Japan

I'm missing it lately. The food, the humidity, the giant beers. Thanks to Duffy for reminding me of the good stuff.

We have the home field advantage in South Africa!

Breaking news from the Corvallis G-T! Willamette Valley grass is what they've planted for the big games. It'll be like playing soccer in Benton County! With an OSU alum on the US team, there's no way we can lose.

Major Catch-Up Blog Post ALERT!

I thought I'd give all you followers a quick rundown of everything that's been happening in our lives since the last post, which, I believe, was some months ago. Here we go:

1) After nearly 11 years of courtship, we finally got married! Married life has been good, though, I must say, not so different from the decade preceding it. We remain in Corvallis.

2) Ben continues to work at a local bookstore, while I continue to look for full-time teaching jobs while juggling various money-makers such as substitute teaching and working for the US Census. Both of these jobs have been quite fun and I get to bring home some pretty interesting stories about where they take me. In subbing, I've taught everything from kindergarten to 12th grade, in subjects as varied as Special Ed to Middle School PE to High School Math (and most things in between). I really like it. The census work is confidential so you'll just have to imagine it.

3) We went to Kaua'i for our honeymoon and hung out with Ryan and Jen. It was fantastic and we recommend it to everyone. I've attached a video Ryan shot while we were there if you want to know what we looked like in Hawaii.

4) We're planning our next move. Current possibilities: Portland, Seattle, Chicago, the Southwest (New Mexico? Texas?), and the Bay Area. If you currently live in one of these locations and have jobs for us, we'll probably be seeing you real soon.

5) Our cats are awesome and recently caught two mice. They enjoy eating grass, sleeping, and meowing to wake us up in the morning so they get fed early.

Springtime

Right now we're listening to the frogs in the neighbor's backyard pond. Try to imagine it.

Musicians Needed

Hello. This is a call to all musicians, inviting you to bring your instrument(s) to the wedding. We would love to have some live music during the reception. Other performers (comedians, jugglers, hula-hoopers) are also encouraged to arrive prepared for a show. Thanks!

P.S. There will also be dj'ed music, so no pressure.

There will be PIE

I love pie. I made one last night, in fact, with the help of my mom. She combined frozen raspberries, blueberries, and cherries from our tree and we baked them in a crust I put together. Also, we are having pies (not cake) at the wedding. Homemade pies, to be exact, like a pie potluck. If you want to bring a pie (or two, or three) to the wedding, please let me know. All sweet varieties are accepted, and a savory pie might be okay, too. Whatever you fancy.

We value your presence at the wedding and do not expect to receive gifts. Seriously. However, people are asking what we want, so to make things a little easier, we have registered at a few places:

REI - shop at a store or online
Bed, Bath, and Beyond - shop at a store or online
The Inkwell in Corvallis - shop at the store, 234 SW 3rd Street, in downtown Corvallis

We always love homemade and local items, too.

Wedding News

Hey everyone!

We'll be posting some wedding details here over the next couple months, until March 20th or so. If you have any questions, please continue checking Shrimp Louie's (this blog), and leave us a note in the comments if you want something answered.

Hasta la vista,
Chrystal