I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Hey everybody!  Wow, it seems like I have been gone forever!  The cruise was wonderful and I have to give a hats off to the NCL crew for doing such a fantastic job during our trips.  They were an amazing bunch that spoiled us rotten.  I have many recaps planned, including of my English adventures, but we found out the movers are coming tomorrow (yikes!) so we need to get prepared.  But for now, here is a teaser pic of one of my favorite stops...Santorini, Greece!

P.S.  I sure missed having the Internet!

Countdown to Graduation!

Ok folks, in just three days I will be taking a final and turning in a final project in another class.  After that, school will be d-o-n-e for me (at least until I enter another program) and that elusive degree will be mine!  Think happy thoughts for me, and I will do a travel recap once I finish up.  I will need to post pics from my tour around Kent and Sussex, and after that it will be cruise photo time!  Eek!

It's our anniversary!

May 4th was our one year wedding anniversary!  We flew back from England that day, so we are holding off on the celebrations until this weekend, but to commemorate the big day I am doing an A-Z that I found on someone's blog.  Let's just say that it has been an amazing year, and I fall more and more in love with my husband every day.  If he's reading this, happy anniversary honey bunny!


Attending: It was a whopping 14 people!  All of our family came, minus Joel's brother who was going through cancer treatments at the time, all of our immediate family came.  My best friend from high school showed up with her husband, and Joel's best friend from forever ago showed up with her husband as well.

Bridesmaids: None.  The wedding was so small and intimate, and I really just wanted it to be us up there.

  

Catering: We ate at this wonderful seafood place on the river. 

Dress: I had a cute little tea length dress that was perfect for our little garden wedding.  It had a sweetheart neckline and was candlelight ivory.  I loved it.  Sure, I wish I had a big princessy type dress, but t just wouldn't have fit in.

Engagement: Joel proposed to me in Rome under the Trevi Fountain, which is my favorite European "thing."  It was perfect, minus the snow Rome was oddly having and the delayed flight that got us there four hours late.

Flowers: I carried a bouquet of hot pink cala lilies, and Joel had a boutonniere of a single ivory one.

Groomsmen: None.  See "B."

Honeymoon: We went on the most fabulous honeymoon ever to the island of the Maldives!  Perfect getaway!

  
Invitations: Umm...do phone calls and e-mails count?  We weren't very proper in this sense.

Justice of the Peace: We had an elderly pastor preside over the ceremony.  We had never met him, but we exchanged e-mails to prepare for the vows, and the service was lovely.  We wanted to have a Catholic wedding, it we lived overseas in Germany, so the wedding was hard enough.  We are going to have our marriage blessed by the church when we return stateside, however.

Keepsakes: We had everyone sign a frame that we put one of our wedding pictures in.  We also kept our unity candle and cake topper.

Ladies Night: None here.  I am really disappointed about that, but all any of my friends wanted to do is go to a strip club, and I didn't really want to do that.  So instead, I got nothing.

Music: The guy that ran the B&B we got married at played our processional music, which was typical but still lovely, and we had a waterfall for ambiance.

Newlyweds: How long are you considered "newlyweds?" I hope always!  But, now that we have been married for a year, we are probably done with the official title.

Old, new, borrowed, blue: My mother-in-law gave me her mother's handkerchief, my fabulous shoes were new, I borrowed a tiara, and my garter had blue in it.

Photography: Unfortunately, we had no photographers.  Friends and family took photos, thankfully, but people wanted to charge a fortune for just coming out for the small ceremony.

Question popping: See "E!"

Reception: On the beautiful Ohio river across from Louisville.

Shoe game: Huh?

Trash the Dress: Coming up!

Unique: Well, I think our wedding was pretty unique because it was so small and personal.  It was very much "us."  But, it was all done online!  We didn't see the garden until just a few hours before the wedding, nor taste the cake or the food at the restaurant, but it all turned out great.

Vows: We picked them out with the minister via e-mail.  We added a personal touch, but recited traditional vows.

Wedding Woes: I was kind of nervous about everything going as planned, because we coordinated everything a continent away with no visuals, but it all worked out!  Oh, but we didn't have a photographer.  I am bummed about that, but when we get to the states Joel and I will have pictures taken in his uniform and my dress.

X-rated: None of that here!  Let's just say it was a really relaxing night.

Young Kids:  My Goddaughter was there, but that was it!

Zzzzzz: We slept in the next day and had some delicious breakfast at the B&B.  Perfect start to the marriage.