A long car ride. but good weekend

O what a fun weekend!

Miles came to Chicago wednesday night, my sister flew in thursday and late thursday night we drove onto Anoka, Minnesota. Driving there through the night Mike and Miles held down the front seat, with lots of energy drinks and John Mayer sing-alongs. Meg and I mostly made a nest with blankets in the backseat. We arrived sometime before 5am i think and slept in till like 11am... and it was awesome! we had a belated thanksgiving with the colago crew friday and that was great, watched lots of home videos of all the kids (which i love to see) and how could i forget we finally got to meet Owen Arthur Martineau who basically stole our hearts. He was so precious a perfect mix of Casey and Marie.

(start a blog Marie, do it, do it)

Saturday was the couples shower Mikes parents threw for us. So much fun! Got to meet a lot of Mike's high school buddies and hear all the stories from back in the day, so much fun, eat delicious cake and drink good punch and all the awesome singing. It just made for a wonderful wonderful holiday. We all had so much fun!

Early Sunday morning we had to leave unfortunately quite quickly because a storm was headed to chicago. It dusted minnesota and was moving down, so we packed up the car as quickly as we could and headed out. Traffic was kinda lame and so that took a long time and then in Milwaukee we got caught in the storm. It wasnt too bad it just took some time to navigate through it. A little slipping and sliding and Me Meg and Miles had to push the car up a hill a little but in the end it was fine. When we finally got to chicago it was 10:30 at night we had been driving for 11 hours. And Mike and Miles dropped us off and continued on down to Michigan, another 4 hour drive. They were exhausted. But Safe. Mike got to hang out down in Calvin a bit, slept in Miles room and saw Grand Rapids.

Came home and took me and meg to Gullivers for pizza and then promptly fell asleep, meg and i headed out for some sightseeing. We went downtown and walked around a bit. It was beautiful all the christmas lights were on and decorated down town. We took silly pictures and had a really good time.

It was awesome!

Meg has to go home today unfortunately. 

But it was a well travelled trip!

And now she got to meet all the Colago's!!

And enjoyed a bit of snow, southern CA has been so hot recently so the snow was a welcome change.

Finals hangs over us now and soon so so so sooon we will be driving again to MN and then off to CA for our wedding. I can not wait and it is coming so quick. I discussed flowers with my mom last night and those seem to be the last of the big details. It will be a party to remember and we hope people will enjoy themselves. 

Well that is all for now i guess.

have a great day!

i ve got nothing to do today but smile

pictures of mikes and my apt

blink my eyes and see your face, smiling back at me

Well Mike and I had such a fun weekend!

Friday night was just a fun night, of watching the Bond movie Casino Royale which was fabulous, because last weekend Mike and I went and saw Quantum of Solace. It was such a good time! Love going to see those movies with him, Mike gets so stoked on the action and this makes me want to have a sweet action fight scene, but be on Bonds team not the bad guy... 

So, I painted and Mike watched and then Saturday Mike went and hung with some good friends and i worked on a paper and then Saturday night Mike his old roommate DJ and DJ's girlfriend went downtown for the light parade and the turning on of the down town lights, all the trees were dotted in little white lights, wrapped tightly like broken fallen stars. So beautiful. It was extra special because last year Mike DJ Sarah and I went on our first double date to this same exact parade and night of down town fun. We went to the cheese cake factory in the Hancock tower, like we did last year, and it was packed like it was last year, and we ended up in the same booth! it was so much fun!

drank shirley temples and ate food. wonderful!

Sunday i had to work and then when i got off I came over to Mike's apt and we hung out, Mike went to work on some things for work and i napped and then he came back and we hung out and got chipotle.

it was lovely lovely night.

O my gosh, i am so excited, mike and i have less than a month until we are married! and i can not wait!!!!

things are moving along so good and i am so stoked, all the bridesmaids dresses are in and that is exciting! Working on wedding hair and makeup and those fabulous details!

We got Mike's tickets for CA!! and we have his barong that he will wear in the wedding! Its so gorgeous! i can not wait to see him in it! Hes just so cute! 

So in any case life is good, good. 

i need a nap so soon! I am yawning terribly.

tastes like wine

Summer

tastes

like wine

so 

pass that old bottle

and 

let the

red sun

cracks the sky

can you dig it.

a portion of one of my poems from my writing poetry class of last nights fame.

Try again- last nights reading any thing but famous, just inspiring and cool.

Got this poem reviewed and thats alright with me.

Getting over the butterflies of pubic inspection and dissection of my work, and learning to write creatively not on my whims but on assignment. Also not that fun. But also a great tool in stretching my abilities. Ever so dormant. 

Cool ride on a hot night

Tell me your name again

Seems like we must have met once before

I hear laughter 

And 

smell Old whiskey

on your breath

seems to me

it is a good night

indeed.

another vignette of writing.

There are these three incredible writers in this class with me. LIke super good. Quietly, subtle and wickedly self aware- good.

There words are like ticks embedded on the paper, damn it i cannot stand my jealousy when i read their work. Effortless grins and nods and inspiration and the where with all to get it all so perfect, neatly broken up lines with the delightful imagery or bloodish colors. 

O i must be green in these classes. Little double majors, lit and creative writing. And i am your super senior squinting at their way and thinking of bad things about them so they will seem less Keats-god like and more just rambling fools who were  just not that cool in high school...so they wrote in their greasy little notebooks and passed lame pictures around that they had scribbled some quasi-pokemon creature on. Closet anime. 

But now they are so ridiculously smart they are so out with their weird fetishes that i can do nothing but be jealous and try to top their work the next wednesday from 6:30-9:50, 4th floor of carlson tower.

it just doesnt happen.

And let us be reminded today is a special because it is 1 month until mike and i are married.

crazy exciting and i felt like this day would never come. 

but like Christmas it has its own day on the calendar so it always makes its way down the line.

Ah how lovely.

How lovely indeed!

Take your cue from here.

Hello Cats..

I figured i would give you a taste of California, and CA is not CA with out a snapshot of CoCo Sneaklah. As well as mike and mike being surfers in august. enjoy and prepare for Jackson-Colago 2008 Wedding extravaganza!!

So one project is due this time next week...dang. Then the next project is due on soon as im back...noo.

AND RSVP have started trickling in. So exciting.

Mike and I are getting ready to start moving some of my things which is such an exciting moment. My seeester comes out in a week which is also fabulous! Mike's birthday is coming up yay! B-day party time in MN. 

i feel like i am starting to get a better visual for the wedding ceremony itself, picture tall candles and soft music. Lovely Brides maids in a floor length black and ivory gown. Ivory and Ivory, gentle looks and beading tears. O holy Night, the night is brightly shining, it is the night of our dear savior's birth...

O i am getting so excited.

so dear readers, if you are reading this...i hope you find your selves well.

Be blessed.

And the snow is starting to drop, little by little, delicate white reminders of Christmas, soon breathing her cold song that warms our hearts.

And blesses our souls.

Meghan, Mike, Miles and I are going to be driving to minnesota for a non couples shower which will be great to come and hang out with everyone!

So come one and come all!

colago crib in MN.

It is a good time to be alive. 

Let the warm blood pulse through my veins and the beat of my heart not skip for a second, and the eyes in my head not ever close because i just cant miss you there. 

We are walking into the woods on a snowy night and it will be the ride of our lives, the snow is heavy and the load is light but i know tomorrow it will all be a white blanket of memories and old laughter, o let it ring ring ring like a belle at midday reminding you kiddo, you are alive, and its a beautiful sound.

To make the world brand new

Well hello blogger cats...

so in american lit again. Discussing William Carlos Williams. Wonderful. 

Ah i am trying to be an organized bride and what not, sooo i have taken to a spread sheet to prepare for incoming arrivals and trying to set activities up and all that jazz.

Going good so far i think. 

Weekend was lovely. The Honda wagon made it out here and that was ggreat, mike and i feel like we are in the marriage ride. And its a great feeling! Baby sat one night and then went and hung with vannae and erik sunday afternoon, then went to work and then did some laundary. Lots of laundary but didnt have enough change to get it all dried so it got hung on the warm pipes in hopes it would dry, mostly it was mike's work clothes, i took mine back with me to my old apt.

Mike is working hard as usual and i miss that cat. 

Finishing our last marriage counseling session tomorrow, kind of exciting, mostly sad. Mike and i have enjoyed it thoroughly.

Can not decide if we can get a puppy or not. My vote is yes, Mike's vote is no.

so we are at a stalmate. 

Not quite used to being at a stall. I usually use guerilla tactics to get my way... last few times with dogs i showed up with puppies unannounced. 

Not fair to mike. I am used to just muscling my way into what i want, and as i am learning the road to give and take. I guess now isnt a great time for a dog. I guess i will sign the treaty contract and have a seat a while.

I did meet a really cute puppy yesterday before Vannae and Erik's. I would have liked to name him Finn I think. He was a little beagle and he was freezing in the wind but i held him and loved him for a second. Missing a puppy so dearly, and you know people say, well puppies turn to dogs, well that is the double portion of blessing i feel, you get the cute and work of the puppy to love and loyalty of a dog. Dogs or puppys are wonderful.

But not now.

Anywho my friends, the pressure is building in the sky, so high last night it gave way with the first spurts of winter. LIttle white snowflakes dripped from the clouds and puddled on the ground, it will be cold enough soon for the flakes to be snow for the season. I do not pretend to look forward to this. Many people do. I will admit to say it does feel more like Christmas with cold blankets of snow on the ground but it just sort of taunts me and reminds me that this midwest is flat and i have no snowboard and so the snow feels pointless. A dreary picture of colorless winter and snowball fights only last the first month of the flurry, after which an angry face and curse words are hissed at the pelts of cold hard ice being thrown. Because come january and february, the snow is not white and fluffy but frozen, dirty and full of wicked ice. 

I think about my wet uggs and frozen pant hems. And the way the lake looks with ice around the edge and how it lets the wind dance worse around the water. O Chicago knows how to pack a punch with this season.

But this christmas i will say, i won't be thinking of this snow season, i will think of a wedding. Our wedding. The work to get here and the joy in coming together of families, and friends.

So, with that said. 

Be blessed.

It's the SOng of the Redeemed

wellll, here i am again. At work, thinking that in so little time it will be wedding season!

 So exciting, i just have so much work in between then and now, which is so disheartening sometimes, so much work.

I sort of reflected on then and now...in a nostalgic like blue. 

and so much has changed and so quickly, what a blessing and a growing season.

Met mike, got engaged, trying to graduate, starting our life together. Wonderful friendships and discussions. It's great.

well in any case life is good. good. Love our life.

We don't know where the future may take us at this point, it's all so exciting tho.

Mike and I talk about quite a bit, possibly about Africa or teaching English in Korea for a year. We crave the adventure and love what is coming. Someday we talk about going over seas, and for some reason maybe Africa, possibly the east coast of the African continent, but starting a self sufficient community, learning and growing, centralized around the Lord and his redeeming glory! And on the side, lots of soccer! 

And then my mind can't help but wonder why in the heck am I a literature major? when i was a nursing major and somehow decided this would be best? I dont know...

What i can tell you tho- is, I adore my lit classes, soak them up best i can, they are great! I come out of them so inspired and excited.

Two things on the agenda for today, 1. working, off at 11. 2. Meeting the possible addition to our new family, a beagle puppy. 3. Going over to Vannae and Erik's to hang out for a while.

Soo on that note Sunday's are great.

Wet leaves and cold boots, welcoming the fall of summer, and the spring of seasons changing

7am and i am at work. working, working.

well blogging, blogging.

it's cool.

so our wedding invites went out and now people have started to get them in the mail! so exciting!!

I haven't really seen them since mike and i picked them out in august- it was awesome to get to look at them printed up with everyone's names and stuff...

my  mom straight up marathoned them on saturday to get them ready for mailing! those are the times i wished i was home, to help with those details, ah and they are beautiful.

The bridesmaid's dresses have started to come in as well, also fabulous! Melanie has hers, and meg has hers! and they are beautiful. meg texted me a picture of her in her gown and i was like damn so pretty!.

I was chatting with my mom yesterday and we both can't wait to party! it's going to be so fun!!

Jackson's love to have a good time!

and if you know cheyne jackson, you know that he wants it done right and he wants it fabulous- and sheniferous has had such a hand in planning this shindig so get ready! So excited!!

I have class today.

fridays are so long. long. long. mostly because i am dreaming of a delicious nap, after class for me.

i miss my little honda. it was such a great car and now she is down and out. crashed by me. o so sad, what a beach car!

HOwever God is gracious and my parents gave us megs former rockin wagon to aide us in our city need!

yes the wagon with the roswell sticker is on her way to chi town. and i am so greatful!

we needed a great car and dad and mom made it happen.

SOOO with that sad week coming to a close weekend on the horizon and the only plan is to chill with vannae and erik savig, who we love. they live in the chic hyde park, south side of chi town and residence of president elect barack obama so we are excited to come and see their place, hang out, have good conversation, drink delicious wine and eat wonderful food, all in good company.

alright i guess this is it for now.

be cool.

Starting and Starting

So i really enjoy Karla Quiz's blog and i read it quite frequently so i figured i should start my own and document the adventures of Mike and Erin.

The title of of our blog comes from a Wallace Stevens poem and i just really enjoy the idea of the sun's shine being considered chaos...i also think its the lit major in me...

My facebook wedding counter tells me that Mike and i Have 37 days(?) until we are married- so exciting. Not long. We are finishing up our marriage counseling, one week left, which the experience of premarital counseling has been fabulous for both of us. Lots of things to talk about and Mike and I enjoy a good conversation.

Under a month until we head off to CA. UNDER A MONTH! yes. I have started to think of some decorating things and such for inside the ceremony which i am thrilled about. All candles filling a quiet sanctuary.

Mike is working so hard. 55 hours this week. He is so ready for a vacation. Two weeks of CA and MN and we are both stoked!

hopefully surfing and good snowboarding and so we wait for time to march on and on and on...but it does so fast now.

Ben and Gena got married and I wanted to take Mike with me so badly, but we couldnt afford the trip, but the pictures are fabulous so far. 

Anyway, I can not say thank you enough to my families help in planning this wedding, it will be fantastic thanks to them!

two research projects wait for me now to work on before the wedding and o it looms and looms- and kind of sad news, i don't get to walk in May, i quite over looked some classes...o man makes me so bummed i so wanted to walk with everyone. So im hoping to hussle and get everything done in time to graduate in Dec...

welll-

the weather is turning here, quick and cold. lame. but i like it because it means we are just getting closer to Dec. 20, 2008.