moving isn't so bad after all

as you can see, bozeman travels well. in fact, he does some of his best sleeping in the car. so do i... good thing LH is such a wonderful husband and doesn't mind doing most of the driving. it's also a good thing that he is such a good driver so i don't get car sick when he drives. i could tell you some stories about me getting car sick... but you might be eating lunch while reading this and i don't want to spoil your appetite.

we just got back from spending a few days with wonderful friends in our new city. i call them wonderful because this is the second time that they have welcomed us into their house, dog and all, so we could go house hunting. this time, they even had a brand new german short-haired pointer puppy who became bozeman's best friend. hopefully, they will have some play-dates once we get settled so they can wear each other out! i know LH is hoping that they will have some play-dates just so he can play lego star wars on our friends' xbox 360. have you ever played that game? so. much. fun. i can't understand why LH would get upset when my character shot and killed him, though. whoever decided to create a video game with lego characters was a genius! no blood and guts and it's actually funny when c3po's arms get ripped off. and no, i'm not promoting violence.

so here is the good news: we signed a lease for the house and will be moving in as soon as the movers can get our things out of storage and into the house. i am thrilled. we looked at several other houses just to make sure we were getting the "right one," and i even told LH that i could live without stainless steel appliances (our realtor told me to think about what i was saying) but in the end, we ended up with my favorite house. of course, now that we have signed a lease, i'm expecting our condo to sell right away. well, expecting might be too strong of a word, maybe i should say hoping? praying? begging and pleading? at any rate, we have a place to live and i'm very excited about it. now, we just have to convince my brother to come visit after he finishes his finals so he can help us paint, paint, paint!

steaks, spikes and birthday cake

this weekend, the hubby, bozeman and i traveled to my parents’ house to see my brother compete in the state cross country meet. let me just say that i am SO proud of my brother. he ran a 5k on an extremely hilly course in 16:57. that boy can run. he isn’t even built for cross country, since he towers over everyone else and is very muscular, but he has overcome his physical disadvantages and runs with the best of them.
on the way back from the cross country meet, the hubby and i stopped by sara’s house to help celebrate anna’s third birthday. it’s amazing how fast kids grow up! anna shared some of her yummy little mermaid cupcake-birthday cake with us and it was pretty darn yummy. i have to say that sara was looking very bride-y this weekend!
saturday night, while the parentals and my brother were at various parties, the hubby and i decided to get a sushi appetizer and grill some steak. if i never make steak again, i will the happiest woman alive. we didn’t get to the grocery store until about 7:30 and as we hungrily browsed the meat selection, we decided to go all out and get a pound of filet. we also picked up some old-fashioned bottled coke and a pack of miso sushi rolls. once we were back at my parents’ house, i put our blockbuster movie in the dvd player and sunk down into the comfy couch with a down blanket on top of me. oh man, was it cozy and boy, did i get drowsy fast. observing my sleepy circumstances, my wonderful hubby took over and started the grill. about 15-20 minutes later, the hubby walked past me with the plate of steak and told me to come sit down at the table to eat. i was pretty sleepy, but i was more than curious about the steak, so i abandoned the warm couch and down blanket for my hubby at the table. fork and steak knife in hand, the hubby explained that this piece over here was medium-rare and that one over there was medium. i asked for the medium-rare piece, which he put on my plate, and quickly cut into it. i took a bite and suddenly forgot that i was sleepy and no longer nice and warm. this had to be the best steak i had eaten in my entire life. seriously. at first, the hubby thought that i was just saying that to make him feel good, but the speed at which i was eating the hunk of meat confirmed that i was telling the truth. honestly, i hope that i never have to cook a steak again, because my husband is by far the best steak griller in the world, and it would just be silly to waste his talents. maybe he’ll grill some steak again this week. i’m hoping that he does, because my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it.

grown-up vacation

the hubby and i traveled 2 plane rides away this past weekend to go to the wedding of a guy that he knew in college. i loved meeting the guys who had spent four years with my husband and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories that they couldn't wait to tell me about him. our entire weekend was so enjoyable; the city was great for walking and exploring, the food was incredible, and we just had a great time being a married couple on a little vacation together. it was actually our first "married" trip other than our honeymoon if you don't count the times that we have visited family. sure, we went to monterey and carmel on our anniversary, but that was more like a side trip during a family visit and it doesn't really count. i've decided that we need to follow the example of a good friend of mine and take a couple trips together year, even if they are just day trips, and spend time just being us.
and, to follow up with some topics that i discussed in some previous posts, i've included a picture of the dress that i wore to the wedding along with the coat that i ended up buying from banana republic. sara talked some sense into me, reminding me that i didn't really need a coat as heavy as the one that i tried to win on ebay. i love the mini-trench that i got on sale at banana. unfortunately, i didn't get any pictures of me in the dress without the coat. hmm, i must really like that coat! i also ended up soaking my fingernails in acetone to finally get rid of any remaining acrylic nails, and then painted on several layers of natural nail strengthener. please, if i ever talk about getting fake nails again, somebody please knock some sense into me!

let's pack up and move to california

the hubby and i just (just meaning friday evening) got back from a long vacation... and we need another already =) we drove out to visit my parents for a day and to leave the dog with them while we headed out to california to visit the in-laws and to celebrate our 1st anniversary as a married couple. i've been out to cali several times with my hubby, but this time, i just really loved it and told him that i would mind living there one day (my mom would kill me if she knew i said that). i mean, who wouldn't love to live there? the weather was beautiful and sunny without a hint of humidity. when we went to the monterey/carmel area for our anniversary, the temperature was in the 60's and i went for two of the most amazing runs along the coast on this great biking/walking trail that they have there. we stayed at this great place called the seven gables inn with an amazing view of the ocean right from our room. it would rock to live on the coast like that!

here are some pictures of our great trip!

windmills

the running trail

point lobos near big sur


the hubby playing with our dog, bozeman