The Army Life for Me

At the beginning of November Ben left for the Army. I know, it is a shocker. Before he left we had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween and such. We went to a farm and got to go through some huge corn maze. The night before Halloween we went to our church's Trunk or Treat. Ben and I dressed up as Chicago Bears Super Fans. Actually, he was a Super Fan; I was just a fan.




At the beginning of November Ben finally left for Basic Training. I say finally because it took three different tries before his recruiters submitted all of his paperwork completely. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband. But after saying goodbye several days in a row and getting up at four in the morning, I was ready for the emotional roller coaster to be over. Despite being numb with exhaustion when he finally left, it didn't take long for the feeling to seep back into me as I realized that he was really gone.

Basic Training was tough. Ben always said that the hardest part was being away from me. Obviously, with the lack of push ups and training I had to do, the separation was the worst part for me too. I did not like not being allowed to talk to him. Writing letters turned out to be rather cathartic but it was hard to feel the connection between us. I eventually wrote him everyday, but by the time I got a letter from him he was responding to something that I had written over a week before. I suppose my impatience with the postal system only goes to show that I really am a product of the times. Despite my protests I have really been spoiled by the many recent technological advances.

Luckily, Ben got a two week break for Exodus and came home for a visit around Christmas. It was a little weird seeing him at first. I was completely prepared for my husband to be unbearably ugly with his high and tight haircut, but, fortunately, my love goggles kicked in and I didn't notice (love goggles are similar to beer goggles but are activated with love instead of alcohol). I did however notice his weight loss. My dear husband (DH) is plenty skinny all on his own, but Basic sucked 10 pounds from him. Many people thought he looked like an old sickly man in our Christmas picture (at bottom of post). Poor DH, I still think you look good.




We had fun celebrating Christmas together and enjoying time together in our fully decorated and festive apartment. It was nice to relax with him the entire time. I had quit my job a little before DH came home, so I ended up only having to work two days while he was here. It was so amazing to spend so much time together. I realized during those days that I was truly happy. Unfortunately, I did not maintain that happiness for very long.

6 months later... A synopsis

I know it has been a very long time but I will try to catch up on things that I missed. First, I want to mention that I used the effects on my pictures in my headings from this website http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com.

Let's start from the beginning...

In July we went up to Minnesota for the fourth of July to visit Ben's family and to say goodbye to everyone before we left the Midwest. We had a lot of fun and got to go out on Gerry and Kristen's boat. That was a blast! We had tons of fun tubing and water-skiing.

We also celebrated our 1 year anniversary in July. We didn't do anything too extravagant. We went downtown to this supposed hole in the wall, diamond in the rough sort of place. It was actually a grungy bar that doubles as a secret and amazing seafood restaurant on the North side of Chicago. It is in a basement lit with Christmas lights, and they served lollipops with all the orders. It was a great adventure. Afterward we walked along Lakeshore Dr and watched the Navy Pier fireworks. I thought I had a picture of the restaurant, but I guess not. We also ate our cake. It almost tasted the same, but then it just didn't. I never want to eat year old anything that has not been heavily processed and packaged/canned again. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy shoving the cake in Ben's face.

My friends and I went out so that I could say goodbye to Chicago. We did Sushi in Hyde Park, visited the Hancock building, and dessert at the Grand Lux Cafe. Here are some pictures from the night:
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I also took pictures of a few places on campus before we left.






We packed up and left for Arizona at the end of July. One of my friends came along so that she could make her way to California. The initial months in AZ were a bit tumultuous. A lot things happened that I am slowly erasing from my memory. Eventually things settled down and Ben and I both got jobs. Around the end of September we moved into our own beautiful apartment. It is almost twice the size of our last apartment and I still can't get over the fact that I can open the fridge all the way without hitting the counter on the opposite side. Here are some pics I took on the trip to AZ:





Now you are all caught up! Well, at least until November.

We Both Graduated! Ben=Master's, Natasha=Bachelor's

Not much has been going on for us. We have been looking for jobs and trying to figure out our lives with or without life altering plans. It is frustrating not knowing what we are going to be doing a month or even a week from now. On the bright side, it does look like we will be staying in Chicago through August. Given the lack of excitement and thrill in my current situation I have decided to give a recap on senior week and graduation.
For those of you who don't know, senior week is a period of time that the seniors have to party while everyone else takes their finals. Seniors are forced to finish their finals anywhere from a week to a week and a half in advanced. I finished Tuesday of 10th week. Yes, I know that is pretty amazing. It is also a miserable experience to have to complete course work, attend classes, and take finals all before finishing all of the assigned material in the course. I did not attend very many of the Senior Week activities, although I did attend enough activities that Ben and I got eat free food for a little over a week. Anyway, we went to a couple of very nice receptions that required formal attire and served wine with elegant food served on china. One thing Ben and I enjoyed was Prom Night! U of C does not have very many dances so it was fun to try this one out.



My family came in Wednesday night and on Thursday we did an architectural boat tour on the Chicago river in the pouring rain. This was another senior week activity hosted by the U of C. It was freezing! My poor family from AZ were not expecting temperatures below 50 during the middle of summer and neither was I.




Skipping ahead a bit, Friday was Ben's Graduation! It was a beautiful warm day just like every graduation day should be. Afterward we celebrated with coveted Chicago pizza at Giordano's. Then we continued on with my senior week and went to the Museum of Science and Industry night. At the beginning of every school year U of C rents out the MSI and has a dessert night where incoming students/graduating students can see all of the exhibits while enjoying the beautiful desserts.


Saturday I finally graduated. This had to be one of the most miserable experiences. It rained and rained and rained and rained then stopped and rained again and finally with only 20 minutes to go, stopped for good. The fact that we had to sit outside with no provisions other than the emergency poncho that they handed us made for an awful experience. Hair was ruined and be warned that those stupid gowns are in no way water proof. Everyone was shivering. Also, U of C's emergency rain plan to shorten the ceremony consisted of cutting only one song! Needless to say, it did not shorten the ceremony, in fact we went longer than expected. Turns out U of C really is the place where fun comes to die; even graduation sucked. Don't be fooled, I really did love every minute a spent at the U of C, which I'm pretty sure officially makes me a masochist.


To end the day we went to one of my favorite restaurants to celebrate. Ethiopian Diamond. I absolutely love this place.

I'm Back! Jobs and Father's Day

HELLO!!! I know it has been a very long time but now I'm free to blog as much as my heart desires. I just graduated with my bachelors degree on the 13th of June and Ben with his Masters on the 12. We are both currently free as can be. I have decided to take a new method to blogging. I will now only blog about what I want to blog about in the moment instead of feeling like I have to catch everyone up on every little detail. It is when I start thinking that I have so much that I should be blogging about that blogging starts to feel like a chore and then I just don't do it.
Currently Ben and I are looking for summer employment. I actually got offered a job in the humanities division at the U of C. Unfortunately, I had to turn it down because Ben and I recently realized that we may be moving very soon. Even though I wasn't able to accept the position, it does give me a boost of confidence to know that I do have the skills necessary to get hired now that I'm officially in the real world. I also felt really bad letting such nice people down after they were so kind and complimentary to me. Anyway, so I am back on the market for short-term employment. There is one position that I would be willing to stay in Chicago for, but it is because I have worked there the last three years and love all of the kids. Unfortunately, given the current economy they may not have the budget to hire me on, which means I will be leaving Chicago.
Ben also has his own exciting plans stirring around, but seeing as I have yet to gain his approval to share his plans to the blogging community, I think I will have to wait a little longer to announce his plans in cyberspace.
On a different note, today his Father's Day so HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I just want to say a word or two about my own father. When I was younger I did not always give my dad the credit he deserves in raising me. My parents are both really young, which means that they had to do a lot of raising themselves while they were raising me and my sister. I often times question the legitimacy of their methods when raising me and I know that they look back and question those methods too now that they are raising two more kids. What I do know is that I can't deny that I am largely a person of strength because of them. Both my parents are strong people but I don't usually realize the type of strength that I get from my dad. My dad has given me the ability to demand the best of myself. I know that my own personal best has no ceiling and through constant perseverance my personal best and what is considered to be the best can be one in the same if I want it enough. My dad has taught me to take responsibility for my own actions and responsibility for the things that I allow into my life. My dad drove into my sister and me the importance of integrity through strength and endurance. He taught us the importance of taking the initiative and completing a task above and beyond the requirement. All of these qualities have allowed me to reach my goals, graduate from one of the best schools in the world, and become a person whose integrity, strength, and perseverance allows me to stand out from the crowd. I love that my dad instilled in me the importance of these qualities, while also making the hard choices necessary to provide for his family. My dad is a man of strength. I see it in all that he does. I see it in the values that he gave me and my sister and his current willingness to reevaluate himself as he raises my younger brother and sister. I also see it in his ability to sacrifice by working under less than ideal circumstances. I love my dad for his strength as well as my own.

"He's a PC, I'm a Mac" and other summer events

Today we enjoyed our last day of summer. Ben and I have had an eventful summer with the whole getting married thing and all. Although, Ben had to work most of the time we did manage a few memorable moments.



We have spent our summer watching lots of movies from Netflix, driving to the North side, staying up late, sleeping in, walking around downtown, and watching free shows. We also went to the Renaissance fair. I love the Renaissance Fair and I try to go every year. We drove to Wisconsin, and I got to experience a midwest Renaissance fair. It's different than Arizona. People out in the midwest seem to consider the RF as a way of living more so than an entertaining few hours. Ben and I had a lot of fun during the first part. We walked around, took some pictures, and picked out the different food we wanted to eat. We had both decided to start out with giant turkey legs. Ben was in charge of eating and watching the food while I went to get us mushrooms. This was obviously my first mistake, I should have never left my poor lovable but easily distracted husband alone. I'm standing in line when all of a sudden a screaming flailing Ben comes running up to me with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He had taken a bite of his turkey while people watching and a suicidal bee flew into his mouth and stung the roof of his mouth. I tried to pull the stinger out but was unsuccessful. At that moment, I found out that he left all of our possessions, including my camera, on the bench where we were sitting, I ran towards the bench and he ran towards first aid. I waited outside of the first aid area for him. Soon enough, a sad Ben came out with a cup of ice to soothe is wound. We tried to make the most out of the rest of the day. Ben was a good sport and tried to hide any pain he was feeling. It wasn't until we were watching some ridiculous performance that I noticed something wrong. Ben had gigantic hives all over his body. We decided that it was time to leave and walked out in the middle of the show which led to negative comments and gestures directed at us by the performers.

Another new and exciting event which makes all of these posts possible. . . my new computer! I am proud to say that I am a Mac. I used to have a PC but it didn't work out. Being with my PC was like being in one of those relationships where you decide that you will stick with it because it's familiar and safe, all the while you are wishing that you could just break up with it. You know that you should really just dump it because it's just not working out; you're not being treated the way you want to be. Then one day after all that you have given it, it breaks up with you in a devastating manner. In case I took the relationship/computer metaphor too far: I always had problems with my computer, but I learned to accept those problems as part of who my computer was. Unfortunately, my computer decided never to turn on again even after its surgical procedure. As I said, to my husband's dismay, I am a Mac, and I am happy.

Tomorrow is my last first day of undergraduate, and Ben's first day ever at the wonderful University of Chicago. Are we prepared? I doubt it. I assure you, it is not for lack of trying. We have spent this last week doing a dry run of our carefully crafted schedule to ensure that madness does not ensue within the first few weeks of the quarter. This is with the full realization that no amount of preemptive scheduling procedures can fully defend us from the chaos that is 9, 10, and 11 week. Fortunately, we bought a good amount of our books during Midnight Madness allowing us to beat the long lines and crowds. We also enlisted Google Calendar as an ally in hopes of decreasing overall confusion. We are both excited about classes and our future together.


I almost forgot to mention that on August 12, 2008 we celebrated our 1 month anniversary! We were very excited and celebrated with breakfast downtown at the Bongo Room. Breakfast was the only time we could actually go out together because of Ben's crazy work schedule. He left each day around 1pm and got home between 11pm and 12am every night. It really messed with our sleeping pattern and social life, but we really were thankful that he had a job. We also celebrated our two month anniversary this summer. We didn't really do anything special for the two month anniversary. We acknowledged the day by giving each other cards, but that was pretty much it. I do have to say that I enjoy being married two months more than one. Two months seems more legitimate than one. When you tell people that you have been married one month they give a look that says "oh, no wonder you're happy; wait another month and then we'll see." When you say that you have been married two months, people give you almost the same look, but I still feel a little more satisfied. I suppose people won't stop giving us those looks until we are two years or more into our marriage. Anyway, we will celebrate our three month anniversary soon, which I will assume will grant even more satisfaction and self accomplishment than two months. Maybe it is weird that I get so much excitement from each passing month. I am always amazed at how we grow closer and closer together in ways I could have never imagined. There is something liberating about being uninhibited in your ability to love another person so completely and without fear of possible future scorn. Being so close to Ben brings out strength in myself that I never knew existed. Of course, this means that I am also finding weaknesses that I never knew existed. Being married is like learning a new school of thought; you just never thought of things in the same light or perspective as you do now. I saw a movie where the husband cheated on his wife and I was almost in tears. I have seen this sort of behavior portrayed in movies before, I even know people who have committed adultery. But for some reason it never really had an effect on me until now. It was just something people did for some unknown reason that was wrong. I suppose my preconceived notions of marriage and adultery were formed in an emotionless vacuum where I was unable to comprehend the complete and utter emotional vulnerability that one succumbs to within the institution of marriage. I don't claim to be wise to all the ins and outs of marriage, I am just realizing the monumental change that an institution like marriage can have on your way of thinking and who you are. Ben and I have grown so much as a couple and as individuals. I really enjoy seeing how much our relationship grows month from month, I can't wait until I can compare year to year.

Looking Back

We are married! We have been for about 2 months now. Our wedding was absolutely perfect, although the weeks leading up to it were fairly tumultuous. Here's a quickand choppy look at our summer mixed with a dab of reflection. I promise to provide further details soon.

Friday before the wedding was filled with trips to the airport to pick up family members flying in from all over the country. We also tackled the rehearsal for the ring ceremony; a gigantic barbeque, which served as our rehearsal dinner; and an unplanned combined bachelor/bachelorette party.

The following day I woke up at 5:00 Saturday morning to get ready for early morning pictures. This consisted of me sitting and staring into space/writing my vows for the ring ceremony while my hair stylist and make up artist simultaneously worked their magic. Afterwards, I rushed to my pictures and was finally sealed to Ben at 10:30 am. Being sealed was such a relief: total and complete happiness washed over me as I left the temple. It was a beautiful day. Ben and I went to Bahama Bucks afterwards in our full wedding attire(I really wanted a Caribbean cola one last time before I returned to Chicago). The luncheon, ring ceremony, and reception were all wonderful. I can't imagine a better day. Previous to actually getting married I couldn't wait for the day after my wedding when there would be no stress or obligations. Thankfully, when our wedding day did arrive I enjoyed it so much that I didn't want the day to end.

We also had a ton of fun on our cruise. When we first arrived, we were a bit shocked by the size of the
tiny room, especially after staying a few days in the king suite at the Hilton. Fortunately, we recovered from our initial claustrophobic musings and grew to enjoy the swaddling of our close quarters. We went Kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking, which was pretty fun, although Ben did get a 2nd degree sunburn on his foot.

When we returned to our apartment, we were greeted with a number of unfortunate events. The first being that Ben's temporary job position had been permanently filled. The second was an eviction notice taped to our door. The eviction notice was a mistake but still caused a surge of panic as the unforgiving hand of reality caught us in its grasp.

We awoke early the next day (Saturday) to prepare for our Chicago open house. We had to run all over Chicago to pull off the event, but it was lovely in the end. My mom and grandparents came to show their support but ended up staying longer than they planned. They were unable to fly back to AZ until 3 days after their original flight date. This, of course, caused plenty of stress for my mother, but we were able to semi smooth this inconvenience over with multiple deliveries of Chicago's famous Giordano's Pizza and several movies. It was nice to have her stay for a little while extra, even if it was under unplanned and inconvenient circumstances. My mom helped Ben and me start to organize our hazard area aka our apartment.It was nice to have someone to help us breakdown the heaping mess and put it all in perspective.

The next few weeks were filled with the excruciating pain that accompanies the job hunt. Success in this area proved to be a little less than impossible given the current job market and our late summer search. After about a month, we both received a job offer but our individual offers conflicted with the each other's. We decided that Ben would accept his offer, and I would continue to look on the part time front. Unfortunately, that proved equally hard given that I could only commit for a little over a month. In the end, I gave into the unemployment that was fated for me and followed my neurologist's orders by not working for the summer.

Don't worry, I have been keeping busy. There have been a number of pressing matters to take care of since our marriage, not the least of which is the constant organizing of our apartment. Like our marriage, organizing the apartment seems to be an eternal commitment. There were also a lot of technical things to take care. No one ever mentions the billions of things that need to be taken care of immediately after getting married. Of course, this may be to lure unsuspecting happily engaged couples into actually taking the step to marriage. I know if I had to think about all of the things that needed be done previous to actually getting back and doing them, I would not have enjoyed the honeymoon at all. On the other hand, that sort of knowledge could have helped us not to run full pace into the wall of reality. Instead, we could have lightly skipped hand in hand into that very wall.

I have finally started feeling a bit more productive as I have started to check off many of the tasks I had to complete before the end summer. I do have a class I need to finish from last year that I hope to work towards completing this coming week.

Here in Chicago, we are starting to see the first hints of Autumn (this happens to be Ben and my favorite season). Leaves are starting to show signs of their age, and the weather is cooling down. The forecast promises rain and nice weather for the next few days. School will be starting in about two weeks, which is both terrifying and exciting. I don't want to start my last year of college; I have too much to do, but I am looking forward to having Ben home more and us enjoying a normal schedule. As the summer comes to an end, I can't help but wonder where this school year will take us. I'm not sure that Ben or I started last school year with the expectation that we would or could be married by the end of summer. Where will I be next year?
Correction: where will we be, not just in the physical but in the marital emotional sense? Every wonderful moment of the Chicago summer as well as its subtle yet startling transformation into autumn has me wondering if I will be here to experience these moments next year or am I blindly experiencing my last Chicago summer moments without my even realizing?

I look forward to becoming a more dedicated blogger, although I am sure said level of dedication will wax and wane depending on the mass of homework that governs every U of C student's life.

2 WEEKS!

So life has been pretty crazy lately. I finally finished school (ish) about two weeks ago. It was a crazy ending. My lease ended the day after finals, so Ben and I were busy packing up my apartment and moving my stuff to his place soon to be our place. This triumphant end of the craziest school year of my life greeted me with viral pink eye in both eyes. I unfortunately do not have glasses and thus was rendered legally blind without my contacts. I didn't accomplish very much my last week in the area of unpacking. I did however, manage to figure out the horrible bridesmaid dress ordeal. After several trial and error attempts at getting bridesmaid dresses, we finally selected one from Ann Taylor that might match the original dress that I selected. The only problem has been finding shrugs to cover up the shoulders of this spaghetti strap dress. Ben and I got to work searching the internet and all our many options. Turns out, despite all the advertisements, there were not many options. Davids Bridal made this frustratingly clear after we called numerous stores all over the country. They had all of 4 of the items we needed in the entire country and not in the right sizes. When we finally ordered a short sleeve bolero they gave us a long sleeve bolero for the blistering 115 degree heat of Arizona. It was kind of a mess. I eventually gave up on uniformity and selected something simple, practical, and cheap for the girls who needed it.

As I said, things have been pretty crazy and I don't think it will calm down. There is still a lot of planning to be done for the Chicago reception. This week was filled with meetings with caterers, directors, cake decorators, and my wedding dress shop. Next week promises to echo the same sort of itinerary. Fortunately, my wonderful fiance will be here starting Wednesday.

Amidst the many hours of stress and frustration there have been the necessary moments of bliss that make everything worth it. Ben and I have not had a ton of time to relax and take in the beautiful transformation of Chicago in the summer, but we manage to take a few moments where wedding talk and preparation is formally banished from our lives. The last week I was in Chicago we took a walk up to the point and had a picnic. Afterwards we talked about all the simple things that we have been unable to talk or think about since our engagement. It was a beautiful reminder of the simplicity and purity of our love for each other. We also had a night in watching lost and eating a sushi dinner I prepared. That was a ton of fun.