Little known things about myself(or possibly widely known)

*I hate working in an office, I would much rather be on a playground with kids or in a large swimming pool or really doing anything with kids.

*When I first started journalism I got really nervous every time I would call some one. I am not sure I have ever gotten over the fear that someone is going to bite my head off for calling them for no apparent reason.

*I could probably lie in bed and sleep the whole day long...some people have problems falling a sleep..I can't get enough of it.

*I'm scared of being alone..I turn the TV on for background noise when I am by myself so I don't get freaked out.

*I have lived in about seven different states, most people don't know this unless I tell them because the midewestern in me shines above anything else and my Dad has never been in the army.

*I absolutely love to travel. I would love to live in a small european town someday.

*Even though I am pretty girly, I will do most outdoorsy things and I enjoy most of them like hiking, canoeing and floating in tubes down the river:)

*The lake is my favorite. If I can't live in a European town I would like to live by a lake.

*I read the paper everyday...was slaughtered for not doing it my freshman year of college and now I read like five online so I can always know what is going on and look at how other people write.

*I don't know if I will ever be a journalist but if I am I would rather write for a magazine than a newspaper.

Marrying your high school sweetheart

As I get closer and closer to spending the rest of my life with Simon, I have been thinking about how unique and a little crazy it is to marry my high school sweetheart. First of all he knows everything about me and while I try to follow up and know everything about him also I feel like I still have a long way to go. He might say the same thing in reverse but I am not sure its true. I think maybe I will always feel this way about getting to know Simon. But I think at the same time its more of a challenge than a setback. Getting to know someone especially someone you love dearly I think is like going to an Art museum like El Prado there is so much art that there is no way you can see it all in one trip(although I tried very hard)you have to keep going back and discovering something new each time, its probably the most exciting and challenging adventure I will ever be on. Simon and I have had all our firsts together...we went on our first date(I had a broken foot and he was very smooth and said it would be good if I held his hand so I wouldn't hurt myself, in reality I was more like leaning on top of him the entire night) our first kiss, which happened in the basement of my house and ended in hysterical laughter. Simon and I have tried to do things like share a school parking pass(bad idea when you have two cars), we have fallen off a jetski and the key stayed in the jetski instead of coming off with me(hilarious story), and we have almost killed each other working at Okoboji and then getting through it and realizing how we can work together better. We have seen each other at our best and worst, we have cheered each other on and given each other advice, and through it all we have always love each other. I am so incredibly excited to get married to Simon and I know things may get harder and we will have to work through more things. But I know without a doubt I am marrying my best friend I have ever had and that I am more in love with him than I was when I first fell in love with him seven years ago.

A wedding weekend

Micah and Amee are married. And I have to say its a little weird for me to think about Micah being married, I mean we did so many goofy things in high school like playing the turn left game, sneaking up on the make out cars at tranquility and various other things...Christian even reminded Simon and I of how him and Micah threw me into the pool on my 16th birthday...good times. All I can say is I hope things don't change too much. I love it when Micah, Noah and Simon make fun of me, and I am just afraid things like that aren't going to happen anymore because Micah is married now...interestingly enough for some reason I am not worried about Simon and I being married because I know we will always act like goofballs. ok so that is enough of my spiel..I will write more later.

My name defined:)

Elissa --
[noun]:

A hermit living in the big city

Going to the chapel...

And I am not getting married this weekend. Ok so that didn't work quite as great and clever sounding as I thought it would, please change the whole thing to your own preferred tune. In an effort to kill some time at work and reflect on the upcoming weekend I have made the following top ten list

Top Ten ways to be successful at guestbook tasks

10. Arrive on time/be early...this should be fairly easy to accomplish since I will probably already be at the church before the time I actually need to be there.

9. Don't make any short jokes to Melinda or leave that up to the boys.

8. Smile continously (maybe I should consider vaseline...jk)

7. Make sure people write real names and not fake names...a couple fake names are ok if they are dispersed throughout the book.

6. Practice answers to standard questions: How are the wedding plans coming? (real answer planning what's that?!?!) what I say..they are great
When do you graduate? Next may (does this matter to anyone except for me, my parents and simon?)
Are you excited? of course (after seven years excitement is an understatement for being ready to get married...its more like a supercharged ball of excitement)

5.Take big breaths and have time of silent meditation before going into CCC(Simon calls CCC his kryptonite...maybe we should do silent meditation together)

4. Remember to bring wedding gift.

3. remember to have good laughs with melinda and think about the reception when I can dance with Simon

2. take more deep breaths

1. wear a fabulous dress:)