The Wedding Dress Experience

If you’ve ever spent much time reading wedding blogs, magazines or forums you’ve heard about the wedding dress experience. The experience that when you find “your dress” you know it. You cry. You’re overcome with joy.

I didn’t have that.

I loved the dress, just didn’t cry. {PS I made that Mrs. hanger!}

I had a beautiful dress but I didn’t shed a tear, my mom didn’t shed a tear, we weren’t in an utter state of awe of anything in the sea of white and cream satin, taffeta and chiffon before us. That’s a little odd because I cry at the drop of a hat. Movies, tv shows, books, tender thoughts and my friend trying on wedding dresses can bring a tear to my eye.

When we first set foot on what is now our property, I had the “wedding dress experience.” (I’ve written about that before) So when I read another newlywed couple’s house finding experience it prompted me to start calling it the “home experience.”

I dropped a glass

After things were finally dry enough outside, Brad mowed the grass. While he showered, I cleaned up the clippings then launched a last minute assault on the morning glories and other assorted weeds that were taking over the shrub out back. It was warm and muggy outside so when I came in I was craving a nice glass of iced tea. 

A finger stick found me at 82mg/dL so I grabbed a couple of pretzels and poured the two of us some nice, cold iced tea and settled in the living room. When I picked up the glass for my second sip, it slipped out of my hand, bounced off the corner of the coffee table (shattering) and sent tea, ice and glass everywhere.

The sound of the glass falling and breaking frightened Holmes and Watson out of their standard afternoon naps and they ran away from the sound… then in their frenzy ran back across the glass (that had somehow managed to send shards flying nearly across the room) to hide behind the couch. Brad sprang into action, grabbing his slippers and the trash can, then tried to capture the cats and take them upstairs. In the chase process that I watch while helplessly trapped on the couch, the cats both ran through the ice/glass/tea mess a total of three times before being successfully wrangled into an upstairs bedroom.

Hurts worse than it looks

After ascertaining that my leg was bleeding due to a cut from falling glass and not a piece lodged in it, we cleaned up the mess. Brad asked me while searching for shards in the carpet, “Was it low blood sugar?” For all of the annoying, frustrating and inconvenient things in my life that I can blame diabetes on, this was not one of them. This was a sweaty glass in an unstable hand.

I cleaned up and bandaged my leg then checked the cats’ paws. Both of them were fine but still scared. Watson still hadn’t come downstairs over an hour later even though Holmes has resumed his nap right where he left off.

In other news, I revamped my About Rachel page… it was probably time.

Related Posts:

A high-tech life

What You Should Know

Rachel Takes on Cedar Point

Celebrate!

This time of year has become marked by a whirlwind of birthdays, graduations, holidays and anniversaries.

There is a lot in my life to celebrate… especially today.

Two years ago today, I woke up in a hotel room with one of my best friends. It was chilly and cloudy, and there were butterflies in my stomach. My friend drove us to Starbucks while I prayed it didn’t rain. The moment that we arrived at the church, time sped up and seemed to fly by until I was sitting with my father and some of my closest friends, with a church full of people upstairs. My father prayed for me, for the man who would be standing at the alter and for the marriage that we would have.

2011

One year ago today, I woke up in a hotel room with my husband. It was sunny and warm, and we were amazed that 365 366 days (2012 was a Leap Year) had passed so quickly. We ate year-old cake and celebrated surviving and thriving through a very tough first year of marriage (tough in this sense) .

2012

This morning, I woke up next to my husband, in our own bed. In the house that we bought together and I honestly couldn’t be happier.

2013

After dating for 3 years, being engaged for nearly 2 and 2 years of marriage, it’s no surprise that we’ve have been through a lot of ups and downs together, but I can honestly say that year 2 of marriage was more ups than downs. We have a lot to celebrate from this past year!

Happy second anniversary Brad!  I love you and I love being your wife.

Related Posts:

First Anniversary

The Ones Who Love Us

Sometimes I’m Amazed

Bursting into a basement lake

I’m taking a break from D-Blog Week (possibly rounding out my participation since I don’t normally blog on the weekends) to talk about an adventure in home ownership.

One of the things that we loved about this house when we put our offer on it more than a year ago was that it was updated within the previous 5 years (new furnace, air conditioning, new water heater) and had current code wiring, which isn’t that common in houses built when ours was.

On Mother’s Day, about two minutes into my morning shower it felt like the hot water had dropped off so I turned the cold off completely and took a luke-warm shower. Brad hopped in the shower after me and scolded me for using up all of the hot water. When I told him I’d had barely any for mine, he went downstairs to check on the water heater.

Draining the tank after some drying had occurred.

What he found was the beginning of a new Great Lake forming in our basement. Our GE water heater, manufacture date of 12/2011, had burst. We could still hear water running into the tank when he shut off the valve to the heater. So Brad shut off water to our whole house. We spent the rest of the morning with a garden hose running from the heater to the utility sink to drain, mopping up the water (that thankfully hadn’t damaged anything) in the basement, Brad called the company then called a plumber.

The Utility Circus

My mom asked us about how things were going with home ownership now that we’ve passed a year since having our offer on our house accepted. The best way to describe our current home situation is a utility circus.

In the course of one week, we received our new trash and recycling cans… which will probably never be completely full. We rarely filled up our old can before. Another odd thing is that the recycling can is green, but prior to the new service recycling had to be placed in blue bags. Since there’s no label or symbol on the green can, people seem to be using it for trash although the pamphlet explained which is which. (Nerd Alert: I read pamphlets.)

The water company replaced our meter and the gas company was less than thrilled that they couldn’t access our gas meter to inspect it and now we have to schedule yet another time during work hours for Brad to be home to let someone in to check out the meter.

The cans are part of city trash service that our taxes pay for and the utility providers aren’t “charging” us for the new meter or the inspection (seeing as how they’re required and all). But it’s just a little annoying that we have to make phone calls, read pamphlets and arrange to work at home to accommodate the schedules.

Obviously the benefits of home ownership win over the drawbacks of apartment-living but sometimes it’d be nice not to have to worry about it.

Related Posts:

What a Weekend!

The House: Part 1

Considering a Facelift

Feeling Left Out

I’m back on the customer service, good communication, former car dealership employee platform.

In late December, I traded in my car for a newer model. It wasn’t a stellar experience, but it also wasn’t horrible. Our salesman and the mangers knew that we were buying the car for me. My name was in the computer already because I’d taken my old car there for maintenance. Me, me, me! (Do I sound whiney?)

We’re even dressed alike!

The new car is in both of our names. My information was first on all of the paperwork. I drive the car every day. I keep the car clean. I will take the car in for scheduled  maintenance.

So imagine my surprise, when thank you emails arrived in my inbox, at an email address that is my name, that were addressed to Brad. I got phone calls on my cell number for Brad from the dealership. The card in the mail, the calendar, the junk they send…. all addressed to Brad (and only Brad). When we picked up my plates and registration, Brad’s name was first. (And they called him to report that the plates were in.)

Then to add insult to injury, I got “Happy Birthday!” emails for Brad, all throughout February. I have no idea why I’m surprised that with my birthday in two days I haven’t received anything addressed to me for my own car.

It’s probably something alphabetical, but it feels pretty sexist. I made the buying decision for this vehicle. I’m also the one deciding whether or not to return to that auto group for future vehicle needs and frankly, it’s not looking good.

The bottom line:

The Auto Show, a Birthday Tradition

My husband is officially older than me for the next week and a half. We had a whirlwind couple of days in celebration.

On Friday, we unexpectedly received tickets to the Cleveland Auto Show preview night. So we got some Mexican food and margaritas (Did you know Friday was National Margarita Day?) with our friends before heading to the IX Center. We had a good time checking out the cars and I got to do the Jeep Experience.

Here’s Brad’s video from the 2012 Jeep Experience (it didn’t change much… just the years of the vehicles)

I also rode the IX Center Ferris wheel for the first (and last) time. The view of the airport at night is pretty cool, but the gondola-style seating freaked me out. We were up very high and there aren’t seat belts!

On Saturday (Brad’s actual birthday) the guys went back to the auto show to do the ride and drive events. They got to drive a Cadillac CTS-V, which was the main event as far as the guys were concerned. That evening we introduced my in-laws to the Great Lakes Brewing Company and their amazing food (and beer, but that’s a given).

We capped off a wonderful evening with birthday cheesecake.

–  –  –

When given my Pinterest board of recipes last year, Brad decided that he’d like the Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake. This year he requested it again and I’ve gotten the recipe tweaked to where I like it finally!

Rachel’s Coffee Bailey’s Cheesecake (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day dear readers!

I’m loving Valentine’s Day this year! It started off not so great but definitely improved. I have to say that I’m a completely spoiled little wife. Last year on our first married Valentine’s Day, Brad delivered roses to me at work. This year, I wasn’t expecting anything and in a strange repeat of last year, I was in my boss’ office when he shows up with roses again and Starbucks! He knows me so well.

I’m really excited about our dinner this evening, the menu is:

• Grilled filet
• Roasted asparagus
• Baby red potato bites with garlic sour cream 
• Red wine
• Peanut butter hearts that I made last night

In the spirit of love, romance and marriage blogging, I’m linking up for Valentine’s Day and answering these questions (and so is Brad!):

Disjointed Thoughts on Valentine’s Day

Being married to the love of my life means that I have a valentine on Valentine’s Day, which is great. But I think the holiday is getting to be over inflated.

I enjoy hearts, pink and roses possibly as much, but probably less, than the next girl. I do however like romance as much, if not more, than the next girl.

Our Tradition

This was taken on our first Valentine’s day together

Last year, Brad and I started a bit of a Valentine’s Day tradition that I think has staying power because we agreed to do it again this year. Instead of trying to get a reservation for an over-priced meal for two last Valentine’s day, we hit the grocery store and picked out two filets and cooked up a tasty meal together of bacon-wrapped filet, roasted asparagus and rosemary smashed red potatoes, complimented by a bottle of red wine. We dimmed the lights in our apartment, lit some candles and enjoyed each others company. We chose not to exchange gifts.

Romance

Valentine’s day is a good reminder to keep romance in your relationship, but Valentine’s day and your anniversary can’t be the only days when you make romantic gestures during the year.

It’s a Day

Considering a Facelift

It all started when Brad complained about our oven… then the home improvement bug hit.

One of the things I love about homeownership is that we can do whatever we want with our house (so long as it doesn’t break city ordinances or tick off our insurance company… which is why we have handrails on our front steps).

Last fall, Brad mentioned how annoying it was that our oven didn’t have a preheat feature, you just put it on the temperature you want and wait awhile (it’s gas so it heats very quickly). That’s how we ended up with a kitchen appliance Christmas present. All of our kitchen appliances came with the house, although none of them are terribly old, none of them are really all that new and are pretty basic. We went back and forth on replacing the stove or replacing the dishwasher. But then, the kitchen made its own decision when our refrigerator started peeing on the floor. Since our fridge doesn’t have an ice or water dispenser, this was a problem. [After pulling out the fridge and checking the tag on the back we discovered that Brad and I are barely older than it. Barely.] Prompting us to fridge shop over the weekend.

Say hello to the newest member of the K-Kitchen:

Image and fridge via Lowes

Our fridge ended up being an awesome deal (more than half off)! It gets delivered tonight… I can’t say I’ve been this excited for a kitchen appliance since we unwrapped my KitchenAid mixer the day after our wedding.