Settling into summer

Summer has officially started here. Well, okay, not really summer, as in 90 degree weather and vacation time, but graduation was this past weekend and the students are gone. It is quiet here. Unbelievably, and sometimes unbearably so. It's so weird to walk around and see no one. I mean not a soul.

Summers are a blessing and a curse for me. On the up side, we get out a half hour earlier:) I love that half hour! On the down side, the quiet can be deafening. I'll make it through, just as I always do. After 8 years of this, you'd think I'd be used to it, but the summers always surprise me.

This summer we have some planning to do though, so it will make the downtime go by much quicker. What planning, you may ask? Our wedding. You heard me. We get to plan a real, bona fide, dresses, guests, venue, DJ, flowers, W-E-D-D-I-N-G. Sure, we got Civil Unioned in 2005. And yes, it was the happiest day of my life. And yes, it meant a lot, and still does. But now that same sex marriage is legal here, we're going to tie the knot. Get hitched. Lock on the old ball and chain:) So, on May 15th, 2010, it will be official.

May 15th is the day we met 5 years ago. A day that changed both of our lives from miserable and painful to happy and full of love. We could potentially get hitched much earlier than that, but that is our day. And we don't want 3 anniversaries to celebrate every year! We already celebrate May 15th. And July 30th, the day we got our Civil Union. So now we will be in planning mode for a while.

We ran into some problems the first time around. We couldn't find anyone to perform our Civil Union. They were all "busy" or "not a JOP anymore". Yeah right. Just tell me you don't support us! We'll find someone else eventually. And we did. He had to come from 2 hours away, but he was great and gay, and just perfect! I hope we don't run into the same issue this time around.

I guess I don't have that much to say today. I have been very tired lately. We have been doing projects around the house (outside) such as our new deck:

Our old deck was crumbling and ugly. The previous owners had painted it red, and so every year we had to paint the damn thing. Then one day I was walking across it, and my foot went through a board! We kept the same shape, as the supports were still good. Admittedly, my dad helped a lot with the floor of this thing. But we did the railings and the steps. (and did all of the demolition). We are usually very handy, and could have done it ourselves, but my dad insisted on helping. Needless to say it looks much better and I'm not afraid of falling through it now!

We also put up some new 6 foot fence behind our garage. Then we had to saw up all the old fence and deck and figure out what to do with all of it. The projects were done by Sunday, but I am still feeling the effects. I keep saying "I need a vacation," and I really, really do. Good thing there is a 3-day weekend coming my way!

At least it's feeling more and more like spring: