Happy Anniversary!

Well, we made it a year! Our one year anniversary was over the weekend. We have been through a lot in the last year, too much to recount. Instead of these horrible things pushing us apart, they brought us closer together. We've learned how to deal with each other, we've needed each other, and we've pumped each other up. We're each others best cheerleader. I mean, I'm obvs a better cheerleader, but you know... Bob's pretty damn good too.

To celebrate, we went down to Charleston. I've never been, and I was craving a beach. And Bob is typically on board with most everything I suggest. So we ordered a cake (our cake topper was misplaced by our venue after the wedding), and headed out. We had a blast hanging out in Charleston. We checked out the market, took a carriage ride, met one of his friends for drinks, and then headed out to Isle of Palms where we actually stayed. I kinda felt like I was with the Mayor. Bob ran into THREE people he knew. One from Charlotte, who we ran into walking down the sidewalk. Another from pilot training, who lives in CHS now, met us for a drink. Then when we were at dinner (try the Boathouse if you're ever in the area.. it's amazing), he saw a guy he played church basketball with in 2001 in Peachtree City, Georgia. Talk about random!! It was nice for them to catch up and say hi.

I forgot our bottle of Dom Perignon at home in Charlotte. So we had our cake and some cheap champagne in the paper hotel cups on Saturday night. Then Sunday when we got back home, we had hot dogs, cake, and Dom in crystal flutes. We're awesome and we know it.

We exchanged gifts before we left for the weekend. Neither of us could wait to give each other our gifts. He gave me a gorgeous crystal clock, which I thought was random until he pointed out clocks are the new "modern" first anniversary gift. It still makes me giggle that he gave me a clock, but it's so damn cute that he actually looked up what he was supposed to give me.

I went with paper for his gift. He received a collage-ish collection of maps of all the places we had our firsts...where we met, where we spent our first weekend together, our first I love you, our wedding, our honeymoon, and our first home together. Yes, I shamelessly stole this idea from Pinterest, but he doesn't need to know that. My plan is to frame pictures from each of those events and group it all together in our bedroom at our new house. It should be pretty freaking awesome and cheesy as hell.

As Bob's sister commented on our facebook picture, we're still smiling after one year. Hopefully all the rest of our years together will end in smiles as well :)

Evolution of a dog's name: Hank.

Hank the Tank
Hanker the Tanker
Honker Tonker
Honkey

No. The irony is not lost on me. We have a black dog that we call honkey. 

Which brings me to my favorite line in a current song, "Damn! That's a cold ass honkey."

New normal.

Lately, Bob and I have separately realized how unique our every day lives are compared to others. For him, it came when he was trying to schedule our house stuff around his work days. For me, it's been trying to explain to peeps how excited I was for him to be home for my birthday (and next for our anniversary- SQUEE!).

It's not totally normal to be away from your spouse 4 days a week, and then usually only see them at bedtime the other 3 days. We have to plan our lives around his uncertain schedule, which means we really don't plan, which means I've lost a lot of hair and sleep trying to curb my OCD. 

For example, I'm having foot surgery next week. I've known for years that I need this surgery, and I've been putting it off forever. Well now, we're ready to start talking about kids. Like as in, this year. I don't want to be pregnant with a unfixed foot, and if I wait until after babies, I probably won't do it. So we decided this was my year for the fixture. I want Bob in town for the actual surgery. If something went wrong, I'd want him there with me. The only time for us to coordinate that? In between the "vacation" he's taking for our anniversary and his 6-8 week long training out of state.

So. I have surgery on Friday and he leaves sometime early the next week, like Monday potentially, for Washington state. Does it work? In theory, yes. In practicality? We'll see. Luckily, his Mom is coming to stay with me for a few days post-op to help me maneuver life, and I'm super grateful she's available to come babysit!

This post isn't meant as a pity party, it's just confirmation of a realization that our lives aren't normal, but it works for us because we work hard at it.

Happy Birthday to us!

So Bob was at home all last week and went back to work today. It was awesome having him here for so many days in a row, which included my birthday!

Back when we were in college, Bob's Mom brought him some flowers from her garden on HIS birthday. Being the slick neighbor he was, he gave them to me as a gift. This started the swapping of birthdays. I get gifts on his, and he gets gifts on mine. It's a tradition that confuses the shit out of our friends, but we like it. As Jay says, Bob's birthday is my birthday and my birthday is my birthday. That's kinda what it's become.

I like that I get to focus on someone else on my "special" day. This year, I started looking for Bob's gifts well in advance. He received a set of ceramic red solo cup shot glasses. Those were his gag gifts. He got a movie he loves... 12 O'Clock High and a Santa for his Christmas collection. He has quite a few Santas from a specific line of collectibles. He's got patriotic ones, pilot ones, and golf ones. Yesterday, he received a Braves Santa. Boy, was he excited! I made me so happy to give something so special, that he wasn't expecting, that he had never even considered. I like things like that.

So anyway. It's been a weekend of my favorite foods, favorite drinks, and favorite people in Charlotte. I got a facial yesterday morning. We met Jess for lunch and petit fours, then she and I got pedicures. We all went to dinner (Sushi) and came back home for more drinks and a girl movie, Jane Austin Book Club (Bob went to bed). Today, Jess and I went to Bravo and had an amazing brunch, with Bellinis, of course. Then we went shopping. I didn't get TOO much... a Michael Kors clutch that I've been drooling over for months, some clothes, and boxers for Bob.

All in all it's been a fantabulous weekend! Woo hoo!

Sleepy decisions.

So. The last couple of weeks have been a blur. I've been super busy and having some strange health issues. Pretty much when I'm not working, I'm sleeping. It's weird. But pretty awesome at the same time. I do love me some sleep.

Anyway. My trip home was amazing. I was able to relax, hang out, and spend time with my family. Being stuck out here in NC with no family and very few friends makes Hometown that much more special. Dad's birthday went well. We just took him to lunch and gave him his gift... The Rusty Wallace Experience at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He'll get to go to "race class" and then drive a race car for 10 laps around the track. I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it when he actually finds time to come to Charlotte!

We're moving forward on the house front... both of them. We're having wood floors installed in our current house on Monday. Last week, we went and picked out all the stuff for the new house. If that wasn't 8 hours of hell, I don't know what is. OMG. It was brutal. Horrible. Ridiculous. Not that Bob and I argued that much, just the lady helping us was utterly unprepared for our appointment. But we got through it. And our house is designed. They should start the building process in the next few weeks, then it'll take 10 weeks to build. Woo hoo! I'm pretty pumped.

Anyway. Now we're caught up. It'll probably be another two weeks, especially if I continue my current sleeping patterns.