Almost Winter

Erie has been blessed with a pretty decent fall this year. I'm glad, because it (almost) makes up for this summer. And now winter is only a couple of days away, and I'm hoping it's not too filled with snow. At least not as bad as last year. But it needs to have some snow, because my husband loves it, and I want him to be happy too!

Speaking of keeping him happy, we now have a serious train set up in our living room. It's our Christmas decoration that makes up for me not being able to have a tree - silly allergies. Andrew loves it. I think it will be a very fun thing to have during the holidays, especially when we have kids.

Christmas this year will be interesting: not only is it our first Christmas as married people, it turns out we're probably also going to be hosting Christmas dinner at our place. And that is going to add up to at least 11 people in our little apartment. I'm sure it will be fun though! We will probably be spending Christmas Eve at his parents' house, and Christmas Day with my family, because my nieces and nephews will be in town, and you have to see the kids' faces in the morning!

I'm looking forward to it immensely :-D

A Little Late, But Real Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was doubly great this year thanks to two meals, one at my parents' house, and one at the in-laws' place. The first meal was a big group of people: my parents, brother, sister and her husband and her three kids, my other sister's daughter, my brother-in-law's mom, me and Andrew, and a Mexican high school kid who had nowhere to go for the holiday. We all packed into my parents' small house and had a delicious feast. A new addition to my sister's family was there too, a puppy named Kaixin.

Someday we'll be dog owners too!

After lunch, we headed on down to Andrew's parents' house. Dinner was a small cozy affair with them and his brother Matt. Lots of food and good conversation. And after eating, the guys and I got to see the traditional Thanksgiving hockey game. The Otters even won, and scored a splendid 5 goals, so it was extra fun. Going to hockey games is definitely a tradition I can get into.

We were stuffed!

Our first Thanksgiving as married people was a complete success - I'm so excited for Christmas! Although, since I didn't have to work Thanksgiving, I'm guessing I'm going to be stuck working on Christmas. One can hope though!

Noviembre

 Man, November has been a busy month. I got a laptop, Andrew and I celebrated 3 months of marriage, we babysat the 3 month of son of our friends Sally and Justin, and I spent a week and a half on the overnight shift. One more night to go still, actually. So it's been a bit hectic.

Also, my sister and her family are in town for the holiday. My other sister is going to be out of town on Thanksgiving, so we had a pre-Thanksgiving day feast at her house on Sunday. It was way fun with both my sisters' dogs there... one was the size of a cat, while the other was a Labradoodle. Lots of pictures were taken and there was much rejoicing.

 We're still having Thanksgiving on Thursday as well, and we plan to make stops at my parents' and his parents' homes. Since it's our first holiday season as a married couple, we're not hosting anything at our place, which is a good thing due to my work schedule, and the fact that we have no holiday decorations yet. So sad.
We plan to also go to the Otters' hockey game Thursday night, as it's a tradition in the Chernauskas household, one I'm certainly up for implementing, since I love hockey! I'm glad both sets of in-laws live in Erie - it makes the holidays that much easier to navigate.

Speaking of the holidays, certain people have mentioned they have no idea what to get me for Christmas. I don't really need much of anything, but I made an Amazon Wish List anyway to help them out :-P There's not much on it currently, but I'm sure I'll think of a few more things eventually.

With a Baa Baa Here...

So Andrew and I went on a real bonafide road trip the weekend of October 10th because I was in a wedding. One of my roommates from college was the bride -->


(We were a little bit weird back in the day :-P)


The wedding was in Conway, PA, and since we had to be in town the night before for the rehearsal dinner, it meant we had to get a hotel.

That was surreal, let me tell you. It was our first time in a hotel together, in Monaca, PA (which I pronounced wrong all weekend - I said it like Monica and it's actually "mo-NAH-kuh"). But it was fun being all grown-up and staying somewhere together because we can do that now!

The hotel was very nice; there were different black and white area pictures next to all the room numbers. Very cute. And there were even random pictures and phrases inside the elevator doors! (See below.) We forgot our swimming stuff though, so we couldn't use the pool. Not that we had time! It was a very fun travel experience for us though, albeit a short one. Road trips with Andrew are a blast, and he does all the driving! It's a good thing too, because on the way home my feet were killing me from the 3 inch heels I wore for the wedding... and I don't wear and kind of heels ever. Bad idea. But they looked great and the maid of honor and I were looking great in our short green dresses with our hair all done up pretty.

So that was our last wedding of '09, and now we get to spend our energy on rearranging the apartment and getting some new items for it, like a couch and a laptop for me. Almost three months into our marriage and I'm loving every minute of it - I'm looking forward to the future!

Great Friends

I love having friends who are awesome.

So many people helped so much with our wedding, and I just want to thank them all for being such great friends who made our day that much more simple and fun for us. We would have been very stressed out had it not been for you! Our bridesmaids and groomsmen fulfilled their duties wonderfully, as did our ushers. But also just a couple of friends not involved in the ceremony did a tremendous job at making sure everything was perfect.

Thank you, Amanda and Sally, for picking up the cake, sweeping out the pavilion, helping to move tables and chairs, decorating, directing people to where they needed to be, and in general making our wedding truly awesome. You guys rock!

October = Fall

Although it was officially autumn on September 22, I never quite accept the changing of the season until October rolls around. Now it's here, which means I'm breaking out the hoodies, buying apple cider and doughnut holes (my favorite fall snack), and thoroughly enjoying the leaves changing colors.

Andrew and I just took a road trip down to southwestern PA so I could get fitted for my bridesmaid dress for my last wedding of '09. We had a great time watching the scenery going down I-79, although we realized we're never going to be able to live in Pittsburgh because we had driving on their crazy hills. I guess we'll be staying here for at least awhile. That's okay with me, because Erie is a pretty awesome place to live, if you disregard the horrible winters.

So I will enjoy the pleasant bit of fall we're going to have until the first snowfall, which is when I'll curl up into a ball and hibernate for all of winter (or at least that's what I'd like to do!).

1 and 1 Don't Make 2, 1 and 1 Make One

"In life one and one don't make two
One and one make one
And I'm looking for that free ride to me
I'm looking for you"

 And I found him. :-)

Of course, at some point, we're going to want to expand that oneness. Not for awhile, of course. It's nice to be able to leave our apartment without worrying about getting someone to feed the fish, or watch the cat, or exercise the dog. It's nice to be able to enjoy each other without worrying about being interrupted or needed by another human being.


Sometimes, though, I get a pang when I see someone else's pet, or, dare I say it, someone else's child. And I get that sudden urge to nest. Happily, they're not overwhelming urges. I know I'm not ready to give up my newly married life with just the two (one) of us yet.

Besides, even if I wanted a kitten, I can't ever have one of those adorable balls of fluff. Allergies would be the death of me.

And even though I totally want to have a puppy someday, that day is not today. Regardless of the fact that we can't have one in our apartment, I am still getting used to being a housewife, and that in itself is enough to keep me busy right now.

And as far as a baby is concerned, although it's awesome that I contain a factory for making more of me, I don't want to reproduce at this present time. Talk about life changing. I very much want to be a mom, but I also want to enjoy life with my husband for awhile first. Happily, some of our married friends have already had children, so whenever I get a baby urge, I can always fill that need with one of their children.  


^^Like Aiden. So cute!