Your Questions Answered Part VIII: Some Final Thoughts

This last series of questions comes from Ryan at This Must Be the Place.

1. Any sad, tragic or difficult times you'd care to share such as losing a loved one, a job, or something you cared about?

I wrote a lot about this in this post.  The first loss I ever experienced was my best friend at age 9.  He and I had a really strong connection, particularly for our age.  He succumbed to leukemia just three days after his 9th birthday. The loss was really hard on me and truthfully, I still think about him to this day.  I thikn it's had a huge impact on me, and gave me a lesson pretty early on how important it is to appreciate the people around you while they're here.  There are no guarantees in life and really, all we have is one another.

2. Were there any moments you recall as true breakthroughs in any area of your life?

When my husband went to Iraq, I eventually realized that all the stupid concerns I had about us or about life essentially evaporated.  It was the first time that I was jolted out of the sheltered life that we Americans don't always realize we exist in.  It was also the first time that I was able to give up control of a particular situation and accept that there were things I couldn't and wouldn't understand, and that all I needed to do was be there for him.  It was a whole new moment in our relationship and I felt like we knew each other on a somehow even deeper level.

3. If you could do one thing differently in your life, what would that be?

I wish that I could relax and enjoy the present rather than focus on worrisome events on the horizon.  Sometimes I let my anxiety get the best of me and ruin an entire day by worrying.  This is the best time of my life so far and I spend far too much time worrying about needless things. I wish I would learn to be more confident in myself and in my relationships and to not worry so much about what other people think.  It's a process, but I think I'm slowly getting there.

4. What have you learned over your lifetime that you'd like to share with the younger generation?

So I know that every old person ever says this to every young person ever, but appreciate being young and not having to worry about all the concerns of adulthood.  I spent too much time trying to grow up and when I finally got to adulthood I realized that I had rushed it.  With a few exceptions, there are no summer vacations in the real world, you generally need to spend a considerable amount of time at work, and money is always a concern unless you are fortunate enough to be wealthy.  While being an adult is pretty badass, I still find myself pining for simpler times, as we all do.

5. If you and Rob could plan a perfect vacation, money not being an issue, where would you escape to?

I would love to go to New Zealand and Australia, personally.  I think we'd spend the time looking at all the natural beauty but not putting any pressure on having to see every little thing.  We'd enjoy some beach time and some ocean time, and just bask in the glory of each other and our love.

Birthday Week with pictures!

First, thank you all for the sweet words about my blog's new appearance.  Rob told me that my last post should've been titled Look at Banner, Michael! so I really dropped the ball on that one.  My apologies.

Last week, as you know, was Robbie's birthday week.  Since his birthday week coincided with his no-more-Army day, I decided that he deserved a whole week of birthdayness rather than just a day or two.  We've now decided that we'll each have a birthday week when we fall on the wrong side of a decade (Rob turned 26 this year) or when we hit a decade.

The central theme of birthday week included (1) Rob getting to choose what we ate for dinner every night, (2) Rob getting to choose what activity we engaged in, and (3) many mutual exclamations of "It's birthday week!"

On Monday, for example, we had a fun cafe night.  First, we made banana-berry-honey smoothies.  For himself, Rob made falafel balls and popped them into a pita with avocado, sprouts, and tomato.  I had a sammich with provolone, avocado, tomato, sprouts, and locally-made dijon mustard. Quite yummy indeed! We also saw Crazy Stupid Love which we really enjoyed.  Still gotta see Cowboys and Aliens though.

On Tuesday we made homemade Chipotle meals. We mixed rice with cilantro, cooked some chicken and peppers, and added cheese, pico de gallo, and guacamole.  This has become a favorite in our house the last couple weeks.

On Wednesday, we went out to eat with Rob's dad, brother, sister-in-law, and sister.  We went out to our favorite restaurant, which we patronize so often that they call us by name and treat us really well. I mentioned that it was Rob's birthday (not the actual day but you know) and they brough us ice cream and other fun desserts and sang to him, without me even asking!

Pardon the crappy cell phone picture.

 Thursday, as you know, was the day that Rob officially got out of the Army.  When he was in Iraq, I sent him a canister filled with 365 slips of paper, each of which had a memory, inside joke, song, or quote that made me think of him.  We found it in his box of Iraq letters and realized that he didn't read through all of them; so on Thursday, we read through the remaining slips together!

 Finally, on Friday we invited Rob's coworkers, Amie, Sara and Sarah, over for a End of Summer Work/Birthday/Out of the Army party.  I bought snack food and booze (Rob specifically requested Grey Goose vodka), and also some flowers because I'm nice like that.  I took everyone out to eat at the aforementioned restaurant and we came back here for gift exchange.  The girls made really sweet cards for Robbie and tie-dyed shirts for each of them (and me too!).

Along with the very romantic air conditioner I bought for Rob's birthday at his request, I bought him the 30 Rock original soundtrack and a mustachioed Octopal from this awesome shop.

I'm more or less sure that he's more excited about it than this picture conveys.

But one of the best parts of the evening was when we took Rob's Army contract into the yard and burned the sucker to commemorate his freedom from the Army.  It was a good feeling.  This was also the point at which Rob informed me that his risk of getting called back into the Army had actually been far higher than I had realized, so needless to say I am pretty excited about this day finally coming.  Plus I'm pretty excited about how amazing the fire pictures came out.

 We had a really awesome time with everyone.  I did learn a valuable lesson, which is to not mix a downer (like vodka) with an upper (a 5-Hour Energy I took to stay awake).  I ended up getting really sick and sleeping for a total of about 3 hours the entire night because I was so wired.  Fail on my part.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about birthday week, and I hope you all had an amazing week and weekend!

Beast Snuggle Request Submitted.

Approval pending.

Happy Weekend.

Things that are making me smile this weekend:

 

• Seeing my husband gaze and smile at me while I told some guests about our time apart/the deployment and knowing that he was looking at me with all the love in the world.

• Watching episodes of Mad Men on Netflix.

• 85 degree days spent walking by the river.

• Taking a 2 1/2 hour nap after getting approximately 3 hours of sleep last night.

• Laughing with Robbie and his coworkers at his birthday/work party.

• Taking a shot together using our geeky test tube shot set from Urban Outfitters.

• Watching my husband's Army contract burn and knowing that we don't ever have to worry about him leaving for war again.

• Everything about this picture. 

I have a big photo-heavy post all about birthday week I can't wait to share with you next week.

What are you all doing this weekend?

New Look!

I would love to hear what you guys think of my awesome new header made by Jess of IROCKSOWHAT and the subsequent new layout!  So if you are in Google Reader or otherwise cannot currently see my layout, come check me out.  And I mean that in the non-creepiest way possible.

Isn't Jess amazing?

Your Questions Answered Part VII: Dream Vacations, Regrets, Guilty Foods & Celiac

First order of business: Happiest of Birthdays to my husband, Rob, who turns 26 today!  Because he's on the wrong side of the 20s decade (and on the fast track to 30) this last week has been birthday week! I plan on sharing a post on all the fun things we've done once I'm done with these questions!

We're also having a party later tonight with his coworkers. I've never hosted a party so I'm pretty excited. :)

With that said, we're almost done with the questions!  These came from Holly and Elizabeth.

1) Is there any place that you always dreamed of visiting but haven't yet?
Rob and I really want to go to Ireland.  Rob promised me that we'd go at some point but we're holding off until he has a job and regular vacation time.  He may join a class next May that would entail a trip to Ireland and we're currently investigating whether or not I could ride along (perhaps as an extremely cheap photographer?).  If it doesn't happen in May we most certainly will go soon.

2) Where would be your dream place to live with Rob?
I honestly could live anywhere with Robbie.  But I like the idea of living in the Pacific Northwest or maybe in Colorado.  I also could see living in Maine for the rest of our lives.  As long as I'm with him we could live in Antarctica and I'd be happy. :)

3) Do you have any regrets in life so far?
I regret sometimes allowing anxiety to get the best of me and not being present in all of my experiences...particularly when Rob was in the Army.

4) What's your guilty pleasure when it comes to food?
Rob always says that if I lived alone I would probably eat like a four-year-old, and he's totally right.  I love sweet foods like brownies and cookies, plus Phish Food ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (thank god it's gluten-free).  I also eat cheese like it's my job.

5) How did you first discover that you had celiac disease?
For as long as I can remember I've had stomach issues, predominantly persistent gas and bowel problems (hey, you all like that my blog is honest, right?).  I've more or less lived with it, assuming that I had a lactose intolerance, and dammit I was not going to stop drinking milk and eating cheese.  My mother passed along an article to me early last year about how children survivors of Wilm's Tumor can have digestive issues later in life.  I mentioned it to my doctor, who told me that she would test me for a variety of ailments including celiac disease.  As soon as she said "celiac disease" I knew that was it because it was the only thing that made sense - my stomach pain happened without any logic and I knew that gluten was in everything.  Suffice it to say I received a not-so-surprising phone call from my doctor telling me the test was positive, and later I got a biopsy that was also positive.  After a pig-out meal at Ruby Tuesday's, I quit gluten for good and have been free of it for over a year.

Are you guys enjoying these question posts? I have a weird insecurity that everyone is super bored with them.

Things I Love Thursday

I had no idea so many people would miss this if I didn't do it.  Sorry for skipping a week!

All of these shirts make me giggle and I want them.

Answering the 6 Craziest Pet Questions Ever Googled.

Put a Bird on it! (your website, that is)

Awesome watermelon carvings from the National Watermelon Promotion Board (yes, apparently there is such a thing)

I'm an awesome wife because I bought this for my husband for his birthday.

In addition to the very romantic air conditioner he requested.

The 5 Craziest Children's Cartoons from North Korea.

This article on the different ways men and women grieve gave me whole new insight on marriage. And made me tear up quite a bit.

I've seen a lot of cameo tattoos but these were the first Oreo cameos I've ever seen.

In honor of my husband's 26th birthday, I offer you some pictures of him as a wee thing :)

I might be getting a new banner and button design courtesy of this lovely lady. No biggie.

If Nature Decided to Screw with Us.

Video Games from the Villain's Point of View.

I hope you all have a magical Thursday!