Don't Be So Shellfish

Welcome back loyal readers!

It seems our blog took an end of summer month long hiatus. In reality, this is my first time working a full-time job, and it’s really exhausting.  I'm getting used to the hours and the schedule, but it doesn't leave me much free time.  But we got a nice break this week to attend the wedding of Nate’s friend Jesse Drummond, and his new wife Sharon!  So we are taking time on the ten hour car ride home to check in with all of you and let you know how things are going.

The past month has been very exciting and full of new experiences.  We have been spending a lot of time with Adam and Lauren, canning produce.  One of our neighbors had some extra tomatoes, cucumbers, and grapes and insisted we harvest them.  We are taking whatever produce we can find from people, plus buying more at a local farmer's market, and combining with what Adam and Lauren have grown and found. So far we have canned a huge number of jars of tomato soup, pizza sauce, cubed pumpkins, apple sauce, and pickles.  We are looking forward to hibernating for the winter and eating from our self-made stores.

The trip out East for the Drummond wedding has been so much fun.  We started the adventure at noon on Wednesday, from my work in Mason MI, with a packed car and the metal readiness for an 11 hour drive.  We had snacks, podcasts, audio books, and were ready to roll!  The two of us took turns driving through the day, learning about the European financial crisis from NPR’s Planet Money, and, despite heavy downpours in Maryland, ended up arriving at Joan and Alister’s around 10:30 pm.  Though we had seen them recently at Torch, we were excited to get to spend the night at their home, and had breakfast and caught up in the morning.  When it started getting toward afternoon, we gave everyone hugs and kisses (including Cricket!) and headed to Glen Burnie, MD (which was surprisingly only 25 minutes away).

We were lucky enough to be the first to arrive, and got to spend Thursday afternoon alone with the happy couple. I had met Jesse in Virginia a few times, but neither of us had met his fiancee. Since Nate was a groomsman in the wedding, we thought it important to meet her and get a feel for the couple.  We got to spend Friday hanging out with the happy couple and helping them get things ready.  I hadn’t gotten to meet a lot of Nate’s childhood friends to this point, and was so excited to meet Colin, his girlfriend Courtney, and re-meet Travis.  We all blended well, and had a blast all weekend!  The wedding was small and perfect, the bride was stunning, and the bride’s mom ‘moved her body like a cyclone’ on the dance floor.  We also got to be the people that drove the new couple to their hotel, so we got to wish them goodnight and a great honeymoon on their cruise to Bermuda.  We are so excited to be seeing everyone again on the New Year in Charlottesville.

Look for another update with some new exciting website news from us in the next few days!

Love;
-Justine and Nate