Within the past year, Ryan landed a great job at the Rock Island Arsenal, just in time for the intense wedding planning process to begin! We moved in to our apartment and finally got our two babies (cats) back. All of our friends were, and kinda still are, scattered all over the country, but we all made great efforts visiting each other and keeping in touch. With a trip to Omaha here, and Madison there, and everything in between, Ryan and I had a great end of summer/beginning of fall 2009.
I finally got fed up at "the bank which must not be named" and landed a job at Quad City Bank & Trust where I am much happier. The only sad part about leaving my old job was leaving my new friend Brooke behind. But after several months, I was able to bring Brooke to QCBT and we still enjoy interoffice emails when we can't hang out outside of work!
After the holidays, I began weekly Panera dates with Lindsey who became my reason to look forward to Thursdays. It was great to rebuild an already flourishing friendship as today is the day she left for Morocco for the next couple years.
February was quite an exciting month! I turned 24 and the weekend of my birthday was also my bachelorette party weekend in Des Moines! I was surrounded by my best friends and though we had to trek through a blizzard to get to Des Moines, it was so worth it because I had the most fun I could have ever imagined having. I "Don't Stop Believing" in the power of good girl time. With another bridal shower in February and the bridal shower my mom threw me in March...I was now only one month out from the wedding...
COMMENCE MELTDOWN!
Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but as excited as I was, the little details became very overwhelming! But it all came together perfectly and as another post will explain, my wedding truly was the best day of my life.
We honeymooned in Costa Rica (hence the Pura Vida...to be explained in another post) and then it was back to reality. I went to three concerts in May: Taylor Swift, Paramore, and Barenaked Ladies! I had so much fun with my sister, my twin, B, and my family at those concerts! We ended May in Omaha visiting Laura, Jason, Ashley, and Andy and had an absolutely FABULOUS weekend! I'm still trying to convince Ryan to look for jobs there, wink wink.
Newlywed life has flown by...it's already been 3 months and it has been great! This week marked Ryan's one-year anniversary with the Arsenal and I'm well past my six-month mark with Quad City Bank.
As amazing as life has been for us this past year, sometimes unexplained things happen, and unfortunately, we experienced a tragedy last week when our good friend TJ was killed in an accident.
TJ was an amazingly beautiful person with the most caring soul. He knew what love meant and shared it willingly with all of his friends. It's hard to understand why this happened to him, at age 23, with a birthday right around the corner. I guess it's just been really important for me to remember that God did not make this happen. Accidents happen, and God takes over after they happen and embraces those of us who lost someone. I believe that God has given us the best guardian angel anyone could have asked for and TJ will always be in our hearts because there is no way we could ever forget him. I miss you TJ, I hate that I can't have one last talk with you...but I know you are in an amazing place now and I look forward to the day when I can see you again.
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