Day 666 of Happily Ever After

Sometimes, E gets called to work out of town for a couple of days. On this particular weekend, he was scheduled to work a game in Santa Barbara, just a couple hours away from home. He's worked games at this location before and they're generally pretty easy and relaxed. He gets a nice hotel room for the night plus a little stipend to help cover his food. This was one of three Santa Barbara weekends E had this month so we figured hey! lets make this a romantic little getaway!

Our hotel, it even has a gorgeous koi pond <3 br="">

That's about when things went Wrong. Soooooo very wrong. I'd gone with him before on weekend trips to SB but on this occasion we had literally everything working against us. To start off, we both came down with the flu. The flu sucks at the best of times, but it sucks even more when you're out of town away from your comfy bed. That was strike 1.

So E and I have a nice drive down. The road is mostly clear, the weather nice and the ocean beautiful at our side. We check into our hotel and everything looks rosey. It's the same hotel and almost the same room we stayed in before, perfectly comfy and cozy. We unpack and go out to take a romantic stroll in downtown. We don't pick a restaurant beforehand, figuring we'll pick somewhere on the fly. We haven't eaten lunch, and start to get hungry. This is strike 2.

Beautiful downtown Santa Barbara. How can this not inspire romance?

The first hour of our stroll goes swimmingly, all the shops are adorable and we have a good time. Then, my flu start to get exponentially worse. We start to get hungry-grumpy. And the world explodes. Strike 3, we're OUT! We can't pick a restaurant, we start bickering, E goes into hungry-fail mode and then we have a miscommunication. E ditches me to go back to the car, he thinks I'm following, I think he's left on purpose. I'm now standing in the middle of downtown Santa Barbara without a car and he's not picking up his phone. My flu gets even worse and I just about hit the roof, which is impressive considering that downtown Santa Barbara is open air.

Around this time I walk back to the car, E leaves the lot to drive around looking for me, and we eventually connect. E runs through a drive through just as my flu is moving from bad to worse and I turn down his fast food dinner. He starts to feel a little better since he's eaten and I'm feeling god awful. We get back to the hotel, start arguing, the gloves come off and the low blows start flying. It gets pretty ugly and we're both seriously regretting coming on this trip. It is NOT the romantic, indulgent weekend we pictured.

Somehow, we both pull our heads out of our asses and decide to be grown ups. I am seriously impressed with this, not because adults shouldn't be able to have conversations without arguing, but because I am so sick that I can't even see straight and I know E doesn't feel great either. We talk things through, agree the weekend is an awful failure, and order iHop to go, which I didn't even know was possible. We eat, we take a crapton of medication, and hit the hay.

I have never been so grateful for take out service before

The next day is much better, in that the worst is over for my flu, and we've both had a solid nights sleep. We eat our left overs, pack up and I drop E off at work. I spend the rest of the day puttering around Santa Barbara visiting over-priced thrift stores and as long as I stay topped up on my DayQuil, I'm good. E has a similarly decent day at work, but is anxious when I pick him up around getting out of the lot and on the road. Things get a little tense again but I've got enough DayQuil in me that I don't engage and E relaxes once he realizes I do know where I'm going and we're well on our way home.

Finally, we make it home safe and sound. Huzzah! We're tired, sick and ready to unpack and roll into bed. But no. Oh, no, no, no. This weekend is not over yet! We walk into our bedroom and it smells like pee. Not like, hey we need to change the potty box pee, but like omg a drunk person pissed all over the place pee. Only it's not a drunk person, it's our kitty Button, and she's chosen to pee AND poop on our lovely bed.

And, this doesn't seem to be normal cat pee. This is angry, vengeful, I hate you for leaving cat pee! Rooooaring cat pee! I think hey, we're okay, it sucks but we have that allergy comforter protector on our duvet, remember? We registered for it and it should be all good, right?

Wrong. So. Very. Wrong. The cat pee has soaked through the duvet cover, through the allergy comforter protector and deep into the down comforter. The down comforter that is large, and fluffy and expensive and did I mention so much larger than our washing machine. I can not figure out how our comforter wasn't protected, the comforter protector is supposed to keep out dust mites and air and OMG how can it not have kept out cat pee?!?!  I hop online, check our wedding registry to re-read the fine print and there it is. In big, bold letters right at the top.

Welcome to Day 666 of Happily Ever After.

Well, fuck me. I have never been superstitious or religious, I am a firm believer in the incredible power that is science. But damn, this weekend, this day is the epitome of craptastic, shitty 666. If I believed in any of that I'd be ready to call someone to exorcise the weekend (and the cat pee!) from our house.

Instead of rolling into bed with a NyQuil nightcap to end the weekend, we get to strip the bed and spend the next two days washing our comforter 487634756374563 times until it's clean and dry and fluffy again. I have never been more glad to see the end of a trip and say a firm goodbye and fuck you to this weekend. Also, I cannot recommend Allergy Luxe comforter protectors. They are not waterproof and will not keep the devil cat pee out of your down comforter.

New Years 2013

I've been meaning to post something commemorating the New Year, but I've been too busy enjoying it to formulate something coherent. 2013 is looking so exciting, especially for our good friends, who have new babies coming, new apartments, and all sorts of exciting changes. Hopefully 2013 will hold exciting things for E and I as well, a new job would be especially welcome for me.

Thus far, our New Years resolutions are to...

• Get healthy! We're going to eventually try and start up our Insanity program a second time, hopefully with better results for me this time. In the meantime, we need to get back in shape so we can actually do the Insanity work outs.
• Continue not drinking soda, it was my New Years resolution last year and I managed to stick to it! I generally replace it with iced tea or water, which doesn't feel like a chore since I love iced tea.
• Find a job? Maybe? Hopefully? Please?
• Work on our family and relationship. I feel like we really found our rhythm this past year as a married couple and I want to continue building and strengthening (and maybe expanding?) our little family.
• Continue setting strict monthly savings goals to try and build up our nest egg for a family/house/life
• Have an even better year than last year was :)

Right now our new get healthy plan includes two hikes a week at a nearby canyon,  little treadmill sessions on some of the other days, a shake or eggs for breakfast, and something healthy for lunch. I'm not sure if we'll be able to stick to it long term, especially with E working so much, but it's not too ambitious so I feel pretty good about it.

Milou having a great time in a big grassy field halfway through our walk

This week we've had two lovely canyon walks with the pups and one session on the treadmill, since we started a little late. I'm really not a fan of our treadmill since it's old and tends to overheat/die/stop randomly in the middle of work outs, but I'm hoping to keep it up anyway.

Tintin joined us for our second hike and loved it just as much as Milou

I'm really looking forward to what this year has in store for us. I'm crossing my fingers and toes, squeezing my eyes tight and jumping in to 2013, planning and wishing and hoping for good things.

Happy New Year

New Knobs! Finally!

You may recall, that back in May of this year, Milou and Tintin took it upon themselves to update my nightstand by eating my drawer knobs. I had planned on getting some lovely new ones from Anthropologie, but life intervened and it was months before I had the chance to actually do something about the crunched on hunks of wood. Plus, those beautiful (but pointy!) Anthropologie knobs were a bit pricey, and since my Milou is still pretty young, something a little more affordable/replaceable was definitely in order.

Nom nom nom

E and I have been working on sprucing up our space a little since we've stayed so much longer than anticipated; replacing our lamps, adding storage, organizing things, trying to make the space a little more functional. We'd already added some wall shelving and organizational bins from Ikea back in July, so the next step was new lamps for our bedside tables to make them feel a little less desk-like.

I was hunting for the perfect lamp/shade combo at Cost Plus when I happened to stumble across some gorgeous and affordable drawer knobs! I was wandering around the store after picking a lamp for E, trying to waste some time since I wanted to bid on an ebay item and didn't want to do it while driving, when Bam! there they were.

Ta Da!

Cute, affordable, comfortable to pull on, they were perfect. Anthropologie actually carries a few of the same ones, but Cost Plus offers them for $2.50 - $4.50 per knob instead of $20. They were super easy to install and I absolutely love how they turned out. I still need to oil the dresser, or eventually stain or paint it, but switching the knobs was such a quick fix to update it on a tiny budget.  And, my mom ended up buying them for me, so they made an excellent Hanukkah present on the first night of Hanukkah.

Happy Holidays 2012

Milou in her holiday bow. She's so patient with me haha.

Today, we finally set up our annual Jew Tree! It took 5 trips to various tree lots over 3 days before we finally settled on a gorgeous Noble Fir from our usual vendor, Santa and Sons. The other trees were too skinny, too holey, too crooked and too short. Santa and Sons are always a bit more expensive than other lots, but their trees are healthy, lush, environmentally friendly and long lasting so we decided it was worth it to pay a bit more. Plus, we had finally found "our" tree, and had that moment where we knew it was coming home with us.

This year, we had E's step dad's truck to help us get it home, and it was such a nice change to not drive over the canyon with the tree top hanging over the windshield of my tiny Jetta. It further solidified my growing love of larger cars, even though I used to be a diehard mini cooper coveter, and made things so much easier.

My sister L and Milou in front of our tree

The house smells so good and already feels festive and happy! It's like it fills the air with holiday cheer and the glowing lights make everything feel warmer and cozier. We added some seriously amazing R2D2 lights this year that I scored on sale while visiting my friend El in Boise and a new tree skirt to help complete the look. 

Tintin and Milou. Milou thinks Tintin's bow is HILARIOUS.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season, however you choose to celebrate it.

Black Friday Deals

I was going to post about Thanksgiving this year but it ended up being pretty underwhelming. I look forward to spending time with family and cooking delicious food but this year's meal was just a little too drama filled for us to enjoy it. We enjoyed having my grandma here to visit and celebrate with, but I think this will be the last year that we attend someone else's Thanksgiving instead of hosting our own.  So, instead, we move right along to Black Friday.

This year, like the year before, E and I went Black Friday shopping. We didn't wait in line for hours or drive around to a million different stores, just headed to Target 20 minutes before it opened, waited in line, and went in. Amidst reports of people trampling each other, fighting and pepper spray, I found all of the Thanksgiving shoppers to be surprisingly pleasant and polite. A number of them had young children with them, babies in carriages or toddlers in tow, and everyone was patient, didn't push, and took turns. Aside from a little bit of excited speed walking when the doors first opened, I didn't see any of the nationally reported crazy shopping and had no regrets.

Best Buy TV Score

Coupled with some shopping on the actual Black Friday and following weekend, E and I finally scored the TV that we've been waiting to buy since last year. E is pretty much in love with it, and I'm glad we waited for it to come down in price. My family also got a beautiful new TV for the living room, we picked up a space for my sister L's new boyfriend J, and we all picked up some great blu rays, clothes and other holiday goodies. We're really happy with our holiday shopping this year, and pretty pleased with the Los Angeles Black Friday shoppers who were so courteous and considerate. 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and got to enjoy some fun holiday shopping this Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Shopping Craziness!

Our new TV in our messy room

Congratulations Mr. President

Congratulations to President Obama on his successful reelection! This campaign has brought out strong emotions on both sides and I'm hopeful that we are able to come together as a nation to support our president.

Our country has a lot more work to do and we have no hope for success without bipartisanship.

Get out and vote!

I confess that this election, though I'm embarrassed to admit it, I have been a lot less enthusiastic or involved. The 2008 election seemed to generate it's own electricity, there was so much passion and fire for the future that it seemed as if the entire country was united under the shared ideal of Hope.

(Source)

After the election, reality set in and it became clear that there wasn't a magic button, all our nation's problems could not be solved in 4 years, especially with a government so divided and angry that it was actually actively trying to derail and prevent progress. Despite the bickering and problems in Washington, President Obama still managed to make wonderful progress; he passed health care reform, the stimulus, passed Wall Street reform, ended the Iraq war, killed Osama Bin Laden, saved the auto industry, repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell, signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed the Family Smoking Prevention act,  improved the student loan program, reversed Bush's policies on tortue and stem cell research and did countless other things I can't remember off the top of my head.

Obama may not have an instant fix button, but as a president I support and stand behind him and his vision for our country.

This election has progressed like a firecracker that's fizzed out, with a unhealthy dose of animosity and lying. I swing between angry and horrified that politicians are getting away with outright lies and deliberate misinformation, and I hope that the American people are smart enough to see the deception.

The fire and passion has died down, but it's even more important this election that we protect our fundamental rights that are in jeopardy: a woman's right to choose, the right to marry the person you love,  the right to affordable health care and a safe and effective school system for our children.

Whoever you support today, it's important to get out there and vote. The country can't move forward without the voices of her people, and you have the instigate the change you want to see in the world.

I voted for Obama because I have faith in what he's capable of doing for our country. I voted for a woman's right to choose, equal pay, the right to marry whoever you love, for FIMA, for science and the environment, for education and health care and another four years of progress.

Because I voted by mail and didn't get a sticker, here is Haji (recycled from 2008) telling you to get out and vote!

A Beautiful Park for a Walk

It's my first trip to Meridian/Boise, and I have to say I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen so far. Instead of crowded city streets where every house and business is competing for a postage stamp sized piece of land, things here seem to sprawl out with open space in between and gorgeous mountain ranges in the backdrop. What it lacks in "unique cityness" - old homes and buildings, hundreds of boutiquey shops, museums, science centers and democrats, it seems to make up in nature - golden fields, livestock, hiking, skiing, boating, ATVing, exploring, space to breathe. It's a different kind of city than I'm used to, but not bad different and I can see why city dwellers choose to relocate here.

This afternoon, we drove down to Eagle Island State Park so El could take some senior photos for her baby sitter. The park itself seems to be packed with potential - a water slide for the summer, horse trails, a frisbee golf course (though I've been advised it's not a good one - too much water) and plenty of trees and walking trails. I didn't see too much of it on foot since Will was my buddy for the afternoon, and he preferred a gravel induced bouncy jaunt around the horse trailer area, but what I saw was just lovely. When it hit magic hour, the sun lit up the trees like glowing fiery orbs and the sky looked too blue to be real. There were people riding horses, taking photos, walking with their dogs running off leash ahead of them, and others I'm sure enjoying more of the park that I didn't pass by.

Even though Will was feeling a little cranky, it was a beautiful, chilly afternoon and I'm sure that El got some beautiful photos with such an extraordinary landscape (and her baby sitter's adorable horse!) in the background.