Eric and I are home! Home--what a wonderful word to say, made even more wonderful by having my best friend be a part of it. We've been home--yay!--for just over a week now, and it's great to be together. Work, on the other hand, well...we could've done without some of that for awhile, but we can only live off love alone for so long before the bills start stacking up. ;)
I don't have much else to report yet on this aspect, but I'll include some of our favorite photos of the wedding thus far. (We won't get the "official" pictures for another few weeks.) Enjoy!
A lot can happen in a week, and a lot is going to happen in this next one. For starters, in just about 7 days even, Eric and I will be married. Wow--hard to believe it's almost here!
In one day, it will be the 4th of July, and although E and I aren't super excited to celebrate the holiday--we're not what you would call "patriots"--we are looking forward to spending time with family, eating good food, and I am looking forward to the fireworks and watching my father and brother-in-law light each other on fire. (Mwahahaha...)
Tomorrow is also my final dress fitting and Eric's measurement for his special tuxedo vest that my mom is making. Curious? Then come to the reception! :) But don't worry--if you can't make it to the reception, we'll post pics here so you can enjoy it long distance. :)
Sometime during this next week, E and I are finalizing our settling in process to the new apartment. He's already mostly moved in, and most of my stuff is over there, but we still have boxes to unpack and some furniture to arrange. We're also desperately in need of more bookshelves. I'm telling you...pastors and English majors probably shouldn't get married. My parents are a perfect example of this, and somehow it didn't quite hit me until E and I found ourselves swimming in our mutual libraries.
Btw, we have a new mattress and box spring we purchased from a local store with the generous donations of invited ones, plus we bought a used ikea bed frame via craigslist and we have our bedroom mostly set up now. Yay! Now if only we can convince people to get us sheets too. ;)
Thursday, several of my relatives are flying in from California, including my grandmother who is doing all the flowers and my cousin who is making our cake. Yeah cake!
Friday, we're finishing up all the decorations, flowers, cake, and having a rehearsal on the boat, then Saturday is the big day. Woo!
It's all very surreal, but I am excited and very much looking forward to the day when I won't have to say goodbye to Eric when I go home. Home is going to be us soon, and that is very very wonderful! :)
They're in the mail and arriving in mailboxes EVERYWHERE. I've gotten a bunch of compliments on them, which isn't at all what I was going for, but at least it means that all the anxiety that went into their making was worth it. :)
Because my parents know a TON of people, we ended up making 400 invitations constructed with devil adhesive squares and ribbons of doom. There were also labels from hell that used templates of insanity and all in all, it was quite the *headdesk* experience.
BIG thanks go out to Di (Eric's [and soon to be my!] cousin), Christen, and my mom for muscling through all those details and coming out with a cute, simple design. Even Eric loved them and showed them off to our friends. (That's saying something!)
I'd upload pics of them but I just don't care that much. ;)
The thought occurred to me awhile back that with weddings, only about half of the people involved know the bride OR the groom, and rarely do people know both. Therefore, I thought it would be a great idea for Eric and I to tell you about ourselves our future spouses so that you will see him/her through our eyes.
Perhaps writing this blog the day after we had a fairly significant fight--of which Eric was mostly oblivious--isn't the best time to write it, and yet, I feel as if it is the best time, mostly because we resolved our issues. This involved tears (from me), apologies on both sides, and a solemn resolution to never fight again, sworn with a pinky promise. My heart currently overflows with love for this man, so this is probably the best description of him that you'll ever get out of me. ;)
A quick bio to get out of the way before I get down to what really makes Eric Eric. He grew up in Chehalis, WA, land of the rednecks--I say that with affection and really like Chehalis myself--and comes from a small immediate family--parents: Dan and Lorene, older sister: Monica--that is part of a much larger extended family. (We have that in common.) His dad is a band teacher, so the whole Judd clan is fairly musical. Eric plays several instruments (trombone, bass and acoustic guitars...) and has a wonderful baritone voice that he will use to sing me to sleep over the phone when I'm having a terrible day.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Bio! Yes, bio. He went to high school in Chehalis, went to Centralia Community College, then transferred up to the UW for a degree in computer science. When that didn't work out--and this is actually a good thing--he went back to Chehalis for a pastoral internship where he earned his license to preach. At that point, he wanted to finish his BA and opted to come to Northwest University to get a "make your own degree" in General Studies--how else would you combine all of that book larnin'? He and I met at NU and walked in 2008 after a somewhat tempestuous friendship.
While at NU, I got to know Eric, and I liked what I saw. We were on brother/sister floors (yeah 600!) so we went to a bunch of events together. Being the sister floor RA, I was required to attend as many intramural football games as I could manage, so I got to watch how Eric and a few of the other older guys on the floor managed their team, being the leaders who reminded their teammates to cool down and keep good sportsmanship at the forefront--a difficult task when playing other teams that only played dirty.
The first quality that attracted me to Eric was when I heard his heart for missions. We somehow ended up sitting next to each other at Cheesecake Factory for a floor event and started talking about life in general. He told me that he felt called to missions. I asked where, and he told me that he said he'd probably end up somewhere in the Middle East since no one really wants to go there and that's where the Gospel is needed most. At the time, I was feeling a pull to Muslim ministry, and let me tell you, that sort of a connection on a spiritual level can be pretty intense. Of course, it was probably a whole year later that we actually ended up getting together, but that night I thought, "He could be the one!"
Eric has this way of being himself and enjoying me being me that is very refreshing. The relationship I was in prior to our relationship was one where I felt like I was boxed in, where I wasn't recognized for who I was, and if I tried to be myself, I was overwhelming. Being stifled is no way to live, and Eric not only loves everything about me--my quirks included--but encourages me to be me and to pursue those hobbies that light me up from the inside--NaNoWriMo 2009 is a prime example.
If I were to think of adjectives for Eric, I would think of "strong," "level-headed," "stable," and "compassionate." Eric is probably the most even keeled man I know. It usually takes a lot to shake him, and that is such a blessing to a girl like me who feels like the waves of life have her going up and down and all over the place. He's the voice of reason in my ear when emotions and hormones make me think that the world is over. Also, it takes a lot for him to lose his temper, and I hope I don't ever abuse that quality in him.
As I mentioned earlier, music is important to the Judds, and Eric loves music. He loves music in the same way that I love music. His tastes are very eclectic, and I never know what I'll be listening to when I hop up in his dark green Ford Explorer. Sometimes, we'll listen to Jack Johnson, sometimes Sufjan Stevens. Other times we'll listen to Johnny Cash, bluegrass, or Tuvan throat singing. Actually, I don't think he has a cd of Tuvan throat singing, but he's definitely a fan of the unusual when it comes to music!
[Here's an example of Tuvan throat singing.]
Eric has a great sense of humor that ranges from sarcastic to dry humor to the absolute ridiculous. It's highly entertaining to joke around with him, and almost as great, it's pretty entertaining to watch him interact with his current roommate--who is also one of his coworkers. Combined, they are possibly the best comedic duo around. :)
What else can I say about Eric? I think what it comes down to is that...and I know this sounds so incredibly cheesy...he completes me. I feel like he's my other half, my missing half, and that we fit together in ways that I couldn't have imagined. We balance each other. He's yin, I'm yang. (AH! Eastern mysticism in our Christian blog!) You get the picture. Honestly, I can't imagine being any more blessed with a future spouse than being with Eric.
All that to say, I hope that those of you reading this who currently don't know Eric have the chance to get to know him as I have. :)
I got all my Save the Dates done. It was the lazy way to do it, but they're done and that's all that matters. Plus, Beff hasn't finished hers.....hahahahahahaha (win!)
I haven't done half of my Save The Dates yet. It's a simple email, and I'm daunted by going through Facebook profile by profile to extract email addresses. Holy lazy.
She got hers done a month and a half ago. Clearly I need a secretary or personal assistant.