Wedding Outtakes

I have a State Park pass again!

In August I purchased a Minnesota State Park annual pass. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, I've only visited one park so far and it had been so long since I actually used my camera that all my rechargeable batteries passed away. I was able to take two photos before their demise though. Behold, the picturesque Wild River State Park along the beautiful St. Croix River!

Aaaand that's all you get. Damn batteries. As you can see, I got there so early the moon was still up. It's a beautiful park and I hope to return in the spring. In fact, there's quite a few parks I want to cross off my list next year, so stay tuned! ...That is, if you like photos of grass and trees and nature stuff, because that's all I photograph.

I'm Baaaack! ...and I'm Mrs. Friberg now!

Wow, has it been awhile since I've done anything worth posting about! But now I'm back and I have a lot of built-up thoughts to expel from my sometimes manic mind. I'm feeling extra loquacious tonight so, as usual, feel free to just skim the pics.

How about I start this renewed blogging vigor with the most important day of my life...
Monday May 6, 2013. The day I married Noah James Friberg. (pronounced freeberg)





Now, I know some of you are thinking, what the...?! This is out of the blue! What about Eric? Well, here's the whole crazy, sordid timeline of how this wedding came to be. (They say true love comes when you least expect it and this was no exception.)

Eric and I had been together for about two years, but things just weren't working out between us. I loved him, he was my closest friend, but I wasn't "in love" with him. Long story short, the break-up happened around April 12th. It was really sad the first couple days, but then I felt a sort of relief. For me the romantic relationship had been over for awhile, so I didn't really need to grieve.

I re-activated my OkCupid profile around April 15th and set about to distract myself, meet new friends, get out of the house, and have some fun. I chatted with a lot of fun people. I met this one guy named Chris and we became friends after a six and a half hour phone conversation. He did most of the talking, proudly regaling me with stories of his Irish heritage and folklore, which became funnier and funnier throughout the evening as he drained a bottle of red wine, and opened another. (I'm not trying to be prejudice against any nationality, that's exactly how it went down) I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, but there was no romantic chemistry. And I wasn't looking for that anyway. No, really! I'm telling the truth! It was far too soon, I was just looking for friends because sadly, Eric had been my only close friend.

Then, on April 23rd a guy named Noah messaged me. I honestly don't recall our conversation up until the point where I asked him if he liked The Big Bang Theory, my favorite tv show at the time, and he said "yes". I told him I had a Big Bang trivia game I was dying to play with someone and basically invited myself over to his place to play the following evening. I showed up right after work on April 24th, still wearing my comfy work clothes, no make-up, with NO expectations of anything romantic. As I met him at his front door, I was unprepared for the crazy whirlwind courtship that was about to begin. It wasn't love at first sight though. We went to Subway for dinner, but we didn't really like each other at first. The meal was quiet and a little awkward. Then we sat on his bed and played the trivia game (which I won!). But he ended up winning my heart. Awwwww, cheesy! He was so damn cute, obviously intelligent, charming... *swoon* he made me so flustered during the game, I can't believe I managed to win. Skipping over some details here... later that evening he shocked me by proposing to me. He wasn't kidding, he wanted to marry me. WTF?! My first ever marriage proposal and it comes on a first date, that wasn't even supposed to be a date?! When I expressed my concerns and doubts he said "Trust me, we'll make it work." Well, his air of confidence and beautiful hazel eyes won me over and I took a leap of faith, accepting his proposal. I never went back to my place again after that evening except to get some clothes and belongings. We couldn't wait to tie the knot and were frustrated to learn of this state's waiting period. All of this is insane, we know that. In fact, Noah didn't want to tell any of his family and friends at first because they would think we were nuts. But eventually we found out that everyone was happy for us and no one seemed judge-y about it.

On the evening of May 6th, a judge married us at the Anoka County Court House. Noah's friends Ariel and Pete were our witnesses and only guests.

Waiting for the judge. Pete is either high or trying to get out of the frame. Maybe both, that's unconfirmed. j/k. Hey, look how relaxed I am. No wedding jitters here.

Ariel signs the marriage certificate.

Just chillin' waiting for show time.



I have no idea what the judge is saying here.



The judge provided the vows and we don't remember them at all, but I'm sure they were nice.

I do remember "I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Friberg."



You may kiss the bride.

That moment right before our lips met. Happiness.

The wedding party.

We went out to Chili's with family and friends afterward. Nothing fancy, no honeymoon, but we didn't want all that. We just wanted to be married. In July our friends Josh and Jumi threw a shower for us, but I don't have any pics yet. (Hint, hint Alex.) But there was food, drinks, and late night Rockband. Jumi baked our yummy wedding cake and topped it with two toy ninjas. Our first dance (and only dance) was to the Rockband version of Radiohead's "Creep". It was perfect. Grin. And we lived happily ever after. Big grin.   

Update

Well, it seems my photography and hiking days are behind me. I just haven't been taking any photos for the last year or so. I'm going to keep this blog up though because it's good to take a trip down memory lane sometimes. And I'll definitely take photos on my next vacation. Eric and I are planning on renting an SUV this summer and taking a road trip to the north shore. Maybe that will be the oomph I need to get back into nature walks and photography. I found my camera! It was missing for 6 months or so, I even bought a new one. So now I have two cameras, but I still like my old one best. So there's no excuses for not taking photos next year.

In other news, Eric is on his last round of chemo. he's feeling pretty good. Tonight we went out shopping at Walmart then we headed to Perkins for pie and hot chocolate. We are hot cocoa connisseurs. Getting back to his cancer, he's almost done with chemo and then he has surgery to remove the tumor in December. Then he has radiation to kill any remaining cancer cells. After that he should be in the clear. The dark days are almost behind us!

I'm still not working, still waiting for a court date for SSI. I'm getting antsy to get back out there and do something like school or work. Just anything to have a purpose outside of the house. A paycheck would be nice too. Right now I spend most of my time with Eric, but when I do my own thing I write on my poetry blog, read romance novels, and crochet, I sound like a little old lady! My sister's second child is due in March and I am crocheting a baby blanket. It's only fair since I made one for the first kid. This time we won't know the gender til it's born so it's just going to be a pure white blanket. Well that's about it. I'm looking forward to the holidays, not looking forward to the snow. I live with Eric now and we don't have a garage. This will be my first winter in a very long time without a garage to park in :(. For Thanksgiving we are going to have a little turkey dinner with cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce. It's only a week after his last chemo so we'll just eat alone, but next year I hope to invite our parents. I've never made a holiday meal for my family before, it should be interesting.

Okay, that's definitely all I have to say. I hope to be back here posting photos in the next year, so stay tuned!

~ Angela

Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge

*sigh* Perhaps I need to change the title of this blog one more time to "Diary of a Hermit", because for several reasons that's what I've been lately. But I still have the heart of a nomad, and to prove it I left the yard today. Yay me!

For your enjoyment, or maybe not, here are some pictures from the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, approximately 30 miles northwest of where I live.



I know next to nothing about plant life, so it beats me what type of flowers these are.




Double-crested Cormorants


I couldn't see them well but my best guess is Trumpeter Swans.


Great Blue Heron

Common Loon
(the Minnesota State bird, besides the mosquito!)

I've finally got my State Park Permit so we'll see if I can take some fun trips in the next few months *fingers crossed*. 'Til then, stay cool my babies! Aawww, I miss Conan. What happened to him is a travesty, I tell you! Maybe not so much for him, as he probably uses twenty dollar bills for toilet paper now, but for fans like me without cable for sure!