Introducing Annie

After 1.5 hours in BestBuy, with my giftcards in tow, I am happy to introduce…Annie, my new Dell netbook! Her name is Annie because she’s a black and white beautiful piece of work, named after one of my favorite black and white photographers Annie Liebowitz. I know, it really makes no sense but given the other options I’d thought of, Annie was the best option. Trust me. I’m so excited about my new toy. Now when Kevin is playing his xbox, I can search the internet, write emails, scan facebook and blog to my hearts content. Given that I love anything miniature, it’s no wonder I’m in love with my mini computer. Merry Christmas to me :)

one income household

most of you probably know, we've been a one-income household since the beginning of this month. it's definitely been interesting, to say the least. i'm pretty nervous to see how this first entire month will go, including only collecting one paycheck. although i do find myself a little irritated when i have to get up early and he gets to sleep in, i quickly remind myself that he'd do the same for me. i am the luckiest wife. not only does he clean while i'm at work and take care of errands, small chores, laundry and our little monster...i come home each night to a home-cooked meal and a straightened-up house. i never have to do the dishes, the mail has already been picked up and we get to spend quality time together every night. when i get home, he's already started dinner, we cook together and dance around the kitchen. we eat, watch a movie or our favorite (re-runs of the office). we leave the dishes in the sink until the morning (he does them every morning after i go to work) and have the whole night to just snuggle and talk. some people would say since he's not technically "working", he's not contributing. however, i feel that he's pulling more than his own weight around our humble abode. and i love him for it. having him around more (now that he doesn't have such a ridiculous commute to and from work every day) has been so nice!

i've also been thinking of adjusting my schedule to work 9-80's. meaning, i'd work 9 hours a day for monday thru friday and 9 hours on the following monday thru wednesday, 8 hours on that last thursday and get every other friday off. basically, 80 hours in a row then get every other friday off. that way, i have two extra long weekends to spend with kevin while he's still at home. the beauty of this schedule is, i'll be able to only be away from kevin one extra hour a day then get 2 whole extra days off per month. it's not like i have to go home and cook, so it shouldn't be too bad :) it's all because i love spending time with him. i'll update you on my decision once i talk with my supervisor.

Birthday Bliss - Melting Pot Style

Yesterday, as you know from my previous post, Kevin turned the BIG 2-5! I must admit, he took it a lot better than I did when I turned 25. Although he spent the morning and afternoon running errands or at home with Monster, he at least appreciated that he could relax. After work, I surprised him with a trip into the city. It was decorated with white lights in the trees so it looked really beautiful. I took a picture that I'll add later. We ate dinner at The Melting Pot in downtown Portland - the same restaurant he took me to the night we got engaged. It was so exciting to get to relive that special memory and even better to relive that great meal! Since it was Kevin's big day, he was excited that he got to choose what we ate (instead of compromising with me aka "miss picky"). So...dinner consisted of 4 courses. The first course was cheese fondue with three kinds of Swiss cheese with roasted mustard seeds and garlic mixed in. To complete the course, they bring you apples, three kinds of breads, mini pickles (weird), cauliflower and sausage to dip into the cheese. The second course we chomped on some salads, his caesar and mine California mixed greens with black raspberry vinaigrette. The third course was the meat cooked in broth fondue. Kevin chose the Mojo broth, flavored with garlic and citrus spices. The meat was lobster tail, filet mignon, top sirloin, prawns, sun-dried tomato ravioli, chicken and pork and included potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms to cook in the broth as well. It was a feast! The fourth course - the best one in my opinion - was the chocolate fondue! Kevin chose the Chocolate Turtle -- warm melting milk chocolate mixed with melted caramel then they lit Bacardi 151 Rum on fire and poured it into the chocolate pot to flambee it. Lastly, they added a bowl of roasted pecans. For dippers, they give you an entire plate of strawberries, bananas, oreo-crumb covered marshmallows, graham cracker-crumb covered marshmallows, rice krispie treats, pound cake squares and an entire slice of cheesecake topped with chocolate sauce and a cherry. (talk about a heart attack!!) It was delicious - more food than anyone could ask for! Kevin opened his gift from me -- two Blazer tickets to the Spurs game on February 4th. He was more than thrilled!! I told you I did good! What else do you buy for the guy that wants nothing!?! I was very proud of myself and happy he loved his birthday present! Add in a couple tropical cocktails for me and a 7 & Seven for Kevin...needless to say, it was one amazing night. To top it all off, we headed home to watch the final three episodes of The Office Season 5. Wish I could live like this every night! Happy Birthday babe. Can't wait to celebrate again with you and the parents tonight. Dinner and basketball game, here we come!! GO BLAZERS!

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, KEVIN MALONE!

Baby Kevin when he was a toddler, just chilling with a corona! hahah, too funny! Look at his snazzy little outfit! AND THOSE BLONDE CURLS!!! My hubby was one cute kid! Today my husband turns 25! I am so happy to be celebrating with him. We have such a fun night and weekend planned. I think I finally got a gift that he's going to LOVE, not just like or appreciate. Yep, this year I DID GOOD :)
Kevin -- I love you so much and I am so lucky to be married to you. You're not only my husband, you are my very best friend. I can't wait to spend the next 25 birthdays (and hopefully more) with you! We're both half-way up the hill now, baby. Atleast we're making the journey together and when we make it to the top, we will have someone to stand next you. You are my whole world! Happy Birthday! Love, your wifey.

to purge or not to purge?

spring is just around the corner. which means spring cleaning is on it's way. this year, i say BRING IT ON. there is so much around our apartment that needs to be purged, cleaned and organized. all the sudden, i have the energy and the desire to get it done. leaving college left kevin and i dragging around multiple tupperware bins full of stuff. (okay..so it's mostly me, but he has some junk too!) it's all things we accumulated over the 5 years at oregon state--some we want to keep, some we want to get rid of and some stuff we don't even know what to do with. our entire guest room/computer room is filled to the brim with bins, boxes, clothes, luggage. it'd be nice to actually be able to get to the other side of the room without feeling like you've entered an obstacle course. so my goal is to purge, clean and organize. i think this major room overhaul will call for a trip to one of my favorite places -- THE CONTAINER STORE :) besides target and crate & barrel, the container store makes me positively giddy. almost as giddy as martha stewart products (not the woman herself).

anyway, the reason for this post is because last night (while glancing through an old journal) i came up with a brilliant but scary idea. i have boxes and piles of journals--most of them only half-full mind you--from junior high, high school and college. my plan is to transfer all of my writings into one book and ::gasp:: purge all the original journals. is this an idea that sounds great now but that i will regret later? will i want the original copies? or will it be a freeing experience? one day, will i want to look back on all of the artwork and handwritten scribblings of a "woe-is-me" teenager? or will i feel content in knowing that i still have those thoughts, but that i've moved away from them towards bigger and better things? you see, i am a very sentimental person, so to me this is a scary decision. not to be taken lightly. i just think it's ridiculous to be carrying around bins of old journals. but on the other hand, it's like i'm throwing away a part of me. and once it's done, i'll never get them back again. so i need opinions...anyone have any? i'll even take alternate suggestions or yay/nay answers. basically, i'll take what i can get. i just can't make this decision on my own. please help.

photo sunday

as promised, this is our first "sunday picture." i will be posting one every sunday. and since it has my hand in it, it counts as a photo of either kevin or myself.
this photo is of my new and beautiful martha stewart 7-speed, digital hand mixer! in the classic martha blue, i might add. it was a gift from karen and tim, kevin's parents. i squealed when i opened it! baking cupcakes for work has never been so fun! thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! :) martha makes my heart happy!

it's my party and i'll cry if i want to.

you know i'm really trying to understand and trying even harder not to be bitter. kevin and i both worked our butts off in school. we waited for a long time before getting engaged. we waited until we both graduated before getting married. we got really good grades and cared about our classes. we didn't fail out our freshman year or party so much that we couldn't make it to class. we weren't frivolous with our money or rack up thousands in credit card bills. we didn't buy new cars as soon as we signed onto our new outta-college jobs. we didn't run out and buy a house we couldn't afford. we haven't had 1, 2 or 3 kids before OR after marriage. it seems like we've done everything right, the way people expected us to. we met the expectations we had for ourselves. and it still seems like we are behind every one of our friends or acquaintances. can someone please tell me what we are doing wrong!?! this has to be one of the must frustrating stages in my life and in our marriage thus far. why don't we have the job(s) paying what we deserve? why is my husband now unemployed? why aren't we excited about house-hunting or babies on the way or the new car we're driving off the lot or the fun vacation we'll be taking soon or the big promotion we're up for? oh i know why, because for some reason, it's just not happening for us. i know alot of those mentioned are just things, but they seem like so much more when you can't have them. to everyone else, they seem to be handed out left and right.

i'm not trying to sound like a brat but every time i turn around, one of my friends is popping out another baby or buying a house or car or going to some tropical island. another friend is making 3 times more than me and DOESNT have a degree. another friend or two is living off umemployment as happy as can be, living life by doing nothing all day and collecting probably as much as i make with a full time job! ridiculous! i just don't know what we worked so hard for? our two pieces of paper hanging on the wall with OSU engraved in the mighty orange and black? hardly worth it. now nothing seems to have paid off. sure, we have food on our table and we have a small apartment to call home. thankfully we have parents willing to help us out when needed (which is quite often lately). but that's just it--why do we need it? it's like we're doing everything right, but we don't have anything to show for what we've been working toward over the last 6 years. and now that kevin's not working, it is only going to go downhill from here.

so yes, i'm throwing us a pity party. and i could care less if it's unbecoming of me. and i have every right to feel like we've been cheated out of so many things the so-called "fabulous post-college real world" has to offer. if we had left college and worked for the past six years, we'd be a hell of a lot farther than we are today. i know it's not like we're on the streets or have terminal cancer. and i know i should be thankful that i'm still employed, but i can't help but be pissed off. my only question is...when is it our turn? when does the good guy win?

think before you post...

so i am thinking of our list of new years resolutions. i have quite the list, but am trying to narrow it down to the highest priorities. i will post it soon. probably tonight. i guess i'm just apprehensive because once it's on paper--eerr, i mean on the internet--for all to see, it must be followed. yep, tonight is the night.

MY FAVORITE POST SECRET TO DATE: "TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE. REMEMBER WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, BEFORE IT ALL CHANGES." (if you don't know what i'm talking about, i strongly encourage you to check out postsecret.com)

thus stems resolution #1: i've decided to start doing a photo post. one per week. it has to be of either kevin, myself, monster or a mix of all. thought it would be fun to have a year in memories in a one-photo-at-a-time fashion. we'll see. sounds exciting to me! now that i have a nice new camera from christmas, i might as well get some good use of it! plus, kevin likes to take photos too. there you have it. resolution #1. the magical day will be sundays. i will post one tonight to start then it will be every sunday there on out...like i said earlier, should be fun! :)