28 and entitled

Joe says that now that he's 28, he is "entitled" to have a car payment. Whatever that means! But apparently, this is how he really feels:

As for me? I am super chill, couldn't be better.

Just kidding! I am totally flipping out! I couldn't even trust myself drive home from the dealership because I was bouncing off the seats. Literally. And letting out a little scream every few minutes.
And this is what I will be doing every time I get out of my new car for the next little while. Niiiiiiice.

Happy Birthday to my favorite person!!

Long before this ridiculously good-looking guy and I ever said "I love you," I started telling him "You're my favorite." Basically it was just my little way of saying "I like you a lot!" So, I just wanted to repeat that message to Joe today - on his 28th birthday!! When I met Joe he was only 22, and we went on our first date 2 days after his 23rd birthday. I even called him on his 23rd birthday even though he had just asked me out a few days before and we hadn't even gone out yet. And now here were are 5 years later! Since it the first time I've been a blogger on October 30, I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to share a few (28, maybe) fun facts about Joe. (I stole this idea from Andy.)

1. Joe would probably spend the rest of his life at Lake Powell if he could.
2. Joe can fall asleep at any time, any place.
3. Joe gets an estimated 40% of his total sleep napping on the couch before going to bed.
4. He is really really funny (we both think so at least).
5. He loves teeth and flaps and drilling and sewing bones and gums, respectively.
6. He sings a lot but always the wrong words.
7. He is good at making up nicknames for me (usually not ones I like).
8. Joe lives for flag football (and I hope he'll live through one more year).
9. Joe is the hardest working person I know.
10. Joe is awesome at finding good deals.
11. He loves sports center.
12. He loves gatorade.
13. Joe has a steel plate in his arm.
14. He has had knee surgery, shoulder surgery, and 3 broken arms.
15. Joe wants to live on a lake someday.
16. Joe is scared to pick up frogs and snakes.
17. He has not embraced his role of family bug-killer very well.
18. My favorite part of his good looks are his adorable facial expressions. ;)
19. He is a nicer person than I am (= he is really nice).
20. He is a problem solver, not a complainer.
21. He puts up with a lot from me and handles it quite well.
22. He likes apple pie.
23. He gets in comment fights on blogs (watch out!).
24. His name was almost Pedro and he has previously been mistaken for a Mexican (watch the grown out hair and beard and deep summer tan).
25. He is almost a doctor!!
26. His wife is almost a lawyer. :)
27. He has placed a strict limit on the number of times I'm allowed to tell him "happy birthday" which I think is just plain rude.
28. He is my favorite person in the world!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!!! (Take that!!)

Worst. Thing. Ever.

So today my mom called me (returning my previous 3 phone calls) and I was like, "Mom, the worst thing EVER happened to me today," and she responded, "What, there was a spider in your shower?" Well, not quite. I guess it wasn't the worst thing ever because obviously, the worst thing ever would be a spider in the shower with you. I would probably scream bloody murder, pass out in sheer terror, and then be eaten alive by the spider. All in all, not a good way to go. Anyway, what DID happen to me today was coming across a huge, nasty, disgusting, dark brown spider in the middle of my kitchen floor. I screamed bloody murder and wanted to die, but knowing I had to kill it I summoned all my courage and killed the dang thing with Joe's flip flop (sorry, babe). I would have used the bug zapper (shaped like a small tennis racket with metal bars instead of strings that send electronic currents through bugs I come across) but the spider was blocking the closet where the zapper is located. Ahhh! The first squish didn't work and the monster started scurrying away but luckily I got it with the next whack. And look at the mess it made!!!! I told you it was BIG!!!So then I was hyperventilating for about 15 minutes, trying to call my mom for some assistance in calming down, and just plain trying to cope with this sanity-suspending terror called arachnophobia. I eventually cleaned up the guts, cleaned off Joe's shoe, and even made my way into the scary unfinished laundry room to change the laundry (I know I didn't find the spider there but it is like a spider breeding ground and my phobia was on edge at the moment). When my mom called I had to tell her the story and relive the utter terror all over again while she laughed and laughed at me. And now, here I am again reliving the horror of this terrible episode for no apparent reason except to entertain my blog readers. I am telling you, my throat is closing up and I am shaking. NO JOKE. I am soooo scared!!! Tears are forming. I need to leave and go calm down somehow. If I have to see another spider that size before Joe comes home I think I will die. I talked to him today on gchat and he promised to spray for bugs when he got back. Thank goodness!

P.S. If you leave a comment, please make sure it is constructive given the situation. The last thing I need is more horrific stories for me to lose sleep over (like my mom telling me that she had a spider in the shower with her recently). Ahhhh!!

Our Car Situation

So we seem to have found ourselves in a bit of an unexpected predicament! A week and a half ago, our trusty '96 Honda Accord broke down at 2:00 in the morning while Joe was on the 695 on his way to pick up his family from the airport. Luckily, Nate & Lori were also on their way to the airport since we can't fit the fam in 1 car, and they helped push the car off the freeway. The next day, Nate's Xterra towed the car to a repair shop ... only for us to find out a couple days later that repairing our little Honda would be cost prohibitive based on what the car is worth. Whoa! We knew we needed to buy a second car next year when we graduated, but weren't exactly prepared to purchase a replacement vehicle at a moment's notice.

To complicate things a little more, Joe left for his dental school externship in Mexico City the next day (although we are grateful the car didn't break on me a few days later while I was here all alone!). Now that the Honda has been successfully towed back to its parking spot, this is what it looks like in front of our house: To the right, the worthless Honda Accord. And to the left: the LIFESAVER car I borrowed from Jeremy Skinner! (He went on the same externship so he wasn't going to need it for a couple weeks.) The 88 Acura is a "metro car" and can't be driven much further without completely overheating and scaring you to death! The warning lights start going on one by one as soon as you turn the car on, but hey, it works! So far I haven't had problems getting it started so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am so grateful to have a car to get me to and from the metro while Joe is gone because walking just doesn't sound like fun. Thank you so much Jeremy and Hannah!

Anyway, here I am at home without Joe wondering what car we are going to buy when he gets back. It can't exactly be a leisurely process because you can only bum rides for so long, especially with our schedules which are all over the place. I told Joe I'd do some research and figure out what I liked, but it's really not much fun. It would be fun if he were here. HE is the one who looks at cars on ebay 4 times a week - although usually at luxury cars that we can't afford just yet (or ever).

So what to do? I can definitely say that I'm not going to miss this paint job ... (for some reason our car starting getting a whole lot worse-looking after we moved to Md.)

But even though the 88 Acura still drives, I'm afraid this paint job isn't any better.

So wish us luck on figuring out what to do. And wish me luck getting through another week without Joe. 6 days down and 8 to go. This is the longest we've been apart since being married and I really hate it. I miss my hubbie ... plus the fact that we haven't even had a phone call yet (except for a 60 second one the day after he left) has been kind of a bummer. We have gotten to chat online a couple of times so that has been great.

So PLEASE Joe, come home SOON and buy me a CAR!! :) Thank you dearest.

I made a photobook!

I put together this photobook during the breaks I had in my day on Wednesday, thinking it would be FREE if I got it finished by the next day. Well, the free thing didn't work out, and at first I was a little mad because I had put off all the work I had to do ... but hey, it got me to actually make a book!! I definitely wouldn't have gotten around to doing it too soon otherwise. The book is just an overview of the pictures we took in 2007 ... which wasn't too difficult since we didn't take very many (we hadn't started blogging yet and I was holed up studying for most of the year). I'm not thinking too many people will want to look at the entire thing, but I thought I'd share it anyway since I don't have much else to share on my blog on this rainy weekend. You can see it by clicking HERE. I am excited for it to come in the mail! My next photobook project will be to put toghether a book of my pictures from London study abroad ... I am very excited about it but it is going to be a LOT more work. Probably a good Christmas break project! :)

Any takers?

I'm trying to clean and condense ... and have decided that after three years of not using these frames they can't stick around. Joe and I got them for our wedding and they are really nice frames, they just don't go with the style of our house. The first set are 4x6 and the second set are 8x10. I just thought I'd see if anyone was interested before I take them to Goodwill, so if you are let me know! I know they'll look great in someone's house! Oh, and you have to live in Maryland because this is not a shipping business. ;)

Our great weekend

I guess I'd better hurry up and post about Labor Day weekend because by now it seems like it was forever ago! Must have been a long week. Anyway, Joe and I were debating where to go and what to do for the weekend but since our remodeled house is still kind of like new to us and we just wanted some relaxing time together we decided to stick around. We had a lot of fun and I truly felt relaxed! What a miracle. ;)

For an ambitious Saturday morning activity we decided to go for a bike ride on the NCR trail. My dad bought me a brand new beautiful bike a few weeks ago when he was here and it was time to put her to the test. Even though our honeymoon mountain biking experience didn't go so well for me, Joe was convinced that biking together could be a new fun hobby for us. Was he right??

Yes!! We had a great time. Here is a picture that shows off my bike and also displays half of our total mileage for the day ... we biked to mile marker 12 and back for a total of 24 miles - by far the longest bike ride I have ever gone on. Luckily for me it was pretty flat the whole time ... but still not easy. I was worried that even though it was hard for me Joe might be getting bored ... but it turns out he had a great time, too. Also, the scenery was beautiful!

24 miles seemed to be a good amount because it pushed me without killing me. It is kind of hard to decide when you think you are at a good halfway point, but 12 is my very favorite number so that made it easy. The worst part about the ride was that me AND my bike got really dirty. Yuck. Luckily we each got a shower.

When we got home Joe and I basically collapsed on the couch for a few hours before going out to eat at a Japanese steakhouse, which was delicious. We also finished season 1 of 24 and I hate, hate, HATED it. Just the ending. I was devastated for about 3 days.

When Monday morning came around Joe lovingly agreed to drive 35 minutes so we could go RASPBERRY PICKING at Larriland. I love, love, LOVED it. Basically I am (have always been) obsessed with raspberries! We bought 5 pounds (the minimum you have to buy to get the cheaper price) ... and it was alot of work to pick that many raspberries in the hot morning sun. Especially when you keep putting them in your mouth.

Joe was such a good picker! Joe is not such a raspberry fan but how could he deny me my little slice of heaven?? He couldn't.
Thanks to this girl, all the raspberries have somehow disappeared. She DID share, though.

Happy Birthday Lori!!

Like I said before ... I am not attempting to highlight everyone's birthday via my blog. But Lori used to do these great birthday posts and I've been waiting all year to do hers! Today is the day, people. This is my gorgeous sister-in-law. An example of one of the many ways I got lucky when I married Joe! So, what can I say about Lori? She is the best. As those of you who know her will agree, she is creative and fun, happy and easy-going. Usually she is not picky or hard to please, except when it is about something important. She is good at getting things done (efficient? I don't know how else to say it) and is always willing to help out. Even though she works all the time she finds time to do all sorts of other things - basically she is superwoman. ;) If it weren't for Lori sending down food every few days for me and Joe while I study 18 hours a day during finals, the two of us would probably waste away. Plus, I can complain to her if I need to and she will usually understand me perfectly!
In case you didn't know, Lori loves to decorate and she loves the color red. She has amazing taste! I could never dream up 1/10 of the the awesome stuff she comes up with. I love it! She made the collage wall in my front room for my Christmas present one year and it is my absolute favorite. Also, Lori is a great bargain shopper. You put her and Joe together, and you are bound to get a killer deal, whatever it is. Sometimes it is funny to me that she is Joe's sister, and they grew up together. I couldn't ask for a better friend but it is cool that we are family!

So in honor of Lori's birthday (25! oh my!) I decided to make her this red velvet cake. For me, it was the first time I had 1) made a cake not using a cake mix, 2) made a cake with multiple layers, and 3) poured a whole bottle of red food coloring into what I was baking. So fun!! Basically I made it because it was red but it turned out to be quite delicious!! I found the recipe on this food blog. I'm going to show off a little with a few pictures ...

The frosting was rich and delicious ... a light cream cheese flavor. I used fresh raspberries and grated milk chocolate on the top.
Lori I hope your wish comes true!!
Umm ummm good. Happy birthday Lori!!