Flashback #1: Married Life

I love my husband.

Since my last post in 2008 was about him, post-honeymoon, I think it's appropriate to start the catch up process with the marriage update.

Dr. J and Dr. Mon are doing well. We're still that couple. And I think moving to River City where we have no family and didn't know anyone outside of work has been great for our marriage. Our bond as friends has continued to grow as for a long time, we were the only people we could hang out with. River City is a neat place and it has grown on us a great deal. But one thing we've learned is that although it is kind of in the South, it is not as friendly as Homestate. We've decided it's a landlocked state thing--people don't really come here, they travel through here. So the locals tend to look at us like we're strangers or as suspicious characters since they don't know why we would move here. Everyone was born and raised here so we've definitely had to adjust to our outsider status. It's made for some interesting memories, but has motivated us to explore the area as a couple and have some great dates. One of my favorite dates was the night Dr. J snagged us 6th row seats to see John Legend! We have "our" favorite restaurants (one for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner), "our" local sports team, "our" pharmacy, "our" pew at church--things that just the two of us share--and I love that. Most of "our" friends are White and/or 10-20 years older than us--and that's pretty neat too.

Our first trip home during the summer after the wedding was a lot of fun, but quickly taught us that we can't go home for too long. We spent a day at the beach and have been longing for our coastline ever since. During the trip, we were bouncing back and forth between my hometown and his for 12 days, so we were absolutely exhausted by the time we returned. Since then, we've only been home once (for Christmas). This most recent Christmas the families came to us. So hosting our first holiday in our home was quite an event.

We spent our first anniversary in a nearby resort town and had a lot of fun being tourists there. My mother had managed to ship the top tier of our wedding cake to us in its frozen state (it had been taking up room in her freezer all year). It was absolutely delicious!! Admittedly, we ate the whole thing during our weekend get-away. I've been trying to think of reasons to order another one of those cakes. We spent our second anniversary in our new home this past March--Dr. J surprised me with roses and a candlelight dinner of steak and crab legs (sooooo good). It was a wonderful evening and one of the first meals we'd shared with just the two of us at our new dining room table.

Of course, we've had some emotionally trying moments, but nothing atypical of newly married couples. I have my issues, he has his. We worked out the household chores pretty quickly (I do laundry, he mows the grass--most everything else we share to some extent). Sometimes I want to be on a more organized schedule, but I've learned to let go and realize that doesn't work for him. We've learned a lot about our communication; sometimes he wants me to talk more. But he's learned to let go when I just want to curl up with a book for a while. We play Xbox games together on occasion. We still have TV dates to watch cooking shows and HBO. We've laughed so much; we've shared some tears. Every thing, every problem, every fun memory, we've tackled together. And that's what we're loving most--doing this thing called life together.



And since the relatives always ask, curious minds may want to know. The answer is no.
No babies yet....

Homesick

I miss my husband.

I'm back in Gorgeous City to pack my stuff. Yup, it is official, I'm leaving my HomeState and my very first academic job to join Dr. J in River City. I've accepted a position just outside of River City in Dry County--the first college town I've ever been to where you can't buy a drink. (More job talk later).

So that's the big news. We procrastinated on this decision for a while because we are just enjoying our honeymoon, but since no better offers came up for Dr. J to leave River City and there is nothing for him here, we decided to start our life in a new part of the country. We've never lived in a land-locked state, never heard a tornado siren until we got there, never knew people ate barbecue with something other than rice, so yeah it is going to be interesting. But I'm excited. I love waking up to him everyday--love being able to talk to him without picking up the phone. And I could even get used to being home full-time (the past few weeks without work commitments were wonderful).

In a short time, I've grown quite used to being with Dr. J all the time. Now that I'm back in HomeState without him, I feel quite homesick even though this is supposed to be "home." I have a lot of work to do--finding movers, finding a reliable car that I can drive back, quitting my job--but I really don't feel like doing much. I've been doing a lot of looking at my wedding pictures and watching our video--sad isn't it. Hopefully things will pick up today. Dr. J's cousin is selling her older car, so I'm picking it up and taking it to my mechanic back in Hometown to look it over. It would be awesome if he signed off on the purchase--then I might get more motivated.

But I miss my husband.

Great Prize for Newlyweds

Dr. J and I returned home to find that we finally received the prize we won through The Knot. It is a wonderful prize from Nautica, and I spent the day cleaning everything up and loading up our cabinets and closets with these goodies!

Bath Towels (top)
Bath Sheets, Wash Cloths, Hand Towels (middle)
Tub Mat (bottom)

Eight Table Settings!!

Our new Duvet pattern with all the trimmings. Gotta love the Chocolate Brown!

Back from Paradise

I definitely see why you should start your honeymoon with a vacation. Dr. J and I needed it!! We have lots of news about life changes, but for now--enjoy the pictures.

*Album Link Removed--Here are a few scenic shots*

The amazing view from our room and our first Hawaiian sunset!

The island of Lanai--right across the waters from our hotel.

The performers at the luau were awesome!

We took a helicopter tour of the island that was amazing--I loved the feeling of floating on the clouds as we went up to the island's big volcano (Mt. Haleakala).

Here's the view from the West Maui Mountains of the coastline. Amazing.

Regular blogging again soon...

Home Sweet Home

Today is my first day waking up in my new home. I've been sleeping most of the day--I didn't get anywhere near the amount of sleep that I needed during wedding week. So it was wonderful to just lounge around our apartment in River City and sleep all day.

Of course, the rough part of the day was that Dr. J was not here. We both were invited to campus visits this week. We decided to decline mine since it was an hour away from River City and the other school I interviewed at here pretty much told me the job was mine pending paperwork. And we decided that he should go to his visit in the Northeast. We need some negotiating room and an offer from this school would definitely put us in a good position to negotiate with the other two schools we interviewed with to find the best place for us. So fortunately, Northeastern school was able to arrange for him to fly from Hometown where we got married yesterday morning and then they will fly him to River City tonight. I think my mother is more upset about our small separation than I am. I was sad for a while, but after years of a long distance relationship, I can deal with one night a part. And since we're not leaving for our honeymoon until next week, this was a good time to get all of the professional business out of the way. Ideally, we'll get any offers before we leave so we can make our final decisions about where we'll start our life together on the beaches of Hawaii!

I believe I got my official offer call today while I was napping. The voicemail was short and positive--"We would like to talk to you about working here at River City." So it looks like even if we are not courted away by one of the big schools Dr. J interviewed with, we will definitely finally have the opportunity to live and work in the same city!!