France??

We've been in some pretty deep discussions lately about an opportunity that Grant has been given. We have friends and colleagues who live and work in France and have offered Grant a position as a post-doctoral fellow for a year.

Our current hope is for Grant to finish his dissertation December 2008 and if we go we would move to France in January 2009 and stay for 1 year.

Funny thing is that when I first heard about this I was immediately like ok lets go... on board and ready for an adventure. As we've gotten more input from people the decision has gotten more and more confusing. Some people think that a post-doc in Europe may adversely affect Grant's career prospects, others think it will boost them, still others say who cares and that we should go just for the opportunity to live abroad. We recently spoke with a very wise man, called Dr. Klug...he did a post-doc in Germany and all he could say was... WHY AREN'T YOUR BAGS PACKED!! To still further the confusion...we aren't sure if I will be able to get a visa to work over there. Maybe good cuz I can just play and if people visit I will have no obligations... maybe not so good cuz I get really sad and down when I have too much time on my hands. Today I spoke with a European woman that I work with and she thought I was crazy to worry about a work visa...she said they are easy to get..especially in France. And I spoke with Dr.Klug's wife (she didnt work while they lived in Germany) and she was like...this is the one time in your life when people won't let you work...live it up!

Hmmmm...what are we to do? I think at the moment we are definitely leaning toward going, but we've been back and forth. At this point I don't think we are in a rush to make a decision, but we will have to figure it out in the coming months. I think I REALLY want to go, but I know things will be hard...like the fact that we would need to try to learn some semblance of French in the next year.

We would live in Grenoble... see it?? It is kind of near Italy and the Alps?? Oh and did I mention I've been to Grenoble and it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen??



Climbing in Grenoble September 2006

Seattle Weekend

Sorry we haven't posted in a while! Our lives have been busy (well at least Grant's has!) but nothing very "bloggable" has happened.

Finally we have something to share... This weekend we went to visit our friends Joe & Janelle in Seattle. It was a good weekend, but very full of driving! We got up there late Friday night and Grant spent some time in Tacoma with a few of his buddies from undergrad. Then Saturday morning Janelle and I went to pick up my wedding dress. It arrived 2 months early!! It is beautiful and I love it! It needs quite a bit of alterations, but hopefully after all that is done it will fit perfect! I have lots of pictures, but I can't post them for fear of G seeing them... so here is a little picture of the boutique I got it from (worked out well that it was in Seattle!).



Now that we have the dress in our apartment it has been SO hard not to show Grant! I think I'm going to take it to my mom's this weekend so that I don't give into the temptation...plus if its is at our place I will probably want to try it on everyday...

The rest of Saturday we spent just hanging around the house watching football. We did make sushi for dinner though...it was SO easy and fun! I hadn't ever done it before, but I can't believe how much they charge for sushi now that I know how easy it is to make! We also played an extremely close game of cranium...which was fun, but that game gives me really high anxiety (there is just too much pressure to guess or draw or act correctly!!)

Sunday we had a pretty lazy morning and then geared up to go to Grant and I's first NFL game!! Joe plays on the Seahawks practice team so he got us free tickets. We watched the Seahawks beat the Bears 30-23... it was a really good game and super fun.

The view from our awesome seats...


Joe and Janelle...


Me & Grant...

Wedding Fabric!!!

I found it!! I saw a fabric in a wedding magazine that I loved and was perfect to use as a 'theme' for our wedding MONTHS ago. I've been in search ever since...and a few weeks ago I actually found it! I was just searching endlessly online one night and I saw it... I couldnt believe it!! YAY!! Anyway... the next task was to find a way to get it...I called every fabric store in Eugene and one of them agreed to order it for me!

I'm soo excited...my mom bought me a whole bolt (18 yards) and I ordered it on Monday...it should be here in a few weeks. We will use it for things like table runners, the guys pocket hankies, ring pillow, to wrap bouquet handles, etc. Its just perfect...poppys are my FAVORITE flower and it has all three of my colors!! OH and...we want to have guests sign a quilt square instead of a guest book and then after the wedding I'll sew them all together to make a quilt...this and some solid fabric will make up the rest of the quilt!