Life by numbers.

100: days until our wedding. There's a lot of planning that still has to get done between now and then, but I'm so excited to celebrate. How amazing is it that I get to marry the person I love in front of all those we love?

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48: hours until we'll just about be crossing the border into MN. YES.

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1: final left for my sister before she is a college graduate! WOOHOO!! Go Gophers, go Minnesota, and most of all, go D!

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2: types of European Championships Chelsea FC can currently claim. We watched them win the Europa League final this afternoon. Slightly different than the Champions League Final from last May (okay, a lot different), but it was still great to see them win. There will be a new Champions League winner in a few weeks, but until the Germans fight it out, we've got both trophies.

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12: Yesterday MN joined 11 other states in making history. I love home.

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74: degrees of perfect weather this afternoon. I could have stayed outside for hours.

29: days until Cheremosh performs at the Cowles Center! Get your tickets, people - this is going to be a great show!

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200: number of pages Andrew guessed he has written this semester. A rough estimate, sure, but the actual one can't be too far off. I'm so proud of how hard he's worked to get through this first year! I'm guessing the photo below expresses his sentiments towards me right now, considering how much coffee we've gone through this last week...

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Lately.

Life is busy, but we're managing. Things that make everything better include lovely springtime ranunculus, our new Bodum coffee press, Sunday soccer mornings, and a fresh basil plant (which we've pretty much used up already...). This springtime weather is a mean joke - but at least the all the rain we're getting is making the grass green and helping the snow to melt. I keep thinking, though, that it could be worse, as everyone at home is bracing for lots and lots of snow! 

Oh, and apparently today is National Sibling Day. Somehow this most important of holidays crept up on me so I didn't have time to send my siblings cards...sorry, dudes. But all joking aside, I have to say that I do really have the best siblings, and that I'm quite proud of them (not only am I that terrible older sister who didn't send out Happy National Sibling Day cards, I'm pretty sappy, too). I miss you both like crazy, and can't wait until our next reunion. Xoxo to you (like the laugh). 

MN Mondays: Soccer mornings.

Before Andrew and I started dating, one of the first things we talked about (besides Milton and Paradise Lost...we were English [nerds] students, after all!) was Chelsea F.C. I knew next to nothing besides the fact that 1) Andrew would wear his Chelsea kit to class once in a while, and 2) Andriy Shevchenko, the greatest Ukrainian footballer of all time, was then currently playing for Chelsea. We struck up a conversation about Sheva, soccer, and Chelsea; little did I know that my transformation into a Blues fan was just beginning. Now, we're definitely a house of blues, and you'll find both of us yelling at the TV for bad referee decisions and offside calls. 

Some of our first dates took place at 6:45 in the morning, when we'd head off to The Local to watch Chelsea games. The Local is one of two bars in downtown Minneapolis that regularly televises international soccer; the other is Brit's Pub, just down Nicollet Mall a few blocks. While it wasn't always easy to get ready for a bright and early soccer match (and look decent besides - it was a date!), these weekend games are some of my favorite memories. We've saluted Drogba as he won the Golden Boot and said goodbye to him this last year, watched as King Carlo led the Blues to win the Premier League, and, just last May, waited nervously as Bayern Munich scored on each of their first three penalty kicks, then celebrated in overwhelming cheers with fellow Blues fans as Chelsea won the Champions League. 

The atmosphere of both The Local and Brit's is great for games, especially for the big matches in English football and major tournaments like the World Cup and Euros. There are usually specials, too, for food and drinks. The Local has breakfast sandwiches for the early games, and both places have traditional pub fare on their menus, from fish and chips to shepherd's pie. While some games can get rowdy and aren't always family friendly (the World Cup match between the U.S. and England in 2010 had all of Brit's completely packed with fans on all of its three levels, but hey, you're at a pub, what do you expect?), I have seen little ones proudly wearing their team's kit at some of the quieter games in the morning, getting an early start on becoming fans of the world's most beautiful game. 

Chelsea has had an incredible start to their Premier League season, with only one draw and seven wins. Tomorrow, they play in Ukraine, at Shakhtar Donetsk. While I usually cheer on the Ukis when it comes to the national teams, tomorrow, I'm easily all blue. We'll definitely be watching. Go Blues!