Renaissance

Definition of Renaissance :
The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe.
The period of this revival, roughly the 14th through the 16th century, marking the transition from medieval to modern times.

Duane and I attended the Minnesota Renaissance Festival this weekend with his parents. After dropping Brandi off in Tomah friday night to "visit the cousins" we headed to the Canterbury Inn in Shakopee to meet his parents. The road there was filled with much laughter, and those quirky little half smiles that turn broad when you point them out. I LOVE those smiles! Saturday we slept in (well, slept in compared to a work day anyway) and then took off for the festival. Duane Sr. and Wendy test drove a Polaris, we met up with Mom and Dale while they were working for their friends at the Bavarian Nut Booth, we walked the loop and saw the ancient torture devices, and Duane and I had our caricature done.

That was our weekend, and I find it fitting. It only seems right that we begin our transition from our single lives into modern times and I begin a new school year teaching in "the arts" with a Renaissance. Perhaps more pictures will follow from the festival...if I can figure out how to get them off my phone and online.

Ready

We are ready. Ready for lots of stuff. Ready to blog again (although I WAS tempted to go back and fill in our entire story to this point...but I figured if you wanted to know, you'd ask!). Ready to change my insurance over, saving literally hundreds per year. Ready to go to the MN Renaissance festival this weekend, I'll post pictures if I can find a working digital camera. Ready to take Brandi to visit the "cousins" in Tomah where Elizabeth can doggy sit. Ready to finish staining the deck and trimming the trees in the backyard. Ready to go back to school and get back in the routine of my career. And finally, we are ready to mail our invitations for our wedding.


They are on the way to the post office tonight. Expect them soon. Plan to attend. We'd love to have you there.

And now...I'm ready to be done on the computer for the evening. Thanks for reading!

Why here, why now?

So...I've never done this before, not like this anyway. I do have a couple of good friends who maintain these sites. They like them better than something like Myspace and Facebook. It seems that they mainly use it to keep up with family and friends. Daily things...the mundane,the downs, the ups, the exciting, and the useless info. Our story? Well, we have lots of useless info. Even though our lives are not soap operas (most days anyway!) they are OUR lives. And they are happy lives. As I take the journey of actually becoming a Brownlee, I thought I'd start the blog of our story. Maybe family will read it. Maybe they won't. Either way, it's a record for us. Maybe I'll even get Duane to "blog" once in a while. Who knows? Anyway, until next time...with the next part of our story...


PS...I'm not intending on making a daily habit of this. Weekly. Maybe.