October 22, 2002
Alright Already!!!
I'm back. I've been swamped at home and at work and as always I put off the things I need to do for the things I want to do.....for example, right now, I should be reading the book group book in prep for tomorrow's meeting. I've resigned myself to not finishing the book for the 2nd month in a row though so I don't feel too bad about ditching that chore (the chosen book is a difficult read so reading it is kinda chore-ish).
Mrs. Riha
That's me!!! Our wedding was a huge success...you can tell 'cause we're still married. Everybody continues to tell us how much fun was had at the reception and we continue to tell everybody how we wish we could have spent more time with our guests. I've developed a new appreciation for the culture's which have three plus days of matrimonial celebrations. Surely three days would have given us time to speak to everybody - especially the guests who came from out-of-town.
So far I've enjoyed being "Mrs. Jennifer L. Riha" though I still need to update all my official documents and I'm not sure if the "L" will stand for Lee or Lucio. I wasn't sure how married life was going to be different from living together life. Actually, I'm still not sure, but something has certainly changed along with our legal status. Maybe it's the relief from wedding planning stress, but we seem to be more relaxed with each other. Maybe more secure. Definitely happier. Maybe our Catholic indoctrinization on pre-marital relations influenced who we were more than we realized. In any event, I love being married to Stepan and enthusiastically endorse the whole "getting married" process.
October 23, 2002
Who am I?
You're Scott Hastings!
Take the Which Strictly Ballroom Dancer Are You? Quiz
Also try my other quizzes.
Found on After the Dot-Bomb.
I am also:
Found on Bemused.
October 25, 2002
20 Days I've been married
20 Days
I've been married for 20 days now. And what a fabulous 20 days it's been. So I was wondering what else people do in 20 days. I found a really cool art exchange in my search. I also found out that in some places, it only take 20 days to qualify for a college degree, network 74 police stations in Berne, Switzerland, go to 60 art events in 13 Cincinatti neighborhoods, or explore Laos. And it only took me 20 days to misplace my wedding band!
Christmas on my Mind
I've been thinking about Christmas off and on for a couple of days now. I'm looking forward to my company Christmas party. It will probably be at the Headliner's club again. I'm probably going to wear the dress I wore for Shannan and John's wedding, but since it's got speghetti straps, I'm afraid I might be cold. I've been looking at shawls for accessorizizing and found a couple of options that might be nice....I find it extrememly hard to pick out a color/design that will compliment (not compete with) my dress though.
October 28, 2002
Daylight Savings
How many times is the time change going to confuse me this year? It all started Sunday morning when I got up at what I thought was 7am to start the stew for our Pumpkin Carving Party. Once the stew was going, I saw it was only 7:30am so I decided to go to church earlier than normal - that way I could spend the rest of the morning and afternoon preping. I got to St. Albert's a little after 8am and the parking lot was desserted! I checked the schedule on-line before I left and was positive a service was suppose to be starting at 8am. I even drove around to look at their marquees where the mass schedule it listed. It was very eerie driving around the empty parking lot when I knew I was late for the scheduled mass. Eventually I remembered that we were suppose to turn our clocks back last night and went home to go back to bed. Of course I slept through the 8am service at St. Albert's and ended up going to my regular 9:30am mass at St. Louis.
This morning I've been working away on my computer, occassionally consulting the clock on my desk (not the one in the task bar on the computer which updates itself automatically). It was surprisingly and pleasingly closer to lunch time than I had anticipated. Damn that time change!
Wecome to Austin - Eliza Gilkyson
Most of you probably know that Step and I put together a compilation of Austin musicians to give as gifts to our wedding guests. I wanted to showcase some of the wonderful live music that can be found here as well as promote the local talent...has anybody out there bought music from one of the artist you heard on the cd?....Anyway, some of the artist we included were ones that we've actually seen in concert (Guy Forsyth, La Tribu, Trish Murphy, Schroedinger's Cat); the rest I took from the Austin Chronicle's Music Pole.
I've decided in addition to supporting these artists by buying the cds of the songs I included, Step and I should also make an effort to see them live. Last Friday, we got to see Eliza Gilkyson at the Cactus Cafe. We caught the late show (started at 10pm) after having dinner with Doug & Luca at Hyde Park. She's a great singer - I really like her voice. It's kinda like brown sugar - sweet, but gritty. She did a lot of ballads which would have been fine if it had been an earlier show...we were all kinda sleepy when we left. Despite dozing through a couple of songs, we all had a good time. There's at least one other Gilkyson cd I want to buy (it's got a great song on it called Twisted) and another song that I want to look for (a children's song about Christmas called Born in Bethlahem) that's not been recorded by Eliza (yet?).
October 31, 2002
NYC Here I come I
NYC Here I come
I just couldn't stand not seeing Meredith in her singing debut in New York City. I really didn't think I could get a good airfare, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't at least try. So after checking directly with the airline websites (ticket's range from $800-$1400), I offered $250 for a ticket on Priceline....and it was accepted!!! I was shocked....then dismayed because I should have tried $200 and because now I would have to tell my co-workers that I wouldn't be here on Monday...or Tuesday! I'm very excited.
Sadly though, Stepan has a much stronger work ethic than I do...he won't be able to take off work to go with me. It will be less than a month since our marriage for our first night apart. It's kinda strange to think about it...especiallly since just last week I was talking to a co-worker who just spent her first night away from her husband. They had been married over a year.