The Whirlwind of Before

One of my very best friends is getting married in 4 days!  And as she is currently spinning in the whirlwind of the last few days before the wedding, it has brought back memories of 2 short months ago when Pete and I were in that fabulous and horrible spin ourselves. 
So I figured I would post some pictures that have been sitting on our camera for the past 8 weeks...

My adorable boys getting ready to hit the road in our U-Haul

Roadtrip!

SO excited to be in Vegas!!!

 

 

 

Marriage License!

Paris!

Bachelor & Bachelorette Night!

The first cheeseburger I had eaten in 3 months. YUM.

The Bug watching fountains on Dad's shoulders

Our last photo before our Wedding Day <3

I hope Andrea & Nico are enjoying (or at least not totally hating) their whirlwind of before :)

Nesting

Newlywed wives are supposed to go through a nesting phase, right?  It kind of comes with the territory of wedding gifts and wedding photos that need to be framed.  Maybe it's about being a "good wife"...or maybe it's about needing to do ANYTHING to overcome the boredom of no longer planning the wedding.  In my case, it was the latter.

Adjusting to life post-wedding and honeymoon has been difficult at times. When you spend so long looking forward to one day followed by one fabulous trip, and then suddenly it's all over and you're back to real life...it can be challenging trying to not feel a bit blue.  My plan of action?  Nest.

...Well, let's backtrack a bit first.  After we got home from Vegas, our apartment became a disaster zone. There should have been yellow tape all around it.

Did I clean it?  No.  Instead I used some wedding gift money and bought a new dining room table.

And made my new husband put it together...

You need a hard hat in here.

And then I decided to paint.

Those two walls used to be white.

Then we opened all our wonderful wedding gifts, did some shopping with gift money, and I went to work trying to ignore summer school.  Here is the result of the living and dining room:

We also got some gifts for the bedroom, but we I'm not quite done with it yet, so stay tuned.

Thank you everyone for the gifts that have allowed us to make our home a bit more homey, and distracted me from homework and post-wedding blues. You all rock. :)  And your thank you notes will be arriving soon, I promise.

My Karma Rant.

Sometimes, I just really do not understand how karma works. 
Especially when it comes to my amazing husband. 

Pete is literally a genius (with an IQ to prove it), he works incredibly hard, and he is somehow good at everything he attempts to do (which is why he irritated the hell out of me when we first met, and how he earned the nickname Superman).  He has had to work in several different fields doing many different things in order to support himself over the past 10 years, and he has excelled at everything he has done.  Yet he has continually gotten screwed over by almost every employer he has ever had.  And today has been no different.  Only three days ago he and I were trying to choose between two different job opportunities that had been placed in front of him, opportunities that he so greatly deserved...and today, both opportunities fell through the cracks. 
I know that in this economy he is lucky to even have a job, and we are very grateful for that, especially given the fact that he gave up a very good job in IL to be with me and Ryan in AZ.  But sometimes it just breaks my heart to see how hard he works and how badly he ends up being treated.  Have I mentioned that in the company he works for right now, he is literally ranked #1 of all the employees in his customer service and sales stats??  Yeah, number 1.  Yet he has gotten absolutely nothing for it.  I don't understand it.

Where is karma?  My husband is the nicest guy out there. He has gotten stabbed in the back and ignored by friends he would still take a bullet for.  He helps anyone who asks for it.  He seriously has no enemies. He treats everyone with respect - whether they deserve it or not.  Yet karma has never been on his side.  He has never been given a break, never had a chance fall in his lap, and has never been recognized for what he does.  He has sacrificed so much to be an incredible father to a child that will never legally be his, no matter how hard he tries.  And at the end of the day, you'll never hear him complain about any of it.

But that doesn't mean I won't. I am angry today. I am disappointed in karma - or the belief that hard work and doing the right things pays off.  Unfortunately, it seems that nice guys really do finish last, and it's unfair.

That is my rant.

I love you, Joey. You will always be my Superman.

NKOTBSB.

On Thursday night, the fabulous Brittany and I went through a time warp.

 Oh yes, that would be the concert combining New Kids on the Block and our #1 teenage loves, the Backstreet Boys. Hello 1999 (or 1989 for the other half of the women there)!

We made kick-ass shirts...

I was uber excited waiting for her to pick me up...

Gave my sweetie some lovin to make him feel better about another man's name being on my chest...

Oh yes.

A couple hours later, Britt and I were transformed back into love-struck 14-year-olds.

(Yes that is us in 1999, flanked by BSB merchandise)

It was so awesome getting to see them live again. BSB was a huge part of my adolesence, and listening to their music takes me back to a time that I miss very much.  The height of their popularity (and our love for them) was in 1999-2000 - the last year I had before high school, before my first heartbreak, before my mother and grandmother died.  It was a time of innocence and sweetness. And we got to feel it all again for a few hours.

Brian, A.J., Nick & Howie

Their awesome sing-off finale with NKOTB

On the way home we were nostalgic and even a bit sad remembering a time when life was so simple. 

But it makes us happy that these guys are still around to remind us. <3

"Every time we're down, you can make it right, and that makes you Larger than Life..."  

- BSB Millenium