Our Love Story

How We Met, etc. - hosted at Camp Patton

Two years, seven months and twenty days ago, I met my husband. We were at a New Years Day evening shindig at the house of mutual friends. The Baldwin siblings were the first to arrive, and since I was with a friend who likes to be on time, we were the second to arrive. I was introduced to Will and his sister, we all chatted, and then Will and I continued to chat. He made me his favorite Long Island Iced Tea, and we talked about every topic a person is supposed to avoid: religion, the Catholic Church, politics, history monologues (mine are usually on Calvin Coolidge), along with a smattering of stories and opinions. I thought he was smart and very funny; he thought I was different from other girls.

We talked on and off all night, ending the evening with him asking me about my family. That's when I clued in that he might be interested; also, when he said "Facebook me!" as his sister pushed him out the door to go home. We re-connected a week later when I saw an interesting article on the Church's Magesterium (one of the topics we had discussed) and sent it to him without even a note attached, because I'm a compulsive sharer when I see/ read things I think someone I know would enjoy.

I immediately regretted it, because, well, I didn't actually "know" him. But it was too late - message sent.

Two weeks later, he got back to me. TWO WEEKS LATER. A FORTNIGHT. On the plus side, he asked me out the day after his next shelf exam; we went to the Creation Museum, a nice "halfway" point between our two locations of Cincinnati and Louisville. The Creation Museum is exactly what it sounds like: a museum devoted to the Biblical interpretation of the creation of the world. While the Catholic Church does not teach Creationism, it was an awesome visualization of the Book of Genesis and provided Will and I with plenty to talk about for the first few hours. It was a really fun time.

Afterwards, he asked if I wanted to get lunch (morning dates means we can get out if it's terrible), and we went back to Cincinnati for pizza, which was across the square from my house. We took the pizza back to my house, where he met my mom and three younger siblings, and planted himself there until my dad came home. At that point, I was getting nervous. I was having a fun time, he seemed to be enjoying himself... but should I suggest to drive him back to his car? Did he want to go back to Louisville? This seemed to be a very long first date.

My mom cleared the air by asking if he wanted to stay the night. I was on babysitting duty for my younger sisters as my parents were going to a party that night, and so our fun first date continued with fixing dinner, talking, and playing cards and watching Doctor Who with my sisters until my parents came home. He stayed in the guest room, I gave him a tooth brush, and then next day, he went to mass with us. I was very comfortable with him, and he with me and my family. I drove him back to his car (still at the Creation Museum), and we sat in my car in that awkward, Well, I had a lot of fun - Yeah! Me too.

Which I promptly snapped out of when Will said, "Well, if you're ever in Louisville, just let me know."

I stared at him. "Will, I'm never just going to be in Louisville."

Our second date was two weeks later, after I got back from Georgia (visiting my dearest friend Vivian). I went down to Louisville, where he took me out to lunch and then we heard my former department chair give a talk on Christian Humanism, played tennis, ate pizza and played Pictionary with two of his friends, and watched Firefly. We stayed over at his parents' house, and the next morning, I went to mass with Will, his parents and grandfather, and then went out to Chinese with them afterwards. It was another really fun weekend. And phew! Meeting the families were out of the way.

Dating

Our third date was when he officially said he liked me and wanted to date me, which is something I prayed a Sacred Heart of Jesus novena over, because I wanted our relationship to be clear-cut as to why we were spending time together - intentionally verses hanging out. He made dinner, we played the Robison family sport (croquet - which he beat me at!), we talked about dating, watched more Firefly, had our first kiss, and then I drove home to Cincinnati.

Thus began our wonderful relationship. We were always long-distance: I was working in Cincinnati, he was in medical school at the University of Louisville. Weekends were spent at our parents' houses, so we both got to know our future families very well. He had a lot of studying to do and I always had writing to do, so it felt a bit like college - "studying" together, and then doing some sort of activity. We introduced each other to friends and favorite activities, and we talked about everything. Honesty and communication were top priority, and we sincerely enjoyed each other's company. I'm quirky and he's funny. I'm a talker and he's a doer. I'm always asking questions and he's intellectually honest. Three months in, we were talking about love in the third person; philosophically, historically, religiously, and personally. Two weekends before I left for South Korea, he told me he loved me. I loved him too.

It's strange, being in another county, missing someone you met only a couple months earlier, and wishing they were with you, seeing the sights with you, experiencing an entirely differently culture with you. When he picked me up from the airport, it was one of the happiest times of my life. Being with him always felt like being home. Two days later, he left for Portland, Oregon for vacation with his own family. He had a talk with his mother when he got home, and she gave us the book 1001 Questions to Ask Before You Get Married (unless you're marrying a convict and celebrity who is way older than you, you will not answer all the questions), which we began to work through in July 2011. This book is amazing, and made us talk about EVERYTHING. I cannot more highly recommend it for couples, especially those discerning marriage. That summer, we became much closer, especially after the death of his beloved grandfather. That was when I knew I was welcome and wanted in the family.

My family was smitten with Will as well!

Engagement

We were engaged on December 23, 2011. I should have seen it coming, but the weekend before, his Dad had introduced me as his "future daughter-in-law" and that whole weekend was me holding my breath. After losing way too much sleep over it, I prayed that God make me blind to the obvious signs. That he did! The morning of our engagement, I woke up and went to Will's room; the door was closed (it never was), and when I knocked, he talked through the door (instead of opening it). So off I went, oblivious, to get us and his sister coffee, and then went on errands with him to buy Christmas presents after I returned. After errands, we went on a hike at Mount St. Francis, the spacious and woodsy Franciscan monastery near his parents' house where we hiked nearly every other weekend.

We walked and talked and laughed and crossed over bridges and commented on how no one was out hiking with us on that cool, gray December day. When we reached the last bridge, we sat down on the bench, as we liked to do, and looked out over the lake. Will had been worried that I would notice the budge in his pocket, but I was truly taken aback when he pulled out a piece of paper and began reciting the poem he had written for me that morning. For the last two stanzas, he went down on his knee and ended with, "Marry me, Julie?" Shaking myself into believing this was real, I threw my arms around his neck, said "YES!" and kissed him.

Everyone was thrilled, to say the least!

The date set for our marriage was December 21, 2012. I think it was a nice length of time, but Will could have got married much sooner. We planned it for December, however, to accommodate his medical school schedule. He was gone for the months of May and June for his surgery rotation, and then another away rotation in Atlanta that September for emergency medicine. I was gone for most of July and his sister was married in August. His first half of fourth year schedule was packed full of rotations and interviews/ traveling. By the time the wedding arrived, we were both very, very ready.

Wedding

It was another cold, gray December day, but this time, it was snowing. This prohibited a decent amount of people who RSVP'd from coming, but the turn-out was still marvelous and extremely fun. I was much more nervous at the rehearsal dinner than at my actual wedding (although the hour or so before it was impatient waiting, and wanting to see all my friends who were in from out of town!).

And so began the happiest walk of my life:

The vows and exchange of rings:

Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, y'all!

Marriage

Today is July 21, 2013. It's been seven months since we said "I do" to each other, for forever.

We combined two families; we've driven hundreds of miles back and forth to see each other on the weekends (six months of it - even more fun while married?); we've traveled;

we've prepared for our little one to arrive in a few months;

he's graduated medical school and I've transitioned from nannying to stay-at-home mama;

we've moved to the deep South from the Midwest; and now we're finally living together, as husband and wife. Here's to my better half, and to a life that is so much better together!

Blessed.

Engagement and wedding photo credit: 808 Studios

Cake is Good, Wedding Cake is Better

The Cutting of The Cake.  

Cake is also fun!

My brother-in-law got the whole thing (and the first dance!) on film:

MANY thanks to my sister Katie for orchestrating the filming!

Second Best Christmas Present

Happy feast of the Nativity of our Lord, dear readers! Happy birthday Jesus!!!! I love Christmas. If you want to be more in the mood, Pandora's Christmas Carol station will do that too. Wunderbar!

The second best present (after the birth of our Lord!) is that I am spending it with my husband in Arizona (where it is snowing because of elevation). That's right, last Friday, I got married!

More on that later - I'll be in touch in the new year! Merry Christmas to all, and to all- God's blessing in 2013!

A Fool's Guide To Weddings

I interrupt all debate chatter to discuss a much more exciting happening in my life. Today, I received my first wedding present and it is divine. The first of my wedding china.

Who's coming to tea?

I almost did not put wedding china on my registry. B. didn't want most of the things we have on our registry for practical reasons. I didn't want to have to eat off plastic plates. That wouldn't feel "married"; that would feel like we were roommates in college.

Today is 60 days till the wedding. Yesterday was the two month mark. I think I am still in elation at the thought of marrying B. and denial that I've been wedding planning for the past ten months (not going into event planning in the near or far future, that is for sure) and once I send out those wedding invitations, bam! It's really-really-really happening!

Wedding planning is possibly one of the hardest things I've ever done. To say it's time consuming is an understatement. If you dislike being put on the spot or making huge decisions based on personal preference like I do, this is not the activity for you. If you are addicted to Pintrest, this is not for you either.

Fortunately, I've been blessed with a Type A mother, three sisters, a beyond helpful future mother-in-law, obliging vendors and a need to plan, plan, plan!

Here's what I've learned, and so, without much further adieu, A Fool's Guide To Weddings:

1. Engaged? Congratulations! Start planning now. You're not early, you're late. Get started on pre-cana too; you'll be amazed how that whizzes by you! Also, NFP: learn it, love it, live it. 

2. Shop around for vendors. What people say and what people do are two different things; you're paying them, so choose carefully. 

3. Be flexible on the "vision" of your wedding. People love this topic of conversation. I have no idea what it means, except that your wedding might not be Pintrest-y enough, and that is okay. Save those mason jars for canning and bacon fat. 

4. Every time someone sends you something or helps with your wedding, send a thank you card or just say thank you. If someone offers to help, include them. You can never be gracious enough or thankful enough that these people are supporting you as you prepare for your wedding and marriage.

5. Whenever I get stressed, B. says to me, "I think, at the end of the day, we'll be married." Does that help me with flower arrangements? Does that help me make a decision? No. But it gives me perspective, and that is worth its weight in gold! You're going to be married as well as get married. Both are important. 

6. I said "okay!" to my dress. I'm feeling good about the table decorations. I'm glad the church will be decorated for Christmas and that is one less thing off my To Do list: in other words, don't let the details drag you down. 

8. If you are a friend of the bride or groom, nothing is going to put them more on edge than presuming you're invited. It is a sad fact of life, but there it is. If you're invited, grand! If you're not, it is so not personal. Weddings are expensive, especially when you're from a big family. 

9. Be prepared to disagree with your significant other. So far, I have vetoed "Hot in Herre" and Nickelback from our wedding reception, and B. will not be dressed in a canary yellow vest. Sometimes, I do have an opinion. A very, very strong one. 

10. Continue to date your significant other. I can loudly say that I am more in love with B. now than when he proposed (10 months ago tomorrow!). Our communication level is possibly the most beautiful thing we have; there is nothing I cannot talk with him about. We pray nightly, support each other at work and at school, laugh a lot, and plan together. We prioritize the other, which makes wedding planning more of a joy than a burden. I am so happy to do it, as I plan for the big day, just as I plan for our marriage.

Us at a good friend's wedding last month

It is thus with a good conscience that I celebrate my wedding china; it is more than a pretty pattern. It is will be used to celebrate holidays and birthdays and days we like to remind our children that they are so important to us that we use the nice plates just because. It is a collection I may one day pass down to a daughter or granddaughter.

They are beautiful, and fragile, and they are ours.

Christ, My Wingman

The morning after my future sister’s wedding, my fiance and I attended the family brunch and were asked the question: short or long engagement?

B. said “short” and I said “long” – the listeners laughed.

Fiance and me

We’ve been engaged for eight months now; four more months to go. It’s been a struggle intertwined with the joy of deepening our relationship and connections. As B. prepares to apply for residencies, I’m working, planning our wedding and preparing to transition into married life. We’ve made budgets and meshed five year plans. I’ve decided to delay grad school and he’s studied for and taken test after test following each rotation.

And that’s love, we’ve been told – let each struggle bring you closer together and closer to God, they say. But those practicalities are not even the hardest part for us. No, the hardest part of our engagement is that we’re still single people.

Continue reading at Ignitum Today>>>>>>

To be cross-posted at The Spiritual Workout

The Most Beautiful Wedding Speech EVAH

Prince Daniel of Sweden to his bride, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, at their wedding dinner on June 19, 2010:

Your Majesties, Your Imperial Highness, Your Royal Highnesses, Excellences, ladies and gentlemen, dear family and friends, dear Victoria…

Crown Princess Victoria. Princess of Sweden. Princess of my heart. Nine years ago I had the privilege to get to know a young woman with a great sense of humor and a great sense of duty and who was very, very intelligent. We became friends. The more I got to know her, the more irresistible she became. These couple of years with you, Victoria, have gone by in a wink and have been the best years of my life.

There have been times when Victoria’s official duties have separated us. Often taking her to far away countries and continents. I will never forget some years ago when she left for one of her many trips. This time to China. We were going to be apart for a whole month. The night before she left, she got home late after an official engagement and she had many preparations to make for the long month of duties ahead. Instead of getting some valuable sleep, she stayed up the whole night…writing. In the morning after she had gone, I found a box, and in that box, I found 30 beautiful letters addressed to me. One for every day she would be away. This romantic gesture is typical of you, Victoria. It says everything about the loving person you are.

Once upon a time, the young man was perhaps not a frog in the beginning of the fairytale as in the story first told by the Grimm Brothers, but he was certainly not a prince. The first kiss did not change that. His transformation was not possible without the support of the wise King and Queen who had ruled the kingdom for many years and who were full of wisdom, experience, and had good hearts. They knew what was best and guided the young couple with a gentle hand, generously sharing all their valuable experience.

I feel the greatest gratitude towards Your Majesties, the King and the Queen, for your support and for the way you have received me into your family. I think, of course, also of my own family; my mother and father and my sister and her daughters. Mum and Dad, while growing up, you have always given me your unconditional love. You have helped me through wisdom and you’ve helped me gain a strong self-esteem and security with your good values that have guided me during my life.

Today, when we were driven through the streets of Stockholm, we received unbelievable joy and warmth. It is a memory that we will forever keep deep in our hearts. During the years Victoria and I spent together, I have felt a great support from the people I’ve met. It has been very important to me. Thank you.

I have the deepest respect towards my upcoming tasks. Without a doubt it will be a great challenge. I will do my utmost to live up to the expectations that will be placed upon me. I will do my utmost to support my wife, Crown Princess of Sweden, in her important work.

My darling Victoria. I’m so proud of what we have together. I’m so happy to now be your husband. I will do all that I can to keep you as happy as you are today. Victoria, the greatest thing is love. I love you so much.

I would like you all to join me in a toast to my wonderful wife.

 

He was her personal trainer and she was a crown princess (as in, first in line for the throne). They now have a baby daughter, Princess Estelle.

What a beautiful display of love, respect and admiration!

What Google Ad Preferences Taught Me About Myself

I am obviously not dedicated to the cause, seeing as I skipped last week, but here is me making up for my delinquency:

(Take Two!)

ONE

From my book shelf: Fr. James V. Schall's 'The Unseriousness of Human Affairs' (which is utterly fantastic):

"If we lack truth, especially if we deny truth is possible--the relativist position that dominates almost every university faculty today--nothing else that we lack will really matter much."

"It is a crime against humanity to make the materially poor also spiritually poor, to given them hope of only bread rather than every word that comes from God."

"The great source of public immorality is always private immorality, or to put it differently, there is no such thing as a sin that does not have public consequences, no such thing as a sin that does not require repentance and hence acknowledgment of the intrinsic disorder it puts into the world. Intellectual poverty is rooted in, and tends to, moral poverty, to an unwillingness to know the truth in action, to recognize the distinction of right and wrong and, more importantly, to live it."

"I consider utopians of every sort, therefore, to be intellectually poor, however sophisticated their systems. They are modern Pelagians who do not see any need of grace, who do not see any need of an independent truth by which they might correct their ideas about what the would should be like. And behind all these lofty theories is almost always a sinful, deviant heart bent on rejecting that conversion of soul from which all social reforms ultimately derives."

 

TWO

Last week and this week were major letter mailing weeks. I have been very bad about mailing letters these past few months to people whom I did not specifically promise one too, but the implied that I would, which is almost as bad. The Catholic guilt finally got to me and letters have been sent to places likes Happydale, Maryland, Santa Barbara, Clemson, Georgia and even to France, to my Little studying-abroad. It was fantastic!  Mail is like sending a little present, if one considers thought a gift.

This week I have also been working on Christmas cards. My mom sends out lots of Christmas cards to family and family friends every year and I decided I would send out Christmas cards this year too! I started looking around for local cards (to support the small businesses), but was generally dissatisfied with the selection out there. My oldest friend Bi started her own company called Prippie earlier this year and one day, while perusing her site, I saw she was doing stationary! Well, that settled it. She designed a card for me and I placed my order! I am crossing my fingers I can get them sent out by early next week... my hand keeps cramping up. I know; I can be a total pansy.


Me and Bi are like peas and carrots

THREE 

Last week, Jill, a friend from college, posted a link for Gmail users and, upon clicking on it, I was vaguely amused by the list of general topics I am interested in according to Google analytics; topics like Law and Government, News, Campaigns and Elections, Humanities and Philosophy. All very interesting topics, yes? Then I read this: Demographics - Gender - Male.

Oh no, no, no. Google, you are mistaken. I am definitely a female.

A little indignant and wanting answers of why Google would say my gender is a male (my Gmail does start with "julie"- which is not an androgynous name), I clicked on the question mark, which told me, "Based on the websites you've visited, we think you're interested in topics that mostly interest men."

Not sure whether to be infuriated or laugh over the mishap of gender recognition, I gchatted another college friend, ZS, and told him what Google told me; I told him I was not sure how to take it. He replied "I don't imagine you google hollywood relationships enough." Always the insightful one, ZS.

Still not satisfied, I gchatted Jill herself, and she apparently had the same results. Then she said what I was thinking: "Kind of sexist, in a way."

The worse part is, however, that I am not even sure how to make Google Ad Preferences think I am a female. How many hours of internet searches would convince Google I am a girl? And what kind of searches? It begs the question that, even in the age of physical female liberation, are we still considered silly creatures mentally? Women want equal pay and reproductive rights, but they can't think seriously about life. And if a person can't think seriously, how could they be expected to act so? 

This makes me think of one of my favorite lines from Jane Austen, at the end of 'Pride and Prejudice,' when Mr. Bennett forbids Kitty from leaving the house unless she can prove she has spent 10 minutes in a rational manner! Always the pragmatist, Mr. Bennett.

FOUR

A very happy Advent to all of you! I know, this should have been first in my list. OSV posted a wonderful list of "Ten Ways to Make Advent more Meaningful":

Reflect on Advent as a time of waiting. The idea of waiting is not popular in our culture of instant gratification, but it creates in us a new kind of self-discipline that helps us to appreciate the present moment and look to the future with peaceful anticipation.

Turn your breathing into a prayer. Take a few deep breaths throughout the day and imagine that God's love is flowing through you to every part of your body. As you exhale, let go of tension, worry and anything else that is not of God.

Long for the Lord. Make it a habit of silently praying, "Come, Lord Jesus."

Unite with Mary. Set aside time once a day to join Our Lady in praying the Canticle of Mary (see Lk 1:46-55).

Do something nice for someone every day. It might be an encouraging word, a phone call, a note of appreciation or a little act of kindness.

Get rid of grudges. Use Advent as an opportunity to let go of any anger or resentment that you might be holding onto.

Pray for patience. If you find yourself becoming anxious or upset, ask the Lord for the gift of patience. Then make a conscious effort to be a more patient person.

Offer up something painful or difficult in your life. The best way to transform trials and tensions is to turn them into a prayer.

Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Attend your parish penance service and take advantage of the opportunity to cleanse your soul in preparation for the coming of Jesus.

Think about the special gifts and talents God has given you. How are you using these gifts?

FIVE

I saw Harry Potter 7 1/2 with my family last weekend. I liked most of it, except for one unnecessarily graphic scene and Dobby's death. No, I did not cry when he died. Apparently I am in the minority when I say it was overdone and I was unmoved. I did shed a tear when Hermione wiped her parents' memories; I was not expecting that scene in the first two minutes of the movie. I like how true the movie's script stayed to the book. I spent half the movie squeezing my sister's hand though because I was so scared. Yes, scared. Yes, I've read all the books.

Nevertheless, I am way more excited for the new Narnia movie: yay 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'!

SIX

Not a huge fan of the title of this video ("The Advent Conspiracy" -- it is too hip for my lingo!), but the Advent message here is clear and meaningful to the spirit of the liturgical season. 

SEVEN

If you do not read The New Criterion, I suggest you pick up a copy. Even perusing through it will make your soul soar with its fine prose, wit and insight. Here is a Notes & Comments piece from the November issue, called "Speaking of multicultualism... On Chancellor Merkel's recent comments."

Do you suppose Angela Merkel, the trenchant German Chancellor, reads The New Criterion? We ask because she seems to share our antipathy toward “multiculturalism,” that spurious doctrine, born in the hothouse of Western universities, that proclaims the glories of “diversity” and egalitarianism but is really a blind for anti-Western, and especially anti-American, animus. “All cultures are equal,” chant the multiculturalists, like characters out of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “but some are more equal than others.” It is one of the great rhetorical ironies of the age that what travels under the name of “multiculturalism” is really a form of mono-cultural animus directed against the dominant culture—our culture, the culture of the West. In essence, as Samuel Huntington noted in his book Who Are We?, multiculturalism is “anti-European civilization. . . .


It is basically an anti-Western ideology.” Multiculturalists claim to be fostering a progressive cultural cosmopolitanism distinguished by superior sensitivity to the downtrodden and dispossessed. In fact, they encourage an orgy of self-flagellating liberal guilt as impotent as it is insatiable. The “sensitivity” of the multiculturalist is an index not of moral refinement but of moral vacuousness. As the French essayist Pascal Bruckner observed, “An overblown conscience is an empty conscience”:

Compassion ceases if there is nothing but compassion, and revulsion turns to insensitivity. Our “soft pity,” as Stefan Zweig calls it, is stimulated, because guilt is a convenient substitute for action where action is impossible. Without the power to do anything, sensitivity becomes our main aim. The aim is not so much to do anything, as to be judged. Salvation lies in the verdict that declares us to be wrong.

Multiculturalism is a moral intoxicant; its thrill centers around the emotion of superior virtue; its hangover subsists on a diet of ignorance and blighted “good intentions.”


Wherever the imperatives of multiculturalism have touched the curriculum, they have left broad swaths of anti-Western attitudinizing competing for attention with quite astonishing historical blindness. Courses on minorities, women’s issues, and the Third World proliferate; the teaching of mainstream history slides into oblivion. “The mood,” Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. wrote in The Disuniting of America, his excellent book on the depredations of multiculturalism, “is one of divesting Americans of the sinful European inheritance and seeking redemptive infusions from non-Western cultures.”


But multiculturalism is not only an academic phenomenon. The attitudes it fosters have profound social as well as intellectual consequences. One consequence has been a sharp rise in the phenomenon of immigration without—or with only partial—assimilation: a dangerous demographic trend that threatens the identity of host countries, in Europe as well as the United States, in the most basic way.


These various agents of dissolution are also elements in a wider culture war: the contest to define how we live and what counts as “the good” in the good life. Anti-Americanism and the charge of being “Eurocentric” occupy such prominent places on the agenda of the culture wars precisely because the traditional values of Western identity are deeply at odds with the radical, de-civilizing tenets of the multiculturalist enterprise. This is something that seems to have been vividly borne in upon Ms. Merkel. The attempts to build a “multicultural” society in Germany, she recently acknowledged, have “failed, utterly failed.” Immigrants, she said, in a speech that stunned the bien pensants, need to do more, much more, to integrate into German society, including learning German.


Kudos to Ms. Merkel for having the courage to articulate this home truth: that immigration is fine, but that there should be no immigration without assimilation. We suspect other European leaders are coming to the same realization, though whether they can muster Ms. Merkel’s forthrightness remains to be seen. Given the dour demographic realities in Europe, it may be a recognition that is too little too late. But it is nonetheless heartening to see this blunt political reality publicly acknowledged for what it is.

In other news, I've spent the week explaining to my dog that this is NOT Take Heidi to Work Week just because my sisters keeps telling her it is. Tonight, I have another Kappa sister's wedding and tomorrow a Happydale friend and his date will be attending a wedding here in my hometown and staying at my casa. That combined with summoning the endurance to keep writing should provide me with a fun and interesting weekend! I hope y'all have the same! Check out Conversion Diary for more and Happy Friday!

Betsy and Zach, Sittin' in a Tree

For all college friends who couldn't make it to the wedding, and all other gentle readers, here is the missus and the mister, post-wedding ceremony:

Kappas at the cake and punch reception:

Sight-seeing between the reception and dinner:

I definitely sat at the cool table:

All the Kappas!

We're so excited! And we just can't hide it!

Bonus picture: action shot of Heidi licking Muffy's face after she got back from her last performance of The Sound of Music; so adorable.



Today is one of those miserable days in which I am literally bursting to write 16 different articles and must instead content myself to one topic, the one being actual work I get paid for... oh well. Happy Monday!

Volume One! (not the book store in downtown Hillsdale)

On Wednesday, I was sitting at my desktop reading and editing work stuff when I needed a break. Whenever I need a break from reading work stuff, I go read something else.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I usually find some neat things, which presents me with a dilemma: how best to share. I am a big believer in sharing. (I'm the oldest of six kids; sharing is second nature.) Sometimes I post it to FB or my Buzz; sometimes I e-mail a couple friends; other times, I'll just add it at the end of a post. I try not to over-share, though, because life is more than updating the interwebz.

I have come up with a solution to my problem of wanting share all the cool stuff I find: I follow a blog called Conversion Diary, which is written by a woman named Jennifer. She was an Atheist her entire life; then she and her husband started exploring Christianity, decided to look at every Christian church EXCEPT the Roman Catholic Church and so, because God has a wonderful sense of humor, found themselves increasingly drawn to it and became orthodox Catholics. Every Friday, she does a 7 Quick Take Fridays and invites her readers to join in too. I enjoy reading hers but it always seemed a little bit more of a time investment than I was willing to give. I already do the Poem of the Week, which is very enjoyable, but I do not like commiting to something and then not follow through. Life, remember, happens outside.

Nonetheless, today is my inaugural post. I am stoked. I hope you are too! And, in the spirit of sharing, if you my dearest readers decide to do this too, please leave me a link to your post in the comment box. It'll be like a giant game of leap frog and tag at the same time!

1. On Tuesday, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was elected President of the U.S. Catholic Council of Bishops (USCCB). This is very exciting because Dolan is the second Archbishop not to have first served as VP before being elected President. It is also fantastic news because, as Greg Erlandson wrote at Our Sunday Visitor,

"Archbishop Dolan is, of course, highly popular among his brother bishops, and is recognized as a genial conservative with a strong sense of Catholic identity and a willingness to engage robustly in the issues of the day."

These are important times for the Church, especially with the increasing hostility towards the sanctity of marriage and human life, and it is a blessing to have Dolan in leadership. (Bishops, by the way, have jurisdictions over their Priests and are under Cardinals, and thus answer directly for their diocese to the Pope.)

2. Lis made Cuppy and myself a Thuper Three Homecoming cd and I've been listening to it fairly consistently the past two weeks. This is one of my favorite songs on it: "What I Wouldn't Do" by A Fine Frenzy

It starts, "If we were children I would bake you a mud pie/ Warm and brown beneath the sun/ Never learned to climb a tree but I would try/ Just to show you what I'd done..."

3. My friend Bess is livin' it up in fancy NYC, nannying and blogging about being an [aspiring] writer. She is giving away two moleskins in a CONTEST! Seriously, check it out. Why would you not want a moleskin notebook? They are the bestest!

4. My little sister Muffy is in her high school's production of The Sound of Music. We saw it last night and, of course, she was amazing and hilarious! She is playing Sr. Berthe, the nun who hates Maria. Maybe I am biased, but they needed a whole lot more Muff. I can't wait till her Shakespeare production in March!

5. SHAMELESS JULIE PLUG: my first guest post on The Imaginative Conservative, "Even in Ordinary Times, We Are Not Ordinary," was published and well-recieved, which just tickles me. If you read it, I'd love to hear what y'all think.

6. Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, whom I picked as my Confirmation Name (which goes after my first and middle name and before my last, thus making my initials JMER). When Catholics enter the Church as an adult (usually in the 7th-8th grade), we take the name of a cannonized saint. We pick the name by praying for the Holy Spirit to guide us to a saint whose life we'd like to live in imitation of; Catholic children read about the lives of saints starting when they are very small, so by the time I was 13, I had read about hundreds of saints but always felt especially drawn to St. Elizabeth.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary was a Hungarian princess who married King Ludwig IV of Thuringia at age 14. They had a very happy marriage, but he died in the Crusades when she was 20. The rest of her life was given to service of the poor, much to her in-laws dismay. They tried to stop her, forbidding her from leaving the castle, etc. Once, when she was taking bread to the poor, a soldier ordered her to open her cloak and when she did, roses fell out instead of the bread she had stowed away! She gave away her wealth to the poor, built hospital and is a symbol of Christian charity. She is the patron saint of bakers, brides, charitable societies, hospitals, homeless people, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety and nursing homes.

7. Tomorrow is Betsy and Zach's wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED. I was helping Betsy and her parents with programs on Tuesday night and we were just rolling laughing over stories from college. Bets graciously gives me a little credit in her relationship with her soon-to-be husband; for example, my good friend Will and I were study buddies our senior year of college, and as Zach was Will's roommate and Betsy is such a close friend of mine, we provided them ample opportunity to spend time together and have enjoyably productive study sessions. :)

The wedding is going to be a huge reunion of wonderful people. Betsy put me in charge of the Kappa wedding song tradition, too. We'll be singing "Sweetheart" to Zach. I know, I know; they're trusting me not to give a speech... but it is going to be a fabulous time! My family is also hosting eight Hillsdale people stay at our house over the course of the weekend, so I've been preparing for that. We're happy to have them, but it has made for a busy week of cleaning!

Also, this is apparently "Post a Picture of Betsy, Zach and You as Your Profile Picture Week" and I did not, for a number of reasons-- the biggest one being that the picture I would have chosen does not look good small. I'll share it here, though, because it is hands down my favorite picture from senior year (fall break; our scavenger hunt team!):

Photo credit to Will!

I am having a frame engraved with Psalm 27:17 and putting this picture inside, as part of their wedding and house warming gift. (The other half is dinner made by moi and monogrammed notecards for the newlyweds!)

Happy Friday, y'all!

Some Things Never Change

Because it is Friday:

(From Hannah's tumblr; H/T DF)

A classic-- "The Wild Rover" performed by The Dubliners:



Then The Dubliners and "The Irish Rover":




Don't forget to clap along! :)

Today is Friday, the day I plan to finish the draft of my what-is-to-be my most widely read paper-- a white paper, to be exact. A white paper is a position paper. What am I taking a position on? Oh you'll never guess. I can't think if I've ever mentioned it before...

1031 EXCHANGES.

Oh yes. Please, contain your excitement. Although, really, I am excited. This paper is forcing me to write completely for a different audience: people who own trucking companies. Not academics. Not 10 second attention span news readers. My readers will be thousands of businessmen who do not fiddle faddle with politics and the he-said, she-said. They just want to know how the new laws and regulations are going to affect them. They want to sustain their business and be successful in the short and long-term. 

The trucking industry is getting hit hard these days, especially by the EPA. Do you know the trucking industry is the third largest employer of people in the country? And do you know that 7 percent of trucking companies have gone bankrupt in the past three years? And do you further know that if companies do 1031 exchanges, they do not have to pay one cent in taxes on their like-kind exchanged goods? 1031 exchanges have been around since 1921 but when the economy is good, people are not always looking for ways to save. And that's where my white paper comes in; it's going to be issued to thousands of trucking company owners and their financial advisers, giving them the ins and outs of 1031 exchanges, which is better known in real estate circles.

So that's what I've been working on the past month.

I've also been listening and watching things like this: I love, love, love how this little kid conducting Beethoven-- he gets so excited! (And sometimes stays on beat, too):





Also, the testimony of these two collegians is so encouraging and beautiful:



St. Mary's - College Station, TX from OneBillionStories.com on Vimeo.


(H/Ts to Aggie Catholic)


Today marks one week and a day until half a Baker's Dozen Hillsdale people descend on my house for B and Z's wedding...! I've been dress shopping, because I have another Kappa wedding in December, so DF and I have been pursuing the good and the beautiful at J.Crew. The colors we like best are "spiced wine" and "vintage blue." Something like this:

or this:

Not terribly exciting, I know, but decisions, decisions...

Happy Friday!

One of the 3 Hillsdale Engagements this weekend... some things never change!

This past weekend, one of my dearest friends got engaged to Matt, one of the kindest and most awesome guys ever. To say I am excited is an understatement.

Matt, her now fiance, is from the Chicago 'burbs too. They are in the same parish, although it was more through their parents matchmaking that they got to know each other. He surprised Julia on her way to confession on late Saturday afternoon. Then they went to 5 p.m. mass together and after mass, they prayed for a while until everyone was gone from the church. Then he proposed to her in the aisle. I can't think of a more perfect place for Julia to have been proposed at, or by a better guy. Maybe in Italy or at the Vatican, but that seems a little over the top. He said he felt bad crashing our Hillsdale weekend together, but I say, the more the merrier! Especially when fantastic engagements are afoot.


Julia and I met at mass too, our sophomore year. We had both been invited to Sigma Chi's formal and of the entire formal group, but only four of us went to mass the next morning. I didn't know her before that (she is a Pi Phi and I'm a Kappa), but we became friends in Birzer's Civil War class the following semester and besties after going to Notre Dame for research purposes.


When I called my family last night on my drive home, I told my 12-year-old brother the news, and he asked, "Is he Italian? Because nothing less will do!" I laughed and said no, even better-- he's Irish! Just like us. He said that would do too. So now Matt has Julia's parents approval, my approval and my 12-year-old brother's approval. Oh, and Julia's too, which I suppose is important.


My weekend at Hillsdale was short, but really wonderful. I saw more people than I planned; it was nice that so many people were excited to see me. I have a couple friends doing an extra semester, and am pretty close with a decent number of underclassmen and Kappas, as well as former professors and their families.

I especially loved the time I spent with my former advisor's family. I went to the five-year-old's soccer game in the morning, had dinner at their house that night and sat with them at mass in the morning. I am especially popular with the 3 and 5-year old, whom I carried and held hands with going up to communion. They rotated climbing into my lap and having me hold them during mass. It was really adorable. One of the funniest parts was after mass, though, happened when I was walking with the whole family to their van and the 3-year-old wouldn't get in the car.


"If you don't get in the car," said my advisor, "Julie is going to take you back to Ohio with her."


"Okay!" he said, and wrapped his body around my leg.


The ducklings (my collective nickname for my advisor's five kids) treat me like a human jungle gym, so I am surprised my body isn't sore today from having them climb all over me. Their favorite thing to do is flips (I hold their hands and bend my knees a bit for balance, and then they "climb" up my legs toward my torso and then flip over! They love it). I also found out that my siblings taught the kids how to play Mafia at my graduation night dinner and now they're teaching their cousins how to play. Glad we've been such a good influence on them! I owe the ducklings a round of hide and seek the next time I come in town. And let me tell you: ducklings never forget promises like that.


Today I am going to finish working on my grant proposal because, once I am done, my boss says I can go. It's nice and weird at the same time. I'm really leaving. The family is coming up till this weekend to get the last of my stuff/ furniture, so I am looking forward to getting my affairs in order, writing letters to people based on who will appreciate my Sunday Funnies stamps, sleeping [more] and reading. So I am essentially receiving a short but paid vacation.


Oh, and I'm going to start writing a speech about Julia for next October, when I will be a bridesmaid in her wedding. I think I'll start by telling the story about the night before we left for the March For Life junior year, and the two bottles of wine we consumed, even though we had to be at the bus by 4:30 a.m. Or when we used to make our bananas into bananaphones. Or champagne nights in the Arb. Or our retreat in Ann Arbor with the amazing Dominican Mary, Mother of the Eucharist nuns. Or the night Bear and I met Matt for the first time in Chicago at the Elephant and Castle, and teased him the entire time. Or our epic quest for a hotdog in D.C. Or--well, I shan't spoil the all surprises. After all, what are besties for?