Metzger's T-Shirts

While in Michigan for Thanksgiving we picked up a little gift for Christy to welcome her to the family. More pictures here.

Update: Team Towson Portraits

A little while ago I posted pictures from Team Towson's trip to Sears with cheesy Christmas sweaters. CZ and I decided to hold a couple back so we could give our parents the picture of Christy with her arms around me in a nice, K-Mart frame. They love it. Christy's mom is begrudgingly proudly displaying the portrait on her mantle. The full set can be found by clicking here.

Throwback Thursday: The Gallon Challenge

Filmed in January of '06, I just recently got around to editing this for my brother. I gave this to him as one of his Christmas presents (this year). Please do not watch if you are "weak of stomach".

Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Here is the link to all the photos.

Christmas Eve Pictures

Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve with the fam.

Throwback Thursday: TDS

So amidst all the craziness of getting engaged last week, Throwback Thursday was neglected. Therefore due to popular request, I dug up an old Gary Wilmer classic. Enjoy.

Team Towson Portraits

So each year our team of Young Life leaders decides to wear some sort of "uniforms" to the YL Christmas party. This year we chose cheesy 80's sweaters and stopped by Sears to get our pictures taken before going to the party. You can see the rest of the pictures here.

A Christmas Card for you...

Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy!

New York Engagement

If you are just looking for pictures, you can check them out here. If you would like to know the story, please read onward. It's long.

Let me start by saying this: I'm not a details person. This drives Christy crazy. Therefore when I first decided in mid-November that we would take a trip to New York City for her Christmas present, I knew I would have to plan every minute of the day. So for the past month or so I had been planning a day in the Big Apple. It was only about two weeks ago that I knew I was going to ask her to marry me and only about a week ago that I knew I wanted to ask her in New York. I figured, I already had the train tickets so getting engaged in New York might be too good of an opportunity to pass up. I talked with her dad on Monday last week, went in to buy the ring on Tuesday, picked up the ring on Friday, and asked her on Saturday. Needless to say, it has been a crazy week.

Also last weekend we talked for a while about how she was willing to follow me if I decided to take this step and get engaged. I had already made up my mind that I was going to ask her in New York, so as she was describing this, it was just confirmation for me. However, I didn't really know how to tell her how I really felt about her without ruining the surprise. Basically, she poured out her heart and all I could say was, "Good." To which she was not very happy and summarized our conversation by saying that I must not like her anymore. So Monday and Tuesday were pretty miserable last week.



On Wednesday she got off work early because of the snow and I figured that somehow I needed to buy a few days of her being happy so we could just make it to New York. I left flowers on her car Tuesday night for her to find in the morning, with some candy and a note. A while ago I had told her to keep the 8th open for a "fun day" but that afternoon I finally informed her that we would be taking a train to New York City and going ice skating. The week got better and she was very excited by Friday night for our trip the next day.

By late Friday night I finished packing, making last minute changes, etc. and was only able to get about 2 hours of sleep because my alarm went off at 4:40 AM on Saturday morning. I drove over to her house and picked her up and went down to Penn Station in Baltimore. On the train ride up, Christy slept about 3/4 of the ride and I got 10 minutes of sleep. I was practicing what I would say, sweating because the train was so hot, and wondering if she had any clue that there was a ring hidden in a sock that was buried in my backpack.


We arrived in New York and I had written 7 little clues in the form of short poems that would inform her about our next destination. The first clue was to basically give her the choice of seeing Times Square, The International Center of Photography, Rockefeller Plaza, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral, FAO Shwarz, and of course, the Apple Store. Times Square was first because it was one stop north on the Subway. It worked out well because it was not very crowded at 9 AM when we arrived. We went window shopping a little bit and then made our way over to the Rockefeller Plaza.


By lunch we ended up at FAO Shwarz which is near Mickey Mantle's NYC, the restaurant where we stopped and ate. For whatever reason, our food took forever to come out and while it was nice to have a break from walking, we were both ready to move on to ice skating as soon as we finished eating. We then crossed the street into Central Park and rented skates at the Wollman Ice RInk. Neither of us fell during our time on the ice but our legs and feet were definitely tired and sore which didn't help us much for the next step.

At this point, Christy knew nothing about what our plans for the rest of the day. She knew we would go ice skating and go sightseeing, but from then on, she didn't have any idea. My next plan was to take her to get a horse drawn carriage and go to a place called Ladies Pavilion in Central Park. We walked over to pick up a carriage and unfortunately there were people lining the streets waiting for the carriages to empty. We quickly gave up on that idea and decided to walk to the pavilion. Christy was a trooper and it was actually her idea to walk the distance even after we had just skated. Only once did she mutter, "This had better be worth it." It actually worked out for the best because the carriages only go in a secured route and they don't take you around like a cab. So essentially we would have wasted some time and money to go in a circle.

Once we arrived at the pavilion, I started to freak out a little bit because there were a bunch of people in and around the pavilion. It wasn't nearly as isolated as I had pictured. Fortunately though, there were a bunch of big rocks nearby that were overlooking the city so I led her down by the frozen pond and found a rock for the two of us to sit on. I then told her I had a couple of surprises for her and began to get everything out of my backpack including the ring, my iPod, and some small speakers. Christy loves a song called Springtime Indiana by Sandra McCracken and I always knew I wanted to play that song when I asked her to marry me. So I began to play that on the iPod and put the ring in my back pocket and sat down next to her.


I began by talking about our conversation the week before and when she felt like I wasn't saying anything, it was not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't. You see, a few of us fellas had decided that we would not say "I love you" to a girl until we were on a knee proposing. So when I told Christy that I loved her, it was like a switch went on in her head and she realized, "Oh wow, this is it." I've been telling people that one of the coolest things in my mind wasn't necessarily what Christy said, but how she said it. After I told her I loved her, she immediately said, "I love you too." When I asked her to marry me she said "Yes, of course," without hesitation. I pulled out the ring and we hugged for a minute as the song finished playing. I put the ring on her finger and we began to talk about the past week, my talk with her dad, and things like that.


From here, I gave her the next clue which was to go visit the Empire State Building. We had to walk a couple of blocks and take the subway back to 34th street as we began to call family and friends to tell them the good news. After standing in line after line to get to the top of the building, we got to see New York at night and it was beautiful. It got cold pretty quickly, but we were able to take our time and see everything from the top.



In between the Empire State Building and dinner, we had a chance to meet up with Christy's friend Rachel who lives in New York and a few of their friends who were conveniently just visiting for the day. We met on the street corner across from Macy's and showed off the ring. It was hilarious for me to be with 4 or 5 overly excited friends/moms of Christy.


We then stopped in Starbucks to catch our breath, warm up, and kill some time before dinner which was at a restaurant called La Masseria. I had 3 red roses delivered to the restaurant before dinner and they were placed on our table when we arrived. Funny side note quick story, when I originally called and asked for reservations between 4:30 and 7:30 they said they were booked for the evening. I then explained that I was going to be getting engaged that afternoon and that I had heard great things about their restaurant. Then lady then said to me, "Oh why did you have to tell me that? Can you do 7:45?" in a thick Italian accent. I said sure and the place was great. It wasn't too formal that we felt out of place since we were tired and dirty, but much nicer than Baja Fresh.


After dinner, we finally concluded our day by walking over to the Rockefeller Plaza one more time to see the Christmas tree all lit up and it was beautiful. The perfect way to end the day. We made it back to our train station and sprinted to the train to try and get good seats before everyone else. At last we arrived in Baltimore at 1:50 AM and drove home. Christy's mom hadn't slept a wink and was awaiting her arrival. By the time we both got home and settled in for the night it was 3:00 AM. Almost a full 24 hour day.

Basically we're both thrilled, I love Christy, I'm glad our trip worked out so well, and if you've read every word of this, you have no life. Or you're a college student who took a really long break from studying for finals. Regardless, now I'm going to try to respond to the 489 people who posted on my Facebook wall. Thanks for all the love!

Throwback Thursday: This Camp is Shapin' Up!

There's a lot more to this video than just Christy and Susan walking out of an outhouse. Inside jokes. Ask me to explain the next time I see you if you would really like to know.

Fall Pictures

CZ just got a new camera so we took it out around the White House. You can see the set here.

Throwback Thursday: Intern Pictures '05

So instead of a video for Throwback Thursday, I'll use these pictures from my summer at Lake Champion in 2005. I look back now and wish I had take more pictures of one of the greatest summers of my life. Here it is.

Back Home

So after a drive that lasted 9 hours through the night, we finally arrived back in Severna Park at 6 AM. And not a moment too soon, it was getting pretty miserable when it was 4 AM and everyone needed to stretch out and sleep (and the Mexican buffet line at the reception was not treating me right if you know what I'm saying).

Derek and Carole's wedding was beautiful and they seem to be very happy. Overall we had a great weekend as a family and I love them a lot. I'm not sure what more to write about, so I'll leave it at that. The rest of the pictures from the weekend can be found here.

Rehearsal Dinner

Good times tonight from Ann Arbor, Michigan. For the first time in history I think every living Metzger on our side of the family was in one room at the rehersal dinner. Grandma and Grandpa made the trip along with my Grandpa's brother, Uncle Don (who was hilarious). I got to sit at a table with my brother and sister along with my cousins (who are awesome). We also had the opportunity, while killing 4 hours, to drive around the University of Michigan's campus and go to a restaurant called Metzger's. We didn't get a discount for having the same last name.

I've had a Coldplay song stuck in my head all day for a number of reasons. One of those reasons in particular is because I was listening while thinking about my family.

Oh, what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget, but not forgive
Not loving all you see

-Swallowed in the Sea by Coldplay

I love Chris Martin's songwriting, but this one hit home because I remember writing in my journal the last time I was up here in Michigan about how I wish I could see how different our family would be if love had entered the picture sooner. Even Grandpa commented tonight on how much he has enjoyed getting to see the entire family get along. Somehow through his illness I hope everyone realizes how much we need each other.

Tomorrow is the big day for Derek and Carole. We are peacing out right after the reception to try and beat traffic a little bit on Sunday. Finally, in what has become a tradition over the past two days, I leave you with The Clapham Institute picture of the day...


That would be my dad's attempt at doing the wrist-finger-snap-laxer-shredder-dude-brah thing.

As usual, all your pictures are here.

Thanksgiving Day

First of all, happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you had a great day with friends and family.




Secondly, the lady above is the mother of my cousin's Spanish exchange student who does not speak English and is going blind. Try keeping up with that one. For a family of pasty white, blunt, Germans with mustaches, this officially registers as the single most random thing of my life. Barbara is the exchange student and she does speak English. We talked for a while as I brushed up on my Spanish and talked about Real Madrid.



Later in the evening we had a chance to have 4 generations of Metzger's sit in the same room and listen to my Dad and Uncles Carl and Robert ask questions of my Grandma and Grandpa about their lives. I had the cameras set up to record the whole thing. It was an incredible time as we laughed, listened, and shared memories together. Hopefully the video will be a treasure for our family.

It seems to me weird that it has been 7 years since we have all been together. I told Jen as we were preparing a midnight meal of mashed potatoes and turkey that I hope we never go 7 years without seeing each other. It's even weirder to think that as kids we spent every moment with each other and now we have to schedule each other into our lives.

I leave you with one more great picture from the day. Ladies and Gentlemen, the brains behind the Clapham Institute...


Again, all the pictures from the weekend are located here.

Running Diary from Michigan

I'll continue posting pictures as the weekend continues. Be sure to keep up with all the pulsating action from just outside Toledo right here. All the photos are here.



The drive out here wasn't too bad. No traffic and the weather was fine until we hit Ohio (figures). I had good conversation with the fam and great tunes to keep me company for the 10 hour journey. Jennifer's brilliant plan was to stay up all night last night so she could sleep through the entire car ride, it worked. She then took a sleeping pill to go to sleep so all in all I approximate that she has either been sleeping or eating 18-19 of the last 24 hours. Sounds like a roommate of mine.

One of my goals to accomplish before the end of the year was to read 1 book all the way through. I figure you have to start with baby steps at some point. I brought The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Perelandra which I just realized is Part 2 of a 3 part book series by C.S. Lewis. Nice. Looks like Narnia it is.

North Bay 2007

Pictures are up from our weekend at North Bay. Yes, the short-shorts made a return. The entire set can be found here. Some of the pictures in the set were taken by Christy Zuidema and Brody Bond.