This is my last post of 2010!
2010 certainly brought about a lot of major changes for us – and all seemingly at the same time! Let’s take a look back and revisit some of them before we say our fond farewells to such a memorable year:
JOBS: Throughout most of 2010 I continued to work at the Magik Theatre (one of our nation’s largest professional children’s theatre companies) in San Antonio, TX. I started working there in 2009 and finally hit my stride in 2010. It took many months to get adjusted there, but when I finally did I was happy to have a job in theatre, enjoyed the kiddos I taught, and loved working with my hilarious co-workers. I was sad to leave Magik in October (after two great farewell parties) and I still miss working there. For the past few months I’ve been getting used to my new (temporary) job as a housewife while I search for employment. I don’t love being unemployed, especially because it is so difficult to find a great job, or any job at all, in theatre. Ted graduated with his Master’s degree from MSU in May. Both Ted’s family and my family traveled to Lansing for the occasion. It was a proud moment to see him complete such a wonderful task! We enjoyed a fun weekend together, and it was a nice opportunity for our families to meet! In September, after a long and arduous job search, Ted was offered a job at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He started the job on November 1st and he’s been busy there non-stop for the past two months, getting adjusted, starting to make changes and settling in.
TRAVEL: Lets face facts – when you’re in a long-distance engagement, a fair share of travel comes with the territory. Thank God for frequent flier rewards programs! I flew to Lansing for a long weekend on average of once every 6 weeks to visit Ted for the first half of 2010. Mom, dad, Kim & family and I flew to Lansing for Ted’s graduation in May, and then to Chicago for my bridal shower at the end of September. In early October Ted & I traveled to Cincinnati to house hunt, followed by a trip up to Door County for a very special event! Ted did his share of travel too for job interviews – mostly throughout the summer and early fall. Mom and dad came to us for Thanksgiving, and most recently we drove to Wisconsin to celebrate the holidays with family.
MARRIAGE: One of the most monumental and life-altering changes of 2010 came when we got married! We got engaged in October of 2009, so we spent most of 2010 in a tizzy of wedding planning for our totally DIY destination wedding. Wedding planning when you are 1500 miles apart from your betrothed and your wedding venue is the ultimate test of patience, sanity and just how badly you really want to be married to each other. There’s the dress and accessories shopping, all the church documents, designing a personalized ceremony, researching and booking vendors, selecting cake, food, wine, registry items and flowers, making and compiling decorations and invitations, and a slew of other activities such as bridal showers, a rehearsal dinner, and planning destination wedding weekend activities for ourselves, family and friends. But it all came together phenomenally and we were married October 22, 2010 in Door County, WI in an intimate and beautiful ceremony. We celebrated, surrounded by our family and friends, with an autumn themed reception with a 9-piece big band, a bonfire with s’mores, hot cocoa, hot apple cider, and personally made decorations. The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying a fantastic beach-side fish boil rehearsal dinner, and spending time having fun with those we love and each other. I’d say becoming husband and wife was a pretty high point in our 2010! We’ve only been married two months so far, but we’re loving married life (and we’re really loving that we don’t live 1500 miles apart anymore!)
FAMILY: In June I became an aunt to my new nephew Declan Thomas and in July Ted became an uncle to new niece Alexis Marie. They’re both super cute cuddlebugs! Over our wedding weekend we were lucky to be able to see our entire family – both immediate and extended. It was awesome to have everyone in the same place and to see aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, nieces, nephews and friends we hadn’t seen in a while! And, of course, Ted and I became our own little family this year and united our two families into one big happy one!
HOME: In October, one week after our wedding, we made the big move, our first as husband and wife (or boyfriend and girlfriend as we’ll always be) to Cincinnati. All in the span of three weeks I left my job at Magik, packed up all my belongings, got married in Wisconsin, and moved from sunny, warm San Antonio to cool, urban Cincinnati with my new husband in our new, first home. I do miss living San Antonio, as it has been my home for 23 of the 24 years of my life. I’ll always be a Texas girl at heart. In June, after graduation, Ted moved from Lansing, MI to his childhood home in Green Bay, WI while he job hunted and struggled through the last stretch of wedding planning. Then he moved again in October, this time to Cincinnati. We are enjoying our first home – a rental house – together and learning a lot about lawn care, home decorating, and home repair in the process – but it’s wonderful to have a place all of our own. We both really like Cincinnati so far – there are so many things to do, places to see, fantastic restaurants, and fun arts and cultural activities to keep us occupied for a long time. We are centrally located enough that we can hop in the truck for a few hours and be at any number of relatives’ homes. For now, Cincinnati is home sweet home!
So what’s to come in 2011? We’re hoping a great new theatre job for me, for Ted to get more settled and happy in his job, more involvement in activities that we love (from spending time together to soccer and camping to theatre and dance), a honeymoon somewhere amazing, and visits to spend time with our family and friends. We pray for health, blessings, love, joy and hope – for our friends, for our family, for strangers, and for ourselves.
As we say goodbye to a very joyful 2010, we look forward to a bright 2011. And we wish you all the same.
