Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Misty Water-Colored Meeeemories, Of The Way We Were. Scattered PIC-tures..

A bit of the "small print" before we begin...

WARNING: This post might end up being uber cheesy. We're talking, end of Pretty Woman cheesy (saw it on tv the other day and forgot how cheesy it really was).

SIDENOTE: The title of this post is a shout-out to one of the greatest movies ever, Big. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Barbra Streisand fan. See, I don't even know if I spelled her name correctly. Anywho, moving on...

The last two weeks in April are a pretty big deal for Michael and myself. I guess I should start at the beginning, which would be three years ago TODAY (Happy Earth Day, by the way). Anyone who reads this post knows the story so I'm not going to get into it, but Michael and I met for the first time at an Earth Day party. I will be honest when I say I had high expectations from the very beginning. I didn't leave that weekend thinking, "I hope this will work out." Instead, I left praying, "I hope he is the one."

There are a few things about Michael that everyone knows. He is good-looking (I prefer "hot" but I think that might be rude to say--It's like saying your child is attractive. You know it's true but you can't really say it outloud), smart, shy, and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Most only scratch the surface of him, but still realize these four attributes rather quickly. He doesn't enjoy being the center of attention, loathes it actually, so you miss a lot because he'd rather listen to you than talk about himself. And he's fascinating. So many people (ahem, ME) love to talk about themselves and usually have three things worth mentioning before they're done. It'd be nice if they stopped there but it is that type of person (ahem, still ME) that continues talking. Perhaps it's because he is so quiet, but he has a billion things he could tell you that you (a) didn't know and (b) would find interesting. I consider myself so lucky because I've learned a million of those things already, and I still have so many million to go...

We celebrate our dating anniversary on April 28. Michael has politely told me that we no longer celebrate the dating anniversary once we're married, but I will never forget it. He came to Fort Smith the following week after the Earth Day party and together we drove to Conway to see a Jimmy Eat World concert. I took off work the next day and we spent the entire day together. He kissed me that afternoon (right as I heard the garage door open, signifying mom was home from work) and so we've declared April 28 our anniversary day. He drove back to Tulsa that evening and I started thinking about wedding colors.

This is not our first picture, but it is one of the first. I think it was taken in the summer of 2005 when I was visiting him in Tulsa. We set the camera up on his tv stand and to this day it is one of our favorites.



After dating for almost a year, I moved to Tulsa and began working at FPC on April 17, 2006. Michael and I wanted to make sure that we could be together in the same place, every day, and still love each other. It was so nice to be able to see each other on a Wednesday--for an entire year we weren't able to do that. It didn't take us long to realize we'd made the right decision.

On Sunday, April 20, 2008 we celebrated our 6-month wedding anniversary. Everyone told us the first year was the "hardest" and we've just had a blast. We realize we've been very lucky so far and that there will be forks in the road that might not be so easy. But for now, we can safely say that getting married was the best decision of our lives, and we're so excited to see what will happen next.



It's neat for me to think about that first picture. I wonder what we were thinking when it was taken? Did we have any idea that that captured moment would end up on the front page of our wedding website, welcoming visitors to read our story and learn about the wedding weekend? I wonder if we knew that three years later we would be living together in a house in Jenks, or that we still occasionally set up the camera on a tv stand to take pictures of just the two of us. I often think "If I knew then what I know now..." but when that flash went off I already knew. I just didn't know at the time that October 20, 2007 would end up being so significant.

I always felt awkward saying "fiance" but I can't say "husband" enough. Life is good, and I am so blessed.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." -Colossians 3: 14-17 (Scripture read at our wedding...)

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

LOST = life

I've never been a huge fan of television. I have a few shows that I enjoy and try not to miss, but I despise an entire evening of television for the same reason I do not enjoy 3 hour movies: I get impatient, my legs start losing feeling (as does my brain), and I just start feeling... worthless.

I have had to put these feelings aside for the past 3 weeks in order to obtain our lofty goal of watching all 3 seasons and 8 episodes from season 4 of Lost by next Thursday. Tonight is the season 3 finale. Michael and I have become my worst fear: Lost junkies. We talk about them on the way to work (on a first name basis, naturally), discuss them via email throughout the day, research Lost theories, discuss our excitement of watching the next episode as we drive home, and then BAM! At precisely 4:30p we are on the couch with Thumbs Magee and our eyes are glued to the television. If only it stopped there (it does for Michael)... I then proceed to go to bed and dream about drowning, guns, and, most recently, cancer. Justin pulled a gun on one of our neighbors, I drove off a bridge and woke up right as I was drowning, and last night I found out Michael had cancer. YEESH! And now I'm wasting a blog talking about it.

Hi, my name is Meredith, and I'm a Lostaholic.

A small part of me is dreading when we do finally catch up--right now when there is a crazy ending we just pop in the next dvd and immediately find out what happens. Having to wait a full week sounds pretty obnoxious. For our own sake, however, it's probably best. It's much healthier for me to talk about "Kate" and be referring to my best friend and not a Lost character.

In other news (yes, fortunately I have other news to discuss), it's been a nice 2 weeks. I went to Fort Smith a few weekends ago to visit the parents, Julie, and attend Leah's shower. It was a very quick visit but I had a great time. I also went to dinner with someone who used to be a labor and delivery nurse. I thought raising kids was terrifying--it sounds like a piece of cake next to birthing them. I'll keep the stories to myself, but I now believe the storylines on Grey's Anatomy (minus the whole "everyone hooks up with everyone" ridiculousness).

This past weekend we had a new member dinner on Friday, dinner with Cari, Aubrey, and Kait on Saturday, and a Dave Ramsey party on Sunday. We recently bought a charcoal grill and I learned Sunday evening that Michael can make a mean burg and hot dog. We had about 18 people over--we all decided we needed a breather after 13 weeks of learning about mutual funds, mortgages, etc.. I'm hoping we'll form a small group out of some of the couples, there are several that Michael and I really connect with and I'd love to continue hanging out with them.

Last night was the Feist concert and I ended up not going. I had one of those headaches all day yesterday where you see spots (probably from 456+ hours of watching television) and the thought of going to a very crowded and very loud place made me see even more spots. Cari was very gracious and found someone to take my ticket. I'm sure I missed a good one.

Michael is feeling better, still Coughy McCougherson but improves a bit more each day. He has his TU soccer alumnae weekend this Saturday so mom is coming up to join me for the day. Last year I went and watched him play and felt incredibly awkward. There were tons of wives there but they each had multiple youngsters tagging along. None of them seemed interested in talking to me and I can't say I felt differently. Michael politely told me that I did not need to go this year and I think we both breathed a sigh of relief when I decided to pass. :)

Aaaand I think that is about it from me. Happy Tax day!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

And Many More....

This is my 50th post on our blog! Well, it is my 49th post since Michael wrote one last year but since we're a couple we shall celebrate as a couple. Unfortunately, 50% of the couple is at home sick.

Yes, Michael E. Haynes is sick. The other day he mentioned he wasn't feeling well, with the same intensity I use when I tell him I have a miniature headache. I didn't pay much attention to it (I know, bad wife) since he seemed so "eh" about it but realized the severity of the sickness when he woke up approx. 843 times to cough, spit, etc. The morning began with him mentioning his throat was closing up (as if it happened every day), which led to me researching the web to find the closest urgent care clinic. We made the trip and discovered that Michael had a mix of horrid allergies and a viral throat infection. The doc gave him some meds and sent him home. After doing everything I could to help him out, I came to work late and spent a great deal of time thinking/worrying about him. When I came home I was exhausted so I took a long nap. Woke up to my sick husband making us dinner. On a scale of 1 to 47, how bad do you think I felt with that one?!

He's feeling better today, but not great. And once again, I would rather be at home taking care of him. Sigh.

On a happier note, we made the decision on Monday to take an entire week off this summer so we could have a 9-day vacation. This vacation will include sleeping, eating, and relaxing. It will not include a plane trip, stress, or the purchase of a wedding gift. I am super excited about our cheap vacation, it is going to be great for us both.

Reasons why April is a great month (brace yourselves for a lot of exclamation marks):

April 6-7: Get to see my parents and Julie, as well as lunch at Rolandos!
April 12-13: Possibly a visit from Karen and Myers!
April 13: Dave Ramsey party at our place! :)
April 20: Michael's and my 6 month wedding anniversary!
April 26: Summer Buerge's wedding weekend!
April 28: Michael's and my 3 year dating anniversary! (He... and well, everyone else think I'm ridiculous for still celebrating this but come on, 3 years! Woohoo!!)

With all of the aforementioned items, I can deal with a few April showers!

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