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In August, Chris and I celebrated one year — we were so worn out, we took time off work and did much the same thing we did the 36 hours or so after we married: We slept. [Read more →]

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Chris and I have new jobs! They’ve both been total God-things :)

Chris was actually downsized the Christmas before we got engaged (turned out to be a blessing with the whole getting-married thing), and I’ve been half expecting to be for the last year or so. [Read more →]

Tags:   jobs · updateNo Comments.

1) I met Dr. Ruth — yes, that one.

2) I admit, I did throw away Dad B’s shoes in retaliation. Just kidding. I’m waiting until he doesn’t suspect a thing.

3) When I went camping for the first time, right after Chris and I started dating, I took two top sheets (for the hammock) from the two guest-bed sheet sets, my towel and washcloth, and the only two pairs of pants I owned — which included a 4-year-old, perfectly broken in yet totally hot pair of jeans that would not come close to fitting me today. Dad B threw it all away. He claims that, despite being walled in by the pile of everyone’s stuff, he thought the white bag meant trash. There are no excuses when it comes to jeans.

4) Chocolate and coffee are required to soothe the ills of jeans shopping. Lots of chocolate and coffee — which doesn’t help the next jeans-shopping trip… 

5) Don’t tell Dad B (he’ll think I’ve gone soft), but I adore him and his teddy-bear heart :) [Read more →]

Tags:   Crystal · randomNo Comments.

Tags:   pictures · updateNo Comments.

Nope, not this year, and now that I’ve aged out of the Marshall Scholarship, not sure if I’ll be trying again soon for the Fulbright.

The process takes so much: the excitement and disappointment, four graduate applications, essays, interviews — and the real problem is a lot of the work falls on others: the teachers I actually liked in college and the program heads I’d want to study under if not annoying them first by begging them to let me apply a year early and mail me crazy documents during postal strikes. [Read more →]

Tags:   scholarships · updateNo Comments.

Other than a fellow student getting me in only for Candlelight one year — oh, and getting paid $50 to stand around wearing summer clothes in the freezing cold while pulling a second consecutive all-nighter — I hadn’t been to Disney since I was about 11. Then, after trying all year to use the tickets my good friend and roommate gave us the previous Christmas, Chris and I went twice in one weekend.

Normally, a theme park twice in one weekend would make us feel like very worn out cattle, but we took it easy both times and just saw what we wanted to. And some of my favorite things were the simplest: the tea cups, Tom Sawyer’s Island bridges, hot cocoa and cookies, riverboat, time with Chris, monorail, Christmas lights, ferry, fake snow, story telling, stars, and snuggling rides — hey, I’ve got time to make up for here! [Read more →]

Tags:   Christmas · life · pictures · touristsNo Comments.

Astara’s a lab who hasn’t quite figured it out yet. She’s curious when it comes to baths, but she’s sure not going to sign herself up for one either — although Mom B reports that running through a sprinkler doesn’t phase the pup.

Neither does eating all of Mom B’s azalea flowers in 2 minutes flat — other than the purple poop part, of course, but that’s a different story.

OK, when it comes to the chewing everything, happy when something’s in her mouth, high energy, big appetite, annoyingly cute aspects, Astara’s certain she’s a lab.

But at just barely a year, she was unsure about water, so Chris and I were excited to find that the beach around the corner from the state park allowed dogs — and I love impromptu beach trips.

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Tags:   Astara · beach · pictures · ThanksgivingNo Comments.

My family spent a few Thanksgivings serving food, since extended family was far, and that’s still Thanksgiving to me. I loved having enough mental quiet to contemplate thankfulness, and what better way to thank than to worship? It may also have had something to do with my dislike of Thanksgiving food… :) OK, and of long drives and chaos in general…

Serving at a shelter or having over people who need somewhere to celebrate is how Chris and I would like to spend our “ideal Thanksgiving,” but each year is its own. Tradition = things you happen to repeat and enjoy = good; tradition = things you must repeat = stressful. This time, we spent the day at a state park with Chris’ extended family, and Astara had her first experiences with soccer and salt water.

I’m pretty sure Chris taught her this one in our dating days:

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Tags:   Astara · life · pictures · ThanksgivingNo Comments.

From our wedding celebration, just in time for Mom B’s birthday! With our wedding, Chris and I tried to keep or add only the parts that were meaningful to us, and finding a way to honor moms B and D was very important. Out of all the people in our lives that we’re thankful for, our moms are the ones we most admire and the ones who taught us the most about God and life and how the two fit. Plus, we happen to love them tons :)

This is what we came up with:

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Tags:   mom · slideshow · tribute · wedding pictures4 Comments

Yes, we have them. No, they’re not up yet.

With six guys in and out of our apartment just before the wedding celebration, taking the only space not claimed by boxes, the space that belonged to a few out-of-town guests, we, um, didn’t get the slideshows quite as “neat” as we wanted. We’ll post ‘em as soon as we get to that point on the to-do list. : )

In the meantime, here are some engagement pics and wedding photos.

So why were there six guys in our apartment? Well it all started on our honeymoon, when Chris mentioned a wet spot on the ceiling… [Read more →]

Tags:   life · wedding · wedding picturesNo Comments.