Sunday, February 15, 2009

Valentine's Day

Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple was a lot of fun! It was nice that it was on a weekend so that we didn't have to rush after work to get ready and go out. We started the day with "love cakes", which are my version of chocolate pancakes. I whipped up a batch of love cakes and made Josh some bacon. We ate together and watched Battle Star Galactica together.
Unfortunately the rest of the morning couldn't be spent cuddling or hanging out as we both had homework to work on. I was able to pound out two small papers. When I finished I got into the shower and while I was getting cleaned up flowers had arrived for me. Josh placed them in the bathroom and I was surprised to see them when climbing out of the shower.
After I got dressed and ready for dinner I set out the presents.
The flowers are beautiful and I'm excited for another beautiful vase. Its really neat as it looks like its folded into itself with a pretty green trim. The large box was Josh's gift and the smaller one was mine.
Josh was very excited to open his gift. He saw it in the closet and has asked a few questions about it's contents, but I kept it a secret!
When he opened it he didn't even notice what was on the wrist. He thought his gift was just a Build-a-bear Coyote dressed very similar to himself. Note the shoes and sunglasses look exactly like his own brown sneakers and sunglasses! He laughed when he saw what I had named him; "Howly McHowlerton", which is a play on some of the names we jokingly call our animals.
I actually had to point out the coyote's wrist. Josh said he thought it was just part of the coyote's outfit! He said he was pretty jealous of the quality Build-a-bear had when he didn't have something nearly as nice! My silly guy!
He loved the watch and was hamming it up to show it off to the camera.
Then it was my turn to open my gift. Josh told me that it was something I had wanted for quite some time. I couldn't think of anything off top of my head that I had been wanting for a while, besides a clean house without putting in the effort!
And when I saw it I realized that it was the jewelry set Tracy made that I have been coveting for almost a year! Every time I've seen the honey jade and amber set I've mentioned how much I'd love to have it, but never bought it myself. Tracy is one of the most talented people I know.
I was disappointed that it didn't quite match my outfit and considered changing, but Josh thought I looked too good in my pink dress to change. I left my new jewelry at home and wore my rose quartz, mother of pearl, and garnet pendant instead.
After we took a few more pictures and cleaned up our present mess we headed to dinner. Josh took me to Oregano's where we ate yummy pizza, lasagna and pazookie while drinking the best Bellini's ever. We were so stuffed that we came home to watch a movie instead of going out to see one. We started to fall asleep on the couch and that pretty much concluded our Valentine's Day.
All in all, I have to say celebrating Valentine's Day as a married couple is tons more fun than dating. It was an excuse to get dressed up and have a good time without the awkwardness of dating or the pressure of expectation. It was amazing to spend the day with my husband just loving each other and celebrating our love for one another, even if we had to do homework inbetween!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Graduation

Both Josh and I will be graduating this year!

I think both of us have a slight case of senioritis right now with graduation only3-4 months away.

Josh's 14 year education journey will finally end next month and he'll have his BA in business management (although if he took one more year he could probably finish two others in psychology and information technology). He is looking forward to beginning his MBA focusing in marketing and is thinking of starting that in the fall. He is currently working on his last 16 credit hours and will be finished with his course work in 3 weeks, but won't "graduate" until June. He's been swamped with homework and we haven't spent a ton of time together but it's all worth it in the end.

I will be finished with my MEd in May. I'm taking an online course and then will take a seated class starting in March. I'm very excited to be finished. My degree is in Early Childhood Instruction with an emphasis in reading. I finished the reading requirements last summer and already have my reading specialist endorsement. I know that I will be walking on May 9th, which is a Saturday, so that means I won't be missing any teaching days. I'm just ready to be done though. I'm slightly burned out.

In the end we'll be smarter and will look back on this year and wonder if we were crazy for getting married and going to school all while taking care of a house and working full time.