Wedded Bliss!

The wedding was everything we had dreamed it to be!  Wonderful memories, a meaningful wedding service, and so much laughter and joy shared with family and friends :) We are truly a very blessed couple to be surrounded by so much love on our wedding day!

J and I have safely landed in Israel this past weekend and are now busy settling into the rhythm of married life.  Stay tuned...more pictures and thoughts about pre-wedding and post-wedding activities will soon be posted!   Until then...let me get back to organizing our apartment and making that shopping list for Ikea.  (Mandy - I could really use your organizational expertise because a small apartment is a real challenge!!).  

Sending much love from Israel!

Qualifying Exam - Done!

Finished at last. Thanks to all who encouraged and supported me while I wrote this paper.  You don't know how much it helped carry me through the difficult days.

Upon word from the reviewers that I have passed (I say this with optimism!)...it is onward to my dissertation research I will go, with a slight pause in my academic endeavors to get married and create a new home with J in Jerusalem!!

Practicing being the center of attention

One thing a bride cannot be is shy about being the center of attention on her wedding day.   Thankfully I had an opportunity to get some practice before the big day on May 10th.  My family organized a lovely bridal shower...with me as the guest of honor. 

Thank you to each of you who helped plan this special day for me amidst everything that has been going on in my family in the past 2 months.  I felt special, honored, loved, cherished, and appreciated.  All of those feelings will help me stand tall and proud on my wedding day :)  I am blessed to have such great family members and so many life-long friendships that have strengthened despite time and distance.

Family Time

 

 

Now that I am back in PA for a few weeks, I have been able to spend some time with my family doing things I can't do when living far away.  This past weekend I had a chance to be a "soccer mom" when I took my nephew Derek to his soccer game (otherwise known as football for you European folks!).  I cheered loudly!  I felt great pride when he made a good play.  I enjoyed listening to his retelling every important incident of the game on the drive home.  Parenthood seems like a really scary thing...but I am realizing that there must be many great rewards to being a parent too.  :)

Derek played a great game, and I don't think I am biased in thinking that he has talent for the game of soccer!! 

I will miss this city

Goodbye Boston!

Farewell to Boston - Red Sox Style

Isn't it a shame that I have lived in Boston for almost three years without ever going to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park? This is simply not permitted if I am to call myself a former Boston resident. So after a long drive from PA and a busy afternoon of packing my stuff in the truck, we headed out to Fenway Park to enjoy a beautiful spring evening with my cousin Brad and my friend Kaori. My father went undercover, so we experienced no hostile anti-Yankee behavior directed towards us :)

Since I don't get that excited about baseball, I mostly enjoy the extracurricular activities that go on in the stadium during the game. See below!!

A Farewell Roast Dinner

The time has come for me to bid farewell to my Boston home.  If all goes according to plan, all my worldly possessions (minus my piano...sniff, sniff) and I will be traveling back down to PA to stay this coming weekend...at least for a temporary period of time.  And then off to Israel I will go with my two very gigantic suitcases in tow and a husband beside me!

 

In honor of me and my upcoming marriage, my roommates made a lovely meal for us to share together this evening.  Joc is a wonder in the kitchen and produced a fabulous roast chicken dinner with plenty of very tasty side dishes and a special Australian dessert.   It was a lovely and relaxing evening enjoying delicious food, laughing with friends, enjoying music and wine...and yes, even a few tears.  A goodbye at such a time as this is always bittersweet.  Excitement about the next chapter of life is beckoning, but it is still sad to say farewell to a part of my life that has been so meaningful for me. 

Laura and Joc...and Melissa too...thanks for being great housemates and for all the great memories we created in our wonderful little MA apartment!!