Lovey-Dovey Linkup

Hi All! I've seen this lil meme floating around the blogosphere thanks to From Mrs. to Mama and I've been totally sucked in to reading everybody's stories. So, for all of you new readers and followers out there, here is the story of Kev and I- a fourteen year saga.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
Kev and I will have been together for five years in May, but we've known each other for almost 14!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
I was dating a very shy baseball player in Kev's grade, and we were hanging out in our high school's lounge. I was a freshman, and Kev was a sophomore. Suddenly, this super personable guy came up and started talking to my shy boyfriend and I. This guy (Kev) was selling frisbees for his business class, and was trying to wheedle us into buying them. While I did not buy a frisbee, I did slowly begin seeing Kev around more and more. Baseball player and I broke up, and Kev and I started talking. That spring, we went on a date with a group of friends to Great America, and Kev was the perfect gentleman- kissing me on the Skywhirl, holding my hand in line, and giving me his Abercrombie long sleeved shirt when I got cold. As the night ended, he promised me that when he got his driver's license in a few weeks, that we would be boyfriend and girlfriend. I was a freshman, about to date an older man with a CAR, and I was through the moon.

Well, the weeks went by. Kev got his car, and suddenly realized he was AWESOME. His 1990 Honda (Jane Honda) became his first love, and the promised for boyfriend-girlfriend status did not materialize. We did, however, become great friends while we dated other people. Through high school, we talked nearly every night on AIM (oh, the good old days), and solved each other's relationship problems. We went to different colleges, made new friends, and talked less.

Fast forward 4 years. I had just finished college and moved back home with my parents. It was Easter, and I saw Kev sign on to AIM (good old technology), and realized we hadn't talked in a long time. We quickly chatted, and set up a date to get together for dinner the following week. When I picked him up in MY car at his parents' house, gone were his Abercrombie t-shirts; he had donned a corduroy blazer and glasses for the occasion. He looked older, wiser, and still had his trademark charm. We had a great date, and I made plans to go visit him in the city the following weekend for his birthday. The rest, as they say, is history. Booze and a four year absence made us quickly realize we had to be together.


3. If married, how long have you been married? We got married on the 4th of July, 2009. It was awesome.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?
We got married with 330 of our close friends and family at Kevin's grade school church. It was huge, rambunctious, fun and very meaningful. My grandparents took the last shuttle back to the hotel with us, we polka-ed, my other grandmother caught the bouquet, and I dropped pizza face down on my dress at 2 am. It was loud and loving, just like us.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share! We call each other shmoop or shmoopsie. I'll call him honey or hot stuff if I want to make him laugh, and he always calls me Colie or Coli-polie.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
He is smart, he is handsome, he makes me laugh, and he challenges me to be my best self every single day.

7. Tell us how he proposed?
That sneaky guy let me plan my own proposal! We had just moved into our first apartment together that week, and he asked me what I felt like doing for our first Friday night at our new place. I decided we should buy fancy ingredients and cook in together. After dinner, he said he had a surprise for dessert, and brought a tray with angel food cake and champagne. Then, he got down on one knee, told me he loved me, and proposed. Afterwards, he said that one of our good friends wanted us to stop out so she could see the ring. We walked to a favorite bar, and he had all of our friends packed inside for a surprise bash.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? We are generally champagne, sweatpants and heart shaped pizza kind of valentine's day people, but last year he surprised me with a "mystery date" to a fancy dinner and to see Les Miserables downtown. Swoon.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? We switch it up. The key to good romance is variety.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere? Travel the world, raise a beautiful family of happy kids, and still hold hands when we are in our eighties.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Cooking tuna steaks and potatoes for dinner, having some wine, and snuggling on the couch for some movie time.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day? Nope, we're not big Valentine's gift people.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. Never, ever take each other for granted. Remember you are lucky to be together.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.
Family inside jokes, with Kev fitting right in :)

On Being a Sister

I am an older sister to two younger brothers and a younger sister. They are all unique, amazing individuals in completely different ways. One is in law school, one is in nursing school, and one is a host of wacky things, including thrift store connoisseur and undergrad communications major, probably in that order. Growing up, our house was loud, chaotic, and often veered wildly between angelic and World War Three. My mom had four kids in seven years, and now that I'm an adult, I'm fairly certain she qualifies for sainthood.

As we got older, my siblings became really cool, popular people. They won high school yearbook superlatives. They developed sweet dance moves. They became retreat leaders, prom queens, marathoners, bartenders, and all-around likable people. As I matured, it was hard to not feel eclipsed by them. I count those humans among the most precious people in the world to me, and my life of working, dating, and reading books often seemed rather vanilla by comparison. I'm constantly in awe of their general awesomeness. I'm constantly challenged by their deep thoughts, and reduced to tears by their offbeat hilarity. As such, it is often hard not to feel like a geeky older sister.

While my sister and I often have deep talks about everything from the existence of God to how one can craft the perfect set of reinbeers for Christmas, my brothers are American males in their 20s, and therefore don't talk about their feelings much. Therefore, the following gchat conversation with P made my day today:


P:listening to ben folds while reading. reminds me of your old "on a bender" cd
a golden oldie

me:Such a good one... I still listen to that mix

P: hells yes
your "practicum tunes" were also very good

me
Haha amazing memory for my old mixes....I'm super impressed

P:yes after a few car rides i stole them both for an extended period
that was my first experience with that genre and those artists
that genre and those artists
it was pretty exciting
gonna get some groceries
farewell

me: So glad I could mold your mind

P: haha you paved the way of much of my thought and experience
i am forever grateful

me: Aww that comment just made my day :) love you little bro

While I'm fairly certain that telling my brother I love him and using an emoticon in a text chat will both insure that he isn't that open about his feelings for awhile, I am in awe of the fact that he was listening during all of those long car rides to and fron The University of Iowa. And I guess what I am most awestruck by is the fact that he was listening at all.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this conversation gives me hope. Hope that even when I'm not saying anything big, the ones I love are still watching and learning. That even when I mess up and act like a crabby jerk, these same people in my life know from a lifetime of watching me that it's just a blip in the radar. That some of the moments when I've felt farthest separate emotionally from the people I love, I still managed to reach through the barriers and connect anyway. That even if we seem different on the outside, my family and I are just going to get closer and stronger as we grow. Now, it seems, I'm the one listening to him

Growing Up....Together

**Ten Things Tuesday is coming tomorrow because I wrote the post and then left it on my work computer and now I'm at home. Oops.

Kev and I have a unique story in many ways, in that we were high school sweethearts that never really dated. We met when I was a freshman and Kev was a sophomore, when he tried to sell a frisbee to my then-boyfriend and I. I think we declined. Then-boyfriend and I broke up a few weeks later, and I began an epic AIM flirtation each night that ended with a magical date at Great America and the promise that when Kev got his license the following week, that I would be his girlfriend. The license was acquired, and with it, the realization that sophomores with cars are way too cool for freshman girls. Through it all, though, we continued our nightly AIM conversations. We talked about his girlfriend, my boyfriends, and argued about books, bands, and people we both knew.

Although we didn't date, and went to different colleges, we got together to catch up the summer after I finished college and the rest, as they say, was history.

 

Kev and I, first summer dating, 2007

When I look back at our year of dating, our year of engagement and our first year of marriage, I remember endless nights at bars. Spending time with a core group of friends every weekend that got bigger as we spent more time together. Date nights where we wore sweatpants and champagne and played video games and Jeopardy against each other. We were out nearly constantly, and we looked forward to meeting up with the group, getting belligerent, and then coming home and gossiping about it the next morning.

Now, though, things have changed.

Somewhere in the subsequent two years, Kev and I have grown up. I'm not sure if it's the fact that we have a place of our own now, or that we started grad school, or that we just appreciate each other more, but cooking a dinner in and hanging out on our deck with a glass of wine has replaced the rounds of shots. We've become a little slower to recover from the nights we do get crazy, and we are better at saying no if we just don't feel like going out.

And you know what? It's pretty heavenly. I really, really like being more grown up and slowing down. If the last four years have brought about this much change, the next four and the four after that will be pretty good too.

I really, really love being married to the guy I'm married to.

Us, June 2011, making a rare appearance at the bar we used to nearly live at.

Seis de Kevin

Today is a big day, people. See? Even Kev has been anxiously awaiting it.

Today is the date of birth of one Mr. Kevin G. Huzzah! Huzzah! Let the people exalt. However, Kev gets extremely concerned on this day, because he feels that cinco de mayo steals all of his birthday thunder. He frets about this rightfully. Yesterday, a student brought me homemade tamales for cinco de mayo. Today, nobody has brought me any food at work.

But, I digress.

Kev demands that his birthday be called 'seis de Kevin' and that it be celebrated in a style much grander than cinco de mayo. Therefore, I shall now make a list for you of six things I love about my husband, the birthday boy.

1) Kev makes anything fun. He is the best partner in crime a gal could ever have. We have laughed harder at the grocery store than more people probably do in a month. He also uses this fabulous sense of humor to humor my whims, which I appreciate. He even loves puns. Furthermore, Kev also has the best laugh ever. Really, it's more of a giggle, but that doesn't sound burly. So laugh it is. Even if I don't think something is funny, it's impossible to stay mad at him because of that laugh. Trust me, I've tried, too.

2) Kev has the widest range of interests of anyone I know. He's a rabid sports fan, he loves to cook, he is a talented artist, he reads avidly. He loves anything to do with history. I love that he's curious about the world, and can talk intelligently on such a wide array of topics.

3) I've seen the kid grow up. Because we've been friends since high school, I've seen many incarnations of this guy. He's made bad choices, good choices. He's been an athlete, a world traveler, a pre-med student, a business man, and so many things in between. It amazes me to think of how far he's come since we've met. It's even more amazing to think of how much more we're going to experience together and change together as the years pass. I feel privileged to have been a small part of that.

4) Kev pretends to hate our cats. Back when he used to contribute to this blog, he even write a whole post about our "hell spawn." However, he really, really, adores them. I am told they have epic chats in the morning before he goes to work. Kev always makes sure to buy them the good food, not the cheaper stuff I try to get away with. He worries about them when we go out of town. The old softy.

5) The man loves ice cream and is 'meh' about cake. As am I. I love that he sees the pure joy in making an unexpected stop for ice cream, and can appreciate the joy of sitting on the deck splitting a pint. Love, love, love. Believe it or not, it's a rare quality in a guy.

6) I don't know how to put this into words, but we're never bored together. We talk, we chill, we watch good (Mad Men) and terrible (Teen Mom) tv together. We read side by side. Having him in my life has made things better in every way possible. I'm blessed beyond words.

If you see KG today, be sure to give him a big hug and sing Happy Birthday really loud. He likes that. Happy 28th my dear!

Huzzah

Life these days is pretty freaking good. After all the drama with work and my decision to leave my current school, I have a new job! It's a junior high ELL position a bit closer to our house than my former job, and the pay and benefits are bangin. I didn't realize how stressed I was about next year until I fell asleep last night and slept without waking up.

Going through the drama and emerging victorious has made me realize how truly blessed I am to have Kev by my side. Whether discussing best and worst case scenarios with him through the decision making process or surprising me with some freaking delicious cookies (pictured above) and dinners out, I've realized how awesome it is to be married to him. This is one of the first big decisions we've made since buying our house, and we survived and came out better than we thought we would. I'm slowly learning that decision making is one of the hardest and best parts of being married. I have my best guy to celebrate with, commiserate with, and grow with, and I like to think we are making each other better people because of it.

Oh, and did I mention that spring break is a mere two work days away? Even though we aren't going anywhere, and Kev has to work all week, I'm really looking forward to the time off. I'm hoping to get things in order around the house, start my half-marathon training, and catch up on all the photo challenges I've slacked on over the past few weeks. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I mean, seriously, I'm not asking for sundress weather yet, but fleece and jeans weather would be greatly accepted.

Overall, things are going great in our neck of the woods. I'm proud of the way we are growing together, I'm relieved to be gainfully employed in a career that always makes me think, and I've got a great family, awesome friends, and a kicken husband to celebrate with. Huzzah, indeed.

2011

I was going to write a big blog post complete with a picture from each month of 2010, along with some thoughts. However, I realized something: we have big gaps (Jan-May, in particular) with NO photos. Yipes. So instead, here is my resolution for 2011:quiet focus.

In 2010, I feel like Kev and I really settled into being married. We stopped worrying about what our friends thought if we missed or made plans (were we weird because we were the only married couple and we still went out a lot? were we weird if we wanted to stay in?) We also started to really look towards our future. We both started grad school, we bought our condo, and we made more solid plans for our finances. We started eating healthier. We lost some weight. We gained some exercise. (By the way, I'm hoping to learn how to spell the word exercise right on the first try in 2011. It always takes me three tries. Exersize. Excersics. Exercise. Damn.)

You know what I learned in 2010? Growing up isn't half bad. I love the home we're building. I love watching our mish-mosh of college furniture slowly disappear as we hunt for the perfect items for our new place. I love talking about what we might be when we grow up. I love learning things from Kev, like how to jump a car. I love laughing at our 8 trillion weird jokes and arguing over the 8 trillion pieces of clothing all over our bedroom floor. I've realized that I love my life-and sometimes that means not worrying about where that makes me stand in relation to my friends. I'm always going to be awkward, and unique and different and strange. Because as Coco Chanel once said "to be irreplaceable, you have to be different."

So, for 2011, my goals are fairly simple. I want to get back to the goal weight I achieved this summer (damn you, Polish food, cookies, and oodles of wine that added 4 holiday pounds to my gut). I want to quit procrastinating, and focus on achieving a few meaningful things each day at work and at home, and I want to take a few pictures each week to remind myself how lucky I really, really am.

Happy 2011 to all of my family and friends. Whether I see you every day or once every few years, I'm blessed to have you in my life.

Backing Away from the Ledge

Kevin and I have been zombies lately, due to a potent cocktail mix of grad school, first time homebuying, and our usual crazy lives. After figuring out some financing, we are 6 weeks away from being homeowners.

The whole process has really been the first step in our 291 day old marriage, and I'm proud to say that despite some setbacks, we've come through it stronger. I'm a fiercely independent, opinionated and stubborn person, and it has taken some work to accept the fact that I'm going to have to lean on my husband for some things in order to make the best decisions possible for both of us. For example, today we were discussing the amount of the loan our parents have so generously offered us to help us with our down payment. After reiterating about 822938 times that I'm not comfortable borrowing from my parents without a strict repayment plan in place, Kev reminded me that A) this is the only way we can come up with the 7% down payment we need to buy our now non-FHA finance-able dream home, B) he has done the math one trillion times, and has remembered to budget date nights, going out with friends, and my target shopping sprees into the monthly mix each and every time and C) that I really should just stop bugging him about the numbers because he is a numbers guy and does these types of things every day for a career. A career that he has been successful at for many years, and that pays him the money to buy the condo to build our life in so that I can continue to pester him for many happy years to come.

Point taken. One of the interesting dynamics in our relationship is that we have many opposite qualities. I tend to be flighty, Kevin's neurotic. I'm creative, Kevin reins me in. I come up with about 487 life plans for us every day, Kevin reminds me that we need to eat dinner and take things one step at a time. Sometimes I worry I am going to drive him crazy with my incessant impatience for the next BIG EVENT. What I'm learning though, is that we can use these dualities to meet somewhere in the middle, to make a cozy happy life full of Glee singalongs, book chats, floor hockey feistiness, and gawking at other people's cute dogs. It's like the Black Eyed Peas say- we just have to meet halfway. (I know I'm going to get made fun of for that quote- I don't care though. Love them.) It turns out that these things that I used to think would drive us apart are now making us into what every good marriage should be- a team.

Music Night

Today is a big day in the land of kindergarten. We have our very first music night, and the kiddos couldn't be more thrilled about it. In fact, we've already had a great day, since my parents (a doctor and a nurse) came and visited us for Community Helpers week, and even gave them band-aids and pencils. Kids at this age are all about two things: official looking outfits, and the swag that they can get from people wearing them. Needless to say, the visit was a success, due in part to my mom bringing x-rays from work of a kid who swallowed a penny. I think I've safely scared them all into only putting food in their mouths.

Something about today inspires a post about my job, I'm not sure why. Perhaps, since I teach in a state where budget cuts are a real and terrifying thing, it is another reason to be thankful for the job I do have. I think it goes beyond that, though. Seeing all the kids in their best black and white outfits, nervously hopping around antsy-pantsy as they wait for the big performance always makes me smile. I love them all the more for being tone deaf, for making up their own lyrics, for biffing a dance move here or there. Even though they try so hard to be self-important mini-adults, the music night always shows them for what they are-kids. Little kids, one of whom will probably fall off the bleachers. It also shows me for what I am- a person who likes to fix things and pick them back up.

Spring break is coming, and I would be lying immensely if I said that I wasn't pining for it to come soon. While I look forward to a week of wearing sweats, going for runs, reading for large portions of the day, and indulging in an adult beverage or two at an inappropriate time of day, I'll also think about my lil' peanuts, and hope that they are getting into just the right amount of trouble with a fantastic partner in crime while we're off.