Happy anniversary!!!

One year ago today I woke up a married woman! Happy anniversary my lovely (well yesterday-but he won't know since he's not in the cyber world except linked in but that's the one place I don't exist...too serious!). So glad I sat down next to that cute guy in that bar!

How to clean your house - or - when things go missing

The house was taken apart, swept, cleaned, vaccuumed, and searched.  Repeatedly searched.  This is NOT a good start.


We were leaving Friday and I was so excited because it was our honeymoon!!!  I BARELY made it through the end of the day and I remember asking the team, as they walked by in a cluster suggesting disaster, what was up.  One of them (or maybe all of them in unison) replied, "just go home, you don't need to know."  (I found out later, and really, I didn't want to know).    I left work with a lifted spirit and excitement over the next few days of our first real vacation together.

I walk through the door, my husband comes out of the bedroom, looks at me and says, “did you hide my wedding ring?” This is a bad sign. 

There are many things one could say to this. .. and the amount of things that went through my head were plenty.  And it’s probably a really good thing that I just said, “why would I do that?” Because, come on, WHY WOULD I DO THAT??

He went on to ignore me and continue (I can only guess he was continuing) to search vigourously for the missing wedding ring.  I joined in, as a good wife must, with no words (it was clear he was upset).  I knelt on the floor by the bed, moved all the things that could swallow up a ring.  I moved on to under the bed stands, in the closet, in the bathroom.  I looked through the garbage and the recycling.  I picked up items and put them down and move them around; things I know Mikal had already picked up and put down and moved around.

Then I made my first mistake. . . I asked a question

“Can you remember the last time you were wearing it?” – the answers were gruff and incredilous – OF COURSE!  IT WAS LAST NIGHT.  Ok, lesson learned, he was wearing last night.

I made my second mistake (because we had been looking for an hour or more and I know he’d been looking for even longer than that).  I said, “It’s ok, we can replace it”. . .Um, yeah, not the best sentence I ever said.  Mostly because I underestimated my husband’s fondness for his wedding ring. It’s first one and he doesn’t want to lose it.  And, well, it cost a lot of money (which is a big deal to him too).  The money part – we spent the money. . . and it’s not coming back, so – eh. . .

The fondness for it was endearing to me, but the looking when we couldn’t find it was futile.  So, he finally started to do something else to try to calm himself or distract himself, or something.  And I think he then accepted it.  I told him I was sorry and we hugged.  He was sad.  It’s important to him.

Then it happened
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He came around the wall from the kitchen and said, “I don’t understand.  I sat here, and took it off (and with a wildy exaggerated movement of taking his ring off and putting it on the coffee table) and put it here.”  I was watching him do this when I noticed that Roku remote.  It was upside down and was sitting on something.

NEITHER ONE OF US HAD MOVED THAT ROKU REMOTE!!!!!!! It’s about 6 inches by 1.5inches by about a half an inch thick. . . small – sometimes hard to miss – but in the MIDDLE OF THE TABLE! We had moved the couch, the bed, all the computer stuff, all other items on this table – ALL OTHER ITEMS ON THE TABLE (yes, we did).

I picked it up and WAH LAH! Wedding ring found.

I started laughing so hard and the smile on Mikal’s face was like a sunrise that happens very quickly.  I said, “get over here and thank me NOW”! He started laughing and came over to give me a big hug.

The moral of this story is (and is for EVERY time Mikal loses something) – if you are missing something, pick up the remote control.  Or the piece of paper. Or the hat. Or the sock. Or the belt!  

We call this Mikal eyes.  

It’s right there, but Mikal’s eyes can’t see it because he’s covered it with something and as we all know – out of sight, out of mind!

crisis averted

A ridiculously gluttonous day

When we first met, we used to go out to eat all the time.  That was back when we both had jobs that paid us 100% and when we were courting. . . so we spent WAY more time together than we do now.

So yesterday was a bit of a throw back to our courting days.  And MAN - it lived up to what I remember it to be like.

First - I got up and went to breakfast alone (this is very normal for me, my husband likes to sleep in and isn't that much of a breakfast man - which could have been a deal breaker, but he's way cute, so I can't complain too much).

Then we went to the, very seriously anticipated by us, King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science center.  Now, I could go on and on and on about how cool it was. . . but that would be a big lie.  We left disappointed.  Very disappointed.  The coolest thing there was this cat sarcophagus.

NO MUMMY was there (unless you count the plastic one they made look like the real one on the way out of the exhibit). . . this sucked on an epic scale as our expectations were fairly high.  We bought our tickets for the exhibit at 1:45pm and the mummies movie at 3:30pm.  We were done with the exhibit by 2:10 - NOT KIDDING.

There were too many people and most of the stuff was from other pharaohs.  And you don't even have any context about who those other pharaohs are unless you go to the movie, which you have to consciously choose to purchased before you go to the exhibit.

The movie wasn't much better - I prefer the real national geographic stuff to this 40 minute thing that kind of made sense, but only kind of. . .

But my husband and I did have a fun time at the act the PSC doing other stuff.  Bathrooms, hippies, music, sun, hamburgers, cheese, water, weird people that cut in line and could have caused alarm, the sun telling me I need to lose weight, and my husband espousing on motors and levers. . .

The best part of the day, though, was dinner.  We went to Bizzarro's - and there are exactly three pictures from there and NONE of them are of the food.  Why?  Well, two the pictures were taken before I saw the cell phone surcharge sign and one because I felt a little bit like being naughty.  It's a picture from my seat.  The picture on the right is actually a shot of where I was sitting on the left side by the window (from their website).  The  picture on your left is of my view out the window (and up).  So pretty.

The staff seemed friendly enough and I felt like it was a bit bizarre that the three wait staff seemed to be either a 50's pinup type, a 60's twiggy throwback, and a 70's rocker chick.  I kind of liked it. I was, however, disappointed in the fact that two things did not happen as I thought maybe they would.  There is a sign when you walk in that says "no one is "fine" with just water" - and the table before us, ALL FOUR OF THEM, said "we're fine with water".  Not a peep from the waitress. . . the sign without action kind of lacks conviction.  Secondly, when I took my flower picture, no one told me not to and didn't charge me a surcharge. . . disappointment on lack of follow through.  It could have been a more fun evening with that kind of follow through.

But without further ado, I would like to say that I had a great meal.  Not everything was great, but overall, I would totally come back to this place.

We started off with the drunken clams - menu actually said the sauce was something to die for - and it was SHAMEFUL I did not finish the last of the clams (did I tell you I hate clams - do not like them. . . unless they are these drunken clams, and then I will eat clams for the rest of my life and only clams).  There were enough clams for both of us to have for a real meal - and this was the STARTER!!!

I ordered the soup of the day, creamy cauliflower.  At first, I burnt my tongue because it was so hot - not a good start.  I think it needed some salt (which I didn't put in there), but after a few spoonfuls, I was enjoying the soup a little too much.  It was creamy and yummy and had a great aftertaste.  Our next course came too quickly - the caesar salad.  Here, nothing too remarkable.  The dressing was original and good, but really, meh -  and next time I would do without and should have tried the caprese salad.

The main courses came - the leg of lamb and brussel sprouts my husband was having smelled SO good.  As did my pesto and shrimp capallini.  My dish needed some salt (and this time I kind of wished I had had some to put it on there).  I'm not a huge salter, but even though the flavors were good, I think it needed a bit more salt.

The brussel sprouts were the winner of the evening - in that lamb sauce - holy ravioli - I would eat that and the drunken clams for every meal every day.  My husband said the lamb was over cooked, but that the closer to the bone he got, the better it was.  I confirmed (of course) with one of the last brussel sprouts and a bit of meat from near the bone.  It's not Plaka's lamb, but it was good - and the sauce and roasted brussel sprouts were DEVINE.

I didn't finish the pesto dish because I really wanted the bavarian cream cake. . . and it was completely worth it.  I finished every last bite and did NOT share.

I didn't mention the wine I had because it was unremarkable. . . and I had to drink it because my husband says nice days are for white wine.  I disagree with this statement and this house pino grigio wasn't so good (the more you drank, the less you cared).  I prefer red wine, but marriage is compromise sometimes and wine seemed to be a small sacrifice.  Mikal had put up with a lot today with his leg and the disappointment in King Tut.

All in all, quite a nice date day with my husband.

How we met

Again with the false promises of updating my blog regularly. . . my apologies.  But now I have a bit more time to do so since I'm not working 14 hours a day, running a theather show AND planning a wedding?  Why, you ask? 

Well, work has slowed down since it's the holidays, so 8 hours is all there is. .. always more work, but it can wait until the next day.  Rocky Horror is finally over - sad, but true.  AND - I got married.  Yep, it's official, I'm no longer single.  Though, honestly, I haven't been single for about two years.

So, I figured I'd give you guys some stories.  I mean, that's why you read this right?  So here you go. .

How we met
Mikal likes to say we met at church. . . those that know Kristin, know that it wasn't EXACTLY church.  It was a Sunday, though.  Kristin had just finished her very first very difficult work deployment (software) and was visiting her local watering hole to relax and have a well deserved drink.  She was talking on the phone outside the building when, across the way, she saw a very handsome man in sunglasses.  After she got off the phone she went into the bar.
This is where the story differs depending on to whom you speak. Both believing his or her story is the correct one.  No one will ever know and they are both so stubborn, they won't conceed.

Mikal says that the ENTIRE BAR was open and when she came in, she thought "how cute is he, I'll sit down next to him." 

Kristin says that she frequently visited this bar and although the seating in the entire bar was open, at the actual bar, there were two seats open.  One next to him and the other in front of the video gambling machine.  So, she sat next to him to get her drink and read her book as she often did.  It was hard to read and spread out in front of the video gambling machine.
What happens next isn't up for debate.  Mikal got the courage up to ask, "what are you reading?".  Kristin replied, "The Golden Compass."  Mikal brightens, saying, "my daughter read that!" (Lauren has since disputed that she's ever read this book)

What followed was a very fun and funny conversation about Lauren, Mikal's daughter, what we did for a living, how Kristin knew the manager, how Mikal knew the owner, and other generally interesting things.  They talked for several hours and Kristin then got up to leave, as she had to work the next day.  Mikal gave her his number because he wanted to make Kristin feel comfortable AND he didn't want to be given a number that was a "wrong number."
When Kristin got home, she texted Mikal (getting home took only 5 minutes).  Mikal had gotten up to leave, but when he received the text, he ran back to the bar in case Kristin had come back.  She had not, but they soon started dating and the rest is history!
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