date or immediate time-off, that a honeymoon right after our wedding would be out the window. We would have been really bummed if we couldn't go right away, but accepted that we might have to go at the later date, which in my humble opinion, might never happen which would be even sadder. So, with under 2 months to go, Nate has finally found what looks like a great place: Costa Rica!!! For the geographically challenged, that's Central America, between Nicaragua and Panama. We would be going to a place on the Carribean coast (east side), which apparently rains least in September-October and rarely gets hurricanes because it is so far south from the hurricane pathways. Also, the crime rates are very low and the resort has security, as well as being much less commercialized that, say, Acupulco, Mexico. I.e. No McDonald's, BK, or KFC. You can't book it through Expedia (or the like), so prices stay low and booking late still works, as well as some other perks. Nate had looked at Trinidad and Tobago islands (off North coast of Venezuela), but apparently there is alot of drug traffic that goes through there with much less resort security, unless your're a celebrity with personal security. Not us. Anyway, Costa Rica looks really nice and we're in the process of booking that. YAY! Oh yeah, did I mention it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cheap!! WAY cheaper than anywhere else (seriously) that we've looked at in Mexico and the Carribean so far-- and that's alot of places!!! The cheap also comes without losing quality, too, so again: YAY!!
at least temporarily.
haha...
I figured that at this point, that is my biggest, practical announcement. We are moving back to St. Paul to my grampa's (Arne's) old house off of WB Ave & Hwy 36, near the White Castle...whooo for sliders! We will be hauling the moving truck up next week on the 14th, in case any of you lucky readers are inclined to help us move in that day or the next. Any help would be greatly appreciated! (I am not going to be shy about asking for moving help, that's for sure). :)
Also, last week I had a job interview in Philadelphia, which went as well as I could have hoped. It is now up to the selection committee at the University Museum to determine whether I beat out their other candidates. I know I was the last to be interviewed, so selection, I was told, will take place this month. My fate now lies between my competitors and the Museum. I do really hope I get it, but at the same time I have been trying to convince myself that it would be "OK" if I didn't get it, too. I can live in the twin cities for a while and re-group with my family and friends whom I feel I've alienated to some extent over the last few years with all my schooling and traveling/living far away. For a while (or longer?), it would be nice to be around when people are getting married, or die, or have babies. You know, all those 'normal' aspects to living near family and close friends. We'll see. I'm not making any plans except getting married on September 27th!
Nate has been in charge of the honeymoon planning and has been diligently researching locations, prices, etc., literally, for MONTHS. I give him big props for continually adapting to changing/unknown moving plans. After my Philly interview, I was finally able to derive the flexiblitiy of start-date for that job, which is "very flexible." So, that was a BIG relief. We now know that we can even HAVE one at all! We were worried for a while that IF I got the job, and IF they weren't very flexible about start date or immediate time-off, that a honeymoon right after our wedding would be out the window. We would have been really bummed if we couldn't go right away, but accepted that we might have to go at the later date, which in my humble opinion, might never happen which would be even sadder. So, with under 2 months to go, Nate has finally found what looks like a great place: Costa Rica!!! For the geographically challenged, that's Central America, between Nicaragua and Panama. We would be going to a place on the Carribean coast (east side), which apparently rains least in September-October and rarely gets hurricanes because it is so far south from the hurricane pathways. Also, the crime rates are very low and the resort has security, as well as being much less commercialized that, say, Acupulco, Mexico. I.e. No McDonald's, BK, or KFC. You can't book it through Expedia (or the like), so prices stay low and booking late still works, as well as some other perks. Nate had looked at Trinidad and Tobago islands (off North coast of Venezuela), but apparently there is alot of drug traffic that goes through there with much less resort security, unless your're a celebrity with personal security. Not us. Anyway, Costa Rica looks really nice and we're in the process of booking that. YAY! Oh yeah, did I mention it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cheap!! WAY cheaper than anywhere else (seriously) that we've looked at in Mexico and the Carribean so far-- and that's alot of places!!! The cheap also comes without losing quality, too, so again: YAY!!
I think I'll leave this post as is now. I've got so much to do before next week!
Also, feel free to leave msg's below so I can hear what YOU are up to! :)
-cmm
P.S. Nate has now booked our honeymoon to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica! So excited! Never been to any of the central or south Americas before!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Job Seekers: Beware of Long Delays and the Inability to Plan Next to Nothing
Greetings from the anxious job seeker, bride-to-be, soon-to-be graduate, and soon-to-vacate.
I knew July-September 2008 for me was going to be a little crazy, but now that it is actually here I feel more overwhelmed by the day. I am ok day to day, but I definitely have moments where I space out for several seconds or even minutes thinking about all the stuff that is happening between now and October. Yes, October. Seems crazy, I know.
Well, bringing things down to present and near future time, I am working as steadfastly and diligently on my thesis as I can. In addition to that, I am trying to work as much as possible to make ends meet through the summer and fall. Nate does pick up quite a bit of the slack these days financially, but 'ol money-bags has a real job, unlike me at the moment. It is just a phase of graduate school poorness we will get beyond sometime soon. I knew I/we would be poor while I was in graduate school, but it DOES get old-- I promise you.
To remedy my poverty and push my life into its next stage I have applied for more than 2 dozen jobs already. Of course, I'm still pushing through the last of my graduate coursework (my thesis and one internship class with some odds and ends) which is rapidly coming to tight deadlines for completion. I'd like to be able to be completely done with everything before Nate and I get married, but reality tells me that I may very well be 'done', but my thesis may still need some revisions or formatting or something before the official publication/binding process. My defense, no doubt, will take place by this deadline, however. Thank god.
Anyhow, jobs. I cannot even remember all the places to which I have applied, but I finally got one good bite. I have an interview at the end of the month in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as a 'Keeper of the Near Eastern Section'. This is a Collections Management position, so for those of you not in the museum world, I would assist the curator and registrar in caring for and maintaining the everyday well-being of the museum's Near Eastern objects. If it works out, I can explain more, but... I am trying not to get my hopes up by hoping for the best, expecting the worst. Any of you who truly know me understand that I am a realist. I understand my odds are good at this point (I am probably in a veRRRy small pool of candidates, say 3-4), but it is still absolutely not a guarantee. This particular position would be a big step up for me and I would gladly accept it in an instant, especially since it is pretty much exactly what I want to do. So we'll see. This is all I know at this point, honestly, so that's that. As for all the logistics, hopefully the Museum would get back to me relatively soon so that Nate and I had at least a few days to figure out which direction our moving truck is going on August 14th. *Sigh*... So many questions, so few answers at this point.
If this job is a no-go, and I hear nothing else by that point (we must vacate our current place on August 14th and we're not staying in Columbia), our default plan is to move back to the Twin Cities and perhaps live at my grampa's old house until we have more definitive plans. Again, there is no way to tell.
Because of all the unanswered questions at this point, I am starting to feel very flakey towards people. It is not without good reasons, but that's how I feel. I don't like being flakey, either. I am really busy between work and working on my schoolwork, and wedding planning, and job searching (and now interviewing), and moving, and whatever else pops up. I always feel like I need to be doing something towards one of the aforementioned goals, so making plans is incredibly tough because I don't want to back out of things. I'd rather just not make plans and play things by ear these days. Some days I'm more stressed out than others and just want to be productive, whereas others I just want to rest. In any case, I hope people understand that I am thinking of them and I appreciate all the help and kindness I'm receiving (esp. towards wedding stuff), and things will calm down eventually. Really! <3
In other news, Nate and I will be traveling again back to MN for Nate's friend Chris's wedding. We're going to be in the cities for a few days at the end of the last full week/weekend of July. That last Sunday we'll travel back to Columbia, only for me to turn around and fly out to Philly that last Monday for a few days to interview and perhaps meet a good friend of mine (Maiden of Honour, fyi) currently living in Baltimore. I'll then come back to Columbia, again, and have 2 weeks to wrap up living here, literally.
That's the crazy update, if it does feel like I'm just posting my schedule in a way!
I just want to say thank you to everyone who is helping Nate and I with all of these activities in our lives. You mean alot to us and it is very much appreciated. :)
Take care,
c
I knew July-September 2008 for me was going to be a little crazy, but now that it is actually here I feel more overwhelmed by the day. I am ok day to day, but I definitely have moments where I space out for several seconds or even minutes thinking about all the stuff that is happening between now and October. Yes, October. Seems crazy, I know.
Well, bringing things down to present and near future time, I am working as steadfastly and diligently on my thesis as I can. In addition to that, I am trying to work as much as possible to make ends meet through the summer and fall. Nate does pick up quite a bit of the slack these days financially, but 'ol money-bags has a real job, unlike me at the moment. It is just a phase of graduate school poorness we will get beyond sometime soon. I knew I/we would be poor while I was in graduate school, but it DOES get old-- I promise you.
To remedy my poverty and push my life into its next stage I have applied for more than 2 dozen jobs already. Of course, I'm still pushing through the last of my graduate coursework (my thesis and one internship class with some odds and ends) which is rapidly coming to tight deadlines for completion. I'd like to be able to be completely done with everything before Nate and I get married, but reality tells me that I may very well be 'done', but my thesis may still need some revisions or formatting or something before the official publication/binding process. My defense, no doubt, will take place by this deadline, however. Thank god.
Anyhow, jobs. I cannot even remember all the places to which I have applied, but I finally got one good bite. I have an interview at the end of the month in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as a 'Keeper of the Near Eastern Section'. This is a Collections Management position, so for those of you not in the museum world, I would assist the curator and registrar in caring for and maintaining the everyday well-being of the museum's Near Eastern objects. If it works out, I can explain more, but... I am trying not to get my hopes up by hoping for the best, expecting the worst. Any of you who truly know me understand that I am a realist. I understand my odds are good at this point (I am probably in a veRRRy small pool of candidates, say 3-4), but it is still absolutely not a guarantee. This particular position would be a big step up for me and I would gladly accept it in an instant, especially since it is pretty much exactly what I want to do. So we'll see. This is all I know at this point, honestly, so that's that. As for all the logistics, hopefully the Museum would get back to me relatively soon so that Nate and I had at least a few days to figure out which direction our moving truck is going on August 14th. *Sigh*... So many questions, so few answers at this point.
If this job is a no-go, and I hear nothing else by that point (we must vacate our current place on August 14th and we're not staying in Columbia), our default plan is to move back to the Twin Cities and perhaps live at my grampa's old house until we have more definitive plans. Again, there is no way to tell.
Because of all the unanswered questions at this point, I am starting to feel very flakey towards people. It is not without good reasons, but that's how I feel. I don't like being flakey, either. I am really busy between work and working on my schoolwork, and wedding planning, and job searching (and now interviewing), and moving, and whatever else pops up. I always feel like I need to be doing something towards one of the aforementioned goals, so making plans is incredibly tough because I don't want to back out of things. I'd rather just not make plans and play things by ear these days. Some days I'm more stressed out than others and just want to be productive, whereas others I just want to rest. In any case, I hope people understand that I am thinking of them and I appreciate all the help and kindness I'm receiving (esp. towards wedding stuff), and things will calm down eventually. Really! <3
In other news, Nate and I will be traveling again back to MN for Nate's friend Chris's wedding. We're going to be in the cities for a few days at the end of the last full week/weekend of July. That last Sunday we'll travel back to Columbia, only for me to turn around and fly out to Philly that last Monday for a few days to interview and perhaps meet a good friend of mine (Maiden of Honour, fyi) currently living in Baltimore. I'll then come back to Columbia, again, and have 2 weeks to wrap up living here, literally.
That's the crazy update, if it does feel like I'm just posting my schedule in a way!
I just want to say thank you to everyone who is helping Nate and I with all of these activities in our lives. You mean alot to us and it is very much appreciated. :)
Take care,
c
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Historic Cedarhurst Mansion pics
Here is a preview of the Wedding venue, albeit in snow, from pics that my mom took about 2 weeks ago!:
Friday, February 01, 2008
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
Save it. Remember it. Be there.
McCann-Therneau wedding.
Finally- a date.........
Cedarhurst Mansion, Cottage Grove, MN
*wheew.....
McCann-Therneau wedding.
Finally- a date.........
Cedarhurst Mansion, Cottage Grove, MN
*wheew.....
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