A couple of years ago I decided that annual doctor appointments would be at the beginning of every year. I had a mini-scare after a routine doctor appointment that I scheduled right before Thanksgiving and if anything were to have come from it- a real damper would have been put on the holidays. So when I can help it, January it is!

Total and me are this week, Teeth for Sam and I in a couple weeks and Sam’s physical generally falls right around the end of Q1. I will see if I can get this moved up a smidge for continuity sake but all in all we are pretty on top of these necessary check ups.

I am pretty sure Wife duties require me to ensure that everyone in the family has scheduled, attended and receives results from these visits. Hopefully we can make it through the vet visit without having Total eat a cat.

Two months ago we got married. Such a wonderful day. After that we went on an amazing honeymoon and then jumped right into the Christmas season. So many festivities, food and fun; I just love that time of year. Now it is January, the weather is frigid and frightful and I am still on a job sabbatical. I would say life isn’t quite as glamorous as it was just a short time ago. We spent all of 2009 planning for the last 2 months of 2009 so now what?! Time to get rolling on 2010.

Cross your fingers that a job is right around the corner for me- I never thought I would say this but I would like to work again soon. If it only reminds me that I don’t like getting up in the morning- so be it. It takes every bit of me to withhold my true feelings during interviewing like “I AM SUCH A GOOD WORKER AND A DELIGHT TO BE AROUND; TRUST ME I WILL DO A GOOD JOB! HIRE ME RIGHT NOW!” Unfortunately, 15 million people have lost their jobs and I hear about someone new that I know every couple of weeks.

Anyway, I decided I want to continue the blog to share the ins-and-outs of learning to be a good wife. 2010 has lots of good potential- the master to do list is in progress.

This marks the official end of Bridal Blog. Happy New Year and New Decade to all!

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2010. Jump for your love every chance you get.

Love, The Newlyweds

These do not include the guest book photos; those are still to come! Please excuse the LARGE amount of photos of Sam and I:) Easiest way to peruse is by clicking on the category and then choosing 48 or 96 per page and scroll down.

Enjoy!

http://www.pictage.com/775566

Not much to report. The government-run office seemed like it was humming along pretty well. I was in and out under 45 mins and that includes a trip to the ATM. They don’t take Visa, but they take Amex, Discover & Mastercard. Huh? Uncle Sam must be pissed at Visa for something.

I realized you need the Driver’s License to do almost everything else to change your name but that this is a slippery slope and I need to be committed to changing all my personal documents fairly quickly. Watch out Social Security Office, Passport People and the Bank- here I come.

So Sam did a pretty stellar job of recapping the wedding happenings play-by-play style so I think I will let you read his post @ samspratlin.com/talk. I posted some more fav pics from the wedding (sam and matt don’t worry I opened them in photoshop and saved them for web and devices so as not to kill the server:)) Sam also posted our pre and post wedding photos at the end of his Wedding entry.

Sam has also taken the liberty of breaking down the honeymoon on more or less of a play-by-play so I think I will let those entries do the talking for me as well. However, I do have some fun tidbits that I captured in my notes on the trip that I will share here.

1. Sam managed to book his ticket under “Sam”. His passport and all other identification says “Samuel”. TSA was not too happy but they said moving forward he better shape up or he won’t be able to be shipped out in the future.

2. When we arrived in Bangkok they did a quick bomb check before the taxi was able to go through the hotel entrance. At first I found this alarming but that was my delirium from lack of sleep…..upon further thought I liked that sort of thing. Good to be safe than sorry. Sam told me that the Thai people are extremely happy and friendly but they do like to murder each other. I experienced the happy and friendly- thankfully not the latter.

3. We bought a Thai phrase book as soon as we got there. I didn’t think it would be necessary and it mostly wasn’t, however, I do like to be a good visitor and say please, thank you and hello in their language. It was very difficult to remember the phrases, very! I said “Sawadee kiddies” to some school kids on a field trip at the reclining buddha and they made fun of me for “not saying it right”. They were like 9. I guess no matter where you live kids can be cruel. I think we have video of it.

4. We were definitely the minority- the Germans, Japanese, Australians and French folks ruled the roost but everyone communicated in English. Lucky for us.

5. Unlike in Chicago, the water taxis in Bangkok are a necessity. They don’t have good urban planners so they have like one bridge that connects the city from one side to another. Their remedy- get on a boat! Boats everywhere. On the canals and on the River. The first boat we got on was something out of a nightmare. The ride wasn’t worth the 3 cents it cost. Yuck. Each boat we got on was progressively nicer but that first one made me skeptical of the rest.

6. People accuse Americans of being materialistic- well- they haven’t been to Bangkok. I have never seen so much stuff. Mostly crap but some fun stuff. Not an inch of sidewalk is open and it is 90 degrees during the day and a cool 80 at night. It is more hectic than New York for sure.

7. The trains in Bangkok are super nice and VERY air conditioned which most places aren’t.

8. On Racha Yai Island, our room had an outdoor shower (there was an indoor one too) but Sam only showered in the outdoor one and often had a beer to go with his cleansing. Pretty funny.

9. During dinner after a happy hour, Sam ordered for me and said “The lady will have the pad thai with chicken”. Ha! From there on out, I was the “lady” for the rest of the trip and Sam became the “lord”. We are so British. Lady Beth and Lord Sam.

10. Sam’s first pedicure was great, his foot was as big as the Thai lady’s leg- hip to thigh.

11. The Thai massages are pretty intense, a 90lb Thai lady beats and stretches and walks on you like nuts! We had to grunt and groan to get through certain moves but I highly recommend it. Better than any American (or other) massage I’ve gotten. You wear a little outfit because all the moves they do would be a bit awkward if you were naked.

All for now:)!

* In the bridal room at the church I stood over a fan to cool me down. Lynn and I discussed inventing small fans that could be made for bride’s skirts. Though not a large dress per se it had 7 layers of fabric.

*About 30 seconds before I was supposed to be walking down the aisle I decided a bathroom break would be in my best interest. Lynnie escorted me to the restroom and she helped me with my dress and we talked about how great the wedding was going to be and how good Grandma looked. It was very 27 Dresses.

*Maggers walking like bambi in her heels & dress and takes a half spill in the grass outside MOB’s house before 1 photo has been taken. Adorable.

*Nick had a black tie instead of silver but how would one know that it was supposed to be silver until you saw everyone elses? No worries, hubby quickly remedied with his cool approach to phoning the tuxedo shop and a swing by there enroute to suburbia.

*The altar was 90 degrees, easy. Sam, Fr. Bernie and myself were all sweating pretty good. The videographer mic’d Sam up so there should be a few good sound bites from us chatter boxes.

*The photographer, Thomas, was awesome. A take charge kind of guy with a great eye. I like to think that he was a smidge bossier than me that day- in a good way. I of course had to break out some bridal bossiness but someone told me I was bossy anyway so why would wedding day be any different?! I like to think I make good suggestions.

*Mary put her dress on and strolled down the stairs in the most TEAL shoes I have ever seen. I gave the bridesmaids lots of room to move in terms of their look but we all agreed to metallic or black for shoes. Mare Bear loves a good joke.

*It poured good fortune showers on us for 5 minutes in the middle of pictures on Michigan Avenue. I booked it for the bus as many large drops fell. Total had to share the bus back with us to the University Club. I was telling Sam how I didn’t mind if it rained on our day because that is good fortune- to that he said, “it is raining somewhere.”

*We took some photos on State street outside the Chicago Theatre- FUN. People were congratulating us and honking their horns and clapping. One person even asked “Is this for real or for a commercial?”

*The cake was CRAZY blue. Like the blue on steroids. Oh wait you saw that.

As Sam and I lived in Bride and Groom bliss we probably missed some happennings at the wedding. People were filling me in on things that were stewing here and there, I also ran into a cousin who definitely used up his bar package allotment and probably some of mine and a few others as well. I also saw a friend drinking gin and tonic from a large glass container that may or may not have been used for a floating candle earlier in the evening- not sure. So many fond memories made, we look forward to hearing all of them:)

We are back and bubbling with an urge to talk to you about the wedding! What a blessing our day was- it all went by WAY TOO FAST and we mentally re-live the moments frequently. I also feel extremely narcissistic trying to soak up all the AWESOME photos everyone took:)

I write today to let you know Bethie’s Bridal Blog will be closing down shop by the end of this year. I will take the next couple of weeks to write about the wedding, the honeymoon and some final thoughts on the past 15 months. They have been beyond wonderful and we are so thankful. If you are welling up reading about the end of bridal blog, like I am writing it, have no fear. I have been throwing around some ideas for a new blog and would appreciate any ideas you may have.  “Life as a Wife”- a little broad in my eyes but I could focus it to be interesting and not just me telling you how great Sam and Total are. No working title for this idea but something around reviews: books, movies, restaurants, shopping places- I read three books while we were away which is a complete record and have officially completed my “Book It”. It reiterated to me that I do enjoy reading I just need to find the books I like. I love movie going and there is $5 night at the AMC on Western so I could make that a weekly ritual. Sam introduced me to the Gene Siskel Film center which is a beautiful place and I’d love excuses to make that more of a routine.

Back soon for Wedding Wonderment.

That pretty much sums it up. This morning I thought oh, just one more week, no wait, this is THE week!!!

Family and Friends are starting to arrive. Final details are being sorted through. Come on now. Really?! So cool.

I have a lot of them in me. The excitement is stirring! I am finding it difficult to go to sleep quickly and that is VERY out of the ordinary. I am good at sleeping. Last night we went to dinner and a book launch party for some of Sam’s colleagues. We got home and I was doing stuff up until Sam requested we go to bed! All I could think about was the emails I needed to write when I woke up, the lists I needed to double check and my bridal bouquet:)

This weather is off the hook- next weekend isn’t supposed to be quite as warm but definitely not too shabby considering this time of year, snow is possible.