3

Three years,

new jobs,

a condo,

a new car,

a year and a half of law school,

and the sweetest little baby later,

thank you for still loving me.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Blogging with a Purpose: Give and Take

I believe all relationships are give and take.  Sometimes you're the giver, sometimes you're taking a lot.  Sometimes you're managing a pretty impressive balance of both, and sometimes the scales get tipped a bit and it can cause some tension until they balance out again.

Marriage especially is so much a balancing act.  You're balancing out your strengths and weaknesses with that of your partners.  For a compatible couple, the hope is that you're staying in tune the majority of the time.  I'd say my husband and I manage a pretty good balance most of the time.  My Handsome Husband and I have been together over five years, and I think we've gotten pretty good at acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses and making them work for our relationship.

So, if I'm so great at acknowledging them?  I'll share them with you!

My Strengths

in Marriage

 

 I love a lot.  I love my husband, and tell him all the time.  I don't think there is every a question in his mind that he is adored.

I'm a good cheerleader.  I give good pep talks.  My husband walks away from some our conversations feeling inspired and empowered.

I embrace family.  Though in laws are not always easy, and I certainly don't always do everything with a smile and no comment (fairly certain I have a comment for just about everything, actually), I embrace both HH's family and my own.  I plan family events, I attend nearly all I am invited to, and I encourage family time as much as possible.

I can hold my own at a work or school function.  I know HH appreciates this cause he mentions it often.  I don't need him to hold my hand when we go out with law school friends, or coworkers.  I can keep a conversation engaging just fine on my own.

My Weaknesses

in Marriage

I am messy.  Handsome Hubs is naturally much cleaner than I am, and he also rocks at chores.  Whereas, I do not.  I am by no means the picture perfect housewife with floors you can eat off.  Hell, I can hardly remember how to use the washing machine.

I am needy.  I am liberal with my I love yous, and I want them back just as much.  During times when HH is very busy (coughfinalscough), I tend to feel disconnected and really miss our quality time and his focus being on me (what can I say?  I'm spoiled.)

I have a temper.  I can get angry and I'm not the best at controlling that anger.  Poor HH is the only person who sees my temper at it's worst, I think it's because I'm more comfortable with him than anyone else in the world.

 

On Babymaking: I Cried

Post originally written December 21, 2012, the fourth month I was hoping to fall pregnant and in fact, did not.  You can read earlier posts from our Babymaking Journey HERE.

I don't care about TMI today, so Dad, stop reading.  Today, I am sad, and today I am telling it how it is.

Yesterday, Mother Nature came for a visit.  A few days earlier than expected, and after I really thought this month might be our month.  Without getting in to to many technical details, I showed some real signs of possibly being pregnant during the dreaded wait between sexytime and pregnancy test time.  (I realize now some of these potential signs were probably in my head, and that makes me feel silly and stupid.)

I really felt positive this month.  I also really wanted to be able to tell my Handsome Husband I was pregnant on Christmas morning.  I daydreamed a few more times that I'd like to admit about what a beautiful moment it would be with us sleepy-eyed on the floor of our new home rejoicing about the fact that our family was soon going to grow by two little feet.

And now that won't happen.  Not this month, at least.  And I cried about it.  It was the first time during this process that I've shed a tear about it.  Which is sort of unlike me being that I'm kind of a three-year-old stuck in a 24-year-old's life in that I cry about just about anything that doesn't go my way.

I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with us, if we will ever get to have a baby.  I know that's rash, and there are people who tried way longer than this that are laughing as they read this, but here's the thing: I'm not desperate for a baby.  I'm really not.  Would I like one?  Obviously.  Am I overjoyed when I think about the posibility?  Absolutely.  But am I desperate for one?  No.

What scares me is each month that I don't get pregnant, I wonder if something is wrong.  If there's a reason I've always been so scared of infertility - if somehow I always knew.  I suppose only time will tell.

The silver lining is that a huge bottle of champagne and an even bigger hangover are now calling my name on New Year's Eve.

French Fries

Want to know how I know that Handsome Husband and I were meant to be?  He lets me have his soft fries, and I give him my crunchies.

{via}

 

I have a thing about crunchy food.  All the people who know the best know about it, and HH especially knows the ins and outs.  I don't like crunchy food.  I'm not a big potato chip person, I always toss (usually into HH's bag) the crunchy french fries, and if there's hard taco shells only?  I'm eating ground beef with cheese on top, cause that crunchy shell ain't coming near me.

 

It's weird, I know, and I don't know why it is, but I just prefer a softer texture.

 

Wouldn't be the worst if HH wanted all the soft fries too?  A deal-breaker, for sure.

On Babymaking: Oops, I Spilled the Beans

This series of eight posts was written throughout our journey of trying to conceive our little New Years Baby. I am so glad I started writing from the very beginning, because I can look back and remember how I felt during this time. I remember feeling like every single person in the blogworld's story started out with something like "so we started trying, and much to my surprise, I got a positive test a few weeks later, and 9 months later we had a healthy baby!". While I by no means, suffered from infertility, our road to where we are now was not completely covered in rainbows and butterflies. There was anxiety, and sadness, and lots of worry. I know there are women out there who feel like less of a woman because they didn't get pregnant that very first month, and I know that because I am one of them. I hope that, in addition to great diary entries of what was going on in my mind at the time, maybe just one woman will relate to our story.

Post originally written December 12, 2012 (12-12-12 what what!), over a month after both of all these spilling the beans occurances actually happened, and over three months into our Babymakin'
Journey.  You can read previous posts on Babymaking HERE.

When my Handsome Husband and I decided to start giving babymakin' a try, we decided we were going to keep things on the DL.  This decision was made partly because it seems like that's what just about everyone does and for a few other reasons:

1. I didn't want to get asked monthly if I was knocked up.

2. I didn't want to hear any negative opinions on our decision, and you best believe I better not hear them if I am ever blessed to announce a pregnancy either.

3. I wanted the freedom to be able to change my mind on trying, without people wondering if we were having troubles or what the deal-io was.

So, we kept it quiet.

And it was way too hard.

Here's the thing about me: I'm a share-er.  I like to share.  I want to talk about my life with my friends, and it felt so inorganic to be making this huge decision without telling both my friends, and my ultimate best friend: my momma.

But I forged on in my journey of secrecy.  And then about two months in, I got drunk (clearly knowing I wasn't pregnant, y'all know I love to booze, but give me a little credit!)...and spilled the beans.  Multiple times.

Up first, was Gardening Momma:

 

Gardening Mom and I were on our way home from a Halloween Party, she was driving, when I brought up some things I had found out about my schooling.  (To make a very long story short: I was planning to take an online program to further my nursing education while my HH is in law school.  However, this online program that had a partnership with the state nursing board of California is no longer being accepted here, and I will be unable to do that particular program.  This means that my education is basically on hold until HH is done, because I need to be working and the nursing school programs around here do not offer evening or part-time programs, unfortunately.)

While explaining that to GM, I mentioned that the only good thing was that I didn't feel like I had to put starting a family on hold until I was done with school anymore (something I've felt in the past), because I'm certainly not waiting 4+ years.  Sidenote: there's nothing wrong with people that might want to wait until that age/stage in their life, but it has never been what I've wanted, nor my husband.

While she took the school news much better than I thought, then Gardening Mama then had a simple question that made me clam up:

 

"So when are you thinking of starting a family, then?"  

 

Well, what the hell could I say to that?  Was I going to look her in the eye and lie to her face?  No.  Did I mean to set myself up into having to spill the beans to her?  Also no.  I mumbled and fumbled a bit until finally saying something super eloquent along the lines of "pretty much now, or soon ish or, something, I dunno."  After further conversation, I did come clean and the secret was out.  The funny thing, we've really vaguely discussed since, but it's definitely not something we're chatting about on the reg.

 

Then, I started slowly and pretty much accidentally spilling the beans to my friendlies:

 

First, there was our Housewarming Party, where I somehow (I think 6 glasses of super strong party punch had something to do with it) ended up in my bathroom telling a huge group of my girlfriends how desperately I wanted to get pregnant (which isn't even true - the desperate part that is, I'm not there yet).  This was not how I intended (actually, I wasn't intending at all) to tell these special girls in my life that I was hoping for a big change coming soon, but it is what it is.

 

A few weeks later, while visiting Fashionista and Swagger up in the City of Angels, I let it slip there too.  That time I was actually not drinking (okay, who am I kidding, I was two glasses of wine deep, but I wasn't drunk!).  The deets of the convo are just a little too personal to get into (Fashion and Swag know what we were talking about!), but I inadvertently spit it out to excited cheers from my oldest friends.  I have to be honest with the fact they I really downplayed things to my girls (may or may not have used the expression "pulled the goalie") and it's sort of been haunting me ever since.  I mostly felt awkward about talking about active trying to get pregnant while in a bar, and it wasn't in my plan to discuss it in the first place!  

So that is how the word unintentionally got out about this little journey.

My hope is that soon I'll be telling people about an actual pregnancy!

 

I also wanted to point out that, in actuality, the first person to know about us officially "trying" was Tutor Girl, who I convided in months before as we considered the possibility, and who was a great pillar of support and advice.

5 Years

5 Years

 

121 miles between us at the beginning,

 

1 big move across counties,

 

4 roommates,

 

2 rental houses,

 

1 apartment,

2 graduations,

 

21 months living with my parents,

3 new jobs,

1 little baby on-the-way,

a couple not-so-fun fights,

and

Countless hugs, kisses, and cuddles.

2008

2013

Happy (dating) Anniversary to my love, thanks for wanting to be my boyfriend five years ago.

Back to School

As the days click by, we get closer and closer to the school year starting up again.  Not for me, but for my Handsome Husband, who is going into his second year of law school in just weeks.

The beginning of a new school year is completely bittersweet.  It brings us one year closer to being done with law school entirely, and it brings some fun events and times with our fun future-lawyers-of-America friends.

But with the sweet, comes the bitter.  It brings more stress back into our lives.  It puts an extra toll on our marriage - one I have no doubt we can make it through easily, but a toll nonetheless.  It becomes harder for my HH to work, as he has to go back to performing the scary balancing act between school, work, social life, his marriage, and soon?  A baby!

It's scary and exciting, and groan-inducing and thrilling.  It's fun and it's torture.  In the end, I hope it is all worth it, that we will look back and remember the great times and not remember the hard ones nearly as vividly.

Happy back to school!

On Babymaking: My First Negative Test

This series of eight posts was written throughout our journey of trying to conceive our little New Years Baby.  I am so glad I started writing from the very beginning, because I can look back and remember how I felt during this time.  I remember feeling like every single person in the blogworld's story started out with something like "so we started trying, and much to my surprise, I got a positive test a few weeks later, and 9 months later we had a healthy baby!".  While I by no means, suffered from infertility, our road to where we are now was not completely covered in rainbows and butterflies.  There was anxiety, and sadness, and lots of worry.  I know there are women out there who feel like less of a woman because they didn't get pregnant that very first month, and I know that because I am one of them.  I hope that, in addition to great diary entries of what was going on in my mind at the time, maybe just one woman will relate to our story.

Originally written Saturday, September 29, read about our babymaking decision HERE.

After we made the decision to give babymaking a try, we, well...gave it a try.  

I have to be honest in that part of my reasoning for wanting to try to start a family sooner rather than later was due to my serious and paralyzing fear of infertility.  I've written about it here on the blog before, but it is seriously something that has haunted me for my entire life.  I have always had an (at the time) illegitimate fear of not being able to get pregnant.  I think a lot of this fear stems from the fact that there are only a very small handful of things I've always wanted to be: a wife, a mom, and a generally good person - all my other goals have come and gone or come to be over time.  Those three have been lifelong goals.  And while I know there are ways to be a mother without ever being pregnant, that is not how I've ever imagined my entrance into motherhood, so if I'm being honest?  Not being able to get pregnant would be a huge disappointment to me.

So, when we tried (still can't get over how awkward it is talking about your sex life on your blog, but for the sake of accurate history to look back on) for the first month, I had hopes that maybe just maybe I would be one of the lucky ones who gets pregnant on the first try: 1. because we wanted a baby, and 2. because it would ease my fears so quickly.

I didn't want to be one of those crazy people who takes a pregnancy test days and days before the crimson tide (Clueless reference, anyone?) came in, but when we had our friends over to help us paint our house and everyone was drinking, I couldn't help but want to throw back a few.  And theoretically I could test, so I went ahead a took one, knowing not to get my hopes up.  

Long story short, it was a sad little moment in the bathroom when my baby dreams didn't come true on the first try.  A small victory for the drinker in me, as I drowned my sorrows in a couple bottles of bud lights.

Back to the drawing board.

How to Survive the First Year of Law School: The Spouse's Edition

1. Be social. 

This is my number one tip to the significant other of someone starting law school.  1. It helps with any kind of jealousy you may have over your loved one getting close (which they will) will all sorts of new people.  I'm no psycho, but of course I feel a little left out when Handsome Husband starts talking about all these people I don't know.  Which is why it's perfect if you start being social - then you do know them.  And better yet?  They know you.  And 2. No one wants to be the clingy wife constantly following her husband around.  I don't have to hang all over my husband at social law school functions.  Why?  Because now I have my own damn friends there!  Just because I'm not getting a JD doesn't mean I don't have anything in common with the future lawyers of America!  I was happily surprised to meet some very down to earth and super fun people through this experience.  I hope these new friends of ours last a lifetime!

 

 

Being social at Law Prom aka Barrister's Ball in February

 

 

2. Get a hobby. 

Law school takes up a shocking amount of time.  On top of classes, reading, and studying; you've got social events, meetings with professors, and networking.  Your spouse will be busy.  Sure, you can attend lots of the social events, but you're always the +1.  If you don't have something that is yours, that you are truly invested in, now's the time to find it.  I am invested in my career, and also threw myself into decorating and getting our new home ready throughout this school year.  Now?  I read a lot about babies, too!

 

 

3. Be helpful. 

I am by no means a Stepford Wife, but there are times during law school where I need to step my game up to help out Handsome Hubs.  I try to do the majority of the cooking throughout the year, but come finals?  That increases to cooking, cleaning and laundry because finals studying is seriously no joke.  I've never seen anything quite like it, and if I hadn't been here to experience it myself, I'd never belive how much time really goes into studying for these exams.

 

 

4. Be interested.

This might be my downfall, because if I'm being honest?  Civil Procedures and Torts bore me to death.  It's hard for me to stay interested in these topics, but the fact is, when your law student gets home from school, all they want to do is talk about school.  There have certainly been times where I've had to sigh and tell HH enough about law school, but do your best to listen, to take it in, and to be interested in what is engrossing so much of your loved one's time and thoughts.

 

 

5. Stay confident in your relationship.

It may come as a shock to you, but there are lots of breakups, and even divorces, that happen throughout law school.  I have to attribute this to the great stress that the schooling puts on the student, combined with changes in social life that might be affecting these relationships.  The statistics are there, and stress doesn't do any relationship good.  If you go in expecting it, and knowing your marriage can come through the other side not only in tact, but stronger, it will only fuel you to make that happen.  I can say, without a doubt in my mind, there has not been one moment throughout the first year of law school where I thought my marriage was in jeapordy in the slightest.  But if there was?  I'd fight for it, because I made vows for better or for worse, and if some law school stress is the worst we get - then I'll consider us very lucky.

 

 

 
 

6. Encourage your partner.

I consider myself a master of the pep talk, and I think my HH would vouch for me.  Sometimes, your partner will just feel stressed and overwhelmed and like there is no way he or she will make it out of this with anything to show for themselves.  And that's where you need to come in, and remind them how wonderful they are, how much hard work they've put in, and how far they are going to go.  Law school can break you down a bit, and it's your job to build your husband back up.

 

 

7. Go on dates.

Law school is a total time suck, but don't let that take away all of the romance from your relationship.  Go on dates, and talk about anything, even if it's mostly about school.  Take your husband somewhere fun, and make him court you sometimes too.  Don't forget that before being a law student, he was just a man in love with a woman, and after law school he'll be that too.  Relationships (all relationships, not just romantic ones) require nurturing, don't forget to water your garden!

 

 

7. Remember, this is only a very very short period of your life.

In the grand scheme of things, law school accounts for hardly any of your life.  A whopping three (or four, for part-timers!) years is nothing compared to the 50+ years you'll be married!  Even when it's the worst, when your partner gets a worse grade than anticipated, or you feel like you haven't seen your husband in weeks because well, you sort of haven't, remind yourself - this is not forever.  Yes, the life of a lawyer's wife has got to be trying at times, but this knock-down drag-out world of grades, competitiveness, drama, law review, externships and craziness is only temporary.

On Babymaking: The Decision

This series of eight posts was written throughout our journey of trying to conceive our little New Years Baby.  I am so glad I started writing from the very beginning, because I can look back and remember how I felt during this time.  I remember feeling like every single person in the blogworld's story started out with something like "so we started trying, and much to my surprise, I got a positive test a few weeks later, and 9 months later we had a healthy baby!".  While I by no means, suffered from infertility, our road to where we are now was not completely covered in rainbows and butterflies.  There was anxiety, and sadness, and lots of worry.  I know there are women out there who feel like less of a woman because they didn't get pregnant that very first month, and I know that because I am one of them.  I hope that, in addition to great diary entries of what was going on in my mind at the time, maybe just one woman will relate to our story.

This post was originally written on Sunday, September 23 - a little over a week after we made "the decision".

The decision to start a family is not an easy one.  And by that I don't mean that myself and my Handsome Husband are not sure if we want a baby, or to have a family, but the decision as to when to start trying to start that family...not an easy one, in my opinion.

HH and I have always known we wanted to have kids (we say four now, but I think I need to have one before I know if I can handle four little ones running around).  It was something that didn't even really need a conversation because it was such an integral part of both of us, but of course there was a chat had at some point in our courtship - though it couldn't have been all that intense because I have no recollection of it.

We also always said we wanted to be "young parents".  We want to have the opportunity to know the generations that will follow us, and with our lofty conception goals, we'd have to get started young to pop em all out, right?

So about six months from our mid twenties (makes my stomach turn every single time) and a month or so after closing escrow on our very first home, we sat down and had a serious chat about babies.

I've always had a mental list of things I wanted to check off before a mini Stress Case came to be.  As we chatted, I realized I had crossed all of them off my list - married, financially independent, own a home, both have good jobs.  And at the top of the list of reasons why we should start a family?  We both really wanted to.

{via}

And while I'll keep some of the details of that little convo between HH and I, we clearly came to an agreement that night to give it a try.

(PS. Does anyone else think talking (to other people, not my HH) about the whole trying to get pregnant process is totally effing awkward?  Like yup, one night we decided to try to have a baby and then we had lots of ... fun trying, totes TMI.)

What It's Like Being Married to a Saint

It's true.  My husband is a saint.  You may think I'm being sarcastic, but the man truly deserves a medal for the things he does.  I don't know any woman who is quite as lucky as I am.  And here's why.

My husband:

• Does the laundry, almost exclusively.  I've literally done maybe four loads since we moved in to our home in September.
 
• Washes the dishes, even when he cooks.  To be fair, sometimes it takes him a few days to get to them, but I'm the last girl you'll hear complaining about a few dirty dishes in the sink.
 
• Makes the bed nearly every day, just because he likes the way it looks and feels.
 
• Sweeps and steam cleans the floors.
 
• Is the only person who touches our vacuum.
 
• Brings me lots of meals and drinks in bed, often times without even being asked.
 
• Takes the very very best care of me, in every single way possible.

He does all of this while making me smile, laugh and fall a little more in love with him each day.  I truly don't know how in the world I got so lucky and blessed.  The truth is, I would love him just the same if he was a big ole slob (coughlikemecough).  But can't lie, it's nice that he's the opposite!

 

He also looks good golfing, another win for HH!

 

You may be wondering what it is I do after reading HH's long list of chores, and I gotta be honest, so am I at this point.  I suppose I do most of the cooking, and lots of looking pretty around the house.  Let's be real - HH is definitely the lucky one.  

Fresh & Easy Date Night In

I was so excited to head to Fresh & Easy to plan my date night in with mu Handsome Husband!  I had actually never shopped at the good old Fresh & Easy, and it far surpassed my expectations!  I actually headed to an express store, which I don't think they all are.  I was a little dissapointed at first thinking I wouldn't get the full neighborhood market experience, but if this is just the express?  I can't imagine how awesome the full stores must be!  There was such a wide selection, and it was so fun to pick what to make our date night in menu consist of!     

 

I had to pick up with darling I love California wine.  1. Because I do love CA, and 2...

 

...how cute is the little heart on the top of the bottle?  Adorbs.

Had to whip up one of my "signature" salads to serve with the fresh&easy organic balsamic vinaigrette.  My signature salad consists of: chopped lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, Mexican cheese blend, and whatever else happens to be in my fridge/pantry at the time!

 

Gotta be honest, we don't usually have such elaborate dinners (unless you count eating on the couch while watching Mad Men elaborate), but it was so fun to get a little fancy with our Fresh & Easy meal!  Totally makes me want to put together a nice meal for the two of us more often!

 

The above vegetables were the most impressive thing I picked up at Fresh&Easy.  They came all seasoned and prepped and in little foil pouches that you could put directly on the grill!  The coolest, right?!  I see these no-prep veggies coming to my house quite often in the future.

 

I am so glad I got the chance to try out Fresh & Easy, and even more thrilled with the fact that is inspired me to put on a little romance at the Stress Case household.  We will definitely be having more date nights in, and we will be heading to Fresh & Easy to supply the goodies for them, too!



I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

What HH Has to Say About Me

When one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Becky, posted about her idea to host a link-up where our loved ones would come and share random facts about us, I immediately ran to Handsome Husband to ask if he would write tell him he'd be writing yet another guest post on the old Stress Case blog.  You can check out other posts HH has written HERE and HERE.  Spoiler alert: he has another one in the works!  Now check out the following rando facts about me from HH (with my comments in bold, y'all know I can't keep completely quiet about this!).

Want to know something random about Stress Case?

She doesn’t like nuts.

...

get your mind out of the gutter.

She does this thing where she gets really annoyed and upset that she can’t find something (like a certain clothing item, etc.) and yells at me as to its whereabouts without having even actually looked for it yet. After years of experience, I now do not answer her yells. Instead, I pause for a few seconds and listen intently. After about 3-5 seconds, I hear “OH! NEVERMIND! FOUND IT!”  Such a false accusation...I've totally looked for at least 30 seconds before hollering about it!

She likes to come up with fun catch phrases or names that she’ll say for a little while and then never say ever again (like “you little minx!”).

She likes to mess with me while I brush my teeth, presumably because in those 4 minutes (who brushes their teeth for four minutes?), I am helpless and cannot defend myself against her attacks.  My favorite is to spray him with my perfume!

She likes to do funny dances and make up silly songs and then make me repeat that same dance or song OR do the dance or song (sometimes both at the same time) with her. And I, of course, oblige her.  I, too, sometimes do that to her.  It usually starts with one of us doing or saying something ridiculous and then immediately telling the other “yeahhhhh do it!” or “yeahhhhhh say it!!”.

She will only see movies that meet her specific movie criteria. I’ll let her elaborate on what exactly that criteria is.  To name a few Casey-approved categories: Sports Movies, Rom Coms, Based on a True Story...who needs something that doesn't fit into those categories?

She sleeps like a rock. Literally, the woman could sleep through an apocalypse.

When she cooks, she likes to play a game with her self where she tries to see just how many dishes in the kitchen she can possibly use to prepare each meal. Being that I do the dishes, I LOVE that freakin game. There are never too many dishes to wash.  Can't help that I make gourmet dishes and that requires lots of dishes! 

After this recent tax season, she turned into a Libertarian.  I guess HH forgot that I don't talk politics!

She will not, under any circumstances, switch ‘sides of the bed’ with me, ever. Sometimes I want to experience the other side of the bed for just one night but nope. Not. Happening.

Kind of like the teeth-brushing scenario, she likes to wrestle and roughhouse with me literally seconds after I tell her I’m going to sleep.

The best part about all of this is that I think all of these little fun facts about my wife make her a hilarious person to be around at all times.  That’s why I love her (well, at least that’s one of the reasons)!  The sweetest Hubs there ever could be, I'm one lucky weirdo! 

  

It's All the Same Love

Months back, there seemed to be some sort of trend with conservative bloggers coming out (see what I did there?) and admitting they were against gay marriage and the legalization of it, as if it takes some kind of bravery to admit that you're prejudice.  #SorryI'mNotSorry. 

 

I don't like to talk politics much, and certainly not on this blog, but today?  I'm telling you that I am for marriage.  And to me - that includes gay marriage, because you know gay people are just that...people.  So their marriage?  It's just marriage.

 

Yesterday, the Supreme Court (or the SCOTUS, as my law nerd husband likes to call it) started hearing arguments pertaining to gay marriage.  And I hope and pray to God (because newsflash: liberals can believe in Him, too) that they do the right thing (and I do mean morally, not on the political spectrum) and change the world as we know it by allowing everyone in love to get married as they wish, to whom they wish.  (What's funny is, being that I'm not gay, it wouldn't really change my world all that much - a fact that makes it all the more confusing to me why people care who other people marry.)

 

 

This song, and the meaning behind it, made me fall in love with Macklemore.  I hope it makes you feel something too.

East Coast Vacation Recap: New York, New York

You can read part one of our East Coast vacay HERE, and part two HERE.

After checking into our beautiful hotel, we had a quick bite to eat (foodies will hate us for most of the food choices we made while in this city filled with so many different unique options - for example, our first NYC meal?  McDonalds.) before heading to pick up our bus tour tickets.

When we were planning our trip, I was overwhelmed with deciding what to do in what order, and so to minimize the stress of planning a vacation in such a big city, we decided to go the ultimate tourist route.  Double decker tour buses.

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The buses allowed us to hop on and off (on most of the tours), which made it easy to get a closer look at what we wanted, and to get a glimpse of everything else.  I would strongly recommend this type of tour (Grayline New York was the company we went through and they were wonderful), especially for those who have never been to the city before.  The tour guides are the best part - all of ours were funny, kind, and full of NYC knowledge that we never would have learned had we trecked it through the avenues and streets on our own.

We took the Downtown Tour first, which led us through Greenwich Village, Times Square, Empire State Building, Union Square, Soho, Chinatown and East Village, Rockafeller Center and the World Trade Center Site.

The first place we hopped off was at the World Trade Center site.  This was something I was really looking forward to, as the memorial was not built the last time I was in New York. 

L: HH in front of the new Freedom Tower, currently under being built; Middle and R: the memorial fountains

The footprint fountain memorials are really beautiful, and I think it is so special that they put the names of the those who lost their lives there on the fountains themselves.  It must be really special for the families of the victims to come and see their loved ones' names engraved there forever.

After spending some time soaking up the intense combination of sadness and patriotism at the WTC site, we hopped back on our bus to check out Wall Street, Rockafeller Center and more.

The gorgeous trees lit up at Rockafeller Center, in a pit below the flags is where the famous ice skating rink is.

 

After hopping off the Downtown Tour, we headed back to our hotel and got ready for our first dinner in the city!  Something super special about this dinner?  We were going to be joined by Best Friend Fashionista!  She literally moved to the Big Apple a week before we got there for our vacation, so it was a fun little addition to our trip to get to spend some time with my bestie.

 

We had a wonderful dinner full of seafood towers, sushi rolls, wine and lots and lots of catching up and laughs at Blue Fin Restaurant in the lobby of our hotel.

 

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After dinner, we headed up to our hotel room to show Fashionista our room, and grab our coats before walking over to a cute little wine bar to meet another old friend of ours who had also since relocated to NYC.

 

 

After quite a few glasses of wine, HH and I said goodbye to our old pals and stumbled back to our hotel for a good night's sleep before waking up on our two-year wedding anniversary!

 

Tuesday morning, we slept in (I firmly believe in sleeping in on vacation, unless in Disney World, where you should run yourself ragged to see it all).  After rising and whispering some sweet Happy Anniversary nothings in each others' ears, we were off to see the city!  This time?  By cruise!

 

The face you see on the left is one of a hungover girl.

 

The cruise might have been my favorite part of the trip.  While it was freezing and we couldn't stay outside for longer than a few moments at a time without crying (okay, that was just me), it was such a cool way to see the city.  I've been on one of these cruises before, but it was at night, and they were both so great I would recommend doing a day and a night cruise.

 



 

Post-cruise, we took a bus back to our hotel, did a little walking around Times Square, and then went to our room to get ready for our very special anniversary dinner.  While it was still hours before our 8pm reservations, we decided to get all ready so we could see and do more before dinner! 

 

Our plan was to take another one of the bus tours - this time the Night Tour that would take us into Brooklyn where we would get to see Manhattan from across the river, after our tour, we would swing by Fashionista's apartment to see her new NYC digs, and then head to our dinner (the location a surprise to me!).

 

The Night Tour was amazing, and while I loved the views, again I was freezing.  I never knew how much of a California girl I was until this trip.

 

Looking at Manhattan from Brooklyn - gorgeous photo, taken by HH!

 

After soaking in the night tour, we struggled to catch cab (we are so not New Yorkers) to go check out BF Fashionista's new apartment.  It was a quick cab ride away, and we were glad that we hadn't decided to hoof it, because it started sprinkling while we were on our way!  We made our way into the big ole building that Fashion now resides in, and were met with a friendly doorman who directed us to her darling little apartment.  Fashionista totally lucked out, let me tell you.  If I'm being real?  Her apartment in expensive New York is nicer than any place she's lived that I know of!  She's one lucky girl, that Fashionista.  After a little tour and some catching up, HH and were off to our dinner, and I was about to find our where he had picked to celebrate two years of wedded bliss!

 

We hopped in another cab, and were dropped off in front of this:

 

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Handsome Husband had arranged for us to have dinner at the ultra swanky, Nomad Hotel.  The restaurant was very fancy, and the food? Impeccable.  We shared some appetizers, and I had my all-time favorite meal, steamed lobster, while HH had duck!  The service was wonderful, and we shared a few desserts afterwards as well.

 

On our way out of the restaurant, we asked the hostess to take our photo.  While it's not my favorite ever (let's just say she shouldn't quite her day night job), I love it because it is a photo of us on our day.  I'm not insanely into anniversaries, but it is a special day for us, and it will always be special.  I loved how thoughtful HH was in choosing a restaurant to celebrate our anniversary, he sought help from NYC transports that we had known in high school to get their best recommendation for a wonderful place to take me.  Sometimes, when I least expect it, I fall in love with the silly ginger all over again.

 





 

Wednesday morning, after another luxurious sleeping in sesh, we awoke and packed up our bags.  We had previously had big plans of taking more tours, and thisthatandtheother, but after two days of hustle and bustle?  We kind of wanted to calmly wing it on with our last few hours in the city. 

 

After checking every last nook and cranny of our hotel room (I am notoroius for forgetting things in hotel rooms), we dropped our bags off with the bell check and made our way down the noisy streets in Times Square to pick up some souvenirs from the city.

 

HH just hanging out in the lobby of the W Hotel

 

We stopped for a quick sushi lunch, and then headed to Rockafeller Center, where we shopped around in the NBC Store, and sadly got asked to attend a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but couldn't make it due to our train leaving during the taping. 

 

My handsome guy at the Rock

 

Then came the moment I was looking forward to for the entire trip.  Our stop at Magnolia Bakery!  I'm not sure why I hyped this up as much as I did, but I was just itching to get myself a Magnolia cupcake from New York City!

 

 

We indulged our sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) - HH had the famous Magnolia Bakery Bananna Pudding and I had the above pictured cute pink cupcake, and then it was time to go grab our bags and make it to the train station.

 

 





All in all, our trip to the Big Apple was lovely.  It was wonderful to be somewhere new with my Handsome Hubs, to see some sights that I had already seen and some new to me also.  It was great to see BF Fashion, and our anniversary dinner was amazing. 

 

Next time?  I'll tell you all about our day trip to Washington DC!

The Proposal: A Guest Post by Handsome Husband!

First, I’d like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CASEY!!! I can’t believe it’s already the fourth anniversary of your 21^st birthday; time flies! Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful day!!

 So…the proposal. Where do I begin?

 I bought the engagement ring at Robbins Bros about a week before I planned to propose. I had driven up to Orange County for the day (somehow without Casey) and had a great alibi already planned out for the inevitable “what did you do today?” question that I was so sure Casey would ask (and she did. And she believed my answer).

Anyways, some of you might be thinking “why did you buy the ring at Robbins Bros, HH?” or “their rings are overpriced!” Well, at the time, we had a friend by the name of Twin Unicorn who was working at Robbins Bros. Not only did she make the ring buying process was less stressful but she was also able to hook me up with a discount!! Side note: Casey had already went in to Robbins Bros a few months before to check out some different ring styles so as to make sure that when I did buy her an engagement ring, it was one that she would like. Based on how well you know her from reading this blog, are you surprised?

Neither was I.

Back to the story. I got the ring. I drove over to my grandparents house and said “hey guys! Here’s an engagement ring I just bought because I’m proposing to Casey soon so can you hide it for me until I need it? Kthanksbye!” No, it was actually a little nicer than that, plus they were expecting me so it wasn’t SHOCKING news to them. After the ring was in its hiding spot, I returned to sunny San Diego.

The date was Saturday, April 4, 2009 and Casey and I were at a park celebrating my cousin’s daughter’s first birthday (Cousin Teeny Girl!) with my whole family. The only thing I remember from that party is being a bit anxious because my proposal plan was already set in motion.

I tried to time our departure from the party to coincide with that of my grandparents because they had the engagement ring with them in their car (as I had instructed them to do, not because they chose their car to hide my ring in). When we were walking to my car, I gave Casey the keys and told her to go start the car and that I have to go help out my grandma with something. According to Casey, this was a very weird request because apparently my grandma didn’t appear to need much help with anything but she got over it and got in the car. I went over to my grandma’s car, got the ring, put it in my pocket, got in my car, and started driving to the place where I had chosen to propose to Casey.

I knew it was going to be tough to get Casey to agree to go to the place I had chosen to propose, not because it was some disgusting, horrible place, but because she’s not a very “go with the flow” kind of girl. As soon as something gets off-track, she has a mild panic attack (love you, babe!).

So I asked her if she wanted to go check out our old junior high school, which as most of you may know, is where we met for the first time. Of course, and as I anticipated, my question was met with a very less than favorable response but alas, I was the one driving so therefore she had to do what I wanted to do (little did I know, that would be the last time we ever did anything I wanted to do that Casey didn’t want to do #marriedlife #justkidding #butseriously…).

We arrived at the school and parked in the mini parking lot. I think it is so funny how much smaller a school seems to get once you graduate from it and get older. I remember thinking that our junior high was SO big! Then, we went to the high school right down the hill and then I though the high school was SO big. Now, after going to college at a large university, both schools are ridiculously small, but I digress.

 

The Junior High we attended

 

This part was another part where I anticipated some more difficulties. I told Casey that I wanted to get out of the car and go walk around the quad of the school. She, of course, was saying things like “this is so dumb!” and “why are we doing this?” I just ignored all of that and began walking onto the campus because I knew she would follow me anyways.

First, we walked over to where we used to hang out in 8^th grade. There were these blue benches that we used to sit at, so we went and sat on them (you know, be able to really feel the memories better). My plan was to get Casey to stand in the spot where we took the famous (at least in our world) picture of us together in 8^th grade. I thought it would be very romantic to ask her to marry me in that very same spot (awwwwww!). But that’s not what happened.

 

 

We got to that spot and I gave her the whole “omg this is totes where we took that picture of us in 8^th grade!” thing and she was naturally surprisingly unimpressed. Not really caring about her lack of enthusiasm moments before I was about to change both our lives with a serious question, I was determined to still do it right there. She turned around for a second so I got down on bended knee and had the ring in my hand and then…………………

…………………she didn’t turn back around! So, I did what anyone would’ve done. I quickly got back up and put the ring back in my pocket before she could turn around and see the disaster that had just been averted and just. Acted. Natural.

From that failed moment on, I was wingin’ it. We walked over to the blue benches where we used to hang out in 7^th grade and sat there for a little bit, reminiscing ‘n such. I stood up (Casey was still sitting on the blue bench) and noticed that there was a mural painted on the wall to her right that I had never seen before so I very smoothly said “hey, I think that mural is relatively new.” Just as I had masterfully planned, Casey took the bait and turned her head to the right to look at the mural. When she looked back, I was down (again) on bended knee with the ring in my hand. Of course, she was extremely surprised to see me in that position and to see the ring. I started to say my piece, which was basically something along the lines of “hey. You’s cute. Let’s get married ‘n sh*t. Aight?” “Casey, you’re the love of my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

She said yes (she was excited about that!) and the rest is history!

At Mother-in-Law Red's House hours after we got engaged, with Cousin Ronomon and Tutor Girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

CASEY!