Last night Matty and I joined two of our dear HONO friends and four new friends at Stephi's on Tremont to fete our dear friend Ashley turning a fabulous 30. At the end of the night, when we were all saying our good-byes, Diana turned to me and said "see you next weekend" and for a split second I thought "are we doing brunch? do we have another birthday?" and then I realized: we will be seeing each other next weekend at MY WEDDING. H-o-l-y crap. My wedding!!!!!!
A year and a half of planning and two and a half of spending every day connected to the most wonderful man in the world, and next Sunday we are walking down the aisle of our church and becoming husband and wife. Forever. And ever. Til death do us part.
As you can imagine, I am beyond excited. Enthralled? Not even the half of it? Jumping up and down shrieking and squealing and squeezing my fists? Doesn't even begin to explain it. I get to marry the coolest guy in the world and he loves me as much as I love him and he shows it every single day. Oh, and I get to wear the most gorgeous dress I have ever seen and throw an awesome party. I win, big time.
Needless to say, things have been a little hectic in my life lately. I am still getting the hang of my new position, though it has been a waaaaaaay easier transition than I anticipated. My colleagues are so incredibly nice and awesome and fun and welcoming and they have made it so that I am totally happy going to work and being at work. The work itself is enjoyable and challenging and it has been great to get a chance to work with new populations, such as women, and people that are diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental health disorders but, unlike my previous inmate population, they are diagnosed and receiving the proper treatment. The programming and structure of this organization is so impressive, and our president and CEO is an awesome woman who totally pays attention to her staff - she even knows my wedding countdown! I love that I am helping people do something so positive and that has the chance to totally transform their lives and that I get to do it in such a positive environment. Best of all, I still work with some of my old clients from my last position and I am starting to be known as the felon and sex offender expert (which I should totally have a certificate in) so I still get to be in touch with the population that I love working with so much. I have no complaints at all about my job though, and for once in my life, I don't even think about work when I am not here, unless I am dropping one of my new business cards into a free lunch raffle!
In non-work related news, I have contacted two organizations that do mentoring and other work inside of the prisons and am waiting to hear back from them, so hopefully I will be getting to go back inside soon. I am the only person I know who is desperately trying to get into prison! I am also excited for the new projects that Boston Cares is developing, including a disaster response team, that I have signed up for. I plan on getting back into my routine of leading a project once a week or so, especially since Boston Cares is really hard up for Project Leaders these days and has had to cancel some of their projects due to this (if you are reading this and you are so inclined, I totally recommend becoming a PL!). When we get back from our honeymoon we have a few days to re-group and get our accounts changed, my name changed and our thank you cards out, then Matty is starting his new position at Genzyme, which he is going to be awesome at. He gets to be in a position that he initially started doing as a special project and both liked it and was really good at it, so they hired him on as a Manufacturing Specialist - sounds so awesome, right?!? This also means that he is going to work Monday through Friday, bankers hours, which means for the first time in our two and a half years together we will have the exact same schedule! No more cramming two weekends worth of fun into one and no more thirteen hour shift that leave him exhausted. I am so proud of him and so excited for his new position to start!
Finally, Nina and I went to NYC this past weekend and had such a blast. It was so fun to spend one-on-one time together; I love that girl so much and she has been such a huge part of my life since she moved here from CA and I am so glad we got to get away together and whoop it up. We stayed in a super posh hotel, went to some awesome clubs and bars, got some good shopping in and ate our faces off with street meat and bagels and all that yummy Manhattan goodness. We are planning on making this a regular trip and want to get back down during the Christmas season when everything is all festive and beautiful.
Life is so wonderful and exciting and full of love right now that it makes me want to pop at my seams. And in nine more days, it will be even better than I think I can imagine!
Signing off as Stefanie Tarantino for the last time.
XoXo
The soon to be Mrs. Stefanie O'Shea
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