I write to remember

The summer has come and nearly gone. So I suppose I should update about it.

Erin got a bike and we did some bike riding when we could. Not as much as we wanted to because of schedules. Erin, my dad and I all did the metric Century bike ride at the 100Grand bike ride.

I moved out of my apartment and into a townhouse which will be our first place once we get married and Erin moves in. Its nice. It has a two car garage, we sleep in the basement and it has a gas fireplace. So far the worst thing about it is the smoke detectors outside of the bathroom go off if I leave the door open during a shower. Its only annoying at this point.

I helped Miles load a truck up so he and Leah could move to Ypsilanti.

Erin, Claire, Claire’s brothers and I all made it out to Michigan’s adventure where I got erin on a rollercoaster and we all enjoyed the water park. They have a new ride called the funnel of fear that basically shoots you (and two friends) into a giant funnel where it feels like you’re going to flip over.

Wedding planning is coming along great. We found a tux place, Erin found bridesmaid dresses, a wedding dress for her. We completed wedding prep classes with ease. It was a good look into what were getting into and how to communicate. Michelle designed some invites for us and we just got them printed. Erin had two bridal showers, one in Detroit and one in Millington. We got some great gifts and Erin loved seeing everyone. We also got some engagement pictures taken. We had the session at a park near my old apartments. It was fun, even though it rained some and we are now just waiting for the proofs to come back from editing. Overall the wedding process is right on track if not ahead of schedule.

Work has been stressful for Erin so we’re both looking forward to the wedding and our honeymoon. It won’t be long (only three days) but it will be fun. We’re going to Chicago to relax, shop and enjoy our company.

My bachelor party is Oct 3. Strey is going to fly in and Miles said he’d come. It should be a great time up at the cabin. We’ll probably go to the casino on that Saturday.

So things are moving along.  

January – Started the new year with friends and a wonderful girlfriend. The month was a blur of class, hanging out and just trying to be me.

Feburary – Class and the normal stuff ruled my life. I had a good Valentines Day. It’s a pretty boring start the year when you start to speak in generalities.

March – At this point I was feeling blah and looking forward to Summer and riding my bike. Spring break was a nice “break” from class. Work was very busy and I started riding my bike to work everyday.

April – Spring had sprung and I got my new bike using the economic stimulus package. Its an awesome new bike.

May – Went to two weddings with Erin. Had a ton of fun at each. I started to train for two triathlons. I was feeling great.

June – Training was in full swing. Went to Jason Keef’s wedding and was feeling really good about the triathlons when I took a spill off my bike and break my left arm near the elbow. Surgery was had and I was extremely defeated and sad.

July – Spent the month in a chair or couch, working as hard as I could at work, but even that was tough. I could feel myself getting out of shape and that made me even more sad.

August – Not much happened. Erin started her job full time and was dealing with that as we started talking about more serious times in our relationship. Work was busy.

September – Erin and I had a bit of a falling out due to some understandings but it actually made us closer. We started to make finalized plans for a trip to Chicago in October.

October – Watched some football with family at CMU. Erin and I made a trip to Chicago where we had an amazing time. Halloween was great and I had a great birthday.

November – We talked more and more about engagement. I talked to her parents (unbeknownst to her) and I knew I was ready. I just had to finalize my plan.

December – It was cold and windy and snowy, but I got engaged to an amazing woman. Christmas was good, all three of them. We surprised the Suranyes with the engagement and my parents came to GR for Christmas eve. I spent my first Christmas with the Healy family. And then we went to the Grants after Christmas. Finally New Years eve was had with Josh, Jen, Jason, Lisa, Lacey, Scott, Krissy, James, and Erin at Josh’s house. We played rock band, cards and apples to apples.

Over all 2008 was pretty good to me when I wasn’t paying attention to economic reports and just trying to keep my head down. I worked some, played some and made plans to marry my best friend.

Well last weekend Erin and I surprised my parents with the engagement. My mom has been feeling kind of bah humbug about Christmas because of stress and being busy redoing their living room. But she said that her Christmas has been made now.

We did the Surayne Christmas which was fun. I ate too much. My dad was sick the whole time.

Well we’re only a week into planning the wedding and holy hell its stressful. Both our families have had bad experiences when it comes to weddings and who gets invited. We both had cousins who made “rules” about who would be invited and it caused problems in the family. So we feel like we “have” to invite everyone, even cousins who we have NO real connection with. So if we do that and all of the “adult” cousins bring dates we will have a base amount of 170 people. That’s a lot of people, and we won’t even have any friends. If we add in the friends we feel like we have to have there its around 220. I know that not everyone will bring dates, if they even come, but at this point we kind of have to plan for around 200 I think. We have four options right now. We could do the traditional wedding reception and have it at a local KofC Hall with catering and open bar which would cost us 20/person. Not horrible, but I haven’t even seen pictures of the place so we atleast have to check it out. The other option is a GVSU banquet hall downtown with only hors doevres  and “host” bar (we pay for what is consumed) which would cost us 1200 to rent and up to 18/person for food and whatever is consumed alcohol wise.

Then we have two non traditional options. We could do just a ceremony (invite everyone even all our friends) and then go out to dinner with anyone who wants to come but they pay. We’d pay for our parents and siblings. Then we’d go out to one of the dance clubs and pay for some of friends cover and a few drinks (still way cheaper than a big party). Then we’d have two family gatherings similar to a graduation open house in Jenison and Millington. Or we could do all of that without the bar option on a Sunday afternoon.

That’s what we’re working with right now. We’re going to talk to Erin’s parents and see where their feelings are. Right now erin and I don’t have strong feelings either way and if they do we’d be open to listening and going with what they think.

I’m fighting a bad cold right now, and this weekend is the nut cracker and cookie party. Next week is of course Christmas.