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 Substitute

Before I get into the meat of this post, let me just say that in the process of making muffins this morning, I burned three of my fingertips when I grabbed the muffin pan out of the drawer below the oven. Apparently it had been helpfully preheating along with the oven. It was hot. I have five blisters and at this moment I am clutching a frozen pack of ham and typing one handed. I just wanted you all to know how hardcore I am. Also, don't try to get things out of the drawer below the oven when the oven is on. That is my bit of wisdom for today. Anyway.

Now, let me tell you something about that wonderful place called D'CALC. For those of you who don't know, D'CALC was my apartment in Indiana that I shared with Ferskner and Marcue. It was glorious for many reasons and D'CALC was unique in many ways, but here is one of those reasons:


Furry pumpkin! It's exactly what you think it is: a real pumpkin stem with a pumpkin-like body made of (fake) fur and stuffing. Neato and bizarre, yes? It was a Christmas present for Ferskner from her brother. Ah, the love. Anyway, we weren't quite sure what to do with it, and it kind of moved around the apartment for a while before settling down on top of the television. It was a great conversation piece, and sometimes I find myself thinking fondly of its weird, soft pumpkin body.

(Thanks to Marcue for the furry pumpkin picture I pilfered from her blog.)

Now, let me tell you another story. One of our wedding presents was a tall pillar candle from Yankee Candle with an apricot honey scent. We've been moving lots of stuff from Maison Graham to Appartement Graham and one of them was the candle and holder. A few days later I headed out to Wal-Mart in my car, which smelled unusually delicious. Later in the parking lot, I was putting things in the trunk when I noticed the candle holder sitting in the back, on the shelf between the seats and the back window. "Oh ho," I said to myself, "I forgot all about that back there. I wonder where the candle is..."

Yes. The candle was there. Not looking quite like a pillar anymore.

Rather more like a sea cucumber yes?* A waxy sea cucumber. What does this have to do with the furry pumpkin? Maybe not much, really, but I've started calling the waxy sea cucumber furry pumpkin. It's odd, unexpected and I keep putting it different places around the apartment. It's not a furry pumpkin but it is a nice, indirect reminder of D'CALC. Like the glow in the dark bat in my car.

*Sorry for the lame picture, but I took it with my webcam. The screen on my trusty camera broke the other day, alas.

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.