"we're really doin it, harry..."

i guess this is the beginning. neither of us has ever had any luck keeping a journal for more than a month or so - naturally, then, we decided to start a blog to document the rest of our lives together as mr. and mrs.

the trickiest part of this blog, it seems to me, is figuring out where to begin. so far in the last six months we've planned a wedding, moved home to kansas, tied the not, moved to the lakehouse, planned a semester in europe, moved out of the lakehouse, moved to croatia, and finally moved to prague. since there is too much to share even for a thousand blog posts, we'll just overview things a bit.

this summer i ("i" being abby) finally married the only person in the world who can put up with me on a consistent basis. the wedding was beautiful and completely designed and dreamed up by sean, myself, and my wonderfully creative mother (grandma waneta was also a lifesaver once she returned from europe, as was cindy with her clear-headed thinking).

a few highlights...

i literally could have asked for nothing better... well, other than sean puking for half out honemoon. mexico no longer tiene mi corazon. we had a fun summer of unpacking wedding gifts, cooking with our new grown-up dishes that are ALL OURS, fishing and reading in the canoe, watching sunsets and stars from the lakehouse roof, and avoiding wild creatures at all costs.

since we obviously didn't have enough on our hands with a wedding, we decided to study abroad in prague this fall until december 22. the architectural engineering program at kstate has a great relationship with czech technical university in prague, so sean was able to take quite a few classes that will help him finish the remainder of his degree. i, on the other hand, have technically finished my advertising degree but am continuing to take classes in marketing at the university of economics VSE here in prague so that i can hopefully add an international relations degree to my diploma next may.

before prague, however, we spent two and a half weeks in croatia with some now very dear friends. sean's great grandfather helped many people come to the united states back in the day by providing jobs at the sambol meat packing plant while sending money to help those back home in ribnik. one of those families was that of joe mihelic - his children and their children were our hosts for our time in that beauitful country.

now we are temporary citizens of prague, one of the most gorgeous places i could ever hope to live in. everything is richly saturated with history - it's impossible to escape it. we've also met a bunch of new friends that have made even simple things like grocery shopping more memorable. the food is just as incredible... goulash, soup, bread, potatoes in every form, italian food from real italians, and beer - oh, beer. i could go on for days about my new-found companionship with kozel, pilsner urquell, gambrinus, and staropramen... sigh. one can't help but be enamored with beer when it is the cheapest form of hydration available. we've already made a list of restaurants we're planning on taking sean's mom to when she visits us in two-ish weeks. potrefena husa, bar atmosphere, u ve... something i can't remember the name, the gardens, choco cafe, the globe, pizza coloseum, and the list goes on forever.

there are, however, a few tough cookies to deal with.
1. the language is impossible to pick up quickly - i still find myself mentally answering in spanish since it's the only non-english language i know.
2. it's incredibly rainy and cold once october hits - especially for those who forgot to pack waterproof shoes.
3. laundry. weird detergent, washers that don't wash, and unhappy ladies who trade your dirty sheets for other dirty sheets - NOTHING feels clean. ever.
4. the showers. they're all detachable heads, but the hook to hang them on is too tall for people like me so shaving is always an adventure.
5. mexican food is in short supply and we all know how i feel about chips, queso, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, etc.

other than that, things have been fantastic :)

we've visited the jewish quarter, the old jewish cemetary, petrin hill, prague castle, karlstejn castle, a million churches, all the squares, and anything that tram 9 takes you to - though we have YET to visit ikea for fear of buying things that are a bit difficult to bring back in a single suitcase. we'll wait til the last week to shop there :)

i apologize for the length of this post, but as you can imagine, a lot has happened. we miss home and can't wait to see everyone again, but we are lucky enough to be here with each other experiencing new things, good or bad. we're a lucky pair, that sean and i, and we plan to document our new life as we know it to record the adventures we never dreamed we'd have.

love, us.