A love letter to my husband

Dear Chris,

I love you.

I treasure our life together and I love what we have created together…our beautiful little boy, our home and our love. You make me feel special when I feel unattractive. You lift me up when I am feeling blue. You make me laugh when I don’t feel like laughter is possible.

We have been through tough times in our 11 years of marriage. Really tough times…things that would destroy other marriages, but somehow we pushed through it. We made it work. There were times that I wanted to give up and throw in the towel, but you wouldn’t give in. You pushed on…and for that I am grateful. While we can’t take back our past actions we have managed to move past them and build a stronger marriage, stronger than I ever thought was possible.

Thank you for loving me. All of me. And for accepting me as I am...loving all of my little quirks and wacky-nesses. Thank you for allowing me to grow and become the woman that I am. Your support of me and my everyday choices are one of the things that keep me sane in this crazy world that we live in.

Thank you.

I love you.

Why I Dislike Valentine's Day

So yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Which I’m sure that you already know. But I just have to tell you that Valentine’s Day when you are a parent is much, much different than before you had kids. It just doesn’t have the same importance that it used to have…for many reasons. I think that I finally hit that “I’m an old fuddy-duddy” phase of adulthood, because I look at things so very differently than I used to, and I find myself really not liking Valentine’s Day anymore.

#1 – The last thing that I want to do is to have to make reservations waaaaayyyy in advance and sit in a crowded restaurant being waited on by a server that would rather be spending their time with their “special someone.” And the crowds…ugh, don’t even get me started on the crowds on a holiday like Valentine’s Day.

#2 – The struggle of finding a babysitter on Valentine’s Day is like trying to get the “IT” toy of the year for your kid at Christmas. Since there are so few good babysitters nowadays, you have to practically fight other couples in order to schedule a babysitter for Valentine’s Day. Or if you only use family members to watch your kids, you are scheduling months in advance in order to beat your siblings to reserving grandma’s time.

#3 – The cost of Valentine’s Day is just ridiculous. Why would I want my husband to spend double or triple the amount of money on flowers that he could bring me any other day. Or chocolates. Or cards. I also think that getting these items as a surprise on a “normal” day means so much more to me. I would rather get something “just because” rather than because of a holiday…it means that he is thinking about me on his own, not because he’s supposed to.

I just would rather stay at home in my yoga pants & a tank top, cuddled up on the couch watching a movie with my hubby. Or sitting outside under the stars by our fireplace. Those moments are the ones that I treasure so much more. Those are the moments in which our love shines through…the moments that don’t need all the hoopla surrounding them. They are the moments that we spend together because we WANT to, not because we are supposed to!

Happy "Being Together" Day

Valentine’s day is more than just a holiday to tell someone that you love them to me…it is the anniversary of my first date with my husband Chris. As of today we have been together for 14 years….and those 14 years have been a wild and crazy ride! We have been through illness, moves, living with in-laws & parents, having a child, among many others and we have managed to stick together through it all. And I can say that I love him more than I ever imagined that I could.

iPhone photo of us on our 10th Anniversary trip to Vegas

 So, today instead of telling him Happy Valentine’s Day, I say...

Happy “Being Together” Anniversary Chris

I LOVE YA BUNCHES AND CHEERS TO US! 

Reverb 10 - Day 3

Moment - Pick one moment in which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (textures, smells, voices, noises, color).

I'm not going to lie, my marriage has not always been perfect. It has not always been rosy. I've been married for over 10 years now and and I know that all couples that have been married for this long, or even longer, go through rough patches. Our marriage has had it's share of tough times,  but somehow we found our way back to each other and are more in love than ever. Things are good...really good and we have finally learned how to keep them good. It is work, but it is all worth it. My "moment" is a celebration of my marriage.

This past March my husband and I took a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We chose to go there because it is where we celebrated our Honeymoon and we knew that it was the right place to celebrate being together...just like at the beginning of our marriage. While we were there my husband surprised me by asking if I wanted to renew our vows. Of course I said yes and on March 8, 2010 we were remarried. But not in a typical way, but in a way that we would never forget! We have already had our big white wedding so this time we decided to do a cheesy Vegas-style wedding. A bright, shiny Elvis officiated wedding!

It was crazy, fun and just the way that we wanted to celebrate...A lighthearted way to begin the next 10 years! It was most definitely the most "alive" moment that I have experienced this year. This moment was a ceremony celebrating that we were at the beginning of a new time in our marriage. A moment that exceeded my expectations. A moment that I will forever treasure. A moment that I was able to share with my best friend and love of my life.

Why we work

After 10 years of marriage some people wonder why and how my husband and I manage to stay together and are so happy. Well, this past weekend I was reminded once again of why we are a perfect match for each other!

Over the past two weeks they have been resurfacing all of the streets in my part of the valley and when they do that, they also cover up all of the lane markings and you just have a large wonderfully spacious black surface to drive on. My husband and I were in the car together this weekend and when we came upon one of these roads (it was supposed to be a three-lane road) and since no one was around he began swerving and we looked at each other and said at the same time “Look at this. Wide lanes…this is sooo luxurious!”




Yep, we are both Seinfeld lovers and we can recite amazing quotes that fit our situations perfectly. And it is one of the many reasons that I love my husband... 'Cause a man that can quote amazingly perfectly timed pop culture references definitely has my heart!

The Story of Danny & Annie

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Sometimes we need a reminder of what love is, and what it should be. The video above is a true story produced by StoryCorps, a nonprofit that goes around the country recording the stories of anyone who wants to talk. This is the story of Danny and Annie and their 27 year love story. It includes how they met, how Danny proposed, how he writes daily love-letters to Annie and eventually how he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is beautiful, humorous and might just make you cry.

Have a great holiday weekend!

My Anniversary

Today is my ten year anniversary to my wonderful husband. And today, I love him more than I can put into words. I’m not going to sugarcoat things and tell you that my marriage is perfect, because it is not. I’m also not going to tell you that it has been smooth sailing each and every one of those ten years. We have had our tough moments and even lived apart a couple of years ago, but today....today things are amazing. I feel that we have went through the tough times to get to where we are today. We have grown together, we have cried together, we have learned together and today I love this man more than I ever imagined that I could have.

What is love to you? What makes a good marriage? These are good questions and they seem easy enough to answer, but in reality they are not. Marriage and love are words that are sometimes interchanged, when in reality they are two very different things. Love can be all encompassing, it can be all consuming, it can be sweet, innocent, hard, and for some it means work. To me love is friendship set on fire...it is compassion, tenderness and caring. It is having someone else in your thoughts often...wondering about how they are and what they are doing. Marriage on the other hand is being completely committed to someone else, it is the physical, mental and spiritual union of two people. Personally, I love being married...I love having someone to share my life with, someone to share my hardships and triumphs with, someone to hold me when I cry, someone to make me laugh so hard that food flies out my nose, and someone to wake up to every morning.

Thank you Chris for being my husband. I love you and love the life that we have built together...most of all, thank you for giving me the best gift I have ever gotten, our son. I love you and am looking forward to many more years together!