Tenth Anniversary...

I think back to 2000 (the year), and I remember meeting Tony.  I met Tony at the Starbucks, where I worked at the time.  His best friend was dating one of the girls I worked with, so, they would come to visit her and take breaks with her.  Since they were sociable, they would take breaks with all of us, and Tony showed interest by hanging with me, instead of everyone else.

Tony and I began dating, and moved in together in March of 2001.  My grandmother passed away in April, and he was with me for that.  We were engaged August 29th, 2001.  September 11th happened, and he called me and woke me up that day.  We married on September 21st, 2002.  

Our wedding was incredible.  I started out the day with getting my hair done - with the little sis who was my flower girl.  Our service was at 3, and from there, the reception.  We had the best time, and then headed to Mexico for our honeymoon.

The next year, on September 21st, we found out that we would be parents.  Those little pink lines were telling us what we already pretty much knew to be true.

Cut to 9 years later - we have moved twice since that first year.  We have had not one, but two little girls.  We have adopted two cats.  We have both started jobs that we are still in.  We are still very much in love, and still are able to make each other laugh like no other.

This past weekend, to commemorate our ten years of marriage, we spent the weekend in the city.  We dropped our kids off on Friday night, and then went to the city Saturday morning.  We stayed at a hotel in the city, and were able to visit the Art Institute.  Which was awesome without any kids, btw.  We also did a little bit of shopping on the Magnificent Mile and had dinner and dessert at a restaurant at Navy Pier.  We had an after dinner drink in the bar at the hotel - which was a cool Victorian (read: goth) lounge.  After a night in the hotel, we got up and went to the Bears game.  A first for me, and second for him.  We had such a blast!  This was a great anniversary weekend!!  Here's to the next 10 years!

This was our dinner on Friday night - our actual anniversary.  LOL!  It was late and we were hungry.  

 Here we are, getting ready to leave the house

Our view from the hotel

Isn't he cute?

All dressed up for dinner. Too bad the ironing board had to photo-bomb.

Some of the skyline as the sun went down.

The fare guide in our cab back to the hotel.  Better not vomit, it'll cost you

The chairs we sat in at the Victorian lounge had lion heads for arm rests.

The view from our seats at the game - no zoom on this one.  We had such a good time we're discussing the possibility of investing in season tickets.

Isn't this bear scary?  They inflated him and the team ran on the field from between his paws.  I guess this was so intimidating, that the other team lost.  

Oh, and who are those good looking youngsters in the seats?  Why, us of course!

Were you wondering what our kids did while we were out playing like a couple without kids?  Being worn out going to a dairy farm and playing outside.  They fell asleep on the ride home, and the little one has been sleeping since.

10 years ago...

Tomorrow, September 21st, 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of my wedding.

10 years ago, I married the best husband I've ever had.  He is a great dad, a great husband, and my favorite guy.  He makes me smile, he laughs at me, and will eat the baked goods I make so that I don't.  I truly feel like one of the luckiest people in the world.

In honor of our anniversary, we are celebrating (kid-free) this weekend.  I'm excited and I'll fill you in after the celebration is over.

Who are these crazy kids?

Yep, that's Tony and I when we were first dating, circa 2000.  Could we look any younger?

Our wedding photos.  And yes, I am too lazy to scan them, so I took pictures of pictures.

These are my two favorites. 

Happy Anniversary, Luv! From a great 10 years to the next great 10 years!

A Saturday Pictorial...

These are the pictures from last weekend when my grandparents came to town.  They stayed up north with my Aunt and Uncle, and my other Aunt was in town as well.  It was great to see everyone!  And, we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens and walked around and looked at the flowers.  Afterwards, it was homemade pizza time (yummy!) at my aunt's while we watched Serena win the US Open.  My grandparents are tennis fiends so we generally watch the matches when they are around.

First - some of the pretty flowers we saw.  I don't know what they are - just that I wish they would grow by my house.  I take that back - one is a rose.

 

The Girls played in the fountain.  Mia fell down - then decided she should lay down and frolic in the water.

Apparently it was fun to harass Uncle DD

My Aunts

Brad - Lotus style near the Japanese Garden

My Grandma and Me - picture courtesy Uncle DD

Love the light and shadow in the one

A picture of my brother taking a picture.

Because we can't go anywhere without the dog, or the 'do.

I believe they were discussing the fence - or maybe the types of trees, or who they are voting for in the next election.

Tonight, tonight....

Tonight I was thinking about writing about what I remember from 9/11.  There was so much remembering, and never forgetting on Facebook, that I started thinking about what I was doing back then.  But, I got distracted - something shiny swam by.

So, I instead uploaded my pictures from this past weekend and started playing with them.  They're not quite ready yet, but I thought I'd share some recent instagrams for those of you who don't follow me.

Here we have been enjoying these last days of summer.  It's been a long summer here, it seemed to have started in March when I got sunburned, wearing Capri's for the St. Patty's Day Parade.  This summer, Olivia has been able to ride her bike so we have been going on many bike rides.  She does really great keeping up with us and going long distances.  It's really been a great summer!  I wonder what we'll do next summer since Mia is really too big to be on the back of my bike.  She's gonna have to get up on her bike.  Tony - pull those training wheels out again!

Also, Derrick has been visiting quite a bit through August and a little into September.  He's gotten some parts in TV shows that film here and has spent quite a bit of time with us.  We took him to our favorite Italian restaurant (in our town), and here, Mia shows us all how to properly eat spaghetti.

This past weekend, just Olivia and I were going to go shopping.  This girl needed some shirts that fit - I got tired of seeing these too tight shirts on my girl.  She was excited, but forgot to go through all of her current clothes so that we could give away the old ones that no longer fit.  Why not hang onto them for Mia you ask?  Well, my little one is wearing the clothes that Olivia wore when she was 2.  So, if we hang onto the current set, Mia might fit them when she's 12. I'm thinking by then they will be out of style, and it will be a fight to get her to wear her sister's old clothes.  Back to the story - Olivia took so long going through her other clothes that what was going to be a Mommy-Olivia day turned into a whole family shopping day.  And yes, Olivia got bunches of new clothes and is mixing them together in ways that only she would think of.

Happy Hump Day!

It's Wednesday after Labor Day, and I thought I'd post about some of the things that have been going on here, and about some of the things that are really making it real that summer is over.

Maybe a list?  Yeah, I'm feeling a list coming on!

1. Tony, my wonderful husband had a bicycle accident on Monday.  He went mountain biking (we're in the Midwest, so more like hill biking) with my brother.  Apparently, as the story goes, he went over a hill and smack, into a tree.  He's ok.  He has some awesome bruising, and his muscles are pretty sore.  We're thinking he may have something broken in his foot (we are not doctors).  Also, due to this very odd softball size swelling on the inside of his knee, that is now wickedly bruised, we (again, not doctors) think he may have popped the knee out of joint, and it popped back in.  This is our opinion, again, we are not doctors.

The Neck Bruise (is it just me, or does my cats butt make him look like he has a wicked long goatee?  it's ok if it's just me.)

The Man Legs - wicked awesome bruise

 2.  I am working toward my 50 lbs weight loss.  Only a couple more pounds and I will be there!  Which is awesome.  Also, I'll get to pull out my new purse - my reward for getting this far!  AND, 'cause there's gotta be an and, I'll start thinking of how I will reward myself when I get to my goal.

3.  Have you noticed that it's getting dark earlier again?  Yeah, me too.  It's starting to feel like fall - except for the temperatures, that still feels like the seventh circle of hell.

4.  Dance class has started up again.  We'll be there twice a week every week while school is in session.

5.  Politics is in full swing.  The Republicans just had there convention, the Democrats are in the middle of theirs.  This has made me think that I really need to make sure that I am registered to vote and am knowledgeable about the issues and candidates.  It's been too long since I cast a vote.

6.  I am still baking more right now.  Next up, Pecan Turtle Bars in anticipation of my grand parents coming to visit.

7.  We are getting out house ready for a dog.  We are getting a fence, which is phase one of four phases.  Hopefully, we can get a dog this winter or spring.  Maybe even a puppy?

8.  Do you know why 8 is the most feared number?  Because seven eight (ate) nine.  LOL!  Had to put that in because I couldn't think of an 8.

I think that's about it - at least all that I can think of right now.  I hope you are having a great week.  Let's put this hump day to bed!!!