ONE WEEK

until one year!

Rob and I are almost to our very first wedding anniversary, and I think that is pretty sweet.  Marriage has been a roller coaster of a transition for me, and I plan on elaborating on that and sharing some things I've learned about myself and our relationship during the past year - but I'll save that for another day.

For now I just want to say that three day weekends are a Godsend and I have thoroughly enjoyed the past couple days with Rob.  My mom bought us a patio set for our combined birthdays (Rob's was in April, mine is coming up in June) and we spent SEVEN HOURS yesterday assembling the chairs and table and running around to stores trying to pick out an umbrella and outdoor rug.  But now we are totally middle classin' it with our new patio set and I am totally looking forward to cook outs with friends in the coming months :)

We also went to my parents' today for my family's Memorial Day shindig.  I love hanging out with my whole family and I got to lay around the pool ALL DAY.  That is basically the most relaxing thing in the world to me so I am feeling pretty good about life at the moment.

I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

what life is like

This is very typical.  I take a picture, Rob stands in the background bored and yawning.

I'm working on some meaningful posts maybe in the future.  It's just that when I get home from work I have no will to write a blog entry.  So I'll leave you with this photo, where I feel I look quite old.  Seriously.

the best days

are days like today, when Rob and I are both home with nowhere we immediately need to be.  I only worked from 9 to 11:45 today because we *thought* the Cincinnati Bell guy was going to come and install our new internet service between noon and 2.  However, they called in the middle of the week to ask to switch the service date to Saturday.  I had already called off work so I wasn't about to back out of that sweet deal.  Rob even ended up working from home today, too, so there was doubly a reason I didn't need to be home.

So.  I left Oakley a little before 12, and headed to Beechmont where I could use my car wash coupons and got my car cleaned the right way.  And while we are on the subject of cars: some advice - DON'T BUY A NEW CAR.  Ugh.  For real.  I bought my Honda Fit brand spanking new at the end of May last year.  It was so precious and perfect and I loved/love it so much.  EXCEPT.  Ugh.  It's not even a year old and it has scratches ALL over it, dents in the driver side door, and a frickin CRACK in the windshield.  ALREADY.  I know this happens to cars, and I'm not one who especially cares if my car is in mint condition, but COME ON.  I still owe 9 grand on that thing.

Anyway.

After that I came home and weeded the flower beds.  The lawn needs to be mowed badly but I am saving that job for Rob.  That and the taking out the garbage/recycling are his only household responsibilities and I will NOT do them for him.  In approximately an hour we will be heading to the hardware store and purchasing a weed eater so our lawn mower doesn't break when he mows the grass (yeah...it's that bad right now).

Also, remember when I got my hair cut?  

Well this is it, done by Christine at High Five Salon

(thought i'd take advantage of the glory that is today's weather as a backdrop)

sunday scenes

Today I decided to do something a little out of the ordinary: actually prepare a home-cooked meal.  Maybe it was that two and a half hour nap I had this afternoon, but I felt a surplus of energy as opposed to my usual lack thereof, and decided to focus it on practicing domestication.

So, I referred to my only cookbook, the no-longer-most-recent Better Homes & Gardens cookbook given to us by my mother-in-law for our wedding shower.

cooking musics

yes.

proof that I actually did it

remember when I made tons of owl ornaments?  this guy hangs out on one of the kitchen cabinets

final product

2/3 of the items I own from Anthropologie, given to me by Kile and Elizabeth for our wedding.

this was my first time wearing them because they are too pretty to use.

also, Rob's not a big fan of focus

little owl Rob let me get at West Elm when we were in Columbus

I love that I can look out the kitchen window and see lots of green

I also love this rug, from Urban Outfitters

and then I made strawberry shortcake.  except the cool whip wasn't entirely thawed.

we'll work on presentation another day.

Rob loving how domesticated I am.

The end. 

summer wishlist

1. grill
2. patio set
3. NEW COUCH.
4. clothes line, because i'm a country bumpkin like that


aaaaaaand a to-do list for my dad (because he's our landlord)

1. GUT BASEMENT. ew. ewwww ew.  i hate it.  it's gross and you'll die if you stay down there too long.
2. NEW KITCHEN DOOR. it's only been sitting in our garage since this time last year.
3. new bathroom sink.  if you've seen it you know why.


the end.

weekend summary

Friday: After work, Rob and I traveled up to West Chester to eat at Panera and see Thor at the Rave with Jarrod and Paige. I had been wanting to see it since I first saw a preview forever ago and it did not disappoint.  I am kind of a nerd.

Saturday: Oh hey, I overslept and missed my hair appointment.  Good news is that High Five Salon is so cool that they allowed me to rebook and avoid my cancellation fee.  Seriously, that place is awesome.  Soooo I will be heading over there this Thursday instead.  After flipping out for a bit I got ready and headed over to Target with my beloved and picked up a few things we needed before heading out to see my friend Brittany get married.  She looked wondrously gorgeous and we got to hang out with my brother Jake and his girlfriend Steph for a little bit, too.  We made it back from the wedding a little after 8 and then went and saw Kile play some of his solo stuff at Taza in Clifton.  It was excellent background music while Paige and I dominated a crossword :)

Sunday: Mother's Day! Rob and I went to my parents' church, River Hills, out in Batavia.  We were going to go to my grandma's afterward for Mother's Day festivities but we ended up opting out because Rob had to finish a design comp for his first freelance job.  So instead we went grocery shopping and finished up tasks at home before heading over to Rob's mom's house for dinner with everybody.


I really linked this post up.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)




P.S. I forgot the best news! A few weeks ago my mom went to the doctor because she has been having some  female complications for quite awhile and they were really worried she might have endometriosis, especially since a few years ago she had melanoma and studies have shown that women with endometriosis are prone to melanoma and other cancers.  But anyway...she called me last week after going back to the doctor and she does not have cancer!  Hooray!

HOLLAAA

Today little girl and I made a trip to Oakley playground with her sweet new sidewalk chalk.  A rather rambunctious little boy joined us for approximately five minutes before his mother scooped him up and placed him in his stroller to leave (italics to emphasize an age range).  As they were leaving little girl yells, "Goodbye!" To which the little boy responds:

"I love you. HOLLAAAA!"

A possibly three-year-old boy, perhaps younger, declared his love and then holla-ed at little girl.  Yep, that actually happened.

In other news, today is our 11 month milestone of being married.  It is crazy to think it has almost been a year.  But at the same time, I feel like it has always been this way.  I hear that's a good thing. We have plans of a weekend getaway for our one-year and though the plans aren't extravagant, I'm really looking forward to our next escape from routine.

In other other news, Rob received his first check to our notofficiallyexistent company that I once mentioned, Two if by Sea.  And so tonight we set up a business account and made our first deposit.  It's getting real.

Aaaand since it's Cinco de Mayo, Rob and I celebrated by going to Verizon and dropping way too much money and got him an iPhone 4 for work. That's what this holiday is about, right?  Lucky duck.