Pet Peeves

After being married for a little over two years, I feel like we're no longer newlyweds. Those little things that my husband does, which never bothered me before, are now starting to get on my nerves. I know I do things that bug him, as well. That's what marriage is about, right? Not loving someone despite their flaws, but because of them.

Photo by The Caldwells Photography

Here are a few things my husband does that drive me up the wall:

1. Leaving clothes on the bathroom floor and shoes/socks in the living room.
2. Not actively listening (looking somewhere else, doing something else).
3. Taking bites of food off the plate or out of the pan in the kitchen before sitting down at the table to eat.
4. Leaving food out on the counter and forgetting to put it back in the refrigerator.
5. If he starts telling me something, and I tell him I already know (what a movie is about, for example), he'll keep explaining it instead of just stopping.

Camping in Big Sur this summer

Am I perfect? Heck no! Do I make messes and leave my crap everywhere? Yes. For some reason, though, it doesn't bother me when I do it. Ha.

Here are a few things I do that I know my husband can't stand:

1. Use too much toilet paper and leave a tail hanging off the roll.
2. Hog the computer.
3. Talk to him like a child.
4. Brake things I can't fix (like the garbage disposal last night right before our friends came over for dinner).
5. Everything about the way I drive.

What are your pet peeves? What do you think you do that annoys others?

10 Years

I've said before that facebook has ruined high school reunions and I stand by that statement. I had fun (kind of), but I'm just so shy and awkward and mainly just stuck to my group of friends rather than mingling with a bunch of people I never really talked to in high school. Plus, I already know what most of them are up to because of facebook.

I got my makeup done for the occasion and the girl at Mac did an amazing job. Please excuse the scary devil red eyes.

Thank goodness my husband came with me. I needed him there for moral support!

My girls! I stuck to them the whole time. I pretty much only said hi to other people if I ran into them on the way to or from the bathroom, or if they came up to me directly. I wish I could get over my shyness, but I think at this point in my life I might be stuck with it forever.

We left pretty early because I was starving (didn't have time to eat dinner before we left and the appetizers there weren't doing it for me). I stayed sober, but my husband had a few drinks and woke up with a nice hangover the next morning. Maybe I would've had more fun with a few glasses of champagne in me!

Have you been to a high school reunion? Would you go? Why or why not?

Sleepy Anxiety

I start at my new school one week from today. I'm terrified. The dreams should start any night now. I always have scary dreams about work at the end of big breaks (summer and winter). I wonder if that will ever go away...

I'm tired. All I want to do is eat and sleep. This is making it difficult to prepare lesson plans and set up my classroom. I'll get it done, though. I always do.

This weekend we my husband almost finished our entryway. He wanted the record to show that I did not help AT ALL. I just paid for the paint.

I took this picture of the paint chips because we were buying the paint, but I already had picked out the colors from swatches we have had since right after Emily styled our house. She told us what would compliment the dark purple in the living room and we listened. I will tell you what color we went with once it is all done.

Saturday night, we went to my friend Michelle's parents' house for a BBQ. I had fun playing with her adorable son, Carter.

We went to church on Sunday morning and afterwards my husband made breakfast. Love that guy.

I feel kinda bad that my husband worked so hard this weekend on the entryway while I sat around and did nothing. But, not THAT bad.

Ok, back to worrying myself to sleep. I hope you had a great weekend!

Happy Father's Day

To Jesus, my stepdad:

Thank you for always being there for me for the last 17 (can that be true?) years. You have been the best stepfather a girl could ask for.

To Don, my father-in-law:

Thank you for making me laugh and rarely laughing at my expense, though I know I am an easy target. You are an amazing father to my husband and a terrific grandfather to our nieces and I'm so proud to be part of your family.

To my husband, not a father yet, but a "wanna-be":

Thank you for bringing so much laughter and joy to my life. I can't wait to see where our lives take us and I know you will be an amazing dad.

Love,
Your stepdaughter,
your daughter-in-law, and
your wife...

Amy

**All photos courtesy of the best photographers on the planet, The Caldwells Photography**

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our second wedding anniversary and oh is it sweet!

We celebrated last night at Saddle Peak Lodge, which was a serious splurge for us, but it was well deserved. This past week has been full of great news (that I will share soon) and we feel so lucky to have eachother.

My husband gave me the necklace I'm wearing in the photo above with matching earrings. I gave him a video game. HA! We both loved our gifts, even though one was clearly more romantic than the other.

Since tonight is our real anniversary, we'll cook at home, exchange cards, and put our yearly photo in the album my friend Jessica gave us. Each year we put a photo from our anniversary in it and write a little description of how we celebrated. It is a sweet tradition and one that will be amazing to look back on after many years of marriage.

Happy anniversary babe! I love you more each day and can't wait to see what the future brings for us!

Randomness

My random thoughts on a Saturday...

I watched the Secrets from a Stylist special that aired over the summer online today. It brought so many memories back from when I watched it the first time (and live tweeted with Em and the gang - yes, I realize I'm a dork). I remember being in awe with her mad skillz and thought I'd never be so lucky as to have her give me a dose of her styling expertise. I am so lucky. Wow. I can't wait to see what she does. Seriously. I can't freaking wait.

The whole house is now completely organized and mostly clean. We did some yard work today and all we have to do is sweep and mop one last time before Monday morning. It was honestly not that hard to organize all the closets and cupboards and drawers. It just took a bit of time, but it feels so amazing. With the beautiful weather today and the windows open with our clean and organized home, I felt so light and free. I need to remember this feeling the next time I'm shoving junk in a drawer or closet.

I'm babysitting the most precious little girl tonight. She is so cute it makes my ovaries ache. I put her to bed and started a little craft project. I made a ribbon flower corsage like this one. Mine is hot pink and a little huge. I wanted it to be big, but I think I took it too far. I'm going to try to make another one that is a bit smaller so it doesn't scream, "LOOK AT ME!" I want to wear it for filming.

My cousin wants me to post about my outfits, but I have a question for you, my 3 readers: should I just post the outfits on the hangers, or should I try them on and take pics wearing them?

Tomorrow, I'm going to see my friend Kristine and she's going to do my eyebrows - wax and tint. I got my hair done yesterday and Monday I'll get a manicure to complete my primping process. I hope I look good on TV. I'm sure even if I do look alright, I won't be able to watch myself. I wish I wasn't so critical of myself.

I want to start a blog about pregnancy and babies. I want to have many different people contribute posts about their own stages of TTC or pregnancy, or adoption, or parenthood. I'd like to have men and women bloggers of all different walks of life. Are you interested in something like this? In my head, the bloggers would "retire" from the blog when their child reaches one year old. However, those who already have a child over a year would be able to blog if they were having another. This is just something I'm mulling over (don't steal my idea, k?).

I want to be a pescatarian (kind of like a vegetarian, but with fish), but I have a really hard time committing to it. For example, last weekend, I went to a friend's house for her birthday party and they served BBQ chicken. I hadn't had any chicken in a few days and was trying to eliminate it, but she kept asking if I had eaten any chicken yet and I didn't want to say, "I don't eat chicken anymore." I'd never want to be the one who doesn't eat this or that or whatever. I don't want people to feel like they have to make special dishes for me if I eat at their house. I also don't want my choices to affect my husband. If he wants meat, he should be allowed to have it. If he has it, I'll have it because I don't like to make separate meals. Plus, I do love sausage, bacon, burgers, steak... I don't have to eat it and I don't want to eat it, but if it is in front of my face, I'm not going to turn it down.

My husband is amazing. I love him so much and am so proud to be his wife. We make a great team. Something really awesome happened this week for him and it has made me realize that maybe everything is falling into place. Maybe it was meant to be that we didn't get pregnant last year. Maybe the Universe has something even better in store for us. I'm excited to find out.

I usually take power yoga on Sundays at the gym, but this week I'm going to take power yoga and gentle yoga back to back. I loved the class last week so much (the regular instructor is back from vacation) and I think I am at the point where I can handle two hours of yoga, especially with her.

My father-in-law picked up the dogs on Thursday and we won't see them again until after filming is finished. I miss them so much! They sleep in our bed (shame on us), but that doesn't fly at grandma and grandpa's. They've been putting them both in our big crate in the garage at night to sleep. Every time I think about it I feel sad. I know they're fine, but my poor babies! It is really quiet and lonely without dogs in the house. I love it in the morning because they're not begging us for food at 6:00am, but when I'm home alone it is far too quiet. I've realized I hate being completely alone.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my husband's birthday.

At Cho Cho San for his birthday in 2006, the year we met.

He is such an incredible guy and I am so lucky to have him. 

Happy Birthday Babe! You're getting so OLD!!

Yesterday was my step-dad's birthday.

Photo by The Caldwells Photography

Thanks for always being there for us! Can't wait to celebrate tomorrow!!

Two days ago was my dear friend Celeste's birthday.

Celeste and me on Halloween in ?year?

I miss you so much Celest-a. Thank you for all that you have taught me!

And on Saturday, it was my little brother's birthday.

Photo taken last night... my hair still looks like that today.

Stop growing up! Thank goodness you'll still cuddle with me. I love you, Mateo! Happy Birthday!

November is a cray-zay month for us with all the birthdays and Thanksgiving times two (my family's and my husband's family's), but it is also a month full of family, celebrations, and LOVE!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Eats lots of PIE!!

Test Run

About once a month, I babysit for a two year old cutie who I met through mutual friends. She is so sweet and goes to bed so easily, I have been taking notes on the parents' techniques for a while. One time last fall, my husband decided to come with me when I babysat on a Friday or Saturday night. He had such a great time playing with her and being the big silly kid that he is and now he wants to come with me every time. They had asked me to babysit last Friday and I agreed. It had been so long since I'd seen her and I was excited to hear all the new words she has learned. My husband was excited, too. He even texted me the day before that he was for sure coming with me, though he would be meeting me there after work.

Last time we were there, we played in the backyard. My husband was monkey-ing around and she was loving it!

Friday morning, my husband got a text from his sister asking if we could babysit for her while she had coffee with a friend. She has a spunky 6 year old and an adorable 9 month old. We couldn't bring them with us to babysit the two year old because she has a pretty early bedtime, but we didn't want to say no to his sister because we're afraid she'll never ask us again. My husband offered to watch the girls by himself, but he was convinced she would say no if I wasn't going to be there. Well, she said yes! While I was babysitting at someone else's house, he babysat two girls - 9 mos and 6yrs - on his own!

Gwen had a great time chasing the dogs around and watching Discovery Kids. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about him being on his own with the girls AND our two crazy dogs. They love kids, but babies are new to them, so we're always a bit concerned with how they'll act around the little ones.

The dogs were great with her. They were curious and wanted to play, but according to my husband, they listened well and kept guard over her while she slept.

At one point, my husband texted me asking how much baby food to feed her. I told him she would probably let him know when she was done, so just give her as much as she wants.

Open wide! Later I asked if my advice worked and he said it did. She started fussing just a little bit when she had had enough.

Overall, the night was a success! He said it was fun, but also a little difficult. His biggest complaint? How do you do anything while holding a baby? He was trying to put a blanket down outside so she could crawl around and found it hard to hold her, keep the dogs at bay, and arrange a blanket. Practice makes perfect, so I'm glad he had this experience to help him feel more confident once we have our own babies.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Sunday was our very first wedding anniversary. Our wedding was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, but this year, it fell the weekend before the holiday. You know about our big trip this summer and since we're trying to save all we can, we decided to make this celebration a very economical one (that's code for cheap).

We went on a bike ride to the Calabasas Farmer's Market... only to realize it was held on Saturdays, not Sundays. We got about 3/4 of the way there when this minute detail occurred to us. We went to Whole Foods instead. That's kind of like a farmer's market, right?

We packed a picnic lunch and took the dogs to a nearby park. It isn't technically a dog park, but lots of people bring their dogs there and let them run around off leash. Since it isn't a really dog park, it is a nice park. There is actually grass and not too much poo.

We came home, took a nap, and when I woke up, this is what our house looked like! Mike decorated with the poms I made for our friends' engagement party (they're a bit smushed, but still fun). He put out the top tier of our wedding cake and a bottle of our wedding champagne: Wilson Creek Almond Champagne (YUM).

We wanted to go to our favorite local sushi joint, Brother's, but they are closed on Sundays. We settled for Sushi Planet (or Planet Sushi, can't remember) in Calabasas and got one of these cute rolls. We were a little disappointed with the atmosphere, as there were at least 3 babies and several little kids dining with their families. It was our fault, though, as we went out way too early (6:30).

We came home, cut our cake (with our lovely Tiffany's cake knife - gift from Great Aunt Mary), and enjoyed champagne (in our gorgeous Waterford toasting glasses - gift from Uncle Bob and Aunt Nancy) while sitting outside by the fire.

Our good friends The Vances, started a tradition that they passed on to us. Every year, we are to take a picture of us on our anniversary, put it in a special anniversary album, and write a little description of what we did to celebrate that year.

Here I am as I (im)patiently wait for Mike to get the camera set up juuuuuuuust right...

And here is this year's photo!

I am so happy to have found my soul mate in my husband. I love him more every day and can't wait to grow old together! Happy Anniversary To Us!

Boo boos

Boo boos is what I called my little brother when he was a baby. It was a term of endearment I used before I felt like I was ready to call him by his name. Then, my husband and I got our puppy, Ruby, and we started calling her Ru boos, then boo boos. Then we started calling each other boo boos, but only if we were sick, or sleepy, or sad. I always knew I would call my babies boo boos. I tend to give this term to anything I find super cute or cuddly, and I'm positive I will find my babies super cute and cuddly.

The other day, I was watching Kendra (you know you watch dumb TV, too) and she calls her baby boo boos. I believe when I heard it, I yelled at the TV, "Noooooooo!! That's OUR word!!!"

Yesterday, I was reading That Wife, and she said that her favorite nick name for her new baby was... boo boos. No!!! Why does everyone keep stealing it?

That Wife's boo boos

I thought boo boos was our unique lovey-dovey name, but I guess we will have to share it.

What nickname do you call your significant other/pet/baby?

Sicky

I was really sick the past couple of days. I just had a virus, but it hit me hard and I couldn't move for a solid 24 hours. 

The whole time, I just kept thinking: I want my mommyyyy... Sadly, though, my mom works full time and has a busy 8 year old to take care of on top of it. Plus, I'm 27 years old. I should be able to take care of myself, right? Yeah...


Lucky for me, my husband is pretty good at taking care of me. After begging asking him nicely to bring me a jamba juice for my sore and swollen throat, he brought me not one, but two different flavors to choose from. Then, when I got up to put my leftovers in the freezer for later and was shaking of freezingcoldness, he brought me a bell to ring if I needed anything!

While I was VERY tempted to ring it so he could turn down the volume of the TV for me, or plug in my cell phone, I resisted as I didn't want to push my luck and ruin it for the next time I was sick.


Who takes care of you when you're sick? What am I going to do when I'm sick AND the mommy?

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Spring break is a mere two hours away and I am so ready! My husband is taking some time off of work so we can have a little getaway and spend some much needed RR&R (rest, recreation, and romance ;) time together. Originally we had planned on going up to Yosemite as he has never been and I practically grew up there (my dad worked there when I was little and my mom and I lived in Fresno, not far away). I wanted to go before the heat of summer so the waterfalls would be huge, but we like to travel on the cheap and it wasn't really working out for Yosemite. The tent city place (Curry city, I think?) was in our budget and sounded cool, but maybe a little too cool, as in totally freezing at night this time of year. We postponed the Yosemite trip and tried to think of another idea. I suggested something that we had plans for in late summer (sorry Gale): bike wine tasting in San Ynez. With my new passion for biking and our long love-affair with wine tasting, this was the perfect trip to relieve some stress and reconnect. I tried to research hotels, but I am no good at it, so I left it up to my hubby. This is why he is in charge of planning trips. Look where we're staying!

Nothing I love more than a tastefully decorated hotel room. OMG I cannot wait for this little trip. I am making a map of the wineries I want to visit. Fess Parker and Firestone are a couple of great ones and they're really close to each other. We always like to hit up a couple of unknown ones as well to get some good deals on wine, although I'm going to need a bike basket if we plan on buying any (hint, hint to the hubby). Last time we visited the area we didn't go to Sanford and I'd love to make it there too, but we might have to drive. I'll be sure to blog about the trip and report back on drunk biking. I have a feeling it is going to be pretty hilarious.

Football Season is O V E R !

My husband loves all sports. I would dare to say, though, that football might be his favorite sport to watch. When football season rolls around, each and every Sunday is devoted to him watching the games either at home or at a friend's house. He is also a huge USC fan, so some Saturdays are taken up by this sport as well.

I never watched football as a kid. I guess I would say if I understand any sport at all, it would be baseball, but I only like to watch those games in person (Dodger Dog, yum). I have learned a lot, though, about football, basketball, and even hockey during the last four-ish years my husband and I have been together.

Yesterday was probably the first time in my life I have really watched the super bowl and been really excited about it. What a game, huh?

Source 

I've always like the Saints, mainly because of the Fleur De Lis and Kim Kardashian, so I wore my black and gold to our friend's party yesterday and was yelling and jumping up and down more than anyone. I always go for the underdog and you can't get more "underdog" than the Saints.

While I had fun and am glad the Saints won the Superbowl, I am more glad that I have some time off from football. Yes, basketball season is just getting warmed up and baseball season is right around the corner, but at least our Sundays can be free to ride bikes and play with the dogs.

What is your favorite sport? Or do you hate them all?