oh, my naive, 19 yr old self!

So, I'm just now in the beginning stages of nesting as we prepare for number two, which has basically led to the cleaning out of closets.  As I have mentioned before, I LOVE throwing things in the trash.  I am a minimalist, and I hate extra stuff - especially extra stuff that takes up room in closets, or anywhere.

Anyway.  As I was cleaning out my closet, I came upon BOXES full of scrapbooks and scrapbook materials that are waiting to be finished.  I have a college scrapbook, a scrapbook from a mission trip I took to Zambia in college, two wedding scrapbooks, and THREE Henry scrapbooks - and all their potential pictures and scraps - taking up way more space in my closet than that of the future finished products.

So to get the satisfaction of throwing all the extras away, I actually have to do some work.  But anyway... while I was rummaging through my box of "college scrapbook stuff" as it is labeled, I actually did find ONE finished scrapbook.  This is the scrapbook I made for Matt for our one year "dating" anniversary.  So that would have been in October of 2003.

It was mostly hilarious and cheesy.  But one page stood out, by far, to me.  Let me retell the event I was documenting if you don't mind...

When I came home for Easter my freshman year of college, I made the most terrible mistake of asking my best friend, Sarah, to highlight my hair using one of those bleaching caps, where you pull the hair through one strand at a time and bleach it.  In my defense, I had a friend at A&M who actually successfully used one of these bleaching cap kits, but she was a natural blonde (I was not).

Also, I remember telling my mom my plans for that night, and that I was going to get Sarah to do that for me, and today I sit and wonder, "MOM, why oh why didn't you stop me?"  Anyway...

So, as you'd expect, it was a disaster.  And I didn't freak out much at first because it was really late on a Friday night, and I was totally exhausted.  But then I woke up on Saturday morning, and I saw the skunk-ish looking mess we had created, and I freaked out a little more, especially since I was going to be going to church the next day on Easter - sure to be seeing people that I hadn't seen since high school.  But, I knew that there were professionals out there who were supposed to fix these types of things... unfortunately, I didn't really know that "Tony and Guy" (in the mall) is not like super great at that kind of thing.  (Not trying to be snobby - nothing against Tony and Guy- they just aren't the people you go to during a disaster.)  Once again, I am not sure why I didn't get my mom to take me by the hand and assist me to a salon that could potentially do it right, but somehow on my own, I ended up at Tony and Guy, and when I left, I was BLONDE... totally blonde. No "highlights" or anything... just blonde.  At which point I went totally ballistic because the night before I was very brunette.

I'm not really sure where Matt was in this whole process.  I know that I was super disappointed that I had to spend the day on Saturday getting my hair fixed instead of actually hanging out with him, which would have been my first choice since we were dating long distance.  I DO, however, remember crying to him and freaking out after leaving Tony and Guy.  I also remember going over to his parent's house that night and feeling totally awkward because I had a new hair color and he had very obviously told them not to say anything because no one made a peep about my new blonde.  I felt totally self-conscious.  Looking back, I should have just embraced the blonde, but I was not so daring at that point in my life.  Or now. So anyway, back to the main point...

I don't remember how badly I acted that day about my hair.  I do remember that I skipped out on Easter Service- because obviously the way I looked at church was the most important thing on that day. JK.  And I remember crying a lot.  But nothing TERRIBLE.

So, back to the scrapbook.  I had a picture of myself w/ the bleach blonde and then a picture of myself with some at home brunette hair color in my hair (which I applied that Sunday- yes my hair took a beating that weekend).  And then I have written on the page a hilarious quote.  I wrote, "THIS DAY GOES DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE DAY YOU SAW ME AT MY WORST!"

.......

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Oh how young and naive I once was!  If only the worst my hubs had ever seen me was upset over a hair dilemma! How great that would be...

Now, obviously I was not referring to my worst appearance, but worst behavior.  Either way, I am pretty sure after three and a half more years of dating and five and a half years of marriage, that I can come up with at least ten situations where I have been ten times as badly behaved as I was on that day.  In fact, I can probably come up with ten situations that have been worse in just the past two years.  This post, where I have documented two of them, comes to mind.

Well that took longer than expected.  Thanks for letting me share and lasting to the end.

.......

P.S. I feel totally better from the stomach virus, but I am technically still supposed to consider myself contagious.  In case you were wondering.

reasons why Matt is awesome

(In no particular order.)

1.  HE COMPLETED THE 100 PUSH UP CHALLENGE!  And let me say it was inspirational to watch.  I didn't watch him actually do the 100 push ups, but I watched several of his workouts.  And the most awesome thing about this is that now if we ask Henry to do a push up, he will put both hand on the ground and start bobbing his head up and down = amazing.

2.  HE NOW HAS AN iPHONE and an iPAD.  Yes, this is work related.  Seriously, if anyone in this family was going to go buy him or herself an iphone it would be me.  Matt, if it weren't for work, would still have THIS phone.  The ipad was a (very generous) gift that Matt got as "thank you" for a real estate transaction.

3.  HE'S GAINED FIVE POUNDS in the last TWO MONTHS!!!  Why is this awesome?  Well, you see, after Henry was born, the eight permanent pounds that I put on must have come straight from Matt... because Matt LOST about 8-10 lbs after H came into the world.  My goal in life (okay that's an overstatement) is to WIDEN the gap between our weights.  Matt seemed to be trying to narrow it.  Anyway, I am more than positive that the weight is ALL muscle.  And also, it decreases the likelihood that I will pass Matt in the weight department by the end of my pregnancy.

Should I list some sentimental reasons too?  YES!

1.  He is the most helpful husband on the planet.  Seriously, and if I were my own husband, I might not help me a lot because I am a control freak and I unknowingly and subconsciously criticize him. So instead of saying, "Thanks for running the dishwasher babe."  I say, "Why didn't you try to fit that bowl in there?"  And instead of saying, "Thanks for putting the groceries away babe!"  I say, "You have really interesting ideas about where the groceries go, don't you?"  And instead of saying, "Thanks for changing Henry's dirty diaper, babe!"  I say, "Why don't you use the diaper cream that smells better?"  So, here it is all public for everyone to see... THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO, MATTY!!!

2.  He is LOVING and he works hard to know me and figure me out.  Obviously I don't make sense 95% of the time... and to a man, I don't make sense probably 99% of the time.  (I mean, I just wrote in my last post that I wish I was showing, but like 3 posts earlier, I said that I didn't want to be showing.  Confusing is an understatment.)  Also, I say I want to be healthy and eat less sugar, and then I come home from the store with all the ingredients for smores.  So, I'm thankful that Matt doesn't just roll his eyes and count me to be a crazy (okay sometimes he does), but most of the time, he loves me through it all. And he tries his darndest to get to the bottom of... of me.

3.  I want to be like him!  My man sets a high bar for integrity, hard work, discipline, service, self-control, love, committment, and so many other things... He is so respectable.  I want to be like him.

why Matt thinks I'm crazy

So you know how I've been working out like a freak show?

The other day I said to Matt, "Babe, I'm getting nervous.  I don't feel like my stomach is getting any bigger.  I wish that it was getting bigger, then I would know the baby was okay."  (Mind you, this comment was like 2 days after I went to the doctor and heard the heartbeat - never mind that it took intern nurse like 999 hours to find the heartbeat.)

He laughed and rolled his eyes.  "You are unbelievable."

Clearly, we don't have to go any further here. Obviously it doesn't make sense that I want my stomach to be huge and everything else on my body to be small.  Well that does make sense, but it wasn't all making sense to Matt when I was just spouting it out.

Anyway, so I was having these strange dumb dumb feelings like my stomach wasn't getting bigger, then therefore the child must not be growing, therefore something must be wrong.  So......

I prayed that God would help me feel the baby moving.  Cause up to that point I thought I might have felt it move but I wasn't really sure.  It's a big difference the movement at 40 weeks and the movement at 17 weeks.  And, surprise!  HE DID!  Last night on the 4th of July, I felt a lot of movement. Yay!

Also...  Just thought I'd share another funny interaction Matt and I had last night.  (This actually happens a lot.)

Leah: Laugh out loud to herself.
Matt:  What are you laughing at?
Leah: Nothing - I'm just hilarious.  Continue laughing.

Okay so probably not funny to you, but I think it's hilarious. Obviously.  I know Matt thinks it's super-annoying because my dad does it all the time (laughs at his own jokes, thinks he is funnier than everyone else thinks he is), and we (kids) all usually just roll our eyes at him (lovingly).  Apparently that trait runs in the family.

And if you really want to know, I was laughing at some comments I had written on Matt's Facebook wall (my own jokes).

a couple of things...

First of all... the friend I mentioned in the sunburn post apparently enjoys getting shout outs, so I thought I'd share this other interesting fact concerning said friend and sunburns.  When we were in 9th grade, this SAME friend, PEELED my sunburned skin for me during World Geography.  So gross, but apparently there is a theme here.

Next.  I drove by a Panda Express two days ago, and I noticed that the restaurant is self-described as "Gourmet Chinese Food."  Now, is it just me, or do you think we're getting a little liberal with the use of the term "gourmet?"  That's what I thought.

Lastly.  I get like 150 points in the wife department because the mother's day present I chose for myself was a COOKBOOK.  And tonight I actually cooked a meal out of it (with Matt's help)- stuffed peppers.  And also, if that weren't enough, we actually made "Kale Chips."  Yes.  I bought KALE, and I cooked it, and I ate it, and lived to tell about it.  It was good.

That's pretty much it.

following up. the winner is.

As per usual, I made Matt sit down and read my last few blog posts, and then when he was finished, I made him tell me which parts he liked the best.  And after he told me a few things, I followed up a few times with, "What else did you like?"  So, he mentioned that he thought it was rather interesting that in my "hate healthy food post" I wrote, "Diabetes is real."  Soooo let me clarify.  Clearly, I KNEW before that diabetes is REAL... I just never considered it as a possibility for ME before.  Got it?  Good.

Also, for the record, MATT is the one who thinks it is acceptable to spit your gum in the toilet as a trashcan.  He likes to defend himself by saying, "Have you ever put your chewed gum in water before?  It hardens, and it can't clog the toilet."

But still.

The way we happened upon this debate is that I noticed there was a piece of gum in the bottom of our toilet one day.  Since there is a trash can RIGHT NEXT to the toilet, I figured that Matt intended to spit the gum in the trash but accidentally missed into the toilet.  Nopety nope nope nope.  He absolutely on purpose spit his gum in the toilet.  I just didn't understand that.  Especially with a trash can right there!

So, based on comments, I won this marital debate.

On a lighter note...

If you saw the news in my previous post about our sweet fella's craniosynostosis, you know we've had a serious week. However, Matt's done some funny things to add laughter to our home.

First of all. This morning, he was so sweet and decided to make blueberry pancakes and eggs for us to eat for breakfast. But I walked into the kitchen and he was planning on using this electric griddle that we haven't used since we were in our apartment.

"Don't use that," I said, "It's too messy. Use the flat, square pan that you can put on the stove."

So a few seconds later, I'm in the other room, and Matt asks, "Is it this pan?"

I look over to see him holding up a cookie sheet. "No, it's the square one that looks like all our other pans."

A few seconds later, "This one?"

I look over to see him holding up another cookie sheet. :) Haha.

"No babe, the other cabinet." He got it right the 3rd time. :)

Next. We went on a fancy date to Jason's Deli tonight, and Matt was eating the free frozen yogurt after he finished his meal. As he was eating it he exclaimed, "Man, this yogurt is really cold!"

I laughed. "Yeah babe, it's frozen."

Now, you may not think this is funny. But if you know Matt, and if you know me, then it's funny.

The end.

boo ya fo shizzle

You know, in the last few weeks I haven't had the good fortune of encountering (or even creating) very many awkward situations - and Matt hasn't been doing anything too crazy either, much to my blog's dismay (and yours of course). I hate that Gibbizarre is in this dry season - lacking spice and flava - but I assure you, it shall pass. In the meantime, let me give you the headlines.

Matt is still losing things.
Matt did lose his sunglasses the other day. He eventually found them on the floor of his car. Yes, these are the same sunglasses that I found on the side of the road about a year ago. Trust me, I didn't panic when they went missing. I know, I know, this is not fun news.

I have ceased the typical blogger ranting...
...about whatever happens to be bothering me at the moment like how much I can't stand the song "Halo" by Beyonce. Okay, I haven't stopped ranting completely. But does anyone out there really like that song?

Twitter makes me and Matt both want to kick and scream.
In one week, I joined twitter, became obsessed with twitter, and now completely can't stand twitter anymore at all, even if it's a good tool in certain circumstances. I'll refrain from elaborating and just say sometimes when I read people's tweets I get ÜBER-frustrated. (My problem not theirs.) Am I the only one with twitter disdain around here? I know that at least Matt feels that way.

We had another Mars/Venus conversation.
Leah is wearing her new skinny jeans.
Matt: "You sure do like wearing those jeans."
Leah: "What's that supposed to mean?"
Matt: "It's not supposed to mean anything; you just wear them a lot."
Leah: "Well Matt, I don't have any clothes, so I wear all of my clothes a lot. Why did you specifically say that I wear these jeans a lot? Do you not like them?"
Matt: "No, I like them, I was just making an observation."
Leah: "And I was just clarifying your observation."
Matt: "I am just not going to say any of my observations out loud from here on out."
Leah: "No, you should make observations, but they should all be positive. If they are negative, or even neutral, then you should expect that I am going to ask you what you mean."
Matt (rolling eyes): "Okay."

Ladies, how would you respond to a comment like that?

Mars and Venus - Communication 101

Most of you know that male slash female communication is the most exciting part of any relationship. I thought I'd share some of our most common Mars/Venus conversations.

Matt loves when I use absolutes like "always" and "never."

Leah (usually while Matt is watching sports): "We never talk."
Matt: "We talked on Saturday night."

He also loves when I make him be specific. This is my favorite...

Matt: "You look so cute right now!"
Leah: "I do?"
Matt: "Yeah."
Leah: "Well what's cute about me?"
Matt: ... interrupted ...
Leah: "Is it my haircut?"
Matt: ... interrupted again ...
Leah: "Have I lost weight?"
Matt: "I don't know you just look cute."
Leah: "Did I not look cute yesterday?"

Surely he wishes he had never opened his mouth.

And this is one from awhile back when we were getting ready for something. Thank you, Amanda, for bringing this to mind.

Matt: "Are you going to wear that shirt?" (Note: I was already dressed AND it was time to leave = not a good decision for Matt.)
Leah: "What's wrong with it?"
Matt: "It looks a little casual."
Leah: "Well SORRY, I don't have any clothes, so you're going to have to deal with it!"
Matt: "Yes you do, you have a whole closet full of clothes."
Leah: "Oh really? Then YOU pick out my outfit!"

He refused. I don't remember if I ended up changing or not. We love each other.

stuff they don't teach in marriage counseling

I got a haircut today, and it is the shortest it's been since I was 16. And if I remember correctly, I cried for a long time after that horrific haircut. But no worries.

So after she chopped it all off, I dropped by Matt's office to show it off to him, as is my custom.

Matt: (Sees hair) Oh, it's very cute! I like it a lot.
Leah: Do you like it?
Matt: Yes, it's very cute.
Leah: Does it make me look skinny or fat? (Don't judge!!)
Matt: It makes you look skinny.
Leah: Does it make me look older or younger?
Matt: Younger.
Leah: Good.

Of course I know that my haircut doesn't make me look different at all, but we've had some tension in the past when I've presented these questions. It used to go like this.

Leah: Does it make me look older or younger?
Matt: Umm. I don't know.
Leah: What do you mean? Do I look older or younger?
Matt: I don't know what you want the answer to be? Are you supposed to look older or younger?
Leah: Babe, there's not a "right" answer, it's just whatever you think. (Duh, he's smarter than that.)
Matt: Okay, older?
Leah: Really?
Matt: I don't know, younger?

Yeah. He wised up.

backseat driver

There are times in our marriage when I've been accused of being a bit of a control freak backseat driver. I have to admit that when Matt is at the wheel, I tend to get a little critical (or in my own defense, freaked out). I don't want to point out all of the little mistakes that I feel he is making, but when I sense that I am about to die, or that I see something he doesn't, it's only natural for me to scream bloody murder.

Now don't get me wrong; Matt is a responsible driver (ahem, when he's not trying to use his crackberry at the same time - and I have a story about that, too). It's just that I am also paranoid. So, someone could be putting on their brakes 1/2 a mile up the road, and if Matt doesn't break immediately, I'm screaming or hiding my face in my hands - freaking out - much to Matt's chagrin. And traffic makes it worse.

Ask Matt about the last few times we have gone to Houston to visit my sister and her family. From the time we hit Houston traffic till we pull in her driveway, we are both pulling our hair out. I think this last time I told Matt, "I just don't think you are driving very defensively!" (And what a civil way of putting it!) I think his response was something along the lines of, "Ughhhh!" He is always faithful to remind me that he drives every single day without me, and that he hasn't had a wreck since he was 17. Still.

Anyway, I am pretty sure the intensity of my paranoia is a big part of the problem. Next time I feel like I am about to die, I should probably pray first, and then if I still feel the need to scream bloody murder, I'll have at it.

panera bread and k-mart

Let me get this out of the way. I stumbled upon Panera Bread's Pre-Grand Opening today at their new location in the Gateway shopping center, and somehow earned free lunch for me, Matt, and my MIL, Kathy. It was total luck. If you think that sort of thing never happens to you, I am proof that there is hope! Anyway, they gave us free lunch under one stipulation, which is that we tell our friends that tomorrow is their GRAND OPENING. So there you go.

Now, here's another thing. Matt and I are not wine snobs. We like it, but if it's just for home, we will go cheap. Granted, we won't stoop as low as Sutter Home or Franzia, but still. So yesterday I called Matt from TARGET to tell him that the Barefoot Wine, which is usually $6 a bottle was on sale there for $5. Big savings right there.

Anyway, I decided to pass on the $1 savings, and tonight Matt said to me, "You should have gotten that wine at K-Mart."

Excuse me? K-Mart?

I love you, but how could you confuse TARGET with ANY discount store EVER? Target is the best, and should not ever be confused with ANY other. BTW, didn't K-Mart run out of business like 12 years ago? That's what I thought.

Sweet husband. I love him.

those kitchen appliances will get ya

Matt and I have started getting ready-to-bake pizzas at Papa Murphy's on nights when we decide not to cook. 1- They are really good. 2- They are really cheap.

Last night, we were going to be eating a late dinner, and so we opted to get the pizza instead of cooking. My job was to pick up the pizza on my way home from a meeting, and Matt's job was to preheat the oven.

When I got home at about 9:15, Matt greeted me at the back door.

Matt: "Now, I don't know if we are going to get to eat the pizza. I think something's wrong with our oven." (Trying to break it to me gently and also carrying a somewhat concerned tone.)
Leah: "Really? What is it doing?"
Matt: "Well, when I turned it on, it made a really weird noise, and I smelled a lot of gas."
Leah: "Okay, show me. I am not going to be happy if we have to eat spaghetti."
Matt turns on the oven to show me. Nothing unusual happens.
Matt: "Do you hear that?"
Leah: "What? The gas?"
Matt: "Yes, it NEVER makes that noise. Is it leaking?"
Leah: "Um, babe, It ALWAYS makes that noise."
Matt: "No way, there's like a FIRE in there."
Leah: "When was the last time you actually turned the oven on?"
Matt realizes that the only thing he ever cooks on his own is spaghetti, waffles, and eggs, and that the last time he turned on the oven was probably at least a year ago.
Matt: "That's so weird. It's like there's a fire in there."
Leah takes over the operation of kitchen appliances.

I think Matt has a general paranoia concerning the household appliances he doesn't use very often. It is not an exaggeration that every time we leave the house together while the dryer is still running he says something like, "The dryer's running. I hope our house doesn't burn down."

Once again. Drama King.

you will think this post ends like five times, but it keeps going and going and going

Seriously. Read this. So much has happened since I last blogged. Where do I start?

Let's start where we left off - after dinner on Friday night. It seems that the best way for me to fight my dependence on dessert so far has been to increase my dependence on coffee. So, Friday night, when Matt was desperately wishing that I had not participated in Lent, I requested that we make a stop for decaf coffee on the way home, and Matt reluctantly obliged.

On Saturday I had at least three cups of coffee at breakfast, and then I had to do some shopping for Mary's 14th birthday, a wedding, and Annie's 1st Birthday. On my way home, I picked up another tall coffee. I finished my coffee, wrapped the presents, dropped by Annie's Party, then Matt and I headed to Chuy's with the Gibson family for Mary's b-day celebration.

I brought carrots to dip in the jalapeno ranch since I can't eat chips, and I longingly watched all the children sip their Dr. Peppers, and I listened to Mary talk about her b-day cake which was sitting at home with white frosting and raspberry filling.

This was enough for me to decide in my mind that I was DEFINITELY going to eat the wedding cake at the wedding that we were attending that night.

Now, speaking of this wedding. It was in Buda, about 45 minutes from our house, but it took a little longer with SXSW traffic and all that jazz. I won't lie that I was a little grouchy after having two very unsatisfying tex-mex outings in one weekend. So, I took a nap on the way to the wedding, and I woke up as we were taking our exit in Buda.

I am sure Matt saw the Starbucks in the distance and prayed that I would stay asleep and miss it, but I saw it and immediately exclaimed, "STARBUCKS!" (As if I never get to go there.) "Can I get some?" And after an hour of traffic, Matt wasn't feeling it. He immediately denied my request. Next.

Finally, we pull up to the wedding location in Buda, and we are greeted by this dude who works for the facility. Conversation went like this.

Dude: "Since you guys are a little late, I am going to ask you to park here and walk up to the facility."
Matt: "Um, okay, but we're not late, the invitation says 6:30."
Dude: "You're actually lucky; they are delaying the start since so many people didn't show up at 6:00." Then dude gets on his walkie-talkie and guy is giving him directions to give us.
Leah at this point looks at the invitation more carefully, and notices a rather important detail that was previously ignored.
Dude and Leah at same time start talking to Matt: (Don't know what dude was saying, but Leah says...) "Look, Matt, FRIDAY the 2oth"
Matt: Leah, I didn't hear a word this guy just said. Shh.
Leah: MATT, the wedding was YESTERDAY... FRIDAY.
Matt to Dude: "Did you guys have a wedding here last night?"
Dude: "Yep."

Congratulations to us; we are idiots. Surprisingly neither of us got upset at the other for never checking the wedding invitation. Point us.

Anyway, after feeling really bad that we had missed a good friend's wedding, I immediately realized that I wasn't going to be getting any wedding cake.

It was about when we were in the middle of downtown on I35, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic that Matt started to get a little tired of being in the car. Plus, we didn't know where we were going. Were we going to hang out with our Newly Nearly Married group? Were we going to the in-laws' house to get birthday cake? Were we going home? To a movie? Who knows!

Little side note: about 99.99% of our arguments happen when we don't have plans and when we are trying to decide what to do on the spot. We officially suck at this.

So, Matt's main goal is to get out of the car, and my main goal was to get cake. (Which understandably annoyed my husband who does not understand my behavior at all.) No doubt the best option was to go hang out with our NNM group which was having dinner near UT campus (and I was about 90% sure there would be dessert there.) But we weren't able to get in touch with them, so the next best option (for me anyway) was cake at the in-laws' house. This meant another 25 minutes in the car, but neither of us wanted to go home.

Of course 25 minutes later, neither of us had gotten happier with the impending circumstances. Let's just say Matt took it out on his parent's dog, Max, when we pulled up to the house. And I made a beeline for the birthday cake. Two pieces of cookie cake + two pieces of vanilla-raspberry cake + half of one UT basketball game later, we were both much better. On the way home, I asked for coffee again, but this was just a test; I knew I had no chance.

Fast forward to this morning. At our church, they bribe you to park in an overflow lot and ride the shuttle bus to church in order to open of parking spaces for visitors. They do this by giving you free breakfast and Starbucks coffee at the overflow lot. Naturally, we park there. I fill up on coffee, and usually get another cup AT church before our Nearly/Newly Class and another one before the service. Don't judge! Seriously. They are small cups.

So after a healthy lunch today, Matt and I had to make a stop at Target. Of course my brain immediately remembers that Target has a Starbucks. Of course I lack the ability to just say no, and pick up yet another tall coffee.

This was the last straw. As I took the last sip at around 2:45 this afternoon, I decided that this absolutely must end. I can't do it any longer. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I am not drinking coffee for a week. I may still go to Starbucks and have passion tea or green tea, but NO COFFEE. Yes! Another restriction.

Matt's response was something to the effect of, "I'm sorry that I don't believe you."

But can you really blame him?

This post must end. I originally had more to tell you, but if I went on, well, it would be way too much good material in one post. So goodnight for now.

show off!!

When I woke up this morning, Matt was already up making breakfast for me! AND he had made an early morning trip to Starbucks to refill my gift card and to get me a cup of coffee. Show off.

Actual celebration will be Friday night.

Three Years of Marital Bliss

Today is our anniversary! Happy three years to us. To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to share with you three "fun facts" about the history of our relationship. Enjoy!

• Matt and I were friends in high school, but we were NOT attracted to each other in high school. I remember our Senior year, Matt's superlative was "best eyes," and since I never really took the time to look in his eyes, and since apparently he never smiled at me, I thought it was totally bogus. He was just Matt, the guy who copied my homework and talked to me about his girl problems. (Yes, you read it correctly... HE copied MY homework in high school. Hard to believe, I know.) Oh, and I also thought he was a little bit egotistic. Someday you will have to read what I wrote in his yearbook; it is rather amusing.
  
• Our official "dating" anniversary was October 12th. We "defined the relationship" over the phone our freshman year of college when Matt was in Dallas for the Texas/OU game, and I had come home that weekend after the A&M/Baylor game in Waco. (That was back when beating Baylor was a given.) The funny part about this is that a couple of weekends before that official talk, I had gone home for our H.S. homecoming game and he was holding my hand and acting like we were dating. So, when my old HS classmates asked if I was dating anyone, I responded "yes," but didn't say who. This caused some confusion, and Matt and I actually decided after that weekend that we needed to retract the "dating" status until we were able to get approval from certain friends/parents/other people. It's sort of silly, but I am glad we did it the way we did.
  
• I bought my wedding dress six months before we ever got engaged... and I got caught. Matt was upstairs in my dad's office one day and saw a file folder entitled "Leah's Wedding." Of course he was thrown off-guard since we were not engaged yet. Inside he found the receipt for the wedding dress. Can you imagine how you would feel if that happened to you? It just dawned on me the other day, "What if he had been planning to break up with me, but he saw that folder, felt bad, and just stayed with me because he thought he had to?" I asked, and he assured me that wasn't the case. (I'm joking, of course.)
  

In conclusion, Matt is God's perfect match for me! I really do believe that he would be successful at ANYTHING that he wanted to do. I will follow him any place he wants to go! And of course, I will be faithful to blog about him and tell his silly idiosyncrasies every step of the way!

new years resolution and lent update

Since I know you guys are wondering, I'd like to report that Matt is officially still in Chapter 2 of the Hillary Clinton Biography. It is sitting proudly on our coffee table, waiting patiently for his undivided attention. Of course, the biography has competition, and that would be me. Looks like I am winning.

On the "lent" front, I keep making subconscious migrations towards my forbidden activities. Sadly, these things have become such consistent habits that I do them without even thinking about it. Fortunately, my conscious mind has done a very good job of prohibiting me from partaking... so far. Am I the only crazy one who deal with this?

Oh how we love our blog readers!

how NOT to read the Bible

I was reading my daily chapter of Proverbs yesterday and came across this verse:

"It is better to live in a corner of the roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman." (Proverbs 25:24)

Immediate thought: "Good thing I'm not a dude; I don't have to worry about living with a contentious woman...or in a corner of the roof for that matter..."

After God's intervention: "...on second thought, maybe I should see to it that Matt doesn't have to live with a contentious woman."

Hmm. Perhaps.

Valentine's Schmalentines

I was originally planning on writing a post to make fun of Valentine's Day.... until we had our best Valentine's celebration yet. I've detailed the date in easy-to-read bullet points for you. Enjoy!

• We celebrated on Friday the 13th. Good decision on our part.
• Matt brought home a purse I had mentioned to him and also a dozen roses. Go Matt! Unfortunately, he did not address me as his "bride" in the card. I'm happy to report that he did get the pajama gram and teddy bear memo and that his mom did not pick out the purse.
  
• On the way to the restaurant, Matt realized that he left his wedding ring on our bathroom counter. Oops. Sadly for both of us, I have chub-chub fingers and Matt has skeleton fingers, so he was able to wear my Aggie Ring (backwards) on his ring finger.
• We went to Perry's Steakhouse. We took advantage of valet parking to avoid any hassle. (Unfortunately, we have learned the hard way that trying to find free parking downtown on the weekend will stress both of us out and cause an argument, ruining the 1st half of our dinner.)
• We are both admittedly high culture virgins. Somehow we can pull it off when we are with my Dad, but not alone. For example, when we arrived at our table, I waited for Matt to pull out my chair, and he didn't catch on, so I just sat down. After the hostess left, he got really embarrassed because he realized he probably should have done that. Believe me, it was awkward.
  
• We didn't order the $1500 bottle of wine this time. Bummer, right? We did get a Sonoma County Merlot (don't remember the name) for those of you who find it interesting (ahem, Dad). We like to pretend we know what we are talking about and guess the flavors in the wine. Matt actually guessed correctly the last time we played the game. This time he guessed hickory. Nope, sorry babe - oak, plum, and vanilla. Good try though.
• I seriously considered ordering the $85 filet mignon from the special cow (obviously the terminology they used was much fancier than this). But, to be perfectly honest, I was only doing it so that I could blog about it, and Matt had already gone all out with the flowers and the gift, so I decided to stick with the regular filet. Matt got the 3 Peppercorn NY Strip. I'm going to go ahead and say that mine was better.
• About halfway through the dinner I made eye-contact with a very familiar looking man. After much speculation, Matt managed to sneak a peek and confirmed that it was in fact Rick Perry! Perhaps you have heard of him? I'm going to venture out and say that he knew we recognized him.
• We spent the rest of our dinner talking about what we would to say the governor if we were to take the opportunity. (That requires its own separate blog post, which may or may not follow.) Of course neither of us actually did talk to him, and I was disappointed that I didn't have my Who's Who letter to show him.
  
• Mmmm. We had creme brulee (my favorite) for dessert, and then we left.
• I officially woke up feeling 9 months pregnant (happy valentine's day to me), so I guess you could say we ate well.

Finally, Happy Valentine's Day to you! Please, share your special stories!

How to Ruin your Valentine's Day (Important Advice for Husbands & Boyfriends)

If you want to ruin your Valentine's Day, then you should go ahead and buy your wife or girlfriend a Pajama Gram or a Vermont Teddy Bear. I have heard commercials for both of these products on the radio and TV, and let me just say that they are lying to you.

The Vermont Teddy Bear advertisement essentially says that flowers are boring and that if you send your wife or girlfriend a teddy bear at work, she will love you, and all of her coworkers will just be really impressed. It is a lie. If I received a Teddy Bear at work, I would be embarrassed. Take my word for it, and stick with flowers. Chocolate will even work, but not a teddy bear, please.

Although I personally would not prefer it, the Pajama Gram is not that bad of a gift in itself UNLESS your wife/girlfriend/fiancee has seen the commercial... and then it's pretty much over. No hope for you. The commercial basically appeals to lazy, last-minute men who haven't put any thought into the gift. See for yourself.



I personally can't stand this commercial, especially the last 10 seconds. Matt, if you're out there, NO PAJAMA GRAMS.

"take a big glass of RELAX"

I am pretty sure Matt saw me change from Dr. Henry Jekyll to Mr. Edward Hyde right before his very eyes today. Seriously, it is amazing how a full bladder and rush hour traffic will change you from a normal person to an evil villain.

Long story short, I had to go #1 at like 3:00, but we had to be somewhere at 3:30, and due to time constraints I never got to go. Two hours later, we were trying to leave a crowded parking lot, and I still needed to go. In hindsight, I should have stopped to go before we left the event, but we were trying to beat the crowds. I also should have let Matt drive.

So two things are going through my head. 1- I really have to pee. 2- Matt has already missed like three hours of work today, and he needs to get back. These things are not helpful in bumper to bumper traffic.

Of course there was a lot of shouting and trash talk (at the other drivers) the whole way back to Matt's office. But I think the last string (for Matt) was when I started trying to make eye contact at a stoplight with some dude behind me who was upset that I didn't run a yellow light. I wanted to give him the evil eye. Haha. :) I really should not share these things with anyone.

Actually, I forgot that right as I was trying to pull into the driveway of Matt's office, there was a car leaving the office parking lot, and instead of being on the RIGHT side of the driveway, she was in the very middle of the driveway... so I couldn't pull in. So I yelled, "YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DRIVEWAY, LADY!!!!!!!!!!" And dramatically pulled around the building to the other entrance. Matt looked at me like I was possessed by something, to which I innocently replied, "What? She's gonna cause a wreck!" Ha. :)

Needless to say, I parked, and he got out as fast as he could. I went inside, took care of business, and came out a normal person. I am proud to report that I did not raise my voice once on the way from his office to the house. Of course we can all look back and laugh at this now.

(1- The title of this post is something Matt tells me OFTEN. 2- For those of you who are worried about this, I appreciate your concern, and promise that I will continue to repent and ask forgiveness and resolve to change until I am cured of road rage. I believe that day is coming. :) 3- Sorry if this was TMI for you.)