My Favourite and My Best

Two years ago this happened. Can you believe it's been two years? I just read that post over again and besides being pretty funny to me, it makes it seem like it was just yesterday. What a great day! There have been so many, many great days since then, but that one still stands out as an extra especially great day.

Mr. Graham is just the nicest husbandman in the world. He is so thoughtful and nice and compliment-y and helpful and not complain-y and funny and he is so cute when he sleeps. I like to say that he is my favorite and my best. Here are some other ways he is my favorite and best:

• He laughs when I say ridiculous things like “If you were a button, I would call you husbandybuttons.”

• He humors me when I ask if I can quit my job and stay at home all day like a bum.

• He lets me pin him down and tickle his feet.

• He always does the dishes. Always!

• He is my faithful and insightful little reader.

• He never says I don’t need that new pair of shoes.

• He puts up with a lot of whining about wanting cheese when I’ve fallen to the Communists (and then gives me cheese).

• He loves me so and tells me so all the time.
  

Really, he is such a nice husband, and I like him so well. I so look forward to our adventures together, even if those adventures are just sitting on the couch and watching movies.

As a side note, I wish I could say “my favourite and my best” was my own linguistic creation, but it actually comes from an episode of Charlie and Lola. I feel about Mr. Graham the same way a small girl child feels about snow. Watch it! I love this show.

Happy anniversary, husbandybuns! :*

In Which I Expound Fondly

Guess what happened a year ago yesterday?
This! Can you believe it's been a year already? The time really started to speed up about June and now I can't believe it's already been August 15th and all. Now we can say that this time last year we were already married!

You all know this isn't a gooey blog so I won't be gooey now. But I am going to list a few things I have been liking about Mr. Graham in particular the last few days.

• His eye crinkles when he smiles.
  
• The fact that he will drag all the heaviest luggage around, up and down hills with nary a complaint.
  
• The way he sings Yankee Doodle Dandy in his sleep or says things like "Trouble is my middle name."
• The beard! Yeah.
  
• He can keep up with me when I start quoting Nightmare Before Christmas.
  
• He is always full of surprises--like flowers or a random DVD I have been pining for.
  
• He likes me so well and I can tell all the time.
  

So here we are, married and happy and happy to be married, as we always shall be. And there's only 365 days left until the next anniversary!

Cheers to you, Mr. Graham, and cheers to us. I loves you so. :*



(I may have listened to this song three times in a row today...)

Bread: Take 2

I desperately wanted to end my no-salt bread story with the words "I forgot the salt." so I did, and now I will give you the second half to the story.

I was temporarily daunted by the breadmaker. Besides tasting like styrofoam, the bread had a ridiculously thick crust that exploded all over if you put the knife to it. It also had a gently concaved top that perplexed me. Mr. Graham praised me anyway and ate it extra happily, but I just ignored it bitterly (the bread, not his praising and happy eating). But! Since I knew the lack of salt was probably 95% of the problem, I was determined to try again.

So, while we fast forwarded through the Oscars, the breadmaker (maybe I'll call it George) worked away on a new batch--complete with salt. Of course, I forgot that it takes 3 hours and 50 minutes so it didn't finish until about 10:30. It had looked good while it was cooking and it smelled pretty nice too. But then! I took it out!

It was so beautiful I promptly named it the Bread Baby and took pictures with it. It was so beautiful it glowed.
Then we ate half the Bread Baby while all my Oscar predictions came true.

The breadmaker still feels a little bit like a cheat to me. I put all the things in and it does 100% of the work. It's like my own electronic bread-making hen--and yet I still wind up with all the bread in the end. It takes away some of my satisfaction in having made bread, since I didn't have to put forth much effort. Still, they have their place and I know some days I will want bread but won't have the time or willpower to do all the work.

On a similar note, Comrade Ferskner and her sister are having a Year of Pie Cake Bread. I guess I have been having my own little bread fest, although so far it is mostly filled with, well, standard rolls and saltless bread. Maybe I can call this my year of bread. Not quite on par with the actual Year of Bread, but a year that includes bread nonetheless.

I Got Married. Did You Know?

Well, it has been almost 4 weeks to the day since Drew and I were wed. One of these days I will do a post and tell you all about our windy, wandering path to marriage. But on this day I will tell you all about the actual wedding day. Some of you were there so you know all about it already, but some of you weren't for a variety of reasons so read on and be enlightened. There are many pictures, partly for the benefit of you non-Facebookers. Speaking of which, if any of you would like to see the pictures on Facebook but can't, let me know and I can send you the link. Anyhoo, let's get going.

August 15th. It started early, at 7:00 and it was cloudy and very rainy and wet outside. Our poor tent went right down on the ground.
Drew went for a run because he is crazy, and I camped out in the downstairs bathroom to get my hair done. There were no windows around so I had no idea what was happening in the rest of the house or out in nature. So I spent the early morning chatting with Kami with a K (ie, not Drew's Sister Cami) while she did my hair. I was getting pretty antsy by the end of it, since the breakfast was getting started at 10:30 while she was still wrestling with some hair that absolutely refused to curl. The hair, in the end, did refuse to curl for longer than the next twenty minutes, but I didn't care and look at the end result! It's fantastic and has lots of bobby pins in it.
So, as I was heading towards the stairs D-Rew met me at the bottom and said "Guess who's here?" And then I said "Annnnnnnn????" and he nodded and I fairly squealed my head off running for the stairs. It was a glorious reunion! Seriously, it was one of my favorite things that day. And her nice manfriend, JM, came along with her so I didn't have to worry about her being bored since she didn't really know anyone besides my sister.
So the breakfast was great and there was tons of food and friends and family. In the meanwhile our poor tent sat forlornly on the front lawn. Finally, midway through the breakfast, the wind died down and the rain had stopped so all the menfolk went outside and put the poor thing back up (where it stayed the rest of the day). We were a little anxious about the weather, but we had a few backup plans so we didn't fret too much.
A few hours later and off we went to the temple, each with a parent in tow. By this time we were seeing some blue sky among the clouds but it was still mostly cloudy. Unfortunately Drew had forgotten something at home so after a few attempts to have it found via the telephone, he ran back himself (ran=drove). What was it? This little number, made especially to coordinate with the rest of my jewelry:
And then we got married. It was nice to look around and see a bunch of friends and family, some that traveled a ways to be there. I don't know what else to say about this part except we got married and no, I didn't cry.

So then we were all married and stuff and we headed out to greet everyone. Doesn't he look so good in his tux? I wish he owned it so I could make him put it on periodically so I could give him googly eyes. I guess I do that anyway.
So, we took lots of pictures and everyone was really good about getting in their spots when their group was up. Oh, and the weather--it was perfect! Just a few clouds hither and thither and a nice cool temperature. Everything was dry and my heels only sunk into the ground a few times. The only really sad thing was that my poor hydrangeas in my bouquet were very unhappy and they started to wilt almost immediately.
After we had a lot of pictures taken we headed back to the house where things were coming together for the reception. The cake arrived and we were happy to not worry about it melting in the unseasonably cool August weather. Isn't it pretty? It's just what I wanted and it tasted great too.
I stuck my bouquet in some water during the meantime, but alas, they just couldn't pull it together. But that's okay, they still look pretty in pictures and the ones on the tables lasted just fine. I finished packing and walked about barefoot with the lace of my dress wrapped over my shoulder like a sari.
So then we had a reception, and it was great. People had a good time and we got all manner of compliments. I don't remember the name of a single new person I met. Luckily there were lots of familiar faces too.
The only reception tradition we did was cutting the cake. I never got around to ordering a bouquet for throwing, I vetoed any dancing and we both vetoed a garter toss. In the end the line lasted so long there wasn't much time for doing other things besides taking some more pictures with friends and family and eating a single creme puff.

So, at long last, we decided it was time to head off to Salt Lake City. I changed out of my dress (*sigh*), threw around a few last directions ("Don't forget my shoes!" "Please dry my flowers!") and headed to the car, dispensing last hugs along the way. Did I mention the car? It was delightful.
And that, my friends, was the wedding day. It went off with nary a hitch and the biggest potential problem was resolved halfway through the day. And now, in bulleted fashion, here are my favorite things from the day:

• Wearing my wedding dress. Going along with this, finally revealing it to D-Rew, who had just right reaction of jaw dropping and gasping and plentiful compliments.
• Delicious foods. I always like good food.
  
• The family! Of course. It's always fun when a bunch of the family is together at once, and not just a few. This always makes me wish we lived closer.
  
• The friends! They came from near and far and made everything that much more special.
  
• Not to be predictable or anything, but marrying Mr. Graham was my very favorite and best.
  

So, the events are all over now although of course the Graham household is just beginning. Four weeks in and everything just gets better and better.

And thus concludes my wedding post. If you'd like to read about the wedding and the honeymoon from the Mister's perspective, you can check out his posts. Also, in case you were wondering, we have no plans to combine our blogs or start a new one or anything. Business continues as normal in the blog world.

PS

I realized that I forgot one of my favorite points on the list in my last post (I wrote it in my head while I fell asleep). Then I thought of a few more things to add so this is just a quick note of a few more things I have learned recently in the school of married life.

• Gnocchi and small shells are not the same size. When substituting the larger (gnocchi) for the smaller (shells), I need not put in the same amount of poundage. 1 pound of small shells=kind of overwhelming in my skillet.
• Listening to a sleep talker is entertaining. "I'm going to show you these two pictures and then I'm going to tell you why this one is better by a trillion points."*
  
• Marriage > dating
• My husband > all boys ever. Here is the latest evidence:
  

It's a rotten picture, but Red Camera is still out of commission. Luckily I happen to have a webcam. Oh, and just FYI, wedding pictures are up on Facebook now.

*This is the one I forgot, in case you were wondering.

Learning: It Happens

Well, I have been married now for two weeks and two days. In these two weeks I have learned a number of significant things and I'm going to tell you about them now, in bulleted fashion. Some of them are directly related to marriage, others are just things that have come up in my new domestic experiences.

• It's a bad idea to set bananas on top of the stove when the oven is on. We have black bananas. Luckily Drew will eat anything (and even say it's good).
  
• Boys are good at killing bugs. Technically I already knew this, because of my Pops, but for the first time I am not living at home and there's still a man around to kill the uglies. So I'm counting it. It goes something like this: "Bug!" *squash*
  
• Not all boys are messy and smell like, you know, boys.
  
• It is, in fact, quite satisfying to do all the housely things while Drew does the income getting things. Soon I will take to wearing dresses and heels everyday, along with my apron.
  
• Living with The Roommate didn't prepare me for sharing bedspace but she did prepare me for Drew having the worst alarm in history, leaving candles burning while we're gone and turning the light on when I'm sleeping. Oh wait, he does none of those things.
  
• A king-size bed makes sharing bedspace easy as pie. I can just roll over and have my own continent. But why would I roll over in the first place?
  

So yes, there you have it. A lifetime of learning in two weeks. I mean, surely this is all there is to it, right? I've got this marriage thing down.

A Bit of a Tease

Well, I am married now. It is quite nice. I don't really care for gushing about things on blogs or the internet in general--real life things, that is. So I'm not going to go on about the infinite blessings of marriage or the bliss that comes from having such a hot delightful husband. I am happy and loved and that is all. Consider that my official endorsement for marriage.

So anyway, as much as I would love to tell all about The Day we're still waiting for our pictures, and what kind of post would that be without pictures? But luckily all the honeymoon pictures are right here on Vera. I'll post a lot more pictures on Facebook, after I can post wedding ones, but I thought I would give a little rundown. For you OCD people, sorry to do things out of order. It's good for you!

The day after the wedding we headed off to sunny southern California. We spent the first day at the aquarium on the pier. We touched sharks! Little sharks, but sharks nonetheless. We also saw sarcastic fringeheads and humbugs. Oh, and also Julie & Julia, though not at the aquarium but rather the nearby theater.

Oh dear, my husband is a shark.

We went to Huntington Beach the next day. I decided that I like the beach after all and could spend a lot of time there. The sand! The water! The waves! Delightful. That opinion would probably change depending on the crowds at the beach, but there weren't a lot of people there that day.

The next two days we spent at Disneyland. We saw the fireworks shows, ate delicious foods at the Blue Bayou and Club 33 (jealous?) and recreated a few pictures. Yay, Drew has his own bling now that needs to be resized.

The next day some fellow out-of-towners backed into our rental car (with us in it) in the Target parking lot just as we were leaving. So much for those fancy cameras to help you back out of your parking spaces, huh?

We spent our last California evening at another beach, Sunset or Surfside, depending on your source. Either way it was pretty much deserted (save for a dead pelican), the sunset was lovely and the waves were big. It was also windy, as you can probably tell from this picture, which is one of my favorites.

So there, in brief, is our honeymoon. Soon enough Facebook will have many pictures and you can see such delights as: an Ingres portrait that looks like Rufus Sewell, the Queen from Snow White in the flesh, me being washed away by waves and the infamous dead pelican.

A Place in Which to Live

In honor of today being our pick-up-the-keys-and-start-moving-in day for our little abode, I will now tell you all which place we signed for. Or rather I will show you.


Yes, we are moving into Place #2, which clearly none of you were fans of judging by the poll. So now I will explain why we picked this place over those others. Firstly, it has lots of space, both headspace and er, body space? Anyway, yes, space. It's true the kitchen is small, but we decided the rest of the space made up for it, and since neither of us are cooking aficionados, we figured it was enough room for our two person needs. Maybe we'll kick ourselves later, but it's all part of the learning process right?

Second, we really liked all the light. It's on the main floor and there are big windows in every room (save the bathroom, which is okay with me). We're fans of windows, as demonstrated by my self.


Third, there are bunch of miscellaneous reasons: off-street parking, a cool, shady street (as in tree shade, not hoodlums), distance from undergrads and, of course, it was a good monetary deal. Plus, we liked it.

Now you're probably wondering about places 1 and 3. Well, here's the scoop on place #1 that you couldn't tell from the pictures. It was actually a studio apartment with a bonus room. And while we could have had everyone hanging out on our bed to watch movies, we weren't super keen on the idea. The bonus room wasn't really big enough to do anything with and there wasn't really any closet space either. We did like the floors, the big windows, the nice-ish kitchen and the cool shower. But we wanted a living room.

We did really like place #3 too. It was a nice size, the kitchen had new cabinets and utilities were fixed. We probably would have applied for it if the lady had given us the application soon enough, but despite our multiple requests she took her sweet time and we didn't get it until we were getting ready to sign for place #2. It didn't really bode well for good management. Plus it was in the basement, something we were ready to overlook, but were also hoping to avoid.

Oh, and all the bathrooms were all pretty comparable, in case you were wondering. (Besides the cool shower [It was elevated. Elevated!])

So. That's the story. Place #2 is now officially ours. We just started moving in the essentials. Art books and DVDs.

A Dress for the Viewing

Many moons ago when this whole wedding planning thing started, it was agreed that the Mister wasn't going to see so much as a thread of my dress before the actual wedding day. It was a great plan and it's been fun to have this big, white, sequined secret from him. But, truth be told, I'm kind of tired of keeping it secret so today I'm going to show you all my dress.

Yes yes, I know there's that whole secret thing. Drew never ever checks this blog though, and if any of you happen to see him start typing the URL, just distract him (this is best done by saying the phrase "frilly things").

So, here it is! It's everything I ever hoped and dreamed possible in a dress. I wanted to look like a princess and this goes above and beyond my expectations. It's going to look even better after I get my perm on Friday.

My favorite parts are the puffiness and how the sleeves look like seashells. Plus, all the fabric will shield me from the August sunshine. Ah, sweet dress bliss. If you're looking for a wedding dress and want something special, you can go to the website where I found this one.

Also, don't forget to vote in the apartment poll. And don't forget to come to my wedding.

Stuff: It's Happening

How funny is it that I'm getting married in about 2.5 weeks? Pretty funny. Anyway, after spending many an hour on craigslist for the past month or so, we finally found a place to live! And better yet, we got a contract and we signed it and we're moving into it in a few weeks. (As opposed to finding a place and wanting a contract but not getting it until weeks later because why would a manager want people to fill out contracts and rent their properties? Right?)

We looked at a lot of places, and we took pictures of quite a few of them (sadly there are no pictures of the Tiniest Studio Ever). So, here are some pictures of three places. Can you guess which one we got?

Place #1:

Place #2:

Place #3: