High School was a long time ago ...

Someone posted this picture on facebook from Erin's High School days. Can you find her? Here's a hint: She's wearing a very intriguing t-shirt ;-) Love you, Honey!



This was me at Bookstore Basketball my junior year at ND. My sharpie tatoo said "Stop me if you can" with my initials in the middle. It was the same tatoo that Chris Thomas (ND's point guard at the time) had on his arm. I was told that I had a man crush on him during bball season. Pretty sweet tatoo, huh?

There hasn't been too much going on this week. I came down with some kind of sinus garbage and was out of work Thursday and Friday. It's still lingering even today :-( But, at least it's getting better. I finally slept 8 hours straight. It's tough to sleep when you're nose is plugged up. Anyways, other than that, Erin had a nice evening with her sister, Katie, last night. They went out to the mall, had dinner together and brought me over Starbucks afterwards. I was craving Starbucks last night, and it was a loving thing for my fiancee to do for me. Not too much new on the wedding planning. We've browsed somethings just to get an idea for our registry. I think it's stressing Erin out a little bit. That's probably because I haven't been much help. I know what I want in certain things, and I haven't seen anything that meets my tastes. Really it's only bedding and dishes. I'm not too concerned about the other stuff. Oh, we did get my old friend David Danaher to do pipes (bagpipes) at our wedding. He's an incredible piper. Most of you won't know the difference, but my immediate family can tell. That's because they heard me play all the time ... I don't think they liked it when I practiced ;-) Erin and I are also signed up for our required pre-marital counseling with Holy Family. It shouldn't be too bad. We meet with a couple other engaged couples at a sponsor's home for five sessions. The sponsors are all married with young kids. Sounds much better than doing everything with the priest, even though we love Fr. Pat. Well, that's about it for now! Stay warm! ~Joe

Things we'd rather be doing on a day like today...

We would rather be...

Walking the campus of Notre Dame on a sunny September day... when the Irish actually win!
Playing with the two of the cutest babies in the world

Pretending to be sloppy drunk in front of the camera at Jimmy Buffet Night at the Flyer's Stadium in July. Game got rained out, but who goes there for baseball anyway...

Going for a romantic walk along a riverside (sorry, forgot the name already) where I have just been proposed to in the beautiful, warm July sun.

Resting on a hammock by the lake

Taking random pictures at the beach in Chicago


Yes, we'd rather be doing any of these things right now, than freezing in these 40 below temperatures! Thank God this too shall pass.

Stay warm, and be blessed no matter where you're freezing today :)

~Erin

Feeling a bit lighter ...

Sorry for not updating in awhile. It's been pretty busy for both of us with work back in full force. As a fund accountant, everything is busy at year-end. We don't have any new pictures as we keep forgetting to grab the camera. However, last night, we had dinner and played games with our next door neighbors at the apartment. We hit it off right away with the young newlyweds. We ended up staying until about midnight. We also discovered that both of them are devout Christians. It was a blessing from God. They might be moving soon which is sad, but it's going to take a bit of time. They are hoping to go to Cairo, Egypt for a year or two. Jay's goal is to work for the state department, so he feels he needs to be fluent in Arabic in order to be qualified. He studied in Egypt and his wife, Katherine, in Senegal during college. We hope they can get there soon, but hopefully we have a few more months to hang out with them. These are our first friends that we've made as a couple. All our other outings have been with couples that are friends of Erin or I. Praise the Lord for new friends! On a "lighter note", I have already lost 7 pounds since Christmas. My jeans are a little tight, but they are comfortable to wear again. I will be out of my "fat" pants in a couple weeks if I keep up my exercise and diet. It's amazing how much food you can eat for only 2000 calories when you eat fruits and vegetables. Packing my own lunch has been a money saver too. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that I am fulfilling my pre-Christmas goal to lose weight ;-) New Year's was well ... a new year. We didn't do much. I had to work and was pretty exhausted by midnite. Erin, Kevin and Sonya played "Rock Band II" but I was too tired. Erin had to wake me up when the ball dropped ... oops! The best part of the new year is that it's now the year of our wedding. We are only 209 days away! (I have a "days until" application on my iTouch). Things will start picking up on the planning again. We have one of our musicians and think we have our singer as well. One of Erin's cousins will be in town this summer for an internship. I trust Erin with picking our singer, as she is the most beautiful singer I know. She took voice lessons throughout college and minored in music. It's not set in stone yet. Erin would like to hear some tapes of her cousin's performances. We hope all of you liked the "Save-The-Date" cards. ~Joe