After today it is clear that I would not stand a chance in a duel

Over the weekend I coordinated/hosted a leadership retreat for 60 middle school girls that involved camping out in the woods. It was an exhausting, frustrating, motivating, joyful experience. We spent a great deal of time talking about toxic friends, stereotypes and female bullying. I am all to familiar with the fact that these things do not go away just because you graduate from college and wear on big girl panties.

Then my husband FINALLY came home. He traveled for most of the month of March and I'm sure that people in my life where beginning to wonder if he was an imaginary husband. We've been making up for lost time by having random date nights. Last night I beat him at scrabble because of my 37 point word: MILF. We are clearly not mature enough to have children.

Tonight we did a little of this....

 

I am hopeful that my hearing will come back eventually. Right now all I hear is a faint ringing.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the first time in years that JJ and I have been in the same city for Valentine's Day. My beautiful sister has been a wonderful dinner companion during those years, but this year I was excited for husband and I to go to dinner to celebrate this hallmark holiday. I got on opentable and made a reservation at our favorite italian restaurant- and was very proud of myself!

Then 20 minutes later I got an email informing me that this particular restaurant was offering a $99 four-course special for Valentine's Day. This would be our only option for dinner. Ummm, I do not love Valentine's Day THAT much! So it's back to plan B of making dinner in our own kitchen.

Plan B was probably not the best choice of words on this romantic holiday. Let's change it to plan home-bound.

I'm sure you have already mailed all of your Valentine's Day cards, but if not here is a cute {and free!} printable card just for you.

Husband vs Cartoon Doug

While hanging up husband's freshly laundered shirts tonight I had a flashback to that old Nickelodeon cartoon "Doug;" who has a closet full of the same outfit.

vs

Anniversary Trip

We are back from Colorado and we're back in to the crazy swing of working, graduate school homework, business trips and chores around the house. It was so nice to get away from this madness for awhile!

A Year Ago Today...

I said "I DO" to JJ and it has been a fun, scary, loving, frustrating, encouraging adventure. It doesn't seem possible that a year has passed already. I feel lucky that he chose me.

How could 365 days have already passed?

Husband and I are off to Colorado for a week to celebrate our first anniversary!

Via Fabulous K

Fail

Friday was a bit of a fail. I woke up with bites all over my ankles and became convinced {with the encouragement of my co-workers} that I had a bed-bug infestation. So, after lots of online research, I begged husband to help me search the entirety of the mattress and bedding for anything that might resemble a bed-bug.

While all of the bedding was in the wash, husband decided to make us some cocktails. We learned our lesson that carbonation and martini shakers do not mix. 

 Oh well, tomorrow is a new week and we are bed-bug free. False alarm! 

Usually I like surprises

Usually I like surprises. Like that one time JJ set up a tent in our attic so we could go camping without me having to pee outside. Or the time my friend from NYC showed up at my bachelorette party after convincing me she couldn't afford a flight.

On Thursday husband had a surprise waiting for me when I got home. He went dumpster diving and brought me a table.

This wasn't quite as random as it sounds. I've been wanting to find a small table to put next to our armchair to put drinks on because we currently set drinks on the floor {and kick them over almost nightly}. So when he saw a table laying next to the dumpster outside out building, he had good intentions.

 But the top looks like it got in a fight with a cat and the first time we set a drink on it the top bubbled up.

Thanks? 

To thank him I made him the saddest excuse for a cheese quesadilla known to man.

The JJ and Caylin Show

Our trip to Colorado was perfectly full of hiking, delicious food, sunbathing and lots of quality family time.  JJ spent most of his time with this little peanut:

I stressed about packing before we left but ended up spending most of my time switching between sweatpants and a swimsuit.

It's nice that this will be an extra short work week. Then my sister comes to town to look for an apartment. She is moving to my city! 

Does anyone else?

...make sure that your husband is driving your car at the exact moment that it will need more gasoline so that you don't have to pump it yourself?


Me either. 

the caboose of tax season

Tax day came and went and I say "good riddance!" Hallelujah!

Don't get me wrong; I think paying the government is fab but I am very ready to have husband working less than 75 hours a week. Things like conversations, meals at a table, an entire movie have been foreign concepts to us the past few months.

With the caboose of tax season brings the promise of newlywed-ness again. I plan on spending so much quality time together this summer that by the time tax season rolls around next year we'll cheer. I'm kidding.  About the cheering that is. We aren't really cheering people.

Happy Easter!

I survived hosting my first holiday as Mrs. Bennett, and had a wonderful time cooking for everyone in my tiny kitchen. My heart is so full and I am SO exhausted! I took a nice long nap this afternoon after everyone left {but that is really pretty standard 'round here!}


Saturday afternoon I helped host a "flash mob" with some of the kids I have the pleasure of working with immediately following Kansas City's big Easter parade. I was nervous that we would not be well received but that was not the case. We made it on the Easter morning news! Check it out HERE

Then my family had our own little Easter egg hunt at the park. It was the grown-up version with truffles inside of the plastic eggs. I ended up being the biggest loser in more ways than one: I found less eggs than JJ, my sister and my sister-in-law AND I sprained my ankle tripping over a pot hole.

Pictures my sister in law took of husband 1. trying to tackle me and 

2. trying to steal some of the very few Easter eggs I did find

Instead of cleaning up the mess in the kitchen I'm sitting down with a few episodes of Mad Men, a glass of red wine and a big bag of ice for my sore ankle. Happy Easter everyone!

The cupcake went splat

This is a crazy busy week and,  when you add my crazy tooth problem, I have not been a pleasant person to live with.

After work today I stopped by the cute cupcake place near our apartment to order a few dozen cupcakes for a wedding shower I'm co-hosting with my mother next weekend. To make sure I wasn't going to poison the guests, I bought myself the most decant looking cupcake to devour when I completed all of my errands {and to try to bribe my sore tooth to shape up}. I drove like a mother taking her baby home from the hospital for the first time- not wanting to bump the cupcake in its little pink box. Just before I turned into our garage husband called so I had to make a decision: take my hand off the cupcake box answer the phone or ignore husband's possibly important call to protect my precious cargo.

I went with option A: answer the call. My cupcake went splat and my husband had to listen to a ridiculously dramatic rant about how my life ended the moment I lost out on the cupcake. Poor husband.



Oh, and, Those of you who plan on reminding me that I gave up sweets for lent are obviously not true friends!

Punching Sasha

I woke up in the middle of the night last night to husband punching me {with all of the force that comes with a 6'6'' man!} in the shoulder. I swatted his hand away and started yelling, and blah blah blah. He was dreaming that I was cheating on him so he was punching "Sasha" in the face. What kind of a sexy man's name is "Sasha"?

Anyway, now I can totally see how crazy Michelle from the Bachelor got her black eye!

My shoulder is fine but I have to wonder whether this occurrence is related to THIS?

I'm going to pinch you like white on rice

Via

Today is St. Patrick's Day and, although I know absolutely nothing about Mr. Patrick, I do know that if I come across someone not wearing green today I will pinch them. Not like a grandma pinching the cheeks of a chubby baby. I'm going to pinch them like white on rice.

Neither of us own anything green so I'll have to come up with an alternate solution. JJ had a green polo but he lost it so I am going to find all kinds of satisfaction in pinching him 98743543 times today.

If you love the rainbow...

How do things get so messy when I don't have any children and I live in 1000 square feet? There are socks in every room of the house. There are sweaters under the couch cushions. There are empty diet coke cans on every flat surface. There is even a street sign that says "Corona Avenue" laying on my bedroom floor.

Being a type "A" person, I have to wonder-- where does this mess come from?

Oh yeah, I got married. I found this nice little quote to sum up how I feel about this mess:

I'm not a terrorist threat

JJ sent this to me today. I'm interpreting it as a threat. I'm going to be sleeping with one eye open.

(click on the story to make it bigger- unless you have superhuman 

eyes and you can read it this small)

I OWE YOU

We've been married for seven months now- which is closer to one year than it is to no years. Clever, aren't I?! I find it so hard to believe that time has passed this quickly, yet it's hard to remember back to a time that we weren't wedding planning or learning how to be married {the latter is the stage we're currently in}.

I was looking through wedding pictures and came across these:

When I get annoyed with my husband for being a work-aholic and not going to bed at the same time as me so he can stay up and play Call of Duty, I have to remember that these {as in his sweet side} are the reason I fell in love with him.

Be Mine

Husband, will you be my valentine? 

Let's meet at home after work and eat lots of foods obnoxiously cut out with hearts. 

Sappy McSappyson

No amount of snow is keeping my hunka-hunka piece of meat away from me today! I've only seen him for 48 hours during the last month but as soon as that darn flight lands in Kansas City tonight he's here to stay for awhile. I'm killing time by cooking an obscene amount of food and doing some yoga {er, I mean laying on my yoga mat while I watch "19 kids and counting"}.

It has been a major struggle having to spend so much time apart in our first month in a new city but we feel lucky to both have jobs we love, a great new home and aren't very far away from our family and friends. I am quite certain that I'm going to go on a bitter rampage if his company sends him away for weeks at a time again though!