life as a stay at home wife

The wedding is over, all of our out of town guest have gone home, we're back from our honeymoon and my sweet hubby has been back at work for a little over a week now which means i'm officially a stay at home wife. My days have been filled with lots of cleaning, unpacking, cooking, running errands, lunch with friends, watching Friends, staying in my pj's until lunch, lots of laundry, and working on my visa application. It is nice to have a break from the craziness of the last 2 months but I'm not sure i'm cut out for being a stay at home housewife. I miss working and being in a routine but hopefully it will only be for 4 more weeks and I can get my visa application turned in and be back at work as soon as possible! I do really miss my kiddos and my work buddies as well as being able to see my man during the day at work!

I may not love the stay at home part, but I sure do love being a wife! Happy 3 weeks of being married, my love! Life is better with you by my side :)



 

Mr & Mrs

Yep, thats us...Mr & Mrs Fowler :) I can't believe our wedding day has come and gone! With the whirlwind of planning a wedding in 7 weeks, work, moving and having out of town visitors for over a month and now its all over, just like that.

We could not have asked for a more perfect day! We got married a little over a week ago, July 9th or as Aussies would say 9th July. The weather was beautiful and sunny. It was a little windy, so there was a chill in the air but after all it is winter here. Our ceremony was held at the beautiful Hunter Valley Gardens and our dinner reception was at the Crowne Plaza, both located in the Hunter Valley wine country which is about an hour north of where we live on the Central Coast. Our wedding was small and intimate, exactly how we wanted it. It was such a wonderful weekend for our family and friends to get to spend together and relax. Looking back I'm just amazed that we were able to pull it off in such a short time but also just in awe at how perfectly it all came together! It was truly a perfect day and we have so many memories to look back on and cherish over the next many, many years.

Since the wedding we said goodbye to my family and friends who came out for the wedding. I can't even begin to describe how great it was to have my family here. I can't write too much about it or the tears will start but it was the best thing ever. Now if we could just convince them to move to Australia :) Then Ben and I were off to Tasmania for 5 days for our honeymoon. It was a beautiful, relaxing trip. We came home late Friday night and then were up early on Saturday to get ready for our "post wedding celebration" with all of our family and friends here. That was a wonderful afternoon as well! I can't wait to be able to celebrate again with my family and friends when we come to the states in a few months. We're pretty lucky, getting to celebrate our wedding 3 times. Any excuse to wear my wedding dress for a second time, i'll take :) We are so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people that love and support us, both in Australia and in the US.

Well my sweet hubby is making us breakfast so I better run :) more photos and updates to come!

 

1 week to go!

I really was hoping to be better about keeping up with my blog during our engagement, so one day I could look back and read all about it. I guess I really thought I would have some "free time" during our short, 7 week engagement. I was wrong. But even with all the craziness of the last 7 weeks I wouldn't trade a minute of it because this time next week I'll be married to my best friend and that will make every second of it completely worth it.

The last hour has been just about the only free time i've had. My family is all out doing other things, Ben is out at his parents house and i'm sitting at my new home (what will be our home soon!) surrounded by boxes and suitcases that still need unpacking but i'm going to just try to enjoy these last few minutes, I feel like this is the calm before the storm because i'm pretty sure this week is going to be a little on the busy side.

Besides the wedding planning its been busy around here with work and visitors! My good friend, Clint from college came to visit with a friend about 3 weeks ago. There is nothing better than have a little piece of home here in Australia. Of course 2 days after they left my mom came then a week later my dad and brother arrived. Then this week one of my girlfriends who is also going to be a bridesmaid in the wedding arrived and then this Friday another girlfriend arrives from the states! I feel so bad for my family and friends, they've all been put to work since the minute they got here whether it be wedding stuff or helping me move they have been amazing! I'm not sure I could have done everything without them and I have a feeling i'm going to miss them terribly when they leave.

I'm not sure what has been more stressful, planning a wedding in 7 weeks or preparing to be gone from work for 6 weeks. We're taking 2 weeks leave for our wedding/honeymoon but shortly after we got engaged we found out that i'll have to take 6 weeks of unpaid leave from work to wait for my new visa to kick in. In some ways I think its a blessing in disguise because it will give me time to get things at home set up and kind of get used to be married and mostly a nice break after the craziness of the last 7 weeks. I'm just worried my soon-to-be hubby will get too used to coming home to a clean house with dinner on the table everyday because i'm pretty sure that will not be the case everyday after I go back to work. In the meantime we both have 2 days left of work and then some much needed time off!

The last 7 weeks have been full of ups and downs. If there is 1 big thing i've learned is that when people find out you are getting married they want to give you all sorts of opinions and advice. Some of it is helpful and some of it not so much and some of it I just have to smile and say thanks for the advice. Then there are others who are selfish and think our day is about them. It hurts my feelings that they act like that and I just hope one day they will realize how their actions affect others. But most importantly i'm thankful for the heaps of people that have been so encouraging and supportive during this time. To all of you, I can't thank you enough and we love you guys so much!

A week from now i'll be married to this handsome man and I can't wait :)




 

The Story

So...that adorable, Aussie boy I mentioned in my last post, well he asked me to marry him and I said yes :) I guess I have some explaining to do. I disappear from my blog for several months then reappear with a vague recap of the last few months and now i'm posting about our engagement. Sorry I haven't kept everyone in the "loop" over the last several months, so if you want to know all about Ben and I just come visit me and I'll fill you in on the whole story :) But for those of you who don't want to fly 10,000 miles to hear about us, i'll give you the readers digest version and then get on to the good stuff!

Ben and I met in January at work. He is the groundsmen at St. Philip's and as you know, i'm the new OOSH Coordinator. We kind of got stuck into sharing an office space for a while, started chatting and getting to know each other and then one afternoon he asked me out for coffee which turned into dinner and I guess the rest is history.

We had originally planned on getting married in October but since my family had booked tickets to come in June/July we decided to change our plans and get married in July while they were here so they wouldn't have to come out twice in 1 year. So all this was decided in the last week or so, so I knew the proposal was coming soon but I didn't really want to start planning things until we were officially engaged. So, Wednesday he came and told me he had booked us in to a little Italian restaurant at Terrigal beach we had been wanting to go to for dinner. I guess I need to throw this in...Ben had been growing a beard for about a month and I did not like it! Well he came to pick me up and he had shaved the beard! I was so excited, going on about how that made my day etc, little did I know it was going to get way better :) After dinner he said we should get some hot chocolates to go and go for a walk by the beach. I was kinda hesitant because it was so cold and it had been rainy but I said sure. We walked for a bit and he stopped and said he had a present for me, he pulled out a little box with a bow and said some really sweet stuff (sorry folks, thats for us) and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and of course I said YES! We sat there for a few minutes before it started to rain and we ran back to the car, called our families...sorry mom and dad for waking you up at 6am! Despite the yucky weather, I could not have asked for a more perfect, romantic night. I'm so excited to get to spend the rest of my life with Ben. He is such an amazing man and I thank God everyday for bringing him into my life. I could go on and on and tell you how wonderful he is but i'm already getting teary and well, you can see how great he is when you get to met him :)

As far as the "wedding plans" go....our date is July 9th. Yes, thats 6 weeks away. We're kind of going a non-traditional route with our wedding. Since my family and friends are all back home and Ben's are all here we wanted to make sure we included everyone best we could. We've decided on having a Pre-Wedding celebration the week before our actual wedding to celebrate with all of our family and friends here in Australia. Then on July 9th we'll be having a small wedding for close family and friends here. Then in September/October we'll be in the US and will have a Post-Wedding celebration with all of my family and friends in the US. So we're going to be doing a lot of celebrating this year :) We've played with several ideas over the last few weeks with how to make it all work and we're very excited about our plans. Being that we're in an "international" relationship our situation is unique so I really feel that this fits our situation really well. I know some people won't understand but there is no way we can please everyone. We look forward to celebrating with everyone in Australia and in the US!

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin our new life together. We're so excited to see what God has in store for us, whether that be in Australia, the US or somewhere different I know He has a wonderful plan for us.

ps-I actually did try to post pictures but for some reason blogger is not letting me. I'll try again soon!


 

catching up

I can't believe I've neglected my blog for almost 3 months, shame on me. Lots of catching up to do, but to spare all the details here is a quick recap of life over the last few months...

My cousin from New York came to visit for a week
Met with an immigration lawyer
I moved into my own flat
Went to Canberra (the Australian Capital Territory) for a girls trip
Finished my first term at work
Held my first Vacation Care at work
My best friend from home had a beautiful baby girl!
I found out another good friend from home is pregnant :)
Got a nasty virus/flu
My parents have booked flights to come visit in June!
oh, and I met an adorable Aussie who i've been spending a whole lot of time with :)

Life is good :) I promise I won't wait 3 months before another update.


 

pj's and facelifts

Right this very minute I am wearing my Christmas flannel pj's and this makes me very happy! We've had this ridiculous heatwave for about a week then this afternoon the wonderful southerly winds came through brought lots of rain and much cooler temperatures! Right now its about 61 degrees outside, which sure beats the 104 degree day we had yesterday. Reason #147 why I love Australia, its crazy ever so quickly changing weather.

Hopefully you've noticed the blog has had a facelift. No, I am not creative enough by any means to create blog layouts but lucky for me the people at Designer Blogs are! They were so wonderful to work with and have so much cute stuff to choose from, go check them out!

Bedtime for me...in my flannel pj's! :)

i'll trade you

To all you people back home who are getting snow, ice and temps of 15-30 degrees...i'll trade you. I love my little dashboard on my computer so I always know what the time and weather are here and back home...today, snowflakes in Memphis and sun in Australia.

We've been going through a heatwave this week. My cousin and I were talking on Wednesday (as we went on a little outing at 10pm in search of fans) that we really needed to document our heatwave experience so we could remember it in a few months when its winter and we're freezing...so here it goes :)

This week has been nothing short of miserable as far as the weather goes. I'm pretty sure we've had temps in the high 30s (c)= high 90s-100s (f) almost every day. But here's the thing most of you back home don't know...most people in Australia do not have a/c in their homes. Yep. So just think, a hot summer day in the south with no a/c. Thats what its been like here. The heat just makes me down right cranky. I'm tired of not being able to sleep, tired of taking 3 showers a day and still feeling completely gross, tired of having curly hair, and just tired of feeling like I have zero energy to do anything. Alright, i'm done complaining. In my defense I left the US in summer, came to Australia in spring and now summer, so i've had summer for almost 10 months now. I'm ready for some different weather and ready to wear all those fall and winter clothes in my closet I haven't worn in forever! I know this will pass and despite this crazy weather I still love Australia.