My 25th birthday was very special. It was very different than last year which was also very special in a different way.
Last year, my birthday was less than a month after Brand was laid off from SMERC. We were broke, disheartened, and fighting a losing battle to get his last paycheck. I knew my birthday celebration with Brand would be modest but I was pleasantly surprised to see that my gift from him was a single rose and a dollar bill with a promise of better days written on it. It was the best present I ever got: his pure love and affection. I don't mind big gestures but its the little ones in the toughest of times that mean more than anything in the whole world. To know that we had each other was the best present.
Fast forward a year later and it's an entirely different story. For two months Brand has been working his butt off as a contractor for Gravity Jack. The 60 days were coming up and we were just hoping they would take him on as an official employee. Meanwhile, Brand and my best friend Mollie had planned my party secretly. The only thing I knew was that we were going to Texas Roadhouse (my favorite restaurant ever that recently plopped itself in Coeur d'Alene) and that afterwords we would be doing something active. Now Mollie planned my really fun Harry Potter birthday last year so I knew it'd be a lot of fun. Brand had already surprised me at midnight with my gift: two tickets to see Wicked. The Lion King came to Spokane last year and we decided to go. But after Brand lost his job that was out of the picture. When I found out that Wicked was going to be here in 2011 I asked Brand that no matter what our financial situation was if we could go: he promised that no matter what we would go. And he made good on that promise :)
So after a day of lounging, watching movies, and reading Jane Eyre...the friends gathered at my house and we all went to eat some delicious grub at Texas Roadhouse. Thankfully, my friends respected my wishes and did not tell the waiter that it was my birthday because I would have had to saddle up with a giant cowboy hat as they yee-hawed at me...
Then we went to the next surprise where the rest of my friends were waiting for us...Sky High. Sky High is a trampolining facility and it was SO much fun. I got to bust out some old tricks from my gymnastics days and got to watch Brand be a 14 year old boy with the rest of the guys which was hilarious. Even though my back hurts today, it was so worth it! It was quite the birthday with the best people.
Oh and the other GREAT news of the day...Brand was brought in to sign his W-2 and become an official employee at Gravity Jack. All his hard work and patience has paid off. Which means a full time job and benefits..and we won't have to pay as many taxes next year :) I am so stinkin' proud of him. And today I got to treat him to some surprise breakfast in bed as a thank you for a great birthday, a reward for a job well done, and as a celebration of where we have come in the last year. Our marriage has been wonderful and we've already dealt with the sickness and health and the richer or poorer and I love him more today than I did the day I said I Do. I love my best friend :)
In other news....this little wedding happened on my birthday. You may have heard of it. Prince William married commoner (and college educated) Catherine Middleton. Since I decided to take my birthday off of work, I stayed up for the wedding and it was really pretty. I loved it and I don't care what anyone says :)
We're creepy and we're kooky, mysterious and spooky We're all together ooky, the Adams Family...
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Guinness!!!
Today I finally had a glass of Guinness. I have been craving it since my yummy taste of Guinness at the Brewery in DUBLIN BABY!! Anywho, I've had Guinness before, liked it, yummy, move on. But man oh man is it different in Ireland and it's even better fresh from the Brewery. It was like a cold glass of refreshing water but Guinness yumminess instead.
I miss Ireland. I can't even really explain it. Yes the country was beautiful, the rich history, and the people were great. But I didn't make lifelong friendships or anything with some real Irish people. I just miss it. I really feel as if something, a part of me belongs there. I felt totally at ease walking hand-in-hand with my fellow Irish husband down the streets of Dublin, Cork, Killarney, and Galway( he is not as Irish as I am...the truth is we are both very German..like so German we're from the same Jewish group of people in Germany "Ashkenazic") . Maybe it was because we had just been bitten by the world-traveling bug and we settled in easily. But I really think it was the country.
Brand and I have been dreaming our whole lives to go to Ireland. We separately had a dream to visit this beautiful country and together we got to experience that dream. That was really special. Even walking around Paris was great and I was so excited to be in the city of love with my love (kissing under the Eiffel tower was beyond surreal and romantic) and it was great for those four hours but Ireland felt almost like home. Like if God told me to pack up everything and move to Ireland...I think I could do it. Not because I wouldn't miss my family, my home, American TV, driving on the right side of the road, or Taco Bell (or any Mexican food for that matter...Ireland needs to get with it). But because it would make sense. It feels right.
I felt this when I was in a pub in Dublin watching the England vs. Ireland Rugby match. The pub was beautiful and filled with people (standing room only) cheering on their fellow Irishmen who were playing mere miles away at the stadium in Dublin. I was standing, drinking my pint of Guinness of course, listening to everyone join in singing a traditional Irish song when I realized how much I loved the place. This was our second to last night and it really hit me that I was in the country of my dreams. Amazing chocolate, my pick of violent sports (hello Gaelic football), and a diet made up of lamb, beef, potatoes, and Guinness...its no wonder I'm so drawn there. (Just then I actually put "here" instead of "there", guess I got swept away and was dreaming I was back in Ireland).
I think another thing that made me fall in love with the country was Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. This was our last day in Dublin and we had to see it. We walked an hour and finally found it and it was totally worth it. The Blarney castle, the Cliffs of Moher, and Christchurch Cathedral were all awesome and wonderful and unforgettable but Kilmainham Gaol (Gaol=Jail) touched me deeply. We learned about how the Irish persevered through many failed revolutions and of course the famine. I felt connected to these people. I thought that if I was faced with famine or the choice to flee to America, which would I choose? Would I choose to send my children to steal so that they'd have a bed at the jail? Or would I try and be honest but risk starving? I felt the connection with the revolutionaries. As they continued to fight (and lose) against the British for their rights. Being within feet where they were executed was surreal. Being in the chapel where one was married ten minutes before he was executed was heartbreaking and then visiting the wife's cell of that revolutionary where she would live after her own political protests and to see the painting of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus in her cell was breathtaking. I...love...these...people. They were true underdogs, just like US (see what I did there?), and then finally gaining their independence from England. No wonder I love them so much!
I will go there again. Maybe when Brand and I have raised our children. Maybe when we're old and wrinkly. We'll go back. It'll be different. We won't be walking an hour to get to that jail. We won't be running to see the sights of the majestic cliffs. Maybe we'll never come back. Maybe we'll settle in one of the quaint Irish homes, take up the harp, and drink Irish tea anytime we want. I don't care really, as long as we get back there...because I'm running out of Moro bars, they don't sell Cadbury Mint Crisps here, and I'm sorry but the Guinness truly flows much better in Ireland...
I miss Ireland. I can't even really explain it. Yes the country was beautiful, the rich history, and the people were great. But I didn't make lifelong friendships or anything with some real Irish people. I just miss it. I really feel as if something, a part of me belongs there. I felt totally at ease walking hand-in-hand with my fellow Irish husband down the streets of Dublin, Cork, Killarney, and Galway( he is not as Irish as I am...the truth is we are both very German..like so German we're from the same Jewish group of people in Germany "Ashkenazic") . Maybe it was because we had just been bitten by the world-traveling bug and we settled in easily. But I really think it was the country.
Brand and I have been dreaming our whole lives to go to Ireland. We separately had a dream to visit this beautiful country and together we got to experience that dream. That was really special. Even walking around Paris was great and I was so excited to be in the city of love with my love (kissing under the Eiffel tower was beyond surreal and romantic) and it was great for those four hours but Ireland felt almost like home. Like if God told me to pack up everything and move to Ireland...I think I could do it. Not because I wouldn't miss my family, my home, American TV, driving on the right side of the road, or Taco Bell (or any Mexican food for that matter...Ireland needs to get with it). But because it would make sense. It feels right.
I felt this when I was in a pub in Dublin watching the England vs. Ireland Rugby match. The pub was beautiful and filled with people (standing room only) cheering on their fellow Irishmen who were playing mere miles away at the stadium in Dublin. I was standing, drinking my pint of Guinness of course, listening to everyone join in singing a traditional Irish song when I realized how much I loved the place. This was our second to last night and it really hit me that I was in the country of my dreams. Amazing chocolate, my pick of violent sports (hello Gaelic football), and a diet made up of lamb, beef, potatoes, and Guinness...its no wonder I'm so drawn there. (Just then I actually put "here" instead of "there", guess I got swept away and was dreaming I was back in Ireland).
I think another thing that made me fall in love with the country was Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. This was our last day in Dublin and we had to see it. We walked an hour and finally found it and it was totally worth it. The Blarney castle, the Cliffs of Moher, and Christchurch Cathedral were all awesome and wonderful and unforgettable but Kilmainham Gaol (Gaol=Jail) touched me deeply. We learned about how the Irish persevered through many failed revolutions and of course the famine. I felt connected to these people. I thought that if I was faced with famine or the choice to flee to America, which would I choose? Would I choose to send my children to steal so that they'd have a bed at the jail? Or would I try and be honest but risk starving? I felt the connection with the revolutionaries. As they continued to fight (and lose) against the British for their rights. Being within feet where they were executed was surreal. Being in the chapel where one was married ten minutes before he was executed was heartbreaking and then visiting the wife's cell of that revolutionary where she would live after her own political protests and to see the painting of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus in her cell was breathtaking. I...love...these...people. They were true underdogs, just like US (see what I did there?), and then finally gaining their independence from England. No wonder I love them so much!
I will go there again. Maybe when Brand and I have raised our children. Maybe when we're old and wrinkly. We'll go back. It'll be different. We won't be walking an hour to get to that jail. We won't be running to see the sights of the majestic cliffs. Maybe we'll never come back. Maybe we'll settle in one of the quaint Irish homes, take up the harp, and drink Irish tea anytime we want. I don't care really, as long as we get back there...because I'm running out of Moro bars, they don't sell Cadbury Mint Crisps here, and I'm sorry but the Guinness truly flows much better in Ireland...
Friday, April 15, 2011
Blog name change and a little update...
So my year of pictures was...unsuccessful. I actually did take a bunch of pictures but just never found the motivation to put them in here. They weren't good anyway....
So here I am...a new name to make it more generic and broad. Because who doesn't like things generic and broad? The "thing" these days is to blog and to name your blog after your last name. I've seen some pretty neat blog titles with people using their last names. I know someone with the last name Boboth and her popular blog is called "The Boboth Blogoth" pretty clever huh? Then there's Erica Tweet with "It's a Tweet Life After All!". Well aren't those convenient names! I grew up with Ekhoff which there is no way to make a creative blog title from that. And now I'm an Adams. So naturally..the Addams Family was what I thought of when thinking of a clever play on my last name. Sure they have an extra D in there...but we are fairly similar...
We LOVE dead things. Whether it be meat or zombies..we do not shy away from the morbid. When I was little, I wanted to be a teacher sure but what I really wanted to be was a homicide detective. My hero was Detective Munch from Homicide: Life on the Street. I also originally wanted to be a forensic scientist but my not-so-natural knack in chemistry told me to do otherwise. And to this day, my dream job would be a coroner. So I may not be cutting off the heads of roses but I do have a few dried/dead roses in a vase...so who knows. Plus, we could totally pull off the Morticia and Gomez look...
I'm not sure what this blog will contain. Because here's a quick update of our very exciting life.
1.) I'm addicted to my netflix. And...they're alphabetized. It totally plays to my neurotic, to-do list, ocd side. I love that there's order to it :) So I spend my days getting through that.
2.) I'm also addicted to reading. I have a library card now and have been reading like a mad woman (in between working, watching my netflix, watching my beloved TV, playing with my dog, and hanging out with my awesome husband).
3.) Brand has also been reading. Our X-box is broken so he's been reading...a lot....
BUT
4.)We did go to my dream vacation spot to Ireland in March and it was beyond amazing. I hope to post about how meaningful it was to me. And how I can't stop craving Guinness and Irish tea.
I'm excited to write. I like writing. I'm not good at it. But now that I don't have the guidelines of this picture ordeal, I can write about whatever I want. Movies I've seen, books I'm reading, shows I'm addicted to (Parenthood and Parks and Rec for example), oh and my oh so important opinions on Dancing with the Stars. Maybe I'll throw in some heartwarming stories that are seeping from my bleeding heart.
So here I am...a new name to make it more generic and broad. Because who doesn't like things generic and broad? The "thing" these days is to blog and to name your blog after your last name. I've seen some pretty neat blog titles with people using their last names. I know someone with the last name Boboth and her popular blog is called "The Boboth Blogoth" pretty clever huh? Then there's Erica Tweet with "It's a Tweet Life After All!". Well aren't those convenient names! I grew up with Ekhoff which there is no way to make a creative blog title from that. And now I'm an Adams. So naturally..the Addams Family was what I thought of when thinking of a clever play on my last name. Sure they have an extra D in there...but we are fairly similar...
We LOVE dead things. Whether it be meat or zombies..we do not shy away from the morbid. When I was little, I wanted to be a teacher sure but what I really wanted to be was a homicide detective. My hero was Detective Munch from Homicide: Life on the Street. I also originally wanted to be a forensic scientist but my not-so-natural knack in chemistry told me to do otherwise. And to this day, my dream job would be a coroner. So I may not be cutting off the heads of roses but I do have a few dried/dead roses in a vase...so who knows. Plus, we could totally pull off the Morticia and Gomez look...
 | ||||
| Us on our first Halloween married, the costume choice was obvious to us. |
1.) I'm addicted to my netflix. And...they're alphabetized. It totally plays to my neurotic, to-do list, ocd side. I love that there's order to it :) So I spend my days getting through that.
2.) I'm also addicted to reading. I have a library card now and have been reading like a mad woman (in between working, watching my netflix, watching my beloved TV, playing with my dog, and hanging out with my awesome husband).
3.) Brand has also been reading. Our X-box is broken so he's been reading...a lot....
BUT
4.)We did go to my dream vacation spot to Ireland in March and it was beyond amazing. I hope to post about how meaningful it was to me. And how I can't stop craving Guinness and Irish tea.
I'm excited to write. I like writing. I'm not good at it. But now that I don't have the guidelines of this picture ordeal, I can write about whatever I want. Movies I've seen, books I'm reading, shows I'm addicted to (Parenthood and Parks and Rec for example), oh and my oh so important opinions on Dancing with the Stars. Maybe I'll throw in some heartwarming stories that are seeping from my bleeding heart.
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