Yes! Yes! Yes!

Going to a football game, such a fall essential for a South Bend native.

College football, different experience out east.

First of all, the price of tickets... $15. That caused a gasp for South Bendians everywhere.

Then also the stadium. Do you see how close to the field we are! Also the ushers don't ever verify that you are sitting in your own seat. 

(Never mind Tim's mustache, Lord knows I've been trying to.)

And then the fans were hilarious and all of the sudden, non-existent... Sorcery!

But really just the majority of the Student Section cleared out at half time. While they were still there, they had me laughing all the live long day. My favorite was the alum who lead the graduate section in the chant of "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" (double fist pump included) every time they were happy with a play of the field. Lazy and effective, I can get behind that.

I also appreciated the group of undergrads behind us who tended to scream/grunt "MURDER" every time we were on defense and our opponent was advancing down the field. It was a great transition of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" to "De-Fense-De-Fense" to a voice drop and "MURDER" not chanted, no clapping involved. It could be a bit startling. I'm sitting there like "Go Team! He didn't mean that! It's just a game. In sportsmanship, we can all be winners!" Maybe just the football stadium is not my most comforting environment...

I'm excited to go to my first hockey game because I'm told if that made me laugh, this will make me cry... Keep an eye out for all of my raw emotion in that post.

It was a great, though freezing, evening. In some small ways, we felt like we were home again. 

It's good to have friends that cheer with you til the end of a heartbreaking loss and a husband who agrees to going home immediately after, changing into our warmest pajamas, and watching a movie with a glass of hot tea. It's the simple things.

100 Happy Days

So I am writing this post to announce that I was inspired by Tim and I am going to be participating in #100happydays.

Hah! Gotcha! Five bucks says Shannon and Ryan had the same reaction which was a verbal, "That's so great, happy for you..." with an internal, "um Rylee what?"

Do you remember in grade school when we had parties on the 100th day of school? For us we had a celebration of sorts and congratulated each other on being able to count to 100. Every student was asked to bring in 100 somethings that they had counted out on there own; penny's, q-tips, skittles, candy corn, etc. I don't remember what I brought but I do remember learning how to separate them into 10 groups of ten. Intro to multiplication! All of my education friends are loving this right now.

Well today marks our 100th day of marriage! We did it! We will celebrate that we have watched 100 episodes of TV or walked up the stairs to the apartment 100 times, or by counting the 100 items of dirty clothes that need to be washed. Or I could write a post of the 100 things I have learned from marriage so far! I could easily do it but let's be real, I just lost 3 readers right now for even mentioning a post so absurd. So instead I'll just do one set of ten. And rather than bore you with lectures of life lessons, I'll share a decade of moments from marriage so far that have made me laugh with joy.

Here goes:

10. At the beginning of October, the school nurse gave all the female faculty (which is the entire faculty... all girls school.) a pamphlet for a self-breast examination at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It was sitting on our coffee table when Tim got home, he picked it up, looked confused, and then stated, "Well that is not something you would have found at the last house I lived in..." Right you are Tim Kenney.

9. I work in a school, this means I get up early and go to bed even earlier. On average, Tim stays up about 2 hours later than I do. One weekend night, I was in the bathroom and I heard him scream, "Gah, get in here! What is marriage good for if not that you warmed the bed before I got in it!" Always good to have a purpose.

8. I force Tim to do things that make him uncomfortable. Call it pushing him to the stretch zone or call me scared, either way it always works. When we moved in I had to convince Tim that it was okay to put a few holes in the wall, that we would patch it before we left and I was sure our landlord would understand. We have a 2 year lease after all! But then Tim saw the amount of holes I wanted to put in the wall. Proud to admit that the biggest hole comes not from my husband but from our professional contractor friend. Thanks Steve for easing my husbands conscience.

7. It is inevitable that a road trip with him means this is played via YouTube on our phones at least twice. And to think that before we started dating he had never seen a Veggietales movie! Proof that marriage is good for people.

6. After shopping around for a grocery store in Boston I settled on Wegmans. That's the wrong phrasing here; the heavens parted and Wegmans found me. Tim thinks it's annoying when people brag about their grocery stores but I haven't taken him with me yet. When I do, you'll know because he'll make me post a picture of him on the gram. I'll continue; I converted after my first trip. They have produce like Martin's, prices like Aldi's (for Boston standards), and bulk things like Costco. What's not to love? Exactly. They have parts of the store devoted to their "Family Pack" items in bulk and I am used to shopping for 9 so when I saw these deals I jumped. I came home that Tuesday night with Family Pack everything. And I mean everything. Who needs one pound of beef if it's cheaper for 6 pounds and you can freeze it! He laughed about that but it was the Mac-n-Cheese that put him over. He said something along the lines of "We aren't in college anymore and we don't have young kids, why would we ever need that much mac-n-cheese?!?!" I think we have eaten one box since then and he might have a point but historically I don't admit I'm wrong and these things have YEARS until an expiration date so...

5. In our apartment there is a spot between our living room and dining room that is extremely slippery. We are talking sliding around on wood floors in tennis shoes. It actually might be a safety hazard, our guests have even commented. But we didn't notice the depth of this problem until fall boots season when we wear socks the majority of our days. Tim has taken to not picking up his feet when he rounds the corner and instead lets the floor take him where it will. I'm more of the play it safe type and keep to the perimeter of the room and I walk only where the wall leads me.

4. Doing laundry seriously stinks. And it's even worse when you have to go down the stairs with two hampers/two suitcases/ and at least one reusable shopping bag, load everything into the car, drive to the laundromat, and quite literally air all of your dirty laundry. It's the pits. Which is why I avoid it at all costs. This lead to one of the more intense moments of marriage for me. There I was sitting in our Indiana Ford Taurus getting real with myself in the mirror. I remember saying aloud, "Rylee you can do this, you're married now." I then quickly slammed the vanity mirror, looked around to make sure no one was in any of the cars around me to witness my crazy, and confidently headed into Target to buy another pack of men's boxers and buy myself one more week away from that God forsaken place. All of the melodrama, I know. But at this point of the post, what else do you expect?

3. For many of our marital tasks, Tim and I have fallen into the geder stereotypes. I do the dishes, he takes the trash out. I mop the floor, he cleans the ceiling fan that I cannot reach. I pretend to be sleeping, he has to turn off Netflix. With exception, of course, to the fact that I am the one with the job paying for his education, we fit all of the norms. All of the norms but one, that is. This one norm that I cannot fulfill has caused me many an emotional break down. After a failed brownie attempt, Tim found me fetal on the kitchen floor. Once he caught me stabbing the burnt corn brean muffins. Poor corn bread muffins, it wasn't their fault. I'm not quite sure what it is, but baking is not my calling in life. I tend to get pretty torn up about this shortcoming, which is why Tim knows when I promise a friend that we will bring baked goods that it really just means that I am having a craving for his chocolate chip cookies. Marry your opposite because what good would it be to have two people who couldn't bake under one roof? No good, no good at all.

2. Still hard to believe that we are actually married and that I don't have to pack up and leave at the end of the week. As I experience what I hope is a natural adjustment period I will say something to Tim along the lines of, "Can you believe that we're married?" or "This marriage thing is kind of great." or even "they called us 'The Kenney's' that's weird." Without fail, Tim responds to each of my emotions with, "Wait, What?" and then scrambles around the room to get his bearings. I wish I could say it got funnier with time but you have to give him credit for the dedication to the joke.

1. I made him pose for this photo and instead of his usual snarky comment about being a trophy husband or me exploiting him via this blog, he said, "I wish you would have told me, then I would have worn my scarf!" Oh, how far we have come in just 100 short days!

The joy we have experienced from this vocation so far is truly immeasurable. 10,000 more decades of hilarity? Let me at em! And the graces... know how much we are appreciating your prayers in our newlyweddedness. Prayers back for you too.

Who ya gonna call?

It snowed at home this week. And heavily. It snowed a bit here this week too, but not as bad. Snow makes me ready for winter. Which is why I was bummed when we went out for drinks with faculty members at my school to celebrate the end of first quarter and they hadn't switched over to winter seasonals yet. I'm ready for the winter seasonals. As a Magee though, this makes me a bit hypocritical. We love thanksgiving, we live for the quality cousin time T-gives brings. My older brother is famous in our family for coining the phrase/chant/battle cry "Santa needs to stop sticking his butt in my favorite holiday!!!" Can I be ready for winter and not ready for Christmas music? Can I LOVE Thanksgiving while still counting down the days to Holiday Hallmark Movies? (Though rumor has it they've already started... I don't know how I'll live without cable this year.) I think yes. The next few weeks are for the blending of seasons and I'm okay with that but for now I'll reflect on the last two weeks, which we definitively fall.

Tim and I went to the urban pumpkin patch, Whole Foods, to pick up some Halloween decor. While at the urban pumpkin patch, literally a pile of pumpkins outside the store, there was a city mom trying to get her two sons to smile. Tim and I took advantage of the opportunity to make odd faces at a stranger baby to get him to smile. Creepy? Yes, but his mom appreciated it. I then tried to get Tim to smile there in the same location, for the sake of the blog (!) but he was having none of it so I snuck this one out of spite. Tim carved his pumpkin to look like The Great Pumpkin it was awesome, check his feed. check it.

Fenway had a free showing of Ghostbusters on October 30th. We took advantage of that in a hot second. More of a cold second really: I was wearing mittens, double layers, hats, coats, all of the things. 

It was my first time seeing the movie and I was shocked by how many parents were there with their kids. 1) School night! 2) Inappropriate! Look at me sounding so old and crotchety...

I took a picture of my clan of men who were my movie going companions but Steve's eyes were awkwardly closed and I'm sure he would have killed me once Ryan texted him the goofy picture of himself so humor and death avoided. You win some you lose some.

Finally, fall is the best time for birthdays! I've mentioned my own (hey, hey of course I toot my own horn here on this little blog) and Ryan's. But also my beautiful seester Maddie and mi madre as well as this pretty lady. Happy birthday friends! We have no birthday cakes but you can blow out the decorative candles I hoard anytime!

Clicks

So you might know that Tim is a grad student going for a Masters in Theological Studies. Of course you do, because the readers of this blog (all five of you!) are either related to me, a close friend who knows him well, or Tim. I ramble on regardless. So, he gave a presentation yesterday about the role of social media in Culture and our church. And here I sit posting pictures of my life like people care (I know the majority of my page views are myself, judge away) and killing hours while pinning recipes, listening to music videos, watching Netflix movies and TV shoes, pouring over the void and lifesource that is Instagram and of course stalking other blogs that people (me for sure) do actually care about.

Tim's project has caused a great bit of conversation about using social media for the good and how the church can be a part of building that up. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says, "It falls, in particular, to young people...to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this 'digital continent.' Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm." But instead of making you read my theological exegesis, I'm going to post some internet goodness instead. You're welcome.

1. This nugget melted my heart.

2.  One of my very best friends just became an Aunt to sweet little Nora Therese. Nora was born to the most wonderful parents, Julia and Tom. They, like Tim and I, are St. Joe High School sweethearts. He went to ND and she went to SMC. Nora was born with CF and had to be air lifted to Indy for an emergency surgery. She is doing much better today and was able to be held! But she will likely be in the NICU for the next few months. If you would like to donate to Nora's medical expenses (here) know how appreciated it would be and I completely understand that that can be a lot to ask of you but please, please, please send those prayers. They are asking for the intercession of Venerable Solanus Casey. Find out more about him here and here.

3.  In honor of Veterans Day (this post was meant for yesterday...), I thought I would highlight my second cousin. There is an organization called "Fashion Has Heart" that worked with Eric to design a t-shirt. The proceeds go to a fund that will help him be able to purchase a home. Hear more about his story and see the design here.

4. Speaking of Veterans, would you like to shead a few tears?

5. For some yummy vegan recipes (contradiction I know) or even just motivation to live a healthier lifestyle, follow my fellow CUA alumna at She Well.

6. Finally, for a blogger who posts better things than this, Anna.

Much love my 5 followers, much love.

Hopeless Wanderer

Vermont! Driving through this state requires that you listen to everything Mumford & Sons, theres not really a choice. And so we did. All Mumford with a little hint of Lumineers and a dessert of Head and the Heart. There's nothing better than that.

Tim surprised me for my birthday with a road trip to Vermont. When I moved to Boston, the only New England state I had ever been to was Massachusetts, I'm excited to cross them all off the list through our time here. So we went to Vermont for a day. We drove the entirety of 3 states in 3 hours. The states on this side of the country are seriously microscopic. Driving through the mountains with all the leaves having changed, there was nothing more I could have asked for on my birthday except for maybe ice cream. And boy did Tim deliver. The mecca. 

We went to Waterbury, VT home of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Green Mountain Coffee, Cabot Cheese, and the best cider mill of all time ever (I should clarify that it is the only cider mill I have ever been to...). We spent a day doing what was quintessentially fall at its very source. He's the best, and he knows me so well.

Always good to know that Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch is the 6th most popular B&J flavor of all time.

Long live Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch!

Vermonty Python on the other hand, may he rest in peace.

It was great, they had a short tour and a tasting of a non-released flavor. I also got a pin and free ice cream cone because Tim mentioned to them that it was my birthday. They had all of the fall decor. And this special graveyard of retired flavors. 

Thank God for ice cream. The world would really be a different place without it.

Mountains; weird right? It's terrifiyng to drive through them when what you are used to is flat, flat, flat fields of Indiana. Which is why I let Tim drive the whole way. There and back. Happy birthday to me. Selfless and caring I am not.

This train station is also the home to the Green Mountain Coffee tasting rooms. We sadly missed it due to their refusal to advertise seasonal hours on their flyers. 

But we were able to spend more time at the cider mill which was a good consolation prize.

Who cares about pumpkin spice, apples mark the flavor of fall and these apple cider donuts were on target.

We ended our Vermont birthday adventure in Burlington for dinner, a quick driving tour of the University of Vermont campus, and the Magic Hat brewery experience.

There was a self led tour and drink samples all for free, not because of my brithday but because of the kind people of Vermont. 

A special thank you to this man for making all of my birthday dreams that I never knew I had come true.

November Second

 

 This was a year ago. Wait what? This was a year ago? I just don't know how that happened? Happy November 2nd.

 At this point in time we were wrapping up talking to nearly every person we knew and this became my most popular Insta ever. There's something about engagements and weddings that get people excited.

 A year ago today we took turns charging our phones and telling the story. A year ago today we walked around campus with our forgotten champagne from the night before. A year ago today people celebrated in ways that truly expressed the joy we felt. A year ago today the reactions ranged from shock to continuing to sleep and screaming to hugs that lasted for hours. No one was worrying about how young we were or when it was going to be. No one was freaking out that we were still in college and had no idea what we were going to be doing in a year. Those reactions would come in a few hours. But a year ago today there was such a simple joy to be with my fiance and knowing that some day soon we would be long distance no longer.

And this past year flew. We are long disance never again and I wish you could see my grin as I typed this. It was a crazy year; getting engaged, planning a wedding, graduating college, getting into grad school, finding a job, finding an apartment, getting married, moving, honeymooning, starting adult life together. It was all the major life changes at once. There were times that I doubted we would make it through them all but a year later I am so happy to say how happy we are. Crazy kids but happy ones.

Love you Tim Kenney.

Head of the Charles

Tomorrow it is supposed to snow. Happy New England November! Before it turns to winter far to quickly I guess I should celebrate the warm (for Boston) October we had and catch up on all of our fall activities. This blog, like much of my walking in the city with my husband, involves taking a few steps and then running to catch up. I would normally apologize but then again I can't control the length of my legs. So we are going to embrace it all as, this is the blogger God created me to be! 

Amen? or Heresy?

A few weekends back some friends took advantage of Boston adventures. Meredith made brunch after Mass and we walked (forever) to get to the Head of the Charles Regatta. Compared to the day before that felt like late August (I wore my saltwater sandals), we were finally able to embrace fall! Sweater weather. 

And boots. Meredith and I were finally able to embrace that all fall/winter we will be wearing the exact same boots.

So we walked from Brighton to Cambridge and walked around Harvard for a bit. We cheered for a few boats we had ties to and walked around Cambridge some more. We found a hole in the ground (somewhat literally) cafe that made phenomenal hot chocolate. Fall!

It was such a great afternoon. We were able to feel like true locals by embracing our inner New England styles where blazers are coats and J.Crew provides the staples. And free entertainment by the means of praising God that I wasn't rowing a boat down the river. But they did so merrily if I do say so myself. Life is but a dream.

It was a great fall day filled with excellent company and coming to really appreciate all that this city offers us if only I would realize that I need to accept it more frequently. Cambridge was beautiful and the regatta perfect and walking the city there and back? For how much I complained while walking it, was really not that bad. But I am a whiny person when it comes to any physical activity so you should never take my complaints as valid.