1825 Days of Bliss

Okay, well, maybe not non-stop bliss. And, since I'm a couple of days late on this, it's really been 1827 days at this point. In any case, it's been 5 years since we were married.

Justin and I met in 1999, I was 18, almost 19, and he was 19. We got serious really fast, and within a couple of months Justin had moved in with me and my friend Sati. Within a couple more months Justin and I talked about getting married. No, we didn't tell anyone - we weren't crazy! We knew that people would think we were if we admitted that we might think we'd found someone we could be happy with forever.

In October 2001, Justin and I took a trip down to Arizona. We stayed with his family, then took off to Sedona to stay in a beautiful hotel and see the Grand Canyon. While we were there, we ventured to the woods, and sat near a small stream. The details of our engagement are still blurry to me - I was just so in the moment that I can't remember what exactly Justin said as he presented the beautiful ring to me. In the rest of the pictures from the trip, you can see my fingers curled because I was a little paranoid that I might lose it! When I called my Mom to tell her, she didn't lie - she told me she thought I was too young. She told me that if I waited until I was 25 to get married, she'd pay for it. I understood, I know that young marriages don't always work out. But I already knew that mine would.

We had a long engagement. I was in school and knew it would be too much for me to plan a wedding while I was still at UW. We chose a date, and by the time we got married, we'd been together for 3.5 years.

On July 12, 2003 I woke up after a night of fitful sleep to find the sleeping pill my mom had given me the night before still on top of the dresser, which explained why I hadn't slept so well! The next time I saw Justin he was wearing a tuxedo and standing on the stage in the theater where we got married. We wrote the ceremony ourselves, and it was performed by Justin's older brother. We wrote our own vows and chose other readings. We cobbled the ceremony together from various traditions and pieces that we liked from different weddings we'd attended or heard about. It was perfect. We honeymooned in Hawaii, swam, went horseback riding, and got tattoos. We didn't talk to anyone else for a whole week.

In May 2006, Justin stood by my side as I gave birth to our son. We were overjoyed, it had taken us 2 years to get pregnant and I knew what a wonderful father Justin would be.

On July 12, 2008 we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. Five years that have gone by so quickly, slow at times, but flying by our eyes. Despite any hard times, I don't doubt. Since the day we were married, I've never had a doubt that this was it. When I think about growing old, about the next five years, about the next 10 or 20 years, I am filled with wonder. Next year we'll celebrate being together for 10 years. That's 1/3 of our lives spent together, which is amazing to me. I've seen marriages fall apart, and I feel lucky to have found someone with the same philosophy as I do. Divorce is not an option, we know that we'll be able to work through anything that might come up.

Justin is amazing. He is smart. He does things with computers that I can't even comprehend, but has a gift for explaining them to me in a way I can understand. He roughhouses with Sam and pulls delicious two year old peals of laughter from within that crazy little body. When I set a goal, he supports me, even when I'm annoyed about it because I want him to help, but it would be easier if I didn't have to change. He doesn't always understand me, but he gives me the space I need. And I love him. I love him so much that I can't put it into words, that deep love that you feel for your husband or your child where if you think about it too much it will overwhelm you, cover you and suffocate you until sobs fill your lungs. He is a part of me, and always will be. Here's to five more years, and five more, and five more after that. Here's to a lifetime of five years strung together until forever.

So You Think You Can Dance Newsflash!

I just read on TV.com that Jessica is OUT! Apparently she was injured last week and has withdrawn from the competition, which means Comfort has been brought back in for the time being. It will be interesting to see how she does this week with a new partner. Nothing is being specified about the injury. I'm not sad, I actually thought Jessica was going to go last week, although it does suck to get so far and have to bow out due to injury. Hm....

Movie Monday: Brendan Fraser & Hellboy

Journey to the Center of the Earth (3D!): I admit that I decided I wanted to see this movie the minute I saw the first preview. Justin was not as convinced, but when we had the opportunity to go and see it in 3D, he was totally in. We went with Violet on Friday night to see it. First of all, this whole new 3D movies thing is just amazing to me. I mean, how do they DO that? We saw some cute looking previews, including one for something called 'Fly Me to the Moon' about these little kid flies that go to space. In any case, I was not disappointed by this movie. The cool thing was that since it wasn't TRYING to be real, there's not the question of plausability. Yeah, nothing about it is plausable, so you can just enjoy it without thinking too hard about it. The story was cute, the center of the earth looked cool, and the 3D was awesome. Also, I like Brendan Fraser. I've been getting excited about the upcoming Mummy 3, which features not only Brendan Fraser but the wonderful John Hannah, who I have been totally in love with since Sliding Doors, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. I would definitely recommend this movie to Sci-Fi fans, and to Brendan Fraser fans. However, it is fairly scary and I wouldn't take the younger kids to see it, although they might be able to handle most of it on DVD in the safety of home.

Hellboy 2: I love comic book movies. You may already know that. I was excited when I saw that Hellboy 2 was coming out, but I wasn't super excited. I knew I would enjoy it and it would be good. I'll tell you what though, I LOVED IT! I think that a lot of this owes to Guillermo Del Toro. I did not like Pan's Labyrinth. I expected something much different than what I got, and I was disappointed at how sad and depressing the movie was. What was lacking for me in Pan's Labyrinth I FOUND in Hellboy 2. Guillermo Del Toro's imaginings of these amazing creatures are really incredible, and they were really showcased in this movie. Amazing. I just loved the stylization, I loved the scene at the beginning where Hellboy's father is telling him a story and it went into this weird wooden puppet sort of representation of the story, it was so wonderful. If you liked Hellboy, you will definitely like this movie. If you like comic book movies, you'll like it. If you like Guillermo Del Toro, you'll like it. So basically, go see it. I might go see it again if Violet doesn't get a chance to go see it without me. And I will not mind paying to see it on the big screen again.

So You Think You Can FAIL?

Yeah, that's right. I didn't watch SYTYCD on time again this week. I FAIL. Not only does this make the posts I write (and am still COMPELLED to post) somewhat irrelevant, but it hurts. I love this show, I want to watch it right when it's over, but alas, I was away for the weekend. This is the last time that I fail at this, and I'm serious.

The Performance Show:

Cat Deely's dress looks like it was made out of a seashore hotel bedspread. And Mary Murphy, again with the glitter. Ugh.


Round 1:

• Chelsea & Mark dancing Salsa: She looked pretty hot, and she made it look easy. I bet I would die if I tried doing that routine. Great opening number.
• Comfort & Thayne dancing Hip Hop: I liked the choreography, I always like it when there's a story. But I agree with the judges, it lacked chemistry.
• Jessica & Will dancing Contemporary: Um.... I am sorry, Tyce, but I don't think I got it. I was impressed by their connection, the way they dance off each other, the passion in their performance.
• Courtney & Gev dancing Cha Cha: Holy jump Gev! That was a fabulous opening. That was AWESOME! They really are perfect for each other.
• Kherington & Twitch dancing Krump: The strobe lights sort of made me feel like my head was exploding, and made it harder to see their movements or something. Obviously Twitch was great, and I think Kherington did a great job considering who she is, her cuteness etc. She did step it up. She looked gorgeous. She did lose the energy at the end though, when they showed the beginning, then the end right after, you could really tell. It was SO much better than the last time someone did Krump on this show, that's for sure.
• Katee & Joshua dancing Viennese Waltz: That really was gorgeous. Again, they made it look easy.

Round 2

• Chelsea & Mark dancing Broadway: It was funny to hear Chelsea say that playing sexy isn't really 'her' because she is so hot! I LOVED it! They did a great job with it, made it their own, and HOT!

It should be recognized that up until this point, this post was written on Thursday. As in, the day after the dance show aired. I ALMOST did it people, I ALMOST got the whole show watched before I left for three days for the weekend putting off watching it until MONDAY. Sigh...

• Comfort & Thayne dancing Contemporary: I didn't feel the connection really. It wasn't that impressive.
• Jessica & Will dancing Quick Step: Great performance, couldn't judge technique except to say that Jessica's shoulder carriage was awkward.
• Courtney & Gev dancing Jazz: I really liked this one. I liked the tempo and the story and they did a great job. Great choice of music too. It was fun.
• Kherington & Twitch dancing Tango: I didn't believe the story, they made it look too choreographed. I was disappointed because I didn't feel like it lived up to what I expected when I heard them talking during the rehearsal.
• Katee & Joshua dancing Bollywood: I admit, I'm a fan of Bollywood, and so I was really looking forward to this routine. And.... holy crap, that was AWESOME! It was just fantastic, as Nigel said.

Favorites: Courtney & Gev (Cha Cha), Chelsea & Mark (Broadway), Courtney & Gev (Jazz), Katee & Joshua (Bollywood)

Prediction for bottom 3: Comfort & Thayne, Kherington & Twitch, and Jessica & Will. It's getting harder to pick the bottom 3, there are routines I don't like as much, but there aren't really screw ups or real flops as much as there are in the beginning.

Results Show:

Well, Kat's dress was less of a disaster but that giant black thing on her head was sort of ugly.

Bottom 3: Comfort & Thayne, Jessica & Will and Kherington & Twitch (I know what I am talking about... apparently)

Predictions after solos: Jessica & Thayne

Eliminated: Comfort & Thayne. Well, I was 1/2 right.

Sigh... see you next week. I promise, on time.

Mammary Monday

My Movie Monday post IS coming, and will be here later today as I get my thoughts together. I have about 100 things I want to blog about right now, so in the meantime, you should head over to Barking Mad and play Simon Says with Auds. I dare you to read her story, then try NOT feeling your own boobs. Seriously.

It's Saturday. Here's something for you to read.

Today is my 5 year wedding anniversary, so I'm out getting a massage and swimming in a hotel pool with my awesome husband and no kid. Hell no, I'm not blogging today.

Instead, go to The Bean and read this post. You will like it, and it's probably better than anything I would have written today anyway.

Haiku Friday: Kidless Edition

The boy was gone this

week from Saturday until

Tuesday afternoon

I slept in until

noon on Monday with nothing

to interrupt me

I spent time alone

Took a walk by my lonesome

Watched grown up TV

Read books and did work

No worries about the end

of the nap coming

Went out with hubby

No babysitter needed

A break from Momness

But... no giggles and

no grins, no babbling voice

no cuddles at night

When Grandma knocked

Little hand in hers, my boy

coming home at last

So much bigger than

I remembered him being

Could he have grown so?!

Just my memory

Playing tricks on me, my son

standing up so tall

Hugs and laughter now

Freedom gone in a flash, but

I don't want it back

Read more Friday Haikus!