Chain of Command

I get really excited about mail. I love getting cards and packages, no matter how trivial. Today I got a package from my best friend Colby, who's mail is always exciting (for example, I never know when I'm going to get a sheet full of stickers with captions from her...). Instead of another sticker sheet for my collection, today's package contained her brand new debut novel! (Cue oohs and ahhs here.)

Let me back up and say that I have now known Colby for 6 years. I'm sure I mentioned before that we met doing theatre back in Macon, GA, and quickly became codependent...weirdly I compare us to Shawn and Gus from Psych and also Turk and JD from Scrubs. Anyway, it wasn't long before she shared her writing with me. At the time, Chain of Command wasn't written yet, but the stories I did read were very good. I immediately knew she could succeed one day and she continued to send me her manuscripts chapter by chapter. And now here I am cheering for her and her success!

Chain of Command is a thriller about a reporter who uncovers a conspiracy to launch the first woman into presidency. The first chapter will grab you with simultaneous assassinations of two major political figures (even the first chapter has spoilers!) and the chapters that follow are filled with twists and turns and surprises...right up until the big shocker at the very end. There's no doubt in mind that this won't be the last book she publishes and I'm excited for her continued success. I've loved watching her journey from book to book to conferences to agents to publishing companies, to becoming friends with famous authors...I admire her for her perseverance and the fact that she never gave up. I know I couldn't have done it. Congratulations, Colby Marshall - my friend, my twin, my codependent partner, my wife, a badass, and now a published author. I love you!

Once Upon a Time

To start the new year of 2013, Lexington woke me up entirely too early and I was unable to fall back asleep. So I left the warmth of my bed and adjourned to the living room to watch Mirror Mirror. Some mornings, I enjoy laying around in bed, but other mornings it's near impossible for me to do, so I leave JP sleeping and watch stuff on Netflix that I don't he doesn't want to watch. This is my "me time."

Mirror Mirror reminds me of a couple of things. It reminds me of how much I love Julia Roberts. It also reminds me of how much I love fairy tales. I don't care how many variations there are of one story, I will probably love all of them. I love the idea of true love, of adventure, of good always winning. And I am not ashamed. There have been times when I've felt a twinge of embarrassment though. I know people who scoff at fairy tales and princesses because of feminism or not wanting to be labeled as "that girl who loves princesses." If that works for them, that's cool. But I proudly wear my fake crown and look forward to the day I can dress up my baby as Cinderella. Because princesses and fairy tales are awesome.

Added note:
The costumes in Mirror Mirror are amazing and I wish I could add a couple of those dresses to my closet.

My twin's wedding.

Two weeks ago today, I was on Tybee Island for my soulmate's wedding. Colby and I have known each other for 4.5 years. When we met at callbacks for Beauty and the Beast at Macon Little Theatre, we had no idea that we'd just met each other's soulmates. Yes, a lot of people associate "soulmate" with their significant other, but not us. Our husbands are the loves of our lives, but we are each other's soulmates. We bonded instantly and now there's a certain level of inescapable codependency (which is alright by me). She understands me more than anyone else ever has and I don't know what I'd do without our constant texting throughout the day, every day.

So yeah, it excited me to no end to be able to fly down to Georgia for her beach wedding. I've watched her fall in love with David (and even told her beforehand that I thought they'd end up together) and am thrilled she's found someone who understands her sometimes more than I do. Their wedding was so special and several times I got teary eyed at the sight of how incredibly happy they are. They were truly meant for each other.

From the moment they set a date, I started planning a shower. I knew I wanted it to be awesome (duh) and I wanted it to be something Colby would love (double duh). I debated a beach theme, I debated a theme involving really bright/almost neon colors, and I also thought about something sedate like a tea party...then I found craft projects on Pinterest involving glitter and all debating stopped. A glitter shower. Perfect. (I'll follow up this post with a more thorough list of things I did for the shower.)

The wedding itself was at the beach on Tybee Island. We had the rehearsal dinner the night before at a little Italian restaurant in Savannah. By the time it was over, we were all exhausted.

The next day was spent setting up the reception area and of course...getting married. It was a beach theme so they had a sandcastle cake, messages in bottles instead of place cards, and bowls of fish as the centerpieces for every table. Everything looked really great.

Here are some parting pics of them being cute.

Congratulations, David and Colby.

Random update with lots of pictures.

I spent the majority of my day reading someone's entire blog, which made me realize it's been a while since I posted on mine...which made me realize how much I stay home on my days off. That's not really a bad thing. For one, we've been attempting to save a little money here and there (which is really hard, in case you're unaware) and now that I work really long days 4 days a week, it's harder to feel like leaving the apartment if I don't have to go to work. Also, we seem to have crossed that line from tourist to resident...we've seen a ton of the city (though not all there is to see - sometimes I think that's impossible) and we're not dying to get out and explore anymore.

We may be going through a boring stage at the moment, but that doesn't mean our lives are void of excitement. Here's an update on a few things in case my Facebook and Twitter aren't enough for you.

First of all, I'm extremely disappointed in NYC's winter weather this year. We had zero snowstorms. Zero. There were a couple of flurries (it's strange to think that back in Georgia these flurries would have seemed like blizzards), but the snow never stuck around and there wasn't enough to build a snowman. Fingers crossed for more snow next year (and also for a mild summer, though I doubt it will help)! This is probably the most snow we got all winter.

In February, Colby (my best friend/twin) and David visited for a long weekend. Colby and I worked hard at making JP and David best friends. They like each other, but "best friends" is still a work in progress. However, the most important part is that David proposed (to Colby, not to JP)! It was very exciting and I am super excited to fly to Georgia for her wedding the first weekend in May. I also took on the task of planning a bridal shower from afar, which has been interesting. But thanks to Pinterest, I have an awesome theme of glitter and will be making lots of fun things to decorate with. And thanks to my aunt Carla, Party Planner Extraordinaire, for helping me! I'm sure I'll have an entire blog post dedicated to her shower/wedding coming soon.

Top row from left to right: Our attempt at forcing them into BFF status by sitting them next to each for a game of LOTR Risk; the game board; Colby and me. Bottom row: Meeting a unicorn; proof of engagement; riding an orca into battle. 

Next up, we went upstate for one of my best friend's baby shower. I've known Brittany for...7 years? We became friends halfway through college, were roommates for a short of time, took a road trip to Disney World our senior year, I got her a job with me at my ophthalmology office after we graduated, and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding. She is so special to me and it's so wild to be able to witness all of these huge life-changing events. Anyway, she's an adorable little pregnant lady and I had so much fun catching up with her and her husband Paul and getting excited about their future baby boy! 

Also in February, I started experimenting with hairstyles, specifically ways to curl it. Random note.

In March our friend Jen came back to NYC for a visit. We had a fabulous night out with her and our other friends, Molly and Katie, and this amazing picture came to be.

My in-laws also made quick visits so that they could see my brother-in-law in Carrie, the musical.

Our next visitor was Lisa, my bestie (or occasionally referred to as my beastie). She decided to pop up for a visit at the last minute, which is always exciting. We visited several of the routine places most people want to go, but we did actually go to a couple of new places too, the WTC Memorial and the New York Public Library.

And last but not least, Colby and David announced that Colby is pregnant! It wasn't exactly in the plans, but they're both very excited. And JP and I were thrilled and honored to be asked to be the baby's godparents. I so look forward to watching them become parents and hopefully having lots of chances to spoil that child. Colby was trying to decide how to announce it in a non-cliche way, and I suggested they do something they're very familiar with - a video. To be specific, turn it into a movie trailer. JP did the voice over for it and Colby had me record myself saying some lines and they did their thing and it ended up being really amazing. I love watching it. Enjoy!

First Anniversary (cont'd)

Just in case you guys were wondering, our day was perfect.

I was taken by surprise by how emotional I was from the moment I woke up...I just felt overwhelmed by my happiness and the fact that somehow I'd just been allowed to spend an entire year married to the love of my life. I couldn't help but laugh at myself when I started crying as I snuggled up to JP and wished him a happy anniversary.

We went ahead and exchanged gifts before we even got out of bed. We'd decided that we would give each other the traditional anniversary gifts each year. (Everyone knows the 25th anniversary gift is silver and the 50th is gold, but there are others for years 1-15, then for every fifth year after that. You can view the traditional and modern lists here, and we went the traditional route.) So the first year is paper. JP made me a couple of origami hearts and painted them, plus an origami heart-lined picture frame that we plan to put on the fridge once we get some magnetic strips. I made him a "love jar" (although I didn't have any jars sitting around, so I used a Valentine's Day drink mixer) where I cut up pieces of paper that have things I love about him written on them so he can take one out and read one whenever he wants.

















After that, we spent the day being lazy. We'd just bought the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean game (we LOVE the Lego games) so we played that all day. Then that evening we got dressed up and went to our favorite Italian restaurant in Times Square.  Of course we had to visit the statue of George M Cohan in the middle of Times Square where we got engaged. It was nice since the tourists are all gone now. :-)

All in all, it was a very lovely day.

Love

 

"I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives." -The Holiday

That line right there is probably one of the major reasons why The Holiday is my favorite movie. It is so true for me. I'm a hopeless romantic at heart and I'm constantly aware of how love (or the lack of it) shapes people and the world around them. Love can be perceived but not truly felt. It can be withheld. Love can be lost, and not always by both parties at once.

I've been in love for more than 2 years, and I in no way consider myself an expert on the subject. However, I do feel like I've learned a lot about love in the past 12 months. Have you heard about the five love languages? They're the five main ways that we show and like to receive love: words of affirmation, touch, quality time, gifts, and acts of service. I've heard about these all my life pretty much thought everyone should know about them and focus on them. When JP and I first got married, we decided to take the quiz, thinking that it would help us to know more about each other.

It was fun to do and the results were interesting, but not long after that day I realized something. The way that I want to be loved most varies day to day. The result I got that first day was not the same result I would have gotten a week later. It became pretty clear to me that even though these love languages are interesting to learn about and to be aware of, they are not the be-all and end-all of loving relationships. The key is balance. Don't discover your spouse loves acts of service, then proceed to lose focus on encouraging them or spending quality time with them. By the same token, don't be upset when your spouse doesn't show you love using only the option you scored most on - you have to look at what else they're doing to show their love to you instead of focusing on the one way you've decided to expect.

www.mollymcgaughey.com

 

This is all leading up to today's special occasion. It's mine and JP's one year anniversary. Yep. We've been married a whole year. It truly is a milestone. The year has been a rough one outside of our marriage - a year ago, I would not have been able to imagine just how much I would come to rely on JP's quiet love and support. I know I've had my extremely crazy moments of freaking out, but he always has a way of calming me down, whether he's lending balance to my frame of mind or validating my freak out moment with other words of wisdom. This year has truly made JP my family and I can't imagine my life without him.

 So in light of these things I've learned about love in general, here are some ways JP has shown me love this past year. They're little things, but little things that spoke to me and made me feel loved.

- He's willing to walk home barefoot for me. One night we were getting home late after a night of dancing and I had been wearing heels that were killing my feet. It was too late to catch a bus from the subway, so we decided to walk it, but I was really having a hard time. JP offered to walk home barefoot so that I could wear his shoes. (Side note: He's offered many times since too, but it's never been bad enough for me to have to do that again.)

- He gives me the pickles from his Chickfila sandwich. He hates pickles (weird, right?) and I love them. He used to get the sandwiches without pickles, but now he gets them so I can have them. Yeah, I know that I could get pickles on the side, but it's not the same. I love that he just started doing it without saying anything.

- He makes phone calls. I HATE making phone calls. JP doesn't care for it either, but he's always willing to call to order food, to call our landlord with questions...anything that requires a phone call, he'll do it.

- He does random, silly internet things for me while I'm at work. When I found out I could get into Pottermore early, I was at work. I asked JP if he would go on to see if he could do it for me, and before I knew it I had a Pottermore screen name. Back when I played a lot of Facebook games, he would harvest stuff and gather coins for me while I was at work. (I'm aware this makes me sound obsessive...the point is he's willing to put up with it and help me out.)

- He understands that Colby and I are crazy together. He refers to her as my wife and understands that our relationship is a little...codependent. He puts up with the fact that sometimes we're going to obsess over little things and sometimes I'm going to annoy him by chattering about stuff he doesn't care about. But he respects us and what we have. Or maybe he just puts up with it. :-)

- In the same vein, he's willing to help me with videos. The first time I wanted to film some segments for one of Colby's videos, he rolled his eyes at me and laughed. But when we actually did it, he was into it and throwing out suggestions. We had fun shooting the segments together. Another time, he didn't even understand what I told him I was doing. He just set up the camera and shot it for me.

- He shops with me in the rain. There was one particular day that was going to give us plenty of time to shop for Christmas gift and it ended up raining all day. But he was a trooper, going everywhere I needed to and offering to carry bags.

- Those random moments when he says, "I'm so glad we're married." I know we're still newlyweds and this may not last forever. But I love it when we're doing something random like watching TV or cooking dinner and then he turns to me with this certain look on his face and says, "I'm so glad we're married," or "I'm so happy you're my wife." My heart jumps every time.

Here's to many more years with the man I love.

Turkey Day

Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple was a huge success.


My aunt Carla was in town, so she and I got up at 4:45am to go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. The parade was amazing - my experience was so much better than last year, where I got stuck at the back of the crowd on a side street by myself. This year, we were right in front, on the side where the sun wasn't in our eyes, right up against the rail. We were able to high five people in the parade.
Plus, Kermit was there!It's actually very weird for me to see Muppets in real life because I really do feel like they're real and I feel like I'm seeing an actual celebrity in real life.

Anyhow, after the parade Carla and I headed home to nap and cook. When we got there, JP had already moved the living room furniture around and set the table and it was GORGEOUS. (Side note: That brown tablecloth? Yeah...it's a bed sheet. How awesome is that?) This is the first time we used our wedding china, which was so exciting. (Of course, several jokes were made about the episode of Friends when Monica is such a freak about her wedding china.) JP was also already working on the turkey. We arranged the flowers we'd gotten and set out the chocolate Thanksgiving-themed lollipops straight from Jacques Torres.

Our friends brought delicious food to go with our turkey, dressing, and roasted green beans. Molly brought squash casserole, her sister Katie brought sweet potato casserole, and Harper brought apple dumplings and pumpkin pie. It was all so delicious.

The whole day was far more perfect than I could have imagined. It really made me realize how thankful I truly am for the friends I have here and the life I have with my husband. I had a defining moment during dinner (I describe it as my movie moment). JP and I were sitting at the head and foot of the table (another first!) and at one point everyone at the table was laughing really hard about something. So there we are surrounded by friends who love us and the sound of their laughter and JP catches my eye across the table and gives me a little wink. Now JP will probably read this and roll his eyes at my sentimentality, but for me...it was just one of those awesome moments when you feel such a rush of happiness and contentment with your life.

I hope your Thanksgiving brought you happiness as well. Now on to the Christmas season!