Happy Valentines Day!!

Hello Family!  I hope today was full of love and loved ones!!  David and I have had a relaxing weekend.  We thought about going out for Valentines but then we were hit with quite a load of sickness.  Two weeks ago, Dave and I caught a little stomach bug.  Right after that I came down with the upper respiratory infection that turned into pleurisy!! PLEURISY!!! Pleurisy is when the sacks that surround your lungs and the lining of the inside of your chest swells up.  It is not fun at all.  I am feeling a little better tonight but sleeping is difficult and I can’t seem to get comfortable.  I blame the 4th graders.  My immune system is not conditioned to deal with 4th grade germs.  Below is a picture of  all the medicines that I have been on since two Tuesdays ago….

Also, just in case you were wondering, we now measure time in Tuesdays at the Radcliffe household. (kidding )

Anyway, that’s about it for here in Indy.  Just some sickness, LOTS of snow, and a little Valentines day candy…..okay maybe a lot of candy!

Lots of Love!

Today marks the 100th day of our marriage.  It’s pretty amazing to think that it has been that long.  It feels like just yesterday that my amazing wedding was happening all around me.  Now it seems that the reality of my life is starting to set in. 

Reading back that last line I realize that it sounded a little forlorn and upsetting – let me assure you loved ones, that is not the case.  I’m merely stating that marriage is not exactly marshmallows and unicorns all day everyday.  Now, I’ve seen some unicorns these last 100 days, don’t get me wrong; but don’t underestimate the troll hiding under the bridge (aren’t all these fairytale references delicious?). 

Our troll – space.  As our lives become more complicated, our apartment seems to shrink right before our eyes.  I simply have had no good place to do any real work.  I don’t have a spot to put all my school work, computer (it’s home up until 2 days ago was lying upright against the back of the couch), or teaching supplies.  This “lack of space” was beginning to take a toll on our communication skills, our patience, and our ability to move about in the apartment.  Thankfully, loved ones, my husband has magical powers.

Showering on Saturday morning I was suspicious of what my husband was doing, he was being rather quiet and wouldn’t answer my questions directly.  I rushed through my shower, got dressed for a day of…laundry (I know we lead an exciting life) and walked into my dining room to find this….

I know what you are thinking – “But your dining room!!”  Sometimes, loved ones, you have to sacrifice aesthetics for sanity.  I’m not looking be on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens with this little apartment.  My new desk area makes life a little easier.  For me – a place to work, live, and play.  For David – a home for all the things that he has tripped over for so long.  A win win people!  

Now I don’t want you all to think that marriage wasn’t what we thought it would be blah blah whine whine.  No! The truth is marriage is EXACTLY how we thought it would be, we’re smart.  I’m just trying to be honest about what is happening in our lives, but what’s honesty without a little folly?  I mean, you want to know how life is going – this weekend it was a troll that turned into a unicorn, and that is what life is about, heck that is what marriage is about!  Turning trolls into unicorns…

And if you really think about it – isn’t that how any unicorn starts out?  As a troll?

So here we are, our apartment is clean and scrubbed completely for the first time since we got back from vacation and it wasn’t gross or anything there was just a lot of laundry to do, all the Christmas decorations to put away, and all my school stuff to sort through.  The unfortunate part about that last thing is that the school stuff I put away will only be replaced by more school stuff by the end of the week. 

Yes that’s right, I am currently looking right down the barrel of student teaching.  Oh terrifying, I’m talking like….out of my skin afraid.  You would think that after working in the classroom for the past year that I would feel prepared for what is about to happen; you’re wrong.  I think that education is a lot more like medical school than people think.  I respect that some people believe that you have to be smarter than a teacher to be a doctor, I hold the firm belief that in order to be a teacher you have to be smarter than everyone else. haha! Anyways…what was I saying? oh! yeah ohkay…uhm. (let’s start a new paragraph, that will help me refocus…)

Education is a lot like the medical field.  You read about how to do things, how to teach and how to heal.  Until you get into the field, however you really don’t know how to DO anything.  Every patient is different and every student is different.  They way you learned how to heal one person, or how to teach a lesson, may have to change drastically from how you learned it.  Now, I’m not completely out of mind I know there are a lot of differences between the two professions.  Doctors have to know a lot about one thing (the human body) and teachers have to know a lot about everything…;).  Oh also, like $60,000 difference a year.    Oh and like 4 years of school. Ohkay fine! Doctors are smarter than me, but you get the jest of what I’m saying…

I don’t even know where I was going with this…OH! Yes, I’m afraid; so for all of you out there that think I don’t understand what teaching will be like, be assured that I’m completely aware of what I’m getting myself into.  Which should assure you in itself.  It assures me, knowing what I know about the profession and doing it anyway is proof that I was meant for this.  It convinced me, so let it convince you too. 

Tomorrow starts a few methods classes for the next few weeks but Wednesdays I’m in my classroom.  Oh boy!

Some quick big updates from Brownsburg:

It snows.

I quit my job at the bank after 3 years, in order to make room for the time and effort that this semester requires.

David is working hard on a site for a organization called Bethany Kids (I’ll let him write a post to explain if he wants) and he is very excited about it!! (to be honest, it’s probably one of the coolest sites that I have seen!)

We are eagerly awaiting Spring!

That is all for now! Tomorrow starts a whole new adventure for the Brownsburg Radcliffes!!

We’ve changed up the website a bit – moved the old wedding website off the front page and we’re featuring the blog front and center. The old wedding site is still available for your viewing pleasure. Just head over to http://www.daveandkate.us/wedding.

We’ll be filling in this blog a little more regularly now that the wedding and the holidays are over.

Enjoy!

from the Radcliffe’s

Daytona Beach

Jeremy has been working hard to go through our thousands of photos and he has now opened up the gates and we can look at all of them. There are a few different places you can look, starting with Facebook and his blog post and then also a slideshow (~400 photos) and the full gallery (~850 photos). The full gallery will also allow you to purchase prints of many sizes if you wish. Enjoy!

• Facebook
• Blog
• Slideshow
• Gallery (password: radcliffe)

Today, I made some important floral decisions.  My florist (friend of the family and biology extraordinaire), Grace Schmitt has some awesome ideas and really knows her stuff.  The flowers are going to be beautiful, fun, classy, and very Katie Stipe-ish.  Dave said, “cool.”  He doesn’t really care about the flowers much.

Good news readers!! As we speak Dave is in the other room receiving invitations as they are printed.  It really is an exciting feat given that we have spent the last couple of nights fighting with an overexcited printer and aligning the things correctly; but finally – VICTORY!  70 gleaming invitations are stacked next to me and the stack keeps growing.  It really is very exciting.

Dave and I are finishing the guest list and tonight, my maid of honor Sarah is coming over to begin addressing envelopes! WOO!

Dave bought me a Swiffer today.  To those of you who are thinking back to that climactic “Father of the Bride” moment when Annie came storming in to her parents cataloging her gifts, and proclaims that she isn’t getting married anymore (to Steve Martin’s delight) because her fiance bought her a blender – put this out of your mind.  It was nothing like that.  I had been saying that I wanted one for a while so that mopping the kitchen wouldn’t be such a big to-do everything couple of days.  He also bought me the swiffer wet clothes.  Morale of the story – the house smells amazing and the floors are shiny. This makes Katie happy!

Now for the rest of the house – it looks like Bridezilla Kong went tramping through and left in her wake a mess of wedding hoopla.  There are gifts and napkins and jewelry and contracts and menus and magazines and pictures and lists and post-it notes and registries all over the place.  The dining room table has been converted to an invitation only zone.  (No food or drink allowed) and 80% of David’s bedroom is just…stuff.  Bubbles and gifts.

It’s a nuthouse.

It’s the best.

Well, I had better get back to work.  After Swiffering every hard surface in the house I thought I would take a minute and write to you all.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Ciao!

Invitation catalogues are scattered on the floor all around us – they were unhelpful – and as the frustration rises, so does the heat in the dining room.  Dave just got up and got some ice cream to cool himself off.  This has proven to be quite an undertaking and not once have I wished I was doing anything else.

On Tuesday, my maid of honor Sarah, Maria, and Grace (the lady doing my flowers) all met with the reception hall to get ideas about centerpieces and décor for the big parrrrtaaay.  It was nice to see the inside of it again and I’m so excited, it really is a neat place.  We are in the full swing of things now, I’ve ordered more than my fair share of wedding supplies off theknot.com today; thank goodness for super sales.

I am meeting with Grace again on Saturday to talk more about the flowers, I’m really excited!  Grace is such a neat lady and her enthusiasm is such a blessing.

I heard back from our violinist and he is good to go! I just have to figure out a pianist and the music for the ceremony is taken care of.  Scratch that, the people PLAYING the music are almost taken care of; choosing the music for the ceremony is an entirely different matter.

We are looking into videographers and have been disappointed thus far, I’m hoping our luck turns around but we shall see.  I hope to have good news in that area in my next blog, until then it is time to get back to work on the invites!!

Cheers!!

We spent most of yesterday in Target registering.  So far I think the best part about all of this is registering.  It is so much fun!! For me, just getting to see all the stuff that is used in the kitchen was amazing.  I am slowly but surely working my way into the cooking world and I am confident that my cooking will someday reach the brilliance of Maria’s cooking…but until then Dave just smiles and tells me a doing a great job.  Although, I think if I burn dinner one more time he may not be as kind.  We’ve registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as Target.  Today, after I’ve finished this blog and Dave finishes the lunch dishes, we plan on making our way to Macy’s to finish registering.  It will be a bittersweet end to our registering adventures and Dave will miss holding the scan gun and scanning random things that I have to take off later….but that’s what this is about, having fun!

I had my first bridal fitting yesterday afternoon, oh my goodness.  It was great. I haven’t seen my dress since the day that I bought it as it stayed at the Bridal Superstore so that nothing would happen to it, or worse Dave would see it.  Wearing the dress again made me really feel like this was happening.  I mean, you think about your wedding your whole life and now that it is really happening it’s kind of surreal. Dave and I are so blessed to have found each other; I am absolutely thrilled with the way everything is coming together.

We met with the wedding coordinator at the church on Saturday morning, she’s the best.  She was so helpful and really gave me a lot of guidance as to how to plan the ceremony and what to think about for the day of.  You never really think about all the stuff that has to go on “day of” until you have to orchestrate it.  Thankfully Maria, her wonderful friends, and Kellie Ellis (the wedding coordinator) are all very smart and extremely capable.  They will all be a huge help during this time.

Speaking of amazing people and help, I’m excited to say that Sarah Miller, my maid of honor, will be returning from Africa in one hour!!  She has been gone for 2 months and I will be relieved and excited to have her on the same continent.  She is one of the sweetest ladies you’ll ever meet and I’m so excited that she will be my maid of honor!  I cannot wait to see her!

Dave and I are looking into creating the invitations sometime this week.  We’ve gathered samples of paper and now we just need to take the plunge and buy it.  I am hoping to send the invitations out September 1st…or so.  I also would like to have them done before classes start back up on the 27th of this month.

So as you can see there is a lot going on in our lives.  I will update as much as humanly possible to keep all our out of town family and friends – as well as our in town family and friends that we do not get to talk to on a regular basis – updated on the Stipe/Radcliffe wedding happenings.  If you ever need to get a hold of me just email me at kate@daveandkate.us.

We love you all very much and are grateful for your love and support during this romantic and exciting time in our lives.  We look forward to seeing you all in October!

Ta-ta for now!