Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks in the Zaruba household. My 25th birthday has come and gone. We spent the weekend up in Minnesota and it was really nice to spend some quality time with my family. It seems like it had been forever since I had been home! The weekend was spent taking some more senior pictures of Daniel, eating a lot of food, having drinks with some friends and hanging out with my family. It was a great weekend! But again, it was too short and the end came too quickly.
Last week seemed to crawl by. Probably because AJ and I had such an amazing weekend planned out! Finally Friday came and it was the start of our Anniversary weekend! AJ even surprised me by sending a dozen roses to my office! The note on the card said: "A rose for every month we've been married." Loved it! :)
That night, AJ got into town and we walked down Main St. in Cedar Falls and stopped at Indulgence. There we enjoyed a nice glass of wine while sitting out on the sidewalk, enjoying the amazing fall weather. Then we had 8pm reservations at Bourbon St. It was the first time AJ had ever eaten there and it had been forever since I was there and wow was the food amazing! The best part was we had a $50 gift card from the hotel in honor of our anniversary. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel - The Blackhawk Hotel in Cedar Falls. It's a very cool old hotel that still has the vintage look and feel to it. The room was so neat and they had roses on our pillows and rose petals all over. We also had some champagne and chocolate. It was a great night.
Saturday morning we drove into Waverly for Wartburg's Homecoming. We went to a friends house for some home made breakfast which was great! Then we attended the Homecoming parade before making our way to campus. We spent pretty much the whole time running into people we knew from college and catching up with them. It's also so great to get back on campus and see the people who have been such a big part of our lives. It's truly like going back home. Wartburg's community is so close-knit and it's always nice to go back and be a part of that - even if it's just for a little while.
Before leaving town, AJ and I picked up our anniversary cake. The Waverly Bakery is where we got our wedding cake from. One of the cool things they do is give you a free cake for your one year anniversary. This is one thing that AJ was really looking forward to! For the past year, AJ has not let me forget the fact that he didn't get any of our wedding cake on our wedding night except for the small pieces we fed each other. So this free cake was a big deal for us... okay, for AJ. :)
That night, we stayed at a small hotel in Toledo, IA that had some themed rooms. It was a lot of fun because it was so different than a normal hotel. Our room was called Aces Wild and had a casino theme. This was a surprise to AJ until we got there and I think he really enjoyed it. We ordered in pizza, ate some cake and enjoyed some wine. It was another perfect night.
Sunday morning we were able to sleep in, which we did! Then we packed up and heading west back home to Council Bluffs. Yes, that's right, I said we. :) I took Monday and Tuesday morning off from work. On Sunday we pretty much just relaxed around the house and enjoyed each other's company.
Tonight was AJ's first concert at Riverside High School and I wouldn't miss it for the world. He did an outstanding job! And I was not the only one to think so! These were just some of the quotes I heard after the concert:
- Phenomenal! Just great, night and day difference from last year!
- You bring so much energy to the program.
- What a great concert! You really pick songs that the kids enjoy singing!
Of course AJ would be modest and tell everyone that it's really the kids that are doing great and he just waves his arms. But he does give them a great energy and he works harder than he gives himself credit for. It always amazes me to watch AJ when he's up on stage and in front of his choir. You can just see the passion in his eyes and when he talks and when he's conducting. You just know that AJ is meant to be in front of a choir. He makes it all look like so much fun too! And it really makes me miss choir! We did record the concert so if any of your are interested in watching all or some of it, just let us know.
All in all, it has been a great weekend and past couple of weeks. I'm not looking forward to having to leave again tomorrow. It's getting harder to want to leave Council Bluffs every time I get over here. It feels a lot like home (even though I don't live here) and it's so nice to be able to sleep in my own bed next to my husband!
Well, I have a lot of other thoughts, but this blog is more of a recap. I'll be sure to get those thoughts down for another blog! I hope you are all enjoying the nice fall weather before the next season comes along... :) God Bless.
I'm probably past due on getting another blog up and for that, I apologize. I know how many of you depend on this blog on a weekly basis and I have failed you. :)
This weekend, it is my birthday. And I'm turning 25. Yup. 25. I am officially getting old. According to my dad, a quarter of a century! And apparently, the one thing I was looking forward to about turning 25 (a lower car insurance) is just an urban myth! I'm so disappointed! Now, I know a lot of you - especially anyone older than me - are probably thinking "Psh, 25 is NOT old! You're still young and have plenty of years to go!" And you're right. In all aspects, 25 is still very young. But it's also an age where I am getting older and maybe (if I'm lucky!) more mature. I definitely realize that I have a lot of growing up to still do, but I think I'm off to a good start. I'm sure learning a lot of lessons along the way. So I thought I would take the time to share some of these lessons with all of you.
One of the things I've learned is that the real world is not like college. And maybe colleges need to prepare you more for this reality. For one thing, there are no Outfly's in the real world. For those of you not aware, Outfly is a Wartburg holiday tradition. Once a year (in the fall), the student body president declares a day of the week Outfly. However, nobody knows when the day will come and you don't find out until 6:30 that morning when you are woken up by people yelling and banging on doors. Then all our classes are canceled for the day and instead students can do whatever they like - sleep, go shopping, play in the Outfly golf tournament, enjoy other campus activities and games, etc. It is one of the greatest days of the year to a Wartburg student. :) As alum, you get an email sent to you the day of Outfly as well, which is really just a cruel reminder that you are no longer in college and cannot take a day off to catch up on sleep or enjoy the nice weather. Lesson learned.
Instead of Outfly's and Movie Knights and everything else you get to do in college, the real world is made up of paying bills, budgeting to make sure you have enough money to pay those bills, remembering when to get your oil changed, keeping the apartment clean so it doesn't turn into a bachelor pad when your wife isn't there... so on and so on. Lesson learned.
I'm also learning that work isn't everything. Making a lot of money doesn't make things okay if you're not happy. And making a lot of money doesn't matter when all you want to do is live with your husband. A job is just a job. You can make whatever you want from it - make the most out of any job. And you should - you should always work your hardest at any job you have and be grateful, but you also need to be happy doing it. Staying at a job for the wrong reasons isn't going to solve any problems. You need to do what's best for your happiness. For your marriage. For your life. Lesson learned.
As AJ and I grow together as husband and wife, I'm learning that marriage is not perfect. Okay, I'm not sure that 'learning' is the right term here. Maybe it needs to be 'being reminded'. I think that I was naive when it came to this thought. Marriage is a lot of things, but not perfect. It never is. It never will be. Marriage is hard work. It takes patience and courage. It takes commitment and trust. Marriage is trial and error. It's also a support system. Marriage is something that can make things better or make something easier. Marriage is a beautiful friendship. But all of it - the good and the bad - take some effort. Marriage is not like a fairy tale story. Lesson learned.
Another thing I'm learning is that Sundays are currently the worst day of the week. And every week, it gets harder and harder to say good bye to AJ. We have been fortunate enough to be able to see each other every weekend that we've been apart, even if it's just been for one night. But there is never enough time on the weekends. Not enough time when you try to do all the stuff you couldn't do during the week. Not enough time when you spend a lot of hours on the road getting places. Not enough time to make up all that lost time from the week with your husband. Not enough time when you just want to spend some quality time with your family - who you also don't get to see enough. There is just not enough time and some things have to be pushed until the next weekend. Lesson learned.
So there you have it, 5 lessons I've recently learned. Maybe they've helped you gain some insight for yourself. Or maybe you have some already learned insight that you can share! Whatever the case, we all still have some growing up to do and there will always be lessons to learn.
