I am officially a house wife

No real news here, but the job market in Syracuse is awful. I haven't been great about applying to a lot of things, mostly because not a lot of things open interest me. Since I did time at Vanderheyden, I can't wrap my head around going back to a residential placement. The kids are especially hard on anyone new and really try to push boundaries with them. The thought of going through that mind game again makes me queasy.

Kev's being really good about everything. He keeps telling me not to rush into a job what I want to do, to wait for my dream job. Whether or not that job is in Syracuse is yet to be seen.

We move into our new apartment on October 30. Our friend Casey Ruetemann asked her landlord if she had any openings and half of a duplex she owned was becoming vacant. The landlord's step-daughter lives downstairs with her boyfriend. The daughter manages this popular barbeque place downtown called Dinosaur Barbeque, and her boyfriend is a cook at a Marriott. The upstairs and downstairs are identical, but I really fell in love with the house when I saw her place downstairs. Her house is the epitome of shabby chic, you guys would love it. The place upstairs was not decorated nearly as well, but the lower floor showed me its full potential.

And I will have plenty of time to think about painting the walls and redecorating and such because the only weekend Kev will be home will be Thanksgiving. We move in October 30th and Kev goes to San Antonio November 3rd - 13th, and then goes to Marco Island in Florida with the Sales Team as a reward of some kind for an achievement before Kev worked there from the 18th to the 21st. So basically if anyone wants some company just let me know!

Anyway I just wanted to give everyone an update. Hope everyone is doing well!

New address: 1716 Court St. Syracuse, NY 13208

Maria R

Real housewives of Syracuse anyone??

Just a quick update... Kev got the job in Syracuse! They offered it to him the day of the interview. Erin and her parents literally prepared Kev for the interview; they printed out his resume on resume paper, they washed and ironed his shirt and spot cleaned his suit! Thanks again E Spot, I won't forget all your kindness when Kev makes it big in the hearing aid business! :o) No, but seriously, you guys are the best.

Kev starts Monday and is going to stay with Megg and Eamon who live about an hour outside of Syracuse until we can get a place. I'm going to stay at Vanderheyden until the end of the month. I'm sad to leave to be honest. I had a lot of interesting experiences there definitely, but the kids and staff were kind of like my dysfunctional family when I worked residential. And my clinical co-workers all had good heads on their shoulders and were a lot of fun to work with.

I think I'm usually pretty good with change, I like to envision it more as an adventure than a loss. But to be honest, I feel like a Mom or big sister to a lot of my kids (I know, totally inappropriate attachment and also painfully cliché ). I guess I know when I am around I can keep them safe, for the most part. Even now in clinical I tend to step into crisis, and try to help maintain some order to their chaotic feelings. Something I have learned about myself that I am proud of is I will more often than not step in and stop something to keep a kid safe when other people will ignore it and hope the behavior stops. I know I contributed to a lot of those awful hours when I was the ROC because I followed through with all the kids who were in crisis, and that takes a long time. And you guys know that I am not really too thorough with much in my life so I think that is something to be proud of.

Anyway, sorry, I seem to be thinking out loud about all of this. No one really wants to talk about me leaving Vanderheyden, everyone's just happy for me and wants to leave it at that. My family always seems to want to avoid me mentioning work, mostly because I think they are unsure of what to say, it is such a strange situation most of the time I don't blame them. But, long story short I guess, it's bitter sweet. But I am very excited for Kev and proud of him, he finally gets to wear a suit all the time.

Lauren your wedding was a total blast and you were hands down THE most beautiful bride I have ever seen and I say that with all the sincerity I have. Congratulations again and I wish you many years of happiness and really hope that I will experience some of those happy times with you over our long friendship.

Love you all!

Maria R.

Thank You

Yesterday I was changing my name in all of the places I haven't yet and realized I needed to update on our blog as well.. I am waiting for my official wedding license to come in the mail so that I can finally go and update my SS card, driver's license and passport, but otherwise I am pretty much set to go! (Phew - so much work!) It'll be strange to introduce myself to new people that haven't known me as Peterson, and to now have to spell my name/help people pronounce it. I am sure it'll even be weird for the rest of you to see my new name on facebook, or change me in your phone contacts!

Anyways, I just wanted to send a quick note and say thank you to all of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come join us in Cincinnati this past weekend! Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to spend as much time with everyone as I would like, but I am hoping that it was a great reunion for the rest of you! (What's next?)

It was so amazing to see all of you, along with our other friends, family, and coworkers in the same place for the same reason. This weekend definitely made Alex and I feel like the luckiest couple in the world! Thank you again for being part of it all and for being such supportive influences in my life.

Fall is now here, and so far Lexington is beautiful. We're working on our thank you cards today, so I'm relieving my hand of the pen to send this thank you to all of you.

PLEASE PLEASE write soon.... I want to find out what's been going on with all of you lately, and maybe even what was your favorite part of the wedding! The cake and food were delicious, all of the green accents, and especially the dancing and bubbly made me a elated. Karleya's speech and the video touched me to my soul and made me cry (by the way did anyone notice how I was not a complete wreck with tears the majority of the time - weird right?).

My most cherished moment of the night would have to be my first dance with Alex, that was one of those moments in my life where I felt utterly happy and in my own world with my new husband (you should all try it, right Mrs. Richards?)

After all the thank you cards are in the mail, it'll be time to pack for Costa Rica! Can't wait to share pictures with all of you.

LOVE,

LJ