Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest!

One warm night during orientation, Jim asked if I wanted to leave campus and go out to celebrate his roommate, Nick's, birthday. I gleefully said yes and was promptly squished into the back of Jen's car, thoroughly elated with the excitement that comes from meeting new people and experiencing the freedom of college for the first time. We chatted idly as Jen skillfully navigated the streets of downtown Joliet, until I felt the car slow down and turn into the tiny parking lot of what appeared to be a  little greasy-spoon diner. As I stepped out of the car, my suspicion was confirmed by a glowing neon sign spelling out the words "Hot Skillet".

The waitress seated us in the far left corner booth where the rest of the group, including the birthday boy, was already waiting. Jim slid next to me as we continued discussing our majors, relationships, and lives in general. Of course, the usual question came out - why St. Francis? Jim flashed that great smile of his and explained his decision to attend St. Francis was only made at the very last second. Completely set to begin classes at Eastern Illinois University, he took a chance visit to St. Francis and fell in love with the smaller - MUCH smaller - historical campus. So, leaving several Brother Rice classmates in the dust, he pulled out of Eastern and put his paper work in for fall '04 attendance at USF as a math education major...which had recently changed to mass communications. As we continued talking, I couldn't help but sense that he was opposite of me in every way. Math? Mass communication? Changing your mind? Haha, torture devices maybe. Even so, I was intrigued with him. Not yet as a potential boyfriend - no, no. Just as a person. I could feel myself getting softly pulled in by his aura, like floating along a gentle river current that, although you could, is just too comforting to swim against.

People in our group began ordering their food - we had yet to look over the menu. I began to glance through it when I heard Jim's voice say "How about this?". I turned to see what he was pointing to and read the words "chocolate soda". Startled by this oddity, all I could do was laugh and say "sure". However, because we weren't sure if it would be any good, we decided to split it - 2 straws and all. And you know what? It was pretty darn good.

Two years later, in October of 2007, when we first began officially dating, we would revisit Hot Skillet only to be seated in that very same booth where we shared the chocolate soda 2 years earlier. And yes, we definitely ordered another one.

This is what I consider our first ever meal together. Pretty unique, right? I mean, it's not everyday you run across a restaurant that serves chocolate sodas, let alone you have the gumption to order one. Like the combination of chocolate and soda, Jim and I may have seemed a little unlikely perhaps in the beginning, but when we finally decided to go for it, we became something pretty darn good...better than that, something amazing. And it didn't take long to learn that we're not so much opposites as compliments. Qualities I tend to lack are made up through him and vice versa. Most importantly, we have the same goals in life and are working together to accomplish them. And isn't that what a partnership and marriage is all about? Well, that and undying love :)


A chocolate soda may have been our first meal together as new acquaintances, but our first meal together as husband and wife is going to be a little bit fancier. Obviously, amazing food was a must-have when exploring possible halls, and boy did we find it at Riviera Country Club in Orland Park. My mom, Toni, and I stopped by their hall sort of randomly one day just to check it out. I was so impressed with their package that Jim and I did a tasting that weekend and we booked it on the spot! We want all of our guests to feel like Bell during the dinner scene of Beauty and the Beast (Disney girl here!) and...well, be our guest! So, all I have to say is be hungry. The cocktail hour will begin at 6:30 outside by the gazebo (weather permitting - fingers crossed!). Hors d'oeuvres and champagne will be served...and of course an open bar for those who prefer other drinks. 

It will be all lit up at night - won't that be beautiful?!

Dinner and toasting begin at 7:30 when the main meal will be served. We went with plated steak and chicken breast with all the normal stuff (bread, salad, soup, sides). It was sooo good (I'm hungry now just thinking about it!) and the plate was PACKED!

Our room! I want to spice it up with some color, but this is our blank slate :)



A picture of the room a little more dressed up.



I'm still thinking of different ways to decorate the tables, but I'm sure that will come together once I chose a color scheme, haha. I love too many colors.. But I'm definitely looking forward to the day when Jim and I step foot into this hall to share our first meal, our first dance, our first day as husband and wife :)

And I Thought I Loved You Then

In August 2005 I was gearing up to begin my freshman year of college at the University of Saint Francis. Now by this point in the summer I had become acustomed to receiving mail from the university...tons of it. All the financial aid forms, scholarship letters, and registration information became a blurred stack of stress piling on my desk. But through all of this madness there was one item that I remember opening in detail. It was a small card with the university emblem on one side and - in true romantic fashion, might I add - a hand written letter on the other. The words scrawled out in purple ink kindly and simply welcomed me to the university and the honors program. It was signed "Jim Grady", who I was to contact with any questions, needs, or concerns about college life. I found it rather sweet in comparison to the stack of cold forms I had sitting across from me. I showed the note to Toni, who started laughing at the purple color ink and the handwritting. So, instead of tossing it out with so much of the other "welcome" mail, I placed it in my bookcase where it would sit for another 2 years and 2 months.

A few weeks later I was moving in for freshman orientation. Although I wasn't living on campus, I had a room for my 2 week orientation. I remember the bright blue summer sky and the quiet of the campus, so different from the busy open houses I had attended. While moving in I ran into my cousin, Danielle, and her friend Jen who were a year ahead of me and they helped me drag my stuff into the dorms. We chatted about college life and their own memories of freshman orientation, while making introductions to anyone they knew along the way. 

After making several trips back and forth across campus, a moment came that Jim and I both remember perfectly. Like so many life changing moments it happened quietly and only seems booming, earth shattering...momentous in retrospect. Jen and I were standing by the elevator in the Marion Hall lobby when she shouted over to the group of people who had been hovering around the front desk since I had arrived. In that moment she could have introduced me to 100 other people, but the only person that stands out in my mind is Jim. Maybe it was his long wild hair, or the Wicked baseball cap trying to contain it, but this meeting is burned into my memory. Jen introduced me as "Danielle's cousin", but he was "Jim". Not yet "My Jim", but "Wise Sophomore Jim", who I began running into again...and again....and again over orientation. 

This is how the story of Jim and I met. Believe me, the story gets better, and our story is something that I honestly treasure as much as what our relationship has grown to become over the past 6 years. I can truthfully say that not once - not a single time - did our relationship weaken, did we have doubts, have we questioned whether or not we should be together. In a world full of so much uncertainty, he has always been my constant, my rock, and a true compliment to who I am as a person. I only hope I've been as extraordinary a partner to him as he has been to me. But, I guess I have the rest of my life to prove myself worthy! It's like that song by Brad Paisley...and I thought I loved you then. That's how I feel :)

So, because I love our story so much, I have been inspired to do something special for our save-the-dates and incorporate our story into them. Here's what I'm thinking...

or something similar to this...

My sister aka maid of honor is a graphic design/illustration major and one of Jim's close friends/groomsmen is also a graphic designer, so I'll be working with them to create something special and affordable. I already wrote the story and have a layout in mind. When I showed it to Jim he literally started tearing up so I think I got it right ;)