Our First Tree

I convinced Goober to get a real tree this year. It was easy. I simply told him I wanted one and he said okay. I doubt it will be that easy next year.
Last weekend we went to the store and bought a tree stand and lights, then hit a second store for a tree skirt. Afterward we drove over to my in-laws to borrow my father-in-law's truck. They live next to Goober's grandma so he stopped in and helped her with some computer problems.
Once he was done we drove across town to get a tree from the boy scout troop that sets up in Ballard every year. After driving across town Goober pulled up to the lot but had a hard time finding the driveway. He eventually spotted the orange cones and Christmas lights that framed the drive way. After we walked around for a bit Erik realized we were at the wrong lot. We bought a 6ft tall fluffy Douglas Fir.
Sadly the tree people did not put it in a net for use. This resulted in us leaving a trail of needles from the garage door, into the elevator, to our door. Once the mess was cleaned up Goober went to put the nice sturdy stand on the tree. It looks just like the one we had when I was a kid. Unfortunately the stand didn't fit. Our pretty tree turned out to have a very large trunk. So, off to the store.

We swapped the very large truck for my cute little car and drove to the store we originally got our stand at. It was closed so we drove to another one and got in the door two min before closing. Goober decided to be stubborn and looked all over for a stand that was less ugly than the large one that we hoped would fit our tree. Fortunately we have a pretty tree skirt because the large stand is very ugly. It also didn't fit.
The good news is that when I first moved out of my parents house the tool kit my dad gave me included a saw. Goober had to saw off a couple branches and a chunk from the bottom of our tree to get the tree to fit. That's when we realized our trunk was crooked. The bottom portion was straight, the rest was at about a 45 degree angle.
Poor Goober had to take the tree back out of the stand and saw the bottom of the tree again. By then our carpet was covered in needles and sawdust. To make Goober's job worse the tree had been pierced by a metal spoke to keep it standing upright. The tree sap covered the hole this created and hardened. Goober had to saw away at it and then would chip away a chuck of wood. Eventually a wedge of the tree was removed and the straight part of our tree was now crooked.
Four hours after our adventure started our tree was standing up straight. To commemorate our adventure our first ornament is a pretty glass tree... and I'm pretty sure Goober won't let me pick out our tree next year. 

Babies

First, no I am not pregnant. However, I do have babies on the brain. My Goober handled this announcement with ease.

Me: I want a baby
Goober: That's nice
Me: ...
Goober: You have to wait until after we get a puppy, and our apartment doesn't allow pets.
Me: I still want one.
Goober: Honey.
Me: I didn't say it was logical or a good idea right now. Doesn't mean my hormones haven't decided differently.
Goober: Um...

So, yeah. We've been talking babies. We are both in school right now and Goober doesn't have a job. Yesterday we looked at our graduation requirements and we expect that in March of 2012 we will both be graduating. Goober will go on to a four year university, and I will be finally done with homework. Right now that seems like a good time to start trying for a baby.
There are so many things to consider first.
We only have one and for right now that works. It is a two door car though and from experience I can say that those don't work easily with babies and car seats. That means we need to either get rid of it and get a new one, or just get a second car that can accommodate baby and car-seat. Do we stick with one car? If so do we make sure that whomever has the baby has the car? Emergencies and such might mean the need for two cars so the parent with the baby will have transportation.
What about day care? If Goober gets into UW we will have access to campus day care while he is on campus. What that means or entails is something we need to figure out. His mother is close to retirement, but that may not mean she is interested in being a hired nanny for us. What about hiring a professional nanny? What is the cost of daycare centers for infants?
Disposable diapers or cloth? Breast milk or formula?
So many questions...
A good friend of mine just started having similar conversations with her husband. She laughed when I told her I was arguing with myself over babies. Her husband is the one with baby fever and she is trying to be logical about it. She and I got married within a month of each other and we've been hitting milestones together. Looks like with luck we'll continue to do so.

Looking Back

I moved to Seattle three years ago this month. It seems both like yesterday and an age ago. I left behind good friends, good memories, family, and a friendship broken beyond repair. I made very bad decisions in that relationship. I contributed just as much to its destruction as she did. That was almost as hard to face as the fact that I couldn't fix what was wrong. For better or worse the last time I had contact with her was three months before her wedding. Six months after I broke contact with her I moved to Seattle.
When I first got here it was a relief not to have memories of her popping up at every turn. I still thought about her though. It is simply not possible to end a 14 year relationship and not think about the other person. There were days I ached to call her and just hear her voice again, regardless of the fact that we would have just gotten in another fight.
Bit by bit I am forgiving her for all she did and didn't do. Eventually I hope I will stop being bitter and can forgive myself as well. I wonder if she'll ever forgive me. I still do not want to be in contact with her and I am still certain that ending our friendship was the right decision. It does not stop me from missing her. Perhaps it is a good sign that I no longer wish to erase her from my memories entirely. It is easier theses days to recall only  the good things.
While I still have not put back up the pictures of us I can imagine her face effortlessly. I remember her pixy cut white blond hair disappearing in the crowd on the first day we met. I can picture her curls and sparkling eyes as we dressed up to go out on the town. I know her laugh and can hear echos of it when I read the books she gave me. I hope I never forget how hard she and I laughed as we waited on the banks of the Seine for fireworks to start. I won't forget her college graduation party, or how far out of her way she went to be apart of mine.
It wasn't all bad and some of it was amazing. I wonder all the time if she thinks about me. While I don't want her back in my life, I will always miss her and I'm still grateful for having known her.

So far away from where you are
These miles have torn us world's apart
And I miss you
Yeah, I miss you

So far away from where you are
I'm standing underneath the stars
And I wish you were here

I miss the years that were erased
I miss the way the sunshine would light up your face
I miss all the little things
I never thought that they'd mean everything to me

My poor parents

I've spent the last two evenings watching my newest guilty pleasure. It is the tv show I loved in high school. My husband is thoroughly entertained by how much I love this terrible show. He is also slightly offended.
He absolutely loves what he calls "awesome" movies. Movies like Big Trouble in Little China and Hudson Hawk. He likes to torture me with them. At least I call it torture. He calls it introducing me to "amazingly awesome" films.
This is why he is upset. He claims my newest entertainment is on par with these horrendous films. I just laugh at him and tell him he is wrong. My awesome show is worth watching and his movies are not. He retaliated by tickling me. Which is totally unfair since he isn't ticklish.
However, that isn't my point. My point is my poor parents willingly put up with this show the entire four years it was on. I even remember my mom recording it for me, which means they had to endure it twice. I must have been loved because honestly, this show is terrible.
I still love it.

Ramblings

During my husband's last week of work he managed to pick up a cold. He graciously shared it with me. At first I managed to avoid this gift but eventually caught it about a week after he did. Unfortunately this was the weekend that we went to Victoria, BC. It was a gorgeous weekend and despite my budding cold it was very romantic. Victoria is a beautiful city and there is a lovely walk around the harbor that lead to a couple of cute parks I was able rest in. We followed the walk to a cute waterfront that had a fantastic fish and chip spot among a couple of other small businesses. One even sold raw fish so you could feed a couple of seals that seemed to live there.
When we got back we received word that while we were gone our friend's wife had finally had their baby. They had a cute baby boy nicknamed Sprout. Sprout is absolutely adorable and as soon as I'm over my cold I'm going to pinch his adorable little rolls. We've already gotten him a cute little towel that has a hood and is decorated with little duckies. Tomorrow my husband is headed over to their house to help finish putting together furniture for the nursery.
Yesterday we went to the Sea Food Festival in Ballard. It was fun to walk around and see the arts and crafts booths and trying to decide what to snack on. The longest line was for the bacon wrapped scallops. They smelled heavenly even with my cold. My husband is sadly allergic to seafood so he opted for a viking ice cream sunday. It came with a chocolate viking on top of the whip cream. He looked like an adorable little kid eating it.
While so far our summer has been leisurely and enjoyable today was sad. A few months ago my in-laws found out that their dog's kidney was failing. He's been on medication but he started refusing to take them and deteriorated quickly. Today after taking a couple turns for the worse in the past couple days he was put to sleep. The dog has been a buddy to my husband. He would look very offended whenever I sat next to my husband on the in-laws couch. Apparently  he believed that I was in his spot and would sometimes try to get in between us.
Next week is the annual family camping trip. This year a few of our friends are coming with us and I'm looking forward to it. One couple, Biggie and his wife, are bringing their pugs. Should prove for an interesting trip. I'm in charge of supplying the smores supplies. My cousin-in-law is bringing his swashbuckling skewer. Can't wait to take pics of that.
In other news one of my favorite high school series is on Netflix. It is about as bad as I remember it and I'm having a blast torturing my husband by watching it. Its bringing back a million memories of drooling over the male lead with my friend Shorty. The writing is bad, but typical for a tween market. The acting is a joke, but again typical for the market. Still, I love it and I'm off to watch more.

Spoiled

My Husband cleans our coffee pot. We have a little four cup coffee pot that makes just enough for the two of us in the morning. A friend of ours gave us a fancy coffee grinder that can grind exactly the amount that you want. It is programmable but we almost always forget so he tends to start it while getting ready.
He's also the one that does the hand washing. I'm in charge of loading, running, and unloading the dishwasher. Except from time to time he will start the dishwasher for me. When he does he makes sure to include our small coffee pot.
I never remember to clean the coffee pot. It can get gross, but before it gets bad he cleans it. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal. To me it is. It is one of the small things he does that makes me feel spoiled.
Yes, I'm a very happy newlywed and I still can't believe I'm lucky enough to have him.

Married Life

Growing up my dad used to tell me that when I started wanting a baby my husband should get me a puppy. It would buy him about a year before I would want a baby again. Well, right now I want a puppy, which makes me wonder if my dad’s advice would hold true if reversed.

My husband is not up for testing this hypothesis. He’d rather jokingly pretend to act like a puppy. Once I made the mistake of saying I wanted a puppy when he had his arms wrapped around me. He responded by licking my face repeatedly. My very loud squeal of protest made him laugh and grin with pride.

I think of times like that when people ask me if I like married life. I smile and say I like it, but it’s more than that. He makes me laugh all the time. We’re goofy together and have fun together. I’ve always tended towards the overly serious and it’s nice to have someone who brings out playfulness in me.

Yes it’s odd to live with a guy, more so to share a bathroom. For some reason I’m not allowed to use up all the hot water for my shower. I also have to take his tastes into consideration when decorating our place. Turns out decorating with all things Paris isn’t a guy’s idea of a nice home. Conversely I’m not okay with anime posters everywhere so I’m calling it even.

We’re adjusting to life together and we’re laughing our way through it. When I tell him he’s a nut or that he needs help he grins and proudly proclaims he is beyond help. How can you argue with that?

Six Weeks 'Till the Wedding

I went home a couple weeks ago to attend a bridal shower thrown for me. It was hosted at my younger sister's house and was planned by my mom and a very good friend. My friend spoiled me by including goat cheese (which I love) in almost every dish. She further spoiled me by making these great fruit cup thingys that she invented and I adore. The mimosa's provided by my mom were just the icing on the cake.
That afternoon I got to see my old Bible study leader, a very good family friend, and almost all of my close friends that live in CA. I had a complete blast. Some of them hadn't met each other before so they finally got to put faces to names. We completely took over my little sister's house for hours just sitting around being chatter boxes. It was great just sitting back and relaxing and knowing everyone was having fun.
This past weekend was a bridal shower thrown for me by my fiancé’s aunt and cousin. They blew me away. We played a game where you guessed which spice was in the cute balls of tissue and one where you had to remember all the things on the tray. I also got to meet more of my fiancé’s relatives including his maternal grandmother. She looks so much like my paternal grandmother its almost creepy. Mostly that's because my paternal grandmother passed away 10 years ago. So seeing her out of the corner of my eye made me jump a couple times.
That aside it was a fantastic way to get to know my future in-laws. My fiancé comes from a very close knit group and they all welcomed me with open arms. The theme was kitchen and every one that attended brought recipes. I was amazed by how many of his family gave me cherished family recipes. His paternal grandmother even made me a hand embroidered apron. We all laughed and made jokes and wowed over the great food that was served.
After wards my future MIL drove all the gifts to the apartment my fiancé is living in. I got to show off the place to my mom, my friend, and my future MIL. The couch we bought was in place and all the moving boxes hidden in his car. The place is on the small side but just big enough for two. We've even managed to find a way to create a study nook which is good considering we'll both be full time students in the fall.
While my mom was here we managed to find this gorgeous silk dress for her to wear to my wedding. It shows off her great curves and my friend kept joking about how thrilled my dad is going to be when he sees her in it. Also, we managed to get a better idea of how to make the chapel decorations. The decorations for the reception are almost completely decided and will mostly be white and burgundy tulips.
Speaking of decorations, AnotherDan has taken over building the cross we need to decorate the chapel. AnotherDan is my future FIL's best friend. (Since my future FIL's name is Dan his best friend was given the nickname AnotherDan). The cross went from simple to made of cherry wood with a dark cherry stain and fluting running along both lengths of wood. I can't wait to see the finished project.
All in all I think the wedding plans are coming together. The honeymoon is planned and honestly I'm looking forward to sleeping. School is crazy and has taken over most of my life. I'm enjoying it still and I'm making wonderful friends in the program. It is a challenge to find time to plan, to enjoy being a bride, and most importantly to find time to focus on my fiancé. I'm looking forward to being out of school this summer so I can enjoy being a newlywed.

Nifty

In stalling on doing homework and wedding preparations I decided to type my name into Google to see what was there. Turns out there is a town in Canada that has my name. Even cooler there is an engineering company in England that has my name as well. There are even some cool old cars they gave my name to.
Other random pieces of information include that there is supposedly a 27 yr old with my dad's name living in my hometown. I've tried typing in other random names to see what happens. Turns out if a friend happens to share the same very common name of a famous designer they become very hard to find.
Well, I've stalled long enough. Now I have to convince my computer that it really does want to print the pretty labels. Then I get to go the post office.

Monkey Wrench

Today my fiance's company announced they are laying off his division. He has a job until July, and about month's pay as a severance. We are looking at him going to school full time, and maybe getting a campus job. He is looking into grants, scholarships, and other forms of student aid. His mom has offered to let us live with her. I don't think she finished offering before he turned her down. I do have a secure job and we should be fine on my paycheck. It will be tight, but at least we'll be able to make ends meet.

Time is flying by

Winter break was wonderful. I read books that did not require any serious amount of brain power. It was great. My favorite was a twist on the Cinderella story. It was told from the view point of the fairy godmother. The twist is that the fairy godmother was young and beautiful and fell in love with prince charming right before the ball. It was very cute and I pretty much read the whole thing on the plane. 

My fiance and I went to my parents for Christmas. That was a lot of fun. Christmas eve we went to candlelight services at my parent church. We kept running into people while standing out in the cold. It seemed just as we were about to get away and able to head back to where it was warm someone else would fine us. I had fun introducing my fiance to people I had grown up with.

Christmas morning we listened to my favorite Christmas music The New Christy Minstrels while eating home made cinnamon rolls. Yummy. My younger sister, her husband and little boy we kind enough to let my fiance stay with them. He got a chance to spend some time with them and that meant a lot to both of us. Later on Christmas day my older sister, her son and her fiance came over to my parents as well. We all had a blast playing Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.

I also got the chance to head out to Sacramento and see some college friends I hadn't seen in way too long. One of the girls got married over the summer and is already preggers. She has a tiny bump that is sooo cute. My other two really good friends were there and just getting to spend a bit of time with them was great. We caught up and laughed over good memories.

It was over all too soon. I came home and caught a nasty cold that left me with no voice for a couple days. I had hoped to do more wedding stuff over my break but I spent the last few days mostly sleeping. However my sweetie and I managed to go to a tux shop and pick out the suits, vests, and ties for the wedding party. Today I decided homework could wait and poked around on line for bridesmaid dresses. I think I found a style they might like and now I just need to find it in a price range that is reasonable.

That will likely end up being delegated. School is starting. I'm not looking forward to having homework again. I am looking forward to who I'll meet this quarter. Last quarter I met this amazing girl who was in both of my classes. MM and I studied together all the time and helped each other through the toughest accounting class I've had yet. Marketing class was fun due to having group mates that actually worked. Each person in my group pulled more than their own weight and was a breeze to work with. I hope to have them in future classes.

Last quarter was incredibly hard and I don't think school is likely to lighten any time soon. The fun part is this quarter I have my last final about two weeks before my wedding. Somehow I have to fit in trips home for a bridal shower and a bachelorette party without falling behind in school. Mostly I'm working on scheduling everything out the way I do with school.

It feels like the wedding is tomorrow and I have nothing done. I keep thinking of things to add to my to do list, and to my sweetie's list. In reality I still have 14 weeks until the wedding and a lot of people willing to help. Most of the big stuff is done, now its just details. The good news is that everytime I start to get anxious about it all I realize that I'm getting married! and I get so excited that I stop worrying and just grin. I get to marry a fabulous guy and I'm going to be surrounded by people I love when I do. I can't wait.