Say What?: 50/50

We have a hideous (HUGE and INTRUSIVE) picture of ourselves. When we had our pictures taken for our engagement photos the photographer loved us. He had a ball taking our picture and was one of those amazing, eclectic, Los Angeles-esque type photographers who include sound effects when snapping your picture. Truly, his work is amazing and he has actually been photographer to the stars before relocating from California to Maine.

Anyway, when we went to pick up our engagement photos the photographer (God bless him) came out with this GIANT picture of us. Immediately, I thought to myself "Yeah, nice try, printing up a huge picture of us. We aren't buying it... I don't even care that it's printed on canvas." There was no way. We had already purchased over $1000 in photographs/guest book/ save-the-date magnets. There was NO WAY I was spending money on a poster sized picture of us knowing full well that the five 8X10's were $66 each!!! Lord knows purchasing this would certainly rule out stopping in expensive Portland for dinner.

CPM: (Crazy-Photo-Man) "Heeeyyyy Guys, look what I have!!!"

A: "Wow, that's.... big."

J: "Hmmm."

CPM: "You likey? It's yours. I liked it so much I printed it on this poster and entered it in a competition. It won! So, you guys can have it!!! Yay!!!!"

A: "Great." (feigning a smile) "Thanks!"

I didn't even bother saying anything. It was a very big picture. I am a horrible liar.

So we took it, we didn't want to be rude and honestly it would have cost about $300 if we had bought it. Plus, I must say, the photographer was the most amazing, awesome, friendly, accommodating, funny, and skillful artist I've probably ever met.

So, that was in February. Still, it is sitting in the bubble wrap, untouched. We are NOT hanging it in our house. It's large. It's, heck, I don't even know the dimensions, but big enough that if we hung it it would seem utterly indulgent and probably scare our dogs. (It's a fancy print that looks almost as if it was painted, you know?)

So, as I am getting ready for bed last night Aaron says, completely out of the blue:

A: "I have a great idea for the big picture."

I know he's not speaking metaphorically about "The Big Picture." It's too late at night for Aaron and any deep conversation so I devise that he is, indeed, talking about the "big picture."

J: (Oh boy) "What, Babe?"

A: "Let's do a raffle... at our wedding."

J: "A raffle?"

A: "Yeah, a 50/50."

J: "I don't follow."

A: "People pay for tickets... for the picture."

J: "So how is that a 50/50?"

A: "We get the money-- they get the picture."

J: "That's a raffle then, not a 50/50, and we are NOT raffling our picture."

A: "Well, it will be for charity then..."

J: "The picture? What charity?"

A: "Well, they will get the big picture of us, and we will give the money to charity. We get rid of it, charity gets money, and everybody wins."

J: "Aaron, we don't even want that picture of us... nobody else will."

A: "So, no?"

J: "Yes, Babe, no."

A: "I still say 50/50, but, okay...."

WTF? Seriously. A raffle?

For the hideous, almost life sized picture of Jessi and Aaron-- who's in? (Crickets)

Yeah, thought so....

Wednesday, Oui? "Fruits" of our labor...

Forgive me, please, for always posting about the house. I have tons of other joyous events going on in my life right now, but I am just so dang proud of our home. It's something that, even months ago, felt so far away.

Buying a house has been one of the "rites of passage" I thought was so unattainable for us. You know, one of those things where you have a negative internal dialogue that constantly challenges you? "Will I be able to afford a house?", "Will I be able to afford the house I want?", "Will I have to do a ton of work to it?", "Will I be able to handle being a homeowner?", "Will I love the house right away?", "Can I (we) actually do this?", "Where am I going to settle?", "Will it be big enough?" ,"Too big?", "Will my parents be proud of me?" , "Will I be able to afford everything I want for it?", "Do I know how to be a homeowner?", "What?! Lawn-mowers and snow-blowers don't come standard in a new house?!" , "What do you mean I need to buy a washer and dryer?!", "Will I be patient enough for the work to get done without pulling my hair out first?" and on and on and on. I tend to be really hard on myself, so trust me when I say these are the nicer questions I ask myself... and Aaron.

Ah, Aaron. Poor, poor Aaron. But that is a story for another day; if I live to write it. Trust me when I say he is probably plotting my murder. If there is one major thing I (and probably everyone who knows and loves me) would change about my personality it would be that I lack patience and would love to be more patient. Actually, strike that. "Lack" implies that somewhere within me exists a morsel of patience. Not true. I am not patient by any stretch of the imagination. Again, poor Slave Aaron.

Something I am pretty satisfied with is the landscaping. While it does need some weeding, this house came mostly ready for my green thumb. Whomever owned this house before us loved this yard and loved to garden. It's serendipity that we ended up here, I tell ya. The yard is just waiting for my loving hands, and the annuals that are here already are EXACTLY what I would have picked.

Bleeding hearts

Some form of a Lily, I think. Any thoughts on this one?

Strawberries!

I'm not really sure what this is, but I'll consult my gardening bible. Any thoughts?

And roses! Roses! Roses!

Gardens... ready to go. Is that a "Oui?" or what?!

Friends & Family- Volume II

To continue with Family and Friends Appreciation month (the entire month of June) I will continue celebrating the people in my life who make a difference, provide immeasurable joy and unconditional support.

Today's post is all about my partner in crime, catastrophe magnet, gorgeous, "hil"arious, bestie, Ms. Hilary.

I met Hilary about two years ago at work. Almost immediately I loved her. Usually I can tell right away (there are a couple of exceptions- you know who you are) if I'm going to love you, hate you, or simply coexist with you. Immediately I knew Hilary was "my kind of people. Hilary accepted my quirkiness, respected my privacy until I fully "let her in", and took all I could give her when she finally cracked my shell.

Hilary happens to be one of my favorite traveling companions, one of the first people I call when I'm pissed off, frustrated, happy, dying of laughter (or embarrassment) or when I have a juicy piece of gossip to deliver. We exchange an obscene number of texts every day (legitimately upwards of 50 [in and out] on any given day) and we talk almost non-stop in a language very few people understand, laced with code, inside jokes and nonsense that keeps us laughing.

In many ways, Hilary is my sanity, my comfort and my confidante.

Hilary has taken the bull by the horns where planning my wedding is concerned, is always up for a trip; anytime anywhere, and was the first person to haul over to our new house, 20 minutes after we were handed the keys.

My relationship with Hilary is something I share with very few people. I can simply text her one phrase, three letters long, and she knows to immediately pull out all the stops to cheer me up or call me to get the scoop.

Honestly, some days, it's Hilary that keeps me from quitting my job, plucking out my hair, smashing my computer, or going certifiably insane.

We find "trouble" wherever we go (your dick is out, zephyr, 243, roots) we laugh hysterically at things few people find amusing, and we can take the worst possible scenario (GAIN, JMATE) and make it memorable and funny. We have been to another country together (eh?) our Nation's Capitol, stuck on a subway for hours and hours, and trapped in a vehicle screaming at our GPS.

Hilary, you're my Jerry Maguire- for you, my lovie, I would hide the body.

A Oui? For Banana

Six (Whoa!) years ago today, I had my cell phone glued to my hand because I was expecting the most important phone call. Finally, when the phone rang it was just who I wanted it to be; my brother-in-law with three words that changed my life, forever.

"It's a boy."

Happy, Happy Birthday Xander, Banana, Xanny, Xanny-bananny, Xander-bander-boo, X, X-man, and of course... Beeee-yaaaayyyy-beeeee

I-ya and Uncoo love you so very, very much. Since your birth, our mission in life has become evidently clear.... to spoil you rotten and provide you with the most amazing, coolest, hippest wardrobe ever. (More for I-ya's benefit than yours. You don't even want clothes, do you?)

Friends & Family Month: Mom & Dad M.

Due to demanding schedules, I had to postpone Friends and Family Appreciation Month. It's about a month late, but here none-the-less, drum roll please.....

The first person/people I am posting about are the Aaron's parents. It didn't even take me a nanosecond to decide whom I should thank first, or why.

I will start off by first saying this house would not have been possible without Jim & Linda. The move would not have been possible without Dad M and Mom M. The remodel would not have been feasible without Dad M., and without Mom M., we would have surely starved to death (oh and she was also referee a few times when Aaron and I thought we would kill each other.)

During the closing they were there every step of the way. Every last minute piece of paperwork, every question I had, anything, anything, anything I needed they were a phone call away; both taking much time out of their professional lives to help us/answer questions/let me vent. Even for the first viewing of the house... Jim came.

The pre-closing help was unbelievable. The post-closing help was insurmountable. Jim and Linda came the day we closed, with dinner of course. So many nights when Aaron and I were up late packing, reading paperwork, remodeling... they would just show up with dinner in hand, Jim ready to work; Linda there for encouragement and to keep me company when I needed a break.

Jim helped with painting (every single room, except three) he helped put down every single one of our new floors. He made trips to our old apartment to help us load trucks, he brought all of our old building material (ripped out of the house) somewhere (I don't even know where, all I know is that he took care of it) he put together furniture, he made thresholds, (yes, MADE them) he put up new light fixtures (I insisted on new light fixtures in every room... somewhere in the vicinity of 12 to 13 light fixtures) He made trips (what must have felt like 100 trips to him) to Lowe's. One day, in particular, he went to three stores for me. He gave us tile for our bathroom, he lent us many tools, we could come raid his house/refrigerator and we never came up empty.

And Linda, oh my darling Linda. She would stop by, almost every night with food, food, food! Half the time Aaron and I wouldn't have had a meal yet that day, and didn't realize how hungry we were until she carried in a bag of some delicious smelling concoction. I'm not talking about finger sandwiches, I'm talking about chicken and roasted potatoes... and steak with all the fixings. One day, I said in passing, I was CRAVING veggies and then low and behold, I had a huge bowl with a gorgeous salad in my fridge just hours later... unbelievable. She helped with curtains, decorations, where-to-put what, and mostly a lot of phone calls from me, at my wits end. I can't even begin to recount how many times I called her, on the verge of tears, and she consoled me; telling me it would all be done soon. She always had some sort of antidote to make me feel better.

Everything given, everything shared, everything offered doesn't have a price tag. We don't owe them anything, they just kept (keep) providing; unconditionally. Even when I think we have absolutely exhausted them in every sense possible, just as they are about to walk out the door to go home (at 10:00 pm, with work the next day) they will both kiss us goodnight and say "see you tomorrow" or "what's on the agenda for tomorrow?" or "If you need anything, call us we're right up the street." (.07 miles to be exact).

It really makes me think about my future in this family. You know how people have "in-laws?" Well, these two folks know every detail of our adventure in buying and remodeling. They will be able to recount it so much better than we will remember, when we are ready to reminisce on it. They continue to talk and help us plan our wedding, no one else is really this involved in every detail of our lives. They are watching us grow together, and someday we can all talk about this, when the dust settles and the house quiets. I know when this happens we will all laugh about how crazy, for about 2 months, Aaron and I were.

I know I have probably forgotten, hundreds-- no, thousands, of things they did for us in the blur that has been the last few months. Their physical labor, the emotional support-- everything. They would be horrified at the thought of me even listing the things they have done, because that's the kind of folks they are. They don't keep score, they don't make lists, they just "do".... because they want to. That's how they're built. They don't give their own kindness and generosity a second thought. I love them for that, I thank them, and we appreciate it.