Cohabitation and Dogs

Today we brought Benny to the vet and he did very well but might have mange, so he has to get medicine everyday for the next month. But he got his lyme's disease shot and some preventative stuff for heart worm. The thing I like about the vet we took him to is that it is within walking distance of the house. Other than that, there's nothing great or bad about it. But not having to force Benny into the car is good enough for me. He is about half housebroken. Yesterday he peed on the couch Gordon was sitting on, so that wasn't great, but today he sat by the back door until we let him out and then peed out there. So yay! These are things that a married person finds joy in: Not having animals pee on you! And pizza.

So speaking of pizza, today Gordon are attempting one from scratch... kind of. We are using our bread maker to make the pizza dough. We have sauce (not from scratch. I am not Italian and I don't pretend to be.), mozzarella, we're making breaded chicken (yes, we breaded it ourself... not to make it better, but because the chicken we usually get at CostCo, which is prebreaded, we used the last of last night.) and broccoli. That's right people. I'm talking chicken and broccoli pizza here! And we have the airbake pizza pan to cook it on. I have two actually because I put it on my wedding registry and got 2 instead of the 1 I asked for. Whatever. I just use both now. It's really awesome. Seriously, you need one. Or you need to ask for one and get two.

In other news, G and I have been cohabitating for 8 months now and I look forward to cohabitating for a long long time. I feel this article by Michael Ian Black really drives home the best way to make it all work. Here is excellent point Mr. Black makes about expressing one's emotions so they don't get bottled up:

4. If you don’t like what the other person is wearing, cuss them out. That means when you’re about to leave the house and you totally hate the outfit they have on, the right thing to do is say (in a quiet, soothing voice), "What the f*** are you wearing?” Then just stare at them until they change.

I really hope this helps you in your current or future or failed relationships. I know it has helped us.

Now I am going to go get medicine for the dog from the vet then make pizza and watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind with my husband, my dog, and my Beanie who we occasionally feed, entertain, and play with like a dog, but much more housebroken.

Benedict Magnus

This is Benedict Magnus aka Benedict aka Benny Mag aka Benny aka Puppy Lou. He's 5 months old, playful, snuggley, and been so good. Though it's only been a day, he seems to be adjusting quite well.

He is a welcome addition to our family. He loves the big backyard and the bone and rope we got him.

He has been a great companion for naps on the couch.

So let's give Benny a big welcome home!

The Name Game

So over the past week I have been on a change my name on everything possible rampage. First I did it at work as soon as I came back from my honeymoon (though I already had the business cards made up as well as the name plate on my desk). Tuesday I went to the Social Security Administration and waited patiently while the guy next to me kept screaming "B!" since they were mostly focusing on the A's. I was right there along with him, though it was in my head, because I had B316 and they had been on B309 for a good 15 minutes. But once I got up there, because of my anal nature, I had more that enough proof of my name change and I should be receiving a new card in the mail in about 2 weeks. Then it was off to the DMV, which was quicker than I anticipated and cheaper. 30 minutes and $12.50 later, I should be expecting my new license with a new name, photo, address, and signature in the mail in about 2 weeks as well. I was not prepared for the new picture part, but grateful that I took a shower that morning. Though I only had enough energy to blow dry my bangs and put the rest of my hair in a pony tail. It will be an interesting and most certainly embarrassing ID photo, but I guess it looks more like me that my last license where I looked like I was wearing a black wig.

After attaining the important name change documents so that my taxes and my name will all line up in perfect harmony, I went home and instead of making apple pie like I wanted to (which I ended up doing last night), I went to all the websites for companies that have my name and emailed them to tell them to change it. Everything from car insurance and cell phone to electricity and gas. Then yesterday I went to my bank to change my name and order checks, which I haven't had new ones since I was 18. To date, I still use my babies in gardens checks. It will be nice to have ones that have the right name, address, and bank, and look like adult checks. It's a big step in my life.

Another big step in my life as a married lady was making dinner and pie for my husband last night. Maybe this would seem unfeminist of me, but he usually makes dinner and is very good to me and I cook this meal well and that's about all I have going for me food wise. I made turkey meatloaf, cheddar and broccoli rice (from a bag) and extra broccoli mixed in (because the "broccoli" in the cheddar and broccoli rice seems like it's there more for flavor than nutritional value. Then, while the meatloaf was cooking, which takes days (ok, more like an hour, but you get the point), I got the apples, sugar, and graham crackers ready for my first attempt at apple pie. Finally, my husband came home, and helped peel and slice the apples for the pie. The part I was more than excited to avoid. Then while we ate dinner, the pie cooked. It was nice and Gordon was very pleased with the outcome of both the dinner and dessert, but it was a 3 hour process that I don't plan on revisiting everyday.

I would like to add other meals to my cooking repertoire, which pretty much just includes the aforementioned meal, burrito/taco night, bbq chicken, chicken parm, and paninis. All pretty much comfort food. Occasionally G and I make chicken or shrimp in garlic sauce with veggies over jasmine rice. I guess that's healthier. More veggies?

Tonight is date night! This means the Rowes are going out on the town! Dinner! Movie! Sleep! We really live it up.

Tomorrow we might be adding to the family... if it happens I will post so many pictures.

Relaxing Thoughts

I don't write enough, but I don't have a whole lot going on besides work. I think the rain followed us back from Aruba, we have barely had any nice weather. But I have been working so much, I haven't had time to notice. I did get to go to Carnegie Hall for my first opera(s). It was 10 opera shorts including one by the wonderful Marie Incontrera. Her and Roxie wed in June 2011. I am very much looking forward to it.

This week is a bunch of college fairs around Nassau county, which is called a consortium. Saturday I am nerding it up nerd style with my husband at Comic Con in NYC. After which we hope to get drinks and dinner before returning to our suburban life. I miss the city simply because of the time it took me to get home from things like this. Sunday is apple and pumpkin picking with my girls. This will be fun as long as I don't have to wake up too early. Then I have two glorious days off. After going nonstop since this past Saturday, I plan to sleep and watch tv those two days. Maaaaaybe clean (beyond overneeded at this point), but we'll see.

I am still waiting on my pictures from the photographer. I found out that the video that was taken of the wedding has no sound since right before the ceremony the camera fell off the mixing board (still trying not to get upset about it). Once I get the pictures, we can pick one to make our thank you cards from. I say now that I am excited to make my photo albums from the wedding pictures, but once it starts taking a long time, we'll reevaluate.

As you probably know (since I'm pretty sure the only people that read this also have access to my facebook, I cut off all my hair the day after the wedding to a graduated bob with bangs. Well I still like the bangs, but I go back and forth about the cut of my hair. I am never happy with short hair very long, which sucks since it takes so long to grow back out. But I do like how easy it is to style. I should look into that more. Right now it's mostly headbands (see previous post).

Anyway, I am off to start my long day/week (which is really a continuation since I have been working sine Saturday.

What is marriage all about?

Today I bought headbands. I'm more excited than I should be about this. Is this what married life is about? I also picked up milk. I think that's more the married life. I have the wife hair, the wife ring, the marital house, the marital bed, but most of all, I have the comfort, connection, passion, support, a home, and a family.

So here's to the married life. *cheers*

Honeymoon

Monday we jetted off on JetBlue to Aruba to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf. Well we got the sand and kind of surf (the water was quite calm. Sun? Not so much. We got sun the day we got there and the day we left, but it was pretty much overcast or raining during the week. The hotel was quite nice, the food was great, the drinks we're delicious. We definitely enjoyed ourselves. The sand was super soft and the water was beautiful. It was turquoise and a great temperature. Tuesday however, I decided to try pineapple and yogurt and I can only assume that this was culprit in what made me throw up the rest of the day. Not exactly what I was thinking was going to happen on my fantasy honeymoon, but my HUSBAND held my hair back (what little I had, I cut it off the day after the wedding. New lady, new look.) and he bought me saltines and ginger ale. We slept in the afternoon and watched HGTV and Food Network. Yes, we were on our honeymoon but we're still us. And we love tv and sleep.

We also spent a lot time on the beach and in the pool. There weren't a lot of people there so nothing was super crowded, which was right up my alley. We went into town but it was mostly a tourist trap full of jewelry stores and then we got stuck in a downpour and had to walk through roads that were flooded, so that wasn't a ton of fun, but taking a bath in the hotel was nice. But no matter what, when I was with my new husband I just smiled and relaxed.

Right now I am happy to be home. Our home. Full of love.

Married Life

So it's official. I am a married lady. The wedding day was a dream come true. Everyone worked so hard to make it go well. Of course, the day before the wedding we get to the site where the tent the reception was to be under was and it was crushed under basically a tree. When would a tornado touch down in NYC/LI? Two nights before my wedding. Well at least it wasn't the night before. The tent guy sent out his crew and they worked all day to fix the tent. Then when they put down white table clothes instead of burgundy, they came back in the night to change them out after having to find another company who had them. But the day of the wedding could not have been more perfect. Were there hiccups? Of course. Did I let them bother me? Not in the least.

Wedding highlights:

Hair salon was fun and I sang oldies.

We were so efficient in getting ready everything felt relaxed.

The babies all walked down the aisle the way they were supposed to (under the promise of Uncle Gordon holding pennies for them)

The weather was OUTSTANDING, so perfect.

The sun came out at the end of the ceremony and shined on us (Thanks Dads!)

The cable connecting the mixing board to the speakers went missing for about and hour plus but my new BroInLaw came to the rescue and found it (though he may have been the one who lost it the first time). This meant no cocktail hour music and we couldn't walk into the ceremony til it was found

Our first dance went well and I smiled like a loon

The cake started sinking so we had to cut it early

The dancing didn't really start until Britney's Gimme More came on.

The food went over great.

Candied bacon

My sisters and I recreated a pictures where they all held me up from like 8 years ago

We never stopped smiling

After everyone left and we were almost about to leave, I called Gordon my husband and then burst into tears. It was the first time I let tears really fall that day.

It was a perfect. It was smooth. Every little thing that Gordon and I (and definitely Beanie) worked so hard to make sure was right, was. It was my dream come true and I think we looked great making it happen.