leaving on a jet plane....twice

My parents are finally retiring! And to celebrate, my family is taking a vacation together to Yellowstone in Montana. We've be planning it for months and months and I purchased our plane tickets weeks ago and vacation day finally arrived!

And then we drove to the airport a day early.

But don't worry, it's not like I got my husband up at 5 in the morning in order to get there on time. Oh wait, I did.

Oh yes, we had packed, worked like maniacs to get ready on time, hired a dog sitter, cleaned the house, changed the sheets, finished the laundry. You name it, we were ready to go. And then, while on the shuttle to the airport, Josh tried checking us in on our phones. And I realized our flight is on SUNDAY not SATURDAY. Seriously. I couldn't believe it. To make matters worse, I called my mom thinking that she would be expecting us on Saturday. Nope. Turns out I'm the only one who didn't realize we weren't arriving until Sunday.

Needless to say we sheepishly rode the shuttle back, picked up our car, endured the puzzled stares of the lot attendants, and went home.

We did eventually make it to the airport on the correct day, although my complete buffoonery hadn't ended. After several attempts to check in on our Delta phone app, Josh looked at my confirmation email that was clearly labeled UNITED AIRLINES. I seriously don't know what I was thinking. Oh wait! I wasn't. And then I almost missed our shuttle because I wandered away, looking for Pokemon..... At that point my loving husband put his hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eyes and said, in all earnestness, "I'm going to need you to be an adult today."

Friday Night = Date Night

More accurately, Friday Night = homemade pizza and crash on the couch night.
It is one of our long-standing traditions with a rich history, beginning in Josh's Grad school days. (Take look at our humble beginnings)  Now that we have normal jobs, wait. No. Now that I have a normal job and Josh still works like a crazy person (and is always on-call) we have gone back to our Friday Night ways. It is such a simple thing (made so much better by the invention of HBO Go) but it's something that I always find myself looking forward to. We love trying new things outside of our house (and there is always something to do in Orange County) but at the end of a long week I love knowing that we can put everything aside for a couple hours and just be together.
Also, I have perfected homemade pizza. Not to brag. But yeah.

This week is Margarita pizza. Yellow heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil from our own plant, homemade dough, and canned pizza sauce. What can I say? I'm not perfect and it's just not worth the time and energy to try and beat Ragu on this one. It's called compromise, people. If you want your pizza "Josh style" (or "ruined style, as I like to call it) go ahead and add some chopped up serrano peppers.

I leave you with this mouth-watering image of my dinner and am off to spend the evening next to my husband, lounging on the couch, with Sven under our feet. Happy Friday to you!

Truth time:
after I took that photo, I decided I wanted a crispier crust and put it back in the oven. So this is actually what my dinner looked like. This is real life, people. And it doesn't always look pretty, but damn it tasted good!

wedding rings {chronology}

I recently posted about one of hubby's tattoos. but i also wanted to share this one, too.

it's the reason we went into that parlor to begin with:

His (tattooed) wedding band. 

He's not a jewelry person, and I always knew that he wouldn't be crazy about a ring, so this was perfect. Growing up my dad never really wore his wedding ring (I have no idea why)  so I always just thought it was kinda optional for men. Because of that, it really wasn't a source of contention that his wedding band may not be a permanent fixture of his left hand.

Add to that the fact that my sister (the maid of honor) forgot his wedding band during the ceremony and we had to make due with her teeny-tiny little ring. Seriously, this thing was small. It wouldn't fit over his first knuckle! So I always joke that he didn't get a ring during the ceremony so why would I expect him to wear it?

But to go the traditional route, we still got him an (all metal) ring as well, but he lost it within a couple months of the wedding. Although to be fair he was an avid rock-climber at the time and he was always having to take the thing on and off. 

So I got him one for christmas:

 He helped pick it out from this shop on etsy. All wood and very light and comfortable. He wore it all the time, but after about a year it broke (see the crack?)

So then I got him this one (from this amazing shop):

Probably my favorite. Nope, definitely my favorite! I like that it's a combo of the first two rings: metal and wood together. He still doesn't wear it much and so I did sometimes, but he thought it was weird so I stopped. I don't know, i guess it is kinda weird...

and just so I don't feel left out, here's mine (which could use a good polish, i see...)

i absolutely adore it and you'll never catch me without it. 

 

Josh picked it out all on his own from a local shop, and later we got the wedding band made especially to go with it. I wanted something simple that didn't take away from the unique shape. 

And I love it most of all. Because of all it stands for, because it's my very own one-of-a-kind, and because it was chosen by my very own love!

the music

Being a musician (and having played and sung in countless weddings for years and years) I was pretty opinionated about the music. I wanted music meaningful to us. something simple and unique. I had a couple wonderfully talented musician friends play and sing, and the music hubby and I chose together was perfect.

Processional music was "Dawn" from the Pride and Prejudice movie. i'm a huge Jane Austen fan and that movie came out the same year we were married. The soundtrack is mostly solo piano and so romantic! It was perfect. and definitely unique.

Instead of the traditional wedding march, I knew I had to walk down the isle to our song, "Out of My League" by Stephen Speaks.

it's her hair and her eyes today
that just simply take me away
and the feeling that i'm falling further in love
makes me shiver but in a good way
all the times i have sat and stared
as she thoughtfully thumbs through her hair
and she purses her lips, bats her eyes as she plays,
with me sitting there slack-jawed and nothing to say
cause i love her with all that i am
and my voice shakes along with my hands
cause she’s all that I see and she’s all that I need
and i'm out of my league once again

it's a masterful melody when she calls out my name to me
as the world spins around her she laughs, rolls her eyes
and i feel like i'm falling but it's no surprise
cause i love her with all that i am
and my voice shakes along with my hands
cause it's frightening to be swimming in this strange sea
but i'd rather be here than on land
yes she's all that i see and she's all that i need
and i'm out of my league once again

For the recessional we had another song that was meaningful to us, "Life Less Ordinary" by Carbon Leaf. 

the wedding

Thursday is our 4th anniversary. We'll be celebrating later in the week, but for now I'll be bombarding you with wedding wedding wedding! Because besides my hubby and fur babies, my wedding is one thing I think I could gush on and on about. You have been warned.

I think a little detail gets lost in the photos but my mom made my dress (it's covered in Swarovski crystals and ruched tulle)

a little cheese for your wednesday

What have you been up to this week? Me? I've been racking up some major wife points. that's right, I'm the "Best Wife Ever!" , in all capitol letters because this is my official title now (according to my hubby who has said this pretty much every day since last week.)

Why, you ask? Because I keep doing all these things that are kinda inconvenient, but not really a big deal- like letting him watch the K-State basketball game online last night (after the internet had not been working all day). Or picking him up a couple times, at odd hours, after he had dinner and drinks with friends (because we share a car and i had other plans that got me to bed early).

I don't really think it's been that big of a deal, but he sure does! So you know what that means- as I told him last night, I will be cashing all these points in on an not-yet-to-be-named future date.

Maybe some new boots? Maybe a free pass on doing the laundry? Maybe a mandatory Jane Austen movie marathon?

Or maybe not. Because really, when hubs is happy, i'm happy too.

photo from here

it's a hard knock life

... for a grad student (and his wife)

Josh is gone all the time, working like crazy, which gives me a lot of time to myself. It also kinda makes me feel like a slacker. So, to try and balance things out more i am always looking for small things I can do to make his day.week. Life better (and then in return he is sweet and constantly grateful, no matter how small the gesture)

This week I think I made my best move yet. I bought him this a head massager.

He loves it (and me for getting it)

For a mere $4.99 i got him the one thing that can melt away all his stress :)

Mission accomplished!