We're Getting Married!

On Tuesday, March 13th of 2012 at approximately 7:45pm on a private dock looking over the lake in Kirkland, Washington, my "boyfriend" at the time asked me to be his wife! Of course, I said YES and scream/cried hysterically.  He brought me to the dock and asked me if I had remembered the last time that we were there? I really had NO recollection of us ever being on that dock but I thought I would get in trouble if I had forgotten this "Special" place, so my response was "Uhhh yeah, I think so, kind of, uhhh maybe, yeah I think I remember this place!" He chuckled, pointing off into the distance and told me to look over into the horizon.  I really couldn't see ANYTHING, so I just said "Oh yeah, it's really pretty."(It actually was gorgeous, the sun had set and the clouds rolled in but you could still see the lighter blue sky underneath the dark black clouds). I finally turned around and there he was on his knee, ring in hand, smiling up at me. I almost forgot to say yes because I broke into tears immediately, but I remembered quickly after I took my hands off my face and saw him still on his knee. YES!YES!YES! He stood up and we held each other tightly as I continued to ball.  My engagement ring is a round cut sapphire with a custom made band. BEAUTIFUL.PERFECT.AMAZING.WONDERFUL.SPECIAL. No words at the moment can express my excitement and feelings, but I keep randomly bursting out with excitement when no one's looking.

What an amazing day!

Merry Christmas!

On the twenty fifth day was Christmas and my true love gave to me......

Cookie dough bites, lotion, cookies, a Zooey Deschanel Christmas CD, and a brush that dries my hair perfectly and very fast.  He handed me this large HEAVY box and when I opened it I found logs from our backyard, so I just laughed at him and thanked him for the wonderful logs that keep our home warm.  He said there's something underneath, so I dug (asking him if he had checked the logs for spiders, he said whoops) and underneath was my hairbrush drier.  So funny, so sweet, and IT IS AMAZING!

These past 25 days have been magical, I've always know why I love him but writing it out reminds me I'm not dreaming and this true love IS real.

James hasn't read any of these blogs yet, he's been waiting for them to be done to read them all the way through (He's the fastest reader I've ever known!).

I Appreciate him so much and everything he has ever given to me, he is a wonderful man, and he's the one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with!  I know that we will grow old together! We saw an old man in his Motor Chair in the grocery store, his wife was about 6ft behind him and he somehow managed to back his chair up right into her and ran her foot over.  She apologized, stepped back, and her husband began shouting "Dang women! Never watches where she's going!", the wife looked at us and snickered.  James and I had to run around the corner because we were laughing so hard, pointing and telling each other that was going to be us one day!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, we definitely did!  I got this amazing winter parka from James parents that I could not take off tonight.  I am so happy to have spent another holiday with James and I look forward to  all of our future together!  Next is our anniversary, can't believe it's only been 2 years, we've done so much together and our love is still as strong as ever!

Twas the Night Before Christmas!

On the twenty fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two stocking stuffers!  James let me pick out to things from my stocking AND I LOVE IT! I got actual Santa Socks and little Cookie Dough bites.  YUM!

Tonight is all about relaxing and tomorrow we will be spending time with his family.  I spent today with my family, fathers in the morning and mothers in the evening.  I got wonderful gifts from all of them, THANK YOU!

Movie time! Tomorrow is Christmas day and remember to give with your heart!

Happy Christmas Eve to all!

P.S. What are your Christmas Eve and Christmas day traditions?

Knight In Shining Armor

On the twenty third day of Christmas, my true love came and saved me.  Today, of all days, my car started to give me trouble!  Unfortunately, those troubles I could not handle on my own, for I might be able to change oil but anything else know anything more of.

I called James, in a little panic because I had to pull over to the side of the road and he told me to get out of my car, stand on the sidewalk away from the car and he was on his way to save the day.

It's been a long day and thank goodness it hasn't been cold enough to snow!  I had 3 different cars stop to check if I was okay (Very nice people and thank you to each one of you who stopped, it made waiting better) and one gal who jogged past me, a few minutes later just jogged past me again asked if I had help on the way.  People are very sweet and it definitely makes me rethink my actions when I see someone in need, how much better I can make them feel just by stopping as asking if they're okay or if I can get them help.

It's wonderful knowing that when I'm in trouble, I can always turn to James and know he'll be there to help.  Everything is okay now, having and trusting that James will always be watching out and taking care of me.  What an amazing feeling!

To Keep Me Sane.

On the twenty second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me reassurance.  As we all know I am a stresser, always have been and as much as it has helped me accomplish what I've done so far, it has also brought me a whole lot of white hairs and loss of sleep.  James, being as brilliant as he is, has managed to help me control my mind, which is something I'm still working on but he's really helped.

Today there were a series of events that lead up to why I'm writing this blog (He says if I generally write things down it helps me find the reason I'm stressed).  When James is reassuring me of something, he speaks in a very soft, slow tone of voice and lays out the plan immediately, telling me this is what you want to accomplish and here is how you're going to do it (He usually offers to help or assumes I will ask him if I need assistance or even just tells me what he's going to do for me).

I can't tell you enough how much patience he has for me.  Usually, when I become stressed, I am on edge ready to snap or pulling my hair out, huffing and puffing.  Also being able to talk about everything in my head to him helps me recollect my thoughts and him being able to hear my thoughts, he is then able to tell me if what I am stressing about is something to stress over.  He explains things very well and is a phenomenal speaker, we always joke around about how he should have been a Lawyer.

He's a great man for putting up with me ;D

He's Got the Looks and the Brain!

On the twenty-first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me help.  I am not fully computer savvy, and I'm not a direction reader either, so when it comes to fun programs that I do my designing on, half the time I am wondering around and clicking buttons until something happens.  If it doesn't happen I just move on.  Well, I am working on a very serious project for a client so everything has to be flawless.  I needed to select something that was layered at the very bottom, which lead me to believe I was going to have to start the design all over again.  James had seen I was confused and furious (I'm very noticeable when I'm angry and if I'm on my computer I punch the keys harder than usual), so he offered his assistance.  I was trying to explain that selecting the object was not doable, not to mention he's never played with the program or read any of the directions either, but to my surprise and a few clicks later he selected the object.... -_-

Moments later I was having difficulties changing the color of an object, which normally I can do, but of course for kicks it didn't want to change colors.  Quickly feeling the burn and anger fill inside me, he heard my vicious typing and in a sweet baby tone of voice he said "Want some more help" with a perky cheeked smile.  He pried the computer from my fingers and again, two or three clicks and he handed my computer back over to me with the color theme bar up so I could select a color for the object.

I don't know how he does it, but he can pick up anything and within a matter of moments he's some kind of pro!  I don't think I have ever asked a question he could not answer.

It's sort of a competition between us! Who's right and who's wrong (I'm never right).  Actually, just last night I made a comment about the Grinch and his dog.  James said "The Grinch doesn't have a dog" and I knew this was my opportunity to be right, excitedly we both pulled out our phones and started looking it up.  Of course, I was right and I began to celebrate as much as I could.  Joking, he gave a frownie face and said I was mean.  I simply replied "You know what! This is the FIRST time I was right with no doubts.  You're always right, now let me have my turn!".  We rolled around laughing as I did my funny dances.

He is my all knowing boyfriend and I look up to him!

Honor, Love, and Devotion.

On the twentieth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a chance to use my nurturing skills.  I was taught to honor the ones we love and give them everything you can from your heart.  There are many ways to honor someone, but in this case I honor James by standing by his side waiting for him to ask something of me, especially when he's not feeling well.  When James got home yesterday from his hunting trip, exhausted and not feeling too well.  He had sent me a text that he wasn't feeling good and I immediately took action.  He always tells me that he can take care of himself but I know what I can do will make him feel better.

I hate not feeling good and I hate to see him not feeling well, so I have sought out home remedies of my own to help him.  I feed him his ox tailed soup, made by his wonderful mother, with rice to get something in his stomach because if he is left without food for too long it makes him more uncomfortable.

I can tell when he's not feeling good, so I am always prepared, however I am always a worry wart and I actually carry a bag with things like epi-pens, band aids, ibeprophen, tums, sleep aid, cough drops, vitamins, digestion aid, and much much more (It's a full grocery bag because a normal first aid bag isn't big enough).

James enjoys taking bathes when he isn't feeling good and I have a bath salt he soaks in that relieves his insides.  I have everything lined up next to his bedside, any medications he needs to take, glass of cold ice water, glass of ginger ale and apple juice mixed together (that always helps), his ox tail soup, and all of the remotes in case he wants to watch tv.  His bed is usually made for him and his pillows fluffed, I want him to feel as comfortable as he can, and I have a fan next to the bed to control his temperature.

When I can, I gently drag my fingers along his back, arms and head to help him fall asleep.  He said to me once when I wasn't feeling good that when you're not feeling good, it's best to give your body as much rest as possible.  It may be hard to fall asleep but when you do fall asleep you wont hurt anymore and your body will wake itself up if it really has to.  I have actually lived by this since he mentioned it and this technique has saved me a lot of late nights in the living room.  You would not believe how much the back tickles (that is what we call them) have helped, although I must admit that when other people have tried to give me back tickles or arm tickles they don't really do it the correct way.  When giving your partner back tickles, drag your fingers as light and as slow as possible, don't tickle in the same spot for more than 10 seconds (this will start to make the spot raw and may make this uncomfortable for him), and tickle the tender areas like the neck, tops of the shoulders, shoulder blade areas and sides of the ribs.  Avoid waist, lower back and face because those are the most ticklish places and if your partner is not feeling good it will make them too uncomfortable.

Lavender.  Lavender is a very comforting scent and can calm the body quickly.  I have found that potpourri right next to his bed is good, I also have this little bean bag filled with Lavender and beans that I warm up for 30 seconds in the microwave and stick under his pillow or under the covers.

To mediate his temperature, have the fan blowing directly on him and cover him with warm blankets.  As much as I love sleeping with a sweatshirt on at night ;D, doing this really works and helps him stay asleep!

He still wasn't feeling all too well this morning so I made him toast with hash browns for breakfast, something very simple but something I can make a lot of to fill up his belly.  The rest of today he relaxed in bed, tried to take a nap, watched movies and don't worry I made sure he hydrated himself all day.

I love taking care of James, I will do it until the end of time and I love doing things for him, just to know what I do makes him feel much better.  It's nice to see what we would do for each other, even if we're at our worst, and to know how far you would go for that person to make them feel better or thought of.  It's the thought of being thought of that helps heal in many ways.

Finally!

On the nineteenth day of Christmas, my true love came home to me! It has been a long two and a half days, but he is finally home.  My blog this evening will be short but I want you all to know that I am most happy he's home. Alright, quiet time!

Better Living

On the eighteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a healthy life.  The first couple of years on my own, there was never enough time in the day.  I had such a high sense of independence but I lost control of taking care of myself and as hard as I tried to cook, I would usually just push it to the side.  I moved into an apartment, completed my full last year of high school, and maintained a full time job immediately after I moved out.  My regular meal was Top Ramen, Microwavable Pizza's, Bagels, or anything that took under 5 minutes to cook.

You can't just take meat out of your diet without substituting it with even healthier food, one mistake I made and I had become anemic after 2 years of poorly eating.  I usually left my apartment at 7:00am and didn't get home until 9:00pm each day, so I never had time to cook a decent meal.  Ever since I started cooking for James, I started to have a better understanding of the nutrients food had and how to have patience to cook food for more than 5 minutes.  I began to see a change in my weight, the way I felt everyday, both emotionally, mentally, and physically thanks to James, who taught me how to cook. He taught me how to use specific spices, how to marinate, and the perfect temperatures things had to cook at.  I am encouraged to cook home meals instead of going out because James is very fond of my cooking.

Eating healthier has definitely made a difference in my day to day life, but having control of my life and being organized was something James showed me how to do.  I would come to him telling him the problem and he would explain to me the best possible ways to fix them.  As you all might know, I'm a stresser and I always have been, but with James helping me take control, my stress meter has settled.

My life feels so perfect, so complete now with James by my side!  This is why I know I couldn't do it without him, he has been my rock and there's always new things to learn in the kitchen.

I just want to say this about James: As a young curious little girl, I wanted to know everything about life and I always asked questions.  I looked at my parents as being most wise and have grown to be a very intelligent person, but I still have questions.  One of the reasons why I love James so much is because he is all knowing, and when I ask him questions I feel like that young naive girl again.  If I could know everything he knows, I bet you we would win those trivia nights at the bar, no problem!

I miss you so much James!

One Long Night!

On the seventeenth day of Christmas, my true love went away.  James has gone a-huntin'. I say this every time but when he's gone either to work or on hunting trips, I gripe and moan about how much I miss him and I will always for the rest of our lives.

I have the hardest time staying else where when I know he's home, my anxiety kicks in and I always hurry home.

I remember staying the night somewhere else one evening with him not there and my heart was yearning for him.  I couldn't sleep at all, just tossed and turned, so I opened up my computer and pulled up a picture of him and put pillows under the blankets on the side of the bed he normally slept on.  I cuddled up with the pretend James and fell right asleep.

I know we have the rest of our lives ahead of us but I want to ache for him forever and I will.

Sometimes, he's left for work very early and when I wake up, it startles me that he's not laying next to me.  I just roll over to find a little note he's left me telling me he loves me so much and how he misses me already.

Yes distance grows the heart fonder, but when you love someone so much you truly can never get enough of that person.  If you never lose that want and know you will always want him, spending the rest of your life with him will be rewarding and all moments will be cherished!