We've walked down the aisle... now to beyond!

Wow!  It has been quite a while since I have updated this little blog, and hopefully I won’t neglect it for this long in the future. 

Well, we have officially made it down the aisle, and now we are in the “beyond” stage!  I’m going to work on updating this thing, too, since I am out of the “crazy wedding-planning lady” stage and into the “life is good and no stress from planning a wedding” stage!   It’s glorious.

The wedding turned out to be exactly what I had always wanted it to be- meaningful, casual, sweet, and full of significance for Justin and me.  I never wanted a typical wedding, and we really tried to put thought behind everything we did- from writing our own vows to crafting lots of little details by hand.  It was such a sweet day, and even though it rained and I didn’t have the big outdoor wedding I thought I wanted, I would not have had it any other way.   Also, there was no unity sand, so I was happy :) We’ve also been really lucky to have some amazing friends who really helped everything run smoothly and helped me to be a calm, happy bride and really enjoy the day, which is something I am truly grateful for.  We also had a rockin’ photographer (Matt Bush from Hattiesburg) who took some great photos!

 

And then it was on to Boston!  Even though I am a Disney fanatic (to put it mildly), I am so, so glad we chose Boston.  We both love to discover new places and to travel, and we aren’t really beach people (check out our Irish skin!).  We chose Boston almost on a whim, and by the end of the trip, I was in love.  We stayed at a small, historic hotel on the Back Bay called The Eliot, and were VERY surprised when we opened the door to our room to find that we had been upgraded to a corner room suite!  Score!  We were able to do so many things that were truly “Justin and Brittany”-ish, like take the Freedom Trail tour, walk around Boston Common and Fanueil Hall, go to two of the best art museums in the country, go to Cambridge and visit Harvard, and eat at some awesome, awesome restaurants, among other advcentures.  I had foie gras twice, and was horribly spoiled.  We took the T everywhere, and became almost experts by the end of the trip, so I was pretty proud of us!  On our last night, Justin surprised me with dinner reservations at a restaurant called Top of the Hub, which is at the very top of the Prudential Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Boston.  We were able to see all the places we had visited the past week while the sun set, and it was perfect and awesome and totally what a honeymoon should be.   Also, I think my next step is to write a book on how to have a fab wedding and honeymoon on a budget, because man, we had an awesome two weeks, and were surprisingly not broke by the end of it all.  Here are some Boston highlights-

And now, it’s back home!  Well, our new home that is!  I accepted a position at UAB, and a few months after our honeymoon, we moved to a small suburb of Birmingham.  Not only do we love being this close to the city and having some awesome new things to experience, but I am very grateful to have such a great job.  Coming from the grassy openness of Alabama to the urban, downtown area of UAB was a little overwhelming at first, but I have definitely embraced the area (but not the traffic.  I will never get used to the traffic.).  I work with a new program for transfer students called Joint Admission, which is a program where students at participating community colleges can earn an associate’s degree and seamlessly transfer to UAB.  While at their community colleges, they get UAB perks like free rec center membership, use of the libraries, and student life events.  I also have offices on some of the community college campuses, which means lots of travel for me, which I love.  It’s a brand new program, and I am really excited to help it get off the ground!

So now that the wedding planning, all-night crafting, and moving phases are over, and I am childless (for a while!), Justin and I are definitely embracing this ti me we have to make our new home our own and explore the town together.  It’s fun.  At this point, I am really working on some of my “goals before baby”, which should last for the next few years.  (I’m a planner, can you tell?).  The tentative goals are as follows-

1.       Be entirely gluten-free

 

Justin, as well as most everyone who is a Quinn, has some hardcore gluten allergies, along with allergies to dairy and eggs.  This is not so much of an inconvenience to me, considering I do not cook, and J-man really knows his stuff about what he can and can’t eat.  Usually we eat dinner together and are completely gluten free, but it is VERY easy for me to pick up a $2 pack of Lean Pockets, throw them in the freezer and have a convenient and deliciously processed lunch.  I have no gluten allergy (although my husband thinks I do), and my favorite foods include Bagel Bites, gas station chicken tenders, Paula Deen’s sausage balls, brownies, Bagel Bites, club sandwiches from McAlisters, and Bagel Bites.  I would live on all of these foods for the rest of my life if I could.  Did I mention Bagel Bites?  I love those things.  So after reading Wheat Belly and listening to various podcasts my husband makes, I mean, encourages, me to listen to, I have decided that it would be best not only for my health, but for meal-planning if we both were completely gluten free.  The plan was to be entirely gluten-free by the time we start thinking about having a family, because Lord knows that a little Quinn in my belly is probably going to have some pretty bad allergies, too.  Also, Justin makes some killer gluten-free chicken tenders, and I now know how to make gluten-free sausage balls (and they make gluten free bread, of course!), so I really have no excuse.  Except for those darn Bagel Bites.  Can someone work on that for me?

 

2.       Volunteer!

I have always known inherently that volunteering is important, and I was an avid volunteer through college in various ways.  So, no more excuses- I am 24 and have lots of free time, and there is no reason for me not to spend my time doing what I believe in.  I have been looking into Big Brothers Big Sisters for a while, and turns out their Birmingham office is within walking distance of my office at UAB, and after some research, I found out that they have an open interest meeting for potential Bigs every Thursday at noon, so I will be heading over there in two days to get more info.  I wrote it in my planner, so it is officially official J

3.       Become a member of a local church and be active in it.

This is a super super important one, obviously.  Justin grew up Catholic, and most of his family are heavily involved in the Catholic church.  I am an official member of my home church back in Mississippi, and was very involved in a Columbus church during my time there.  We are making some decisions now about where to get involved, and I have really loved the church we have visited with our Aunt Mary Anna.  I am not Catholic, and at first I had no CLUE what I was doing in a Catholic church and didn’t understand a lot.  Mary Anna has taken the time to explain a lot of things to me, and if I decide to become a member here, I will start RCIA classes in August, which will last through December.  The timing also works out perfectly, because I begin graduate class at UAB in January.  We are still trying to decide where to go, but at this rate, it looks like my evenings starting in August will be spent learning more about the Catholic faith.

So those are the major goals.  I feel like if I write them down, I will definitely feel more accountable to them.  The rest of the month is filled with bridal showers, baby showers, and birthday celebrations (namely, a celebration of me getting old), and I couldn’t be more excited!  What is even more exciting is that the Cheesecake Factory has gluten free cheesecake.  It’s like all my birthday dreams have come true J

Until next time!

BQ