Once Upon a Coffee Shop

Today is our 3rd anniversary, so I thought I would share this poem that I had written for Ty for Valentines day 2 years ago. It tells the story of how we met and got married. Hope its not too sappy.

Once Upon a Coffee Shop

The man behind the counter,

Smiled at a pretty girl

Each time that she stopped by

She didn’t seem to notice

The glance he sent her way

He had hoped that maybe

She would notice him someday

Once Upon a Coffee Shop

With friends they would go out

He went since she was there, in fact

He longed to speak to her

For her it was not obvious

The direction of his words

Finally the night would end

They’d leave without a word

Once Upon a Coffee Shop

you texted me to say

You wanted to have dinner

 I said we could someday

The texting did not end so soon,

It lasted through the night

It did not stop after just one

We wrote with all our might

Once Upon a Coffee Shop

We’d dated only days

You drove so far to see me

Stopped by in random ways

You couldn’t get enough of me

Nor I enough of you

You meant the world to me

And to this day you do

Once Upon a Coffee Shop

If it wasn’t for this place

We’d not be where we are today

Joined by our Father’s grace

It’s where we first began our love

My husband and my best friend

For…

Once Upon a Coffee Shop

I fell in love with you

A Night in River Falls with Willy Porter

Ty had the day off on Wednesday so Tuesday we headed to River Falls for a night. Ty was SO excited because this summer UW-River Falls is doing a free concert series in the amphitheater and the guest this week was Willy Porter. Before Ty, I didn't know who he was at all, but he has grown on me. We found out that this concert was happening about a month ago and were hoping that we could come back for it. Normally, the concerts are $14+ for admission. This concert was FREE! We drove up and enjoyed the concert and our time alone. 

Ty and I waiting for the concert to start 

Willy Porter and a band member preforming

In the morning, we went to Caribou Coffee and I studied to take my Spanish Praxis (Wisconsin's teacher Licensing test, and Ty relaxed listening to music. Afterward we went to Stillwater and looked at some antiques. Over all it was a relaxing night away in River Falls. Its always so weird to go back after so long, but we always manage to have a good time when we go. Well, I have been putting off studying long enough. I take my test a week from Saturday.  

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Tengo que estudiar si quiero pasar el exámen de Paxis 

I have to study if I want to pass the Praxis exam

Is it July Already!?

Wow...the summer is just flying by! Ty has been keeping busy with his internship during the week and spending the weekends at wedding and grad parties. We have been able to sneak away a few times to sleep in River Falls and get some space of our own. Some exciting news has come though, Ty was asked to stay on after the summer is over to be a limited time employee. He will be working on more plat maps this school year. That means we will be back on the weekend for Ty to continue working for Applied Data Consultants. I am SO proud of him! As for me, I have been helping Leslie clean and get ready to sell their house which was recently put up for sale (in Chippewa Falls on the West Hill near Irvine Park). This has certainly been a crazy summer and the next few weeks will not be calming down. I recently signed up for the Spanish Content Knowledge Praxis test...needless to say I will be studying for the next two weeks for it to come and then we will be off to a relaxing vacation. This year both our families decided to go on vacation the same week in July. We will be going to Jellystone with Ty's family and then making the LOOOOOOOOOOONG trek up to the UP for a little less than a week in Houghton. There will be plenty of pictures to come.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Me gusta el verano, pero soy emocionada a regresar a la universidad

I like summer, but I am excited to return to the university

Thats a Wrap

Wow! We have been finished with school for about two and a half weeks. Sorry I gave up on the blog at the end of the school year...it was a CRAZY last week. Finals were not so bad for Ty, but he ended up having to help me to finish mine. Apparently finals week seems like the best time for arts and crafts to some of my professors. I was printing pictures and coloring them by hand like there was no tomorrow. Then there was the final 5-7 page paper I had to write in Spanish and the poster representing the paper.  What a chore.  We managed to survive the week and are thrilled to say that we both got good grades this semester. 


Now, summer is here! We are thrilled to be back in Chippewa Falls and seeing family all the time. Ty started an internship in Eau Claire at a place called Applied Data Consultants and loves what he is doing and is learning so much. He hopes that this internship will get his foot in the door so that we can come back to Chippewa long term. As for me...I am still working as needed at The Rutledge Home and looking for jobs that might give me more hours. So far, no luck.  You know, its funny, now that we are back in Chippewa and its Summer, we are excited to go back. Only one year left and we are going to be FINALLY be college graduates! As Ty wrote when he had finished his last final, "School is done for the year, one year left...let this be a lesson to all...never take time off from school to "find yourself." Sooner or later, you will find yourself back in school."

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Por Fin! El semestre se terminó!

Translation: Finally! The semester is over!

UPDATE!!!

I know its been awhile, but things have been as crazy as you can imagine! Only two more weeks and we will be home in Chippewa. Originally we thought I would be stuck here for three extra weeks taking a summer class, but it was canceled and I am able to take it in the Fall so all is well. Ty gave his major presentation about his research project and poster last week Monday. It went well. He passed with flying colors and his professor was very impressed. Later that evening we watched the children of a couple living in River Falls with ties to Chippewa. They have three wonderful children and we were able to take them to play at the Burger King Play land. Later, while I put the little one to bed, Ty took the older two to see Rio. They came home raving about it!

The rest of the week was filled with class and homework. I gave two presentations in Spanish and then Friday Alyssa Came to visit! We had a great time. We went to a Mexican restaurant in Hudson and shopped at a cute little store downtown. It is always nice to have a visitor! I miss you sister of mine!

As for this last weekend, we stayed in River Falls to do some much needed catch up on our major projects. We met Brooke, Annie and Leslie in cities for a coffee and then got right to work. We decided to stay up there for dinner. We tried this cute little Thai place. The food was really good. I always love to try new foods from other countries. Afterward we went to church at Bethlehem and drove home to relax. Sunday was more homework and not much for fun. Well, time to get to work again...here are some pictures from Easter. Yes, I am 23 and we still have an Easter Egg hunt!

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Un abril lluvioso trae un mayo hermoso

Literal Translation: a rainy April brings a beautiful May

English Equivalent: April showers bring May flowers

The Fire

Last night Ty and I decided to drive home and spend the night. Ty had an interview in Eau Claire for a summer internship, so we thought we would save an hour by driving home. Around 8:30pm we were looking at the River Falls Journal news paper for a new apartment when we looked on the home page of their website and saw the picture below....

Ty said, " Hey isn't that our apartment building?" Sure enough, when we read the story it was our apartment building! We couldn't believe what we were seeing. It was quite the scare. We quickly called the apartment manager, and she told us that there had been a fire on the other side of the building (left in the picture ours is the balcony to the right of the blue awning)...she said that she didn't think there had been any smoke damage to our apartment, but we were still nervous. She couldn't give us much information at the time, so we just had to wait until the morning after Ty's interview to assess the damage. I couldn't sleep all night.

When morning finally came, we went to Ty's interview and then headed home. When we drove up to the building, all we could see was a huge black hole on the back side of the apartment building. It was nerve racking. We didn't have renter's insurance at the time (I know, I know...bad us). When we got to the parking lot and we could see cleaning crews already there trying to make it livable for the rest of the tenants. When we got to our hallway, there was no smoke damage . Then came the moment of truth, we opened our door to find that everything was OK and that there was no smoke damage. There was an odor of burnt plastic, but we were SO blessed not to have any damage! Praise God, we were safe and no one was hurt in the fire. There are many who did lose everything in the fire and our hearts go out to those people. We will be looking for ways to help those people out. If there is anything anyone else can do I will post on the blog. 

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Quien inició el fuego?

Translation: Who started the fire?

Posters and Papers and Presentations , Oh My!

Monday hit like a ton of bricks...I was so tired I just didn't want to roll out of bed. Mondays are always hard, but this one seemed harder for some reason. Yesterday was a very productive day. Ty was at the school so I was home cleaning and doing laundry. After dinner it was back to the books. This semester has been a busy one, but these next few weeks are going to be especially crazy. Ty's big mapping project poster is due in a week. He will be displaying it in the University Center too. That will be VERY cool. 

As for me, nothing is really new. I am just observing in the classroom, teaching Spanish to Kindergartners and writing lesson plans. In two weeks there will be presentations coming out my ears and papers galore, but for now its all the same. 

Ty has an interview tomorrow for a part-time internship with a company in Eau Claire that does GIS (for those who don't know that's a mapping software). Please pray that it all goes well. Back to work...See everyone this weekend!

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Este semestre cogemos el toro por los cuernos

Translation: This semester we take the bull by the horns