Halloween FAIL

I love Halloween, I really do, however you would never know it by Kristian and my lack of motivation when it comes to the holiday this year. Our house isn't decorated, we don't even own a pumpkin, we haven't bought costumes and on Sunday night we may get a handful of knocks on our door for candy if we're lucky (the pitfalls of living in a condo complex of primarily adults).

Our lack of Halloween spirit is due to a number of things- I've spent most of the month focusing on celebrating Kristian's birthday, we haven't wanted to decorate since we're in the process of trying to pack up our condo for our eventual move, we're trying to save money, and of course the main reason which is pure laziness.

I spent all year saying I wanted to dress up as Snooki...I definitely I have the height (or lack of) to pull it off but the thought of spending a night at an over-crowded bar buying over-priced drinks is just not that appealing right now. And since we don't have any friends hosting a Halloween party there is no point in dressing up.

I still do want to carve a pumpkin. Kristian suggested hitting up the pumpkin patch tomorrow but I wonder if that's like trying to buy a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, aren't all the good ones taken? We'll see what happens.

With all that said I hope everyone has a very Happy Halloween weekend and I look forward to reading many Halloween posts on Monday and seeing what everyone dressed up as. Maybe I can live vicariously through you at least.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Via Google Images.

Silence

We love you Summer. Rest In Peace daddy Butch.

A glimpse into my future

This past Saturday night Kristian and I babysat our nieces and nephew while his sister attended a black tie work event in DC. Our oldest niece is 14 and we have a twin niece and nephew who are 12. They are old enough to stay home alone for a few hours however my sister-in-law doesn't feel comfortable leaving them alone all night so we agreed to come hang out and make sure there weren't any keg parties or other scandalous behavior occurring.

We showed up around 4pm and our niece Madison had made cupcakes to help celebrate Kristian's birthday. We ate cupcakes and watched some college football then took the kids to Red Robin for dinner. Note- if you want a solid form of birth control, go to Red Robin on a Saturday night...you won't want to have kids for years afterwards. I drove us to the restaurant with the 3 kids in the backseat doing the typical brother/sister bickering while Kristian kept turning around telling them to "Knock it off" "Don't hit your sister" etc. I had serious flashes of what my future could look like in about 15 years.

We had a good time at the restaurant with Kristian teaching us all one of the many magic tricks he knows. His magic tricks are a hit with kids and with me since I'm a sucker for some magic and am usually the one saying "do it again, do it again" The kids were pretty well behaved and seemed to enjoy themselves.

After dinner we went back to my SIL's house where we watched a movie with the girls while our nephew played video games in the basement. Everyone was in bed by midnight.

So our first co-babysitting experience was a success, we kept everyone alive, the house didn't burn down and the kids had fun with us. I always love watching Kristian with kids, he's going to make such a great dad one day.  It was actually kind of fun seeing what our lives may be like in the future, living in a nice house with 2 or 3 kids and going out for family dinners together. I realize that it won't be all sunshine and roses but I'm confident that we make a great team and can handle just about anything together.

Birthday Celebration

Kristian's birthday celebration started very early on Friday morning. He got up at 4:30AM to go hunt. I don't personally see the appeal of sitting in the woods at 5am waiting to shoot a deer but he finds it fun so I don't complain (much), after all it means I get the bed to myself for a few hours. Back on topic, I knew his plan was to leave early to hunt so I also got up early to decorate our dining room before work so that he would come home to a fun surprise after hunting.

Pardon all the boxes, this is where we've been keeping the boxes we've packed so far for our eventual move.

(Notice our cat on the table. He "helped" me decorate in his own special way. On the table I had some doughnuts and other fun treats for him.)

I totally stole the idea of decorating the dining room from when Kristian did it for me the night he proposed (see pic below). I personally think he did a much better job....probably because he wasn't decorating at 6am while still half asleep.

(this is what the room looks like sans boxes)



Kristian loved the decorated room and was definitely surprised when he got home. Unfortunately I was already at work so I missed seeing his reaction.

That night I took him out to dinner to his favorite sushi restaurant.

(my birthday boy!)

(I've finally jumped on the leggings bandwagon...they are SOOO comfortable...also Kristian loves how they make my ass look. Win Win.)

(I'm not much into the raw fish but this was Kristian's idea of heaven)

 

(how cute are we?!)

Since we go to this place a lot and always sit at the sushi bar Kristian knows not only the manager but the sushi chef. When we told them it was his birthday they totally hooked him up. He ordered one of the platters but they upgraded the type of fish he got at no extra charge and even threw in some Uni (sp?) which is expensive his favorite for free.

They were also doing a saki tasting that night. I've never had saki before and even though the tasting was fun I don't think I'll be drinking it in the future. I'd rather have regular wine.

All in all it was a great day and Kristian seems to be enjoying 33 so far.

33 Years

Today is a very special day...33 years ago today the most amazing, kind, generous, loving man I've ever met was born and 32 1/2 years later I was lucky enough to make him my husband.

*My husband is a sexy beast*

To my husband-

You are my best friend, my partner, my love, my favorite. You have changed my life in so many ways and everyday I am a better person just by knowing you. I never imagined finding someone who would love me as fully and unconditionally as you do and I thank God everyday that you found me, that you put up with me and that you love me. You make my bad days good and my good days better.  There is nobody I would rather go through this crazy life journey with than you.  I can't wait to celebrate a lifetime of birthdays with you.

Happy Birthday Kristian!!

All my love always,

Your wife

Beach Getaway

Unlike last year our attempt to go down to the Outerbanks in N.C. was a success! We left at 3:45am Thursday night/Friday morning so as to miss rush hour traffic and get down there early. The ride down was smooth and by 10:30am Kristian was on the beach fishing. He caught 12 fish on Friday! The weather was nice, very sunny and temps in the mid 60's however on Saturday it was VERY windy so after an hour I retreated to the room to continue reading The Girl who Played with Fire while Kristian continued fishing.

The cottage we stayed in wasn't very fancy but was fine for what we needed. We also couldn't complain considering the price we were paying for a place right on the beach. My only complaint would be the non existent pressure in the shower. I thought I would be in there for an hour trying to wash the shampoo out of my hair.

On Friday night we were tired and just got a take out pizza and had a picnic on the bed while watching t.v. It was sweet and romantic. I told him that we would look back fondly on that moment in the future when we (hopefully) have more money and can travel in style about the night we had a pizza picnic on the bed in our motel room at the beach.

Saturday night we went to a cute restaurant on the water where we were able to watch the sunset while eating.

On Sunday we got up early (to my protest), went for a walk on the beach and made a stop at the Avon pier to check it out before heading out of town. We stopped a few times to shop and didn't get home until the late afternoon. My bed has never felt more comfortable than it did last night.

We had a really nice, relaxing weekend away. It's something that I definitely want us to try to do more often. It doesn't have to be fancy and exciting but I think it's a must for the health of our marriage to break out of our day to day routine.

On to the pictures!

The famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse

The motel/cottage we stayed in. We had a screened in porch which was great for reading and watching the ocean.

Our view

 

Standing on the Avon Pier looking back at the beach

Leaving OBX :-(

On or Off

For those of you that are engaged or married or plan to be engaged/married in the future, what are your thoughts on wearing your ring(s) all the time. Do you? When do you not? What about your husbands?

I wear both my engagement and wedding band 99% of the time. I sleep with them on, I shower with them on, I exercise with them on (when I exercise which is rare nowadays). The only time I take them off is if I'm doing heavy duty/potentially damaging cleaning or other activity. Or if I'm doing something where I think they might fall off, like on our honeymoon when we went snorkeling. I left my rings in our in-room safe. We met a couple there and the husband's ring had come off and been lost while snorkeling. They had been married less than a week. The wife was not pleased.

I don't usually take my rings off for a number of reasons-

1. I'm afraid if I sit them down the cat will knock them on the floor and use them as toys and I'll never see them again.

2. I'll end up just forgetting to wear them. My coworker often forgets to put her rings back on after she showers in the morning. Her husband finally started hiding her rings as a way to make her remember not to leave them around the house.

3. Kristian spent a lot of money on my rings and I know it would hurt his feelings if I didn't wear them all the time. I know he would secretly think I didn't like them.

I have to say there are days when I'm just not in the mood to wear any jewelry at all including my rings. And there are definitely times when I don't feel like wearing my engagement ring which is bigger and sometimes gets caught on things or banged against something. I'm terrified of the center stone falling out.

My husband wears his ring everyday and like me will only take it off if he's doing something where he thinks it could potentially fall off.

So I'm just curious what other women do.

Winos

This past Saturday was my sister-in-law Michelle's birthday. In honor of her special day her boyfriend Joe (whom we love) rented a stretch Hummer limo to take us and a group of her friends to two wineries in Purcellville, VA.

The weather was absolutely perfect and all of Michelle's friends who I had never met were all very nice and quite amusing. I'll tell ya those 40-somethings sure know how to drink. We loaded up the limo with beer and wine to get us warmed up on the way to the wineries.

It's like Prom!

Traveling in style

The first stop was at Notaviva Vineyard which is a cute little winery. The owners live in the main house where the tastings take place. Apparently they filmed their house/tasting room being built for the DIY network and HGTV. The owner did the tasting for us and it was great. I bought one of the bottles of white which ended up getting drank in the limo before the end of the day.

Brother and Sister

After we left Notaviva we hopped back in the limo and drove for 15 minutes to our next stop which was Doukenie Winery . We were able to do our tasting out back on the covered deck. By this point we were a bit more rowdy and loud so I think the lady giving us the tasting was a tad annoyed. Oh well. After the tasting we hung out on the side deck and had some more wine and cheese. Michelle's boyfriend was sweet enough to buy Kristian and I another bottle of white at this spot. Though I don't think we'll be drinking it anytime soon. The thought of wine right now makes me nauseous.

The birthday girl and her boyfriend.

We discovered that Kristian and his sister have identical fingers. Michelle was upset saying that she has "man-hands"

After we left Doukenie we got back in the limo, turned on the lights, put on some jams and partied all the way back to Michelle's house. She kept sticking her head out the sunroof and waving to passersby. Good to know you never get too old to find that amusing.

The night was even more fun when on the way back home Kristian puked in my car. Yep he puked IN. MY. CAR. Fortunately we had an empty plastic bag for him to use though we discovered when we arrived home he didn't quite make it all in the bag. Gross. I made him clean it up. The best part was when he peed in the parking lot for all the neighbors to see (fortunately it was dark out by this point but I think the ladies next door still got a nice show). He then went inside and proceeded to pass the eff out. It was 8pm. Good times. He doesn't remember the puking or the peeing. I remember though since my car still stinks. *sigh*

Needless to say we had a great time and I highly recommend both of the wineries if you are in the VA area.

Birthday Trip Take 2

Some of you that have been reading for a while may remember last October when I tried to be a super awesome fiance and plan a surprise birthday trip for Kristian down to the Outerbanks in N.C. which is his most favorite place in the world to fish. Well as you can see in THIS post things didn't go according to plan when his car broke down.

Well we've decided to try again this year. Unfortunately with the expense and time needed each weekend for wedding planning we were never able to make it down there prior to getting married. So next Thursday night around midnight we plan to head down (in my car which has about 100K LESS miles on it) so that he will be on the beach bright and early for fishing Friday morning.

A few things are different this time around. First being that not only was the trip not a surprise but Kristian pretty much did all the planning (I will be doing most of the paying as my gift to him). Another difference is that this time we are going with another couple. Kristian's friend Rob and his wife Holly. This will be nice because now Kristian will have a fishing buddy and I'll also have someone to talk to while he's fishing.

We'll be staying at a quaint little motel on the beach that looks more like little cottages and will probably have a pretty low key weekend, though I told him I would like to try to go out for a nice dinner Saturday night to celebrate his birthday, which is actually Oct. 22.

Hopefully Mother Nature won't be a bitch and try to ruin our fun with rain like she did at the wedding. But even if she does we'll still make the best of it just like we did at the wedding. Work has been so insane lately thanks to this being our busy season that having a day off, even if it's a rainy day at the beach, sounds fabulous right about now.

Do you know...

This morning a nurse came to my house to give me a health exam. This had to be done in order for me to sign up for the long term disability insurance that my job offers. Since it's no cost to me I figure may as well sign up.

Anyways the nurse came and asked me all about my medical history, took my blood pressure, measured my height and weight and took a urine and blood sample. Fun right? I shouldn't complain too much because at least I didn't have to go to a doctor's office, they were able to come to me.

The interesting part of the visit was when Kristian (who was home as well) asked the nurse if she could take his blood pressure. Turns out that the last few times he's had his blood pressure checked (most recent being a few weeks ago) it's been high. Like really high for someone his age. I had no idea. He never mentioned this to me. After hearing what his blood pressure had been reading the nurse told him he needed to be on blood pressure medication especially since he has a family history of it (again I had no idea).

To be honest I was a bit pissed he had never told me this. After all what would happen if God forbid there was a medical emergency and I had to answer questions about is medical health because he was unable to. If they asked me if he had high blood pressure I would have said no (until today that is). This is very important information to have and I made it clear to him that he needs to be upfront about this stuff with me for both of our benefit.

So one of the things I want to do is sit down and go over our medical history with each other, including allergies, medications etc.Kristian has had a few surgeries for neck/back issues which I know all about but beyond that I really don't know much about his medical history. Bad wife! Unfortunately you never know when you'll need to give that information to someone.

Do you all know your spouse/partner's medical background?

Inspiration vs. Copying

There has been an interesting discussion/drama going on over at MODG's blog this week. If you don't read her blog, you really should, she's hysterical. Anyways, earlier in the week she posted about another bride who essentially copied almost her entire wedding that took place 4 years ago. She even posted side by side picture comparison's (which she later took down per the other bride's request). The other bride had copied all the main components of her wedding including her venue, photographer, cake, dress (yes her DRESS), decor, even down her hairstyle and fur wrap.

Needless to say MODG was a little creeped out and pissed. She had worked hard designing her wedding which was later posted on TheKnot and various other sites including her photographers and for another bride to come in copy almost everything left her understandably upset.

Here's my take, almost every bride uses magazines, wedding shows and the Internet for wedding inspiration and ideas, I know I certainly did. None of my ideas were 100% original (though Kristian thinks they were and that's fine with me). Countless other brides have had photo guestbooks, CD favors, lace wedding dresses and a black/white/pink color scheme. The difference is that I put my own personal touches on those items. While I may have used similar ideas none of those items were exactly like anybody else's (at least that I know of). And more importantly when you look at my wedding as whole it doesn't look exactly like anyone else's.

And here's the thing I wouldn't want it to! Don't get me wrong I see pictures all the time of gorgeous weddings that I covet and in my fantasies would have loved to have. But ultimately I wanted our wedding to reflect US and not anybody else. That's what a wedding is, a personal representation of your relationship. Why would you want to copy someone else's?

I get that some people aren't as creative and haven't been planning their wedding their whole life like some of us but that's no excuse to just see pictures of someone else's wedding and do the exact same thing. Not to be mean but it just shows laziness and lack of personality in my opinion. So many brides works their asses off to make their weddings original and personal that it just baffles me that someone would do something like that.

So what do you think? Where do you draw the line between inspiration and straight up copying? And would you ever copy all the main components of one person's wedding for your own?