angela's blog

FIRSTS: 1. First best friend: Annie - she lived across the street from me when I was 3 and she was 4. I have (somewhere) a picture of me on a tricycle and her on a hot wheels bike. She's about to start her 3rd year at Stanford Medical School. We've always been friends of varying closeness. 2. First car: Ford Mustang - I still drive it. 3. First real kiss: 17. Prom night. Sound magical? It kinda was ... although now what I remember about the kid is that he was a jerk. 4. First screen name: AMWfutrdr - and those of you who know me know I've had like 15 since. :-) 5. First pet: A Shih-tzu (meaning "lion" in Chinese) named Happy .... Happy died (or rather was put down) because of cancer my sophomore year in college. He was 12 I believe. I want to get a dog again someday. JJ knows this. We don't know when. LASTS: 1. Last cigarette: Never smoked 2. Last kiss: This morning JJ kissed me before he left for work 3. Last good cry: I dunno, sometime last week? 4. Last beverage drank: Water last night with dinner 5. Last food: Our dinner from last night - chicken (in white wine and garlic) with garlic pasta, steamed green beans 6. Last im: JJ 7. Last phone call: Rob, my friend Jamie's boyfriend RELATIONSHIPS: 1. Who are your best friends: JJ, Jamie, Sabrina, Scott, my brother, .... and then some 2. Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend: no but I have a husband!

FASHION STUFF: 1. Where are your favorite places to shop: Old Navy, Express (although of late Express has taken a turn for the Abercrombie and I'm not okay with that), J Crew, Gap 2. Favorite item of clothing: jeans and t-shirts SPECIFICS: 1. Do you do drugs: Benadryl every so often 2. What kind of shampoo do you use: I used to use just whatever but I have discovered the joy of salon hair product. So now I use Joico. 3. What are you most scared of: Not getting enough accomplished FAVORITES: 1. Colors: dark blue and dark red (like crimson) 2. Type of Foods: Italian (bruschetta is so good) 3. Subject in school: Psychology? I mean I'm a Ph.D. student, right? But if you had to ask 3b. back in the day: Science and math -- I think most of you knew that 4. Shape: Circle - no beginning and no end 5. Sports: To watch? Football (Steelers training camp starts on Sunday)! Swimming. College basketball. Diving. 6. Movie: Probably "While You Were Sleeping" which is listed, and rightfully so, as a chick flick, but is hilarious because of the smart dialogue. HAVE YOU EVER: 1. Given anyone a bath: Yes. Dylan came swimming with us and I made him bathe afterwards. 2. Smoked: No 3. Made yourself throw-up: Yes. Before you get all "Oh my goodness she's bulimic" on me allow me to explain. JJ and I are both of the "I feel sick - I know I would feel better if I threw up - I'm going to make myself throw up" camp. If I feel sick enough for long enough and know I'll feel better if I puke, I'll do it. And he will too. 4. Skinny dipped: No - although swimming for Wash U I'm not entirely sure how I avoided it. 5. Been in love: Yes. CURRENT: 1. Clothes: shorts and the BA shirt JJ gave me 2. Music: none 3. Make-up: none 4. Cd in player: Hmmm .... nothing but if I pop up iTunes the last thing I was listening to was .... Brick by Ben Folds LAST PERSON: 1. Kissed: JJ 2. Hugged: JJ 3. IMed: JJ

*before you get to thinking that I never see anyone but JJ keep in mind that I'm not at work these days, I'm working from home, so other than going out at night, I don't see very many people*

WHO DO YOU WANNA: 1. Kill: what the .... that's a little extreme isn't it? 2. Get drunk with: Heeheehee -- if only you know. I kid. It's a fine line for me between alcohol buzz and poisoning (we suspect) so I'm pretty limited RANDOM: 1. In the morning I am: groggy 2. Love is: God's finest creation. 3. I dream about: Angela Cooper - Ph.D., professor, mom, wife or in other words - superwoman!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/28/2005 10:26:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The wedding pictures are here! This one is my favorite. Go to my photo site to see the rest. 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/27/2005 12:44:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

In case you were wondering, those of you who don't live on the Southeastern coast area, today our forecast is ... (*drum roll*) 103 with a heat index of 122.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/27/2005 08:32:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Heading home ....  

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:36:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

My husband loves me! 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:35:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

View from the car ... it doesn't get much prettier or more peaceful than that, does it? 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:35:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Flowers outside the winery at the Biltmore 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:34:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Our free calamari 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:32:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

One of us at the pasta bar at Carraba's where we got free "samples" including calamari and ravioli. 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:32:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Here is my VERY handsome husband on our honeymoon. 

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 03:31:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Don't have a lot to post today but figure it's probably time to post SOME photos ... even if these are borrowed. Mine are coming shortly. But here we are, having just been pronounced husband and wife.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/26/2005 10:17:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Remember when I said that 3 days after my list came out someone beat me to the book club and I was going to change it to "Get more involved with Red Tent Ministries"? Well, I did, and I did. Here's the latest update: 78. Save up enough money to buy matching end tables and a coffee table - we're not getting them delivered until we move in September but we've picked them out and have the money to buy them. 73. Read the newspaper (or online version of it) every day for a week - I've been reading CNN.com. Unfortunately most of the actual papers require some kind of registration but CNN is also a news source so I decided it counts. 39. Get my own Tivo - Rob gave us another Tivo for our wedding. It's not "mine" but when we move into our new place it will be recording "my" shows. 8. Get more involved in Red Tent Ministries (formerly "Start a newhope book club") - I talked to Rachel, who is in charge of the whole Red Tent thing, and I am going to help plan a retreat. Ding.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/25/2005 11:28:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I've never liked summer ... the heat, the humidity, the lack of a decent routine. I'm not saying that I don't appreciate that, as a graduate student, I get lots of flexibility over the course of a day during the summer. I enjoy the fact that as long as I get my work done, I can come and go as I please and since right now my work consists of piles and piles of reading, I can do it from the comfort of our air-conditioned apartment. But here we are in the last week of July and it is HOT. H-O-T hot. As in it's 10 am, and it's 85 degrees outside with a heat index of 90. Right now the relative humidity, according to the heat index calculator, is roughly 60-61%. That's what's leading to the feeling of 90. If that keeps up, by afternoon it's supposed to be 98 ... so that heat index would be .... well ... according to the heat index calculator I found, 126 degrees Fahrenheit. Clearly, some of the humidity is (hopefully) going to burn off since on the local forcast last night they were talking about heat indexes around 105 or just over, so I guess it'll drop down to around 45% relative humidity. Tomorrow's high is 102. If we keep that same 45% relative humidity ... it's supposed to feel like 118. Remember how I said I enjoy being in our apartment? This is a good example. I'm not going outside unless this place catches fire because then it would be cooler out there than in here.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/25/2005 08:59:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

JJ took me out on our first married date tonight. It's funny, neither of us is big on drama or over-romancing the life out of a day ... or surprises for that matter. I had told JJ on Wednesday that I would like to see a movie this weekend. He responded (as a good husband should ...) "How about I take you to dinner, too and we make it a date?" Of course. Last night we were talking and he said that his plan was to take me to P.F. Chang's. The wonderful, honest relationship we have I responded with something vaguely non-commital like, "That sounds okay." Don't get me wrong. I like P.F. Chang's. A lot. But we've been twice in the last 3 weeks and really for what you pay, I personally think we could do better. So then we threw out Kanki, a hibachi style Japanese steakhouse not far from our apartment. After tossing out other steak ideas (Outback ...) he finally tossed out the suggestion of Firebird's Rocky Mountain Grill, out by Southpoint. The last time we went was on my and Sabrina's joint birthday shindig and let's just say that JJ's stomach was not at its best that night and there was no steak to be had. But tonight, we definitely had steak. 14 ounces of medium-rare ribeye steak, preceded by a Caesar salad (that we shared) and accompanied by mashed potatoes for him and steak fries for me. Mmmmm .... I love red meat ..... yummmmm ..... cooooooowwwww. Sorry, where was I? Right. Date. After that we walked around Southpoint and then over to the movie theatre where we saw Wedding Crashers. It was hilarious. If you're in the mood for some silly, but well-acted classic humor, go see it. It was great. Afterward, as people were leaving I looked over and saw a high school couple locking lips a few seats down. We made our exit discreetly seeing as how "We should give them their privacy" as JJ put it. It's funny, reading this you wouldn't think it was all that .... extraordinary. Dinner, stroll, movie, go home. Not that atypical for a Saturday night. But it was the best date I've ever had.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/23/2005 09:25:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm on a quest to find good books to read in my self-appointed down time. My preference is for non-fiction: biographies and autobiographies are my favorite, or things with Real stories from the ER or An inside look at marathons or some equally behind-the-scenes feel to it. My favorite book, probably of all time, is called Gold in the Water and it's by a guy who was, at one time (and may still be) a sports journalist. He somehow was granted permission to enter behind the gate of the Santa Clara Swim Club where Tom Wilkens (my all time favorite male swimmer thanks to this book) and Kurt Grote and a handful of other people prepare for the 2000 Olympic Games. If you haven't read it and you like sports stories, go read it. It's amazing. I've read a couple of autobiographies of athletes, Lance Armstrong, David Beckham, Terry Bradshaw, to name a few and have read books about psychology and athletes like Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. I'm about to start a book on figure skating as I am fascinated by the whole "behind-the-scenes" thing of how training works but here's my question and purpose for blogging today: What's your recommendation? Knowing what I like and all .... any ideas for me?

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/22/2005 08:55:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

A few months ago JJ and I fought the good fight. We tease and joke a lot but rarely do we have the big blow up that results in major changes. Well, a few months ago, seems like forever now, I cornered him with the accusation "Biblically it says you're supposed to be the spiritual leader of the household and you're not! Or at least I don't feel like you are!" I then proceeded to list out things that indicated a split in our spiritual lives, signs that we were neither growing closer to God nor closer to each other, and definitely not growing closer to God together. Fast forward about 10 weeks. In the intervening time we've prayed together, read scripture together and of course gotten married. Last night, we got our answer. Both of us came to a better realization of how much God loves us and how much we should love God. We came to the same conclusion independently, during a song Curtis did during Encounter last night. See, our love for each other is great, unconditional, truly wonderful. And we can see it, touch it, hug it .... you get the idea. And having gotten married, our love has managed to strengthen making both of us understand better how to love each other and love God. Pretty cool huh? And what song triggered the epiphany? Here you are ... Enough.

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You’re my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You’re my coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/21/2005 09:52:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

My newly acquired husband loves books. Most people I know like to read and try to make time to do so. JJ loves to read. He reads all the time. Constantly, without ceasing it seems. In the morning he reads in the shower. How, you ask, does he accomplish this? He's tall enough to hold the book out of the way with one hand while washing with the other. He's mastered it to the point where he can do it for all but maybe 2 or 3 minutes of the shower where he needs both hands to rinse off his hair and face. He reads on the couch, in bed, sometimes while working on the computer. Once upon a time he read while he was driving. Thankfully, he has learned the error of that particular habit and has stopped reading while driving. He loves the library, he loves bookstores, and the funny thing is, he reads a lot of things most human beings find probably pretty dull. For instance, he'll go to the library at UNC and check out 15 books about a single aircraft, with every detail about every part of the craft written down in black and white. Or he'll check out a handful of books on some obscure battle that happened during World War II. Give him a book and a bathtub and if you're not careful you won't see him for the next hour or two (although in a 1 bathroom apartment I sometimes need to ask him to get out of the tub so I can use the bathroom). When I was a kid I loved to read. I read almost like JJ does now - after school, during dinner (my parents had to make a rule about no books at the table because I would read and not speak to anyone), in the tub (my parents had to make a rule about that, too), and before I went to bed. I'd leave books all over the house, especially in the bathroom. Mom and dad had to use the phrase "The bathroom is NOT a library!" at least once a week, usually when my mother cleaned the bathroom. It got to where she would threaten to throw my books out if they were in there when she entered with her mop and bucket. In high school I picked up swimming and that left a whole lot less time for reading. Lately all I've read are the Harry Potter books as they come out but I honestly and truly wish I could find a new subject to read about. I've tried to read some Christian authors like Phillip Yancey but the problem with those is that they generally make me feel like a bad Christian so although I find them useful, I tend to need to read those with purpose rather than pure pleasure. I checked out some books awhile ago on the Romanovs and had to return them because they were going to be overdue but those were great. Fascinating stories about real people - my favorite. Autobiographies and non-fiction are generally my genre of choice. I also need to realize that there's no way I can read at the rate that JJ does. For awhile it was (and sometimes still is) discouraging to start a book because if he saw me reading it he'd ask me how it was going and his good-hearted comments also led me to think things like "Am I reading fast enough? Why is it taking me so long? He's already 2/3 of the way through his new book!" The worst was when he was reading the same Yancey book as I was. We would dog-ear the pages and every day I would read half a chapter or a whole one, or whatever I had time for, and even though I started the book 2 weeks before he did, I watched him slowly catch up. I'm competitive enough that when he passed me, I gave up. I never finished that Yancey book. I sort of wonder if he did. But until I get used to the fact that I'm the slow-reader in the family he and I just need to not share books. When we move in 6 weeks to our new apartment we will have to move all of JJ's books. Every single one. He's already gotten rid of probably 500 of them to make space for me to move my stuff in here. I wonder if I'll ever love books like JJ does ... and if I don't I guess that's okay. It's hard to keep up with someone who reads like he breathes: as an elixir of life.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/20/2005 11:52:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I've been reading my father-in-law's latest book, Halfway Home. In it are stories from JJ's last college years, his graduation, and a little bit afterward. It's fascinating to me to read these because unlike Steve and Sabrina, I have not known JJ his whole life. And not only have I not known him his whole life, but he's got quite a bit more life under his belt than I do. We were talking at dinner the other night about how I probably wouldn't have liked him if I had met him in college. His study habits would have driven me mad, his football habits would have disgusted me, and when he turned 21 his (normal-for-a-college-senior) weekend life would have been a total turn off. On the other hand, I've seen pictures and he's still dark and good-looking and from reading some stories and hearing some stories it sounds like he was still the same sweet, good-hearted guy I married recently. But he probably wouldn't have liked me if he met me in college either. I would have been too serious, I didn't like football (and had never seen a game even) and my (then-abnormal) distaste for college weekend life would probably have been a turn off. But then he pointed out that I had the same drive and character I have now, and maybe that would have drawn us to be friends at least. But then if he hadn't been ready to marry until he turned 32, well, I probably would have moved on by then, even if I had wanted to date him in college. Sometimes I think about what might have happened if we hadn't both moved to the Triangle when we did, or what would have happened if our (wonderful, amazing, you-should-try-it-this-Sunday) church hadn't existed like it, or ... a bunch of other different circumstances that might have caused us to not meet. With all the people in the world it amazes me that God took the time to give us a nudge in the right direction - towards each other. Keep a lookout, He might be nudging you next!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/20/2005 08:28:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

For weeks before our wedding JJ and I had joked that while on our honeymoon we would not be shy about saying "We're on our honeymoon" in the hopes of ... you know ... getting free stuff. Not a lot of free stuff but a little, like a mint or ... a dessert. Our standards weren't very high. Sadly, nothing, nada, not a bite. We'd given up our quest for the free honeymoon stuff when ... as our last hurrah we went to Macaroni Grill last night. As our waitress, Dana, handed us the check she asked if we were together (i.e. should she split the checks) so we explained that no, we've just been married a week and really we can pay one check. She very cleverly found out our dessert preferences and we got .... a humongous piece of cheesecake drenched in fresh strawberries. We brought it home and ate every bite. It was wonderful. Thanks, Dana.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/18/2005 09:58:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

1. Get married - Saturday, July 9. Done! 10. Take a bath in a jacuzzi tub - with bubbles - Contrary to common warning the bubbles did not run all over the floor. It was fun though. 41. Visit the North Carolina mountains - Asheville for the honeymoon. Fun! 43. Visit a winery and do a wine tasting - We went and did a tasting at the Biltmore. Fun fun. 44. Make a toast with champagne - I toasted Jackie and Terry at our rehearsal dinner 46. Own a set of silk or satin pajamas - We bought some satin ones for me. Blue, comfy. Wonderful 47. Buy lingerie because it looks good - and only because it looks good - see number 1! Oh, and it really does only look good because it has the texture of low grade sandpaper! 55. Get both a manicure and pedicure (I have now had a pedicure but not both!) - did it for my wedding. French on my feet, lovely pink on my hands. 75. Try something suggested in the Kama Sutra (AFTER I get married of course!) - you don't want the details of this. 78. Save up enough money to buy matching end tables and a coffee table - does it count if we use gift cards we got? We picked out our coffee table tonight so I guess it's half done. 101. Enjoy my wedding - as much as I was going to, it was pretty great. Done and done.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/15/2005 10:39:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well we have returned. We got back yesterday afternoon and on the way home we decided that after talking to no one (literally) but each other for 3 days that we needed a little real world conversation. We called my mom. No answer. We called JJ's dad. No answer. We called JJ's mom. No answer. Busted. So we managed to make conversation with one another for another few hours. We stopped at Olive Garden on the way back for lunch and when we sat down we realized that we knew every single detail of every single moment of the other person's day for the last 3 days. I sat down and went, "So ... how was your day?" and there was silence. Booooooring. When we got home there were presents! Lots and lots of presents! I will blog more later about the presents and the trip but it was a lot of fun. Now we return you to your regularly scheduled life.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/14/2005 10:29:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I know, it's shocking. I'm on my honeymoon and I'm blogging. Don't worry it will neither be long nor all that informative. We're here and we just had a lovely breakfast (omelettes made to order, potatoes, fruit and JJ had grits - ew, grits) and tomorrow we might just try the self-made Belgian waffles with strawberry topping and whipped cream. Yum. Oh looky there ... my husband (!!!) returns ... I'm off ....

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/11/2005 09:20:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

If you recall, a few weeks ago I blogged about the dress I wanted to wear to the rehearsal dinner. I didn't want to pay 98 dollars plus shipping for it so I went on the ebay hunt to get it. I found it, described in exactly the right color and size and everything. 60 dollars, free shipping, size 12, embossed beach dress from jcrew, white, new with tags. Perfect. My past experiences with ebay have been great. I got my Ben Roethlisberger jersey from a guy who sells Steelers stuff and it was fantastic. I got my headpiece for my wedding on ebay. I got a cute little rhinestone comb. So I order the dress on Wednesday, 6/22. I PayPal it, because I PayPal everything I get on eBay. Most of the items (my jersey, my headpiece) came within 2 days of payment, which is generally quicker than I would normally expect although I guess these days with the very affordable cost of priority 2-3 day mail it's pretty reasonable to expect that I could get something within 48 hours of payment. My excitement over this dress knew no bounds. It was bee-yoo-tee-ful. Absolutely gorgeous. I was all ready to wear it with my new flipflops to my rehearsal dinner. But it was taking forever to get here! I waited and waited and waited and waited. Finally on 6/29 I emailed the seller asking her if she'd shipped it. No response. So I'm still waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting ... finally on Saturday it gets here. YAY! I tear open the box ... and it was like expecting presents in your stocking on Christmas morning and getting a lump of coal instead. I pulled the dress out and first of all, it was not the exact style/fabric that the woman had described (which was what I was looking for). My belief is that the seller got the next closest thing she could find on jcrew.com and tried to pass it off as that item. It wasn't white (as you can see in this picture it is, in fact, supposed to be white) as much as it was white with beige and gray squares all over it. It was a size 14. Not 12. And as I pulled it out of the box I saw suspiciously what looked like a discolorment of the skirt. A stain. And after I pulled it out of the box all the way, turns out a HUGE stain. I look inside the dress. No tags. None. Well, I was deflated like a hot air balloon that had been struck by lightning. Ka-boom. Crashing to ground. WHAT a bummer. After all I had been waiting for 10 days for the thing. I quickly decided that my next course of action would have to be to demand my money back. As far as I understood it, PayPal is great because it protects you against stuff like this. But JJ suggested, and I agreed, that the right thing to do would be to contact the seller first. So I did: Hi, I just received the JCrew dress that I ordered through ebay, item #5402531857. I was disappointed to find that the item was not as described. Most importantly, it is a size 14 and was listed as a size 12 (and therefore is a size too big for me). Also, it was listed on ebay as "new with tags" however, there were no tags on it and a good sized stain which seems to indicate that it has been worn at least once. Since it was not as described in the auction I would like to request a refund. Thanks, Angela And then again with the waiting. But last night I finally got this in response: Hi there...I am sorry that you are disappointed...but the dress absolutely is NEW...I listed it as a 12 because that's what I bought it as from jcrew outlet...and as I always wear a 12 and this fit me...I know that this was a mismarked size on the dress.... Outrageous! I'm trying to be a less-than-obnoxious buyer and emailed her again: While it may have been marked a 12 at the jcrew outlet, the tag inside the dress reads 14 so I believe that it was misrepresented on the auction site. Also, the skirt is clearly stained. If you had mentioned the stain I would not have bought this item as I intended to wear it for part of the festivities for my wedding. Not only that but I have no evidence that the dress is in fact new since you implied on the site that it came with the original sale tags and those did not come with the dress. While it is possible that all the information you listed on the site you believed to be true it comes down to the fact that I expected to receive a new, in unworn condition, size 12 dress and I received a size 14, stained product. I am still requesting my money back. We'll see how that turns out. I don't have a whole lot of hope that she's actually going to cave. Then again, that's what PayPal is for and I think it will be hard for her to win this one. I bet you anything I'm getting my 60 dollars back.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/05/2005 04:08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Have you ever seen the movie Father of the Bride? When the Steve Martin-Kimberly Williams version came out I was almost 10 years old. I remember my dad saying something like "You won't necessarily get a wedding like THAT when you get married." I laughed it off at the time. I was 10. Who cares about marriage at 10? But now that I'm something like 4 days and some odd hours away from getting married I found myself thinking about that movie today as we wandered around JJ's apartment trying to make all our stuff fit into it. If you've seen the movie there's a scene about three-quarters of the way through when Annie (played by Kimberly Williams, now Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is playing basketball in her driveway in the middle of the night. It's the night before her wedding and she can't sleep so she's shooting baskets. Her dad, played by Steve Martin, can't sleep either and comes outside. They talk about how she has lived in that house her whole life and at the end Annie says, "I mean, I've lived here my whole life and I feel like I'm supposed to turn in my key tomorrow." Then, it starts to snow and Annie makes a comment about how it's going to end up costing her father more money and he responds, "No ... I'm just thinking ... I'll remember this moment for the rest of my life." I thought about that scene today as I was stashing my stuff, which has all been moved over to JJ's. In some ways, that scene is totally and completely not relevant to me at all. When I left for Washington University in St. Louis at 17 I was, as far as I concerned, one step closer to shaking the dust of good ol' Wichita off my feet. When I get accepted here to UNC Chapel Hill, I never thought twice about the distance or that I wouldn't be home in Kansas for summers. When JJ and I started talking about getting married I never worried about how I would feel to "turn in my key" to my house in Wichita. And now here I am less than 5 days from my wedding and I still don't feel that way. My brother, on the other hand, loves, absolutely adores, the house we grew up in. Awhile back my parents talked about selling when we both would have moved out and it would really become too much house for them. My brother begged them not to. And so far, they haven't. But I guess it's not so much the house that's gotten me thinking. As far back as I can remember I've always wanted my independence, cut the cord, slash the apron strings if you will. Finally I have my chance. And I am taking this chance not with total jubliation and joy and the feeling of freedom like I always thought I would. Not at all. But I am also not taking this chance and thinking about turning back. It's different than that. I'm taking this chance thinking to myself that not only am I ready, but I also have something backing me up that I didn't know I'd have when I first saw that movie at 10: my faith. One of the names of God is Jehovah-Jireh, or God will provide. It's different taking this independence day knowing Jehovah-Jireh. It is with great conviction, confidence, faith and anticipation that I take it. And am looking forward to it. With 4 days to go before the wedding I can't help but wonder what changes and what stays the same after Saturday. But I know this much: the Lord will provide. And that's really all I need to know.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/04/2005 09:54:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I haven't blogged in awhile. Well, due to shortage of time here's something I borrowed from Nicole's blog .... a yes/no list. Yes: -getting married in less than a week! -Billy Barou from Moe's -(re)reading Harry Potter in anticipation of the book release next week -looking forward to friends and family coming in for the weekend -staying with Jamie this coming Wednesday and Thursday -thunderstorms -reading Scripture and praying with JJ -talking on the phone with my brother -listening to good music (Aimee Mann and Michael Buble - 2 separate playlists) on iTunes -lots of candles for the ceremony! -the parents get in on Wednesday -Genna and Walker get here on Thursday! (Oh and Sean and Paula we're looking forward to getting to see you, too ;-) but your kids are so darned cute) -did I mention getting married in less than a week?!?!?! No: -last minute wedding planning -worrying about fitting into the wedding dress -cleaning the apartment so it's fit to live in when we return from the honeymoon -spending tons of my parents' money on this wedding (I HATE doing this) -shopping for hours on end for a dress for the rehearsal dinner -having to decorate the church (I think it's pretty, can't we just leave it???) -not getting to see Michele and Dylan this week (they're on vacation) -still haven't gone swimming recently

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 7/03/2005 09:09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments