She Likes Purple

Seven

(six, five, four, three, two, [and my personal favorite] one) 

We've been married seven years today. Mike's out of town, I have a work dinner tonight, and it's Monday. Seven years ago today was a wee bit more magical than actual today. (And seven years ago today had an open bar, which today absolutely does not have. SIDE EYE TO TODAY.)

It's our copper anniversary and I had big plans of surprising Mike with fancy new copper kitchen pots, but then Molly got sick to the tune of multiple thousands of dollars (!!!) right after we got back from an international vacation, so yeah. Pots will have to wait. Instead I spent half an hour searching for pennies from each year we've been married so I could glue them into the shape of a seven. Here babe! I got you eight pennies that you can never actually spend! 

I heard a line from a movie recently (About Time), and I teared up, like the ridiculous sap that I will always be, but this is precisely how I feel about Mike. I'm paraphrasing, but...

I am so uninterested in a life without him.

Mike and I have been to St. John and Belize and Puerto Rico and Canada and all over the U.S., but it was just the other night, sitting in a booth at Chili's five miles from our house when he made me laugh so hard I was reminded that he is just my favorite place. Traveling, not traveling, drinking cheap wine at Chili's or pina coladas in Belize, paying bills or holding hands. He's it. Life is life and love is him. (Even when I need a girl's night away from him. I'm still glad he's the one waving me out the door and into the arms of a margarita with friends.)

Last year was a hard year. A lot of unbloggable, stupid life stuff, but I struggled. Stressed out, snappy, emotional, yada yada. And Mike was just there. Just asking what he could do, telling me to go take a break when he sensed I was too tightly wound, wrapping me in a hug even when he wasn't quite sure why I was so badly in need of one. I want it all to make sense and to be fixable but it can't always be, such is life, and when it can't be, he says to me the same thing over and over, "It will all work out. It will all be okay."

And it will. With him, it will.

Our lives are not always easy or fun or romantic or any of those adjectives our wedding day made us hope our every day lives would be. Very few days have that open bar, for example. 

But, damn, I'm just so uninterested in a life without him. 

Happy copper anniversary, babe! Here are a handful of pennies you can never spend, but I bet you tell me you love them and I bet you mean it. 

The Best Day(s) of His Life

I don't know if there's anything I've loved as much as Kyle loves motorcycle racing. Specifically MotoGP. (Okay, I do know, but they're all fictional characters from CW shows, and it's better I stop talking about it in public now that I'm 32.)

Anyway, I can't quite remember when his love first began. When he first started watching races, talking about the riders, reciting stats and numbers and exact reasons why so-and-so crashed. "He didn't lean enough to the right, Mommy. The corner got him." 

He began popping out of bed on Sunday mornings, asking if there was a new race on. If there wasn't (sometimes a few weeks pass between races), he'd just ask to watch another race over again. There are certain races I've seen a dozen times. Maybe more.

Mike races, and I first thought Kyle picked up this love because he wanted to be more like his Dad. Who could blame him? But as Mike reminds me, this kid knows way more than he does at this point. 

His love grew so strong that he got a Cycle World magazine subscription for Christmas and when a new issue arrives, he takes it to bed with him and "reads" it cover to cover. 

We watched the first race of the season a few weeks ago at my in-laws house and a few days later, as we drove home from school, he said completely out of the blue: "I'm just really proud of Scott Redding for coming in seventh place in his first MotoGP race."

Uh, me too, kid. Really proud of Scott Redding.

MotoGP is an international motorcycle racing circuit. It's a seriously big deal, though most people have no idea what I'm talking about when I talk about it. (But, one of the racers is on the Forbes list of the top-100 most-paid athletes in the world. Big deal!) They only race twice in the United States this season, and once is the new Circuit of the Americas track in Austin. One of two tracks in the entire country and it's in driving distance! Meant to be, I'd say. This is my son's DisneyWorld and Christmas and about 100 other awesome things all rolled into one. 

So, yeah, I bought three tickets like they were shoes, like they were bottles of champagne. I bought them with pure glee. Being a mother has changed me in really strange, beautiful ways.

The race was this past weekend.

It was one of the best weekends I can remember, and I like to think it was one of the best weekends Kyle can remember either. 

Funny story about his red Marc Marquez (Kyle's favorite rider and the winner in Austin!) t-shirt. We bought it for him Sunday morning, in a vendor tent at the track. We handed it to him to hold as we paid, and before we knew it, he began taking his other shirt off to change right there in the middle of everything. My shy kid is sometimes the absolute opposite of shy, kind of like how his shy mother sometimes loves to sing karaoke. 

I mentioned to someone recently just how much he loves motorcycles and racing and MotoGP, and they kind of sucked in air and said, "But doesn't that make you nervous?"

Well, sure, if he wants to ride one day, that'll probably give me a fresh set of things to worry about on top of the million things I already do. It's safe compared to riding a bike in traffic but a lot less safe than, say, writing or reading or some dozen other things I think would make for fine hobbies. Why not read a few blogs, Kyle! 

But I want him to be happy and full more than I want him to ease my worry. I want him to love something one day as much as he loves MotoGP now. If it keeps on being the same thing, I'll be thrilled. 

I really will.

Our Time in Belize

We spent nine glorious days and eight nights in Belize earlier this month (and if you follow me on Instagram, you're likely grateful I'm home now and have stopped posting pictures of margaritas). It was quite possibly the best trip Mike and I have taken together. Even better than a trip we once took to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where we slept on top of our jackets because there was not one but two questionable stains in the room.

We often return from a trip, blissed out by that perfect vacation mixture of rest and adventure, plotting where we'll go next. We came back from Belize, though, plotting when we get back there next. It's a place we're already desperate to return to (with Kyle next time), it was just that incredibly beautiful and special. 

We spent our first six nights on Ambergris Caye, the larger of the two islands we stayed on, both not far off the coast of Belize. Those nights we stayed at Portofino Resort, six miles north of San Pedro, the main town on Ambergris Caye. I debated between staying closer to town or further out--and read about a zillion reviews on TripAdvisor to help me decide--but a LivingSocial deal showed up in my inbox one day for Portofino (a place I'd already looked at and pinned as an option), and it felt meant to be. It was a great discount, and after a little more research, we snatched it up.

And, thankfully, I can't imagine ever returning to Amergris Caye and not staying at Portofino.

I probably emailed the resort dozens of times before we arrived, with various random questions about our stay, and each time I got a polite and gracious email back within hours (often faster). This kind of service was just more of the same while we were there. For example, the cabana we checked into upon arrival turned out to be really close to the resort's bar and restaurant. This wasn't too big an issue in the evenings--both closed around nine each night (which sounds early but was never a big deal, and if you want drinks in your room after 9pm, just pick up beer or wine in town)--but was an issue in the morning, when the restaurant began serving breakfast far earlier than I prefer to get up on vacation. 

I was nervous about bringing this up with the front desk, but they not only quickly and graciously moved us to a room farther away, it was a bigger room too, and at no extra cost.

We fell into a lovely routine while at Portofino. We'd wake up about 8:30 or so, and we'd throw on clothes and head to the restaurant where continental breakfast is complimentary (toast, fruit, coffee, juice) and you can add eggs or bacon for a few extra dollars. (There's also a full breakfast menu, if you're feeling hungry or spendy.)

We'd sip coffee and feel the sun on our shoulders while we ate breakfast. I eat a lot of granola bars in the car while I drive an hour to work each morning, so these mornings--sitting with my husband, drinking coffee by the ocean--were soul-restoring. We'd then lay around for the next couple hours, reading or napping. One morning we got massages on the beach and one day we took a fishing and snorkeling excursion with a lovely couple we met at the resort, but most of the time, we looked a lot like this.

 

I've asked Mike if he can look into putting palm trees in our backyard, hanging a hammock between them, and then figuring out a way to move the ocean a few feet from all that. He's seeing what he can do.

The resort offers free use of bicycles, and we'd take those out a couple times to eat lunch or have drinks at nearby resorts or restaurants. One was X'tan Ha, a place a couple miles north of Portofino. We ate burgers at their bar, and we were forced to stare at this. Repulsive.

See that table in the bottom lefthand corner of the picture? That's a table IN THE WATER, and I'm a little sad it was occupied when we arrived because I would have loved to say "Oh, no big deal or anything but we ate lunch in the ocean--no, not on a boat!--actually sitting in the ocean. You don't do that on your vacations?" 

I also feel this is the perfect time to tell the story of how I fell into the ocean while riding our bikes to X'tan Ha. See, there's a path that runs alongside the beach and it ran from our hotel to this one, and while I don't ride bikes on a daily basis or anything, I feel rather confident in my general bike-riding abilities. Like, say, if I had to get out of a hairy situation and only had a bike to do so, I'd basically say with a lot of confidence, "Hand me that bike!"

But this particular bike I got from the hotel would not stay on the path. It hated the path. It veered and pulled and at one point, I just fell right off the thing into the ocean. Mike was like, "What just happened?" And I was like, "THIS BIKE IS OBVIOUSLY BROKEN." (This sums up my marriage in two sentences. Mike asks a calm, somewhat confused question and I respond in all caps.) 

Later on, I talked to THREE people who fell off their bike (none of them directly into the ocean, unfortunately, so I had no one to commiserate that particular point with) and we confidently concluded that there's one lemon of a bike at Portofino. Obviously don't let this deter you from staying there. Mike swears his bike was fine and I saw many people riding their own bikes without veering anywhere, so your chances are great to get a bike that won't just toss you into the ocean. Also, if you do get the lemon, we can eventually start a Facebook Group and that feels kind of worth it, don't you think? 

We also walked down to Jambel Jerk Pit one day, which gets a shout out for being one of the best meals of our trip. It's a resort that closed but the restaurant stayed open, and it was absolutely delicious. (We saw a second location in San Pedro, if that turns out to be easier for you.) (I like how I'm writing this under the assumption that you'll totally be traveling to Belize one day.)

The resort also (wonderfully) has a boat you can jump on to head into town or to other resorts and they'll pick you back up, if they can. If they can't, there's a water taxi that you can call, and most hotels or restaurants will help you make those arrangements. But we only had to take the water taxi once, I think, and Portofino took care of us the rest of the time. One place we absolutely loved (and went two nights in a row, even) was Palapa Bar.

It's a bar/restaurant that juts out over the water, so you are seriously looking at this view from your bar stool.

The food was also amazing. I live in the land of tacos, but the fish tacos at Palapa were the best fish tacos I've ever had. Maybe the best tacos I've ever had. (That's probably the most times I've ever written tacos in one paragraph.)

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention was that we did take a half-day snorkel trip one afternoon to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, and it was the best snorkeling I've ever done (though I haven't done a ton of snorkeling, I have to admit). Still, we saw so many fish, it was like being tossed into a scene from Finding Nemo. Which I said to the tour guide, and he looked at me like I was ridiculous. The second part of the trip--the Shark Ray Alley part--is exactly as it sounds, a place where a whole bunch of nurse sharks and a whole bunch of stingrays gather around boats while you snorkel very, very near them. This sounds terrifying, but it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. (Mike rolls his eyes when I say this because he's the shark expert of the two of us, and he's all they're nurse sharks, let's save that sentence for when we're near a great white or something--to which I say, tell me how that is, I'll be at the hotel pool whenever that particular opportunity presents itself.) Still, swimming with a bunch of sharks! I felt very badass that night.

Another routine we sort of fell into was congregating around the hotel bar each night, which is why we became fast friends with a handful of people. Portofino is a small resort--just 16 rooms, I think--so you can feel like you're in paradise by yourselves for most of the day, but if you hang out by the bar long enough at night, the same lovely people will eventually wander by. So, we would drink and talk and laugh with new friends, and it was such a unique travel experience for us. When one couple left a day earlier than us, in fact, we genuinely missed them that last night. The couple we fished with met us at the dock the day we left, to see us off with hugs and waves. I felt so grateful to be in paradise with Mike, letting months of stressful work projects and the busyness of life just melt away, but I also felt grateful to meet such wonderful people, people I'd never have met otherwise. 

We left Portofino and Ambergris Caye on Saturday morning, heading for Caye Caulker for two nights. We took the water taxi to the smaller island, and it took about 30 minutes to get there. Once we arrived, we grabbed a golf cart taxi, which cost $5USD, and went to SeaDreams Hotel. Caye Caulker is a much smaller and more laid back island, and we probably liked this island even more. We only spent two nights because of our LivingSocial deal through Portofino, but we'll probably split our time evenly between the two next time, and I'd recommend that to anyone planning a trip.

We also loved SeaDreams. It's a much smaller, sleepier place than Portofino, of course, but just so cozy and lovely. There's an upstairs bar and breakfast is complimentary each morning. 

The hotel has its own dock, too, and you can do what we did--buy ice cream cones and watch the sunset from it. 

After we had a drink at the hotel bar the evening we arrived--they give you a buy one drink, get one drink free coupon each day of your stay--we headed to dinner, which was a 10-15 minute walk. We ate at Rose's Grill & Bar, and it was good. 

We went to bed early that night (like 8pm early) because for the first time the entire trip, we had to set our alarms. We had a day trip on the mainland planned for the following day and that meant catching a 7am water taxi to take us to Belize City.

One thing we had read and heard to do was cave tubing in the Belize jungle, and we wanted to pair that with a Mayan ruin tour. There were a lot of tours that paired cave tubing, ruins, and ziplining but HAHAHAHAHAHA, no. I've filled my ziplining quota for nine lifetimes, thank you very much. So we asked our hotel if we could do just the two activities and they arranged everything for us. A wonderful tour guide named Dorian picked us up from the water taxi and drove us first to the ruins where we basically had the park to ourselves. 

After we toured the ruins, we stopped for lunch between the site and where we'd be cave tubing, and lunch was included in the tour price. It was delicious--and I feel like now's a good time time to say that most of our meals in Belize were absolutely incredible, from our most expensive to the food we ate out of street carts. I had heard otherwise while researching, but was so pleasantly surprised at how good practically everything we ate was.

Cave tubing was pretty incredible and while it was a long, bumpy drive to get there and a long, hot walk to where we got into the river, it felt so worth it at the end of it. You get in an intertube and float down a river, which is mostly in a cave. I don't know that I'll ever get to do that again, and the curiosity and newness of those types of things are such an important part of traveling for me. Something about choosing a place, that's basically a blank slate, and filling that time with memories you'd never have anywhere else. Cave tubing will stay with me as so very Belize. We couldn't take a camera but we did manage to get a couple GoPro pictures (just a couple; most of them were awful and blurry and Mike's already making GoPro Upgrade Plans).

We drove back to the water taxi from there, and as I rushed to make our boat, I turned and watched Mike hug Dorian goodbye, and it was such a nice moment. This man took care of us--and showed us a truly incredible country--and we'll likely never see him again. I am so glad to have that memory, of my wonderful, decent husband sharing a moment with this wonderful, decent man we met and said goodbye to all in one day. (I'm getting rather sentimental at this point in the post, aren't I? Probably time we talk about taking shots and singing karaoke.)

We got back to Caye Caulker and had heard Habaneros was a great dinner spot, but when we showed up, the wait was an hour and a half. As we turned to find a back-up, we heard a stranger invite us to join his table (sat six, but there was only three in his party). Our dinner was fantastic--totally recommend!--and after it, we headed to a local Canadian-run bar for karaoke with our new friends. We enjoyed shots like teenagers and sang songs (Mike knows all the words to Salt N Pepa's "Push It," FYI, and he didn't need to look at the screen once), but were still in bed by 10pm. 

We had breakfast at the hotel the next morning before walking around, shopping, and then finally having our final lunch from the King Kebab with this view.

We flew home shortly after lunch, and while we were so eager to get to Kyle, we couldn't help feel just plain sad to leave a place so great. I want to stop everyone on the street and tell them to visit Belize if they can, and I hope we can indeed return one day (maybe for Mike's 40th birthday in a handful of years?). 

A few final things: Absolutely everyone spoke English (though many spoke Spanish as well, and those who did were so gracious and patient when I attempted to try it), so you'll have no issue communicating. Absolutely everywhere took American dollars, too. The beer brewed on the island--Belikin--is one of the very few you can find (because of import laws, we think), so when you order a beer, you'll likely get this beer. It's good, don't worry. We really did feel safe the entire time--even though I'd read a few issues about safety and theft. I guess I'd suggest you just stay smart as you probably always should when traveling to another country.

I would be absolutely delighted--no, honored--to answer any questions you may have about Belize, if you still have any questions after reading my nearly 3000 words about our trip! 


 

***

Finally, I owe so much of my preparedness for the trip to a few places I want to link to here: Oyster, for the dozens and dozens of pictures of our first hotel; San Pedro Scoop, the fantastic Belize blog I read voraciously; TripAdvisor, where I spent hours reading reviews and forum postings; and my Lonely Planet guide book (I have the 2011 edition, but I linked to the recently published 2013 edition).

January Highlights

1. Mike and I went to New Orleans to celebrate my 32nd birthday, and it's going to be a tough birthday to top. It was a wonderful little weekend away. We ate unbelievably good food (August and Johnny's Po Boys, FTW!) We also enjoyed both a swamp tour and a cocktail tour. (I love this cocktail tour so much, I've now been on it three times.) More than all those things, though, we enjoyed naps and sleeping in.

2. Hosted a baby shower for Kristie! 

3. Spent some time with Mike's sister and her family. Kyle was spoiled with so much cousin time, he sulked around for days after they left. 

4. After a very fitness-light 2013, I started to regularly work-out again this month. I got back to yoga, tried a few at-home vidoes, and tested out my very first FlyWheel class. (I was offered a free month of classes to the two local FlyWheel studios, and I hope to write up a full review (+ a giveaway!) soon.) Let's just say during my first Barre class at the studio, I actually thought I might have broken a muscle. I don't think that's physically possible, but it was unfamiliar pain. I felt like an absolute rockstar after the class, but all broken muscly during.  

5. In addition to working out, I started the 21-Day Sugar Detox this month. I am only five days in as of today, but I'm a fan so far. I feel great, I've already lost a little weight, and it's kick-started a healthier year for me. (I just bought the cookbook, by the way, since it's got most of the information I thought I'd need.) 

Unpictured highlights: a happy hour with a friend who gets me, a movie and dinner date with my mom to belatedly celebrate my birthday, and our mini-Cowboy's Stadium field-goal kicker!

Ten

Mike and I became Mike and I ten years ago today. 

(Imagine a lovely picture from the last 10 days here.)

We're worlds away from that first awkward day of us, not knowing a damn thing about each other, about where we'd go, what we'd become, what little boy we'd make one day. I didn't even know his last name that day. (To my defense, it's kind of a tough one.) I also didn't know if he'd call the next day. Though I knew I wanted him to.

He did.

Happy you-no-longer-celebrate-it-though-I-still-write-sappy-blog-posts-about-it anniversary, Michael! Thanks for calling me the next day and for giving me your last name a few (hundred) days after that. 

Best tens years of my life.

Las Vegas, 2013 Edition

I have a theory. Okay, it's less of a theory than just a two-sentence opinion. I think you either love Vegas or you hate Vegas. You either can't wait to plan your next trip to the Strip or you would be fine never again seeing that much neon. 

Mike and I live firmly in the first camp.

It's not that I don't get why some might hate it. It's A Lot and it's dirty and it can be expensive (meals, more than anything else) and if you don't gamble, you have to walk through miles of casino to get to things you might actually enjoy (like expensive meals!) and, wow, is everything so spread out, your feet will hurt like hell on DAY ONE. No matter what you actually do that day.

Not to mention it's like 113 degrees half the year. 

Or all the people in ill-fitting clothes. I swear, 75% of people wearing ill-fitting clothes in this world are wearing them in Vegas.

But, it's just a place we love. We do like to gamble, we love so many of the meals we've had there, we love all the lights and attractions and people watching (best people watching, like ever) and every show we've seen has been incredible and, oh, bottomless mimosa buffets are my jam. We like it! It's our kind of place.

We took my in-laws early last month for a quick, three-night, four-day visit, and I haven't shared anything about that trip here yet.  

It was a low-key trip (see: traveling with my in-laws), and there was not a single night we were in bed later than 11pm or a single morning we were up later than 8am (one morning was 6:30am!), but we still had so much fun.

Lame adult fun but fun nonetheless.

We got in at 8:45am on Saturday morning, so we had our rental car (more on that later) and were at our hotel, checking our bags, by 10am. We went straight to The Buffet at Wynn, what we heard was the best buffet in Vegas. It was an hour wait, so I was hoping the buffet would offer back rubs or free drinks or SOMETHING but, no. Still! It was delicious! Better than the Bellagio, where we usually hit up the buffet at least once, but the Bellagio (if memory serves) is a little cheaper.

After that, we walked around a few more hotels before going back to our hotel (the Monte Carlo, which is where we'll stay from here until forever because it's affordable, nice, and centrally located) for naps. You may ask what we had done so far that day to warrant a nap, and I will say NAPS ARE ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. 

After naps, we got fancied up (see: took showers) for Zarkana at Aria.

We've seen three Cirque du Soleil shows (O, Zumanity, and this one), and Zarkana might actually be my favorite. Just incredible.

We had Fat Burger for dinner after the show. Life was good.

The next morning we got up and entered a poker tournament at our hotel (a one-table poker tournament, so basically a home game) and after that we . . . uh . . . I kind of don't remember. It's been over a month! This is why you write blog recaps of your trips immediately upon returning home, kids. 

Oh! I remember now. We went to downtown Las Vegas, to visit the Golden Nugget, one of our favorite plates to play craps and poker. And the people watching just gets better down there.

Side note: Probably a good time to talk about why we sometimes rent a car in Vegas. Yes, cabs are a plenty and you can walk, but cabs add up (the Strip traffic is bananas and it can take 15 minutes to go a couple blocks), and we like to go from one end of the Strip to the other and that's something like five entire miles. Doable but in the summer, it's also horrible. And! We like to get off the Strip. We go downtown at least once a trip and, as you'll see, we also get out of town to visit some surrounding sites. Our car was affordable (something like $120 for the four days we were there, and we split that in half with Mike's parents). 

That night we splurged on a delicious dinner at Stack (the Country Potato Gratin was a life changer). Our waiter's name was Kyle and, as I often do in this situation, I excitedly announced, "What a great name! That's my son's name." "Huh." The waiter was not my spirit animal, let's just say.

The next day we headed out of town to visit the Valley of Fire. Mike and I went way back in 2004, and we had good memories, so we thought his parents would enjoy it too. 

It was still beautiful. But, guys, so hot. Like the surface of the sun. We ended up hiking about a mile and it felt like a marathon.

After that, we drove a couple hours to the Hoover Dam. We were told we might see Big Horn Sheep on the drive, so I basically made everyone do nothing but look for Big Horn Sheep on the drive because that's just not an animal you see every day. We didn't see any but, truth be told, I don't think my road trip companions were as committed as I was. I heard a lot of unnnecessary chatting.

The Hoover Dam was great, incredible of course, but I do have to admit that my favorite part of the visit was making Mike stand in Arizona while I stood in Nevada. (Same novelty I enjoyed at the Four Corners.) 

We got back to the Strip and headed out for an exhausted, late dinner. We went to the Burger Bar, a place we'd been way back in 2009, and it was better than I remembered. 

That night Mike played craps while I read in bed. I know, you're totally embarassed by my antics. 

We had a lot of our last day to hang out, since our flight wasn't until the evening. We got up insanely early to be one of the first at Mon Ami Gabi, one of my Vegas favorites, and it didn't disappoint. I couldn't bring myself to order a mimosa or Bloody Mary at 7:30am, apparently that's just TOO early for me, but next time! I'm coming for you, breakfast drinks.

We played in another poker tournament that morning, and then I spent two straight hours winning money at nickel poker (and then another 10 minutes losing those winnings; DAMN YOU GAMBLING), before we grabbed a very late lunch and then headed to the airport.

Oh, Vegas. I can't quit you. I'm already thinking about my next trip to see you. (We think December 2014!)

Post-Its

When Mike and I first started dating, I used to leave him post-it notes, around his house, on his car windshield. (This was pre-social media, pre-excessive texting.) I'd tell him to have a good day, wish him luck on such-and-such quiz, thank him for an awesome date the night before, and I even wrote a few notes pretending to be Molly. ("Take me for a walk. I can bite you in your sleep, you know?" I thought I was hilarious.)

He saved them all, dozens of post-its going on and on about how awesome I thought 2004 Mike was. 

I stumbled upon the box last week, searching for things to put on our nostalgia wall. It softened me instantly because I was so obviously a girl in love. I fell quick and hard for Mike, and it's funny looking back on those early love notes. I didn't hide it nearly as well as I thought I did. 

I think Mike is just as awesome these days (although, oh boy, did I find his disregard for the dishes cuter in 2004 than I do in 2013). I try to tell him as such, that I think he's great and I still feel so lucky for him, but there is a lot more working, parenting, commuting, cooking, and bill-paying going on these days. I call him to ask if he changed our insurance policy and to remind him to put Kyle's soccer games on his Google calendar, and I forget to say "Also, you looked great this morning."

It's fine, we're fine, we're better than fine, in fact, but sometimes "You look good" is just NICER to hear than "Make sure you take the trash out."

We had a lot more time to fill up post-its with sweet thoughts back then, that's true. We were drinking beer and going to class, start and stop of our lives (I MISS YOU COLLEGE), but I somehow found the time to watch two entire Veronica Mars episodes (that I'd already seen a BAJILLION times before) last night, so we have less time but just as much time too. We're busier but still lazy. 

Basically writing a note takes no time at all if you just make the time to do it. A box full of notes reminded me of that.

So, yeah, I bought a whole pack of post-its on Amazon the other day. 

2013 Mike is awesome, and he deserves a few brightly colored reminders. 

Breathtaking

Sometimes my breath catches and it's not that it's perfect or that I don't yell about Legos all over my living room floor (why all over my living room floor KYLE?) or that I don't wish Mike would bring home flowers more often than he does for no greater reason than I just like flowers and I like when Mike walks through the door with them. My breath catches not because it's perfect but because it's good. 

My breath cathches because I know what not good love feels like and it's heavy and it wears you down and it's exhausting and on my worst day with Mike and on my worst day as a mom, it's just never felt like that, even when it's hard, it's never been bad.

It's actually been a rather tough year for me, normally tough (life is so very LIFE sometimes, isn't it?), but even when days, weeks, or months are tough, life is still good.

Life will always be good with them.

Throwback Thursday

Mike was a friend of a friend before he was Mike. I knew him for years before I knew him at all. We'd show up at the same place, every few months, and I'd sit a few seats away or stand across a room and never think of him at all. We were thinking of others, wrapping up loose ends before we could start what would turn out to be our lives.

There was a night at On the Border, eating crappy Mexican food we didn't know was crappy because it was the only Mexican food we'd ever had, and it was just six of us at a table, and Mike and I were two of the six. I didn't even look in his direction, didn't even glance his way. Kyle's smile was just a few feet from me and I was too busy drinking a swirl margarita. He left early that night. Our mutual friend apologized for his bad mood. Huh, I thought. I didn't notice it.

Then there was March 2003, when my friend bounded into my room at the sorority house we both lived in and asked what I was doing for spring break. She wanted a group to head to a beach together, her boyfriend, her, a few other friends, and Mike. "Oh, well, see... I kind of wanted just a girls trip this year," I said. She looked disappointed. Her group headed to Florida and mine to Cancun where the drinks were horrible, the sun intense, and my heart none the wiser. 

All those missed chances.

I like to think someone--God, the Universe, Kyle in a different form--was somewhere just laughing at us both. "Just wait," they were saying to themselves. "Oh just you wait."

I am intensely nostalgic, it's my way, and I could miss almost anything including all those single college days, poor and stupid and scared, when the boys were worse than the Mexican food. I miss all that growing up and slamming head-first into mistakes I'm sometimes reminded of during unfortunate Facebook searches. I miss some of those loose ends and the waist I had back then, too. But, mostly, I miss being on the threshold of the best in all my life. It was just about to start, right ahead of me, and I didn't have a clue.

I miss walking into that college bar, early December 2003, when I finally noticed Kyle's smile, drinking a beer and sitting on a couch a few feet from me. Huh, I thought. I see it this time. I wish I could stop time, right then, and slip that girl a note. It wouldn't give much away.

It would just say, "It all starts right now."

Babies, us two, in 2004

Things to Do in Texas: Camp/Stay in an Air-Conditioned Cabin at Possum Kingdom Lake

I've been wanting to visit Big Bend for years. It's in Texas, but it's something like nine hours away from us. (Texas is just too big, my goodness.) Anyway, that's...a lot of hours in the car. That also makes it tough to get away for a weekend without taking time off work. Hey! We're here for three hours! Time to go now. When I was lamenting how unfair geography is, Mike told me to pick a place (much) closer to home for a weekend away, so I picked Possum Kingdom. 

Possum Kingdom is a glorious two hours away instead of nine, but it's also a place I'd never been, and I really love adding new pins to our wall map.

We originally planned to camp, but then we laughed at ourselves because camping in July in Texas is a really stupid decision. We instead stayed at the Hideaway Cabins, and it was a great, centrally located place. The cabins were clean and spacious and the staff could not have been nicer. I can't imagine ever going back and not staying there again. Really recommend.

We hiked nearby trails both mornings. Oh boy, the trails were awesome. If you like hiking, I'd recommend Possum Kingdom for the trails alone. Kyle was a freaking champ for both hikes and the one Saturday morning was long and hot. I don't know if I've ever been more proud of him, quite honestly. 

Oh, and we all enjoyed a three-hour nap after our Saturday morning hike. Hikes, you're my favorite.

We also made s'mores, swam at the lake, grilled dinner, introduced Kyle to Friends in our cabin's living room, drove around to explore and spotted ELEVEN deer (Kyle kept count), and just had a really wonderful weekend. And we brought Molly. It helped her forgive us for at least some of the trips we've taken in the last few years without her. 

Some pictures of our weekend:

Kyle cried when we had to leave, it was that nice of a weekend. The kind of weekend you hope to have when you plan for it.

Things to Do in Texas: Go to a Fort Worth Cats game

After we went to the Rangers game, we knew a couple things: 1) Kyle had a lot of fun and (unfortunately) 2) The cost of professional baseball tickets if you want to be anywhere near the field are stupid expensive. 

But, Fort Worth has the Cats (I don't think it's minor league, but I know that it's baseball with reasonably priced tickets, so that's good enough for me) and that's actually much closer to home, so I bought us three tickets for this past Friday's game and crossed my fingers.

It worked. It was so much fun. 

For $14/ticket, we sat in the first row behind home plate and Kyle actually got to experience baseball without saying every three minutes, "I DON'T EVEN SEE THE BALL."

What was most fun about this kind of game though, besides the cheap seats, is how fun they made it for the fans. They had fans on the field between many innings, playing games and winning prizes. They had "spotlight" players that, if struck out, could get fans two-for-one beers. The mascot danced in the stands and it was just...fun. Especially for kids, my goodness. Kyle had the time of his life. He is SO a Cats fan now. 

So, you know, buy a few tickets and enjoy a baseball game next time you're in Fort Worth. They also have funnel cakes so enough said, right?

Things to Do in Texas: Hike at Mineral Wells Park

This is a branch of my What To Do posts because I'd like to collect our cool advenutres from around our state into one series, so I can link to it whenever people ask, "But what on earth is there to do in Texas besides eat barbecue and ride horses?" 

I also hope this inspires me to get my family out to do more things in our pretty big, pretty great state. Especially this time of year when "STAY INSIDE AND WEEP" is all we really want to do. 

So, about a month ago, we took Kyle an hour outside of Fort Worth to hike around Mineral Wells state park. Kyle wasn't sure what hiking was, when we told him that's what we were going to do with our day, but he did like that I packed cookies for our post-hike picnic. 

Once we got there, though, parked the car and hit the trail, Kyle said (adorably), "Oh! Hiking is just exploring." Explore we did.

We hope to camp one day (the camp grounds seemed really nice), but it was a great way to test out the park, to see how Kyle would do on the trails, and he was a champ. 

If you're anywhere near DFW, or if you're in the area for whatever reason, I really recommend the fairly short drive to see the park. It's a great one.

Washington, DC: Part Three (Finally!)

We went to DC over two months ago, and I'm sure you've been DYING for this third and final recap of our trip. Constantly refreshing your browser, calling in sick to work. Wouldn't doubt any of it. 

When we last left off (and here's the first part, just in case), we had just stayed the night in Virginia and were heading back toward the city with a few quick stops along Skyline Drive (where we saw snow!) and where Mike also belted out both Spice Girls and Taylor Swift on our road trip but never tell him I told you. He'd deny both.

We were heading toward Caitlin, have I told you this yet? That we planned a night at her house because 1) I adore her and 2) She mentioned I could sit on her couch and drink champagne. Really, she shouldn't have mentioned either if she didn't want me to plan MY ENTIRE TRIP AROUND DOING JUST THAT because couches and champagne are two of my favorite things. Throw in Tim Riggins, and I really may have moved in with her.

This is what our guest room looked like upon arrival so forget all about Tim Riggins (Kidding! Never forget Rigs!) because this may be the nicest guest room I've ever stayed in.

I should also say this is the third trip I've told Mike we're hanging out with people he's never met before (the second trip I forced him to do this over night in the person's house) and it's (THANKFULLY) the third trip that has ended with new friendships and people he absolutely loves. (First trip, second trip.) He loved Caitlin and Zach, absolutely loved them, and asks about them so adorably often, I hate that geography is the way geography so annoyingly is.  

Zach made us such a delicious dinner, and we drank champagne and then played Cards Against Humanity and we cry-laughed and just enjoyed vacation. I love that feeling. Good food, good drinks, good company, and no reason in the world to get up early the next morning. Other than the THREE delicious drinks Caitlin had waiting for us:

 

Really, it was like we hung out with them every weekend, it genuinely felt that way. After breakfast, we headed back to the mall with them since we had missed a lot of the monuments earlier in the week and also because they're awesome hosts. 

Hey, could like all ONE HUNDRED of you get out of our vacation photos, please? (The mall was SO crowded.)

I don't have a photo of the Vietnam Memorial, but what an incredibly special experience it was to walk through that particular monument. You stepped onto the path for it and everyone (as you can see from these pictures, there were a lot of people) instantly got silent. It was as if we all knew what we were in the prescence of. So many names. So much loss. It was incredibly powerful.

This was the World War II Memorial, and this is where Caitlin and I decided to sing the state song and where Zach and Mike stopped loving us as much as they had up to that point.

We also got a peek at the cherry blossoms (a few trees had bloomed but most had not).

We ended the afternoon having pizza and beers at Red Rocks (delicious!) before saying goodbye to Caitlin and Zach. It makes me sad just typing that because you make friends on the internet and you never really know when you'll see them again. (I'm lucky that I know I'll get to see Caitlin this October in Charleston but when will the four of us get to share pizza and beer again? I hate that some of the best people you'll ever meet live so damn far away.) 

From Caitlin and Zach's, we drove to Mike's uncle's house (who lives in the same town! Perfect, right?). We had dinner and ghost tour plans, which is the first time I've ever typed that particular sentence.

Mike's uncle is his dad's brother (the dad of Mike's cousin who got married in Colorado when we took that epic family road trip back in 2011) and it was wonderful to see him again. We don't get to see him often, and it was so nice to be with family for part of the trip. It felt, I don't know, like vacationing with a little piece of home. 

We had dinner at Eamonn's and it was seriously delicious. SO GOOD. It's a small joint, so we had to cram into a table with strangers, but good food is worth that, you know? Whatever it takes, just feed me delicious, can't-have-elsewhere food. Then, we did a haunted tour of Alexandria, which was also rich with history (and I always love that). 

Like, hey! That's George Washington's city house. 

The next day, Mike's uncle, aunt, and cousin treated us to a day trip to Annapolis and when they surprised us with this, my first thought was NEW STATE! I'LL GET TO VISIT A NEW STATE! And I should probably strive to be less lame one day. That day is not today.

We walked around the adorable town square, shopped a little, and eventually ended up at Cantler's for a delicious blue crab feast for dinner.

Post-crab feast!

Mike grew up in a big, booming family, and I did not. It's not even that my small family made me want a big family because we've made the intentional choice to only have one child, but for whatever reason I love being around family: mine, his, yours, whatever. I just didn't have it as often growing up, tons of relatives in one place, so there's something really special about sitting on a couch in a room filled with people related to you (by blood, marriage, or circumstance) and just talking, catching up, connecting. It's one of my favorite activities in all the world, late-night talking with people who you have a history with, and I loved that our vacation (our incredible vacation) included that. Thank you to Mike's family for having us.

The next day, we had quite a few hours to kill before going to the airport, so we headed back to the mall to try and get into the National Archives, one of the places I really wanted to visit. If I was rating "must-do" activities in DC, seeing the Constitution was near the tippy-top. 

It took us about an hour to get in, and there were absolutely no photographs allowed inside, but it was such a highlight of the trip. I cried as we circled the room to get to the Constitution. Of course I did. The Constitution, people! Honestly, I kept looking at Mike like he was dead inside for not crying.

There was a guard who was being asked the most ridiculous questions by tourists ("HOW MANY PEOPLE TRY TO STEAL IT?") and we made eye contact, as I wiped a tear away, and he smiled at me. It was as if he truly got what I was feeling, as if all those hours of standing by this beautiful document, fielding ridiculous questions from people who were actually asking about Nicolas Cage movies, and he still appreciated what he was guarding. It was a really nice moment.

From the National Archives, we wanted food, and there was one place we hadn't gotten to on our trip yet that I really wanted to try: Founding Farmers. We got in with a short wait, and had a delicious last lunch in DC.

We're going to gloss right over the part where I unfortunately made Mike's uncle take us to the wrong airport and instead focus on the part where we STILL somehow managed to get on an earlier, non-stop flight (after backtracking to the right airport) and made it home before bedtime where Kyle hugged us each for five straight minutes.

DC was perfect, it really was, and it was probably one of my favorite trips to date. Get there quickly, if you haven't already been.

Weekend Snapshots

It was one of the good ones.

 

Sixth Anniversary

(The iron and candy anniversary! Or, as I'm calling it, a nice excuse to eat a lot of Almond Joys.)

You know what they didn't tell me at my bridal shower? That some time over the course of our marriage, Mike would upset me or that on more than one occassion we'd fight our way past midnight and that, also, I wouldn't fit into my wedding dress beyond my wedding night. 

I understand why we played shower games and toasted champagne and ate cupcakes (of course my shower had cupcakes) instead of talking about the nitty-gritty. Those parties are about the fun stuff, the cupcakes and the champagne.

Marriage isn't a wedding or a shower or a party or a bunch of cupcakes, though. It's different and harder and better and more important. 

What they also didn't tell me at my shower, though, is that Mike would turn out to be the kind of man who apologizes with real grace after those midnight fights, who shows up to talk about the tough stuff even though talking about the tough stuff is like his 1576th favorite thing, if he's rating his favorite things. He turned out to be the guy who hears me when I really need to be heard. He is the man who has never said no when I tell him I need a big hug or an afternoon to myself or for him to sacrifice something he wants for something I need. 

Life is weird, isn't it? Six years ago, I was in a lovely wedding dress and last night I was in yoga pants, and both days, both places, were beautiful. 

You know what my favorite thing is, if I am rating my own favorite things? Mike's laugh. When he laughs, I swear the world brightens. I would rate it top of the list because he gave that same laugh to Kyle, so Kyle's laugh is my second favorite thing. I'd say it feels extra awesome if I'm the one who has made either of them laugh, but I'll take the sound however I can get it. Mike's laugh, man. It's the best. That's not a catchphrase. It really is the best.

That's one thing I could have told you at my bridal shower. That Mike's laugh starts in his eyes, and it's the best sound I've ever heard. 

There have been fights, oh have there been (and there will be more) and Mike will upset me many more times in our lifetime and who the hell knows if I'll ever fit in that wedding dress again, but every single day I've gotten to hear Mike laugh has been a good day. I've never stopped loving that sound, that guy, nine years after meeting him, six years after marrying him. He didn't give Kyle his hair, but he gave him that laugh. It starts in both their eyes.

I loved Mike so much on our wedding day, I couldn't even stand it.

I love him even more today. 

(One of my favorite wedding pictures, of us listening to my SIL give a beautiful toast.)

Six years! Pass the candy.

Washington, DC: Part Two

After spending a couple days in Dupont Circle, exploring the city, oohing and ahhing at every building along the mall, figuring out the Metro, and drinking wine in our hotel bed at 8pm, it was time to head out of town.

Mike likes exploring cities, but I knew he'd love the drive through Virginia (26th state for me!), to Shenandoah National Park where we spent the night in a hilltop B&B in Luray. I surprised him with this night away, and it was such a wonderful way to break up our trip.

Before we headed out of town, though, we stopped for lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl. 

What a place! You have to go here when/if you visit DC, for the history, the pictures lining the walls, the wait staff, the food. I had a veggie hot dog (just okay, but that's to be expected) but the veggie chili was good and Mike said the non-veggie hot dog and chili was some of the best he's ever had. 

Oh, and we also stopped at the Air & Space Museum at Dulles on our way out of town. It was here I missed Kyle so terribly because I knew he would have loved the hell out of that place. It was very cool and any person who has ever loved an airplane should stop here. (It's free!) 

Then we officially hit the road. 

Some of my favorite memories with Mike are memories in a car, on a long stretch of road between a great place we're leaving and a great place we're heading to. We talk, sometimes we don't, we sing to the radio (listening to Mike jam to Taylor Swift AND the Spice Girls was a highlight of this particular trip), we swap favorite Kyle stories, we stop for stupid pictures along the way. Oh, Mike, thanks for always taking the wheel when we hit the road. For letting me put my feet on the dash and read magazines and take pictures out the passenger window while forgetting to tell you where to turn next, so we always have to turn around once during a trip. You gently roll your eyes at me, and I fall in love with you all over again. You are a wonderful travel partner, and I really don't thank you enough for that. 

Once in Luray, we stayed at Once Upon a Mountain, a three-bedroom hilltop B&B and it was such a charming place. I picked this place through Google, Yelp!, and Trip Advisor alone. It didn't disappoint (except for one teeny thing I'll mention below).

I picked the best-rated room (the Queen's Suite), and it turned out the innkeeper was out of town during our visit and the other rooms were vacant, so we basically had the entire place to ourselves. That was a treat. 

The non-treat and one downside of the place was that stinkbugs are apparently very popular in Virginia, and especially in the more naturey parts of Virginia, and extra especially inside our B&B. This didn't bother Mike at all. He scooped them up as he found them and tossed them outside. THIS BOTHERED ME QUITE A LOT. At one point, I thought I saw one flying toward my head and when I told Mike this (LOUDLY), he said, "Oh no, they don't fly. Must have been a moth." Then he went to get a drink refill, and I Googled the hell out of "stink bugs fly" and when he got back 15 seconds later I said (AGAIN, LOUDLY) "They do TOO fly! Google says they can totally fly!"

"Yeah, I know they can, I just didn't think you'd Google it that quickly."

He both lies about bugs and underestimates my Google skills. 

We still had a great night, and I'd stay there again (stink bugs and all) but perhaps armed with some very strong bug spray of some kind next time around.

The next day, before heading out of town to stay with Caitlin (!!!!) for the night, we stopped at the Luray Caverns (very cool, although very similar to some caverns we've been to a few times before near San Antonio) and drove about 30 miles of Skyline Drive. 

(There was still snow on the ground!)

Virginia, you weren't too shabby at all. Other than your stink bugs but we have cockroaches, so I'm not talking too badly about you behind your back or anything.  

Next up: A few days/nights in Alexandria, a day trip to Annapolis, more monuments, and a lot of champagne with one of my favorite bloggers.

Washington, DC: Part One

Our DC trip snuck up on us (as you might remember, we quickly went from a June Alaskan trip to an April DC one), and as we rode the shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal at DFW, I snapped a picture of us that kind of hiliariously summed up our preparedness for the trip.

We look so confused! And tired! Are we...going on vacation or are we going into a stressful work meeting? No one can be sure.

Anyway, the flight itself was thankfully uneventful. We got into DC, grabbed a Super Shuttle, and finally arrived at our hotel. (Quick travel math: Dulles arrival + Super Shuttle ride + Dupont Circle hotel = A MILLION TOTAL TRAVELING HOURS.) We booked our hotel room at the Topaz Hotel through Kristin, a blog friend who does travel advising, and when I mentioned to a few people that it was a Kimpton property, they told me you could request a goldfish be delivered to your room. 

A goldfish! 

I was quite excited by this because I think what our travels have really been missing is pets. I did have a brief panicked moment right before I got to the counter to request the goldfish because what if my friends had steered me wrong? What if they DIDN'T offer free goldfish and I requested one and things got awkward?

Thankfully, there was no issue and Spike (what I named him) was delivered to our room without incident.

(From top to bottom, left to right: Mike and me at Good Stuff Eatery, us in front of the beautiful Capitol building; Spike, our fish!; the Library of Congress)

After we welcomed Spike to our room, we headed out for another Spike. Spike's Good Stuff Eatery! The burgers and fries were just so-so, sadly, but the milkshakes. Guys, THE MILKSHAKES ARE GAME CHANGERS. 

Mike and I split a mini-toasted marshmallow shake and then went back two more times on our trip to enjoy our own, non-mini-sized ones.  

(MINI IS TOO SMALL)

After dinner, we walked around the mall, catching our breath at every turn. To see this place come alive in front of us, a place we see in movies and in pictures and in textbooks was just incredible, I nearly cried a dozen times. Maybe it was the history major in me, or the eternal sap, or both, but what a breathtaking part of our country. I felt really lucky to be there.

We stopped in the Air & Space Museum before it closed that day and then we headed back to our hotel room. 

We made it back that night to enjoy the complimentary happy hour in our hotel lobby (ANOTHER reason to only stay at Kimpton properties from now until forever), and I requested one glass of wine to enjoy in the lobby and one to enjoy in our hotel room. Yes, I requested two glasses in one hour's time, and I was a little hesitant to do this. Was that...overstepping the complimentary happy hour boundaries? When I went up to ask for the second glass, I said, "I'd like to take this glass to our room. Is that...can I...IS THAT ALLOWED? SHOULD I PAY FOR THE SECOND GLASS." The happy hour bartender got a glimpse into why I rarely drank in high school. I am very much a rule follower and I have a deep fear of authority. I didn't want to break any rules! HAPPY HOUR RULES! LIKE THERE IS SUCH A THING!

Anyway, I think I took a long bath and then crawled into bed at 7:30pm that night, where we watched a movie, ordered room service dessert, and remembered why vacations are so lovely. 

(When I told Mike that a book, a bed, and a glass of wine is basically my favorite scenario, he said, "You know, you could read and drink wine in bed at home ANY TIME YOU WANT." I hate when he makes so much sense. STOP MAKING SENSE, MIKE.)

The next day, we slept in and met Caitlin (!!) for lunch at Sweetgreen, which was absolutely delicious. Texas, go ahead and open a handful of these. We also got a tour of Caitlin's office. She works at National Geographic and Mike suggested I apply. If he thought my commute NOW makes me bitchy!

(Us, at National Geographic! This was just the hallway. We're very bad at choosing photo backgrounds.) 

After lunch, we headed back to the mall and walked around a lot. We had dinner reservations, so I told Mike that the one thing I absolutely had to do before dinner was see the White House. 

Guys.

We saw the freaking White House, and I had to AGAIN stop myself from tearing up. The White House! (I'm like the most cliche tourist there ever was.) President Obama was sadly out of town this day, which explains why he didn't come out and invite us in for dinner. 

Two little boys were standing beside us as we snapped pictures, and one said to the other, "What do you think is INSIDE there?" The other, "Probably a really big tennis court." 

From there we walked to dinner at Zaytinya with Mike's uncle, aunt, and cousin. (Seems like we had JUST eaten lunch, I know, but I swear there were MILES of walking between lunch and dinner. So many miles. We were so tired and hungry by the time dinner rolled around.)

Dinner was fantastic, and I recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a meal in DC. Favorite dishes: hummus, the crispy Brussel sprouts (OMG, these were amazing), and the crab cakes.

When we got back to the hotel, we headed next door for a drink at the Tabard Inn where we saw Janet Napolitano, although we only KNEW it was her after asking the waitress who the Secret Service dudes were with. Still, DC, you are so charming with all your politicians, just having drinks in the same bar as us. In Dallas, I've seen David Archuleta and Jake Pavelka. NOT THE SAME.

(At Tabard Inn, cocktails and flash photography)

The next day we headed out of town, and Mike had no idea where we were going. I TOTALLY surprised him. That's part two, my friends. Check back sometime in August for that recap.

A Day in the Life

(inspired by Janssen)

I nearly titled this "A Typical Day" but I realized there's just no typical day for us. Our lives are all over the place, and that's probably true for a lot of you, too. We try to create routines but damn if life doesn't make that hard. (Shaking my fist at life...)

Anyway, I wanted to record our steps for an entire day not because my life is all that interesting (oh, it's so not as you'll find out at about 10am) but because this is the kind of thing I'm going to enjoy looking back on one day.

7am: Kyle wakes me up, and I give him my phone to play with so I can steal ten more minutes of sleep.

7:10am: Okay, I'm up! I get Kyle breakfast and he eats while I take a shower. I remind him that when I get out of the shower he'll need to get dressed for school. 

7:20am: I'm out of the shower and Kyle goes (slowly, oh so slowly) to his room to get dressed. 

7:30am: I'm dressed and getting ready and Kyle comes into the bathroom so I can tie his shoes.  

7:35am: Kyle gives Mike a kiss and hug goodbye while I pack his bag for soccer practice after school. Kyle reminds me not to forget his soccer ball. 

7:40am: I grab a granola bar to eat in the car.

7:42am: I kiss Mike good-bye and tell him to have a good day. He hugs me for just an extra second. Funny how much I need that extra second.

7:45am: We're out of the house! Not exactly on time but good enough. On the way to the car Kyle sees a bunny that lives in our backyard and he gets so excited. I tell him that means we'll have good luck all day and then we wave good-bye to the bunny. Kyle says, "Have a great day, bunny! And you too Molly!" We drive off, waving.

(Bunny spotting!)

8:05am: We pull up to Kyle's school, which is usually just five minutes door to door. It took so much longer because, well, traffic. 

8:07am: Forgot the tuition check, so I run out to the car to get it. We're using the loose definition of run here, of course.

8:10am: Back in the car and on my way to work. 

8:23am: Remember my granola bar! It's the little things.

8:27am: Hit some unexpected traffic. (You know those six-word memoirs that were all the rage for a while? One of mine would absolutely be: Well shit, got stuck in traffic.)

(Unexpected traffic face with bonus Kendra Scott earrings!)

9:07am: Finally get to work, a few minutes late. 

9:15am: I make a cup of coffee (uh, of course) and chat quickly with my favorite co-worker.

9:20-10:30am: So many emails. I worked late the night before, getting my inbox under control, but I still come in to about 50 new ones I need to respond to or forward along. Also, my to-do list. It's very long.

10:30am-12:00pm: More work. It's a rare morning that I don't have a meeting or call, so it feels downright luxurious to put my head down and charge through my to-do list, uninterrupted. You are now oozing with jealousy of my rocking life, I'm sure. 

12pm: Leave for lunch. I have a work meeting with a local author, to go over her marketing plan.

12:13pm: Arrive for lunch, begin perusing the menu. Oh, menu perusing is one of my favorite things. 

(Settled on a Caesar salad with a side of salmon.)

1:45pm: Head back to the office. 

2pm: Call with a company we hope to advertise with. 

2:12pm: Call is done! Oh, under-15-minute calls are my very favorite.

3pm: Afternoon coffee and note writing. I know, afternoon coffee should be a very bad decision but my body is miraculous in that caffeine works on it (as it should) but it doesn't stop me from falling asleep whenever I'd like to.

4:40pm: Head out early, so I can make it to Kyle's school in time for soccer practice. 

5:37pm: Pull into Kyle's school. Chat with his teacher for a few minutes and head to the school bathroom to change Kyle into his soccer clothes. Oh, look! I forgot one of his cleats, so he has to wear his regular shoes. He is not thrilled with me for this. (Kyle is very rigid about few things but what he wears is one of them.) We have a brief heart-to-heart about how mommy might disappoint him on a much grander scale in the future, and I'm super sorry about the shoes but can we shake it off and move on? Eventually, we do. 

6:03pm: Pull into the soccer field parking lot. Again, the soccer field is five minutes, tops, from Kyle's school. Traffic can suck it. 

(He's briefly forgiven me for the cleat incident.)

6:06pm: Kyle realizes I ALSO forgot his water bottle. (There IS a water fountain directly next to the soccer fields, I'd like it noted.) He yells across the field to me, sititng on the bleachers, "MOMMY, YOU FORGOT EVERYTHING." I briefly think about pretending he doesn't belong to me (but all the parents know me) and then I briefly think about yelling back, "OH REALLY? DID I FORGET YOUR SOCCER BALL? NO I DID NOT." but that doesn't seem super mature (although it does seem super accurate). "Sorry, buds!" I yell back. I say a silent "you're welcome" to all the other parents for owning the "lamest soccer parent" award of the night. 

7pm: Soccer practice is over. I call Mike to give him a heads up we're on our way home. 

(Post-practice silliness and, uh, we're not driving here, I feel the need to clarify. I mean, of course we're not! He's not even buckled in! But "feeling the need to clarify" is one of the gifts the internet has given me.)

7:17pm: We pull into the driveway. Oh, it feels good to be home. 

7:19pm: Mike bought me flowers, and they're waiting for me on the table. This feels a little stagey for this post but I swear he is not a regular flower-buyer. He bought me some for Valentine's and then, before that, uh maybe our fourth anniversary in 2011. This night is a coincidence! Swear it!

7:20pm: I'm in yoga pants and QUICKLY. That's how I roll. 

7:30pm: Mike makes Kyle a PB&J sandwich for dinner (I wish I had whipped up some delicious meal for dinner on this day, to impress all of you, but sandwiches is ALSO how I roll.) Mike then makes me a fried egg sandwich. 

(With Doritos on the side. NUTRITIOUS.) 

8pm: Kyle brushes his teeth, washes his face, etc. while I ... tweet, I'm sure.

8:20pm: Story time. I think I read a Berenstain Bear book this night.

8:25pm: Mike came in and we had family story time for a couple minutes. Mike made funny noises, Kyle cracked up, I tried to keep everyone focused on the plot of the story (unsuccessfully). Hugs! Kisses! 

8:36pm: Big plans to go work-out.

8:37pm: In bed.

9pm: Asleep.

I'd like to do this once a month (I see a book-type-thing created with my once-a-month "Day in the Life" posts) but, in reality, I bet you get another one of these posts in 2014. No sooner.

The Best

Mike and I have finally begun putting together a living room we can be proud of. It's only taken four years to start this project and it'll only take (I'm sure) another four, but hell I'm calling any progress a victory at this point. 

In January, we painted the walls a nice steel gray, and we've bought frames for the many pictures we want to hang on them. Over our couch, we've decided to hang travel photos, just scenery shots, and it was such a fun ride through vacation memory lane, choosing which pictures we should display. We chose one from Puerto Rico, Chicago, St. John, Boston and in the middle we hope to find just the right photo from College Station. That might not be your vacation city of choice but all this travel, all this everything, began with that tiny Texas town.

Of course we chose a photo from the family roadtrip we took in the summer of 2011 (here, here). You might remember that trip if you've been reading my blog since then. We traveled through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and a tiny bit of Arizona for a family wedding. We took Kyle, then two and a half, and Molly, then (and now) a giant but lovable pain in the ass.

As I searched through the hundreds of photos from the trip for just the right one to frame, I remembered how we almost didn't go. My car broke down (to the tune of many dollars) the week before the trip and the day before the trip Kyle got a Mystery Fever. No money and a feverish child. Yeah, that screams fun family vacation.

But, against all rational thought, we took the trip. We packed the car, we booked a couple cheap hotel rooms, we filled a cooler with snacks and filled my laptop with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes, and we hoped for the best. 

We ate burgers in Amarillo, drank margaritas in Santa Fe. We hiked in Arches National Park while watching a storm roll through one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen before or have ever seen since. Kyle threw up in the backseat on a particularly curvy Colorado mountain road but then we saw a deer inches from our car a few moments later, and he quickly cheered up. We visited the Four Corners. We graffitied the cars at Cadillac Ranch. We introduced Kyle to family he'd never met and we sat around the hotel pool with them, catching up and slapping mosquitoes against our arms. Mike's parents treated us to a once-in-a-lifetime helicopter ride above Gateway Canyons, where we stayed for the wedding. We off-roaded to visit Shiprock.

We also had this one giant fight, on a New Mexico highway late one night as Kyle slept in the backseat. It was ridiculous, as many giant fights tend to be, and Mike and I stewed quietly after it ended. I went to sleep angry. He slept with his back to me. We apologized in the morning, after coffee, a good night's sleep, and a strong dose of perspective, and we shared a family hug in our cheap hotel room before eating the worst continental breakfast we'd ever had.

There was also this beautiful moment on a straight stretch of road, driving out of Utah as the sun was setting one night. Kyle had just fallen asleep and Mike and I were talking about anything, nothing, I don't even remember. Maybe our trip, maybe stopping for gas, maybe Kyle. I think my favorite thing about my relationship with Mike, or maybe just my relationship with anyone I've loved so long, is the ease of conversation. You realize how rare that is, as you get older, when there is no anxiety or self-consciousness or even awareness of what you're saying. You just talk. It's like breathing, talking to Mike, and I realized on that Utah road that I was just so damn grateful we decided to say yes to a trip we nearly said no to. 

It was one of the most incredible trips, no weeks, of my entire life. It was magical, it was beautiful, it was exhausting, it was fun, even the fight, even the carsickness, even the bad felt good on that trip. 

We almost said no, but then we said yes. We hoped for the best, and that's exactly what we got. 

No other reason to write this than I just wanted to remember all of that today. 

(I plan to share the living room makeover when the room is done, of course. So see you for that in 2017.)

Nine

Last week, Mike and I celebrated being together nine years. (eight, seven, six, five, four) (He really thought I'd stop talking about our dating anniversary once he married me but sometimes even Mike underestimates my dedication to nostalgia.)

If you had told us nine years ago, on that first night when we were--fine--drunk and awkward and nervous, that we'd be celebrating nine years together with a trip to the pediatrician's office and then an imaging office for chest x-rays for our nearly four-year-old son (spoiler: Kyle is doing better, but I officially hate croup as much as I used to), I would have probably thought you were very specifically lying and then I would go ahead and ask you what we decided to name him, that boy, and also what color his hair turned out to be. 

These kids, they had no idea they'd make their own kid, their own life, their own fun together.

We had no idea nine years ago...

Okay, maybe a little bit of an idea. We weren't nervous for nothing.

Nine years! I still like him a lot.