Grandma's Wedding

It was front page news for Jackson but I really didn't think it was that wierd that my Grandma was getting re-married. After 57 years of marriage, you kinda get used to it! Plus, since my mom has worked at one for years, I know that retirement communities are likely places for elderly romance. I've received many funny looks and laughs when I tell people that my 80+ Grandma was marrying a 90 year old man, but if she's happy, we're all happy. We had a great time celebrating their wedding this weekend and watching the Spartans beat UofM!

Check out the Jackson Citizen Patriot article here.

Things I learned from my Mother-in-law Part 1

It's ok to get what you want, just because you want it and especially if it's your birthday. Even if it's a $75 dollar sweater shrug that you think might be a little over priced.

I try to apply this idea often. Going from having no money as a college student to someone with a small but reasonable amount to spend on myself, sometimes I need reminding that it's ok not to save that extra money in exchange for a little extravagance. Especially when you have something to celebrate.

Sean is also a big fan of the "getting what you want just for fun" concept. His mom taught him well!

New Job Essentials

In just a few weeks (not quite two actually) I will be finished working at the American Red Cross in Greater New York and will be immediately starting a new and exciting position. More on that later!

As I look around my desk now and think about packing everything up, I see how items have slowly collected over time to reach a point where I always have what I need while at work. How nice would it be to have all those things right away on a new desk at a new job? I plan on making an effort to make sure all these items are on hand within the first few weeks, instead of fumbling around later really wishing I had that motrin or an extra umbrella.

Here's what would be in my "new job" care package:

A box of kleenex
Excedrin and/or motrin
Tums
Gum and mints

Floss
Tide pen
Hand sanitizer
Jif natural creamy Peanut butter
Spoon
Extra chapstick
Band-aids
Umbrella

Flip flops
Extra pair of contacts

(and with the cold and flu season coming up)

cough drops
alka seltzer

Am I missing anything?

Beaver Island Trip

1st Anniversary

It's been 10 days since my last post. Oops! I've been busy.

Sean and I (actually just Sean) forgot to take a camera with us for our anniversary celebration. Therefore, no great photos of the fun weekend we had in NYC.

Since we don't have vacation time left and we are both sick of the airport, we decided that for our anniversary we should just stay in a nice hotel and relax. We stayed at the W Hotel in Union Square and Sean got us a nice room on the 20th floor with a great view of downtown. The room was actually very large which is always nice for New York hotel rooms. I made Sean keep the price a secret from me. There are some things I would rather not know, even if the money is all coming from the same place.

We had a delicious dinner Friday night at the Union Square Cafe which is apparently a NYC institution that we knew nothing about. The food was delicious, our server helped us pick a great bottle of wine and after the salad and pasta we even had room for dessert. I'd love to come back!


Saturday we took a long walk to the west side to try a brunch place recommended by a coworker, Cookshop. The food was great (I had the hueavos rancheros) but the best part was the bloody mary. I am always wary of ordering them in restaurants because they can't compare to the homemade version, but these were perfect. After brunch, we took a walk along the High Line park which Sean has been begging me to do for ages. It's a park that's been made out of an abandoned above ground railroad and it was actually quite nice. I've heard it can get crowded though so the fact that it was a cloudy/threatening to rain day probably made it more enjoyable.


On Saturday we also enjoyed some TV marathons and a shoe shopping trip, then had dinner in the jazz room at the Blue Water Grill. I'd been wanting to try it for a while and it did not dissapoint. The food, from the suhsi to the sea bass to the chocolate chip cookies to go was excellent and the jazz room in the basement provided a romantic space with live music where the tables were not crowded together and you could hear yourself talking. We enjoyed some champagne and a wonderful evening. I'd love to come back, Sean not so much considering the focus is seafood, but he's coming around to different fishes.


(Are kissing photos no longer cute after you're married? Sorry!)

Sunday night thanks to a gift from Mom, we went out and bought some champagne, ordered thai and watched Mad Men on Netflix. It's our latest obsession and we're now on Season 4. The photos are all from then, when I decided we couldn't have our first anniversary without photos!

A toast

Here's to many more years of marriage that are much, much happier than the first one was.

Reflections on Marriage Part 1

The top played song in my itunes library is the song we had our first dance to at our wedding reception, David Gray "The One I Love".

Sean thought this was too cute. I was just surprised it wasn't a Coldplay song.