Married Life

The wedding was absolutely magical... In every way. I have been grinning like an idiot all week. In a way, it was better than shipping off to honeymoon for a couple of weeks- no stress of travel, no counting down the days until the vacation is over, no obsessing about money and passports and all of that. It was just a weekend in Indianapolis (prettiest little city ever) and a week at home with husband, minus two days of classes and one amazing day at church.

Indianapolis is the most romantic city on earth, I'm convinced. It was so neat walking back to the hotel along the canal. The whole city is so big and clean and safe. It feels new, but there is so much history. I didn't even bring my camera, and I left my cell phone at the hotel the entire time, because I wanted to be sure to enjoy every moment, rather than photo-documenting every interesting thing for friends. And I am so glad I left the camera at home because night time in that city was too beautiful for any camera to ever capture. We ate at the best restaurant where I drank the best wine I've ever had and ate the best food I've ever eaten in my entire life. I had Thai chicken and Jason had the beef brisket. It was so delicious. After dinner, we walked by the huge war memorial in the center of the city- which has a fountain that is as wide as a river on either side of it and huge round waterfalls that were entirely illuminated at night. It was in the middle of a big cobblestone roundabout and there were horses and carriages EVERYWHERE. The sounds of hoof beats on cobblestone is my favorite sound in the world. It was the most romantic spot ever. And Jason and I each threw a shiny penny in it and made a wish. It was amazing.

The next day, we got free breakfast at the hotel bistro because I told the concierge that we just got married. :D It was by far the best french toast I had ever eaten in my entire life, but it was twice as tasty because the whole meal was free. Everything was free that weekend. Really, it was amazing. We spent the whole day, Labor Day, at the zoo. We saw a dolphin show, rode a roller coaster, and ate foot long hot dogs from a little stand called Dogs & Suds. It felt like an old-fashioned honeymoon. We drove home and stopped at Jason's mom's house to pick up all of our presents. We came back to the house to open them and we cracked open a leftover bottle of champagne and delicious leftover chicken satay and grilled veggies and wedding cake and commenced to burying ourselves alive in wrapping paper. It was awesome.

Jason had the week off so he worked on the house and got a TON of stuff done. He picked 8 pumpkins and tore down the garden. He picked me up on Tuesday and Thursday ( I have class from 8:30-5:30 on those days) and he took me out to lunch. Best husband ever. And then on Wednesday we went to the antique mall in Springfield where Jason got my engagement ring and my platinum filigree bracelet. I am now the proud collector of antique tin cookie cutters. I got one shaped like a girls scout trefoil (ironically made as a promotional item for some old brand of coffee) and a star of David and a plain round one. :D We also bought a postcard from 1910 Downtown Springfield at night- down High Street- the same route we rode in the Westcott car from the Westcott House to the hotel. It was an amazing find.

Then Friday I went down to Sinclair and dropped off my old German texts to a friend who needed them. I got them for free (and they're like 300 dollars) so I thought I'd pay it forward and let someone else get some use out of them. I loved German but I just don't have the time to study it like I want to. I studied it for three years because SO MUCH psychological terminology is extracted from German studies. Just this week I found a concept I didn't quite understand in an article I had to read for Selective Visual Perception- and I translated the original German to understand the meaning of the English word "set" as it was used in the study. Turns out it's an adjective. Who knew? ;) Anyway, German is still coming in handy. And I had a great conversation catching up with an old Sinclair friend, too, which was awesome!

Afterward, Jason and I went to Voltzy's hot dog stand and Voltzy pretty much fell in love with Jason when he found out he works for PBS. Turns out Voltzy is a huge Bob Ross fan. I had the best sausage and sauerkraut sandwich ever. We went to Great Miami Outfitters and looked at shoes. I think I'm going to get the cute little lady version of the Keen boots Jason has. Still deciding...

Then Saturday we went to the Cincinnati Museum Center- where we had our first date. It was just as amazing and romantic as it was July 2, 2006! Except we got to see an incredible exhibit called America I Am- a collection of African American art, artifacts, and cool pop culture collectibles like one of Jimmy Hendrix's outfits and Mohammad Ali's famous robe. There was also an original copy of the Declaration of Independence there- and get this- it was THE copy that some guy found behind a painting he bought at a yard sale for $4!!! How amazing is that?

AND

There was a whole exhibit on the daguerreotypes of J. P. Ball. I could have peed my pants. I LOVE daguerreotypes.

And today we went to church, and visited Sara after because her car broke and she had to stay home and try to fix it. Then Jason and I went to lunch with Pastor Mike and Kathleen and their grandbabies Emma and Andrew. Cutest. Kids. Ever! Then Jason and I went shoe shopping and got a soft pretzel at the mall. Didn't find any shoes (I have a $10 coupon from DSW that I just have to use) but it was worth the drive just for the pretzel.

Now it's a night of Netflix instantly to our TV via X-Box. Another thing Jason did this week was finally run the wires to hook the X-Box up to the internet. And now we're both addicted to live streaming nerdy history documentaries. I really hope I have the willpower tomorrow to resist the netflix long enough to get some homework done- because we've got dinner and photos with the beautiful Christi Salchak tomorrow night! :D The best week of my life is quickly turning into the best two weeks of my life! :D