Birthdays and Haircuts

Of course the first pre-season game is on his birthday

Thom and I celebrate our birthdays five days apart. It is a lot of fun, and a lot of birthday all crammed into a week. On top of that, my family celebrates my grandfather's birthday as a memorial to him, so my sister flew into town from Florida for the family celebration on Sunday. It has been a very busy few days, but worth every minute.

Thom is going back to school this fall to pursue a degree in business administration. I am so happy that he is going to college, so I decided to use his birthday as an opportunity to make sure he was starting school on the right foot. I bought him a laptop to take to class, in red of course, as well as a backpack to carry all of his gear.

Thom holding his severed ponytail

My sister flew in very early in the morning on Thom's birthday, so the three of us went out to sushi to celebrate the occasion. That evening, we went to my mother's house for a lobster dinner to celebrate my sister being in town. My sister's friend offered to give everyone haircuts, and Thom used the opportunity to cut his hair. For those of you that have been reading my blog, you have likely noticed that Thom used to wear his hair long, tied back into a ponytail. He had been contemplating trading in the long hair for a more conservative haircut, and finally decided to take the plunge on his birthday in front of the entire family. I have never seen my husband with short hair, so I was more than a little nervous. In the end, I am very happy with the results, and I think he looks great for school and all the networking he will be doing. Thom is going to donate his ponytail to Locks of Love.

My camera, wrapped in a myriad of paper from my childhood

Thom decided to give me my birthday present on his birthday so that I would have it for the remainder of the weekend. He bought me a DSLR camera. I have always wanted one, I love taking pictures and a DSLR will help me take the next step in my hobby. I was also badly in need of a camera, my iPhone actually has better resolution than my point-and-shoot camera does! There is definitely a learning curve to a DSLR, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it. I look forward to experimenting with different lenses and seeing how far my hobby can go. It is my goal to have my pictures hanging in a coffee shop some day, we shall see.

My birthday happens to be tonight, and to mark the occasion Thom is baking me a lemon strawberry cheesecake. He is definitely a keeper. After this weekend, I am guessing we are going to have a nice quiet evening in. At this point, I really do not think I would want it any other way.

Thom's new haircut, picture taken with my new camera

Convalidating Our Marriage

Thom and I were married on September 10, 2011 in a beautiful ocean side ceremony surrounded by our best friends and family. It was a perfect day, and something that we will celebrate every year. Thom and I are also Catholic. We are what many refer to as "Cradle Catholics," we were baptized as infants and celebrated the sacraments growing up. During our 20's, for various personal reasons, we both strayed from the church. We decided to go back in the spring of 2011. At the time, we were in the final stages of planning our wedding, and, as far as the church was concerned, I was still married to my ex-husband. We worked with a priest, and made the decision to celebrate our wedding as planned in September and I would seek an annulment for my first marriage. My annulment finalized just before this past Easter. Thom and I are now registered members of our local parish, and we decided that it was time to have our marriage blessed by the Catholic church in the form of a convalidation. 

In order for a marriage to be considered valid in the eyes of the church, it is required to follow a specific ritual that follows church doctrine and tradition. Our marriage in 2011 did not follow this form, so now it needs to be convalidated. Thom and I were expecting the convalidation to be a quick ceremony with a witness or two after mass some Sunday. To our surprise, in order to follow church form, we need to have a full nuptial mass. We decided that since we have to celebrate the entire mass, we might as well invite our friends and family and since everyone will be together we should host some sort of reception after the fact. What started out as a simple ceremony quickly blossomed into an event.

That being said, we are keeping everything low key. Our nuptial mass is going to appear just like a wedding ceremony, because, in the eyes of the church, it is. Our reception is going to be more of dinner party. We are renting a private dining room at a local Italian restaurant and serving a four course dinner. The only music this time will be background music, no photographer, no dj, no fancy cake, we already did that. Although, I am going to wear my dress again, why not get a second use out of it?  Our date is set for Friday, November 22nd, so we decided on a fall theme. The tables will be decorated with leaves and lanterns, the place cards will be fixed to mini-pumpkins, the table numbers will be jars of apple butter, and the favors will be caramel apples. The restaurant is going to serve hot apple cider along with coffee and tea for cozy beverages, and dessert will be bread pudding and apple crisp. I am looking forward to welcoming our faith into our marriage, along with the excitement of what is looking to be a wonderful dinner party with our family and friends.

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

Pemaquid Point lighthouse is my mom's favorite place in the state of Maine. Our original plan for Mother's Day was to kidnap my mom away to the lighthouse for the afternoon. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. A couple Sunday's ago, the weather was absolutely perfect, so we decided to pick up mom and do some sight seeing.

Our first surprise of the day was that our state park pass was not accepted by the gatehouse. Apparently, Pemaquid Point lighthouse is owned by the town of Bristol. Admission is only a couple of dollars per person, but it is definitely something to take into consideration if you are planning a visit. Our second surprise of the day was that the lighthouse tower was open. I have been visiting the lighthouse since I was a little girl, and I have never had the chance to climb the tower of a lighthouse. Mom and I got out of the car and went directly to the line. Thom is not a fan of heights and opted to explore the rocky ledge instead.

The original stairway

The Fresnel lens and the view out of the tower

After we climbed down from the tower, we joined Thom on the rocky ledge. My mom likes to just sit and watch the ocean, it is so endless it is just hypnotizing. Thom and I like to climb on the rocks, something I have been doing since I was a kid.

Thom on a rock!

Thom on another rock! Do not try this kids, Thom is crazy

Climbing through a rock cave

Mom, enjoying the sunshine

It was a perfect afternoon. To cap everything off, we met up with my step-father at the drive-in for dinner. There is just nothing like summertime in Maine.

Saying Goodbye

My mother-in-law and grandma

Thom and I were sitting our living room, enjoying a lazy Sunday when we received a phone call from Thom's uncle. He asked us if we wanted to see grandma one last time, she had just passed away. We got ready as quickly as we could and got down to the hospital. Grandma collapsed at lunch, and her heart stopped beating. Grandma lived a full life and had been sick for the last several years. She lost her husband, Thom's grandfather, almost a decade ago and was moved out to Maine so that Thom's uncle could take care of her. Grandma was with grandpa again, but she left her family grieving.

The funeral was held the following week in Indiana, grandma's home. Thom and his uncle flew out for four days. I was unable to get grievance leave and stayed behind. There should be rules against a spouse not being permitted to accompany their spouse to a funeral. It did not help the situation that this was also our first time apart since we were married.

The last several days have been spent listening to Thom process through everything and grieve. Grandma and grandpa were a significant part of Thom's childhood. He used to spend every summer in Indiana with his grandparents. He talked about the Polish food his grandma used to make, and the walks he used to take with his grandpa. We visited a local Polish deli, and Thom relived a moment of his childhood.

Like all wounds, the loss of grandma will take time to heal. We have plans to keep her memory alive through her traditions, food, and culture.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" ~Dr. Suess

Happy (Much Belated) Fourth of July

Fireworks had been banned in Maine since before I was born. When I moved out to Kansas City, I was looking forward to setting off fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, the city restrictions for fireworks were rather strict, and Thom and I both had to work on the Fourth. We then moved to Maine at the end of the month, and I was certain that my opportunity to set off fireworks had slipped by. To my surprise, Maine legalized fireworks a couple of years ago. Thom and I opted to buy our own to have our first family fireworks show. I was beyond excited. The excitement only grew stronger when we discovered the fireworks store was having a two for one sale. I had no idea what to get, but Thom helped me pick out a variety pack and some extra mortars. Basically, a little bit of everything so that we could figure out what we liked for next time.

Once Fourth of July came around, I felt like a kid on Christmas. Usually, Fourth of July is a sort of "meh" holiday for me, this year was definitely going to be different. We packed up the dog, fireworks, and homemade cole slaw and headed to my mom's house for a cook out, music, and a fireworks display. We set of fire crackers throughout the afternoon, and once the sunset, the fireworks came out. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures. I was the one that lit everything, and I opted to focus on not setting myself on fire over pictures. I decided that I really like mortars, they shoot off fireworks like you would see in a town fireworks display. I also like firecrackers, and this cone thing that sort of crackles and shoots stuff off. My sister is going to be in town in August, on what happens to be Thom's birthday, so we are planning to have a second show then to mark the occasion. 

Do you set off fireworks for Fourth of July? What are your favorites?

Grieving

Hello everyone, I wanted to apologize for not posting in a while. My husband just recently lost his grandmother, and is taking the loss rather hard. I have spent the last week supporting him emotionally and trying to keep his mind off of things. I feel rather backlogged at this point, I have many stories to share. More to come, promise!

Featured on Furry Fridays!

I just wanted to thank Stephanie from A Geek in Glasses and Becky from B is for Becky for featuring me and my furbaby clan on their weekly series Furry Fridays!

If you would like to read more about Thom and my four-legged "children" check out the the blog entry!

Source

I'm back!

I apologize for the brief hiatus in posting, my husband had an unexpected death in his family, and I have been spending extra time with him. In the process I also managed to burn meatballs in the crock pot (who does that?!?) and rediscovered my addiction to scrapbooking. Sadly, mother nature has decided to bless us with downpours that are not supposed to move out of here until Monday, so C25K has been reluctantly put on hold. Unless I start running laps in the apartment, which I am seriously considering.

A Different Perspective on Mother's Day, Trying to Stay Positive

My someday-hopefully-soon Mother's Day carnation from church

In March, Thom and I celebrated our first positive pregnancy test. My hormone levels were low, and I was having blood work done every other day to monitor things. The levels increased, our doctor told us that we were nearly out of the woods, we started to get excited. Two days later, the levels dropped. I had a miscarriage. I was six weeks along. Thom and I have managed to stay positive throughout the entire ordeal. The funny thing about infertility treatment is that doctors, nurses, and phlebotomists have seen everything. Thom and I are young compared to the majority of their patients. Our doctor has treated women for nearly a decade without ever getting a positive. Our nurse reminded us that now it is no longer an "if," but a "when."

Thom and I have decided to shift our plans around a little. After nearly two years of infertility treatment, I need a break. We are not giving up, just letting nature take it's course for a little bit so we can focus on each other. We started eating healthier, exercising, and going back to church. We made plans for travel, furnished our apartment, and straightened out our finances. Everything was okay.

Then Mother's Day came.

I think shopping for a card for my mom was when everything hit. They had mom-to-be cards. That should have been me this year. I can definitely say that Mother's Day is an entirely different day once you have experienced a miscarriage.

Fortunately, by the time Mother's Day came around, I was able to find peace within my heart and enjoy the day with my mom. I too will join the ranks of moms someday, once the time is right. It is no longer an "if", it is a "when."

A Day for Mom

Of the handful of people that have been there for me through everything, my mom has certainly been there the longest. I am not going to pretend I was a perfect child; I caused trouble, I had a rocky adolescence, and I was downright stupid in my early 20's. At the end of the day, my mom is always there to give me a hug, listen to my side of the story, and just make everything a little better. When it comes to moms, I have the best.

Accordingly, like millions of others this past Sunday, I spent the day with my mom. I brought her a bouquet of tulips, and we reminisced about the bouquet of daffodils I picked her when I was a little girl at my grandmother's farm. In lieu of facing the crowds at restaurants, Thom and I prepared a three course lunch consisting of crackers with hummus, chicken souvlaki salad with tzatziki sauce, and custard pie with strawberries for dessert. Mom and I also enjoyed strawberry lemonade wine spritzers throughout the afternoon. My step-father commented that everything looked like something from a restaurant. Lunch, and the entire day, was amazing to say the least.

I hope that everyone else had a wonderful Mother's Day, spent with your mom's, or your kids, or perhaps both. I may not be a mom yet, but from my own childhood, I can understand that being a mom is no easy task. Happy belated Mother's Day, you all deserve it.

My mom, walking me down the aisle to my soul mate