Valentines + Music

Throw away all the fancy dinner plans, people, the Valentines day that speaks to my heart is 2013 Valentines day. I made Mark a playlist on Spotify, we went to lunch together to Cowgirl Creamery with a gift certificate I'd been hanging onto from Christmas 2011. I gave him a communist Valentine. He gave me a framed photo of him and Henry - my two favorite guys. We had burgers and fries for dinner at Good Stuff after Mark's mom came over to watch little Henry (Thanks Tootie!), and we ended the night with friends watching the worst movie ever made, Troll 2.

It was a great day. Everyone high on sugar. Pinks and reds and hearts everywhere, people smiling and saying hello to strangers on the streets. It was a beautiful day and I am thankful I was able to celebrate the day with those I love so much.

I'm feeling so high on love, I thought I'd share the Valentines playlist with you all, too. Happy Valentines day!

 

summer of travel = over (almost).

phew.

we (nearly) did it. this summer has been so exhausting from all the travel we've been doing and emotionally exhausting from trying to figure out how to get ready for a new baby. so all in all, it's been kind of a rough past couple of months.

but. TH comes home tomorrow from London! then we get to hang out for the rest of the summer (minus a short trip to Portland for a girls weekend getaway). i can't believe how much i've come to rely on him being there as a support to me. it's true what they say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. it has made me realize how much more i want to do for him to show love. i have a sneaking suspicion that life will never stop being busy, and it's so easy for me to forget to say and show love for my man. i try to be so independent - i think it has to do with getting married after being on my own for so long, making my own decisions. but after these past few months and with what we have ahead of us, it's time to step up the love-fest. time to really be a team.

go team! here's to TH coming home tomorrow!

back in town.

this weekend was exactly what i needed to rest and refocus. never mind that cumberland, md is full of retirees and we didn't come across anybody younger than 50 (except for the ice cream parlour staff), we tossed our cares aside and mostly slept for 72 hours. we also did a littlebita biking, museuming, eating, and a LOT of custard eating. wowee.

mostly it was just so nice to be celebrating 1 year with my honey. he makes me laugh all the time, his hugs squeeze me so hard i think he'll break my ribs, he brings me hot cups of tea and cold glasses of water without me even asking, he kisses my forehead, he gives me rubbies (not without complaint, but STILL!), he supports my career, he encourages me to find things that i love, he is just my best friend and my love.

from our trip to park city last summer.
he even takes death defying trips down the bobsled track with me!

this is how my day goes.

wake up. nudge TH to get up and go running. go back to sleep.
wake up. TH is still there! nudge, nudge. ok, he's up. he runs. i sleep.

shower. work.

mid-day: meet TH for lunch. he sees me from down the street and waves. we make silly faces at each other. then he sticks his arms out and runs toward me to give me zombie hugs. yes, nearly every day he does this. it is always funny and i pretend to be embarrassed, but i love it.

finish work. go home. procure food (bare bones fridge lately, folks!).

watch the daily show and make fun of politicians.

and that, my friends, is my life. i love it.

doesn't the bow-tie just kill you? i love it!

oh man, in love.

still in disbelief. we are totally in that "ain't love grand" stage, which is pretty great. last night we met up with all our close friends at good stuff eatery, ate burgers and shakes, and laughed about all the stories and funny events leading up to the engagement. telling the story to the people who have been in your life throughout the relationship makes it feel that much more real. it meant so much to have everyone there with us, and we can't wait until the actual wedding day!

and i know all these photos are kind of blurry and dark, but they mean a lot to me since they're all from that night! my friend josh - a super talented nyc based photographer will be our official photographer for the engagements and wedding (he's known this since i met him!)

we're thinking about a late winter wedding. knowing there is a chance of snow on the wedding date makes it that much more special and magical, you know?

so much to decide and lots of plans to make, but for now we are just enjoying being engaged and giggling about being husband and wife (still! so crazy!). thanks for all your congratulations - they mean so much to us!

figuring it out.

allow me to dissect my relationship with TH in a discrete manner.

as evidenced in all my posts, i'm what you could say "into" my boyfriend. i think he hangs the moon and i can safely say he feels the same. but. that has not always translated into something that works.

we started off kinda rocky, 2.5 years ago, but through a series of events were rejoined. (pretty much a couple months after i moved to nyc we decided to be in a relationship again. long distance. blerg.)

i moved back to dc in june, and since then we have had our ups and downs of getting to know each other in close proximity and with stronger feelings than we'd had in the previous iteration. my job is stressful, his job is stressful, i had to make friends around here while still cultivating our relationship, and WOW we did not know how to be in the same place while still having separate lives.

well, its been 4 months. and i think we've figured out how we work. the weirdest part? neither of us have ever been busier with work or life in general, but somehow, somehow it's working.

i really can't say it's one thing. i think we're learning some basic principles or virtues such as patience (me), time management, supportiveness (not a word, i know), quality time (which must be my love language), etc.

but the bottom line is this: we care about each other enough to, as tim gunn would say, make it work. while it hasn't always been easy, my affection for him is such, that i'm willing to make sacrifices so the "we" receives benefits. to sum up: we're both happy when we're both happy. and we when we're doing whatever we can to ensure this, then well - it works. i've never felt so safe and relationshippy and secure in saying so.

so...does this mean i'm a grown up now? i always felt like that entailed some sort of mortgage or childbirth. but maybe i'm on my way.

The post with all the feelings

Sisters. Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters.

You'll notice (if you know my family), that a certain red headed sister is missing. No, we didn't shun her because of her red hair. She chose to shun the Sister weekend by attending an unnamed function with the new found Love of Her Life. Every time I talk to Red Head, she has a new story about the LoHL. In fact, last time I visited her, she came into the room with tears in her eyes because she just couldn't believe how wonderful this boy is and how much she loves him and how much he loves her, etc, etc.

So why am I writing this exposé on my RedHead sister? Look, I'm not, ok? Back up off me. I am merely trying to figure out what it is that makes some people so sure and absolute in their relationships, while others flounder around, wavering like a Jenga tower, trying to understand their feelings.

I am of the school of the Jenga Tower.

As I become older and wiser (read: fatter and untrusting) I realize that love at first sight and falling hard and fast for someone all depends on a persons mindset. If you are a romantic person, you will more readily dive head-first into a relationship, whereas the jaded 25 year old girl will tip toe around in her relationships, waiting for the ball to drop.

Maybe I've gone through so MANY relationships (albeit, a few good ones, but mostly stressful and unnecessary), that the thought of finding "The One" just seems like a made-up story. If you've found The One, I'd love some feedback on this. To me, it seems some people just find a person that they can really get along with and who is their best friend, and then they just commit to live their lives together. That should take awhile, right? I mean, is that what happens? What happens to these people who fall wildly in love instantaneously and marry quickly? What is the divorce rate for these couples? Success rate? I'd like to know.

Red Head Sister, I love your love stories. Even if they are mushy times 20, it's nice to hear about other people's adventures and tender tender luv. Just call me if you need some advice on putting on the brakes. I've got plenty to pass around.