angela's blog

A year ago yesterday JJ and I were married. You know, "I do," and all that. The last year has been a busy one ... we've done a lot of things together and grown a lot. Unlike Josh I don't have a cool "A year in the marriage of ..." album but I do have highlights ... ** The honeymoon to Asheville! We stayed in a hotel almost for free thanks to our friend Scott. We ate at Carraba's twice. We visited the Biltmore Estate and had ice cream in the courtyard. We had hotdogs and grilled cheese at an old timey soda fountain. We rode bikes. I ran into a bee while riding the bike. Poor bee. I think I just caught up with it. If I could, I would apologize. ** July 10, 2005 -- JJ has a birthday the day after we get married. He was very gracious to share our anniversary with his birthday since he has no choice about his birthday, but had a choice about the day we got married. ** Moving to the new apartment. From 930something square feet of cramped living to 1226 square feet, 2 garden tubs, 2 bathrooms, and a bedroom AND study. ** Being in small group together. ** Our very first married Thanksgiving with our NC family - Scott, Jamie, and by blood relation, Jamie's mom. Our first bad experience with a doggie. Willie was an animal shelter mistake. Mr. Pee-on-the-floor lasted 2 days. ** Our first married Christmas down in Perry. I'm "Aunt Angela" now! Oh I'm also "JJ's wife." It's still weird. I'm still waiting to see what it feels like to be called Mrs. Cooper on a regular basis. JJ got me a beautiful diamond cross. His parents got us a dutch oven. My mom got us a killer gift - home tickets to Heinz Field! We're not sure when we can go though. Boo. ** The Steelers squeak into the playoffs. They're seeded 6th. THEN, beating the Bengals (sorry, Carson, Kimo didn't mean it ... seriously he didn't), the Colts (I hope you enjoyed your 15 minutes of fame Nick Harper), and the Broncos (all right Plummer your beard was neater than Ben's ... too bad it didn't help your game that day) to make it to Super Bowl XL. Jerome Bettis plays his last game in his hometown of Detroit. Ben plays crappy. They still win. One for the thumb, Steelers are Super Bowl Champs again for the first time in over 25 years. ** Our first Valentine's day and my birthday. I'm sort of "eh" about Valentine's Day so we go and babysit at the church for parents to have date night. We're in charge of the preschoolers. I am on potty duty. Oh well. ** Our first Easter ... I was going to cook. Chaos ensued. We went to Ted's Montana Grill instead with Steve, Sabrina, and Scott. ** The Big Event at East Chapel Hill High School. We actually met there. JJ's first words to me were "Hi I'm JJ. Good meet you." I responsed with "Hey, I'm Angela. What can I do?" "Here, plug these in." It's the church's first capital campaign. We're back at the high school but JJ wants me to mix the sound for the big day. We seem to have come full circle. ** In May my parents treat us to a trip to China. The 12 day tour through Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, SuZhou, and Shanghai shows us the majesty of China. It was 1000 times better because we went together. ** Mid-June JJ gets me my anniversary present early. I had found a dog that looked promising online. So he said I should go and get her. She is everything her online profile said she was ... and more. So we have a little family now - me, JJ, and Roxy the lab-retriever mutt who is the sweetest, bestest dog in the whole wide world. ** July 4, 2006, we have Outback the night before and then Q-shack that day to celebrate. We don't get to eat out that much anymore so it was an indulgence. ** July 8, 2006, I give the dog peanut butter. It is perhaps the single most entertaining thing I have ever seen. She tries to lick her own tongue and that's really hard to do. I laugh and laugh and laugh. ** July 9, 2006 -- it's been a whole year! We celebrate by JJ going to church at 7 to work the service and I work hopetown downstairs. Just like we always have. Just like we always will. ** July 10, 2006 -- JJ has another birthday. I hope he has a great day!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper on 7.10.2006 at 7/10/2006 09:20:00 AM | Permalink