To my husband -

"Love is like a friendship caught on fire: In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable." --Bruce Lee

Today we have been married nine years. Nine years ago, a couple of crazy in love kids pulled the ultimate April fool's prank and jumped feet first into this thing called marriage. As our anniversary has drawn closer, I've been thinking a lot about our relationship. I like to think that that every couple feels like they share something special and unique, something that is exclusive to them. I'm no exception, I've always felt that we have something very special. But, it's been in the last few years that I have come to realize just how special and unique our marriage is.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." --Lao Tzu

I cannot fully express how lucky I feel to have you as my husband, my partner, my lover, my best friend. I cannot fully express how grateful I am that we love and trust so easily. I cannot fully express how amazing it is to me that we always strive to build each other up and support each other no matter the endeavour. I cannot full express this things because words are really too little for all that I feel. But I can try.

"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly." --Sam Keen

I am still in love with you, madly..wildly. You are the only person that sees the real me, all of me..the pretty and the ugly, and loves me anyway. I love the crinkles around your eyes and how they deepen when you smile. I love how you can fix anything with a hug. I love how we know each others boundaries. I love how we never speak unkindly to each other, and how we can fight in silence. I love that I can trust you completely, I know that you will catch me when I fall. I love how you make me laugh until I am gasping for breath. I love knowing that you are simply a good person with a pure heart. I love that you are hard working and selfless. I love that you love Metallica so much. I love going to sleep with you by my side every night and smelling your neck every morning.

"Paradise is always where love dwells." --Jean Paul F. Richter

I love your touch, I love your kiss. And even now, I still want one more touch, one more kiss, and one more I love you. It's never enough and I don't think it ever will be. Thank you for being the man I need you to be, the man I want you to be. Thank you for being my love, my heart, my best friend, my everything.

"You're nothing short of my everything." --Ralph Block

I love you.
Jinny

Wishes on the Breeze

Things that gross me out..

People that leave public restrooms without washing their hands.

Just because I think it's funny..

Not exactly pottery..

which is traditional for a 9th anniversary, but close enough for us. These are going to be my new dishes and I cannot wait to get them.


Jeremy and I decided about a month ago to buy new dishes for our anniversary. We've done some window shopping, talking about what we liked and didn't like. We really wanted to make sure we both were happy with our new set, especially if we ended up spending a little more on them.

I saw this set when we were shopping at a super Target in San Antonio and fell in love. They had a bunch of sets out on display so I was able to get a good look at them. I love the color. I love the print. I love that it comes with mugs and not teacups.

Our anniversary is this Wednesday, so I'm sure we'll be going sometime this week to pick them up. Yay for new dishes!

The Curse of the Wine Glass

Souls wouldn't wear suits and ties, they'd wear blue jeans and sit cross-legged with a glass of red wine. ~Carrie Latet

I've been waiting for a while now to get a new set of wine glasses. What happen to my old set? Well, you see, my husband broke them all. Not on purpose...I don't think. But, he broke them...all of them. So, it's been several months with no wine glasses. Wine out of a tumbler is fine..just not the same, you know what I mean?

A few weeks ago we were able to purchase a new set at Target. They are fairly simple and seemed very sturdy. I jokingly told my husband that he would have to work a little harder to break these. And I guess he did...because he broke one. *sigh*

Any bets on how long this set will last? Plus, he has broken a glass picture frame from our hallway twice this year...the SAME ONE...TWICE. Place your bets carefully and I'll keep you posted.

I fart in your general direction

My husband and I took our normal bi-weekly trip to the grocery store. We make a list and put the items in the order we move through the store. I know. But, it really does help save time, keeps us from buying a bunch of crap we don't need, and keeps us from forgetting things we DO need.

Anyway, we were nearly done with our list. We were near the pharmacy looking for a certain type of cold medicine. I'm sure y'all have the same sort of set up at your local grocery store. It's usually pretty quite over in this area. It's tucked away from the grocery area and people just dart in and out for what they need. Unless your a woman and then you might spend a little more time on the shampoo aisle. BUT, I'm getting off track. So, we were on the cold medicine aisle, searching for Advil something or other (it turned out to be behind the counter) and the only other person on the aisle with us was an elderly man using a walker. We were standing behind him and from the silence came a fart. My eyes went wide and I puckered my lips to keep from gasping...or laughing. I looked over at Jeremy with raised eye brows and a smile cracked his lips. All I could think was 'please don't make me laugh out loud'. That old man didn't even look over his shoulder. He didn't even acknowledge what had just happened.

We don't make it a habit of laughing at senior citizens or of their incontinence, but I sure am thankful that we moved on soon after that. I just HAD to laugh about it. For the rest of the trip we kept going on about how we couldn't wait to get old so we could just let them rip whenever and wherever we wanted without having to apologize for it.

Photo Hunt: Yellow

This is what I see..

when I open my eyes in the morning.

Wordless Wednesday

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. ~George Iles

Work with what you got

My brother-in-law, Timmy, is the youngest of my husbands siblings. I believe he is 26-ish? It's horrible that I don't know! I know that he is a few years younger than me. Anyway, he is the also the last of the siblings to get up on his feet. It's been a rough couple of years for Timmy.

Anyway, he is back in his own place. I haven't seen it, but I'm guessing it isn't fancy. Which is fine! We all have to start somewhere, even if we are starting over again. He is doing the best with what he has, and I think that is great. My husbands family are 'hand-me-downers'. They can swap out furniture like nobody's business. They find really good deals at the local charity shops, or close out sales, or garage sales and make use of that piece until someone else might need it. Since it only cost them $20 (or so) they don't have a problem parting with it. It's like a talent they have...or something.

To help Timmy with his new place, my husbands family has donated all sorts of things. A couch that pulls out into a bed from my in-laws, a dining room table from my other brother-in-law (who consequently got my in-laws old table because they just ordered a new one..see how this works), a small TV from the grandparents. My husband and I don't have any furniture to donate at this time, or we absolutely would. But, we wanted to contribute and give him SOMETHING. So, I worked with what I had..and that is a camera and an eye for photography.

I thought Timmy might enjoy some colorful artwork on his bare white apartment walls. Jeremy took me to a great spot that has very colorful graffiti on a large brick wall. I snapped a handful of pictures and that was all I needed. Printed them out and framed them (simple black frames, with simple white mats..they were 50% off..WHOO-HOO!) and they are ready to go to their new home on Timmy's wall.

Rockstar Photo Shoot

Ok so, I told the story of Jeremy and his guitar yesterday, right? I decided that I needed some photographic evidence of Jeremy's new baby to go with it so I grabbed my camera. I took a few pictures of just the guitar in its stand. But it just wasn't...good enough. I wasn't getting the energy I wanted. It was just sitting there. lol. I told Jeremy to grab it and let me take some pictures.

I was imagining this:

But instead I got this:

When I told him that he wasn't giving me what I wanted, I got this:

I told him to channel the spirit of James Hetfield, I mean, the dude's picture is plasted all over this room. Again, what was in my head:

And what I got:

Ok, a little better..I guess. By this time I'm standing up on the chair and telling to work it! Get angry! Growl for me! He can hardly keep a straight face and I am laughing so hard I am crying:

Finally I get this:


HHmmm, let's compare. Yep, I'd say he was right on:

THE Guitar

Years ago, when Jeremy and I had just moved in together, Jeremy was the proud owner of two guitars. His Flying V and his new Explorer. We displayed them proudly in our sparsely furnished living room. Jeremy was over the moon when he got that Explorer. He took pictures and everything as soon as he had it home and unwrapped. Well, very shortly after we had moved into our apartment we obtained a cat. Squeak was just a scrawny little kitten when he came to live with us. Little did we know what he would cost us. I guess you could say it was our fault for not doing it properly. We didn't have the money to pay for a pet deposit, so we just didn't pay. We had Squeak in our apartment illegally. OOOhhhhh. lol. I can't remember what we were thinking, if we planned to try and pay the deposit eventually? The details are a little fuzzy now. But, we were discovered before we paid the deposit. So we owed the $200 for the deposit AND a $50 fee for having the cat in the first place. And that $50 would have increased every day we didn't pay. What were we suppose to do? We didn't have $250 so we certainly couldn't let it get any higher. We had to make the gut-wrenching decision to pawn his Explorer. It was nearly the only thing we had worth anything at that time. So we went and we pawned it and we got the money to keep Squeak. I cried on the way home from the pawn shop. It was just an awful situation.

Anyway, we were never able to get the Explorer back from the pawn shop. It was lost to us. And THEN, ESP stopped making them. *gasp* That meant that Jeremy's chances of being to purchase another one declined significantly. For years and years now Jeremy has pined over his lost guitar. He has kept a picture of it on our bulletin board here in the office.He has found them being sold on ebay and would have to let them go because we just didn't have the money to even put a bid in. But, this year was different. Jeremy finally put a bunch of his extra guitar parts on ebay and made $500! Yes, that much. And he was on the HUNT for an Explorer. A few days had gone by and he didn't really find anything on ebay. I kept telling him to be patient. That he would find it if he just gave it some time. And he did! And it was exactly $500! Fate, anyone?

So, Jeremy was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his new Explorer. He kept a very, very close eye on the FedEx tracking. And on the day of delivery, Jeremy was like a little boy on the night before Christmas. He couldn't wait. When he came home for lunch he reported that there was no tag on the door (we were expecting one as they wouldn't leave it there). And then when I got home I reported that there was STILL no tag. No problem. It was still early. Maybe we would be lucky and they would deliver it while we were home. It would certainly save us a trip to the FedEx office. But then, about an hour later, I get a call from Jeremy. He wanted to make sure that there was NO tag. And there wasn't. And that was a problem because the FedEx website said it had been delivered at 1:00 that afternoon and signed for by a 'NNELSON'. Well, we don't know any NNELSON's. Yeah...right into frantic 'where the hell is my guitar' mode. Jeremy hurried home and called the local FedEx office, they told us they would contact the delivery guy immediately to gather more information. As we waited for the call back we talked about different scenarios..none of them sounding promising. The only thing that really stuck, however, was the neighbors. They are having work done on their house and have workers coming and going. We jumped right to that conclusion, naturally, that a worker signed for our package with the intentions of keeping it. We seriously did think it was foul play. And then we got the call back from FedEx, the delivery guy assured us that it was our neighbor..as in the owner of the house..that signed for our package. It was pure luck that we even had the guys number. He gave it to us over a year ago when he moved out and left his very old (like 91 years old) grandmother living in that house by herself. We have never had to use it and I'm glad that we didn't throw it away because we needed it NOW. Jeremy gave the guy a call..who we know as JAMES (no last name..we don't even know his last name) and he did in fact sign for our package. He was on the way over and would drop it off.

I still cannot believe that the neighbor did that. We don't have that sort of relationship. We talk over the fence every now and again, and he is friendly enough, and he has mentioned many times that if we needed anything to ask. And if we DID need anything from him we WOULD HAVE asked. But we didn't ask him to do that for us. *sigh* Crisis averted. Me, feeling guilty for automatically assuming it was one of the workers. But, I'm relieved that it is here..and safe.

A very successful shopping trip to Old Navy

I'm glad my sister called and asked me to go. And I'm glad that I decided to buy those items instead of talking myself out of them and putting them back.

And, I am THRILLED that the skirt fit me. It was the largest size on the rack, and not my usual size..one down. But I grabbed it anyways and thought I would just try it on. It fit! Perfectly! No sweating and sucking it in...it just zipped up. Love that!

I'm planning on taken most of those items with me to San Antonio this week, so maybe there will be pictures of me actually wearing them.

My Message from the Universe

No one ever regrets raising the bar, Jinny, ever, ever, ever.

Scare yourself,
The Universe

Besides, Jinny, this is your year, and I got your back.

How is it that the perfect message seems to come at just the right time? I haven't really talked about this much because I'm afraid to jinx it. But, I have had the feeling since new years even that THIS is our year. The first two months are gone and everything has been so wonderful so far. I can't really put a finger on it, maybe it's just my attitude that has been changed. I mean, we still have the same issues to tackle as last year..but those things seem much easier to overcome NOW. Jeremy and I are on the same page, lines of communication are open. It just goes to show that if you work together as a unit, even if the circumstances aren't ideal, its much easier to get through.

So, here's hoping that I didn't jinx anything (knocking on wood) and that the rest of the year brings just as much happiness and contentment as the first two months.

A few things I am thankful for..

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. ~Author Unknown