Four

Yesterday Josh and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! We slept in, grabbed some donuts and went to the duck pond to enjoy them. Then we went to the zoo, which we thoroughly explored. We had ice cream cones, and enjoyed the beautiful day. For dinner we went to Texas de Brazil, which we had a gift card for. It's expensive, so this special day seemed like the perfect occasion to use it up. Salad bar, 6 kinds of meat, beer, and chocolate cake put me into a coma, but a delicious one! I go to bed every night and wake up everyday so glad to be married to such an awesome dude!

Three Years

Today is our third wedding anniversary. I love you Joshy!

Big Sis

Well, I'll be off on trip number two tomorrow. I'm heading down to my dad's house in South Texas for my baby sister's high school graduation. I seriously can't believe that she's 18 already....cause that means I'm....never mind. Anyway, not only are we a trio of lovely ladies, but we're also a bunch of smarty-pants. I was valedictorian of my class, Nicci was salutatorian, and Lindsey is carrying on the tradition as salutatorian of Van Vleck High School's class of 2009! Feel free to be intimidated by our incredibly large brains. :) Can't wait to see everyone and give Lindsey a big congratulations hug!














Lindsey, myself and Nicci on my big day. Pic by Carissa Byers.

Celebrating

Tonight after work we'll be heading to the rehearsal for Spencer & Deb's wedding. I am super excited for them. Spencer is one of our bestest, closest, longest friends and Deb is a very sweet woman who he loves very much. I'm so proud of Spencer for getting to this point, after some rougher times in the past. Spencer was best man at our wedding, and Josh will be his groomsman. They're also getting married at the YWCA Building, like us, so I've been looking at our wedding pictures and reminiscing. Yay for Spencer & Deb and for love!

Our First Anniversary

Yesterday was our first anniversary! We've been having lots of fun just spending some quality time together. Tonight we're going to our friends Rob & LeAnn's house to celebrate our joint anniversaries, since theirs is October 1st. I walked down the aisle to this Paul McCartney song, "Calico Skies".

The Final Countdown

I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the individual months passing since we've been married, but today is the 11 month mark. Which means we're a mere 30 days or so from our one year anniversary! I was trying to remember what this time must have been like last year, and actually it's really quite difficult. I'm sure that's probably a good thing, because at the time I was surely ready to pull copious amounts of hair out. Thankfully things have been a breeze since then. Josh said it's been the shortest 11 months of his life. I couldn't agree more!

Marriage Meme

Lindsey tagged me for this marriage meme, so what could I do but oblige. I'm posting this on both my blogs, fyi.

Where did you meet your husband?
Josh and I met in 1997 at the movie theater we both worked at, at the ticket drop to be exact. We were both working usher shifts. His friend Andrew got him a job at the theater. I actually liked Andrew a bit, but he quit when I was out of town one weekend. When I came back to work, there was Josh.

What was the first thing you said to your husband?
I don't remember exactly, but I probably said hi. I know shortly thereafter I asked if he had cleaned a specific theater, cause that's when I found out that no one had explained to him that he was supposed to do that! I do remember that I laughed so much as we cleaned theaters together that night.

Where was the first kiss? First date?
Josh and I were friends first and sort of fell in love with each other without the other one really knowing it. He was going out with my friend, who was also a co-worker, so I never made any moves. Eventually, as we grew closer and closer through our friendship we sort of figured out that we needed to be together. So, I guess maybe when we were hanging out in his room listening to music and he held my hand could be our first date. He took my hand and held it in his for a long time, with neither of us saying anything, as we listened to the Rolling Stones' song Angie. We didn't really discuss it much later either, but after that moment we knew we had to be together and he broke up with his girlfriend.*
It took us a little while to get around to kissing. When we started going out Josh had just gotten his tongue pierced, and he had a bad case of bronchitis. Not exactly perfect make-out conditions. In fact, Josh told me he loved me before we even had our first kiss. But that first kiss was in his bedroom. I don't remember specifics, but I think While My Guitar Gently Weeps might have been playing. I guess it seems strange that I don't remember it that well, but we've kissed a lot since then. :)

Did you have a long courtship?
Brother, you've got no idea! Josh and I met April 5th, 1997. We were dating mid-March 1998, and officially boyfriend/girlfriend April 4th, 1998. We got engaged March 19th, 2005. And we just got married October 6th, 2006. I know a lot of people stop celebrating any 'dating anniversary' when they get married, but I refuse. I put a lot of time in and I'm gonna commemorate it darnnit! In fact, one of the reasons I chose our wedding date is because we now have an anniversary every 6 months. :)

Where did you get engaged?
We got engaged at a club. That probably sounds weird. Josh proposed at a Chemistry Set show at a club called The Moon, which is just a few minutes from our apartment. Almost all our friends and family were there. Including that guy Andrew (see first answer). I honestly hadn't seen him since he quit the theater, which was 8 years prior. But Josh told him about the surprise he had planned and he was so excited to come. It was the second best surprise of the night. To help distract me we went out to dinner with my cousin Angie before the show. As all our parents began to file into the club I had a sneaking suspicion, especially since I knew he had the ring. Towards the end of the show they coerced me up on stage to play shakers on the last song. This had never happened before, so I was pretty sure I knew what was coming. The song has a big build-up ending, but in place of that Josh came out from behind the drums and proposed. Everyone cheered, it was totally awesome, and when I got down from the stage they had one last surprise. The band had learned my favorite Neil Young song, Helpless. Spent the rest of the night talking to all our friends who had come out for the event and having random girls tell me they almost cried.









Where did you get married?
We were married at the YWCA in downtown Fort Worth. It's a historical building with beautiful architecture. And the rental fee you pay goes directly to their programs for women and children, so it's even more beautiful because of it.
















How did the reception go?
Pretty darn good, aside from my caterer being crazy. We got to catch up with friends we hadn't seen in a long time, danced, laughed, and even cried a teeny-tiny bit. We put a lot of work into
our wedding and people noticed- we got compliments on the flowers Steph and I did, the table runners Mom made, and the music- every single song being hand-picked by the two of us.
























How was the honeymoon?
Umm, like the most awesomest ever! We got married on a Friday and left for New Mexico on Sunday. As long as Josh and I had been together (see answer 4), we had never been on a vacation just the two of us. We spent two nights at Casita La Joya, 25 miles south of Taos, which was an absolute pleasure and just what the doctor ordered after months of stressful wedding prep. Then we stayed 4 nights in Santa Fe. We ate some of the most delicious food and saw some incredible sights, including snow on the ground! That seemed like a miracle since it was in the 90's when we left Texas. I think about and miss Santa Fe almost everyday and I can't wait to go back.
























*That whole girlfriend thing probably sounds bad, but he had broken up with her a few weeks earlier. She convinced him to get back together, but that he could see other people- knowing full well that it was me he intended to see. And pretty much after our first 'date', he broke up with her completely. And all we did was hold hands. I'm not some kind of high school home wrecker or anything. :)

I heart Joshy

Joshy hasn't been feeling well. But he got a prescription from the doc today, so hopefully he'll be on the road to recovery soon. Once he is feeling better I will fill his tummy with yummy things, yummy things that won't hurt him that is. I love my Count Joshula.

World's Best Photographer

Okay, I think even she might say that's a slight exaggeration, but it is honestly true in my opinion. I have never looked so good in a photograph as I did in our wedding pictures. Obviously it helped to have my fabulous friend Ashley do my make-up, and I owe a shout-out to my dermatologist, Dr. Hyman (yes, that's his name). But for reals, Carissa Byers is the super best photographer to have at your side on your wedding day. And her then-assistant Allison was no slouch either. First and foremost she wasn't super-duper mad when traffic caused us to be an hour late for our first meeting. Within the first 5 minutes I met her cute son and pets, all with Beatles inspired names, spotted a Dan Brown book, and discovered a shared love of Scrabble. I knew it was kismet. And on the big day she couldn't have been nicer or easier to work with. I don't think I can count on one hand the number of times I exclaimed my love for her that day as she would show me great shots she had just captured. I've gotten so many compliments on our wedding pictures. It was almost my favorite part of my sister's wedding a few months ago. If going to other people's weddings means we get to talk about how great ours was, then by all means send some invitations my way. ;)

The Hubster

I am so completely happy that I married this boy. Even if he does beat me at Risk 99.9% of the time.