February: Wes and I traveled to San Francisco for his work. He attended a conference with his start-up company, and also saw a few other friends there. We stayed at a really neat little hotel called The Mosser and spent a good portion of our time in The Bean Tree and Tea Leaf. It rained nonstop while we were there, which put a literal damper on the week, but it was nice to see another new city. At the end of the week, Wes was offered a full time job at the start-up, which would incidentally make him their first and most important employee. I moved out of my parents’ house and back into my old stomping grounds near the intersection of Lemay and Drake in Fort Collins (loved the area).

March: I was in a car accident where I was smashed by a Dodge Ram. My poor Honda Civic barely survived but I was lucky to only have minor bruises. Another trip, back to Atlanta this time for a family reunion in Piedmont Park. We went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with Wes’s two sisters, one brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and his mama and daddy. Another work-trip to NYC, where I saw the High Line and Chelsea Market. Wes met my college roommate Christi for the first time, and I met her boyfriend Derek. (This would be a fortuitous meeting).

April: Wes took me up to Horsetooth Reservoir on April 1st, and after talking about how he thought I was the best girl he had ever met… he asked me to marry him! I said yes, of course, and our forever began.

May: I ran my first half marathon: The Colorado Marathon. With a goal to run the whole thing and FINISH, I did. We did a lot of planning in May. Found a wedding planner: Something Blue Colorado, and then a venue: Red Rocks Parks and Amphitheater . I had asked my friend and college roommate Christi to be one of my bridesmaids, and when she got engaged this month she asked me to be her bridesmaid in turn — in two weeks! So I picked up one of the only two dresses in my size and her color at David’s Bridal, had my mom alter it, and changed our return flights from our RI vacation in June to go to NYC again instead of back to Denver.

June: Went to Rhode Island to spend a week with my Auntie and Uncle at their beach house. First stop was in Boston, where another Aunt and Uncle met us for lunch and put me and Wes on the train for RI. Perfect trip. We spent the week seeing all the places my parents grew up and talking nonstop with Auntie. At the end of the week we hopped on another train and went on our way to NYC for Christi and Derek’s wedding. When we got back we went and took our engagement photos in Golden with our amazing photographer, Mark Mortensen. And then my good friends Beth and Erik got married at the Spruce Mountain Ranch.

July: I feel like July was uneventful. We did pack up our two households. Wes drove all our stuff down to Atlanta in a U-Haul in August before spending another two weeks in NYC before our wedding. A lot of wedding stuff was finalized. We decided to have pie instead of cake. I did a lot of triathlon training. I moved in with my friends Beth and Erik, and took care of their dog, Maddie while they lived in Pueblo during the week. July was nice for downtime. Beth and Erik got to know Wes and it was really nice to spend a lot of time with another newlywed couple right before our wedding.

August: BUSY month! Wes took our buddy Greg and a U-Haul filled with his stuff and mine and drove it all cross-country to Atlanta. He had a week before he had to go to NYC for work (again!) and found us a little house in Grant Park during that time. He was gone again to NYC for a full two weeks and was only back one week again before our wedding in September. The day he left was also the day of my bridal shower, which was at the Lavender and Lace Teahouse in Eaton.

September: The weekend before our wedding my good friend and another roommate, Anna, married her now-husband, Richard in Fort Collins at Grace Presbyterian. They had an awesome wedding with a bicycle parade over to their cake and coffee reception at Everyday Joe’s. HOORAY! Then it was our turn. We were married on September 25, 2011 at Red Rocks Amphitheater with our nearest and dearest looking on. From Golden, we traveled to our honeymoon stay in Vail before our long road trip to Atlanta.

October: (September-October): Road trip included such sights as Mesa Verde National Park and the Cliff Palace dwellings. We stopped on the way there to meet with another college roommate of mine, Casie, and her husband, Cory and their now one year old daughter Hannah. Then we journeyed on to Albuquerque, NM and arrived in time for the Balloon Fiesta. We saw San Felipe de Neri Parish and all sorts of cool shops, and had a yummy Mocha Ole! Later on we rode the Sandia Peak Tramway up the mountain and hiked a good 3 miles because we wanted to make it to the top. Our next stop was Hale Center, Texas where we stayed a night with Wes’s grandfather and heard tales of the good old days as a rancher and a cowboy on the open range of Colorado. We stayed a weekend in Houston with Wes’s mother as a torrential downpour prevented us from repacking our gear in the back of the truck until it stopped. We finally arrived home in Atlanta on October 12, thank goodness. Husband had a birthday and the only reason we could celebrate it is because his sister lives in Atlanta, too, and made dinner for all of us.

November: I started learning to cook real things and baked my first bread loafs! We also went to IKEA for the first time and bought a bazillion shelves and a counter height dining table and chairs. The house is finally starting to come together. I went to my first APW book club (A Practical Wedding) where I met four other girls from the area and we discussed a book by Caitlin Moran, and discussed lots of things about being newly married. The week of Thanksgiving I picked up a bug at the pool and was miserable and the day after Thanksgiving it hit Wes too. (Our first time passing an illness to each other as a married couple). Thanksgiving we spent with Wes’s sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, the brother-in-law’s family, and three Chinese students from Georgia Tech.

December: We got our first Christmas tree, which had to be a little 6 foot fake tree, and while it looks fake, it is really fun to just have a tree! (I’m allergic to Christmas trees, which is why it has to be fake). My family sent us all sorts of decorations so the tree was decorated, the crocheted stockings were hung, and the angel was placed on the mantle. The cat found the tree and wouldn’t leave it alone. I started swimming with The Atlanta Rainbow Trout, while Wes went to Philadelphia to work. Christmas came and we spent it with Wes’s sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew again. His mama and daddy drove all the way up from Houston in one day and spent the time with us as well, even going to the Christmas Eve service at both churches. So far, I have happy memories of the good parts of 2011 and 2012 has a lot to live up to!

Dear FH and I took the train again from Providence to New York. We arrived and met up with the FH’s boss, who was so kind to turn over his apartment to us for the trip. We sat with him in the Starbucks where the two of them talked business for a while. I followed what I could – and played around with my laptop when they lost me!

That evening, FH and I trekked to the middle of Union Square for the Rehearsal Dinner. (Without the rehearsal. Oy. Now I know the reason a rehearsal is so very important). There we met my dear friend, Christi, and her FH Derek, as well as the families for both. Christi is actually going to be in my wedding as well and had asked me to stand up for her as a bridesmaid in this wedding, which is part of why FH and I made such a serious effort to be here. That and the last time we were in New York, Christi introduced me and FH to Derek and I introduced them to my own FH for the first time.

Christi and her new husband Derek at the rehearsal dinner.

Christi's Niece with Niece's Uncle

Christi and Derek's parents

Then FH and I went back to his boss’s apartment to CRASH into bed, knowing we would be up way too early in the morning to start our 3 transportation trek to Staten Island for the wedding. See, as a bridesmaid, I had to be on Staten Island at 7 am for hairstyling. My poor FH came with me to make sure that I could traverse the Metro, Ferry, and LIRR safely.

The debacle that was ‘hair.’ Christi and her MOH arrived at the salon with her father and a few friends in tow to wait upon their opening and getting our hair situated. This salon had obviously been suggested by one of Christi’s black friends as all the women working there were of different ethnicities. And they had No. Idea. how to work with white people’s hair. The lady working on me first dumped half a can of hairspray in my hair, and when asked to wash it out so I could have my hair done with as little product as possible, she proceeded to THEN dump half a can of mousse in it. Ugh. It was so crunchy. Even FH thought so when he bent over to kiss the top of my head.

At last we arrived at the venue and finished getting ready for the morning wedding. There was just enough time for a ‘First Look’ and then Christi and Derek and their wedding parties snapped some photos. I was very glad to be there and especially to be there with my own FH. We had a nice time and it made us look forward to our own wedding day all the more!

Christi and Derek on their Wedding Day

Congratulations to Christi and Derek! May the rest of your year be a reflection of the pure joy you felt on June 12th! I love you both.

At the beginning of June, my dear FH and I took another big trip. We continued our jet-setting lifestyle and hopped a plane to Rhode Island by way of Boston Logan International Airport to visit my Aunt and Godmother. Now, Auntie is actually the woman who was my mother’s college roommate at The University of Rhode Island and was in my mother’s wedding when she married my father. Auntie was also the person my parents had entrusted with the care of me and my brother should anything tragic happen to the both of them. It was always really nice for me to have that sort of security growing up.

So, first we hit up Boston Logan International Airport. After crashing at our hotel and sleeping from the time we arrived until fairly late the next morning, my mom’s older brother (ie: my uncle) and his wife picked us up in the lobby of our hotel and took us out to lunch. Hooray for the first of my ‘real’ family members to meet my FH.

Lunch with Uncle and Aunt

After lunch, Uncle and Aunt drove me and FH to the train station and put us on the train to Providence. Hoorah. I actually like travel by train. It is much less stressful for me than driving or flying is. We texted Auntie we were on our way and sat in the train playing around with our Macs and iPad.

We had arrived at the station and were waiting outside for Auntie to come pick us up when a lovely black lady came up signing. “Hello! Are you Deaf? I am an interpreter from … My parents are Deaf! Where are you from? Who are you?” FH and I chatted with this lady for a little bit, telling her we were waiting for my Aunt to come pick us up. Auntie pulls up across the street and comes to retrieve us, giving me a big hug. The lady goes ” oh! this is your Aunt? I see the resemblance!” We laughed and said our goodbyes and went on our way to do all the fun things I had heard about RI for so long.

Our first stop was very important! Caserta’s Pizzeria! This is one of my family’s and Auntie’s favorite places to get pizza in the area. So we got pizzas and Wimpy Skippys (which are spinach pies stuffed with cheese and pepperoni, kind of like calzones).

FH with the stack of boxes from Caserta's Pizzeria.

Then we all loaded up in Auntie’s Cadillac, taking a lovely drive to Island Park where Auntie and Uncle have a beautiful property right off the beach. Asti was quite happy to see us as well. I was saddened to see Asti at this advanced stage of age, however, as I had heard stories of the bubbly bouncy puppy as far back as my own childhood. Asti was the dog my Aunt and Uncle rescued as a puppy and was named after one of their favorite effervescent wines.

When we arrived we had a time of it trying to figure out where best FH would sleep. See, FH is TALL. He is six foot six. Your standard bed doesn’t really fit him well though he fits well enough of a queen sized bed. Well, Auntie and Uncle’s beach house has two very winding staircases to get to the upstairs bedrooms so only beds of a certain size would fit up there. One room had a (supposedly) XL Twin bed, while the other had a full sized bed. FH went up and lay down on each of these beds to discover that he would only barely fit on the full bed if he laid on it diagonally. So he got that bed, and I had the Twin.

Asti was a sweet dog. It is a lovely thing that my FH and I both love dogs so very much! She hit it off with both of us right away! Auntie told me after the first night that Asti started doing something she only does with people she likes a lot. She started wandering around the house looking for me and FH. We would usually both go to bed before my Aunt and Uncle would with Asti, even if we weren’t actually asleep in our separate rooms. When Auntie would take Asti up to go to bed, she would stick her nose in the doorways of each of the bedrooms that FH and I were staying in, checking to make sure that we were still there and still alright. It was so sweet for me to hear this! I really adore that doggie.

Anyway. The rest of the trip was full of walks on the beach.

Rhode Island Sunset

Visits to Auntie’s favorite shops and restaurants. Iced Coffees, ice creams (Newport Creamery), meeting co-workers and relatives, and seeing all the places Auntie and my parents frequented both growing up and in their college days.

Iced coffees with Auntie

Yum, Auntie and Uncle and me at Anthony's Seafood for chowdah

Quinn Hall with me and FH by the sign.

Uncle wearing the Highland Meadows hat my parents sent him.

Auntie and her brother. I love this photo.

FH talking with Babcia (Polska for Grandma)

It was truly an enjoyable trip. I am so thankful for Auntie. It was good to see her, to have her and Uncle approve of and even begin to get to know my FH. We had such a good time. Auntie and I did some fun girly shopping too. We got hair things for my wedding day, and both FH and I got awesome new shoes at Clarks.

It was nice to get reacquainted with Auntie as an adult. The last time I spent any real time with her was when I was a senior in high school and she traveled out to Colorado for my high school graduation. My brother and parents actually got to go to RI about two summers ago now to work on cleaning out my grandmother’s house. But my brother also got to stay with Auntie and Uncle for four weeks! I am glad that we had the week we did. We didn’t do as much as I would have liked but at the same time we talked endlessly. And we learned that now that I am an adult we are not only ‘family’ but we are truly friends. FH and I are looking forward to the next time we can go out to RI and spend time with Uncle and Auntie!

Second Beach - in Providence, RI

Prior to the shoot, we actually arrived in Golden about an hour early so we stopped at a little riverside cafe for dinner. FH ordered cream of vegetable soup, escargot mushroom risotto raviolo thingies, and vegetables on the side. It came with the usual bread basket and the bread was really good. They mixed balsamic vinegar and olive oil on a plate for a dipping sauce.

After our little ‘snack’ we each took our respective bathroom breaks. FH went to use the men’s room while I waited in front of the restaurant and sat on a light post base. He came out and immediately signed ‘stay’ at me, whipping out his phone to take a photo.

We met up with our photographer, the talented Mark Mortensen of Mark Mortensen Photography. Mark spent a good bit of time walking down the riverside path and over the bridge with us. Fielding a lot of comments from passersby as both the FH and I are functionally Deaf. Mark also fielded various questions on photography and his particular tools and artifacts. He showed us 3 of the photos he took where he used tools for light balancing and the monopod and they looked fantastic. We are very excited to see the finished products!

All Your Life – The Band Perry

this song goes ‘would you walk to the edge of the ocean/just to fill my jar with sand/ in case I should get the notion/ to let it run through my hands’

Glass – Thompson Square

Honey Bee- Blake Shelton

Makin’ Plans – Miranda Lambert

I had known that Jennifer was the girl that I was going to marry since about the third month of our courtship. But one pearl of wisdom that I have to share with my dear readers that happen to be male: Girls usually run away if you ask them right when you think you want to marry them. So I wisely held on to that and took her to Glenwood Springs instead towards the fall along with my Miniature Schnauzer, JJ.

I’m sometimes not sure if she loves the dog more than she loves me, but hey, JJ and I are a package deal — you can’t have one without the other, so it works either way. And it makes things much easier when the girl you’re courting loves dogs! JJ has Strong Opinions, and her expressed Opinion of Jennifer has been, “She gives me lots of attention and love and feeds me sometimes!”

So, that’s one big checkmark in Jennifer’s favor.

We had already more or less unofficially officially decided on marriage by the time the New Year rolled around. It wasn’t a sudden decision, but something that grew and evolved. While we were in Atlanta, she was having difficulty with the car accident that she was in the week before in Fort Collins, so I pulled her into my lap and offered her comfort and reassurance. It was unrehearsed and heartfelt, the words that I gave her.

“Was that your proposal speech?” she asked.

I blinked, and then laughed, “No, it wasn’t, but I guess it could make a good one.” Right then would have been a good time to whip out the ring. But I didn’t have this material and tangible object, as it was on order from the United Kingdom. It was not a typical ring, with black diamonds set in a groove, but it works far better for Jennifer’s active lifestyle.

So the actual proposal had to wait until I was back from New York City, as the ring had been delivered to my home while I was traveling. Great! Now I can finally ask her. So I asked her for some time alone with her on Saturday. We decided that we were going to Horsetooth Reservoir.

The big day came, and whoops! My back threw out from too much sleeping off a cold that I had picked up in New York City. I was rather irritated, but I really did not want to put off this moment that had been a long time in coming.

So, there I was, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, doped up on cold medicine. I guess that made Jennifer my Esmeralda. The sunlight and the view was lovely, but the wind kept whipping up our hair!

But as I told Jennifer later, if I waited for the perfect moment where every event aligned just so, it would never happen. A pretty apt metaphor for life in general, I thought.

“Will you marry me?” I finally asked.

“Was that a question?” she replied, as apparently I had signed it in the declarative mode in American Sign Language.

“Well, yes,” I countered after a moment.

“I’ve already said yes several times!” she retorted with a laugh in her eyes.

“This is part of the ritual!” But she was much pleased with the ring and quite glowed.

On the way back she asked, “How should we let my mother know? If I tell her, I will have to go to Windsor right then.” I thought for a moment, “Send a picture to her picture frame!” So we took her camera and tried to figure out how to take a picture of a ring on a hand. Turns out that the best angle is with the camera over her shoulder, with her back towards the sun.

And so, after almost a year of courtship, I am going to mary the love of my life in the fall. I am much pleased with this arrangement. So is JJ.

Fast forward a year. I am currently training for triathlons with the eventual goal of completing an Ironman. I am training under a very talented coach who has so far fixed my swim stroke and figured out what was wrong with my running form. She has taught me about riding a bike and transitions in triathlons and make racing all the more exciting. I have learned about race day nutrition and met all sorts of other athletes. I don’t think I would have done half of the things that I have this year if I hadn’t had my coach pushing from behind me and my boyfriend’s steadfast support.

Now. I was experiencing some pretty severe knee pain when the boyfriend and I came back from our last trip to San Francisco. So much pain that I nearly entirely gave up on running. Then my coach said she wanted to check my form so I went and ran for her at the track on campus. She did figure out that I was doing a pretty strong heel-strike run which is terrible for your knees so she started teaching me drills to work with that. And then after running at the track we had swim tech where I kept up with running only in the water this time.

While running in the water was incredibly helpful I must still be having some sort of crazy issues because today I walked across the Williamsburg Bridge in NYC and at the end of the day I was having awful shin split pain. Tonight I had to wrap my ankle and take Advil. Sincere hopes that this doesn’t lead to me having to see a PT. It has already caused me to scratch the Colorado Marathon.

Now, you all know that generally I am not much of a blog and point type of girl. this is a place I write about things I’m big on, like training, triathlons, photography,  and family. interesting happenstance, I was reading my dear friend Katie’s blog and she had linked us to this Craftily Ever After blog post about her Valentine’s day subway art giveaway. Now, I am not a girl who is big on Valentine’s Day because this is probably the first year EVER in my life that I have had someone I wanted to share the holiday with! But my boyfriend and I are excited to do this right as a dating couple before we take the big ol plunge into marriage so… I thought Jessica’s crafty subway art was a nice idea to start getting into the Hearts and Holiday mood. Anyway, you should all check out her blog. Also look into her amazingly crafty Etsy shop!

Coach already made me commit to a bunch of ‘real races’ for the New Year and so my definitive race calendar is set.

Races are as follows:
Running races are the Colorado Marathon May 1st, and (tenatively) The Hyannis Half on Feb 27th.

For triathlons, I’m doing the FCC Sprint in May. Loveland Lake 2 Lake in June, Boulder Peak in July, and Iron Girl in August. And then maybe some others but those are the ones set in stone.

Boyfriend and I are coming up on the end of eight months now. SCARY stuff. It’s awesome that it is still going really well. We seem to be finding a nice rhythm to our lifestyles. We get along really well especially since we both use the exact same primary mode of communication. I have never experienced a communication disconnect with him related to our actual language choices. The only time we have problems understanding each other really relates more to me not knowing exactly what I’m trying to say!

Today is an exciting one. The boy and I are taking our best friend down to Denver to the DAM to see King Tut! Very excited! And it’s our buddy’s birthday tomorrow so this is a hurrah to him. Another many more years of happy life, right, buddy? ♥

Lyrics from “It Felt Good on My Lips”, Tim McGraw.